method and system for indexing and searching contents of extensible markup language (xml) documents

Abstract

A method and a computer system for indexing and searching the data content of nested field records, such as those in Extensible Markup Language (XML). The system includes an indexing and searching engine that constructs an improved full-text search index on the input XML data and then performs searches using the index. The system supports exact matches and partial matches using a wildcard character. The method transforms the input XML data into a form that encodes the data structural information by suffixing each word with its corresponding field qualifiers or an equivalent numerical pattern thereof. The resulting encoded words are then stored in a full-text index structure. Various types of full-index search may be performed. One alternative embodiment is to combine string matching and numeric or integer pattern matching to identify a particular word in a particular field. The portion of the word without field qualifiers is matched against the words in the index, and the pattern of numerals representing the word's field qualifiers is matched against the numeral patterns of the words in the index that correspond to their respective field qualifiers. Therefore, evaluation of complex field criteria is reduced to simpler and faster numeric matching.

1 . A method of creating a searchable index for a nested field record containing data, comprising assigning at least one abbreviated identifier to at least one field of the record containing data, and creating an index comprising a string that includes the abbreviated identifier matched with the data of said field.  
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the nested field record is an XML record.  
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the abbreviated identifier is a numeral.  
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the data of the XML record includes words.  
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the string of the index is organized as numeral/word, wherein the numeral identifies the field and the word is the data from the XML record.  
   
   
       6 . An index created by the method of  claim 1 .  
   
   
       7 . A method of searching for desired data contained in a nested field record, comprising searching the index of  claim 5  for the desired data and the matched abbreviated identifier.  
   
   
       8 . A computer readable medium comprising instructions for carrying out the method of  claim 7.