Phrase matching in documents having nested-structure arbitrary (document-specific) markup

1. A method of searching a document having nested-structure document-specific markup, comprising:

receiving, by a processor, a query that designates a phrase to be matched in a phrase matching process;

deriving, by the processor, query-specific indices based on query-independent indices that were created specific to the document, wherein the query-independent indices were created comprising forming the query-independent indices by first receiving,

for a word in the document, a first position in the document, and then by indicating whether or not the word is present at that first position, and

for a tag in the document, a second position in the document, and then by indicating whether or not the tag is present at that second position; and

performing, by the processor, the phrase matching process using the query-specific indices on the document having the nested-structure document-specific markup,

wherein the query-independent indices were created further comprising:

labeling elements in the document with intervals, wherein:

for markup tags, the intervals are defined in terms of a starting index number associated with an opening markup tag and an ending index number associated with a closing markup tag that corresponds to the opening markup tag, and

for a single word, the intervals are defined in terms of a single index number associated with the single word.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the deriving the query-specific indices involves deriving the query-specific indices from the query-independent indices without rebuilding any of the query-independent indices.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the query further designates:

a set of context tags defining a context to which the phrase match is be restricted.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the nested-structure document-specific markup of the document is in extensible markup language.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the receiving comprises receiving the query that designates a phrase to be proximity-matched in the phrase matching process; and

the phrase matching process involves proximity phrase matching as distinguished from exact phrase matching.

6. A method of creating query-independent indices for use in searching a document having nested-structure document-specific markup, comprising:

labeling, by a processor, elements in the document with intervals, wherein:

for markup tags, the intervals are defined in terms of a starting index number associated with an opening markup tag and an ending index number associated with a closing markup tag that corresponds to the opening markup tag, and

for a single word, the intervals are defined in terms of a single index number associated with the single word; and

forming, by the processor, the query-independent indices by first receiving,

for a word in the document, a first position in the document, and then by indicating whether or not the word is present at that first position, and

for a tag in the document, a second position in the document, and then by indicating whether or not the tag is present at that second position.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein:

the nested-structure document-specific markup of the document is in extensible markup language.

8. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a plurality of instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations of searching a document having nested-structure document-specific markup, the operations comprising:

receiving a query that designates a phrase to be matched in a phrase matching process;

deriving query-specific indices based on query-independent indices that were created specific to the document, wherein the query-independent indices were created comprising forming the query-independent indices by first receiving,

for a word in the document, a first position in the document, and then by indicating whether or not the word is present at that first position, and

for a tag in the document, a second position in the document, and then by indicating whether or not the tag is present at that second position; and

carrying-out performing the phrase matching process using the query-specific indices on the document having the nested-structure document-specific markup,

wherein the query-independent indices were created further comprising:

labeling elements in the document with intervals, wherein:

for markup tags, the intervals are defined in terms of a starting index number associated with an opening markup tag and an ending index number associated with a closing markup tag that corresponds to the opening markup tag, and

for a single word, the intervals are defined in terms of a single index number associated with the single word.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the deriving the query-specific indices involves deriving the query-specific indices from the query-independent indices without rebuilding any of the query-independent indices.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the query further designates:

a set of context tags defining a context to which the phrase match is be restricted.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein:

the nested-structure document-specific markup of the document is in extensible markup language.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein:

the receiving comprises receiving the query that designates a phrase to be proximity-matched in the phrase matching process; and

the phrase matching process involves proximity phrase matching as distinguished from exact phrase matching.

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a plurality of instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations of creating query-independent indices suitable for use in searching a document having nested-structure document-specific markup, the operations comprising:

labeling elements in the document with intervals, wherein:

for markup tags, the intervals are defined in terms of a starting index number associated with an opening markup tag and an ending index number associated with a closing markup tag that corresponds to the opening markup tag, and

for a single word, the intervals are defined in terms of a single index number associated with the single word; and

forming the query-independent indices by first receiving,

for a word in the document, a position in the document, and then by indicating whether or not the word is present at that position, and

for a tag in the document, a position in the document, and then by indicating whether or not the tag is present at that position.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13 , wherein:

the nested-structure document-specific markup of the document is in extensible markup language.

15. A system for searching a document having nested-structure document-specific markup, comprising:

a processor; and

a computer readable medium storing a plurality of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:

receiving a query that designates a phrase to be matched in a phrase matching process;

deriving query-specific indices based on query-independent indices that were created specific to the document, wherein the query-independent indices were created by forming the query-independent indices by first receiving,

for a word in the document, a first position in the document, and then by indicating whether or not the word is present at that first position, and

for a tag in the document, a second position in the document, and then by indicating whether or not the tag is present at that second position; and

performing the phrase matching process using the query-specific indices on the document having the nested-structure document-specific markup,

wherein the query-independent indices were created further comprising:

labeling elements in the document with intervals, wherein:

for markup tags, the intervals are defined in terms of a starting index number associated with an opening markup tag and an ending index number associated with a closing markup tag that corresponds to the opening markup tag, and

for a single word, the intervals are defined in terms of a single index number associated with the single word.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the deriving the query-specific indices involves deriving the query-specific indices from the query-independent indices without rebuilding any of the query-independent indices.

17. A system for creating query-independent indices suitable for use in searching a document having nested-structure document-specific markup, comprising:

a processor; and

a computer readable medium storing a plurality of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:

labeling elements in the document with intervals, wherein:

for markup tags, the intervals are defined in terms of a starting index number associated with an opening markup tag and an ending index number associated with a closing markup tag that corresponds to the opening markup tag, and

for a single word, the intervals are defined in terms of a single index number associated with the single word; and

forming the query-independent indices by first receiving,

for a word in the document, a first position in the document, and then by indicating whether or not the word is present at that first position, and

for a tag in the document, a second position in the document, and then by indicating whether or not the tag is present at that second position.