WO2006133462A1

WO2006133462A1 - System for conducting structured network searches and generating search reports

Info

Publication number: WO2006133462A1
Application number: PCT/ZA2005/000078
Authority: WO
Inventors: Edward Henry Mathews
Original assignee: Edward Henry Mathews
Priority date: 2005-06-06
Filing date: 2005-06-06
Publication date: 2006-12-14

Abstract

A system for requesting network or internet searches by using a structured index is disclosed, which uses a user's selection of relevant search results to generate a customized search report. An interface prompts the user to provide main topics for a search report (similar to a table of contents), thereafter the user is prompted to provide sub-topics or sub-categories for each main topic, thereafter the user is prompted to provide or select more specific keywords that will be used to perform the network search, thereafter the structured index is displayed while the relevant search results are displayed for each topic or sub-topic when the user clicks on a specific entry of the index. The search results will display the most relevant paragraph of each search link. The user will be given the option to select each search entry that he/she would like to include in the search report. A search report is then generated including the structured index, search keywords used as well as the selected search results items and any notes that the user wants to include. This report can then be imported into a word processor or other software program to create a research report.

Description

SYSTEM FOR CONDUCTING STRUCTURED NETWORK SEARCHES AND GENERATING SEARCH REPORTS

The present invention relates to a system using a user-defined structured index with associated search keywords to request multiple internet or network searches in parallel from which said user can select desired items to be included in a generated search report.

In this specification the terms network search and Internet search are used interchangeably and refers to any data and/or information search system that searches for specific information on a network, the internet or other data and/or information storage medium.

In this specification searches performed in parallel refers to several Internet searches being requested simultaneously and results thereof kept in the background meaning that these results are available instantly when the user requests them.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide a system and method to conduct well planned and structured Internet searches and to generate search reports when conducting research on the Internet, thereby saving time of the researcher and helping to organize these search results for later use.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Description of related art

The availability of research material on the Internet especially electronic journals, information on university servers and similar sites has made the research process much easier. Advanced search engines have made it easy to conduct focused searches and to find information that would otherwise have been hard to find in the past. A problem that still exists though is how to organize and sort all these search results and how to conduct focused and organized Internet searches throughout the research project.

Often various search windows or navigation tabs are opened for each set of search keywords. If numerous topics are to be searched, it becomes difficult to navigate and manage this information. It also makes it difficult to wrap everything up and continue at a later stage. Performing searches in this way also makes it easy for the researcher to overlook certain topics. Another problem is to save these search results for later use - conventionally the information would be copied and pasted from a browser window to word processor. This is a tedious and time consuming task and often results in unorganized chaotic documents.

When doing research a lot of time is wasted to open web pages or documents listed in the search results. Search engines often only list a few words in their search results and most of the time the researcher then has to open each page to see if the information is relevant to the specific search being conducted. More information should be displayed in the search results so that it becomes easier to judge whether the information is indeed useful. If this can be done a lot of time will be saved.

In general researchers spend a lot of time on the Internet. Repetitive tasks should be automated and wherever tools can be designed to save the time of the researcher, these tools should be implemented.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The method embodied in the search assistant tool of the present invention addresses some of the shortcomings of conventional search engines when used to conduct research especially when generating research reports. The system comprises of a method to create a structured index or storyline (similar to a table of contents) through guided instructions to the user and further to provide more specific search keywords to use for Internet searches. Internet searches are then requested from a search engine (or plurality of search engines) in parallel for each entry of the storyline using the search keywords provided by the user and the results are then neatly organized underneath each entry of the structured index. The search results obtained from the search engine(s) are displayed with a full paragraph for each search entry. This full paragraph is the most relevant paragraph of that specific search result. The user can then quickly decide whether to use this information or not and then selects whether to include the search result in the research report or not. This implies that the user will often only need to judge the information based on the paragraph and will not necessarily have to open each page to verify the relevance and/or importance of that specific Internet page. When all the research results to be included have been selected the user selects the option to generate a search report that includes the full structured index (or storyline) together with all the associated search keywords and all the selected search results. Each search result will contain at least the title of the Internet page, the most relevant paragraph of that Internet page (specific search result), a hyperlink to that specific page as well as a reference to the authors and/or institution where the research was conducted and or published.

