System and method for exposing internal search indices to internet search engines

• US 8,874,544 B2
• Filed: 01/13/2005
• Issued: 10/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/13/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Grim, Clifton E. III, Schmidt, Christopher I., Wilson, John D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Yen, Syling
• Application Number:
  US11/034,492
• Publication Number:
  US 20060155685A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,575 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/10, 707/102, 707706-709, 707711-713, 707/722, 707/736, 707/758, 707/781, 707999001- 6, 705/26, 713/153
• US Class Current: 707/707
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2228 Indexing structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9558 Details of hyperlinks; Management of linked annotations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/986 Document structures and storage, e.g. HTML extensions

Abstract

A system and method for exposing internal search indices to Internet search engines. The internal search indices are exposed to external search engines in such a way that the data may be segregated into at least two types including one layer of search data specifically for the search engines, and another for potential users of the application. This significantly improves the probability of discovery by search engines and also provides for presentation of discovered content to users in a manner consistent with the content itself, or consistent with the intended controls or presentations established by the content'"'"'s owner. The system and method also includes one or more components that reproduce information about IP in a format that search engines can recognize and locate. The component also forwards users coming through the search engines to the actual IP graphical user interface (GUI) instead of the files that the search engine discovered. This allows control over the information that search engines see/view, while ensuring that a user'"'"'s interface to the system stays constant.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of facilitating on-line searching of an information marketplace (IM), comprising the steps of:

supplying, by an intellectual property (IP) producer, IP, and IP metadata to the IM in a computer;

generating one or more metadata files having keyword value pairs from indices to the intellectual property at a commercial or private web site, wherein the indices are internal search indices of the commercial or private web site arranged within the IM that require an authorized certificate to access, and the indices are structured to being crawled by external web search engines;

creating one or more hyper-text markup language (HTML) files for each IP;

storing the one or more metadata files within the one or more HTML files in a directory accessible through the Internet;

creating a master index file containing one or more links to each of the one or more HTML files;

saving the master index file and the one or more HTML files in a searchable directory of the IM; and

accessing at least one of the one or more HTML files via the one or more links to locate the IP for commercial or private use, the accessing comprising;

redirecting requests from the external web search engines to the searchable directory;

executing the requests from the external web search engines on the searchable directory for the one or more HTML files;

transmitting the one or more HTML files from the searchable directory to the external web search engines; and

restricting access of the external web search engines to other directories which require the authorized certificate to access the commercial or private web site.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising crawling through the master index file with a search agent of the external web search engines to create search indices.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising using a browser to search the search indices for accessing the at least one of the one or more HTML files.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

redirecting a search agent of the external web search engines to the searchable directory;

retrieving the master index file containing the one or more links; and

storing metadata information in search indices associated with the search agent for user searches.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

entering search criteria into the search agent;

searching the search indices and associated metadata to match the search criteria; and

returning one or more matching results from the searching step.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising selecting the one or more matching results.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising presenting a login screen to the IM when a selection is made from one of the one or more matching results, the selection being for an item of the IP within the IM.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising determining whether a user is logged into the IM and by-passing the presenting a login screen step if the user is already logged into the IM.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the IM is the commercial or private web site.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is implemented with the following:

the IM is coupled to a certificate authority which sends verifications to the IM;

an IP consumer that issues a search request to the IM, receives search results from the IM, and purchases and receives IP.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the internal search indices are exposed to the external web search engines such that data is segregated into at least two types which include one layer of search data specifically for the external web search engines and another layer for users.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising the external web search engines searching the internal search indices, after being indexed, for metadata that matches search criteria, returning the matches that include the IP in the IM to a user via a browser, and the user selecting an item within the IM.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the indices are associated with a collection of the keyword value pairs and pointers to the IP stored in the IM;

the keyword value pairs and the pointers are associated with a value;

the value is associated with a type of data, wherein the type of data categorizes the IP; and

the one or more HTML files contain at least one meta tag containing the keyword value pairs.

14. A computer implemented method of exposing search indices using an information marketplace (IM), comprising the steps of:

supplying, by an intellectual property (IP) producer, IP, and IP metadata to the IM in a computer;

creating one or more metadata files having keyword value pairs from indices of the IM, wherein the indices are internal search indices of a commercial or private website arranged within the IM that require an authorized certificate to access, and the indices are structured to being crawled by external web search engines;

creating one or more hyper-text markup language (HTML) files for each IP;

storing the one or more metadata files in a directory accessible through a network;

creating a master index file containing one or more links to each of the one or more HTML files;

saving the master index file and the one or more HTML, files in a searchable directory of the IM; and

accessing at least one of the one or more HTML files via the one or more links to locate the IP for at least any one of a transaction, a commercial use and a private use, the accessing comprising;

redirecting requests from the external web search engines to the searchable directory;

executing the requests from the external web search engines on the searchable directory for the one or more HTML files;

transmitting the one or more HTML files from the searchable directory to the external web search engines; and

restricting access of the external web search engines to other directories which require the authorized certificate to access the commercial or private web site,

wherein a buyer and a seller are exposed to the one or more links via at least one graphical user interface (GUI) for the HTML files.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising crawling through the master index file with a search agent of the external web search engines to create public indices for searching.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising searching the public indices for accessing the at least one of the one or more HTML files.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

