JPH08297679A - Method and device for retrieving information - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide the method and device for retrieving information with which retrieving information can be designated and inputted by a simple operation. CONSTITUTION: An input frame corresponding to the retrieval item of retrieving information is displayed on a retrieval panel (S1) and when a slider for designating a relative position on a picture is selected (S2) while being related with that input frame, the position of the knob of that designated slider is detected. Corresponding to that detected position of the knob, the index information of the retrieval item corresponding to that slider is displayed and that displayed index information is set to a field as the retrieval item. According to the index information set like this, information stored in the data base is retrieved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information retrieval method and apparatus for retrieving and reading out specific data from a database storing a plurality of data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when searching information from a database in an information search device or terminal, a search screen or search window created in advance is displayed on the screen. Then, referring to the screen, a search condition is input, and after inputting the search condition, a search command or the like is issued to search for desired data. Also,
Recently, a graphical user interface has been introduced, and it is becoming mainstream that a searcher can easily design a screen or window for searching data, inputting data, and displaying a search result.

Such a conventional example will be described with reference to FIG.

FIGS. 2A and 2B show windows for inputting search conditions. Hereinafter, a window for inputting search conditions will be referred to as a search panel. When a search panel generation instruction is issued by the information search device to create a search panel, a blank search panel window 20 is displayed.
1 (FIG. 2 (A)) is displayed. However, window 20
The area indicated by 212 in the upper part of 1 is often already determined, and this area 212 is called a control box, and buttons etc. for inputting various instructions are generally arranged. At the same time, the palette indicated by 202 in FIG. 2B is displayed. Item graphics for inputting search conditions are arranged on the palette 202. Figure 2
Each of 205 and 213 in (B) is a field,
Called a view or the like, each item has a meaning, and as shown in the figure, 205 represents a character string, a numerical value, an amount of money, or the like. The images and sounds indicated by 213 are not used in the actual search but are used in creating a window for displaying the search result, like the search panel 201, and are therefore placed on the palette 202.

Each item graphic on the palette 202 is dragged and dropped on the blank search panel 201 by using a pointing device such as a mouse to arrange the graphic corresponding to each item, and then, as shown in FIG. As shown by, the desired search panel 201 is created. 207-2
11 is thus the search panel 201 from the palette 202.
The figure shows an item figure (field) moved and arranged inside. Reference numeral 206 shows an example of a title added to each field 207 thus arranged.

[0006] The search panel 20 created in this way
After that, the item 1 is completed after performing the linking work with the items constituting the database in the information retrieval apparatus. For example, the field 207 is linked to the "employee number" item in the database, and the field 208 is linked to the "name" item. When performing a search using the search panel 201 completed in this way, enter a numerical value or a character string in the field 207 in which the search conditions are arranged, and press the search button 2
The search is started by instructing 04. In this way, the database is searched according to the search condition created by the search panel 201, and a list or the like showing the result is displayed. It should be noted that the button 203 is a button for deleting the items of the search condition input so far and returning it to the initial state, and is often arranged in the control box 212.

[0007]

As shown in the above-mentioned prior art, when the search panel 201 is created, the position of the field 207 can be set, items can be selected, and the operability is improved. . However, when actually performing a search, the problem that the search condition must be created by inputting characters or numerical values in each field 207 still remains. Therefore, in order to input such search information, for example, in the example of the figure, there is a problem that the desired search result cannot be obtained unless the employee number, name, etc. are input correctly.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional example, and an object of the present invention is to provide an information retrieval method and an apparatus thereof capable of designating and inputting retrieval information by a simple operation.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an information retrieval method and an apparatus therefor capable of realizing retrieval condition input only by operating a pointing device such as a mouse.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, the information retrieval apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration.
That is, an information retrieval device for retrieving information stored in storage means according to retrieval information, holding means for retaining index information indicating a retrieval item of the retrieval information, and input corresponding to the retrieval item of the retrieval information. Display means for displaying a frame,
A position specifying unit that specifies a relative position on the screen in association with the input frame, and a search item display that displays index information of a search item corresponding to the input frame according to the position specified by the position specifying unit. And search means for searching the information stored in the storage means using the index information displayed by the search item display means as a search item.

