JP2002175324A - Method of retrieving information, and server and terminal capable of utilizing the method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem of labor being required for updating living information, when an address is changed due to moving. SOLUTION: A retrieving server 4 includes a living information storage part 22 for registering the items of living information having areal characteristics in each user, a new address acquiring part 24 for acquiring information concerned with user's new address, a retrieval part 26 for retrieving the living information having the areal characteristics in the new address about the registered items, and a retrieved result transmission part 28 for transmitting retrieved living information to a user terminal. Even when the user changes address due to moving, business trip, traveling or the like, the user can acquire and utilize living information at the new address.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to an information retrieval technique. The present invention particularly relates to a method for searching for living information having regional characteristics, and a server and a terminal that can use the method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Information providing services such as a search service and a yellow page service are widely used on the Internet, and homepages of companies, shops, public facilities, and the like can be viewed on a personal computer or mobile phone at home. Was. Although the WWW (World Wide Web) emphasized the global nature of being able to browse information around the world from a personal computer, recently, information has been provided focusing on regional characteristics. For example, local information services are expected to increase in the future, such as providing today's discount information on nearby supermarkets to users using the Internet. Cell phones and PDAs
The use of mobile terminals such as (Personal Digital Assistants) is also progressing, and it is expected that there will be more opportunities to electronically register and use local information such as nearby hospitals, schools, and post offices.

[0003]

However, even if local lifestyle information is searched and registered on a personal computer, a mobile phone, a PDA, or the like, if the place of residence changes due to moving, the lifestyle information is meaningless. Disappears. Further, the local information registered in the PDA is not used at a travel destination or a business trip destination. When the place of residence is changed due to moving, it is very troublesome to search and register the same living information again. Further, when a temporary living place is changed due to a trip or a business trip, it is troublesome to search for living information that matches one's tastes and needs in the land.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and has as its object to provide an information retrieval method capable of efficiently retrieving local-life information, a server and a terminal capable of using the method. Is to provide.

[0005]

One embodiment of the present invention relates to an information retrieval method. The method includes the steps of: obtaining information on a location of a user; extracting information of living information having locality at the location from information obtained by searching by a user; And a step of searching for living information having locality at the destination for the item. The location and the destination of the user include the place of residence of the user, as well as the temporary location of the user such as office, business trip, travel, and outing.

Another embodiment of the present invention relates to an information search method. The method includes the steps of storing items of living information having regional characteristics, obtaining information on a destination of a user, and using the items already stored without re-entering the items by the user. Searching for living information having locality at the destination.

In the searching step of any of the above information searching methods, when the item of the living information is given by a unique name and the corresponding living information cannot be obtained at the destination, the item for the item is The method may further include a step of inquiring the user of the general name. The step of searching may further include a step of, when the item of the living information is given by a general name, selecting a recommended one of the searched living information and presenting it to the user.

[0008] Another embodiment of the present invention relates to an information search method. The method includes storing a user's personal attributes;
The method includes a step of obtaining information on a destination of the user and a step of searching for local life information in the destination based on the personal attribute without having the user input a search item. The user's personal attributes are the user ’s age,
Attributes indicating objective characteristics of the user, such as gender, address, and occupation, or attributes indicating subjective characteristics of the user, such as user preferences and hobbies, may be used.

[0009] Another embodiment of the present invention relates to a server. The server includes a living information storage unit that stores items of living information having locality for each user, a destination obtaining unit that obtains information about a destination of the user, and a locality of the item in the destination. A search unit for searching for living information and a transmitting unit for transmitting the searched living information to the user terminal are included.

[0010] A search history storage unit for storing the history of information searched by the user, a location acquisition unit for acquiring information on the location of the user, and extracting items of living information having locality at the location based on the history. The living information storage unit may further store an item of the living information extracted by the extracting unit.

