US Patent 8001136 Longest-common-subsequence detection for common synonyms

One embodiment of the present invention provides a system for identifying synonym candidates. During operation, the system receives a first term and a second term. The system then determines a length of the longer one of the first and second terms, and determines a longest common subsequence of the two terms. The system further produces a result to indicate whether the two terms are synonym candidates based on the length of the longer term and a length of the longest common subsequence of the two terms.