JP2001222551A - Method and system for retrieving information - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a systematic information retrieving method, with which even the side to provide information can provide information to a user wanting the information by enabling an end user who performs retrieval to retrieve information so as to be more easily utilized in a network type retrieval system to be executed on the Internet or the like. SOLUTION: The retrieval of information on the end user site and the provision of information on the information provider site are performed with the pair of the same attribute and a value correspondent thereto. Besides, a group classified in the unit of user managed on the network or device managed on the network is defined and this group is linked with at least one attribute to be used for retrieval and information provision. Then, a site for managing the mediation of the both is placed and from the viewpoint of group and attribute, the retrieval and contents are linked and provided to the end user.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information retrieval method and an information retrieval system, which are suitable for a computer network in which a huge amount of information such as the Internet is flooded, and which performs information retrieval. The present invention relates to a systematic information search method and an information search system in which a person who provides information can appropriately provide information to a person who wants to convey his / her information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the spread of networks such as the Internet and personal computer communications and business expansion via networks, wide-area information services that can be utilized by end users who use the services have been dramatically increased.

However, with an interface such as WWW (World Wide Web) currently provided on the Internet, an end user needs to know a connection destination of an information providing computer, and simultaneously connects to a plurality of information providing computers. Can not do. Therefore, without prior knowledge and effort, it is difficult to find a truly necessary service from the vast sea of information and use it efficiently.

[0004] In particular, information search services are provided. In these services, a keyword is automatically extracted from text describing information and is treated as search data. Keywords frequently return unwanted search results,
The usability for the end user is still open to consideration.

When connecting to an information providing computer using personal computer communication, the personal computer communication system simply provides a communication path to the information providing computer or lends a database to the information provider. It's just Therefore, the end user must individually connect to the information provider's system, sequentially search for service contents, and apply for use.

[0006] Further, there are technologies such as CORBA and DCOM for the purpose of unifying communication interfaces and protocols on various existing platforms to enhance interoperability. Until then, it is necessary for the user to understand, and it is difficult for the user to find a truly optimal service. In Trading COR, in CORBA, enter usage conditions and find the best partner.
service, but this Tra
For the Ding Service, all the usage conditions must be understood by the end user, and the conditions can be dynamically changed according to the service provision status, or the provision conditions of the service provider can be entered. Can not do it.

[0007] Based on the CORBA technology, there is a technology called TINA which uses a communication connection processing technology between users in the communication field as a standard, and this technology is also used by Broker, a technology similar to Trading, to end users. This technology assumes that the connection partner to be connected is known in advance. Therefore, there is a problem similar to that of CORBA.

Further, as a description method of a service itself or a description method of a use condition, a provision condition, etc., there are a DB relation definition, an international standard data description language such as XML, and the like. Tags) are defined in advance and can be interpreted by any user or terminal if they are shared and managed. However, it is necessary for the application to consider how the corresponding data structure is shared, and to automate the information sharing, the sharing method of the data structure must be clarified.

[0009] Further, the content of the current information service is fixed, and regardless of who the end user is or the state of the system at the time of receiving the service, the same request can be made. The same services are provided.

[0010]

According to the above-mentioned prior art, the end user can search for service contents provided by connecting to the information providing computer and apply for service use, and can simultaneously connect to a plurality of information providing computers. Since it is assumed that the service cannot be performed, and only the information of the service request is sent from the end user, and the information providing computer does not receive or hold the personal information of the end user, there are the following problems.

(1) It is difficult to find a service desired by an end user.

[0012] Even if an information providing computer provides a service desired by an end user, it is impossible to use the service unless the end user knows the existence of the information providing computer and the connection destination. . It is difficult for the end user to personally grasp the service contents and connection destinations of the huge number of information providing computers, which means that it is difficult for the end user to use the service that he really wants. .

(2) It is difficult to use a suitable service according to a change in the situation.

Every day, many information providers not only enter the information service business but also frequently add or change the services of existing information providing computers. It is difficult to keep track of all changes. As a result, the end user is more likely to fixedly use a specific service even when a better service is added.

[0015] Further, services that more satisfy the end user's requirements vary depending on the system environment and the quality of information / service. It is difficult for the end user to evaluate these situations in an integrated manner and select an appropriate service according to the change.

(3) It is difficult to personalize services based on end users' preferences and usage histories.

The history of the end user's preferences and service usage is known only by the end user. Therefore, the information providing computer cannot select a service that further satisfies the request of each end user, and the end user searches for a service that suits his / her own preference, and also retains a history of service use by himself / herself. Must be managed.

(4) When the services of a plurality of information providing computers are integrated and received, the procedure of the end user becomes complicated.

When receiving a complex service across a plurality of information providing computers, the end user connects to each information providing computer sequentially, searches for individual service contents, makes an application for use, and makes a service by himself. Coordination and payment for services for each individual provider. In particular, coordination for coordinating a plurality of services requires a lot of time and effort of the end user.

(5) The possibility of providing services from more information providers to the end user cannot be expanded.

In a system connected to a wide area network, an end user can receive a service from a service provider in a system for managing each service business. If cooperative processing is performed between such service systems, the end user may be able to find the most suitable service according to his / her preference. However, the coordination between the service systems requires a lot of time and effort for the service system administrator, and there is no guarantee that the end user can receive a timely service.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to manage, on a system side, a service structure requested by an end user or a data structure constituting a service / information provision condition. Another object of the present invention is to provide a search system that can realize a service request and service provision based on data types that can be understood by an end user and an information provider.

Furthermore, if the contents of the service requested by the end user are specified, the individual user's preference and usage history are evaluated, and the service of the computer which provides information satisfying the evaluation is selected and provided. If the service of the computer providing information is added or changed, the service provided to the end user is changed based on the content, and at the same time, the system environment and the quality of service / information are changed. To be able to provide a mechanism to change the services to be evaluated and provided, and to control the delivery of optimal information services to end users by coordinating between various information service systems that exist over a wide area. It is to provide a search system that can be realized.

