Search device and information providing system

• US 8,346,797 B2
• Filed: 01/28/2005
• Issued: 01/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vodafone Group PLC
• Original Assignee: Vodafone Group PLC
• Inventors: Kurai, Osamu, Okada, Kentaro, Tanaka, Satoru, Ejiri, Masaharu, Kushida, Minoru, Imamura, Nobuyuki, Kanno, Ayako, Kiuchi, Akihito
• Primary Examiner(s): Robinson, Greta
• Assistant Examiner(s): VO, CECILE H
• Application Number:
  US10/551,544
• Publication Number:
  US 20070073648A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,895 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1- 10, 707100-1041, 707999001- 4, 707/999.01, 707/999.1, 707/1/1, 707706-709, 707/209, 707/608, 707/694, 707/770, 707/823, 178/18, 235/375, 353/25, 704/1, 706 45- 61, 715255-272, 717136-161, 709203-206, 709/217, 709/224, 709/226, 709/246, 455/412.1, 455/412.2, 455413-414, 705/26, 705/7.13, 705/14.1, 718/104, 710/1
• US Class Current: 707/770
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents

Abstract

A search device and an information providing system are structured, to lessen a user'"'"'s operation load, such that a crawling portion executes a crawling while sequentially changing an expansion header indicating a voice display capacity in an HTTP request into a voice display capacity of a typical model within each of model groups, and registers the obtained result in a search index in correspondence to the model name within the model group, a search service providing portion executes a search from the search index in correspondence to a search condition like a key word from a cellular phone terminal unit and the model name in the HTTP request, and a response portion generates a search result in correspondence to a template, and sends to a Web browser of the cellular phone terminal unit via an HTTP server.

Claims

1. A search device providing search results to a requesting terminal unit, the search results including at least one address corresponding to content provided by a content providing server capable of providing content, the content provided by the content providing server corresponding to information showing a capacity of the requesting terminal unit included in an information request command along with a key word from the requesting terminal unit, the search device comprising:

a search server that provides;

a crawling device for searching predetermined addresses corresponding to said content by using the information showing the capacity of the requesting terminal unit according to a typical model of the requesting terminal unit in a model group, the model group being set according to the capacity;

a search index holding the predetermined-addresses corresponding to the content obtained by said crawling device in correspondence to an identifier that identifies the requesting terminal unit in the model group at a time of crawling;

a searching device for searching the predetermined addresses in said search index according to search criteria, the search criteria including the key word and the identifier included in the information request command from the requesting terminal unit, the key word being different from the identifier and the searching of the predetermined addresses in the search index being based on the search criteria and according to the capacity information of the requesting terminal unit identified by the identifier; and

a search result generating device for generating a search result including said predetermined addresses searched by the searching device.

2. The search device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said model group is provided per kind of the content.

3. The search device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a template corresponding to every said terminal units of a plurality of generations in which the capacities of the search results are different; and

a generation detecting device for detecting the generation of the terminal unit to which the information request command to said search means is supplied,

wherein the search result generating device generates the data of the search result in correspondence to the generation of the terminal unit detected by said generation detecting device.

4. The search device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the capacity includes a content display capacity.

5. The search device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the identifier that identifies the terminal unit is a model name.

6. An information providing system, comprising:

a content providing server capable of providing content, the content provided by the content providing server including data corresponding to information showing a capacity of a terminal unit included in an information request command; and

a search device, coupled to the content providing server, that provides;

a crawling device for searching at least one address of said content by using the information showing the capacity of the terminal unit according to a typical model of the terminal unit in a model group, the model group being set according to the capacity;

a search index holding the at least one address of the content obtained by said crawling device which correspond to content corresponding to an identifier that identifies the terminal unit in the model group at a time of crawling; and

a searching device for searching the at least one address of the content in said search index according to search criteria, the search criteria including requested content by the terminal unit and the identifier included in the information request command from the terminal unit, the requested content being different from the identifier and the searching of the at least one address of the content in the search index being based on the search criteria and according to the capacity information of the requesting terminal unit identified by the identifier.

7. The information providing system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the capacity includes a content display capacity.

8. The information providing system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the identifier that identifies the terminal unit is a model name.

9. An information searching system, comprising:

a content providing server capable of providing content, the content provided by the content providing server including content corresponding to information showing a capacity of a terminal unit included in an information request command and a key word; and

a search device, coupled to the content providing server, that provides;

a crawling device for searching at least one predetermined address corresponding to said content by using the information showing the capacity of a typical model of the terminal unit in a model group, the model group being set according to the capacity;

a search index holding the at least one predetermined address of the content obtained by said crawling device in correspondence to a an identifier that identifies the terminal unit in the model group at a time of crawling;

a searching device for searching the at least one predetermined address in said search index which according to search criteria, the search criteria including the key word and the identifier included in the information request command from the terminal unit, the key word being different from the identifier and the searching of the at least one predetermined address in the search index being based on the search criteria and according to the capacity information of the requesting terminal unit identified by the identifier; and

a search result generating device for generating a search result including said predetermined addresses searched by the searching device.

10. The information searching system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the capacity includes a content display capacity.

11. The information searching system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the identifier that identifies the terminal unit is a model name.

12. A method for providing a search service, comprising:

providing a server that includes data;

receiving, at the server, a request generated for a requesting device corresponding to the data in the server, wherein the request includes capacity information of the requesting device and requested content;

searching the data in the server to provide search results according to search criteria, the search criteria including the capacity information of the requesting device and the requested content, the requested content being different from the capacity information of the requesting device and the searching of the data in the server being based on the search criteria and according to the capacity information of the requesting device; and

sending the search results to the requesting device in response to the request, wherein the search results correspond to the capacity information of the requesting device and the requested content.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the capacity information includes display capacity information of the requesting device.

14. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the identification information includes a model name of the requesting device.

15. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the requesting device is a cellular phone.

16. An information providing server system, comprising:

at least one information providing server, having at least one processor and a memory, and that includes;

a storage portion that stores information corresponding to a request generated for a requesting device, the request including capacity information of the requesting device and requested content;

a search device that searches the information in the storage portion to provide search results according to search criteria, the search criteria including the capacity information of the requesting device and the requested content, the requested content being different from the capacity information of the requesting device and the searching of the information in the storage portion being based on the search criteria and according to the capacity information of the requesting device; and

a content server, coupled to the storage portion, that provides search results to the requesting device in response to the request, wherein the search results vary according to the capacity information of the requesting device and according to the requested content.

17. The information providing server system as claimed in claim 16, wherein the capacity information includes display capacity information of the requesting device.

18. The information providing server system as claimed in claim 16, wherein the capacity information includes a model name of the requesting device.

19. The information providing server system as claimed in claim 16, wherein the requesting device is a cellular phone.