KR20070086012A - Search system presenting active abstracts including linked terms - Google Patents

Abstract

Upon receiving a search query, a search to identify at least one resource relevant to the search query is performed. At least one excerpt is extracted from the at least one resource, and a term of interest is identified in the excerpt. A link to a referral document is associated with the term of interest. Upon selection of the link, the referral document is displayed. Alternatively, the link is associated with a second search query, and the second search query is automatically performed upon selection of the link. A network telephone call can be automatically placed when a telephone number is the term of interest.

Description

SEARCH SYSTEM PRESENTING ACTIVE ABSTRACTS INCLUDING LINKED TERMS}

The present invention relates to methods and apparatuses for searching a document corpus, and more particularly to providing summaries in a link for initiating relevant searches in search results.

Search engines are computer programs that allow a user to know the location of information. To know the location of specific topic information, a user may submit one or more search query terms related to the topic to the search engine. In response, the search engine executes the search query and generates information about the search results. Information about search results referred to herein as "search results" generally includes a list of resources, such as documents, files, web pages, and the like, that satisfy a search query. The resources identified in the search results are referred to herein as "matching resources."

While search engines are applied in a variety of environments, one common use is to navigate through document corpus by searching for documents of interest. Therefore, search engines are particularly useful for knowing the locations of resources that can be accessed over the Internet, since the Internet can be thought of as a huge set of resources. Many different search techniques can be used by Internet search engines. For example, an Internet search engine may create entries for a search index, and then read or "crawl" pages on the Internet to use the index when it is determined whether the pages relate to a search query. .

Matching resources identified in Internet search results may include files, the contents of which are organized in page description languages such as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). The files are commonly called web pages. Using a web browser, a web page can be retrieved by input to the browser's universal resource locator (URL). Therefore, Internet search results can be provided to the user as a list of hypertext links to URLs of matching resources. Users search for the document or resource of interest found in the search by selecting a hypertext link or URL of the resource found in the search results.

Search results may include too many matching resources that a user may get tired of. To assist the user, search results often include a short description or "summary" with each matching resource. The summaries are relatively short so that the user can quickly determine the relevance of the matching resource listed in the search results.

Often, a summary of matching resources consists of abstracts related to the search query obtained from the matching search. For example, an abstract may include a section of matching resources that includes one or more question terms from a search question or a section that includes information related to the question term. The purpose of providing search results as a series of abstract abstract summaries is to help the user determine whether matching resources include the information the user is looking for. By reading the abstract obtained from a given matching resource, the user can better determine whether the matching resource should do another search.

The search for a specific resource is a multi-step process because the search results generated by the search engine associated with the question may not contain the precise information the searcher desires, and therefore additional searches may be needed. Often, a searcher creates another search query later based on information obtained from the initial search results.

For example, a user may choose to use Yahoo! A search query can be initiated by typing or pasting one or more terms into the search window of a web page published by a search engine, such as a search server. Depending on the question terms used and the number of pages or documents containing the question terms, the search results may include many matching resources. The user then selects specific matching resources of the search results for further investigation to find the specific resource.

In a particular embodiment, a searcher who wants to find driving directions for a location (eg, a museum) may enter the name of the location (ie, a search question) into the search engine interface and include the entered location name. Receive search results consisting of a list of matching resources. From the initial question, the search results may be silent about the location, and the search results may not include a driving direction for the location, which is the information that the user actually wants. However, the search results may include one address or other information that can be used for another search to obtain the desired driving directions. For example, a searcher may cut and paste an address for a location determined in an initial search into a mapping search engine (eg, Yahoo! Map Server) configured to search the map database to generate driving directions for the location. .

While this example provides the user with the targeted information using two search queries, in many cases a larger number of search queries are needed to find the targeted information. Thus, these conventional search techniques are slow and annoying because the user manually executes each search (eg, typing or pasting query terms) to know the desired information or specific resource location.

There is a need for better techniques for providing search results from a search engine.

