Sidebar Supplemental Search for Electronic Document Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current digital data processing systems lack efficient methods for navigating and supplementing electronic documents with relevant information, requiring users to manually search and re-enter search constraints, which can be time-consuming and inefficient.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising a user terminal and a search engine system that conducts supplemental searches based on user-defined settings, using entity names and context information to identify relevant electronic documents, and displays results in a sidebar, allowing users to set constraints such as domain, document type, and authorship, thereby enhancing navigation through electronic document collections.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If users manually search and re-enter search constraints for each document, then search accuracy can be maintained, but user effort and time consumption increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by automatically extracting entity names from the current document context and pre-configuring search constraints based on the user's previously saved settings. This eliminates the need for users to manually re-enter search constraints for each document, significantly reducing user effort and time consumption while maintaining search accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system serves itself by automatically identifying entities in the document, formulating search queries using stored constraints, and retrieving supplemental information without requiring manual user intervention. The search engine system autonomously navigates the document collection based on the current context and user preferences, making the information retrieval process efficient and hands-free.
2Loss of information
If the system displays all available information, then completeness is improved, but information overload and difficulty in finding relevant data increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies local quality by displaying supplemental search results in a dedicated sidebar region rather than mixing them with the main document content. This spatial separation allows users to access comprehensive information while maintaining focus on the primary document, preventing information overload and improving the ease of finding relevant data.
Solution Approach 2:
The sidebar acts as an intermediary between the main document and the supplemental search results. It provides a structured, organized display of additional information that users can selectively explore, serving as a buffer that prevents the overwhelming effect of displaying all available information directly in the main viewing area.
3Loss of information
If the system pre-loads all supplemental search results, then information availability is improved, but system resource consumption and response time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-configuring search constraints and entity extraction rules based on user preferences, but executes the actual supplemental searches only when needed (when users navigate to new documents or explicitly request information). This lazy evaluation approach ensures information is available when required while minimizing unnecessary system resource consumption during idle periods.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts its behavior by determining whether to conduct supplemental searches based on current user actions and context. Rather than statically pre-loading all possible information, the system flexibly initiates searches only when triggered by user navigation or interaction, optimizing the balance between information availability and resource efficiency in real-time.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for improving navigation through an electronic document collection. In one aspect, an apparatus includes a search engine system comprising a communication interface in data communication with a client terminal, a database persistently storing information characterizing electronic documents available on the Internet, a search constraint setting database persistently storing information characterizing settings for supplemental searches, and a search engine programmed to perform, in response to receipt of the information characterizing the entities named in the electronic document displayable at the client terminal, supplemental searches on the database to identify a responsive subset of the electronic documents available on the Internet. The supplemental searches are constrained by at least one of the named entities and the supplemental search settings stored at the search constraint setting database.