JP2006209257A - Information processing apparatus, information processing method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To search for, for example, merchandise sales information by using a search system providing a general search engine on the Internet, and enable a user to browse more accurate sales information. <P>SOLUTION: A PC 10 sends search word information representing an input search word to a search server 11, and receives search result information including the search word information found by the search server 11. The PC 10 extracts an arbitrary number of pieces of price information from the search result information on the basis of the position of the search word information, and displays the arbitrary number of extracted pieces of price information and search word information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program capable of obtaining search result information including input search word information from a search system connected via a communication network.

There are several methods for finding products sold on the Internet.
As a first method, there is known a method in which a shop that sells a product searches for and purchases a product at a shopping mall or a price comparison site in which product information to be sold is registered. In addition, a service for comparing which shopping mall and price comparison site sells the cheapest is also being implemented.

  In the second method, a shop that sells products creates sales information in advance, and the information collection server circulates and collects the sales information, and the product purchase applicant searches for the collected information. There are systems (see, for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).

JP 2002-149854 A JP 2002-207734 A Japanese Patent No. 3099298

  However, in the first method, although there is the convenience that product purchasers can easily compare product sales information without visiting many shop sites, information on shops not registered in the shopping mall is searched. In addition, there is an annoyance that the shop has to frequently upload product information to the shopping mall server.

  In the second method, since the information providing server automatically collects shop information, the product registration work of the shop is simplified, but the problem that the shop information that is not registered in the shopping mall cannot be searched is not solved. .

  Therefore, as a third method for searching for sales information in a shop not registered in the shopping mall, a product search using a general Internet search engine can be mentioned. However, it is very difficult to find sales information on a desired product using a general search engine.

  For example, consider searching for a shop that sells the product with the product name “ABC123” at the lowest price. If a keyword search is performed only for “ABC123” by the search engine, not only sales information of “ABC123” but also simple product introduction information and evaluation information are detected. Those who wish to purchase a product must search for sales information from the search results.

  In order to improve the search accuracy, it is possible to perform an AND search of not only “ABC123” but also keywords such as “sales” and “price”, but sales information of “ABC123” is not necessarily posted. In many cases, product introduction information such as “Sales schedule of ABC123” or the evaluation information of “ABC123” happens to be posted on the sales information page of other products. .

  On the other hand, for example, Patent Document 3 discloses a technique for determining a neighborhood condition that detects a document closer to a search condition in accordance with the distance between character strings in the document in order to increase the accuracy of document search. . For example, it is possible to detect a document in which the character string “ABC123” and “price” are connected by 5 or less words. If this technology is used, not only the characters “ABC123” and “price” are described in one page, but also a page in which the character string “price” is described near “ABC123”. Can be detected. However, even when “ABC123” and “price” are displayed in association with each other when displaying the search result, “list price”, “tax-included price”, “tax-excluded price” for the product with the product name “ABC123”. There is a possibility that various price information such as “member price”, “shipping cost” and the like are described in the vicinity of “ABC123”. Further, there is a possibility that price information of a completely different product “ABC123” is also described, and there is room for improvement in accurately displaying sales information as a search result.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to make it possible to search for product sales information using a search system that provides a general search engine on the Internet, for example, and to allow a user to view accurate sales information. Is to make it possible.

  An information processing apparatus according to the present invention is an information processing apparatus capable of communicating with a search system via a communication network, and transmits search word information indicating an input search word to the search system. Search result receiving means for receiving search result information including the search term information searched by the search system, and extracting any number of price information from the search result information based on the position of the search term information Price information extracting means; and output control means for outputting the arbitrary number of price information extracted by the price information extracting means and the search word information by output means.

  An information processing method of the present invention is an information processing method by an information processing apparatus capable of communicating with a search system via a communication network, and transmits search word information indicating an input search word to the search system. A search information transmission step, a search result reception step for receiving search result information including the search term information searched by the search system, and an arbitrary number of prices from the search result information based on the position of the search term information A price information extracting step for extracting information; and an output control step for causing the output means to output the arbitrary number of price information extracted by the price information extracting step and the search word information.

  A program according to the present invention causes a computer to execute the information processing method.

  According to the present invention, search result information is acquired from a search system in accordance with search word information to be transmitted, and an arbitrary number of price information is extracted based on the position of the search word information in the acquired search result information. Since it is configured to output together with information, for example, it is possible to search for product sales information using a search system that provides a general search engine on the Internet, and there is a possibility of price information of products. By outputting certain price information comprehensively, the user can browse sales information more accurately.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments to which the invention is applied will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of a search system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, the search system according to the present embodiment provides a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a PC) 10 operated by a user, and general search engines represented by “Google” and “Yahoo”. And a search server 11 that The PC 10 and the search server 11 are connected via the Internet.

