WO2001098919A1

WO2001098919A1 - Locating information in a network based on user's evaluation

Info

Publication number: WO2001098919A1
Application number: PCT/US2001/019873
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ashley Keller
Original assignee: Striking Eagle Investments, Ltd.
Priority date: 2000-06-21
Filing date: 2001-06-21
Publication date: 2001-12-27
Also published as: GB2380302A; GB0229959D0; AU2001270047A1; CN1461441A

Abstract

An evaluation (18) is received from an evaluating user (8a) with respect to a resource (4) available on a network (6). A subset of resources available on the network is identified based on a criterion and on the evaluation. The subset is presented to a retrieving user (8b).

Description

LOCATING INFORMATION IN A NETWORK BASED ON USER'S EVALUATION

BACKGROUND

This invention relates to locating information.

A search engine, for example, may be used to locate a web page on 5 the Internet based on a search key submitted by a user to the engine. The engine returns a list of location addresses containing information associated with the search key. The location addresses in the list may be ordered so that location addresses that match the key more closely are presented at the top of the list.

10 SUMMARY

In general, one aspect of the invention relates to a method that includes receiving from an evaluating user an evaluation of a resource available on a network, identifying a subset of resources available on the network based on a criterion and on the evaluation 15 and presenting the subset to a retrieving user.

Embodiments of the invention may include one or more of the following features. A rating of the evaluation may be received from a rating user and used to determine the extent to which to base the identifying of the subset of resources on the evaluation. 20 Information about the retrieving user or the evaluating user may also be received.

The criterion for identifying the subset may be received from the retrieving user. There may be multiple evaluations by different evaluating users of each of multiple resources, and a segment of 25 the evaluations may be identified based on the information received about the retrieving user. The segment may contain evaluations from evaluating users who are demographically similar to the retrieving user. For example, the similarity may be based on age or geographic location. Evaluation information may be 5 collected from the retrieving user and the segment may contain evaluations from evaluating users associated with similar evaluations to the evaluation information collected from the retrieving user. A list of evaluating users may be received from the retrieving users and the segment may contain evaluations 10 collected from evaluating users contained within the list of evaluating users.

The resource may be a web site and the subset may be presented to the retrieving user as a web page. The subset of the resources may be presented along with evaluations associated with the subset. 15 The resources in the subset may be displayed in an order based on evaluations, which may in turn be based on at least one of ease of use, appearance, content, and functionality.

The criterion for identifying the subset of the locations may include a search key. The resources may be organized into 20 categories and the criterion may include an identification of at least one of the categories.

In general, another aspect of the invention relates to an apparatus that includes an evaluation form configured to electronically collecting an evaluation of a resource from an evaluating user, a 25 search engine to identify a subset of resources based on a criterion and on the evaluation, and a presentation engine configured to present the subset to a retrieving user.

Embodiments of the invention may include one or more of the following features. The apparatus may include a rating form 5 configured to electronically collect a rating of the evaluation. The presentation engine may use the rating to determine on which evaluation to base the presenting of the subset.

There may be multiple evaluations for each of multiple resources, and the search engine may receive the criterion from a retrieving

10 user along with information about the retrieving user. The search engine may identify a segment of the evaluations for presentation based on the information about the retrieving user. The segment may contain evaluations from evaluating users who are demographically similar to the retrieving user. For example, the

15 similarity may be based on age or geographic location. Evaluation information may be collected from the retrieving user and the segment identified by the presentation engine may contain evaluations from evaluating users associated with evaluations that are similar to the evaluation information collected from the

20 retrieving user. The search engine may receive a selection of evaluating users from the retrieving user and the segment determined by the presentation engine may contain evaluations collected from users in the selection.

The subset of the resources may be presented along with associated 25 evaluations. The subset may be presented in an order determined from evaluations and the evaluations may be based on ease of use, appearance, content, and functionality. The criterion for identifying the resources may be a search key. The resources may be organized into categories and the criterion may include 5 information about a category.

