Interactive searching system and method
First Claim
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1. An interactive method for searching a database comprising the steps of:
- receiving a search criterion from a user (not mandatory);
analyzing said search criterion to determine additional search criteria related thereto or stemming therefrom;
generating a results space comprising results selected from an existing database, which results are retrieved using the user'"'"'s search criterion and the additional search criteria;
restricting the number of results in the results space by;
i) asking the user questions having two or more possible answers, each possible answer dividing the results space into different segments; and
ii) removing from the results space results which fall outside the segment of the results space that matches the user'"'"'s answer.
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Abstract
The invention is directed to an interactive method for searching a database to locate desired items, even if the key words used as search criteria are not used to identify the item in the database. Another purpose of this invention is providing a method, which at the same time, reduces the results list based on user'"'"'s response to a set of questions.
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5 Claims
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1. An interactive method for searching a database comprising the steps of:
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receiving a search criterion from a user (not mandatory);
analyzing said search criterion to determine additional search criteria related thereto or stemming therefrom;
generating a results space comprising results selected from an existing database, which results are retrieved using the user'"'"'s search criterion and the additional search criteria;
restricting the number of results in the results space by;
i) asking the user questions having two or more possible answers, each possible answer dividing the results space into different segments; and
ii) removing from the results space results which fall outside the segment of the results space that matches the user'"'"'s answer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. An interactive method for searching a database, essentially as described and illustrated.
Specification