579results about How to "Speed up search" patented technology

An apparatus for upgrading a viewer interface for a television program delivery system (200) is described. The invention relates to methods and devices for viewer pathways to television programs and services. Specifically, the apparatus involves hardware and software used in conjunction with the interface and a television at the viewer home to create a user friendly menu based approach to accessing programs and services. The apparatus is particularly useful in a program delivery system (200) with hundreds of programs and a data signal carrying program information. The disclosure describes menu generation and menu selection of television programs.

This invention relates to a system and methods for determining the placement of an object in a distributed key-value store by mapping the object to nodes in multidimensional hyperspace. A search function supports efficient object retrieval, even when the search query requests multiple objects and specifies them through non-primary keys. In response to a search query, the search is translated into hyperregions in the hyperspace to determine the set of nodes that hold the queried data object. The number of contacted nodes and the number of scanned objects are significantly reduced in comparison to prior art techniques.

A system and related techniques accept user-inputted search terms, for example to perform a search for files or other data or objects. Corresponding matches to those terms may be presented to the user in a “word-wheel”-type breakout list generated on the fly for groupings of hits by attributes or other criteria, as the system searches through the file system at the current level or point in the file system hierarchy. According to embodiments, when the search logic fails to locate a hit on the inputted search term at the current level or point in the file system hierarchy, an extension of the search to different levels or points in the file system hierarchy may be automatically generated, and for instance presented to the user as a selectable search box. That box may for example be highlighted to the user for easy selection. When the user does select the selectable search box, the user's search, for instance for files of type or extension “.doc” or “.memo”, may be seamlessly extended to other files, folders, trees or other points or levels in the file system hierarchy. Search results may be continuously or dynamically updated as the user, for example, enters more characters or other data.

The present invention is directed towards systems and methods for trust propagation. The method according to one embodiment comprises calculating a first feature vector for a first user, calculating a second feature for a second user and comparing the first feature vector with the second feature vector to calculate a similarity value. A determination is made as to whether the similarity value falls within a threshold. If the similarity value falls within the threshold, a relationship is recorded between the first user and the second user in a first user profile and a second user profile.

A system and method of information retrieval and triage for information analysis provides an for interactive multi-dimensional and linked visual representation of information content and properties. A query interface plans and obtains result sets. A dimension interface specifies dimensions with which to categorize the result sets. Links among results of a result set or results of different sets are automatically generated for linked selection viewing. Entities may be extracted and viewed and entity relations determined to establish further links and dimensions. Properties encoded in representations (e.g. icons) of the results in the multidimensional views maximizes display density. Multiple queries may be performed and compared. An integrated browser component responsive to the links is provided for viewing documents. Documents and other information from the result set may be used in an analysis component providing a space for visual linking, to arrange the information in the space while maintaining links automatically.

Improved techniques for using usage data are disclosed. The usage data can pertain to a user of an electronic device. The usage data can be monitored and recorded on the electronic device. The improved techniques are particularly useful when the electronic device is a mobile electronic device. In one embodiment, the usage data can be used to enhance searching of digital assets, such as digital media assets, resident at a local or remote repository. In another embodiment, the usage data can be used to determine content to be resident locally on the electronic device. In still another embodiment, the usage data can be used to present (e.g., display) information on the electronic device.

The present invention is directed to systems and methods for searching content items indexed in real-time. The method according to one embodiment comprises generating an index of word location pairs that identifies the location of one or more words in one or more content items available on a network. One or more additional content items are received over the network. The received content items are stored in a stream search queue, the stream search queue operative to allow for a stream search of the one or more additional content items.

The present invention is directed towards systems and methods for using community annotations to content items as anchortext for search and index purposes. The method according to one embodiment comprises generating one or more items of personalized information by a user for storage in a user profile, the one or more items of personalized information associated with one or more content items, the one or more content items and the one or more items of personalized information comprising one or more words. One or more items of personalized information is selected from a given user profile. The method further comprises indexing the one or more words in the one or more content items and the one or more words in the selected personalized information into an index, identifying one or more content items responsive to on or more query words in a query of the index and returning the identified content items as a result set to the user.

A method and apparatus for providing geographically authenticated electronic documents is disclosed. Authentication for attributes for an electronic document stored on a computer network are defined, the attributes comprise at least one attribute describing a geographic location associated with the electronic document. Authenticated attributes (e.g., geographic location) of electronic documents (e.g., Web pages) allow for more accurate geographic searching and filtering. An authenticated digital certificate is created and associated with an electronic document. The authenticated digital certificate can be stored within the electronic document, such as can be done with HTML tags on a Web page. The digital certificate can also be stored as a separate file associated with the electronic document, as a separate signed digital certificate and as a database record.

