DATA STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEM WITH OPTIMIZED CATEGORIZATION OF INFORMATION ITEMS BASED ON CATEGORY SELECTION

A data storage and retrieval system with optimized categorization of information items using intelligent category selection, based on the information items that are to be checked for category membership. The set of categories for which an information item may be a candidate member is determined, and only that set of categories is checked for membership of the information item during the categorization process. The determination of which categories an information item can be a candidate member of is based on the properties defined for that information item, which are compared to the properties checked for category membership of specific categories. A category index tree may be built and maintained to support efficient determination of which categories a given information item may be a candidate member of. The efficiency of categorization provided by the disclosed techniques enables the disclosed system to maintain category definitions indefinitely with minimal performance impact.