In order to achieve the above object, the information retrieval method of the present invention comprises the following steps. That is, an information retrieval method for retrieving the information stored in the storage means according to the retrieval information, the step of displaying an input frame corresponding to a search item of the search information, A step of designating a relative position, a step of displaying index information of a search item corresponding to the input frame according to the designated relative position, and storing the displayed index information as a search item in the storage means. And retrieving the information that has been stored.

[0012]

With the above configuration, the input frame corresponding to the search item of the search information is displayed, and the relative position is designated on the screen in association with the input frame. According to the designated position, the index information of the search item corresponding to the input frame is displayed, and the index information displayed is used as the search item to search the information stored in the storage means.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[First Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the schematic arrangement of an information retrieval apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

An input unit 101 is provided with data input means such as a mouse (pointing device) and a keyboard. 102 is a central processing unit (CPU)
Then, the operation of the entire apparatus is controlled according to the control program stored in the main storage unit 103. Reference numeral 103 denotes a main storage unit, which is the control program and various data described above, and further CP
It is provided with a RAM and the like used as a work area when the processing by the U102 is executed. A display unit 104 includes a display such as a CRT or liquid crystal. 105
Is a large-capacity secondary storage unit such as a hard disk or an optical disc, and stores the database to be searched in this embodiment. An output unit 106 has an output unit such as a printer. A network interface unit 107 is used when the information retrieval apparatus of this embodiment is connected to a network for use.

FIG. 3 shows a search panel 3 displayed on the display unit 104 of the information search apparatus of this embodiment, which is a feature of this embodiment.
It is a figure which shows an example of 00.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 300 denotes a search panel of this embodiment. Each of 301 and 302 indicates the name of the field, and is “employee number” and “name”, respectively.
It is represented by. Each of 303 and 304 is a field for inputting a search condition, and is associated with a search item for searching a database as in the case of FIG. That is, the field 303 corresponds to the numerical value of “employee number”,
The field 304 corresponds to the character string of "name".
Each of 305 and 306 indicates a slider, the slider 305 is associated with the field 303, and the slider 3
06 is associated with field 304. The graphic showing these sliders 305 and 306 is shown in the field 30.
Similar to the figures of 3,304, they are arranged in a palette as shown in FIG. An internal portion 307 of each of the sliders 305 and 306 is called a knob. By pointing the knob 307 with a mouse cursor or the like and moving the slider in the left and right directions, items of related fields can be set. You can

A detailed description will be given below.

First, the operation for associating the slider with the field is performed by a graphical operation as shown in FIG. 4, for example.

As shown in FIG. 4, for example, after pressing a control key on the keyboard provided in the input unit 101, the mouse cursor 400 is moved from the slider 305 to the target field 303 by dragging the mouse. As a result, this slider 305 and field 30
3 and 3 are associated.

FIG. 5 shows a slider 305 in this embodiment.
It is a figure which shows an example of the internal information (slider information) of.

Reference numeral 501 indicates graphic information of the slider 305, the position of the slider 305 in the search panel 300,
This is fixed information indicating size, color, and the like. In this example, the slider 305 is displayed at the coordinate position (50, 60), its size is set to "50", and its color is set to "G4". The target of 502 is this slider 305
Is information indicating which field is linked to, and here it can be seen that it is associated with the field 303 of "employee number". At this point, the respective numerical values of the maximum value 503, the minimum value 504, and the number of elements 505 have not been set, and these are set when the search conditions are input to the search panel 300. Also, the knob position 506 is shown in FIG.
The position (here, “25”) of the knob indicated by the knob 307 of the slider 305 of FIG.

Next, referring to the flowchart of FIG.
A method of actually setting search conditions will be described. The control program for executing this process is stored in the main storage unit 103,
It is executed under the control of the CPU 102.

