System and method for providing full-text search integration in XQuery

• US 8,176,030 B2
• Filed: 02/12/2009
• Issued: 05/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Palo Alto Research Center, Inc. (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Cheslow, Robert D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Mahmoudi, Tony
• Assistant Examiner(s): Khoshnoodi, Fariborz
• Application Number:
  US12/370,530
• Publication Number:
  US 20090157671A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,181 Days
• Field of Search: 707/610, 707/622, 707/706, 707/713, 707/716, 707/718, 707/720, 707/723, 707/728, 707/737, 707/741, 707/760, 707/765, 707/769, 707/803, 707/707
• US Class Current: 707/706
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/8373 Query execution
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

A system and method for providing full-text search integration in XQuery is presented. A built-in search function defined in an XQuery language is implemented, and a full-text search is initiated. The search function includes one or more search terms and a relation logic. Variants for each search term in the search function are identified. Posting lists are obtained for one or more of the variants. Each posting list includes values offset from elements containing the search term associated with the variant to which the posting list corresponds. The relation logic is applied to the offset values of the posting lists. Those elements with offset values that satisfy the relation logic are selected. The elements that satisfy the relation logic are provided as results of the full-text search.

Claims

1. A system for providing full-text search integration in XQuery, comprising:

a storage device storing computer-executable program code;

a processor executing the computer-executable program code in computer-executable program modules, comprising;

an XQuery interpreter implementing a built-in search function defined in an XQuery language and initiating a full-text search, wherein the search function comprises one or more search terms and a relation logic;

a search function implementation module identifying variants for each search term comprised in the search function and obtaining posting lists for one or more of the variants, each posting list comprising values offset from elements containing the search term associated with the variant to which the posting list corresponds;

a postings resolution module applying the relation logic to the offset values of the posting lists and selecting those elements with offset values that satisfy the relation logic; and

a posting module providing the elements that satisfy the relation logic to the XQuery interpreter as results of the full-text search.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the relation logic comprises at least one of Boolean operations, proximity and order relations, and flexible token matching.

3. The system according to claim 1, further comprising:

an assignment module assigning a score to each result; and

an order module ordering the results in descending order based on the assigned score.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the variants are identified using at least one of case-insensitive, spelling correction, and stemming routines.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the posting lists are filtered using at least one of union and intersection routines.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the offset values each comprise a location of the element containing at least one of the search terms in a sequence file.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the search function further comprises an XML node set to be searched using the search terms.

8. The system according to claim 7, further comprising:

a directory module locating code associated with the search function; and

an implementation module executing the code.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein the search function comprises a search expression according to search (data, search-expression).

10. The system according to claim 1, wherein the elements are stored within lexicons and comprise XML syntax.

11. A computer-implemented method for providing full-text search integration in XQuery, comprising:

implementing a built-in search function defined in an XQuery language and initiating a full-text search, wherein the search function comprises one or more search terms and a relation logic;

identifying variants for each search term comprised in the search function and obtaining posting lists for one or more of the variants, each posting list comprising values offset from elements containing the search term associated with the variant to which the posting list corresponds;

applying the relation logic to the offset values of the posting lists;

selecting those elements with offset values that satisfy the relation logic; and

providing the elements that satisfy the relation logic as results of the full-text search.

12. The computer-implemented method according to claim 11, wherein the relation logic comprises at least one of Boolean operations, proximity and order relations, and flexible token matching.

13. The computer-implemented method according to claim 11, wherein the results are ordered by:

assigning a score to each result; and

ordering the results in descending order based on the assigned score.

14. The computer-implemented method according to claim 11, wherein the variants are identified using at least one of case-insensitive, spelling correction, and stemming routines.

15. The computer-implemented method according to claim 11, wherein the posting lists are filtered using at least one of union and intersection routines.

16. The computer-implemented method according to claim 11, wherein the offset values each comprise a location of the element containing at least one of the search terms in a sequence file.

17. The computer-implemented method according to claim 11, wherein the search function further comprises an XML node set to be searched using the search terms.

18. The computer-implemented method according to claim 17, further comprising:

locating code associated with the search function; and

executing the code.

19. The computer-implemented method according to claim 11, wherein the search function comprises a search expression according to search (data, search-expression).

20. The computer-implemented method according to claim 11, wherein the elements are stored within lexicons and comprise XML syntax.