Hybrid search
First Claim
1. A method for searching an electronic database in which a number of documents are stored, said method comprising the steps of:
- conducting a Boolean retrieval search of an initial word using a first index of said electronic database to determine in which of said number of documents said initial word meets a Boolean condition;
conducting a probabilistic retrieval search of a second word using a second index of said electronic database to determine in which of said documents meeting said Boolean condition, the relevance of appearance of said second word exceeds a specified value; and
wherein said first and second indexes have a common element that can be processed by both said Boolean and said probabilistic retrieval searches.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method is described for a computerized search for words in an electronic database with a large number of documents stored in memory. With this method, a Boolean retrieval method is used to determine in which of a large number of documents an initial word meets a Boolean condition. A probabilistic retrieval method is then used to determine in which of the documents fulfilling the Boolean condition, the relevance of appearance of a second word exceeds a specified value. The two retrieval methods use different indexes for this. The disadvantages normally found with this are avoided by the two different indexes having a common element that can be processed by both retrieval methods.
40 Citations
29 Claims
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1. A method for searching an electronic database in which a number of documents are stored, said method comprising the steps of:
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conducting a Boolean retrieval search of an initial word using a first index of said electronic database to determine in which of said number of documents said initial word meets a Boolean condition; conducting a probabilistic retrieval search of a second word using a second index of said electronic database to determine in which of said documents meeting said Boolean condition, the relevance of appearance of said second word exceeds a specified value; and wherein said first and second indexes have a common element that can be processed by both said Boolean and said probabilistic retrieval searches. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A computer system for searching an electronic database in memory in which a number of documents are stored, comprising:
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first and second indexes of said electronic database, said indexes having a common element; a Boolean retrieval searcher for conducting a Boolean retrieval search of an initial word using said first index to determine in which of said number of documents said initial word meets a Boolean condition; and a probabilistic retrieval searcher for conducting a probabilistic retrieval search of a second word using said second index and said common element thereof to determine in which of said documents meeting said Boolean condition, the relevance of said second word exceeds a specified value. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. An article of manufacture for use in a computer system for searching an electronic database in which a number of documents are stored, said article of manufacture comprising a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program embodied in said medium which may cause the computer system to:
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conduct a Boolean retrieval search of an initial word using a first index of said electronic database to determine in which of said number of documents said initial word meets a Boolean condition; conduct a probabilistic retrieval search of a second word using a second index of said electronic database to determine in which of said documents meeting said Boolean condition, the relevance of appearance of said second word exceeds a specified value; and wherein said first and second indexes have a common element that can be processed by both said Boolean and said probabilistic retrieval searches. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A computer program product for operating a computer system for searching an electronic database in which a number of documents are stored, said computer program product comprising a storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied in said medium for causing the computer system to:
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conduct a Boolean retrieval search of an initial word using a first index of said electronic database to determine in which of said number of documents said initial word meets a Boolean condition; conduct a probabilistic retrieval search of a second word using a second index of said electronic database to determine in which of said documents meeting said Boolean condition, the relevance of appearance of said second word exceeds a specified value; and wherein said first and second indexes have a common element that can be processed by both said Boolean and said probabilistic retrieval searches. - View Dependent Claims (29)
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Specification