JP2000339339A - Device for retrieving information - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve a retrieval operability by retrieving a file to be retrieved by means of narrowing with the Japanese syllabary character strings and information data and reporting the number of data in a retrieval result when the retrieval is executed. SOLUTION: The Japanese syllabary character strings are inputted on the display screen 17 of a display device and an end switch 20 is operated when the input is ended. Retrieval is executed by the inputted character strings and it is judged whether the number of pieces of data of a retrieval result is one or >=2. When the number is one, the concerned map of the retrieved data is reported and displayed. Besides, when the number is >=2, the list of retrieved data, that is, the concerned data list is displayed on the display screen 17. Thus, the number of retrievals is calculated and displayed without scrolling to the end of the concerned data so that the retrieval operability is improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus suitable for, for example, an apparatus to be incorporated in a car navigation system, and which has improved operability when searching for information data desired by a user from a large amount of information data. Related to a search device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a car navigation system,
When a destination is set, the facility name can be searched by inputting a character string of Japanese syllabary. When one of a plurality of facility names (data) in the search result is selected, the point (position on the map) of the selected facility is set as the destination. The method of inputting and searching for the character string of the Japanese syllabary corresponds to the Japanese syllabary character string search unit. As a search method for setting the destination, in addition to the method of inputting the character string of the Japanese syllabary and searching, a method of searching by inputting a telephone number or a postal code or a genre (convenience store or department store) Etc.) and an area (prefecture name, municipal name, etc.) are selected (inputted) and searched.

There is also a method called "hybrid search" in which a character string of Japanese syllabary is input to narrow down data once, and furthermore, an area and a genre or both conditions are input to further narrow down the data to search. Provided. Note that this hybrid search corresponds to a narrowing-down search unit.

[0004]

In recent years, a file to be searched (a file mainly composed of data of a lot of point information, and a file having a data amount equal to the number of properties listed in a telephone directory). ) Tends to be very large. In particular, the above-described tendency is remarkable in a configuration in which the file to be searched is stored in a DVD-ROM. In such a configuration, even if the character string of the Japanese syllabary is input by, for example, only one character and narrowed down once, and further narrowed down by genre or area, the search result may become a large number (for example, tens of thousands) of data. In this case, on the display device of the car navigation system, for example, only about five data items can be displayed on the display screen. Therefore, it is difficult to select a desired one from tens of thousands of data items while scrolling the screen. It was very troublesome for users.

[0005] As described above, in a case where the search result is a considerably large number of data, in order to avoid the troublesome scroll operation of tens of thousands, it is necessary to further narrow down the narrowing conditions. As methods for narrowing down the conditions for narrowing down, (1) a method in which the genre or area can be further narrowed down, and (2) a method of further increasing the number of input characters of the character string of 50 sounds (correcting 50 sounds) is there.

However, according to the prior art, if the result of narrowing down the list by the syllabary character string and further narrowing down at least one of the genre and the area exceeds the number of data that can be stored in the list data table (for example, 300), the user can select the list. I didn't know the number of searches until I scrolled to the end. For this reason, whether the user should execute the list scroll and select the desired one, or should the list scroll be executed after narrowing down the narrowing-down conditions and select the desired one? In many cases, the user is lost in making a decision, and in reality, the user made the above decision relying on his / her own feeling.

For this reason, the list is scrolled to a desired one.
Although selecting one of them is not troublesome for operation, it is more difficult to narrow down the narrowing-down conditions. Conversely, narrowing down the narrowing-down conditions and selecting the desired one by list scrolling is more operable. Although it is not troublesome, there is a problem that the number of mismatch search operations such as scrolling the list and selecting a desired one without narrowing the narrowing-down conditions increases.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to easily and reliably determine whether it is better to narrow down the narrowing-down conditions when narrowing down by at least one of the syllabary character strings and at least one of genres and areas. As described above, the number of search results when narrowing down by the Japanese syllabary character string and further narrowing down by genre or area can be calculated and displayed without scrolling to the end of the corresponding data, thereby improving search operability. It is an object of the present invention to provide an information retrieval apparatus capable of performing the above.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when a search is executed by the Japanese syllabary character string search means, the number of data items of the search result is notified. When the number of data items as a result is small, it is possible to determine that the search by the refined search means (hybrid search) is not executed. On the contrary,
When the number of data items of the search result is large, it is possible to determine that the search is to be performed by the refined search unit. Therefore, search operability is improved.

In the second aspect of the present invention, at least one of an area and a genre is used as data. According to this configuration, even if the size of the search target file is very large, the search result can be sufficiently narrowed down, and the operation of selecting one desired information data becomes easy.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, when a search is executed by the syllabary character string search means or the refined search means, a first storage means for storing a first set number of searched information data; When a search is executed by the syllabary character string search unit or the refined search unit, pointer data pointing to the searched information data is stored for a second set number larger than the first set number. 2 storage means. According to this configuration, the pointer data for the second set number greater than the first set number is stored in the second storage means, so that the information data read into the input buffer is deleted, that is, Information data in the search target file that could not be read into the input buffer in the first reading can be read into the input buffer in the second and subsequent reading.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, two input buffer memories are provided as input buffers for reading information data in the file to be searched, and the data read into one of the two input buffer memories is searched. Is executed, information data is read from the search target file and stored in the other of the two input buffer memories. According to this configuration, the data processing and the reading (input) processing to the input buffer memory can be executed in parallel, so that the processing time can be reduced as a whole.

