Search engine social proxy

• US 20060143160A1
• Filed: 12/28/2004
• Published: 06/29/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Vayssiere, Julien J.P.
• Granted Patent: US 8,099,405 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results

Abstract

A technique for enhancing the results of an existing online search engine involves re-ordering the results of a search according to the feedback provided by a user community to previous similar searches. In an embodiment, the technique is fully backward-compatible with existing online search engines. In an embodiment, feedback is collected by an intermediary that sits in-between a client and a server. The intermediary intercepts requests and, for some, modifies the results. In this way, the technique can enhance the results of searches addressed to online search engines such as google.com, while being non-intrusive to an online search engine and a client browser.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a request to a search engine from a user, wherein said request includes a search expression;

sending the request to the search engine;

receiving a response from the search engine, including search results; and

if prior history associated with the search expression is available,

sorting the search results according to the prior history; and

sending a first page of the sorted response to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising initializing a count to zero for a URL in the search results if the URL is not associated with the search expression in the prior history.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising setting a status to an error code associated with a URL in the search results.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising returning the response from the search engine to the user without re-sorting if no prior history associated with the search expression is available.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising caching the sorted search results locally.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said user is a first user, further comprising:

receiving a request for a URL from a second user; and

if a page associated with the URL is cached locally,

fetching the cached page; and

returning the cached page to the second user.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request for a requested URL, wherein the request includes a referral URL;

fetching a page associated with the requested URL; and

creating an entry in a repository if the referral URL is associated with a search engine.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said request is a first request, further comprising:

receiving a second request for the requested URL, wherein the second request includes the referral URL;

fetching the page associated with the requested URL; and

updating the entry in the repository.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request for a requested URL, wherein the request includes a search expression;

fetching a page associated with the requested URL; and

creating an entry in a repository, wherein the entry is associated with the search expression and the requested URL.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said request is a first request, further comprising:

receiving a second request for the requested URL, wherein the second request includes the search expression;

fetching the page associated with the requested URL; and

updating the entry in the repository.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request for a requested URL, wherein the request includes a referral URL and a search expression;

fetching a page associated with the requested URL; and

creating an entry in a repository if the referral URL is associated with a search engine, wherein the entry is associated with the search expression and the requested URL.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said request is a first request, further comprising:

receiving a second request for a requested URL, wherein the second request includes the referral URL and the search expression;

fetching the page associated with the requested URL; and

updating the entry in the repository.

13. A system, comprising:

a plurality of clients coupled to a first network;

a search engine coupled to a second network configured to provide search results in response to search requests; and

an intermediary, coupled between the first network and the second network, configured to;

intercept a first request for search results from a client to the search engine, wherein the second request includes a search expression;

intercept search results from the search engine to the client, wherein the search results include a URL;

intercept a second request for the URL from the client; and

associate the search expression with the URL.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein said client is a first client, said search results are first search results, and said intermediary is further configured to:

intercept a third request for search results from a second client to the search engine, wherein the third request includes the search expression;

intercept second search results from the search engine to the second client, wherein the second search results include the URL; and

re-ordering the second search results according to prior history that includes the search expression and the URL.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the second network is the Internet.

16. A system including a processor and a computer-readable medium for storing data and executable code, comprising:

client connection logic configured to receive requests from a plurality of clients and to transmit responses, in reply to the requests, to the clients;

server connection logic configured to transmit the requests to a plurality of servers and to receive the responses from the servers;

a repository;

repository update logic, coupled to the client connection logic and the server connection logic, configured to update the repository based on the requests and the responses; and

search results re-ordering logic, coupled to the client connection logic and the server connection logic, configured to re-order search results from a subset of the responses in accordance with the updated repository.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein said repository update logic is further configured to update the repository in response to an intercepted search request from a client, intercepted search results associated with the search request, and an intercepted URL request from the client, wherein the URL request is associated with the search results.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein said search results re-ordering logic is further configured to re-order the search results from the subset of the responses in accordance with the number of times URLs associated with the search results have been requested.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein said search results re-ordering logic is further configured to re-order the search results from the subset of the responses in accordance with error codes associated with URLs that are associated with the search results.

20. The system of claim 16, further comprising a page buffer, wherein said search results re-ordering logic re-orders the search results in the page buffer.