Search system and method with text function tagging

1. A computer system for identifying electronic documents stored on a computer readable media, and providing a search result in response to a search query, comprising:

a processor in communication with the computer readable media, the processor comprising:

a user interface module that receives a search query from a user;

a search engine that accesses a corpus of electronic documents to identify a predetermined number of documents that satisfy the search query, the identified documents including a predetermined number of reference documents which are a subset of the identified documents deemed by the search engine to be most relevant to the search query and secondary documents;

a text function tagger that parses text excerpts of the identified documents and applies text function tags to the text excerpts of the identified documents, wherein the text function tags identify semantic roles of the text excerpts; and

a secondary processing module that identifies the secondary documents that have a text function tag that matches a text function tag of a reference document,

wherein the user interface module further generates a search engine results page in response to the search query, the search engine results page including a listing of the identified reference documents, each with a hyperlink to at least one secondary document identified by the secondary processing module as having a matching text function tag.

2. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein selection of a hyperlink generates a display of the at least one secondary document.

3. The computer system of claim 2 , wherein the secondary processing module is further adapted to determine whether the matching text function tags of reference document and the secondary document are for the same or similar word.

4. The computer system of claim 3 , wherein the display of secondary documents are limited to those secondary documents that are determined to have a text function tag that matches the text function tag of the reference document for the same, or similar, word in the text excerpt.

5. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the text excerpts parsed by the text function tagger include sentences and snippets.

6. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the secondary processing module is further adapted to ignore predetermined text function tags applied by the text function tagger.

7. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the secondary processing module is further adapted to group predetermined text function tags applied by the text function tagger so that any text function tag of a secondary document that is within the group is deemed to match any text function tag of a reference document that is also within the group.

8. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the secondary processing module is further adapted to refer to an electronic thesaurus or WordNet to determine whether words tagged by the text function tagger are similar if they are not the same.

9. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the text function tags applied by the text function tagger includes at least one of <Interrogative>, <Supporting example>, <Description>, <Definition>, <Warning>, <Emphasis>, <Inference>, <Quantification>, <Avoidance goal>, <Diminution>, <Contributory cause>, <Logical connection>, and <Causal connection> tags.

10. A computer system for identifying electronic documents stored on a computer readable media, and providing a search result in response to a search query, comprising:

a processor in communication with the computer readable media, the processor comprising:

a user interface module that receives a search query from a user; and

a search engine that accesses a corpus of electronic documents to identify documents that satisfy the search query;

wherein the user interface module further generates a display of a search engine results page in response to the search query, the search engine results page including a listing of a subset of the identified documents deemed by the search engine to be most relevant to the search query, each of the listed documents having a hyperlink to at least one similar document identified using text function tags, wherein the text function tags identify semantic roles of the identified documents and the similar documents, the similar document being selected from the documents that satisfy the search query which were identified by the search engine.

11. A method for identifying electronic documents stored on a computer readable media, and providing a search result in response to a search query, comprising:

receiving a search query;

identifying a predetermined number of documents that satisfy the search query, the predetermined number of documents including reference documents which are a subset of the identified documents that are deemed to be the most relevant to the search query and secondary documents;

parsing text excerpts of the identified documents and applying text function tags to the text excerpts, wherein the text function tags identify semantic roles of the text excerpts;

identifying the secondary documents that have text function tags that match the text function tags of a reference document; and

generating a search engine results page in response to the search query, the search engine results page including a listing of the identified reference documents, each with a hyperlink to at least one secondary document, the at least one secondary document being a secondary document that has a text function tag that matches a text function tag of the reference document.

12. The method of claim 11 , further including receiving a selection of a hyperlink, and generating a display of the at least one secondary document.

13. The method of claim 12 , further including determining whether the matching text function tags of reference document and the secondary document are for the same or similar word.

14. The method of claim 13 , further including limiting the display of secondary documents to those secondary documents that are determined to have a text function tag that matches the text function tag of the reference document for the same or similar word.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the text excerpts parsed include sentences and snippets.

