GB2165070A

GB2165070A - Information directory and retrieval system

Info

Publication number: GB2165070A
Application number: GB08523791A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Kaori Ichikawa
Original assignee: Olympus Optical Co Ltd
Current assignee: Olympus Corp
Priority date: 1984-09-29
Filing date: 1985-09-26
Publication date: 1986-04-03
Also published as: GB2165070B; JPS6182232A; GB8523791D0; DE3534080C2; DE3534080A1

Abstract

In an information directory and retrieval system, information to be retrieved being composed of data which are registered in one or a plurality of fields 6-8 for a specific item and a field 10 for general purposes, data with an identifier (e.g #) attached thereto denotes that the data relating to the specific item data (e.g. 8) is registered in the field 10 for general purposes. The data with the identifier attached thereto is treated as data on the specific item at the time of retrieving, and is retrieved collectively with the retrieval of the field of the specific item, thereby increasing the speed of retrieval. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Information directory and retrieval system This invention relates to an information directory and retrieval system for registering information such as medical information in a recording medium and retrieving it.

In an information directory and retrieval system for registering information to be retrieved in a field for a specific item and a field for general purposes, and for retrieving the information on the basis of certain retrieving information, when it is necessary to register a plurality of data with respect to a certain specific item at the time of registering one piece of information, such a method has conventionally been taken as one of presetting a plurality of fields for the same specific item or of registering second and later data into the field for general purposes together with other data.

In the former method, however, even if a plurality of fields for the same item are preset, the number of data which can be dealt with under the same item is limited to the number of preset fields, while if there are only a few data to be registered in the fields, a wasteful amount of memory space is inconveniently generated in a memory unit.

On the other hand, in the method of recording data on a specific item in the field for general purposes together with other data, it is necessary to retrieve both the field for the specific item and the field for general purposes, thereby necessitating a long time for retrieval.

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an information directory and retrieval system which enables high speed retrieval of desired information to be retrieved solely by retrieval of the field for a specific item even when the data relating to the field for the specific item is registered in a field for general purposes.

To achieve this aim, this invention provides a system for retrieving, on the basis of certain retrieving information, information to be retrieved which is composed of data registered in one or a plurality of fields for a specific item and in a field for general purposes, the system being characterized in that when there is a greater number of items of data than the number of preset fields for the same specific item, the excess number of specific item data is registered into the field for general purposes with an identifier attached thereto, and when retrieving, the data having the identifier is retrieved as the data on the specific item.

The above-described structure enables the retrieval of the data having an identifier at the same time with the retrieval of the fields for the specific item, and thus increases the speed of retrieval of desired information to be retrieved.

The present invention will now be further de scribed by way of example by reference to the following description of the preferred embodiment thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 shows an example of information to be retrieved which is registered in a filling device; Figure 3 shows examples of an index of a specific item in relation to the information to be retrieved which have been registered in the filing device; Figure 4 is a flow chart of the operation carried out at the time of registering the information to be retrieved; and Figure 5 is a flow chart of the operation of the system for retrieving the information which has been registered on the basis of retrieving information.

Referring now to the drawings, Figure 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an information directory and retrieval system according to the invention.

In the Figure, the reference numeral 1 represents a central processing unit, 2 a filing device for storing information to be retrieved, 3 an index device for storing an index which corresponds to a specific item of the information to be retrieved, 4 a display for displaying information extracted by retrieval, and 5 a keyboard for inputting information to be retrieved and retrieving information.

Information to be retrieved which is stored in the filing device 2 is in this Example, as is shown in Figure 2, composed of information about a patient, namely, the data registered in the fields 6 to 9 for special items consisting of, for example, the number of a chart, patient's name, the name of his disease and his age; and the data registered in the field 10 for general purposes which is provided for recording remarks.

In the index device 3 are stored indexes corresponding to each of the specific items of the information to be retrieved in the fields 6 to 8 for specific items which are stored in the filing device. 2. For example, the index for the name of a disease corresponding to a specific item is, as is shown in Figure 3, composed of a field 11 for a disease name in which the name of a disease is recorded and a field 12 for an index address in which is recorded the address for the information to be retrieved including the data on the name of a disease. When information to be retrieved having data on each item as shown in Figure 2 is input from the keyboard 5, it is stored in the filing device 2, and the indexes corresponding to the respective specific items of the information are also stored in the index device 3.

In this invention, when information to be retrieved is input into the filing device 2, and when it is necessary to register a plurality of data in the field for the same specific item such as, for example, when a plurality of the same specific item data consisting of the names of plural diseases, first data ("gastric cancer" in Figure 2) is registered in the field 8 for a specific item and second and later data are registered in the field for general purposes, as is shown in Figure 2, with an identifier # attached to the beginning of the data for the purpose of indicating that the data following the identifier # is the name of a disease.

When such information to be retrieved including data with an identifier attached thereto is input from the keyboard 5, the information is stored in the filing device 2, and at the same time the indexes corresponding to these specific items of information are registered in the index device 3. Simultaneously, the central processing unit 1 recognizes the identifier # in the information which is to be registered in the field for general purposes and registers the data following the identifier &num; ("gastritis" in Figure 2) in the index for the name of a disease. Figure 4 is a flow chart of the operation of the central processing unit at the time of registering such information.

