Integrated search and information discovery system
First Claim
1. A method and system for searching for information, comprising the steps of:
- (a) submitting a user query to a computing device, such user query containing a set of search terms and a selection from a set of search services and data stores to be accessed in accordance with said user query via any combination of a plurality of storage and information retrieval systems and networks;
(b) translating said user query such that one or more translations of the user query are produced that can be understood and processed by the selected search services and data stores;
(c) transmitting the translated user queries to the selected search services and data stores; and
(d) retrieving the output from the selected search services and data stores generated in response to the transmission of the translated user queries.
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Abstract
An integrated search and information discovery system is disclosed. The simultaneous and integrated access to a dynamic plurality of arbitrary search services and data stores is enabled, relieving users of such services and stores from the time-consuming task of accessing them individually or in otherwise inefficient manners. Further, a user-oriented derivative of the common webcrawling process is introduced and utilized to discover information not held in or indexed by the accessed search services and data stores using content and links delivered by those search services and data stores in response to an integrated user query. Finally, a modular information analysis framework is utilized to allow for the use of a plurality of information analysis methods depending on the needs of a user.
94 Citations
72 Claims
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1. A method and system for searching for information, comprising the steps of:
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(a) submitting a user query to a computing device, such user query containing a set of search terms and a selection from a set of search services and data stores to be accessed in accordance with said user query via any combination of a plurality of storage and information retrieval systems and networks;
(b) translating said user query such that one or more translations of the user query are produced that can be understood and processed by the selected search services and data stores;
(c) transmitting the translated user queries to the selected search services and data stores; and
(d) retrieving the output from the selected search services and data stores generated in response to the transmission of the translated user queries. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A method and system for searching for information, comprising the steps of:
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(a) submitting a user query to a computing device, such user query containing a set of search terms, a set of seed addresses, and a set of parameters defining the control of the localized webcrawling process;
(b) retrieving the content and meta-data associated with the said seed addresses via any combination of a plurality of storage and information retrieval systems and networks;
(c) analyzing said content and meta-data in accordance with the search terms included in the said user query, thereby qualifying or disqualifying said content and meta-data with regard to the user query;
(d) creating a new set of seed addresses from links extracted from the set of qualified content and meta-data; and
(e) repeating steps (b) through (d) with said new seed addresses to the extent allowed by the localized webcrawling parameters specified in the user query. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
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51. A method and system for searching for information, comprising the steps of:
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(a) submitting a user query to a computing device, such user query containing a set of search terms, a selection of a set of search services and data stores to be accessed in accordance with such user query via any combination of a plurality of storage and information retrieval systems and networks, and a set of parameters defining the control of the localized webcrawling process;
(b) translating said user query such that one or more translations of the user query are produced that can be understood and processed by the selected search services and data stores;
(c) transmitting the translated user queries to the selected search services and data stores;
(d) retrieving the output from the selected search services and data stores generated in response to the transmission of the translated user queries. (e) creating a new set of seed addresses from links extracted from the output of the selected search services and data stores;
(f) retrieving the content and meta-data associated with the said seed addresses via any combination of a plurality of storage and information retrieval systems and networks;
(g) analyzing said content and meta-data with regard to the search terms included in the said user query, thereby qualifying or disqualifying said content and meta-data with regard to the user query;
(h) creating a new set of seed addresses from links extracted from the set of qualified content and meta-data; and
(i) repeating steps (f) through (h) with said new seed addresses to the extent allowed by the localized webcrawling parameters specified in the user query. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72)
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Specification