JP2001344274A - Method and system for information retrieval, and recording medium having information retrieval program recorded thereon - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make easily retrievable information in a short time in accordance with the needs of each user. SOLUTION: In this information retrieval method, a prescribed retrieval object database is retrieved in response to a retrieval request from a user, and information requested by the user is read out from this database and is provided for the user. The retrieval history of each user is registered in a prescribed personal information storage part, the retrieval history of a user is retrieved at the time of a retrieval request from this user, and (a) information in the retrieval history is provided to the user if information meeting the retrieval request exists on the retrieval history as the result of retrieval, but (b) the retrieval object database is retrieved if information meeting the retrieval request does not exist in the retrieval history.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information retrieval method and system, and a recording medium recording an information retrieval program, and more particularly to an information retrieval method and system using a network such as the Internet, and a recording medium recording an information retrieval program. Things.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is an information search service using the Internet and a mobile phone. For example, in the i-mode (product name) of NTT DOCOMO, various information such as gourmet information and town information can be obtained by a user accessing an information providing company. This type of search service system has, for example, the configuration shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a conventional search service system. As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional system includes a server 500, a client terminal 200, and a network 50 connecting the server 500 and the client terminal 200. Server 500
Includes an information storage unit 520 for storing information to be provided to the user, receives an information search request from the client terminal 200 via the network 50, and receives information request from the information storage unit 520 based on the request. An information search and generation unit 510 is provided for acquiring appropriate information, shaping the acquired information into a format suitable for user's reference, and transmitting the information to the client terminal 200. Further, the client terminal 200 is a mobile phone equipped with a display means such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Device), a PDA (Personal Digital
Assistants) or a terminal device such as a personal computer, which transmits and receives information to and from the server 500 via the network 50 such as the Internet or a public line network.

FIG. 7 shows a specific example of information stored in the information storage section 520. This example shows a case where information on restaurants is stored. In the database shown in FIG. 3A, IDs “00001” to “00” unique to each of the stores A to J are stored.
010 "is registered for each ID, and a store name and attribute information (food, position, price, sake) used in the search are registered. In addition, detailed information (ID, introduction, address, telephone number, business hours, regular holidays, menus, etc.) about each store is registered in the database shown in FIG. Note that the form of the information shown in FIG. 3B is not limited to text information, but may use other media such as images and sounds.

[0005] In the conventional example shown in FIG. 7, an item selected by the user (“type of dish”,
“Store location”, “Meal price”, “Sake offer”)
The attributes corresponding to these items are managed by the server 500 shown in FIG. Therefore, the user can narrow down necessary information candidates by designating these pieces of attribute information. For example, by designating “Japanese cuisine” and “Place is Shibuya”, IDs “00001” to “0001” shown in FIG.
0 ”,“ 00001 ”,“ 00003 ”,
It is narrowed down to four candidates of “00008” and “00010”.

Next, information retrieval processing in the conventional system will be described. FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining a conventional information search process. First, the information search generation unit 510 illustrated in FIG. 6 performs a search based on the search condition transmitted by the client terminal 200. The input of the search condition is performed by the user according to a condition designation method designated in advance by the server 500 (step S51). For example, the condition specification method in this example is to specify each of "type of dish", "location of shop", "price of meal", and "whether or not to provide alcohol".

Next, the information retrieval and generation unit 510 creates a list of the information stored in the information storage unit 520 that satisfies the designated condition, transmits the list to the client terminal 200, and causes the client terminal 200 to display the screen ( Step S5
2). For example, when the type of cuisine is designated as “Japanese food” in the restaurant information of FIG. 7, the information search generation unit 510 selects “00” from the candidates of “00001” to “00010”.
001 "," 00003 "," 00005 "," 000 "
07 ”,“ 00008 ”,“ 00009 ”,“ 0001 ”
Create a list of "0".

Next, the user enters the client terminal 200
, It is determined whether or not it is necessary to narrow down the candidates, and if necessary, narrowing down the conditions is requested. For example, when the number of displayed candidates is several hundred and the user feels it is troublesome to refer to them one by one, it is determined that narrowing is necessary. The information search generation unit 510 checks whether there is a request for narrowing down conditions from the user (step S53).

When a request for narrowing down is received, step S
Returning to 51, the information search generation unit 510 receives a more detailed condition input from the user. For example, if the user specifies the first condition as "Japanese cuisine" and the number of candidates is too large, the second condition will be "Japanese cuisine" and "Shibuya as place". It can be specified.
When there is no narrowing request, the information search generation unit 510 receives selection of information to be referred from the candidate list from the user (step S54).

