Method and system for enterprise search navigation

• US 8,706,717 B2
• Filed: 11/13/2009
• Issued: 04/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Rajasekhar, Chitta
• Primary Examiner(s): Trujillo, James
• Assistant Examiner(s): VU, THONG H
• Application Number:
  US12/618,351
• Publication Number:
  US 20110119257A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,621 Days
• Field of Search: 707/3, 707/713, 707/627, 707/706, 707/9, 707/722, 707/752, 707/734, 707/723
• US Class Current: 707/723
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2428 Query predicate definition using graphical user interfaces, including menus and forms G06F16/2423 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2455 Query execution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence

Abstract

A method can include receiving a search request from a user interface (UI), selecting one or more repositories in response to the search request, and displaying, on a display device, search results corresponding to the selected repositories. The selected repositories are a subset of a plurality of available repositories, as specified by an administrator. By selecting or de-selecting the available repositories, a user can define or refine a search of the available repositories. In various implementations, the method includes interface elements that assist a user in previewing revised search results based on revised selections of repositories, and/or selections of subcategories of information available in one or more of the repositories.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a search request via a user interface (UI), wherein

the search request comprises one or more search terms,

the search request specifies a set of repositories,

the search request is a request to perform a search on the set of repositories,

the set of repositories is a subset of a plurality of repositories,

each repository of the set of repositories represents a corresponding type of content of a plurality of types of content,

each of the plurality of types of content is in a corresponding of a plurality of formats,

the UI is configured to initiate the search using the one or more search terms by communicating the one or more search terms to a search index coupled to the set of repositories via a plurality of repository interfaces, and

the search index is coupled to the each repository by a corresponding repository interface of a plurality of repository interfaces; and

receiving a plurality of individual search results from the set of repositories at a set of the plurality of repository interfaces, wherein

the plurality of individual search results comprise the plurality of types of content; and

displaying, on a display device, search results corresponding to the plurality of individual search results, wherein

the search is performed on the set of repositories, and

the search results are configured to be displayed by virtue of being in a single format.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein

the UI comprises a plurality of repository selection inputs;

the plurality of repository selection inputs corresponds to the plurality of repositories;

the search request comprises

a selection of a first repository selection input of the plurality of repository selection inputs; and

the revised repository request comprises

a de-selection of the first repository selection input of the plurality of repository selection inputs.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein

the selection of the first repository selection input corresponds to a first repository,

the search results comprise first search results corresponding to the first repository,

the revised repository request is configured to return revised search results,

the revised search results correspond to the revised set of repositories, and

the revised search results exclude the first search results corresponding to the first repository.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

displaying the UI on the display device;

displaying the search results in the UI; and

displaying the plurality of repository selection inputs in the UI, wherein

the displaying the search results further comprises

revising the UI to display the revised search results.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving indications of the plurality of repositories.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein

the search request comprises the indications,

the indications correspond to user selections and user de-selections of the plurality of repository selection inputs, and

the set of repositories are selected in response to the indications.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

generating a search index of the plurality of repositories, wherein

the generating the search index is performed in response to the receiving

the indications of the plurality of repositories, and

the generating the search index comprises

communicating with each of the plurality of repositories.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein

the receiving the indications of the plurality of repositories is performed during a configuration of the search index, and

the plurality of repositories are configured to be specified by an administrator.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving an update of the indications of the plurality of repositories; and

selecting the revised set of repositories in response to the update.

10. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

configuring data interfaces in response to the receiving indications of the plurality of repositories, wherein the data interfaces are configured to provide communication with the plurality of repositories; and

configuring the UI in response to the receiving indications of the plurality of repositories.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting the set of repositories, wherein

the set of repositories is selected in response to the search request; and

obtaining the search results from a search index, wherein

the set of repositories is used as search parameters, and

the search results are ranked.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

re-ranking the search results, in response to the revised repository request,

wherein

the re-ranking generates, at least in part, the revised search results.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein

the UI comprises

a first section displaying search results corresponding to a first repository of the set of repositories, and

a second section displaying search results corresponding to a second repository of the set of repositories,

the first and second sections are displayed in a single-page view, and

the first section comprises

a check box for a first repository selection input corresponding to the first repository,

a rank-ordered list of the search results corresponding to the first repository,

a count describing a number of search results corresponding to the first repository, and

a hierarchy of check boxes for selection of categories and subcategories of data from the first repository.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein

the set of repositories comprises repositories of different types, and

the set of repositories are each of a type selected from a group comprising

a training archive,

an instant messaging archive,

a blog archive, and

a video archive.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to a determination that the revised set of repositories is a subset of the set of repositories,

narrowing the search results to the revised search results, wherein

the revised search results are a subset of the search results.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to a determination that the revised set of repositories is not a subset of the set of repositories, obtaining new search results corresponding to the revised set.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein

the selected repository is a repository of the plurality of repositories that is not in the subset of the plurality of repositories, and

the de-selected repository is a repository of the plurality of repositories in the subset of the plurality of repositories.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the revised set of repositories further differs from the set of repositories by virtue of

exclusion of a de-selected repository from the revised set of repositories, wherein

the de-selected repository is included in the set of repositories.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein

the one or more search terms comprise non-textual criteria, and

the non-textual criteria describes content of at least one of a photograph and video.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

ranking revised search results, wherein

the revised search returns the revised search results,

the revised search results are ranked using ranking factors, and

the ranking factors comprise at least one of

temporal considerations, age considerations, linguistic considerations, geographic considerations, or jurisdictional considerations.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a first indication for first narrowed search results, wherein

the first indication is associated with a first repository of the set of repositories, and

the first narrowed search results comprise a first subset of the search results that corresponds to the first repository.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

displaying the first narrowed search results in a display;

receiving a second indication for second narrowed search results, wherein

the second indication is associated with a second repository of the set of repositories, and

the second narrowed search results comprise a second subset of the search results that corresponds to the second repository; and

switching the display from the first narrowed search results to the second narrowed search results.

23. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a revised repository request via the UI, wherein

the revised repository request specifies a revised set of repositories,

the revised repository request is a request to perform a revised search using the revised set of repositories, and

the revised set of repositories differs from the set of repositories by virtue of

inclusion of a selected repository in the revised set of repositories, wherein the selected repository is not included in the set of repositories; and

performing the revised search on the revised set of repositories using the one or more search terms.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein

each repository of the set of repositories represents a corresponding set of storage devices of a plurality of storage devices, and

each corresponding set of storage devices stores a corresponding type of content of a plurality of types of content.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the search index is coupled to the each corresponding set of storage devices by the corresponding repository interface.

26. The method of claim 24 wherein each corresponding set of storage devices is configured to store searchable data of one of the plurality of types of content.

27. A system comprising:

a processor;

a computer-readable storage medium, coupled to the processor and configured to store a search index; and

a plurality of instructions, wherein

the instructions are encoded in the computer-readable storage medium,

the instructions are configured to cause the processor to

display a user interface (UI) on a display device,

receive a search request via the UI, wherein

the search request comprises one or more search terms,

the search request specifies a set of repositories,

the search request is a request to perform a search on a set of repositories,

the set of repositories is a subset of a plurality of plurality of repositories,

each repository of the set of repositories represents a corresponding type of content of a plurality of types of content,

each of the plurality of types of content is in a corresponding of a plurality of formats,

the UI is configured to initiate the search using the one or more search terms by communicating the one or more search terms to a search index coupled to the set of repositories via a plurality of repository interfaces, and

the search index is coupled to the each repository by a corresponding repository interface of a plurality of repository interfaces; and

receive a plurality of individual search results from the set of repositories at a set of the plurality of repository interfaces, wherein

the plurality of individual search results comprise the plurality of types of content; and

display, on a display device, search results corresponding to the search, wherein

the search is performed on the set of repositories, and

the search results are configured to be displayed in a combined format.

28. The system of claim 27, further comprising:

an indexing module, wherein

the plurality of repositories are configured to be specified by an administrator,

the revised set of repositories is configured to be used to revise the search,

the revised repository request is configured to return revised search results,

the revised search results correspond to the revised set of repositories,

the indexing module is coupled to the processor and the computer-readable storage medium, and

the indexing module is configured to

read contents of the plurality of repositories, and

update the search index, based at least in part on the contents of the plurality of repositories;

a selection module configured to

display selection inputs in the UI, wherein

the selection inputs correspond to the plurality of repositories, and

receive selections and de-selections of the plurality of repositories,

wherein

the search request comprises the selections and de-selections of the plurality of repositories; and

a search module configured to

generate the search results, based at least in part on the search index and the search request, and

exclude data from the search results, based at least in part on the de-selections of the plurality of repositories.

29. A computer program product, comprising:

a plurality of instructions, comprising

a first set of instructions, executable on a computer system, configured to receive

a search request via a user interface (UI), wherein

the UI is configured to be displayed on a display of the computer system,

the search request comprises one or more search terms,

the search request specifies a set of repositories,

the search request is a request to perform a search on a set of repositories,

the set of repositories is a subset of a plurality of repositories,

each repository of the set of repositories represents a corresponding type of content of a plurality of types of content,

each of the plurality of types of content is in a corresponding of a plurality of formats,

the UI is configured to initiate the search using the one or more search terms by communicating the one or more search terms to a search index coupled to the set of repositories via a plurality of repository interfaces, and

the search index is coupled to the each repository by a corresponding repository interface of a plurality of repository interfaces; and

a second set of instructions, executable on a computer system, configured to receive

a plurality of individual search results from the set of repositories at a set of the plurality of repository interfaces, wherein

the plurality of individual search results comprise the plurality of types of content, and

a third set of instructions, executable on the computer system, configured to display, on a display device, search results corresponding to the search, wherein

the search is performed on the set of repositories, and

the search results are configured to be displayed in a combined format; and

a computer-readable storage medium, wherein the plurality of instructions are encoded in the computer-readable storage medium.

30. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the plurality of instructions further comprises:

a fourth set of instructions, executable on the computer system, configured to

select the set of repositories, in response to the search request, wherein

the plurality of repositories are configured to be specified by an administrator,

the revised set of repositories is configured to be used to revise the search,

the revised repository request is configured to return revised search results, and

the revised search results correspond to the revised set of repositories.