Abstract:
An apparatus and method that allow a user to perform a secondary passive web search while performing a first web search are provided. The first web search is performed in the foreground while the second web search is performed in the background. In one embodiment of the invention, keywords or phrases for which to search are provided. Each time a web document is displayed, the document is parsed for the occurrence of the keywords or phrases. In another embodiment, the search is performed on the Internet at large in conjunction to performing the test on displayed web documents. In either case, links for documents which contain the keywords or phrases are stored in a bookmarks folder.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Technical Field  
           [0002]    The present invention is directed to a search engine. More specifically, the present invention is directed to an apparatus and method capable of performing background searches.  
           [0003]    2. Description of Related Art  
           [0004]    As is well known by now, the World Wide Web (WWW) or Internet is a system of servers that support specially formatted documents. The documents are formatted in a script called Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) that supports links to other documents as well as graphics, audio and video files. This allows a user to jump from one document or web page to another by just clicking on the links embedded in a displayed web page.  
           [0005]    Due to the number of servers that make up the Internet, a great amount of information is readily available to a user. However, to take full advantage of this benefit, the user has to be able to wade through this amount of information fairly easily. To facilitate this task, various search engines are made available trough the Internet. A search engine is a program that searches documents for specified keywords or phrases and returns a list of the documents where the keywords or phrases are found. Some search engines are independent standalone search engines such as google.com. Others are available through web portals such as yahoo.com.  
           [0006]    In any case, when using a search engine, the user types in a keyword or a phrase that will most likely return documents about a subject matter. A list of web pages where the keyword or phrase is found is then returned. The user then has to access each returned page to determine its relevance. As alluded to above, each document may contain at least one link to another document, and therefore, it is very conceivable that the user, while inspecting a returned web page for its relevance, may jump from one page to another using the links embedded in each successively displayed document before accessing another web page from the original list.  
           [0007]    Nonetheless, as the user is inspecting each page for its relevance, it may occur to the user to search for another subject matter or subject matters. Presently, when a user wants to search for a second subject matter while in the process of searching for a first subject matter, the user has to either make a note, mental or otherwise, to search for the second subject matter or abandon the first search to start the second search.  
           [0008]    If the user chooses to make a note, the user has to remember to actually perform the search. If the user abandons the first search to perform the second search, the user may never finish the first test.  
           [0009]    What is needed, therefore, is an apparatus and method that will allow a user to search for the second subject matter while still searching for the first subject matter.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0010]    The present invention provides an apparatus and method that allow a user to perform a second web search in the midst of evaluating a first web search. The progression through the first web search is performed in the foreground while the second web search is performed in the background. In one embodiment of the invention, keywords or phrases for which to perform the secondary background search are provided. Each time a web document is displayed, the document is parsed for the occurrence of the keywords or phrases for the second background search.  
           [0011]    In another embodiment, the secondary search is automatically conducted in the background upon each link returned from the search engine as a result of the search words provided for the primary search. In either case, links for documents which contain the keywords or phrases are stored in a bookmarks folder.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]    The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 1 is an exemplary block diagram illustrating a distributed data processing system according to the present invention.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 2 is an exemplary block diagram of a server apparatus according to the present invention.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 3 is an exemplary block diagram of a client apparatus according to the present invention.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of the invention.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0017]    With reference now to the figures, FIG. 1 depicts a pictorial representation of a network of data processing systems in which the present invention may be implemented. Network data processing system  100  is a network of computers in which the present invention may be implemented. Network data processing system  100  contains a network  102 , which is the medium used to provide communications links between various devices and computers connected together within network data processing system  100 . Network  102  may include connections, such as wire, wireless communication links, or fiber optic cables.  
         [0018]    In the depicted example, server  104  is connected to network  102  along with storage unit  106 . In addition, clients  108 ,  110 , and  112  are connected to network  102 . These clients  108 ,  110 , and  112  may be, for example, personal computers or network computers. In the depicted example, server  104  provides data, such as boot files, operating system images, and applications to clients  108 ,  110  and  112 . Clients  108 ,  110  and  112  are clients to server  104 . Network data processing system  100  may include additional servers, clients, and other devices not shown. In the depicted example, network data processing system  100  is the Internet with network  102  representing a worldwide collection of networks and gateways that use the TCP/IP suite of protocols to communicate with one another. At the heart of the Internet is a backbone of high-speed data communication lines between major nodes or host computers, consisting of thousands of commercial, government, educational and other computer systems that route data and messages. Of course, network data processing system  100  also may be implemented as a number of different types of networks, such as for example, an intranet, a local area network (LAN), or a wide area network (WAN). FIG. 1 is intended as an example, and not as an architectural limitation for the present invention.  
