Taxonomy based indexing and searching

摘要

A method, apparatus, and computer program product provide the ability to locate and display data in a taxonomy. A canonical taxonomy is defined (that is not exposed to a user that is searching for parts) by defining canonical categories and canonical attributes in a hierarchical structure. Mapping taxonomies are defined that define mapping categories that map to both canonical categories and canonical categories plus canonical attributes. Part data is processed based on the mapping taxonomies during which the data is mapped to a canonical category. A search request is specified in a particular mapping taxonomy format and results are returned (and displayed) that include data from multiple different taxonomies.