Semantics Online

NEW YORK, Feb. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Crystal Semantics, the leader of contextual Internet search solutions and developer of the world's first Sense Engine technology, has been granted Patent No. 6,847,972 effective January 5th 2005 from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Already patented in the UK, this additional technology patent secures the core innovation of the Crystal Semantics' Sense Engine for the analysis of textual content and comparison with a pre-classified vocabulary to target the context of content.

The technology enables the correct senses of words to be determined -- for example, determining the sense of the word 'depression' in relation to economics as opposed to 'depression' in the context of mental health. The patent outlines a structure where a database containing a 'plurality of terms' is used to define the placements of information within logical categories. The 'plurality of terms' along with the taxonomy of all the associated words are used to define and uniquely classify the particular subject. In everyday language, the words and senses of a dictionary are being associated with the knowledge categories of an encyclopedia.

Crystal Semantics' patent was filed in 1999, a time when the technology was focused upon the classification and categorization of documents, spell checking and refining keywords as part of a search query. Since then, a continuance has been filed with the U.S. Patent Office to define Crystal Semantics' new application areas of contextual advertising, search and navigation, categorization, and e-commerce.

"Crystal Semantics' mission is to provide a semantic analysis of the senses and diverse meanings of words to not only enhance search and navigation, but to provide a unique and valuable method for marketers to target relevant ads at consumers," said Ian Saunders, managing director at Crystal Semantics. "Over the past few years we have changed the way marketers reach consumers online. This new U.S. patent will pave the way for a whole new era in context targeting in order that consumers receive quality and not quantity of ads and search results."

The technological process of Crystal Semantics' patent covers the following development areas:

* Databases of keywords to motivate which advertisements should be placed on a page, similar to Google's Adsense and Adword products. * Word sense disambiguation, using contextual data rather than computer algorithms to determine the correct sense of a word. * Web spidering techniques to extract keywords & concepts from web-pages, enabling search queries to find the most appropriate website results. * Search engine optimization techniques, analyzing documents or web pages to extract specific keywords that can be applied to other documents to enhance future navigation. * Document classification techniques to enable categorization and navigation of large bodies of textual content. * Semantic pattern analysis to detect potential fraud or pedophile activity within Internet interactions.

To learn more about Crystal Semantics, visit http://www.crystalsemantics.com/.

About Crystal Semantics

Crystal Semantics has developed Textonomy, the first Sense Engine to deliver significantly more accurate and powerful Internet search and contextual results. By applying human "senses" and concepts that current algorithms and other statistical techniques cannot match, Textonomy uniquely uses human linguistic intuition, tapping into the semantic relationships between words and the contexts in which they occur. The Textonomy suite of products includes solutions for search and navigation, document classification, e-commerce, internet security, and contextual advertising.

Based in Holyhead, UK, Crystal Semantics is a division of Crystal Reference Systems Limited -- an internet content and search company. The company was founded in 2001 by Professor David Crystal, a world authority in linguistics, and managing director, Ian Saunders. It has provided online content for many major publishers including Penguin Books, A&E Television Networks, and Webster Publishing, and is one of the fastest growing online content publishers in Europe.

CONTACT: US, Katherine Foster of Connors Communications,
+1-212-798-1409, or katherine@connors.com, for Crystal Semantics; UK & Europe,
Alex Crawshaw, alex@piratecomms.com, David Pincott, david@piratecomms.com, or
Kate Bonner, kate@piratecomms.com, all of Pirate Communications,
+44-20-7297-3350, all for Crystal Semantics

Web site: http://www.crystalsemantics.com/