US6460029B1 — System for improving search text

Claim 1

Independent Claim 121 words

A method for improving searching of a computer, the method comprising: (a) retrieving a search query comprising text having at least one logical operator provided by a user; (b) locating an ambiguity in the search query caused by the logical operator, wherein locating an ambiguity comprises locating a relationship that creates an ambiguity as to whether the user wants items that have both a first term and a second term or whether the user wants items that have either the first term or the second term; (c) requesting additional information from the user to clarify the text of the search query; and (d) replacing the logical operator in the user text with a different logical operator based on the additional information.

Claim 2

Independent Claim 121 words

A method for improving searching of a computer, the method comprising: (a) retrieving a search query comprising text having at least one logical operator provided by a user; (b) locating an ambiguity in the search query caused by the logical operator, wherein locating an ambiguity comprises locating a relationship that creates an ambiguity as to whether the user wants items that have both a first term and a second term or whether the user wants items that have either the first term or the second term; (c) requesting additional information from the user to clarify the text of the search query; and (d) replacing the logical operator in the user text with a different logical operator based on the additional information.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 20 words

The method of claim 1 wherein locating an ambiguous relationship comprises locating a negative term and the term it modifies.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 54 words

The method of claim 1 wherein locating an ambiguous relationship comprises locating a relationship that creates an ambiguity as to whether the user wants items that have all of a set of terms in the search query or whether the user wants items that have one of the terms of the set of terms.

Claim 5

Independent Claim 58 words

A method for improving searching of a computer, the method comprising: (a) retrieving a search query comprising text provided by a user; (b) locating an ambiguity in the search query as to the media types of the items to be searched for; and (c) requesting additional information from the user to clarify the text of the search query.

Claim 6

Independent Claim 58 words

A method for improving searching of a computer, the method comprising: (a) retrieving a search query comprising text provided by a user; (b) locating an ambiguity in the search query as to the media types of the items to be searched for; and (c) requesting additional information from the user to clarify the text of the search query.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 27 words

The method of claim 4 wherein requesting additional information from the user comprises displaying a list of possible media types for the items to be searched for.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 101 words

In a computer system having a display, a method of producing a series of screens on the display, the method comprising: (a) producing a search solicitation screen to solicit a search query from a user; (b) producing a disambiguation screen based on an ambiguity caused by a connecting term between a first term and a second term in the search query, the disambiguation screen comprising a request for additional information to clarify whether the user intended to find documents that have both a first term and a second term or documents that have either the first term or the second term.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 101 words

In a computer system having a display, a method of producing a series of screens on the display, the method comprising: (a) producing a search solicitation screen to solicit a search query from a user; (b) producing a disambiguation screen based on an ambiguity caused by a connecting term between a first term and a second term in the search query, the disambiguation screen comprising a request for additional information to clarify whether the user intended to find documents that have both a first term and a second term or documents that have either the first term or the second term.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 72 words

In a computer system having a display, a method of producing a series of screens on the display, the method comprising: (a) producing a search solicitation screen to solicit a search query from a user; (b) producing a disambiguation screen based on an ambiguity in the search query, producing the disambiguation screen comprising displaying a request for additional information to clarify whether the user wanted documents represented in a particular media type.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 72 words

In a computer system having a display, a method of producing a series of screens on the display, the method comprising: (a) producing a search solicitation screen to solicit a search query from a user; (b) producing a disambiguation screen based on an ambiguity in the search query, producing the disambiguation screen comprising displaying a request for additional information to clarify whether the user wanted documents represented in a particular media type.

Claim 12

Independent Claim 85 words

A method for changing the format of user's search query comprising: (a) retrieving a free text search query comprising input terms from a user, the free text search query having no logical operators; (b) identifying two possible logical operators to place between two input terms of the free text search query, wherein one of the logical operators is a near logical operator; and (c) asking the user a question to determine which of the two logical operators to insert to construct a logical function query.

