Systems and methods for customizing behavior of multiple search engines

A method performed by one or more computers, comprising:

• receiving a specification of sections that defines a first section, a second section and a connecting section,
• wherein the first section identifies a first search engine and the second section identifies a second search engine, the second search engine being different from the first search engine, and
• wherein the connecting section defines a condition and an operation, wherein the condition determines when to combine results obtained from the first search engine and the second section, and the operation identifies how to combine the results;
• receiving a search query;
• generating a first output query and a second output query, wherein each output query is based on the received search query;
• submitting the first output query to the first search engine and the second output query to the second search engine;
• receiving a first ordered results from the first search engine in response to the first output query;
• receiving a second ordered results from the second search engine in response to the second output query;
• combining the first ordered results and the second ordered results based on the condition associated with the connecting section to form combined results;
• and
• outputting a representation of the combined results as a response the search query.

A system comprising:

• one or more computers each comprising one or more processors;
• and
• one or more storage devices storing instructions that are configured to, when executed by the one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:
• receiving a specification of sections that defines a first section, a second section, and a connecting section,
• wherein the first section identifies a first search engine and the second section identifies a second search engine, the second search engine being different from the first search engine, and
• wherein the connecting section defines a condition and an operation, wherein the condition determines when to combine results obtained from the first search engine and the second section, and the operation identifies how to combine the results;
• receiving a search query;
• generating a first output query and a second output query, wherein each output query is based on the received search query;
• submitting the first, output query to the first search engine and the second output query to the second search engine;
• receiving first ordered results from the first search engine in response to the first output query;
• receiving second ordered results from the second search engine in response to the second output query;
• combining the first ordered results and the second ordered results based on the condition and the operation to form combined results;
• and
• outputting a representation of the combined results as a response the search query.

A method executed by one or more computers, the method comprising:

• receiving a search specification, the search specification comprising a query modification description and a result modification description;
• generating, based on at least one of the query modification description or the result modification description, query modification data, one or more label definitions, and result modification data;
• receiving a search query;
• modifying the search query based on the query modification data;
• submitting the modified search query to a search engine and receiving ordered results from the search engine in response;
• applying a label to at least a portion of the ordered results based on the one or more label definitions;
• modifying the ordered results based on the applied label and the result modification data;
• and
• outputting the modified results as a response to the search query.

A system comprising:

• one or more computers comprising one or more processors;
• and
• one or more storage devices storing instructions that are configured to, when executed by the one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:
• receiving a search specification, the search specification comprising a query modification description and a result modification description;
• generating, based on at least one of the query modification description or the result modification description, query modification data, one or more label definitions, and result modification data;
• receiving a search query;
• modifying the search query based on the query modification data;
• submitting the modified search query to a search engine and receiving ordered results from the search engine in response;
• applying a label to at least a portion of the ordered results based on the one or more label definitions;
• modifying the ordered results based on the applied label and the result modification data;
• and
• outputting the modified results as a response to the search query.