Automated substitution of terms by compound expressions during indexing of information for computerized search

Abstract

Methods, software and devices for indexing responses for later providing to users in response to queries are disclosed. For each stored response, representative queries are stored in association with that response, where each representative query represents a possible query for searching for information addressed by that response. Representative queries are selectively modified by substituting terms by corresponding chosen substitute expressions, where a substitute expression is chosen for a particular term in one of the representative queries based on past substitutions in others of said representative queries. For each response, a Boolean expression is formed from those representative queries associated with that response, as selectively modified, where the Boolean expression is satisfied by each of those representative queries. The Boolean expression is stored in association with that response for later applying to each query, that response to be provided to the user in response of those queries satisfying the Boolean expression.