JP2002278683A - Form input supporting device and form input supporting method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simplify a user input, and to simplify the user input even to an item whose input method is not defined in the conventional manner. SOLUTION: In an Internet terminal 100 for receiving and outputting a file from a server, a WWW browser program 101 is provided with a meaning attribute extraction and retrieval requesting means 107, and an application program 120 is provided with a meaning attribute retrieving means, and when any meaning attribute indicated by a preliminarily decided attribute name is present in each item included in the file received from the server, the retrieval is requested to the application program of its own, and the retrieved result is outputted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for requesting a user to input information by using hypertext such as HTML.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art WWW (World Wide Wed)
b) In the system, a WWW browser downloads a hypertext file called HTML from a WWW server via a network and displays it. This H
TML has a function called a form, and has a function of requesting a user to input information and transmitting the input information to a server. FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a conventional WWW system.
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a system that receives and displays a WWW page provided by a WWW server using WWW browser software. In the figure, a WWW browser terminal 100 that receives and displays an HTML file and a WWW server 300 that provides the HTML file are connected via a network 200.

[0003] A WWW browser terminal 100 receives an HTML file from a WWW server and performs WWW processing for display processing.
Browser software 101, communication means 102 for communication, display means 103 for displaying a received HTML file, operation unit 10 for receiving user input
4. An application 120 other than the WWW browser. WWW browser software 101 is HTM
An HTML processing unit for processing and displaying the L file. Each of the applications 120 has an application information storage unit 121 for storing information managed by the application. The applications include, for example, a personal information management application and an electronic mail application. For example, the personal information management application holds information such as the owner (owner) name and telephone number. For example, an e-mail application holds information such as an e-mail address. FIG. 17 shows an example of information managed by the application stored in the application information storage unit 121. In this example, the PI
"Suzuki" with the variable name "MownerLastName"
Is stored. The WWW server 300
It comprises WWW server software 301 for performing transmission processing of an HTML file in accordance with a request from a WW browser terminal, communication means 302 for communication, storage means 303 for storing an HTML file, and the like.

Next, the operation of the system shown in FIG. 16 will be described. When the user specifies the address of the HTML file to be displayed by the operation unit on the WWW browser terminal 100, the WWW browser software 101
2 to the WWW server 300 having that address.
Request a TML file. Upon receiving the request, the WWW server 300 stores the HTM stored in the storage unit 303.
The L file is transmitted to the WWW browser terminal 100. WW receiving HTML file by communication means 102
The W browser terminal 100 displays the HTML file received by the WWW browser software 101.
At this time, if a form element is included in the HTML file, a screen requesting the user to input is displayed. Figure 1
8 is an example of an HTML file including a conventional form element. In this example, in the form element indicated by the "FORM" tag, four input elements indicated by the "INPUT" tag for asking the user to input a name, a telephone number, an e-mail address, and a date, and the "INPUT" tag And one submit element meaning a button for transmitting information indicated by the "type = submit" attribute to the WWW server 300. FIG. 14 shows an example of an HTML file including the conventional form element displayed by WWW browser software.

[0005] By the way, WWW browser terminals have WWW browsers.
Applications other than browser software may be installed, and those applications manage information individually. For example, information such as a name is managed by a personal information management application, and is frequently input by an HTML form function. Therefore, there is a request from the user that the user can easily input using the information managed by the application.

[0006]

The conventional WWW browser terminal is configured as described above, and a specific item is input to the user again even though another application already has equivalent data. Therefore, there is a problem that user processing becomes complicated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to eliminate the above-mentioned problems, and has as its object to facilitate user input and to facilitate input of an item for which an input method has not been conventionally defined. .

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided a form input support apparatus comprising: an Internet terminal that receives and outputs a file from a server; a WWW browser program; a semantic attribute extraction / search requesting unit; and an application program. With semantic attribute search means,
If each item included in the file received from the server has a semantic attribute indicated by a predetermined attribute name, a search is requested to the application program owned by the user, and the search result is output.

A form input support method according to the present invention comprises:
In an Internet terminal that receives and outputs a file from a server, a step of extracting a semantic attribute registered in another application in a WWW browser program and making a search request, and inputting the input into the application program based on the request. And a step of activating an application input support function based on the search result.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a WWW browser terminal 100 for receiving and displaying an HTML file, and a WWW for providing an HTML file
The server 300 is connected via the network 200. The WWW browser terminal 100, as in the past,
WWW browser software 101 for receiving and displaying an HTML file from a WWW server, communication means 102 for communication, display means 103 for displaying the received HTML file, operation unit 104 for accepting user input, other than WWW browser Application 1
20 and the like.

