JP2007034961A - Content processor, content processing program and content processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently execute information retrieval by saving labor of repeatedly performing the retrieval while holding context of a browse and to attain the retrieval, the browse over a plurality of kinds of contents with different nature. <P>SOLUTION: This content processor has an association part 23 which retrieves at least two or more kinds of contents with different nature according to a retrieval request and associate the respective retrieved contents and a display part 24 which continuously displaying the respective contents associated by the association part 23 using zooming description regarding an operation/behavior of zooming for continuously attaining variation of minuteness and transition of display media in one screen. Thus, the information retrieval is efficiently executed by saving the labor of repeatedly performing the retrieval while holding the context of the browse. In addition, the retrieval, the browse are attained, for example, of video data locally accumulated with a web page on a network. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a content processing apparatus, a content processing program, and a content processing method.

  The network Web environment is evolving day by day, and the amount of information contained therein is increasing. On the other hand, the form of information is not only text, but multimedia such as still images, moving images, and voices is further advanced. In order for Web viewers to make effective use of such a large amount of information on the network, it is most desirable that the information according to the purpose of use can be efficiently searched. Therefore, in recent years, information can be efficiently searched by using various search engines.

  By the way, as shown in FIG. 21, such a search engine basically only presents a list of a part of search results (several lines of text including keywords or image thumbnails near the keywords) To get more information, open each linked web page one by one, check the contents, and if you can't get the desired information, return to the search result list screen again. Become.

  On the other hand, when searching for information using a keyword in a field that is not familiar, it is not always easy to come up with an appropriate keyword, and search results often contain information that the viewer does not expect (unnecessary). . In such a case, there is a method of narrowing down the search target while adding keywords by trial and error, but it takes time and effort to repeat the search many times. Therefore, when the search results are categorized and displayed, the viewer can easily grasp the entire contents of the target field, so that it is easy to find out only the information of the desired category. Such categorized display of search results is described in Non-Patent Document 1, for example.

Bill Kules and Ben Shneiderman, "Categorized graphical overviews for web search results: An exploratory study using US government agencies as a meaningful and stable structure," Proceedings of the Third Annual Workshop on HCI Research in MIS, Washington, DC, December 10-11 , 2004

  However, it is very cumbersome to repeat the process of opening each link destination from the search result list, and if the search result and the link destination are reciprocated many times in this way, the information browsing context is lost and the search is performed. There is a problem that efficiency decreases. On the other hand, if a lot of information is presented for each search result web page, the overall listability deteriorates, and the search efficiency also decreases. In recent years, methods for reducing the link destination web page in the list screen have also appeared, but these can grasp the atmosphere of the entire link destination, but details of text and images are not detailed. There is a problem of not knowing.

  In addition, according to the technique for categorizing and displaying the search results described in Non-Patent Document 1, the list screen after selecting a category is an extracted text similar to the normal keyword search result screen of the search engine To get more information, you must open the linked page.

  Further, in recent years, at least two types of different contents (for example, web pages on a network and video data stored locally) are centrally searched, and related contents are displayed in a list so that they can be browsed. However, search / browsing across multiple types of content with different properties has not been realized yet.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and is capable of efficiently performing an information search while maintaining the browsing context, eliminating the need for repeated searches, and a plurality of types having different properties. It is an object of the present invention to provide a content processing apparatus, a content processing program, and a content processing method capable of realizing search / browsing across different contents.

  In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, the content processing apparatus of the invention according to claim 1 searches for at least two kinds of contents having different properties in response to a search request, and each of the searched contents The association unit for associating the content and the contents associated by the association unit are continuously displayed by using a zooming description relating to a zooming operation / behavior that continuously realizes a change in detail and a transition of display media within the same screen. A display unit to be displayed.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the content processing apparatus searches for the first content and the second content having different properties from the first content in response to a search request, and the first content searched The associating unit for associating the content with the second content, and the first content and the second content associated by the associating unit are continuously subjected to a change in detail and display media transition within the same screen. And a display unit that continuously displays the zooming description regarding the zooming operation / behavior that is realized in an automated manner.

  The invention according to claim 3 is the content processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the associating unit performs the processing on both the text included in the first content and the text included in the second content. An integrated indexing unit that generates an integrated index based on representative keywords extracted from the first content and the second content, and a search request using the integrated index generated by the integrated indexing unit On the other hand, an integrated ranking unit that ranks the first content and the second content in an integrated manner, and the integrated index generated by the integrated indexing unit, and for each of the first content To rank the second content, and to It comprises a cross-ranking unit for ranking the first content to Ntsu, the.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the content processing apparatus according to the third aspect, the integrated indexing unit is represented by both the text included in the first content and the text included in the second content. Based on the keyword extraction unit that extracts a typical keyword and the representative keyword extracted by the keyword extraction unit, both the content of the first content and the content of the second content are converted into the same format. And an index generation unit that generates the integrated index of the first content and the second content.

  Further, the invention according to claim 5 is the content processing device according to claim 3, wherein the integrated ranking unit selects one or a plurality of keywords as a search request from the extracted representative keywords. A query conversion unit that converts the search request selected by the query input unit into a format handled by the integrated index, and an expression format handled by the integrated index, and An integrated similarity calculator that calculates the similarity between the first content and the second content, and the first content and the first content in response to a search request based on the similarity calculated by the integrated similarity calculator. An integrated ranking generation unit that ranks the two contents in an integrated manner.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the content processing apparatus according to the fifth aspect, the integrated ranking generation unit is configured to perform the first in descending order of similarity to the search request based on the calculated similarity. And the second content are ranked in an integrated manner.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the content processing device according to the third aspect, the cross-ranking unit uses the expression format handled by the integrated index, and the first content and the second content Using the cross similarity calculation unit for calculating the relative similarity between the contents and the relative similarity calculated by the cross similarity calculation unit, the second content is ranked for each of the first contents. A cross-ranking generator that ranks the first content with respect to each of the second content.