[0024]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the configuration of the invention according to the information search method of the present invention comprises an end user site for searching for information, and an information provider site for providing information. In an information search method in which the two provide an intermediary management site for performing the intermediary management of the two, the information retrieval method at the end user site and the provision of the information at the information provider site are the same. Of the user and the value corresponding to the attribute, and define a group categorized in units of a user managed on the network or a device managed on the network, and define this group, the search and the information provision. By linking one or more attributes used in the group, the attributes associated with this group can be shared by the users or devices involved in the group. In the mediation manager site, when a search is performed from the end user site, the information provider belonging to the group is determined based on the user and the device related to the search and the value input to the attribute. The mediation is performed so that the provided appropriate content data is extracted and provided to the end user site.

More specifically, in the above information retrieval method, the groups have a hierarchical structure, and an attribute corresponding to an upper group and an attribute corresponding to a lower group have an inheritance relationship referred to in an object-oriented model. Means for managing the relationship between the groups and attributes in a hierarchical structure at the intermediary manager site, and displaying and operating the hierarchical structure at the end user site or the information provider site. Things.

More specifically, in the above information retrieval method, the attribute is set as an XML data tag or
It is implemented as a service type property of an OMG trading service or as a field of a database.

[0027] In order to achieve the above object, an information retrieval system according to the present invention comprises an end user site for searching for information, an information provider site for providing information, and an intermediary management between the two. In an information search system that has an intermediary manager site that performs the above and is connected by a network, the information search system is a group classified by a unit of a user managed on the network or a device managed on the network. And means for associating this group with one or more attributes used in the search and the information provision, wherein the end user site has an end user terminal for search, The mediation manager site has a mediation management server for mediation management of search and information provision, and the information provider site has An information provider terminal for providing information, the end-user terminal inputting a value for an attribute for searching, a requesting agent for an intermediary management server, and a search result Means for receiving and displaying the content of the group, and group communication means for performing communication related to the group information, the mediation management server,
A means for setting group information; and a group communication means for performing communication related to group information, wherein the information provider terminal registers contents by inputting a value for an attribute as a form of information provision. And a group communication means for performing communication related to group information, and a mediation management server, or a means for transferring the content to an end user terminal, wherein the mediation server receives a mediation request from the end user terminal, An attribute for search and a range of content are determined from the user or the group to which the device to which the mediation request belongs, and control is performed so that the target content value is transferred to the information provider terminal.

More specifically, in the above information retrieval system, the groups have a hierarchical structure, and the attributes corresponding to the upper group and the attributes corresponding to the lower group have an inheritance relationship in an object-oriented model. Wherein the intermediary management server manages the relationship between the groups and attributes in a hierarchical structure, and has means for displaying and operating the hierarchical structure on the end user terminal or the information provider terminal. It is.

More specifically, in the above information search system, a search engine for search is located in the mediation management server, and the search is performed by the mediation management server.
As a result, the information provider terminal is instructed to transfer the result to the end user terminal.

More specifically, in the above information search system, a search engine for search is placed on the information provider terminal, and the search is performed by the information provider terminal. This is a command to transfer the result to the end user terminal.

With the above-described means, it is possible to realize a mechanism in which the data structure of the attribute can be shared between the terminals and users in the group. Will be able to share automatically. That is, each of the information provider and the end user inputs a value for the same attribute when registering a service or requesting a service, thereby improving the accuracy of the search result.

Furthermore, since attributes are managed for each group, even when an attribute item is added or changed, a change notification can be transferred in real time within the group, so that it is possible to flexibly change the information structure to be shared. Become like

As a result, it is possible to solve the above-mentioned problems and realize a service search process using the same data structure, provide a service closer to the end user's request, and further efficiently use the end user's information service. Can be made possible.

[0034]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

[Embodiment 1] Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

(I) Outline of the Search System of the Present Invention First, the use image, concept, data flow, and the like of the search system of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing the configuration and use image of a search system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining a group.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the user profile information.

In this embodiment, it is assumed that the end user uses a search system as a means of eating out at a restaurant or the like.

This system includes an end user site S01 used by an end user who seeks information,
There is an information provider site S02 that provides information, and a mediation manager site S03 that mediates a search between the two.
The end user site S01 has an end user terminal 01, the information provider site S02 has an information provider terminal 02, and the mediation manager site S03 has a mediation management server 03.

First, an end user who receives information provision using this search system registers in advance to belong to a "group". Here, the group is a concept for organizing end users and information providers who use the search system, and examples include "gourmet club", "French cuisine information", and "Europe travel information". Users should belong to a group that suits their purpose. As a group of "gourmet club", Figure 2
As shown in (a), in the case of a group model for each user, as an end user, an individual or a corporation is entered, and as an information provider, a company that provides an information service related to a restaurant or a restaurant business is provided. Conceivable. Further, as a concept of this group, as shown in FIG. 2B, a device-centric concept such as an end user terminal and an information provider terminal belonging to the group may be used. In order to belong to this group, there is a case where a fee is provided as an information provision fee, and a case where a hobby club or the like is free. The end user registers a personal user profile as shown in FIG. Registration ID
Is managed by the user, and is a key for authentication for receiving a service and for providing an information provider with preferable information by using the profile of the information provider.

When the end user uses this search system, the search screen is called up by inputting a dedicated search software to the end user terminal or by accessing a WWW browser or the like on the Internet. The user first inputs his or her registration ID.
Then, input is performed in such a manner that values corresponding to the attributes are filled. For example, if the user wants to search for a restaurant that he or she will use like the input data d00 in FIG. 1, the “kind” of the dish is “French cuisine”,
"Price range" is entered from the keyboard or mouse in the value column so as to search for a restaurant that suits one's taste, such as "$ 2000- $ 4000".

On the other hand, the information provider registers the information he / she wants to provide as an attribute / value pair from the terminal of the information provider.
For example, as in the registration data d01, the "restaurant name" is "ABC", the "type" is "French cuisine", the "menu" that can be provided, and the like.

