Hybrid Search System for Mobile Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Mobile devices, with limited bandwidth and processing power, face challenges in providing fast and relevant search results for navigational searches on social networking profiles, especially when connected via cellular networks, as existing type-ahead techniques often return irrelevant results and are slow, impacting user experience.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a hybrid call system that uses local data to immediately display relevant search results, an initial call character delay to avoid irrelevant searches, and a local search of non-local results to reduce server calls, allowing for faster and more relevant search results even offline.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If type-ahead search is implemented on mobile devices with cellular networks, then search results are provided quickly, but the results are often irrelevant and the search speed is slow enough to impact user experience
Solution Approach 1:
The search system is segmented into two independent parts: a local search component that uses cached profile data stored on the device, and a remote search component that queries the server. This segmentation allows the local component to provide immediate results while the remote component handles comprehensive searches, resolving the contradiction between speed and relevance.
Solution Approach 2:
Profile data is preliminarily cached and stored on the mobile device before the user needs to perform a search. This preliminary action enables the local search component to immediately query and return results from cached data without waiting for network requests, significantly reducing search response time while maintaining result relevance.
2Measurement precision
If type-ahead search is implemented on mobile devices with cellular networks, then search results are returned from the server, but the network bandwidth usage increases and connection speed limitations are exacerbated
Solution Approach 1:
The search functionality is extracted into two separate components: a local search component that operates independently using cached data, and a remote search component that uses network resources. This extraction allows the system to provide accurate search results through local caching while minimizing unnecessary network bandwidth consumption by only querying the server when local data is insufficient.
Solution Approach 2:
A local copy of profile data is created and stored on the mobile device. This copying enables the search system to operate partially offline by querying the local copy for immediate results, reducing the frequency and data volume of network requests while maintaining search accuracy.
3Productivity
If hybrid call with local data is used, then search speed is enhanced and network bandwidth is reduced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The search manager is designed with multi-functionality, handling both local search operations using cached data and remote search operations using server queries. This universal design consolidates complexity into a single management component rather than requiring separate independent systems, improving search efficiency while controlling overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
A search manager acts as an intermediary component that coordinates between the local search component, remote search component, and user interface. This intermediary structure simplifies the overall system architecture by providing a centralized control layer that manages the complexity of coordinating multiple search sources and result merging.
4Measurement precision
If initial call character delay is implemented, then irrelevant searches are avoided, but search responsiveness may be reduced
Solution Approach 1:
Different search behaviors are applied to different search components: the local search component provides immediate responsiveness by querying cached data without delay, while the remote search component implements character delay to filter irrelevant queries. This local quality differentiation allows the system to maintain both speed and relevance by applying appropriate characteristics to appropriate search contexts.
Data Source
AI summary
In an example embodiment, a hybrid call is introduced. Local data is used to immediately display some search results. The search for local data may be initiated at the same time as a search for non-local data (e.g., server data). A preset number of results from the local data may be displayed first, while remaining results from non-local data may be displayed when such results are returned over the network. By using local data to initially return search results, the time for the searcher to see results is reduced to virtually nothing. Additionally, the local results are typically more relevant to navigational searches than traditional type ahead results.