Managing searches on mobile devices

• US 8,650,263 B2
• Filed: 06/28/2011
• Issued: 02/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Snyder, Kevin H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Etienne, Ario
• Assistant Examiner(s): Williams, Clayton R
• Application Number:
  US13/170,285
• Publication Number:
  US 20110302154A1
• Time in Patent Office: 959 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]

Abstract

This disclosure pertains to solutions, including without limitation, systems, methods, and software programs, that provide the ability to quickly and efficiently search mobile devices for relevant information. An exemplary search server has the ability to communicate (either directly and/or via a host PC) with one or more mobile devices to transmit a search request. The mobile devices, in turn, have a search facility that is configured to perform a search of the contents of the device and return a set of results to the search server. These results then may be presented to a user, who can select one or more of the results. The selected search result(s) then may be downloaded from the device and presented to the user.

Claims

1. A system for retrieving information from a mobile device, the system comprising:

a storage memory; and

a processor coupled with the storage memory, wherein the storage memory has sets of instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

receive a search query;

transmit an alert signal to each mobile device in a set of mobile devices via a transport mechanism, wherein for each mobile device in the set of mobile devices the transport mechanism selected corresponds to a type of the respective mobile device, wherein the set of mobile devices are Internet-enabled mobile telephones which are present within an enterprise environment;

transmit, from an enterprise search service within the enterprise environment, a search request to the set of mobile devices, wherein the search request is based on the search query;

receive a set of search results from at least one mobile device of the set of mobile devices;

store the set of search results in a cache;

periodically poll the set of mobile devices for changes to the set of search results; and

update the set of search results stored in the cache based on the periodic polling of the set of mobile devices.

2. The system as recited by claim 1, wherein the sets of instructions when further executed by the processor, cause the processor to cache information about data on a storage device remote from the plurality of mobile devices.

3. The system as recited by claim 1, wherein the search request is formatted according to a first search methodology.

4. The system as recited by claim 3, wherein the sets of instructions when further executed by the processor, cause the processor to transform the search request into a second search methodology.

5. The system as recited by claim 1, wherein the sets of instructions when further executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

receive, from a user, a selection of a particular search result, wherein the particular search result corresponds to a particular file stored on the at least one mobile device; and

provide the particular file to the user.

6. The system as recited by claim 5, wherein the sets of instructions when further executed by the processor, cause the processor to obtain the particular file.

7. The system as recited in claim 6, wherein the file is obtained from at least one of the plurality of mobile devices.

8. The system as recited in claim 7, wherein providing the set of search results comprises:

transmitting a web page comprising a collections of links, each of the links corresponding to a file stored on the plurality of mobile devices;

receiving the selection of the particular search result comprises receiving from a web browser a request corresponding to the particular file; and

providing the particular file comprises transmitting the particular file for reception by the web browser.

9. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the received search query specifies a particular one or more mobile devices to be searched, and further comprising performing a search of information about data stored on each of the particular one or more mobile devices.

10. The system as recited in claim 9, wherein the search query is received from an entity, and wherein the set of instructions further comprises verifying that the entity has sufficient access rights to receive the set of search results.

11. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the set of search results comprises a list of files stored on the plurality of mobile devices.

12. The system as recited in claim 11, wherein the set of search results further comprises a set of information about each of the files.

13. The system as recited in claim 12, wherein the set of information about each file comprises one or more data elements of the following:

a creation date of the file, a size of the file, a location of the file, a device identifier corresponding to the mobile device on which the file is located, an owner of the mobile device on which the file is located, or a date of last access of the file.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the transport mechanism is a mechanism specific to requirements of the set of mobile devices.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein user preferences are configured to specify which of the set of mobile devices to include in the search request.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the search request'"'"'s format matches requirements of the sets of mobile devices.

17. A method of searching information on a mobile device, the method comprising:

receiving a search query, wherein the search query pertains to data stored on at least one mobile device of a set of mobile devices, wherein the set of mobile devices are Internet-enabled mobile telephones which are present within an enterprise environment;

receiving from the at least one mobile device of the set of mobile devices, a set of search results responsive to the search query, the set of search results being generated by at least one search application component on the at least one mobile device;

storing the set of search results in a cache;

waking the at least one mobile device upon receiving a respective alert signal;

maintaining a connection string for a data source on the at least one mobile device;

performing, by an enterprise search service within the enterprise environment, a search of information on the at least one mobile device using the connection string;

preparing a second set of search results based on the search; and

updating the cache with the second set of search results.

18. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein the search query is formatted according to a first search methodology, and wherein the method further comprises transforming the search query into a second search methodology.

19. The method as recited in claim 17, further comprising transmitting the second set of search results, wherein the transmitting of the second set of search results comprises:

transmitting a signal indicating that a search request is pending;

receiving the signal at the at least one mobile device;

transmitting from the at least one mobile device a prompt message; and

responsive to the prompt message, transmitting the search request.

20. The method as recited in claim 19, wherein the prompt message comprises a hypertext transfer protocol (“

HTTP”

) message, and wherein the search request comprises an HTTP response.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having sets of instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

receive a search query;

transmit an alert signal to each of a set of mobile devices via a transport mechanism, wherein the transport mechanism corresponds to a type of the respective mobile device, wherein the set of mobile devices are Internet-enabled mobile telephones which are present within an enterprise environment;

transmit, from an enterprise search service within the enterprise environment, a search request to the set of mobile devices, wherein the search request is based on the search query;

receive a set of search results from at least one mobile device of the set of mobile devices;

store the set of search results in a cache;

periodically poll the set of mobile devices for changes to the set of search results; and

update the set of search results stored in the cache based on the periodic polling of the set of mobile devices.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as recited in claim 21, wherein the sets of instructions when further executed by the computer, cause the computer to:

provide, from the cache, the set of search results to a user;

wake a first mobile device upon receiving the respective alert signal; and

receive the search request from a server computer system.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as recited in claim 22, wherein the sets of instructions when further executed by the computer, cause the computer to:

maintain a connection string for a data source on the first mobile device;

perform a search of information on the first mobile device using the connection string;

prepare the set of search results based on the search; and

transmit the set of search results.