Descriptorsuch

Descriptorsuch, or descriptor search, is a search paradigm in information retrieval in which queries are expressed as sets of descriptors—attributes, features, or tags—rather than as free-text keywords. The term blends the English descriptor with the German noun Such (search) and is used in discussions of structured, attribute-based retrieval. The core idea is to locate items by specifying concrete properties, such as color, size, material, or semantic concepts, and to combine them to form a precise query.

How it works: descriptors are stored as metadata, feature vectors, or within an ontology or taxonomy. Queries specify one or more descriptors and may assign weights or ranges. Indexing supports efficient matching, often via attribute-based or vector-based search, and relevance ranking can incorporate descriptor similarity, presence of multiple descriptors, and user feedback. Systems may support faceted navigation or allow natural-language prompts that map to descriptors.

Applications: descriptor search is used in digital libraries, image and video retrieval, e-commerce catalogs, scientific databases, and music metadata systems. Benefits include precise, interpretable queries and better handling of complex requirements. Limitations include the need for rich, consistent metadata; ambiguity in descriptor definitions; and potential scalability challenges for large descriptor vocabularies.

See also: attribute-based search, faceted search, content-based retrieval, metadata, vector search.