FORUM SEARCH WITH TIME-DEPENDENT ACTIVITY WEIGHTING

摘要

A search engine index measures and tracks one or more numeric indicators of activity at different times, including a most current time, in on-line forums and social networking sites. Such indicators may include, for example, a current volume per unit time of messages or data posted to the site, a moving average of such volume, a moving average of current participants over time, a count of current participants, other indication of site activity, or any combination of such indicators. The search engine is responsive to queries seeking forums ranked by activity for a defined time period, including a most current time. The search engine prioritizes search results to identify the specified sites or locations in order of activity (among other possible criteria) relative to a defined time.

主权项

1. A system comprising:
a server comprising a computer processor and memory, configured for serving a virtual reality process to a plurality of clients; the server modeling a virtual physical environment through which at least one client of the plurality of clients may navigate via an associated avatar; the virtual reality process including locations that each serve as a forum within which the at least one client's associated avatar may participate; the server measuring a level of activity within at least one forum; and the server providing the level of activity within the at least one forum to the at least one client of the plurality of clients.