Computer-implemented system and method for augmenting search queries using glossaries

• US 9,275,062 B2
• Filed: 04/27/2015
• Issued: 03/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Palo Alto Research Center, Inc. (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Palo Alto Research Center, Inc. (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Janssen, William C., Karttunen, Lauri J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Richardson, James E
• Application Number:
  US14/697,563
• Publication Number:
  US 20150234847A1
• Time in Patent Office: 309 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/148 File search processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/212 with details for data modelling support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2272 Management thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24564 Applying rules; Deductive queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/31 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3331 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3338 Query expansion
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3349 Reuse of stored results of previous queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/367 Ontology
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/374 Thesaurus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

A computer-implemented system and method for augmenting search queries using glossaries is provided. At least one search query of one or more search terms is received. A set of tagged documents each associated with a tag and a glossary for the tag is accessed. The glossary includes one or more terms selected from that tagged document, definitions for the terms, and aliases for the terms. The search query is compared to the glossaries in the set. One or more terms in at least one of the glossaries that are related to the search terms of the search query are selected for inclusion in the search query.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for augmenting search queries using glossaries, comprising:

receiving at least one search query comprising one or more search terms;

selecting a set of tagged documents tagged with a plurality of tags from a database of tagged documents, the selecting comprising;

applying a time threshold to the database of tagged documents; and

identifying a plurality of tagged documents that have been tagged within a time that satisfies the time threshold as the set of tagged documents;

accessing the set of tagged documents;

identifying a plurality of glossaries associated with the plurality of tags, wherein each glossary comprises one or more terms selected from a corresponding tagged document of the set of tagged documents, definitions for the one or more terms, and aliases for the one or more terms;

comparing the search query to the plurality of glossaries; and

including in the search query, at least one or more terms from at least one of the plurality of glossaries that are related to the search terms of the search query forming an augmented search query.

2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

providing a context for the search query using the selected terms.

3. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

selecting the alias associated with at least one of the glossary terms and the search terms for inclusion in the search query.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the alias is selected based on a similarity with the search query.

5. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

selecting from a database of tagged documents, those tagged documents that are tagged by a user that entered the search query as the set of tagged documents.

6. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

identifying synonyms for the one or more search terms of the search query; and

adding the synonyms to the search query.

7. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining a relatedness of the one or more terms to the one or more search terms of the search query, comprising;

determining a cosine similarity measure between the query and each of the one or more terms in each of the plurality of glossaries;

determining a tf-idf value for each glossary against all the tagged documents with tags from the plurality of glossaries; and

selecting the N most significant glossary terms to add to the query based on the cosine similarity measure and the tf-idf value.

8. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

conducting a search for results using the augmented search query; and

refining the results, comprising;

comparing the results with the plurality of glossaries of the set of tagged documents;

identifying those results that are most similar to the plurality of glossaries; and

providing the most similar results as relevant results.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein the query is received from one of a user, search engine, and a database.

10. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing code for executing on a computer system to perform a method for augmenting search queries using glossaries, comprising:

receiving at least one search query comprising one or more search terms;

selecting a set of tagged documents tagged with a plurality of tags from a database of tagged documents, the selecting comprising;

applying a time threshold to the database of tagged documents; and

identifying a plurality of tagged documents that have been tagged within a time that satisfies the time threshold as the set of tagged documents;

accessing the set of tagged documents;

identifying a plurality of glossaries associated with the plurality of tags, wherein each glossary comprises one or more terms selected from a corresponding tagged document of the set of tagged documents, definitions for the one or more terms, and aliases for the one or more terms;

comparing the search query to the plurality of glossaries; and

including in the search query, at least one of the one or more terms from at least one of the plurality of glossaries that are related to the search terms of the search query to form an augmented search query.

11. A computer-implemented system for augmenting search queries using glossaries, the system including a processor and memory configured to execute modules, comprising:

a query module to receive at least one search query comprising one or more search terms;

a document selection module to select a set of tagged documents tagged with a plurality of tags from a database of tagged documents, the selecting comprising;

a threshold module to apply a time threshold to the database of tagged documents; and

a document identification module to identify a plurality of tagged documents that have been tagged within a time that satisfies the time threshold as the set of tagged documents;

a document access module to access the set of tagged documents;

a glossary identification module to identify a plurality of glossaries associated with the plurality of tags, wherein each glossary comprises one or more terms selected from a corresponding tagged document of the set of tagged documents, definitions for the one or more terms, and aliases for the one or more terms;

a comparison module to compare the search query to the plurality of glossaries; and

a selection module to include in the search query, at least one or more terms from at least one of the plurality of glossaries that are related to the search terms of the search query forming an augmented search query.

12. A system according to claim 11, further comprising:

a context module to provide a context for the search query using the selected terms.

13. A system according to claim 11, further comprising:

an alias module to select the alias associated with at least one of the glossary terms and the search terms for inclusion in the search query.

14. A system according to claim 13, wherein the alias is selected based on a similarity with the search query.

15. A system according to claim 11, further comprising:

a document selection module to select from a database of tagged documents, those tagged documents that are tagged by a user that entered the search query as the set of tagged documents.

16. A system according to claim 11, further comprising:

a synonym module to identify synonyms for the one or more search terms of the search query and to add the synonyms to the search query.

17. A system according to claim 11, further comprising:

a term relation module to determine a relatedness of the one or more terms to the one or more search terms of the search query, comprising;

a similarity module to determine a cosine similarity measure between the query and each of the one or more terms in each of the plurality of glossaries;

an occurrence module to determine a tf-idf value for each glossary against all the tagged documents with tags from the plurality of glossaries; and

a term selection module to select the N most significant glossary terms to add to the query based on the cosine similarity measure and the tf-idf value.

18. A system according to claim 11, further comprising:

a search module to conduct a search for results using the augmented search query; and

a refinement module to refine the results, comprising;

a comparison module to compare the results with the plurality of glossaries of the set of tagged documents; and

a result module to identify those results that are most similar to the plurality of glossaries and to provide the most similar results as relevant results.

19. A system according to claim 11, wherein the query is received from one of a user, search engine, and a database.