Internet Search Results Annotation, Filtering, and Advertising with respect to Search Term Elements

Abstract

Internet searches sometimes provide search results referencing webpages that don't contain all search term elements submitted by a user. The user may then click on such Internet search results where referenced webpages, and/or their descendants, do not contain important search term elements. Also, advertisements are sometimes placed on search results webpages that relate to the user's search term elements, even though some of those search terms are missing in referenced and/or descendant webpages. The present invention is directed to: annotating Internet search results to indicate missing search term elements on referenced and descendant webpages; optionally filtering out search results referencing webpages with missing terms; and showing advertisements related to search term elements. When shown, annotations warn the user to avoid clicking on an Internet search result where the user's search term elements are not present on referenced and/or descendant webpages, thereby preventing wasted time and speeding the search process.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for operating an interactive graphical user interface for an Internet search process, where the interactive graphical interface enables a user to remove one or more search results that do not contain a desired search term element, enabling the user to avoid spending time visiting a webpage that is missing the desired search term element, thereby enabling faster operation for the Internet search process, the method comprising:
 providing, for operation by a user of a computing device, the interactive graphical user interface for the user to submit a first search request to a search engine via the Internet, the first search request comprising one or more search term elements;   performing an Internet search in response to the first search request to produce a first search results webpage containing first Internet search results;   providing, for display to the user on the interactive graphical user interface, the first search results webpage containing the first Internet search results, wherein the first search results webpage further contains a warning that at least one first Internet search result references a webpage that is missing a specific search term element;   receiving a selection from the user's computing device, indicating to the search engine to filter the first Internet search results; and   in response to the selection, producing a second search results webpage containing second Internet search results for display to the user on the interactive graphical user interface, such that each of the second Internet search results references a webpage that includes the specific search term element.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: causing the interactive user interface on the user-operated computing device to display one or more selectable advertisements on the first or second search results webpage, where the one or more selectable advertisements are related to one or more of the submitted search term elements. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user operated computing device is a smart phone with a smaller display screen than a laptop, desktop, notebook, or tablet computer's display screen, and wherein the filtering enables the smaller display screen to display an increased number of Internet search results referencing webpages that include the specific search term element, thereby further speeding the Internet search process. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each Internet search result comprises a search result grouping, and each search result grouping automatically includes an annotation, when required, to indicate that at least one search term is missing in a webpage referenced by the search result;
 wherein the search result grouping also includes at least one of: a title, an Internet link, an excerpt, or a URL; and   wherein when included, the annotation is automatically placed at the bottom of the search result grouping so that the user readily associates the annotation with the automatically annotated Internet search result.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein each missing search term annotation, when included, comprises text representing at least one search term element in at least one of the following formats:
 (i) a font representing the text has been altered;   (ii) the text is shown with one or more lines merged with the text;   (iii) the text is shown with one or more lines superimposed thereupon;   (iv) the text is shown within a shaded area; and   (v) the text is shown with a reversed format.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein a search term element is considered present in a webpage if the webpage contains at least one of: the search term element, a synonym of the search term element, or a misspelled version of the search term element. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 4  wherein when a missing term annotation is not shown in a specific search result grouping for a specific referenced webpage, it indicates that the submitted search term elements are shown on the specific referenced webpage or on one or more descendant webpages of the specific referenced webpage. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the automatically annotated Internet search result indicates that at least one of the search term elements is missing if the at least one search term element is not present in the referenced webpage, and also not present in descendant webpages of the referenced webpage. 
     
     
         9 . A smart phone that operates an interactive graphical user interface for an Internet search process, where the interactive graphical user interface enables a user to remove one or more search results that do not contain a desired search term element, enabling the user to avoid spending time visiting a webpage that is missing the desired search term element, thereby enabling faster operation for the Internet search process, the smart phone comprising:
 a screen for displaying the interactive graphical user interface; and   a wireless interface for communicating with a search engine via the Internet;   wherein, for operation by a user of the smart phone, the interactive graphical user interface enables the user to submit a first search request to a search engine via the Internet, the first search request comprising one or more search term elements;   wherein, in response to the user's submission of the first search request, the smart phone receives from the search engine via the Internet a first search results webpage containing first Internet search results;   wherein the first search results webpage is displayed to the user on the screen, wherein the first search results webpage further contains a warning that at least one first Internet search result references a webpage that is missing a specific search term element;   wherein the smart phone receives a selection from the user to filter the first Internet search results; and   wherein, in response to the selection from the user to filter the first Internet search results, the smart phone receives from the search engine via the Internet and displays to the user a second search results webpage containing second Internet search results, such that each of the second Internet search results references a webpage that includes the specific search term element.   
     
     
         10 . The smart phone of  claim 9 , wherein the smart phone displays one or more selectable advertisements on the first or second search results webpage, where the one or more selectable advertisements are related to one or more of the submitted search term elements. 
     
