Relevancy-based domain classification

Abstract

A domain classifier develops and maintains relevance data about specific domains based on historical relevance data and source context data. Such data may be used to classify the user's interest in attempting to visit a specific domain and thereby redirect the user to a website expected to be aligned with the user's interest. In various implementations, the historical relevance data is derived from source context data and/or post-visit user behavior collected from previous attempts to visit a specific domain. The source context data collected from the current visit may also be used as source context-factors to influence domain classification. Based on such historical and current source context factors, as well as the domain address provided in the user's navigation request, a domain classifier consults the historical relevance data and provides the user with Web content that is identified as likely to be relevant to the user's interests.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving a request from a source to access content of a target domain, the request being addressed to a domain address of the target domain;   identifying a new content domain that is determined to be relevant to the request based on a combination of the domain address of the target domain and historical relevance data associated with the target domain, the historical relevance data including one or more context factors collected from at least one previous request to the target domain;   providing access to content of the identified new content domain, responsive to the request.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the operation of providing access to content of the identified new content domain comprises:
 redirecting the source to access the content from the new content domain. 
 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the operation of providing access to content of the identified new content domain comprises:
 accessing the content from the new content domain; 
 serving the content to the source. 
 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the operation of providing access to content of the identified new content domain comprises:
 accessing a Web content object from the new content domain; 
 serving the Web content object to the source. 
 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the Web content object includes an advertisement determined to the relevant to the request from the source. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the Web content object includes a document determined to the relevant to the request from the source. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the domain address is a URI. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the domain address is an IP address. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the historical relevance data conditionally maps the domain address of the target domain to a domain address of the new content domain. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the context factors include source context data collected from a source of at least one previous request to the target domain. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the context factors include target context data collected about the target domain from at least one previous request to the target domain. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 collecting one or more source context factors pertaining to the source of the request, wherein the identifying operation comprises identifying a new content domain that is determined to be relevant to the request based on a combination of the domain address of the target domain, the collected source context factors, and historical relevance data associated with the target domain. 
 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 collecting one or more target context factors pertaining target domain, wherein the identifying operation comprises identifying a new content domain that is determined to be relevant to the request based on a combination of the domain address of the target domain, the collected target context factors, and historical relevance data associated with the target domain. 
 
     
     
         14 . A tangible computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a computer process, the computer process comprising:
 receiving a request from a source to access content of a target domain, the request being addressed to a domain address of the target domain;   identifying a new content domain that is determined to be relevant to the request based on a combination of the domain address of the target domain and historical relevance data associated with the target domain, the historical relevance data including one or more context factors collected from at least one previous request to the target domain;   providing access to content of the identified new content domain, responsive to the request.   
     
     
         15 . The tangible computer-readable medium of  claim 14  wherein the operation of providing access to content of the identified new content domain comprises:
 redirecting the source to access the content from the new content domain. 
 
     
     
         16 . The tangible computer-readable medium of  claim 14  wherein the operation of providing access to content of the identified new content domain comprises:
 accessing the content from the new content domain; 
 serving the content to the source. 
 
     
     
         17 . The tangible computer-readable medium of  claim 14  wherein the operation of providing access to content of the identified new content domain comprises:
 accessing a Web content object from the new content domain; 
 serving the Web content object to the source. 
 
     
     
         18 . The tangible computer-readable medium of  claim 17  wherein the Web content object includes an advertisement determined to the relevant to the request from the source. 
     
     
         19 . The tangible computer-readable medium of  claim 17  wherein the Web content object includes a document determined to the relevant to the request from the source. 
     
     
         20 . The tangible computer-readable medium of  claim 14  wherein the domain address is a URI.