Methods and apparatuses for searching both external public documents and internal private documents in response to single search request

• US 7,386,599 B1
• Filed: 09/30/1999
• Issued: 06/10/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Graham, Jamey, Piersol, Kurt W.
• Primary Examiner(s): WON, MICHAEL YOUNG
• Application Number:
  US09/410,494
• Time in Patent Office: 3,176 Days
• Field of Search: 709/202, 709/213, 709/217, 709/218, 709/219, 709/212, 709/203, 709/245, 707/3, 707/7, 707/10
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses for both public documents and private documents in response to a single search request are disclosed. Public documents are electronic documents that are made available to large groups of people in by the publisher of the document. An example of a public document is a World Wide Web page. Private documents are documents that have restricted access. An example of a private document is a document that generated by members of an organization and is available only to members of the organization. As described in greater detail below, a portal appliance or other device can be used to search both public and authorized private electronic documents in response to a single search request thereby improving the results of the search and/or reducing the number of searches required to find the desired material.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

generating, automatically with an electronic device without user intervention, a private local network search request in response to an original search request, the private local network search request to cause a search to be performed on electronic documents stored by a device that is part of a private locate network, the private local network search request making the documents searchable by electronic devices belonging to an organization corresponding to the electronic device and not searchable by remote electronic devices not corresponding to the organization, and wherein one or more of the documents are archived on the device of the private local network in the absence of an explicit command by a user to save the electronic documents, but archived and indexed in response to another user specified function associated with the electronic documents to transmit the electronic documents over the private local network or process the electronic documents by one or more devices connected to the private local network, the search of the electronic documents on the private local network to be performed according to search parameters of the original search request and without making available the electronic documents to search requests of remote electronic devices outside the private local network;

generating, automatically with the electronic device without having to wait for a search result of the private local network search request from the private local network and in addition to the private local network search request, an external network search request in response to the original search request, the external network search request to cause a search to be performed on electronic documents available from devices that are part of an external public network via a network portal of an external network according to the search parameters of the original search request; and

generating a single search report at the electronic device based on the search results of the private local network search request and the public external network search request.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the electronic device comprises a file management appliance.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the file management appliance generates the private local network search request and the external network search request.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the file management appliance performs a search of at least one unconsciously captured electronic documents in response to the private local network search request.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein an Internet portal performs a search of the electronic documents available via a network portal of an external network in response to the external network search request.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the private local network search request and the external network search request are generated by a portal appliance in response to the original search request.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the single search report is generated by combining at least portions of content from the search results of the private local network search request and the external network search request without revealing the associated unconsciously captured electronic documents of the private local network to the external network.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the search report is one of a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) document and an Extensible Markup Language (XML) document.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the single search report is generated by integrating the external and private local network search results, wherein the external network search result specifies where and how the private local network search result is to be integrated into the external network search result in order to form the single search report.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein the search report comprises an advertisement selected based on the external network search request.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein the search report comprises an advertisement selected based on analysis of documents indicated by search results.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating a third search request in response to the original search request, the third search request to cause a search to be performed on electronic documents available via a second network portal of the external network according to the search parameters of the original search request;

analyzing search results of the private local network search request, the external network search request, and the third search request; and

generating the single search report in response to the analysis of the search results, wherein the single search report is generated in accordance with a format specified by the electronic device.

