Apparatus and method for responding to search requests for stored documents

• US 20030233344A1
• Filed: 06/13/2002
• Published: 12/18/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Wilkinson, William K., Muntz, Daniel A., Kuno, Harumi A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,054,859 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/258 Data format conversion from or to a database
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access

Abstract

A method for responding to search requests for stored documents. Each of the stored documents includes metadata, content, and a document type identifier for identifying a type of the document. A search request including document type criteria, metadata criteria, and content criteria, is received. A first set of documents based on the metadata criteria is identified. Documents in the first set that have a document type identifier that matches the document type criteria are identified. A search method is identified from a plurality of search methods for searching the content of the identified documents in the first set based on the document type identifier of the documents. The content of the identified documents in the first set is searched using the identified search method and the content criteria.

Claims

1. A method for responding to search requests for stored documents, each of the stored documents including metadata, content, and a document type identifier for identifying a type of the document, the method comprising:

receiving a search request including document type criteria, metadata criteria, and content criteria;

identifying a first set of documents based on the metadata criteria;

identifying documents in the first set that have a document type identifier that matches the document type criteria;

identifying a search method from a plurality of search methods for searching the content of the identified documents in the first set based on the document type identifier of the documents; and

searching the content of the identified documents in the first set using the identified search method and the content criteria.

2. The method of claim 1, and further comprising:

outputting a search result including document identifiers for identified documents in the first set that have content that matches the content criteria.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each one of the plurality of search methods has an associated cost, and wherein the identified search method has the least associated cost.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the cost associated with each search method includes estimates of system resources that will be needed to perform a search using that search method.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the estimates of system resources include estimates of at least one of the following:

memory requirements, processing requirements, and input/output requirements.

6. The method of claim 1, and further comprising:

transforming documents in the first set that are of types that do not match the document type criteria to documents of a type that matches the document type criteria;

searching the content of the transformed documents based on the content criteria; and

wherein the search result includes document identifiers for transformed documents that have content that matches the content criteria.

7. The method of claim 6, and further comprising:

providing a plurality of transforms, each transform configured to transform documents of one type to documents of a different type;

associating a cost with each transform; and

identifying transforms to use to perform the step of transforming documents in the first set based on the costs associated with the transforms.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the cost associated with each transform includes estimates of system resources that will be needed to execute the transform.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the content criteria of the search request specifies criteria for searching the content of documents of a first type, the method further comprising:

transforming the content criteria of the search request such that the transformed content criteria specifies criteria for searching the content of documents of a second type that is different than the first type.

10. The method of claim 1, and further comprising:

generating documents of a type specified by the document type criteria using at least one document generating script;

searching the content of the generated documents based on the content criteria; and

wherein the search result includes document identifiers for generated documents that have content that matches the content criteria.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the search result includes identifiers to documents distributed among a plurality of platforms.

12. A method for responding to search requests for stored documents, each of the stored documents including metadata, content, and a document type identifier for identifying a type of the document, the method comprising:

receiving a search request including document type criteria, metadata criteria, and content criteria;

identifying a first set of documents based on the metadata criteria;

searching the content of documents in the first set that are of a type that matches the document type criteria, wherein the searching of the content is performed based on the content criteria;

transforming documents in the first set that are of types that do not match the document type criteria to documents of a type that matches the document type criteria if none of the documents in the first set are of a type that matches the document type criteria and that have content that matches the content criteria;

searching the content of the transformed documents based on the content criteria; and

outputting a search result including document identifiers for searched documents that have content that matches the content criteria.

13. The method of claim 12, and further comprising:

providing a first plurality of type specific search methods, each search method configured for searching the content of documents of one type;

identifying a search method from the first plurality of search methods based on the type of a document to be searched; and

wherein the step of searching the content of documents in the first set is performed using the identified search method.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein each search method in the first plurality has an associated cost, and wherein the identification of a search method is performed based on the cost of the search methods.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the cost associated with each search method includes estimates of system resources that will be needed to perform a search using that search method.

