Patent ID: 7472114

Claim:
A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving user input identifying tabular source data, the tabular source data representing data that has a tabular structure; receiving user input specifying parameters for a search of a plurality of documents, the search intended to find, in any of the plurality of documents, information from at least one random row within the tabular source data, each of the plurality of documents including freeform text, the search parameters identifying a plurality of columns within the tabular source data; defining, based on the search parameters, a scope of the search to find, in any of the plurality of documents, a sub-set of data fragments that matches the information from at least one random row within the tabular source data, the matched sub-set of data including a sub-set of tokens matching the information from any single row within the tabular source data and containing a token corresponding to one of the plurality of columns, the token having a specified value when the specified value is contained in the search parameters; and searching each of the plurality of documents for the information from at least one random row within the tabular data source using the defined scope.