JP2005174312A - Data retrieval device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a data retrieval device capable of easily retrieving a recommended components for the curerntly used part. <P>SOLUTION: This device comprises a data storage part for storing data composed of a plurality of items; a retrieval condition accepting part for accepting a retrieval condition for specifying data stored in the storage part; a comparative item information storage part for storing comparative item information: a first data retrieval part for retrieving data from the data storage part by the use of the retrieval conditions accepted in the acceptance part; a second data retrieval part for retrieving data from the data storage part by the use of an item, corresponding to the comparative item information stored in the comparative item information storage part of the items of the data retrieved by the first data retrieval part; and a retrieval result forming part for forming retrieval result data by the use of the retrieval result of the second data retrieval part. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a data search apparatus for searching for an alternative product.

In recent years, as an alternative to the conventional printed product catalog, a mechanism called an electronic catalog that provides product information as electronic data via the Internet or the like has been widely used.

There is also provided a data search device capable of searching for product information stored in an electronic catalog or the like, and the user can use it to refer to or search for product information desired by the user.

In addition, as a countermeasure when the product requested by the user is not in stock, for example, there is a mechanism provided with a substitute product search function.
JP 2002-117260 A

Although the conventional data search apparatus has a substitute product search function, it takes time and effort to determine what products can be used as substitute products.

In order to solve the above-described problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a data search device that can easily search for a more preferable recommended product.

The present invention provides a data storage unit for storing data composed of a plurality of items including items related to the specification of an article, and a search condition reception for receiving a search condition for specifying data stored in the data storage unit Using the search conditions received by the search condition accepting unit, the comparison item accepting unit that accepts at least one of a plurality of items constituting the data stored in the data storage unit as a comparison item, and the search condition accepting unit A value of an item corresponding to a comparison item received by the comparison item receiving unit among items of data searched by the first data searching unit and the first data searching unit searching for data from the storage unit is used. A second data search unit that searches for another data from the data storage unit, and a search result of the second data search unit,
A search result creation unit that creates search result data.

According to the data search device of the present invention, there is an effect that a user can easily search for a more preferable recommended product by inputting information specifying a product currently used.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a data search apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The processing of each part will be described later.

  FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of the data search apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, a plurality of user terminals 201 and 202 and an administrator terminal 209 are connected to the server 100 via a network. The plurality of user terminals 201 and 202 and the administrator terminal 209 are computers that can perform operations on the server 100.

The server 100 is a server that receives a search condition from, for example, the user terminal 201 via a network and provides a search result based on the search condition. Specifically, the server 100 includes a microprocessor, a memory, a hard disk, an OS (operation system),
It consists of a display, keyboard, mouse, interface for network connection, and so on.

An application program is stored in the memory or hard disk. In the server 100, a function as a data search device is realized by the microprocessor operating according to the application program.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the server 100 includes a comparison item information update unit 10, a comparison item DB (database) 11, a search condition reception unit 20, a current component search unit (first data search unit) 30, a current component DB ( A database) 31, a recommended component search unit (second data search unit) 40, a recommended component DB (database) 41, and a search result creation unit 50.

The current part DB 31 is a data storage unit that stores a plurality of data composed of a plurality of items including items related to the specification of the article, and stores part information data of a part currently used (current part). ing. In one embodiment of the present invention, parts from other companies are stored in the current part DB 31.

The recommended component DB 41 is a data storage unit that stores a plurality of data composed of a plurality of items including items related to the specification of the article, and the component information of the recommended product having the same characteristics as the currently used component. Data is stored. In one embodiment of the present invention, the company's parts are stored in the recommended parts DB 41, and the relevant parts can be searched from the company's parts as recommended parts for other companies' parts that are currently used.

The comparison item DB 11 is a comparison item information storage unit that stores comparison item information including at least one of a plurality of items constituting the component information data stored in the data storage unit.

The comparison item information update unit 10 stores the comparison item information received from the administrator terminal 209 in advance in the comparison item DB 11. The comparison item information is information used for search processing in the recommended component search unit 40.

The search condition receiving unit 20 receives a search condition transmitted from the user terminal 201. The search condition includes information for specifying a certain current part.

The current part search unit 30 uses the search conditions received by the search condition reception unit 20 to search the current part DB 31 for data that matches the search conditions, and acquires the search results.

Next, the recommended component search unit 40 uses the search result of the current component search unit 30 and the comparison item information stored in the comparison item DB 11 to search the recommended component DB 41 for data that matches the conditions, and obtains the search result. To do.

The search result creation unit 50 creates search result display data using the search results of the current part search unit 30 and the recommended part search unit 40.

