Answering web queries using structured data sources
First Claim
1. In a computing environment, a method comprising, processing an online web search query, including generating one or more patterns based upon dictionary information obtained from query logs in which the dictionary information comprises data indicating universal token classes, data driven token classes and modifier token classes, finding a matching pattern that matches the online web search query from among the one or more patterns, translating the online web search query based on the matching pattern into the evaluation expression, using the expression to access data in a structured data store, and returning search results including results obtained from the structured data store.
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Abstract
Described is answering online web queries from a structured data store, such as a products database. An online web search query is modified into an evaluation expression for accessing a structured data store (e.g., a database, XML file, a flat table) to find search results. A query is matched to a pattern, which is used to generate the expression, as well as determine to which structured data store the query is routed. Tokens (e.g., words) in the query are processed against a dictionary of token classes (sets of tokens) and patterns (sets of token classes) to annotate the query to map the query to the matching pattern. A translation process generates the expression based on translation hints that correspond to the matching pattern. Also described is offline mining of query logs to generate the dictionaries.
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Citations
20 Claims
- 1. In a computing environment, a method comprising, processing an online web search query, including generating one or more patterns based upon dictionary information obtained from query logs in which the dictionary information comprises data indicating universal token classes, data driven token classes and modifier token classes, finding a matching pattern that matches the online web search query from among the one or more patterns, translating the online web search query based on the matching pattern into the evaluation expression, using the expression to access data in a structured data store, and returning search results including results obtained from the structured data store.
- 2. In a computing environment, a system comprising, a structured data store, dictionary information comprising a set of dictionaries, and a query processing mechanism configured to generate one or more patterns based upon dictionary information obtained from query logs, receive an input web query, segment the input web query into parts corresponding to token classes from the dictionary information to find candidate patterns, find a matching pattern that matches the input web query amongst the candidate patterns, use the matching pattern to translate the input web query into an expression, and to query the structured data store with the expression to return search results for the input web query including data accessed from the structured data store.
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3. At least one computer storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon, which in response to execution by a computer, cause the computer to perform steps comprising:
- generating one or more patterns based upon dictionary information obtained from query logs, annotating the online web query into tokens and token classes from the dictionary information, segmenting the online web query into parts to find candidate patterns, finding a matching pattern that matches the online web query from among the candidate patterns, modifying the online web query into an evaluation expression based on the matching pattern, using the matching pattern to determine which structured data store to route the evaluation expression, using the evaluation expression to access data in the structured data store, and returning search results including the data accessed from the structured data store.
- View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
Specification