  According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the content processing device according to the seventh aspect, the cross ranking generation unit uses the calculated similarity and has a high similarity to each of the first contents. The second content is ranked in order from the top, or the first content is ranked in descending order of similarity to the second content.

  The invention according to claim 9 is the content processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the display unit displays a list of the first content and the second content as an initial search result. When the first content is selected and zoomed in, the second content associated with the first content is continuously displayed using a zooming description regarding a zooming operation / behavior, or A cross-ranking display unit configured to continuously display the first content associated with the second content using a zooming description related to a zooming operation / behavior when the second content is selected and zoomed in; Is provided.

  According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a content processing program that searches for at least two types of content having different properties in response to a search request and associates the retrieved contents with the association function. Causing the computer to execute a display function of continuously displaying the associated contents using a zooming description regarding a zooming operation / behavior that continuously realizes a change in detail and a transition of display media within the same screen. .

  The content processing program of the invention according to claim 11 searches the first content and the second content having different properties from the first content in response to a search request, and the first content searched for is searched. An association function for associating a content with the second content, and the first content and the second content associated with each other by the association function are continuously changed in detail and displayed media transitions within the same screen. And a display function for continuously displaying using a zooming description regarding zooming operation / behavior realized in a computer.

  The invention according to claim 12 is the content processing program according to claim 11, wherein the associating function is configured to perform the processing on both the text included in the first content and the text included in the second content. A search request using an integrated indexing function for generating an integrated index based on representative keywords extracted from the first content and the second content, and the integrated index generated by the integrated indexing function On the other hand, an integrated ranking function that ranks the first content and the second content in an integrated manner and the integrated index generated by the integrated indexing function are used for each first content. To rank the second content and To execute a cross-ranking function to rank the first content to the second content Les, to the computer.

  The invention according to claim 13 is the content processing program according to claim 12, wherein the integrated indexing function is represented by both the text included in the first content and the text included in the second content. Based on a keyword extraction function for extracting a typical keyword and a representative keyword extracted by the keyword extraction function, both the content of the first content and the content of the second content are converted into the same format. , Causing the computer to execute an index generation function for generating the integrated index of the first content and the second content.

  According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, in the content processing program according to the twelfth aspect, the integrated ranking function allows the query input to select one or a plurality of keywords as a search request from the extracted representative keywords. Function, a query conversion function for converting the search request selected by the query input function into a format handled by the integrated index, and an expression format handled by the integrated index, and Based on the similarity calculated by the integrated similarity calculation function and the integrated similarity calculation function for calculating the similarity between the first content and the second content, the first content and the first content in response to the search request And an integrated ranking generation function for ranking the two contents in an integrated manner.

  According to a fifteenth aspect of the present invention, in the content processing program according to the fourteenth aspect, the integrated ranking generation function is configured such that, based on the calculated similarity, the first to the search requests in descending order of similarity. And the second content are ranked in an integrated manner.

  According to a sixteenth aspect of the present invention, in the content processing program according to the twelfth aspect, the cross-ranking function uses the expression format handled in the integrated index, and the first content and the second content Using the cross similarity calculation function for calculating the relative similarity between the contents and the relative similarity calculated by the cross similarity calculation function, the second content is ranked for each of the first contents. And causing the computer to execute a cross-ranking generation function for ranking the first content with respect to each of the second content.

  The invention according to claim 17 is the content processing program according to claim 16, wherein the cross ranking generation function uses the calculated similarity, and the similarity is high with respect to each of the first contents. The second content is ranked in order from the top, or the first content is ranked in descending order of similarity to the second content.

  The invention according to claim 18 is the content processing program according to claim 12, wherein the display function displays a list of the first content and the second content as an initial search result. When the first content is selected and zoomed in, the second content associated with the first content is continuously displayed using a zooming description regarding a zooming operation / behavior, or A cross-ranking display function for continuously displaying the first content associated with the second content using a zooming description related to a zooming operation / behavior when the second content is selected and zoomed in; Is executed on the computer.

  The content processing method according to the nineteenth aspect of the present invention includes an associating step of searching for at least two kinds of different contents in response to a search request and associating the searched contents with the associating step. A display step of continuously displaying each of the associated contents by using a zooming description regarding a zooming operation / behavior that continuously realizes a change in detail and a transition of display media within the same screen.

  In the content processing method of the invention according to claim 20, the first content and the second content having different properties from the first content are searched in response to a search request, and the searched first first content is searched for. An associating step for associating content with the second content, and the first content and the second content associated with each other in the associating step are continuously subjected to a change in detail and display media transition within the same screen. And a display step of continuously displaying the zooming description related to the zooming operation / behavior that is realized.

  According to the present invention, while maintaining the browsing context, it is possible to efficiently perform an information search without the need to search many times, and to search and browse across multiple types of content with different properties. There is an effect that it can be realized.

  Exemplary embodiments of a content processing apparatus, a content processing program, and a content processing method according to the present invention are explained in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

[1. Overview of screen transitions when browsing content in the Web environment]
First, an outline of screen transition in content browsing in a Web environment that is a premise of the present invention will be described.

  In the present embodiment, for the purpose of enhancing the content browsing effect in the Web environment, “zooming” that can realize not only the change in the detail level but also the transition of the display media using the zooming for the content in the Web environment.・ Cross media ”is applied.

