DATABASE AND INDEX ORGANIZATION FOR ENHANCED DOCUMENT RETRIEVAL
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Abstract
A customized, specialty-oriented database and index. of a subject matter area and methods for constructing and using such a database are provided. Selection and indexing of articles is done by experts in the topic with which the database is concerned. As a result, articles are indexed in a manner that allows facile, rapid retrieval of highly relevant articles with few or no false positives with much reduced database maintenance cost through frugal limitation of number of documents in the database, number of terms in a Master Index, and number of codes assigned to each document. A thesaurus allows indexing and search in accordance with terminology familiar to different anticipated groups of users (e.g. doctors, patients, nurses, technicians, and the like). Key articles collections and rapid access to documents therein are also provided.
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Citations
40 Claims
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1-24. -24. (canceled)
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25. A computer implemented method of searching a specialty oriented document database or index created from a master index of a subject matter area, said subject matter area including a plurality of specialties, by
assigning one or more specialties, of a plurality of specialties within said subject matter area to each document, wherein said step of assigning one or more specialties is carried out by an expert in said one or more specialties, said expert being a person, assigning a limited number of terms or codes from said master index to each document, wherein said step of assigning one or more terms or codes is carried out separately from said step of assigning one or more specialties by an expert in said one or more specialties, said expert being a person, and wherein said step of assigning is based on primary relevance of material described as determined by said expert, merging results of said step of assigning one or more specialties and results of said step of assigning a limited number of terms or codes, using a computer, to form a specialty-oriented database comprising said documents having a selected specialty in accordance with said terms or codes, and arranging said terms or codes hierarchically or alphanumerically, said method comprising the steps of browsing said terms or codes in said specialty-oriented database using a computer, and accessing, using a computer, said specialty-oriented database in accordance with at least one of said terms or codes to obtain documents of increased relevance to a specialty of said plurality of specialties.
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33. A method of searching a specialty oriented document database or index created from a master index of a subject matter area by
assigning one or more specialties to each document, assigning one or more terms or codes from said master index to each document, assembling a database comprising said documents having a selected specialty in accordance with said terms or codes, said method comprising steps of arranging said terms or codes hierarchically or alphanumerically, browsing said terms or codes, and accessing said database in accordance with at least one of said terms or codes.
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37. A computer implemented method of searching a specialty oriented document database or index created from a master index of a subject matter area, said subject matter area including a plurality of specialties, by
assigning one or more specialties, of a plurality of specialties within said subject matter area to each document, assigning a limited number of terms or codes from said master index to each document, wherein said step of assigning one or more terms or codes is carried out separately from said step of assigning one or more specialties, wherein said step of assigning is based on primary relevance of material described in each document, merging results of said step of assigning one or more specialties and results of said step of assigning a limited number of terms or codes, using a computer, to form a specialty-oriented database comprising said documents having a selected specialty in accordance with said terms or codes, and arranging said terms or codes hierarchically or alphanumerically, said method comprising the steps of browsing said terms or codes in said specialty-oriented database using a computer, and accessing, using a computer, said specialty-oriented database in accordance with at least one of said terms or codes to obtain documents of increased relevance to a specialty of said plurality of specialties.
Specification