Pre-filtering Search Queries by Access Privileges
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing search systems face limitations in retrieving all relevant results due to upper limits on search results, leading to truncation and reduced relevance, especially when users have limited access rights, resulting in incomplete or irrelevant search outcomes.
Innovation Solution
Implement a method that analyzes search queries to select appropriate indexes based on limiting criteria such as data fields, user access privileges, and authorization filters, applying these filters before querying the database to reduce the number of records and enhance relevance, using techniques like Lucene scoring and post-filtering to prioritize results.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If upper limits are placed on the number of search results to reduce processing time and system demands, then search efficiency is improved, but result completeness and relevance deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies filtering operations before the main search query is executed. User access privileges, authorization filters, and data field constraints are evaluated in advance to pre-filter the search space, reducing the number of records that need to be processed while ensuring all relevant results are captured without truncation
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the search process into multiple stages: pre-filtering based on user privileges and authorization, main query execution on reduced dataset, and post-processing. This segmentation allows each stage to operate on optimized data subsets, improving overall efficiency while maintaining completeness
2Loss of energy
If search results are truncated at intermediate stages to reduce processing load, then system resource consumption is reduced, but the quality of final results deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
Filtering operations are performed before the main search to reduce the dataset size that needs to be processed. User access privileges and authorization constraints are applied in advance, ensuring that only accessible and authorized records are included in the search, thereby reducing resource consumption without compromising result quality
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces intermediate filtering layers that act as mediators between the user query and the full database. These filters (user privileges, authorization, data fields) selectively pass only relevant records to the search engine, reducing processing load while maintaining result reliability
3Loss of time
If collection limits are applied to truncate search results, then processing time is reduced, but the likelihood of returning relevant results deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies multiple filtering criteria (user access privileges, authorization filters, data field constraints) before executing the search query. This pre-filtering reduces the search space to only records that the user is authorized to access and that match the query criteria, ensuring that all relevant results are found without time-wasting processing of unauthorized or irrelevant records
Data Source
AI summary
Method and systems for performing high volume searches are described. In one example a method includes receiving a query directed to a database, the database including a plurality of items, determining whether the query complies with one of a plurality of search criteria, each of the plurality of search criteria corresponding to a predefined index of the database, selecting a predefined index of the database corresponding to one of the plurality of search criteria if the query complies with said search criterion, the index containing entries that comply with the corresponding search criterion, applying the query to the selected index to find database items referenced in the index, selecting items based on applying the query to the selected index, building a report for the query, the report including only items of the selected index.