US 5852810

Here's a concise summary of US Patent 5852810:

US Patent 5852810: Geographic specific information search system and method

• Title: Geographic specific information search system and method
• Assignee: STUDENT HOUSING NETWORK Inc FORMERLY KNOWN AS SH NETWORK Inc (Current Assignee); Student Housing Network (Original Assignee)
• Inventors: James P. Sotiroff, Gerald W. Walden
• Filing Date: January 29, 1996
• Issue Date: December 22, 1998
• Abstract: The patent describes a geographic-specific information search system and method that uses a World Wide Web home page and associated script files to search for housing information in a specified geographic region. Users can narrow their search to a desired geographic area by interacting with graphical maps. The system accepts query criteria, searches a database of property listings, and displays a map of the desired region with highlighted points of interest corresponding to properties that meet the search criteria. Users can then select these properties on the map to view detailed information about them.
• Legal Status: Expired - Fee Related (Anticipated expiration date: January 29, 2016).

Plain-Language Overview of Independent Claims:

• Independent Claim 1 (Method): This claim describes a method for a user to find, view, and save geographic-specific housing information. It involves:

  • Displaying a broad graphical map with smaller selectable regions.
  • Allowing the user to progressively zoom in on the map by selecting regions, ultimately reaching a desired geographic area.
  • Showing specific housing locations ("highlighted points of interest") on the detailed map.
  • Retrieving detailed information from a database about any selected housing location.
  • Enabling the user to create a list of interesting properties and submit their contact information to connect with property managers.

• Independent Claim 10 (System): This claim describes a computer system designed to perform the geographic information search. Key components include:

  • A database holding real estate listing data, including property locations defined by map coordinates.
  • Map tables containing various map images and coordinates of predefined features on those maps.
  • An input/output interface for communication over a computer network (like the World Wide Web) to display maps and listings, and receive user queries (e.g., coordinate selections from a pointing device).
  • A query handler that interprets user input coordinates using the map tables to identify a map, and processes user-entered search criteria to retrieve relevant property records from the database.
  • A map compiler that creates a custom map for the user's query, placing the found properties at their correct locations within the map boundaries.
  • A table builder that creates a new map table specific to the query, containing pointers to the found properties and their coordinates on the custom map, which then augments the main set of map tables.
  • This setup allows users to select properties on the custom map using a pointing device, which the system then decodes to display detailed listing data.

• Independent Claim 22 (Method): This claim outlines a method for conducting a search of geographic-specific housing information. It entails:

  • Presenting an initial graphical map.
  • Defining a first search query based on a specific geographic region by interactively narrowing down displayed map subregions.
  • Defining a second search query using real estate listing criteria (e.g., number of bedrooms, price range).
  • Searching a database for properties that satisfy both the geographic and property criteria.
  • Generating and displaying a graphical map of the desired geographic area, with the found properties highlighted at their respective locations.
  • Allowing the user to select these highlighted property features.
  • Displaying detailed housing information for the selected properties.

CAFC 2026 Dockets:
A search of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) 2026 dockets for patent number US5852810 did not yield specific results indicating any scheduled cases directly involving this patent for April, May, or June 2026, based on the provided search snippets.