The methods described in this section are methods that can be pursued, but are not necessarily methods previously considered or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed to be limited to the prior art due to the fact that any of the methods described in this section are merely included in this section.

The invention is illustrated by way of example in the figures of the accompanying drawings, but without limitation, like reference numerals refer to like elements.

1 is a simplified schematic diagram of an information retrieval and communication network including a client system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 illustrates an example browser showing an example search engine webpage that may be serviced to a client system upon user request in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

3 illustrates an example browser showing an example search engine web page that includes a question entered on a web page in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

4 depicts an exemplary browser showing a webpage that provides search results to a client system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

5A is an example diagram of an example document, such as a webpage included in the document corpus to be retrieved.

FIG. 5B is a simplified diagram of the example document of FIG. 5 with an anchor that is a link target provided in search results.

6 is a high level flow chart with steps for initiating a search using an active summary in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

7 is a high level flow chart with steps for initiating a search using an active summary in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.

8 is a block diagram illustrating a computer system in which embodiments of the present invention may be implemented.

In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific items are provided to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent that the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order not to unnecessarily obscure the present invention.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to searching the Internet, references to the Internet are variations of the basic concepts of the Internet (e.g., intranets, virtual private networks, closed TCP / IP networks, LAN, WAN, Etc., as well as other forms of the network, it should be understood. It should be understood that the present invention can operate entirely within one computer or collection of one computers, so that there is no need for a network.

In addition, hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) and URLs and other protocols can be used to request and transfer content from search results such as SMTP (simple mail transfer protocol), FTP (file transfer protocol), and the like.

Overview of Search Engine System

1 is a simplified schematic diagram of an information retrieval and communication network 10 including a client system 20 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In the communication network 10, client system 20 is the Internet or an intranet (e.g., LAN or WAN) via the same network 30, is coupled to any number of server systems (40 ₁ -40 _N) . Client system 20 is configured to communicate with one or any of the server systems (40 ₁ -40 _N) of the matching resources to access, receive, retrieve, and / or displays that are serviced by more server systems. The client system 20 can communicate directly with the server system or via the network 30.

The client system 20 may be a searchable document corpus available through a network such as a desktop personal computer, workstation, laptop, personal digital assistant (PDA), cell phone, any wireless application protocol (WAP) running device, or the Internet. It can include any other computing device capable of interfacing directly or indirectly to it.

Client system 20 is typically Microsoft's Internet Explorer ^™. Browser, Netscape Navigator ^TM browser, Mozilla ^TM browser, Opera ^TM browser, in the case of cell phones WAP running browser, PDA or wireless device, or to operate and so on, the server the user of the client computer 20 via the network 30 the system (40 ₁ -40 _N) access content from, the process, and allows for viewing. The client system may use less interactive interfaces such as computer to computer Extensible Markup Language (XML) interfaces or the like.

Client system 20 typically server systems (40 ₁ -40 _N) or page provided by different servers, and pomdeul display in relation to other information (e. G., Monitor screen, LCD display, etc.) the One or more user interface devices, which may include one or more keyboards, mice, roller balls, touch screens, touch pads, pens, or the like for interacting with a graphical user interface (GUI) provided by a browser ( 22).

The server system (40 ₁ -40 _N) are configured to provide one or more resources from the search results to the client system (20). Each server system may comprise a single server computer or a cluster of server computers. In addition, the server system can be configured to operate as a search engine. For example, server system 40 ₃ may be configured to operate as an Internet search engine that receives a search query from client system 20 and provides search results to the client system. For convenience, server system 40 ₃ is referred to herein as a search engine. While server system 40 ₃ is a search engine, it should be understood that the server system may be configured to perform other functions to provide wider utility than search.

Client system 20 communicates a search question to a search engine. A search question may contain one or more question elements such as question terms (ie text strings), Boolean operators, graphical elements (eg, video elements, picture elements, etc.), audio elements, or the like. Include. Although the present invention has been described in the context of a search query consisting of one or more question terms, it should be understood that the search questions are not limited to question terms and may include any form of question element.