Claim 13

Independent Claim 85 words

A method for changing the format of user's search query comprising: (a) retrieving a free text search query comprising input terms from a user, the free text search query having no logical operators; (b) identifying two possible logical operators to place between two input terms of the free text search query, wherein one of the logical operators is a near logical operator; and (c) asking the user a question to determine which of the two logical operators to insert to construct a logical function query.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 22 words

The method of claim 8 wherein one of the logical operators indicates that two input terms must both appear in a document.

Claim 15

Independent Claim 106 words

A method for changing the format of user's search query comprising: (a) retrieving a free text search query comprising input terms from a user; (b) identifying a search engine where the search query is to be applied, the search engine capable of performing a search using a query; (c) identifying a logical operator to place between two input terms; (d) selecting a character-based representation of the logical operator from a set of possible character-based representations of the logical operator based on the identified search engine; and (e) inserting the character-based representation of the logical operator between the two input terms to construct a logical function query.

Claim 16

Independent Claim 106 words

A method for changing the format of user's search query comprising: (a) retrieving a free text search query comprising input terms from a user; (b) identifying a search engine where the search query is to be applied, the search engine capable of performing a search using a query; (c) identifying a logical operator to place between two input terms; (d) selecting a character-based representation of the logical operator from a set of possible character-based representations of the logical operator based on the identified search engine; and (e) inserting the character-based representation of the logical operator between the two input terms to construct a logical function query.

Claim 17

Independent Claim 125 words

A method for changing the format of user's search query comprising: (a) retrieving a free text search query comprising input terms from a user; (b) identifying a part of speech for at least two input terms; (c) identifying a logical operator to place between two input terms based on the input terms' parts of speech; (d) inserting the logical operator between the two input terms to construct a logical function query; (e) generating inflected forms of input terms; and (f) adding the inflected forms to the logical function query, wherein inflected forms of an input term that is either in a noun adjective relationship with another input term or a generic modifying relationship with another input term are not added to the logical function query.

Claim 18

Independent Claim 125 words

A method for changing the format of user's search query comprising: (a) retrieving a free text search query comprising input terms from a user; (b) identifying a part of speech for at least two input terms; (c) identifying a logical operator to place between two input terms based on the input terms' parts of speech; (d) inserting the logical operator between the two input terms to construct a logical function query; (e) generating inflected forms of input terms; and (f) adding the inflected forms to the logical function query, wherein inflected forms of an input term that is either in a noun adjective relationship with another input term or a generic modifying relationship with another input term are not added to the logical function query.

Claim 19

Independent Claim 98 words

A method for changing the format of a search query comprising: (a) retrieving a free text search query comprising input terms from a user; (b) performing a natural language parse of the search query to produce natural language parse data comprising an indication of inflected forms of terms in the free text search query and an indication of which terms in the free text search query are modifying terms that modify other terms; (c) constructing a logical query from the natural language parse data comprising not including the inflected forms of a modifying term in the logical query.

Claim 20

Independent Claim 98 words

A method for changing the format of a search query comprising: (a) retrieving a free text search query comprising input terms from a user; (b) performing a natural language parse of the search query to produce natural language parse data comprising an indication of inflected forms of terms in the free text search query and an indication of which terms in the free text search query are modifying terms that modify other terms; (c) constructing a logical query from the natural language parse data comprising not including the inflected forms of a modifying term in the logical query.

Claim 21

Dependent Claim 26 words

The method of claim 12 wherein the natural language parse data further comprises an indication of terms in coordinating relationships in the free text search query.

Claim 22

Independent Claim 111 words

A method for changing the format of a search query comprising: (a) retrieving a free text search query comprising input terms from a user; (b) performing a natural language parse of the search query to produce natural language parse data; (c) determining a search engine over which a logical query will be applied, the search engine capable of performing a search using the logical query; (d) selecting at least one character-based representation of a logical operator from a set of character-based representations of the logical operator based on the search engine; and (e) constructing a logical query from the natural language parse using the selected character-based representation of the logical operator.

Claim 23

Independent Claim 111 words

A method for changing the format of a search query comprising: (a) retrieving a free text search query comprising input terms from a user; (b) performing a natural language parse of the search query to produce natural language parse data; (c) determining a search engine over which a logical query will be applied, the search engine capable of performing a search using the logical query; (d) selecting at least one character-based representation of a logical operator from a set of character-based representations of the logical operator based on the search engine; and (e) constructing a logical query from the natural language parse using the selected character-based representation of the logical operator.

