Patent ID: 8954426
Filing Date: 2015-02-10
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A computer implemented method of searching a fact repository, the method comprising: at a computer system including one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs, the one or more processors executing the one or more programs to perform the operations of: receiving at the fact repository a search query provided by a user from a single generic search query box of a web based search engine configured to perform both web search queries in web documents and fact repository queries in the fact repository, the query including a restriction operator and a plurality of search terms, wherein the restriction operator is selected from a group consisting of: a fact restriction operator that causes a single fact to be searched for the search terms, wherein the plurality of search terms need not all appear in a single field, and a field restriction operator that causes any single unspecified field of a fact to be searched for all of the search terms, wherein the fact repository includes objects and facts extracted from unstructured documents or web pages, wherein each of the objects represents an entity and includes a plurality of facts that describe the entity, and each of the facts includes a plurality of fields, including attribute and value fields and one or more metrics, wherein the one or more metrics include a confidence level that indicates likelihood that the fact is correct and an importance level that indicates relevance of the fact to the object, compared to other facts for the same object; performing the search query in the fact repository by processing the plurality of facts in the fact repository to determine which of the plurality of facts are relevant to the search query and satisfy the restriction operator; and returning, from the fact repository, at least one object with at least one fact that is relevant to the search query and satisfies the restriction operator.