Searching in a computer network

• US 8,140,563 B2
• Filed: 11/16/2004
• Issued: 03/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/27/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated (Kyndryl Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Midgley, Nicholas J
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Shahid
• Assistant Examiner(s): LODHI, ANDALIB FT
• Application Number:
  US10/990,779
• Publication Number:
  US 20050120016A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,681 Days
• Field of Search: 707/706, 707/707, 707/754, 707/758, 707/760, 707/769
• US Class Current: 707/769
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9532 Query formulation

Abstract

The invention allows a user to enter a search criteria in a search form once and search multiple web services, search engines and web pages without the need for repeatedly re-creating the search criteria for each web service or search engine because of different and varying supported formats. Once the user has defined their search query, the search query is passed to a query manager in the browser application for formatting the search criteria into a generic query format. The generic query format provides a unified and generic interface to all other query mechanisms supported by different web services, search engines and web pages.

Claims

1. A method for processing a user query entered by a user via a web browser, said user query having a user query format and including search terms to search World Wide Web documents, said method comprising the steps of:

translating the user query into a generic query with a generic query format different than said user query format;

sending to a first web service a request to identify a document language and a query format of said first web service, and in response, receiving from said first web service a reply indicating that said first web service uses a first document language and a first query format, said first query format being different than said user query format and said generic query format;

translating the generic query to a corresponding, first query with said first query format in said first document language; and

sending said first query to said first web service for searching World Wide Web documents;

sending to a second web service a request to identify a document language and a query format of said second web service, and in response, receiving from said second web service a reply indicating that said second web service uses a second document language and a second query format, said second query format being different than said first query format, said user query format and said generic query format, said second document language being different than said first document language;

translating the generic query to a corresponding, second query with said second query format in said second document language;

sending said second query to said second web service for searching World Wide Web documents; and

receiving and displaying responses to said first query and said second query.

2. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said first document language is HTML and said second document language is XML.

3. A method as set forth in claim 2 wherein said second query includes a parameter value for a tag present in said XML but not present in said HTML, said first query not including a parameter value for said tag, such that said second query is limited to data associated with said tag in XML documents whereas said first query is not limited to data associated with said tag.

4. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein:

said response to said first query includes identifications of first web pages that comply with said first query;

said response to said second query includes identifications of second web pages that comply with said second query; and

the displaying step includes the step of aggregating the identifications of said first web pages with the identifications of said second web pages, and displaying the aggregation to said user.

5. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein:

the search terms are values for respective search parameters;

the step of translating the generic query to said first query comprises the step of determining from a table for said first query format, parameters of said first query format that correspond to the parameters of said generic query format and correlating the parameters of said generic query to corresponding parameters of said first query format; and

the step of translating the generic query to said second query comprises the step of determining from a table for said second query format, parameters of said second query format that correspond to the parameters of said generic query format and correlating the parameters of said generic query to corresponding parameters of said second query format.

6. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein all of the steps of claim 1 are performed by a user workstation in which said web browser executes.

7. A method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

maintaining a table listing parameters of said generic query format and corresponding parameters of said first query format;

receiving from said first web service an additional parameter for said generic query format and a corresponding, additional parameter for said first query format, and in response, adding to said table said additional parameter for said generic query format and said corresponding, additional parameter for said first query format; and

subsequently using said additional parameter for said generic query format and said corresponding, additional parameter for said first query format from said table to translate a subsequent generic query in said generic query format to a corresponding search query in said first query format, and sending said subsequent search query in said first query format to said first web service for searching.

8. A system for processing a user query entered by a user via a web browser, said user query having a user query format and including search terms to search World Wide Web documents, said system comprising:

means for translating the user query into a generic query with a generic query format different than said user query format;

means for sending to a first web service a request to identify a document language and a query format of said first web service, and in response, receiving from said first web service a reply indicating that said first web service uses a first document language and a first query format, said first query format being different than said user query format and said generic query format;

means for translating the generic query to a corresponding, first query with said first query format in said first document language; and

means for sending said first query to said first web service for searching World Wide Web documents;

means for sending to a second web service a request to identify a document language and a query format of said second web service, and in response, receiving from said second web service a reply indicating that said second web service uses a second document language and a second query format, said second query format being different than said first query format, said user query format and said generic query format, said second document language being different than said first document language;

means for translating the generic query to a corresponding, second query with said second query format in said second document language;

means for sending said second query to said second web service for searching World Wide Web documents; and

means for receiving and displaying responses to said first query and said second query.

9. A system as set forth in claim 8 wherein said first document language is HTML and said second document language is XML.

