METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FRAME-BASED ANALYSIS OF SEARCH RESULTS

A frame represents a concept with a set of roles and a set of linguistic rules. If a linguistic rule is satisfied, by a unit of natural language discourse (UNLD), the frame is invoked and a frame instance produced. A frame instance specifies how the UNLD, with particular values drawn from the UNLD, fulfills the roles of the frame. A frame-based search, of target content, can produce a search result comprised of records and corresponding frame instances. The values of such frame instances can be presented to the user as a role-value oriented search result. Multiple values of a role-value oriented search result, sufficiently similar in meaning, can be merged. Merged values can be represented, in a role-value oriented search result, by a single value. Selection of a value, of a role-value oriented search result, can cause the records, for which the value occurs in the corresponding instance, to be displayed to the user.