     
         11 . The smart phone of  claim 9 , wherein the smart phone has a smaller display screen than a laptop, desktop, notebook, or tablet computer's display screen, and wherein the filtering enables this relatively smaller display screen to display an increased number of Internet search results referencing webpages that include the specific search term element, thereby further speeding the Internet search process. 
     
     
         12 . The smart phone of  claim 9 , wherein each Internet search result comprises a search result grouping, and each search result grouping includes an annotation, when required, to indicate that at least one search term is missing in a webpage referenced by the search result;
 wherein the search result grouping also includes at least one of: a title, an Internet link, an excerpt, or a URL; and   wherein when included, the annotation is automatically placed at the bottom of the search result grouping so that the user readily associates the annotation with the automatically annotated Internet search result.   
     
     
         13 . The smart phone of  claim 12  wherein each missing search term annotation, when included, comprises text representing at least one search term element in at least one of the following formats:
 (i) a font representing the text has been altered; 
 (ii) the text is shown with one or more lines merged with the text; 
 (iii) the text is shown with one or more lines superimposed thereupon; 
 (iv) the text is shown within a shaded area; and 
 (v) the text is shown with a reversed format. 
 
     
     
         14 . The smart phone of  claim 12 , wherein a search term element is considered present in a webpage if the webpage contains at least one of: the search term element, a synonym of the search term element, or a misspelled version of the search term element. 
     
     
         15 . The smart phone of  claim 12  wherein when a missing term annotation is not shown in a specific search result grouping for a specific referenced webpage, it indicates that the submitted search term elements are shown on the specific referenced webpage or on one or more descendant webpages of the specific referenced webpage. 
     
     
         16 . The smart phone of  claim 12 , wherein the automatically annotated Internet search result indicates that at least one of the search term elements is missing if the at least one search term element is not present in the referenced webpage, and also not present in descendant webpages of the referenced webpage. 
     
     
         17 . A system for operating an interactive graphical user interface for an Internet search process, where the interactive graphical user interface enables a user to remove one or more search results that do not contain a desired search term element, enabling the user to avoid spending time visiting a webpage that is missing the desired search term element, thereby enabling faster operation for the Internet search process, the system comprising:
 one or more servers for operating a search engine;   wherein the one or more servers provides the interactive graphical user interface to the user for operation on the user's computing device, wherein the interactive graphical user interface enables the user to submit a first search request to the search engine via the Internet, the first search request comprising one or more search term elements;   wherein the one or more servers performs an Internet search in response to the first search request to produce a first search results webpage containing first Internet search results;   wherein the one or more servers provides the first search results webpage containing the first Internet search results for display to the user on the interactive graphical user interface, wherein the first search results webpage further contains a warning that at least one first Internet search result references a webpage that is missing a specific search term element;   wherein the one or more servers receives a selection from the user's computing device to filter the first Internet search results; and   in response to the selection, the one or more servers produces a second search results webpage containing second Internet search results and provides the second search results webpage for display to the user on the interactive graphical user interface, such that each of the second Internet search results references a webpage that includes the specific search term element.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the interactive graphical user interface on the user-operated computing device displays one or more selectable advertisements on the first or second search results webpage, where the one or more selectable advertisements are related to one or more of the submitted search term elements. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the user operated computing device is a smart phone with a smaller display screen than a laptop, desktop, notebook, or tablet computer's display screen, and wherein the filtering enables this relatively smaller display screen to display an increased number of Internet search results referencing webpages that include the specific search term element, thereby further speeding the Internet search process. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein each Internet search result comprises a search result grouping, and each search result grouping includes an annotation, when required, to indicate that at least one search term is missing in a webpage referenced by the search result;
 wherein the search result grouping also includes at least one of: a title, an Internet link, an excerpt, or a URL; and   wherein when included, the annotation is automatically placed at the bottom of the search result grouping so that the user readily associates the annotation with the automatically annotated Internet search result.   
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 20 , wherein each missing search term annotation, when included, comprises text representing at least one search term element in at least one of the following formats:
 (i) a font representing the text has been altered;   (ii) the text is shown with one or more lines merged with the text;   (iii) the text is shown with one or more lines superimposed thereupon;   (iv) the text is shown within a shaded area; and   (v) the text is shown with a reversed format.   
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 20  wherein a search term element is considered present in a webpage if the webpage contains at least one of: the search term element, a synonym of the search term element, or a misspelled version of the search term element. 
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 20  wherein when a missing term annotation is not shown in a specific search result grouping for a specific referenced webpage, it indicates that the submitted search term elements are shown on the specific referenced webpage or on one or more descendant webpages of the specific referenced webpage. 
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 20 , wherein the automatically annotated Internet search result indicates that at least one of the search term elements is missing if the at least one search term element is not present in the referenced webpage, and also not present in descendant webpages of the referenced webpage.