Keyword Search in the Deep Web

Abstract: The Deep Web is constituted by data that are accessible through Web pages, but not readily indexable by search engines as they are returned in dynamic pages. In this paper we propose a conceptual framework for answering keyword queries on Deep Web sources represented as relational tables with so-called access limitations. We formalize the notion of optimal answer, characterize queries for which an answer can be found, and present a method for query processing based on the construction of a query plan that minimizes the accesses to the data sources.