Patent ID: 8086561

Claim:
A document searching system comprising: a first storing apparatus including a first storage unit that stores first structured documents each having elements that are logically hierarchized; a second storing apparatus including a second storage unit that stores second structured documents each having elements that are logically hierarchized, the second structured documents being stored in an exclusive manner with respect to the first structured documents; and a document managing apparatus that manages the first storing apparatus and the second storing apparatus, wherein the first storing apparatus, the second storing apparatus, and the document managing apparatus are connected via a network, wherein the document managing apparatus includes a structure storage unit that stores structure information indicating a hierarchical structure that collectively includes hierarchy positional relationships of a first element and a second element in the first and second structured documents stored in the first storage unit and the second storage unit in a collective manner; an extracting unit that extracts a first path to the first element in the first structured documents and a second path to the second element in the second structured documents, the first element and the second element having an identical name, when a join search is conducted in the first storage unit and the second storage unit; and a transmitting unit that transmits the first path and the second path to the first storing apparatus, the first storing apparatus includes a first receiving unit that receives the first path and the second path from the document managing apparatus; a first searching unit that conducts a search in the first structured documents stored in the first storage unit for one of the first structured documents that contains first text information included in the first element indicated by the first path; and a first transmitting unit that transmits to the second storing apparatus, the second path and the first text information contained in the one of the first structured documents found in the search, and the second storing apparatus includes a second receiving unit that receives, from the first storing apparatus, the second path and the first text information; and a second searching unit that conducts a search in the second structured document stored in the second storage unit for one of the second structured documents that contains second text information included in the second element indicated by the second path, the second text information matching the received text information.