System and method for categorically scoring electronic documents

Abstract

Methods and apparatus are provided for associating scores with search results obtained from a search engine so that the scores can be displayed with the search results. A search of electronic documents, such as webpages, is requested and a set of search results obtained. Each search result in the set references an electronic document. Using the search results, a database containing scores determined for electronic documents is searched to determine whether scores have been determined for the electronic documents referenced by the search results. The scores stored in the database are based on people's ratings of the electronic document corresponding to the score. If a score has been determined for an electronic document referenced by one of the search results, that score is associated with the search result and the search results are then displayed with any scores associated with the search results.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for displaying a plurality of scores, the method comprising:
 deploying a network-connected electronic document scoring server comprising at least a memory and a processor and further comprising programmable instructions stored in the memory and operating on the processor, the instructions configured to displaying a plurality of scored document objects, comprising the steps of:
 receiving a plurality of document objects; 
 displaying, at a display device, at least one score along with the plurality of document objects, each score associated with each document object; 
 wherein each score is determined independently from the received order of the plurality of document objects; 
 wherein each score is based on at least one rating value subjectively assigned to the associated document object by a first member of a plurality of members other than the first member; and, 
 wherein each rating value is weighted by a weight factor assigned to the first member who assigned the rating value, with the weight factor assigned to the first member being based on user ratings assigned to the first member by other members of the plurality of members, where each user rating used to determine the weight factor for a second member is weighted by the weight factor determined for the second member assigning the user rating and wherein the weight factors for the plurality of members are determined by iteration before the at least one score of the plurality of scores is determined. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each rating value used to determine one of the at least one score is weighted by a weight factor assigned to the first member who assigned the rating value. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of document objects are links to webpages. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of document objects are references to electronic documents. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the step of reordering the plurality of document objects based on the at least one score. 
     
     
         6 . A document scoring system comprising:
 at least one processor;   a memory operatively coupled to the at least one processor;   a display device operative to display data; and   program code stored in the memory and operating on the at least one processor, the instructions configured to displaying a plurality of scored document objects, the program code operative for:
 receiving a plurality of document objects; 
 displaying, at a display device, at least one score along with the plurality of document objects, each score associated with each document object; 
 wherein each score is determined independently from the received order of the plurality of document objects; 
 wherein each score is based on at least one rating value subjectively assigned to the associated document object by a first member of a plurality of members other than the first member; and, 
 wherein each rating value is weighted by a weight factor assigned to the first member who assigned the rating value, with the weight factor assigned to the first member being based on user ratings assigned to the first member by other members of the plurality of members, where each user rating used to determine the weight factor for a second member is weighted by the weight factor determined for the second member assigning the user rating and wherein the weight factors for the plurality of members are determined by iteration before the at least one score of the plurality of scores is determined. 
   
     
     
         7 . The scoring system of  claim 6 , wherein each rating value used to determine one of the at least one score value is weighted by a weight factor assigned to the first member who assigned the rating value. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the plurality of document objects are links to webpages. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the plurality of document objects are references to electronic documents. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising the step of reordering the plurality of document objects based on the at least one score. 
     
     
         11 . A method for associating scores determined for a plurality of documents objects, the method comprising:
 deploying a network-connected electronic document scoring server comprising at least a memory and a processor and further comprising programmable instructions stored in the memory and operating on the processor, the instructions configured to displaying a plurality of scored document objects, comprising the steps of:
 providing a database for storing scores determined for a plurality of stored document objects; 
 obtaining the plurality of stored document objects; 
 obtaining one or more referenced document objects; 
 for each referenced document object of the plurality of the plurality of referenced document objects, searching the database for any score determined for the corresponding stored document object wherein a referenced document object is the same as corresponding stored document object; 
 if a score has been determined for a first stored document object wherein the first document object is the same as a first referenced document object, retrieving the score; 
 wherein each score is based on at least one rating value subjectively assigned to the associated stored document object by a first member of a plurality of members; 
 wherein each rating value is weighted by a weight factor assigned to the member who assigned the rating value, with the weight factor assigned to a member being based on user ratings assigned to the member by other members of the plurality of members, where each user rating used to determine the weight factor for a member is weighted by the weight factor determined for the member assigning the user rating and wherein the weight factors for members are determined by iteration before the at least one score is determined; and 
 wherein the at least one score is determined and associated to the first stored document object before obtaining the one or more referenced document objects. 
   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein each rating value used to determine one of the at least one scores is weighted by a weight factor assigned to the member who assigned the rating value. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the plurality of document objects are links to webpages. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the plurality of document objects are references to electronic documents. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising the step of reordering the plurality of document objects based on the at least one score.