Methods for intelligent universal database search engines

A computer method for searching information from a variety of sources based upon a provided search inquiry, said search inquiry being in any format and language, comprising the steps of:

• receiving a search inquiry, in any format and language, having one or more characters, wherein each character is represented by a code;
• categorizing said search inquiry into one or more of a plurality of categories if said search inquiry does not match with at least one entry in a history table, each of said categories having a corresponding feature table having entries representative of the characteristics of said category;
• comparing entries in said feature table with said search inquiry to generate one or more position indicators to positions of one or more entries in a search table, each of said search tables having entries each including a keyword and one or more corresponding database addresses, the same or similar keywords being placed near each other;
• comparing said search inquiry with entries in said search table starting with the entries at the positions as indicated by said position indicators to determine one or more database addresses corresponding to said search inquiry;
• retrieving and displaying entries from one or more databases corresponding to said one or more database addresses;
• and
• updating the history table entries if said search inquiry was not found in the history table.

A program storage device readable by a machine tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for searching information from a variety of sources based upon a provided search inquiry, said search inquiry being in any format and language, said method comprising the steps of:

• receiving a search inquiry, in any format and language, having one or more characters where each character is represented by a code;
• categorizing said search inquiry into one or more of a plurality of categories, each of said categories having a corresponding feature table having entries representative of the characteristics of said category;
• comparing entries in said feature table with said search inquiry to generate one or more position indicators to positions of one or more entries in one or more search tables, each of said search tables having entries each including a keyword and one or more corresponding database addresses, the same or similar keywords being placed near each other;
• comparing said search inquiry with entries in the search table starting with the entries at positions as indicated by said position indicators to determine one or more database addresses corresponding to said search inquiry;
• and
• retrieving and displaying one or more entries from one more databases addresses corresponding to said one or more database address;
• and
• updating the history table entries if said search inquiry was not found in the history table.

A computer method for searching information from a variety of sources based upon a provided search inquiry, the search inquiry being in any format and language and formed from one or more characters each being represented by a character code, by using a search table having entries composed of keywords and associated database addresses, wherein the same or similar keywords are placed near each other, and wherein the database addresses point to data items in a database, and a plurality of feature tables each having entries composed of pointers to search table entries and search inquiry characters, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) receiving the search inquiry;
• (b) comparing the character codes of the search inquiry characters with entries in the plurality of feature tables to select relevant feature tables from the plurality of feature tables, the selected feature tables serving to categorize the characters of the search inquiry;
• (c) comparing the search inquiry to the search inquiry characters of the selected feature tables to find any matches;
• (d) retrieving a search table pointer from the feature table at any matched entry;
• (e) comparing the search inquiry to the keywords in said search table starting at the retrieved search table pointer to find any keyword matches,
• (f) retrieving a database address from the search table at any matched keyword entry;
• (g) retrieving and displaying information from the database at the retrieved database address.