3. Search – Find

Function description

The retrieval function is based on two interrelated stages: indexing and query management.

Indexing (see [TE 5 887, § 2] ) generates descriptor files (or indexes) from the analysis of digital media. The type and structure of the descriptor sets will determine what can be used in a search.

Searches are managed by analyzing the user's question, generating a query by the search software (or search engine) and applying its selection and sorting algorithms to the index files. The search engine calculates the number of documents found, and constructs a result set of the documents found, sorted according to relevance. The user can either...