Systems and methods for indexing and searching data, such as file contents and / or metadata. In one exemplary method, an index corresponding to files on a storage device is created. Index is partitioned into subindexes according to certain criteria, such as the location of files or exclusivity of access to files. Subindex contains the entire content of files or metadata describing files, in addition to identifiers leading back to files' physical storage. Index is maintained by moving files' index entries from one subindex to another as files change in relation to the partition criteria, such as changing location. Searching some subindexes, like one corresponding to files in a shared folder, is done with permission checking. Searches of certain other subindexes, like one corresponding to the home folder of the user searching, are done without permission checking the underlying files resulting in a performance improvement.

Systems and methods for dispersing search engine results by category. A search engine application queries a searchable index of document data associated with a plurality of electronic documents in response to a search request to identify one or more electronic documents having document data matching data included in the search request. The search engine application disperses identified electronic documents according to category data included in the document data for display to a user.

An apparatus and method are provided for improving database searching, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a search query comprising one or more search keywords from a user; accessing a user profile means arranged to provide data indicative of relatedness criteria between keywords from a set of documents, and identifying from said user profile means, for the or each search keyword, potentially-related keywords according to predetermined criteria; providing said potentially-related keywords to the user; receiving information from the user confirming that any potentially-related keywords are considered to be related keywords; in the event that any potentially-related keywords are confirmed by the user to be related keywords, incorporating such potentially-related keywords as keywords in an improved search query; and submitting the improved search query to a search engine. Also provided are an apparatus and method for creating and maintaining user profiles for use in the above searching apparatus and method.

The invention discloses an automatic question answering method and a system thereof. The automatic question answering method comprises the following steps: step A, the information of a question is acquired through the analysis of the question; step B, the query criterion is generated according to the analysis results of the question for retrieval by using the search engine in knowledge source, thus searching out the file collection relating to the query criterion; the file collection is divided into paragraph collections; step C, paragraph collections relating to the query criterion are retrieved in a centralized way from the paragraphs by using the paragraph retrieval method according to the file retrieval results; and the answer of the question is returned from the paragraph collections. The automatic question answering method and the system improve the accuracy of answers and the precision of returning correct results.

The present invention relates to a fine-granularity files and directory edition management method based on snapshots, belonging to the multi-version document system field. The present invention separates a name space consisting of files and dirnames in a whole file system from an edition space representing the generating periods of different editions, and adopts relatively independent strategies to execute management, forming a hierarchical two-dimensional structure, i.e. forming a hierarchical structure from a root directory to a file in the name space; in the edition space, the editions of files and directory are organized through an index structure chronologically, forming a hierarchical structure in the edition space. The retrieval of the name space adopts an index strategy based on dynamic hash. The retrieval of the edition space adopts an index strategy based on a red-black tree. The directory edition and file edition respectively adopt a red-black tree structure variant aiming at the respective characteristics. The present invention can greatly improve the usability and the performance of the system, and controls the amount of consumption of time and space resulting from the maintenance of historical editions in an acceptable scope.

The subject invention relates to systems and methods that provide search and / or query-relevant information and / or links thereto to a user as and / or with a search and / or query result. This information can be determined form summary information that can be included within a tag, header, body, meta-data, etc. of the data. A user can employ a local and / or web search utility along with a search word, phrase, sentence, etc. to search over a data repository to locate and retrieve data that satisfies the search criteria. The summary information of this data is obtained and matched against the results and / or search criteria to determine whether the data is relevant to the search and / or query. The summary information is utilized to determine a snippet that summarizes the data, based on the search and / or query, search criteria, etc. to provide the user with search and / or query-relevant results and / or one or more links thereto.

Methods and systems for searching for media items using a voice-based digital assistant are described. Natural language text strings corresponding to search queries are provided. The search queries include query terms. The text strings may correspond to speech inputs input by a user into an electronic device. At least one information source is searched to identify at least one parameter associated with at least one of the query terms. The parameters include at least one of a time parameter, a date parameter, or a geo-code parameter. The parameters are compared to tags of media items to identify matches. In some implementations, media items whose tags match the parameter are presented to the user.

A search engine for databases, data streams, and other data sources allows user preferences as to the relative importance of search criteria to be used to rank the output of the search engine. A weighted preference generator generates weighted preference information including at least a plurality of weights corresponding to a plurality of search criteria. A weighted preference data search engines uses the weighted preference information to search a data source and to provide an ordered result list based upon the weighted preference information. A method for weighted preference data searching includes determining weighted preference information including a plurality of search criteria and a corresponding plurality of weights signifying the relative importance of the search criteria, and querying a data source and ranking the results based upon the weighted preference information. In addition to allowing client input of the relative importance of various search criteria, the system and method also preferably include the ability to provide a subjective ordering for at least some of the search criteria.

The content of a media program is recognized by analyzing its audio content to extract therefrom prescribed features, which are compared to a database of features associated with identified content. The identity of the content within the database that has features that most closely match the features of the media program being played is supplied as the identity of the program being played. The features are extracted from a frequency domain version of the media program by a) filtering the coefficients to reduce their number, e.g., using triangular filters; b) grouping a number of consecutive outputs of triangular filters into segments; and c) selecting those segments that meet prescribed criteria, such as those segments that have the largest minimum segment energy with prescribed constraints that prevent the segments from being too close to each other. The triangular filters may be log-spaced and their output may be normalized.

