Patent ID: 8577859
Filing Date: 2013-11-05
Classification: G06F,G06Q

Abstract:
1. A method for presenting indexed search results from a social network, concurrently with customary search results returned by a search engine hosted on a website, to a user performing a search from a user interface of a user device using the search engine, the user being registered on the social network and having connections thereon, the method comprising: indexing, by a social search server, data related to users registered on the social network to produce indexed data, the data obtained from the social network hosted on a website that is different from the website hosting the search engine, the social search server being different from the search engine; installing a widget on a web browser used for accessing websites on the user device, the widget forwarding to the social search server a user identifier along with a search query entered on the website associated with the search engine; receiving, by the social search server, the search query along with the user identifier from the user device; using the search query and the user identifier, performing, by the social server, a search on the indexed data specific to the user's connections to obtain indexed search results specific to the user's connections on the social network; returning, by the social search server, to the user device the indexed search results specific to the user's connections; receiving customary search results returned by the search engine in response to the search query; using the widget installed on the web browser, reserving a space on the user interface for the indexed search results; and presenting, on the user interface, the indexed search results specific to the user's connections concurrently with the customary search results returned by the search engine, the indexed search results being presented in the space reserved by the widget on the user interface; wherein the indexed search results and the customary search results are concurrently presented on websites accessed from the browser having the widget installed thereon.