When the information provider finishes inputting, the information provider inputs the input data,
It is registered in advance in the mediation manager site S03 so that it can be searched by the mediation management server.

When the input is completed, the end user makes a search request to the mediation server by clicking a search instruction button or the like. The range searched by the mediation server is the registration data of the information provider included in the group to which the end user belongs. In the example of this embodiment, when the end user belongs to the “gourmet club” and tries to search for a restaurant that matches the input data d001, the registered data d002 is used as the result output data such as d002. You can get search results. By looking at this, the end user can know the restaurant that is close to the image he or she wants. As described above, the search system of the present invention is not a simple “character string” search, but a search mode in which an attribute and a value are paired. In addition, the search paradigm is integrated by the concept of a group. Provides a mechanism for providing useful information to the end user, and aims at the information provider to utilize the information provided by the user in a more useful form to the end user.

(II) Configuration of the Search System of the Present Invention Next, the configuration and operation of the search system of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 4 shows an end user terminal 0 of this embodiment.
1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of FIG.

FIG. 5 shows the information provider terminal 02 of the present embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of FIG.

FIG. 6 shows an intermediary management server 03 of this embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of FIG.

End user terminal 01, information provider terminal 0
2. Each of the mediation management servers 03 is roughly composed of hardware including a processing device 3 and a transmission device 2, and various kinds of software placed on a memory at the time of execution. The three are connected by a network 4. The transmission device 2 is a device that transmits and receives data from the network 4 and serves as an interface with the processing device 3. The processing device 3 executes programs and gives instructions to various connected devices to perform input / output and the like, and is a central part of a terminal or a server.

The programs executed by the end user terminal shown in FIG. 4 are an end user program 10, a content mediation function module 11, and a group communication function module 5. The end user program 13 executes a part closely related to the operation of the end user, such as input / output processing for requesting information, processing of a character string, and processing of displaying information obtained as a result of a search on a screen. It is a program.

The content mediation function module 11 is a program that operates when a search request is received from the end user program 13. When a search is requested, the content mediation function module 11 performs mediation, such as requesting a search engine to search for additional information such as the location of content that can be provided and terminal information to be held.

The group communication function module 5 in the end user terminal 01 is a program for sending and receiving information as a group to the mediation management server 03.

Next, the information provider terminal 02 shown in FIG.
Is the information provider program 2
0, a content registration function 21, a group communication function module 5, and a content execution management module 22.

The information provider program 14 is a program for executing input / output for registering information that the information provider wants to provide to the end user, and for managing the contents of the information. The content registration function module 10 is a module that registers information to be registered by an information provider (hereinafter, referred to as “content”), and stores and manages the content. The content information is stored in the content storage file 7 on the information provider terminal 02 side.
Is stored in

The group communication function module 5 in the information provider terminal 02 is also a program for sending and receiving information as a group to the intermediary management server 03.

Content transfer execution management module 22
Has a function of receiving the search result of the mediation management server 03 and transferring the content to the end user terminal 01.

Next, the mediation management server 03 shown in FIG.
The program executed by the agent is the intermediary manager program 3.
0, search engine 31, group registration function module 3
2. The group communication function module 5. The mediation manager program 30 is a program that performs various settings for mediating that an end user requests information retrieval and that an information provider provides information, and manages the settings. The search engine 31 receives a request from the content mediation function module 11 of the end user terminal 01 and searches for an appropriate content from the connected content storage file 6. In addition, an instruction is given to transfer the hit content from the information provider terminal 02 to the end user terminal 01.

The group communication function module 5 of the intermediary management server 03 is a program for transmitting information as a group to the end user terminal 01 and the information provider terminal 02. The group registration function module 32 is a module for performing new registration or deletion of a group of a user or a device, changing registered contents, and the like, and the information is written in the group management file 7. In addition, the information of the group is broadcast and notified to the terminals of the users belonging to the group.

(III) Data Structure of Search System of the Present Invention Next, a data structure used in the search system of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the data structure of the search system of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the concept of a search method according to the search system of the present invention in comparison with the prior art.
FIG. 2A is a diagram for explaining a search method according to the present invention, and FIG.

The point of the search system of the present invention is that an attribute 101 and its value are paired as shown in FIG.
The idea is to keep it at 2. The attribute 101 is determined for each type of group. For example, in the case of a “gourmet club” group for the purpose of searching for a restaurant as mentioned in the present embodiment, the “type” of the dishes in FIG. 7, the “price range” desired by the user, the user Is the "purpose" when using the restaurant, and so on. The value 102 is an actual value corresponding to those attributes. When an end user searches or when an information provider provides information, by inputting the value into a list of attributes, Do it. When the end user performs a search, the system treats the set of those values as a mediation request value 120,
When an information provider provides information, it is treated as a content registration value 121.

In addition, the present retrieval system collects a set of attributes into one and treats them with an identifier.

The group identifier 111 is for uniquely identifying a group in the system. As already shown in FIG.
The group management file 7 described above stores which group holds what attribute 101. For example, if the group identifier 111 of “gourmet club” is G00
When it is 1, it is held in the group file as ((G001): “type”, “price range”, “purpose”,...).

The content storage location 112 contains information for uniquely identifying the location where content is stored on the network. For example, it indicates a combination of information such as a terminal address and a port number stored therein, a management program ID, a memory address of a storage area, or a storage file name. When CORBA is used, it is only necessary to manage the object name of the object managing the content and the object (instance) name of the content.

The content storage location file 6 contains the value 1
02 is stored in which content storage location 112 is stored.

The search method of the present invention is based on the data model described above. First, an attribute to be shared by the information provider is determined by the end user. Which attributes are determined depends on the nature of the group to which they belong. Then, the end user site S01 creates a mediation request value 120 as a value for the attribute. Also, on one information provider site S02, a content registration value 121 is created as a value for the attribute, and the content registration value 121 is registered in the mediation manager site S03.