  “Zooming cross media” is to position the zoom operation as a third operation for scrolling and anchor clicking. While scrolling moves the point of interest continuously within the same screen and anchor clicks fly to different screens, zooming / cross media continuously realizes changes in detail and display media transitions within the same screen. Display media transition refers to media objects that are related to each other, and according to the zoom operation, the display is continuously changed from one to the other, or the other is continuously displayed and the other is continuously enlarged. It is to make additional display while vice versa (or vice versa). For example, when subtitle text associated with a moving image is displayed, it is gradually changed from subtitle text display to subtitle text with a zooming operation.

Such zooming operation / behavior is modeled on the basis of three basic concepts of zoom target, zoom rate, and zoom propagation.
1. Zoom Target “Zoom Target” is a unit that is a target of zoom operation, and is composed of “media objects” of text, still images, moving images, and audio that constitute the content. A viewer designates a desired zoom target and performs a zoom operation.
2. Zoom rate “Zoom rate” is a value uniquely determined for a zoom target, and is a continuous value between 0.0 and 1.0 that represents the degree of zoom. Zooming in the direction of increasing the zoom rate is called zooming in and zooming out in the direction of decreasing the zoom rate. For each media object, the zoom rate is associated with specific attributes (font size, image size, moving image or audio playback section, etc.).
3. Zoom Propagation “Zoom Propagation” means that when a zoom target is zoomed, other zoom targets are also zoomed together. In zoom propagation, the zoom ratio of the propagation destination is calculated from the zoom ratio of the propagation source zoom object based on a predetermined “zoom ratio relationship”, and the display state of the propagation destination zoom object is controlled. The zoom rate relationship is the ratio of change in the zoom rate between the propagation source and the propagation destination.

  Here, an example of zoom propagation when the zoom ratio relationship is a positive value will be described. 1 to 3 are explanatory diagrams showing examples of screen transition in content browsing in a Web environment. FIG. 1 is a front view showing an example of content in a Web environment displayed on a display. The example shown in FIG. 1 is an example in which “business trip report” is applied as content in the Web environment. The content in the Web environment shown in FIG. 1 is mainly composed of text as an object.

  FIG. 2 shows the result of zooming in on the content object A in the Web environment shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, when the zoom-in operation is performed on the object A of the content in the Web environment, the object B below the object A is newly displayed, and the new object C is the lower part of the object B. Is displayed. Here, the new object C is a still image of a moving image in which the discussion scene at the time when the discussion related to the object A was made.

  Further, FIG. 3 shows the result of performing a zoom-in operation on the content object A in the Web environment shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, when the zoom-in operation is performed on the object A of the content in the Web environment, the font sizes of the objects A and B are enlarged. In addition, as shown in FIG. 3, when the zoom-in operation is performed on the object A of the content in the Web environment, the detail level of the still image that is the object C is increased (the image size is increased). Furthermore, when the object C is enlarged to a certain size, reproduction of a moving image (and sound) is started.

  The screen transition in content browsing in such a Web environment is described in the following display description (structure description and zooming description). The structure description and the zooming description are described in an XML (Extensible Markup Language) based zooming description language (ZDL).

  Here, the zooming description will be described below with a simple example.

1. Designation of media object Each of text, still image, moving image, and audio is represented by tags of <text />, <img />, <video />, and <audio />. This tag specifies the specific text content or source file.
(Example 1)
<text id = text1> This is text. </ text>
<img id = img1 src = “img1.jpg” />
<video id = video1 src = “video1.mpg” />
<audio id = audio1 src = “audio1.wav” />

2. Zoom rate range
In zoomFactor attribute in the <div /> tag, specify the maximum and minimum values of the zoom factor and represent the range of the zoom factor as a continuous parameter.
(Example 2)
<div zoomFactor = “0.0 0.5” />

3. Display of media object Each text, still image, moving image, and audio is represented by <dispText>, <dispImg>, <dispVideo>, and <dispAudio> tags. It is always included in the <div /> tag, and represents the display state of each media object at the zoom ratio in the range specified by the <div /> tag.
(Example 3-1)
<div zoomFactor = “0.0 0.5”>
<dispText id = “disptext1” textId = “text1” fontSize = “10pt 14pt” />
</ div>
The above means that the text specified by text1 in the <text /> tag is displayed as 10pt when the zoom factor is 0.0 and 14pt when the zoom factor is 0.5, and the font size is as smooth as possible during that time. Is to change.
(Example 3-2)
<div zoomFactor = “0.0 0.5”>
<dispImg id = “dispimg1” imgId = “img1” imgSize = “10% 50%” />
</ div>
The above means that the still image specified by img1 in the <img /> tag is displayed at 10% of the maximum size when the zoom factor is 0.0, and 50% when the zoom factor is 0.5. Is to change the size as smoothly as possible.
(Example 3-3)
<div zoomFactor = “0.0 0.5”>
<dispVideo id = “dispvideo1” videoId = “video1” start = “0” end = “300” videoSize = “10% 50%” />
</ div>
The above means that the 0th to 300th frame of the video specified by video1 in the <video /> tag is 10% of the maximum size when the zoom ratio is 0.0, and when the zoom ratio is 0.5 Each is displayed at 50%, and the size is changed as smoothly as possible.
(Example 3-4)
<div zoomFactor = “0.0 0.5”>
<dispAudio id = “dispaudio1” audioId = “audio1” start = “0s” end = “30s” />
</ div>
The above meaning is that the first 30 seconds of the audio specified by audio1 in the <audio /> tag is reproduced during the zoom ratio of 0.0 to 0.5.

4). Zoom target Describe the zoom target with the <zoomObject /> tag. The initial zoom rate, the zoom target of the zoom propagation destination, and the zoom rate relationship are also described with attributes in the tag. Be sure to include either <div /> or other <zoomObject />.

