System and method for resolving distributed network search queries to information providers

• US 20030050924A1
• Filed: 03/26/2002
• Published: 03/13/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Cutting, Douglass R., Beatty, John, Botros, Sherif, Faybishenko, Yaroslav, Kan, Gene H., Camarda, Thomas J.
• Granted Patent: US 6,950,821 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/959 Network

Abstract

Systems and methods for resolving search queries to information providers in a distributing search network. In a network including nodes generating search requests and nodes providing information, a node may operate as hub to route search requests from requesting nodes to provider nodes. Providers may register with a network hub. Registration information may include address information and data indicating they queries or type of queries for which that provider may have relevant data. A hub may resolve search queries against provider registrations to determine a set of providers to which to route each search query. Several systems and methods of selecting some of the providers are described, including the use of bidding, ranking, and statistical data.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a search query including one or more search terms from each of a plurality of requesting nodes in a network;

resolving each of the plurality of one or more query terms received against a registration database including one or more provider node registrations; and

indicating for each search query one or more provider nodes in the network corresponding to requesting node registrations matching the one or more query terms in response to said resolving the one or more query terms.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of search queries matches the corresponding one or more requesting node registrations in response to each of the one or more provider node registrations including one or more query terms identical to the one or more query terms of the corresponding search query.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the one or more provider node registrations matches a corresponding search query in response to a provider queryspace of each requesting node registration and a queryspace of the corresponding search query indicating overlapping search domains.

4. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein the one or more query terms of each of the plurality of search queries define the queryspace of the corresponding search query.

5. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein the provider queryspace overlaps with the queryspace of the corresponding search query in response to the corresponding provider node registration including one or more query terms identical to the one or more query terms of the corresponding search query.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising adding in the registration database a new provider node registration corresponding to a new provider node in the network and including one or more query terms and a provider queryspace.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein said adding a new provider network node registration to the registration database includes indexing into the registration database at least one registration predicate included in the registration file and information indicating the new provider network node.

8. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the new provider network node registration is formatted in accordance with a common query protocol.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the search query is formatted in accordance with a common query protocol.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said resolving includes selecting a plurality of provider node registrations including the one or more provider node registrations in response to a corresponding plurality of provider bids indicating provider relevancy.

11. The method as recited in claim 10, further comprising generating one of the plurality of provider bids in response to a number of query terms of the provider node registration identical to query terms of one of the plurality of search queries.

12. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said resolving includes selecting the one or more provider node registrations in response to provider bids indicating provider relevancy from a plurality of provider node registrations matching the search query according to a different ranking.

13. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising generating a plurality of registration scores indicating a ranking of the plurality of provider node registrations and selecting a limited number of the plurality of provider node registrations including the one or more provider node registrations in response to the registrations scores.

14. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said resolving includes selecting the matching one or more provider node registrations in response to preceding success data for each of a plurality of provider nodes including the one or more provider nodes each indicating a success rate of the corresponding provider node to one or more preceding search queries.

15. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein the preceding success data is received from the plurality of requesting nodes.

16. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of search queries matches the corresponding one or more requesting node registrations in response to each of the one or more provider node registrations including each the one or more query terms identical to the one or more query terms of the corresponding search query.

17. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein each of the plurality of search queries matches the corresponding one or more requesting node registration in response to each of the one or more provider node registrations including each of one or more additional query terms identical to one or more additional query terms of a narrowed search query.

18. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein the narrowed search query including the one or more additional query terms is generated in response to said resolving indicating more than a specified number of matching provider node registrations.

19. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein the one or more additional query terms of the narrowed search query are generated in response to historical data indicating a preceding frequency of combination for the one or more additional query terms and the one or more query terms of the corresponding search query in one or more preceding search queries.

20. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said resolving includes selecting one of the matching one or more provider node registrations in response to the one provider node registration including a plurality of query terms identical to at least some of the other one or more provider node registrations.

21. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said resolving includes selecting one of the matching one or more provider node registrations in response to the statistical data indicating the one provider node registration and at least some of the other one or more provider registrations together have matched at least one previous search request.

22. A computer system in a network, comprising:

a storage device including a plurality of provider registrations;

an interface configured to receive a search query including one or more search terms from a requesting nodes in the network and to transmit the search requests to one or more provider nodes in the network; and

a resolver configured to resolve the search request against each of the plurality of provider registrations to determine the one or more provider nodes each indicated by a corresponding matching provider registration.

