WO2001004799A1

WO2001004799A1 - Www search engine combining several search criteria and providing alert messages to user

Info

Publication number: WO2001004799A1
Application number: PCT/US2000/018559
Authority: WO
Inventors: Adrian Walker
Original assignee: Mobile Engines, Inc.
Priority date: 1999-07-09
Filing date: 2000-07-07
Publication date: 2001-01-18
Also published as: AU5919300A

Abstract

A data mining and annunciator system provides users with automated Internet searches conducted according to express user constraints and keyword combinations. Users with browsers and Internet-connected computers log-on to a search service maintained by a website host. Such search service collects a per-use fee or subscription fee for its assistance. Each user chooses an alert criteria that requires the logical-AND of several search conditions to be true. The classes of information searched and returned from the Internet can be independent, and the only thing that correlates them all is a particular user's interest. Repeated, extensive searches are made of all the relevant and available informational websites for all users' criteria from the search-service webserver. If all the constraints in a particular user's search criteria are met, such fact is annunciated to that user. Recorded or text-to-speech converted voice messages composed by the user-recipient are sent to pre-arranged e-mail addresses or telephone numbers. Text messages are also sent by e-mail or posted to an announcement board reserved for the user at the search-service webpage.

Description

WWW SEARCH ENGINE COMBINING SEVERAL SEARCH CRITERIA AND PROV INDING ALERT MESSAG ES TO USER

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 5

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to automated data searching systems, and more particularly to automated systems that browse the Internet looking for 10 combinations of data, and then annunciate with speech, sounds, and text the results of a successful search.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

15

The Internet is proving more and more to be a valuable source of information. But very often the information one needs is not present when an informational search is launched, or the whole research question cannot be answered unless several websites are consulted.

20

For example, job searches on the Internet are now conventional. Prior art systems allow job searchers to scan the available jobs in their field and learn some facts about the experience and education required, as well as the benefits of the position. However, for many job hunters the job itself is only one

25 consideration. The quality of schools in the area, as measured by SAT performance scores, and the property and income tax rates are just as important. In Silicon Valley, the average selling price of a home or the time needed to commute to affordable housing are also considerations. When many jobs are searched, and each job location must also be searched for quality-of-life factors

30 like schools and real estate, the amount of effort needed to conduct a manual search can be daunting.

Some alarm annunciation systems depend on pagers and phones to alert responsible persons. One such system makes sure at least one person on a list 35 responses to the alarm, otherwise it continues to phone or page additional people on the same list. Such is described by Carlos Escolar in United States Patent 5,748,078, issued May 5, 1998. This system simply waits for an alarm from a monitored device. It does not actively search out for combinations of conditions.

Mon-Mei Chen, et al., describe a network-based multimedia messaging system in United States Patent 5,751 ,791 , issued May 12, 1998. A caller on the phone is given a prerecorded greeting when the callee is unavailable. The caller is then able to leave a multimedia message. Once the message is collected, the callee is notified a message is waiting. This system too passively waits for a single- point alarm condition to develop. It does not actively and repeatedly browse the Internet and evaluate HTML-coded browser pages for particular combinations of keywords or responses.

A "Collaborative Internet Data Mining System" is described by Kenneth Appleman, et al., in United States Patent 6,081 ,788, issued June 27, 2000. Human "guides" are used to maintain websites in their respective topic areas. They conduct their own searches and post "authoritative" webpages for users to view. A computer-based method is used to select, train, and police Internet guides for predetermined topic areas. Such a system does not service individuals well who have unique requests for information that require the logical- combination of data from many sources before presentation to the user.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Briefly, a data mining and annunciator embodiment of the present invention provides users with automated Internet searches conducted according to express user-constraints and keyword combinations. Users with browsers and Internet-connected computers log-on to a search service maintained by a website host. Such search service collects a per-use fee or subscription fee for its assistance. Each user chooses an alert criteria that requires the logical-AND of several search conditions to be true. The classes of information searched and returned from the Internet can be independent, and the only thing that correlates them all is a particular user's interest. Repeated, extensive searches are made of all the relevant and available informational websites for all users' criteria from the search-service webserver. If all the constraints in a particular user's search criteria are met, such fact is annunciated to that user. Recorded or text-to-speech converted voice messages composed by the user-recipient are sent to prearranged e-mail addresses or telephone numbers. Text messages are also sent by e-mail or posted to an announcement board reserved for the user at the search-service webpage.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 is a functional block diagram of a data mining and annunciator system embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a flowchart diagram of a data mining and annunciator method embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 3 is a diagram of a browser screen that can be presented to a user by the webserver in order to collect search criteria, preferences, and other information;

