Patent ID: 6405188
Filing Date: 2002-06-11
Classification: G06F,Y10S

Abstract:
A method in a data processing system having information items, comprising:receiving a query containing a query word from a user; computing an initial relevancy score for each information item given the query word; determining a posterior relevancy probability for each information item, basing the determination on a prior probability that at least one of the information items are relevant independent of the query word; computing a final relevancy score for each information item based on the initial relevancy score and the posterior relevancy probability; ranking the information items by the final relevancy score; selecting a number of ranked information items to be used in generating a new query; identifying words found in common among the selected number of ranked information items; generating the new query, wherein the new query includes the query word and the words found in common among the selected number of ranked information items; retrieving a number of information items found to be relevant based on the new query; and presenting the list of relevant information items to the user.