The structure description and zooming description for the screen transition examples shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 are shown below. In the following, the structure description of the content and the zooming description regarding the zooming operation / behavior are described separately (onlyHierarchy = “on” indicates that the description is only for the structure).

(Content structure description)
<zoomObject id = “zoom1” onlyHierarchy = “on”>
<text id = “text1”> 1. Improvements of new teaching materials </ text>
<text id = “text2”> Ask participants to give feedback on the contents of the material. </ text>
<zoomObject id = “zoom2” onlyHierarchy = “on”>
<text id = “text3”> How can I get new things out one after another,
How can I get it used over and over again (problem) </ text>
<zoomObject id = “zoom3” onlyHierarchy = “on”>
<text id = “text4”> Development needs to be made in a slightly shorter span. </ text>
<text id = “text5”> I will update every 3 months. </ text>
.......
</ zoomObject>
<zoomObject id = “zoom4” onlyHierarchy = “on”>
<video id = “video1” src = “Meeting 11.mpg” />
</ zoomObject>
</ zoomObject>
<zoomObject id = “zoom5” onlyHierarchy = “on”>
<text id = “text10”> First time with interpreter memo in step 6…. </ text>
.......
</ zoomObject>
.......
</ zoomObject>

(Zooming description for zooming operation / behavior)
<zoomObject id = “zoom1” initZoomFactor = “0.0” relatedTo = “children: 0.8”>
<div zoomFactor = “0.0 1.0”>
<dispText id = “disptext1” textId = “text1” textSize = “12pt 14pt” />
<dispText id = “disptext2” textId = “text2” textSize = “12pt 14pt” />
</ div>
</ zoomObject>

<zoomObject id = “zoom2” initZoomFactor = “0.0” relatedTo = “children: 0.8”>
<div zoomFactor = “0.0 1.0”>
<dispText id = “disptext5” textId = “text3” textSize = “11pt” />
</ div>
</ zoomObject>

<zoomObject id = “zoom3” initZoomFactor = “0.0” relatedTo = “brother: -0.5”>
<div zoomFactor = “0.1 1.0”>
<dispText id = “disptext6” textId = “text4” textSize = “8pt 10pt” />
<dispText id = “disptext7” textId = “text5” textSize = “8pt 10pt” />
.......
</ div>
</ zoomObject>

<zoomObject id = “zoom4” initZoomFactor = “0.0” relatedTo = “brother: -0.5”>
<div zoomFactor = “0.1 0.4”>
<dispVideo id = “dispvideo1” videoId = “video1” start = “0” end = “0” videoSize = “20% 50%” />
</ div>
<div zoomFactor = “0.4 1.0”>
<dispVideo id = “dispvideo2” videoId = “video1” start = “0” end = “900” videoSize = “50% 100%” />
</ div>
</ zoomObject>

  According to the structure description of this content, zoom1 is at the top, zoom2, zoom5, etc. are below it, and zoom3, zoom4 are further below zoom2. Zoom3 is composed of a plurality of texts (text4, text5, etc.), and zoom4 is composed of one moving image (video1).

  Also, according to the zooming description regarding zooming operation / behavior, zoom1, zoom2, zoom3, and zoom4 all have an initial zoom ratio of 0.0, but the first two display text (text1, text2, text3) from the beginning. On the other hand, nothing is displayed for the latter two (this corresponds to the initial state of FIG. 1).

  When zoom2 is zoomed in, it propagates to the zoom target of the child hierarchy (relatedTo = “children: 0.8” indicates that the zoom propagation is zoomed to all the child hierarchies with a zoom ratio of 0.8). When zoom2 zoom ratio increases, zoom3 and zoom4 zoom ratios increase by 0.8 (when zoom2 zoom ratio changes +0.5, zoom3 and zoom4 change +0.4, respectively) and reach 0.1 Then, text4, text5, etc. and video1 are displayed (see FIG. 2). This is an example of media expansion because moving image information is added to text information. However, for video1, only frame 0 is still displayed here.

  If zoom2 is zoomed in further from this state, the zoom rate of zoom3 and zoom4 will also increase, and the font size of text4, text5 and other will increase. At the same time, the display size of video1 is enlarged, and when zoom4 of zoom4 reaches 0.4, frames 0 to 900 of video1 are reproduced (FIG. 3, example of change in detail).

  If zoom2 is zoomed out in the state shown in FIG. 3, zoom3 and zoom4 are zoomed out together to the state shown in FIG. 2 contrary to the case of zooming in. When each zoom ratio becomes 0.1 or less, text4, text5, etc. And video1 disappear from the screen and return to the state of FIG. Alternatively, if the operation is forcibly returned to the initial state, the state shown in FIG. 1 is restored from any display state.

  Next, an example of zoom propagation when the zoom ratio relationship is a negative value will be described.

  FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of screen transition in content browsing in the Web environment. FIG. 4 shows the result of zooming in on the content object B in the Web environment shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, when the zoom-in operation is performed on the object B of the content in the Web environment, the font size of the object B is enlarged, but the display size of the object C is reduced.

In the zooming description regarding the zooming operation / behavior described above, both zoom3 and zoom4
relatedTo = “brother: -0.5”
There is a description. This indicates that zoom propagation occurs between zoom targets having a common parent. A negative zoom ratio relationship indicates that zooming in on one zooms out the other. Therefore, if only zoom3 is selected from the state of FIG. 3 and zoomed in, zoom4 is zoomed out (text4, text5, etc. are further enlarged, and video1 is conversely reduced (see FIG. 4)).

