Patent Document ID: 8037068
Application ID: 11399568

Base Claim:
1. A method for searching through content which is accessible through a web-based form, the method comprising, in a computer system, performing the operations of: receiving a query containing keywords; analyzing the query to create a structured query, the analyzing comprising: predicting a class for the query based at least on the keywords in the query; mapping the keywords in the query to properties of the predicted class; and generating a structured query based on the mapping; performing a lookup based on the structured query in a database containing an entry for each of a plurality of web-based forms; ranking web-based forms returned by the lookup, wherein ranking the web-based forms comprises determining one or more scores for each web-based form based on properties of a web page in which the web-based form is located, wherein determining the one or more scores comprises determining a form score that reflects an ability of the web-based form to answer the query by: determining inputs and outputs for a first web-based form based on the predicted class for the query; determining inputs and outputs for a second web-based form in the database; and computing the form score for the first web-based form using the inputs and outputs for the first web-based form and the inputs and outputs for the second web-based form; and facilitating a search of content that is accessible through the web-based forms using the rankings.

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Claim 7:
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second web-based form (f) is associated with a page (p), and wherein computing the form score using the inputs (Q I ) and outputs (Q O ) for the first web-based form and the inputs (I f ) and outputs (O f ) for f comprises computing a form score (FS(p)) for the page p based on a form score (FS(f)) for each of the web-based forms f: FS ⁡ ( p ) = max f ∈ p ⁢ ⁢ FS ⁡ ( f ) , wherein FS ⁡ ( f ) =  I f ⋂ Q I   I f ⋃ Q I  ·  O f   Q O  .