When the end user performs a search, the mediation request value 120 is transmitted to the mediation manager site S03, and a search is requested. According to this method, the attributes handled by the group are determined, and the attributes are shared by the end users and the information provider in the group. Therefore, it is easy for the information requested by the user and the input for the information provider to match. Become. Therefore, it is expected that the information intended by the end user will be easily available, and the ability to search for matching data can be improved.

On the other hand, the outline of the search method usually performed on the Internet or the like of the prior art in FIG. 8B is as follows. That is, in the information provider site, first, a keyword that represents information desired to be conveyed is extracted from the text and registered as a content registration keyword in the search site. The keyword is extracted from the text in some cases by hand, or the technology of automatically generating a content registration keyword in the system is adopted. End users come up with keywords for the information they want to search and send them to search sites to request a search.

In the method of the related art, there is an advantage that the management of the content and the specification of the search request can be easily performed since the user is not conscious of the management of the keyword. However, since the content registration keywords are generated from the natural language as text, at the time of search, even the search result content that is not required by the end user is output, and there is a high possibility that the truly necessary content cannot be obtained. There is.

The search method of the present invention described with reference to FIG. 8A can solve such a problem, and it is expected that the user can obtain a result intentionally.

Next, the data structure used in the search system of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of the group management table.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of the content storage table.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a message transfer packet for sharing attribute information within a group.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a message transfer packet when registering content from an information provider site to a search engine and when making a content mediation request from an end user.

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a message transfer packet when a content transfer is commanded from the search engine to the content transfer execution management.

The group management table T0 shown in FIG.
Is a table stored in the group management file 7, and is a table for linking a group with an attribute used for search. The group management table T1 has fields of a group identifier F01, an attribute list F02, an attribute list identifier F03, and a user identifier F04.

The group identifier F01 stores a group identifier capable of uniquely identifying a group handled in this search system. The attribute list F02 stores a list of attributes to be searched in this group. The first record in FIG. 9 is an example of the “gourmet club” which has been used in the description so far. The upper limit that can define this attribute may be determined in advance by the system or may be determined for each group. The attribute list identifier F03 includes a plurality of attributes stored in the attribute list F02,
An attribute list identifier that can be uniquely identified in the mediation management server 03 is stored. Pass this attribute list identifier,
By referring, items of a plurality of attributes can be handled.

The user identifier list F04 stores a list of identifiers for identifying users belonging to this group. In the example of FIG. 9, the registered ID of the user is used as the identifier. In the example described here, the user is considered as a member of the group.
When a device is considered as a member of a group as shown in FIG. 2B, terminal information of an end user and terminal information of an information provider must be stored in a form that uniquely identifies them. The upper limit number of users belonging to the group may be defined in advance in the system, or may be changed by an administrator managing the group.

Next, the content storage table T1 shown in FIG. 10 is a table stored in the content storage file 6, and is a table for managing the content provided by the information provider and its storage location. This content storage table T1 has a content identifier F1
1, an attribute list identifier F12, a value list F13, and a content storage location F14.

The content identifier F11 stores a content identifier uniquely provided by the information provider and registered in the mediation management server 03. This is because the mediation management server 0
3 may be automatically generated and assigned. The attribute list identifier described in FIG. 9 is entered in the attribute list identifier F12. The value corresponding to each attribute indicated by the attribute list identifier is entered in the value list F13. In this figure, as an example of the information provider of the group of “gourmet club”, “ABC” is a value of a “restaurant name” attribute, “French cuisine” is a value of a “type” attribute, and “menu” is a value of a “menu” attribute. Full course A "is displayed.

[0085] The content storage location F14 stores an identifier for identifying where the content is stored in the search system. How to manage the content storage location is as described in the description of FIG.

Next, three types of message transfer packets used in the present search system will be described.

The message transfer packet T3 shown in FIG. 11 is a packet for sending attribute information at the end user terminal 01 at the end user site S01 or the information provider terminal 02 at the information provider site S02 in the system. , Data identification flag F30, group identifier F31,
It consists of an attribute list identifier F32 and an attribute list F32.

The data identification flag F30 stores a flag for identifying what kind of packet this packet is on the network. On the network,
Because different types of buckets are transferred together,
Such an identification flag is required.

The group identifier F31 stores the group identifier already described. If the group identifier includes information necessary for the transfer process, it is not necessary to separately have transfer destination address information. There is an advantage. For example, in the IP protocol, there is an implementation method that associates a multicast address with a group identifier. Further, a group identifier may be configured by combining a plurality of data. In the case of implementation, it is sufficient to provide an information structure that enables multicast communication only by determining the group identifier.

The attribute list identifier F32 contains an identifier for uniquely identifying each attribute stored in the attribute list 33.

The message transfer packet T4 shown in FIG. 12 is the information provider terminal 0 on the information provider site S02.
2 to register content from the end user site S
01 is a packet for issuing a mediation request for search from the data identification flag F40, the group identifier F4
1, an attribute identifier F42, a value list identifier F42, a user identifier F44, and user information F45.

The data identification flag F40, group identifier F41, and attribute identifier F42 are the same as those of the message transfer packet T3. The value corresponding to the attribute identifier F42 is stored in the value list identifier F43. The user identifier F44 stores an identifier for uniquely identifying the end user or the information provider who transmitted this packet.
The end user transmits this packet when requesting a search to the mediation management server, and the information provider transmits this packet when requesting registration of the content to the mediation management server. It is. The content storage location when the information provider transmits this packet is stored in the user information F45 and notified to the mediation management server 03. When the end user transmits this packet, necessary information such as the position information of the terminal of the end user is sent to the user information F45.

The message transfer packet T5 shown in FIG. 13 is a packet for instructing the content transfer execution management of the search engine information provider site S02 of the mediation manager site S03 to transfer the content, and includes a data identifier flag F50, It comprises a content identifier F51, a content storage location F52, and a request source user identifier F53.
The data identifier flag F50 stores a flag indicating this packet type, that is, a “content transfer command”.