A method of identifies an appropriate wireless communication channel in an audio receiving device, that comprises 1) a wireless receiver receiving an audio signal on a particular transmission channel selected among a predefined number of possible transmission channels, and 2) a microphone for picking up a sound in the environment of the audio receiving device. The method comprises a) selecting a channel as the receiving channel among a predefined number of possible transmission channels; b) analyzing the received signal received and the signal picked up by the microphone; c) determining whether a predefined criterion concerning the degree of similarity of the received signal and the signal picked up by the microphone is fulfilled; d) KEEPING the channel as the receiving channel, if the predefined criterion is fulfilled; and e) CHANGING the receiving channel to another channel if the predefined criterion is NOT fulfilled.

The present invention provides a method and system for identifying, retrieving and presenting electronic documents responsive to user queries. The three distinct inventive concepts are relevancy ranking of responsive documents based on component query technique; cross-lingual searching; and search expansion using analytics of initial results to derive and generate a modified query. Each of these inventions enhances document search and retrieval systems and the three solutions may be used separately or in any combination. The three inventions apply in layers above an underlying search system, controlling the submission of requests to the underlying system in support of received search requests, typically originating with an end user. Invention (I) involves use of focus-spectrum expanded search queries and either of two general types of enhanced OR operator that may be offered by the underlying search system. Processing of the content domain informs automated generation of elaborated queries using these operators for submitting to such an underlying system so as to yield improved relevance ranking

The invention relates to a data management system and method based on a composite blockchain network, wherein the system comprises a first-level blockchain network and at least one second-level blockchain network; the second-level blockchain network comprises multiple mutually connected slave node servers; the second-level blockchain network sets a master node server in all the slave node servers; and the master node servers in all the second-level blockchain networks are mutually connected, so that the first-level blockchain network is formed. By means of the data management system and method disclosed by the invention, the integrity, the authenticity and the standardization of data can be ensured through audit signature verification of the composite multi-level blockchain network; the security of the data is ensured in a hierarchical encryption and multiple authorization mode; structural design of hierarchical storage of detailed data and classified index data is carried out through a blockchain technology and the composite multi-level network; therefore, the data is relatively smooth to interconnect, intercommunicate and exchange; furthermore, audit tracing can be realized; and the data retrieving, applying and sharing efficiency can be increased.

The present invention is a customizable system and method for direct access to a specified Internet website and related / alternate websites and to reach e-mail addresses utilizing telephone numbers as primary search queries. The browser's graphical elements and layout can be customized to suit the user's preferences or other criteria such as geographical circumstances, language, or to match the specified website's graphical elements and layout. The browser system is preferably embodied in a comprehensive Internet portal offering an instantly created referential and search-helping directories system structure that is formed around a website as it is entered from the portal by means of either: its domain name or URL-numeric, or a common telephone number belonging to such website. It also includes an e-mail organizing function based on the same basic system. The e-mail function is capable of concentrating in a customizable website a plurality of e-mail boxes belonging to the same owner in order to provide a classification service for his incoming messages.

The present invention is a fast indexing technique that builds an indexing structure based on multi-level key ranges typically for large data storage systems. The invention is explained based on the B+-tree. It is designed to reside in main memory. Point searches and range searches are helped by early termination of searches for non-existent data. Range searches can be processed depth-first or breath-first. One group of multiple searches can be processed with one pass on the indexing structure to minimize total cost. Implementation options and strategies are explained to show the flexibility of this invention for easy adaption and high efficiency. Each branch of any level has exact and clear key boundaries, so that it is very easy to build or cache partial index for various purposes. The inventive indexing structure can be tuned to speed up queries directed at popular ranges of index or index ranges of particular interest to the user.

The invention discloses a cascade reservoir multi-objective optimization scheduling method based on an improved artificial bee colony algorithm. The method comprises the following steps that s11, the basic information data of a cascade reservoir system are acquired; s12, a multi-objective scheduling model including power generation, estuarine ecology and water supply is established according to the information of the reservoir system; and s13, the optimal scheduling scheme of the cascade reservoir system is solved by performing the improved artificial bee colony algorithm. Global optimization of the reservoir scheduling problem can be realized so that the calculation efficiency and accuracy can be enhanced, and a new approach can be provided for solving the multi-objective optimization scheduling problem of the cascade reservoir system.

Architecture for improving text searches using information redundancy. A search component is coupled with an analysis component to rerank documents returned in a search according to a redundancy values. Each returned document is used to develop a corresponding word probability distribution that is further used to rerank the returned documents according to the associated redundancy values. In another aspect thereof, the query component is coupled with a projection component to project answer redundancy from one document search to another. This includes obtaining the benefit of considerable answer redundancy from a second data source by projecting the success of the search of the second data source against a first data source.