Showing papers on "Hyperlink published in 1998"

The anatomy of a large-scale hypertextual Web search engine

Abstract: In this paper, we present Google, a prototype of a large-scale search engine which makes heavy use of the structure present in hypertext. Google is designed to crawl and index the Web efficiently and produce much more satisfying search results than existing systems. The prototype with a full text and hyperlink database of at least 24 million pages is available at http://google.stanford.edu/. To engineer a search engine is a challenging task. Search engines index tens to hundreds of millions of web pages involving a comparable number of distinct terms. They answer tens of millions of queries every day. Despite the importance of large-scale search engines on the web, very little academic research has been done on them. Furthermore, due to rapid advance in technology and web proliferation, creating a web search engine today is very different from three years ago. This paper provides an in-depth description of our large-scale web search engine -- the first such detailed public description we know of to date. Apart from the problems of scaling traditional search techniques to data of this magnitude, there are new technical challenges involved with using the additional information present in hypertext to produce better search results. This paper addresses this question of how to build a practical large-scale system which can exploit the additional information present in hypertext. Also we look at the problem of how to effectively deal with uncontrolled hypertext collections where anyone can publish anything they want.

Enhanced hypertext categorization using hyperlinks

Abstract: A major challenge in indexing unstructured hypertext databases is to automatically extract meta-data that enables structured search using topic taxonomies, circumvents keyword ambiguity, and improves the quality of search and profile-based routing and filtering. Therefore, an accurate classifier is an essential component of a hypertext database. Hyperlinks pose new problems not addressed in the extensive text classification literature. Links clearly contain high-quality semantic clues that are lost upon a purely term-based classifier, but exploiting link information is non-trivial because it is noisy. Naive use of terms in the link neighborhood of a document can even degrade accuracy. Our contribution is to propose robust statistical models and a relaxation labeling technique for better classification by exploiting link information in a small neighborhood around documents. Our technique also adapts gracefully to the fraction of neighboring documents having known topics. We experimented with pre-classified samples from Yahoo!1 and the US Patent Database2. In previous work, we developed a text classifier that misclassified only 13% of the documents in the well-known Reuters benchmark; this was comparable to the best results ever obtained. This classifier misclassified 36% of the patents, indicating that classifying hypertext can be more difficult than classifying text. Naively using terms in neighboring documents increased error to 38%; our hypertext classifier reduced it to 21%. Results with the Yahoo! sample were more dramatic: the text classifier showed 68% error, whereas our hypertext classifier reduced this to only 21%.

Automatic resource compilation by analyzing hyperlink structure and associated text

Abstract: We describe the design, prototyping and evaluation of ARC, a system for automatically compiling a list of authoritative Web resources on any (sufficiently broad) topic. The goal of ARC is to compile resource lists similar to those provided by Yahoo! or Infoseek. The fundamental difference is that these services construct lists either manually or through a combination of human and automated effort, while ARC operates fully automatically. We describe the evaluation of ARC, Yahoo!, and Infoseek resource lists by a panel of human users. This evaluation suggests that the resources found by ARC frequently fare almost as well as, and sometimes better than, lists of resources that are manually compiled or classified into a topic. We also provide examples of ARC resource lists for the reader to examine.

Strong Regularities in World Wide Web Surfing

Abstract: One of the most common modes of accessing information in the World Wide Web is surfing from one document to another along hyperlinks. Several large empirical studies have revealed common patterns of surfing behavior. A model that assumes that users make a sequence of decisions to proceed to another page, continuing as long as the value of the current page exceeds some threshold, yields the probability distribution for the number of pages that a user visits within a given Web site. This model was verified by comparing its predictions with detailed measurements of surfing patterns. The model also explains the observed Zipf-like distributions in page hits observed at Web sites.

Learning to extract symbolic knowledge from the World Wide Web

Abstract: The World Wide Web is a vast source of information accessible to computers, but understandable only to humans. The goal of the research described here is to automatically create a computer understandable world wide knowledge base whose content mirrors that of the World Wide Web. Such a knowledge base would enable much more effective retrieval of Web information, and promote new uses of the Web to support knowledge-based inference and problem solving. Our approach is to develop a trainable information extraction system that takes two inputs: an ontology defining the classes and relations of interest, and a set of training data consisting of labeled regions of hypertext representing instances of these classes and relations. Given these inputs, the system learns to extract information from other pages and hyperlinks on the Web. This paper describes our general approach, several machine learning algorithms for this task, and promising initial results with a prototype system.

