FR2918526A1 - METHOD OF EXECUTING A QUERY ON SEVERAL PARALLEL WEB SITES. - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for executing a service defined by a request expressed by a user U1 of a first internet type site S1, said method implementing at least one communication platform P1 connected to a plurality of partner Internet type sites S1, S2, S3, S4 by an existing network 10, said method comprising the main steps of: - propagating said request to at least one other partner site S2, S3, S4, - receiving the responses of said sites partners, - construct an aggregated response, - transmit said aggregated response to the user U1.The P1 platform provides format conversions to allow the propagation of requests and the processing of responses and their aggregation into a single response. The platform P1 is "transparent" for the user U1, who remains connected or client of the site S1 of which he is familiar. The platform P1 can also generate an input screen in the format of the site S1 and submit it to said user so as to enable him to provide additional data, for example in a language other than his usual language.

Description

The invention relates to network technology and more

  especially Internet-type networks. It relates to a method for a user to obtain a service of at least one internet-type site via but different from the internet-type site to which it is connected. It more particularly, but not exclusively, aims at enabling the user of an internet-type site to send a request for a service via the internet-type site to which it is connected and to which it is accustomed, and to obtain an aggregated response from several other sites offering the same service regardless of their geographical locations, for example in the same country or in different countries. It implements a communication platform connected to a plurality of sites by an existing network, for example an Internet type network or an intranet.

  Search engines such as Google allow, with the help of key words, to identify sites likely to offer the same service, but the result is only a list of links to more or less relevant sites. ; the user will have to consult these sites one by one, the engine not offering the possibility of interacting in parallel with the identified sites or a selection of said sites. On the other hand, if the user wishes to expand his search for service abroad, there is a language problem because the key words will have to be provided in the language of the country. -2 The patent application US 2006/0085741 discloses a graphical interface that allows to simultaneously open the windows of several sites identified after a search rather than provide a list of links. However, the user must always consult the sites individually.

  There are also known search engine aggregators, or metamotors, which make it possible to submit the same query to several search engines simultaneously. The results are then sorted according to a number of criteria such as relevance or the presence of duplicates. Nevertheless the user must voluntarily connect to the sites of these metamotors and thus leave the site of which it is familiar and on which it is referenced. Technically, these metamotors connect to search engines through their user interface, as a normal user, there is no cooperation between the metamotor and the search engines interviewed. Moreover these metamotors are mono-service, namely the execution of a search from key words. The application US 2006/0179111 discloses a method that is intended to prevent a user of dating sites to provide multiple times his personal data. The method consists for the user either to ask a main site 10 on which his data are registered to transfer them to another site, or to ask this other site to go to search his personal data on the main site 10 where he is identified. On the occasion of this transfer, the user has the possibility to modify or filter his personal data. However other users may want to choose a site other than site 10 as the main site. The new feature offered by the invention is the ability of different dating sites to exchange the personal data of their users at the request of the latter. This method faces many practical difficulties that the patent application does not address, including the question of the compatibility of data formats, different from one site to another, and does not solve the problem because the user must always connect to each site successively.

  Thus, the state of the art does not allow a user connected with an internet-type site offering a range of services, to interact in parallel with the same request with other Internet-like sites. providing the same services and for example to obtain an aggregated result of responses from said sites. If he wants to visit other sites, he must switch from one to the other, if he knows their address on the network, and each time reformulate his request. In addition, if he wants to expand his research to foreign sites, there is a problem of language.

  The object of the invention is therefore more particularly to eliminate these drawbacks by proposing a method enabling a user to propagate his request addressed to the internet-type site to which he is connected or of which he is familiar to other sites offering the same services, collect the responses obtained and present an aggregate response to said user. This effect is achieved through the intervention of a communication platform, transparent to the user, whose partners are a plurality of sites, including the user's site.