Next, a specific operation in the data search apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing of the data search apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a search condition designation screen according to an embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment of the present invention, the search condition designation screen is displayed on the user terminal 201.

First, the user designates a search condition for specifying the current part that is currently used. For example, in the search condition designation screen as shown in FIG. 7, for any one or a plurality of items displayed in the item column 701, the search condition for the item is set in the condition column 7
Specify 02.

In FIG. 7, “Company A” is designated for the item “Company Name”, and “AA *” is designated for the item “Product Number”. This indicates that a search condition such as “Product of Company A whose first two digits of the product number is AA” is input (step S110 in FIG. 3).
It should be noted that the search condition input here is not limited as long as the current parts can be narrowed down, and “price”, “stock quantity”, etc. can be used in addition to the search conditions displayed in FIG. May be.
When the user clicks the search button 703 after specifying the search condition, the specified search condition is transmitted from the user terminal 201 to the server 100.

In the server 100, the search condition transmitted from the user terminal 201 is received by the search condition receiving unit 20 (step S120 in FIG. 3).

Subsequently, the current component search unit 30 searches the current component DB 31 for data that matches the search condition received by the search condition reception unit 20 (step S130 in FIG. 3).

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the data configuration of the current part DB 31 according to the embodiment of the present invention. “Company code”, “Part number”, “Rated voltage”, “Capacitance”, “Main body diameter”, “Main body length”, “Durability”, etc. Information data is stored.

  The company code “0001234” represents “Company A”.

In the current part DB 31 of FIG. 4, there are three records, part numbers AA12, AA13, and AA25, that match the condition of “Company A product whose first two digits of the part number is AA” specified in the search condition. The current part search unit 30 acquires the above three records as a search result.

When one or more search results are obtained by the current part search unit 30 (step S140 in FIG. 3).
Next, the recommended component search unit 40 searches for a recommended component corresponding to the search result.

The recommended component search unit 40 searches the recommended component DB 41 for data matching the conditions using the search result of the current component search unit 30 and the comparison item information stored in the comparison item DB 11, and acquires the search result (FIG. 3 step S150).

The comparison item information stored in the comparison item DB 11 is a search condition used when searching for a recommended part based on a search result (hereinafter referred to as an original part) in the current part search unit 30.
It defines what kind of relationship each item of the original part and the corresponding item of the recommended part will present as a recommended product.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the data configuration of the comparison item DB 11 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the comparison item information is stored in advance in the administrator terminal 209.
Is received by the comparison item information update unit 10 and stored in the comparison item DB 11.

  In FIG. 5, the comparison item information includes each comparison item and a comparison condition for the comparison item.

For example, for the product number AA12 which is the first one among the three search results of the current part search unit 30, the comparison condition such as “=” or “> =” is set for five comparison items such as “rated voltage”. In the recommended part search unit 40, when the recommended part of the product number AA12 searched as the original part in the current part search unit 30 is searched, these five comparison items and comparison conditions are used. , That is defined.

That is, when searching for a recommended part with the part number AA12, the part number AA1 is retrieved from the recommended part DB 41.
2 and "rated voltage" are "= (equal)", "capacitance" is "= (equal)", "main body diameter" is "= (equal)", and "main body length" is "> = (Equal or greater) "and" durability "define that parts that satisfy all the conditions of"> = (equal or greater) "are extracted.

This is because there are parts that can be used as alternatives even if all the characteristic values are not equal,
In consideration of such circumstances, by defining comparison items and comparison conditions used when an administrator specifies recommended products, a more preferable recommended product can be searched.

In FIG. 5, the comparison item information is set for each product number. However, the product numbers may be grouped by some category, and the comparison item information may be set for each category.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the data configuration of the recommended component DB 41 according to the embodiment of the present invention. Stores multiple parts information data composed of various items related to parts such as “Part No.”, “Rated Voltage”, “Capacitance”, “Main Body Diameter”, “Main Body Length”, “Durability”, etc. ing.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the current parts DB 31 is a database of a plurality of other parts, and the recommended parts DB 41 is a database of the parts of the company. Although it is structured to be able to search, current parts DB3
1 and the recommended part 41 are physically configured in one database, and an item for managing whether it is the current part or the recommended part is set by classification, and the current part or the recommended part is distinguished using the classification. You may make it search while doing.

Alternatively, the recommended part may be searched from all parts information including the current part without distinguishing between the current part and the recommended part.

