Full-text search integration in XML database

• US 20060036657A1
• Filed: 08/10/2004
• Published: 02/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Palo Alto Research Center, Inc. (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Palo Alto Research Center, Inc. (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Cheslow, Robert D.
• Granted Patent: US 7,493,338 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/8373 Query execution
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

A system for full text search integration in XQuery for a binary object XML repository includes XQuery interpreter module(s) for implementing the XQuery language and function dispatcher module(s) for implementing the XQuery function calling mechanism. Search function implementation module(s) implement the component search function and interpret the full-text search query syntax. The search function postings resolution manager module(s) compute the candidate elements for search query resolution, and postings module(s) return all XML nodes that contain a specified token, with a token corresponding to a piece of XML syntax.

Claims

1. A system for full text search integration in XQuery for a binary object XML repository, comprising:

at least one XQuery interpreter module for implementing the XQuery language;

at least one function dispatcher module for implementing the XQuery function calling mechanism;

at least one search function implementation module for implementing the built-in search function and interpreting the full-text search query syntax, wherein said built-in search function is a function specified as part of the Xquery language;

at least one search function postings resolution manager module for computing the candidate elements for search query resolution; and

at least one postings module for returning all XML nodes that contain a specified token, wherein said token corresponds to a piece of XML syntax.

2. The system for full text search integration in XQuery according to claim 1, wherein implementing the XQuery language includes accepting queries and returning results in XQuery.

3. The system for full text search integration in XQuery according to claim 1, wherein implementing the XQuery function calling mechanism comprises:

evaluating the arguments;

locating code associated with the body of the function;

invoking implementation of the function; and

passing argument values to the function.

4. The system for full text search integration in XQuery according to claim 1, wherein implementing the built-in search function comprises applying the logic of the search expression to determine which nodes satisfy the search expression, wherein a node comprises an XML element.

5. The system for full text search integration in XQuery according to claim 4, wherein determining which nodes satisfy the search expression comprises returning a score which reflects the strength of the match found.

6. The system for full text search integration in XQuery according to claim 1, wherein computing the candidate elements for search query resolution comprises identifying XML nodes that contain the search terms.

7. A method for full text search integration in XQuery for a binary object XML repository having an XQuery interpreter module, a function dispatcher module, a search function implementation module, a search function postings resolution manager module, and a postings module comprises:

initiating a full-text search when the XQuery interpreter encounters a search function command;

identifying all matching variants in a lexicon for each search term within said search function command;

collecting postings lists for each variant of each said search term;

filtering said posting lists according to search query Boolean logic;

filtering said posting lists for relations specified in said search query; and

returning element matching said search query to said XQuery interpreter.

8. The method for full text search integration in XQuery according to claim 7, wherein initiating a full-text search with a search query further comprises implementing the XQuery language.

9. The method for full text search integration in XQuery according to claim 7, wherein identifying all matching variants in the lexicon for each search term within said search query comprises at least one member selected from the group consisting of case-insensitive, spelling correction, and stemming routines.

10. The method for full text search integration in XQuery according to claim 7, wherein said search function is written in full-featured, pattern-matching language.

11. The method for full text search integration in XQuery according to claim 10, wherein said full-featured, pattern-matching language comprises at least one member selected from the group consisting of Boolean operations, proximity relations, order relations, and flexible token matching.

12. The method for full text search integration in XQuery according to claim 7, wherein said postings lists contain sequence offsets to elements containing terms in said search query, wherein said sequence offset comprises the location in the sequence file for a particular token.

13. The method for full text search integration in XQuery according to claim 7, wherein filtering said posting lists according to search query Boolean logic comprises using fast ordered list union/intersect routines.

14. The method for full text search integration in XQuery according to claim 7, wherein relations specified in said search query comprise at least one member selected from the group consisting of word-order relations and proximity relations.

15. The method for full text search integration in XQuery according to claim 7, further comprising regenerating the search results back into XML.

16. The method for full text search integration in XQuery according to claim 8, wherein implementing the XQuery language includes accepting queries and returning results in XQuery.

17. An article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied in said medium which, when said program code is executed by said computer causes said computer to perform method steps for full text search integration in XQuery for a binary object XML repository having an XQuery interpreter module, a function dispatcher module, a search function implementation module, a search function postings resolution manager module, and a postings module comprises:

initiating a full-text search when the XQuery interpreter encounters a search function command;

identifying all matching variants in a lexicon for each search term within said search function command;

collecting postings lists for each variant of each said search term;

filtering said posting lists according to search query Boolean logic;

filtering said posting lists for relations specified in said search query; and

returning element matching said search query to said XQuery interpreter.