METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR USER BASED SEARCH IN DISTRIBUTED INFORMATION SPACE

• US 20110307489A1
• Filed: 06/09/2010
• Published: 12/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Oliver, Ian Justin, Grassel, Guido Peter, Luoma, Juha-Pekka, Honkala, Mikko Johannes
• Granted Patent: US 8,874,585 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/741
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/953 Querying, e.g. by the use of web search engines

Abstract

An approach is provided for enabling dynamic user based search within a distributed information space. A request for conducting a search over one or more information spaces is distributed to one or more autonomous agents. The autonomous agents process the request according to one or more functions specific to the one or more autonomous agents. Results are rendered to an interface of a user device in response to the search request.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining to receive a request, at a search system, for conducting a search over one or more information spaces, the search system including one or more autonomous agents associated with the one or more information spaces; and

determining to distribute the request to the one or more autonomous agents,

wherein the one or more autonomous agents process the request according to one or more functions specific to the one or more autonomous agents.

2. A method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining to generate meta-data associated with the request, the search, results of the search, the one or more information spaces, one or more indices of the one or more information spaces, previous other searches, or a combination thereof,

wherein the meta-data include a trust, a belief, a relevance, a context, or a combination thereof associated with the request, the search, the results of the search, the one or more information spaces, the one or more indices of the one or more information spaces, the previous other searches, or the combination thereof.

3. A method of claim 2, wherein the autonomous agents further process the request based, at least in part, on the meta-data.

4. A method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining to encode the request into an information syntax format,

wherein the distribution and processing of the request is based, at least in part, on the encoded request.

5. A method of claim 1, wherein the one or more autonomous agents includes at least one or more user interface agents, and wherein the one or more user interface agents receive the request and place the request into the one or more information spaces to cause the distribution of the request.

6. A method of claim 1, wherein the one or more autonomous agents include at least one or more indexer agents, and wherein the one or more indexer agents generate one or more indices of information in the one or more information spaces, in the request, in previous other requests, or in a combination thereof.

7. A method of claim 6, wherein the one or more indexer agents are tailored to an information structure used in the one or more information spaces.

8. A method of claim 6, wherein the one or more indexer agents perform any one or more of the following:

determining to generate the one or more indices based, at least in part, on an information syntax format;

determining to subscribe to the one or more information spaces, wherein the subscription alerts the one or more indexer agents to one or more changes in the one or more information spaces;

determining to utilize one or more deductive closure mechanisms to generate the one or more indices; and

determining to generate the one or more indices based, at least in part, on ontology information associated with the one or more information spaces.

9. A method of claim 1, wherein the one or more autonomous agents include at least one or more search agents, and wherein the one or more search agents map the request against the one or more information spaces, one or more indices of the one or more information spaces, previous other searches, or a combination thereof.

10. A method of claim 9, wherein the one or more search agents perform searches of the one or more information spaces based, at least in part, on a relevancy associated with the one or more information spaces, the one or more indices of the one or more information spaces, the previous other searches, or the combination thereof.

11. A method of claim 1, wherein the one or more autonomous agents include at least one or more viewer agents, and wherein the one or more viewer agents present one or more results of the search based, at least in part, on one or more characteristics of results of the search, the one or more information spaces, one or more indices of the one or more information spaces, previous other searches, or a combination thereof.

12. A method of claim 1, wherein the one or more autonomous agents include at least each of one or more user interface agents, one or more indexer agents, one or more search agents, and one or more viewer agents.

13. A method of claim 1, wherein the one or more autonomous agents operate separately and simultaneously to process the request.

14. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code for one or more programs,

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following,

determine to receive a request, at a search system, for conducting a search over one or more information spaces, the search system including one or more autonomous agents associated with the one or more information spaces; and

determine to distribute of the request to the one or more autonomous agents,

wherein the one or more autonomous agents process the request according to one or more functions specific to the one or more autonomous agents.

15. An apparatus of claim 14, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

determine to generate meta-data associated with the request, the search, results of the search, the one or more information spaces, one or more indices of the one or more information spaces, previous other searches, or a combination thereof,

wherein the meta-data include a trust, a belief, a relevance, a context, or a combination thereof associated with the request, the search, the results of the search, the one or more information spaces, the one or more indices of the one or more information spaces, the previous other searches, or the combination thereof.

16. An apparatus of claim 15, wherein the autonomous agents further process the request based, at least in part, on the meta-data.

17. An apparatus of claim 14, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

determine to encode the request into an information syntax format,

wherein the distribution and processing of the request is based, at least in part, on the encoded request.

18. An apparatus of claim 14, wherein the one or more autonomous agents includes at least one or more user interface agents, and wherein the one or more user interface agents receive the request and place the request into the one or more information spaces to cause the distribution of the request.

19. An apparatus of claim 14, wherein the one or more autonomous agents include at least one or more indexer agents, and wherein the one or more indexer agents generate one or more indices of information in the one or more information spaces, in the request, in previous other requests, or in a combination thereof.

20. An apparatus of claim 14, wherein the one or more autonomous agents include at least one or more search agents, and wherein the one or more search agents map the request against the one or more information spaces, one or more indices of the one or more information spaces, previous other searches, or a combination thereof.

21-50. -50. (canceled)