In the recommended component DB 41 in FIG. 6, for example, for the product number AA12, the product number aaaa,
bbbb meets the condition as a recommended part. That is, the comparison item information defined in the comparison item DB 11, that is, “rated voltage” is “equal” to the product number AA12 that is the original part,
And "capacitance" is "equal", "body diameter" is "equal", "body length" is "equal or greater", and "durability" is "equal or greater". The parts that satisfy all are the product numbers aaaa and bbbb.

In addition, the recommended component search unit 40 uses the comparison item information stored in the comparison item DB 11 for the remaining two of the three search results of the current component search unit 30 as well as the conditions from the recommended component DB 41. Search for data that matches, and get the search results.

In the search result creation unit 50, from the search results of the current component search unit 30 and the recommended component search unit 40,
Search result data is created (step S160 in FIG. 3).

  The search result data is transmitted to the user terminal 201.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a search result display screen according to the embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment of the present invention, the search result display screen is displayed on the user terminal 201.

In FIG. 8, first, the product number that matches the search condition for specifying the current part entered by the user,
That is, a list of three data as search results of the current part search unit 30 is displayed. When one of the product number columns displayed in the product number column 801 is clicked, a recommended part for the selected product number can be referred to (step S170 in FIG. 3).

FIG. 9 is a screen displayed when the product number AA12 is selected from the search result of the current part search unit 30 in FIG. 8 which is the previous screen, and an example of the search result display screen according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. On this screen, the recommended parts for the selected product number can be referenced.

That is, when the product number AA12 is selected from the search result of the current part search unit 30 displayed in FIG. 8, two pieces of data of product numbers aaaa and bbbb which are recommended parts of the product number AA12 are displayed.

8 and 9 may be configured as a single screen, and a plurality of current parts that match the search condition and recommended parts corresponding to each of the current parts may be displayed in a tree shape.

In addition, when one of the part numbers of the current part displayed in FIG. 8 is clicked, a screen that displays the specifications of the current part and the recommended part number in detail may be displayed. In this case, the specifications of the current part and a plurality of recommended product numbers may be displayed side by side on one screen so that they can be selected.

Further, the layout of the items displayed in FIG. 9 may be changed according to the contents of the registered comparison item DB. Alternatively, the screen may be configured so that the user can select and rearrange items displayed on the search result display screen.

As described above, by inputting information that identifies the current part that is currently in use, replaceable parts are searched for those current parts, and the results are displayed. It is possible to easily find preferred recommended parts.
(Embodiment 2)
Subsequently, a data search apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described.

In the first embodiment, the comparison item information update unit 10 accepts an input from the administrator in advance for the search condition used in the recommended component search unit 40, that is, comparison item information, in order to correctly search for the recommended component. Are stored in the comparison item DB 11.

However, when the recommended component information as expected as a search result is not obtained, there is a demand for the user to change the search condition and perform a search again. However, it is necessary to prevent the recommended part information that is not suitable as a substitute from being provided as a result of the user's side changing the search condition.

Therefore, an object of the second embodiment of the present invention is to allow a user to change search conditions used in a recommended component search unit, that is, comparison item information, under certain restrictions.

FIG. 13 is a functional block diagram of the data search apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. In one embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 13, in the server 100, the comparison item comparison item information update unit 10, the comparison item DB (database) 11, the search condition reception unit 20, and the current component DB (database). 31, a recommended component DB (database) 41, a current component search unit 71, an effective comparison item information reception unit 73, a recommended component search unit 74, and a search result creation unit 75.

In addition, the same number is attached | subjected about the part similar to FIG. 1 used by description of the said Embodiment 1, and description is abbreviate | omitted.

  The search condition receiving unit 20 receives a search condition transmitted from the user terminal 201.

The current component search unit 71 searches the current component DB 31 for data that matches the search condition using the search condition received by the search condition reception unit 20, and delivers the acquired search result to the recommended component search unit 74.

The valid comparison item information receiving unit 73 receives valid comparison item information from the user terminal 201,
The received information is delivered to the recommended component search unit 74.

In the recommended component search unit 74, using the search result of the current component search unit 71 and the comparison item information stored in the comparison item DB 11, search the recommended component DB 41 for data that matches the condition,
Get search results.

Further, in the recommended component search unit 74, when valid comparison item information is delivered from the valid comparison item information receiving unit 73, the search result of the current component search unit 71 delivered from the current component search unit 71 and the comparison item DB 11 are displayed. In addition to the stored comparison item information, the effective comparison item information receiving unit 7
Using the effective comparison item information received in 3, the data matching the condition is searched from the recommended component DB 41, and the search result is acquired.

