Web search engine with graphic snapshots

Abstract

A search engine manages the indexing of web page contents and accepts user selection criteria to find and report hits that meet the search criteria. The inventive search engine has an associated crawler function wherein display images of the web pages are rendered and stored as snapshots, preferably when the pages are indexed. The search engine reports search results by composing an html page with links to the corresponding page hits and containing snapshot reduced size graphic images showing the web pages as they appeared when fetched and stored as snapshots.

Description

[0001]Notice: More than one reissue application has been filed for the reissue of U.S. Pat. No. 6,643,641. The reissue applications are application Ser. No. 11 / 266,750 (present application) and application Ser. No. 11 / 513,423 (continuation of application number 11 / 266,750) which are reissues of U.S. Pat. No. 6,643,641.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The invention concerns methods and apparatus for representing data file contents for searching the data files and reporting selected data file addresses, especially hypertext markup language files accessed using an Internet search engine (i.e., Web pages). One process develops a database representing the text content of data files on a network. Another process renders graphic representations of the files according to a default configuration and stores a compressed graphic file for each. A further process selects file hits according to user criteria and reports their addresses with associated presentation o...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0031]According to an inventive aspect, the graphic image file that is produced is not necessarily identical to the appearance of the page when ultimately loaded by the user after a search. In addition to the fact that the web page may have changed since it was rendered into the graphic file, the rendering is accomplished according to a predetermined display configuration of the crawler when rendered. Nevertheless, the graphic is a useful and very quick means for a user to sift through search results and determine immediately whether or not at least some of the hits bear further investigation.

Problems solved by technology

However, the display and processing of the files is not necessarily the same from one user's browser to another.

This web crawling method is now impractical for on-demand searching.

The usual success rate in finding a pertinent page or website in one try or only a few tries is actually rather low.

The success rate varies with the subject matter, but in a typical search the user's search criteria may turn out to be unduly broad and may select so many pages that they cannot all be reviewed, or may be so narrow that much desired content is excluded, either of which can be an unsatisfactory and perhaps frustrating experience.

Balancing the needs to include relevant material and to exclude irrelevant material can result in a substantial expenditure of time, much of which is effectively wasted.

Images