JP2000020549A - Device for assisting input to document database system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device for assisting the work to input data in a state that retrieval of the entire sentence for text data is enabled with respect to a system to prepare an electronic document by using a browsing format proper to the system and to construct a database by the electronic document. SOLUTION: The data input work to a document database 20 is assisted. Document information given from an original document 1, etc., is read by a data reading means 11 and is converted into a PDF file by a formation converting means 12. Text data in the PDF file are extracted by a text data extracting means 13. A text file with tag is prepared by displaying the extracted text data on a screen and performing a work to add optional tag information to an optional character string specified by an operator by a tag information adding means 14. The PDF file is outputted as document data for browsing, the text file is outputted as document data for retrieval from a data output means 15 and the files are registered in the database system 20. The retrieval of the entire sentence is executed by using the document data for retrieval.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for supporting input to a document database system, and more particularly to an apparatus for supporting an operation of inputting data to a document database system having a full-text search function for text data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, as personal computers have become more sophisticated and cost-effective, documents in offices have been rapidly converted into electronic files. In particular, CD-ROM and MO
With the spread of high-density information recording media such as discs, it has become possible to store an enormous amount of information on a single medium. It has come to have. Currently, the most widespread format for digitizing and browsing documents is the Portable Document Format (PDF) developed by Adobe in the United States. Documents formatted in this PDF format can always be viewed and printed in the same manner without relying on hardware, and this format has become the de facto standard viewing format. Establishing.

Another advantage of digitizing a document is that the document can be searched by using a computer. In a general database system, it is common to define a predetermined keyword for each piece of information and perform a search using this keyword. However, in the case of a document information database system, it is possible to perform a full-text search on contained text data, and with the improvement of computer processing capability, a document database system having such a full-text search function has been widely spread. ing.

[0004]

As described above, at present, the PDF format has become widespread as a de facto standard format for digitizing and browsing a document. Is going on. However, a document described in a browsing format such as the PDF format has a data structure peculiar to the format. If the document is registered as it is in a database system, a full-text search for text data can be performed. A problem arises that it is not possible.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a system for digitizing a document using a specific browsing format and constructing a database based on the digitized document in a form that enables full-text search for text data. It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for supporting the operation of inputting a password.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems (1) A first aspect of the present invention is an input support apparatus for a document database system used to support an operation of inputting data to a document database system. Data reading means for reading document information as digital data, format converting means for converting the read document information into a browsing format suitable for browsing by a document database system, and creating browsing document data, and browsing document data. Text data extracting means for extracting text data from the text data and creating search document data composed of the extracted text data, and data output for outputting the browse document data and the search document data to the document database system Means are provided.

(2) The second aspect of the present invention is the above-mentioned first aspect.
In the input support apparatus for a document database system according to the aspect, the data reading means has a function of inputting document information on the original document prepared on paper or microfilm as image data composed of a set of many pixels. And
The format conversion means has a function of performing format conversion processing on the input image data and creating browsing document data for performing display corresponding to the image data. It has a function of performing character recognition on a predetermined portion of the data and converting the recognized characters into text data to create search document data.

(3) A third aspect of the present invention is the above-described first aspect.
In the input support apparatus for a document database system according to the aspect, the data reading means has a function of inputting document information including a predetermined character code as digital data from a digital recording medium or a communication line, and the format conversion means A function for performing format conversion processing on the document information including the character code to create browsing document data including the character code or an alternative code corresponding to the character code; It has a function of extracting text data based on a character code in the data or its substitute code, and creating search document data.

(4) The fourth aspect of the present invention is the above-mentioned first aspect.
In the input support device for a document database system according to the third aspect, a function of displaying a character string on a display screen based on the text data extracted by the text data extracting means, And a function for inputting predetermined tag information and a function for adding tag data indicating the input tag information to text data corresponding to a character string in the area specified by the operator. And tag information adding means having
It is configured to output search document data including tag data.

(5) The fifth aspect of the present invention is the above-mentioned first aspect.
In the input support apparatus for a document database system according to the fourth to fourth aspects, the data reading means reads the document information over a plurality of pages in units of pages by using data corresponding to the document information of one page as one file, and Has a function of accommodating and storing the files in one folder, and the format conversion means performs a format conversion process on all the files in the folder designated by the operator, and converts the converted data for each file into After adding page data for specifying a page, the converted data is combined into one file to have a function of creating browsing document data corresponding to document information over a plurality of pages.