Fig. 4 is a functional block diagram of a data mining and annunciator system embodiment of the present invention; and

Fig. 5 is a diagram represented an alert screen graphic that may be generated by the systems of Figs. 1 -4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Fig. 1 represents a data mining and annunciator system embodiment of the present invention, and is referred to herein by the general reference numeral 100. Such system can be used to collect a per-use fee or subscription fee for its assistance to users. Each user chooses an alert criteria that requires the logical- AND of several search conditions to be true. The classes of information searched and returned from the Internet can be independent, and the only thing that correlates them all is a particular user's interest. Repeated, extensive searches are made of all the relevant and available informational websites for all users' criteria from the search-service webserver. If all the constraints in a particular user's search criteria are met, such fact is annunciated to that user. Recorded or text-to-speech converted voice messages composed by the user-recipient are sent to pre-arranged e-mail addresses or telephone numbers. Text messages are also sent by e-mail or posted to an announcement board reserved for the user at the search-service webpage.

The system 100 includes a web-browser appliance 102 connected to the Internet 104. A search-service webserver 106 is accessible to the web-browser appliance 102 and can access itself many other websites, e.g., as represented by informational websites 108-111. For example, the website 108 can provide current listings for careers and job openings around the country. Website 109 lists data about schools, and website 110 is maintained by real estate sales offices and lists homes for sale in specific parts of the country. Website 111 represents websites that can be searched but have no data that matches current user search criteria.

A critical difference between embodiments of the present invention and conventional search engines is how matches are made. The embodiments of the present invention search in more than one dimension. Conventional search engines use groups of keywords to find all sites that include the required mix of keywords. The embodiments of the present invention search in a first dimension, e.g., available jobs, until a match is found, such as software engineer. Machine intelligence is used to query, "where is the job located?". In alternative embodiments of the present invention, human operators can be used to help interpret intermediate results and continue the on-going searches in the right directions.

The location of the software engineer job, for example, is then used in a second dimension to find available real estate in that area. The prices of the available real estate is then matched to the pricing constraints defined by the user. If accepted on both job type and housing prices, a first and second dimension, then a third dimension search can launch to gauge the quality of schools in the area. Once schools in the area are found, then some measure like their SAT student scores is searched. If the SAT scores meet the user's data-mining criteria, then an alert message can be sent to the annunciator. If there are more dimensions to the search, then those branches are followed as in a hierarchical tree. The web-browser appliance 102 is preferably capable of sound and voice output. A voice input is also preferred to allow the pre-recording of annunciator messages. Desktop personal computers, laptop portable computers, and Internet-capable wireless telephones can all provide good results. A standard wireless pager could also be used to receive annunciator alerts and text. The web-browser appliance 102 could actually be several devices distributed in more than one location, e.g., personal computers, cellular phones, and wireless pagers.

In operation, a user enters a multi-part search criteria and alert preferences after logging onto a webpage hosted by the search-service webserver 106. A subscription or per-use fee may be charged to the users. The informational websites 108-111 are repeatedly and exhaustively searched for matches to parts of the whole search criteria. A recursive search engine included within the Internet- connectable web server provides conditional tests of early provided data from the automated search of informational websites. Such is used to redirect a continuing search according to an intermediate and fractional information recovered. The webserver 106 repeatedly searches available informational sources according to the set of conditions in logical combinations included in a data-mining job. When all the search criteria can be satisfied with information returned from all available websites 108-111 , the user is alerted according to the user's preferences. This includes alert sounds, voice tracks, and text messages delivered to specified URL's, e-mail addresses, phone numbers, and pagers.

