Subject matter context search engine

摘要

A search system associates contextual metadata with search terms and/or stored terms to facilitate identification of relevant information. In one implementation, a search term is identified (4304) from a received search request. The search term is then rewritten (4306) in standard form and the standard form term is then set (4308) as the current search parameter. A source database is then searched (4310) using the current search parameter. If any results are obtained (4312) these results may be output (4320) to the user. If no results are obtained, a parent classification of the search term is set (4316) as the current search parameter and the process is repeated. The invention thereby provides the ease of use of term searching with the comprehensiveness of category searching.

主权项

1. A method utilizing at least one computing device for searching stored data, comprising steps of:
providing a list of potential search terms pertaining to a subject matter of interest, wherein the list of potential search terms is generated independent of the stored data; identifying source terms in a source form from the stored data; establishing a set of rules for transforming the potential search terms from a first form to a standardized form and for transforming the source terms in the source form to the standardized form, wherein the standardized form differs from both the first form and the source form with respect to at least one of linguistics and syntax; transforming, using the set of rules, a given term of the potential search terms, thereby providing a transformed potential search term in the standardized form, wherein at least two separate terms from the list of potential search terms in the first form correspond to a first single term in the standardized form; transforming, using the set of rules, a given term of the source terms, thereby providing a transformed source term in the standardized form, wherein two separate terms from the source terms correspond to a second single term in the standardized form; associating the transformed potential search term and the transformed source term with a common classification structure; receiving a search request comprising one term of the list of potential search terms; and using the transformed potential search term corresponding to the one term of the potential search terms of the search request relative to the common classification structure having the transformed source term to search the stored data in response to the search request; wherein the transforming steps and the associating step occur prior to the receiving of the search request.