Systems and methods for identifying an internet resource address
Systems and methods are provided for identifying information about an entity. The entity may be a business or service. Information about the entity can be determined by processing any attributes known about the entity, such as a phone number, business name, or address. For example, information, such as an internet address of a business can be determined from the phone number of the business. With the phone number of the business, a number of potential internet addresses for that business may be determined. A single address, which is likely to be that of the business, can be determined by processing the potential internet addresses using tuning techniques and pattern recognition algorithms. A database of websites associated with directories or portals may be created using attributes known about a plurality of entities.
1 . A computer implemented method of identifying a url address of an entity comprising:
receiving a request for a URL address of an entity;
selecting a verified attribute associated with the entity; and
using the verified attribute, searching for potential URL addresses of the entity.
2 . A computer implemented method as in claim 1 wherein the verified attribute is a telephone number of the entity.
3 . A computer implemented method as in claim 1 wherein the verified attribute is obtained from a persistent storage, that includes verified information about a plurality of entities.
4 . A computer implemented method as in claim 3 wherein the persistent storage includes at least one of: yellow pages database, white pages database, membership list or business information database.
5 . A computer implemented method as in claim 1 wherein the verified attribute is verified by an independent source that is any yellow pages database, white pages database, membership list, global positioning device, or telephone service.
6 . (canceled)
7 . A computer implemented method as in claim 1 wherein searching for potential URL addresses of the entity further includes:
querying one or more search engines using the verified attribute; and
obtaining search result hits.
8 . (canceled)
9 . A computer implemented method as in claim 7 further includes analyzing URL addresses of at least a portion of the hits including processing one of the URL addresses by comparing the URL address with a business name attribute of with the entity.
10 . (canceled)
11 . A computer implemented method as in claim 9 wherein processing one of the URL addresses by comparing the URL address with a business name attribute of the entity further includes:
quantifying a degree of similarity between the business name attribute of the entity and the URL address; and
assigning a confidence level to the URL address based at least in part on the degree of similarity between the business name attribute of the entity and the URL address.
12 - 14 . (canceled)
15 . A computer implemented method as in claim 9 wherein processing one of the URL addresses by comparing the URL address with a business name attribute of the entity further includes:
determining that the URL address is a potential match based on the results of the comparison;
extracting website content associated with URL addresses of at least a portion of the hits; and
using the website content to verify the potential match.
16 . A computer implemented method as in claim 9 wherein analyzing URL addresses of at least a portion of the hits further includes:
determining whether one or more of the URL addresses corresponds to a homepage; and
if a URL address corresponds to a homepage, increasing a degree of confidence associated that the URL address is a potential URL address of the entity.
17 . A computer implemented method as in claim 7 wherein obtaining search results further includes analyzing website content of at least a portion of the hits by:
identifying electronic addresses in the website content, where the electronic addresses are any URL addresses or an email addresses: and
computing a total number of occurrences for each electronic address identified: and
ranking the hits based at least in part on the computed totals.
18 - 19 . (canceled)
20 . A computer implemented method as in claim 17 wherein computing a total number of occurrence for each electronic address identified further includes:
analyzing the electronic addresses identified in the website content to determine whether any URL address and email address have the same domain name; and
responding to determining that a URL address and email address have the same domain by processing the URL address and email address having the same domain as a single occurrence.
21 . (canceled)
22 . A computer implemented method as in claim 17 wherein identifying electronic addresses in the website content further includes:
collecting website content associated with one or more of the electronic addresses; and
filtering the content for relevant attributes known about the entity; and
analyzing the relevant collected website content to determine whether each of the electronic addresses identified is within a maximum distance from the relevant attributes.
23 - 24 . (canceled)
25 . A computer implemented method as in claim 7 wherein obtaining the search results further includes eliminating false positives from the search results by comparing URL addresses identified in the search results against a collection of URL addresses that correspond to false positives, where the false positives are any URL addresses corresponding to portals or directories.
26 . (canceled)
27 . A computer implemented method as in claim 25 wherein the collection of URL addresses that correspond to false positives is created by:
identifying suspect URL addresses that include website content referencing a plurality of verified attributes of a plurality of entities; and
determining that the suspect URL addresses are false positives.
28 . A computer implemented method as in claim 1 wherein the request for a URL address of an entity further includes an attribute of the entity that is not the same attribute as the verified attribute.
29 . (canceled)
30 . A computer implemented method as in claim 1 wherein the entity is any one of the following: a business, organization, enterprise, or agency.
31 . A software system for identifying a URL address of an entity comprising:
a search handler receiving a request for a URL address of an entity;
a search process, in communication with the search handler, responding to the request by selecting a verified attribute to use in a search query; and
the search process analyzing results of the search query to identify the URL addresses of the entity.
32 . (canceled)
33 . A software system according to claim 31 wherein the attribute list includes at least one of the following: telephone number of the entity, a name of the entity, a physical address of the entity, or any information about the entity.
34 - 35 . (canceled)
36 . A software system according to claim 31 wherein the verified attribute is obtained from any yellow pages database, white pages database, membership list or business information database.
37 - 38 . (canceled)
39 . A software system according to claim 31 wherein the search process further includes logic for:
passing the verified attribute to a plurality of independent search engines;
processing search results received from the plurality of search engines; and
determining whether the search results provide a minimum number of hits.
40 . A software system according to claim 31 wherein the search process analyzing results of the search query to identify the URL address of the entity further includes:
a tuner, in communication with the search process, the tuner filtering the results of the search process to identify candidate hits; and
a confidence, assigned by the tuner to each of the candidate hits, where the confidence reflects a degree of certainty as to whether a respective candidate hit corresponds to the entity.
41 . A software system according to claim 40 wherein the confidence assigned by the tuner is determined at least in part by:
a string matching process quantifying a degree of similarity between a business name associated with the entity and a URL address of a respective candidate hit; and
the string matching process identifying a pattern in the business name and the URL address of the respective candidate hit by comparing a character string extracted from the business with a character string extracted from the URL address of the respective candidate hit.
42 - 45 . (canceled)
46 . A software system according to claim 39 wherein the search process processing search results received from the plurality of search engines further includes:
a data extraction tool for extracting content website content associated with one or more of the search results;
a parser, in communication with the data extraction tool, to parse the extracted content of one or more of the search results;
a predictor, in communication with the parser, to compute a number of occurrences that a respective URL address and a respective email address appear in the extracted content of a respective search result; and
a domain analyzer, in communication with the predictor, to analyze each URL address and email address identified in the extracted content of a respective search result.
47 . A software system according to claim 46 wherein the domain name analyzer includes logic to disregard public email addresses.
48 - 49 . (canceled)
50 . A software system according to claim 39 wherein the search process further includes logic to eliminate false positives in the search results by comparing the search results against a database of false positives.
51 . A software system according to claim 50 wherein the database of false positives further includes URL addresses that correspond to websites for directories or portals.
52 . A software system according to claim 50 wherein the database of false positives is developed by searching for URL addresses that correspond to websites, which provide a plurality of verified attributes about a plurality of entities.
53 . (canceled)
54 . A system for identifying a URL address of an entity comprising:
means for receiving a request for a URL address of an entity;
means for selecting a verified attribute associated with the entity; and
means for using the verified attribute, searching for potential URL addresses of the entity.
55 - 79 . (canceled)