Patent ID: 8572082

Claim:
A method for generating a similar meaning term list comprising steps of: preparing a similar meaning term database storing a plurality of reference terms and a plurality of similar meaning terms in association with each other such that several similar meaning terms correspond to each of the reference terms; preparing a document data group including a plurality of documents to be searched; determining if each of the reference terms stored in the similar meaning term database is included in a document to be searched; when it is determined that the reference term is included in the document, determining, for each of the similar meaning terms corresponding to the reference term, if the similar meaning term is included in the same document; determining output priorities to the similar meaning terms in such a way that the smaller a number of documents that were determined to include both the reference term and a similar meaning term corresponding to the reference term, the higher the output priority of the similar meaning term, by executing the determination if the reference term is included and the determination if the similar meaning terms are included for all documents; and generating a similar meaning term list in which the extracted reference term, the similar meaning term corresponding to the reference term, and the output priority determined to the similar meaning term are associated with one another.