In the information directory and retrieval system wherein information to be retrieved having the above-described contents is stored in the filing device 2 and the indexes corresponding to the specific item of the information are stored in the index device 3, if a command for retrieval of the information as to the name of a disease being "gastritis" is issued from the keyboard 5 to the central processing unit 1,the indexes for the name of diseases are first retrieved from the indexes which are stored in the index device 3 and the address which is recorded in the field 12 for an index address is extracted in correspondence with the name of a disease assigned in the field 11 for a disease name.

The information to be retrieved corresponding to the address is then extracted from the filing device 2 and is displayed in the display 4 as a result of the retrieval.

In the information to be retrieved having the contents shown in Figure 2 in this embodiment, the data "gastritis" with an identifier &num; for a disease name registered in the field for general purposes is registered in the index for a disease name in the index device 2. Therefore the contents shown in Figure 2 are displayed in the display 4 as a result of the retrieval of the information as to the name of a disease being "gastritis".

If there are other pieces of information in which the relevant name of a disease is "gastritis", they are successively displayed in the display 4 through the instructions from the keyboard 4. Figure 5 is a flow chart of the operation of the system at the time of retrieving information to be retrieved. It is also possible to divide the screen of the display 4 and to display the plural pieces of retrieved information collectively, when plural pieces of registered information exist with respect to the same disease name, as is described above.

In relation to the information to be retrieved shown in Figure 2, the data "gastric cancer" is recorded in the field 8 for the name of a disease and the data "gastritis" with an identifier &num; attached thereto is recorded in the field 10 for general purposes. Accordingly, it goes without saying that the information shown in Figure 2 is extracted by assigning a retrieving condition either to information as to the name of a disease is "gastric cancer" or to information as to the name of plural diseases being "gastritis and gastric cancer", as well as retrieval of the information as to the name of the diseases being "gastritis", as is described above.

Though in the above-described embodiment, the data to which an identifier &num; is attached is solely the data "gastritis", when a plurality of data on the names of diseases are registered with identifiers &num; attached thereto, each of such data on the names of diseases is registered in each of the indexes for a disease name, and retrieved as a specific item unit of the name of a disease. In the above embodiment, an identifier representing the name of a disease is cited as an example, but different identifiers denoting different specific items can be utilized for recording data in the field for general purposes which cannot be registered in the fields for a specific item.

As described above, when it is required to register a plurality of data on the same specific item, such a plurality of data on the names of diseases in this embodiment, it is possible to register the data in the field for general purposes as the data on the specific item by attaching the appropriate identifier to the data, even when only one field for a specific item is provided which corresponds to the specific item in general. In retrieving, it is also possible collectively to retrieve at high speed the data on specific items such as the name of a disease, whether they are in the field for a specific item or in the field for general purposes.

Though indexes are used in the embodiment, high-speed collective retrieval is also possible without using indexes, by dealing with the data in the field for a specific item and the data with an identifier attached thereto in the field for general purposes as the data on the specific item and by retrieving them one after another.

As has been explained with reference to the embodiment, according to the invention, the data of information registered in the field for general purposes which has an identifier attached thereto denoting that the data relates to a particular specific item is dealt with as if it were recorded in the field for that specific item. This system eliminates the stated problems of the prior art, such as the fact that the number of data on same specific item which can be registered in the fields for that specific item is limited to the number of the preset fields for that specific item, and the fact that when the data on a specific item which exceeds the capacity of the field for that specific item is registered in the field for general purposes, retrieval must be performed twice, once for the field for a specific item and once for the field for general purposes. Thus, this system enables a directory of a plurality of data on the same specific item which exceeds the number of preset fields and, furthermore, provides for desired information to be retrieved on a one-time retrieval basis, thereby shortening the time for retrieval and increasing the efficiency of retrieval.

While there has been described what is at present considered to be a preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be understood that various modifications may be made thereto, and it is intended that the appended claims cover all such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

1. An information directory and retrieval system for retrieving, on the basis of certain retrieving information, information to be retrieved composed of the data which are registered in one or a plurality of fields for a specific item and afield for general purposes, wherein data with an identifier attached thereto which denotes that said data is data on said specific item is enabled to be registered in said field for general purposes, and, at the time of retrieval, any said data with said identifier attached thereto is retrieved as data on said specific item together with said data which have been registered in said field for said specific item.

2. An information directory and retrieval system as claimed in claim 1,wherein said data to be registered in said field for general purposes with said indentifier attached thereto is data which exceeds the capacity of preset fields for the same specific item in the case of there being data on the same specific item which exceeds the number of preset fields for the same specific item.

3. An information directory and retrieval system as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein an index is used for retrieval of said field for a specific item of said information to be retrieved, and said data to be registered in said field for general purposes with an identifier attached thereto is registered in an index corresponding to said specific item.

4. An information directory and retrieval system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said fields for a specific item are composed of fields for a specific item with respect to information about a patient.

5. An information directory and retrieval system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said field for general purposes is composed of a field for remarks.

6. An information directory and retrieval system substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in any of the accompanying drawings.