Scoping queries in a search engine

• US 7,065,523 B2
• Filed: 10/06/2004
• Issued: 06/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Meyerzon, Dmitriy, Peltonen, Kyle
• Primary Examiner(s): Pardo, Thuy N.
• Application Number:
  US10/959,330
• Publication Number:
  US 20050044074A1
• Time in Patent Office: 622 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1- 3, 707/5, 707/6, 707/101, 707/102, 707/103.R, 707/104.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

Systems and methods for scoping a search. When a content index for electronic data is built, one or more scope restrictions are included in the content index. The scope restriction may be, for example, a root folder identifier, a mailbox identifier, or a URL. Because the scope restriction is included in the content index random access of the property store to determine the scope is avoided. Rather, the scope restriction is implicitly added to a search that uses the content index. By including a scope restriction in the search query, the search results identified from the content index are limited to results that match the scope restriction. Advantageously, the effect of including the scope restriction in the search is ignored if the search results are relatively small or when including the scope restriction provides little benefit.

Claims

1. A computer program product for use in a system including a data store and a property store, wherein the data store is indexed by a content index that is built using terms gathered from objects contained in the data store, and wherein the property store contains items that identify various properties of the data objects including folder locations of the data objects in the data store, the computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions for implementing a method for scoping a search of the data store in order to identify and return a desired subset of objects contained within one or more folders in the data store, and doing so without accessing the property store, wherein the search includes one or more terms, the method comprising:

an act of indexing one or more unique folder identifiers in the content index that correspond to one or more folders located in the data store whenever the content index is built and altered, so that the one or more folder identifiers is implicitly included in a search of the content index;

an act of receiving a search request from a user for documents that include the one or more search terms, the search request also including at least one of the folder identifiers;

an act of identifying a first list of the content index that contains document identifiers, to facilitate scoping, by using the one or more search terms;

an act of identifying a second list of the content index that contains document identifiers by using the one or more folder identifiers from the content index; and

an act of comparing the second list of document identifiers against the first list of document identifiers to identify a subset of document identifiers that appear in both the first and second lists, such that the subset of document identifiers can be returned without having to access to the property store to determine the location of the documents in the data store.

2. A computer program product as defined in claim 1, wherein the act of including one or more identifiers in the content index further comprises an act of building the content index.

3. A computer program product as defined in claim 1, wherein the method further comprises an act of returning the subset of document identifiers without accessing the property store.

4. A computer program product as defined in claim 1, wherein the act of comparing the second list of document identifiers with the first list of document identifiers further comprises an act of restricting the search based on the one or more identifiers.

5. A computer program product as defined in claim 1, wherein the one or more folder identifiers are added to the search request automatically, in an implicit manner.

6. A computer program product as defined in claim 5, wherein the one or more folder identifiers is unique across the content index.

7. A computer program product as defined in claim 1, wherein the one or more folder identifiers is a Uniform Resource Locator.

8. A computer program product as defined in claim 1, wherein the act of comparing the second list of document identifiers with the first list of document identifiers further comprises an act of intersecting the second list of document identifiers with the first list of document identifiers to identify the subset of document identifiers.

9. In a system including a data store and a property store, wherein the data store is indexed by a content index that is built using terms gathered from objects contained in the data store, and wherein the property store contains items that identify various properties of the data objects including folder locations of the data objects in the data store, a method for scoping a search of the data store in order to identify and return a desired subset of objects contained within one or more folders in the data store, and doing so without accessing the property store, wherein the search includes one or more terms, the method comprising:

an act of indexing one or more scope restrictions in the content index;

an act of receiving a search request that includes one or more search terms from a user for documents that include the one or more search terms, wherein the one or more search terms provided in the search request are different than the one or more scope restrictions in the content index;

an act of identifying a first list of the content index that contains document identifiers, to facilitate scoping, by using the one or more search terms, and such that the first list is a list of document identifiers that include the one or more search terms;

an act of identifying a second list of the content index that contains document identifiers by using the at least one of the scope restrictions from the content index, and such that the second list is a list of document identifiers that include the at least one scope restriction, the at least one scope restriction being different than the one or more search terms;

upon determining that the list of document identifiers of the first list is large in comparison to the list of document identifiers associated with the second list, identifying a subset of document identifiers that appear in both the first and second lists by comparing the second list of document identifiers against the first list of document identifiers; and

upon determining that the list of document identifiers of the first list is small in comparison to the list of document identifiers associated with the second list, refraining from identifying the subset of document identifiers that appear in both the first and second lists.

10. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein comparing the second list of document identifiers against the first list of document identifiers to identify a subset of document identifiers that appear in both the first and second lists is performed without accessing the property store to determine the location of the documents in the data store.

11. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein determining that the list of document identifiers of the first list is small in comparison to the list of document identifiers associated with the second list comprises determining that the list of document identifiers of the first list is eight times smaller than the list of document identifiers associated with the second list.

12. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein determining that the list of document identifiers of the first list is small in comparison to the list of document identifiers associated with the second list comprises determining that the list of document identifiers of the first list is more than eight times smaller than the list of document identifiers associated with the second list.

13. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein determining that the list of document identifiers of the first list is small in comparison to the list of document identifiers associated with the second list further comprises determining that the second list of document identifiers cannot reduce the first list of document identifiers.

14. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein determining that the list of document identifiers of the first list is small in comparison to the list of document identifiers associated with the second list further comprises determining that processing only the first list of document identifiers is more efficient.

15. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein refraining from identifying a subset of document identifiers that appear in both the first and second lists includes accessing the property store to determine the location of the documents in the data store.

16. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein the scope restriction is added to the search query implicitly.

17. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein the one or more scope restrictions includes one or more unique folder identifiers in the content index that correspond to one or more folders located in the data store, such that search request includes at least one folder identifier, and such that the second list of the content index is identified by using the at least one folder identifier.

18. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein the scope restrictions includes URLs.

19. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein the documents correspond to mailbox messages and wherein the data store comprises a mail store.

20. A method as recited in claim 19, wherein the search query is restricted by the one or more scope restrictions to a user'"'"'s mailbox.

21. A computer program product for use in a system including a data store and a property store, wherein the data store is indexed by a content index that is built using terms gathered from objects contained in the data store, and wherein the property store contains items that identify various properties of the data objects including folder locations of the data objects in the data store, the computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions for implementing a method for scoping a search of the data store in order to identify and return a desired subset of objects contained within one or more folders in the data store, and doing so without accessing the property store, wherein the search includes one or more terms, the method comprising:

an act of indexing one or more scope restrictions in the content index;

an act of receiving a search request that includes one or more search terms from a user for documents that include the one or more search terms, wherein the one or more search terms provided in the search request are different than the one or more scope restrictions in the content index;

an act of identifying a first list of the content index that contains document identifiers, to facilitate scoping, by using the one or more search terms, and such that the first list is a list of document identifiers that include the one or more search terms;

an act of identifying a second list of the content index that contains document identifiers by using the at least one of the scope restrictions from the content index, and such that the second list is a list of document identifiers that include the at least one scope restriction, the at least one scope restriction being different than the one or more search terms;

upon determining that the list of document identifiers of the first list is large in comparison to the list of document identifiers associated with the second list, identifying a subset of document identifiers that appear in both the first and second lists by comparing the second list of document identifiers against the first list of document identifiers; and

upon determining that the list of document identifiers of the first list is small in comparison to the list of document identifiers associated with the second list, refraining from identifying the subset of document identifiers that appear in both the first and second lists.

22. A computer program product as recited in claim 21, wherein comparing the second list of document identifiers against the first list of document identifiers to identify a subset of document identifiers that appear in both the first and second lists is performed without accessing the property store to determine the location of the documents in the data store.

23. A computer program product as recited in claim 21, wherein determining that the list of document identifiers of the first list is small in comparison to the list of document identifiers associated with the second list comprises determining that the list of document identifiers of the first list is eight times smaller than the list of document identifiers associated with the second list.

24. A computer program product as recited in claim 21, wherein determining that the list of document identifiers of the first list is small in comparison to the list of document identifiers associated with the second list comprises determining that the list of document identifiers of the first list is more than eight times smaller than the list of document identifiers associated with the second list.

25. A computer program product as recited in claim 21, wherein determining that the list of document identifiers of the first list is small in comparison to the list of document identifiers associated with the second list further comprises determining that the second list of document identifiers cannot reduce the first list of document identifiers.

26. A computer program product as recited in claim 21, wherein determining that the list of document identifiers of the first list is small in comparison to the list of document identifiers associated with the second list further comprises determining that processing only the first list of document identifiers is more efficient.

27. A computer program product as recited in claim 21, wherein refraining from identifying a subset of document identifiers that appear in both the first and second lists includes accessing the property store to determine the location of the documents in the data store.

28. A computer program product as recited in claim 21, wherein the scope restriction is added to the search query implicitly.

29. A computer program product as recited in claim 21, wherein the one or more scope restrictions includes one or more unique folder identifiers in the content index that correspond to one or more folders located in the data store, such that search request includes at least one folder identifier, and such that the second list of the content index is identified by using the at least one folder identifier.

30. A computer program product as recited in claim 21, wherein the scope restrictions includes URLs.

31. A method as recited in claim 21, wherein the documents correspond to mailbox messages and wherein the data store comprises a mail store.

32. A method as recited in claim 31, wherein the search query is restricted by the one or more scope restrictions to a user'"'"'s mailbox.