The document is associated with the search query if the document contains one or more question terms of the search question, including an derivative of the question term, or otherwise including information associated with the question term. A derivative of a question term may include a question term with a prefix or suffix appended to the question term, a compound word containing the question term, or the like.

According to one embodiment, document corpus 50 includes documents on the World Wide Web (WWW), other networks (eg, intranets), a single computer, or the like. The optional indexer 56 is configured to form an index 54 that indexes documents in the document corpus 50 and / or documents in the document cache 52. Indexer 56 may be configured to periodically review documents (eg, through directory searches, crawling, etc.) to form and / or update indexes. Index 54 provides an index to the document corpus and / or document cache for faster retrieval; But no index is required. Indexer 56, a document cache 52, and index 54, the server systems (40 ₁ -40 _N) as being separate from, but is also shown in Figure 1, one or more of these components are one or more of the server It may alternatively be integrated into the systems.

According to one embodiment, search engine 40 ₃ indexes index 54 for resources related to the search engine submitted by document corpus 50, document cache 52, and / or client system 20. Search. Search techniques known to those skilled in the art can be used by the search engine 40 ₃ .

The search results include information about documents, or other resources (ie matching resources) determined in relation to the search query. For example, search results may include a title, summary, category, and / or one or more keywords for each related document found in the search. Search results may include links to documents, links to cached versions of documents, or other related information. Links included in search results typically include hypertext links to specific URLs.

, One or more server systems, as briefly described in the above (40 ₁ -40 _N) receiving a search query from a user via the client computer 20, and performs a search based on the query terms of the search query, and Can be configured to operate as a search engine (eg, search engine 40 ₃ ) that provides search results to client system 20. The user of the client system 20 may be a human user who interfaces with the user interface 22 of the client system 20 that processes the search query for transmission to the search engine 40 ₃ . The user may be a computer process or system that programmatically generates a search query. In the system, the requesting process or system programmatically processes the results of the search query, but optionally the computer processing or system makes the search query, and the human user is the final recipient of the search results of the search query.

2 is a diagram of an example browser displaying an example search engine webpage 200 that may be serviced to client system 20 by search engine 40 ₃ . For example, search engine 40 ₃ may be configured to publish search engine web pages on web pages that are accessible via a URL. Search engine web pages are served to client systems when a user enters or selects a URL of a browser's search engine website. In particular embodiments, search engine webpage 200 may be accessed via a Yahoo! It may be a search web page.

A user using a keyboard enters, for example, one or more question terms, ie text strings, into one or more boxes 210a-210d on a search engine web page to form a search question. Optionally, the question term can be cut and pasted into one or more boxes using a mouse or the like. Those skilled in the art know other techniques for entering question terms into the user interface of the application. Search engine web pages are not limited to input of question terms because the question may include other question elements such as graphic elements (eg, video elements, picture elements, etc.), audio elements, or the like. It is noted that not.

The user presses a search button 215 to begin a search for resources that match or are related to the entered question terms. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, a user may enter the string “camera” in box 210a and press search button 215 to begin a search for documents related to the query term “camera”. have. After the selection of the search button 215, the search query entered by the user is sent from the client system 20 to the search engine (20) to initiate a search of the document corpus 50, the document cache 52 and / or the index 54. 40 ₃ ).

According to one embodiment, search engine 40 ₃ sends the search query to document corpus 50, document cache 52, or index 54, such as an HTTP message or the like. In response to receiving the question message from the search engine 40 ₃ , the document corpus and / or document cache may perform a database search for resources (eg, webpages) that match or are related to the search question. . In addition, if the index receives a question from a search engine, the index may search the documents that were indexed to know the location of one or more documents that match or are related to the question.