  On the search word input page of the search engine downloaded from the search server 11, the PC 10 is input with a search word (search information) such as a product name or model number for which the user wants to obtain sales information via the Internet. The input search term is transmitted to the search server 11.

  The search server 11 periodically visits a Web server on the Internet to acquire information (Web page, URL, etc.) of each Web site, and registers it in a database server (not shown) so that it can be easily searched. When the search server 11 receives a search word from the PC 10, the search server 11 searches for a Web page including the search word from the database server, and returns the searched Web page and URL to the PC 10 as a search result. . In the PC 10, the search result corresponding to the search word input by the user is displayed on the monitor.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically illustrating a hardware configuration of the PC 10.
The CPU 1004 controls the entire PC 10 using programs and data stored in the RAM 1005 and the ROM 1006. Reference numeral 1005 denotes a RAM which has an area for temporarily storing programs and data loaded from the external memory 1002 and a work area used by the CPU 1004 for performing various processes. Reference numeral 1006 denotes a ROM that stores BIOS and the like.

  Reference numeral 1002 denotes an external memory such as an HDD or an FDD, which stores programs, data, and the like for causing the CPU 1004 to execute processes performed by the PC 10 described in detail below, and these are controlled by the CPU 1004 as needed. Will be read and executed. Reference numeral 1001 denotes a memory controller that controls data writing to the external memory 1002 and data reading from the external memory 1002.

  Reference numeral 1003 denotes a communication I / F controller for connecting to an external network. Data communication can be performed with an external computer or the like via the communication I / F controller 1003.

  Reference numeral 1008 denotes a keyboard, which can input various instructions to the CPU 1004. Reference numeral 1007 denotes an input controller which transmits input information from the keyboard 1008 to the CPU 1004.

  Reference numeral 1010 denotes a CRT which is a display device. 1009 transmits image information, character information, and the like to be displayed to the CRT 1010 and controls display of an image on the CRT 1010.

  Next, the operation of the search system according to this embodiment will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of operations of the PC 10 and the search server 11 in the search system according to the present embodiment.

  First, the user inputs a desired product name by operating the keyboard 1008 or the like on the search word input page downloaded from the search server 11 (step S501). Subsequently, when a search button for instructing execution of the search is pressed on the search word input page (step S502), the CPU 1004 improves the search accuracy from the narrowed word group stored in the RAM 1005. The optimum narrow-down word is selected (step S503).

  For example, as shown in FIG. 3, when the user inputs “personal computer” as a search term, the CPU 1004 searches three Web search terms “product”, “price” in order to accurately retrieve a web page on which personal computer sales information is posted. ", Including tax".

  Here, the refined word is a word that improves the search accuracy of a page for selling products by adding a refined word as a search condition for AND search, rather than performing a search by a single search word input by a user. It is. A normal user often does not know what sort of narrowing words can be selected to improve the search accuracy, so a group of narrowing words suitable for narrowing down is stored in the PC 10 in advance. A part or all of the refined words are selected, and the refined word is added to the search word input by the user and transmitted to the search server 11.

  Here, with reference to FIG. 4, an appropriate refined word and an inappropriate refined word for improving the search accuracy will be described. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a ratio of Web pages that include product price information as a result of searching by adding a plurality of narrowed words to a certain search word. Incidentally, φ in 402 in FIG. 4 means no search word. That is, the portion shows the rate at which a Web page including product price information can be searched as a result of performing a search using only the search word without using the narrow-down word.

  For example, regarding the narrowed word “list price” 401, when 100 search results by AND search of the search word and the narrowed word “list price” are evaluated, about 50 out of 100 are web pages including price information. It was. On the other hand, when 100 search results by only the search word are evaluated, about 20 out of 100 search results are Web pages including price information. As described above, by adding the narrowed word “list price”, it is possible to improve the search accuracy of the Web page including the price information.