In general, a third aspect of the invention relates to a method comprising displaying a user interface element that enables a user to indicate an evaluation of a resource available on a network and sending the evaluation to a central server. The user interface 10 element includes a continuous numerical scale along which the user can indicate the evaluation.

Embodiments of the third aspect of the invention may include one or more of the following features. The numerical scale may range from 1 to 100 and the user interface element may include a slider. 15 It may also include a subjective scale associated with the numerical scale.

In general, a fourth aspect of the invention relates to a method that includes displaying to a user an identification of a resource available on a network, and displaying in association with the 20 identification of the resource a user interface element that graphically indicates the results of evaluations of the resource provided by other users.

In certain embodiments of the fourth aspect of the invention, the results of the evaluations may be indicated by a proportion of a box 25 that is filled by a colored bar. In general, a fifth aspect of the invention relates to a method cthat includes displaying pages of a web site in a browser, enabling a user of the browser to invoke an evaluation feature, in response to the user invoking the evaluation feature, providing interactive 5 elements that enable the user to evaluate the web site, and providing the results of the evaluation to a web site other than the one that is being evaluated.

Embodiments of the fifth aspect of the invention may include one or more of the following features. The evaluation feature may 10 include a plug-in for a standard browser and the interactive elements may include an evaluation form.

Among the advantages of the invention, it allows users to locate information that is more relevant to their interests or more appealing to them.

15 Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an information server for locating information.

20 FIGs. 2-10 show web pages.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 1, a system 2 for locating information includes an information server 4 that is connected to a computer network 6, such as an intranet, an extranet, or the Internet. Users 8a, 8b may 5 communicate with the information server 4 through client computers 10a and 10b, which are also connected to the computer network 6. For purposes of discussion, one of the users 8a is called an evaluating user and the other 8b is called a retrieving user.

The evaluating user 8a views one or more web pages 12 of a 10 website that are received through the network 6 using a browser program 14 that is executed by a processor 16 associated with the client computer 10a. The evaluating user 8a may also use the browser program 14 to submit an evaluation 18 of the web page along with information 19 about the user 8a to the information 15 server 4. The evaluation information is stored and analyzed by the information server along with evaluation information submitted by a large number of other users.

The retrieving user 8b submits an information request 20 to the information server 4. The information server 4 uses the

20 information request 20 and the stored evaluation information 44 to identify location information 22 about a series of locations (e.g., URLs of web sites) that contain information related to the request 20. The information server 4 sends the location information 22 to the client computer 10b over the network 6. The location

25 information 22 includes portions of the evaluation information 44 that are associated with the series of locations to guide the user in selecting the location within the series from which to retrieve information associated with the request 20. After retrieving the information, the user 8a may submit a review 23 of the evaluation information that was delivered to the user 8a based, for example, 5 on its usefulness. The evaluation information that is sent to the client computer can include individual evaluations by particular evaluators and aggregate evaluation information provided by groups of users. The review information that is sent back from the client computer to the server 4 can include reviews of individual 10 evaluations or reviews of groups of evaluations.

For example, user 8a and many other users may have given the web site www.amazon.com a moderately high rating. Later when user 8b sends a search query to the information server to locate online booksellers, the "hits" that are returned to him could include 15 the URL for amazon.com along with the information that many users had rated the site moderately high. User 8b, after going to the amazon.com site may feel that the site should have been rated as extremely high. He may then return an evaluation review that rates the reviews given by the other users.

20 The information server 4 includes a processor 30 for executing computer programs 32 that are stored within a storage 34 associated with the information server. The storage 34 may be a CDROM, floppy disk, hard disk, or hard disk array. The computer programs 32 include an input interface 35 for receiving evaluations

25 18 and information requests 20 over the network 6, a search engine 36 for searching for location information 22 related to the information requests 20, and a presentation engine 38 for presenting the location information 22 over the network 6. The computer programs 32 also include a database management system 39 for managing information 40 used by the search engine and the 5 presentation engine. The computer programs 32 may be standalone programs or executable libraries, such as dynamically linked libraries ("DLLs").

