SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PERFORMING DATA SEARCHES USING MULTIPLE DATA SEARCH PROVIDERS

• US 20080256036A1
• Filed: 04/11/2007
• Published: 10/16/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Orbitz Worldwide, Inc. (Expedia Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Orbitz Worldwide, Inc. (Expedia Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bess, Kevin Richard, Falk, David Alan, Fast, Gregory Douglas
• Granted Patent: US 8,352,454 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

A system and method are provided for performing data searches in response to a user request. The system has an application server that is configured to receive user requests, to send search requests based on the user requests, and to communicate with a plurality of search provider systems. The search provider systems each have searchable data and are configured to receive the search requests from the application server and generate search results in response to the search request. A rules manager resides on the application server and is configured to identify a set of search provider systems to send the search request to based on the user request. The method includes the steps of: receiving a user request; determining a set of search providers based on the user request; sending a search request to the set of search providers; receiving search results from at least one of the search providers; merging the search results received from the set of search providers; and sending the merged search results to the user.

Claims

1. A system for performing data searches in response to a user request, comprising:

an application server configured to receive the user request, to send a search request based on the user request, and to communicate with a plurality of search provider systems, each search provider comprising searchable data and being configured to receive the search request from the application server and generate search results in response to the search request; and

a rules manager residing on the application server, the rules manager configured to identify a set of search provider systems to send the search request to based on the user request.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the application server is configured to receive the search results and the rules manager is configured to merge the search results based on a predetermined set of rules.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a schedule manager residing on the application server.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the plurality of search provider systems is a database residing on the application server.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the plurality of search provider systems is a computerized reservation system.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the plurality of search provider systems is a global distribution system.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the searchable data comprises information related to airline flights.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the plurality of search provider systems is an airline computer system.

9. A method for performing data searches in response to a user request, comprising the steps of:

receiving the user request;

determining a set of search providers based on the user request;

sending a search request to the set of search providers;

receiving search results from at least one of the set of search providers;

merging the search results received from the set of search providers; and

sending the merged search results.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the search providers comprise searchable data relating to airline flights.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein determining a set of search providers comprises identifying a set of airline carriers based on the user request.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein determining a set of search providers comprises identifying at least one primary search provider.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein determining a set of search providers further comprises identifying a failover service provider.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein determining a set of search providers comprises identifying a secondary search provider.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein determining a set of search providers comprises identifying an alternate search provider.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein merging the search results comprises merging search results received from a primary search provider with search results received from a secondary search provider.

17. The method of claim 9, wherein merging the search results comprises merging search results received from a primary search provider with search results received from an alternate search provider.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the search results from the primary search provider that are duplicated in the results from the alternate search provider are overwritten by the results from the alternate search provider.

19. The method of claim 9, wherein merging the search results comprises merging search results from a failover search provider with search results received from a secondary search provider.

20. The method of claim 9, wherein merging the search results comprises merging search results received from a failover search provider with search results received from an alternate search provider.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the search results from the failover search provider that are duplicated in the results from the alternate search provider are overwritten by the results from the alternate search provider.

22. The method of claim 9, wherein merging the search results comprises merging search results received from a secondary search provider with search results received from an alternate search provider.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the search results from the secondary search provider that are duplicated in the results from the alternate search provider are overwritten by the results from the alternate search provider.

24. The method of claim 9, further comprising the steps of:

determining if search results were received from a primary search provider; and

if search results are not received from the primary search provider, sending a search failure message.

25. The method of claim 9, further comprising the steps of:

determining if search results were received from a primary search provider;

if search results are not received from the primary search provider, determining if search results were received from a failover search provider; and

if search results are not received from the primary search provider or the failover search provider, sending a search failure message.