As a result, when information is selected by the user, the information search and generation unit 510 transmits the detailed information of the selected candidate to the client terminal 200 and displays it on the screen (step S55). The user refers to the displayed information. If the displayed information is the information requested, the server 500
Notify the completion of search. If it's not the information you were looking for,
The server 500 is notified to that effect. Information search generator 51
0 checks whether there is a completion notification from the user (step S56). If there is no completion notification, the process returns to step S52 to continue the above processing. If there is a completion notification, the process ends.

According to the above procedure, the user can obtain desired information from the server 500. Also, by using a mobile terminal as the client terminal 200 and using a wireless network such as a wireless public network as the network 50, the user can acquire and refer to such information anytime and anywhere, regardless of location or time. Become.

However, in such a conventional system, when the number of pieces of information stored in the information storage unit 520 is large, even if the user specifies a plurality of search conditions, many candidates may be displayed. is there. In addition, for the difference between parts that cannot be expressed by the search condition, it is necessary for the user to refer to each piece of detailed information that has become a candidate and select information by comparing the information. It takes more time than searching for information.

In order to solve such a problem, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-153048 discloses a system in which search histories of users of a system are accumulated, and a search target database is searched when a search request is issued from the user. Previously, it has been disclosed that a search time can be reduced by searching this search history. However, in the technology disclosed in this publication,
The search histories of all the users of the system are collectively stored, and a search history suitable for each user cannot be stored.

[0014]

As described above, in the conventional system, the search histories of all users are collectively collected and stored, and the search histories of each individual are not individually stored. Therefore, it was not possible to provide an optimum search history individually for each user. The present invention is intended to solve such a problem, and has recorded an information search method and system and an information search program which enable information search in a simple and short time as required by each user. It is intended to provide a recording medium.

[0015]

In order to achieve the above object, an information search method according to the present invention searches a predetermined search target database in response to a search request from a user, and In the information search method of reading information requested by the user from the search target database and providing the information to the user, a search history of the user is registered in a predetermined personal information storage unit for each user, and a search request from the user is issued. Is searched in the search history of this user, and as a result of this search,
(A) when information corresponding to the search request is present in the search history, providing information in the search history to the user; (b) no information corresponding to the search request is included in the search history In this case, the search target database is searched.
Further, the search target database may be an aggregate of a plurality of databases connected to the Internet.

Further, the information retrieval system according to the present invention comprises:
An information storage unit that stores a search target database composed of various information, a personal information storage unit that stores a search history for each user, and an information storage unit that is stored in the information storage unit based on search conditions specified by the user. An information search generation unit that searches for a plurality of pieces of information; a registration unit that registers information selected by the user in the personal information storage unit as a search history of the user; and a storage unit that stores the information in the personal information storage unit And a limited information search generation unit that performs a search process on the search history for each individual. Further, the search target database may be an aggregate of a plurality of databases connected to the Internet.

Further, the recording medium on which the information retrieval program according to the present invention is recorded can be provided in response to a retrieval request from a user.
A predetermined search target database is searched, and information requested by the user is read from the search target database, and in a recording medium recording an information search program to be provided to the user, a search history of the user is stored for each user. A step of registering in a predetermined personal information storage unit, a step of searching a search history of the user when a search request is made by the user, and a result of the search: (a) Providing information in the search history to the user when there is information corresponding to the search request; (b)
Searching for the search target database when there is no information corresponding to the search request in the search history. Further, the search target database may be an aggregate of a plurality of databases connected to the Internet.

As described above, according to the present invention, a search history is registered for each user, so that information optimum for each user can be registered. Therefore, when searching for similar information again, desired information can be searched simply and in a short time.

[0019]

Next, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be applied to various information searches, and an information search for a restaurant will be described below as one embodiment. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the information search service system according to the present embodiment includes a server 100, a client terminal 200, and a network 50 connecting the server 100 and the client terminal 200.

The server 100 includes an information storage unit 120 for storing information to be provided to the user, and a client terminal 200.
An information search and generation unit 110 having a function of searching for information from the information storage unit 120 based on a request from the user and transmitting a list of searched information and details of individual information to the client terminal 200; A personal information storage unit 150 for storing information, a registration unit 130 having a function of registering the correspondence between the information in the information storage unit 120 and the user in the personal information storage unit 150, a request from the client terminal 200 and storage of personal information The limited information search and generation unit 140 has a function of searching for information from the information storage unit 120 based on the information of the unit 150 and transmitting a list of searched information and details of individual information to the client terminal 200. Further, the client terminal 200 has a function of receiving various inputs from the user and transmitting various requests to the information search and generation unit 110 and the limited information search and generation unit 140 via the network 50. A function of receiving a processing result from the search generation unit 140 and outputting the result to the user. Further, the information storage unit 120
Stores a plurality of pieces of information on fields to be searched.

