According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) assignment database, Google has acquired the pending patent applications of one time search rival Cuil, touted when launched as a potential Google Killer.
On July 28, 2008, the search engine Cuil went live with hopes from many that it would rival Google in technological know-how and create some competition for the search engine. Those hopes were fueled in part by the fact that search engine was started by former Google employees Anna Patterson and Russell Power, a co-founder from IBM, Tom Costello, and they were also joined by Altavista founder and ex-googler Louis Monier as well. The company received a fair amount of funding before it launched, likely in-part due to the past employment history of its founders.
When Cuil launched, it supposedly had within its index more that three times as many Web pages as Google, and ten times as many as Microsoft. It promised not to retain information about searchers past search histories or surfing patterns as a way of distinguishing itself from Google. Bloomberg News called it one of the most successful start ups of 2008, and there were some real high hopes that the new search engine would rival Google.
Things seemed to start going south for Cuil shortly after launch. After a month, Louis Monier left the company after disagreements with CEO Tom Costello. Search results were presented in a 2 column format rather than a single column, and were accompanied by thumbnail images. I noticed at the time, a few complaints about the two column format, and in my personal experience using the site, the thumbnails presented often weren’t very good choices, and not representative of the pages or topics being returned in search results. The Cuil website shut down in September of 2010, with news of a mysterious acquisition falling through surfacing a week later.
The transaction assigning 7 pending patents to Google have an execution date of February 4, 2011, but weren’t recorded at the patent office until a few days ago, on February 14th, 2012. The USPTO database doesn’t provide any of the details behind the transaction, such as financial terms. It appears that Cuil Co-Founder Anna Lynn Patterson returned to Google, possibly in September of 2010, with the job title “Director of Google Research.” I’ve written a little about her work on phrase-based indexing while she was at Google in the past.
These pending patents tend to focus primarily upon search interfaces, such as how multiple tabs might be presented for query terms that might have different senses of meanings, different types of dropdowns from those to show finer levels of granularity of associated categories, and the ability to drill down and refine queries based upon related aspects, like in the following three screenshots from the patents:
There’s a possibility that we might see something like what is described in these patent applications from Google, but I’m actually a little surprised that the patent applications focus upon the user interface of Cuil rather than any methods of indexing search results. They don’t go much detail on how these different types of categories or related results might be identified or generated either. They also don’t show off what was supposed to be one of the strengths of Cuil – their methods of indexing a large number of pages faster and cheaper than Google to create a very deep search index.
Here are the patent applications:
Apparatus and Method for Displaying Search Results with a Variety of Display Paradigms Invented by Tomas Costello Assigned to Cuill, Inc. US Patent Application 20090240672 Published September 24, 2009 Filed: July 24, 2008
Abstract
A graphical user interface includes tabs representative of different classes of search results. The tabs are derived in response to the processing of a query. The different classes of search results group content by meaning, such that a query term with different meanings produces different classes of search results with different meanings.
Further, stacks associated with each tab are derived. Each stack shares common attributes associated with a tab but has a refined meaning representing a different class of search results. Each stack includes text to characterize a class of search results.
Apparatus and Method for Displaying Search Results Using Tabs Invented by Tomas Costello and Louis Monier Assigned to Cuill, Inc. US Patent Application 20090240685 Published September 24, 2009 Filed: July 24, 2008
Abstract
A graphical user interface includes tabs representative of different classes of search results. The tabs are derived in response to the processing of a query. The different classes of search results group content by meaning, such that a query term with different meanings produces different classes of search results with different meanings.
Apparatus and Method for Displaying Search Results Using Stacks Invented by Tomas Costello Assigned to Cuill, Inc. US Patent Application 20090241044 Published September 24, 2009 Filed: July 24, 2008
Abstract
A graphical user interface includes stacks organizing different classes of search results. The stacks are derived in response to the processing of a query. The different classes of search results group content by meaning, such that a query term with different meanings produces different classes of search results with different meanings.
Apparatus and Method for Displaying Search Results with Configurable Columns and Textual Summary Lengths Invented by Tomas Costello and Edward Lau Assigned to Cuill, Inc. US Patent Application 20090241018 Published September 24, 2009 Filed: July 24, 2008
Abstract
A graphical user interface includes configurable parameters to format search results. The configurable parameters include configurable parameters to specify column configuration and textual summary length.
Apparatus and Method for Displaying Search Results with an Associated Anchor Area Invented by Tomas Costello and Edward Lau Assigned to Cuill, Inc. US Patent Application 20090241058 Published September 24, 2009 Filed: July 24, 2008
Abstract
A graphical user interface includes a scroll area displaying search results and a permanently displayed anchored area.
Apparatus and Method for Displaying Search Results with Various Forms of Advertising Invented by Tomas Costello and Edward Lau Assigned to Cuill, Inc. US Patent Application 20090241065 Published September 24, 2009 Filed: July 24, 2008
Abstract
A graphical user interface includes a document retrieved by processing a query. The graphical user interface further includes an advertisement selected based upon the document. The advertisement may include an image, text or an icon.
Apparatus and Method for Displaying Search Results with a Menu of Refining Search Terms Invented by Tomas Costello Assigned to Cuill, Inc. US Patent Application 20090241066 Published September 24, 2009 Filed: July 24, 2008
Abstract
A graphical user interface includes a listing of results derived from processing a query. The graphical user interface further includes a menu of refining search terms that is dynamically derived in response to the processing of the query.