Federated search

• US 8,321,444 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2007
• Issued: 11/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Mowatt, David, Krishnamoorthy, Arun, Patwardhan, Niket K., Narula, Puneet, Laird-McConnell, Thomas M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lu, Kuen S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mitiku, Berhanu
• Application Number:
  US11/771,812
• Publication Number:
  US 20090006332A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,978 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/763
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

Various techniques are disclosed to permit searching several locations with one query. Locations may include web search sites, subscription-only sites, line of business applications, or other searchable data repositories. The query may be modified to provide the required format or other information for each location to perform a search.

Claims

1. A method for searching comprising:

receiving an original query;

storing criteria for querying a plurality of content storage locations;

selecting one or more of the plurality of content storage locations to search based on whether the original query meets the criteria for querying the plurality of content storage locations, the selected content storage locations comprising less than all of the plurality of content storage locations;

mapping the original query to provide one or more processed queries for querying the selected content storage locations, wherein the processed queries comprise modifications to the original query to match requirements for querying the selected content storage locations, an individual modification comprising a field name in the original query that is replaced with a different field name in a first one of the processed queries, wherein the different field name is particular to a first one of the selected content storage locations to which the first processed query is submitted;

submitting the processed queries to the selected content storage locations, including submitting the first processed query with the different field name to the first selected content storage location and at least one other processed query to another selected content storage location;

receiving search results of the processed queries from the selected content storage locations;

mapping the search results of the processed queries to match the original query; and

providing the mapped search results of the processed queries in response to the original query,

wherein at least the mapping the original query is performed by a computing device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the search results received from the first selected content storage location include results from at least one other content storage location.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying the mapped search results in a user interface.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the user interface is divided into sections corresponding to the selected content storage locations, and the mapped search results are displayed in different individual sections of the user interface that correspond to individual selected content storage locations from which the mapped search results are received.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the displaying comprises displaying the mapped search results received from at least two of the selected content storage locations together in one section of the user interface.

6. A computer readable memory device or storage device containing instructions thereon that, when executed, perform the method of claim 1.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the submitting includes submitting a second one of the processed queries to a second one of the selected content storage locations that forwards the second processed query to a third selected content storage location.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the criteria reflect language patterns, the method further comprising matching the language patterns to the original query to select the content storage locations to search.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the criteria reflect a level of confidence for results provided by the plurality of content storage locations for different types of queries, the method further comprising using the level of confidence to select the content storage locations to search.

12. The method of claim 1, the field name in the original query being semantically equivalent to the different field name in the first processed query.

13. The method of claim 12, the field name in the original query being called title and the different field name in the first processed query being called caption.

8. A system comprising:

one or more modules comprising executable instructions configured to;

receive an original query;

select a first content storage location and a second content storage location to search with the original query;

map the original query to the first content storage location to provide a first processed query matching one or more search requirements of the first content storage location by replacing a field name in the original query with a different field name in the first processed query;

map the original query to the second content storage location by modifying the original query to provide a second processed query matching one or more search requirements of the second content storage location;

submit the first processed query including the different field name to the first content storage location and submit the second processed query to the second content storage location;

receive first results of the first processed query, and second results of the second processed query; and

map a property of the first results query or the second results to a different property associated with the original query; and

a processor configured to execute the one or more modules.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more modules are configured to submit the processed query to the first content storage location via at least one other location.

14. The system according to claim 8, the field name in the original query being semantically equivalent to the different field name in the first processed query.

15. A method comprising:

receiving an original query from an original location;

identifying a plurality of content storage locations to search with the original query, individual content storage locations having different requirements for querying the individual content storage locations;

mapping the original query to the plurality of content storage locations by providing at least two different processed queries for querying the individual content storage locations, wherein the at least two different processed queries are provided by modifying the original query to match the different requirements for querying the individual content storage locations;

submitting the at least two different processed queries to the individual content storage locations having the different requirements;

receiving search results of the at least two different processed queries from the individual content storage locations having the different requirements;

mapping the search results back to the original location by changing field names of the search results or changing data formatting of the search results; and

after mapping the search results providing the search results of the at least two different processed queries to the original location in response to the original query,

wherein at least the mapping the original query is performed by a computing device.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the at least two different processed queries include at least two different modified versions of the original query and an unmodified copy of the original query.

17. The method according to claim 15, wherein an individual processed query has different syntax than the original query.

18. A computer readable memory device or storage device containing instructions thereon that, when executed, perform the method of claim 15.