(6) In a sixth aspect of the present invention, a program for causing a computer to function as an input support device for the document database system according to the first to fifth aspects is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium. It is something to do.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of an input support device 10 according to one embodiment of the present invention.
The input support device 10 includes a document database system 2
This is a device used to support the work of inputting data to 0. The document database system 20 is a computer system in which various document information is stored as a database, and a user can search for, browse, and print a desired document as needed. Recently, the document database system 20 may be used to perform a morphological analysis on a sentence. Such a document database system 20 is a known system, and a description of its internal structure is omitted here.

In general, when searching for desired information using a database system, a keyword is defined for each piece of information, and a search is performed using this keyword. Part)
For (2), it is possible to perform a search (so-called full-text search) for examining a portion indicating a complete match or a partial match with a predetermined character string for the entire text. However,
In order to perform this full-text search, it is necessary to accumulate data in the form of text data in the document database system. On the other hand, as the electronic format of documents,
As described above, the PDF format (Portable Document Format) developed by Adobe in the United States is establishing itself as a de facto standard format. However, the format of this PDF format is a general text data format. Because it is not, full-text search cannot be performed as it is.
The input support device 10 according to the present invention is an input support device for solving such a problem, that is, a device that functions as a front-end processor for the document database system 20.

The input support device 10 shown in this embodiment is
Original Document 1 on paper, Original Document 2 on microfilm,
A function for converting document information provided by the digital recording medium 3, the communication line 4, and the like into browsing document data in PDF format, extracting text data from the browsing document data, and creating search document data. Have. With this function, it is possible to execute a process of outputting the text-based search document data to the document database system 20 together with the PDF-format browse document data. That is, as shown, the input support device 10 includes a data reading unit 11 and a format conversion unit 1.
2. Text data extracting means 13, tag information adding means 1
4. Data output means 15 However, each of these components is a component when the input support device 10 is considered as a set of functional blocks. In practice, the input support device 10 is obtained by mounting dedicated software on a general-purpose computer. Each of the components that can be realized and is shown by blocks in the figure is a component that is realized by hardware and software of a computer. Of these, the portion realized by software can be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium and distributed. Hereinafter, the functions of these components will be described.

The data reading means 11 has a function of reading document information to be input as digital data. In this embodiment, the document information includes an original document 1 of paper, an original document 2 of microfilm, It may be supplied by any means of the recording medium 3 and the communication line 4. The data reading means 11 includes a so-called scanner device for reading document information given as an original document 1 on paper or an original document 2 on microfilm. The scanner device can scan a paper surface or a microfilm, and can input document information on an original document as image data including a set of a large number of pixels. In this case, character information included in the document information is also input as image data. The data reading means 11 has a drive device for reading document information given in a format recorded on the digital recording medium 3 (floppy disk, magnetic disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, etc.). And a communication device (a modem, a terminal adapter, a network connection device, etc.) for reading the document information given via the communication line 4. Document information (specifically, word processing software,
When document information created by application software such as spreadsheet software) is given, character information included in the document information is usually read as a predetermined character code.

The document information read as digital data is provided to the format conversion means 12. The format conversion means 12 has a function of converting the read document information into a browsing format suitable for browsing by the document database system 20, and creating browsing document data. In this example, since the document database system 20 employs the PDF format as the browsing format, the format conversion unit 12 converts the content of the read document information into a PDF file, and converts this PDF file into a browsing format. It has the function of outputting as document data. That is, for document information read as image data, browsing document data for performing display corresponding to the read image data is created, and for document information read as character codes, The browsing document data containing the character code as it is or the substitute code corresponding to the character code is created. In addition, such P
Since the conversion process to the DF format is also a known technique, a specific method of this conversion process will not be described here.

The PDF file output from the format converter 12, that is, the browsing document data, is supplied to the data output unit 15 and also to the text data extraction unit 13. The text data extracting means 13 has a function of extracting text data from the browsing document data and outputting the extracted text data as search document data (text file). That is, the character string included in the original document information is extracted as a text file.
As described above, the character string included in the document information given as the original document 1 on paper or the original document 2 on microfilm is read as image data. The text data extracting means 13 has a function of recognizing a character from image data composed of a large number of pixels and outputting text data corresponding to the recognized character. If the image data contains information other than characters (such as a picture or a photograph), the operator specifies which part of the image data is character information and which part is non-character information. It should be done. For example, if the document information is displayed on the display screen based on the browsing document data (PDF file) and the operator specifies the portion including the character string, the character recognition process is executed on the specified portion. Then, a text file corresponding to the recognized character string is output as search document data. Of course, if an algorithm for automatically recognizing character information and information other than characters is prepared for image data, text data is automatically extracted from a predetermined portion including a character string without an operator's instruction input. It is also possible to make it. On the other hand, the character string included in the document information provided by the digital recording medium 3 or the communication line 4 is taken into the browsing document data (PDF file) as a predetermined character code or its substitute code. Then, these codes may be directly extracted as text data to create search document data. As described above, the technique of extracting text data from a given PDF file is also a known technique, and a detailed description thereof is omitted here.

