Efficient K-generalizable Learned Search

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Authors: Peng, Yifan, Jiafei Fan, Xingda Wei, Sijie Shen, Rong Chen, Jianning Wang, Xiaojian Luo, Wenyuan Yu, Jingren Zhou, Haibo Chen
Cited by: 0

Abstract

Learned top-K search improves the accuracy-latency trade-off of graph-based vector search, but existing methods target a fixed K. Serving real-world workloads with various K values thus incurs preprocessing cost proportional to the number of distinct Ks. We present OMEGA, which supports efficient arbitrary K learned search with the preprocessing cost of one top-1 model. It achieves so by reducing learned top-K search to repeated masked learned top-1 search with refinement, using carefully crafted trajectory features that generalize across Ks. OMEGA further employs rank-wise confidence allocation to tame error accumulation during refinements and applies a statistical forecast method to reduce model invocation overhead without compromising recall. Across nine dataset-scale configurations, OMEGA meets the 0.95 recall target and reduces mean latency by up to 65% (average: 23%; median: 20%) compared with learned search methods (including LAET, DARTH, MultiK-DARTH, ANNiE, and Ada-ef) at their lowest-preprocessing configurations. On production traces, it reduces total CPU time by up to 28% versus traditional HNSW search.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Advanced Image and Video Retrieval Techniques Information Retrieval and Search Behavior Topic Modeling

Publication details

Journal / source
arXiv (Cornell University)
Publication date
6 March 2026
Language
EN
Document type
Preprint