The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 02, 2004
Filed:
Oct. 28, 1998
Applicant:
Inventors:
Martin W. Himmelstein, Hanover, NH (US);
Dwight Aspinwall, Lebanon, NH (US);
Gerald F. Halstead, Lebanon, NH (US);
Charles Goldensher, Lebanon, NH (US);
Assignee:
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F 1/730 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F 1/730 ;
Abstract
A method and apparatus for improving searching capability on a Web. At index time, a Web page is spidered and the text and metatags returned to a processor. The processor extracts spatial information from the text and metatags. A geocode is generated for the spatial information. The geocode is then indexed along with the remaining contents of the page. A subsequent query during query time can search for entries based on proximity to a known location using the indexed geocode.