System and method for locating information in an on-line network
First Claim
1. A find system for locating offerings in an on-line network, comprising:
- at least one service existing in an on-line network, said service having a plurality of offerings accessible by a plurality of users;
a plurality of query processing modules existing in said on-line network, each of said query processing modules having an index which associates a plurality of search terms with said offerings, said query processing modules configured to receive a plurality of search requests, said search requests containing said search terms, said query processing module configured to search said index to locate said offerings identified by said search terms; and
at least one administrative module existing in said on-line network, said administrative module in communication with said query processing modules, said administrative module configured to receive said search requests, said administrative module further adapted to balance the processing loads of said query processing modules by selectively routing said search requests to said query processing modules.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The find system of the present invention operates as an extension of a computer'"'"'s operating system and allows an end-user of an on-line network to enter a search request to locate offerings in different services. In the on-line network, multiple query modules process the search requests by using multiple indexes which associate search terms with offerings in the different services. In addition, multiple find modules balance the processing loads placed on the query modules by selectively routing the search requests to the query modules. In addition to locating offerings in the on-line network, the find system can also establish connections with external data sources and route search requests to the external data sources. Furthermore, the find system provides a fault-tolerant system in which the find modules reroute the search requests to other query modules when errors occur. The find system also contains an indexing module which executes on separate processors and allows service providers to create specialized indexing schemes. These specialized indexes are then periodically updated and transferred to the query modules using techniques which allow search request processing during the update process. Still further, the find system provides an improved method of obtaining up-to-date security clearances for located offerings.
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Citations
62 Claims
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1. A find system for locating offerings in an on-line network, comprising:
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at least one service existing in an on-line network, said service having a plurality of offerings accessible by a plurality of users; a plurality of query processing modules existing in said on-line network, each of said query processing modules having an index which associates a plurality of search terms with said offerings, said query processing modules configured to receive a plurality of search requests, said search requests containing said search terms, said query processing module configured to search said index to locate said offerings identified by said search terms; and at least one administrative module existing in said on-line network, said administrative module in communication with said query processing modules, said administrative module configured to receive said search requests, said administrative module further adapted to balance the processing loads of said query processing modules by selectively routing said search requests to said query processing modules. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A index system for indexing the content of offerings in an on-line network, the index system comprising:
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a plurality of services existing in the on-line network, each of the services having a plurality of offerings accessible by a plurality of users; an index module existing in the on-line network, said index module in communication with said services, said index module configured to create a plurality of different indexes with different indexing routines, each of the indexes associating search terms with the offerings in one of the services; and a plurality of query processing modules existing in said on-line network, said query processing modules in communication with said index module, said query processing modules configured to receive a plurality of search requests, said query processing modules further configured to periodically receive one of said indexes, said query processing modules adapted to process said search requests by searching said indexes to locate said offerings identified by said search terms. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A find system for locating offerings in an on-line network, comprising:
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at least one end-user station, said end-user station configured to send a search request to an on-line network, said search request configured to contain at least one search term; at least one service existing in said on-line network, said service having a plurality of offerings accessible by a plurality of users, each of said offerings assigned a security access level; a plurality of query processing modules existing in said on-line network, said query modules in communication with said end-user station and configured to receive said search request, said query processing modules further configured to periodically receive an updated index which associates said search terms in said search requests with said offerings in said service, said query processing modules further configured to process said search requests by searching said index to locate said offerings related to said search terms; and a security module in said on-line network, said security module in communication with said service, said security module configured to obtain a current security access level for each of said located offerings. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A find system for locating offerings in an on-line network, comprising:
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at least one service existing in an on-line network, said service having a plurality of offerings accessible by a plurality of users; a plurality of query processing means for processing a plurality of search requests to locate said offerings identified by said search request, each of said query processing means searching an index which associates a plurality of search terms in said search requests with said offerings; an administrative means for selectively routing said search requests to said query processing means in order to balance the processing loads placed on said query processing means; and an index means for updating a plurality of different indexes with different indexing routines, said index means in communication with said query processing means, said index means notifying one of said query processing means of an index update, wherein said query processing means and said administrative means interact to route said search requests to other of said query processing means while said index means updates said index in said query processing means. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34)
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35. A method of locating offerings in an on-line network comprising the steps of:
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sending a search request to at least one administrative module existing in an on-line network, said administrative module in communication with a plurality of query processing modules, each of said query processing modules containing a plurality of search engines; selectively routing said search request to one of said search engines in a manner that balances the processing loads in said query processing modules; and processing said search request in one of said search engines to locate a plurality of offerings in a service. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
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51. A method of indexing the content of offerings in an on-line network, the method comprising the steps of:
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accessing the information content in a plurality of services existing within the on-line network; creating a plurality of different indexes with different indexing routines, each of the indexes associating search terms with the offerings existing in one of the services; selectively invoking the indexing routines to update the indexes; processing a plurality of search requests with a plurality of query processing modules existing in said on-line network, said query processing modules adapted to process said search requests by searching said indexes to locate said offerings related to said search requests; and periodically updating said indexes in said query processing modules. - View Dependent Claims (52)
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53. A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon for causing a computerized system to perform a method of locating offerings in an on-line network comprising:
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sending a search request to at least one administrative module existing in an on-line network, said administrative module in communication with a plurality of query processing modules, each of said query processing modules containing a plurality of search engines; selectively routing said search request to one of said search engines in a manner that balances the processing loads in said query processing modules; and processing said search request in one of said search engines to locate a plurality of offerings in a service. - View Dependent Claims (54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60)
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61. A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon for causing a computerized system to perform a method of indexing content of offerings in an on-line network, comprising:
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accessing the information content in a plurality of services existing within the on-line network; creating a plurality of different indexes with different indexing routines, each of the indexes associating search terms with the offerings existing in one of the services; selectively invoking the indexing routines to update the indexes; processing a plurality of search requests with a plurality of query processing modules existing in said on-line network, said query processing modules adapted to process said search requests by searching said indexes to locate said offerings related to said search requests; and periodically updating said indexes in said query processing modules. - View Dependent Claims (62)
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Specification