Pervasive search architecture

Abstract

A pervasive search architecture that indexes personal content of a querying user and made accessible to the user by other users. A compute node of a personal content location facilitates index generation and serve of the index. The index is generated for personal content stored at the personal content location. For a given content location, the index may encapsulate content stored in a set of locations with access permissions. The indexing application runs periodically at the personal content location and incrementally indexes content that is added to the shared locations. The same application allows the user to configure locations with the desired access permissions for participation in the search.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A client computing device, comprising:
 a display;   a processor that is operably coupled to the display; and   memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform acts comprising:
 transmitting a query to a computing system that is in network communication with the client computing device, where the computing system executes a search engine; 
 obtaining search results from the computing system, wherein the search results are based upon the query, and further wherein the search results comprise:
 first search results identified by the search engine based upon a first search performed by the search engine over a first search engine index; and 
 second search results identified by the search engine based upon a second search performed by the search engine over a second search engine index, wherein items indexed in the second search engine index are labeled as being shared with a user of the client computing device by contacts of the user; and 
 
 in response to obtaining the search results, displaying the first search results and the second search results on the display in a graphical user interface of the search engine, wherein the first search results are visually distinguished from the second search results in the graphical user interface. 
   
     
     
         2 . The client computing device of  claim 1 , wherein the first search results are presented in a first region of the graphical user interface of the display and the second search results are presented in a second region of the graphical user interface of the display. 
     
     
         3 . The client computing device of  claim 1 , wherein the first search results and the second search results are presented in the same region of the graphical user interface of the display. 
     
     
         4 . The client computing device of  claim 1 , wherein the second search engine index is stored in computer-readable storage of the client computing device. 
     
     
         5 . The client computing device of  claim 1 , wherein the second search engine index is uniquely assigned to the user of the client computing device. 
     
     
         6 . The client computing device of  claim 1 , the acts further comprising:
 searching a computer-readable index based upon the query, wherein the computer-readable index indexes second items that are stored on the client computing device, wherein the search results include an item from the second items, and further wherein the item is displayed in the graphical user interface visually distinguished from the first search results and the second search results.   
     
     
         7 . The client computing device of  claim 1 , wherein the second search results include a photo that is shared with the user of the client computing device by a contact of the user. 
     
     
         8 . The client computing device of  claim 1 , wherein the second search engine index indexes:
 a first item shared with the user by a first contact of the user; and   a second item shared with the user by a second contact of the user, and further wherein the second search results include the first item and the second item.   
     
     
         9 . The client computing device of  claim 1 , wherein the first item is identified in the graphical user interface as being shared with the user of the client computing device by the first contact of the user and the second item is identified in the graphical user interface as being shared with the user of the client computing device by the second contact of the user. 
     
     
         10 . The client computing device of  claim 1 , wherein the first item is stored in a first network location assigned to the first contact of the user and the second item is stored in a second network location assigned to the second contact of the user. 
     
     
         11 . A method executed by a processor of a client computing device, the method comprising:
 receiving a query set forth by a user of the client computing device; and   displaying search results in a graphical user interface of a search engine, where the search results are identified based upon the query, and further where the search results include:
 a first search result that represents a webpage that is indexed in a first index, wherein the first index indexes webpage that are available by way of the Internet; and 
 a second search result that represents an item that is indexed in a second index, where the second index indexes items that are labeled as being shared with the user of the client computing device by a contact of the user of the client computing device, wherein the second search result is identified in the graphical user interface as being shared with the user of the client computing device by the contact of the user. 
   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising searching the second index based upon the query, where the second index is stored in computer-readable storage of the client computing device. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the item is one of an image or a video. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the search results further include a third search result that represents a second a second item that is indexed in the second index, where the second index further indexes second items that are labeled as being shared with the user of the client computing device by a second contact of the user of the client computing device, and further wherein the third search result is identified in the graphical user interface as being shared with the user of the client computing device by the second contact of the user. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the first search result is displayed in a first region of the graphical user interface and the second search result is displayed in a second region of the graphical user interface, where the first region includes search results that represent webpages and the second region includes second search results that represent items shared with the user by contacts of the user. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the first search result is included in a first ranked list of search results in the graphical user interface, and further wherein the second search result is included in a second ranked list of search results in the graphical user interface. 
     
     
         17 . A client computing device that includes a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor of the client computing device, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:
 receiving a query set forth by a user of the client computing device; and   displaying search results in a graphical user interface of a search engine, where the search results are identified based upon the query, and further where the search results include:
 a first search result that represents a webpage that is indexed in a first index, wherein the first index indexes webpage that are available by way of the Internet; and 
 a second search result that represents an item that is indexed in a second index, where the second index indexes items that are labeled as being shared with the user of the client computing device by a contact of the user of the client computing device, wherein the second search result is identified in the graphical user interface as being shared with the user of the client computing device by the contact of the user. 
   
     
     
         18 . The client computing device of  claim 17 , the method further comprising searching the second index based upon the query, where the second index is stored in computer-readable storage of the client computing device. 
     
     
         19 . The client computing device of  claim 17 , wherein the item is one of an image or a video. 
     
     
         20 . The client computing device of  claim 17 , wherein the search results further include a third search result that represents a second a second item that is indexed in the second index, where the second index further indexes second items that are labeled as being shared with the user of the client computing device by a second contact of the user of the client computing device, and further wherein the third search result is identified in the graphical user interface as being shared with the user of the client computing device by the second contact of the user.