Search engine giant Google recently acquired an advanced text search algorithm invented by Ori Alon, an Israeli student. Sources believe Yahoo and Microsoft were also negotiating with the University of New South Wales in Australia, where Alon is a doctoral student in computer science.
The advanced text-search algorithm, Orion, is being developed by University of NSW PhD student Ori Allon and his supervisor Dr Eric Martin. Orion will make searches much less time-consuming, by working with existing search engines and expanding on their function.
It looks like Google may have chalked another one up by acquiring the creator and potentially the technology behind Orion.
Unfortunately there is no public demo of Orion, but this system is said to give users the most relevant results and a list of suggested topics that the user may not be aware of — similar to QTsearch. An example would be a search for the "American Revolution".
Instead of finding pages on the net that contain keywords, then providing links, the new search engine will provide expanded text extracts which will eradicate the need to open every link.
Take a search such as the American Revolution as an example of how the system works. Orion would 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.” You obtain much more valuable information from every search.
Orion has sparked interest from the likes of Google and Yahoo, with Google acquiring the rights to the algorithm. The University acknowledged that Yahoo and Microsoft had conducted negotiations with its business development company.
Alon told TheMarker in an interview six months ago that the university had registered a patent on the invention.
Twenty-six year-old Allon, who is currently based at Google headquarters in California, said Orion would improve "the speed and focus of internet searches which is, as we all know, an invaluable service". Dr Martin, who has supervised Allon and helped develop Orion, said the search engine tool would make net surfing "much easier, and much less frustrating".
"You would not have to click and see if what you are after is in this webpage, and go back and forth again and again," he said. This will give the information directly and immediately. It will be a great time-saver for users.
It is definitely a hot commodity as rumors say Microsoft and Yahoo were both trying to swing a deal with Ori and the University.
Israeli-born Mr. Allon arrived in Australia in 2002, completing his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Melbourne’s Monash University before beginning his PhD at the University of NSW last year.
Google, Alon and the university all refused to comment, though Google confirmed that "Ori Alon works at Google’s Mountain View, California offices."