In one embodiment, information about resources identified as matching or related to a search query is sent directly to the search engine 40 ₃ at the document corpus or document cache. Optionally, information regarding matching resources is first sent to the recognizer module 60 shown as a component of the server system 40 ₁ of FIG. 1. The recognizer module 60 is used to extract or determine additional information about the identified matching resources. According to one embodiment, recognizer module 60 is configured to analyze information received from document corpus 56 or document cache 52 to produce search results served to client system 20. In one embodiment, the generated search results may be delivered to the client system via an HTTP server 40 ₂ . The specific functionality of the recognizer module 60 is discussed in more detail below.

4 shows an example browser display showing an example webpage 400 that includes search results 405 that may be serviced to a client system 20 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The search results 405 according to the contemplated embodiment include three matching resources for the question term “camera” and are numbered from one to three. It should be understood that the webpage 400 includes three matching resources, and that the search results may include few or many matching resources. According to some embodiments, the search results may indicate that no resources are placed to match the question.

Each matching resource in the search results may include a title 420, a category 425 (such as Yahoo! used to classify and organize web content), one or more subcategories 430, and a link to the associated resource. 435, and a link 440 to the cached version of the resource. In one embodiment, link 430 and / or link 440 includes a list of associated URLs that may be pasted into the browser. In one embodiment, links 430 and / or 435 include hypertext links. The following elements of the published search results are classified in FIG. 4 with the basic reference numbers and numerical subscripts listed above. Each matching resource of search results may include one or more of the following elements in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention, and may include other elements not listed.

According to one embodiment, the title 415 included in the search results may be extracted by the recognizer module 60 from metadata associated with the matching resource. Optionally, the title may be generated by the recognizer module, or other module. The recognizer module may be configured to deliver extracted or generated titles and the like to the search engine 40 ₃ .

In one embodiment, each title provided in the search results includes a link to the associated resource. The link can include a URL listed as a link 435 or 440 as the target of the link. The association between the title and the link can be made by a search engine or recognizer module. The user can select a link associated with the title, thus linking to the associated resource by clicking the title, double-clicking the title, or selecting the title.

Each category 425 and subcategory 430 may be associated similarly to selectable links. Category or subcategory links are typically configured to begin publishing a list of resources associated with the selected category and subcategory for the client system after selection. The resources listed after the selection of the category link may be associated with the links. For example, resources of resources for a selected category are listed by title, and each title includes a link to the associated resource.

Active summaries

According to one embodiment, each summary 420 associated with a matching resource of search results includes one or more abstracts from the associated resource. As used herein, “abstract” refers to a section of text or other content extracted from a resource. Preferably, the abstract included in the abstract includes the question term used in the search question.

In one embodiment, recognizer module 60 is configured to identify abstracts for inclusion in the abstract. In one embodiment, recognizer module 60 may extract the first abstract from a document that includes or otherwise relates to a question term. In another embodiment, the recognizer module determines the relative relevance of the abstracts and selects the highest relevance abstracts to include in the summary. For example, recognizer module 60 may be configured to determine that abstracts have a relatively high relevance to the question term. An abstract has a relatively high relevance to the question terminology if the abstract contains a question term or a derivative of the question term, whereas an abstract that does not include the question term or its derivatives may have a relatively low relevance. Include related terms. In one embodiment, the recognizer module selects one or more abstracts that have a relatively high relevance to the question term for use in the abstract. Those skilled in the art will know other ways to identify abstracts of a document for inclusion in the abstract.

According to one embodiment, recognizer module 60 is further configured to identify specific terms in the abstract that a user may want additional information for. In general, these terms are called "interested terms". The term of interest may include a single word or may include a string of words. For example, the recognizer module may include keywords, categories (e.g., Yahoo! defined keywords and categories), names (e.g., proper names, business names, organization names, Place names, etc., rare words, product names, trademarks, service marks, titles (eg, music titles, book titles, titles of TV shows, etc.), street addresses, Phone numbers, etc. These are all forms of terms that can be used by the user in a secondary search for information.

In one embodiment, the term may be determined to be of interest according to user specified preferences. User preferences may be determined from information provided by the user in the form of a registration, or from tracking the user's questions and / or documents the user requires.

