Client-side federated search

• US 20080114731A1
• Filed: 11/15/2006
• Published: 05/15/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kumar, Amit
• Granted Patent: US 7,895,175 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 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing

Abstract

A method and apparatus for client-side federated search is provided. The user subscribes to a number of information providers, wherein a list of the information providers for the user is stored at a search engine. When the user at a client device submits a search query to the search engine, the search engine responds by sending general search results to the client device, along with search instructions that instruct the client device how to automatically initiate a search at information providers in which the user is interested. Without any further input from the user, the client device uses the search instructions to initiate searches at information providers in which the user is interested. When the client receives search results from the information providers, the client device displays the general search results concurrently with the information provider search results.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

in response to user input, sending a search query from a client to a search engine;

receiving, at the client, search results matching the search query and search instructions corresponding to each of a plurality of information providers;

without receiving any additional user input at the client, automatically using the search instructions to initiate searches at each of the information providers;

receiving, at the client, search results from each of the information providers; and

displaying concurrently, on the client, the search results from the search engine and the search results from each of the information providers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the search instructions comprise executable instructions and the step of automatically using the search instructions comprises executing the instructions to initiate searches at each of the information providers.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the search instructions comprise a data structure and the step of automatically using the search instructions comprises using the data structure to initiate searches at each of the information providers.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of automatically using the search instructions to initiate searches for information at each of the information providers comprises initiating searches for information that is not accessible to the search engine.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of displaying comprises displaying, on the client, the search results from the search engine and the search results from each of the information providers in the same document on the client.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the search instructions are for information providers previously associated with a user that is using the client.

7. A method comprising:

receiving, at a client, search instructions corresponding to at least one of a plurality of information providers that have previously been selected by a user that is using said client;

in response to receipt of the search instructions at the client, the client automatically using the search instructions to initiate searches at each of the information providers;

receiving, at the client, search results from each of the information providers; and

displaying concurrently, on the client, a web page and the search results from each of the information providers.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the search instructions comprise executable instructions and the step of automatically using the search instructions comprises executing the instructions to initiate searches at each of the information providers.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the search instructions comprise a data structure and the step of automatically using the search instructions comprises using the data structure to initiate searches at each of the information providers.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of automatically using the search instructions to initiate searches for information at each of the information providers comprises initiating searches for information that is not accessible to the search engine.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the search instructions correspond to information providers that match the web page.

12. A computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions, which when executed by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

in response to user input, sending a search query from a client to a search engine;

receiving, at the client, search results matching the search query and search instructions corresponding to each of a plurality of information providers;

without receiving any additional user input at the client, automatically using the search instructions to initiate searches at each of the information providers;

receiving, at the client, search results from each of the information providers; and

displaying concurrently, on the client, the search results from the search engine and the search results from each of the information providers.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the one or more sequences of instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform the step of displaying comprise one or more sequences of instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform the step of:

displaying, on the client, the search results from the search engine and the search results from each of the information providers in the same document on the client.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the one or more sequences of instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform the step of automatically using the search instructions to initiate searches comprise one or more sequences of instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform the step of initiating searches for information that is not accessible to the search engine.

15. A computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions, which when executed by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

receiving, at a client, search instructions corresponding to at least one of a plurality of information providers that have previously been selected by a user that is using said client;

in response to receipt of the search instructions at the client, the client automatically using the search instructions to initiate searches at each of the information providers;

receiving, at the client, search results from each of the information providers; and

displaying concurrently, on the client, a web page and the search results from each of the information providers.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the one or more sequences of instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform the step of automatically using the search instructions to initiate searches for information at each of the information providers comprise one or more sequences of instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform the step of initiating searches for information that is not accessible to the search engine.

17. A method comprising:

receiving a search query from a client;

sending, to the client, search results matching the search query and search instructions corresponding to each of a plurality of information providers, wherein the search instructions are able to cause the client to automatically initiate searches at each of the information providers, and to display concurrently, on the client, the search results from the search engine and search results from each of the information providers.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the search instructions comprise executable instructions.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the search instructions comprise a data structure.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

receiving an identifier of a user that is using the client;

determining a list of information providers associated with the identifier; and

selecting at least one information provider on the list as information providers for which search instructions are to be set to the client.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein selecting at least one information provider comprises selecting information providers that have provided keywords that match the search query.

22. A method comprising:

receiving, from a client, a web page identifier of a web page;

identifying a user that is using the client; and

sending, to the client, search instructions corresponding to at least one of a plurality of information providers that have previously been selected by the user;

wherein the search instructions are able to cause the client to automatically initiate searches at each of the information providers, and to display concurrently, on the client, the web page and search results from each of the information providers.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

based on information that is representative of content of the web page, determining a set of information providers that are relevant to the web page; and

selecting, as information providers for which search instructions are to be sent to the client, information providers that are both relevant to the web page and that have previously been selected by the user.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein selecting information providers that are relevant to the web page comprises matching keywords associated with respective ones of the information providers with keywords extracted from the web page.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the search instructions comprise executable instructions.

26. The method of claim 22, wherein the search instructions comprise a data structure.

27. A system comprising:

a search engine that is operable to;

receive a search query from a client;

identify a user that is using the client; and

send, to the client, search instructions corresponding to at least one of a plurality of information providers that have previously been selected by the user; and

a client communicatively coupled to the server, wherein the client is operable to;

in response to user input, sending a search query to the search engine;

without receiving any additional user input at the client, automatically use the search instructions to initiate searches at each of the information providers;

receive, at the client, search results from each of the information providers; and

concurrently display the search results from the search engine and the search results from each of the information providers.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the search engine is operable to select information providers that have provided query triggers that match the search query.

29. The system of claim 27, further comprising:

a firewall between a first of the information providers and the server, wherein the server is unable to access certain information on the first information provider; and

wherein the client is on the same side of the firewall as the first information provider such that the client is able to initiate a search for the certain information on the first information provider.