  For this purpose, it proposes a method for the execution of a service defined by a request expressed by a first user of a first Internet type site, said first user having provided first information to said first site, said method implementing at least one communication platform connected to a plurality of internet-type sites by an existing network, said communication platform comprising at least one database containing information on said plurality of internet-type sites and on the users of the method, said method comprising the following steps: a first step of providing by the first user to the first internet-type site information that he wishes his request to be executed by other Internet-type sites, and / or second step of transmission by said first internet-like site of said request to a communication platform, and / or • a third step in which said communication platform performs processing on said request in order to select at least one second site concerned by said request by means of said database and compose for each of said selected sites a new request according to a format adapted to each of these sites, and / or • a fourth step of transmission by the communication platform of this new request in formats respectively adapted to each of the selected sites, and / or • a fifth step of development by at least one of said selected sites of a primary response in its own format and sending said primary response to the communication platform, and / or • a sixth step in which said communication platform receives at least one primary response, performs processing on said primary responses in order to construct a secondary response that can co mend an aggregation of several primary responses and put said secondary response in the format of the first Internet type site, and / or • a seventh step in which said communication platform sends said first internet type said secondary response. The first user requests the execution of a request at his usual site but he also wants this request to be executed by other sites in parallel. Thanks to the method according to the invention, it has the possibility of providing information to said site that it wishes its request to be propagated to other sites, thanks to a minor adaptation of at least one page of input of its site. usual, for example the simple addition of a checkbox. If -5 the user has provided this information, said site can process its request locally or not, and transmits it through an existing network to a communication platform that supports all the processing associated with the propagation of the request to other sites and the collection of results. This extended service is therefore available to the user only on sites that have agreed to slightly modify at least one of their input pages to be able to exchange data with the communication platform and who have thus become partners of said platform. An advantageous feature of the invention therefore consists in the fact that the communication platform is transparent to the user and does not behave as an additional site. It allows a user of a partner site of said platform to execute its request in parallel with other sites, for example to perform a search for information at European level, and to obtain a response from these other sites .

  The number of sites to which the communication platform is connected is not limited. Each of these sites offers a range of known services in the network communication technology and have two or two at least one common service. The services concerned are, for example and without limitation, carrying out a search, registering or unsubscribing a list, consulting or deleting information, sending and receiving messages and files, chatting online, running a script or an action. Said extended service may correspond for example to the parallel execution of a request by several sites located in different countries, for example 25 in Europe. The method does not imply that the user is actually connected to his usual site or even that he has made a request: he can for example receive messages from other partner sites or the communication platform, alert messages for example, while it is disconnected. Similarly, he can receive spontaneous solicitations according to his profile.

  The communication platform has databases of partner sites and users who have already used the extended service. Thanks to this information, the communication platform supports in the different steps of the process the processing associated with the propagation of the request and the aggregation of the responses, for example the recording of the request, the verification of the authorizations related to the user and / or the site he uses as well as sites and / or users who respond, query and / or response filtering, manual or automatic moderation by the platform, format conversions, constructing an aggregated response, sending this aggregated response one or more times based on its volume. On a technical level, the communication platform is linked to the various partner sites through their Application Programming Interface (API) and not their user interface, such as metamotors. This implies that the communication platform has in a database formats partner sites to be able to exchange information through said API.

  According to an additional feature, the method may further comprise the following steps: the construction and sending by said communication platform of an input screen to at least one user, said input screen being able to be superimposed; a page of the usual site of said user, and / or • the entry by said user of at least one second complementary information by means of said input screen, and / or • the sending by the user of said second additional information to the communication platform, and / or • the recording by said communication platform of said 30 second additional information provided by the user in a user database, and / or • during the processing by said communication platform of a request concerning the user, the addition or the substitution of said second additional information to the first information provided by the user , in particular so that the information provided by said user is available in different languages.