  The above is the outline of the screen transition in content browsing in the Web environment. FIG. 5 shows such a relationship in a simple specific example. In the example of FIG. 5, A, B, and C are zoom targets, and the parentheses indicate the zoom ratio in the initial state. An arrow represents a zoom propagation relationship, and a value attached to the arrow indicates a zoom rate relationship. Since the zoom ratio relationship of AB is 0.5, when zooming in from A to B and zooming in A and changing the zoom ratio from 0.0 to 0.8, the zoom ratio of B changes from 0.0 to 0.4. B and C propagate in zoom with each other but the rate of change is negative (-1.0), so zooming in on one zooms out on the other. For example, in the initial state, only C (moving image) is displayed, and when B (text + sound) is zoomed in and enlarged, C (moving image) is gradually reduced. As in this example, the feature of this modeling is that transition of display media can be easily realized by introducing zoom propagation.

  According to the zooming description as described above, when one media object (text, still image, moving image, audio, etc.) is zoomed, other media objects (text, still image, moving image, audio, etc.) are linked with it. Since it is possible to describe zoom propagation between zooming objects to be zoomed, natural zooming from one zoom object to another zoom object can be performed.

[2. Description of content processing apparatus]
In this embodiment, a search result list of a web page by a search engine (for example, a robot search engine) is applied as content in the Web environment, and the search result list of the web page is output in a zooming description language (ZDL) format. The present invention is applied to a content processing apparatus that can

  Here, a web page is a collection of data displayed at once in a web browser, text data, layout information by HTML (or CSS (Cascading Style Sheet, XML, etc.)), images embedded in a document, It consists of audio, video, etc.

  The reason why zooming / cross-media is applied to information retrieval in this way is that the big utility of zooming / cross-media is to increase the degree of freedom of content browsing. The change in the level of detail and the transition of display media can be controlled according to the user's preference. In other words, on the search result list screen of the web page, the detailed level of information and the display media necessary to determine whether or not the linked web page is the desired information without opening the linked web page are viewed in the field of the search target. This is because it is considered to vary depending on the knowledge of the person, the situation at the time of browsing, the form of information to be searched, and the like. For example, a viewer who is familiar with the field to be searched can be determined by the title alone, but an uninformed viewer may want image data in addition to a more detailed text description. There are cases where there is room to open each link destination over time, and conversely, there is a case where it is desired to briefly list the overall trends. If the link destination is text-based, it is appropriate that the excerpt (or summary) is displayed on the result list screen, but if the link destination contains a lot of images, it is more convenient to display a few main images. There is also. It is not realistic to generate a plurality of fixed search result list screens assuming such various situations in advance. Here, the features of zooming / cross-media that can display a plurality of media in a mixed / transition manner and can flexibly control the level of detail and the display media according to the situation and preference of the viewer will come into play.

  [2-1. Example of system construction including content processing apparatus]

  FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a system configuration example including a content processing apparatus. In this system, as shown in FIG. 6, a plurality of client computers (hereinafter referred to as client terminals) C as terminal devices are connected via a network N to a server computer (hereinafter referred to as a server) 1 as a content processing apparatus. System. Needless to say, the present invention is not limited to the client-server system involving such network communication.

  The server 1 which is a content processing apparatus generally performs a web page search based on a keyword for a general web page on the Internet or a web page having a fixed structure existing in a local database in the server 1. And a web page search result list is output in a zooming description language (ZDL) format.

  The client terminal C is a general personal computer or the like, and can transmit and receive data to and from the server 1 by using a Web browser. The client terminal C accepts a keyword search request (query) of a web page from a viewer and outputs it to the server 1, and also outputs a web page for the viewer that is output in the zooming description language (ZDL) format in the server 1. Interpret and display the search results list. That is, the client terminal C is an input / output device for the server 1 that is a content processing apparatus.

  FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the server 1. A server 1 which is a content processing apparatus according to the present embodiment is mainly composed of a personal computer, and a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 2 for performing information processing, a ROM (Basic Input Output System) for storing a BIOS (Basic Input Output System) and the like. Read Only Memory (3), RAM (Random Access Memory) 4 that temporarily stores information during processing, HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 5 that is a storage unit that stores application programs, processing results, and the like. For connecting to a drive 6a of a removable medium 6 which is a storage medium for storing or distributing outside or obtaining information (application program etc.) from the outside, and a network N for communicating with other external electronic devices A network interface 8; a display 9 that is a display unit for displaying a process progress, a process result, and the like; It consists of an input unit such as a keyboard 10 and a mouse 11 for the author to input commands, information, etc. to the server 1 which is a content processing device. The bus controller 12 arbitrates the data communication between them and operates. Yes.

  The removable medium 6 includes a magnetic storage medium such as a flexible disk, a hard disk, and a magnetic tape, a magneto-optical storage medium such as an MO, a CD, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a CD-RW, Various storage media such as optical storage media such as DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD + RW, and semiconductor memory can be applied.

  In data transmission, the network interface 8 outputs a signal to the network N by sending data to the network interface 8 of the server 1 which is a content processing apparatus. Further, regarding the signal received by the network interface 8, it is determined whether or not it is necessary in the network interface 8, and processing such as fetching if necessary data and discarding if unnecessary is performed. That is, all data transmission / reception is performed via the network interface 8.

  In general, when the user turns on the power of the server 1 which is a content processing apparatus, the CPU 2 activates a program called a loader included in the BIOS in the ROM 3 and the hardware of the server 1 called the operating system (OS) from the HDD 5. And a program for managing software are read into the RAM 4. When the OS is activated, it supports activation of application programs, reading of information, storage, and the like according to user operations. As typical OS, Windows (registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation), UNIX (registered trademark of X / Open, Inc.) and the like are known. Programs that run on these OSs are called application programs. The application program is not limited to one that runs on a predetermined OS, and may be one that causes the OS to execute some of the various processes described below, or constitutes predetermined application software, an OS, or the like. It may be included as part of a group of program files.