         [0019]    Referring to FIG. 2, a block diagram of a data processing system that may be implemented as a server, such as server  104  in FIG. 1, is depicted in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Data processing system  200  may be a symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) system including a plurality of processors  202  and  204  connected to system bus  206 . Alternatively, a single processor system may be employed. Also connected to system bus  206  is memory controller/cache  208 , which provides an interface to local memory  209 . I/O bus bridge  210  is connected to system bus  206  and provides an interface to I/O bus  212 . Memory controller/cache  208  and I/O bus bridge  210  may be integrated as depicted.  
         [0020]    Peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus bridge  214  connected to I/O bus  212  provides an interface to PCI local bus  216 . A number of modems may be connected to PCI local bus  216 . Typical PCI bus implementations will support four PCI expansion slots or add-in connectors. Communications links to network computers  108 ,  110  and  112  in FIG. 1 may be provided through modem  218  and network adapter  220  connected to PCI local bus  216  through add-in boards. Additional PCI bus bridges  222  and  224  provide interfaces for additional PCI local buses  226  and  228 , from which additional modems or network adapters may be supported. In this manner, data processing system  200  allows connections to multiple network computers. A memory-mapped graphics adapter  230  and hard disk  232  may also be connected to I/O bus  212  as depicted, either directly or indirectly.  
         [0021]    Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the hardware depicted in FIG. 2 may vary. For example, other peripheral devices, such as optical disk drives and the like, also may be used in addition to or in place of the hardware depicted. The depicted example is not meant to imply architectural limitations with respect to the present invention.  
         [0022]    The data processing system depicted in FIG. 2 may be, for example, an IBM e-Server pSeries system, a product of International Business Machines Corporation in Armonk, New York, running the Advanced Interactive Executive (AIX) operating system or LINUX operating system.  
         [0023]    With reference now to FIG. 3, a block diagram illustrating a data processing system is depicted in which the present invention may be implemented. Data processing system  300  is an example of a client computer. Data processing system  300  employs a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) local bus architecture. Although the depicted example employs a PCI bus, other bus architectures such as Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) and Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) may be used. Processor  302  and main memory  304  are connected to PCI local bus  306  through PCI bridge  308 . PCI bridge  308  also may include an integrated memory controller and cache memory for processor  302 . Additional connections to PCI local bus  306  may be made through direct component interconnection or through add-in boards. In the depicted example, local area network (LAN) adapter  310 , SCSI host bus adapter  312 , and expansion bus interface  314  are connected to PCI local bus  306  by direct component connection. In contrast, audio adapter  316 , graphics adapter  318 , and audio/video adapter  319  are connected to PCI local bus  306  by add-in boards inserted into expansion slots. Expansion bus interface  314  provides a connection for a keyboard and mouse adapter  320 , modem  322 , and additional memory  324 . Small computer system interface (SCSI) host bus adapter  312  provides a connection for hard disk drive  326 , tape drive  328 , and CD-ROM drive  330 . Typical PCI local bus implementations will support three or four PCI expansion slots or add-in connectors.  
         [0024]    An operating system runs on processor  302  and is used to coordinate and provide control of various components within data processing system  300  in FIG. 3. The operating system may be a commercially available operating system, such as Windows  2000 , which is available from Microsoft Corporation. An object oriented programming system such as Java may run in conjunction with the operating system and provide calls to the operating system from Java programs or applications executing on data processing system  300 . “Java” is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Instructions for the operating system, the object-oriented operating system, and applications or programs are located on storage devices, such as hard disk drive  326 , and may be loaded into main memory  304  for execution by processor  302 .  
         [0025]    Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the hardware in FIG. 3 may vary depending on the implementation. Other internal hardware or peripheral devices, such as flash ROM (or equivalent nonvolatile memory) or optical disk drives and the like, may be used in addition to or in place of the hardware depicted in FIG. 3. Also, the processes of the present invention may be applied to a multiprocessor data processing system.  
