Path-augmented keyword search for XML documents

Abstract

Keyword search is easy to use since it does not require the prior knowledge of query languages or the structure of the underlying data. However, keyword search does not utilize the rich information encoded in the structures of XML to aid in the retrieval of documents. In this paper, we devise a context-aware approach for searching XML to improve the effectiveness of keyword search on XML via query expansion. We find a set of XML path expressions that capture the contextual meaning of a keyword query. Paths in the contexts of the query are used to expand the original query to improve the effectiveness of keyword search on XML. Empirical results indicate that the proposed path-augmented keyword search of XML documents outperforms current keyword expansion and keyword proximity search techniques. © 2004 IEEE.