Method and system using information written in a wrapper description language to execute query on a network
First Claim
1. A method for assisting a user to query for information available from information sources attached to a network, the method comprising:
- selecting the one or more information sources most relevant to a user query;
formatting the user query for each relevant information source according to a description of each relevant information source written in a wrapper description language that comprises facilities for specifying an entire regular expression in terms of component regular expressions such that, upon recognition of one component regular expression of the entire regular expression, actions can be executed with variables bound as of the time of recognition of the component regular expression, the actions actually being executed only if the entire regular expression is also recognized;
transmitting the formatted query to each of the relevant information sources;
extracting data fields relevant to the user query from responses returned from the relevant information sources, according to the description of the relevant information source returning each response; and
presenting the relevant data fields to the user.
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Accused Products
Abstract
This invention provides assistance to a user in accessing network attached information sources. In one aspect, the invention is a method for intelligently routing a user query to information sources relevant to that query, extracting relevant data fields from received responses, and intelligently presenting the extracted data in order of estimated relevance. The system of this invention implements one or more steps of the method in a centralized or distributed manner on one or more network attached computers. Further, this invention provides a novel language and implementation that facilitates easily written and maintained descriptions of information source query and response formats.
382 Citations
14 Claims
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1. A method for assisting a user to query for information available from information sources attached to a network, the method comprising:
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selecting the one or more information sources most relevant to a user query; formatting the user query for each relevant information source according to a description of each relevant information source written in a wrapper description language that comprises facilities for specifying an entire regular expression in terms of component regular expressions such that, upon recognition of one component regular expression of the entire regular expression, actions can be executed with variables bound as of the time of recognition of the component regular expression, the actions actually being executed only if the entire regular expression is also recognized; transmitting the formatted query to each of the relevant information sources; extracting data fields relevant to the user query from responses returned from the relevant information sources, according to the description of the relevant information source returning each response; and presenting the relevant data fields to the user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A system for assisting a user to query for information available from information sources attached to a network, the system comprising:
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a first processor means for selecting the one or more information sources most relevant to a user query; a second processor means for formatting the user query for each relevant information source according to a description of each relevant information source written in a wrapper description language, and for transmitting the formatted query to each of the relevant information sources;
the wrapper description language comprising facilities for specifying an entire regular expression in terms of component regular expressions such that, upon recognition of one component regular expression of the entire regular expression, actions can be executed with variables bound as of the time of recognition of the component regular expression, the actions actually being executed only if the entire regular expression is also recognized;a third processor means for extracting data fields relevant to the user query from responses returned from the relevant information sources, according to the description of the relevant information source returning each response; and a fourth processor means for presenting the relevant data fields to the user. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A computer readable medium containing instructions for causing one or more computers to assist a user to query for information available from information sources attached to a network by performing the operations of:
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selecting the one or more information sources most relevant to a user query; formatting the user query for each relevant information source according to a description of each relevant information source written in a wrapper description language that comprises facilities for specifying an entire regular expression in terms of component regular expressions such that, upon recognition of one component regular expression of the entire regular expression, actions can be executed with variables bound as of the time of recognition of the component regular expression, the actions actually being executed only if the entire regular expression is also recognized; transmitting the formatted query to each of the relevant information sources; extracting data fields relevant to the user query from responses returned from the relevant information sources, according to the description of the relevant information source returning each response; and presenting the relevant data fields to the user.
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13. A combination of computer program products, executable by one or more computers attached to a network, for assisting a user to query for information available from information sources attached to the network, the computer program product comprising:
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a query router that receives the user query and selects the one or more information sources most relevant to the user query; a wrapper description database containing a description of each of the information sources, each description written in a wrapper description language comprising facilities for specifying an entire regular expression in terms of component regular expressions such that, upon recognition of one component regular expression of the entire regular expression, actions can be executed with variables bound as of the time of recognition of the component regular expression, the actions actually being executed only if the entire regular expression is also recognized; an aggregation engine that receives from the query router the relevant information sources, and formats the user query for each relevant information source according to the description of each relevant information source in the wrapper description database, and that extracts data fields relevant to the user query from responses returned from each of the relevant information sources according to the description of the relevant information source returning each response; and an input/output manager that transmits the formatted query to each of the relevant information sources via the network, and provides the responses returned to the user query from the relevant information sources to the aggregation engine. - View Dependent Claims (14)
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Specification