10. A system as set forth in claim 9 wherein said second query includes a parameter value for a tag present in said XML but not present in said HTML, said first query not including a parameter value for said tag, such that said second query is limited to data associated with said tag in XML documents whereas said first query is not limited to data associated with said tag.

11. A system as set forth in claim 8 wherein:

said response to said first query includes identifications of first web pages that comply with said first query;

said response to said second query includes identifications of second web pages that comply with said second query; and

the displaying means includes means for aggregating the identifications of said first web pages with the identifications of said second web pages, and displaying the aggregation to said user.

12. A system as set forth in claim 8 wherein:

the search terms are values for respective search parameters;

the means for translating the generic query to said first query comprises means for determining from a table for said first query format, parameters of said first query format that correspond to the parameters of said generic query format and correlating the parameters of said generic query to corresponding parameters of said first query format; and

the means for translating the generic query to said second query comprises means for determining from a table for said second query format, parameters of said second query format that correspond to the parameters of said generic query format and correlating the parameters of said generic query to corresponding parameters of said second query format.

13. A system as set forth in claim 8 wherein all of the means of claim 8 are contained in user workstation in which said web browser executes.

14. A system as set forth in claim 8 further comprising:

means for maintaining a table listing parameters of said generic query format and corresponding parameters of said first query format;

means for receiving from said first web service an additional parameter for said generic query format and a corresponding, additional parameter for said first query format, and in response, adding to said table said additional parameter for said generic query format and said corresponding, additional parameter for said first query format; and

means for subsequently using said additional parameter for said generic query format and said corresponding, additional parameter for said first query format from said table to translate a subsequent generic query in said generic query format to a corresponding search query in said first query format, and sending said subsequent search query in said first query format to said first web service for searching.

15. A computer program product for processing a user query entered by a user via a web browser, said user query having a user query format and including search terms to search World Wide Web documents, said computer program product comprising:

a computer readable media;

first program instructions to translate the user query into a generic query with a generic query format different than said user query format;

second program instructions to send to a first web service a request to identify a document language and a query format of said first web service, and in response, receive from said first web service a reply indicating that said first web service uses a first document language and a first query format, said first query format being different than said user query format and said generic query format;

third program instructions to translate the generic query to a corresponding, first query with said first query format in said first document language; and

fourth program instructions to send said first query to said first web service for searching World Wide Web documents;

fifth program instructions to send to a second web service a request to identify a document language and a query format of said second web service, and in response, receiving from said second web service a reply indicating that said second web service uses a second document language and a second query format, said second query format being different than said first query format, said user query format and said generic query format, said second document language being different than said first document language;

seventh program instructions to translate the generic query to a corresponding, second query with said second query format in said second document language; and

eighth program instructions to send said second query to said second web service for searching World Wide Web documents; and

wherein

said first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth program instructions are recorded on said media.

16. A computer program product as set forth in claim 15 wherein said first document language is HTML and said second document language is XML.

17. A computer program product as set forth in claim 16 wherein said second query includes a parameter value for a tag present in said XML but not present in said HTML, said first query not including a parameter value for said tag, such that said second query is limited to data associated with said tag in XML documents whereas said first query is not limited to data associated with said tag.

18. A computer program product for processing a user query entered by a user via a web browser, said user query having a user query format and including search terms to search World Wide Web documents, said computer program product comprising:

a computer readable media;

first program instructions to send to a first web service a request to identify a document language and a query format of said first web service, and in response, receive from said first web service a reply indicating that said first web service uses a first document language and a first query format, said first query format being different than said user query format;

second program instructions to translate the user query to a corresponding, first query with said first query format in said first document language; and

third program instructions to send said first query to said first web service for searching World Wide Web documents;

fourth program instructions to send to a second web service a request to identify a document language and a query format of said second web service, and in response, receiving from said second web service a reply indicating that said second web service uses a second document language and a second query format, said second query format being different than said first query format and said user query format, said second document language being different than said first document language;

sixth program instructions to translate the user query to a corresponding, second query with said second query format in said second document language; and

seventh program instructions to send said second query to said second web service for searching World Wide Web documents; and

wherein

said first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh program instructions are recorded on said media.

19. A computer program product as set forth in claim 18 wherein said first document language is HTML and said second document language is XML.

20. A computer program product as set forth in claim 19 wherein said second query includes a parameter value for a tag present in said XML but not present in said HTML, said first query not including a parameter value for said tag, such that said second query is limited to data associated with said tag in XML documents whereas said first query is not limited to data associated with said tag.