The search result creation unit 75 uses the search result of the current component search unit 71 and the search result of the recommended component search unit 74 delivered from the current component search unit 71 to the recommended component search unit 74 to generate data for displaying the search result. create.

Next, a specific operation in the data search apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG.
It explains according to.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing processing of the data search apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. Note that portions similar to those in FIG. 3 used in the description of the first embodiment are given the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a search result display screen according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 11 displays recommended parts of the current part AA12, which are search results of the current part search unit 71 (step S170 in FIG. 10).

On this screen, a condition change button 11a is provided. When the condition change button 11a is clicked, the search condition used when searching for a recommended part of the current part AA12, that is, comparison item information can be changed. When the condition change button 11a is clicked, a comparison item change screen is displayed.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of the comparison item change screen in the second embodiment of the present invention. On this screen, search conditions used when searching for recommended parts of the current part AA12, that is, comparison item information stored in the comparison item DB 11 are displayed. The user can change the search conditions as necessary, and can instruct the recommended component search process again (step S in FIG. 10).
180).

  The characteristic item column 12a is a column that displays item names including comparison items.

The characteristic value column 12b is a column that displays the characteristic value of the current component AA12 that is the target component for each item displayed in the characteristic item column 12a. The characteristic value of the current part AA12 is the current part DB
31 and the values as shown in FIG. 4 are displayed.

The comparison condition column 12c is a column for displaying comparison item information used when searching for a recommended component of the current component AA12 that is a target component for each item displayed in the characteristic item column 12a of the row.
The comparison item information is stored in the comparison item DB 11 and, as shown in FIG. 5, “=” for “rated voltage”, “=” for “capacitance”, “body diameter”. "=" Is displayed for "Main body length", and ">=" is displayed for "Durability".
The selection column 12d is a column in which it is possible to select whether or not to use the comparison condition of the row.
In the initially displayed state, all selection fields are checked, indicating that all comparison conditions are valid.

Here, for example, if you want to perform a recommended part search without using the comparison condition that the durability is “equal or greater” than the current part AA12, check the selection column in the row where the characteristic item is “durability”. Remove. The check is turned on / off by clicking a check box in the selection column 12d of the corresponding row.

As described above, it is possible to select whether or not to use the displayed comparison condition. In FIG. 12, the comparison condition (for example, FIG. 1) that must be used when searching for recommended parts is used.
2) (comparison conditions for “rated voltage”, “capacitance”, and “body diameter”), the check box of the selection column 12d is not provided, so that the exclusion of the comparison condition is not permitted.

In FIG. 12, the comparison condition itself set for the comparison item cannot be changed, and it can be selected in the selection column 12d whether or not the comparison condition is used when searching for the recommended component. You may change it. At this time, it is desirable to perform screen control so that search conditions that must be used when searching for recommended components cannot be changed.

In FIG. 12, the comparison condition can be selected for the product number AA12.
In the comparison item DB 11, when the comparison item information is set in a unit in which the product numbers are grouped in some category, it may be selected for each unit.

When the comparison button 12e is clicked after the check box 12d for unused comparison conditions is unchecked, information indicating whether or not each comparison condition is checked is transmitted to the server as valid comparison item information.
In FIG. 12, when the characteristic comparison button 12e is clicked in a state in which “durability” is unchecked, the information is transmitted to the server as effective comparison item information (step S180 in FIG. 10).
In the server 100, the valid comparison item information receiving unit 73 receives the transmitted comparison item information (step S190 in FIG. 10), and the recommended component search unit 74 passes the current component search unit 71 from the current component search unit 71. In addition to the search result and the comparison item information stored in the comparison item DB 11,
Using the effective comparison item information received by the effective comparison item information receiving unit 73, the recommended component DB 41 is used.
The data that matches the condition is searched from and the search result is acquired (step S250 in FIG. 10).

Specifically, for the product number AA12 which is the search result of the current part search unit 71, the comparison item D
The comparison item information stored in B11 includes “=” for five comparison items such as “rated voltage”.
Comparison conditions such as “> =” and the like are set. Then, in the effective comparison item information received by the effective comparison item information receiving unit 73, the comparison set for the comparison item “durability” at the time of the recommended component search of the product number AA12 which is the search result of the current component search unit 71. It is defined that the condition is not used.

