Context-Driven search
First Claim
1. A context-driven search method comprising:
- having a user provide an input phrase that is used to search a collection of language-based information sources;
identifying sets of substantially-equivalent expanded phrases that are relevant to the input phrase, wherein these expanded phrases appear in the collection of language-based information sources; and
providing the user with set-specific summary information concerning some, or all, of these sets of substantially-equivalent expanded phrases.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention disclosed herein is a context-driven search method comprising three main steps: having a user provide an input phrase that is used to search a collection of language-based information sources; identifying sets of substantially-equivalent expanded phrases that are relevant to the input phrase, wherein these expanded phrases appear in the collection of language-based information sources; and providing the user with set-specific summary information concerning some, or all, of these sets of substantially-equivalent expanded phrases. This innovative context-driven method provides search results that are driven, consolidated, and summarized by phrase context, so that users no longer have to wade through pages of results to pick out those entries that relate to the context in which they are interested.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A context-driven search method comprising:
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having a user provide an input phrase that is used to search a collection of language-based information sources; identifying sets of substantially-equivalent expanded phrases that are relevant to the input phrase, wherein these expanded phrases appear in the collection of language-based information sources; and providing the user with set-specific summary information concerning some, or all, of these sets of substantially-equivalent expanded phrases. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A context-driven search method comprising:
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having a user provide an input phrase that is used to search a collection of language-based information sources, wherein a phrase is one or more words or other language-based character strings; identifying sets of substantially-equivalent expanded phrases that are relevant to the input phrase;
wherein these expanded phrases appear in the collection of language-based information sources;
wherein an expanded phrase relevant to an input phrase is defined as a phrase that includes the input phrase, or a minor variation thereof, plus one or more additional phrases; and
wherein at least one additional phrase in each expanded phrase in a given set of substantially-equivalent expanded phrases is identical to, or a minor variation thereof, at least one additional phrase in each of the other expanded phrases in that set; andproviding the user with set-specific summary information concerning some, or all, of these sets of substantially-equivalent expanded phrases. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A context-driven search method comprising:
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having a user provide an input phrase that is used to search a collection of language-based information sources, wherein a phrase is one or more words or other language-based character strings; identifying sets of substantially-equivalent expanded phrases that are relevant to the input phrase;
wherein these expanded phrases appear in the collection of language-based information sources;
wherein an expanded phrase relevant to an input phrase is defined as a phrase that includes the input phrase, or a minor variation thereof, plus one or more additional phrases;
wherein at least one additional phrase in each expanded phrase in a given set of substantially-equivalent expanded phrases is identical to, or a minor variation thereof, at least one additional phrase in each of the other expanded phrases in that set; and
wherein a phrase that is a minor variation of a certain phrase is defined as a variation selected from one or more of the variations in the group consisting of;
a phrase with words that are corrected or alternative spelling variations of the words comprising the certain phrase;
a phrase with words that are grammatical variations (such as variation in tense, plurality, or voice) of the words comprising the certain phrase;
a phrase with words that are the same as those comprising the certain phrase, except for the addition or deletion of grammatical articles (such as “
a”
or “
an”
or “
the”
) or relatively-neutral modifiers (such as “
very”
or “
especially”
);
a phrase with words that are the same as those comprising the certain phrase, but are in a different word order;
a phrase with words that are the same as those comprising the certain phrase, except for case variation (such as upper vs. lower case) in one or more letters in the certain phrase;
a phrase with the same words as those comprising the certain phrase, but with variation in punctuation or word contraction;
a phrase that is a phrase synonym for the certain phrase, wherein a phrase synonym is defined as alternative phrase that can be substituted for the certain phrase in the collection of language-based information sources without substantively changing meaning or creating a grammatical error in the language-based information sources; and
a phrase that has been found to be highly-associated with the certain phrase based on analysis of previous search patterns; andproviding the user with set-specific summary information concerning some, or all, of these sets of substantially-equivalent expanded phrases;
wherein set-specific summary information for a given set of substantially-equivalent expanded phrases consolidates information concerning these expanded phrases into a single result for the set so that the user can efficiently see the general types of contexts in which the input phrase, or minor variations thereof, are used throughout the collection of language-based information sources; and
wherein set-specific information provides the user with one or more options (such as by clicking on links) to see more detailed information about the individual expanded phrases within a set and/or to see more detailed information about the individual sources in which those expanded phrases appear. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification