Methods and apparatus for searching the Internet

• US 8,341,142 B2
• Filed: 09/08/2010
• Issued: 12/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Sejnoha, Vladimir, Evermann, Gunnar, Laverty, Stephen W., Regan, Marc W.
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, PHONG H
• Application Number:
  US12/877,440
• Publication Number:
  US 20120059813A1
• Time in Patent Office: 839 Days
• Field of Search: 707/707, 707/E17.108, 707/759, 707/760, 707/767, 707/810
• US Class Current: 707/707
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/332 Query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

Some embodiments relate to performing a search for content via the Internet, wherein user input specifying a search query is supplied to a mobile communications device, such as, for example, a smartphone. The mobile communications device separately issues the search query to a plurality of search engines and can receive the results from each search engine and display the results to the user. Thus, the user does not have to separately issue the query to each of the plurality of search engines.

Claims

1. A method, implemented at least in part via at least one hardware computer processor of a mobile communications device, of performing a search for content via the Internet, the method comprising:

receiving, at the mobile communications device, user input specifying a first search query;

issuing at least one second search query from the mobile communications device to a plurality of search engines, wherein the at least one second search query is based, at least in part, on the content of the first search query; and

in response to issuing the at least one second search query to the plurality of search engines, receiving a response from each of the plurality of search engines, wherein the response from each of the plurality of search engines includes search results provided from the respective search engine;

wherein the plurality of search engines comprises at least two different site-specific search engines;

wherein the user input is first user input; and

wherein the method further comprises;

causing at least some of the search results to be displayed on a display of the mobile communications device;

receiving second user input selecting one of the search results; and

generating monitoring information identifying from which one of the plurality of search engines the selected one of the search results was provided.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the monitoring information from the mobile communications device to at least one server that stores historical access information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first search query is the same as the second search query.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the user input is voice input.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of search engines comprises at least one general purpose search engine.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the mobile communications device, at least one communication from a server that specifies the at least one second search query and identifies the plurality of search engines.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising acts of:

in response to issuing the at least one second search query to the plurality of search engines, receiving a response from each of the plurality of search engines, wherein the response from each of the plurality of search engines includes search results provided from the respective search engine.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

in response to receiving, at the mobile communications device, the user input specifying the first search query, sending information identifying the first search query from the mobile communications device to the server.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising acts of:

in response to issuing the at least one second search query to the plurality of search engines, receiving a response from each of the plurality of search engines, wherein the response from each of the plurality of search engines includes search results provided from the respective search engine.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to receiving, at the mobile communications device, the user input specifying the first search query, sending information identifying the first search query from the mobile communications device to a server.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least two different site-specific search engines comprise a first site-specific search engine and a second site-specific search engine, and wherein the at least one second search query comprises a first formatted search query that is formatted for the first site-specific search engine and a second formatted search query that is formatted for the second site-specific search engine.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising acts of:

in response to issuing the at least one second search query to the plurality of search engines, receiving a response from each of the plurality of search engines, wherein the response from each of the plurality of search engines includes search results provided from the respective search engine.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least two different site-specific search engines comprise a first site-specific search engine and a second site-specific search engine, and wherein the at least one second search query comprises a first formatted search query that is formatted for the first site-specific search engine and a second formatted search query that is formatted for the second site-specific search engine.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving comprises:

receiving, at the mobile communications device, the response from each one of the plurality of search engines directly from the one of the plurality of search engines.

39. The mobile communications device of claim 10, wherein the at least two different site-specific search engines comprise a first site-specific search engine and a second site-specific search engine, and wherein the at least one second search query comprises a first formatted search query that is formatted for the first site-specific search engine and a second formatted search query that is formatted for the second site-specific search engine.

15. At least one computer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by at least one hardware computer processor, perform a method of performing a search for content via the Internet, the method comprising:

receiving, at the mobile communications device, user input specifying a first search query;

issuing at least one second search query from the mobile communications device to a plurality of search engines, wherein the at least one second search query is based, at least in part, on the content of the first search query;

in response to issuing the at least one second search query to the plurality of search engines, receiving a response from each of the plurality of search engines, wherein the response from each of the plurality of search engines includes search results provided from the respective search engine;

wherein the plurality of search engines comprises at least two different site-specific search engines;

wherein the user input is first user input; and

wherein the method further comprises;

causing at least some of the search results to be displayed on a display of the mobile communications device;

receiving second user input selecting one of the search results; and

generating monitoring information identifying from which one of the plurality of search engines the selected one of the search results was provided.

16. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

transmitting the monitoring information from the mobile communications device to at least one server that stores historical access information.

17. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the first search query is the same as the second search query.

18. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the user input is voice input.

19. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the plurality of search engines comprises at least one general purpose search engine.

20. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, at the mobile communications device, at least one communication from a server that specifies the at least one second search query and identifies the plurality of search engines.

21. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the method further comprises acts of:

in response to issuing the at least one second search query to the plurality of search engines, receiving a response from each of the plurality of search engines, wherein the response from each of the plurality of search engines includes search results provided from the respective search engine.

22. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the method further comprises:

in response to receiving, at the mobile communications device, the user input specifying the first search query, sending information identifying the first search query from the mobile communications device to the server.

23. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the method further comprises acts of:

in response to issuing the at least one second search query to the plurality of search engines, receiving a response from each of the plurality of search engines, wherein the response from each of the plurality of search engines includes search results provided from the respective search engine.

24. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

in response to receiving, at the mobile communications device, the user input specifying the first search query, sending information identifying the first search query from the mobile communications device to a server.

25. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 24, wherein the at least two different site-specific search engines comprise a first site-specific search engine and a second site-specific search engine, and wherein the at least one second search query comprises a first formatted search query that is formatted for the first site-specific search engine and a second formatted search query that is formatted for the second site-specific search engine.

26. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 24, wherein the method further comprises acts of:

in response to issuing the at least one second search query to the plurality of search engines, receiving a response from each of the plurality of search engines, wherein the response from each of the plurality of search engines includes search results provided from the respective search engine.

27. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the at least two different site-specific search engines comprise a first site-specific search engine and a second site-specific search engine, and wherein the at least one second search query comprises a first formatted search query that is formatted for the first site-specific search engine and a second formatted search query that is formatted for the second site-specific search engine.

28. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the receiving comprises:

receiving, at the mobile communications device, the response from each one of the plurality of search engines directly from the one of the plurality of search engines.

29. A mobile communications device comprising:

at least one tangible memory that stores processor-executable instructions for performing a search for content via the Internet; and

at least one hardware computer processor, coupled to the at least one tangible memory, that executes the processor-executable instructions to;

receive, at the mobile communications device, user input specifying a first search query;

issue at least one second search query from the mobile communications device to a plurality of search engines, wherein the at least one second search query is based, at least in part, on the content of the first search query;

in response to issuing the at least one second search query to the plurality of search engines, receive a response from each of the plurality of search engines, wherein the response from each of the plurality of search engines includes search results provided from the respective search engine;

wherein the plurality of search engines comprises at least two different site-specific search engines;

wherein the user input is first user input; and

wherein the at least one hardware computer processor executes the processor-executable instructions to;

cause at least some of the search results to be displayed on a display of the mobile communications device;

receive second user input selecting one of the search results; and

generate monitoring information identifying from which one of the plurality of search engines the selected one of the search results was provided.

30. The mobile communications device of claim 29, wherein the at least one hardware computer processor executes the processor-executable instructions to:

transmit the monitoring information from the mobile communications device to at least one server that stores historical access information.

31. The mobile communications device of claim 29, wherein the first search query is the same as the second search query.

32. The mobile communications device of claim 29, wherein the user input is voice input.

33. The mobile communications device of claim 29, wherein the plurality of search engines comprises at least one general purpose search engine.

34. The mobile communications device of claim 29, wherein the at least one hardware processor executes the processor-executable instructions to:

receive, at the mobile communications device, at least one communication from a server that specifies the at least one second search query and identifies the plurality of search engines; and

issue the at least one second search query based on the at least one communication.

35. The mobile communications device of claim 34, wherein the at least one hardware computer processor executes the processor-executable instructions to:

in response to issuing the at least one second search query to the plurality of search engines, receive a response from each of the plurality of search engines, wherein the response from each of the plurality of search engines includes search results provided from the respective search engine.

36. The mobile communications device of claim 34, wherein the at least one hardware computer processor executes the processor-executable instructions to:

in response to receiving, at the mobile communications device, the user input specifying the first search query, send information identifying the first search query from the mobile communications device to the server.

37. The mobile communications device of claim 36, wherein the at least one hardware computer processor executes the processor-executable instructions to:

in response to issuing the at least one second search query to the plurality of search engines, receive a response from each of the plurality of search engines, wherein the response from each of the plurality of search engines includes search results provided from the respective search engine.

38. The mobile communications device of claim 29, wherein the at least one hardware computer processor executes the processor-executable instructions to:

in response to receiving, at the mobile communications device, the user input specifying the first search query, send information identifying the first search query from the mobile communications device to a server.

40. The mobile communications device of claim 38, wherein the at least one hardware computer processor executes the processor-executable instructions to:

in response to issuing the at least one second search query to the plurality of search engines, receive a response from each of the plurality of search engines, wherein the response from each of the plurality of search engines includes search results provided from the respective search engine.

41. The mobile communications device of claim 29, wherein the at least two different site-specific search engines comprise a first site-specific search engine and a second site-specific search engine, and wherein the at least one second search query comprises a first formatted search query that is formatted for the first site-specific search engine and a second formatted search query that is formatted for the second site-specific search engine.

42. The mobile communications device of claim 29, wherein the mobile communications device receives the response from each one of the plurality of search engines directly from the one of the plurality of search engines.