Patent ID: 7467136

Claim:
A persistent query information retrieval system comprising: means for receiving parameter data representative of string-based search query, inclusive of a trailing wildcard character, the search parameter defining a subset of a plurality of entries in an associated database and wherein the string includes characters from an associated character set; testing means for testing a set of returned entries associated with each search parameter relative to an existence of remaining entries; means or generating a plurality of nested search parameters corresponding to each search parameter defined by the testing means to have remaining entries by automatically and sequentially applying each of a set of text characters from the character set in a position of the trailing wildcard character while shifting the wildcard character one position to the right in the string-based search query; means for generating, from the parameter data, query data comprised of a series of complementary queries structured to aggregate so as to correspond to all possible entries associated with the parameter data; means for communicating the query data to an associated search engine coupled to query the associated database; means for receiving, from the associated search engine, result data comprised of a series of responses corresponding to each of the series of complementary queries; and means for communicating the result data to an associated user in accordance with received result data.