METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING CONTEXT SEARCHING

• US 20070219983A1
• Filed: 02/22/2007
• Published: 09/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Robert Douglas Fish
• Original Assignee: Robert Douglas Fish
• Inventors: Fish, Robert D.
• Granted Patent: US 9,767,184 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3325 Reformulation based on results of preceding query

Abstract

A search engine provides summary context information for search terms across many or all of the matched records. The summary information can include additional terms including single words, phrases, pairs or other groupings of words, as well as tags or other information having special meaning. Search engines or other providers can allow users to click on or otherwise select one or more of the additional terms. Such selection can be used to add the selected term(s) to a subsequent search, and/or display to the searcher examples of the selected term(s) in context of at least one of selected ones of the plurality of records. Searchers can advantageously be given an ability to set the size of the window from which the additional terms are drawn, the number of records searched

Claims

1. A method of facilitating a search, comprising:

receiving a search term from a searcher;

searching a database to identify a plurality of records containing the search term;

identifying information within the plurality of records that occurs within a proximity about the search term;

presenting the searcher with a summary of the information.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the summary comprises a listing of first and second additional terms occurring within the proximity.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising sorting the listing alphabetically.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising sorting the listing according to a relative frequency with which the first and second additional terms occur within the proximity

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the summary indicates a relative frequency with which the first and second additional terms occur within the proximity.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein the first and second additional terms comprise single words.

7. The method of claim 2 wherein the first additional term comprises multiple words.

8. The method of claim 2 wherein the first additional term comprises a data tag.

9. The method of claim 2 wherein the first additional term comprises a data tag and the second additional term comprises a value corresponding to the data tag.

10. The method of claim 2 wherein the first additional term comprises an XML data tag.

11. The method of claim 2 further comprising providing a facility that facilitates the searcher selecting and adding the first additional term to a subsequent search.

12. The method of claim 2 further comprising allowing the searcher to select at least one of the first and second terms, and displaying to the searcher examples of the selected term(s) in context of at least one of selected ones of the plurality of records.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising substantially centering at least one of the selected term(s) within at least one of the examples.

14. The method of claim 2 further comprising eliminating at least five common terms from the listing.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising the searcher setting the size of the proximity.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising the searcher setting the size of the proximity according to a numeric limit.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising the searcher setting the size of the proximity to a number of words on either side of the search term.

18. The method of claim 16 further comprising the searcher setting the size of the proximity to a number of characters on either side of the search term.

19. The method of claim 1 further comprising selecting the plurality of records at least in part according to a number of records set by the searcher.

20. The method of claim 1 further comprising selecting the plurality of records at least in part using a likely importance algorithm.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein the search term comprises a word in a human language.

22. The method of claim 1 wherein the search term comprises a word phrase that is extant in a human language.

23. The method of claim 1 wherein the search term comprises at least one of an image, an audio clip, and a video clip.

24. The method of claim 1 wherein the searcher comprises a human being having no substantial training or experience in software development.