Patent ID: 7979461

Claim:
A method of processing a query, the method comprising: directing the query to a query processing computer that directs the query against an extended index database, the extended index database comprising a core database and one or more supplemental indexes; determining if the query seeks a query item that is located within the core database and, if the query item is not located in the core database, then determining if the query item is located in one or more of the supplemental indexes; identifying at least one similar item in response to a determination that the query item was not located in the core database and was not located in at least one of the supplemental indexes, the at least one similar item comprising a suitable alternative for the query item in accordance with a similarity ranking of item characteristics based on predetermined item characteristic relations between the core database and the one or more supplemental indexes; directing an alternate item query against the extended index database, the alternate item query comprising a query that seeks the at least one similar item; returning a query result from the query processing computer, the query result comprising a response that indicates the query item is located in the core database, a response that indicates that the query item was not located in the core database but was located in one or more of the supplemental indexes, and a response that indicates that the query item was not located at all but that the similar item was located in either the core database or at least one of the supplemental indexes.