[0013] In the invention according to claim 5, when a search is executed by the syllabary character string search means or the refined search means, the number of searched information data is larger than the second set number. When the operation of displaying, on the display device, the information data pointed to by a predetermined ratio or the predetermined number of pointer data of the second set number of pointer data is completed, the second set number The search by the syllabary character string search means or the refined search means is executed again for the portion exceeding the number of characters, and the pointer data indicating the searched information data is replaced with the displayed pointer data in the second storage means. Control is performed so that the data is stored in the set ratio or the number of set items in the stored area. According to this configuration, the search is executed in advance at a point somewhat before the point at which the information data needs to be searched due to the screen scroll, so that the information data of the search result is displayed on the display device. The scrolling operation of the screen when it is displayed on is speedy.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a car navigation system will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the car navigation system 1 of the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 1, a car navigation system 1
Is composed of a control circuit 2, a position detector 3, a map data input device 4, an operation switch group 5, an external memory 6, a display device (display means) 7, a remote control sensor 8, and a transceiver 9. It is configured.

The control circuit 2 has a function of controlling the entire operation processing of the car navigation system 1, and is configured as a normal computer (for example, a microcomputer). That is, the control circuit 2 controls the CPU 10, R
The system includes an OM 11, a RAM 12, an I / O (not shown), and a bus (not shown) for connecting these components. The control circuit 2 has each function as a syllabary character string search unit and a narrow search unit of the present invention.

The position detector 3 is provided with a geomagnetic sensor 13.
, Gyroscope 14, distance sensor 15, GP
And an S (Global Positioning System) receiver 16. The position detector 3 includes the four sensors 13 described above.
-16 are configured to detect the current position of the vehicle while interpolating each other, and have a highly accurate position detection function. When the position detection accuracy is not so required, the position detector 3 may be configured by any one of the four sensors 13 to 16. Further, the position detector 3 may be configured by combining a steering rotation sensor, a sensor of each rolling wheel, and the like.

The map data input device 4 is, for example, a DVD-R
It is configured by a reading device that reads a recording medium such as an OM, and is a device for inputting map data, map matching data, landmark data, point information data files, HTML information (Internet information), and the like. In the case of the present embodiment, data such as the map data, a point information data file, and HTML information data are recorded on a DVD-ROM as a recording medium. In addition, as the recording medium,
For example, a CD-ROM or a memory card may be used.
The point information data file is a search target file of the present invention, and a specific configuration of this file will be described later.

The display device 7 is composed of, for example, a liquid crystal display, etc., and has a display screen 17 (see FIGS. 2 and 3) capable of color display and capable of clearly displaying maps, characters, images and the like. ing. The display screen 17 of the display device 7 includes a current position mark of the vehicle, map data,
It is configured such that additional data such as a guidance route to be displayed on a map can be superimposed and displayed.

The operation switch group 5 includes a touch switch (touch panel) provided on the upper surface of the display screen 17 of the display device 7 and a mechanical push switch provided on the periphery of the display screen 17. I have. The remote control sensor 8 controls the remote control 1 operated by the user.
8 is a receiver for receiving the transmission signal transmitted from the receiver 8. The transceiver 9 is, for example, a device that transmits and receives infrastructure data, and has a VICS (Vehicle Information & Communicator).
communication system) information can be received via the VICS sensor 19.

When the user operates the operation switches 5 and the remote controller 18 to set a destination, the control circuit 2 of the car navigation system 1 determines an optimal route (guide route) from the current position to the destination. A function for automatically setting (a so-called navigation function), a function for executing a map matching process for positioning a current position on a map (a so-called navigation function), and a function for browsing general information such as HTML information (Internet information) ( (A so-called browser function). As a method for automatically setting the optimum route, for example, the Dijkstra method is known.

Next, an operation when a user sets a destination, specifically, an outline of an operation when performing a hybrid search will be described with reference to FIG. First, in step S101 of FIG. 4, a character string of the Japanese syllabary is input. In this case, a screen as shown in FIG. 2 is displayed on the display screen 17 of the display device 7, and a character string is input on this screen. When the input of the character string is completed, the "complete" switch 20 is operated. Then, a search is performed with the input character string of the Japanese syllabary, and it is determined whether the number of data of the search result is one or two or more (step S10).
2). If the number of data in the search result is one, the process proceeds to step S109, and a map corresponding to the searched data (facility name) is displayed.

If the number of search result data is two or more,
Proceed to step S103 to search for data (facility name)
, That is, the corresponding data list is displayed on the display screen 17 (see FIG. 3). In this case, the number of data of the search result is displayed on the upper right portion of the display screen 17 (to the right of “the number of searches”). In addition, by operating the scroll switches 21a and 21b and operating the "decision" switch (not shown), a desired one from the corresponding data list is displayed.
Data can be selected. Then, when one data is selected (this operation is called list selection),
Proceeding to step S109, a map corresponding to the selected data (facility name) is displayed.

When the character string of the Japanese syllabary is to be corrected, the "correction" switch 22 is operated on the screen shown in FIG.
Then, the process proceeds to step S104, and the character string of the Japanese syllabary can be corrected. When the correction is completed, the process proceeds to step S102 described above.

By performing a search using only the input Japanese syllabary character string, if the number of data in the search result is large, it is possible to further narrow down the search by the type of data. First, when it is desired to perform a search in which the data types are narrowed down by genre, for example, a “genre” switch 2 is displayed on the screen of FIG.
Operate 3 Then, the process proceeds to step S105, where a genre list is displayed on the display screen 17 (not shown).
By operating the scroll switch and operating the "OK" switch, a desired one genre can be selected from the genre list.

When one genre is selected, a search narrowed down by the selected genre is executed, and a corresponding data list of the search result is displayed on the display screen 17 (step S106). This narrowing-down search corresponds to a search operation (hybrid search) for narrowing down and searching by a character string of 50 sounds and a genre (type of information data). Further, in this case, the selected genre is displayed on the right side of the "genre" on the screen of FIG. Then, on this screen, the above-described list selection can be executed,
When a list is selected, the process proceeds to step S109, and a map corresponding to the selected data (facility name) is displayed.

Also, in step S106,
When the number of pieces of data in the search result is large, a search that narrows down, for example, an area as the type of data can be executed. Here, when the user wants to narrow down the search by area, for example, by prefecture (including municipalities), he operates the "by prefecture" switch 24 on the screen of FIG. Then, the process proceeds to step S107, where an area list (a list of prefectures, cities, towns, and villages) is displayed on the display screen 17 (not shown), and the scroll switch is operated and the "decision" switch is operated, whereby the area list is displayed. One desired area can be selected from among them.

When one area is selected, a search for narrowing down the selected area is executed, and a corresponding data list of the search result is displayed on the display screen 17 (step S108). This narrowing-down search corresponds to a search operation (hybrid search) for narrowing down and searching by a character string of 50 sounds and an area (type of information data). In this case, the selected area is displayed on the right side of the "area" on the screen of FIG. Then, on this screen, the above-described list selection can be performed. When the list selection is performed, the process proceeds to step S109, and a map corresponding to the selected data (facility name) is displayed. In addition, as the area, in addition to the above-mentioned prefectures, the narrow search can be executed by area. If you want to perform a refined search by region, on the screen in FIG.
The “region-specific” switch 25 may be operated.

In the above-described operation, after the search based on the syllabary character string, the search performed by narrowing down the genre and the search narrowed down by the area are sequentially performed. After the search by (1), a search narrowed down by area (steps S110 and S111),
Search by genre (Steps S112, S11)
Operation 3) may be performed sequentially. When setting a destination, in addition to the above-described hybrid search, well-known searches such as telephone number search, postal code search, Japanese syllabary character string search (single), and facility (genre) search (single). A method is available.

Next, the control operation of the control circuit 2 and the use of the memory area in the RAM 12 in the case of sequentially executing a search based on the syllabary character string and a search narrowed down by genre (or area) will be specifically described below. explain.

First, the structure of a search target file (a so-called spot information data file) will be described with reference to FIGS. 5, 6, and 7. FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, the search target file 26 includes a search data management unit 27, a Japanese syllabary search (search detail record) 28, a category table 29 of 1 to n stages, a corresponding data table 30, a point information record A table 31 is provided. Note that FIG. 5 shows only the data necessary for the Japanese syllabary search (and the hybrid search), and the data necessary for the telephone number search, postal code search, and the like are not shown.

Here, the category table 29 has an offset (pointer) to the corresponding data in the corresponding data table 30, a corresponding data size, a corresponding data number, an option number, and the like. As shown in FIG. 6, the corresponding data table 30 is composed of a number of records of the corresponding data arranged in the order of the eyewear. In the record of each corresponding data, data such as an offset (pointer) to the point information record in the point information record table 31, coordinate accuracy type, type code, area code, reading, name, and the like are stored. The relevant data table 30 is a data table for displaying a list of relevant data on the display screen 17 (see FIG. 3).

Then, the point information record table 31
As shown in FIG. 7, is composed of a large number (for example, millions to tens of millions) of point information records, and this has a data amount equivalent to the number of properties listed in the telephone directory.
In each point information record, data such as latitude and longitude, stored data flag, display map scale, area code, large / small code, address name, street name, number of consecutive same articles, building name, building floor number, etc. are stored. ing.

Next, the control operation of the control circuit 2 and the memory area in the RAM 12 in the case of sequentially executing the search based on the Japanese syllabary character string and the search narrowed down by genre (or area) (that is, the case of executing the hybrid search) Will be described with reference to FIGS. this house,
The flowcharts shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 show the control contents of the program portion corresponding to the hybrid search in the control programs stored in the control circuit 2.

First, in step S201 in FIG. 8, a process of inputting a character string of the Japanese syllabary is performed in step S201 of FIG. Subsequently, a process of searching the search target file 26 with the input character string of the Japanese syllabary is executed, and the data size (number of data items) of the search result is stored in the RAM 12 in advance in the corresponding data input memory. It is determined whether the area is smaller than the area 32 (see FIG. 12) (step S202). In this case, for example, 1100
An area in which about 0 corresponding data can be read is prepared, and in the above-described determination processing, the number of data in the search result is 11
It is determined whether the number is smaller than 000. If the input character string of the Japanese syllabary is, for example, "i", the search result is a group of corresponding data as shown in FIG.

The number of data items (data size) corresponding to the search result when the search target file 26 is searched with the character string of the Japanese syllabary is stored in the category table 29 in the search target file 26. It is configured so as to be immediately obtained (understood) from the corresponding data size.

Here, the control when the number of data items is 11000 or more (when proceeding to "NO" in step S202) will be described first.
The control when the number is smaller than 1000 (the case where the process proceeds to “YES” in step S202) will be described later.

That is, when the number of data is 11,000 or more, as shown in FIG. 12, the memory area 32 for inputting the data is divided into three areas 32a, 32b,
2c (step S203). Area 32a is
This is a memory area for reading, for example, 5,000 corresponding data retrieved from a DVD-ROM (disk), and is called a memory pool a1. Area 32b is DVD
A memory area for reading, for example, 5,000 corresponding data retrieved from the ROM, and a memory pool a2
Call. The memory pools a1 and a2 correspond to two input buffer memories of the present invention. Area 32c
Is a memory area for creating and storing a table of pointers to corresponding data in the DVD-ROM. In the present embodiment, for example, a table of pointers to 3,000 corresponding data can be stored.

