Abstract: A method and system provides a search interface that permits a user to interrogate a structured database, and includes retrieving database entries from one or more databases, flattening a plurality of database entries, indexing the plurality of flattened database entries to form a search engine index, and prompting the user to enter an input. The system continuously monitors the user input and each time an input is entered by the user, the system computes a set of non-null partial queries in response to the input entered by the user, associates a structured item to each non-null partial query, and allows the user to select one of the structured items. If the user selects one of the structured items, the system replaces the user input by the non-null partial query associated to the selected structured item. When the user validates the input, the system executes the input as a query. Finally, the system provides documents to the user corresponding to the executed query.

Abstract: A method and system provides a search interface that permits a user to interrogate a structured database, and includes retrieving database entries from one or more databases, flattening a plurality of database entries, indexing the plurality of flattened database entries to form a search engine index, and prompting the user to enter an input. The system continuously monitors the user input and each time an input is entered by the user, the system computes a set of non-null partial queries in response to the input entered by the user, associates a structured item to each non-null partial query, and allows the user to select one of the structured items. If the user selects one of the structured items, the system replaces the user input by the non-null partial query associated to the selected structured item. When the user validates the input, the system executes the input as a query. Finally, the system provides documents to the user corresponding to the executed query.

Abstract: A computer implemented method for transforming an inverted index of a collection of documents into a smaller inverted index of documents. The smaller index contains links to all and only to those documents appearing in a subset of the original collection of documents. The method avoids reprocessing the subset to create the smaller inverted index by intersecting each inverted list with the list of document references from the desired subset. If this intersection is empty then the list is removed from the new smaller index, otherwise the list containing only the intersected reference list is included in the new inverted index. The method is also extended to deal with creating multiple smaller inverted indexes and with propagating updates changes in the first collection of documents down into the smaller inverted index or indexes.