JP2001229196A - Method for supporting retrieval condition generation - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a user to easily perform retrieval by generating a retrieval chart as input to a retrieval system and handling visual change into the retrieval chart equally to change of a retrieval expression. SOLUTION: On a screen, nodes which are encircled with frames containing words and the retrieval chart which shows the retrieval expression with an arc connecting nodes showing the relation between the nodes are displayed. An editing menu is displayed by selecting a node, a node is added by selecting addition, the selected node is deleted by selecting deletion, and characters in a node are changed in thickness and color by selecting a size and the position of the node is changed by selecting the arc. A similar selection menu is displayed by selecting the arc, which is changed in line width, line length, line kind, or color and thickness by selecting a size. Further, the selection chart is retained by selecting a retention button and the retained selection charge is redisplayed on the screen by selecting a reference button.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to creation of search conditions to be input to a search system, and to a search condition creation support method for creating search conditions as a search diagram on a screen.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there are two specifying methods for performing a search by a search system. One is a method in which a user considers a keyword and designates it from a character input device such as a keyboard, and the other is a method in which a keyword or a field presented by the search system is selected with a pointing device such as a mouse. These existing methods can only narrow down search conditions in terms of words, such as specifying and adding words, and specify detailed search conditions assumed by users, such as the relationship between words and importance. I couldn't.
Further, when the search conditions and search results are stored and reused, the exact intention of the search may not be understood because the search conditions are described only by words.
In order to solve such a problem, a method of performing a search condition using a graphic expression (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 10-289251) has been proposed. In this method, the search condition is represented by an icon, and the search priority is indicated by an area size. And the logical sum is indicated by the positional relationship between the icons. According to this method, it is possible to create search conditions graphically and to weight individual search conditions, but it is not possible to set a relative weight between search conditions.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned prior art, there is a problem that the searcher cannot freely and easily specify the relative weighting of the search conditions. An object of the present invention is to create a search diagram as input to a search system, and treat a visual change to the search diagram in the same way as a change in a search expression, so that a user can easily perform a search. And

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention relates to a search condition creation support method, which displays input nodes and arcs on a screen, and inputs weights input to the nodes. Changing the display on the screen of the node based on the information, and changing the display on the screen of the arc based on the weighting information input for the arc to display the search condition on the screen as a search diagram. I have to. Also, the line width, line length, line type, or color / density of the arc is changed based on the weighting information input to the arc. Further, when the node or arc is selected, an edit menu for the selected node or arc is displayed, and when a menu item is selected, processing for the menu item is executed. In addition, the search chart displayed on the screen is saved and reused. Also, the present invention is a computer-readable recording medium recording a search condition creation support program, the search condition creation support program comprising the steps of: displaying an input node and an arc on a screen; The method includes a step of changing the display of the node on the screen based on the information, and a step of changing the display of the arc on the screen based on the weighting information input to the arc.

[0005]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a search system based on a client-server type search diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the server 10 and the client 20 are allocated on the network 30. A search engine 11 and a search diagram conversion function 12 exist on the server 10. Here is a search engine,
Although the search diagram conversion function is provided on the server, it may be provided on the client. A search diagram display / edit function 21 exists on the client 20. The display device 22 displays the execution result of the search diagram display / edit function 21,
The input device 23 can be used to instruct editing of the search diagram displayed on the display device 22.

A search chart generated by the search chart display / editing function 21 in response to an input from the input device 23 and displayed on the display device 22 is converted into an input formula suitable for the search engine 11 by the search chart conversion function 12. The search is executed by the search engine 11. When the input device 23 instructs a change to the search diagram displayed on the display device 22, the change is reflected by the search diagram display / edit function 21 and the result is displayed again on the display device 22. Also, the search diagram conversion function 12 uses the display device 22 when creating an input expression suitable for the search engine 11.
Based on the default values such as the word area and line length of the search diagram displayed in, the area size, line length, etc. of the created search diagram are quantified in proportion to the default, and when this value is searched,
Alternatively, weighting can be realized by using the ranking of search results.