  On the other hand, with regard to the narrowed word “low price” 403, when 100 search results by AND search of the search word and the narrowed word “low price” are evaluated, about 20 of the 100 cases are Web pages including price information. there were. As described above, the search accuracy of the Web page including the price information may be lowered depending on the refined word. In the present embodiment, based on the above verification results, three narrowed words “price”, “price”, and “tax included” suitable for improving the search accuracy are automatically selected, and the search server 11 together with the search terms. Shall be sent to

  Subsequently, the CPU 1004 obtains the search word information input by the user and the search information for performing an AND search on each selected narrowed word, and the search number information for specifying the search number based on each search information, and the communication I / F controller. 1003 is transmitted to the search server 11 (step S504). In the example of FIG. 3, an AND search is performed on the search word “PC” and the search information “price”, which is the first search information that designates an AND search of the search word information “PC” and the search information “product”. Search information and third search information for specifying AND search of search term information “PC” and refinement information “tax included” are generated as search information, and each search information Search number information for designating 100 search numbers is generated, and the corresponding search number information is added to each of the first to third search information and transmitted to the search server 11.

  On the other hand, the search server 11 periodically monitors whether the search information has been received (step S505). If the search server 11 detects reception of the search information, the Web page corresponding to each received search information and their web pages are displayed. The URL is searched from the database server (step S506). In the example of FIG. 3, 100 Web pages corresponding to the first search information (including both the search term “computer” and the refined term “product”) correspond to the second search information (search term “PC”). And 100 Web pages that include the search term “price”) and 100 Web pages that correspond to the third search information (including both the search term “PC” and the search term “tax included”). become. Subsequently, the search server 11 transmits the search result to the PC 10 (step S507).

  The CPU 1004 periodically monitors whether the search result is received after the search information is transmitted (step S508), and when the reception of the search result is detected, the search result is stored in the RAM 1005 (step S509). ).

  Subsequently, the CPU 1004 generates screen information indicating search results as shown in FIG. 7 based on the Web page and URL temporarily stored in the RAM 1005 and displays them on the CRT 1010 (step S510).

Next, the operation of the price information extraction process will be described with reference to FIG.
After the user refers to the search result on the CRT 1010, when a price information extraction instruction is given by a predetermined operation, a price information extraction range and a price range setting screen as shown in FIG. 8 are displayed. The user inputs the price range in the extraction range and price range setting fields 801a and 801b in the price information extraction range setting field 802 on the setting screen of FIG. 8 using the keyboard 1008 or the like. Here, the number of pieces of price information to be extracted is set as an extraction range based on the search term, and the upper limit price and the lower limit price of the price information extracted as the price range are set.

  The price range set in the price range setting fields 801a and 801b can set the price range that the user intends to purchase. When searching for a specific product name or model number, the user is likely to know the list price or general price of the product. In this case, for example, when it is desired to search for a printer of about ¥ 30,000, even if information such as toner, for example, the unit price is ¥ 500, is described in the same Web page, the price of the desired product is greatly different. Therefore, by setting a price range such as “¥ 20,000 to ¥ 40,000” in the price range setting fields 801a and 801b, it is possible to extract price information that excludes unnecessary data. In this case, the price range that the user wants to purchase can be simply specified by the user's budget or the like, for example, instead of the regular price or general price of the product.

  When the execution button 803 is pressed after the extraction information of these price information is input (step S601 / YES), the CPU 1004 reads out the web pages stored in the RAM 1005 one by one in step S602 and puts them in the extraction range. In response, n pieces of price information before and after the search term are extracted. Here, if there are n or less pieces of price information existing on the Web page in the preceding or subsequent stage of the search word, all the existing price information is extracted. In the present embodiment, the same number of price information is extracted before and after the search term, but an arbitrary number of price information may be extracted before and after the price information.

  In the present embodiment, a combination (for example, “thousand yen”, “¥ 800”, etc.) of numerical information using kanji or numbers and monetary unit information such as “yen” and “¥” is extracted as price information.

  Subsequently, the CPU 1004 determines whether the price information extracted in step S602 is price information within the price range set in the price range fields 801a and 801b in FIG. 8 (step S603). If it is within the price range, the price information is stored in the RAM 1006, and if it is not within the price range, a flag outside the price range is attached to the price information and stored in the RAM 1006 (step S604). The above price range storage processing is repeated for all price information extracted in step S602. In the storage process in step S604, the URL of the Web page and the search term (product name) are stored in association with the price information.

  Subsequently, if there is a next Web page, the CPU 1004 executes similar processing for the Web page, and extracts and extracts price information for all Web pages stored in the RAM 1006 in step S509 of FIG. A determination process for the price information is executed.

  Subsequently, display processing of price information and the like of each Web page stored in the RAM 1006 is performed. In the RAM 1006, the URL, search word (product name), and price information of the Web page are stored in association with each other. The CPU 1004 generates screen information having a display configuration as shown in FIG. 10 according to the stored contents.

