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System and method for querying multiple, distributed databases by selective sharing of local relative significance information for terms related to the query

  • US 5,826,261 A
  • Filed: 05/10/1996
  • Issued: 10/20/1998
  • Est. Priority Date: 05/10/1996
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. In an information retrieval apparatus including a database of documents, each document having a plurality of terms and a unique document indicia, the information retrieval apparatus further including a programmed processor adapted to receive a query containing at least one term and to compute in response to the query a document score for each of a selected plurality of documents, the document score being a function of the terms of the query, a computer memory readable by the processor and comprising:

  • a first table that specifies for each document in the database a set of terms, each term in the set associated with a scalar measure of a contribution the term makes to the document score of the document, the scalar measure of contribution for a term being a function of an inverse document frequency of the term, and a frequency of the term within the document, the terms in each set ordered by the scalar measure of contribution, the sets ordered with respect to indicia of the documents, such that the information retrieval apparatus can determine for any document a selected number of terms that most significantly contribute to the document score.

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