1. An information retrieval system comprising:
a queue for storing load data requests;
a set of two or more load servers for retrieving data from a queue and indexing documents for retrieval based on the data retrieved from the queue;
first and second load monitors for monitoring operation of the load servers and providing new data on the queue accessible by the set of loaders, with the first load monitor configured to provide information regarding its operations to the second load monitor, and the second load monitor configured to respond to status information indicating failure of the first load monitor to take over monitoring of the load servers and providing new data on the queue.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein to provide status information to the second load monitor, the first load monitor is configured to periodically write a time-stamped report to a predetermined portion of a network accessible storage device and the second load monitor is configured to read the time-stamped report on the network accessible storage device at predetermined intervals.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the first load monitor is configured to notify each of the load servers when new data is added to the queue, and wherein any of the load servers that is not busy is configured to respond to the notification by attempting to retrieve the new data from the queue and to index the documents based on the new data.
4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a set of two or more distribution servers configured to respectively distribute index data generated by the load servers and corresponding documents to a primary index and a primary database for use by subscribers.
5. The system of claim 4:
wherein each load server is configured to provide a loader notification to each of the distribution servers to indicate that it has completed indexing a set of documents based on data retrieved from the queue; and
wherein any of the distribution servers that is not busy is configured to respond to the loader notification by attempting to distribute index data generated by the load server that provided the loader notification to the master index and to distribute documents corresponding to the loader notification to the database.
6. The system of claim 5, wherein each distribution server is configured to provide a distribution notification to each of the load monitors to indicate that it has completed distributing a set of documents based on data retrieved from the queue to the master index and to the database.
7. The system of claim 6, further comprising means, responsive to the distribution notification, for replicating the distributed index data and documents to a secondary index and database.
8. The system of claim 5, wherein each load server is configured to check the queue for new data after providing the loader notification.
9. The system of claim 7, wherein the first load monitor is configured to confirm replication of the distributed index data and documents in the secondary index and database and in response to confirming replication writing a time-stamped load completion message to a network accessible storage device; and wherein the second load monitor is configured to periodically determine whether the network accessible storage device includes messages confirming proper operation of the first load monitor.
10. The system of claim 1, wherein each load server is associated with a service-level-agreement data structure, the data structure including a first field for identifying for which databases the load server is permitted to index documents; a second field for indicating a minimal priority of document indexing requests that the load server is permitted to accept; and a third field indicating a temporal aspect.
11. An information retrieval system comprising:
first and second load monitors for monitoring operation of a plurality of load servers that index documents for addition to a database,
wherein the first load monitor is configured to provide status information regarding its operation to the second load monitor, and the second load monitor is configured to respond to status information indicating failure of the first load monitor to take over monitoring of the load servers.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein to provide status information to the second load monitor, the first load monitor included means for periodically writing a time-stamped report to a predetermined portion of a network accessible storage device and the second load monitor includes means for reading the time-stamped report on the network accessible storage device at predetermined intervals.
13. The system of claim 12, wherein the first load monitor is configured to notify each of the load servers when new documents are ready to be added to the database, and wherein any of the load servers that is not busy is configured to respond to the notification by attempting to retrieve the new data from the queue and to index the documents based on the new data.
14. A method comprising:
receiving a file containing documents for addition to a database of an online information-retrieval system;
notifying two or more load servers in response to receiving the file;
indexing the documents in the file using one of the notified load servers;
loading the indexed documents onto the database;
notifying two or more load monitors that the documents have been loaded on the database;
confirming that the documents have been loaded on the database using a first one of the notified load monitors; and
confirming proper operation of a first one of the notified load monitors using a second one of the notified load monitors.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein notifying two or more load servers, comprises:
detecting reception of the file;
adding data regarding the file to a load queue; and
notifying the two or more load servers that new data has been added to the load queue.
16. The method of claim 14, wherein loading the indexed documents onto the database, comprises:
notifying two or more of distribution servers that index data and corresponding documents are available for loading; and
using one of the two or more distribution servers to load the index data and corresponding documents on to the database.
17. The method of claim 14, wherein confirming that the documents have been loaded on the database includes reading an \u201cend of file\u201d or other analogous indicator from the database.
18. The method of claim 15, wherein confirming proper operation of a first one of the load monitors using a second one of the load monitors, comprises determining whether the first one of the load monitors has written one or more messages to a shared directory.
19. The method of claim 15, wherein indexing the documents in the file using one of the notified load servers, includes reviewing a service-level-agreement data structure to determine whether one or more of the notified load servers are authorized to process the documents.
20. A service-related data structure for use in an information retrieval system having a plurality of load servers, the data structure associated with one of the plurality of load servers and including means for indicating a priority level of load requests that the one load server is permitted to process.
21. The data structure of claim 20, further including means for indicating which of a set of databases the load server may process load requests.
