Patent ID: 7120627

Claim:
A method implemented on a computer running executable code of fulfilling an information need comprising: obtaining an input query including at least one user-specified search term; converting said input query into a converted input query; using said converted input query to obtain a result wherein said result does not include aid at least one user-specified search term included in said input query; wherein said converted input query is an affirmative statement including an unspecified portion, and the method further comprises: searching documents for candidate results for the unspecified portion; selecting said result from said candidate results; further comprising: performing a document search using said result as a search term; performing a document search using said at least one term included in said input query; analyzing said input query to extract syntactic and contextual information producing an analyzed query; determining a best key match for said analyzed query by matching said analyzed query with key terms associated with a structure; forming at least one partially specified query using other data included in said structure; searching documents using said at least one partially specified query to obtain said candidate results, said at least one partially specified query being said converted query; and selecting said result from said candidate results.