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Google Hopes to Patent News Search Technology
International and U.S. patents filed by the popular search engine Google indicate that the company may be considering changing the way that stories are ranked on its news site. A Google News search has traditionally provided its users with results that are ranked by relevance and date. If implemented, the software that is claimed in the patent application will provide users of Google News with search results based on factors which are indicative of the quality and reliability of the news sites. Search results which are ranked by relevance and date at the expense of reliability and quality may provide misleading results. Filed in September of 2003, Google's U.S. Patent application publication explains in its description, "While each of the hits in the ranked list may relate to the desired topic, the news sources associated with these hits, however, may not be of uniform quality. For example, CNN and BBC are widely regarded as high quality sources of accuracy of reporting, professionalism in writing, etc., while local news sources, such as hometown news sources, may be of lower quality."
The U.S. Patent application indicates that a news search result will be determined by factors including story length, site traffic, writing style, circulation figures, range of coverage and the number of bureaus that the news source operates.
This is certainly not the first time that the Google has filed for patents to protect its rights to search software. Google has previously received a number of U.S. patents granting exclusive rights to its search software developed to improve the ranking and clarity of search results.
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