Finally a search report can be generated from the selected items of all the search results. This search report will contain at least: the structured index created by the user, the associated search keywords for each entry of the structured index, the selected items from each search results page and any further notes that the user wishes to include. Each of the selected items from the search results page will include a least: the title of the Internet page, the most relevant paragraph of that Internet page (specific search result), a hyperlink to that specific page as well as a reference to the authors and/or institution where the research was conducted and or published.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above-mentioned and other attendant advantages of the present invention will become more apparent through the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which: FIG 1. is the interface prompting user to provide the main entries for the structured index.

FIG 2. is the interface prompting user to provide the secondary entries for each main entry of the structured index.

FIG 3. is the interface prompting user to select and provide specific search keywords to be used for the internet search.

FIG 4. is the interface prompting user with organized search results

FIG 5. illustrates the flow of information when generating a search report and shows the different output options.

FIG 6. is the interface to specify the format(s) to use for the search report generation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention comprises of a system and method to create a structured index with associated search keywords that is used to perform parallel Internet searches of which the results are organized underneath the entries of said structured index from where the user selects search results that seems to be both useful and relevant which will be included at a later stage in a report generated from these selected search results.

FIG 1. is the interface prompting 2 user to provide the main entries for the structured index. The structured index consists of main entries or main topics 3, sub- entries or sub-topics 12 (FIG 2.) and associated search keywords 21 & 22 (FIG 3.). The structured index is similar to the table of contents of a typical book or report. By creating said index it forces the user to plan his Internet search carefully before starting with it. This planning helps the user at a later stage when writing the actual research paper. It also promotes a logic approach to conducting the research from the start. Multiple text input fields 3 are provided to enter the main entries. Input fields can also be populated by importing previously used or preset datasets from other sources e.g. from the table of contents of a document. More input fields can be created automatically when text is entered into the last input field provided or when the user clicks on button 4 to create more text input fields. A button 5 is provided to continue to the next step of the structured index creation procedure. This interface 1 illustrated in FIG 1. can be implemented as a stand-alone software tool, part of an online web page, part of an existing software suite, part of a search engine or any other system that could accommodate such a system.

FIG 2. is the interface prompting 7 user to provide the secondary entries 12 for each main entry 9 of the structured index 8. The main entries 9 of the structured index are shown on the left of the interface. By clicking on any of these main topics 9, text input field boxes 12 will be displayed on the right side for entering the sub-entries relating to each main entry. More input fields can be created automatically when text is entered into the last input field provided or when the user clicks on button 13 to create more text input fields. A button 10 is provided to continue to the next step of the structured index creation procedure as well as a button 11 to return to the previous step of the index creation procedure. This interface 6 illustrated in FIG 2. can be implemented as a stand-alone software tool, part of an online web page, part of an existing software suite, part of a search engine or any other system that could accommodate such a system.

FIG 3. is the interface prompting user to select and provide specific search keywords to be used for the internet search. The structured index 16 is shown again on the left. By clicking on any of these index entries 17, the relevant search information is shown on the right. This relevant search information consists of suggested search keywords 20, 21 based on the entry of the structured index or other sources that can be selected 21 to be included in the Internet search; and text input fields 22 that are used to enter search keywords. More input fields 22 can be created automatically when text is entered into the last input field provided or when the user clicks on button 23 to create more text input fields. When the Internet search is performed at a later stage the combination of selected search keywords as well as the search keywords entered into the text input fields will be used to conduct the search. A button 18 is provided to continue to the next step of the structured index creation procedure as well as a button 19 to return to the previous step of the index creation procedure. This interface 14 illustrated in FIG 3. can be implemented as a stand-alone software tool, part of an online web page, part of an existing software suite, part of a search engine or any other system that could accommodate such a system. FIG 4. shows the interface providing user with the organized search results. The structured index 25 is shown on the left while the search results 29 are shown on the right. The search for each entry in the structured index is performed parallel in the background. This means that the search results for the first entry in the structured index is loaded and shown first while the searches for the other index entries are being performed in the background. This means that these search results are available immediately when the user clicks on the specific entry in the structured index. When the user clicks on a specific entry in the structured index, the relevant search results for that entry depending upon the combination of search keywords entered and selected are displayed. The results are shown with each search result consisting of at least the title of the relevant page indexed 34, reference information 30 e.g. the authors, institutions etc., the most relevant paragraph 32 in that specific page, a hyperlink to that specific page 34 and also an option 33 which the user can select if the specific search result entry should be included in the final research report. The most relevant paragraph of a specific page refers to the paragraph in said page that matches the search keywords the best and is therefore likely to contain information that the user might find useful to judge whether the rest of the page is relevant to the research survey or not. If the user finds the information in said paragraph to be useful or relevant and wishes to include this information in the search report, the user selects the option 33 of the specific search result entry to include in the research report. The user should work through the search results for each entry in the structured index and select which results should be included in the search report. A button 27 is provided to continue to the next step of the structured index creation procedure as well as a button 28 to return to the previous step of the index creation procedure. This interface 24 illustrated in FIG 4. can be implemented as a stand-alone software tool, part of an online web page, part of an existing software suite, part of a search engine or any other system that could accommodate such a system.

