Google has acquired a new text search algorithm developed by University of New South Wales student Ori Allon and members of the university faculty, Haaretz (Israel) reports. Apparently, both Yahoo and Microsoft were also in negotiations with the university, which holds the patent. Google has confirmed that Allon now works for the company at Google HQ in Mountain View.

The algo, called Orion, returns highly relevant text results as well as a related list of topics; it also takes into account the quality of the site in which the information appears. A previous announcement by the university sheds light on how it functions, in part: "The results to the query are displayed immediately in the form of expanded text extracts, giving you the relevant information without having to go to the website - although you still have that option if you wish," according to Allon.