Custom search index

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9569550-B1
Application number	US-201213617004-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Sep 14, 2012
Priority date	Dec 29, 2006
Publication date	Feb 14, 2017
Grant date	Feb 14, 2017

Abstract

A system includes an application programming interface, an indexer, a security unit and at least one search engine. The application programming interface uploads user-selected custom content from a first user. The indexer indexes the custom content to produce a first search index. The security unit authenticates a user and the at least one search engine receives a search query from the user, searches the first search index based on the search query, and searches a second search index based on the search query and based on results of the user authentication, where the second search index is different than the first search index.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
maintaining, by a search system, a web search index of web content, and a plurality of custom content indexes, each custom content index of the plurality of custom content indexes indexing a respective collection of custom content that has been exposed to the search system by a respective owner of the custom content, wherein each custom content index of the plurality of custom content indexes has respective access control data received from a respective owner of the custom content indexed in the custom content index, wherein the access control data identifies one or more users who are authorized by the owner of the custom content to access the custom content index;
receiving a search query that was input by a user, wherein the user is a non-owner of custom content indexed in a first custom content index of the plurality of custom content indexes;
determining that the user who input the search query is indicated as being authorized, by access control data received from a first owner of the custom content indexed in the first custom content index of the plurality of custom content indexes, to access the first custom content index;
in response to the determining, obtaining web search results responsive to the search query using the web search index and obtaining custom content search results responsive to the search query using the first custom content index; and
providing the web search results and the custom content search results in response to receiving the search query.

2. The method of claim 1 , comprising: receiving authentication information for the user; identifying a subset of the plurality of custom content indexes, including the first custom content index, that the user is indicated as being authorized to access based on the received authentication information for the user.

3. The method of claim 2 , comprising:
receiving from the user an authentication token that identifies the subset of the plurality of custom content indexes that the user is indicated as being authorized to access by respective owners of custom content indexes in the subset of the plurality of custom content indexes maintained by the search system.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the search query requests a search of the first custom content index.

5. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
receiving a user selection of a custom content identifier that identifies the first custom content index.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein access by the user to the web search index does not require authenticating the user.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, from the first owner, custom content owned by the first owner;
generating the first custom content index using the custom content owned by the first owner; and
receiving, from the first owner, an indication that one or more users, including the user, are authorized to access the first custom content index.

8. A system comprising:
one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:
maintaining, by a search system, a web search index of web content, and a plurality of custom content indexes, each custom content index of the plurality of custom content indexes indexing a respective collection of custom content that has been exposed to the search system by a respective owner of the custom content, wherein each custom content index of the plurality of custom content indexes has respective access control data received from a respective owner of the custom content indexed in the custom content index, wherein the access control data identifies one or more users who are authorized by the owner of the custom content to access the custom content index;
receiving a search query that was input by a user, wherein the user is a non-owner of custom content indexed in a first custom content index of the plurality of custom content indexes;
determining that the user who input the search query is indicated as being authorized, by access control data received from a first owner of the custom content indexed in the first custom content index of the plurality of custom content indexes, to access the first custom content index;
in response to the determining, obtaining web search results responsive to the search query using the web search index and obtaining custom content search results responsive to the search query using the first custom content index; and
providing the web search results and the custom content search results in response to receiving the search query.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the operations comprise: receiving authentication information for the user; identifying a subset of the plurality of custom content indexes, including the first custom content index, that the user is indicated as being authorized to access based on the received authentication information for the user.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the operations comprise:
receiving from the user an authentication token that identifies the subset of the plurality of custom content indexes that the user is indicated as being authorized to access by respective owners of custom content indexes in the subset of the plurality of custom content indexes maintained by the search system.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the search query requests a search of the first custom content index.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the operations comprise:
receiving a user selection of a custom content identifier that identifies the first custom content index.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein access by the user to the web search index does not require authenticating the user.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise:
receiving, from the first owner, custom content owned by the first owner;
generating the first custom content index using the custom content owned by the first owner; and
receiving, from the first owner, an indication that one or more users, including the user, are authorized to access the first custom content index.

15. A computer program product, encoded on one or more non-transitory computer storage media, comprising instructions that when executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:
maintaining, by a search system, a web search index of web content, and a plurality of custom content indexes, each custom content index of the plurality of custom content indexes indexing a respective collection of custom content that has been exposed to the search system by a respective owner of the custom content, wherein each custom content index of the plurality of custom content indexes has respective access control data received from a respective owner of the custom content indexed in the custom content index, wherein the access control data identifies one or more users who are authorized by the owner of the custom content to access the custom content index;
receiving a search query that was input by a user, wherein the user is a non-owner of custom content indexed in a first custom content index of the plurality of custom content indexes;
determining that the user who input the search query is indicated as being authorized, by the access control data received from a first owner of the custom content indexed in the first custom content index of the plurality of custom content indexes, to access the first custom content index;
in response to the determining, obtaining web search results responsive

Assignees

• Chen Johnny
• Verma Naval
• Mysen Clarence Christopher
• Google Inc

Inventors

• Chen Johnny
• Verma Naval
• Mysen Clarence Christopher

Classifications

• G06F17/3087 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/30867

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F16/951 Primary

  Indexing; Web crawling techniques · CPC title

• G06F16/9537 Primary

  Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries · CPC title

• G06F16/9535

  Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation · CPC title