Community-Defined Facets for Database Search Refinement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing database search systems lack user-centric navigation and classification tools, relying on programmer-defined facets and values, which limits community engagement and effective information retrieval in large global computer networks like the Internet.
Innovation Solution
A computer method and system that allows users to define facets and facet values, enabling community-driven classification, organization, and navigation of information, with facet value counts and relevance-based display for refined search results across multiple databases or social networks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If programmer-defined facets and values are used in traditional databases, then system control and structure are maintained, but user engagement and effective information retrieval are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables users to autonomously define facets and facet values for database records without requiring programmer intervention. Users can create custom classification schemes, add new facet values, and organize information according to their specific needs, making the system self-adapting to user requirements while maintaining manageable complexity through automated processing.
2Ease of operation
If community-defined facets and values are permitted, then user-centric navigation and classification are improved, but system manageability and data consistency become challenging
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by automatically processing and organizing user-defined facets and values before they are used in search operations. It pre-validates facet definitions, establishes consistent data structures, and prepares classification frameworks in advance, ensuring that user-centric navigation capabilities are enhanced while maintaining system reliability and data consistency through automated preprocessing.
3Measurement precision
If facet value counts and relevance-based display are implemented, then search result refinement is improved, but computational requirements and processing time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements partial action by calculating facet value counts and relevance metrics for only the most significant facets and a subset of facet values rather than computing all possible combinations. It prioritizes display of high-relevance results and uses threshold-based filtering to limit computational scope, thereby achieving improved search result precision while maintaining acceptable processing speeds through selective computation.
Data Source
AI summary
A database search method and system utilize user community defined facets and facet values for refining searches. The system provides access to a database having a plurality of records in respective categories of information. Each record has one or more facets to the respective category of information, usable in connection with a search as suggested additional parameters for further refining search terms or guiding user navigation of the database. The facets and facet values are defined by a computer network community of users over time and through use of the network community portal. Another embodiment is an advertising engine that displays targeted advertisements to the user based on refined search. Another embodiment is a method that utilizes refined search to help the user with navigation of a site (e.g., website or other computer network site) as a component of a GUI.