System And Method For Supplementing Search Queries

Abstract

A system and method for supplementing search queries is provided. A set of tagged documents is accessed and each tagged document is associated with a glossary that includes a plurality of entries. Each entry is associated with a term, at least one alias, and a definition for the term. A search query having one or more search words is received. The search query is compared with the glossaries associated with each of the tagged documents. In one or more of the glossaries, at least one entry that includes one of the search words of the search query is identified. A supplemental search query is generated by selecting one of the term, alias, and at least a portion of the definition from one or more of the identified entries for inclusion in the query.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for supplementing search queries, comprising:
 tagged documents each associated with a glossary comprising a plurality of entries, wherein each entry comprises a term, at least one alias, and a definition for the term;   a receipt module to receive a search query comprising one or more search words;   a comparison module to compare the search query with the glossaries associated with each of the tagged documents;   an identification module to identify in one or more of the glossaries at least one entry that includes one of the search words of the search query; and   a query module to generate a supplemental search query by selecting one of the term, alias, and at least a portion of the definition from one or more of the identified entries for inclusion in the query.   
     
     
         2 . A system according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a query augmentation module to select one of a further term and alias for inclusion in the search query by identifying a set of glossaries related to a user of the search query, determining an N number of most significant terms from the related glossaries, and adding the N most significant related glossary terms to the search query.   
     
     
         3 . A system according to  claim 1 , wherein inclusion of the selected term, alias, or definition in the search query facilitates at least one of disambiguating one or more of the search words and broadening the search query. 
     
     
         4 . A system according to  claim 1 , wherein the tagged documents are each associated with a user that provided the search query. 
     
     
         5 . A system according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a term comparison module to compare one or more of the search words to a thesaurus and to determine one or more related terms in the thesaurus for at least one of the search words;   a glossary comparison module to compare the related terms from the thesaurus with the glossaries associated with each tagged document and to identify in at least one glossary one or more entries associated with one of the related terms; and   a query augmentation module to select for inclusion in the search query one of the term, alias, and a portion of the definition from at least one of the entries associated with the related terms.   
     
     
         6 . A system according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a query execution module to apply the supplemental search query to a set of documents comprising tagged and untagged documents and to provide results of the supplemental search query comprising one or more of the tagged and untagged documents.   
     
     
         7 . A system according to  claim 6 , further comprising:
 a display module to display one of the tagged document results and to automatically provide a view of one of the terms in the glossary associated with the displayed document during an occurrence of that term in the document.   
     
     
         8 . A system according to  claim 6 , further comprising:
 a document access module to access one of the untagged document results;   a document comparison module to compare the untagged document result to the glossaries of the tagged documents, wherein each of the glossaries is associated with a tag for the tagged document;   a similarity module to calculate a similarity measure between the untagged document result and each glossary; and   a tag assignment module to assign to the untagged document result a tag associated with the glossary having the highest similarity measure.   
     
     
         9 . A system according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 an index module to generate an index for at least one of the tagged documents, comprising:
 index terms selected from the tagged document; 
 a corpus of tagged documents each associated with a glossary and related to the tagged document; 
 a term comparison module to compare the index terms with the glossaries of the tagged documents in the corpus; 
 an alias identification module to identify an alias for one or more of the index terms based on the comparison; 
 an occurrence module to determine occurrences in the tagged document for each of the index terms and aliases; and 
 a compiler to compile the index terms, aliases, and occurrences into the index for that tagged document. 
   
     
     
         10 . A system according to  claim 1 , wherein each glossary is associated with a tag and the terms in that glossary are subtopics for the tag and further wherein each subtopic is associated with a subtag that is associated with a subglossary. 
     
     
         11 . A method for supplementing search queries, comprising:
 accessing tagged documents each associated with a glossary comprising a plurality of entries, wherein each entry comprises a term, at least one alias, and a definition for the term;   receiving a search query comprising one or more search words;   comparing the search query with the glossaries associated with each of the tagged documents;   identifying in one or more of the glossaries at least one entry that includes one of the search words of the search query; and   generating a supplemental search query by selecting one of the term, alias, and at least a portion of the definition from one or more of the identified entries for inclusion in the query.   
     
     
         12 . A method according to  claim 11 , further comprising:
 selecting one of a further term and alias for inclusion in the search query, comprising:
 identifying a set of glossaries related to a user of the search query; 
 determining an N number of most significant terms from the related glossaries; and 
 adding the N most significant related glossary terms to the search query. 
   
     
     
         13 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein inclusion of the selected term, alias, or definition in the search query facilitates at least one of disambiguating one or more of the search words and broadening the search query. 
     
     
         14 . A method according to  claim 11 , wherein the tagged documents are associated with a user that provided the search query. 
     
     
         15 . A method according to  claim 11 , further comprising:
 comparing one or more of the search words to a thesaurus;   determining one or more related terms in the thesaurus for at least one of the search words;   comparing the related terms from the thesaurus with the glossaries associated with each tagged document;   identifying one or more entries in at least one glossary associated with the related terms; and   selecting for inclusion in the search query one of the term, alias, and a portion of the definition from at least one of the entries associated with the related terms.   
     
     
         16 . A method according to  claim 11 , further comprising:
 applying the supplemental search query to a set of documents comprising tagged and untagged documents; and   providing results of the supplemental search query comprising one or more of the tagged and untagged documents.   
     
     
         17 . A method according to  claim 16 , further comprising:
 displaying one of the tagged document results; and   automatically providing a view of one of the terms in the glossary associated with the displayed document during an occurrence of that term in the document.   
     
     
         18 . A method according to  claim 16 , further comprising:
 accessing one of the untagged document results;   comparing the untagged document result to the glossaries of the tagged documents, wherein each of the glossaries is associated with a tag for the tagged document;   calculating a similarity measure between the untagged document result and each glossary; and   assigning to the untagged document result a tag associated with the glossary having the highest similarity measure.   
     
     
         19 . A method according to  claim 11 , further comprising:
 generating an index for at least one of the tagged documents, comprising:
 identifying index terms within the tagged document; 
 obtaining a corpus of tagged documents each associated with a glossary and related to the tagged document; 
 comparing the index terms with the glossaries of the tagged documents in the corpus; 
 identifying an alias for one or more of the index terms based on the comparison; 
 determining occurrences in the tagged document for each of the index terms and aliases; and 
 compiling the index terms, aliases, and occurrences into the index for that tagged document. 
   
     
     
         20 . A method according to  claim 11 , wherein each glossary is associated with a tag and the terms in that glossary are subtopics for the tag and further wherein each subtopic is associated with a subtag that is associated with a subglossary.