The information 40, held within the storage 34, includes web site information 42 that is used by the search engine 36 to identify web 10 sites that are related to the information request 20 from the user 8b. The web site information 42 is arranged in categories 43 of related information. For example, web sites related to entertainment are grouped into the same category 43.

The stored information 40 also includes evaluation information 44 15 about the web sites that are associated with the web site information. The evaluation information 44 is obtained by collecting evaluations 18 from users 8a of the information server 4 and is used to determine which web sites may be most helpful or desirable to users 8a, 8b of the information server. Additionally, 20 the stored information 40 includes reviews 46 of the evaluations 18 and user information 48 about the users associated with the evaluation information, which are used to determine which evaluations are relevant to the retrieving user 8b. The evaluation reviews and the user information are collected from the users of 25 the information server. The stored information 40 also includes a set of web pages 50 (or software that can dynamically create web pages) that are served to the users 8a, 8b as a medium of communication.

The interaction of the user 8 a, 8b and the information server 4 will be described below with reference to FIGS. 2-11.

5 Referring to FIG. 2, the information server 4 presents a registration web page 60 to a user 8a, 8b (FIG. 1) when the user enters a URL (not shown) associated with the information server 4 (e.g., the URL www.why.com) into the web browser 14. The registration page 60 includes a link 62 that the user 8a, 8b can click to register

10 as a member of the web site. A user may opt not to register as a member of the web site by clicking on the link 64. Users who are not members cannot submit reviews of web sites. However, they can still retrieve location information 22 based on evaluation information submitted by other users. The registration page 60 also

15 contains information 66 about the advantages of becoming a member of the web site. For instance, the information 66 includes a paragraph 68 informing the user 8a, 8b that members may review web sites and submit evaluations 18 (FIG. 1) of web sites and that other users locate the best web sites based on the evaluations. The

20 information 62 also includes a paragraph 69 announcing rewards given to members who review web sites. The rewards are an incentive to members to submit evaluations 18 (FIG. 1).

FIG. 3A shows a sign-up page 70 that the information server 4 presents to users who opt to register by clicking on the link 62 25 (FIG. 2) described above. The sign-up page includes an box 72 where the user enters an identifier ("ID") by which he would like to be identified in the information server 4, and a box 73 where the user enters his email address. The identifier may be the user's name or any string of characters chosen by the user. The signup 5 page also includes a pair of boxes 74 where the user enters a password that the server 4 uses to authenticate the user. The user submits the information contained within the inputs 72-74 by clicking on the submit button 76.

FIG. 3B shows a profile web page 80 presented to a user who has 10 submitted the registration information. The profile page 80 includes boxes 81 and 82 where the user enters his name and address respectively. The profile page 80 also includes boxes 83, 84, and 86 where the user enters his phone number, country of residence, and age, respectively. Additionally, the profile page 15 contains an input 87 for entering the user's annual income. The information server 4 may be configured to collect other demographic information such as the user's interests and level of education.

A user may opt to have the information server 4 determine his so- 20 called sphere of influence for him by selecting option 88. The sphere of influence is a set of evaluating users 8a (FIG. 1) whose evaluations 18 (FIG. 1) are used by the information server 4 to determine location information 22 (FIG. 1) associated with the information requests 20(FIG. 1) from the user 8b. If the user 25 selects the option 88, the information server determines a sphere of influence for the user based on the profile information 81-87 submitted by the user. Otherwise if the user does not select the option 88, the user is free to add and remove or add individual evaluating users 8a from or to his sphere of influence (how does the user do this?). The user submits the profile information 5 contained within the inputs 81-88 by clicking on the submit button 89.

Referring to FIG. 4, after submitting the profile information, the information server 4 presents a "thank you" web page 90 to the user. The "thank you" web page thanks the user for signing up as a

10 member and presents the user with a variety links which the user may click on to view other web pages. For example, the user may click on a link 92 to view a set of answers to questions that are frequently asked about the information server 4 or a link 94 to submit feedback about the information server 4. The user may also

15 view a home page associated with the information server 4 by clicking on link 96.

