System and method for searching a bookmark and tag database for relevant bookmarks

Abstract

A method comprises receiving a search request to search a bookmark package database storing bookmarks and tag information, e.g., user-generated keywords; using the search request to search the tag information in the bookmark package database to locate relevant bookmarks and to generate search results; and presenting the search results to a user. The search results may identify user-specific relevant bookmarks, and/or relevant bookmarks regardless of the creator. The method may include determining related terms and enabling selection of the related terms to initiate additional searching. The method may include generating a relevance value based on keyword order, meta-information type, number of bookmarks to a given content item, number of hits on a given bookmark, time of last bookmarking to a given content item, and/or content analysis. Search result organization may be based on the relevance values. The bookmark package database may further store automatically generated and user-generated meta-information.

What is claimed: 
     
         1 . A method implemented on a machine having at least one processor, storage, and a communication platform capable of connecting to the network for generating a bookmark package, comprising:
 receiving from user, a bookmark created by the user for a content item;   obtaining a first piece of meta-information associated with the content item from the bookmark;   obtaining a second piece of meta-information associated with the content item based on the first piece of meta-information from a database;   generating a bookmark package for the content item by combining the first piece of meta-information and the second piece of meta-information; and   sending the bookmark package to a database for storage.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 storing the bookmark package in a format with an index portion configured to store the first piece of meta-information and a payload portion configured to store the second piece of meta-information.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first piece of meta-information comprises at least one of
 a user identifier (ID) that identifies the user;   a uniform resource locator (URL) identifier that identifies a resource of the content item;   a description created by the user;   an annotation created by the user; and   a tag created by the user.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein obtaining a second piece of meta-information associated with the content item based on the first piece of meta-information from a database further comprises:
 retrieving a uniform resource locator (URL) identifier that identifies a resource of the content item from the first piece of meta-information; and   obtaining the second piece of meta-information associated with the URL from the database.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second piece of meta-information is associated with a uniform resource locator (URL) identifier that identifies a resource of the content item, and comprises at least one of
 a most popular description associated with the URL;   a most popular annotation associated with the URL;   one or more popular tags associated with the URL;   one or more posts published on the URL; and   one or more user identifiers (IDs) that published the one or more posts.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 retrieving a first tag associated with the content item and created by the user from the first piece of meta-information;   obtaining one or more second tags associated with the content item and created by all other users from the database; and   generating a tag space associated with the content item that includes the first tag created by the user and the one or more second tags created by all other users.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 retrieving a tag associated with the content item and created by the user from the first piece of meta-information;   obtaining one or more other bookmarks associated with the tag and created by all other users from the database; and   generating a bookmark space associated with the tag that includes the bookmark created by the user and the one or more other bookmarks created by all other users.