Subsequently, the process proceeds to step S204 in FIG.
The search target file 26 in the DVD-ROM is searched, and 5000 pieces of data from the searched data (see FIG. 11) are read and stored in the memory pools a1 and a2, respectively. Then, in order to display a list of the corresponding data on the display screen 17, for example, a list data table 33 (see FIG. 13) including 300 corresponding data is created, and a predetermined area (the list data table 33 area). Further, the corresponding data of, for example, five items from the head in the list data table 33 are displayed as a list on the display screen 17 as shown in FIG. At this time, the number of searched data items is also displayed on the display screen 17.

In this case, since the number of data items of the searched data is 11,000 or more, which is too large, the user selects the execution of the search narrowing down at least one of the genre or the area. The search for narrowing down at least one of the genre or the area is executed in the data processing of step S205 (this processing is referred to as subroutine A). The details of the specific control of the subroutine A are shown in the flowchart of FIG.

When the process of the subroutine A is started, first, in step S301 in FIG.
Select a genre (or at least one of the areas) for a narrow search. Then, the process proceeds to step S302 to determine the code of the selected genre (or at least one of the areas) to be narrowed down.

Then, the flow advances to step S303 to compare the data read into the memory pools a1 and a2 with the codes of the determined genre (or at least one of the areas) in the arrangement order (from the top). Here, if there is corresponding data that matches the code of the genre (or at least one of the areas), step S303 is performed.
Then, the process proceeds to "YES" to count up the number of corresponding data having matching codes (step S304). In this case, the count value of the data is set to cnt. In step S303, when the user selects only the genre, the corresponding data matches the genre code, and when the user selects only the area, the corresponding data matches the area code, and the user selects the genre and the area. In this case, the corresponding data that matches both the genre and the area codes is the narrowed and searched corresponding data, and is controlled to proceed to “YES” in step S303 and proceed to step S304.

Next, in step S305, it is determined whether or not the count value cnt is equal to or less than the maximum number (for example, 300) of the list data table 33 (see FIG. 13). The maximum number of stored cases (300 cases) corresponds to the first set number of the present invention. Here, if the count value cnt is equal to or less than the maximum number of items to be stored in the list data table 33, the process proceeds to “YES”, and the narrowed and searched data is stored in the list data table 33 (step S306). At the same time, the pointer to the narrowed-down search data (that is, the data pointing to the address in the data table 30 in the search target file 26) is stored in the table 32c of the pointer to the data (step S307). ). Then, after that, the process proceeds to step S303, in which the next corresponding data is compared.

If the count value cnt exceeds the maximum number of items stored in the list data table 33 in step S305, the process proceeds to "NO" and the count value cn
It is determined whether or not t is equal to or less than the maximum number of stored pointers to the data in the table 32c (for example, 3000) (step S308). Above maximum storage number (300
0) corresponds to the second set number of the present invention. Here, if the count value cnt is equal to or smaller than the maximum number of items stored in the pointer table 32c, "Y" is determined in step S308.
ES ”, and the pointer to the narrowed-down searched data is stored in the pointer to the data table 32c.
(Step S309). And after this,
Proceeding to step S303, the next corresponding data is compared.

That is, in this case, since the list data table 33 is full of the relevant data, the process of storing the new relevant data searched and searched in the list data table 33 is stopped, and the processing of the new relevant data is stopped. It is configured to execute a process of storing the pointer in the table 32c of the pointer to the corresponding data and a process of counting up the number of data of the narrowed and searched corresponding data.

If it is determined in step S308 that the count value cnt exceeds the maximum number of records stored in the pointer table 32c, the process proceeds to step S303, where the next corresponding data is compared, and the same process is repeated thereafter. .
That is, in this case, since the table 32c of the pointer to the corresponding data is full of pointers, the process of storing the newly searched pointer to the new relevant data in the pointer table 32c is not performed, and the new It is configured to execute only the process of counting up the number of data items of the corresponding data.

If there is no corresponding data that matches the code of the genre (or at least one of the areas) in step S303, the process proceeds to "NO", and all of the relevant data searched for in the Japanese syllabary character string are processed as described above. It is determined whether the comparison has been completed (step S310). Here, if the above comparison has not been completed for all of the relevant data searched for in the Japanese syllabary character string, step S30
Then, the process proceeds to step S3, where the next data is compared, and the same process is repeated. On the other hand, when the above comparison is completed for all of the relevant data searched for in the Japanese syllabary character string, the process proceeds to “YES” in step S310 to complete the subroutine A and return. ing.

In this embodiment, the subroutine A
(I.e., narrowing down search processing) and DVD-ROM
The processing of reading the corresponding data retrieved from the (disk) with the Japanese syllabary character string into the memory pools a1 and a2 is configured to be executed as so-called parallel processing.
This parallel processing will be described with reference to FIG. Here, the relevant data retrieved from the DVD-ROM (disk) with the Japanese syllabary character strings are stored in memory pools a1 and a2.
Is defined as a disk data reading task, and the processing of subroutine A (that is, a narrowing search process) is defined as a narrowing search task. The following 2
Control of task transition in which two tasks operate in parallel will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 10, first, at time t1, a request R1 for reading the corresponding data of the Japanese syllabary character string search result from the narrowed-down search task to the disk data read task is given to the memory pool a1. Then, at the time t1, the data reading process 1 is executed by the narrowing-down search task, and for example, 5000 corresponding data are read into the memory pool a1.