When the system detects that the alert conditions are satisfied, the relevant alerting sentence and/or sound is played through the user's computing device, prefixed with the time and date. If the user typed in an alerting sentence, such sentence and date/time is played through voice synthesis software and/or hardware. Additional details about the alert may appear on the user's display screen.

To determine whether the alert conditions are satisfied, the system may conduct repeated, extensive searches of sites on the network. During a search, the system may automatically navigate through linked pages of information on the network, and may logically combine selected results from several different pages to synthesize the data against which the alert conditions are tested. For example, the user could ask the system to find a certain kind of job in an area in which the high schools show strong SAT scores, and the property taxes are moderate. The system will then make searches of different parts of the network about Careers, Education, and Real Estate, and will logically combine the results to see if they meet the alerting conditions.

A preferred but non-limiting embodiment of the method and system is in the form of a user's computing device (such as a PC, a WebTV, or an internet- enabled cellphone) connected to the internet. The user sets alert conditions using a web-browser connected to an internet alerting service. The user also types in, or makes available a recording of, an alerting sentence. The user's computing device either remains connected to the internet, or automatically reconnects at intervals that the user specifies. When one or more of the sets of alert conditions are satisfied, the correct alerting sentences and/or sounds are played. The user may optionally request that the alerts be queued for later replay, e.g. while the user is sleeping. When the alerts are replayed, the time and date prefixes inform the user when the alerts happened.

Fig. 2 represents a method embodiment of the present invention for supplying audio alerts, and is referred to herein by the general reference numeral 200. In a step 202, a user specifies a set of conditions. These conditions all must later be satisfied by intermediate search results before any alert can be generated. Alert preferences are then entered. Such user types in, voice records, or picks from a menu the desired message to be received in a step 204. This message can act to remind the user what the search was about because it can be days, weeks, or months before an intersection of all the search conditionals is detected in the space of all the available informational websites. The user also specifies in a step 206 whether alerts are to be received immediately when they are generated, or be queued for later delivery on demand when it is more convenient. In a step 208, a search service retrieves relevant answers from accessible websites. The search service then logically combines the retrieved facts in a step 210, and determines in a step 212 whether any resulting combination satisfies the conditions for a user alert. If the conditions are satisfied, a new alert is checked in a step 214 against previous alerts sent to this user to ensure that it is indeed new. If so, the alert is labeled in a step 216 with the current time and date and sent to the user's computing device.

Fig. 3 represents a fill-in-the-blanks browser form 300 that the webserver 104 generates HTML-code for and presents over the Internet 106 to a typical user browser 102. A first section "Choose Alert Criteria" provides a place for the user to define a multi-dimensional search. In this example, a combination of business, home, and education are used to automatically and recursively hunt Internet informational websites for only those offered jobs that are looking for software engineers, paying at least $106K, where property taxes run $3K-$4K, median house prices are $150K-$200K, and SAT II scores for local high schools run 600-650 points. A second section, "Choose How You Would Like to be Alerted" allows the alert preferences to be set. A box for a fill-in sentence allows the user to define a message on alert that will refresh memory or otherwise be informative even months later. Other buttons can provide a way to record a short audio message. A third section, "Choose To Receive the Alert Immediately or Later" allows the user to decide whether alerts are to be issued as generated or collected for periodic review. Some search criteria may produce only one alert in months of automated searching, and an immediate alert can help avoid repetitive checking-in and finding nothing by the user.

