Information access

• US 6,253,208 B1
• Filed: 03/31/1998
• Issued: 06/26/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: British Telecommunications PLC (BT Group PLC)
• Original Assignee: British Telecommunications PLC (BT Group PLC)
• Inventors: Wittgreffe, John P., Zaiour, Habib
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Hosain T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): ALAM, SHAHID AL
• Application Number:
  US09/052,002
• Time in Patent Office: 1,183 Days
• Field of Search: 707/3, 707/4, 707/5, 707/10, 707/100, 707/103, 707/104, 707/501, 707/513, 707/524, 705/14, 705/20, 705/23, 705/26, 705/27, 709/203, 709/217, 709/219, 382/224, 380/24-25
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/201 Price look-up processing, e.g. updating
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0208 Trade or exchange of goods or services in exchange for incentives or rewards
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

An information access system is provided to create and maintain a rapidly accessible index to information extracted from information sources accessible over the Internet. The information access system may be tailored to extract, analyse and index information obtained via the public query interfaces to a number of predetermined information databases. Information may be extracted from the information databases by submitting appropriate query requests to their query interfaces and analysing data returned in response. Query requests may be stored and maintained by the information access system in query files. Query responses may be analysed by one or more query result analysis modules, each module being tailored to convert information supplied by a particular site into a common format for storage in an index. New information may be identified and reported to users. The information access system may be applied, in particular to commercial property trading.

Claims

1. An information access system comprising:

a communications interface;

query submission means;

a query result analyser;

information storage means; and

triggering means;

wherein the information access system is arranged, in operation, to respond to an output of the triggering means to do the following;

using said communications interface, to establish a network connection to a predetermined network address;

using said query submission means, to select a query from a set of one or more predetermined queries and to transmit the selected query, via the communications interface, over said network connection, according to a predetermined communications protocol;

using said query result analyser, on receipt of data over said network connection in response to said transmitted query, to extract information of a predetermined type from the received data and to format the extracted information according to a common format; and

using said information storage means to store the formatted information in an index,

wherein the information storage means are arranged, on receipt and prior to storage of information extracted by the query result analyser, to compare said extracted information with information already stored in the index and to identify, within the extracted information, information not previously stored in the index.

2. An information access system according to claim 1, comprising a search engine arranged with access to retrieve information from the index in response to received search requests.

3. A property trading system, comprising an information access system according to claim 1.

4. An information access system according to claim 1, wherein the information storage means identifies, within the extracted information, new information not previously stored in the index.

5. An information access system according to claim 1, including requirements matching means arranged to compare predetermined information requirements with said new information and to output results of the comparison.

6. An information access system according to claim 1, wherein the information storage means compares the extracted information with information already stored in the index and identifies, based on the comparison, information to be deleted from the index.

7. A property trading system comprising:

a communications interface;

query submission means;

a query result analyser;

information storage means;

trigger means; and

a search engine;

wherein the property trading system is arranged, in operation, to respond to an output of the triggering means to do the following;

using said communication interface, to establish a network connection to a predetermined network address;

using said query submission means, to select a query from a set of one or more predetermined queries and to transmit the selected query, via the communications interface, over said network connection, according to a predetermined communications protocol;

using said query result analyser, on receipt of data over said network connection in response to said transmitted query, to extract information of a predetermined type from the received data and to format the extracted information according to a common format; and

using said information storage means to store the formatted information in an index;

wherein the search engine is arranged to retrieve information, stored in the index, in response to received property search requests; and

wherein the information storage means are arranged, on receipt and prior to storage of information extracted by the query result analyser, to compare said extracted information with information already stored in the index and to identify, within the extracted information, information not previously stored in the index.

8. An information access system comprising:

a store for storing query files, each query file having a uniform resource locator associated therewith;

a query preparation module configured to read out a query file from said store, to determine the uniform resource locator associated with the read out query file, and to format a query request based on the read out query file;

a network connection module configured to establish a network connection to a web server using the determined uniform resource locator and to then forward the formatted query request to the web server;

a query result analyzer module configured to process query results received from the web server and to output data based on the results of the processing; and

a database connector configured to use the output data to update the store,

wherein the database connector is arranged, on receipt and prior to using the output data to update the store, to compare the output data with the current data contents of the store and to identify, within the output data, data not currently stored in the store.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the query file read out from the store is determined in accordance with a predetermined search schedule.

10. The system according to claim 8, wherein the query preparation module is further configured to monitor the query results received from the web server to determine whether the query results are complete.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein the query preparation module determines whether the query results are complete by detecting character strings.

12. The system according to claim 10, wherein the query preparation module formats a next page request that is forwarded to the web server by the network connection module if the query results received from the web server are not complete.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the read out query comprises data for defining the maximum number of pages of query results to be retrieved using next page requests.

14. The system according to claim 8, wherein the query request comprises multiple parts.

15. The system according to claim 8, wherein the query result analyzer module is configured to process query results to extract predetermined information entities.

16. The system according to claim 15, wherein the query result analyzer module is configured to translate terms used by the web site to describe the extracted information entities into standard terms for the information access system.

17. The system according to claim 8, wherein the output data comprises a data table of predetermined structure.

18. The system according to claim 8, wherein the database connector performs a comparison between the output data and current data contents of the store to detect changes to particular information records.

19. The system according to claim 18, wherein the database connector generates an alert if changes between the output data and the current data contents of the store are detected.

20. A property trading system, comprising an information access system according to claim 8.