16. The method of claim 11 , further including ignoring predetermined text function tags.

17. The method of claim 11 , further including grouping predetermined text function tags together so that any text function tag of a secondary document that is within the group is deemed to match any text function tag of a reference document that is also within the group.

18. The method of claim 11 , further including referencing an electronic thesaurus or WordNet to determine whether words tagged are similar if they are not the same.

19. The method of claim 11 , wherein the text function tags applied includes at least one of <Interrogative>, <Supporting example>, <Description>, <Definition>, <Warning>, <Emphasis>, <Inference>, <Quantification>, <Avoidance goal>, <Diminution>, <Contributory cause>, <Logical connection>, and <Causal connection> tags.

20. A method for identifying electronic documents stored on a computer readable media, and providing a search result in response to a search query, comprising:

receiving a search query from a user;

accessing a corpus of electronic documents to identify documents that satisfy the search query; and

generating a search engine results page in response to the search query, the search engine results page including a listing of a subset of the identified documents deemed to be most relevant to the search query, each of the listed documents having a hyperlink to a similar document identified using text function tags, wherein the text function tags identify semantic roles of the identified documents and the similar documents;

wherein the similar document is selected from the identified documents that satisfy the search query.

21. A computer readable storage medium with executable instructions for identifying electronic documents stored on a computer readable media, and providing a search result in response to a search query, comprising:

instructions for receiving a search query;

instructions for identifying a predetermined number of documents that satisfy the search query, the predetermined number of documents including reference documents which are a subset of the identified documents that are deemed to be the most relevant to the search query and secondary documents;

instructions for parsing text excerpts of the identified documents and applying text function tags to the text excerpts, wherein the text function tags identify semantic roles of the text excerpts;

instructions for identifying the secondary documents that have text function tags that match the text function tags of a reference document; and

instructions for generating a search engine results page in response to the search query, the search engine results page including a listing of the identified reference documents, each with a hyperlink to at least one secondary document, the at least one secondary document being a secondary document that has a text function tag that matches a text function tag of the reference document.

22. The computer readable storage medium of claim 21 , further including instructions for receiving a selection of a hyperlink, and instructions for generating a display of the at least one secondary document.

23. The computer readable storage medium of claim 22 , further including instructions for determining whether the matching text function tags of reference document and the secondary document are for the same or similar word.

24. The computer readable storage medium of claim 23 , further including instructions for limiting the display of secondary documents to those secondary documents that are determined to have a text function tag that matches the text function tag of the reference document for the same or similar word.

25. The computer readable storage medium of claim 21 , wherein the text excerpts parsed include sentences and snippets.

26. The computer readable storage medium of claim 21 , further including instructions for ignoring predetermined text function tags applied.

27. The computer readable storage medium of claim 21 , further including instructions for grouping predetermined text function tags together so that any text function tag of a secondary document that is within the group is deemed to match any text function tag of a reference document that is also within the group.

28. The computer readable storage medium of claim 21 , further including instructions for referencing an electronic thesaurus or WordNet to determine whether words tagged are similar if they are not the same.

29. The computer readable storage medium of claim 21 , wherein the text function tags applied includes at least one of <Interrogative>, <Supporting example>, <Description>, <Definition>, <Warning>, <Emphasis>, <Inference>, <Quantification>, <Avoidance goal>, <Diminution>, <Contributory cause>, <Logical connection>, and <Causal connection> tag.

30. A computer readable storage medium with executable instructions for identifying electronic documents stored on a computer readable media, and providing a search result in response to a search query, comprising:

instructions for receiving a search query from a user;

instructions for accessing a corpus of electronic documents to identify documents that satisfy the search query; and

instructions for generating a search engine results page in response to the search query, the search engine results page including a listing of a subset of the identified documents deemed to be most relevant to the search query, each of the listed documents having a hyperlink to a similar document identified using text function tags, wherein the text function tags identify semantic roles of the identified documents and the similar documents;

wherein the similar document is selected from the identified documents that satisfy the search query.