In one embodiment, one or more terms of interest identified in the abstract are provided in the summary in a characteristic manner to indicate to the user that the terms have been identified as potentially of interest to the user. For example, terms may be bold, underlined, double underlined, italicized, colored, or the like to characterize what the term is potentially of interest. For example, each of the summaries 420 shown in FIG. 4 includes double underscore terms 445 to indicate that the term is a term of interest. As shown in FIG. 4, terms such as “X brand cameras”, “looking for shopping” and “parallel image comparison” are included in summaries 420 _1-3 to indicate that these terms are of interest to the user. Double underlined Terms of interest are such as configured to change the cursor from a first graphic (eg an arrow) to a second graphic (eg a hand with a pointing finger) if the cursor is placed on the term of interest. May be identified by other techniques. Those skilled in the art will recognize other useful techniques for indicating that an abstract term is a term of interest.

The term 445 of interest may be configured to be an “active term”. An active term is a term associated with a link that can be selected by a user, such as a hypertext link. The user can select the active term to obtain additional information about the term or summary. The choice of active term causes a variety of behaviors, some of which are described herein. The type of behavior associated with the active term may be determined by the term itself in one embodiment.

In one embodiment, a link to an active term may be associated with a URL that identifies a particular document. In this embodiment, the document is downloaded and provided to the user in the browser when the user selects (eg, clicks) an active term. Typically, a particular document associated with an active term includes additional information about the term.

According to another embodiment, the link associated with the active term may be configured to automatically initiate another search using one or more words of the term of interest as question terms. In particular, in this embodiment, selecting a link associated with an active term triggers a term of interest to be sent to the search engine 40 ₃ to automatically initiate a search for one or more resources associated with the term of interest. (Or select words).

For example, search engine 40 ₃ may search document corpus 50 or search the network in real time to know the location of resources associated with the selected term of interest. Searches initiated by selecting a link associated with active term 445 are not too limited. For example, selecting a link associated with an active term may require a map server (e.g., to initiate a map search automatically to know the map and / or driving directions for an address, place, or the like contained in the selected term of interest. For example, you can trigger a Yahoo! Map Server).

Optionally, selecting a link associated with an active term may trigger an electronic dictionary (eg, a web based dictionary) to retrieve the definition of the rare words included in the selected term of interest. According to another alternative, the selection of the active term causes the electronic encyclopedia to be searched and the user is provided with instructions associated with the selected term of interest found in the encyclopedia. According to another alternative, selecting the link associated with the active term may trigger an automatic search of the company website to find information about the product, service or the like identified in the selected term of interest. According to another alternative, selecting a link associated with an active term may automatically trigger a search of the intranet to know the location of information related to the selected term of interest.

According to another embodiment, the link associated with the active term may point to a cached version of the associated document in the document cache. In this embodiment, the recognizer module (or other module) may insert one or more anchors into the cached document such that the link associated with the active term points to an anchor in the cached document.

For example, FIG. 5A shows a simplified illustration of a document 500 (eg, a webpage) that may be a document corpus. Portion 505 of the document may be abstract extracted by recognizer module 60 to provide search results such as a summary. 5B illustrates one version of document 500 that may be stored in the document cache. The recognizer module inserts the anchor 510 in the document associated with the term of interest in the abstract. The anchor is placed around the text 505 portion so that if the associated active term is selected, the cached document is displayed in a browser window on the client system starting at the anchored portion of the text 505. The anchor may be executed as appropriate HTML, XHTML, SGML, XML or the like. According to some embodiments, recognizer module 60 may be configured to cache documents in a document cache before a search performed by a user.

In other embodiments, the recognizer module can insert anchors at the beginning of the document or in cached versions of the document at other document locations. For example, the recognizer module can be configured to insert anchors into cached documents around strings that can be included in popular questions (eg, questions executed more than a predetermined or configured number). .

According to another alternative, a web based telephone call (eg, voice packet network) may be initiated if the active term includes a telephone number. For example, if a search using the search engine webpage 400 in the starting network, user searches of the company by name, and search results of the starting network search are abstracted from the webpage containing the telephone number for the company Including the user, the user can automatically place a network telephone call for the company by selecting (eg, clicking) the displayed telephone number as the active term in the abstract.

