Abstract

A method and apparatus utilizing automated semantic pattern recognition whereby a user of a manual enters a query regarding information in the text of the manual and the invention displays the locations in which information responsive to the query is located. The present invention includes a computer that stores a data structure representing the natural language text of a manual, the structure being a tree structure having nodes, wherein each node represents information from associated locations of the text. The nodes at higher levels of the tree represent general categories of information. Nodes at succeedingly lower levels of the tree represent succeedingly more specific categorical subsets of the general categories of information represented at the higher levels by ancestors of the lower level nodes. The query is formatted into a query data structure that is similar in format to the node structure representing the text. The query data structure is compared to each node in the tree. If the degree of similarity between the query and the node exceeds a predetermined threshold value after taking into account the degree of similarity between the ancestors of the node and the query, then the locations associated with the node are displayed on a video monitor as locations containing information responsive to the query.