System and method for providing a response to a search query

• US 8,364,661 B2
• Filed: 06/27/2011
• Issued: 01/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WW Grainger Incorporated
• Original Assignee: WW Grainger Incorporated
• Inventors: Westphal, Geoffry A.
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, PHONG H
• Application Number:
  US13/169,783
• Publication Number:
  US 20110252017A1
• Time in Patent Office: 582 Days
• Field of Search: 707/713, 707/722, 707/999.003, 707/999.005, 707/706, 707/736
• US Class Current: 707/706
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3338 Query expansion
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/953 Querying, e.g. by the use of web search engines
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation

Abstract

A system receives a request to search an electronic catalog of a vendor which specifies a query term. The query term is used to search an electronic catalog of a third party. The results obtained by searching the electronic catalog of the third party are parsed to uncover a keyword recognized by a search engine associated with the electronic catalog of the vendor. The uncovered keyword is then used in the search engine associated with the electronic catalog of the vendor to locate one or more items in the electronic catalog of the vendor. Items located in this manner are the search results responsive to the query term.

Claims

1. A non-transitory, computer readable media having stored thereon computer executable instructions for providing a search result, the instructions performing steps comprising:

parsing an input customer master file comprised of data indicative of plural item entries to discern each item entry, wherein the input customer master file is an Extensible Markup Language (XML) file or a markup language file;

parsing each discerned item entry to uncover one or more keywords within each discerned item entry, the keywords being product stocking keeping units (SKUs), product parametric values, and product descriptors recognized by a search engine associated with a hardware database of a vendor;

providing the uncovered keywords to the search engine associated with the hardware database device of the vendor to thereby locate for each discerned item entry having one or more keywords recognized by the search engine associated with the hardware database of the vendor one or more items in the hardware database device of the vendor; and

causing the one or more items in the hardware database device of the vendor located for each discerned item entry having one or more keywords recognized by the search engine associated with the hardware database of the vendor to be returned as the search result.

2. The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions use weights associated with keywords to order within the returned search results the one or more items in the hardware database device of the vendor located for each discerned item entry having one or more keywords recognized by the search engine associated with the hardware database of the vendor.

3. The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions use a catalog index to uncover one or more keywords within each discerned item entry.

4. The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 2, wherein the instructions use a catalog index to uncover one or more keywords within each discerned item entry.

5. The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions search the input customer master file for textual transition indicators to discern each item entry within the input customer master file.

6. The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 2, wherein the instructions search the input customer master file for textual transition indicators to discern each item entry within the input customer master file.

7. The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 3, wherein the instructions search the input customer master file for textual transition indicators to discern each item entry within the input customer master file.

8. The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions search the input customer master file for mark-up language tag transition indicators to discern each item entry within the input customer master file.

9. The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 2, wherein the instructions search the input customer master file for mark-up language tag transition indicators to discern each item entry within the input customer master file.

10. The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 3, wherein the instructions search the input customer master file for mark-up language tag transition indicators to discern each item entry within the input customer master file.