Patent ID: 7181680

Claim:
A method comprising performing a machine-executed operation involving instructions, wherein the machine-executed operation is at least one of: A) sending said instructions over transmission media; B) receiving said instructions over transmission media; C) storing said instructions onto a machine-readable storage medium; and D) executing the instructions; wherein said instructions are instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of: receiving a query for a set of matching XML documents, wherein the set of matching XML documents are XML documents that satisfy search criteria specified in said query; and using an index to identify one or more XML documents that qualify as members of said set of matching XML documents, wherein said index stores a first set of entries for element names, wherein the entry for a particular element name includes location information for the particular element name, wherein the location information for the particular element name specifies (a) which XML documents, of a plurality of XML documents indexed by said index, contain elements with said particular element name, and (b) where, within each of said XML documents containing said elements with said particular element name, the elements with the particular element name are located; a second set of entries for element attributes, wherein the entry for a particular element attribute includes location information for the particular element attribute, wherein the location information for the particular element attribute specifies (a) which XML documents, of said plurality of XML documents indexed by said index, contain elements with said particular element attribute, and (b) where, within each of said XML documents containing said elements with said particular element attribute, the elements with the particular element attribute are located; and a third set of entries for element values, wherein the entry for a particular element value includes location information for the particular element value, wherein the location information for the particular element value specifies (a) which XML documents, of said plurality of XML documents indexed by said index, contain elements with said particular element value, and (b) where, within each of said XML documents containing said elements with said particular element value, the elements with the particular element value are located.