Although a number of illustrated embodiments have been described with respect to the use of links associated with active terms in the Abstract Background Summary, those skilled in the art will recognize other searches or services that may begin with the selection of a link associated with the active term.

6 is a high level flow diagram for starting a search using an active summary. High level flow diagrams are merely illustrative and one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize the various steps added, deleted, and / or modified and would be within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, example embodiments should not be construed as limiting the invention as defined by the claims.

At 600, a first network search is performed to identify at least one resource related to the query term. For example, a user of client system 20 may use search engine website 200 to enter question terms and to perform a search. At 605, at least one abstract is extracted from the resource identified at step 605.

At 610, at least one term of interest is identified in the extracted abstract. At 615, the term of interest is associated with a link. At 620, the abstract containing the term of interest is displayed on the display of the client system as a summary associated with the identified resource of search results. At 625, the second network search is automatically initiated by the user selecting a link associated with the term of interest (ie, active term) in the displayed summary. The second network search is configured to search for resources associated with the selected term of interest. At 630, search results for the second network search are displayed on the display of the client system.

7 is a high level flow diagram with steps for automatically placing network telephone calls in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The high level flow diagram shown in FIG. 7 is merely illustrative and one of ordinary skill in the art appreciates and recognizes the various steps that are added, deleted, and / or modified and are within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the exemplary embodiments should not be determined to limit the invention as defined by the claims.

At 700, a first network search is performed to identify at least one resource associated with the query term. For example, a user of client system 20 may use search engine website 200 to enter question terms and to perform a search. At 705, at least one abstract is extracted from the identified resource. At 710, the abstract is displayed on the display of the client system in a summary associated with the identified resource listed in the search results.

At 715, the telephone number is identified in the abstract. At 720, the identified telephone number is associated with the link. At 725, the link is selected by the user such that a network phone call for the phone number is automatically placed. In one embodiment, the network telephone call includes a Voice Packet Network (VoIP) telephone call using techniques known to those skilled in the art.

Hardware overview

8 is a block diagram illustrating a computer system 800 in which an embodiment of the present invention may be implemented. Computer system 800 includes a bus 802 or other communication mechanism for communicating information, and a processor 804 coupled with a bus 802 for processing information. Computer system 800 includes main memory 806, such as random access memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device, for storing information and instructions to be executed by processor 804. Main memory 806 may be used to store time variables or other intermediate information while executing instructions to be executed by processor 804. Computer system 800 further includes read-only memory (ROM) 808 or other static storage coupled to bus 802 for storing static information and instructions for processor 804. Storage device 810, such as a magnetic or optical disk, is provided and coupled to bus 802 to store information and instructions.

Computer system 800 may be coupled to a display 812, such as a cathode ray tube (CRT), via bus 802 to display information to a computer user. Input device 814, which includes alphanumeric and other keys, is coupled to bus 802 to communicate information and command selections to processor 804. Another type of user input device is a cursor control 816, such as a mouse, trackball, or cursor directional keys, for communicating direction information and command selections to the processor 804 and controlling cursor movement on the display 812. Such an input device typically has two degrees of freedom in two axes, e.g., a first axis (e.g. x) and a second axis (e.g. y), which allow the device to be assigned to positions in the plane. Have

The present invention relates to use in computer system 800 for practicing the techniques described herein. In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, the techniques are performed by computer system 800 in response to processor 804 executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions contained in main memory 806. . The instructions may be read into main memory 806 from another machine readable medium, such as storage 810. Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in main memory 806 causes processor 804 to perform the processing steps described herein. In other embodiments, wiring circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions for practicing the present invention. Thus, embodiments of the present invention are not limited to any particular combination of hardware circuitry and software.