The content identifier F51 contains an identifier for identifying the content to be transferred, and the content storage location F52 contains the location where the content is stored.
The requesting user identifier F53 stores the identifier of a user who has requested a content by performing a search. This allows the content transfer execution management to know to which user the content should be transferred.

(IV) Data Flow of Search System of the Present Invention and Its Operation Next, the data flow of the search system according to the present invention and its operation will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a data flow at a site and its operation in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a sequence diagram showing a communication sequence of the attribute information transfer operation.

Next, a data flow at each site and its operation will be described with reference to FIG.

When the end user makes a search request at the end user site S01, first, the attribute to be searched is obtained by the group communication function (a0
5) Then, when the end user inputs a value of the attribute and issues a search request, the end user program 10 notifies the content mediation function that the search request has been made (a0).
0). The content mediation function transfers the input data and issues a mediation request to the search engine (a03). The packet transmitted at this time is the message transfer packet T4 for the mediation request from the end user shown in FIG.

The search engine shown in FIG. 12 searches the content storage file for content provided by the information provider of the group to which the end user belongs, and if a hit is found, the information provider site S0
The end user information is sent to the content transfer execution management of No. 2 to issue a transfer request (a07). The packet sent at this time is the message transfer packet T5 of the content transfer command shown in FIG. Content transfer execution management
Upon receiving the request, the content is transferred to the content mediation function of the corresponding end user (a11), and the information is transmitted to the end user program (a01).

When an information provider registers content on the information provider site S02, first, an attribute to which the value is to be input is obtained by the group communication function (a0).
6) After that, the information provider program calls the content registration function to register the content in a form of inputting a value to the attribute (a08). Then, the content registration function transfers information necessary for the search to the search engine (a06). The packet sent at this time is
This is a message transfer packet T4 for content registration from the information provider shown in FIG.

Note that there are the following two relations between the actual content storage location and the content transfer execution management.

(Method 1) The content is held in each information provider terminal, and the content transfer execution management is also executed on the terminal.

(Method 2) All contents are stored in the mediation management server, and content transfer execution management is also executed on the mediation management server.

Although any method does not impair the characteristics of the present invention, the present embodiment has been described assuming (method 1).

At the time of content registration 307, the actual storage location of the content is in a shared area (shared memory or shared file) accessible from any of the content registration function and the content transfer execution management function 12. In addition, it must be stored
Various transfer methods are conceivable for the above content transfer processing. For example, a method using an FTP protocol that performs data transfer on an IP protocol, a transfer method using an HTTP protocol that is standardly used on the Internet, or a data transfer method defined as a standard such as CORBA. It is. Regarding the type of communication line, Ethernet, A
Any type such as a TM, a public line network (ISDN, frame relay, etc.), a mobile phone network (PDC network, CDMA network) and the like can be used. It is also conceivable to provide an option for selecting how to transfer the content. In this case, the method specified from the information provider program 14 via the content registration function, or the information provider's connection environment In consideration of the above, there are two types of methods automatically defined by the content registration function.

Next, information about the group is set from the mediation manager site S03, and when the information is transmitted to the end user site S01 and the information provider site S02, the mediation manager program requests the group communication function (a04). . The group communication function of the mediation manager site S03 transmits the information to the group communication function (a05) of the end user site S01 and the group communication function of the information provider site S02 (a06). The information of the group is transmitted to the end user program (a02) on the end user site S01 and (a10) to the information provider program on the information provider site S02, and the information is reflected. When registering or changing the attributes of a group, a message transfer packet of the attribute information shown in FIG. 11 is sent.

As described above, the end user or the information provider can obtain the attribute list by the group communication function in the following two ways.

(Method 1) All the attribute information corresponding to each group managed by the mediation management server 03 is held by the group communication function of each end user terminal or information provider terminal.

(Method 2) End user program 10,
Alternatively, only the attribute information of the group selected from the information provider program 20 is transferred to the mediation management server 03 at any time.
And manage only necessary information.

Either method is possible, and an appropriate method may be selected in consideration of the throughput of the terminal or server and the communication mode. However, the following description will be made assuming (method 1).

Next, with reference to FIG. 15, a description will be given of a time-sequential communication sequence of the attribute information transfer operation.

First, a group is created or attribute information is changed from the mediation manager program 20 to the group communication function (a20). These updates
The broadcast is transmitted to the terminals held by the users belonging to the group (a21), and received and held by the group communication function in each user terminal. As a result, the latest group information and attribute information are always held in each terminal.

When the end user makes a search request, a list of attribute information is required, so that it can be obtained by calling the group communication function of his / her terminal (a30) (a31).

When the information provider also registers contents, the list of attribute information is called by the group communication function of his / her own terminal (a40), and it is obtained and its value is input (a41). You can register.

(V) Implementation of the Search System of the Present Invention Next, how to implement the data structure of the search system of the present invention using existing technology will be described.

The concept of attributes introduced in the search method of the present invention can be implemented by using various existing data management techniques. Here, three mounting methods will be described as examples.

First, an OMG (Object Manag)
element Group)
When implementing a search engine called ding Service as the search engine 31 of the present embodiment, the attribute is:
Trading Service's Service T
type, and its value corresponds to a parameter called Properties. However, this conventional technique does not have a concept of grouping attributes, and a function equivalent to a group management function for sharing the attributes needs to be independently constructed.

As a second mounting method, XML (eXte
A description will be given of a case in which an implementation is performed using an international standard document description language called an "native Markup Language". In this case, the information indicating each data content of the XML “tag” corresponds to the attribute value of the present embodiment. A DTD is defined as a data type for managing the tag structure, and the DTD corresponds to an attribute. However, the mechanism for sharing the DTD structure between terminals is not defined in XML, and by using the data structure of XML for the group communication function of the present invention,
This DTD information is shared between terminals, and it becomes easier to manage each application data more flexibly.

A third method is to use an existing relational database. In this case, the fields of the relational database table come up with the attributes of the present invention.