[0011] The WWW browser software 101 includes:
As new elements, a semantic attribute extraction / search request unit 107 for searching information managed by each application from the application 120 installed in the WWW browser terminal, and an HTML processing unit 105 for analyzing and displaying an HTML file equivalent to the conventional one There is. The application 120 stores, as a new element, a semantic attribute search unit 122 that provides an interface for searching and referencing information stored in the application information storage unit 121 to the WWW browser software, and a new element in the application information storage unit. There is an application information keyword table 125 for managing keywords for searching for the searched information, and an application information storage unit 121 for storing information managed by each application equivalent to the conventional one.

FIG. 13 is an example of an application information keyword table. This table stores variable names of the application information storage unit corresponding to each keyword. The keyword and the variable name in the application information storage unit do not necessarily have to correspond one-to-one, and a plurality of variable names may correspond to one keyword, or the same variable name may correspond to a plurality of keywords. It may be. Also, the keyword "own" in FIG.
ername ", the operation using the value corresponding to the variable name (in this example, the value of PIMOwnerLastName and PIMOwnerFirs
The operation of combining the values of tName with a space between them is shown). The server 300 is not different from the conventional one, and is HTML based on a request from a WWW browser terminal.
WWW server software 3 for sending files
01, communication means 302 for communication, storage means 303 for storing HTML files, and the like. FIG.
Is an example in which a semantic attribute indicating the meaning of the input content is added to the input element in FIG. For example, the semantic attribute of an input element that requires input of a name is "ownername".

Next, an operation when the WWW browser terminal 100 acquires the HTML file shown in FIG. 2 from the WWW server 300 and displays the HTML file will be described with reference to an operation flow chart performed by the WWW browser terminal 100 shown in FIG. The user specifies the HTML file to be displayed to the WWW browser software 101 using the operation unit 104 on the WWW browser terminal 100. The WWW browser software 101 receives the HTML file of the address from the WWW server 300. Then, the HTML processing unit 10
5 to analyze the received HTML file and display it on the screen.

Here, the processing performed by the HTML processing unit 105 and the semantic attribute extraction / search request unit 107 will be described with reference to FIG. Each element included in the HTML file is extracted sequentially. (S001). If the element is not an input element, a process for a normal element is performed (S008). Next, it is checked whether or not the input element includes a semantic attribute indicated by the mean tag (S004). If not included, a user input field corresponding to the input element is displayed (S
007). If the input element includes a semantic attribute, the value of the semantic attribute is passed as a search keyword to the semantic attribute extraction / search request unit 107 to search for information managed by the application (S005). Then, a user input field with the search result as an input candidate is displayed (S006). In the case of Fig. 2, four I with mean attribute
NPUT elements (name = "yourname", name = "phone", name = "cma
il ", name =" date ").
The information managed by the application is searched using the meaning attribute value indicated by the value of the meaning attribute as a keyword. For example, in the case of the INPUT element with name = "phone" in FIG. 2, "ownerphone" is a semantic attribute value, which is a keyword. The above processing is repeated for each element included in the HTML file (S002).

Here, the semantic attribute extraction / search request unit 107
The process of S005 for searching for information managed by the application according to will be described in detail with reference to FIG. The application information processing unit 107 initializes an input candidate list for saving a search result (S110)
1). Next, each application installed in the WWW browser terminal is searched (S1102). This is performed by referring to, for example, an application management table (not shown) managed by the operating system of the WWW browser terminal. Next, the found application is sent to the semantic attribute
Then, it is checked whether or not the user has 2 (S1104). When the application has the semantic attribute search unit 122, the semantic attribute extraction / search request unit 107 inquires of the semantic attribute search unit 122 of the application whether or not the application has information having the semantic attribute value as a keyword (S110).
4). The application semantic attribute search unit 122 checks whether any of the keywords in the application information keyword table match the semantic attribute value. If there is a match, the value indicated by the corresponding variable name is acquired from the application information storage unit, and the value is retrieved as a semantic attribute extraction / search request unit 1
Hand over to 07. For example, when the semantic attribute value is “ownerphone”, there is a keyword that matches the keyword in the application information keyword table in FIG. 13, and the corresponding variable names are PIMOwnerWorkPhone and PIMOwnerHomePhone. Since the values stored in the application information storage unit in FIG. 17 are “03-1234-5678” and “045-333-4444”, these two are the search results. The semantic attribute extraction / search request unit 107 adds the search result to the input candidate list (S
1107)

The semantic attribute extraction / search request unit 107 repeats this for each application (S1102-
S1107), the obtained input candidate list becomes a search result. FIG. 4 shows an example of a display screen when the input candidate list thus obtained is obtained and the HTML file of FIG. 2 is processed as described above. Each input field where the information managed by the application is found (in this case, the name, phone number, and email address label 3
Next to (1), a button for displaying input candidates is provided, and when the user presses the button, the input candidates are displayed. When one of the input candidates is selected, the value of the input candidate is inserted into the input field.

