# US 7,613,684 B2 · Portable browsing interface for information retrieval > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 7,613,684 B2 - Document ID: US7613684B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 10/406,439 - Filed: 2003-04-04 - Published: 2003-10-09 - Granted: 2009-11-03 - Earliest claimed: 1998-10-21 - Assignees: Apple Inc. - Inventors: Richard Daniel Borovoy; Michael Graves; Michael Robert Hanson; Nagabhushan Rao Machiraju - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US7613684B2 ## CPC - G06F 16/954: Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing - G06F 16/951: Indexing; Web crawling techniques - Y10S 707/99933: Query processing, i.e. searching - Y10S 707/99935: Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access - Y10S 707/99936: Pattern matching access - Y10S 707/99944: Object-oriented database structure - Y10S 707/99945: Object-oriented database structure processing - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) - Y10S: TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS ## Abstract An integrated searching/browsing mechanism employs user-constructed information hierarchies that represent a cognitive framework for the organization of information. The hierarchies are independent of the information itself. This feature permits them to be shared among multiple users, and applied to any of a variety of different sources of information. The hierarchical organization that is provided by the framework gives the user the ability to browse around any available document database in a manner that is intuitive to the user. Two or more hierarchies can be combined to locate documents which match the criteria of both hierarchies, and thereby refine search results to an appropriate level. A relevance feedback mechanism further enhances the browsing experience, by concentrating the search results in areas that are most relevant to documents selected as being of particular interest. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An information retrieval system, comprising: a search query generator, in a computer, responsive to a selection of a level within a hierarchical relationship of terms describing an organizational framework for information, for constructing a search query of terms that are based upon the selected level, and for providing the search query of terms to a search engine to search any of a plurality of information sources selected by a user; and a user interface which provides information about documents located at a user-selected information source by the search engine documents to said user. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The information retrieval system of claim 1, wherein said search query contains the term at the selected level of the hierarchical relationship and terms from lower levels of the hierarchical relationship which depend from the selected level. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The information retrieval system of claim 2, wherein said terms are combined by boolean “OR” operators to form said search query. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The information retrieval system of claim 1, wherein said search query generator constructs an individual query for each of a first and second hierarchy, and combines the individual queries to form a search query that is provided to the search engine, wherein the first and second hierarchy each define a different respective hierarchical relationship of terms. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The information retrieval system of claim 4, wherein said individual queries are combined by boolean “AND” operators to form said search query. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The information retrieval system of claim 1, wherein said search engine analyzes a selected document among said located documents to determine which of the terms in a hierarchy said selected document most closely relates to, wherein said user interface displays values which identify the relevance of the selected document to levels in the selected hierarchy. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The information retrieval system of claim 1, wherein the search query generator and the user interface are components of a client application which executes on the user's computer. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The information retrieval system of claim 7, wherein the search engine runs on a computer connected to the user's computer. ### Claim 9 A method for locating documents within a source of information, comprising the steps of: constructing a search query of terms, in a computer, that are based upon a selected level within a hierarchical relationship of terms describing an organizational framework for information; providing the search query to a search engine to search any of a plurality of information sources selected by a user; and outputting information about documents located by the search engine to said user. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, wherein said search query contains the term at the selected level of the hierarchical relationship and terms from lower levels of the hierarchical relationship which depend from the selected level. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein said terms are combined by boolean “OR” operators to form said search query. ### Claim 12 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, wherein plural hierarchical relationships are concurrently used in constructing a search query. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein an individual query is constructed for each selected hierarchy, and the individual queries are combined to form said search query. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, wherein said individual queries are combined by boolean “AND” operators to form said search query. ### Claim 15 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, further including the step of analyzing a selected document among said located documents to determine which of the terms in a hierarchy said selected document most closely relates to. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, further including the step of outputting values which identify the relevance of the selected document to levels in the selected hierarchy. ### Claim 17 A computer-readable medium containing a program which causes a computer to execute the steps of: constructing a search query, in said computer, of terms that are based upon an identified level within a hierarchical relationship of terms describing an organizational framework for information; providing the search query to a search engine to search any of a plurality of information sources selected by a user; outputting information about documents located by the search engine to said user on a display. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein said search query contains the term at the selected level of the hierarchical relationship and terms from lower levels of the hierarchical relationship which depend from the selected level.