Dynamically updating themes for an operating system shell

Abstract: A theme provides a group of multi-media resources for enhancing displays in a graphical user interface to an operating system of a computer according to a topic of the theme. The theme's resources are periodically updated by retrieving updating resources from a remote computer at which the updating resources are stored by a theme provider, so as to provide continually updating enhancements to the graphical user interface display consistent with the theme's topic. The theme's resources can include hypertext templates which define the graphical user interface displays as hypertext pages, allowing the theme to provide a wide variety of enhancements to the displays including text, graphics, hyperlinks, and software components, among others. The theme also enhances a graphical user interface with a view port that plays live or locally cached information from the Internet in each of a plurality of categories, by adding a category for the theme so as to play information from the theme's provider in the view port.

Hyperlinks resolution at and by a special network server in order to enable diverse sophisticated hyperlinking upon a digital network

Abstract: Streaming digital hypervideo including copious embedded hyperlinks is distributed upon a digital communications network from a hypervideo server, normally an Internet Service Provider, to multitudinous client subscribers/users/viewers (client SUVs). Some or all of the client SUVs receive the same hyperlinks at the same place in the streaming hypervideo. Some small fraction of the client SUVs selectively volitionally exercise a fraction of the total hyperlinks, causing an access in the background of the unfolding hypervideo across the digital communications network to yet another server commonly called a "Video On Web server", or "VOW server". The VOW sever interprets each hyperlink request in consideration of (i) the identity of the exercising client SUV and, most commonly, (ii) additional data of a demographic, socioeconomic, credit, viewing preference, security and/or past hyperlinking history nature. The VOW Server supplies each hyperlink-exercising client SUV with a potentially custom hyperlink --normally in the form of a network universal resource locator (URL) or an index to a file of URLs--while keeping track of commercially useful data regarding the client SUV response(s). Each client SUV uses its own associated received URL to retrieve a potentially unique resource. The resource can be internal, such as an executable software program, but is normally located somewhere on the network and is typically in the nature of tailored and/or targeted advertisements, messages of personal or local or temporal pertinence and/or urgency, and/or the results of contests or lotteries. Hypervideo hyperlinks are thus dynamically resolved during streaming network communications to support full custom hyperlinking by each of multitudinous networked client SUVs.

Method for network self security assessment

Abstract: Security vulnerabilities of one or more target hosts are assessed by a remote or local host via a server The hosts and the server are coupled to the internet and communicate via hypertext pages and email A user at an arbitrary host on the internet inputs data identifying the user and/or the arbitrary host, and the target host A network address is obtained for the user and a certification file such as Internic can be checked to determine a network address of the user and confirm that the user is authorized to assess the security vulnerabilities of the target host A facts file is built on the server by polling the services available at the target host, including inquiries to the various ports of the TCP subsystem, for building a table of services and responses A security algorithm compares the responses to stored data for identifying likely security vulnerabilities A hypertext report file (transmitted in a secure manner) is made accessible to the arbitrary host, containing report information identifying likely security vulnerabilities and hyperlinks to descriptive information and outside advisory pages The report file has a URL unique to the security inquiry, and is deleted after a predetermined time during which the assessment can be rerun by the user to assess the effect of fixes

Method for non-linear document conversion and printing

Abstract: A document creation system and method in which electronic information intended for reproduction and including at least one hyperlink is accessed. The accesses information is formatted into a contiguous localized document in a reproducible format into which is incorporated at least one functional link related to a hyperlink. The functional link is reproducible in a material form in the localized document for replicating a function associated with the hyperlinks. The localized document can then be displayed to reveal the function links which are manually traversable. Display is typically by printing and the functional links may include printed lines, cutouts in the paper or tabs applied to the paper.

User interface of a Home Page Reader

Abstract: We first discuss the difficulties that blind people face in trying to lie in society, because of the lack of accessible information resources, and then consider the potential of the Web as a new information resource for the blind. After describing how blind people in Japan currently access the Web, we give an overview of our system for nonvisual Web access. Our system has five special characteristics. One is the use of a numeric keypad for surfing the Net, with a key assignment designed for intuitive operation. The second is a fast- forward key for quick reading. The next two are that hyperlinks are read in a female voice and HTML tags are converted into voice data. The fifth is that the system can be synchronized with Netscape Navigator. After evaluating the system and offering some conclusions, we discuss our plans for future work.