[0011] Another embodiment of the present invention relates to a terminal. The terminal includes a search history storage unit that stores a history of information searched by the user, a location acquisition unit that acquires information on the location of the user, and an item of living information having locality at the location based on the history. An extraction unit for extracting, and a transmission / reception unit for transmitting information on the destination of the user and the item to the server and receiving a search result of living information having locality at the destination.

It is to be noted that any combination of the above-described components and any conversion of the expression of the present invention between a method, an apparatus, a system, a recording medium, a computer program, and the like are also effective as embodiments of the present invention.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of the information search system of the present embodiment. The user terminal 2, the search server 4, and the Web server 6 are connected to the Internet 8, and the user terminal 2 accesses the search server 4 to search for information provided by the Web server 6. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of the user terminal 2 and the search server 4. An example of the user terminal 2 is a personal computer, a mobile terminal such as a PDA, or a mobile phone. The search server 4 is implemented by a normal computer, and includes, as functional components, a registration data acquisition unit 20, a living information storage unit 22, a destination acquisition unit 24, and a search unit 26.
And a search result transmitting unit 28.

The input unit 10 of the user terminal 2 receives input of living information items from the user and information on the destination. The registration data acquisition unit 20 of the search server 4 registers the items of the living information input by the user in the living information storage unit 22 for each user. The item of life information is an item of information having a locality at the location of the user, and is, for example, a general name of a public facility such as a hospital, a school, a post office, or a unique name of a favorite store or a favorite restaurant. . The destination acquisition unit 24 receives information on the destination input by the user from the user terminal 2 and passes the information to the search unit 26. The information on the destination is, for example, an address, a postal code, and an area code of a telephone number. The search unit 26 searches for locality-related living information at the destination with respect to the living information items registered in the living information storage unit 22. For example, information on a favorite shop, school, hospital, or the like near the destination address is searched. The search result transmitting unit 28 transmits the searched living information to the user terminal 2. User terminal 2
Stores the received life information in the storage unit 14 and
Displayed at 2.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a display screen of the user terminal 2. The user's character 124 internally has a life data file 126 for storing items of the user's life information. The life data file 126 is information registered by the user in the life information storage unit 22 of the search server 4 in advance. As an example, the life data file 126 includes, as shown in FIG.
Each field of the hospital 104 has an address 100
, A postal code is stored, and the name of the store is registered as an item in the destination store 102 as a unique name. Hospital 1
In the field 04, items of dentistry and internal medicine are registered under a general name.

In FIG. 3, the user enters input field 1
Enter the zip code of the address of the moving destination in 20, and press the GO button 1
When the user clicks on 22, a character house 128 that images the site of the moving destination is displayed. By moving the character 124 to the character house 128 using the mouse or the like of the user terminal 2, the character 124 is registered at the new address, and for each item stored in the life data file 126, the living information at the new address is searched. You.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a search result of the living information at a new address. The first paragraph 106
The new address explains where the "fresh burger" registered in the favorite store 102 in the life data file 126 is located, and clicks the "view map" button to refer to the surrounding map. Can be. Second
Paragraph 107 is a message indicating that "ABC" registered in the store 102 of the destination is not being found at the new address, so that the type of store is under investigation. The third paragraph 108 describes recommended clinics for dentistry and internal medicine registered with the hospital 104. As described above, when the item registered in the life data file 126 is a unique name, the user is informed of a store or a hospital corresponding to the unique name at a new address. If the item is a generic name, tell the recommended store or hospital at the new address.