The text file output from the text data extracting means 13, ie, the search document data, is supplied to the data output means 15 and also to the tag information adding means 14. The tag information adding means 14 has a function of adding tag information to text data in the search document data as necessary, and outputs search document data (tag-attached text file) including the tag data. I do. The additional function of the tag information will be described later.

Thus, the document output data (PDF file) and the search document data (text file) or the search document data including the tag data (text file with tag) are given to the data output means 15. Will be. The data output means 15 has a function of outputting these data to the document database system. After all, by using the input support device 10, the content of the document information given in various forms is converted into the format of the PDF file and given as the document data for browsing, and the information on the character string therein is converted into the text data. , And given as search document data. In the document database system 20, a process of registering the document data for browsing and the document data for search given in this way in the database may be performed. Of course, a keyword unique to each document information is defined as needed, and the data of this keyword is also registered in the database.

In the document database system 20 constructed in this manner, it is possible to search for document information using the defined keywords, and also to perform full-text search for a predetermined character string. That is, when an instruction for full-text search is given with a predetermined character string as a search target, a search process of the character string is performed on search document data (text file). , The corresponding browsing document data (P
DF file) may be presented as a search result.

Next, the function of the tag information adding means 14 will be described in more detail. Tag information is information added to a specific character string, and is information indicating that the character string has a specific attribute. Here, a specific case in which a book card for managing books is registered in the document database system 20 will be described as an example. Now, data is read by the input support device 10 from a book card in which five items including a title (journal name), an author, a publisher, a year of publication, and an outline are described, and the obtained reading document data and search document data are obtained. Is registered in the document database system 20. In this case, the search document data is composed of, for example, text data as shown in FIG. In this example, each item is indicated by a comma, and each book card is indicated by a carriage return "CR". As described above, if such text data is prepared, full-text search for an arbitrary character string is possible.

However, instead of the character string itself,
You may want to perform a full-text search with some attributes. For example, in the example of FIG. 2, the word “book title” is used in the first card, while the word “magazine name” is used in the second card. Both are concepts that indicate “book title”, but in order to search for these words by full-text search, it is necessary to perform a conditional search such as “book title” or “magazine name”. Thus, when registering the document data for search in the document database system 20, the attribute of "book title" is added to character strings of "book title" and "magazine name". This attribute is convenient because full text search can be performed. The tag information adding means 14 has a function of easily performing such attribute assignment work.

First, the tag information adding means 14 has a function of displaying a character string on a display screen based on the text data extracted by the text data extracting means 13. Therefore, the operator can confirm the character string as shown in FIG. 2 on the display screen. Further, the tag information adding means 14 has a function of allowing an operator to specify an arbitrary area on this screen. For example, a rectangular area 31 as shown in FIG. 3 may be designated using a pointing device such as a mouse. This region designation means designation of a specific character string. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the character string “book name” is designated by the rectangular region 31. Further, the tag information adding means 14 has a function of inputting predetermined tag information for the character string specified in this way. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, if the operator inputs tag information "TITLE" from the keyboard in a state where a character string "book title" is specified, "TITLE" is added to the character string "book title". Tag information will be added. Now, assuming that the operator designates a rectangular area 32 as shown in FIG. 4 and also inputs tag information "TITLE" from the keyboard, the tag information "TITLE" is also applied to the character string "magazine name". Will be added.

In practice, tag information is added in the form of inserting tag data into text data. In this embodiment, predetermined tag data is inserted before and after text data corresponding to a target character string. For example, when tag information is added to a character string "book title", predetermined tag data T1 and T2 are inserted before and after text data D corresponding to the character string "book title", as shown in FIG. Will be done.
If search document data composed of such a text file with a tag is created and registered in the document database system 20, a full-text search specifying a character string having tag information of "TITLE" is performed. In the case of the above example, the character strings “book title” and “magazine name” can be searched. Of course, the above example
This shows one example of the use of tag information, and in addition to this, tag information can be used for various purposes.

