SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SEARCHING AN INDEX

• US 20100042603A1
• Filed: 08/15/2008
• Published: 02/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Athena A. Smyros, Constantine Smyros
• Original Assignee: Athena A. Smyros, Constantine Smyros
• Inventors: Smyros, Constantine, Smyros, Athena A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,965,881 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: N/A
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2272 Management thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/334 Query execution G06F16/335 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/338 Presentation of query results

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention form an information set from the current set of index information available by the operations of the pre-search and runtime Search components of the search engine. A search request that contains search terms and/or other search criteria (e.g. date or file type) is entered by a user through an input interface. The search terms and the information set are worked through the search engine modules to provide the actual results sought by the user. These results are provided to the user via an output interface. Embodiments involve converting a search request into a format of an index of documents, and then comparing the converted search request and the index for matches.

Claims

1. A computer system for searching an index, wherein the index has a numeric matrix format, the system comprising:

a Normalizer module that converts a search request comprising at least one search term in a format usable with the numeric matrix format;

a search module that compares the converted search request and the index, and forms a plurality of blocks, wherein each block defines a match between the index and the search term; and

a Processor module that determines the relevance for each match using its associated block.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the index is one of a plurality of indexes, and the Normalizer module, the search module, and the Processor module operate with the plurality of indexes.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the match is between the search item and a portion of the document.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein each document is one of a structured document and an un-structured document.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a Tolerator module that alters the search request by including related terms.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the related terms are one of a computer, laptop computer, personal computer, personal data assistant, a camera, a phone, a cell phone, mobile phone, a computer server, a media server, a music player, a game box, a smart phone, a data storage device, measuring device, handheld scanner, a scanning device, a barcode reader, a POS device, digital assistant, desk phone, IP phone, solid-state memory device, and a memory card.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein operation of the Tolerator module is controlled by at least one switch included in the search request.

8. The system of claim 5, further comprising:

an Inputer module that provides an interface between a user and the system.

9. The system of claim 5, wherein the Normalizer identifies a format of the index and then translates the search request based on the format of the index.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the normalizer forms a matrix of term units in the search request, wherein each term unit is a set of characters that is separated by a space from another term unit.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the Normalizer assigns an integer to at least one term unit to indicate its position within the search request.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the index is an index of documents of an information repository, the system further comprising:

a Filter module that passes documents that match at least one variable in the search request from the index.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the search module comprises:

a Posit Block Collector that filters documents by using a mathematical formula based on a type of the search request to indicate a potential relevance.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the Posit Block Collector modifies the index to reflect the filtered documents.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the search module comprises:

a Refiner module that operates with a Processor module to normalize a relevance score for documents of different lengths, and manages large documents.

17. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an Aggregator module that forms a response to the search request by assembling the matched blocks according to their relevance.

16. The system of 15, wherein the search is a combinational search and the Refiner module manages the combinational search and performs a relevance analysis for the combinational search.

18. A method for searching an index having a numeric matrix format comprising:

receiving a search request from a user that includes at least one search term;

converting the search request into the numeric matrix format;

comparing the converted search request and the index;

forming a plurality of blocks, wherein each block defines a match between the index and the search term; and

determining the relevance for each match using its associated block.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

identifying a format of the index;

wherein the converting includes converting the search request based on the format of the index.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein forming the plurality of blocks comprises:

filtering documents by using a mathematical formula based on a type of the search request to indicate a potential relevance.

21. A computer program product having a computer-readable medium having computer program logic recorded thereon for searching a index for at least one search term, wherein the index has a numeric matrix format, the computer program product comprising:

logic for converting the at least one search term into the numeric matrix format;

logic for comparing the converted search term and the index;

logic for forming a plurality of blocks, wherein each block defines a match between the index and the search term;

logic for determining the relevance for each match using its associated block.

22. The product of claim 21, wherein the logic for forming the plurality of blocks comprises:

logic for filtering documents by using a mathematical formula based on a type of the search request to indicate a potential relevance.