Method and system for converting expertise based on document usage

Abstract: The invention disclosed herein relates to cooperative computing environments and information retrieval and management methods and systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and systems for capturing and generating useful information about a user's access and use of data on a computer system, such as in the form of documents stored on remote servers, and making such useful information available to others. Documents on the computer system are accessible through a plurality of different methods, such as by specifying an identifier or locator for the document, activating a hyperlink in another document which points to the document, or navigating to the document through navigational commands in an application program such as a browser. The method involves capturing information regarding each of the accessed documents in the set, the information including the method used to access the document, dividing the set of documents into subsets of documents based at least in part on the methods used to access the documents, labeling each subset of documents with a topic, and making the labels and documents accessed available to other users who wish to browse the same documents.

Probabilistic web link viability marker and web page ratings

Abstract: Hypertext information links are typically contained in documents accessible by networks. Data is gathered regarding the results of attempted access to documents identified by these links. The link's viability is calculated based on the number of successful attempts resulting in successful access in order to provide a measure of link viability. The display of the document is altered based on the measure of link viability. An average of link viability for all links on the document, and on the site, is used to calculate document viability and site viability which can be used to rate the document and site, respectively. These viability measures are displayed along with the corresponding link, document, and site. Display of results retrieved by conventional search engines may be sorted based on link, document or site viability, and displayed accordingly. Links contained in bookmark lists are also measured for viability to cull out bookmarks with low link viability to, or low document viability of, the bookmarked document. Viability calculations may be made by a user computer device, an Internet Service Provider, a third party service, and/or a server on which a document resides.

Method for establishing a communication connection between two or more users via a network of interconnected computers

Abstract: A method for establishing a communication link between two or more users via the Internet, and, more specifically, a web-server based real-time data conferencing system is disclosed. Under the presently preferred embodiment, a user uses an application (such as a web browser) (10) to retrieve and view a web page (16). On the web page (or the like), a clickable icon or hyperlink (18) is provided to call another user or service. At this time, there is no custom software on the user/caller side. However, the hyperlink may activate a subprogram to gather certain types of information of interest to pass to the server to tailor a response; it may also perform any other tasks as necessary. The server (22) (call-center software), upon receiving the requesting to establish a connection, determines an agent (38) to receive the call and activate any related software thereof.

Document modification based hyperlink limiting method and apparatus

Abstract: A method for limiting movement and copying of word processing text within a single document and among documents when the text to be moved includes hyperlinks wherein the hyperlinks link to information that is document specific, processing can be limited in any of several different ways including prohibiting movement, notifying an operator and facilitating movement, notifying an operator and allowing the operator to choose movement and so on.

Combining Statistical and Relational Methods for Learning in Hypertext Domains

Abstract: We present a new approach to learning hypertext classifiers that combines a statistical text-learning method with a relational rule learner. This approach is well suited to learning in hypertext domains because its statistical component allows it to characterize text in terms of word frequencies, whereas its relational component is able to describe how neighboring documents are related to each other by hyperlinks that connect them. We evaluate our approach by applying it to tasks that involve learning definitions for (i) classes of pages; (ii) particular relations that exist between pairs of pages, and (iii) locating a particular class of information in the internal structure of pages. Our experiments demonstrate that this new approach is able to learn more accurate classifiers than either of its constituent methods alone.

Enhanced hypertext categorization using hyperlinks

Abstract: A major challenge in indexing unstructured hypertext databases is to automatically extract meta-data that enables structured search using topic taxonomies, circumvents keyword ambiguity, and improv...

Toward a qualitative search engine

Abstract: Traditional search engines do not consider document quality in ranking search results. The paper discusses the Hyperlink Vector Voting method which adds a qualitative dimension to its rankings by factoring in the number and descriptions of hyperlinks to the document.

Method and apparatus for cross-referencing text

Abstract: A method and apparatus for the automatic insertion of hypertext links into a passage or document of encoded text is disclosed. A program, resident on a personal computer, for example, receives and parses input text in HTML format. In a first part of the processing, label strings identifying each paragraph number are located in the read in document. These are converted into an unambiguous format. Next, the text is re-read, with the paragraphs/section headers masked off, to locate text strings within the body of the text which cross-reference the section headers, or term definitions, or external links. These are also placed in an unambiguous format. Finally, the cross-references are matched up as far as possible with section/paragraph headers and the original HTML text is marked up automatically with hyperlinks, using the unambiguous section labels and cross-references as HTML anchors and destinations.