That is, in the recommended part search unit 71, the part number AA12 searched by the current part search unit 71
When searching for recommended parts, the product number AA12 and the “rated voltage” are “=” from the recommended parts DB 41.
(Equal) "and" capacitance "are" = (equal) ", and" body diameter "is" = (equal) ",
In addition, a component that satisfies all four conditions of “> = (equal or greater)” is extracted for the “body length”.
The search result of the recommended component search unit 74 will be described with reference to an example of the data configuration of the recommended component DB 41 in FIG.
The product numbers that match the original five conditions stored in the comparison item DB 11 for the product number AA12 are two product numbers aaaa and bbbb. In the second embodiment, the effective comparison item information receiving unit 73 By performing recommended component search using the received valid comparison item information,
The part number cccc is also displayed on the screen as a recommended part.
That is, a search that excludes the comparison condition for the comparison item “durability” from the original five conditions stored in the comparison item DB 11 using the effective comparison item information received by the effective comparison item information receiving unit 73. When this is done, the part number cccc is also displayed on the screen as a recommended part.
The search result creation unit 75 creates search result display data using the search result of the current component search unit 71 and the search result of the recommended component search unit 74 (step S260 in FIG. 10).
The search result data is transmitted to the user terminal 201 (step S270 in FIG. 10).
As described above, by making it possible for the user to change the search conditions used in the recommended component search unit 74, that is, comparison item information, under certain restrictions, the conditions that must be satisfied as recommended components can be canceled unnecessarily. Accordingly, a more general-purpose recommended component search function can be realized.

The data search apparatus according to the present invention has an effect that it is possible to easily search for a recommended recommendation that can be replaced if a user inputs information for specifying a product that is currently used. It is useful as a data retrieval device that retrieves.

Functional block diagram of data retrieval device Hardware configuration diagram of data retrieval device Flow chart showing processing of data retrieval apparatus The figure which shows an example of a data structure of current components DB (database) 31 The figure which shows an example of a data structure of comparison item DB (database) 11 The figure which shows an example of a data structure of recommendation components DB (database) 41 Figure showing an example of the search condition specification screen Figure showing an example of the search result display screen The figure which shows another example of a search result display screen Flowchart showing processing of the data search apparatus in the second embodiment The figure which shows an example of the search result display screen in Embodiment 2. The figure which shows an example of the comparison item change screen in Embodiment 2. Functional block diagram of data search apparatus in embodiment 2

Explanation of symbols

10 Comparison Item Information Update Unit 11 Comparison Item DB (Database)
20 Search condition reception part 30 Current part search part 31 Current part DB (database)
40 Recommended Parts Search Unit 41 Recommended Parts DB (Database)
50 Search Result Creation Unit 100 Server 201 User Terminal 202 User Terminal 209 Administrator Terminal

Claims (5)

A data storage unit for storing data composed of a plurality of items including items related to the specification of the article;
A search condition receiving unit that receives a search condition for specifying data stored in the data storage unit;
A comparison item information storage unit for storing comparison item information including at least one of a plurality of items constituting data stored in the data storage unit;
A first data search unit that searches the data storage unit for data that matches the search condition using the search condition received by the search condition reception unit;
Searching data from the data storage unit using items corresponding to the comparison item information stored in the comparison item information storage unit among the data items searched by the first data search unit The data search part of
A search result creation unit that creates search result data using the search result of the second data search unit;
A data retrieval device comprising: The data search device according to claim 1, further comprising a comparison item information update unit that receives the comparison item information and updates the comparison item information stored in the comparison item information storage. Furthermore, an effective comparison item information receiving unit for receiving effective comparison item information among the comparison item information is provided,
A second data retrieval unit that retrieves data from the data storage unit using the effective comparison item information,
The data search device according to claim 1 or 2. A data storage step for storing data composed of a plurality of items including items related to the specification of the article;
A search condition accepting step for accepting a search condition for specifying the data stored in the data storing step;
A comparison item information storage step for storing comparison item information including at least one of a plurality of items constituting the data stored in the data storage step;
A first data search step for searching for data matching the search condition from the data stored in the data storage step using the search condition received in the search condition reception step;
Searching data from the data storage step using items corresponding to the comparison item information stored in the comparison item information storage step among the data items searched in the first data search step A data retrieval step;
A search result creation step of creating search result data using the search result of the second data search step;
Data search method with In the data retrieval device,
A data storage function for storing data composed of a plurality of items including items related to the specification of the article;
A search condition reception function for receiving a search condition for specifying data stored in the data storage function;
A comparison item information storage function for storing comparison item information including at least one of a plurality of items constituting data stored in the data storage function;
A first data search function for searching for data that matches the search condition from the data storage function using the search condition received by the search condition reception function;
Searching data from the data storage function using items corresponding to the comparison item information stored in the comparison item information storage function among the data items searched by the first data search function Data search function,
A search result creation function for creating search result data using the search result of the second data search function;
A program to make a computer realize.

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