Australian researchers have patented a method of exploring the web which they
claim could revolutionise existing search engines.
Developed by Ori Allon, a 26 year-old PhD student from the
University of New South
Wales (UNSW), the Orion search engine is designed to complement searches
conducted on services such as
Google,
Yahoo or
MSN Search.
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Allon explained that conventional search engines find pages in which keywords
occur and that sometimes these pages are important to the topic, but at other
times are not.
Orion is designed to find pages where the content is about a topic strongly
related to the keyword. It then returns a section of the page, and lists other
topics related to the keyword so that the user can pick the most relevant.
"The results to the query are displayed immediately in the form of expanded
text extracts giving you the relevant information without having to go the
website, although you still have that option if you wish," said Allon.
"By displaying results to other associated keywords directly related to your
search topic, you gain additional pertinent information that you might not have
originally conceived, thus offering an expert search without having an expert's
knowledge."
Allon cited a search on the topic of the American Revolution as an example of
how the system works.
Orion is designed to bring up results with extracts containing this phrase,
but it would also give results for American History, George Washington, American
Revolutionary War, Declaration of Independence, Boston Tea Party and more.
Andrew Stead, of New South Innovations, the technology transfer company
within UNSW, is confident that Orion will fill a gap in the market highlighted
by Microsoft chairman
Bill Gates.
"Gates was recently quoted in Forbes magazine as saying that we need
to take search way beyond how people think of it today. We believe that Orion
will do that," he said.
Allon claimed that some big companies have already shown interest in
implementing Orion for commercial use.
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