Pinpoint SMS 100 Core Overview

The Pinpoint SMS 100 (search management system) has both a keyword and database search engine core mounted on a hardware platform with management software, and is one of the basic building block. Application software layered on top of the Pinpoint SMS 100 (e-mail application is one example) and vertical marketplace connectors are available in the future. See Figure 1 below for a pictorial demonstrating the basic pieces of the Pinpoint SMS 100. Note that the Pinpoint SMS 100 as defined accesses all LAN unstructured content (Intranet) sources across all platforms, local hard disk drive content, as well as unstructured content from the Internet. External database access is also supported.

Figure 1. Pinpoint SMS 100 Overview.

Summary: The Pinpoint SMS 100 provides pre-indexed, content search support based on advanced keyword and database search, and its performance is tuned for small offices and home offices and small to medium sized businesses.

Pinpoint SMS 200 Core Overview

The only difference between the SMS 100 core and the SMS 200 core is the search engine. The SMS 200 uses a advanced keyword search, an external database search, and a concept search. All three search engines use a common search interface and operate in parallel if all three search engines are selected.

SMS 100 and SMS 200 Content Access Summary

The search engine accesses all content locations - the LAN, local hard disk drives, and the Internet.  Searching uses both a keyword and conceptual engine combination for the highest and most repeatable content access.  In summary, content access includes:

• Local hard disk drive access and LAN-based hard disk drive access; all LAN-based, hard-disk drive content can be indexed if shared; this includes any content silos located inside a company's firewall/router that can be accessed directly from the LAN.
  
• Internet access for Internet-based domain/sub-domains; this includes web pages, RSS, e-zines etc. access

• NLP (natural language processing) enables natural language question input parsing; the computer figures out the phrasing, Boolean logic (converts conjunction to logical operation including AND, OR, and NOT), and prepositions (identifies prepositional phrases and the noun that is modified by the preposition).
  
• Keyword phrase search with Boolean logic supports precise and repeatable searches; phrases have to be exact matches for a result to be displayed.
  
• Conceptual search (SMS 200 only) constructs a 'profile', uses a statistical substitution for the target noun (the noun that is the foundation of the query), substitutes equivalent phrases from a lookup table, and/or uses similar pages from a training library to determine an equivalent match to the query input

GUI Display Views

GUI displays are web-based and supported by the Pinpoint SMS. GUI displays include a series of network, administration, and indexing configuration screens, search screen, and tabbed results screens:

• LAN configuration management screens include appliance setup and the assignment of the appliance IP address.
  
• Index configuration manangement screens include network and Internet connections and network file sharing and security.
  
• Network access and configuration management screens include the ability to configure groups, users, and passwords, schedule indexing updates, view indexing process, and setting searchable locations
  
• Search view screen includes an entry field, menu bar, search initiation button, and access to advanced search features
  
• File tab results screen displays the link back to the original file, the file type, a shortened excerpt of the file content where the keyword match occurred, and a relevancy score
  
• E-mail tab results screen uniquely displays returned e-mail content; content includes to/from/bcc/subject line display along with an excerpt from the e-mail where the keyword match occurred, e-mail link to the original e-mail, attachments with zipped files unrolled; relevancy scoring is included

Pinpoint SMS Operation Steps

Operating the Pinpoint SMS is straightforward. Configure the appliance, index all of the target content, and then search the indexed content. Remember that searches are not performed on the actual content, but on the indexed content found in the private database. When a match is discovered, the actual content is retrieved from its original location and then displayed.

Here are the basic operation steps:

1. Configure the LAN - the appliance needs to be placed into the LAN address scheme before it can talk to all of the LAN-based computers and their content
2. Configure the file sharing process - shared directories on the network need to be enabled.
3. Setup groups and users - to protect indexed content, group and user priviledges need to be setup.
4. Configure file access and locations - before the appliance can place the indexed content into the private database, data content locations have to be enabled and file types specified.
5. Setup advanced search options - types of documents to search, number of results, relevance, find vs. search, and how to choose collections and domains
6. Index files, both locally, on the Intranet, and on the Internet - content setup requires that all files be indexed before search is performed; automatic updates or manual updates are available here.
7. Search content from files - results will be placed into tabs based on the result type