Re-linking technology for a moving web site

Abstract: Techniques are discussed whereby hyperlinks that exist in an on-line document can be automatically updated (re-linked) when the location of the document to which a link points changes. In one embodiment, the administrator of the on-line document is notified by E-mail when a link destination pointed to by that document has changed. Comparison of the old document content to the new content, if any, is used to facilitate a determination whether to automatically re-link or remove the appropriate hyperlink. In alternate embodiments, receiving sites or trusted third parties are authorized to update links to documents on the receiving site contained in documents on a feeding site.

WWW-based collaboration environments with distributed tool services

Abstract: We have developed an architecture for a general-purpose framework for hypermedia collaboration environments that support purposeful work by orchestrated teams. The hypermedia represents all plausible multimedia artifacts concerned with the collaborative task(s) at hand that can be placed or generated on-line, from application-specific materials (e.g., source code, chip layouts, blueprints) to formal documentation to digital library resources to informal email and chat transcripts. The framework capabilities support both internal (WWW-style hypertext) and external (non-WWW open hypertext link server) links among these artifacts, which can be added incrementally as useful connections are discovereds project-specific intelligent hypermedia search and browsings automated construction of artifacts and hyperlinks according to the semantics of the group and individual tasks and the overall workflow among the taskss application of arbitrary tools to the artifactss and collaborative work for geographically dispersed teams connected by the Internet and/or an intranet/extranet. We also present a general architecture for a WWW-based distributed tool launching service compatible with our collaboration environment framework. We describe our prototype realization of the framework in OzWeb. It reuses object-oriented data management for application-specific hyperbase organization, and workflow enactment and cooperative transactions as built-in services, which were originally developed for the Oz non-hypermedia environment. The tool service is implemented by the generic Rivendell component, which has been integrated into OzWeb as an example “foreign” (i.e., add-on) service. Rivendell could alternatively be employed in a stand-alone manner. We have several months experience using an OzWeb hypermedia collaboration environment for our own continuing software development work on the system.

Determining whether a second hypertext document is included in a list of active document trails

Abstract: An apparatus, program product, and method utilize a “document trail” to facilitate the location of other documents reachable from a given hypertext document. The document trail includes a plurality of identifiers that respectively identify a plurality of interlinked hypertext documents and permit a user to navigate from a origination hypertext document to a destination hypertext document simply by following the trail of interlinked hypertext documents to the destination hypertext document.

Collaborative browsing of the internet

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a technique for collaborative browsing among users at two or more different PCs. In an illustrative system in accordance with the present invention, copies of selected URLs are shared among collaborating PCs, each of which uses the URL to retrieve the corresponding document. In this system, a PC is configured to select hyperlinks for itself and one or more other PCs. Each URL corresponding to a selected hyperlink is communicated via the Internet (using standard Internet protocols) to a server. The server broadcasts the URL to the collaborating PCs each of which retrieves the corresponding document in conventional fashion. The server knows the IP addresses of the collaborating PCs through a collaboration set-up process which occurs in advance of the actual collaborative browsing session.

Automatic Discovery of Logical Document Structure

Abstract: The availability of large, heterogeneous repositories of electronic documents is increasing rapidly, and the need for flexible, sophisticated document manipulation tools is growing correspondingly. These tools can benefit greatly by exploiting logical structure, a hierarchy of visually observable organizational components of a document, such as paragraphs, lists, sections, etc. Knowledge of this structure can enable a multiplicity of applications, including hierarchical browsing, structural hyperlinking, logical component-based retrieval, and style translation. Most work on the problem of deriving logical structure from document layout either relies on knowledge of the particular document style or finds a single flat set of text blocks. This thesis describes an implemented approach to discovering a full logical hierarchy in generic text documents, based primarily on layout information. Since the styles of the documents are not known a priori, the precise layout effects of the logical structure are unknown. Nonetheless, typographical capabilities and conventions provide cues that can be used to deduce a logical structure for a generic document. In particular, the key idea is that analyses of the text contours at appropriate levels of granularity offer a rich source of information about document structure. The problem of logical structure discovery is divided into problems of segmentation, which separates the text into logical pieces, and classification, which labels the pieces with structure types. The segmentation algorithm relies entirely on layout-based cues, and the classification algorithm uses word-based information only when this is demonstrably unavoidable. Thus, this approach is particularly appropriate for scanned-in documents, since it is more robust with respect to OCR errors than a content-oriented approach would be. It is applicable, however, to the problem of analyzing any electronic document whose original formatting style rules remain unknown; thus, it can provide the basis for flexible document manipulation tools in heterogeneous collections.

