Method and apparatus to search for information

• US 20040030690A1
• Filed: 08/08/2003
• Published: 02/12/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ahritta J. Kim, Albert Y. Teng, Mark L. Bennett, Niraj K. Sharma
• Original Assignee: Ahritta J. Kim, Albert Y. Teng, Mark L. Bennett, Niraj K. Sharma
• Inventors: Teng, Albert Y., Sharma, Niraj K., Kim, Ahritta J., Bennett, Mark L.
• Granted Patent: US 6,976,018 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9532 Query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A method includes querying a plurality of search engines for properties to identify for which content categories the search engines are suited. A query to locate content is communicated to those of the plurality of search engines suited to service the query to locate content, based on at least one content category of the query to locate content.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

querying a plurality of search engines for properties to identify for which content categories the search engines are suited; and

communicating a query to locate content to those of the plurality of search engines suited to service the query to locate content, based on at least one content category of the query to locate content.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving the query to locate content from a query source;

merging returned results from those of the plurality of search engines suited to service the query to locate content in response to communicating the query to locate content to those of the plurality of search engines; and

returning the merged results to the query source.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

identifying each document of the merged results using a combination of a search engine identifier and a document identifier.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

identifying duplicate documents in the merged results according to URLs of the documents.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein communicating a query to locate content to those of the plurality of search engines suited to service the query to locate content further comprises:

communicating the query to locate content via a CGI entry point.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the query to locate content further comprises:

at least a subset of an Internet URL syntax.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the query to locate content further comprises:

at least a subset of an SQL syntax.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the returned results further comprise:

an XML format.

9. An article comprising:

a machine-readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a processor, result in;

querying a plurality of search engines for properties to identify for which content categories the search engines are suited; and

communicating a query to locate content to those of the plurality of search engines suited to service the query to locate content, based on at least one content category of the query to locate content.

10. The article of claim 9 further comprising instructions which, when executed by the processor, result in:

receiving the query to locate content from a query source;

merging returned results from those of the plurality of search engines suited to service the query to locate content in response to communicating the query to locate content to those of the plurality of search engines; and

returning the merged results to the query source.

11. The article of claim 10 further comprising instructions which, when executed by the processor, result in:

identifying each document of the merged results using a combination of a search engine identifier and a document identifier.

12. The article of claim 10 further comprising instructions which, when executed by the processor, result in:

identifying duplicate documents in the merged results according to URLs of the documents.

13. The article of claim 9 wherein execution of the instructions to communicate a query to locate content to those of the plurality of search engines suited to service the query to locate content further results in:

communicating the query to locate content via a CGI entry point.

14. The article of claim 9 wherein the query to locate content further comprises:

at least a subset of an Internet URL syntax.

15. The article of claim 9 wherein the query to locate content further comprises:

at least a subset of an SQL syntax.

16. The article of claim 9 wherein the returned results further comprise:

an XML format.

17. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a machine-readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a processor, result in;

querying a plurality of search engines for properties to identify for which content categories the search engines are suited; and

communicating a query to locate content to those of the plurality of search engines suited to service the query to locate content, based on at least one content category of the query to locate content.

18. The system of claim 17 further comprising instructions which, when executed by the processor, result in:

receiving the query to locate content from a query source;

merging returned results from those of the plurality of search engines suited to service the query to locate content in response to communicating the query to locate content to those of the plurality of search engines; and

returning the merged results to the query source.

19. The system of claim 18 further comprising instructions which, when executed by the processor, result in:

identifying each document of the merged results using a combination of a search engine identifier and a document identifier.

20. The system of claim 18 further comprising instructions which, when executed by the processor, result in:

identifying duplicate documents in the merged results according to URLs of the documents.

21. The system of claim 17 wherein execution of the instructions to communicate a query to locate content to those of the plurality of search engines suited to service the query to locate content further results in:

communicating the query to locate content via a CGI entry point.

22. The system of claim 17 wherein the query to locate content further comprises:

at least a subset of an Internet URL syntax.

23. The system of claim 17 wherein the query to locate content further comprises:

at least a subset of an SQL syntax.

24. The system of claim 17 wherein the returned results further comprise:

an XML format.