METHOD OF SEARCH STRATEGY VISUALIZATION AND INTERACTION

1 . A method of visually representing multiple search queries of a search service comprising the steps of:

obtaining a desired search query;

preparing a collection of search strategies for a query service, wherein the collection of search strategies includes a plurality of core search strategies for the desired search query and at least one combination of at least two core search strategies;

submitting the collection of search strategies to a query service;

receiving and processing search results from the query service; and

displaying a visualization map of the search results associated with the collection of search strategies, wherein the visualization map includes a plurality of graphical objects, wherein a graphical object of the plurality of graphical objects represents a search strategy of the collection of query strategies.

2 . The method of claim 1 further including the step: providing an interactive capability for the graphical object.

3 . The method of claim 2 wherein the interactive capability includes linking to a search result that relates to a query strategy.

4 . The method of claim 2 wherein the interactive capabilities includes displaying search results related to a query strategy.

5 . The method of claim 2 wherein the visualization map depicts a core search strategy as a shape, and the overlapping of multiple core search strategies defines regions of graphical objects.

6 . The method of claim 5 wherein the collection of search strategies includes every combination of the plurality of core search strategies.

7 . The method of claim 6 further including organizing the visualization map as a Karnaugh map, wherein each search strategy is represented as a variable of the Karnaugh map.

8 . The method of claim 4 further including representing search result data in the visualization map.

9 . The method of claim 8 wherein the search result data is presented visually by the graphical objects.

10 . The method of claim 9 wherein the graphical objects present the search result data in textual form.

11 . The method of claim 9 wherein the search results are represented by the size of the graphical object.

12 . The method of claim 8 wherein the plurality of core search strategies includes:

a synonyms core search strategy that includes words with similar meaning to the search query;

a stemming core search strategy that includes words with the same root;

a sub-concept core search strategy that includes concepts that are lower in a hierarchical order; and

a super-concept core search strategy that includes concepts that are higher in a hierarchical order.

13 . The method of claim 8 wherein at least one core search strategy uses an individual word from the desired search query.

14 . A method of visually specifying a desired search of a computer system comprising the steps of:

obtaining a desired search query;

preparing a collection of search strategies for a query service wherein the collection of search strategies is composed of a plurality of core search strategies for the desired search query and at least one combination of at least two core search strategies;

displaying a visualization map of the search strategies associated with the collection of search strategies;

providing an interactive capability for search strategy manipulation;

selecting at least one search strategy with the interactive capability; and

submitting the at least one search strategy to a query service.

15 . The method of claim 14 wherein the interactive capability includes providing an interface for preparing core search strategies used in the comprehensive collection of search strategies.

16 . The method of claim 15 wherein the visualization map depicts a core search strategy as a shape, and the overlapping of multiple core search strategies defines regions of graphical objects.

17 . The method of claim 16 wherein the collection of search strategies includes every combination of the plurality of core search strategies.

18 . The method of claim 17 further including organizing the visualization map as a Karnaugh map wherein each search strategy is represented as a variable of the Karnaugh map.

19 . The method of claim 18 wherein the plurality of core search strategies includes:

a synonyms core search strategy that searches for words with similar meaning to the search query;

a stemming core search strategy that searches for words with the same root;

a sub-concept core search strategy that searches for concepts that are lower in a hierarchal order; and

a super-concept core search strategy that searches for concepts that are higher in a hierarchal order.

20 . The method of claim 19 wherein the step of preparing a collection of search strategies sets the hierarchical order of the sub-concept core search strategy and the super-concept core search strategy that will be searched.

21 . The method of claim 18 further including the steps:

processing a search result returned by the query service; and

displaying a visualization map of the search results associated with the collection of search strategies wherein the visualization map includes a plurality of graphical objects, wherein a graphical object of the plurality of graphical objects represents a search strategy of the collection of query strategies.