When the data reading process 1 is completed at time t2, a response to the request R1 is given from the disk data reading task to the narrowing down search task. In response to this response, the narrow-down search task starts executing the narrow-down search processing 1 for the data read into the memory pool a1 at time t3, and sends the data read processing 1 to the disk data read task. A request R2 for reading the corresponding data that could not be read in the memory pool a2 is given. As a result, at time t3, the data reading process 2 is started by the narrowing-down search task, and, for example, 5,000 corresponding data are read into the memory pool a2. in this case,
The narrowing-down search processing 1 and the data reading processing 2 are processings executed in parallel.

Thereafter, when the data reading process 2 is completed at time t4, a response to the request R2 is given from the disk data reading task to the narrowing down search task. Upon receiving this response and completing the refined search process 1, the refined search task starts executing the refined search process 2 on the data read into the memory pool a2 at time t5, A request R3 for reading the data that could not be read in the data reading process 2 into the memory pool a1 is given to the disk data reading task. As a result, at time t5, the data reading process 3 is started by the narrowing-down search task, and, for example, 5,000 corresponding data are read into the memory pool a1. in this case,
The narrowing-down search process 2 and the data reading process 3 are parallel processes.

When the data reading process 3 is completed at time t6, a response to the request R3 is given from the disk data reading task to the refinement search task. Upon receiving this response and completing the refined search process 2, the refined search task starts executing the refined search process 3 on the data read into the memory pool a1 at time t7, A request R4 for reading the data that could not be read in the data reading process 3 into the memory pool a2 is given to the disk data reading task. As a result, at time t7, the data reading process 4 is started by the narrowing-down search task, and, for example, 5,000 corresponding data are read into the memory pool a2. in this case,
The refinement search process 3 and the data reading process 4 are parallel processes.

Thereafter, the above-described request and response are repeated, and the parallel processing described above is executed until all the relevant data of the Japanese syllabary character string search result is read into the memory pools a1 and a2. .

In the configuration described above, after the corresponding data is first read into the memory pool a1, the process of narrowing down the data in the memory pool a1 and the process of reading the remaining corresponding data into the memory pool a2 are performed. Although the processing is performed in parallel and the subsequent processing is performed in parallel, instead of this, the corresponding data is first stored in the memory pool a.
1 and a2, and after the refined search of the data in the memory pool a1 is completed, the process of narrowing and searching the data in the memory pool a2 and the process of reading the remaining corresponding data into the memory pool a1 are performed in parallel. The subsequent processes may be configured to be performed in parallel.

Next, when the above-described processing of the subroutine A (ie, the narrowing down search processing) is completed, the process proceeds to step S206 in FIG. 8, and the narrowing down search result is displayed on the display screen 17. In this case, for example, five corresponding data from the top of the maximum 300 corresponding data stored in the list data table 33 are displayed as shown in FIG.
At the same time, the number of data items (count value cnt) of all relevant data in the narrowed search result is also displayed in the search number area of the display screen 17. While the number of data items of the corresponding data is being counted, the character “searching” is displayed in the search number area of the display screen 17.

Then, in the screen state shown in FIG. 3, the scroll switches 21a and 21b are operated, and "OK" is selected.
By operating a switch (not shown), one desired corresponding data can be selected from the displayed corresponding data list. Then, if the user
When one of the relevant data is selected (that is, when a list is selected), the process proceeds to step S207 in FIG. 8, where a map on which the selected relevant data (facility name) is present is displayed on the display screen 17, and the display transits to the map screen. In this case, the location information record in the location information record table 31 is referred to from the selected corresponding data, and a map is selected based on the position coordinates (longitude and latitude) in the referenced location information record. Is configured to be displayed.

By operating the scroll switches 21a and 21b on the screen of FIG. 3 to scroll the screen, the list data table 33 not displayed on the screen is displayed.
Other relevant data in (see FIG. 13) can be displayed. Here, when the user further scrolls the screen while scrolling the screen to display the last corresponding data in the list data table 33, the corresponding data after the last corresponding data must be displayed. For this reason, the above-mentioned corresponding data is stored in a DVD-R
It must be read from the OM (search target file 26) and stored in the list data table 33.

In this case, the pointer that points to the following corresponding data is stored in the table 3 of the corresponding data pointer.
2c, this pointer table 3
2c, the following corresponding data is
It can be easily read from the VD-ROM (search target file 26). In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG.
Are provided in the RAM 12 in advance, and the reading buffer 34 is configured to collectively read five pieces of corresponding data.

The five data items read into the read buffer 34 are stored (overwritten) at the head of the list data table 33. As a result, the screen scroll for displaying the subsequent corresponding data can be continuously and speedily executed (without delay).

When the screen is scrolled so as to display the last pertinent data of the five pertinent data read, the pertinent five subsequent pertinent data are read in substantially the same manner as the read control described above. It is configured to read. Hereinafter, the control of reading the corresponding data for five cases is configured to be repeated as the screen is scrolled.

On the other hand, when the screen is scrolled so as to display the corresponding data at the head in the list data table 33, contrary to the above-described screen scroll direction, immediately before the corresponding data overwritten as described above. When the screen is scrolled so as to display the corresponding data, the corresponding five data items before the corresponding data are read in substantially the same manner as the read control described above. Hereinafter, the control for reading the corresponding data of the preceding five cases is repeated as the screen is scrolled.

Next, in the screen shown in FIG. 3, when the screen scrolling is continued to display the data pointed by the last pointer in the pointer table 32c of the data, in preparation for the next screen scroll, The relevant data after the displayed data is
It must be read from the OM (search target file 26) and stored in the list data table 33. In this case, since there is no pointer that points to the following corresponding data, the refined search must be executed again.