FIG. 2 is an example of a search diagram creation / edit screen displayed on the display device 22 by the search diagram display / edit function 21 of FIG. In the entire screen 40, there are a search diagram display section 50 and a command section 60. The buttons of the command section 60 have different functions. A search execution button 61 executes a search from the created search diagram, a save button 62 saves the created search diagram, a reference button 63 redisplays the saved search diagram, and an end button 64 indicates a search diagram editing process Can be terminated. The search diagram displayed on the search diagram display unit 50 includes two nodes, a “node” which is a region including a word and surrounded by a frame, and an “arc” which is a line indicating the relation between nodes and nodes.
It is configured by combining the two.

[0010] The search diagram displayed in the example of FIG. 2 shows a search condition of “information on security and software of a computer connected to the Internet. However, encryption and mail have little relation.” Things. Here, as a rule indicating the strength of association, (1) the size of the node is large. (2) The arc line is thick. (3) The distance between the nodes is short (the arc line is short). However, the conditions indicating the types of rules and the strengths can be freely changed by setting.

[0009] Further, it is possible to edit the search chart displayed on the search chart display section 50. When all the node arcs are selected by a pointing device or the like, an edit menu is displayed, and a process selected from the menu can be executed or the position can be moved. The example of FIG. 2 shows a state where “node 51: encryption” is selected and the menu 52 is displayed. When a location having neither a node nor an arc is selected, a menu for creating a new node is displayed.

FIGS. 3 to 9 show an embodiment of editing the search diagram display section 50 of FIG. The dashed display in each figure indicates that the node or arc is selected. FIG.
Is an example of creating a new node. When the menu is displayed in an area without nodes and arcs, “Menu 70: New” is displayed. When new is selected, a node 71 for inputting a word is created, and the word can be input from the input device. FIG. 4 is an example of node addition. "Node 8
"Menu 81: Add" with "0: Calculator" selected
Is selected, a node 82 connected to the selected node by an arc 83 is added, and it becomes possible to input a word from the input device to the added node. FIG. 5 is an example of node deletion. If “menu 93: delete” is selected with “node 91: program” selected, “node 9: program” is selected.
1: Program "," Node: Computer "and" Node 9 "
1: The arc 92 connecting the program is deleted.

FIG. 6 shows an example of changing the weight of a word. When "menu 94: resize (+)" is selected with "node 90: computer" selected, the area size of node 90 is displayed large. FIG. 7 is an example of a related weight change.
When "menu 95: resize (+)" is selected while the arc 92 connecting "node: computer" and "node: program" is selected, the line representing the arc 92 is displayed thick. FIG. 8 is an example of a related weight change. "Node 9
1: When the pointing device 96 is dragged to the right without displaying the menu in a state where the “Program” is selected, “Node 9” is displayed in a state where the arcs between the nodes are connected.
1: The position of the "program" can be moved, and at the same time, the arc 92 is displayed longer. FIG. 9 is an example of node movement. When "Menu 102: Move" is selected while "Node 101: Program" is selected, the arc is cut off, and the pointing device 103 is dragged and overlapped with "Node 100: Execute" to switch to the overlapped node. Can be performed.

FIG. 10 shows an example of an editing method representing weighting. The method of changing the weight later includes size, size and color / density, font size is small or large, and line width is small. Specific examples are shown respectively.
The method of changing the weight of the relation includes a thin line with a large width, a short line with a long line, a solid line and a short line of a line type, and shading of color and density, and specific examples thereof are shown. Which display format is used and how many are used can be arbitrarily determined.
Further, the correspondence between the image change of the node or the arc and the degree of importance can be arbitrarily determined.

