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US 8,046,351 B2Granted
Method and system for selecting search engines for accessing information
AssigneeSamsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
InventorsYu Song, Doreen Cheng, Swaroop Kalasapur, Alan Messer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and system for access to information using search engines is provided. A search engine is selected for executing a query based on search engine characteristic information and the query. The characteristic information for each search engine includes information representing searching capabilities of each search engine. Selecting a search engine further involves determining a similarity between the query and the characteristic information for each search engine, and selecting a search engine based on the similarities such that a search engine with the highest similarity may be selected for executing the query and returning search results.
Claims36
A method for providing access to information using search engines, comprising:
- obtaining characteristic information including a plurality of characteristic keywords representing searching capabilities of each one of multiple search engines, wherein each characteristic keyword is assigned a characteristic keyword score value;
- maintaining separate characteristic keyword score values for the plurality of characteristic keywords for each search engine, wherein the score values are accumulated and updated over multiple searches;
- in response to receiving a query including user-selected keywords, determining a similarity value for each search engine based on the characteristic keyword score values associated with the user selected query keywords of the query;
- selecting a search engine among the multiple search engines for executing the query based on the rank of the multiple search engines using the similarity value;
- sending the query to the selected search engine;
- obtaining search results from the selected search engine;
- selecting a predetermined number of obtained search results as top results;
- analyzing the top results for determining result quality;
- and
- updating the characteristic keyword score values based on the result quality of the top results.
7 more elements
An apparatus for providing access to information using search engines, comprising:
- a processor having a hardware component the apparatus including
- an information module configured for maintaining characteristic information including a plurality of characteristic keywords representing searching capabilities of each one of multiple search engines, wherein each characteristic keyword is assigned a characteristic keyword score value;
- and
- a selector to receive a query having user selected keywords, the selector including
- a scoring module configured for maintaining separate characteristic keyword score values for the plurality of characteristic keywords for each search engine, wherein the characteristic keyword score values are accumulated and updated over multiple searches;
- wherein the selector is configured for determining a similarity value for each search engine based on the characteristic keyword score values associated with user selected query keywords and ranking the multiple search engines based on the similarity value of each search engine, the apparatus further configured to:
- select a search engine among the multiple search engines for executing a query based on the rank of the multiple search engines;
- send the query to the selected search engine;
- obtain search results from the selected search engine;
- select a predetermined number of obtained search results as top results;
- analyze the top results for determining result quality;
- and
- update the characteristic keyword score values based on the result quality of the top results.
10 more elements
A client device for providing access to information using search engines, comprising:
- a processor including hardware components;
- an application module for receiving a query having one or more user selected query keywords;
- and
- a selector configured for maintaining separate characteristic keyword score values for a plurality of characteristic keywords for each search engine of a set of multiple search engines, wherein each characteristic keyword is assigned a characteristic keyword score value and the characteristic keyword score values are accumulated and updated over multiple searches, the client device configured to:
- match the one or more user selected query keywords with the plurality of characteristic keywords to determine similarity values for each search engine based on characteristic keyword score values associated with user selected query keywords;
- determine a rank of the multiple search engines based on similarity values by comparing the similarity values between each search engine and determining the search engine with a highest ranked similarity value;
- select a search engine among the multiple search engines for executing a query based on the rank of the multiple search engines;
- send the query to the selected search engine;
- obtain search results from the selected search engine;
- select a predetermined number of obtained search results as top results;
- analyze the top results for determining result quality;
- and
- update the characteristic keyword score values based on the result quality of the top results.
10 more elements
A method for providing access to information using search engines, comprising:
- obtaining a plurality of characteristic keywords representing searching capabilities of each one of multiple search engines;
- assigning a characteristic keyword score value for each of the plurality of characteristic keywords, wherein the characteristic keyword score values are accumulated and updated over multiple searches;
- receiving one or more user selected query keywords associated with a query;
- matching the one or more user selected query keywords with the plurality of characteristic keywords to determine similarity values for each search engine based on characteristic keyword score values associated with user selected query keywords;
- determining a rank of the multiple search engines based on similarity values by comparing the similarity values between each search engine and determining the search engine with a highest ranked similarity value;
- selecting a search engine among the multiple search engines for executing a query based on the rank of the multiple search engines;
- sending the query to the selected search engine;
- obtaining search results from the selected search engine;
- selecting a predetermined number of obtained search results as top results;
- analyzing the top results for determining result quality;
- and
- updating the characteristic keyword score values based on the result quality of the top results.
9 more elements
A method for providing access to information using search engines comprising:
- obtaining characteristic information including a plurality of characteristic keywords representing searching capabilities of each one of multiple search engines, wherein each characteristic keyword is assigned a characteristic keyword score value;
- maintaining separate score values for the plurality of characteristic keywords for each search engine wherein the characteristic keyword score values are accumulated and updated over multiple searches;
- receiving query keywords associated with a query;
- determining a similarity value for each search engine based on the characteristic keyword score values and the query keywords associated with the query;
- selecting a search engine among the multiple search engines for executing the query using the query keywords by comparing the similarity values between and determining the search engine with a highest ranked similarity value;
- wherein a characteristic keyword score value S is represented as:
- S
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- wherein WR represents a weighting factor indicating ranking of a results page returned by the selected search engine, WP represents a weighting factor indicating where a user selected query keyword occurred in the results page, WQ is a weighting factor indicating whether the user selected query keyword is in both a search query and an existing characteristic keyword list for the selected search engine, T, S, B, and E for occurrence frequency f represent positions in the results page where a keyword can occur, m represents a number of search results selected for computing the score value S, wherein i is a positive number and represents an ith page in top m results.
66 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.