Object-oriented twig query evaluation
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method for searching a corpus of documents, the method comprising:
- defining a query as a twig comprising a root annotation operator having an associated tag specifying a span and having an associated expression indicative of one or more terms whose occurrence within the span will satisfy the query;
recursively selecting an object from a group of objects that consists of the tag and the expression, and advancing through the corpus using the selected object until a candidate document is found that contains the tag and satisfies the expression;
evaluating the candidate document to determine whether the one or more terms indicated by the expression occur within the span in the candidate document so as to satisfy the annotation operator; and
retrieving the candidate document from the corpus upon determining that the annotation operator is satisfied.
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Abstract
A computer-implemented method for searching a corpus of documents includes defining a query as a twig including a root annotation operator having an associated tag specifying a span and having an associated expression indicative of one or more terms whose occurrence within the span will satisfy the query. An object is recursively selected from a group of objects that consists of the tag and the expression, and is used in advancing through the corpus until a candidate document is found that contains the tag and satisfies the expression. The candidate document is evaluated to determine whether the one or more terms indicated by the expression occur within the span in the candidate document so as to satisfy the annotation operator.
26 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method for searching a corpus of documents, the method comprising:
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defining a query as a twig comprising a root annotation operator having an associated tag specifying a span and having an associated expression indicative of one or more terms whose occurrence within the span will satisfy the query; recursively selecting an object from a group of objects that consists of the tag and the expression, and advancing through the corpus using the selected object until a candidate document is found that contains the tag and satisfies the expression; evaluating the candidate document to determine whether the one or more terms indicated by the expression occur within the span in the candidate document so as to satisfy the annotation operator; and retrieving the candidate document from the corpus upon determining that the annotation operator is satisfied. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. Apparatus for searching a corpus of documents, the apparatus comprising:
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an interface, for receiving a query that is defined as a twig comprising a root annotation operator having an associated tag specifying a span and having an associated expression indicative of one or more terms whose occurrence within the span will satisfy the query; and a processor, which is configured to process the query by recursively selecting an object from a group of objects that consists of the tag and the expression, and advancing through the corpus using the selected object until a candidate document is found that contains the tag and satisfies the expression, and evaluating the candidate document to determine whether the one or more terms indicated by the expression occur within the span in the candidate document so as to satisfy the annotation operator, and to retrieve the candidate document from the corpus upon determining that the annotation operator is satisfied. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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- 14. A computer software product for searching a corpus of documents, the product comprising a computer-readable medium in which program instructions are stored, which instructions, when read by a computer, cause the computer to receive a query that is defined as a twig comprising a root annotation operator having an associated tag specifying a span and having an associated expression indicative of one or more terms whose occurrence within the span will satisfy the query, and to process the query by recursively selecting an object from a group of objects that consists of the tag and the expression, and advancing through the corpus using the selected object until a candidate document is found that contains the tag and satisfies the expression, and evaluating the candidate document to determine whether the one or more terms indicated by the expression occur within the span in the candidate document so as to satisfy the annotation operator, and to retrieve the candidate document from the corpus upon determining that the annotation operator is satisfied.
Specification