CONTEXT-BASED INFORMATION RETRIEVAL

摘要

A customer self service system and method for performing resource search and selection. The method includes steps of providing an interface (12) enabling entry of a query (131) for a resource and specification of one or more user context elements (132) , each element (132) representing a context associated with the current user state and having context attributes (14) and attribute values (232) associated therewith; enabling user specification of relevant resource selection criteria (245) for enabling expression of relevance of resource results in terms of user context; searching a resource database and generating a resource response set having resources that best match a user's query (131), user context attributes (14) and user defined relevant resource selection criteria (245); presenting said resource response set (332, 333, 335, 336) to the user in a manner whereby a relevance of each of the resources being expressed in terms of user context in a manner optimised to facilitate resource selection; and, enabling continued user selection and modification (135, 136) of context attribute values (232) to enable increased specificity and accuracy of a user's query (131) to thereby result in improved selection logic and attainment of resource response sets best fitted to the query.