In general, when searching the contents of a database, if the data structure of each schema is not known,
Search conditions cannot be specified. In order to share this data structure between terminals, the group communication function of the present invention is used, and the search engine 31 can adopt a method of diverting and implementing the search function of the database.

As described above, it is also possible to construct a search system for realizing the functions described in the present embodiment using existing technologies and products.

[Embodiment 2] Next, FIGS.
A second embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

In the first embodiment, the basic concept of the present invention is to provide a function of mediating between an end user performing a search and an information provider providing information by linking the concept of a group and the concept of a search attribute. Explained the idea.

In the present embodiment, a model in which groups have a hierarchical structure will be described based on the first embodiment. Also, what kind of group communication is performed in the intermediary management server or each terminal when the information of the group is changed or when the attribute is changed will be described.

First, the group structure of the search system of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 16 is a diagram of a screen displaying a tree showing a hierarchical structure of groups according to the present embodiment.

This example is a group formed by a leisure information provider, and is a group of a “leisure” group G0.
There are a “gourmet club” group G1, a “travel club” group G2, a “shopping” group G3, etc. The “gourmet club” group G1 is a subordinate group of a “restaurant” group G10 and a “fast food” group. G11 ... Furthermore, "restaurant"
The group G10 is a unique lower group “French cuisine” group G101 and a “Chinese cuisine” group G1.
02, “Japanese food” group G103, and the like. Each group has attribute information, but the lower group may inherit the attribute of the higher group as a feature of the group having a hierarchical structure. For example, the “price range”, the “purpose” of use, and the “place” attribute described in the first embodiment are a “restaurant” group G10 and a “French cuisine” group G101 that is a lower group thereof.
"Chinese food" group G102, "Japanese food" group G1
03 are common attributes. Attributes specific to the lower group (for example, the "favorite wine"
The attribute unique to the group G101) may be defined for each lower group.

Another advantage of grouping is that it provides an interface that is easy for a user who operates the group to understand. In other words, what groups are there for the user?
In addition, the relationship is clear at a glance, and it is possible to determine very easily how to generate and manage attributes.

The simple operation contents when the user operates the group are as follows.

When the user selects a group, the user only has to click on the corresponding group with a mouse or the like. When adding a group, after selecting the corresponding group and clicking the [Add Group] button b0, a new group is created below the clicked group. When deleting a group, after selecting the corresponding group, the user clicks the [Delete Group] button b1. Add attributes included in the group,
When updating by changing or the like, the user selects the group and then clicks the [update attribute] button b2.

Next, the data structure of the search system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of the group management table of this embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a message transfer packet when changing the attribute from the mediation management server to each user terminal group.

The group management table T6 shown in FIG.
Corresponds to the group management structure of the present embodiment, and includes a higher group identifier T60 and a lower group identifier T at the beginning of the group management table T0 of the first embodiment.
61 is added. That is, the field of the upper group identifier T60 stores the identifier of the higher group of the group, and the field of the lower group identifier T61 stores the identifier of the lower group of the group. The first record in FIG.
This corresponds to the example of FIG. 16, in which the upper group of the “restaurant” group G10 is the “gourmet club” group G1, and the lower groups are the “French cuisine” group G101, the “Chinese cuisine” group G102, and the “Japanese cuisine”. "
Group G103... The association between the group and the attribute by the group identifier F01 and the attribute list F02 is the same as in the first embodiment.

FIG. 18 shows a packet used to change an attribute associated with a group. Data identification flag T70, group identifier T71,
The meaning of the attribute list identifier T72 is the same as in the message transfer packet of FIG. The change attribute list information T73 contains information for changing the attribute. The example in the figure is a packet for adding a “recommended dish” attribute to the “gourmet club” group G10.

Next, with reference to FIG. 19 and FIG. 20, a description will be given of processing for performing group communication when updating group information and attribute information in the present embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing the operation of group communication by the end user.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing the operation of group communication in the mediation management server.

The user of this search system can provide a flexible service to the user performing the search by changing the group information or dynamically updating the attribute information using the interface described with reference to FIG. it can. In the present embodiment, the change of the group or the attribute is performed by the user terminal (end user terminal 01 or information provider terminal 02).
It will be described as if it is performed from.

The user terminal receives various events from a network or various programs and operates (S1901). When displaying the information of the group list as shown in FIG. 16 on the terminal screen, the group communication function, upon receiving the list request event from the user program, inquires and obtains the list information from the intermediary management server 03 (S1904). When you get list information,
The display content is updated (S1905).

It is also possible to keep the group list information in the group communication function of the user terminal at all times. In this case, the processing of S1904 becomes unnecessary.

When updating the group information, the group communication function receives a group information update event from the program (end-user program 10 or information provider program 20) of the user terminal. In response, the group communication function notifies the intermediary management server of an update request event (S1902). The reason for notifying the event to the intermediary management server in this way is that the group information must be consistently managed by the intermediary management server because it is necessary to make the information of all the groups consistent. is there.

When a database or the like capable of guaranteeing data consistency in a distributed environment is introduced, S1902
In place of the above, a process of updating the table contents of the group management file in the terminal is executed. The consistency of the data in the system is guaranteed by the functions of the database.

When updating attribute information such as adding an attribute item, the group communication function receives an attribute information update event from a program (end-user program 10 or information provider program 20) of the user terminal. The group communication function notifies the mediation management server of the update event of the attribute information (S1903). Again, the reason for notifying the intermediary management server is to maintain consistency of group attributes.

Next, the group communication function of the mediation management server 03 will be described.

The intermediary management server 03 also operates upon receiving an event from a network or various programs (S2001).

Upon receiving the group information update event from the user terminal via the network, the mediation management server 03 updates the contents of the group management table T6 of its own group management file 7 (S2002). In this case, there is no need to notify the update of the group information. FIG.
This is because the content of the group is acquired when necessary at the user terminal as shown in FIG.