In the fourth paragraph 110, the search server 4 determines that "ABC" is a pharmacy by searching, for example, a Web page corresponding to "ABC" at the user's old address, and recommends a pharmacy at the new address. Is a message introducing “drug store AAA”. This message is underlined to indicate that it is an html link, and the user can access the “drug store AAA” homepage by clicking. This allows the user to confirm whether the store recommended at the new address provides a service similar to the store used at the old address. The fifth paragraph 112 is a message for asking the user when the search server 4 cannot determine what kind of store “ABC” is. When this message is clicked, a screen for prompting the user to input "ABC" is displayed.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an information search procedure by the search server 4 having the above configuration. The registration data acquisition unit 20 registers the items of the living information obtained from the user in the living information storage unit 22 (S10). The destination acquisition unit 24 acquires information about the destination from the user (S12).
The search unit 26 checks whether the item registered in the life information storage unit 22 is a unique name (S14). The living information storage unit 22 has a list of general names of items of living information, and the searching unit 26 compares the list with the list,
It may be determined whether the item registered by the user is a unique name or a general name. If it is a unique name (Y in S14),
The search unit 26 searches for the living information of the unique name in the destination (S16). If the search is successful (Y in S16), the searched living information is presented to the user (S1).
8). If the search has failed (N in S16), the user is inquired of a general name for the item (S20). Instead of inquiring about the general name, the general name estimated by the search unit 26 may be presented to the user.

Step S for checking whether the item is a unique name
14 is not a unique name, that is, if it is a general name (N of S14), or an inquiry step S2
If the user gives a general name at 0, the living information of the item of the general name is searched in the destination (S22).
The recommended life information is selected from the searched life information and presented to the user (S24).

According to the search server 4 of the present embodiment, when the location of the user changes for the item of the living information registered by the user, the corresponding living information can be searched for at the new location and presented to the user. it can. In particular, if there is no corresponding information at the new location for the item given by the unique name, the general information is guessed or the user is queried, and then the living information is searched. In addition, for items given by the general name, living information recommended at a new location is presented. Therefore, the user can easily receive the living information of the destination simply by inputting the new location at the destination, and can save the user's trouble.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The second embodiment is the same as the first embodiment except that the configuration and operation of the search server 4 are different, and therefore only the parts different from the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of the user terminal 2 and the search server 4 according to the second embodiment.
The search server 4 includes a location obtaining unit 34, a living information extracting unit 32, a search history storing unit 30, and a living information storing unit 22.
, A search unit 26, a destination acquisition unit 24, and a search result transmission unit 28. The location acquisition unit 34 receives information on the location of the user from the user terminal 2 and passes the information to the life information extraction unit 32. The search history storage unit 30 stores, for each user, a history of the search server 4 searching for information on the Internet. The life information extraction unit 32 extracts life information relating to the location of the user from the search history of the user stored in the search history storage unit 30, organizes the items, and registers the items in the life information storage unit 22. For example, living information related to the location of the user, such as a hospital, beauty salon, pharmacy, etc., is extracted, and items such as a unique name of a favorite shop and medical treatment subjects of a hospital such as dentistry and internal medicine are registered as items.

The destination acquisition unit 24 receives information on the destination, such as the user's moving destination or travel destination, from the user terminal 2 and passes it to the search unit 26. The search unit 26 searches for locality-related living information at the destination for the items registered in the living information storage unit 22. The search result transmitting unit 28 transmits the search result to the user terminal 2.

According to the search server 4 of the present embodiment, by extracting and registering the items of the user's life information from the user's search history in advance, even if the user changes the location, the user can input a new location. By simply doing so, for the registered items, the corresponding living information is searched at the new location and provided to the user.

In the third embodiment of the present invention, the functions of the search history storage unit 30, the living information extraction unit 32, and the living information storage unit 22 of the search server 4 of the second embodiment are On the side. The user terminal 2 stores the search history of the user in the search history storage unit 30, extracts the items of the living information, and registers them in the living information storage unit 22. User terminal 2
Can receive a search result of living information at a new location from the search server 4 by receiving an input of a destination from a user and transmitting information on the destination and items of living information as search conditions to the search server 4. . The life information storage unit 22 of the user terminal 2 may be in the form of, for example, a PDA address book or a convenience book. FIG. 8 shows a convenience book displayed on the user terminal 2. This shows a state in which living information having regional characteristics is registered at the location. Elementary school, pediatrics / internal medicine,
General hospitals, taxis, and gourmets are registered, and for each item, information unique to the location is registered as living information. The underlined portion indicates that the link is an html link, and the web page can be accessed by clicking the link.