  In general, an application program installed in the HDD 5 of the server 1 that is a content processing apparatus is recorded in the removable medium 6, and the application program recorded in the removable medium 6 is installed in the HDD 5. For this reason, the removable medium 6 can also be a storage medium for storing application programs. Furthermore, the application program may be taken in from the outside via, for example, the network interface 8 and installed in the HDD 5.

  When an application program that runs on the OS is activated, the server 1 that is a content processing apparatus performs various arithmetic processes according to the application program, and centrally controls each unit.

[2-2. Content search processing in content processing apparatus]
Next, characteristic processing of the present embodiment that is executed according to a content processing program that is one of application programs among various arithmetic processing executed by the CPU 2 of the server 1 that is a content processing apparatus will be described below.

  FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a system including the server 1. As shown in FIG. 8, the server 1 that is a content processing apparatus has a database (web page DB) 21 that holds a web page that is the first content in the web environment by the CPU 2 controlling each unit according to the content processing program. And managing a database (recorded program DB with caption) 22 that holds a recorded program with caption, which is a descriptive sentence about the video that is the second content, accepts a user query output from the client terminal C, and receives this query The association unit 2 generates a cross-ranking between the web page and the captioned recorded program by associating the web page retained in the web page DB 21 with the captioned recorded program DB 22 based on When, the associating unit 23 web pages and captions recorded program associated with, to realize a display unit 24 to continuously display the using zooming cross media in the form of a zooming description language (ZDL).

  That is, with such a configuration, on the client terminal C side, when a viewer starts a keyword search on a Web browser, a ZDL viewer that interprets and displays a zoom description language (ZDL) is activated at the same time. Then, the search request (query) input at the client terminal C is transmitted to the server 1. On the server 1 side, which is a content processing apparatus, when a search request (query) input at the client terminal C is received, a database search based on the keyword is executed. The server 1 generates a search result list in a zooming description language (ZDL) format. The generated search result list in the zooming description language (ZDL) format is transmitted from the server 1 which is a content processing apparatus to the client terminal C and displayed on the ZDL viewer. The viewer appropriately performs a zooming operation on the displayed search result list.

  First, the association unit 23 will be described in detail. Here, FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the association unit 23. The associating unit 23 generates an integrated index based on the keywords of the web page and the recorded program for both the text of the web page and the caption of the recorded program, and stores it in the database (integrated index DB) 30. Unit 31, an integrated index generated by the integrated indexing unit 31 and stored in the integrated index DB 30, an integrated ranking unit 32 that ranks web pages and recorded programs in an integrated manner in response to a user query, and an integrated index Using the integrated index generated by the sing unit 31 and stored in the integrated index DB 30, the recorded program is ranked for each web page, and the web page is ranked for each recorded program. It is provided with a 33, a. That is, the cross ranking of the web page and the recorded program with caption is to rank the recorded program with respect to each web page of the integrated ranking and to rank the web page with respect to each recorded program.

  As shown in FIG. 10, the integrated indexing unit 31 of the associating unit 23 uses existing natural language processing technology (for example, morphological analysis) and is representative from both the text of the web page and the text of the caption of the recorded program. A keyword extraction unit 41 that extracts keywords, and an index generation that generates an integrated index of a web page and a recorded program using an existing text search technique (for example, a vector space model) based on the keywords extracted by the keyword extraction unit 41 Part 42. The keyword extraction unit 41 can use a manual method or a semi-automatic method in addition to an automatic method (natural language processing technology) when extracting a representative keyword. The index generating unit 42 uses the extracted representative keyword to convert both the content of the web page and the content of the caption of the recorded program into the same format (for example, a document vector) so that the relative similarity between them can be calculated. To do.

  As shown in FIG. 11, the integrated ranking unit 32 of the associating unit 23 includes a query input unit 51 that allows the user to select one or a plurality of keywords from the extracted representative keywords, and the user selects The query conversion unit 52 that converts the keyword (user query) into the same format as the integrated index and the integrated index stored in the integrated index DB 30 are used to determine the similarity of each web page and recorded program to the user query. Based on the similarity calculated by the integrated similarity calculation unit 53, an integrated ranking generation unit 54 that ranks the web page and the recorded program in an integrated manner based on the similarity calculated by the user. I have. The query input unit 51 allows the user to select keywords from a one-dimensional keyword list or a two-dimensional keyword map (or otherwise). The query conversion unit 52 converts the keyword (user query) selected by the user into a format (for example, a query vector) handled by the integrated index stored in the integrated index DB 30 using the extracted representative keyword. Allowing the similarity between a user query and a web page or recorded program to be calculated. The integrated similarity calculation unit 53 uses a query or web page handled by the integrated index and a recorded program expression format (for example, a query vector or document vector), and in response to a user query, Calculate the similarity of the recorded program (a value between 0 and 100%). Based on the calculated similarity, the integrated ranking generation unit 54 integrally ranks the web page and the recorded program in descending order of similarity with respect to the user query.

  As shown in FIG. 12, the cross-ranking unit 33 of the associating unit 23 uses the integrated index stored in the integrated index DB 30 to calculate the relative similarity between each web page and the recorded program. A cross ranking generation unit 62 that ranks recorded programs for each web page using the similarity calculated by the cross similarity calculation unit 61 and ranks the web page for each recorded program; It is equipped with. The cross similarity calculation unit 61 calculates the relative similarity between each web page and the recorded program using the web page and recorded program expression format (for example, document vector) handled by the integrated index. The cross ranking generation unit 62 uses the calculated similarity to rank the recorded programs in descending order of similarity for each web page, or from the highest similarity to each recorded program. Ranking web pages in order.

