Method and apparatus for generating query responses in a computer-based document retrieval system

Number of patents in Portfolio can not be more than 2000

United States of America Patent

PATENT NO 5724571
SERIAL NO

08499268

Stats

ATTORNEY / AGENT: (SPONSORED)

Importance

Loading Importance Indicators... loading....

Abstract

See full text

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for generating responses to queries to a document retrieval system. The system responds to a specific request for information by locating and ranking portions of text that may contain the information sought. It locates small relevant passages of text (called 'hit passages') and ranks them according to an estimate of the degree to which they correspond to the information sought. The system minimizes the number of these hit passages that need to be examined before an information seeker has either found the desired information or can safely conclude that the information sought is not in the collection of texts. A relaxation ranking mechanism is provided to accommodate paraphrase variations that occur between the description of the information sought and the content of the text passages that may constitute suitable answers, by retrieving phrases that are dissimilar to the query phrase to different degrees according to a predefined set of rules, and penalizing the retrieved phrases based upon the degree of this dissimilarity, thus providing the user with a priority organized query hit list.

Loading the Abstract Image... loading....

First Claim

See full text

Family

Loading Family data... loading....

Patent Owner(s)

Patent OwnerAddress
ORACLE AMERICA INC500 ORACLE PARKWAY REDWOOD SHORES CA 94065

International Classification(s)

  • [Classification Symbol]
  • [Patents Count]

Inventor(s)

Inventor Name Address # of filed Patents Total Citations
Woods, William A Winchester, MA 24 901

Cited Art Landscape

Load Citation

Patent Citation Ranking

Forward Cite Landscape

Load Citation