Upon receiving the attribute information update event from the user terminal via the network, the mediation management server 03 updates the contents of the group management table T6 of its own group management file 7 (S2003). Then, all the terminals in the group are notified that the attribute information has been changed by the message transfer packet shown in FIG.
As a result, the consistency of the attributes in the group is maintained.

As another method, a method of updating a group management file in a corresponding terminal based on an event from a user program by using a distributed database or the like is also adopted. You can also.

[Embodiment 3] Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a data flow at a site and its operation in the third embodiment of the present invention.

In the first embodiment, the search engine intensively holds and manages data to be searched in the mediation management server at the mediation manager site S03. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, a search engine is provided in the information provider site S02, and the aim is to realize load distribution of search processing and improvement in scalability of the information provider terminal.

FIG. 21 shows the second embodiment. The most significant difference between the first embodiment and the first embodiment is that the search engine is located at the information provider site S02.

In the following description of the operation, the fact that the search is distributed is emphasized, and the points different from the first embodiment will be mainly described.

When the end user makes a search request at the end user site S01, first, the attribute to be searched is obtained by the group communication function (a5).
5) Then, when the end user inputs a value of the attribute and issues a search request, the end user program 10 notifies the content mediation function that the search request has been made (a5).
0). The content mediation function issues a search request to the group communication function (a62). The group communication function of the end user site S01 is the information provider site S0
The search request is broadcast to the group communication function of all the information provider terminals 2 (a63).

Information provider site S02 receiving search request
If the corresponding content is held, the group communication function requests the search engine of its own site to perform a search (a64), and from the result, requests the content transfer execution management to transmit the result (a57). The content transfer execution management transfers the content to the content mediation function of the end user site S01 (a61).

When the search request is received and it is determined that the corresponding content does not exist in the site, the search engine does nothing and waits for the next event.

As a result, when a user of the group searches, all search results are transferred from the information provider holding the corresponding content.

Next, information about the group is set from the mediation manager site S03, and when the information is transmitted to the end user site S01 and the information provider site S02, the mediation manager program requests the group communication function (a54). . The group communication function of the mediation manager site S03 transmits it to the group communication function of the end user site S01 (a55) and the group communication function of the information provider site S02 (a56). Then, the information of the group is transmitted to the end user program (a52) at the end user site S01 and (a51) to the information provider program at the information provider site S02, and the information is reflected. This part is the same as in the first embodiment. When the attribute of the group is registered or changed, a message transfer packet of the attribute information shown in FIG. 11 is sent as in the first embodiment.

When the information provider registers content on the information provider site S02, first, the attribute to which the value is to be input is obtained by the group communication function (a6).
0) Then, the information provider program calls the content registration function, thereby registering the content in a form of inputting a value to the attribute (a58). Then, the content registration function stores the content in the content storage file of the content registration function. When a search is performed by a search engine, the search is performed with reference to the search (a59). As described above, the contents of the contents are held in a distributed manner, and the information provider site S02 stores only the contents provided from the information provider program 20 of the terminal, and the load distribution is measured. It is expected that the total search throughput will be improved as compared with the case where a mediation manager site has a search engine.

In the first embodiment, the registration of new contents and terminals requires processing for registration in the mediation management server, which may complicate the procedure for expanding the terminals. In the mediation method, when a new information provider terminal is added, if the group communication function in the terminal that adds the connection function to the group supports it, various events are received and content registration and Since the search / content providing process can be executed, the scalability of each terminal is expected to be improved as compared with the first embodiment.

[Embodiment 4] Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 22 is a network configuration diagram of a search system according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

In the description of the present embodiment, based on the technology described in the above embodiments, what kind of application system is applied will be described with reference to a network configuration diagram. In particular, in the present embodiment, an application example to an electronic commerce system and a mobile information service system is assumed.

The end user performing the search in the above embodiment is a general consumer in the model of the present embodiment,
As terminals 01a to 01n accessed by this consumer,
It is assumed that the user holds a mobile information terminal or a mobile phone equipped with a GUI screen.

Further, in the example of the electronic commerce system, it is assumed that information terminals such as personal computer terminals 01a to 01n for each end user used in a company or at home are held.

When providing an information providing service for general consumers in the mobile information service system, the information provider uses an information provider terminal 02 of a personal computer for himself / herself.
a to 02n, and provides content information to the system online. The content information here refers to your own store's sales, restaurant advertising information, department stores,
Event information such as amusement facilities and road information such as traffic congestion. In electronic commerce systems, in particular,
An application is conceivable in catalog shopping where you search for your favorite products and services and order what you want.

Each of the end user terminals 01a to 01n and the information provider terminals 02a to 02n is connected to the mediation management server 03a via a network 00a to 00n such as a local network or a public line network such as ISDN.
-03n. Each intermediary management server is connected to networks 00a to 00n managed by the intermediary management server, receives a content registration request or a content intermediation request from each user terminal group, and implements a content intermediation process to an end user. is there.

The intermediary management servers share group information and attribute information, and classify and manage what kind of shop information, event information, restaurant information, etc. are defined as groups and information defined as attributes and each content. are doing.

When registering content, the information provider obtains a list of the group information and the attribute information, and determines which group specifies what content registration value to register the content managed by the information provider. Judge and execute the content registration process. The end user similarly obtains a list of group configuration and attribute information, determines what mediation request value to specify, and obtains necessary content, and sends a content mediation request to the mediation management server. Issue.

The mediation management server group searches for content that matches the value of the requested attribute by using the implementation method defined in each of the above embodiments, and provides the content to the terminal of the requesting end user. .

The difference from the conventional information provision method using the Internet is that the system displays in advance what kind of content and the attribute of each category, and based on the attribute, registers the content or mediates the content. The point of fulfilling the request. In this way, by allowing the information providing side and the information using side to recognize the search condition in advance as a common data structure, it becomes possible to mediate content that satisfies the mediation request condition as a search result. Further, the information provider wants to register the content in consideration of what kind of end user wants to show the content owned by the information provider. In such a case,
Determining under what provision conditions to register is an important factor for acquiring end users. In the search system of the present invention, since a data structure for designating content provision conditions is shown in advance as a list from the system side, the user participates in a certain group and provides his / her information in the form of inputting a value to an attribute. Therefore, since the form of the provision condition matches the desire of the user, the probability of finding a potential end user increases, and the merit for the information provider increases.