         [0026]    As another example, data processing system  300  may be a stand-alone system configured to be bootable without relying on some type of network communication interface, whether or not data processing system  300  comprises some type of network communication interface. As a further example, data processing system  300  may be a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) device, which is configured with ROM and/or flash ROM in order to provide non-volatile memory for storing operating system files and/or user-generated data.  
         [0027]    The depicted example in FIG. 3 and above-described examples are not meant to imply architectural limitations. For example, data processing system  300  may also be a notebook computer or hand held computer in addition to taking the form of a PDA. Data processing system  300  also may be a kiosk or a Web appliance.  
         [0028]    The present invention provides an apparatus and method that allow a user to perform concurrent searches for two subject matters over the Internet, one in the foreground and one in the background. The invention is, in essence, a search engine that may be embedded in an Internet browser or pluggable into the browser. The invention may be local to client systems  108 ,  110  and  112  of FIG. 1 or to the server  104  or to both the server  104  and clients  108 ,  110  and  112 . Consequently, the present invention may reside on any data storage medium (i.e., floppy disk, compact disk, hard disk, ROM, RAM, etc.) used by a computer system.  
         [0029]    To better understand the invention, an example will be provided. Suppose a user wants to buy a DVD player. If prudent, the user will want to review articles about DVD players before actually buying one. Suppose further, the user likes Sony products. The user may tailor the search to retrieve web pages or articles about Sony DVD players. While reviewing these articles, suppose the user reads a comment that compares a particular Sony DVD player with a particular JVC DVD player. The user may then want to search articles regarding JVC DVD players also. As stated above, presently when confronted with a choice of continuing a first search or starting a second search, a user has to choose to either make a note to perform the second search at a later time or abandon the first search to start the second search. Using the present invention, however, the user may search for articles regarding JVC DVD players while continuing accessing articles regarding the Sony DVD players.  
         [0030]    To do so, the user needs to access the invention, possibly through a pull-down menu, and enter the keywords or phrases needed for the invention to search for articles regarding the JVC DVD players. Depending on its configuration, the invention may do a new Internet search for articles regarding the JVC DVD players or may search each newly visited web page from that point forward. In either case, the search will be totally transparent to the user. The web pages returned may be stored into a set or folder of bookmarks. This folder may use the first keyword as title. In the alternative, the user may be prompted, when the invention is accessed, to provide a title for the folder.  
         [0031]    Just as with existing search engines, the invention may arrange the bookmarked pages based on their relevance to the subject matter of the search, or based on keyword hits or based on the order they were generated.  
         [0032]    When ready to do so the user may, through a pull-down menu option, access the bookmarked pages in the folder. Before exiting each accessed bookmarked page, the user may be prompted to store the bookmark in the Favorites folder (i.e., the folder containing the regular bookmarks), delete the folder or leave it where it is. Of course, the user may delete the entire folder at any time.  
         [0033]    [0033]FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of the invention. To start the process, the user may have to click on an icon. The icon may be located near the search icon or the favorites icon of existing browsers and may be called “background search”. When the icon is clicked on, a menu is pulled down. The menu may contain three items. The items may be labeled “search”, “accessing folders”, “deleting folders”.  
         [0034]    When the process starts (step  400 ), three checks are continuously being made. The checks are to determine whether “search”, “accessing folders” or “deleting folders” is clicked on from the menu. If “search” is clicked on, the user will be prompted to enter a keyword or phrase to search for (steps  405  and  410 ). When the user enters the keyword or phrase, the user will be prompted to enter a name for the folder in which the result of the search will be stored. If the user clicks on start search without providing a name, the keyword or phrase entered will be used as the name of the folder. The first word in the phrase or group of keywords may always be used as the default name for the folder (steps  415  and  420 ). If the user enters a name, the name will be used as the name of the folder. The folder will be created and links retrieved during the search will be saved therein (steps  415 ,  425 ,  430  and  435 ). Note that if the search did not retrieve any links, a note may be put in the folder to let the user know that that the search was performed but no links were found.  
         [0035]    If the user clicks on “accessing folders” a list of folders from prior background searches will be displayed. At that point, the user needs only click on the folder of interest to see its content (steps  440  and  445 ). If the user clicks on “delete folder”, the list of folders from previous background searches will be displayed. The user may then delete any folder from the list using regular methods of deleting folders.  
         [0036]    The description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, and is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. For example, more than one background search may be performed with the invention. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention, the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.