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About ASR
Mark F. McLellan
Founder & Inventor, Active Search Results
Building practical, independent search technology for nearly three decades — from early web spiders to patented real-time activity-based ranking systems and modern self-hosted AI agent infrastructure.
A Lifetime of Hands-On Search Innovation
I have spent more than 30 years designing, building, scaling, and defending real search and internet infrastructure technologies. My work has always focused on one core principle: search engines should reward genuine human activity and fresh, maintained content rather than static metrics alone.
Early Technical Foundation (1978–1995)
- Began college coursework in Computer Information Systems in 1978.
- Served in the U.S. Navy.
- After the Navy, worked with computer networking and Point-of-Sale (POS) systems, transferring data via serial connections from tapes to MFM hard drives.
- Earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems, Magna Cum Laude (1989).
- Received the Novell Certified Netware Engineer (CNE) credential (1990).
- In 1995 began spidering websites on the early Internet using Perl and the LWP (Library for WWW in Perl) modules.
First Search Engine & Business Building (1996–2007)
- Started graduate school in 1996 and created my first search engine.
- Used that search engine as my graduate thesis/project, earning an M.S. in Computer Science (1999).
- Turned the technology and spidering expertise into a real business: InternetSeer.com, which grew into the world's largest website monitoring service at the time.
- Secured early funding from the Ben Franklin Technology Partners (Philadelphia) and MindDrivers (Chadds Ford, PA).
- In 2005 received my first patent in search-related technology.
- In 2007 sold InternetSeer.com to Landmark Interactive (owners of The Weather Channel and weather.com) for $7 million.
The Birth of ASR Ranking Technology (2006–2014)
While operating InternetSeer, I repeatedly encountered a fundamental problem: search results were polluted with stale, out-of-business websites that no longer existed or were no longer maintained. Through deep research and more than a decade of hands-on experience, I realized that no major search engines or social platforms were using the real-world activity of website owners and promoters to influence rankings.
In 2007–2008 I designed and implemented a new algorithm that uses owner and promoter activity signals to help determine ranking. This became the foundation of Active Search Results (ASR) Page Ranking Technology.
- 2008: Engaged patent counsel and began the patent process under NDA.
- 2010: Filed provisional patent application.
- 2011: Filed non-provisional patent application.
- 2014: U.S. patent granted.
- Canada and Australia patents followed shortly thereafter.
I launched a live, fully functional ASR website in 2008 that implemented the technology without disclosing the proprietary algorithm.
Patented Search Technologies
I am the sole and/or primary inventor of multiple patented technologies that improve how search engines can deliver fresher, more relevant results by incorporating real human activity:
Official PDF copies of the U.S. and Australian patents below are hosted on Active Search Results for your convenience. To view the U.S. records at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, use Patent Public Search Basic and search by the patent number shown for each entry.
These patents represent a consistent thread of innovation focused on making search engines more responsive to real-world human and business activity.
Current Chapter: Self-Reliance & Agentic Systems (2022–Present)
In my current "rewirement" phase I am focused on building durable, independent technology infrastructure outside of Big Tech dependencies:
- Migrated ASR's email infrastructure to a fully self-hosted KumoMTA + Dovecot/Postfix + OpenDKIM stack on Rocky Linux 9 with proper DKIM/DMARC.
- Continuing to develop OpenClaw, a multi-agent AI swarm (ASRBot + specialized agents) for SEO, content creation, lawsuit monitoring, daily reporting, and member communications — 17 agents running locally with Ollama on GPU hardware and public LLMs.
- Operating Active Search Results with its patented activity-based ranking and a community of approximately 700,000 double-opted-in members.
- Producing daily AI-powered SEO/AEO/GEO briefings on the Active Search Results YouTube channel.
I continue to explore commercialization paths for ASR Ranking while actively defending the underlying intellectual property. I am currently litigating a patent infringement action against Google LLC, alleging that Google's search ranking systems infringe U.S. Patent No. 8,849,807 B2 (Active Search Results Page Ranking Technology). Public docket entries and court filings for McLellan v. Google LLC are available on CourtListener.
Education & Credentials
- M.S. Computer Science — West Chester University (thesis/project: search engine technology)
- B.S. Computer Information Systems, Magna Cum Laude
- Novell Certified Netware Engineer (CNE)
- Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)
- Microsoft Certified System Engineer Plus Internet (MCSE+I)
- U.S. Navy veteran
- 30+ years of hands-on experience spanning networking, web spidering, search engine development, large-scale monitoring services, self-hosted infrastructure, and multi-agent AI systems.
Current Employment
Contractor for the Department of War (DoW), working on Post at the Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) Army Base, Aberdeen Maryland, USA in the Cyber Security Division for C5ISR. I currently maintain a Top Secret / SCI Security Clearance.
Location
Middletown, Delaware, USA
Contact & Connect
For business development, patent licensing inquiries, or collaboration opportunities:
mark@activesearchresults.com
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