Hierarchical information retrieval from a coded collection of relational data

Abstract

A system for information retrieval from a collection of hypermedia data over a distributed network is presented. The system includes a data storage system that is a collection of hypermedia data. The collection of hypermedia data also has a number of hyperlinks to items of hypermedia content, and the hyperlinks are each respectively associated with at least one code value generated based on the content of the respective hypermedia content. The system also includes an application that receives progressive user input and iteratively build a user search code value according to the user input. It matches the user search code value to at least a portion of the hypermedia content code value for the hyperlinks in the data storage to identify each such associated hyperlink to a particular information retrieval data set.

I/we claim: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method for searching a network for data, the method comprising:
 receiving a selection of a first semantic selector for a first axis, wherein an axis defines a classification model according to which a potential set of results are classified, and wherein the first semantic selector represents an instance value for the first axis, the selection of which eliminates results in the potential result set that are not related to a classification associated with the first semantic selector;   receiving a selection of a second semantic selector for a second axis, wherein the second axis defines a second classification model independent of the first classification model, and wherein selection of the second semantic selector eliminates potential results not related to a classification associated with the second semantic selector;   searching a data store to identify results based on an intersection of the received first and second semantic selectors; and   displaying one or more results from the data store based on the identified results,   wherein the preceding steps are performed by at least one processor.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the first axis is geography and the second axis is a topic, and wherein the first semantic selector identifies a particular geographic region and the second semantic selector identifies a particular topic. 
     
     
         3 . A computer-implemented method for navigation and searching the Internet using visual comprehension, the method comprising:
 displaying one or more representational images in a user interface, wherein the images are used as guide markers for drilling into sequential result levels;   receiving from a user a selection of one or more of the displayed representational images;   determining a code associated with the received selection of the one or more representational images, wherein each code represents a subject associated with one or more web pages;   providing the determined code to an indexed database built by associating codes with web pages;   receiving from the indexed database one or more subject matter results associated with the provided code, wherein the results exclude unwanted material that would be produced by a text-based search; and   displaying at least some of the received one or more subject matter results to the user.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  wherein selecting one or more representational images comprises selecting by a user an image without depending on vocabulary for describing the image. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3  wherein selecting one or more representational images comprises selecting by a user an image that does not know how to read. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 3  wherein the determined code excludes one or more subject areas that can be described by one or more similar words. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 3  wherein a sequence of receiving the selection of multiple displayed representational images narrows the determined code to describe a more refined subject area. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 3  wherein displaying at least some of the received one or more subject matter results comprises displaying the results as a second set of one or more representational images, so that the user can further drill down by selecting another image. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 3  wherein receiving a selection comprises receiving a search query without a user providing any keystrokes. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 3  wherein displaying the one or more representational images comprises displaying each image without any associated text, so that the user, without reading, can input the selection. 
     
     
         11 . A computer system for indexing content by subject matter, the system comprising:
 a processor and memory configured to execute software instructions, wherein the software instructions are embodied in the following components;   a request receiving component configured to receive one or more requests to identify search results associated with a received subject matter code;   an indexing component configured to identify one or more web pages and associate one or more subject matter codes with each web page, wherein differing subjects that can be described by similar words are assigned different subject matter codes; and   a results component configured to provide a response to requests that includes one or more search results identified by the indexing component based on a received subject matter code, wherein the search results are web pages associated with the received subject matter code.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the received subject matter code is an index key which specifies a navigational pathway of hierarchically organized search results in the indexing component. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the indexing component is further configured to associate with each web page one or more selection criteria in addition to subject matter. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the indexing component is further configured to apply one or more inclusion and exclusion criteria to automatically determine subject matter of a web page. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the request receiving component is further configured to receive from a user one or more search options which the indexing component matches to one or more selection criteria associated with each web page. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the request receiving component is further configured to generate a command string from one or more received search options with which to search the identified web pages. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the indexing component is further configured to associate an image thumbnail with each web page. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 11  further comprising a selection component configured to receive an indication of which search results a user selected from the response, and wherein the indexing component is further configured to maintain a priority value for each web page that indicates a frequency with which the page has been selected in search results. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the results component is further configured to provide a percentage distribution of results relating to the received subject matter code. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 11  further comprising a parental control component configured to receive an identification of subject matter codes that are deemed inappropriate for children, and wherein the results component is further configured to provide results that are age-appropriate for an identified requestor.