Server directed client originated search aggregator

• US 20090089296A1
• Filed: 09/28/2007
• Published: 04/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yelster Digital GmbH (Towers Watson Investment Management Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: I5Invest Beteiligungs GmbH
• Inventors: Wagner, Markus, Stemeseder, Martin
• Granted Patent: US 8,583,617 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/822 Collecting or measuring resource availability data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/567 Integrating service provisioning from a plurality of service providers

Abstract

The disclosed embodiments relate to a system for automated aggregation, and possible augmentation, of search results generated or otherwise provided in response to search queries/requests to multiple network resources, such as search engines, the search requests being originated by client devices, at the direction of a server, to the various network resources. In one embodiment, a user, using a client device, enters a search request which is provided to the server. The search request, which may comprise one or more search terms, may be entered via a web based or client based interface/application provided via the client device. As will be described, the client device may be any device capable of accessing the server and network resources via a network, such as the Internet. Exemplary client devices include a computer, cell phone, personal digital assistant, network appliance, etc. The server identifies which network resources, out of a set of available network resources, are likely to provide relevant results to the user'"'"'s query. The server may further modify the search request to increase the likelihood that the search request will return relevant results. The identified list of resources is then provided back to the client device, along with the modified search request if applicable, which then originates and transmits the search request to each of the identified resources or subset thereof. The search results may then be received and presented to The user by the client device. Alternatively, the search results may be passed to the server which processes the search results and then provides the processed search results back to the client device for presentation to the user.

Claims

1. A method of initiating a search of at least a subset of network resources, the method comprising:

receiving at a server a request to initiate a search from a client device associated with a user, the request comprising at least one search term;

identifying at the server, based on the request, a first subset of the plurality of network resources to which a search request should be directed based on the at least one search term;

providing at least a portion of the identified first subset to the client device; and

causing, in response to the identifying, the client device to originate a search request, based on the at least one search term, for transmission to at least one of the network resources of the identified first subset.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing a client application to the client device, the causing further comprising causing, by the client application, the client device to originate each of the search requests.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the receiving further comprises receiving the request to initiate the search from the client application, the client application being operative to receive the request to initiate the search from the user.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the identifying further comprises determining which of the plurality of network resources are likely to provide relevant results in response to a search request for the at least one search term.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the identifying further comprises identifying a search context and determining which of the plurality of network resources are likely to provide relevant results in response to a search request for the at least one search term in relation to the search context.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the search context comprises a characteristic of a people, a culture, a society, a community, a mutual interest of a people, culture, society or community, or combinations thereof.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the identifying further comprises modifying the at least one search term to attempt to cause the identified first subset of network resources to provide relevant results in response thereto and, providing the modified at least one search term to the client device, the originated search requests comprising the modified at least one search term.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a result based on the search request from each of the of network resources of the identified first subset having received the search request; and

presenting each result to the user.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving at the server, via the client device, a result based on the search request from each of the network resources of the identified first subset having received the search request;

processing the received results; and

providing the processed results to the client device for presentation to the user.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of network resources comprises a web site, a search engine, a data repository, a human agent, the server, the client device, or a combination thereof.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

identifying at least one other client device available to originate a search request, based on the at least one search term, for transmission to at least one of the network resources of the identified first subset;

providing at least a portion of the identified first subset to the at least one other client device; and

causing, the at least one other client device to originate a search request, based on the at least one search term, for transmission to at least one of the network resources of the identified first subset.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

receiving at the server, via the client device and the at least one other client device, a result based on the search request from each of the network resources of the identified first subset having received the search request;

processing the received results; and

providing the processed results to the client device for presentation to the user.

13. A method of initiating a search of at least a subset of network resources, the method comprising:

transmitting to a server a request to initiate a search from a client device associated with a user, the request comprising at least one search term;

receiving, from the server based on the request, identification of a first subset of the plurality of network resources to which a search request should be directed based on the at least one search term; and

originating, in response to the receiving, a search request, based on the at least one search term, for transmission to at least one of the network resources of the identified first subset.

14. A server for initiating a search of at least a subset of network resources, the server comprising:

a request receiver operative to receive a request to initiate a search from a client device associated with a user and remote from the server, the request comprising at least one search term;

a resource identifier coupled with the request receiver and operative to identify, based on the request, a first subset of the plurality of network resources to which a search request should be directed based on the at least one search term; and

a resource provider coupled with the resource identifier and operative to provide at least a portion of the identified first subset to the client device to cause, in response thereto, the client device to originate a search request, based on the at least one search term, for transmission to at least one of the network resources of the identified first subset.

15. The server of claim 14 further comprising:

a client application provider operative to provide a client application to the client device to be executed thereon, the client application being operative to cause the client device to originate each of the search requests.

16. The server of claim 15 wherein the request receiver is further operative to receive the request to initiate the search from the client application, the client application being operative to receive the request to initiate the search from the user and provide the request to the request receiver.

17. The server of claim 14 wherein the resource identifier is further operative to determine which of the plurality of network resources are likely to provide relevant results in response to a search request for the at least one search term.

18. The server of claim 17 wherein the resource identifier is further operative to identify a search context and determine which of the plurality of network resources are likely to provide relevant results in response to a search request for the at least one search term in relation to the search context.

19. The server of claim 14 wherein the resource identifier is further operative to modify the at least one search term to attempt to cause the identified first subset of network resources to provide relevant results in response thereto, the resource provider being further operative to provide the modified at least one search term to the client device, the originated search requests comprising the modified at least one search term.

20. The server of claim 14 further comprising:

a result receiver operative to receive, via the client device, a result based on the search request from each of the network resources of the identified first subset having received the search request;

a result processor coupled with the result receiver and operative to process the received results; and

a result provider coupled with the result processor and operative to provide the processed results to the client device for presentation to the user.

21. The server of claim 14 wherein each of the plurality of network resources comprises a web site, a search engine, a data repository, a human agent, the server, the client device, or a combination thereof.

22. The server of claim 14 further comprising:

an available client identifier operative to identify at least one other client device available to originate a search request, based on the at least one search term, for transmission to at least one of the network resources of the identified first subset; and

wherein the resource provider is further coupled with the available client identifier and further operative to provide at least a portion of the identified first subset to the at least one other client device to cause, in response thereto, the at least one other client device to originate a search request, based on the at least one search term, for transmission to at least one of the network resources of the identified first subset.

23. The server of claim 22 further comprising:

a result receiver operative to receive at the server, via the client device and the at least one other client device, a result based on the search request from each of the network resources of the identified first subset having received the search request;

a result processor coupled with the result receiver and operative to process the received results; and

a result provider coupled with the result processor and operative to provide the processed results to the client device for presentation to the user.

24. A system for initiating a search, by a client device associated with a user, of at least a subset of network resources, the system comprising:

a request transmitter operative to transmit a request to a server to initiate a search, the request comprising at least one search term;

a resource receiver operative to receive, from the server, based on the request, identification of a first subset of the plurality of network resources to which a search request should be directed based on the at least one search term; and

a request originator coupled with the resource receiver and operative to originate a search request, based on the at least one search term, for transmission to at least one of the network resources of the identified first subset.

25. A system for initiating a search of at least a subset of network resources, the system comprising:

means for receiving at a server a request to initiate a search from a client device associated with a user, the request comprising at least one search term;

means for identifying at the server, based on the request, a first subset of the plurality of network resources to which a search request should be directed based on the at least one search term;

means for providing at least a portion of the identified first subset to the client device; and

means for causing, in response to the identifying, the client device to originate a search request, based on the at least one search term, for transmission to at least one of the network resources of the identified first subset.