Method of advertising on-line

Abstract: Method of advertising on-line during, for example, a world wide web session is provided by downloading full page advertisements from a predetermined site (e.g., remote server 26) to a user's computer (24) during a communication link idle time. The downloaded advertising data (AD) are stored and then displayed when the user makes a request to retrieve new data, for example, a hyperlink request to a selected remote server (26). The advertisement remains displayed while the connection to the selected remote server (26) is made and at least until a portion of new content data is transmitted to the user terminal (24).

Method and apparatus for enabling internet access with DVD bitstream content

Abstract: An interactive DVD browser in accordance with the DVD specification for read-only discs is capable of accessing remotely located data over the Internet through a technique which contemplates new navigation commands as well as the embedding of HTML page addresses in navigation commands in place of data stream identifiers currently unused by the DVD specification. A navigation command is supplied to the interactive DVD browser indicating the browser should change data sources. The navigation command includes a network protocol address, in the form of HTML page address, as well as a local address of the user's default Internet browser. A second command specifies a predetermined period of time in which the browser should wait until the Internet browser establishes a hyperlink to the remote source of presentation data specified by the network page address. If the data resident at the specified address is suitable for presentation by the DVD browser, the data is presented, otherwise, the DVD browser will wait while the network browser presents non-DVD compliant data. The technique enables software updates, on-line registration and other dynamic data activities to occur with a legacy DVD browser while still complying with the DVD specification for read-only disc.

A system to restructure hypertext networks into valid user models

Abstract: We have implemented an experimental system that automatically restructures hypertext networks according to their users' browsing behavior. The system applies link weights to the hyperlinks in the networks and updates these link weights according to three learning rules. The learning rules are based on how often a particular hyperlink is being traversed and operate on strictly local information of link traversals. Changes in network structure are fed back to users by dynamic link ordering according to descending link weight. The system has been shown to be able to structure random hypertext networks into valid representations of their users' browsing preferences in two WWW experiments and a simulation using a mathematical model of user navigation.

Chronological identification of hyper text links during back tracking

Abstract: A browser is provided in which the color of a selected linking word in a document is changed to a color that indicates the relative order in which the linking word was selected. As an example, consider a document with three hyperlinking words and the colors red, yellow and green, with red specifying the most recent hyperlink selected, yellow the next most recent, and green the least recent of the three. When the first linking word is selected, its color is changed from, for example the prior art blue, to red when the user drills back to the original web page document. When the next link is selected, it is colored red when the user returns to the original document and the first selected linking word is colored yellow. When a third hyperlinked word is selected, it is colored red on return, the first selected hyperlink word, which was yellow, is colored green, and the second selected hyperlink word, which was red, is colored yellow. The user, looking at the document, can easily determine the sequence or order in which the document was drilled. Here it will be appreciated that the term linking word is not limited to alpha characters, but also includes numerics and icons.

HyperNews, a hypermedia electronic-newspaper environment based on agents

Abstract: The HyperNews project aims at developing a hypermedia electronic newspaper system, based on agent technology, that is intended to help readers to reduce the time spent on searching for relevant information and to enable information providers to commercialize hypermedia electronic news articles in terms similar to those of printed newspapers The system enforces copyright control and payment on a "pay per use" basis Moreover, HyperNews establishes intraand cross-newspaper hyperlinks according to the interests of the reader and presents the information consumer with a personalized hypermedia electronic newspaper through a Java-based World Wide Web browser The information consumers and providers run an agent execution platform on which the different components of the HyperNews system execute as software agents The mobile agents are used to encapsulate the data in HyperNews article agents and to update specific software agents that are bound to the information providers The resulting article agents can be distributed and duplicated at will, since access to the content is bound to the payment

Method and system for the browsing of hypertext pages

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and system for the browsing of hypertext pages by means of a mobile station in a telecommunication system, said system comprising a mobile station (1), conversion means (2) and a telecommunication network (3). The invention makes it possible to browse WWW pages and follow hyperlinks on the display of an ordinary mobile station. The invention is particularly well suited for mobile stations supporting the Smart Messaging definition.