Patent Document ID: 8417721
Application ID: 13315212

Base Claim:
1. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving a query that includes a first geographic entity name; identifying a candidate substitute term for the first geographic entity name, wherein the candidate substitute term is a second geographic entity name; determining that the geographic entity name and the second geographic entity name have a particular relationship in a geographic data set that includes a plurality of names of geographic entities and respective relationships between pairs of geographic entities; obtaining search results that satisfy the query; and demoting a score of an obtained search result that corresponds to a document that includes the second geographic entity name based at least in part on the determined particular relationship between the first geographic entity and the second geographic entity.

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Claim 2:
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the demotion in score for a city-to-city relationship is less than a country-to-country relationship.