Referring to FIG. 5, the information server 4 presents the home page 100 when the user clicks on the link 96 (FIG. 4). The information server 4 also presents the home page 100 to users who

20 click on link 64 (FIG. 2). The home page 100 includes a form 102 for searching for location information 22 based on a search key. The user enters the search key in box 104 and then clicks on the search button 106 to submit the key to the information server 4. The information server retrieves location information 22 based on

25 the search key and presents it on a web page, as described below with reference to FIG. 6. Alternatively, a user may retrieve location information 22 from the information server 4 based on other criterion besides a search key. For instance, the user may click on a link 108 associated with a category 43 (FIG. 1) of information. For example, the link 108a is 5 associated with information in the category "entertainment." The web browser 14 (FIG. 1) sends information associated with the clicking to the information server 4, which retrieves the location information 22 associated with the category 43. A user may also retrieve location information 22 associated with the best web sites

10 using a form 110. The user selects a basis 112 for evaluating the web sites and then clicks the submission button 114 to send the evaluation basis to the information server 4, which retrieves the location information 22. In all cases, the server uses the received criteria to select location information and present it to the user as

15 described below with reference to FIG. 6.

Referring to FIG. 6, the information server 4 retrieves and presents the location information 22 on a web page 120. The location information 122 corresponds to the submitted criterion 121 for locating information. In the example of FIG. 6, the submitted

20 criterion is the search key "air ticket." The location information 22 includes a series of links 122a- 122c to web sites related to the criteria submitted by the user, a title 123 a- 123 c of each of the web sites, and a short summary 124a- 124c of the information contained within the web site. Multiple sets of location information are

25 retrieved and presented in order of their evaluation or rating by users. For example, the web page 120 shows three different sets 125a-125c of location information 22 which are presented in order of their overall rating with the highest rated set appearing first. A user may reorder the results based on evaluation information, e.g., ease of use, appearance, content, and functionality by clicking on the desired evaluation information in a drop-down list 126 5 contained within the web page 120. A user may also order the list based only on evaluation information from the user's sphere of influence by selecting the option button 127.

Referring again to FIG. 5, a user may submit an evaluation 18 (FIG. 1) of a web site using a form 130 contained within the web

10 page 100. The user enters the uniform resource location ("URL") of the web site that he would like to review in box 132 of the form 130. The user then clicks on a submission button 134 to submit the results. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 7A, the user may evaluate any web page 140 that is displayed on the web browser 14 by

15 clicking on an "evaluate" button 142 associated with a plug-in that is installed on the user's web browser. Much like the evaluation form 130 of FIG. 5, the evaluate button 142 submits the URL 144 of the web page 140 to the information server 4 so that the user can review the web site. The "evaluate" button plug-in may be

20 downloaded from a web site and installed on the web browser 14.

Referring to FIG. 7B, upon receiving a URL 144 of a site to be evaluated, the information server 4 presents a web page 150 that shows the URL 144 along with existing evaluation information 152 associated with the URL. The existing evaluation information 25 152 is presented using a graphical indicator 152a that is similar to a thermometer. The graphical indicator 152a has a section 153 of a different color that is longer for sites that have positive evaluations. A scale 154 gives the user a sense of a numerical evaluation 155 associated with the URL 144. Web sites that receive positive evaluations have higher numerical evaluation 5 numbers. A user may submit an evaluation of the information contained within the URL 144 by clicking on the "vote" button 156. A user may also access detailed evaluation information by clicking on the link 157.

Referring to FIG. 8, upon clicking on the link 157 in FIG. 7B for 10 accessing detailed evaluation information, the information server 4 presents the user with a web page 160. The web page includes an aggregate 162 of evaluation information collected from different users. The web page also contains detailed evaluation information 164 from an evaluating user 8a (FIG. 1) with an ID "hossfeld." The 15 detailed evaluation information includes a numerical evaluation score 166a along with a verbal evaluation 166b. The date 168 of the evaluation is also displayed to the user to allow the user to determine whether or not to rely on the evaluation. After reading the evaluation information 164, the user may rate the information 20 by selecting one of the options 170 and clicking on the link 172. For example, if the user found the evaluation helpful, he would select the option 170a labeled "helpful". Otherwise he would select either the "neutral" or the "useless" option. A user may opt to view other reviews by the evaluation user 8a by clicking on the link 172.