23. The computer system as recited in claim 22, wherein the one or more matching provider registrations each include one or more search terms identical to the one or more search terms of the search query.

24. The computer system as recited in claim 22, wherein each of the one or more provider registrations includes a queryspace indicating a search domain of the corresponding provider node in part identical to at least a portion of a search domain indicated by a queryspace of the search query.

25. The computer system as recited in claim 24, wherein the one or more query terms of the search query define the queryspace of the corresponding search query.

26. The computer system as recited in claim 22, wherein the interface is configured to receive a new provider registration including one or more query terms and a queryspace from a new provider and the new provider registration is stored in the storage device.

27. The computer system as recited in claim 26, wherein the new provider registration is indexed with the plurality of provider registrations.

28. The computer system as recited in claim 26, wherein the new provider registration is formatted in accordance with a common query protocol.

29. The computer system as recited in claim 22, wherein the search query is formatted in accordance with a common query protocol.

30. The computer system as recited in claim 22, wherein the resolver selects a plurality of provider node registrations including the one or more provider node registrations in response to a corresponding plurality of provider bids indicating corresponding provider relevancy.

31. The computer system as recited in claim 30, wherein one of the plurality of provider bids is generated in response to a number of query terms of the provider node registration identical to query terms of one of the plurality of search queries.

32. The computer system as recited in claim 22, wherein the resolver selects the one or more provider node registrations in response to provider bids indicating provider relevancy from one or more provider registrations of the plurality of provider registrations matching the search query according to a different ranking.

33. The computer system as recited in claim 22, wherein a plurality of registration scores indicating a ranking of the plurality of provider node registrations are generated and the resolver selects a number of the plurality of provider registrations including the one or more provider registrations in response to the registrations scores.

34. The computer system as recited in claim 22, wherein the resolver selects the matching one or more provider node registrations in response to preceding success data stored in the storage device indicating a success rate for at least one of the plurality of provider nodes corresponding to at least one of the plurality of provider registrations with at least one preceding search query.

35. The computer system as recited in claim 34, wherein the interface receives the preceding success data from the requesting nodes.

36. The computer system as recited in claim 22, wherein each of the one or more provider registrations includes each of one or more query terms of the search query and one or more narrowing query terms.

37. The computer system as recited in claim 36, wherein the search query transmitted by the interface includes the one or more query terms and the one or more narrowing query terms.

38. The computer system as recited in claim 36, wherein the one or more narrowing query terms are generated to limit the number of matching one or more provider registrations below a specified number.

39. The computer system as recited in claim 36, wherein the one or more narrowing query terms are generated in response to historical data stored in the storage device indicating a preceding frequency of combination for the one or more narrowing query terms and the one or more query terms of the search query in one or more preceding search queries.

40. The computer system as recited in claim 22, wherein said resolving includes selecting one of the matching one or more provider registrations in response to the one provider registration including a plurality of query terms identical to at least some of the other one or more provider node registrations.

41. The computer system as recited in claim 22, wherein said resolving includes selecting one of the matching one or more provider node registrations in response to the statistical data indicating the one provider node registration and at least some of the other one or more provider registrations together have matched at least one previous search request.

42. A distributed information search mechanism comprising:

means for storing a plurality of provider registrations;

means for receiving a search request including one or more search terms from a requesting node in the network;

means for resolving the search request against each of the plurality of provider registrations to determine one or more matching provider registrations each indicating a corresponding provider node; and

means for transmitting the search request to one or more provider nodes in the network.

43. The distributed information search mechanism as recited in claim 42, further comprising:

means for receiving a new provider registration from a new provider; and

means for storing the new provider registration with the plurality of provider registrations.

44. The distributed information search mechanism as recited in claim 43, further comprising means for indexing the new provider registration with the plurality of provider registrations.

45. The distributed information search mechanism as recited in claim 42, wherein said means for resolving includes means for ranking the plurality of provider registrations in response to the search request to indicate relevancy of each of the corresponding provider nodes.

46. The distributed information search mechanism as recited in claim 42, wherein said means for resolving includes means for generating narrowing search terms to determine the one or more matching provider registrations.

47. The distributed information search mechanism as recited in claim 42, wherein said means for resolving includes means for selecting one of the matching one or more provider registrations in response to the one provider registration including a plurality of query terms identical to at least some of the other one or more provider node registrations.

48. The distributed information search mechanism as recited in claim 42, wherein said means for resolving includes means for selecting one of the matching one or more provider node registrations in response to the statistical data indicating the one provider node registration and at least some of the other one or more provider registrations together have matched at least one previous search request.