  Here, FIGS. 13 to 17 show calculation formulas relating to the generation of the integrated index and the calculation of the similarity in the associating unit 23. This calculation formula is a standard calculation formula used in the “vector space model” in the existing text search technology.

  Next, the display unit 24 will be described in detail. Here, FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the display unit 24. As shown in FIG. 18, the display unit 24 uses an integrated ranking display unit 71 that displays a list of web pages and recorded programs as an initial search result, and uses zooming cross media when the user selects a web page and zooms in. A cross-ranking display unit 72 that continuously displays related programs or displays related web pages continuously using zooming cross media when the user selects a related program and zooms in. . The integrated ranking display unit 71 displays a title and a few lines of text for a web page, and a caption (or title) for a recorded program.

  Here, the relationship between the overall ranking and the cross ranking will be described with reference to FIG. The integrated ranking is the ranking of the web page and the recorded program with respect to the user query, and the cross ranking is the ranking of the recorded program with respect to the web page or the ranking of the web page with respect to the recorded program.

  FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a zooming operation performed on a search result list of a web page. As shown in FIG. 20, the initial search result is an overall ranking. In the case of a web page, only a title and a few lines of text, and in the case of a recorded program, only a caption (or a title) is displayed on the ZDL viewer of the client terminal C. Is displayed. In this state, when the web page result is zoomed in, a web page reduced image appears, and when the web page is further zoomed in, the image is enlarged and becomes a true web page at a certain point. Therefore, a related program reduced image and caption appear, and when this is zoomed in, the related program image is enlarged and reproduced. Further, when the recorded program result is zoomed in, a reduced image of the program appears, and when further zoomed in, a scene division (an image and caption is also divided) and a reduced image of a related web page appear. Thus, zooming in on the program reduced image zooms in and plays it back, zooming in on the related web page reduced image zooms in and becomes a true web page at some point.

  As described above, according to this embodiment, since the search result list to the detailed information can be continuously displayed on one screen, there is no need to go back and forth between the list screen and the link destination, and the browsing context is maintained. On the other hand, it is possible to efficiently perform information retrieval without the need to search many times. Further, for example, it is possible to realize search and browsing across a plurality of types of contents having different properties such as a web page on a network and video data stored locally.

It is a front view which shows an example of the multimedia content displayed on the display for demonstrating the outline | summary of the screen transition in the content browsing in the web environment used as the premise of this invention. It is a front view which shows the result of having performed zoom-in operation with respect to the object A of the multimedia content shown in FIG. It is a front view which shows the result of having performed zoom-in operation with respect to the object A of the multimedia content shown in FIG. It is a front view which shows the result of having performed zoom-in operation with respect to the object B of the multimedia content shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which expressed the outline | summary of the screen transition in the content browsing in a Web environment by a simple specific example. It is a schematic diagram which shows the system construction example containing the content processing apparatus concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the server which is a content processing apparatus. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the system containing the server which is a content processing apparatus. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of an correlation part. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the integrated indexing part of an correlation part. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the integrated ranking part of an correlation part. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the cross ranking part of an correlation part. It is explanatory drawing which shows the calculation formula regarding the production | generation of the integrated index in a correlation part, and calculation of a similarity degree. It is explanatory drawing which shows the calculation formula regarding the production | generation of the integrated index in a correlation part, and calculation of a similarity degree. It is explanatory drawing which shows the calculation formula regarding the production | generation of the integrated index in a correlation part, and calculation of a similarity degree. It is explanatory drawing which shows the calculation formula regarding the production | generation of the integrated index in a correlation part, and calculation of a similarity degree. It is explanatory drawing which shows the calculation formula regarding the production | generation of the integrated index in a correlation part, and calculation of a similarity degree. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of a display part. It is explanatory drawing shown about the relationship between a comprehensive ranking and a cross ranking. It is explanatory drawing which shows the zooming operation example with respect to the search result list of a web page. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of operation with respect to the search result list of the conventional web page.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Content processing apparatus 23 Association part 24 Display part 31 Integrated indexing part 32 Integrated ranking part 33 Cross ranking part 41 Keyword extraction part 42 Index generation part 51 Query input part 52 Query conversion part 53 Integrated similarity calculation part 54 Integrated ranking generation Unit 61 Cross similarity calculation unit 62 Cross ranking generation unit 71 Integrated ranking display unit 72 Cross ranking display unit

Claims (20)