Further, as a difference from the system structure of the Internet for general consumers, the terminal of the information provider is also connected to the mediation management server online via a network or the like. Thereby, content registration, attribute registration, change, expansion of a new information provider terminal, and the like are reflected in the system in real time, and each user terminal can always acquire the latest information related to content mediation. .

As described above, by using the search system of the present invention, the end users of the mobile information service system and the electronic commerce system are more likely to be able to obtain the desired information. It is expected that we will be able to provide satisfactory products and services.

[0176]

According to the present invention, the service contents requested by the end user or the data structure constituting the service / information provision conditions are managed on the system side, and the data can be understood by the end user and the information provider. Based on the type, it is possible to provide a search system capable of realizing service request and service provision.

Further, according to the present invention, if the contents of the service requested by the end user are specified, the individual preference and usage history of the end user are evaluated, and the service of the computer which provides information satisfying the evaluation is selected. If there is an addition or change of a computer service that provides information, the service provided to the end user should be changed based on the content, and at the same time, the system environment, To provide a mechanism to evaluate the quality of services / information and to change the services to be provided, and to cooperate between various information providing service systems existing over a wide area to provide optimal information services to end users. It is possible to provide a search system that realizes controlling the delivery.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration and a use image of a search system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining a group.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of user profile information.

FIG. 4 is an end user terminal 0 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of FIG.

FIG. 5 is an information provider terminal 02 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of FIG.

FIG. 6 is an intermediary management server 03 according to the first embodiment of this invention.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a data structure of a search system according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a concept of a search method according to the search system of the present invention in comparison with a conventional technique.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing a structure of a group management table.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing a structure of a content storage table.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing a structure of a message transfer packet for sharing attribute information in a group.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing a structure of a message transfer packet when registering content from an information provider site to a search engine and when making a content mediation request from an end user.

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing a structure of a message transfer packet when a content transfer is instructed from the search engine to the content transfer execution management.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a data flow at a site and its operation in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a sequence diagram showing a communication sequence of an attribute information transfer operation.

FIG. 16 is a diagram of a screen displaying a tree showing a hierarchical structure of groups according to the second embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a group management table according to the second embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram showing a structure of a message transfer packet when changing an attribute from the mediation management server to each user terminal group.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing an operation of group communication by an end user.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of group communication in the mediation management server.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a data flow at a site and its operation in a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 22 is a network configuration diagram of a search system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Seiji Fufunashi 1099 Ozenji Temple, Aso-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa F-term in Hitachi, Ltd. System Development Laboratory (Reference) 5B075 KK03 KK07 NK43 PR03 PR08

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An information search system comprising an end-user site for searching for information, an information provider site for providing information, and a mediation manager site for mediating and managing the two, and these are connected by a network. In the method, the search for information at the end user site and the provision of information at the information provider site are performed using the same attribute and corresponding value pair, and the user managed on the network or the network management Define a group categorized in units of devices to be performed, and link this group with one or more attributes used in the search and the information provision. The attribute linked to this group is a user associated with the group. Or, the information can be shared by the device, and the intermediary administrator site performs a search from the end user site. In this case, from the group related to the user or the device related to the search and the value input to the attribute, appropriate content data provided by the information provider belonging to the group is extracted and provided to the end user site so as to be provided to the end user site. An information retrieval method characterized by performing: 2. The group has a hierarchical structure, and the attribute corresponding to the upper group and the attribute corresponding to the lower group have an inheritance relationship referred to in an object-oriented model. 2. The information according to claim 1, further comprising means for managing the relationship between groups and attributes in a hierarchical structure, and displaying and operating the hierarchical structure on the end user site or the information provider site. retrieval method. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the attribute is implemented as an XML data tag, as a service type property of an OMG trading service, or as a database field. Any information retrieval method. 4. An information retrieval system having an end-user site for searching for information, an information provider site for providing information, and a mediation manager site for mediating and managing both of them, and these are connected by a network. In the system, this information search system is means for defining a group classified in units of a user managed on a network or a device managed on a network, and this group is used in the search and the information provision. Means for linking one or more attributes, wherein the end user site has an end user terminal for search, and the mediation manager site is a mediation management server for mediation management of search and information provision The information provider site has an information provider terminal for providing information, and the end user terminal includes: Means for inputting a value for an attribute for searching, means for requesting an intermediary management server, means for receiving and displaying the contents of a search result, and group communication means for performing communication related to group information The mediation management server comprises: means for setting group information; and group communication means for performing communication related to group information. The information provider terminal sets a value for an attribute as a form of information provision. A means for registering content by inputting, a group communication means for performing communication related to group information, and a means for transferring the content to a mediation management server or an end user terminal, wherein the mediation server comprises: When a mediation request is received from a user, the user or the device An information search system, wherein an attribute for search and a range of content are determined from a group to be searched, and control is performed so as to transfer a target content value to the information provider terminal. 5. The group has a hierarchical structure, wherein an attribute corresponding to an upper-level group and an attribute corresponding to a lower-level group have an inheritance relationship in an object-oriented model. 5. The information retrieval apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising means for managing the relationship between the information and the attribute in a hierarchical structure, and displaying and operating the hierarchical structure at the end user terminal or the information provider terminal. system. 6. A search engine for a search is located in the mediation management server, performs a search in the mediation management server, and instructs the information provider terminal to transfer the result to the end user terminal. The information retrieval system according to any one of claims 4 and 5, wherein the retrieval is performed. 7. A search engine for a search is located at the information provider terminal, wherein a search is performed at the information provider terminal, and the result is transferred to the information provider terminal to an end user terminal. 6. The information retrieval system according to claim 4, wherein the instruction is issued.