  Thanks to this additional feature, the method offers the user the possibility of providing additional information to those already held by his usual site and by the communication platform. A non-limiting example of this possibility is given below. It is common that the screen for entering an internet-type site, in addition to blocked choices, for example check boxes or drop-down menus, offers a user a location to enter a free text of his choice. The user provides this text in the language that is most natural to him. If it wishes to benefit from an extended service to other sites located in other countries, this text may not be understood by users of other sites. In this case, the communication platform can generate and propose to the user, by means of a specific input screen, for example a pop-up window superimposed on one of the windows of his usual site, to provide additional data, in particular in another language. This additional data is recorded in a database of the communication platform and provided in response to a request concerning the user, in addition to or in substitution for the data already provided by said user and already owned by his site.

  According to another advantageous additional feature, the specific input screen generated by the communication platform and presented to the user takes the appearance of a page of his usual site. Thus the user is not confused by this additional input screen, which is in fact the extended service he asked his usual site.

  According to another additional feature, the processing carried out by the communication platform on said request during said third step of the method comprises at least one of the following substeps: • registration and authentication of the request, • authentication of the site of which emanates said request, • authentication of the user, • determination of the authorization elements for further processing of said request, depending on the type of request, and / or the user, and / or the site from which said request originates query, • format conversion.

  Upon receiving a request from the user connected to an originating site, the communication platform performs a series of prior processing before propagating it to other partner sites based on the information stored in the site. its databases. The authentication of the site from which the request originates uses elements transmitted with the request explicitly such as identifier or password, or implicit such as the IP address. This authentication is for example 20 to check if said site is a partner of the platform and the list of services to which it is registered. The authentication of the user relies for example on the identifier transmitted by the site he uses. The communication platform deduces the authorization elements specific to this user, for example the fact that some of his actions must be moderated manually or automatically: by the platform. Before validly propagating the user's request to other partner sites, the communication platform converts it into formats adapted to these other sites. For example, it can convert the request into its own pivot format, then this pivot format in the different formats of the recipient sites, or simply convert the original site format data. in the format of each of the other recipient sites. It is important to note that this format conversion of the query usually results in its translation from one language to another. For example, when the parameters of the request encode the characteristics of a property searched by the user of a first site, the conversion of these parameters into the format of the second destination site has the effect, for a user of the second site, a translation of these parameters. If the user has provided second additional information to the communication platform, it completes the request with this second information or proceeds to replace all or part of the first information by said second information.

  According to another additional feature, the processing carried out by the communication platform during said sixth step of the method comprises at least one of the following substeps: • recording primary responses, • filtering, • format conversion, • aggregation of primary responses to construct a secondary response.

  The filtering carried out by the communication platform on the primary responses may, for example, be based on the identity of the users or partner sites that respond, the quantity of information, and in particular the presence of duplicates, or the identity of the recipient of the messages. answers; they can also result from the application of consistency rules specific to the business of each of the partner sites. For example, on the real estate sector, an advertisement for the sale of an apartment in Paris at 5000 euros will be rejected for 30 incoherence between the property and the price. Like in the step of processing the request before propagation, if users have provided second complementary information to the communication platform, the latter completes their response or the response of their site with this second information or performs the replacement of all or part of the first information by said second information. As in the propagation step of the initial request, the communication platform performs a format conversion of the primary responses, using a platform-specific pivot format or by directly converting the responses into the format of the destination site.

  Finally, the communication platform aggregates primary responses to form a secondary response. This aggregated secondary response is sent to the user of the site from which the request originated, in one or more times depending on its volume.

  According to an additional characteristic, the communication platform also performs the following step: • the execution of management calculations that may include statistical calculations or calculations for billing the service.

  From the information recorded during the third and sixth steps of the method, the communication platform can perform management calculations such as statistical calculations and calculations for billing the partner sites of the extended service that it allows. to offer users of said partner sites.

  The method applies in a particularly advantageous manner in particular to connecting people for dating and online purchases of goods or services. The process can be applied to several partnership networks depending on the target markets, for example meeting people at the European level, buying real estate, importing vehicles, labor market ... -11- Methods of execution The invention will be described hereinafter by way of nonlimiting examples, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 represents a schematic view of the state of the art with regard to connection to an existing network of internet type. Figure 2 shows a schematic view of the operation of the communication platform. Figure 3 shows a schematic view of an additional function of the communication platform. FIG. 4 represents a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the communication platform.