As described above, according to the user terminal of the present embodiment, the items of the living information are automatically extracted from the search history of the user to create an item list, and the living information for each item is searched from the Internet. Then, it can be registered in the user terminal. When the location of the user changes, the search is performed again and replaced with the corresponding living information at the new location.

The present invention has been described based on the embodiments. These embodiments are exemplifications, and it is understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made to the combination of each component and each processing process, and such modifications are also within the scope of the present invention. By the way.

In such a modification, in the above description, the living information of the user's destination is searched based on the item of the living information. However, personal attributes of the user, such as age, gender, preference, hobby, etc. Register in advance,
You may be comprised so that the living information of a destination may be searched based on a personal attribute of a user. This allows you to search for living information that matches the user's personal attributes just by entering information on travel destinations and business travel destinations. You will be able to find possible hospitals.

In the above description, the location information of the location and the destination is input by the user by the address, the postal code, etc., but when the user is actually at the location or the destination,
Current location information received from GPS satellites, mobile phones and P
The present location information of the user detected by the HS base station may be input as location information or location information of a destination.

[0030]

According to the present invention, it is possible to search and provide local life information according to the location of the user.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an information search system according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a user terminal and a search server according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a display screen of a user terminal.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a life data file that stores items of user life information.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a search result of life information at a new address.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an information search procedure by a search server.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of a user terminal and a search server according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a display example of life information stored in a user terminal according to a third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 user terminal, 4 search server, 10 input unit,
12 display unit, 14 storage unit, 20 registration data acquisition unit, 22 living information storage unit, 24 destination acquisition unit, 26 search unit, 28 search result transmission unit, 30
Search history storage unit, 32 Life information extraction unit, 34
Location acquisition department.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G06F 17/60 132 G06F 17/60 132 (72) Inventor Tsugufumi Matsuoka 2-5-5 Keihanhondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka No. 5 Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. F term (reference) 5B075 ND20 PP03 PQ02 PR03 UU08

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. a step of acquiring information on a location of a user; a step of extracting items of living information having locality at the location from information obtained by a search by the user; An information search method, comprising: obtaining information; and searching for living information having locality at the destination for the item. 2. A step of storing items of living information having regional characteristics, a step of acquiring information on a destination of a user, and using the items already stored without re-entering the items by the user. And searching for local life information at the destination. 3. A step of inquiring a user for a general name for the item when the item of the living information is given by a unique name in the searching step and the corresponding living information cannot be obtained at the destination. The information retrieval method according to claim 1, further comprising: 4. The search step further includes the step of, when the item of the living information is given by a general name, selecting recommended one of the searched living information and presenting it to the user. The information retrieval method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: 5. A step of storing a personal attribute of a user, a step of acquiring information on a destination of the user, and a step of obtaining a region in the destination based on the personal attribute without prompting a user to input a search item. Searching for life information having sex. 6. A living information storage unit for storing living information items having locality for each user, a destination obtaining unit for obtaining information on a destination of the user, and A server comprising: a search unit that searches for living information that the user has; and a transmission unit that transmits the searched living information to a user terminal. 7. A search history storage unit for storing a history of information searched by a user, a location acquisition unit for acquiring information on a location of a user, and an item of living information having locality at the location based on the history. 7. The server according to claim 6, further comprising: an extracting unit configured to extract the living information, wherein the living information storage unit stores items of the living information extracted by the extracting unit. 8. A search history storage unit for storing a history of information searched by the user, a location acquisition unit for acquiring information on the location of the user, and an item of living information having locality at the location based on the history. And a transmission / reception unit that transmits information on the destination of the user and the item to the server, and receives a search result of local life information at the destination. .