  In the example of FIG. 10, extraction of two pieces of price information before and after the search term “BC123” is set as the extraction range, and price information of 20,000 to 35,000 yen is extracted as the price range. The example of a screen display when set is shown. 1011 in FIG. 10 shows a column in which price information is extracted from the Web page of FIG. 9, and two pieces of price information “¥ 30,000” and “¥ 31,500” from the preceding stage of the search term “BC123”. The two pieces of price information “¥ 20,000” and “¥ 21,000” are extracted from the subsequent stage of the search term “BC123”, and both are within the set price range. Is not attached. Accordingly, in the column 1011 in FIG. 10, four price information items are displayed in a normal state together with the URL of the Web page and the search term “BC123”.

  1012 in FIG. 10 includes two pieces of price information “¥ 35,000” and “¥ 30,000” from the preceding stage of the search term “BC123” from another Web page, and two pieces of price information “¥ 21,000” from the subsequent stage. ”And“ ¥ 2,980 ”are extracted and displayed. In this example, since only “¥ 2,980” is outside the set price range, a flag outside the set price range is attached to this price information. Accordingly, the column 1012 in FIG. 10 includes the URL of the Web page, the search term “BC123”, and price information “¥ 35,000”, “¥ 30,000”, and “¥ 21,000” in the normal state. The price information “¥ 2,980” is displayed in a special display state (shaded area in the figure) such as color coding.

  Further, as another embodiment relating to the display processing of price information outside the set price range, it is possible to prevent price information outside the price range from being displayed. In this case, it is possible to prevent the price information from being displayed by not storing the price information determined to be out of the price range in step S603 in the RAM 1005.

  Reference numeral 1013 in FIG. 10 denotes two pieces of price information “¥ 34,000” and “¥ 25,000” from the preceding stage of the search term “BC123” from another Web page, and one piece of price information “¥ 27” from the subsequent stage. , 500 "is extracted and displayed. In this example, since only one piece of price information “¥ 27,500” is extracted from the subsequent stage of the search term on the Web page, the display mode displays only such three pieces of price information. . It should be noted that even if only one price information exists before the search term “BC123” and two price information exists after the search word “BC123” on the Web page, the display mode is the same.

  The product name in FIG. 10 is data in the element in which the search term “BC123” is detected in the Web page described in HTML. Web pages for product sales are often in a table format. For example, if the data defined by <td> and </ td> includes “BC123” such as “printer BC123”, “BC123” is used. By including it, it becomes a search target, and “printer BC123” is extracted as a product name.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to display a list of search results in association with URLs, product names, and price information, but not limited to this, it is also possible to display site names and the like. Conceivable. As for the site name, data defined by <title> and </ title> in HTML can be used as the site name in the same manner as the product name extraction process described above.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating another configuration example of the search result display screen. 11, 2011, 2012, and 2013 in FIG. 11 correspond to 1011, 1012, and 1013 in FIG. 10, respectively. The display method of price information is different from the example of FIG. Here, the price information detected in step S602 and its preceding and following m characters (m = 1, 2, 3,...) Are extracted and displayed in the price information column. FIG. 11 shows an example in which price information is displayed along with five characters before and after the price information. By displaying the characters before and after the price information in this way, the user can grasp the meaning or position of the detected price information.

  In the above description, a case has been described in which the search is performed by specifying a search term, and then the price information extraction process shown in FIG. 6 is executed after the user refers to the search result (FIG. 7). The price range and the extraction range of the price information are set on the setting screen of FIG. 8, and the search result display screen as shown in FIG. 7 is not displayed, but the search result display screen of FIG. 10, FIG. May be operated.

  Furthermore, it becomes easy for the user to grasp the certainty of the extracted price information by using the formats of FIGS. 12 and 13 as another display example. In FIG. 12, the price information extracted before the product name is shown on the left side of the product name, and the price extracted after the product name so that the context of the price information extracted with respect to the description of the product name can be understood. For information, price information is displayed on the right side of the product name. In addition, for the product name, several characters before and after the extracted product name are displayed.

  In FIG. 13, the number of characters indicating the number of distances between the search term and the price information is displayed so that the position of the extracted price information is clear. For example, in 3011 of FIG. 13, “31,500 yen” is extracted 56 characters away from the search term “BC123”, and “20,000 yen” is extracted 89 characters away from the search term “BC123”. It means that. Further, it can be seen that “30,000 yen” is extracted at a position 34 characters away from “31,500 yen”.