Fig. 4 represents a system embodiment of the present invention, and is referred to herein by the general reference numeral 400. The system 400 includes a search service 402 comprising an alert-condition memory 404, a combining logic 406, an alert delivery mode logic 408, a web-crawler and database manager

410, and an alert delivery program 412. A user's computing device 414, such as a PC, a PDA, or a cell phone, receives an alerting conditions menu 416. The user chooses conditions from menu and sends such criteria 418 back to the combining logic 406. The user also provides a sentence and/or sound 420 to be used if the conditions for an alert are met. A preference 422 is returned that controls whether an alert 424 is to be issued in real-time or to be batched for periodic inquiry.

The search criteria 416 are processed by the combining logic 406 and sent as a multi-part search request to the webcrawler and database update program 410.

A database 426 is consulted for previous search results that could be useful in the current task. For example, conditions may have been set and results found already on a particular kind of job, an area in which the schools show strong SAT scores, and an area in which the property taxes are moderate. In response to a request from the combining logic 406, the database management program 410 may be able to use the results of previous searches to immediately satisfy a current user's criteria. The program 410 also launches its webcrawler to survey any informational websites 428 that may have needed information not already in the database 426. Any relevant results from the webcrawler search are combined to form new alerts, and are stored in the database 426 for later use by this and other users. Authorized application development programmers 430 can embed into program code 410 policies for removing outdated information from the database 426. Once the conditions for an alert are satisfied, the alert delivery program 412 checks if the alert is new to this user. If so, it appends the date and time to an alert message and either sends it to the user's computing device, or queues it for later delivery.

In some embodiments, the database 426 includes a relational database management system, e.g., Oracle 8i. The search service 402 can be implemented with SQL or other industry standard database language modules. In particular, SQL modules written by application programmers can include alerting conditions 404, combining logic 406, alert delivery mode logic 408, database usage program 410, and alert delivery program 412. Those parts of the application software not written in SQL may be implemented in PERL, Java, or other commercial software products that can make use of SQL statements. Network transmission and secure login via user ID and password may be enabled by a webserver program, such as Apache server

(http://www.apache.org/httpd.html), iPlanet Server (http://www.iplanet.com/products/infrastructure/web_servers/index.html), etc.

Fig. 5 represents a webpage 500 that provides user alert details. An alert delivered to a user can include sounds and messages delivered separately or together to a user annunciator terminal, such as a cell phone or an internet-enabled PDA. Details of the alert are then available in the webpage 500 that can be logged onto over the Internet. A sentence 502 that the user typed in (as in Fig. 3) to say how an alert is to be described is replayed. Such alert has a reference number and the day and time repeated in a line 504. The respective ways in which each of the user's original criteria were satisfied are listed in lines 506, 508, and 510. these all include hyperlinks for the user to jump to the original webpage the webcrawler found. The user can then easily apply for the job, contact the realtor, and view the information about the high schools.

In alternative embodiments of the present invention, not all the searches according to one criteria may depend on the answers obtained in another of the user's criteria. Such happenstance allows for parallel independent searches to be conducted by the webcrawler 410 (Fig. 4) and the results to be asynchronously deposited in the database 426. However, at least one search criteria must be complete and not depend on answers to any of the user's other criteria because this would otherwise create a lockup condition. It therefore falls on the combining logic 406 and web-crawler 410 to not fall prey to lockup conditions and to recognize opportunities for parallel searching.

Although the invention is described herein with reference to the preferred embodiment, one skilled in the art will readily appreciate that other applications may be substituted for those set forth herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the invention should only be limited by the Claims included below.