As used herein, “machine readable medium” is any medium that participates in providing data that enables a machine to operate in a particular manner. In embodiments executed using computer system 800, various machine readable media are involved in providing instructions to processor 804, for example, for execution. The medium may take many forms, including but not limited to non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Non-volatile media includes, for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as storage device 810. Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as main memory 806. The transmission medium includes coaxial cables, rubber wire and optical fibers, including wires comprising bus 802. The transmission medium may take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as generated during radio wave and infrared data communications.

General forms of machine readable media include, for example, floppy disks, flexible disks, hard disks, magnetic tapes, or any other magnetic media, CD-ROMs, any other optical media, punch cards, paper tapes, patterns of holes. And any other physical medium having RAM, RAM, RPOM and EPROM, FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, carrier described later, or any other medium readable by a computer.

Various forms of machine readable media may be included in carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions to processor 804 for execution. For example, the instructions may be initially carried on a magnetic disk of a remote computer. The remote computer loads the instructions into dynamic memory and sends the instructions over a telephone line using a modem. The local modem for computer system 800 uses an infrared transmitter to receive data on a telephone line and convert the data into an infrared signal. The infrared detector receives the data carried in the infrared signal and a suitable circuit can place the data on the bus 802. Bus 802 carries data to main memory 806, from which processor 804 retrieves and executes instructions. Instructions received by main memory 806 may optionally be stored in storage 810 before or after execution by processor 804.

Computer system 800 includes a communication interface 818 coupled to bus 802. The communication interface 818 provides two-way data communication coupling to a network link 820 connected to the local network 822. For example, communication interface 818 may be an integrated service digital network (ISDN) card or modem for providing a data communication connection to a corresponding type of telephone line. As another embodiment, communication interface 818 may be a local area network (LAN) card for providing a data communication connection to a compatible LAN. Wireless links may be implemented. In this implementation, communication interface 818 transmits and receives electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams representing various types of information.

Network link 820 typically provides data communication to other data devices over one or more networks. For example, network link 820 may provide access to host computer 824 or data equipment operated by Internet service provider (ISP) 826 via local network 822. ISP 826 in turn provides data communication services over a world wide packet data communication network, commonly referred to as the " Internet " Local network 822 and the Internet 828 both use electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams. Signals over the various networks and over the network link 820 and on the network link 820 that carry digital data to and from the computer system 800 are exemplary forms of carriers that carry information.

Computer system 800 may send messages and receive data including program code via network (s), network link 820, and communication interface 818. In an Internet embodiment, server 830 may send the required code for the application program over the Internet 828, ISP 826, local network 822, and communication interface 818.

The received code may be executed by processor 804 when received and / or stored in storage 810, or other non-volatile storage for later execution. In this manner, computer system 800 may obtain application code in the form of a carrier wave.

Computer code for implementation aspects of the invention may be C, C ++, HTML, XML, Java, JavaScript, etc. code, or any other suitable scripting language (eg, VBScript), or client system 20 and / or the like. or server systems is the recognition that (40 ₁ -40 _N) is running or the client system (20) and / or servers (40 ₁ -40 _N) can be compiled by any one of a number of other suitable programming language to run in Should be. In some embodiments, code is not downloaded to the client system 20 and the necessary code is executed by the server, or code already provided to the client system 20 is executed.

In the following specification, embodiments of the present invention have been described with reference to a number of specific details that may vary from execution unit to operation. Thus, the only and exclusive indication what is the present invention and intended by the applicants of the present invention is the specific form in which the claims arise and the set of claims appearing in this application including any subsequent amendment. Any definitions appearing herein for the terms contained in the claims shall apply to the meaning of the terms used in the claims. Accordingly, limitations, elements, properties, features, advantages, or attributes, which are not limited in the claims, do not limit the scope of the claims in any way. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

Claims (34)

