javadesign-patternssearch-enginemeta-search

Meta Search Engine Architecture


The question wasn't clear enough, I think; here's an updated straight to the point question:

What are the common architectures used in building a meta search engine and is there any libraries available to build that type of search engine?

I'm looking at building an "enterprise" type of search engine where the indexed data could be coming from proprietary (like Autonomy or a Google Box) or public search engines (like Google Web or Yahoo Web).


Solution

  • If you look at Garlic (pdf), you'll notice that its architecture is generic enough and can be adapted to a meta-search engine.

    UPDATE:

    The rough architectural sketch is something like this:

       +---------------------------+
       |                           |
       |    Meta-Search Engine     |         +---------------+
       |                           |         |               |
       |   +-------------------+   |---------| Configuration |
       |   | Query Processor   |   |         |               |
       |   |                   |   |         +---------------+
       |   +-------------------+   |
       +-------------+-------------+
                     |
          +----------+---------------+
       +--+----------+-------------+ |
       |             |             | |
       |     +-------+-------+     | |
       |     |    Wrapper    |     | |
       |     |               |     | |
       |     +-------+-------+     | |
       |             |             | |
       |             |             | |
       |     +-------+--------+    | |
       |     |                |    | |
       |     | Search Engine  |    | |
       |     |                |    +-+
       |     +----------------+    |
       +---------------------------+
    

    The parts depicted are: