Patent ID: 7305415

Claim:
An apparatus for classifying a search query having at least one search query term used in conducting a subject matter search using a search engine, the apparatus comprising: an accessor operable to access a store storing a plurality of different collocations of terms with the terms in each collocation exemplifying a particular subject matter category to facilitate disambiguation between different meanings of a same term; a disambiguator operable to disambiguate different meanings of the at least one search query term by comparing the at least one search query term with the terms of the plurality of different collocations of terms to determine, on the basis of the relationship between the at least one search query term and the terms of the collocations, at least one subject matter category with which the at least one search query term is associated; and a supplier operable to supply a signal including signal data representing the at least one search query term and the determined at least one subject matter category.