Fuzzy proximity boosting and influence kernels

A tangibly embodied non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions, that, when executed by a processor, perform a ranking method comprising:

• sending, to a remote computer system via a network, a search query containing query terms;
• obtaining, at the remote computer system, documents resulting from performing the search query on a document database, the documents containing such terms that match the search query;
• determining base relevancy scores for the documents;
• adjusting the base relevancy scores by applying a lead boosting value calculated according to an influence function, the influence function promoting a particular word position in a document, the particular word position being a predetermined number of words from the beginning of the document;
• and
• ranking the documents according to the adjusted base relevancy scores.

An apparatus comprising:

• a memory device storing instructions for determining relevant search results;
• and
• a processor executing the instructions to perform the steps of:
• performing a search on a document database according to a search query containing query terms;
• obtaining, from the document database over a network, documents resulting from performing the search query, the documents containing terms that match the search query;
• determining base relevancy scores for the documents;
• adjusting the base relevancy scores by applying a lead boosting value calculated according to an influence function, the influence function promoting a particular word position in a document, the particular word position being a predetermined number of words from the beginning of the document;
• and
• ranking the documents according to the adjusted base relevancy scores.