Online marketplace for automatically extracted data

Abstract

A system for automatically locating and data-typing information originating from many Web pages, and then collecting that information in a database. The database is then made available via an online data marketplace which allows users from different organizations to buy and sell related data, associated advertisements, and access to the communities of end-users who may also view advertisements and make purchases.

1 . A method comprising the steps of:
 storing data elements in a database for a given data domain as specified by a schema, the data elements being a stream that originates from a continually updated analysis of source pages in the data domain using an annotated template; and   making the data stream available as a service to others.   
     
     
         2 . A method as in  claim 1  wherein users register to sell data streams. 
     
     
         3 . A method as in  claim 1  wherein users register to buy data streams. 
     
     
         4 . A method as in  claim 1  wherein a publisher acts as a broker for selling data generated by a community of users associated with the domain. 
     
     
         5 . A method as in  claim 1  wherein users of a on-line community having access to the service are enabled to make annotations to a data stream with additional content. 
     
     
         6 . A method as in  claim 5  wherein the additional content is selected from reviews, commentary, photographs, and ratings. 
     
     
         7 . A method as in  claim 5  wherein users of the on-line community are compensated for annotating the data stream. 
     
     
         8 . A method as in  claim 5  wherein moderators further perform a step of:
 approving annotations made to the data streaming content by a user prior to making the annotations available to other users of the on-line community.   
     
     
         9 . A method as in  claim 1  wherein moderators collect something of value from advertisers. 
     
     
         10 . A method as in  claim 9  wherein moderators pass the something of value to users of the on-line community. 
     
     
         11 . A method as in  claim 1  wherein the annotations further comprise combined ratings provided by different on-line communities.