Thats actually a really good idea and something totally different than I was expecting. It wouldnt even have to be every minute, more like every 30 would work.
I've never made a crone job before, but have heard of it. So this would be a independent script that ran in the background? Would it still be a cgi type of file? Im thinking your talking about splitting this file into two parts and making the search for item part run by crone in the background while the print stuff is called from the html? Or would it still be a ssi?