Method, device, and system for analyzing and ranking web-accessible data targets

1. A method of locating a relevant product via a computer network, the relevant product belonging to a category of related products sharing a pre-determined set of product attributes associated therewith, the method comprising:

at a client computer:

receiving a search topic from a user, the search topic being associated with the category of related products; and

receiving user profile data including at least one of demographic, geographic, and situational data specific to the user;

with a server:

locating at one or more information locations at least two of the related products within the category of related products associated with the search topic, each of the at least two located products having the pre-determined set of product attributes associated therewith, each product attribute having content associated therewith;

with at least one of the client computer and the server:

for each product attribute of the shared set of product attributes:

comparing the content associated with the product attribute in one of the at least two located products against content associated with the product attribute in each of the other located products of the at least two located products; and

assigning a relative score to the content associated with the product attribute in each of the at least two located products based on the comparison;

prioritizing the shared set of product attributes based at least in part upon a relevance of at least one product attribute to the user profile data; and

ranking the at least two located products based on the prioritizing of the product attributes and the score of the content associated with the product attributes.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein receiving the user profile data includes at least one of:

receiving inputs from the user;

searching data stored during a previous search initiated by the user for another product via the computer network; and

searching a database of pre-stored user profile data.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the user profile situational data includes information associated with the user's financial situation.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of ranking the at least two products includes assigning a weight to the score of the content based upon the prioritization of the product attribute with which the content is associated.

5. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises selecting the at least one information location from which to locate the at least two related products based at least in part on at least one of the product attributes.

6. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises displaying by rank the at least two ranked located products.

7. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises updating the ranking of the at least two located products in response to receiving a change to a priority of at least one of the product attributes.

8. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises:

receiving a user rating of a product; and

ranking the at least two located products based at least in part on the user rating.

9. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises automatically updating the ranking based on a change to the content associated with at least one of the product attributes in at least one of the at least two located products.

10. The method according to claim 9 , which further comprises notifying the user of the updated ranking through a predefined communication channel.

11. A system for locating a relevant product belonging to a category of related products sharing a pre-determined set of product attributes associated therewith, the system comprising:

a client computer operable to:

receive a search topic from a user, the search topic being associated with the category of related products to which the relevant product belongs; and

receive user profile data including at least one of demographic, geographic, and situational data specific to the user;

a server communicatively coupled to the client computer and operable to locate at one or more information locations at least two of the related products within the category of related products associated with the search topic, each of the at least two located products having the pre-determined set of product attributes associated therewith, each product attribute having content associated therewith;

wherein, at least one of the client computer and the server is operable:

for each product attribute of the shared set of product attributes:

to compare the content associated with the product attribute in one of the at least two located products against content associated with the product attribute in each of the other located products of the at least two located products; and

to assign a relative score to the content associated with the product attribute in each of the at least two located products based on the comparison;

prioritize the shared set of product attributes based at least in part upon a relevance of at least one product attribute to the user profile data; and

rank the at least two located products based on the prioritizing of the product attributes and the score of the content associated with the product attributes.

12. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the client computer is operable to receive the user profile data through at least one of:

inputs from the user;

data stored during a previous search initiated by the user for another product via the computer network; and

a database of pre-stored user profile data.

13. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the user profile situational data includes information associated with the user's financial situation.

14. The system according to claim 11 , wherein at least one of the client computer and the server is operable to assign a weight to the pre-scored content based upon the prioritization of the product attribute with which the pre-scored content is associated.

15. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the server is operable to select the at least one information location from which to locate the at least two related products based at least in part on at least one of the product attributes.

16. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the client computer is further operable to display by rank the at least two ranked located products.

17. The system according to claim 11 , wherein at least one of the client computer and the server is further operable to update the ranking of the at least two located products in response to receiving a change to a priority of at least one of the product attributes.

18. The system according to claim 11 , wherein at least one of the client computer and the server is further operable to automatically update the ranking based on a change to the content associated with at least one of the product attributes in at least one of the at least two located products.

19. The system according to claim 18 , wherein the client computer is further operable to notify the user of the updated ranking through a predefined communication channel.

20. The system according to claim 11 , wherein at least one of the client computer and the server is further operable to:

receive a user rating of a product; and

rank the at least two located products based at least in part on the user rating.