System and method for resolving distributed network search queries to information providers

A computer system in a network, comprising:

• a storage device including a plurality of provider registrations;
• an interface configured to receive a search query including one or more search terms from each of a plurality of requesting nodes in the network and to transmit the search requests to one or more provider nodes in the network;
• a resolver configured to resolve, for each search query each of the corresponding one or more search terms against each of the plurality of provider registrations to determine the one or more provider nodes each indicated by a corresponding matching provider registration;
• wherein the interface is further configured to:
• receive a new provider registration formatted in accordance with a common query protocol from a new provider, wherein the new provider registration includes one or more query terms;
• and
• store the new provider registration on the storage device.

A distributed information search mechanism comprising:

• means for storing a plurality of provider registrations;
• means for receiving a search request including one or more search terms from each of a plurality of requesting nodes in the network;
• means for resolving, for each of the search requests, each of the corresponding search terms against each of the plurality of provider registrations to determine one or more matching provider registrations each indicating a corresponding provider node, wherein said means for resolving includes means for selecting, from the matching one or more provider registrations, one provider registration that includes a plurality of query terms identical to at least some of the other one or more provider node registrations;
• and
• means for transmitting the search request to one or more provider nodes in the network.

A method comprising:

• receiving a search query including one or more search terms from each of a plurality of requesting nodes in a network;
• resolving each of the received plurality of one or more query terms against a registration database including one or more provider node registrations;
• in response to said resolving, indicating for each search query one or more provider nodes in the network having matching provider node registrations that include one or more query terms matching one or more query terms of the search query;
• and
• wherein each of the plurality of search queries matches the corresponding one or more provider node registrations if each of the one or more provider node registrations includes each of one or more additional query terms matching one or more additional query terms of a narrowed search query.

A method comprising:

• receiving a search query including one or more search terms from each of a plurality of requesting nodes in a network;
• for each of the plurality of search queries, resolving the search query against a registration database including one or more provider node registrations to determine one or more matching provider node registrations, wherein each of the one or more matching provider node registrations matches one or more of the search terms of the search query or is a provider node registration for which statistical data indicates that the provider node registration and another provider node registration, which matches one or more of the search terms of the search query, both matched one or more previous search queries;
• and
• in response to said resolving, indicating for each search query one or more provider nodes each corresponding to one of the matching provider node registrations.

A computer system in a network, comprising:

• a storage device including a plurality of provider registrations;
• an interface configured to receive a search request including one or more search terms from each of a plurality of requesting nodes in the network and to transmit the search request to one or more provider nodes in the network;
• a resolver configured to resolve, for each search request, each of the corresponding search terms against the plurality of provider registrations to determine the one or more provider nodes each indicated by a corresponding matching provider registration;
• and
• wherein each of the plurality of search requests matches the corresponding one or more provider registrations if each of the one or more provider registrations includes each of the corresponding one or more search terms and one or more narrowing search terms of a narrowed search query.

A computer system in a network, comprising:

• a storage device including a plurality of provider registrations;
• an interface configured to receive a search request including one or more search terms from each of a plurality of requesting nodes in the network and to transmit the search request to one or more provider nodes in the network;
• and
• a resolver configured, for each search request, to resolve the search request against the plurality of provider registrations to determine the one or more provider nodes each indicated by a corresponding matching provider registration, wherein each of the one or more matching provider registrations matches one or more of the search terms of the search request or is a provider registration which includes one or more query terms included in another provider registration which matches one or more of the search terms of the search request.

A computer system in a network, comprising:

• a storage device including a plurality of provider registrations;
• an interface configured to receive a search request including one or more search terms from each of a plurality of requesting nodes in the network and to transmit the search request to one or more provider nodes in the network;
• and
• a resolver configured, for each search request, to resolve the search request against the plurality of provider registrations to determine the one or more provider nodes each indicated by a corresponding matching provider registration, wherein each of the one or more matching provider registrations matches one or more of the search terms of the search request or is a provider registration for which statistical data indicates that the provider registration and another provider registration, which matches one or more of the search terms of the search request, both matched one or more previous search queries.

A method comprising:

• receiving a search query including one or more search terms from each of a plurality of requesting nodes in a network;
• for each of the plurality of search queries, resolving the search query against a registration database including one or more provider node registrations to determine one or more matching provider node registrations, wherein each of the one or more matching provider node registrations matches one or more of the search terms of the search query or is a provider node registration which includes one or more query terms included in another provider node registration which matches one or more of the search terms of the search query;
• and
• in response to said resolving, indicating for each search query one or more provider nodes each corresponding to one of the matching provider node registrations.