Claim 24

Independent Claim 87 words

A method for improving a search query of a computer system, the method comprising: (a) receiving a search query from a user; (b) identifying a scope of a search by performing one of a set of steps comprising: (i)counting the number of terms in the search query; (ii)examining the user's past searches to determine if the user has entered similar search queries in the past; (iii)determining whether at least one scope term is in the search query; and (c) modifying the search query based on the scope.

Claim 25

Independent Claim 87 words

A method for improving a search query of a computer system, the method comprising: (a) receiving a search query from a user; (b) identifying a scope of a search by performing one of a set of steps comprising: (i)counting the number of terms in the search query; (ii)examining the user's past searches to determine if the user has entered similar search queries in the past; (iii)determining whether at least one scope term is in the search query; and (c) modifying the search query based on the scope.

Claim 26

Dependent Claim 18 words

The method of claim 15 wherein modifying the search query comprises adding a term to the search query.

Claim 27

Dependent Claim 31 words

The method of claim 15 further comprising displaying a suggestion to the user based on the scope of the query and modifying the search query if the user selects the suggestion.

Claim 28

Independent Claim 99 words

A method for modifying a search query for searching a computerized system, the method comprising: (a) receiving a search query from a user; (b) performing a natural language parse on the search query to form natural language parse data; (c) modifying the search query based on the natural language parse data to form a modified search query, wherein modifying the search query comprises removing a term that describes a property of the information desired by the user and that is related to the media type of the information; and (d) sending the modified search query to a search area.

Claim 29

Independent Claim 99 words

A method for modifying a search query for searching a computerized system, the method comprising: (a) receiving a search query from a user; (b) performing a natural language parse on the search query to form natural language parse data; (c) modifying the search query based on the natural language parse data to form a modified search query, wherein modifying the search query comprises removing a term that describes a property of the information desired by the user and that is related to the media type of the information; and (d) sending the modified search query to a search area.

Claim 30

Dependent Claim 98 words

A computer-readable medium for a computer system having computer-executable components comprising: (a) a search solicitation component capable of producing a display to solicit a search query from a user; (b) a natural language parsing component capable of performing a natural language parse of the search query to produce natural language parse data; and (c) a search query modification component capable of modifying the search query based on the natural language parse data to remove a term that describes a property of information desired by the user, wherein the term that is removed is related to a media type.

Claim 31

Dependent Claim 98 words

A computer-readable medium for a computer system having computer-executable components comprising: (a) a search solicitation component capable of producing a display to solicit a search query from a user; (b) a natural language parsing component capable of performing a natural language parse of the search query to produce natural language parse data; and (c) a search query modification component capable of modifying the search query based on the natural language parse data to remove a term that describes a property of information desired by the user, wherein the term that is removed is related to a media type.

Claim 32

Independent Claim 104 words

A method for improving searching of a computer, the method comprising: (a) retrieving a search query comprising text having at least one negation logical operator provided by a user; (b) locating an ambiguity in the search query caused by the negation logical operator, wherein locating an ambiguity comprises locating a relationship that creates an ambiguity as to whether the user wishes to exclude items that include certain text; (c) requesting additional information from the user to clarify the text of the search query; and (d) replacing the negation logical operator in the user text with a different logical operator based on the additional information.

Claim 33

Independent Claim 104 words

A method for improving searching of a computer, the method comprising: (a) retrieving a search query comprising text having at least one negation logical operator provided by a user; (b) locating an ambiguity in the search query caused by the negation logical operator, wherein locating an ambiguity comprises locating a relationship that creates an ambiguity as to whether the user wishes to exclude items that include certain text; (c) requesting additional information from the user to clarify the text of the search query; and (d) replacing the negation logical operator in the user text with a different logical operator based on the additional information.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	2005-09-30	2006-04-01	2006-10-01	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	2009-09-30	2010-04-01	2010-10-01	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	2013-09-30	2014-04-01	2014-10-01	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

System for improving search text

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