Patent Document ID: 6026388
Application ID: 08696702

Base Claim:
1. A method of operating a computerized information retrieval system where information is retrieved from a database containing documents in response to user queries, the method comprising: receiving a natural language query specifying information to be retrieved; processing the query to generate an alternative representation of the query, the alternative representation including generating a logical representation incorporating terms and phrases found in the query and assigning weighted Boolean scores to the query terms; displaying query information to the user indicating the result of said step of processing the query; receiving user input responsive to the display of query information; in response to such user input, if any, modifying the alternative representation of the query to reflect such user input; and matching the alternative representation of the query, modified in accordance with such user input, if any, against the database.

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Claim 2:
2. The method of claim 1 wherein: the alternative representation of the query includes a conceptual level defined by subset of a finite set of subject codes, the subset corresponding to subject codes interpreted by the system to characterize the subject contents of the query.