Abstract: A method includes describing the thread configurations of a volume of well-ordered electronic message transmissions (EMT) and utilizing the thread configuration data to conduct selective searches of the EMT volume. An apparatus includes a thread processor and a query manager. The thread processor analyzes the EMT threads and records the thread configuration data. The query manager utilizes the thread configuration data to conduct selective searches of the EMT volume.

Abstract: Disclosed is a system architecture, components and a searching technique for an Unstructured Information Management System (UIMS). The UIMS may be provided as middleware for the effective management and interchange of unstructured information over a wide array of information sources. The architecture generally includes a search engine, data storage, analysis engines containing pipelined document annotators and various adapters. The searching technique makes use of a two-level searching technique. A search query includes a search operator containing of a plurality of search sub-expressions each having an associated weight value. The search engine returns a document or documents having a weight value sum that exceeds a threshold weight value sum. The search operator is implemented as a Boolean predicate that functions as a Weighted AND (WAND).

Abstract: A method for indexing a plurality of documents, that includes a plurality of duplicate documents, first identifies one or more duplicate groups of documents from among the plurality of documents. Then, one index of content for the duplicate group is created instead of indexing the content from every document within the duplicate group. However, in contrast to the content index, an index of metadata for each of the documents in the duplicate group is created. Thus the content of each duplicate group is indexed only once, while a search engine using such indexing techniques retains the capability to answer queries as if the duplicated content was indexed for each document of the group.

Abstract: A query is received and parsed to generate a set of query terms. Statistical information is identified regarding each of the query terms and different permutations of the query terms. Additionally, lexical affinities associated with the permutations of query terms are identified. Next, the query is classified into a query category and a set of ranking parameters and routing information (associated with the query category) are identified. The query is then issued to a search engine by applying the identified ranking parameters and routing information, whereupon the search engine executes the query and forwards search results that can be accessed by an application using an API (e.g., the results can be viewed via a browser).

Abstract: Disclosed is a system architecture, components and a searching technique for an Unstructured Information Management System (UIMS). The UIMS may be provided as middleware for the effective management and interchange of unstructured information over a wide array of information sources. The architecture generally includes a search engine, data storage, analysis engines containing pipelined document annotators and various adapters. The searching technique makes use of a two-level searching technique. A search query includes a search operator containing of a plurality of search sub-expressions each having an associated weight value. The search engine returns a document or documents having a weight value sum that exceeds a threshold weight value sum. The search operator is implemented as a Boolean predicate that functions as a Weighted AND (WAND).

Abstract: A method for indexing text on a personal digital assistant (PDA). The method may include the steps of transferring dynamic documents from the PDA to an off line mediary, creating off-line, from the dynamic documents, a static index and transferring the off-line static index to the PDA. The off-line mediary may be a mediary, such as a desktop, a server, and a web server.

Abstract: An apparatus is provided for performing a method (FIG. 2) for pruning an index of a corpus of text documents, wherein the method includes steps for ranking (50) the postings in the index and pruning (48) from the index the postings below a given level in the ranking. The pruning methods of the invention are lossy, since some document postings are removed from the full index; however, the user cannot differentiate the lossy index from the full index.

Abstract: A method for gathering and recording temporal information for a linked entity, the method including identifying a link related activity within a linked source entity, and recording a time stamp in association with the link related activity.

Abstract: A method for searching a corpus of documents, such as the World Wide Web, includes defining a knowledge domain and identifying a set of reference documents in the corpus pertinent to the domain. Upon inputting a query, the corpus is searched using the set of reference documents to find one or more of the documents in the corpus that contain information in the domain relevant to the query. The set of reference documents is updated with the found documents that are most relevant to the domain. The updated set is used in searching the corpus for information in the domain relevant to subsequent queries.

Abstract: A method for searching a corpus of documents, such as the World Wide Web, includes defining a knowledge domain and identifying a set of reference documents in the corpus pertinent to the domain. Upon inputting a query, the corpus is searched using the set of reference documents to find one or more of the documents in the corpus that contain information in the domain relevant to the query. The set of reference documents is updated with the found documents that are most relevant to the domain. The updated set is used in searching the corpus for information in the domain relevant to subsequent queries.