Patent ID: 8024351
Filing Date: 2011-09-20
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A machine-implemented method of restricting a query of an inverted index to a portion of the inverted index, the method comprising: receiving a query against an inverted index, the inverted index having stored thereon postings lists of terms, a postings list being a linked list of one or more nodes, each of the one or more nodes representing one or more items containing a term; restricting the query to items represented in a subset of nodes, the subset of nodes having been processed in a previous update to the inverted index, wherein each item represented in the subset of nodes is not represented in any other node in the inverted index; returning a query result responsive to restricting the query to the items represented in the subset of nodes, the query result identifying those items represented in the subset of nodes containing the term that matches a search term corresponding to the query; and updating the query result, wherein updating comprises one or both of: