Document retrieval using internal dictionary-hierarchies to adjust per-subject match results

A computer system comprising a processor for executing program instructions coupled to a memory for storing the program instructions, wherein the program instructions are program instructions for retrieving documents pertaining to one or more subjects from a collection of documents, and wherein the program instructions comprise:

• program instructions that specify the one or more subjects;
• program instructions that select one or more dictionaries from among multiple dictionaries according to the specified one or more subjects, wherein the multiple dictionaries have an associated unique subject, wherein entries in the multiple dictionaries contain descriptive terms, wherein at least some of the descriptive terms are present in two or more of the multiple dictionaries;
• program instructions that match the one or more subjects to documents in the collection of documents to obtain a subset of the collection of documents that are relevant to the one or more subjects and generate document scores indicating the relative strength of a relationship between the specified subjects and the documents;
• program instructions that maintain records of hierarchy of classification for the entries within the multiple dictionaries for the multiple dictionaries, wherein the hierarchy records encode or store affinity values showing a strength of relationship between the entries within a corresponding dictionary;
• program instructions that adjust a result of the matching using the records of hierarchy of classification for the specified one or more subjects;
• and
• program instructions that return at least a portion of the subset of the collection of documents obtained by the matching.

A computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage device storing program instructions for retrieving documents pertaining to one or more subjects from a collection of documents, wherein the program instructions comprise program instructions for:

• a collection of documents, the method comprising:
• specifying the one or more subjects;
• selecting one or more dictionaries from among multiple dictionaries according to the specified one or more subjects, wherein the multiple dictionaries have an associated unique subject, wherein entries in the multiple dictionaries contain descriptive terms, wherein at least some of the descriptive terms are present in two or more of the multiple dictionaries;
• matching, by the at least one processor, the one or more subjects to documents in the collection of documents to obtain a subset of the collection of documents that are relevant to the one or more subjects, wherein the matching generates document scores indicating the relative strength of a relationship between the specified subjects and the documents;
• within the computer system, maintaining records of hierarchy of classification for the entries within the multiple dictionaries for the multiple dictionaries, wherein the hierarchy records encode or store affinity values showing a strength of relationship between the entries within a corresponding dictionary;
• adjusting, by the at least one processor, the document scores using the records of hierarchy of classification for the specified one or more subjects;
• and
• returning, by the at least one processor, at least a portion of the subset of the collection of documents obtained by the matching.