First, in step S1, when the search condition is input, that is, the search panel 300 shown in FIG. 3 is displayed on the display screen of the display unit 104 of the information search apparatus of the embodiment, the process proceeds to step S2. Go to this search panel 3
00, see if slider knob 307 is selected by the mouse. In this way, the slider 305 is selected, and when the control moves to the slider 305, the process proceeds to step S3, and it is determined whether the maximum value, the minimum value, and the number of elements of the slider information are set. If values are not set for these items, the process proceeds to step S4, and based on the target information (“employee number” in the example of FIG. 5) set in 502 of FIG. Search the database once and set the maximum value, minimum value, and number of elements for the target (employee number) item.

In the example of FIG. 5, the target is "employee number".
And the attribute of the item is “numerical value”. This example will be further described with reference to FIG. 7.

In FIG. 7, one horizontal row of information is called a record, and the database is composed of a collection of these records. Reference numeral 701 in FIG. 7 indicates an item, which is an “employee number” here. The attribute of this item is a numerical value, the maximum value of which is “8901” as indicated by 704, and the minimum value of which is “101” as indicated by 703. Therefore, when the slider 305 is instructed as described above,
Numerical values (“8901”, “101”) corresponding to the maximum value and the minimum value of the slider information shown in FIG. 5 are set. In addition, the number of elements, that is, the total number of records is also retrieved and set in the element number 505 of the slider information. Now, assuming that the number of employee numbers is 8000 in total, "8000" is set in this element number.
This process is executed in step S5 of FIG.

Next, proceeding to step S6, if the operator of the information retrieval apparatus of the embodiment has moved the knob 307 of the slider 305 to the position 30 mm from the right, the position of the knob 307 is determined and the determination is made. The following calculation is performed in step S7 according to the position.

Value = 101 + (8901−101) × 30
/ 50 = 5381 That is, when the total length of the slider 305 is 50 mm and the knob 307 is moved to the position 30 mm from the right inside the slider 305, the value set in the "employee number" field 303 is calculated as above. Becomes "5381". The value thus obtained is set and displayed in the "employee number" field 303 in step S8. still,
In this calculation, the number of elements is not used.

In this way, in the "employee number" field 303, the numerical value is repeatedly displayed with the movement of the knob 307 in the slider 305. Also, in this example, the attribute of the target item of the slider 305 is a numerical value, but next, a case will be described in which a character string representing "name" is designated by the slider 306 corresponding to the name field 304.

In the case of a character string, unlike the case of the numerical value described above, it is difficult to determine the maximum value and the minimum value, so the corresponding value is determined using the number of elements. In the above example, the number of elements is "8.
In the case of 000 ″, from 8000 × 30/50 = 4800, the item “name” of the 4800th record is displayed in the field 304 according to the position of the knob 307 in the slider 306.

As described above, according to the first embodiment,
Depending on the relative position of the knob in the slider, the numerical value or item name of the field can be set. Various search conditions can be set according to the set numerical values, item names, and the like. Furthermore, after setting the search conditions in this way, by pointing the search button (204 in FIG. 2) on the search panel, the search process based on the set search conditions is started, and the desired data is stored in the secondary storage device 105. It will be searched from the database.

As described above, according to the first embodiment,
Since the item to be searched can be set according to the position of the knob on the slider, the setting process becomes extremely easy.

Further, according to the first embodiment, a desired item can be designated by a simple operation even if the number or the like of the item to be designated is unknown.

[Second Embodiment] As described in the first embodiment, when the slider and the character string item, which are the features of this embodiment, are associated, the data of the corresponding record number is displayed. On the other hand, in the second embodiment, the character strings are displayed in an arranged order such as "aiueo". For this purpose, the index information of each item is used. Even in a normal search process, a search is often performed using index information, and generally, there are a Btree method, an ISAM method, and the like.

In the present embodiment, along with the operation of the slider for associating the index information with the slider, the candidate data is displayed in the field in a meaningful order such as AIUEO.

FIG. 8 shows the database items shown in FIG.
It is a figure which shows the example which added the index information 801 of a name.

