INFORMATION RETRIEVAL WITH UNIFIED SEARCH USING MULTIPLE FACETS

A method for information retrieval with unified search between heterogeneous objects includes indexing a first object as a document in a search index; referencing a second object related to the first object in a facet of the document; and storing a relationship strength between the first and second objects in the facet of the document in the search index. Multiple heterogeneous objects can be related to the first object and referenced in multiple facets of the document, each with its relationship strength to the first object. Scoring an indirect object by indirect relation to a query object can be carried out by aggregating the relationship strengths between the indirect object and the retrieved objects multiplied by the retrieved objects' direct scores of relationship strength to the query object.