System for User Driven Ranking of Web Pages

Abstract

Linked documents are ranked by observing link selections for referred documents from referring documents and counting such selections. The counts for each of the link selections are stored at various computer systems of a distributed network, a centralized collection of computers connected through a local network, or a hybrid system (collectively, the “system”) consisting of combinations of distributed and centralized systems, and processed (e.g., using a discrete probability distribution defined by the counts of the link selections) to obtain page ranks for the referred documents. The link selections may be observed by a browser extension running on individual ones of the computer systems of the distributed network and the counts of the link selections may be stored at locations within the system determined by a distributed hash table. Search request results may be displayed in a ranked order as determined by the page ranks.

1 - 9 . (canceled) 
     
     
         10 . A method comprising:
 providing a document to a client, the document including a plurality of links, each link, of the plurality of links, being associated with a value that is stored in a memory of one of a plurality of devices included in a peer-to-peer network;   determining a selection of a first link, of the plurality of links, via the document;   determining a hash of an address associated with the first link;   determining that the value, associated with the first link, is stored in the memory of a first device, of the plurality of devices, based on the hash of the address; and   transmitting a message to the first device to increment the value associated with the first link to track a quantity of selections of the first link made via the document.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 dividing, using a distributed hash table, a name space of network addresses among the plurality of devices included in the peer-to-peer network, the address associated with the first link being associated with the name space of network addresses; and   determining that the value is stored in the memory of the first device based on the distributed hash table.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , where transmitting the message to the first device includes:
 transmitting a distributed hash table put message to the first device.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , where the distributed hash table put message includes a first argument that corresponds to the hash of the address and a second argument that causes the first device to increment the value associated with the first link. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 computing a score for a document pointed to by the first link based on the quantity of selections of the first link made via the document.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 determining a probability of the first link being selected relative to other links, of the plurality of links, based on the quantity of selections of the first link made via the document.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 computing a score for a document pointed to by the first link based on the determined probability.   
     
     
         17 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising:
 one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
 provide a document to a client, the document including a plurality of links, each link, of the plurality of links, being associated with a value that is stored in a memory of one of a plurality of devices included in a peer-to-peer network, 
 determine a selection of a first link, of the plurality of links, via the document, 
 determine a hash of an address associated with the first link, 
 determine that the value, associated with the first link, is stored in the memory of a first device, of the plurality of devices, based on the hash of the address, and 
 transmit a message to the first device to increment the value associated with the first link to track a quantity of selections of the first link made via the document. 
   
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 one or more instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
 divide, using a distributed hash table, a name space of network addresses among the plurality of devices included in the peer-to-peer network, the address associated with the first link being associated with the name space of network addresses, and 
 determine that the value is stored in the memory of the first device based on the distributed hash table. 
   
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 17 , where the one or more instructions to transmit the message to the first device include:
 one or more instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
 transmit a distributed hash table put message to the first device. 
   
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 19 , where the distributed hash table put message includes a first argument that corresponds to the hash of the address and a second argument that causes the first device to increment the value associated with the first link. 
     
     
         21 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 one or more instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
 compute a score for a document pointed to by the first link based on the quantity of selections of the first link made via the document. 
   
     
     
         22 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 one or more instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
 determine a probability of the first link being selected relative to other links, of the plurality of links, based on the quantity of selections of the first link made via the document. 
   
     
     
         23 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 22 , further comprising:
 one or more instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
 compute a score for a document pointed to by the first link based on the determined probability. 
   
     
     
         24 . A system comprising:
 one or more devices to:
 provide a document to a client, the document including a plurality of links, each link, of the plurality of links, being associated with a value that is stored in a memory of one of a plurality of devices included in a peer-to-peer network, 
 determine a selection of a first link, of the plurality of links, via the document, 
 determine a hash of an address associated with the first link, 
 determine that the value, associated with the first link, is stored in the memory of a first device, of the plurality of devices, based on the hash of the address, and 
 transmit a message to the first device to increment the value associated with the first link to track a quantity of selections of the first link made via the document. 
   
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 24 , where the one or more devices are further to:
 divide, using a distributed hash table, a name space of network addresses among the plurality of devices included in the peer-to-peer network, the address associated with the first link being associated with the name space of network addresses, and   determine that the value is stored in the memory of the first device based on the distributed hash table.   
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 24 , where, when transmitting the message to the first device, the one or more devices are further to:
 transmit a distributed hash table put message to the first device.   
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 26 , where the distributed hash table put message includes a first argument that corresponds to the hash of the address and a second argument that causes the first device to increment the value associated with the first link. 
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 24 , where the one or more devices are further to:
 compute a score for a document pointed to by the first link based on the quantity of selections of the first link made via the document.   
     
     
         29 . The system of  claim 24 , where the one or more devices are further to:
 determine a probability of the first link being selected relative to other links, of the plurality of links, based on the quantity of selections of the first link made via the document, and   compute a score for a document pointed to by the first link based on the determined probability.