Meta-Web

Abstract

In one aspect, a system includes an information server, operable to perform operations comprising: receiving a search query from a user device; receiving search results responsive to the search query from a search engine; determining from a registry that user annotations or other metadata are associated with the received search results; ordering the search results according to their relevance, where the relevance is determined based at least in part on the user annotations or other metadata in the registry; generating a search results page including the ordered search results and an annotation tool, wherein the annotation tool provides functions that allow a user of the user device to provide annotations for a particular search result, and wherein the annotation tool receives annotations provided by the user for later use in generating search results pages; and transmitting the search results page to the user device for presentation.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A method comprising:
 receiving a search query from a user of a user device;   accessing data that identifies one or more personal friends of the user;   obtaining search results for the search query provided by a search engine, wherein each of the search results identifies a respective responsive document;   determining, from annotations associated with the responsive documents in a registry, that at least some of the responsive documents have been endorsed by personal friends of the user;   determining a relevancy of each of the responsive documents based in part on the endorsements by the personal friends; and   providing the search results for presentation in an order that is based at least in part on the relevancies of the responsive documents.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving an input from the user of the user device endorsing a first responsive document identified by a first search result; and   associating an annotation with the first responsive document in the registry identifying that the first responsive document has been personally endorsed by the user.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving an input from a user identifying a first search result that identifies a first responsive document that has been personally endorsed by a first personal friend of the user; and   providing, for presentation to the user, information identifying the first personal friend of the user that personally endorsed the first responsive document.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 providing for presentation to the user information explaining the relevancy of each of the responsive documents.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the information explaining the relevancy of each of the responsive documents comprises information obtained from the annotations associated with the responsive documents in the registry. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving an input from the user annotating a first responsive document with a comment; and   storing the comment as an annotation associated with the first responsive document in the registry.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 receiving a subsequent search query from the user;   obtaining search results for the subsequent search query provided by the search engine, wherein a first search result for the subsequent search query identifies the first responsive document;   determining, from annotations associated with the first responsive document in the registry, that the user has previously commented on the first responsive document; and   providing the comment for presentation to the user with the first search result that identifies the first responsive document.   
     
     
         9 . A system comprising:
 an information server, operable to perform operations comprising:   receiving a search query from a user of a user device;   accessing data that identifies one or more personal friends of the user;   obtaining search results for the search query provided by a search engine, wherein each of the search results identifies a respective responsive document;   determining, from annotations associated with the responsive documents in a registry, that at least some of the responsive documents have been endorsed by personal friends of the user;   determining a relevancy of each of the responsive documents based in part on the endorsements by the personal friends; and   providing the search results for presentation in an order that is based at least in part on the relevancies of the responsive documents.   
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8 , the operations further comprising:
 receiving an input from the user of the user device endorsing a first responsive document identified by a first search result; and   associating an annotation with the first responsive document in the registry identifying that the first responsive document has been personally endorsed by the user.   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 9 , the operations further comprising:
 receiving an input from a user identifying a first search result that identifies a first responsive document that has been personally endorsed by a first personal friend of the user; and   providing, for presentation to the user, information identifying the first personal friend of the user that personally endorsed the first responsive document.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 9 , the operations further comprising:
 providing for presentation to the user information explaining the relevancy of each of the responsive documents.   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the information explaining the relevancy of each of the responsive documents comprises information obtained from the annotations associated with the responsive documents in the registry. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 8 , the operations further comprising:
 receiving an input from the user annotating a first responsive document with a comment; and   storing the comment as an annotation associated with the first responsive document in the registry.   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 13 , the operations further comprising:
 receiving a subsequent search query from the user;   obtaining search results for the subsequent search query provided by the search engine, wherein a first search result for the subsequent search query identifies the first responsive document;   determining, from annotations associated with the first responsive document in the registry, that the user has previously commented on the first responsive document; and   providing the comment for presentation to the user with the first search result that identifies the first responsive document.