US 11,720,554 B2
Iterative query expansion for document discovery
Sean Thomas Thatcher, Stone Ridge, VA (US); Edward Graham Katz, Washington, DC (US); Charles E. Beller, Baltimore, MD (US); John A. Riendeau, Madison, WI (US); and Kristen Maria Summers, Takoma Park, MD (US)
Assigned to INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION, Armonk, NY (US)
Filed by INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION, Armonk, NY (US)
Filed on Jan. 6, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/142,491.
Prior Publication US 2022/0215018 A1, Jul. 7, 2022
Int. Cl. G06F 16/242 (2019.01); G06F 16/2457 (2019.01); G06F 16/93 (2019.01)
CPC G06F 16/2425 (2019.01) [G06F 16/24578 (2019.01); G06F 16/93 (2019.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-based method of expanding a search query, the method comprising:
receiving an initial search query and a stopping criterion for stopping a search;
submitting the initial search query to an information retrieval system, the information retrieval system retrieving an initial set of documents responsive to the initial search query;
identifying enrichment terms from the retrieved initial set of documents;
generating a subsequent search query that includes one or more enrichment terms from the retrieved initial set of documents;
submitting the subsequent search query to the information retrieval system, the information retrieval system retrieving a subsequent set of documents responsive to the subsequent search query;
determining whether the stopping criterion is met, wherein the stopping criterion is the number of identified enrichment terms from the retrieved initial set of documents, wherein the number of identified enrichment terms from the retrieved initial set of documents is equivalent to the number of iterations, and wherein each search query contains search terms of the initial search query and one enrichment term; and
in response to determining the stopping criterion is not met, iterating, until the stopping criterion is met:
identifying updated enrichment terms from the set of documents retrieved in a most recent previous search query;
generating a new search query that includes enrichment terms from a most recent previous set of documents; and
submitting the new search query to the information retrieval system to retrieve another set of documents responsive to the new search query.