A method for creating a personal profile of a user for searching a database comprises
the following steps: (a) words or words linked to graphical elements are presented
as choices to a user in a display; (b) each word is associated with other keywords
or default words; (c) if a profile of the user has previously been established,
the profile is referenced for previous added keywords or associative words; (d)
search phrases are made from selected keywords or associative words added to the
profile; (e) the search phrases are sent as search queries to search for objects
in the database; (f) the objects returned from the search are presented to the
user as a new display of choices; (g) when a user selects an object, the words
that were used to search for that object are added to the user's profile, or reinforced
if already present; and the steps (d) to (g) above are repeated iteratively. The
user profiling method is preferably employed with a standard browser while the
user visits websites or portals on the Internet which are structured with site
word maps to implement the keyword references. The user profile can then be used
to identify the user's preferences for items of interest on websites visited by
the user.
