Patent Document ID: 6144958
Application ID: 09115662

Base Claim:
1. In a computer system that implements a search engine that is accessible to users over a computer network, a method of handling misspelled search terms in search queries, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of: (a) processing search queries submitted to the search engine by a plurality of users over a period of time to generate correlation data, the correlation data indicating correlations between search terms based at least upon frequencies of prior occurrences of the search terms within the same search query; (b) receiving a search query from a user over the computer network, the search query comprising a plurality of search terms and being directed to an informational database to be searched; (c) identifying within the search query a non-matching search term which does not produce a match within the informational database, and at least one matching search term which produces a match within the informational database; (d) using at least the correlation data to identify a plurality of additional terms that are deemed to be related to the at least one matching search term; and (e) comparing the additional terms identified in step (d) to the non-matching term to identify an additional term that is a candidate correctly-spelled replacement term for the non-matching term.

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Claim 8:
8. The method of claim 1, wherein step (a) further comprises evaluating post-query-submission actions of users to identify search queries that are deemed to have produced a successful result, and weighing the search queries that produced a successful result more heavily in generating the correlation data.