Claims

1. A data-mining and annunciator system, comprising: an Internet-connectable web browser for a user and having a graphics display for messages, an audio input for recording voice tracks, and an audio output for alert sounds and voices; an Internet-connectable webserver for generating a homepage presence that can accept a data-mining job from said user and user-alert preferences, and for providing an automated search of informational websites on the Internet that are dependent on a set of conditions included in said data-mining job; a recursive search engine included within the Internet-connectable web server for providing conditional tests of early provided data from said automated search of informational websites, and for redirecting a continuing search according to an intermediate and fractional information recovered, and for repeatedly searching informational sources according to said set of conditions in logical combinations included in said data-mining job; an annunciator for providing an alert message to said user according to said user-alert preferences when said set of conditions included in said data- mining job results in a match; wherein, said user launches said data-mining job and need not wait around for any immediate results; and wherein, said user depends on receiving an alert from the annunciator to check for search results.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein: the Internet-connectable web browser comprises more that one device at one location.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein: the Internet-connectable web browser comprises at least one device each at more than one location.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein: the Internet-connectable web browser comprises at least one of a personal computer, a cellular telephone, and a pager.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein: the Internet-connectable web server is such that said data-mining job from said user includes a plurality of criteria that can be used in individual searches, and at least one such individual search depends on an answer obtained from another of said individual searches.

6. The system of claim 1 , further comprising: a database management system for receiving and storing intermediate answers to a part of said data-mining job obtained in individual searches according to said criteria.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein: the Internet-connectable web server includes a search service comprising a criteria combining logic, an alert delivery mode logic, a webcrawler, a database manager, and an alert delivery program.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein: the recursive search engine allows a human operator to assist it in finding website information that satisfies said criteria.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein: the annunciator accepts text messages typed in by said user at said Internet-connectable web browser to be returned in an alert message.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein: the annunciator accepts voice recordings entered by said user at said Internet-connectable web browser to be returned in a spoken alert message.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein: the annunciator displays details of an alert message in a webpage posted by the webserver.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein: the annunciator displays hyperlinks in a webpage posted by the webserver that allow said user to visit an informational webpage that satisfied some part of said criteria.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein: the annunciator displays a set of corresponding hyperlinks in a webpage posted by the webserver that allow said user to visit each and every informational webpage that together satisfied said criteria.

14. An information retrieval system, comprising: an Internet-connectable web browser for a user and having a graphics display for messages, an audio input for recording voice tracks, and an audio output for alert sounds and voices; an Internet-connectable webserver for generating a homepage presence that can accept a data-mining job from said user and user-alert preferences, and for providing an automated search of informational websites on the Internet that are dependent on a set of conditions included in said data-mining job; a recursive search engine included within the Internet-connectable web server for providing conditional tests of early provided data from said automated search of informational websites, and for redirecting a continuing search according to an intermediate and fractional information recovered, and for repeatedly searching informational sources according to said set of conditions in logical combinations included in said data-mining job; a database management system for receiving and storing intermediate answers to a part of said data-mining job obtained in individual searches according to said criteria; and an annunciator for providing an alert message to said user according to said user-alert preferences when said set of conditions included in said data- mining job results in a match; wherein, said user launches said data-mining job and need not wait around for any immediate results; wherein, said user depends on receiving an alert from the annunciator to check for search results; wherein, the Internet-connectable web browser comprises at least one of a personal computer, a cellular telephone, and a pager; wherein, the Internet-connectable web server is such that said data-mining job from said user includes a plurality of criteria that can be used in individual searches, and at least one such individual search depends on an answer obtained from another of said individual searches; wherein, the Internet-connectable web server includes a search service comprising a criteria combining logic, an alert delivery mode logic, a webcrawler, a database manager, and an alert delivery program; wherein, the recursive search engine allows a human operator to assist it in finding website information that satisfies said criteria; wherein, the annunciator accepts text messages typed in by said user at said Internet-connectable web browser to be returned in an alert message; wherein, the annunciator accepts voice recordings entered by said user at said Internet-connectable web browser to be returned in a spoken alert message; wherein, the annunciator displays details of an alert message in a webpage posted by the webserver; wherein, the annunciator displays hyperlinks in a webpage posted by the webserver that allow said user to visit an informational webpage that satisfied some part of said criteria; wherein, the annunciator displays a set of corresponding hyperlinks in a webpage posted by the webserver that allow said user to visit each and every informational webpage that together satisfied said criteria.