CONTENT QUALITY APPARATUS, SYSTEMS, AND METHODS

1 - 30 . (canceled)

31 . A method of defining a system for assessing a set of documents, the method comprising:

providing a scoring module for generating a set of scores for each of a set of documents based on a set of scales that measure relevance of a document according to different criteria; and

providing a filter associated with the scoring module for identifying documents in the set of documents that have scores above a set of corresponding threshold levels for the set of scales.

32 . The method of claim 31 further comprising providing a grading module for allocating a set of grades for each of the set of documents based on the set of scores.

33 . The method of claim 31 further comprising providing an input module coupled to the filter for receiving, from a user, (i) at least one search string for identifying the set of documents to be scored by the scoring module and (ii) the set of corresponding threshold values.

34 . The method of claim 31 further comprising providing a database that stores previously-received documents, wherein the scoring module accesses the database to compare a document with a previously-received document.

35 . The method of claim 31 further comprising providing a document source lookup table that provides a score for a document source of a document.

36 . The method of claim 31 further comprising providing a document type lookup table that provides a score for a document type of a document.

37 . The method of claim 31 further comprising providing a connectedness lookup table that provides an obscurity score indicating the degree of connectedness of a document to a user.

38 . A method of computing content relevance for documents, the method comprising:

receiving a set of documents;

scoring each of the set of documents based on a set of scales;

receiving, from a user, a set of threshold values for the set of scales; and

filtering the set of documents to obtain a subset of documents with scores that exceed the set of threshold values.

39 . The method of claim 38 , wherein receiving the set of documents comprises receiving a search string from the user to identify the set of documents.

40 . The method of claim 39 further comprising parsing the search string into a set of segments, wherein scoring a particular document comprises calculating a set of user query scores for the document, each user query score associated with a particular segment, wherein a user query score for a particular segment is based on at least one of (1) a frequency of occurrence of the segment in the document, (2) a prominence of location of the segment in the document, and (3) a prominence of textual attributes associated with the segment in the document.

41 . The method of claim 38 , wherein scoring a document comprises:

obtaining a source identifier associated with the document; and

retrieving a source score for the document from a source lookup table based on the source identifier.

42 . The method of claim 38 , wherein scoring a document comprises:

obtaining a type identifier associated with the document; and

retrieving a type score for the document from a type lookup table based on the type identifier.

43 . The method of claim 38 , wherein scoring a particular document comprises:

determining a set of previously-received documents stored in a document database;

concatenating each of the set of previously-received documents to create a concatenated document; and

performing a syntactic text comparison between the particular document and the concatenated document to (i) identify portions of the newly-received document that are different from the concatenated document and to (ii) calculate a syntactic difference score that compares the actual text of the concatenated document and the newly-received document.

44 . The method of claim 38 , wherein scoring a particular document comprises:

determining a set of previously-received documents stored in a document database;

concatenating each of the set of previously-received documents to create a concatenated document; and

performing a semantic text comparison between the particular document and the concatenated document to (i) identify portions of the newly-received document that are different from the concatenated document and (ii) calculate a semantic difference score that compares the actual meaning of the subject matter of the concatenated document and the newly-received document.

45 . The method of claim 38 , wherein scoring a document comprises:

retrieving a connectedness value from a connectedness lookup table for the document;

calculating an obscurity score associated with the document based on the connectedness value; and

weighing the obscurity score based on a user profile, wherein the user profile indicates a specialty topic associated with the user.

46 . The method of claim 38 , wherein scoring a document comprises:

identifying a keyword in the document;

retrieving an impact value associated with the keyword by using an impact lookup table; and

calculating an impact score for the document based on the impact value.

47 . A computer readable medium storing a computer program for computing content relevance for a set of documents associated with a stream of documents, the computer program comprising sets of instructions for:

receiving a user query and a set of score thresholds for a set of relevance scales;

evaluating a set of documents according to the set of relevance scales, wherein at least one of the scales is affected by the user query; and

identifying documents in the set that score above the thresholds for the set of relevance scales.

48 . The computer readable medium of claim 47 , wherein the scale affected by the user query evaluates the set of documents by measuring applicability to the user query based on a location of the user query in the document.

49 . The computer readable medium of claim 47 , wherein the scale affected by the user query is a content source score that is affected by a presence of a particular identifier in the user query.

50 . The computer readable medium of claim 49 , wherein the particular identifier identifies one of an entity and a market.