25 Referring to FIG. 9, when a user opts to view other evaluations by the evaluating user 8 a, the information server 4 presents the user with a web page 180 containing a series of evaluations 181, 182 submitted by the evaluating user 8a. Each evaluation 181 includes a link 183 to the web site being evaluated, a set of numerical evaluations 184, and a verbal evaluation 186. The numerical 5 evaluations are based on different characteristics such as ease of use, content, appearance and functionality. The average of the different characteristics is displayed as an overall numerical evaluation. If the user likes the evaluations 181,182 submitted by the evaluating user 8 a (or for some other reason thinks they are

10 relevant), the user may click on the link 188 to add the evaluating user 8a to the user's sphere of influence. As previously discussed with reference to FIG. 6, a user may opt to retrieve information based only on the evaluations of people contained within his sphere of influence. Thus, the link 188 allows a user to determine

15 which evaluations affect the information retrieved by the user.

Referring to FIG. 10, when a user opts to review a URL by clicking on the button 156 of FIG 7B, the information server 4 presents a web page 190 that allows the user to review the URL 144 (FIG. 7B). The user enters a verbal evaluation of the URL 144

20 in a box 192. The user may also submit numerical evaluations of the URL 144 based on the ease of use, appearance, content and functionality of the web site associated with the URL using slider inputs 194. Each slider input 194 has a slider 196 which can be moved by clicking on the slider using a pointer (such a mouse

25 associated with the client computer), and dragging the slider to the left or to the right. The user enters an evaluation of the URL by positioning the slider to the right to indicate a positive evaluation or to the left to indicate a negative evaluation. The slider input 194 automatically computes a numerical evaluation 198 between 0 and 100 based on the position of the slider input. Thus the slider input 194 allows a user to graphically enter a numerical evaluation for a 5 web site associated with a URL 144 using a pointer. The user submits the evaluation information by clicking on a button 200 on the web page 190.

Referring to FIGs. 11 and 1, the method performed by the information server 4 to locate information will be described. When

10 the input interface 35 receives (300) a criterion 20 for locating information, the search engine 36 checks (302) whether the criterion corresponds to a click on an information category 108 (FIG. 5). If the criterion corresponds to a click on an information category, the search engine retrieves (304) location information 22

15 associated with the information category 108. Otherwise, the criterion corresponds to a search key. The search engine performs a search based on the search key and retrieves (306) links to sites matching the search key.

The presentation engine 38 then checks (308) whether the search is 20 limited to the user's sphere of influence, as previously described with reference to FIG. 6. If the search is limited to the user's sphere of influence, the presentation engine 38 limits (312) the domain over which evaluations are considered to the set of evaluations from users within the user's sphere of influence. 25 Otherwise, the presentation engine sets (310) the domain over which evaluations are considered to be evaluations from all users. The presentation engine then gets (314) the evaluations corresponding to the retrieved links and selects (316) evaluations that have been assigned ratings above a threshold value, e.g., helpful. The presentation engine then identifies (318) links that 5 have received evaluations above a threshold value, for example 50, and arranges (320) the identified links in an order based on the selected evaluations. For example, the identified links may be arranged in order of decrease of positive evaluations. The presentation engine then presents the arranged links along with the 10 evaluation information to the user, for example, as shown in FIG. 6.

Other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims.

For example, the information server could be used to locate information stored in a format other than web pages. The

15 information server may be used to locate documents stored in portable document format ("PDFTM") or Microsoft Word™ format. The information server may be used to locate information that is not stored on a web server connected to a network. For example, the information may be contained within a hard disk or a

20 hard disk array associated with a computer. The presentation engine may not identify (318 of FIG. 11) links with evaluations above a threshold value and may instead present all the retrieved links to the user in an order based on the evaluation information.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving from an evaluating user an evaluation of a resource available on a network;

5 identifying a subset of resources available on the network based on a criterion and on the evaluation; and

presenting the subset to a retrieving user.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a rating of the evaluation from a rating user, and

10 using the rating to determine the extent to which to base the identifying of the subset of resources on the evaluation.