Although an example has been described above in which the application is inquired of the application information from the WWW browser every time, the keywords of the information managed by the application are registered in advance in the semantic attribute extraction / search request unit, and the application is registered. The information inspecting unit can also search by this registered information. FIG. 5 shows an example of the registration information table stored in the semantic attribute extraction / search request unit in this case. In the example of the registration information table, each application has a keyword of information possessed by the application. Before inquiring each application 120 for information, the application information processing unit 107 searches the registration information table to make an inquiry only when the application has information. As described above, according to the present invention, H
By using the value of the semantic attribute attached to the input element of the TML as a keyword, each application installed in the WWW browser terminal is queried for information corresponding to the keyword, thereby indicating candidates for input contents to the user. Information can be easily input.

Next, a description will be given of a modified configuration and operation of this embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration diagram of another system in the present embodiment, and FIG. 7 is a corresponding operation sequence diagram. The WWW browser software 101 includes an application input support means calling unit that calls the input support meaning attribute search unit 123 of the application installed in the WWW browser terminal instead of the semantic attribute extraction / search request unit 106 in the configuration of FIG. 108 are included. The application 120 also has the information search unit 1
22, an input support semantic attribute search unit 123 which is an interface for calling an input support unit that provides a user information input support function from WWW browser software, and a search for an input support unit 124 as a new element. An input support unit keyword table 126 for managing keywords and an input support unit 124 are included. The input support means is a subroutine that provides a user interface that allows a user to more easily input a value. For example, there are input support means for easily inputting a date by displaying a calendar and selecting a date therefrom, and input support means for automatically inputting a corresponding address by inputting a zip code. FIG. 15 is an example of the input support means keyword table 126. This table stores the input support means names corresponding to the respective keywords. For example, date input means corresponds to the keyword "date".

Next, the operation when the WWW browser terminal 100 acquires the HTML file of FIG. 2 from the WWW server 300 and displays it will be described with reference to FIG. The flow of FIG. 7 is different from FIG. 3 only in steps S104 to S107. Therefore, only different parts after S104 will be described. It is checked whether or not the input element includes a semantic attribute indicated by the “meaning” attribute name (S10).
4) If the input element contains a semantic attribute,
The value of the semantic attribute is passed to the application input support semantic attribute search unit to search whether the application has an input support unit corresponding to the value of the semantic attribute (S
105). If the input support means corresponding to the value of the semantic attribute is found, a button for activating the input support means is displayed together with the user input field (S107).

Here, the process of S105 for searching for the input support means provided by the application by the application input support means calling unit 108 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. The application input support means calling unit 108 searches for each application installed in the WWW browser terminal (S2101). This is performed by referring to, for example, an application management table (not shown) managed by the operating system of the WWW browser terminal. next,
It is checked whether the found application has the input support meaning attribute search unit 123 (S210).
3). The application is an input support semantic attribute search unit 12
If the application support means 3 is provided, the application input support means calling unit 108 inquires of the input support meaning attribute search unit 123 of the application whether or not the input support means having the meaning attribute value as a keyword is provided (S2104). The input support meaning attribute search unit 123 of the application checks whether any of the keywords in the input support means keyword table 126 matches the meaning attribute value,
The result is sent to the application input support means calling unit 108
(S2104). For example, when the semantic attribute value is "date", there is a keyword that matches the keyword in the input support means keyword table of FIG. 15, and the corresponding input support means is "date input support means". The application input support means calling unit 108 repeats the above processing until an input support means is found.

FIG. 8 is an example of a display screen when the HTML file of FIG. 2 is processed as described above. In this example, a button for activating the “date input support means” searched as described above is provided next to the input field for inputting a date. When the user presses this button, the application input support unit calling unit 108 requests the application input support unit 124 to display “date input support unit”. The input support unit of the application displays a screen of “date input support unit”. Here, when the user selects the date and presses the OK button, the application input support unit 124 passes the input result to the application input support unit calling unit 108 of the WWW browser software, and the “date input support unit” screen is displayed. close. The application input support means calling unit 108 outputs an input result to an input field.
Here, an example in which the application is queried from the WWW browser every time for the input support means of the application has been described. The support means calling unit can also search based on the registered input support means information.

