public function search()
    {
        if (strlen($this->ean) <= 0) {
            throw new NullPointerException("EAN is not set.");
        }
        
        $params = array(
            "ean" => $this->ean
        );
        
        $url = $this->base_url . self::URL_SEARCH . "?" . http_build_query($params);
        
        // get data from server
        $data = $this->getDataFromUrl($url);
        // parse result set and get data as array
        $result = $this->parseJsonData($data);
        
        return $result;
    }