On the other hand, if the refined search is executed after displaying the data pointed to by the last pointer in the table 32c of the pointers to the data, the read and refined search take a considerable time. Therefore, if the screen scroll is executed so as to display the corresponding data of the narrowed search result, the screen scroll may be considerably slower than the previous screen scroll.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, the pointer is pointed to by a pointer that is located to the rear of the pointer 32c of the corresponding data to some extent in the table 32c, for example, as shown in FIG. When the screen is scrolled to display the corresponding data, the data is read from the DVD-ROM (search target file 26) into the memory pools a1 and a2, and the memory pool a
1. The system is configured to execute a narrowed-down search for the corresponding data in a2, that is, to execute a so-called prefetch search process.

Specifically, as shown in FIG.
When the screen is scrolled to display the corresponding data pointed by the pointer at the 3/4 position of the pointer table 32c, the corresponding data retrieved from the DVD-ROM (search target file 26) using the Japanese syllabary character string Is read into the memory pool a1 (or a2), and a narrowing-down search is executed for the corresponding data in the memory pool a1 by genre (or at least one of the areas). At this time, if there is further data remaining in the relevant data searched for in the Japanese syllabary character string, the remaining relevant data is read into the memory pool a2. That is, the narrowing-down search process and the process of reading the remaining relevant data into the memory pool a1 (or a2) are configured to be executed in parallel, in substantially the same manner as the above-described parallel control of the read search.

Then, as shown in FIG. 16B, the pointer pointing to the data corresponding to the narrowed search result is stored (overwritten) in the area from the head to the quarter of the table 32c of the pointer. It is configured as follows. In this case, the pointers P _{4n + 1} ,..., P _5n newly acquired by executing the refined search are
It is configured to overwrite the area from the top of the pointer table 32c to the 1/4 position, that is, to replace the area.

Further, after that, as shown in FIG. 17A, scrolling of the screen progresses, and the corresponding data pointed by the rightmost pointer in the table 32c of pointers to the corresponding data is displayed. Then, at this point, 50-minutes are stored in the DVD-ROM (file 26 to be searched).
The remaining data of the corresponding data searched by the sound character string is read into the memory pool a1 (or a2), and the narrowing search is executed on the corresponding data in the memory pool a1 by genre (or at least one of the areas). Then, the pointers P _{5n + 1} ,..., P _6n newly obtained by performing the narrowing-down search are overwritten in the area from the quarter position to the quarter position of the pointer table 32c, ie, , (See FIG. 17B).

On the other hand, in the screen state shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 8A, 2 in the pointer table 32c
It is assumed that the screen is scrolled so that the corresponding data pointed by the pointer at the position of / 4 is displayed on the display screen 17, that is, the data is returned by ４. Then, at this point, the original pointers P1,..., Pn are returned to the area from the beginning to the 1/4 position of the pointer table 32c, that is, read.

In this case, the original pointer P1,...
.., Pn has already been erased,
-Read data from the ROM (search target file 26) closer to the beginning of the data searched by the Japanese syllabary character string into the memory pool a1 (or a2), and read the data read into the memory pool a1 (or a2). By executing a refined search on data by genre (or at least one of the areas), the pointer P
1,..., Pn must be obtained.

The pointers P1,..., Pn
., Pn, the pointers P1,..., Pn are overwritten in the area from the top of the pointer table 32c to the 1/4 position as shown in FIG. Thus, screen scrolling can be continuously and speedily executed (without delay).

In the above embodiment, a so-called prefetch search process is executed when the screen is scrolled so as to display the corresponding data pointed by the pointer to a certain extent in the table 32c of the pointer to the corresponding data. However, instead of this, the configuration may be such that the prefetch search process is not executed. That is, when the screen is scrolled so as to display the relevant data pointed to by the rightmost (last) pointer in the table 32c of the pointer to the relevant data, the DVD-ROM (search target file 26) and the memory pool a1 ( Or a2), a narrowing-down search is performed on the corresponding data in the memory pool a1 (or a2), and a pointer that points to the corresponding data of the narrowing-down search result is, for example, 1/4 from the top of the pointer table 32c. It is also preferable to store (overwrite) in the area up to the (or 1/2) position.

By the way, when the above-described processing of the subroutine A (that is, narrowing-down search processing) is completed,
At the time immediately before proceeding to step S206 in FIG. 8, if the narrowed-down search result includes only one relevant data, a map on which the relevant data (facility name) exists is displayed on the display screen 17. Is configured to transit to the map screen (step S207 is skipped while step S206 is skipped).
Transition to).

When the narrowed search result is 0, a screen before the narrowed search is performed, specifically, a screen displaying a list of data corresponding to the search result by the Japanese syllabary character string ( (See FIG. 3). Then, a new narrow search condition, that is, a genre (or at least one of the areas) can be input.

Next, in step S202 of FIG.
The search control when the number of data of the search result when the search target file 26 is searched with the input character string of the Japanese syllabary is smaller than 11000 (when proceeding to “YES” in step S202) will be briefly described below. explain. still,
This search control is almost the same as the search control of the conventional configuration.

That is, when the number of data items is smaller than 11000, the memory area 32 for inputting the data shown in FIG. 12 is used as one memory area (one input buffer), and the search target in the DVD-ROM is The file 26 is searched, and all the searched data (see FIG. 11) are stored in the memory area 32 (step S2).
08). Then, in order to display a list of the corresponding data on the display screen 17, a list data table 33 (see FIG. 13) including, for example, 300 corresponding data is created. Further, the corresponding data of, for example, five items from the head in the list data table 33 are displayed as a list on the display screen 17 as shown in FIG. At this time, the number of searched data items is also displayed on the display screen 17.