A method for providing search results in response to a search query comprising computer-implemented steps, wherein the computer-implemented steps include: Based on the search query, identifying a resource related to the search query; Extracting an abstract from the identified resource; Identifying terms of interest in the abstract; Generating a link to the term of interest that, when selected, causes the browser to search the cited document; And Providing an abstract as part of search results of the search query, How to provide search results. The method of claim 1, wherein the search query comprises at least one question term, and identifying the term of interest in the abstract comprises identifying a question term from the search question in the abstract, How to provide search results. The method of claim 1, wherein the citation document is a document that is not an identified resource. How to provide search results. The system of claim 1, wherein the citation document is a cashed version of the identified resource. How to provide search results. The method of claim 4, wherein Inserting an anchor into the cached version of the identified resource, The link is associated with an anchor in the cached version of the identified resource, How to provide search results. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein inserting an anchor in the cached version of the identified resource comprises inserting an anchor near a term of interest in the cached version of the identified resource. How to provide search results. The method of claim 1, wherein the search results are configured to display terms of interest in a characteristic manner on a browser. How to provide search results. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the characteristic way is to underline the term of interest, double underline the term of interest, highlight the term of interest, change the font of the term of interest and change the color of the term of interest. At least one of How to provide search results. A method of retrieving a document corpus comprising computer execution steps, the computer execution steps comprising: Receiving a first search query from a client; Performing a first search of the document corpus to identify a matching resource for the first search query; Extracting an abstract from a matching resource; Identifying terms of interest in the abstract; Providing search results comprising the abstract to the client; Automatically performing a second search after receiving a selection of indicators associated with terms of interest in the abstract; And Providing search results of the second search to the client, How to search document corpus. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein automatically performing the second search comprises automatically performing a search of the document corpus using terms of interest as question terms. How to search document corpus. The method of claim 10, wherein the term of interest is not a question term in a first search question, How to search document corpus. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the second search further comprises at least one of a map search, a dictionary search, and a company website search. How to search document corpus. The system of claim 12, wherein the search results of the second search include at least one of directions, maps, word definitions, and documents for places associated with the term of interest. How to search document corpus. The method of claim 9, wherein the term of interest comprises at least one of a keyword, category, name, trademark, service mark, title, address, and telephone number, How to search document corpus. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the document corpus is the Internet. How to search document corpus. A method for automatically placing a network telephone call comprising computer running steps, the computer running steps comprising: Performing a first search to identify a resource associated with a search query from a client; Extracting an abstract from the identified resource; Identifying a telephone number in the abstract; Associating a link with a telephone number; And Providing an abstract to a client as part of search results for the search query; And After receiving the selection of the telephone number link from the client, automatically placing a network telephone call for the telephone number; How to automatically place network phone calls. 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the network telephone call is a voice packet network telephone call. How to automatically place network phone calls. A machine readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause one or more processors to perform the method according to claim 1. A machine readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions which when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform the method according to claim 2. A machine readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method according to claim 3. A machine readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions, when executed by one or more processors, to cause the one or more processors to perform the method according to claim 4. A machine readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions, when executed by one or more processors, to cause the one or more processors to perform the method according to claim 5. A machine readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause one or more processors to perform the method according to claim 6. A machine readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions, when executed by one or more processors, to cause the one or more processors to perform the method according to claim 7. A machine readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions, when executed by one or more processors, to cause the one or more processors to perform the method according to claim 8. A machine readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions, when executed by one or more processors, to cause the one or more processors to perform the method according to claim 9. A machine readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions, when executed by one or more processors, to cause the one or more processors to perform the method according to claim 10. A machine readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause one or more processors to perform the method according to claim 11. A machine readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions, when executed by one or more processors, to cause the one or more processors to perform the method according to claim 12. A machine readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions, when executed by one or more processors, to cause the one or more processors to perform the method according to claim 13. A machine readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions, when executed by one or more processors, to cause the one or more processors to perform the method according to claim 14. A machine readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions, when executed by one or more processors, to cause the one or more processors to perform the method according to claim 15. A machine readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause one or more processors to perform the method according to claim 16. A machine readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions, when executed by one or more processors, to cause the one or more processors to perform the method according to claim 17.

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