FIG. 2 shows an example of information stored in the information storage unit 120 when the field to be searched is a restaurant. In this example, FIG. 7A shows identifiers (I) for a plurality of stores.
D), a shop name, and attribute information (food, location, price, sake) used in the search are registered. Further, as shown in FIG. 7B, detailed information on each store is also registered. Note that, in this example, all the information shown in FIG. 3B is described in text, but the information is not necessarily limited to text, and may be described using other media such as images and sounds. The data format is HTML (HyperText Mark) in addition to ordinary text data.
up Language) or XML (eXtensible Markup Languag)
A format such as e) or a format readable only by specific software may be used. Furthermore, the attribute information
Information used to obtain appropriate information from among a large number of information candidates stored in the information storage unit 120,
In this example, based on information on “type of dish”, “location of shop”, “price of meal”, and “whether or not alcohol is provided”,
It is assumed that a desired restaurant is selected.

The user can narrow down information candidates by designating any of these pieces of attribute information. For example, "Japanese cuisine" and "Shibuya place"
IDs "00001" to "000"
10, "00001", "00003",
It is possible to narrow down to four candidates of “00008” and “00010”. In addition, the personal information storage unit 150 stores information of a set of search candidates for each user, where the set of search candidates is one of a plurality of pieces of information stored in the information storage unit 120.
It consists of information previously selected by the user (ie, search history). The information selected by this user is:
It is a subset (subset) of a set of information stored in the information storage unit 120. In this example, the store attribute information and the detailed information are stored independently as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, but they may be stored in a mixed form. For example, describe detailed information in a specific format,
Attribute information may be automatically extracted from the detailed information.

FIG. 3 shows an example of information stored in the personal information storage unit 150. In this example, the user is set to "00
The information is managed by 8-digit identifiers such as "000001" and "00000002", and the identifier of the information selected by the user from the information storage unit 120 is recorded for each user. For example, the user whose identifier is “00000001” has identifiers “00001”, “00004”, and “000” among the store information stored in the information storage unit 120.
06 "are registered as search candidates for the user. Note that the management method shown in FIG. 3 is merely an example, and does not limit the method for managing personal information in the present invention. For example, in the personal information storage unit 150, not only the identifier of the selected information,
All information including an introductory sentence may be stored for each user.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described in detail. The operation of the present embodiment is divided into two processes, a personal information registration process and a limited information search process. The personal information registration process is executed when the user can use time and time for the search. On the other hand, the limited information search process is executed when the user needs to search for information easily and in a short time. Note that personal information registration processing needs to be performed before the limited information search processing.

Hereinafter, the personal information registration processing and the limited information search processing will be described in detail. (1) Personal Information Registration Process The personal information registration process is a process in which a user searches for information desired by the user from the information storage unit 120 and registers the information in the personal information storage unit 150 as a search candidate of the user. FIG. 4 shows the operation of the information search generation unit 110 in the personal information registration process. First, the information search generation unit 110 receives an input of search conditions from the user via the client terminal 200 (step S11). Note that this search condition is specified by the server 10
0, for example, in this example, “type of dish”,
"Store location", "meal price", and "whether or not alcohol is provided" are specified.

Next, the information retrieval and generation unit 110 creates a list of information stored in the information storage unit 120 that satisfies the specified condition, and transmits the list to the client terminal 200. The client terminal 200 displays the information on the screen (Step S12). For example, when the type of cuisine is designated as “Japanese food” in the restaurant information of FIG. 2, the information search generation unit 110 sets “00001” to “0001”.
"0000", "00003",
"00005", "00007", "00008",
A list of “00009” and “00010” is created. In this list, only a part of the information, such as a shop name, is displayed for each candidate.

Next, the user refers to the displayed list and determines whether or not further candidates need to be narrowed down.
If necessary, request that conditions be narrowed down. For example, the number of displayed candidates is hundreds, and users refer to them one by one,
If it takes time to examine the contents, it is determined that refinement is necessary. The information search and generation unit 110 checks whether or not there is a request for narrowing down the condition from the user. When the request for narrowing down is received, the process returns to step S11 to receive a more detailed input of the condition. Thereby, for example, the user designates the first condition as “the type of food is Japanese food”, and when the number of candidates as a result is too large, the user sets “the type of food is Japanese food” and “ By specifying the location in more detail, such as "the location is Shibuya", the number of candidates can be reduced (step S13).

