DELEGATED SEARCH OF CONTENT IN ACCOUNTS LINKED TO SOCIAL OVERLAY SYSTEM

• US 20080319943A1
• Filed: 06/19/2007
• Published: 12/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Fischer, Donald F.
• Granted Patent: US 9,183,305 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

The present invention provides a federated search tool and search methods that consolidate searches to external online accounts of a user and other people that are part of the user'"'"'s social network. In some embodiments, the search tool is presented as a single search box that may appear persistently on the user'"'"'s desktop display or as a toolbar embedded within another application. The search tool may be embedded as part of web page. Embodiments of the present invention may provide the results in a simple real-time display stack or a static result list, such as a web page. Blocks in the stack may indicate a result and the context of the result, such as which online account originated the result, whether the result is from a linked external accounts of people associated with the user, pointers to people and groups the user has linked to, an age of the result, and the like. The present invention may also permit the user to search the Internet generally, such as well known search engines, and to search the contents of their local machine, such as documents, emails, pictures, and the like. In addition, the present invention allows searches to be performed asynchronously to various linked external online account sites and then provides these results as they arrive.

Claims

1. A method of querying a plurality of online services on a network from a client machine coupled to the network, said method comprising:

receiving a set of keywords from a user;

identifying a domain of online services of the user;

querying at least some of the online services based on the set of keywords received from the user and the user'"'"'s personalized account in each online service; and

providing results in a format that indicates results from the online services.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the results comprise providing the results as information embedded in a web page.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising querying one or more Internet search engines based on the set of keywords.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising searching information stored on the client machine based on the set of keywords.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein querying at least some of the online services comprises querying the online services asynchronously.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the results comprises providing the results in a format that indicates contextual information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the results comprise providing the results in a format that indicates persons associated with the results.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the results comprises providing the results in a format that indicates respective ages of the results.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the results comprise providing the results in a format that indicates respective user accounts from which the results originated.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the results comprises providing the results asynchronously based on when the results are provided from the information sources.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the results comprises providing the results in a real-time stacked display that indicates the results as they are received, wherein the real-time stacked display comprises blocks that include information about the results and context about the results.

12. An apparatus comprising means configured to perform the method of claim 1.

13. A computer readable medium comprising computer executable code for performing the method of claim 1.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the set of online services comprises one or more Internet search engines.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the client device is configured to asynchronously submit queries to the online services.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the client device is configured to sort the results based where the results originated and context of the results.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the client device is configured to sort the results based on a history of the user'"'"'s activities.

20. The client device of claim 18, wherein the user interface is configured provide the results in a real-time stacked display that indicates the results as they are received, wherein the real-time stacked display comprises blocks that include information about the results and context about the results.

21. The client device of claim 18, wherein the query engine is configured to submit queries to one or more Internet search engines in addition to the online services.

22. The client device of claim 18, wherein the query engine is configured to asynchronously submit queries to the online services.

23. The client device of claim 18, wherein the query engine is configured to search data stored on the client device based on the set of keywords.

14. A system for processing queries by a user for information from a plurality of sources, said system comprising:

an open overlay service that provides a single context of online services subscribed to by the user that is accessible by a social network of other users known to the user;

a set of online services accessible to the user; and

a client device configured to receive a set of keywords from the user, request, from the open overlay a domain of online services subscribed to by the user, submit queries to the online services based on the set of keywords and the user'"'"'s personalized account in each online service, and provide results of the queries in a format that indicates where the results originated and context of the results.

19. A client device configured to process queries from a user for information from a plurality of sources, said client device comprising:

a user interface configured to receive a set of keywords from the user and provide results related to the keywords in a format that indicates contexts of the results;

a first module configured to interface the client device with an open overlay service that provides information indicating online services to which the user is subscribed and a social network of the user;

a query engine configured to submit queries to the online services which the user is subscribed based on the received set of keywords and the user'"'"'s personalized account in each online service and provide results to the user interface.