An associating unit that retrieves at least two kinds of different contents in response to a search request and associates the retrieved contents;
A display unit that continuously displays the contents associated by the associating unit using a zooming description regarding a zooming operation / behavior that continuously realizes a change in detail and a display media transition within the same screen;
A content processing apparatus comprising: An associating unit that searches for first content and second content having different properties from the first content in response to a search request, and associates the searched first content with the second content. When,
The first content and the second content associated by the associating unit are continuously used by using a zooming description relating to a zooming operation / behavior that continuously realizes a change in detail and a display media transition within the same screen. A display unit to display automatically,
A content processing apparatus comprising: The association unit includes
For both the text included in the first content and the text included in the second content, an integrated index based on a representative keyword extracted from the first content and the second content is provided. An integrated indexing unit to generate,
An integrated ranking unit that ranks the first content and the second content in an integrated manner with respect to a search request using the integrated index generated by the integrated indexing unit;
Using the integrated index generated by the integrated indexing unit, the second content is ranked with respect to each of the first contents, and the first content with respect to each of the second contents. Cross ranking part to rank,
The content processing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: The integrated indexing unit includes:
A keyword extraction unit that extracts representative keywords from both the text included in the first content and the text included in the second content;
Based on the representative keyword extracted by the keyword extraction unit, both the content of the first content and the content of the second content are converted into the same format, and the first content and the second content are converted. An index generator for generating the integrated index of content;
The content processing apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising: The integrated ranking unit
A query input unit for selecting one or more keywords as a search request from the extracted representative keywords;
A query conversion unit that converts the search request selected by the query input unit into a format handled by the integrated index;
An integrated similarity calculation unit that calculates the similarity between the first content and the second content with respect to a search request using the expression format handled in the integrated index;
An integrated ranking generation unit that ranks the first content and the second content in an integrated manner in response to a search request based on the similarity calculated by the integrated similarity calculation unit;
The content processing apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising: The integrated ranking generation unit integrally ranks the first content and the second content in order from the highest similarity to the search request based on the calculated similarity.
The content processing apparatus according to claim 5. The cross ranking part
A cross similarity calculation unit for calculating a relative similarity between the first content and the second content using the expression format handled in the integrated index;
Using the relative similarity calculated by the cross similarity calculation unit, the second content is ranked with respect to each of the first contents, and the first content with respect to each of the second contents. A cross-ranking generator for ranking;
The content processing apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising: The cross ranking generation unit uses the calculated similarity to rank the second content in descending order of similarity to the first content, or the second content. Ranking the first content in descending order of similarity,
The content processing apparatus according to claim 7. The display unit
An integrated ranking display unit for displaying a list of the first content and the second content as an initial search result;
When the first content is selected and zoomed in, the second content associated with the first content is continuously displayed using a zooming description regarding a zooming operation / behavior, or the second content is displayed. A cross-ranking display unit that continuously displays the first content associated with the second content using a zooming description related to a zooming operation / behavior when the content is selected and zoomed in;
The content processing apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising: An association function that retrieves at least two or more different types of content in response to a search request and associates the retrieved contents with each other;
A display function for continuously displaying each of the contents associated by the association function using a zooming description regarding a zooming operation / behavior that continuously realizes a change in detail and a transition of display media within the same screen;
A content processing program for causing a computer to execute. An association function for retrieving first content and second content having different properties from the first content in response to a retrieval request and associating the retrieved first content with the second content When,
A display function for continuously displaying the first content and the second content associated by the association function using a zooming description related to a zooming operation / behavior;
A content processing program for causing a computer to execute. The association function is
For both the text included in the first content and the text included in the second content, an integrated index based on a representative keyword extracted from the first content and the second content is provided. The integrated indexing function to generate,
An integrated ranking function that ranks the first content and the second content in an integrated manner in response to a search request using the integrated index generated by the integrated indexing function;
Using the integrated index generated by the integrated indexing function, the second content is ranked with respect to each of the first contents, and the first content with respect to each of the second contents. Cross ranking function to rank,
The content processing program according to claim 11, wherein the program is executed by a computer. The integrated indexing function is:
A keyword extraction function for extracting a representative keyword from both the text included in the first content and the text included in the second content;
Based on the representative keyword extracted by the keyword extraction function, both the content of the first content and the content of the second content are converted into the same format, and the first content and the second content are converted. An index generation function for generating the integrated index of content;
The content processing program according to claim 12, wherein a computer is executed. The integrated ranking function is
A query input function for selecting one or more keywords as a search request from the extracted representative keywords;
A query conversion function for converting a search request selected by the query input function into a format handled by the integrated index;
An integrated similarity calculation function for calculating a similarity between the first content and the second content with respect to a search request, using an expression format handled in the integrated index;
An integrated ranking generation function that ranks the first content and the second content in an integrated manner in response to a search request based on the similarity calculated by the integrated similarity calculation function;
The content processing program according to claim 12, wherein a computer is executed. The integrated ranking generation function integrally ranks the first content and the second content in order from the highest similarity to the search request based on the calculated similarity.
The content processing program according to claim 14. The cross ranking function
A cross similarity calculation function for calculating a relative similarity between the first content and the second content using the expression format handled in the integrated index;
Using the relative similarity calculated by the cross similarity calculation function, the second content is ranked with respect to each of the first contents, and the first content with respect to each of the second contents. Cross ranking generation function to rank,
The content processing program according to claim 12, wherein a computer is executed. The cross ranking generation function uses the calculated similarity to rank the second content in descending order of similarity to each of the first contents, or each of the second contents. Ranking the first content in descending order of similarity,
The content processing program according to claim 16. The display function is
An integrated ranking display function for displaying a list of the first content and the second content as an initial search result;
When the first content is selected and zoomed in, the second content associated with the first content is continuously displayed using a zooming description regarding a zooming operation / behavior, or the second content is displayed. A cross-ranking display function for continuously displaying the first content associated with the second content using a zooming description related to a zooming operation / behavior when the content is selected and zoomed in
The content processing program according to claim 12, wherein a computer is executed. An association step of searching for at least two kinds of different contents in response to a search request and associating the searched contents;
A display step of continuously displaying the contents associated by the association step by using a zooming description relating to a zooming operation / behavior that continuously realizes a change in detail level and a transition of display media within the same screen;
A content processing method comprising: An associating step of searching for the first content and second content having different properties from the first content in response to a search request, and associating the searched first content with the second content When,
The first content and the second content associated by the associating step are continuously used by using a zooming description related to a zooming operation / behavior that continuously realizes a change in level of detail and display media transition within the same screen. Display process to display automatically,
A content processing method comprising:

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