Patent ID: 7519582

Claim:
A computer implemented method of performing a high-level multi-dimensional external fuzzy query on a multi-structural database, comprising: receiving a set of objects and a set of dimensions, said set of dimensions being selected as at least one of the group consisting of: time, content type, geography, and topic; formalizing each of said dimensions as a lattice, each lattice including a union of elements in said latticed dimensions and an intersection of elements in said latticed dimensions, wherein each said lattice corresponds to one of a single one of said dimensions or a plurality of said dimensions; defining a position of each object within each dimension; annotating said object with tokens corresponding to the position of the object in each dimension; receiving the external fuzzy query that includes a subset of the objects, a subset of the dimensions, a value limiting a number of returned collections, and a quality function for evaluating a quality of any candidate non-overlapping collection from all candidate non-overlapping collections having a size that is less than or equal to the limiting value; selecting an algorithm based on said external fuzzy query, said algorithm being selected from the group consisting of: discovery, max-monotone and sum-additive; determining an order of processing said dimensions within a subset of said dimensions; applying said selected algorithm to each of said dimensions in the order of processing of said dimensions; returning a non-overlapping collection from the candidate non-overlapping collections using a complex query algorithm, wherein the quality of the returned non-overlapping collection as defined by the quality function is at least as great as the quality of any other candidate non-overlapping collection, wherein said multi-structural database includes only semi-structured or unstructured data.