22. The data structure of claim 20, further including means for indicating a time period associated with one or more service restrictions for the load server.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A reconfigurable doll, comprising:
a body including a torso and at least one arm movably coupled to the torso;
a movable portion coupled to the body, the movable portion being disposable in a first position proximate to the body in which the movable portion forms part of a dress for the body and in a second position spaced apart from the body in which the movable portion forms part of a wing for the body; and
an actuator assembly coupled to the body, the actuator assembly being connected to the at least one arm and the movable portion, the actuator assembly being manipulatable by a user to move the movable portion from the first position to the second position and the at least one arm relative to the torso.
2. The reconfigurable doll of claim 1, wherein the body includes a lower portion and the movable portion in its first position is proximate to the lower portion of the body.
3. The reconfigurable doll of claim 1, wherein the at least one arm is movable substantially simultaneously with the movable portion.
4. The reconfigurable doll of claim 3, wherein the at least one arm has an upper position and a lower position relative to the body, the at least one arm extending upwardly from the body in its upper position and being located proximate to the body in its lower position.
5. The reconfigurable doll of claim 1, wherein the movable portion is a first movable portion and the doll further comprises:
a second movable portion coupled to the body, the second movable portion being disposable in its own first position proximate to the body in which the second movable portion forms part of the dress for the body and its own second position spaced apart from the body in which the second movable portion forms part of a wing for the body.
6. The reconfigurable doll of claim 5, wherein the second movable portion is moved substantially simultaneously with the first movable portion.
7. The reconfigurable doll of claim 5, wherein the first movable portion overlaps part of the second movable portion when the movable portions are in their first positions.
8. The reconfigurable doll of claim 5, wherein each of the movable portions includes a support member with a proximal end coupled to the torso and an opposite, distal end, the distal ends of the support members crossing over each other when the movable portions are moved from their second positions to their first positions.
9. The reconfigurable doll of claim 1, wherein the actuator assembly includes an actuator extending outwardly from the body, the actuator being manipulatable by a user to move the movable portion.
10. The reconfigurable doll of claim 1, wherein the movable portion includes a support member that is pivotally coupled to the torso of the doll and a flexible member that is coupled to the support member.
11. The reconfigurable doll of claim 10, wherein the support member includes a proximal end, a distal end, and a curved portion between the proximal end and the distal end, the proximal end being coupled to the body.
12. The reconfigurable doll of claim 11, wherein the distal end extends outwardly away from the body when the movable portion is in its second position, and the curved portion extends around part of the torso of the body when the movable portion is in its first position.
13. A reconfigurable doll, comprising:
a body including a torso and a lower portion;
a movable member coupled to the body, the movable member being disposable in an upper position and in a lower position relative to the body, the movable member being spaced from the body and forming a wing-like structure in its upper position, the movable member being located proximate to the lower portion of the body and forming a dress-like structure in its lower position; and
an actuator assembly coupled to the body, the actuator assembly being connected to the movable member in the torso of the body so that a user can manipulate the actuator assembly to move the movable member between its upper position and its lower position.
14. The reconfigurable doll of claim 13, wherein the movable member is a first movable member, the doll further comprising:
a second movable member coupled to the body and to the actuator assembly, the movable members collectively forming a dress when the movable members are in their lower positions and collectively forming a pair of wings when the movable members are in their upper positions, the movable members being moved substantially simultaneously between their upper positions and lower positions via the actuator assembly.
15. The reconfigurable doll of claim 14, wherein the body includes a first arm and a second arm movably coupled to the torso, the actuator assembly being connected to the first arm and second arm so that a user can manipulate the first arm and second arm relative to the body substantially simultaneously when the first and second movable members are moved.
16. The reconfigurable doll of claim 15, wherein the arms are moved from lower positions to upper positions substantially simultaneously when the movable members are moved from their lower positions to their upper positions.
17. The reconfigurable doll of claim 16, wherein the actuator assembly includes an actuator and a drive mechanism coupled to the actuator, the drive mechanism being connected to the arms and to the movable members so that movement of the actuator results in movement of the arms and movable members relative to the body.
18. The reconfigurable doll of claim 13, wherein the body includes a first arm and a second arm movably coupled to the torso, and the actuator assembly is connected to the first arm and second arm so that a user can manipulate the first arm and second arm relative to the body when the movable member is moved.
19. A reconfigurable doll, comprising:
a body including a torso, a lower portion, and arms movably coupled to the torso, the arms being disposable in raised positions and in lowered positions relative to the body;
movable members coupled to the body, the movable members being placeable in raised positions and in lowered positions relative to the body, the movable members being spaced from the body and forming a wing-like structure in their raised positions, the movable members being located proximate to the lower portion of the body and forming a dress-like structure in their lowered positions; and
an actuator coupled to the arms and the movable members, the actuator being configured to move the movable members between their raised and lowered positions substantially simultaneously with the movement of the arms between their raised and lowered positions.
20. The reconfigurable doll of claim 19, wherein each of the movable members includes a support member pivotally coupled to the body, the support members extending outwardly from the torso when the movable members are in their raised positions, the support members being located proximate to the lower portion of the body when the movable members are in their lowered positions, the support members crossing over each other when the movable members are in their lowered positions.