Granted Patent B2

US 8,583,621 · App. 13/336,232 · Granted Nov 12, 2013

Abstract

Claims (87)

1. A processing device configured to implement a search engine server that facilitates searching for content on the Internet, the search engine server comprising:

a reverse index database operable to store search results corresponding to search criteria and that include entries associated with at least one business or at least one organization;

an assembler operable to correlate contact information received from a Whois database server with businesses or organizations of the reverse index database to populate an aggregate database;

an adaptive search module operable to:

determine location information for the user;

receive search criteria from the user;

perform a search of the aggregate database using the search criteria to produce search results;

determine correlation data indicating whether contact information corresponding to the search result entries is local to the location information for the user;

determine whether the correlation data meets a confidence level factor that is based on both geographical proximity and contact information supplied by the registration database server; and

when the correlation data meets the confidence level factor, restricting the search results to entries whose associated business or organization location is in geographical proximity to the user.

2. The processing device of claim 1 , wherein the contact information comprises at least one of a city name, a state name, a country code, a telephone number, and a GPS location.

3. The processing device of claim 1 , wherein the contact information comprises ownership information for a corresponding domain associated with at least one of the entries of the search results, the search engine server further operable to:

determine a total number of domains registered by the organization with the same or similar ownership information;

assign a priority to the corresponding one of the entries of the search result in response to the total number of domains being determined to be over a threshold number; and

employing the priority to determine the inclusion of the at least one of the entries into the search results.

4. The processing device of claim 1 , further comprising a Whois crawler module that is operable to:

crawl through a plurality of Whois databases to retrieve Whois information;

populate a Whois database using the Whois information; and

retrieve the organization contact information from the Whois database; and

wherein the search engine server uses the organization contact information to determine the correlation data.

5. The processing device of claim 4 , wherein:

the search criteria is received by the search engine server from the client;

the search criteria comprises a search string and a search region;

the search engine server sets a search category information and a search region restriction for the user based on the search criteria; and

the adaptive search module generates the search results based on the search criteria, the search category information, and the search region restriction.

6. The processing device of claim 1 :

further comprising a location finder module operable to generate geographical mapping information that maps at least one of the entries with respect to a current location of the user on a map structure; and

wherein the search engine server communicates restricted search results with the geographical mapping information to the client.

7. The processing device of claim 1 , wherein the registration database server stores data collected from at least two Whois database servers.

8. A method performed by a search engine server that is communicatively coupled to at least one client device of a user, the method comprising:

storing search results corresponding to search criteria in a reverse index database, the search results including entries associated with at least one business or at least one organization;

correlating contact information received from a Whois database server with businesses or organizations of the reverse index database to populate an aggregate database;

determining location information for the user;

receiving search criteria from the user;

performing a search of the aggregate database using the search criteria to produce search results;

determining correlation data indicating whether contact information corresponding to the search result entries is local to the location information for the user;

determining whether the correlation data meets a confidence level factor that is based on both geographical proximity and contact information supplied by the Whois database server; and

when the correlation data meets the confidence level factor, restricting the search results to entries whose associated business or organization location is in geographical proximity to the user.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the contact information comprises at least one of a city name, a state name, a country code, a telephone number, and a GPS location.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the contact information comprises ownership information for a corresponding domain associated with at least one of the entries of the search results, the method further comprising:

determining a total number of domains registered by the organization with the same or similar ownership information;

assigning a priority to the corresponding one of the entries of the search result in response to the total number of domains being determined to be over a threshold number; and

employing the priority to determine the inclusion of the at least one of the entries into the search results.

11. The method of claim 8 , further:

crawling through a plurality of Whois databases to retrieve Whois information;

populating a Whois database using the Whois information; and

retrieving the organization contact information from the Whois database; and

wherein the organization contact information is used to determine the correlation data.

12. The method of claim 11 :

wherein:

the search criteria is received from the client; and

the search criteria comprises a search string and a search region; and

further comprising:

setting search category information and a search region restriction for the user based on the search criteria; and

generating the search results based on the search criteria, the search category information, and the search region restriction.

13. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

generating geographical mapping information that maps at least one of the entries with respect to a current location of the user on a map structure; and

communicating the restricted search results with the geographical mapping information to the client.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein the registration database server stores data collected from at least two Whois database servers.

15. A method performed by a search engine server that is communicatively coupled to at least one client device of a user, the method comprising:

crawling through a plurality of Whois databases to retrieve Whois information;

populating a Whois database using the Whois information; and

storing search results corresponding to search criteria in a reverse index database, the search results including entries associated with at least one business or at least one organization;

retrieving contact information from the Whois database;

correlating the contact information received from the Whois database server with businesses or organizations of the reverse index database to populate an aggregate database;

determining location information for the user;

receiving search criteria from the user;

performing a search of the aggregate database using the search criteria to produce search results;

determining correlation data indicating whether contact information corresponding to the search result entries is local to the location information for the user;

determining whether the correlation data meets a confidence level factor that is based on both geographical proximity and contact information supplied by the Whois database server; and

when the correlation data meets the confidence level factor, restricting the search results to entries whose associated business or organization location is in geographical proximity to the user.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the contact information comprises at least one of a city name, a state name, a country code, a telephone number, and a GPS location.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the contact information comprises ownership information for a corresponding domain associated with at least one of the entries of the search results, the method further comprising:

determining a total number of domains registered by the organization with the same or similar ownership information;

assigning a priority to the corresponding one of the entries of the search result in response to the total number of domains being determined to be over a threshold number; and

employing the priority to determine the inclusion of the at least one of the entries into the search results.

18. The method of claim 15 :

wherein:

the search criteria is received from the client; and

the search criteria comprises a search string and a search region; and

further comprising:

setting search category information and a search region restriction for the user based on the search criteria; and

generating the search results based on the search criteria, the search category information, and the search region restriction.

19. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

generating geographical mapping information that maps at least one of the entries with respect to a current location of the user on a map structure; and

communicating the restricted search results with the geographical mapping information to the client.

20. The method of claim 15 , wherein the registration database server stores data collected from at least two Whois database servers.

Assignments (8)