FIG. 11 shows a process in which the search diagram conversion function creates a search formula from a search diagram and applies it to input / output of a search engine. The processing for the search diagram conversion function differs depending on the rules adopted when creating the search diagram and the specifications of the search engine. In this case, when creating the search diagram, "the weight is strong when the node area is large or the arc line is thick. Was adopted. In addition, search engines use document IDs registered in the database using words as indexes.
Is detected, and the detected result is weighted. First, the weight of each word is digitized from the area size of the node in the search diagram 110, and the weight of the relation is digitized from the thickness of the arc between the nodes, with the default size being set to 1. The search diagram 111 shows the result of digitizing the weight. The numbers in the nodes and the numbers next to the arcs are numerical values of the respective weights. Next, each word, the weight, and the relationship between the words are summarized in a search expression 112. This table is the basic data of the search condition passed to the search engine.

On the search engine side, the database table 113 to be referred to uses a word in the document as an index,
It is assumed that a document including the word is created in a format corresponding to the ID number for managing the document. "Computer / Communication / Mail" is ORed for this database table 113
Five 001 to 005 can be detected as document IDs included in the condition.
As it is, each document ID has the same weight, so each document ID
, The order is determined from the words in the search expression 112 and the weight of the relation. First, the weight of the word defined in the search expression 112 is
It is calculated as the score of each document ID. In the score table 114, the document ID: 002 having the relation weight of 7 is determined to have the highest importance.

Next, for document IDs: 001 and 003 having the same score, a determination is made using the weight associated with the search formula 112. If Document ID: 001 contains the sentence "Communication technology is closely related to the history of computer development", "communication" and "computer" are three characters apart, and this is Dividing by a weight of 1 gives an association strength of 3. If the document ID: 003 contains the sentence "e-mail not using a computer", "computer" and "e-mail" are 6 characters apart, and if this is divided by the related word weight 5, the strength of the association will be 1.2. The closer the word is between words, the stronger the association is. Therefore, the relation strength of document ID: 003 is 1.2, and document I
Since the relevance of D: 001 is 3, the document ID: 003 is determined to have higher importance.

[0016]

According to the present invention, since a search formula can be recognized and edited as a diagram, a search condition intended by a user can be created visually and in detail. Further, the intention of the search condition can be easily understood by the search diagram.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing a search system using a search diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a display example of a search diagram editing screen created by a search diagram display / edit function 21 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of new node creation in a search diagram display unit 50 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of node addition in a search diagram display unit 50 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of node deletion in a search diagram display unit 50 of FIG. 2;

6 is a diagram showing an example of changing the weight of a word in the search diagram display unit 50 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a change in a related weight in the search diagram display unit 50 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a change in a related weight in the search diagram display unit 50 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of node movement in the search diagram display unit 50 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of an editing method representing weighting in the search diagram display unit 50 of FIG. 2;

11 is a diagram showing an example of processing from search chart conversion to search by the search chart conversion function 12 in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 server 11 search engine 12 search diagram conversion function 20 client 21 search diagram display / edit function 22 display device 23 input device 30 network 40 search diagram display entire screen 50 search diagram display section 51 node 52 menu 60 command section 61 search button 62 save Button 63 Reference button 64 Exit button

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An input node and an arc are displayed on a screen, a display of the node is changed on the screen based on weighting information input to the node, and a weight input to the arc is changed. A search condition creation support method characterized by displaying a search condition on a screen as a search diagram by changing a display of the arc on the screen based on information. 2. The search condition creation support method according to claim 1, wherein a line width, a line length, a line type, or a color / density of the arc is changed based on weighting information input to the arc. Characteristic search condition creation support method. 3. The search condition creation support method according to claim 1, wherein an edit menu for the selected node or arc is displayed when the node or arc is selected, and the menu is displayed when a menu item is selected. A search condition creation support method characterized by executing a process for an item. 4. The search condition creation support method according to claim 1, wherein the search chart displayed on the screen is saved and reused. 5. A step of displaying an input node and an arc on a screen, a step of changing the display of the node on the screen based on weighting information input to the node, A computer-readable recording medium storing a search condition creation support program, the program including a step of changing a display of the arc on a screen based on the weighting information.