Still further, it has both the elements of FIG. 1 and FIG.
A configuration in which both operations are performed may be adopted. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing still another system configuration of the present embodiment.
The WWW browser software 101 includes a semantic attribute extraction / search request unit 107 in addition to the configuration of FIG. In the application 120, the configuration of FIG.
Application information storage unit 121, semantic attribute search unit 1
22, application information keyword table 125
It is included.

The operation of the system having this configuration when the WWW browser terminal 100 acquires the HTML file shown in FIG. 2 from the WWW server 300 and displays it will be described. FIG. 10 is a flowchart of the operation, but differs from FIG. 7 in the operations of S206 to S209. Hereinafter, the operation of the different part will be mainly described, and the description of the operation similar to that of FIGS. 3 and 7 will be omitted. In S204, it is checked whether or not the input element includes a semantic attribute indicated by the “meaning” attribute name. If the input element includes a semantic attribute, the value of the semantic attribute is passed as a search keyword to the semantic attribute extraction / search request unit 107, and information managed by the application is searched (S205). Then, a user input field with the search result as an input candidate is displayed (S206). Next, the value of the semantic attribute is passed to the application input support means calling unit 108, and it is searched whether or not the application has an input support means corresponding to the value of the semantic attribute (S207). When the input support means corresponding to the value of the semantic attribute is found, a button for activating the input support means is displayed (S20).
9). FIG. 11 is an example of a display screen when the HTML file of FIG. 2 is processed as described above. In this example, a button for displaying input candidates is provided next to each input field in which information managed by the application is found. In addition, a button for starting “date input support means” is provided next to the input field for inputting a date.

Here, an example in which the same semantic attribute value is used for a keyword for searching for information managed by an application and a keyword for searching for input support means provided by the application will be described. However, it goes without saying that it may have the value of another attribute (for example, an attribute whose attribute name is "helper"). As described above, according to the present invention, a value of a semantic attribute attached to an HTML input element is used as a keyword, and each application installed in the WWW browser terminal is queried for information corresponding to the keyword, thereby enabling the user Indicates candidates for input contents, and the user can easily input information. In addition, each application installed in the WWW browser terminal is inquired about input support means corresponding to the keyword, and if there is a corresponding input support means, it can be called from the browser to provide a dedicated user interface. . At this time, it is not necessary to change the WWW browser to have a dedicated user interface directly, and the user interface can be added by installing an application later.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, since there is provided a means for extracting and searching for semantic attributes and a means for searching for semantic attributes, there is an effect that user input is facilitated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a form input support system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an HTML file received by a browser terminal according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart performed by the browser terminal according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed by the browser terminal according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of registration information held by an application information extraction / search request unit according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is another configuration diagram of the form input support system according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is another operation flowchart performed by the browser terminal in the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing another example of a screen displayed by the browser terminal according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 is another configuration diagram of the form input support system according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 10 is another operation flow chart performed by the browser terminal in the first embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing another example of a screen displayed by the browser terminal according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 12 is an operation flowchart of an application information search process performed by the browser terminal according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 13 is an example of information held in an application information keyword table of an application of a browser terminal according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 14 is an operation flowchart of an input support means search process performed by the browser terminal according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 15 is an example of information held in the input support means keyword table of the application of the browser terminal according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a configuration diagram of a conventional WWW receiving system.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example of information managed by an application of a conventional WWW browser terminal.

FIG. 18 is an operation flowchart of a browser terminal in a conventional WWW receiving system.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed by a conventional browser terminal.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 100 browser terminal, 101 WWW browser program, 107 HTML processing unit, 107 application information extraction / search request unit, 108 application input support means calling unit, 120 application program, 121 application information storage unit, 12
2 information search unit, 123 input support means search unit, S00
4 Semantic attribute extraction step, S005 Application information search step, S006 Display step of search result in input area, S106, S208 Input support item search step.

Claims (2)

[Claims] An Internet terminal for receiving and outputting a file from a server, comprising: means for extracting and searching for semantic attributes in a WWW browser program; and means for searching for semantic attributes in an application program. If each item included in the file has a semantic attribute indicated by a predetermined attribute name,
A form input support device wherein a request is made to the above-mentioned application program for a search, and the search result is output. 2. An Internet terminal for receiving and outputting a file from a server, extracting a semantic attribute registered in another WWW browser program in a WWW browser program and requesting a search, and an application program based on the request. Within
A form input support method, comprising: searching for an input semantic attribute; and activating an input support function in another application program based on the search result.