16. The method of claim 12, and further comprising:

providing a plurality of transforms, each transform configured to transform documents of one type into documents of a different type;

associating a cost with each transform; and

identifying transforms to use to perform the step of transforming documents in the first set based on the costs associated with the transforms.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the cost associated with each transform includes estimates of system resources that will be needed to execute the transform.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the content criteria of the search request specifies criteria for searching the content of documents of a first type, the method further comprising:

transforming the content criteria of the search request such that the transformed content criteria specifies criteria for searching the content of documents of a second type that is different than the first type.

19. The method of claim 12, and further comprising:

generating documents of a type specified by the document type criteria;

searching the content of the generated documents based on the content criteria; and

wherein the search result includes document identifiers for generated documents that have content that matches the content criteria.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the search result includes identifiers to documents distributed among a plurality of platforms.

21. An apparatus for responding to search requests for stored documents, each of the stored documents including content and a document type identifier for identifying a type of the document, the apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a search request including document type criteria and content criteria;

means for identifying documents that have a document type identifier that matches the document type criteria;

means for transforming documents of a first type not specified by the document type criteria to documents of a second type specified by the document type criteria;

means for generating documents of a type specified by the document type criteria;

means for searching the content of the identified documents, transformed documents, and generated documents based on the content criteria; and

means for outputting a search result including document identifiers for searched documents that have content that matches the content criteria.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, and further comprising:

means for performing a first plurality of type specific search methods, each search method configured for searching the content of documents of one document type;

means for identifying a type specific search method from the first plurality of search methods based on the type of a document to be searched; and

wherein the means for searching the content is configured to search the content using the identified type specific search method.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein each search method in the first plurality has an associated cost, and wherein the means for identifying a search method is configured to identify a search method based on the cost of the search methods.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the cost associated with each search method includes estimates of system resources that will be needed to perform a search using that search method.

25. The apparatus of claim 21, and further comprising:

a plurality of transforms, each transform configured to transform documents of one type into documents of a different type, each transform associated with a cost; and

means for identifying transforms to be used by the means for transforming documents based on the costs associated with the transforms.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the cost associated with each transform includes estimates of system resources that will be needed to execute the transform.

27. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the content criteria of the search request specifies criteria for searching the content of documents of a first type, the apparatus further comprising:

means for transforming the content criteria of the search request such that the transformed content criteria specifies criteria for searching the content of documents of a second type that is different than the first type.

28. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the search result includes identifiers to documents distributed among a plurality of platforms.

29. A query processing apparatus, comprising:

a receiver for receiving a query including document type criteria and content criteria; and

a search engine for identifying documents that are of a type that matches the document type criteria, transforming documents of a first type not specified by the document type criteria to documents of a second type specified by the document type criteria, generating documents of a type specified by the document type criteria, and searching content of the identified documents, transformed documents, and generated documents based on the content criteria, the search engine configured to output a search result including document identifiers for searched documents that have content that matches the content criteria.

30. The query processing apparatus of claim 29, wherein the search engine is configured to identify search methods for searching the content of documents based on a type of the documents and on costs associated with the search methods.

31. The query processing apparatus of claim 29, wherein the search engine is configured to identify transforms for transforming documents based on costs associated with the transforms.

32. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method of processing received queries that include document type criteria and document content criteria, the method comprising:

identifying documents that are of a type that matches the document type criteria;

transforming documents of a first type not specified by the document type criteria to documents of a second type specified by the document type criteria;

generating documents of a type specified by the document type criteria;

searching content of the identified documents, transformed documents, and generated documents based on the document content criteria; and

identifying documents that have content that matches the content criteria.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 32, wherein the method further comprises:

identifying search methods for searching the content of documents based on a type of the documents and on costs associated with the search methods.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 32, wherein the method further comprises:

identifying transforms for transforming documents based on costs associated with the transforms.