FIG 5. shows the typical flow of information. Search results 35 are obtained from the searches performed from the structured index. Items (specific search results) to be included are then selected 36. Finally a report is generated that includes at least all the information relating each selected search result (from all the different searches that were performed in parallel), keywords used to perform the search and also the full structured index. The user will then be presented with several options to utilize this report. These options include: Saving 38, printing 39, copying 40, e-mailing 41 or exporting 42 the report. The report can be saved in several different formats for various different software programs or applications. The document can also be printed 39, copied 40 to the clipboard of the computer or e-mailed 41 to a specific recipient(s). A further option is to export 42 the report to a compatible or partially compatible software program or application e.g. a word processor or research referring software application. Said generated report can therefore be used a later stage or shared with other researchers easily.

FIG 6. shows the final interface for search report generation. The user is given several options including but not limited to previewing the search report 48, printing the search report 50, saving the search report 52 or exporting the search report to another software program to be opened in that specific format 54. A button 55 is provided to continue to the next step of the structured index creation procedure as well as a button 56 to return to the previous step of the index creation procedure. This interface illustrated in FIG 6. can be implemented as a stand-alone software tool, part of an online web page, part of an existing software suite, part of a search engine or any other system that could accommodate such a system. More than one option 47, 49, 51 or 53 can be selected simultaneously. These options will then be executed in sequential order. In all of these options a search report is generated but the output format or medium can differ. The search report includes at least the following - the structured index including the main topics and subtopics, the associated search keywords for each entry in the structured index, the actual search keyword combination used to perform the internet or network search, all the search results selected including each search results' page heading, most relevant paragraph, reference information and hyperlink to that specific page and any further information that the user supplied e.g. notes. Option 47 is used to display the search report to the user, Option 49 is used to print the search report, Option 49 is used to save the search report in a general data format accessible in most software programs (e.g. text file) while Option 53 is used to save and open the said search report in a specific computer software data format (e.g. in a specific word processing program, spreadsheet program, database program etc.). When said user selects option 53 to open the search report in another program, the user will be prompted with a selection of compatible programs, and also display which of these programs are currently installed on the system of the user. By selecting one of these compatible programs the search report will be generated in that specific data format used by the selected software program. The user may opt to generate the search report in more than one different data formats if it is desired to use the search report in more than one different software program. The user may also be asked to select whether it is desired to only generate the search report in the selected data formats, or to only open it in the selected compatible software program or also to open and save the search report simultaneously.

Claims

1. A method for performing a structured internet or network search is claimed using a structured index to request several background internet or network searches of which the search results can be shown to said user on request.

2. A method of creating a structured index as claimed in 1 which can be created by said user by first defining the main topics or main levels of the structured index, secondly by defining secondary topics or secondary levels for the index, thirdly by creating further sublevels and fourthly by defining associated search keywords for each entry in the structured index.

3. A method of obtaining associated keywords as claimed in 2 by prompting said user to enter search keywords which are relevant to the specific structured index entry and further by suggesting keywords to the user and allowing said user to select none, one or more of these suggested keywords to be included in the search.

4. A method of initiating and executing the process of requesting search results as claimed in 1 for each combination of search keywords associated with each structured index entry from an internet or network search engine or search directory.

5. A method of displaying the structured index as claimed in 1 and 2 together with the search results as claimed in 4 of all the selected entries of the structured index on one or more user interfaces.

6. A method of allowing said user to select the specific items from each set of search results as claimed in 4 that should be included in the search report.

7. A method of generating a search report containing at least the specific items selected by the user from each set of search results as claimed in 4.

8. A method of incorporating said structured index as claimed in 1 and 2 into the generated search report as claimed in 7.

9. A method of incorporating the specific associated keywords as claimed in 3 of each structured index entry into the generated search report as claimed in 7.

10. A method of displaying Internet or network search results in such a way that the most relevant paragraph of each page listed in the search results is rated from that specific Internet page and this full paragraph or abbreviation thereof shown in the search results.