Information Discovery
A key component of any information system is its ability to locate, extract
and return information in response to requests from users or other systems.
Search Engine
Hyperspheric Solutions' fast, efficient and flexible search technology
offers free-text searching as well as formal, taxonomy-based searches. Searches can include
complex boolean logic applied to multiple text, date and numeric fields. Thesauri and spell
checkers can be used to augment searches if desired.
Support for predefined "search scopes", selection of specific
subsets of database fields and facilities for caching and paging of results
are other key, performance-boosting features of this behind-the-scenes technology.
Federated Searching
Interoperability is a key feature of our systems and has, of course,
been built into our search technology from the outset. Our search engine provides seamless
federated search facilities and is able to search multiple, heterogeneous systems and
collate the results into a single set for viewing by the user.
For more information about the implications of interoperability and information security,
see Interoperability and
Security.
Metadata Harvesting
If "live" federated searching is not appropriate – for instance if the
metadata being searched changes infrequently or external network conditions
are unpredictable – then metadata can be collected periodically using our support for the
Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH).
Harvested metadata is held in a "local" metadata repository meaning that the full benefits of our
search technology can be realised with no dependency on external network conditions.
Support for Multiple Interfaces
We employ "wrapper" functionality to transform incoming requests for information and outgoing
responses into appropriate formats. This allows straightforward support for third-party interfaces,
such as those used by inflexible legacy systems.
Benefits:
- Powerful, tried and tested search engine reduces development effort and cost.
- Federated searching provides a one-stop, integrated search facility for users.
- Metadata harvesting and caching improves performance where currency is not vital.
- Flexible transformation options provide support for multiple interfaces.
For more information, see Information Presentation
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