Systems and methods for document searching

• US 20090319510A1
• Filed: 06/20/2008
• Published: 12/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RELX Inc. (RELX PLC)
• Original Assignee: LexisNexis Group Inc. (RELX PLC)
• Inventors: Miller, David James
• Granted Patent: US 8,145,654 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/31 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for document searching. In one implementation, a computer-implemented method provides keyword searching. The method may receive a plurality of noisy keywords for a document collection. A server may generate tokens for a plurality of keywords in the document collection and merge the tokens to create an index. A search query may be received. The search query may include at least one search phrase. For the at least one search phrase, an indication may be received from a user specifying to perform one of a noisy phrase search or a noiseless phrase search. The method may search the index for the at least one search phrase based on the indication received from the user.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for keyword searching, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of noisy keywords for a document collection;

generating, by a server, tokens for a plurality of keywords in the document collection;

merging the tokens to create an index;

receiving a search query, wherein the search query includes at least one search phrase;

receiving, for the at least one search phrase, an indication from a user specifying to perform one of a noisy phrase search or a noiseless phrase search; and

searching the index for the at least one search phrase based on the indication received from the user.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein creating a token for one of the keywords further comprises:

determining whether the keyword is a noisy keyword by comparing the keyword to the plurality of noisy keywords;

tagging the keyword with a noisy keyword tag when the keyword is determined to be a noisy keyword;

determining a keyword position and a number of noisy keywords preceding the keyword; and

outputting the token, wherein the token comprises a document identifier, the noisy keyword tag, the keyword position, and the number of noisy keywords preceding the keyword.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the noisy phrase search includes the noisy keywords in the search query and the noiseless phrase search ignores the noisy keywords in the search query.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of noisy keywords are specific to a particular document.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein when the noiseless phrase search is performed, the keyword position is adjusted by the number of noisy keywords preceding the keyword.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein searching the index further comprises:

determining whether the at least one search phrase is surrounded by quotations; and

when the at least one search phrase is surrounded by quotations, performing a noisy phrase search, and when the at least one search phrase is not surrounded by quotations, performing a noiseless phrase search.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein searching the index further comprises tokenizing the search query prior to performing the search.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the search query includes both noisy search phrases and noiseless search phrases.

9. A system for creating an index for a document collection, the system comprising:

a database storing a plurality of noisy keywords for a document collection; and

a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions for;

comparing a keyword in one or more documents to the plurality of noisy keywords;

determining whether the keyword is a noisy keyword;

determining, for one of the documents, a keyword position and a number of noisy keywords preceding the keyword;

creating, for the one of the documents, a token including a document identifier, an indication whether the keyword is a noisy keyword, the keyword position, and the number of noisy keywords preceding the keyword, and

storing the token in an index.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the plurality of noisy keywords are specific to a document.

11. The system of claim 9, the computer-readable medium further storing instructions for:

receiving a search query, wherein the search query includes at least one search phrase;

receiving, for the at least one search phrase, an indication from a user specifying to perform one of a noisy phrase search or a noiseless phrase search;

processing a search using the at least one search phrase, wherein the search can be performed as a noisy phrase search or as a noiseless phrase search; and

outputting a search result.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein, when a noiseless phrase search is performed, each keyword position is adjusted by the number of noisy keywords preceding the keyword.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the noisy phrase search includes noisy keywords in the search query and the noiseless phrase search ignores noisy keywords in the at least one search phrase.

14. The system of claim 11, the computer-readable medium further storing instructions for:

determining whether the at least one search phrase is surrounded by quotations;

performing a noisy phrase search when the at least one search phrase is surrounded by quotations; and

performing a noiseless phrase search when the at least one search phrase is not surrounded by quotations.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the search query is tokenized prior to performing the search.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the search query includes both noisy search phrases and noiseless search phrases.

17. A computer-implemented method for tokenizing keywords in a keyword search, the method comprising:

receiving, from a database, a plurality of noisy keywords for a document collection;

determining whether a keyword in a search query is a noisy keyword by comparing the keyword to the plurality of noisy keywords;

tagging the keyword with a noisy keyword tag when the keyword is found in the noisy keyword list;

determining a keyword position and a number of noisy keywords preceding the keyword; and

outputting a token, wherein the token comprises a document identifier, the noisy keyword tag, the keyword position, and the number of noisy keywords preceding the keyword.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein a user specifies one or more of the plurality of noisy keywords that are specific to a particular document.