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Iterative technique for phrase query formation and an information retrieval system employing same

  • US 5,278,980 A
  • Filed: 08/16/1991
  • Issued: 01/11/1994
  • Est. Priority Date: 08/16/1991
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A method of selectively searching an automated data base with data processing apparatus, said data base containing a corpus of documents comprising sequences of word data stored as stop-words and non-stop-words in a memory, said method comprising the steps of:

  • a) input at least one query word to said data processing apparatus;

    b) using said data processing apparatus, determining a word data search key based upon said at least one query word;

    c) using said data processing apparatus, searching said document corpus to identify all occurrences of a match between said search key and said document corpus word data;

    d) using said data processing apparatus, sequentially displaying said matches occurring in said document corpus, each match being displayed as a phrase containing the word data matching said search key, a non-stop-word next adjacent to said matching word data, and all intervening stop-words, between said matching word data and said next adjacent non-stop-word, said data processing apparatus displaying the phrases for multiple matches simultaneously and so that the respective non-stop-words are aligned with each other in a common column; and

    e) selecting one of said next adjacent non-stop-words as a new query word and successively repeating steps b)-d) using the selected new query word to locate documents of interest from said document corpus.

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