Next, if there is no narrowing-down request in step S13, the information retrieval and generation unit 110 receives selection of information to be referred from the candidate list from the user (step S1).
4). The information search generation unit 110 transmits the detailed information of the selected candidate to the client terminal 200, and the client terminal 200 displays the information on the screen (step S1).
5). When the user refers to the displayed information and desires to register the information as a search candidate of the user in the personal information storage unit 150, the user transmits his or her own identifier to the information search generation unit 110 and requests the registration. If it is not the requested information, it will be notified. Information search generator 110
Checks whether there is a registration request from the user, and if there is no registration request, returns to step S12 and continues the processing (step S16).

On the other hand, if there is a registration request from the user in step 16, the information search and generation unit 110 specifies the identifier of the user and the identifier of the information referred to by the user, and the registration unit 130 performs a registration process. Is performed, and the process ends (step S17). The registration unit 130 registers, in the personal information storage unit 150, the correspondence between the user who has requested the registration and the information referred to by the user. In this example, the user transmits his / her own identifier when making a registration request. However, the user transmits his / her own identifier when performing other processing such as input of a search condition. The 110 may record it and use it during the registration process. This makes it possible to register a search candidate for the user in the personal information storage unit 150.

By repeating the personal information registration process described above a plurality of times, a set of search candidates for each user is created in the personal information storage unit 150. Note that, here, the processing has been completed after the registration processing in step S17 has been completed.
If desired by the user, the process may return to step S12 after step S17. This allows the user to register a plurality of search candidates in the personal information storage unit 150 in one process.

(2) Limited Information Search Process The limited information search process is a process in which a user performs a search on information stored in the personal information storage unit 150. FIG. 5 shows the operation of the limited information search generation unit 140 in the limited information search processing. Note that the processing of step S23, step S24, and step S25 in this processing is (1)
Step S13 and Step S in the personal information registration process
14, compared to step S15, the processing is not the information search generation unit 110, but the limited information search generation unit 140, except that the processing is the same. Here, step S which is a process different from the personal information registration process
21, S22 and S26 will be described in detail.

[Step S21] First, the limited information search generator 140 receives, from the user, the client terminal 200 to input a search condition in the condition specification method specified by the server and a user identifier. The search condition in this case is specified in the same format as in step S11. [Step S22] The limited information search generation unit 140 refers to the personal information storage unit 150, creates a list of information corresponding to the specified user identifier that satisfies the specified condition, and sends the list to the client terminal 200. Send. The client terminal 200 displays the information on the screen. For example, when the information in the personal information storage unit 150 is as shown in FIG. 3 and the user identifier is “00000001” and the type of dish is Japanese food, the limited information search and generation unit 14
0 is the identifier of “000001”, “000004”, “000” among the store information stored in the information storage unit 120.
006 "is the search target, and" 0000 "that satisfies the condition that the type of cuisine is Japanese is selected from the three information.
Create a list of stores only for "1"
00 is displayed.

[Step S26] The user refers to the displayed information, and notifies the user of the completion of the search if the information is the required information, and notifies the completion of the search if the information is not the required information. The limited information search generation unit 140 checks whether or not there is a search completion notification from the user.
And the process is continued, and if there is a completion notification, the process ends. The information search generation unit 1 in the personal information registration process
It is possible to search for a process for 10 from a computer terminal such as a personal computer of a company, and to search for a process for the limited information search generating unit 140 in the limited information search process from a portable terminal outside. In the limited information search process described above, candidates to be searched are stored in the personal information storage unit 150.
Since the search is limited to search candidates for each individual registered in the personal information, required information can be easily and quickly searched in comparison with the above-described personal information registration processing.

In the above, the same client terminal 200 is used by the information search and generation unit 110 and the limited information search and generation unit 1
Although the search was performed in both of the clients 40, different clients may perform the search. For example, in the above example, the information search generator 110 and the limited information search generator 140 are separately provided in the server. However, these may be used as a single information search generator. In this case, when the user makes a search request, the process is specified by specifying whether the search target is information in the information storage unit 120 or a search candidate in the personal information storage unit 150.

In the above example, steps S12 and S2
In 2, the list is to be displayed even if the search result is one, but if the search result is one, the information is treated as being selected and step S
15, the processing of S25 may be performed. Further, in the above example, in steps S14 and S24, a list is displayed even if the search result is 0,
If the search result is 0, the fact may be notified to the user, and then the process may return to steps S11 and S21.

In the above example, the user explicitly specifies the search condition. However, the client terminal 200 may automatically specify a part of the search condition. For example, if a mobile terminal client uses GPS (Global Pos
information, such as the current position and time information, are automatically acquired and added to the search conditions specified by the user for the information search generation unit 110 or the limited information search generation unit 140. Is also good.

In the above example, the user explicitly performs the limited information search processing. However, the client may automatically perform this processing based on specific conditions. For example, the client of the mobile terminal may perform the limited information search process at regular intervals. Alternatively, the client may automatically perform this processing and notify the user when the information is searched. For example, at regular intervals, the client of the mobile terminal performs a limited information search process, and notifies the user when the user is in the vicinity of the user and there is information registered in the personal information storage unit 150 by the user. Can be performed.

Further, in the above example, the information retrieval and generation unit 11
0, the limited information search and generation unit 140
Although the information in the personal information storage unit 150 is transmitted to the client terminal 200 without processing, the information of the reference environment of the client may be received and the information may be processed accordingly. For example, it is possible to receive information such as the specification and screen size of the software used by the client for reference, and to process the information into a format that is easy for the user to refer to in the software accordingly.

In the above example, in step S22 of the limited information search process, the search is performed only for the search candidates registered in the personal information storage unit 150. Here, the information in the information storage unit 120 is combined. Search may be performed with. For example, at the top of the list, those included in the search candidates of the personal information storage unit 150 are displayed, and at the bottom, they are not included in the search candidates of the personal information storage unit 150.
May be displayed, and among the search results for the information storage unit 120, those included in the search candidates in the personal information storage unit 150 may be marked by a user so that the user can distinguish them. It is possible.

In the above example, the information searched by the user is stored in the information storage unit 120. However, the information to be searched is stored in information existing outside the Internet or the like (that is, a plurality of information connected to the Internet). (A collection of databases). In this case, the information existing outside needs to follow a specific format searchable by the information search and generation unit 110. Alternatively, it is necessary that the server performs some processing such as document analysis and formulates a format of information existing outside the server.

[0041]

As described above, the present invention accumulates the search history of each user individually for each user, so that the user can register his / her own search candidates when there is enough time, and can store information in a short time. When it is necessary to search for information, it is possible to search for information easily and in a short time by performing a search on its own search candidate. For example, in the case of a search for restaurants, if you have time to work at a company or home, you can examine the detailed information of the store such as the contents of the dish and create a search candidate for your favorite restaurant For example, when the user goes out, the user can specify location information using the portable terminal, and quickly search for a nearby one among his / her own search candidates. Therefore,
The present invention can provide an appropriate search means according to the situation of the user.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of information stored in an information storage unit of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a specific example of information stored in a personal information storage unit in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a personal information registration process.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a limited information search process.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a conventional example.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of information stored in an information storage unit in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a conventional information search process.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference numeral 50: network, 100: server, 110: information search and generation unit, 120: information storage unit, 130: registration unit, 14
0: Limited information search and generation unit, 150: Personal information storage unit, 2
00 ... client terminal, 500 ... server, 510 ... information search and generation unit, 520 ... information storage unit.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An information search method for searching a predetermined search target database in response to a search request from a user, reading information requested by the user from the search target database, and providing the information to the user. The search history of the user is registered in a predetermined personal information storage unit for each user, and when a search request is issued from the user, the search history of the user is searched. As a result of this search, (a) If there is information corresponding to the search request in the search history, information in the search history is provided to the user; (b) if there is no information corresponding to the search request in the search history, An information search method characterized by searching a search target database. 2. The information search method according to claim 1, wherein the search target database is an aggregate of a plurality of databases connected to the Internet. 3. An information storage unit storing a search target database including various information; a personal information storage unit storing a search history for each user; and the information storage unit based on search conditions specified by the user. An information search generation unit that searches for a plurality of pieces of information stored in the personal information storage unit; a registration unit that registers information selected by the user as a search history of the user in the personal information storage unit; An information search system, comprising: a limited information search generation unit that performs a search process on a search history for each individual stored in an information storage unit. 4. The information search system according to claim 3, wherein the search target database is an aggregate of a plurality of databases connected to the Internet. 5. Searching a predetermined search target database in response to a search request from a user, reading out information requested by the user from the search target database, and recording an information search program provided to the user. Registering the search history of the user in a predetermined personal information storage unit for each user in the recorded recording medium; and searching the search history of the user when a search request is issued from the user. (A) providing information corresponding to the search request in the search history to the user; and (b) providing information in the search history to the user. Searching for the search target database when there is no information corresponding to the search request. 6. A recording medium recording the information search program according to claim 5, wherein the search target database is an aggregate of a plurality of databases connected to the Internet. Recording medium.