13. A machine readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause one or more electronic devices to:

generate, automatically with an electronic device without user intervention, a private local network search request in response to an original search request, the private local network search request to cause a search to be performed on electronic documents stored by a device that is part of a private local network, the private local network search request making the documents searchable by electronic devices belonging to an organization corresponding to the electronic device and not searchable by remote electronic devices not corresponding to the organization, and wherein one or more of the documents are archived on the device of the private local network in the absence of an explicit command by a user to save the electronic documents, but archived and indexed in response to another user specified function associated with the electronic documents to transmit the electronic documents over the private local network or process the electronic documents by one or more devices connected to the private local network, the search of the electronic documents on the private local network to be performed according to search parameters of the original search request and without making available the electronic documents to search requests of remote electronic devices outside the private local network;

generate, automatically with the electronic device without having to wait for a search result of the private local network search request from the private local network and in addition to the private local network search request, an external network search request in response to the original search request, the external network search request to cause a search to be performed on electronic documents available from devices that are part of an external public network via a network portal of an external network according to the search parameters of the original search request; and

generate a single search report at the electronic device based on the search results of the private local network search request and the public external network search request.

14. The machine readable medium of claim 13 wherein the electronic device comprises a file management appliance.

15. The machine readable medium of claim 14 wherein the file management appliance generates the private local network search request and the external network search request.

16. The machine readable medium of claim 14 wherein the file management appliance performs a search of at least one unconsciously captured electronic documents in response to the private local network search request.

17. The machine readable medium of claim 14 wherein an Internet portal performs a search of the electronic documents available via a network portal of an external network in response to the external network search request.

18. The machine readable medium of claim 13 wherein the private local network search request and the external network search request are generated by a portal appliance in response to the original search request.

19. The machine readable medium of claim 13 wherein the single search report is generated by combining at least portions of content from the search results of the private local network search request and the external network search request without revealing the associated unconsciously captured electronic documents of the private local network to the external network.

20. The machine readable medium of claim 19 wherein the search report is one of a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) document and an Extensible Markup Language (XML) document.

21. The machine readable medium of claim 19 wherein the single search report is generated by integrating the external and private local network search results, wherein the external network search result specifies where and how the private local network search result is to be integrated into the external network search result in order to form the single search report.

22. The machine readable medium of claim 19 wherein the search report comprises an advertisement selected based on the external network search request.

23. The machine readable medium of claim 19 wherein the search report comprises an advertisement selected based on analysis of documents indicated by search results.

24. The machine readable medium of claim 13 further comprising:

generating a third search request in response to the original search request, the third search request to cause a search to be performed on electronic documents available via a second network portal of an external network according to the search parameters of the original search request;

analyzing search results of the private local network search request, the external network search request, and the third search request; and

generating the single search report in response to the analysis of the search results, wherein the single search report is generated in accordance with a format specified by the electronic device.

25. An apparatus comprising:

a first device to automatically capture and index electronic documents from a private local network, the private local network making the documents searchable by electronic devices belonging to an organization corresponding to the electronic device and not searchable by remote electronic devices not corresponding to the organization; and

an application to be executed by the first device to search the captured electronic documents that have been archived and indexed to the first device in the absence of an explicit command by a user to save the electronic documents, but archived and indexed in response to another user specified function associated with the electronic documents to transmit the electronic documents over the private local network or process the electronic documents by one or more devices connected to the private local network, in response to a search request, wherein the application also generates an external document search request in response to the search request without having to wait for a search result of the local network and without making available the electronic documents to search requests of remote electronic devices outside the local network,

wherein the first device transmits the external document search request to a second device on an external public network, wherein the second device on the external public network performs the external document search request to generate a search of electronic documents from an external network, and

wherein the first device combines the private local network search result and the external public network search result to generate a single search report.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the external document search is performed by an Internet portal.

27. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the search of captured electronic documents is performed by the first device.

28. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the single search report is generated by combining at least portions of content from the search results of the local network search request and the external network search request without revealing the associated captured electronic documents of the private local network to the external network.

29. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the single search report is generated by integrating the external and private local network search results, wherein the external network search result specifies where and how the private local network search result to be integrated into the external network search result in order to form the single search report.

30. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the first device further generates a second external network search request to the external network which is performed by a third device on the external network and analyzes the search results of the captured electronic documents, the external document search request, and the second external network search request, wherein the single search report is generated in response to the analysis of the search results and the single search report is generated in accordance with a format specified by the first device.