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;

receiving, from the user, filter data based upon user preferences; 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 related products located 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:

filtering the at least two related products to exclude at least one of the related products based upon the filter data and, thereby, create a filtered set of related products;

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

comparing the content associated with the product attribute in one of the filtered set of related products against content associated with the product attribute in each of the other located products of the filtered set of located products; and

assigning a relative score to the content associated with the product attribute in each of the filtered set of related products based upon 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 filtered set of related products based upon the prioritizing of the product attributes and the score of the content associated with the product attributes.

2. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises presenting the filtered set of related products to the user in a table, the table comprising a comparison of each related product of the filtered set of related products by product attribute.

3. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises ranking the filtered set of related products based upon the user profile data.

4. The method according to claim 3 , which further comprises providing a recommendation of one of the related products based at least partly on the user profile data ranking.

5. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises receiving information that allows the user to determine a status of at least one investment of the user.

6. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises presenting a best fit recommendation for the at least two related products based upon the user profile data and the associated product attributes.

7. The method according to claim 6 , which further comprises updating the best fit recommendation of the at least two related products in response to a change in priority of at least one of the product attributes.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein products are ranked against each other based upon the prioritized shared set of product attributes and displayed to a user at the client computer.

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

guiding the user through a question and answer-based expert system; and

updating the ranking based upon answers provided by the user.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the filter data comprises at least one of a required initial investment amount and a total net asset value.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein:

the at least two related products comprise a family of funds; and

the filter data comprises at least one of a total net asset value of the family of funds and a number of funds possessed by each family of funds.

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

presenting the filtered set of related products to the user; and

further filtering the filtered set of related products in order to further reduce an amount of related products presented to the user.

13. 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;

receive, from the user, filter data based upon user preferences; 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 related products located 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:

to filter the at least two related products to exclude at least one of the related products based upon the filter data and, thereby, create a filtered set of related products;

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

to compare the content associated with the product attribute in one of the filtered set of related products against content associated with the product attribute in each of the other located products of the filtered set of located products; and

to assign a relative score to the content associated with the product attribute in each of the filtered set of related products based upon 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 filtered set of related products based upon the prioritizing of the product attributes and the score of the content associated with the product attributes.

14. The system according to claim 13 , wherein the client computer is operable to present the filtered set of related products to the user in a table, the table comprising a comparison of each related product of the filtered set of related products by product attribute.

15. The system according to claim 13 , wherein at least one of the client computer and the server is further operable to:

rank the filtered set of related products based upon the user profile data; and

provide a recommendation of one of the related products based at least partly on the user profile data ranking.

16. The system according to claim 13 , wherein the client computer is operable to receive information that allows the user to determine a status of at least one investment of the user.

17. The system according to claim 13 , wherein at least one of the client computer and the server is operable to rank products against each other based upon the prioritized shared set of product attributes and display the ranked products to a user at the client computer.

18. The system according to claim 13 , wherein:

the client computer is operable to guide the user through a question and answer-based expert system; and

at least one of the client computer and the server is operable to update the ranking based upon answers provided by the user.

19. The system according to claim 13 , wherein the filter data comprises at least one of a required initial investment amount and a total net asset value.

20. The system according to claim 13 , wherein:

the at least two related products comprise a family of funds; and

the filter data comprises at least one of a total net asset value of the family of funds and a number of funds possessed by each family of funds.