Reference numeral 801 indicates the added index information item (name index), which is automatically set after the database is created.
Alternatively, it is created according to an operator's instruction. 802, 8
Each of 03, 804, and 805 indicates index information for the name item of each record, and when the corresponding name items are arranged in order of Aiue, the name corresponds to the number item in all records. Is showing. That is, 802 indicates that “Natsume Soseki” with employee number “101” is arranged at the 4800th position, and 803 shows “Mori Ogai” with employee number “102” is 5
Employee number “890”
"Ryunosuke Akutagawa" with 0 "is the 15th, 805 is" Akiko Yosano "with employee number" 8901 "is the 7800th,
It shows that each is arranged.

By using the item 801 indicating the order of arrangement of names in the second embodiment and the index information in the first embodiment described above, the information indicating the order of the item 801 is added to the maximum value 503 in FIG. By applying the minimum value 504, it is possible to specify names and the like arranged in order of Aiueo according to the position of the knob on the slider, and set the specified names as search information.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, the information indicating the index of the item defined by the character string can be set in the order of the alphabet and the order can be set as the index information. Therefore, the information can be set according to the position of the knob in the slider. Therefore, the items that can be specified can be narrowed down to some extent. That is, if the knob is located near the left end of the slider, the name starts with a letter close to the "a" line, and if the knob is located near the right end, it is a "ma" or "ya" line. It is possible to predict that the name will start, and by setting the position of the knob according to the desired name, the item name can be promptly specified.

[Third Embodiment] If each slider is provided corresponding to the field of each item, the number of sliders displayed on the search panel increases, and the search panel design becomes complicated. turn into. Therefore, this third
In the embodiment, the slider display can be erased or redisplayed as needed.

When an operation for associating a slider with an item is performed as shown in FIG. 4, slider information is set in the internal information of the field.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of field information in such a case.

In FIG. 9, reference numeral 901 denotes field graphic information. A pointer 902 indicates the attached slider information (for example, FIG. 5 described above), and when the slider is associated with the field, the address of the slider is set. Reference numeral 903 is a flag indicating whether or not the slider is displayed. With control in this field, a specific key input from the input unit 101 is checked. At this time, if it is a normal key input, the input character is displayed in the field. However, for example, when the control key and the S key are pressed at the same time, the state of the flag 903 indicating the display state of the slider is determined, and the slider is displayed, erased, or redisplayed according to the state of the flag. .

As described above, according to the third embodiment, since unnecessary sliders can be erased on the screen at that time, even if the number of sliders is increased, it is easy to display the items on the screen. There is an effect that can be made.

[Fourth Embodiment] When a search candidate is specified from the enormous amount of data in the database by using the above-mentioned slider, the number of records corresponding to the movement amount of the knob in the slider increases, which is desirable. In some cases, it may be difficult to specify the item. Therefore, in the fourth embodiment, as shown in FIGS.
The pop-up list as shown in is used.

In FIG. 10A, 1001, 100
Each of 2 has shown the item name "name" and a field on a search panel. Reference numeral 1003 denotes a slider, which is a feature of this embodiment, and 1004 denotes a pop-up list of this embodiment. Pop-up list 1004
Is displayed by moving the knob 307 of the slider 1003 while pressing the control key, for example. This operation will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

Steps S1 to S8 in FIG.
Since it is the same as the above-mentioned processing of FIG. 6, its explanation is omitted. In step S9, it is determined whether the control key of the input unit 101 is pressed. If it is pressed, the process proceeds to step S10, and for example, it is determined whether or not the pop-up list 1004 shown in FIG. 10 (A) is displayed. If it is not displayed, the process proceeds to step S11 to display the pop-up list.

Next, in step S12, a value is set in the displayed pop-up list. Here, a predetermined number of items positioned before and after the item determined based on the position of the knob on the slider are displayed according to the number of rows of the pop-up list set in advance.

