Design and Development of a Programmable Meta Search Engine

To the web user, a Meta Search Engine (MSE) appears much like a regular search engine (SE). MSE, unlike an SE does not have an index. Instead, it dynamically queries multiple search engines; extracts, fuses and re-ranks results and presents to users. Generally, an MSE is developed from scratch even if the focus is on improving fusion ranking, query modification or domain specific search. This paper proposes a programmable MSE with the help of a LISP-like language called T! for interfacing search sources and for modifying fused results. This enables easy construction and deployment of an MSE service. The Programmable-Meta Search Engine (P-MSE) provides, but is not limited to the following new features: construction of a domain specific vertical or general MSE by addition of dynamic web pages as front-end; a tool for fully automated test-run of various fusion algorithms and query modification schemes using a program or script capable of http-querying as front-end on real-time web; a programmable service where account holders can upload scripts and deploy meta search engines. The concept of P-MSE developed here, is showcased by the MSE called SSIR (SSIR for the Savvy Information Retriever).