  In the display example of FIG. 13, when two pieces of price information are extracted in the preceding stage or the succeeding stage, the number of characters between the plurality of price information is displayed. For example, any number of characters may be displayed as a distance from the search term. good. That is, in the case of 3011 in FIG. 13, “31,500 yen” is extracted at a position 56 characters away from the search term “BC123”, and in addition to the 7 characters of the character string “31,500 yen”, an interval of 34 characters. Since “30,000 yen” is extracted as 97 characters before the search term “BC123”, “97” may be displayed instead of the number of characters “34” of 3011.

  In FIG. 13, the number of characters is displayed as a numerical value to indicate the distance. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and some graphical display may be used. For example, one bar graph-like bar may be displayed for each detected Web page, and a search word and price information may be displayed in each bar. Alternatively, a reduced version image of the Web page itself may be created, and the location where the search term and price information are described therein may be displayed.

  As described above, according to the embodiment, the PC 10 acquires the search result information from the search server 11 according to the search word information to be transmitted, and arbitrarily selects the position of the search word information in the acquired search result information as a reference. Since it is configured to extract the number of price information and output it together with the search term information, it becomes possible to search for product sales information using a search system that provides a general search engine on the Internet. The user can browse the sales information more accurately by comprehensively outputting the price information that may be the price information of the product.

  Another object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium storing software program codes for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus, and the computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus stores the storage medium. Needless to say, this can also be achieved by reading and executing the program code stored in.

  In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the program code itself and the storage medium storing the program code constitute the present invention.

  As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a flexible disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

  Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS (basic system or operating system) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. Needless to say, a case where the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized by performing part or all of the actual processing and the processing is included.

  Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written in a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function is determined based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that the CPU or the like provided in the expansion board or function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

1 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of a search system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions of PC roughly. It is a figure for demonstrating the search process in embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating an appropriate refinement word and an inappropriate refinement word in order to improve search accuracy. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of operation | movement of PC and a search server. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the price information extraction process by PC. It is a figure which shows the structural example of a search result display screen. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the extraction range of price information, and the setting screen of a price range. It is a figure which shows an example of the partial structure of a web page. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the search result display screen after a price information extraction process. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the search result display screen after a price information extraction process. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the search result display screen after a price information extraction process. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the search result display screen after a price information extraction process.

Explanation of symbols

10: Personal computer (PC)
11: Search server 1001: Memory controller 1002: External memory 1003: Communication IF controller 1004: CPU
1005: RAM
1006: ROM
1007: Input controller 1008: KB (keyboard)
1009: Video controller 801a, 801b: Price range setting column 802: Extraction range setting column 803: Execution button

Claims (8)

An information processing apparatus capable of communicating with a search system via a communication network,
Search information transmitting means for transmitting search term information indicating the input search term to the search system;
Search result receiving means for receiving search result information including the search term information searched by the search system;
Price information extraction means for extracting any number of price information from the search result information based on the position of the search term information;
An information processing apparatus comprising: output control means for causing the output means to output the arbitrary number of price information extracted by the price information extraction means and the search word information.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an extraction number setting unit capable of arbitrarily setting the number of price information extracted from the search result information by the price information extraction unit. A price range setting means capable of setting an arbitrary price range;
A judgment means for judging price information outside the price range set by the price range setting means among the price information extracted by the price information extraction means;
The output control means is other than the price information determined by the determining means to be out of the price range and the price information determined by the determining means out of the price information extracted by the price information extracting means. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an output method by the output unit is different from that of price information.   The search information transmission means transmits one or a plurality of narrowed-down word information indicating a narrowed-down search word together with the search word information to the search system. The information processing apparatus described in 1.   5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the price information extraction unit extracts, as price information, a combination of numerical information indicating a numerical value and monetary unit information indicating a monetary unit. 6. . Information extraction means for extracting information for a predetermined number of characters before and after the price information from the search result information;
6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the output control unit causes the output unit to output information extracted by the information extraction unit together with corresponding price information. An information processing method by an information processing apparatus capable of communicating with a search system via a communication network,
A search information transmission step of transmitting search term information indicating the input search term to the search system;
A search result receiving step of receiving search result information including the search term information searched by the search system;
A price information extraction step of extracting any number of price information from the search result information based on the position of the search term information;
An information processing method comprising: an output control step of outputting the arbitrary number of price information extracted by the price information extraction step and the search word information by an output means.   A program for causing a computer to execute the information processing method according to claim 7.

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