Next, in step S13, the input unit 101
The movement of the mouse cursor on the screen displayed on the display unit 104, which is designated by the mouse or the like, is determined. Here, the mouse button is in the pressed state, and it is determined whether or not the mouse cursor is on the popup list 1004 in that state. As shown in FIG. 10B, when the mouse cursor 1005 is moved onto the pop-up list 1004, control is moved to the pop-up list 1004, and the contents of the item on the pop-up list 1004 where the mouse cursor 1005 exists ( In FIG. 10 (B),
“Outside” is highlighted and set in, for example, field 304 (FIG. 3) of search panel 300.

As described above, according to the fourth embodiment, the number of items corresponding to the slider is extremely large, and even if the knob is moved only slightly, the contents displayed corresponding to the knob position change significantly. Even if it is difficult to specify the item, the desired item can be easily specified by a simple operation.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single device. The present invention can also be applied to the case where it is achieved by supplying a program for implementing the present invention to a system or an apparatus.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, by using the slider for inputting candidates in the search panel, it becomes unnecessary to input a character string from the keyboard,
The operability of the information retrieval device is greatly improved.

[0053]

As described above, according to the present invention, there is an effect that search information can be designated and input by a simple operation.

Further, according to the present invention, the input of the search condition is
For example, there is an effect that can be realized only by an operation using a pointing device such as a mouse.

[0055]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an information search device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a search panel (A) and its palette (B) in a conventional search device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a search panel displayed on the screen of the information search device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an operation of associating a slider with a field in this embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of slider information in the information search device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a process in the information search device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating records in a database of the information search device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example in which index information is newly added to a record in the database according to the second embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of field information in the information search device according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a display example of a pop-up list attached to a slider and a selection example of items in the pop-up list according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an operation of a slider having a pop-up list in the information search device according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 Input Unit 102 Central Processing Unit (CPU) 103 Main Storage Unit 104 Display Unit 105 Secondary Storage Unit 106 Output Unit 107 Network Interface Unit 300 Search Panel 303, 304 Field 305, 306 Slider 307 Knob

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. An information retrieval apparatus for retrieving information stored in a storage means according to retrieval information, comprising: retaining means for retaining index information indicating a retrieval item of the retrieval information, and a retrieval item of the retrieval information. Display means for displaying a corresponding input frame, position specifying means for specifying a relative position on the screen in association with the input frame, and corresponding to the input frame according to the position specified by the position specifying means A search item display unit that displays index information of the search item; and a search unit that searches the information stored in the storage unit using the index information displayed by the search item display unit as a search item. Information retrieval device. 2. The position specifying means displays a knob movably within a predetermined frame, and the search item display means displays index information according to a relative position of the knob with respect to the predetermined frame. The information search device according to claim 1. 3. The information search apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the position designation unit associates the predetermined frame with the input frame by a drag operation with a pointing device. 4. The information retrieval apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the index information is numerical information, the index information is arranged in ascending or descending order of the numerical values. 5. The information search device according to claim 1, wherein when the index information is a character string, the index information is arranged in the Japanese syllabary order. 6. The information retrieving apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a display erasing unit that erases a display for designating a relative position by the position designating unit. 7. The search item display means can display a plurality of index information corresponding to the relative position designated by the position designating means and the vicinity of the relative position, and predetermined index information can be displayed from the plurality of index information. The information search device according to claim 1, further comprising a specifying unit. 8. An information search method for searching information stored in a storage unit in accordance with search information, the step of displaying an input frame corresponding to a search item of the search information, in association with the input frame, A step of designating a relative position on the screen, a step of displaying index information of a search item corresponding to the input frame according to the designated relative position, and a step of storing the displayed index information as a search item. And a step of searching the information stored in the means. 9. The relative position is designated by moving a knob movably displayed in a predetermined frame,
9. The information search method according to claim 8, wherein the index information is displayed according to the relative position of the knob with respect to the predetermined frame. 10. The information search method according to claim 8, wherein when the index information is a numerical value, the numerical values are arranged in ascending order or descending order. 11. The information search method according to claim 8, wherein when the index information is a character string, the character strings are arranged in the order of Japanese syllabary.