  In FIG. 1 of the state of the art, the users U1, U2, U3 and U4 are connected or are each identified on a site S1, S2, S3 or S4. A user U1, for example, can obtain information on the user U '1 identified on the same site S1, but not on the user U2 of the site S2. In some cases the user U1 can interact with the user U4 of the site S4, but in a limited way to the exchange of messages or files by the link 11. In FIG. 2, the user U1 has formulated a request through its usual site S1. Since the site S1 is a partner of the platform Pl, it has proposed to the user U1 to propagate his request to other partner sites, thanks to a slight adaptation of one of his pages, said partner sites being for example located abroad, in a foreign country. If the user U1 has accepted this proposal, the site S1 propagates the request to the platform P1 through the link 12, said platform P1 then propagating said request through the link 12 'to the set or to a selection of partner sites S2, S3 and S4. The platform P1 collects and processes the responses received, for example information on the 30 users U2, U3 and U4, and sends an aggregated response to the site S1. The user receives responses concerning the users U '1, U2, U3. and U4 - 12 - without having to change site S1. In order to carry out these exchanges and these processing operations, the platform P1 comprises a database 20 in which the formats of the partner sites and a database 21 in which information on the users is recorded. Databases 20 and 21 can be combined into one.

  In FIG. 3, the user U1 is an identified user of the site S1 and he has chosen to propagate his / her request (s) to other partner sites, for example located abroad. The platform P1 has constructed a specific input page, for example a pop-up page, in the same format as a page of the site S1 and proposes it to the user U1, for example directly via the link 13 or through the site. S1 through the link 13 '. The user U1 can then enter additional information concerning him, in a language other than his usual language, for example in English. This additional information is stored as such in the user database 21 and will be available to users U2, U3 and U4 located in countries other than the user Ul.

  The platform P1 represented in FIG. 4 is a standard server type computer able to execute the steps of the method using software modules stored in memory. FIG. 4 also represents three users U1, U2, U3 of partner internet sites S1, S2, S3 connected to the platform P1. The conventional links over the Internet represented in the previous figures have been omitted for better readability.

  In this exemplary embodiment, the platform P1 comprises: one or more databases 20, 21, in particular to preserve the information concerning the partner sites and the users, a connector module to the platform 22, which manages the communications input to said platform; it uses protocols such as http or SOAP (Service Oriented Architecture Protocol), - 13 - a connector module to the sites 23 which manages the communications output of the platform to the partner sites, a user interface module 24, which manages the construction and sending by the platform P1 an input screen to a user of a partner site, for example U1 user of the partner site S1, said input screen can assume the appearance of a page of the site S1, to collect and store second additional information on the user U1, for example information in a language other than the usual language of the user U1, a security module 25 whose role is to ensure the authentication of partner sites and users and grant or not the connection authorization and query management, a module 26 for converting data, for example to ensure the conversion of requests and s responses in the formats of the different partner sites, a module 27 for managing business rules to ensure the consistency of requests and responses, a module 28 for transmitting requests to partner sites, via the module 23 for communication to the sites, a module 29 for managing the additional data collected by the user interface module 24, a data aggregation module 30 which aggregates the responses received from the partner sites to a request issued by a user from its usual site, a performance management module 31 which monitors the operation of the platform, for example the processing time of a request or the calculation load, a statistical module 32 so as to be able to characterize the operation of the platform. the platform according to different criteria, for example by partner site, by user, by type of request ... - 14 - a module 33 of factura to bill the service to partner sites. The links in curved lines, for example 40, represent an example of routing of a request 41 sent by a user U1 of a site S1 and propagated by the platform P1 to two other partner sites S2 and S3, by the successive execution within the platform Pl of the modules 22, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 23. Depending on the type of the request 41, the responses can come automatically partner sites S2 and S3 or connected users; in the example shown, the user U3 is not connected but it is identified in the site S3 and if the request 41 is an information search, the site S3 can answer automatically. The path of the responses of the sites S2 and S3 and of the aggregate response to the site S1 is represented in broken lines 42; it is analogous to the path 40 of the request 41, with the additional step of the aggregation of the responses performed by the module 30. It leads to the successive execution within the platform Pl of the modules 22, 25, 26, 27 , 30, 28 and 23.