3. The method of claim 1 also including

receiving information about the retrieving user or the evaluating user.

15 4. The method of claim 1 in which the criterion is received from the retrieving user.

5. The method of claim 3 in which

there are multiple evaluations by different evaluating users of each of multiple resources, and a segment of the evaluations is identified based on the information received about the retrieving user.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the segment contains evaluations from evaluating users who are demographically similar

5 to the retrieving user.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the demographic similarity is based on at least one of age or geographic location.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein evaluation information is collected from the retrieving user and the segment contains

10 evaluations from evaluating users associated with similar evaluations to the evaluation information collected from the retrieving user.

9. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

receiving a list of evaluating users from the retrieving user 15 and wherein

the segment contains evaluations collected from evaluating users contained within the list of evaluating users.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the subset is presented along with evaluations associated with the subset.

20 11. The method of claim 1 wherein the resources in the subset are displayed in an order based on evaluations.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the evaluation is based on at least one of ease of use, appearance, content, and functionality.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the criterion for identifying the subset of the locations comprises a search key.

5 14. The method of claim 1 wherein the resources are organized into categories and the criterion comprises an identification of at least one of the categories.

15. The method of claim 1 in which the resource comprises a web site.

10 16. The method of claim 1 in which the subset is presented to the retrieving user as a web page.

17. Apparatus comprising:

an evaluation form configured to electronically collecting an evaluation of a resource from an evaluating user;

15 a search engine connected to identify a subset of resources based on a criterion and on the evaluation; and

a presentation engine configured to present the subset to a retrieving user.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising:

20 a rating form configured to electronically collect a rating of the evaluation; and wherein the presentation engine uses the rating to determine on which evaluation to base the presenting of the subset.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein

there are multiple evaluations for each of multiple 5 resources, and

the search engine receives the criterion from a retrieving user along with information about the retrieving user and identifies a segment of the evaluations for presentation based on the information about the retrieving user.

10 20. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the segment contains evaluations from evaluating users who are demographically similar to the retrieving user.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein the similarity is based on at least one of age or geographic location.

15 22. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein evaluation information is collected from the retrieving user and the segment identified by the presentation engine contains evaluations from evaluating users associated with evaluations that are similar to the evaluation information collected from the retrieving user.

20 23. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the search engine receives a selection of evaluating users from the retrieving user and the segment determined by the presentation engine contains evaluations collected from users in the selection.

24. The apparatus of claim 17 in which the subset is presented along with evaluations associated with the subset of the resources.

25. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the subset is presented in an order determined from evaluations.

5 26. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the evaluation is based on at least one of ease of use, appearance, content, and functionality.

27. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the criterion comprises a search key.

10 28. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the resources are organized into categories and the criterion comprises information about a category.

29. A method comprising

displaying a user interface element that enables a user to 15 indicate an evaluation of a resource available on a network, the user interface element including a continuous numerical scale along which the user can indicate the evaluation, and

sending the evaluation to a central server.

30. The method of claim 29 in which the user interface element 20 comprises a slider.

31. The method of claim 29 in which the user interface element includes a subjective scale associated with the numerical scale.

32. The method of claim 29 in which the numerical scale is 1 to 100.

33. A method comprising

displaying to a user an identification of a resource available 5 on a network, and

displaying in association with the identification of the resource a user interface element that graphically indicates the results of evaluations of the resource provided by other users.

34. The method of claim 33 in which the results of the

10 evaluations are indicated by a proportion of a box that is filled by a colored bar.

35. A method comprising

displaying pages of a web site in a browser,

enabling a user of the browser to invoke an evaluation 15 feature,

in response to the user invoking the evaluation feature, providing interactive elements that enable the user to evaluate the web site, and

providing the results of the evaluation to a web site other 20 than the one that is being evaluated.

36. The method of claim 35 in which the evaluation feature comprises a plug-in for a standard browser.

37. The method of claim 35 in which the interactive elements comprise an evaluation form.