redirecting a search agent of the external web search engines to the searchable directory;

retrieving the master index file containing the one or more links; and

storing metadata information in public indices associated with the search agent for subsequent searches.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

entering search criteria into the search agent;

searching the public indices and associated metadata to match the search criteria; and

returning one or more matching results from the searching step.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising presenting a login screen to the IM when a selection is made from among the one or more matching results, the selection being for an item of IP within the IM.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising by-passing the presenting a login screen step if a user is already logged into the IM.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein the method is implemented with the following:

the IM is coupled to a certificate authority which sends verifications to the IM;

an IP consumer that issues a search request to the IM, receives search results from the IM, and purchases and receives IP.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein the internal search indices are exposed to the external web search engines such that data is segregated into at least two types which include one layer of search data specifically for the external web search engines and another layer for users.

23. The method of claim 14, further comprising the external web search engines searching the internal search indices, after being indexed, for metadata that matches search criteria, returning the matches that include the IP in the IM to a user via a browser, and the user selecting an item within the IM.

24. A system implemented in hardware for facilitating on-line searching, comprising:

a combination of hardware and computer program code operable to;

allow an intellectual property (IP) producer to supply IP and IP metadata to an information market place (IM);

generate one or more metadata files having keyword value pairs from indices to the IP at a commercial or private web site, wherein the indices are internal search indices of the commercial or private web site arranged within the IM that require an authorized certificate to access, and the indices are structured to being crawled by external web search engines;

create one or more hyper-text markup language (HTML) files for each IP;

store the one or more metadata files within the one or more HTML files in a directory accessible on-line;

create a master index file containing one or more links to each of the one or more HTML, files;

save the master index file and the one or more HTML files in a searchable directory of the IM; and

access at least one of the one or more HTML files via the one or more links to locate the IP for at least any one of a transaction, a commercial use and a private use, the accessing comprising;

redirecting requests from the external web search engines to the searchable directory;

executing the requests from the external web search engines on the searchable directory for the one or more HTML files;

transmitting the one or more HTML files from the searchable directory to the external web search engines; and

restricting access of the external web search engines to other directories which require the authorized certificate to access the commercial or private web site,

a buyer and a seller are exposed to the one or more links to at least one graphical user interface (GUI) for the metadata files.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the system is further operable to crawl through the master index file with a search agent of the external web search engines to create search indices.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the system is further operable to use a browser to search the search indices for accessing the at least one of the one or more HTML files.

27. The system of claim 24, wherein the system is further operable to:

redirect a search agent of the external web search engines to the searchable directory;

retrieve the master index file containing the one or more links; and

store metadata information in search indices associated with the search agent for user searches.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the system is further operable to:

receive search criteria by the search agent;

search the search indices and associated metadata to match the search criteria; and

return one or more matching results from the searching.

29. The system of claim 24, wherein the system is further operable to present a login screen to the IM when a selection is made from one of the one or more matching results, the selection being for an item of IP within the IM.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the system is further operable to determine whether a user is logged into the IM;

and by-pass a login sequence if the user is already logged into the IM.

31. The system of claim 24, wherein the system comprises:

the IM is coupled to a certificate authority which sends verifications to the IM;

an IP consumer that issues a search request to the IM, receives search results from the IM, and purchases and receives IP.

32. The system of claim 24, wherein the internal search indices are exposed to the external web search engines such that data is segregated into at least two types which include one layer of search data specifically for the external web search engines and another layer for users.

33. The system of claim 24, the system is further operable to allow the external web search engines to search the internal search indices, after being indexed, for metadata that matches search criteria, return the matches that include the IP in the IM to a user via a browser, and allow the user to select an item within the IM.

34. A computer program product comprising a computer usable storage memory having readable program code embodied in the memory, the computer program product is implemented in hardware and includes at least one component to:

supply, by an intellectual property (IP) producer, IP, and IP metadata to an information marketplace (IM);

create one or more metadata files having keyword value pairs from the indices of an IM having the IP, wherein the indices are internal search indices of a commercial or private website arranged within the IM that require an authorized certificate to access, and the indices are structured to being crawled by external web search engines;

create one or more hyper-text markup language (HTML) files for each IP;

store the one or more metadata files within the one or more HTML files in a directory accessible through a network;

create a master index file containing one or more links to each of the one or more HTML files;

save the master index file and the one or more HTML files in a searchable directory of the IM; and

access at least one of the one or more HTML files via the one or more links to locate the IP for at least any one of a transaction, commercial use, and a private use, the accessing comprising;

redirecting requests from the external web search engines to the searchable directory;

executing the requests from the external web search engines on the searchable directory for the one or more HTML files;

transmitting the one or more HTML files from the searchable directory to the external web search engines; and

restricting access of the external web search engines to other directories which require the authorized certificate to access the commercial or private web site.

35. The product of claim 34, wherein the internal search indices are exposed to the external web search engines such that data is segregated into at least two types which include one layer of search data specifically for the external web search engines and another layer for users.

36. The product of claim 34, further comprising allowing the external web search engines to search the internal search indices, after being indexed, for metadata that matches search criteria, returning the matches that include the IP in the IM to a user via a browser, and allowing the user to select an item within the IM.