Subsequently, the user selects to execute a search for narrowing down at least one of the genre or the area.
When the refined search is executed, the user considers that the number of data of the searched data displayed on the display screen 17 is considerably large.

Then, the user selects a genre (or at least one of the areas) for a narrow search. Then, the process proceeds to step S209, and the selected narrowing genre (or at least one of the areas) is selected.
Determine the code for Then, the process proceeds to step S210, in which the data read in the memory area 32 is compared with the code of the determined genre (or at least one of the areas) in the arrangement order (from the top) and narrowed down. The number of data items (the number of data items) is stored, and the corresponding data of the search result is stored in
3 is stored. In this case, the list data table 33 stores a maximum of, for example, 300 data items.

Then, for example, five corresponding data from the head of the corresponding data in the list data table 33 are displayed as shown in FIG. Further, the number of data items (the number of searches) of all relevant data of the narrowed search results is also displayed in the search number area of the display screen 17. In this case, in the screen state shown in FIG. 3, by operating the scroll switches 21a and 21b and operating the "decision" switch (not shown), the displayed list of applicable items (list data table 33) is displayed. Desired one corresponding data can be selected from among them.

Here, when the screen is scrolled by operating the scroll switches 21a and 21b on the screen of FIG. 3, the list data table 33 not displayed on the screen is displayed.
Other relevant data in (see FIG. 13) can be displayed. Further, when the screen is scrolled so as to display the last corresponding data in the list data table 33, the user may perform an operation of further scrolling the screen and displaying the corresponding data after the last corresponding data. For this reason, the above-mentioned corresponding data is read from the memory area 32 and the list data table 33 is read.
Must be stored in

Therefore, when the screen is scrolled to display the last corresponding data in the list data table 33, the remaining corresponding data in the memory area 32 is narrowed down by the selected genre (or at least one of the areas). A search is executed to search for the corresponding data after the last relevant data. The searched (hit) data is stored in the list data table 33.
Is stored (overwritten) at the beginning of the file (step S211). As a result, the screen scroll for displaying the subsequent corresponding data can be continuously and speedily executed (without delay).

In the above control, each time the screen is scrolled so as to display the last corresponding data in the list data table 33, a narrowing search is executed to obtain one corresponding data, and the one corresponding data is obtained. Is stored in the list data table 33, but instead of this,
A plurality of, for example, five corresponding data may be obtained by the narrowing-down search executed each time the screen is scrolled, and the five corresponding data may be stored in the list data table 33. Since the refined search is performed on the corresponding data stored in the memory area 32, the search speed is sufficiently fast, and the scrolling speed of the screen is rarely reduced.

When the user selects one piece of data on the screen (see FIG. 3) on which the corresponding data is displayed in a list (see FIG. 3), the process proceeds to step S212 in FIG. A map on which the corresponding data (facility name) exists is displayed on the display screen 17, and the display transits to the map screen. In this case, from the selected data,
With reference to the point information record, a map is selected based on the position coordinates (longitude and latitude) in the referred point information record, and the map is displayed.

On the other hand, when the above-described narrowed search processing is completed, that is, in step S210 in FIG. 8, if the narrowed search result includes only one piece of data, the one piece of corresponding data (facility name) ) Is displayed on the display screen 17, and the display is shifted to the map screen (step S211 is skipped and step S211 is skipped).
Move to 212).

When the narrowed search result is 0, a screen before the narrowed search is performed, specifically, a screen displaying a list of data corresponding to the search result by the Japanese syllabary character string ( (See FIG. 3). Then, a new narrow search condition, that is, a genre (or at least one of the areas) can be input.

In the present embodiment having such a configuration, when a destination is set, a search is first performed with the input character string of the Japanese syllabary, and when a refinement is performed with a genre or area, Display device 7 for the number of search result data
(Display screen 17), when the number of data items of the search result is small, the user searches for a desired one destination by a list scroll operation and determines that it is more troublesome to select the destination. It is possible.
On the other hand, when the number of data items of the search result is large, it is possible to determine that it is better to correct the Japanese syllabary character string and to narrow down the narrowing-down conditions such as genre and area.
Therefore, according to the above embodiment, search operability can be improved as compared with the conventional configuration.

Also, in the above embodiment, when a search is executed with a Japanese syllabary character string, or when a refined search is executed in at least one of genres and areas, the searched information data (that is, corresponding data) is deleted. A first storage means (in the above embodiment, the list data table 33) for storing a first set number (for example, 500) is provided, and when a search is executed with a syllabary character string, When the refined search is performed in at least one of the areas, the pointer data (pointer) pointing to the searched information data (that is, the corresponding data) is replaced with the first data.
For the second setting number (for example, 300
A second storage means (in the above-described embodiment, a table 32c of pointers to the corresponding data) is provided. According to this configuration, the pointer data of the second set number (3000), which is larger than the first set number (500), is stored in the second storage means. In the example, erasing the information data (corresponding data) read into the memory pools a1 and a2),
The information data (corresponding data) in the search target file 26 that could not be read into the input buffer (memory pools a1 and a2) at one time is stored in the input buffer (memory pools a1 and a2).
2) can be read.

