Patent ID: 7035845
Filing Date: 2006-04-25
Classification: G06F,Y10S

Abstract:
1. A search system comprising: a search engine for receiving a search query from a user and for forwarding the received query to a partner; configuration information corresponding to the partner; and a generic proxy for being called by the search engine with the query for the partner, for receiving and processing the query according to the configuration information corresponding to the partner, for forwarding the processed query to the partner according to the configuration information corresponding to the partner, for receiving search results responsive to the forwarded query from the partner according to the configuration information corresponding to the partner, for processing the received search results according to the configuration information corresponding to the partner, and for forwarding the processed search results to the search engine for further forwarding to the querying user, whereby each of several partners has corresponding configuration information unique thereto and only the generic proxy need be developed for all of the several partners. the generic proxy being a single entity that represents each of several partners at various times by retrieving the configuration information corresponding thereto based on an identification of the partner in the call from the searh engine, the generic proxy including a pre-submission transforms portion for performing any necessary pre-submission transforms on the received query according to the configuration information corresponding to the partner to place the query in a form amenable to the partner, a partner call and receive portion for sending the transformed query to the partner and receiving the search results from the partner according to the configuration information corresponding to the partner, and a post-submission transform portion for performing any necessary post-submission transforms on the received search results from the results in a form amenable to the search engine, and wherein each portion has all functionality necessary with respect to multiple partners.