Search aggregator

History and Functional Overview - Search aggregation became available in 2006. - Amazon published the OpenSearch specification in 2005. - OpenSearch allows for greater flexibility in displaying results. - Many sites publish results in generic RSS format. - OpenSearch syndication is not generally required. - Search aggregator allows users to select specific search engines ad hoc. - It generates the required URL on the fly by inserting the search query into the parameterized URL. - Parameterized URL example: https://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q={SEARCH_TERMS}&ie=UTF-8&output=rss - The search aggregator parses and displays the results in a user-friendly way. Advantages - Provides greater flexibility in choosing search engines for a query. - Allows easy addition of new engines to the user's collection. - Similar to adding a news feed to a news aggregator. - Offers a customizable search experience. - Provides access to the power of multiple search engines. Patents - Apple patent US6847959B1 filed in January 2000 covers universal search aggregation. - The patent resulted in the removal of this feature from Samsung Android smartphones in July 2012. Related Concepts - Aggregator - Metasearch engine - Federated search - Wikivoyage has a travel guide for aggregators References - Use of anonymous search engine aggregator DuckDuckGo rockets following PRISM scandal (Belfast Telegraph, 2015-08-12) - Patent US6847959 – Universal interface for retrieval of information in a computer system – Google Patents - Florian Mueller (2012-02-15). Last week's Apple-Samsung lawsuit involves eight patents, 17 products – bid for Nexus ban is based on only a subset. FOSS Patents. Retrieved 2012-08-16. - Z39.50