IQP: Incremental query construction, a probabilistic approach

This paper presents IQ^P - a novel approach to bridge the gap between usability of keyword search and expressiveness of database queries. IQ^P enables a user to start with an arbitrary keyword query and incrementally refine it into a structured query through an interactive interface. The enabling techniques of IQ^P include: (1) a conceptual framework for incremental query construction; (2) a probabilistic model to assess the possible informational needs represented by a keyword query; (3) an algorithm to perform an optimal query construction.