Automatic method for quantifying the relevance of intra-document search results

• US 20020095404A1
• Filed: 01/12/2001
• Published: 07/18/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Moores, Matthew Thomas, Davies, Liam Clement
• Granted Patent: US 6,718,323 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3334 Selection or weighting of terms from queries, including natural language queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99952 Coherency, e.g. same view to multiple users
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

A method for finding and ranking portions of documents responsive to a query is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of: providing at least one database containing documents; providing a query relating to information sought by a user, the query containing at least one search term; assigning a value to each document responsive to at least one search term contained in the query indicating the relevance of the document; defining regions within the documents, each region corresponding to a selected one of the search terms; assigning a value to each region responsive to at least one search term contained in the query indicating the relevance of the region; and displaying at least one region of at least one document in order of relevance.

Claims

1. A method for finding and ranking regions of documents responsive to a query comprising the steps of:

providing a query relating to information sought by a user, said query including at least one search term;

searching for at least one document responsive to said query;

determining a first value associated with each said document responsive to said query, each said value indicating the relevance of said associated document with respect to said query;

defining at least one region within each of said documents corresponding to a selected one of said search terms; and

determining a second value for each said region responsive to said query indicating the relevance of said region.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the first value associated with each said document responsive to said query, further includes the step of:

assigning a higher value to documents containing more than one of the selected search terms.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of defining regions within said documents, further includes the step of:

defining said regions to include a fixed number of words before each selected search term and a fixed number of words after each selected search term.

4. The method of claim 1, further including the step of:

displaying at least one region of at least one document in order of relevance.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of defining regions within said documents corresponding to a selected one of said search terms, further includes the step of:

defining said regions to include the selected search term and 30 words following said selected search term.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the first value associated with each said document responsive to said query, further includes the step of:

increasing the value of regions including multiple instances of a single query search term.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the first value associated with each said document responsive to said query, further includes the steps of:

locating within that region any additional instances of respected one of selected search terms;

determine proximity of selected ones of respective search term; and

assign a value to said regions indicative of said proximity.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the first value associated with each said document responsive to said query, further includes the steps of:

locating within that region any additional instances of respected ones of selected search terms;

determine proximity of selected ones of respective search term;

assign a value to said regions indicative of said proximity;

locating within that region selected ones of other search terms contained in said query; and

increasing said assigned value by an increment indicative of the relevance of said selected ones of other search terms.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the first value associated with each said document responsive to said query, further includes the steps of:

locating within that region any additional instances of respected ones of selected search terms;

determine proximity of selected ones of respective search term;

assign a value to said regions indicative of said proximity;

locating within that region selected ones of other search terms contained in said query; and

increasing said assigned value by an increment indicative of the relevance of said selected ones of other search terms.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the documents being searched are stored in at least one database, each database including transcripts of audio recordings.

10. A method for finding and ranking regions of documents responsive to a query comprising the steps of:

providing a query relating to the information sought by a user, said query containing at least one search term;

search for at least one document responsive to at least one search term contained in said query;

assigning a value to each document responsive to at least one search term contained in said query indicating the relevance of the document;

defining at least one region within said documents corresponding to a selected one of said search terms;

assigning a value to each said region responsive to at least one search term contained in said query indicating the relevance of the region; and

displaying at least one region of at least one document in order of relevance.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of assigning the document relevance value, further includes the step of:

assigning a higher value to documents containing more than one of the selected search terms.

12. The method of claim 10, further including the step of:

providing at least one database containing documents.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of defining regions within said documents, each said region corresponding to a selected one of said search terms, further includes the step of:

defining said regions to include the selected search term and a variable region proximate to said selected search term, the parameters of which are determined by a user.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of assigning the region relevance value, further includes the step of:

increasing the value of regions including multiple instances of a single search term.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of assigning the region relevance value, further includes the steps of:

locating within that region any additional instances of respected one of selected search terms;

determine proximity of selected ones of respective search term; and

assign a value to said regions indicative of said proximity.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of assigning the region relevance value, further includes the steps of:

locating within that region any additional instances of respected ones of selected search terms;

determine proximity of selected ones of respective search term;

assign a value to said regions indicative of said proximity;

locating within that region selected ones of other search terms contained in said query; and

increasing said assigned value by an increment indicative of the relevance of said selected ones of other search terms.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said at least one database contains documents including transcripts of audio recordings created by voice recognition software.

20. An apparatus of claim 19, further including:

a display device for displaying at least one region of at least one document in order of relevance.

19. An apparatus for finding and ranking portions of documents responsive to a query comprising:

a user interface for receiving a query relating to information sought by a user, wherein the query contains at least one search term; and

a processor for assigning a value to each document responsive to at least one search term contained in the query indicating the relevance of the document, said processor operative to define regions within said documents, wherein each region corresponds to a selected one of the search terms, said processor operative to assign a value to each of the regions responsive to at least one search term contained in the query indicating the relevance of the region.