Cherry picking search terms

Abstract

In an electronic presentation of information, search is made easier and more personal by identifying words, symbols or images (collectively called terms) in text and allowing users to select any of those terms to refine their search. The technology is called “cherry picking” because it allows each user to select what they judge to be the best terms among many available terms in the text, and use those terms to their own advantage. Terms in text are identified by a visual indicator such as a change in the shape of the cursor. “Stop words,” words that do not change the outcome of the search, and words that meet other specific criteria are not selectable.

1 . A method of searching, the method comprising:
 displaying a list of search results, each search result having a plurality of terms;   enabling a user to select one of the plurality of terms from the search results; and   conducting a search using the selected term.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of terms is within the list of search results. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of terms are based on information obtained from the search result. 
     
     
         4 . A method for searching, the method comprising:
 conducting a first search based on a search term to identify a plurality of search results, each search result having a plurality of terms;   identifying at least one of the plurality of terms as a selectable search term;   enabling a user to select the selectable search term; and, conducting a second search based on the selected search term.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the plurality of selectable terms are not identified to the user as being selectable prior to the step of conducting a first search. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the search result comprises information that can be used in the second search. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the search result terms comprise information from an Internet site identified by the search result. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein each search result further comprises a link to information. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising displaying a plurality of the search results as a list. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising displaying a plurality of the search results, wherein the selectable search term is differentiated from the non-selectable search terms. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising a cursor and the selectable search term is differentiated by changing the appearance of the cursor when the cursor is positioned over the selectable search term. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the selectable search term does not include search result terms that comprise a stop word. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the selectable search term does not include search result terms that are part of a prior search query. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the selectable search term does not include search result terms that are not included in a substantial number of the plurality of search results. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the search result terms comprise a plurality of words and the selectable search term comprises one of the plurality of words. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the search terms are displayed as part of a respective search result. 
     
     
         17 . A method of searching the Internet, the method comprising:
 conducting a search based on a search term to identify a plurality of search results;   displaying a plurality of the search results as a list, wherein each search result has a link identifying a respective Internet site containing information, the search result further having terms associated with the information at the respective Internet site, the terms being positioned on the display to be associated with the link;   defining at least one of the search result terms as a selectable search term;   enabling a user to pass a pointing device over the search result terms to identify the selectable search terms;   enabling the user to select any one of the selectable search terms; and, conducting a search based on a selected search term.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the step of enabling a user to pass a pointing device over the search result terms to identify the selectable search terms comprises modifying the appearance of the pointing device when the pointing device is positioned over one of the selectable search terms. 
     
     
         19 - 22 . (canceled)