Cap-sensitive text search for documents

Abstract

A capitalization-sensitive (“Cap-sensitive”) search is a feature that provides the ability to specify as search criteria both a term and a capitalization characteristic or signature of the term. There are conventional approaches that enable a capital-sensitive approach to be performed from within a document.

1 . A method for performing a text search, the method comprising:
 receiving one or more search terms;   making a determination of a capitalization characteristic of at least a first of the one or more search terms; and   identifying, from a plurality of documents, one or more documents based at least in part on the determination of the capitalization characteristic.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein making a determination of a capitalization characteristic includes at least one (i) determining that no capitalization characteristic is present in the search term, and (ii) determining that the capitalization characteristic is present in the search term. 
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein determining that the capitalization characteristic is present in the search term includes determining a capitalization characteristic class from two or more possible capitalization characteristic classes. 
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the capitalization class includes a first class in which each character of the at least first search term is capitalized. 
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein making a determination of a capitalization characteristic includes determining that all characters in the at least first search term are capitalized. 
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein making a determination of a capitalization characteristic includes determining that at least one character in the at least first search term is capitalized. 
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein making a determination of a capitalization characteristic includes identifying one or more individual characters in the at least first search term that are capitalized. 
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying one or more documents based at least in part on a determination of the capitalization characteristic includes identifying the one or more documents based on a match of the at least first search term with a specified capitalization characteristic contained in the one or more identified documents. 
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying one or more documents based at least in part on a determination of the capitalization characteristic includes identifying the one or more documents based on (i) the capitalization characteristic of the at least first search term being of a given capitalization class, and (ii) the one or more documents containing the at least first search term in the given capitalization class. 
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the given class of the capitalization characteristic corresponds to a class selected from (i) a first class in which all characters in the at least first search term being capitalized, (ii) a second class in which at least one but not all characters in the at least first search term are capitalized, and (iii) a third class that includes the first class and the second class, and in which at least one character in the first search term is capitalized. 
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein making a determination of a capitalization characteristic includes determining that the at least first search term has the capitalization characteristic for a class corresponding to one of:
 (i) a first class corresponding to all characters in the at least first search term being capitalized, (ii) a second class corresponding to at least one but not all characters in the first search term being capitalized, and (iii) a third class corresponding to none of the characters in the first search term being capitalized.   
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein identifying one or more documents based at least in part on the determination of the capitalization characteristic includes:
 for when the at least first search term is of the first class, identifying the one or more documents includes identifying only those documents in the plurality of documents that contain the at least first search term with the capitalization characteristic of the first class;   for when the at least first search term is of the second class, identifying the one or more documents includes identifying only those documents in the plurality of documents that contain the at least first search term with the capitalization characteristic of the first class or the second class; and   for when the at least first search term is of the third class, identifying the one or more documents includes identifying the documents in the plurality of documents that contain the at least first search term with the capitalization characteristic of any of the first, second, or third classes.   
   
   
       13 . A method of  claim 1 , wherein the method is performed by one or more processors that execute instructions, and wherein the plurality of documents are stored or cached locally on a computer-readable medium that is accessible to the one or more processors. 
   
   
       14 . A method of  claim 1 , wherein the method is performed by one or more processors that execute instructions, and wherein the plurality of documents are located on a plurality of locations that are accessible to the one or more processors through a network. 
   
   
       15 . A method for enabling a text search, the method comprising:
 for each document in a plurality of documents,
 identifying a plurality of text items, 
 recording an entry in an data structure for each identified text item, and 
 responsive to an identified text item having one or more characters that are capitalized, recording information in the data structure indicating a capitalization characteristic of the given text item. 
   
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising
 enabling the data structure to be used for a search operation in which a search criteria specifies a capitalization characteristic or classification.   
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein recording information in the data structure corresponds to recording multiple entries for each text item that has one or more characters that are capitalized. 
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein recording multiple entries includes recording one of the multiple entries as being of a class with a corresponding capitalization characteristic for that class. 
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein recording multiple entries includes recording an other of the multiple entries as having no capitalization characteristic. 
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein recording information in the data structure includes:
 responsive to text item having no capitalization characteristic, storing one entry for the text item representing no capitalization characteristics in that text item;   responsive to text item having a capitalization characteristic in which at least one, but not all characters are capitalized, storing a first entry for the text item representing no capitalization characteristics in that text item, and a second entry representing that at least one, but not all characters are capitalized; and   responsive to text item having a capitalization characteristic in which all characters are capitalized, storing a first entry for the text item representing no capitalization characteristics in that text item, a second entry representing that at least one, but not all characters are capitalized, and a third entry representing that all characters of that entry are capitalized.