FACILITATING EXECUTION OF CONCEPTUAL QUERIES CONTAINING QUALITATIVE SEARCH TERMS

摘要

The disclosed embodiments relate to a system that facilitates performing searches based on qualitative search terms. During operation, the system receives a query that applies a qualitative search term to an attribute of data items in a set of data items. While executing the query, the system processes each data item in the set of data items by extracting an attribute value from the data item and then using a concept-mapping to determine a compatibility index for the attribute value, wherein the concept-mapping associates each attribute value with a numerical compatibility index that indicates a compatibility between the attribute value and the qualitative search term. Finally, the system uses the compatibility index as a factor in determining whether to include the data item in a set of query results.

主权项

1. A method for executing a query, comprising:
receiving the query at a computer system, wherein the query applies a qualitative search term to an attribute of data items in a set of data items; and while executing the query on the computer system, processing each data item in the set of data items by,
extracting an attribute value from the data item,selecting a concept-mapping that is class-specific for the attribute based on class information obtained from one or more fields in the set of data items,using the concept-mapping to determine a compatibility index for the attribute value, wherein the concept-mapping associates each attribute value with a numerical compatibility index that indicates a compatibility between the attribute value and the qualitative search term, andusing the compatibility index as a factor in determining whether to include the data item in a set of query results.