Information theory based result merging for searching hierarchical entities across heterogeneous data sources

A method of merging search results, comprising:

• identifying, at a computer processor system, a query from a user;
• splitting, at the computer processor system, the query into sub-queries;
• for each of the sub-queries, determining, at the computer processor system, a relative importance of said each sub-query to the user relative to the importance of the others of the sub-queries to the user,
• sending, by the computer processor system, each of the sub-queried to a respective one search engine on the computer processor system;
• executing each of the sub-queries, on the respective one search engine on the computer processor system to which said each sub-query is sent, by using a respective one of the data sources to obtain a respective search result for said each sub-query,
• collecting, by the computer processor system, the search results from the search engines;
• using, at the computer processor system, the determined relative importance of said each sub-query to the user to assign a weight to the respective search result obtained for said each sub-query;
• and
• combining, at the computer processor system, the search results for the sub-queries based on the weights assigned to the search results to obtain merged search results;
• and wherein:
• the execution of each of the sub-queries includes identifying a multitude of search results for at least one of the sub-queries;
• the combining includes grouping said multitude of search results into a plurality of clusters, and computing a relevance score for each of said clusters, wherein each cluster represents a high level entity;
• and
• the relevance score assigned to each of the search results is based on a determined probability that the respective search index used to obtain the search results for each sub-query has one or more items relevant to the each sub-query.

An article of manufacture comprising:

• at least one computer usable device having computer readable program code logic tangibly embodied therein to execute instructions in one or more processing units for merging search results from different data sources, said computer readable program code logic, when executing, performing the following:
• identifying, at a computer processor system, a query from a user;
• splitting, at the computer processor system, the query into sub-queries;
• for each of the sub-queries, determining, at the computer processor system, a relative importance of said each sub-query to the user relative to the importance of the others of the sub-queries to the user,
• sending, by the computer processor system, each of the sub-queries to a respective one search engine on the computer processor system;
• executing each of the sub-queries, on the respective one search engine on the computer processor system to which said each sub-query is sent, by using a respective one of the data sources to obtain a respective search result for said each sub-query,
• collecting, by the computer processor system, the search results from the search engines;
• using, at the computer processor system, the determined relative importance of said each sub-query to the user to assign a weight to the respective search result obtained for said each sub-query;
• and
• combining, at the computer processor system, the search results for the sub-queries based on the weights determined from the relative importance to the user of the sub-queries of the sub-queries and assigned to the search results to merge the search results for the sub-queries.

A computer system for merging search results from different data sources, the computer system comprising:

• a memory for storing data;
• and
• one or more processing units operatively connected to the memory, and configured to:
• identify a query from a user;
• split the query into sub-queries;
• for each of the sub-queries, determine a relative importance of said each sub-query to the user relative to the importance of the others of the sub-queries to the user,
• send each of the sub-queries to a respective one search engine on the computer processor system;
• execute each of the sub-queries on the respective one search engine on the computer system to which said each sub-query is sent by using a respective one of the data sources to obtain a respective search result for said each sub-query, and
• collect the search results from the search engines;
• use the determined relative importance of said each sub-query to the user to assign a weight to the respective search result obtained for said each sub-query;
• and
• combine the search results for the sub-queries based on the weights determined from the relative importance of the sub-queries to the user and assigned to the search results to merge the search results for the sub-queries.

A method of searching and merging search results from different data sources across heterogeneous indices, comprising:

• identifying, at a computer processor system, a query from a user;
• splitting, at the computer processor system, the query into sub-queries;
• for each of the sub-queries, determining, at the computer processor system, a relative importance of said each sub-query to the user relative to the importance of the others of the sub-queries to the user;
• sending, by the computer processor system, each of the sub-queries to a respective one search engine on the computer processor system;
• executing each of the sub-queries, on the respective one search engine on the computer processor system to which said each sub-query is sent, by using a respective one of the data sources, by searching across heterogeneous indices, including structured, unstructured and semi-structured data sources, to obtain a respective search result for each of the sub-queries;
• collecting, by the computer processor system, the search results from the search engines;
• using, at the computer processor system, the determined relative importance of said each sub-query to the user to assign a weight to the respective search result obtained for each of the sub-queries;
• and
• combining, at the computer processor system, the search results for the sub-queries based on the weights determined from the relative importance of the sub-queries and assigned to the search results to merge the search results for the sub-queries.