ScanObjects: Adding Steering Wheels to Search Engines

Search Engines are so powerful that they create the expectation that search will always succeed. But interactive search is a complex activity with significant human involvement, and very difficult to automate. A Steering Wheel software architecture is proposed to automate search, based upon composable and reusable entities called ScanObjects. This architecture keeps intact the search engine power, while adding an engine client functioning as a steering wheel. Steering functions embodied in the ScanObjects cause search to be convergent to desired result sets, as they obey definite convergence criteria. The approach was demonstrated by actual implementation of the architecture within a peercommunity system, and several case studies with wellknown commercial search engines.