METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONCEPT-BASED SEARCHING OF NATURAL LANGUAGE DISCOURSE

Searching computer-accessible content can be described as the utilization of an automated process to determine occurrences of where a sought-for concept is referred to in natural language discourse. Concept-based search refers to the reliable identification, within computer-accessible content that represents natural language discourse, of instances in which a particular pinnacle concept “C” is referenced. References to pinnacle concepts are not amenable to detection by the use of keywords. For each pinnacle concept “C,” whose reference is to be determined, a set of linguistic features can be compiled that is referred to herein as a “concept feature set.” In general, it is desirable for a concept feature set to be “complete.” A definition of completeness is presented. Concept-based search can be used in conjunction with keyword-based search. When using concept-based search with keyword-based search, it can be useful, from an efficiency perspective, to divide the process into two phases: an indexing phase and a search phase.