System and method for implementing cooperative text searching

• US 6,185,553 B1
• Filed: 04/15/1998
• Issued: 02/06/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cooper, James William, Byrd, Roy Jefferson
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mizrahi, Diane D.
• Application Number:
  US09/062,272
• Time in Patent Office: 1,028 Days
• Field of Search: 707/3, 707/4, 707/5, 707/6, 707/7, 707/100, 707/10, 707/103, 707/1, 709/227, 709/224, 395/200.49, 379/230, 345/329, 345/331, 345/339
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure

Abstract

Two or more client users, connected by one or more networks to the server, cooperatively search a database. The server has a data structure that has two or more cooperative user identifiers. Each cooperative user identifier represents one of the clients that has indicated a desired to establish a cooperative search. The data structure further has a session identifier that associates two or more of the cooperative user identifiers as session participants in an established a cooperative session. A command process, executing on the server, receives a query from one of the session participants (clients), accesses results of the query from a search engine, and distributes the results to all of the session participants. Queries of the cooperative session are related to indexed terms so that future uses will find this relationship when using similar queries. These are applications in searching for sales and service information.

Claims

1. A computer server connected to one or more networks through a network interface, each of the networks connected to one or more clients, the server comprising:

a data structure that has two or more cooperative user identifiers, each cooperative user identifier representing one of the clients that indicated a desire to establish a cooperative search, the data structure further having a session identifier that associates two or more of the cooperating user identifiers as session participants in a cooperative session identified by the session identifier; and

a command process, executing on the server, that receives a query from one of the session participants, accesses results of the query from a search engine, and distributes the results to all of the session participants.

2. A computer server connected to one or more networks through a network interface, each of the networks connected to one or more clients, the server comprising:

a data structure that has two or more cooperative user identifiers, each cooperative user identifier representing one of the clients that indicates a desire to establish a cooperative search, the data structure further having a session identifier that associates two or more of the cooperative user identifiers as session participants in a cooperative session identified by the session identifier, one or more queries of one or more of the session participants being stored in the data structure;

a searchable database with a terms index of terms indexing a plurality of documents;

a relations table that stores relationships between terms in the terms index; and

a command process, executing on the server, that receives a query from one of the session participants, accesses results of the query from a search engine, distributes the results to all of the session participants, and establishes a relationship in the relations table between one or more of the queries and one or more of the terms.

3. A computer server, as in claim 2, where one or more of the terms are multiword terms.

4. A computer server, as in claim 2, where one or more of the queries is a query about a product.

5. A computer server, as in claim 4, where the product is any one or more of the following:

an item of clothing, an automobile, and one or more food items.

6. A computer server, as in claim 4, where one or more of the queries is a query about a service.

7. A computer server, as in claim 6, where the service is any one or more of the following:

a legal search, an information search, a search of newspaper articles, a search of periodical articles, a search for an opinion of an expert, a search for travel information, and a search for library information.

8. A method of searching a database on a computer network comprising the steps of:

receiving one or more requests from one or more clients on the computer network to be participants in a cooperative search;

assigning a cooperative user identifier to each participant;

assigning a session identifier that associates the cooperative user identifiers with a session;

receiving one or more queries from one or more of the participants;

accessing results of one or more of the queries from one or more search engines; and

distributing the results to all of the participants in the session.

9. A system for searching a database on a computer network comprising the steps of:

means for receiving one or more requests from one or more clients on the computer network to be participants in a cooperative search;

means for assigning a cooperative user identifier to each participant;

means for assigning a session identifier that associates the cooperative user identifiers with a session;

means for receiving one or more queries from one or more of the participants;

means for accessing results of one or more of the queries from one or more search engines; and

means for distributing the results to all of the participants in the session.