Refinement of a search query based on information stored on a local storage medium

• US 7,240,052 B2
• Filed: 09/03/2004
• Issued: 07/03/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: IAC Search & Media Incorporated (IAC/InterActiveCorp)
• Original Assignee: IAC Search & Media Incorporated (IAC/InterActiveCorp)
• Inventors: Obenhuber, legal representative, Segaram, Para Kanagasabai, Chong, Creighton W., Sidlosky, Jeffrey Alan Joseph, Obenhuber, deceased
• Primary Examiner(s): Gaffin; Jeffrey
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mahmoudi; Hassan ""
• Application Number:
  US10/934,872
• Publication Number:
  US 20050091205A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,033 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1,2,3,10 709/225 717/103 345/588 715/516
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3349 Reuse of stored results of previous queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

The generation a search query based on information stored on a storage medium is described. According to one embodiment of the invention, search criteria is entered to perform a search of a storage medium of a client computer. The search of the storage medium determines a web search criteria. The client computer provides search results based on the web search criteria.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of performing a search comprising:

using a client computer to enter a search criteria, the client computer including a storage medium;

performing an operation to initiate a search;

performing a search of the storage medium automatically in response to the operation and the search criteria to refine the search criteria and determine a web search criteria;

requesting search results from a remote server based on the web search criteria; and

providing the search results on the client computer based on the refined search criteria.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the search of the storage medium includes accessing a disk index for information related to the search criteria.

3. The computer-implement method of claim 2, wherein the information related to the search criteria includes at least one of a keyword and a phrase.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, further comprising:

displaying the at least one of the keyword or the phrase.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the search results is a web-based search result including one or more links to uniform resource locators.

6. A computer-implemented method of performing a search, comprising:

using a client computer to enter a search criteria;

performing an operation to initiate a search;

performing (i) a web search and (ii) a storage medium search on the client computer automatically in response to the operation and based on the search criteria; and

refining the web search based on the storage medium search to produce refined search results;

displaying the refined search results on a screen of the client computer.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the storage medium search includes accessing a disk index for information related to the search criteria.

8. The computer-implement method of claim 7, wherein the information related to the search criteria includes at least one of a keyword and a phrase.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein displaying the results of the storage medium search includes displaying at least one of the keyword or the phrase.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the displaying the results of the web-search includes displaying one or more links to uniform resource locators.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the results of the storage medium search is used as criteria for the web search.

12. A device comprising:

a storage medium; and

a search application to receive a first search criteria, to perform a first search of the storage medium automatically based on the first search criteria to determine a second search criteria, to transmit the second search criteria to a remote server to perform a second search, to receive a first search result based on a combination of the first search and the second search, to rank the first search result based on the combination of the first search and the second search and to present the ranked first search result from the remote server.

13. The device of claim 12 further comprising the search application to present a second search result of information related to the first search of the storage medium.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the second result of information includes at least one of a keyword or a phrase.

15. A machine-readable storage medium having instructions to cause a machine to perform a method of performing a search, the method comprising:

using a client computer to enter a search criteria;

performing an operation to initiate a search;

performing (i) a web search and (ii) a storage medium search on the client computer automatically in response to the operation and based on the search criteria;

refining the web search based on the storage medium search; and

displaying the refined search results on a screen of the client computer.

16. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the storage medium search includes accessing a disk index for information related to the search criteria.

17. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the information related to the search criteria includes at least one of a keyword and a phrase.

18. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein displaying the results of the storage medium search includes displaying at least one of the keyword or the phrase.

19. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the displaying the results of the web-search includes displaying one or more links to uniform resource locators.

20. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the results of the storage medium search is used as criteria for the web search.

21. A machine-readable storage medium having instructions to cause a machine to perform a method of performing a search, the method comprising:

using a client computer to enter a search criteria, the client computer including a storage medium;

performing an operation to initiate a search;

performing a search of the storage medium automatically in response to the operation and the search criteria to refine the search criteria and determine a web search criteria;

requesting search results from a remote server based on the web search criteria; and

providing search results on the client computer based on the combined search of the client computer storage medium and the remote server.

22. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the search of the storage medium includes accessing a disk index for information related to the search criteria.

23. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the information related to the search criteria includes at least one of a keyword and a phrase.

24. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 23, further comprising:

displaying the at least one of the keyword or the phrase.

25. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the search results is a web-based search result including one or more links to uniform resource locators.

26. A computer-implemented method of performing a search comprising:

receiving a first search criteria at a client device, the client device including a storage medium;

performing a first search of the storage medium automatically to determine a second search criteria, the first search using the first search criteria;

transmitting the second search criteria to a remote server to perform a second search;

receiving a first search result, the first search result being a combination of the first search and the second search;

ranking the first search result based on the combination of the first search and the second search; and

presenting the ranked first search result from the remote server at the client device.

27. The computer-implemented method of claim 26, further comprising:

presenting a second search result of information related to the first search of the storage medium.

28. The computer-implemented method of claim 26, wherein the second search result of information includes at least one of a keyword and a phrase.

29. The computer-implemented method of claim 26, wherein performing the first search further includes searching a disk index for information related to the first search criteria.

30. The computer-implemented method of claim 26, wherein performing the first search further includes searching one or more files on the storage medium for information related to the first search.

31. The computer-implemented method of claim 26, wherein the determination of the second search criteria is based on a ranking of information related to the first search criteria.

32. The computer-implemented method of claim 26, wherein the determination is based on a selection of a phrase resulting from a search for information on the storage medium.

33. The computer-implemented method of claim 26, wherein the second search criteria is based on a refinement to the first search criteria.

34. The computer-implement method of claim 26, wherein the first search result is a network search result.

35. The computer-implemented method of claim 26, wherein the second search result is a storage medium search result.

36. The computer-implemented method of claim 26, wherein the remote server includes a web-based search engine.

37. The computer-implemented method of claim 26, wherein the first search result is a web-based search result including one or more links to uniform resource locators.

38. The computer-implemented method of claim 26, further comprising presenting advertising related to the second search criteria.

39. A machine-readable storage medium having instructions to cause a machine to perform computer-implemented method of performing a search, the method comprising:

receiving a first search criteria at a client device, the client device including a storage medium;

performing a first search of the storage medium automatically to determine a second search criteria, the first search using the first search criteria;

transmitting the second search criteria to a remote server to perform a second search;

receiving a first search result, the first search result being a combination of the first search and the second search;

ranking the first search result based on the combination of the first search and the second search; and

presenting the ranked first search result from the remote server at the client device.

40. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 39, further comprising:

presenting a second search result of information related to the first search of the storage medium.

41. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 40, wherein the second search result of information includes at least one of a keyword and a phrase.

42. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 39, wherein performing the first search further includes searching a disk index for information related to the first search criteria.

43. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 39, wherein performing the first search further includes searching one or more files on the storage medium for information related to the first search.

44. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 39, wherein the determination of the second search criteria is based on a ranking of information related to the first search criteria.

45. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 39, wherein the determination is based on a selection of a phrase resulting from a search for information on the storage medium.

46. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 39, wherein the second search criteria is based on a refinement to the first search criteria.

47. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 39, wherein the first search result is a network search result.

48. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 39, wherein the second search result is a storage medium search result.

49. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 39, wherein the remote server includes a web-based search engine.

50. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 39, wherein the first search result is a web-based search result including one or more links to uniform resource locators.

51. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 39, further comprising presenting advertising related to the second search criteria.