Further, in the above embodiment, two input buffer memories (memory pools a1 and a2) are provided as input buffers for reading information data (corresponding data) in the search target file 26, and these two input buffers are provided. When performing a search (a syllabary character string search or a narrow search by a genre or area) for data read into one of the memories (memory pools a1, a2), two input buffer memories (memory pools a1, a2)
Parallel control was performed so that information data was read from the search target file 26 and stored in the other of 2). According to this configuration, the data processing and the input processing to the input buffer memories (memory pools a1 and a2) can be executed in parallel, so that the processing time can be shortened as a whole.

In the above embodiment, the memory area 32 is divided into two memory pools a1 and a2 and a table 32c of pointers to the corresponding data. You may comprise so that it may divide.

Further, in the above embodiment, when a search is executed with a Japanese syllabary character string, or when a narrowed search is executed in at least one of genres and areas, the number of searched information data is reduced to the second set number of items. When the number of pieces of pointer data is larger than (3000), the information data to which the pointer data of the predetermined ratio or the predetermined number (for example, the area of 3/4 from the top) of the pointer data of the second set number (3000) points At the time when the operation of displaying on the display device while scrolling the screen is completed, the characters exceeding the second set number (3000) are expressed in a syllabary character string,
Alternatively, the refined search is executed again in at least one of the genre and the area, and the pointer data pointing to the searched information data is stored as the displayed pointer data in the second storage means (pointer table 32c). The control is performed such that the data is stored in an area (for example, 1/4 area) corresponding to a set ratio or the set number of the set areas.

According to this configuration, the narrowing-down search is executed in advance at some point before the need to search for the information data occurs. Therefore, the information data of the search result is displayed on the display device 7 (display screen). 17) It is possible to execute the screen scrolling operation at the time of the display at (17) speedily (without delay).

In the above embodiment, at least one of the area and the genre is used as the type of data. However, the present invention is not limited to this.
Other narrowing-down conditions may be selectable and used appropriately. Further, in the above embodiment, the number of data of the search result (the number of search) is configured to be displayed on the display screen 17, but instead, the number of data may be output by voice. You may comprise so that a user may be alert | reported by another alerting | reporting means.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a car navigation system showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a display screen when a Japanese syllabary character string is input;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display screen when a list of relevant data is displayed.

FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically illustrating a procedure for executing a syllabary character string search and a hybrid search.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a search target file.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of a corresponding data table.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration of a point information record table.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of search control.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a subroutine A.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining control of parallel processing;

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a group (table) of data corresponding to a search result when a search is performed using the Japanese syllabary character string “i”;

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a structure of a memory area for inputting data;

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a configuration of a list data table.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a buffer for reading data;

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a relationship between a table of pointers to corresponding data and screen scrolling.

FIG. 16 is a view for explaining the relationship between the operation of reading a table of pointers to corresponding data and screen scrolling (Example 1);

FIG. 17 is a view for explaining the relationship between the operation of reading the table of the pointer to the corresponding data and the screen scroll (example 2);

FIG. 18 is a view for explaining a relationship (example 3) between an operation of reading a table of pointers to corresponding data and screen scrolling;

[Explanation of symbols]

1 is a car navigation system, 2 is a control circuit (50
4 is a map data input device, 5 is an operation switch group, 6 is an external memory, 7 is a display device, 10 is a CPU, 11 is a ROM, and 12 is an RA.
M and 17 are display screens, 20 is a “Done” switch, 21
a and 21b are scroll switches, 22 is a "correction" switch, 23 is a "genre" switch, 24 is a "prefecture" switch, 25 is a "regional" switch, 26 is a search target file, 27 is a search data management unit, 28 is a search for 50 sounds,
29 is a category table, 30 is a corresponding data table,
31 is a point information record table, 32 is a memory area, 32a is a memory pool a1, 32b is a memory pool a2, 32c is a pointer table (second storage means), 33 is a list data table (first storage means), 34 indicates a read buffer.

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI Theme coat II (reference) G06F 15/62 335 F term (reference) 2C032 HB15 2F029 AA02 AB01 AB07 AB13 AC02 AC08 AC14 AC17 AC19 5B050 AA10 BA17 FA02 FA13 GA08 5B075 ND07 NK02 PP12 PP22 PQ02 PQ40 PQ46 PQ66 QS07 UU14 5B082 FA02 GC04

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A syllabary character string search means for searching a search target file composed of a large number of information data with a Japanese syllabary character string, and a syllabary character string and information data for the search target file An information search device comprising: a narrowing-down search unit for narrowing down and searching by; and a notifying unit for notifying the number of data of the search result when the search is executed by the syllabary character string searching unit. 2. The information search apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said narrow search means is configured to use at least one of an area and a genre as data. 3. A first storage means for storing a first set number of searched information data when a search is executed by the syllabary character string search means or the narrowing search means; A second storage unit for storing, when a search is performed by the search unit or the refined search unit, pointer data pointing to the searched information data for a second set number larger than the first set number; The information retrieval device according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: 4. An input buffer for reading information data in the search target file, comprising two input buffer memories, and performing a search on data read into one of the two input buffer memories. 4. The information retrieval apparatus according to claim 1, wherein information is read from the search target file and stored in the other of the two input buffer memories. 5. When the number of searched information data is greater than the second set number when the search is executed by the syllabary character string search unit or the narrowing search unit, the second set number When the operation of displaying the information data pointed to by the predetermined ratio or the predetermined number of pieces of the pointer data on the display device while scrolling the screen is completed, the amount exceeding the second set number of pieces is The search by the syllabary character string search means or the narrowing search means is executed again, and the pointer data pointing to the searched information data is stored in the second storage means in the area where the displayed pointer data is stored. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the control is performed such that the data is stored in an area corresponding to the set ratio or the set number of the data. 5. The information search device according to any one of claims 4 to 6.