Finally, additional functions of the input support device 10 of the present embodiment will be described. According to this additional function, in particular, it is possible to finally combine document information including a plurality of pages into one PDF file. For this purpose, the data reading means 11 has a function of reading document information over a plurality of pages in page units, with data corresponding to document information of one page as one file, and storing a plurality of files in one folder. Have. For example,
When document information for all n pages is given, as shown in FIG. 6, the document information of the first page is file F11, the document information of the second page is file F12, the document information of the third page is file F13,. The document information of the nth page is read in one page / one file as a file F1n, and the n files are stored in one folder FF. For example, when document information on m books is input, m such folders are created in total.

When performing format conversion, the operator need only specify a folder to be converted. That is, the format conversion means 12 has a function of performing format conversion processing on all files in the folder designated by the operator. Therefore, in the example of FIG. 6, when the operator designates the folder FF and gives a conversion instruction, all the n files contained in the folder FF are converted, and the n PDs are converted.
The F files F21 to F2n are created. Moreover, the PDF files F21 to F2n are combined into one file F30 after page data for specifying the page is added. The file F30 obtained in this manner becomes browsing document data corresponding to document information covering a plurality of n pages.

[0027]

As described above, according to the input support apparatus for a document database system according to the present invention, since search document data is created together with browsing document data, it is possible to perform full-text search on text data. The operation of inputting data in an aspect can be supported.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of an input support device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of text data extracted by a text data extraction unit 13 shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state in which the text data shown in FIG. 2 is displayed on a display screen and a rectangular area 31 is designated.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state in which the text data shown in FIG. 2 is displayed on a display screen and a rectangular area 32 is designated.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a tag data adding method by the tag information adding means 14 shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a view showing document processing of a plurality of pages by the input support device 10 shown in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Original document by paper 2 ... Original document by microfilm 3 ... Digital recording medium 4 ... Communication line 10 ... Input support apparatus 11 ... Data reading means 12 ... Format conversion means 13 ... Text data extraction means 14 ... Tag information addition means 15 ... Data output means 20 ... Document database system 31,32 ... Rectangular area D ... Text data F11-F1n ... Document information file F21-F2n ... PDF file F30 ... PDF file containing multiple pages FF ... Folder T1, T2 ... Tag data

Claims (6)

[Claims] An apparatus for supporting an operation of inputting data to a document database system, comprising: data reading means for reading document information to be input as digital data; and reading the read document information into the document database system. Format converting means for converting the data into a browsing format suitable for browsing by the user and creating browsing document data, extracting text data from the browsing document data, and creating search document data including the extracted text data An input support apparatus for a document database system, comprising: a text data extracting unit that outputs the browsing document data and the search document data to the document database system. . 2. The input support device according to claim 1, wherein the data reading means inputs document information on an original document prepared on paper or microfilm as image data composed of a set of a large number of pixels. Wherein the format conversion means has a function of performing format conversion processing on the image data and creating browsing document data for performing display corresponding to the image data, and the text data extraction means has Input to a document database system having a function of performing character recognition on a predetermined portion in the browsing document data and converting the recognized characters into text data to create search document data. Support equipment. 3. The input support device according to claim 1, wherein the data reading means has a function of inputting document information including a predetermined character code as digital data from a digital recording medium or a communication line, and the format conversion means. Has a function of performing a format conversion process on the document information including the character code, and creating browsing document data including the character code or an alternative code corresponding to the character code. An input support apparatus for a document database system having a function of extracting text data based on the character code or the substitute code in the browsing document data and creating search document data. 4. The input support device according to claim 1, wherein a function of displaying a character string on a display screen based on the text data extracted by the text data extracting means, A function for designating an arbitrary area on the screen and inputting predetermined tag information, and adding tag data indicating the tag information to text data corresponding to a character string in the area designated by the operator And a tag information adding unit having a function of: (a) outputting search document data including the tag data from the data output unit. 5. The input support device according to claim 1, wherein the data reading means sets the data corresponding to the document information of one page as one file, and converts the document information over a plurality of pages into page units. Has a function of storing a plurality of files in one folder and storing the files in a folder. The format conversion means performs a format conversion process on all the files in the folder designated by the operator, and converts the format of each file. After adding the page data for specifying the page to each of the data, the converted data is combined into one file, and the document data for browsing corresponding to the document information over a plurality of pages is provided. Input support device for a document database system 6. A computer-readable recording medium in which a program for causing a computer to function as the input support device according to claim 1 is recorded.