Claims (8)

claims   A method for executing a service defined by a request expressed by a first user (U1) of a first internet-like site (Si), said first user (U1) having provided first information to said first site ( S 1), said method implementing at least one communication platform (Pl) connected to a plurality of internet-like sites (S 1, S 2, S 3, S 4) by an existing network (10), said communication platform ( P1) comprising at least one database (20, 21) containing information on said plurality of internet-like sites (Si, S2, S3, S4) and on the users of the method, said method comprising the following steps: first step of providing the first user (U1) to the first internet-like site (Si) with information that he wishes his request to be executed by other internet-like sites (S2, S3, S4), • a second transmission step by said first site internet type (S 1) of said request to a communication platform (Pl), • a third step in which said communication platform (P1) performs processing on said request to select at least a second site (S2) concerned by said request through said database and compose for each of said selected sites (S2, S3, S4) a new request in a format adapted to each of these sites, • a fourth step of transmission by the communication platform of this new request according to formats respectively adapted to each of the selected sites (S2, S3, S4), • a fifth step of elaboration by at least one of said selected sites (S2, S3, S4) of a primary response in its own format and sending said primary response to the communication platform (P1); a sixth step in which said communication platform (P1) receives at least one response; imaire, performs processing on said primary responses to construct a secondary response that may include an aggregation of several primary responses and to put said secondary response to the format of the first Internet-like site (Si), • a seventh step in which said platform of communication (Pl) sends to said first internet-like site (Si) said secondary response.   2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that it also carries the following steps: • the construction and sending by said communication platform (P1) of an input screen to at least one user (U1) said input screen being able to superpose a page of the usual site (S 1) of said user, • the input by said user (U1) of at least one second complementary information by means of said input screen, • l sending the user (U1) said second additional information to the communication platform (P1), • recording by said communication platform (Pl) said second additional information provided by the user (U 1) in a base of user data (21), • during the processing by said communication platform (P1) of a request concerning the user (U1), the addition or the substitution of said second complementary information to the first informatio ns provided by the user (U1), so that the information provided by said user (U1) is available in different languages.30- 17-   3. Method according to claim 2, characterized in that the specific input screen generated by the communication platform and presented to the user takes the appearance of a page of his usual site.   4. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the processing carried out by the communication platform (Pl) on said request during said third step of the method comprises at least one of the following sub-steps: • registration and authentication of the request, • authentication of the site (S 1) from which said request originates, • authentication of the user (U 1), • determination of the authorization elements of continuation of the processing of said request, as a function of the type of request, of the user (U1), of the site (S1) from which said request originates, • format conversion.   5. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the processes carried out by the communication platform (P1) during said sixth step of the method comprise at least one of the following substeps: primary responses, • filtering, • format conversion, • aggregation of primary responses to build a secondary response.   6. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the communication platform (P1) furthermore carries out the following step: • the execution of management calculations which may comprise statistical calculations or calculations for service billing.   7. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the requested service comprises consulting or deleting information, searching for information, registering or unsubscribing a list, sending or receiving information. a message, opening an online chat session, sending or receiving a file or running a script.   Communication platform designed to carry out the method according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising: at least one database (20, 21), a module (22) connector to the platform (P1), a module (23) connector to the sites, • a module (24) user interface, • a security module (25), • a module (26) for converting data, • a module (27) for managing business rules, A module (28) for transmitting requests; a module (29) for managing complementary data; a module (30) for aggregating data; a module (31) for managing performance; (32) statistics, • a billing module (33).