JP2002189748A - Retrieval system for position-dependent information contents - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To retrieve and easily provide many position-dependent information contents over a wider range by automating the information gathering of the position-dependent information contents as contents depending upon position relation. SOLUTION: A position-dependent information contents retrieving server 3 gathers position information and link information included in the position- dependent information contents provided by a position-dependent information contents server 2 through the Internet, a position-dependent information contents index database 4 stores them while making them correspond to each other, and the position-dependent information contents retrieving server 3 performs retrieval regarding a position and provides the retrieval result including the link information made to correspond to matching position information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a system for retrieving location-dependent information contents published on the Internet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, services for providing information on places and regions have been provided on the Internet.

For example, MapFan (http: // w
ww. mapfan. com) performs a service of searching a map from an address, a station name, a spot name, and the like, and providing information on the searched local area spot. The information data in services that provide such regional information is not only that content providers collect and register information,
A method of registering by a user who wants to provide information is generally used.

[0004]

In the area information providing service as described above, since information registration basically depends on humans, there is a limit to the number of spots and areas that can be covered, and the amount of information provided is limited. Limited. In addition, it is difficult to frequently update information by a manual registration method.

[0005] Further, data registration is performed by a method peculiar to each service, and the contents and format of information that can be registered are limited. Further, the use of the registered information is basically limited to search and use from the registered service, and the user cannot use the registered information for another use.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the current area information providing service, and to provide physical location information to Web contents related to places and areas published on the Internet. Automatically collects and accumulates link information to those Web contents, and enables the search of those Web contents using the position information. It enables search and access, and allows information providers to provide a wider variety of location-dependent information services.

[0007]

A position-dependent information content search system according to the present invention is connected to the Internet and provides a position-dependent information content server that provides a position-dependent information content that is a content including a description of position information. A position-dependent information content search server that collects, via the Internet, position information included in the dependent information content and link information of the position-dependent information content, the position-dependent information content search server being connected to the position-dependent information content search server; A position-dependent information content index database that stores the position information collected by the content search server and the link information in association with each other, wherein the position-dependent information content search server searches for a position via the Internet. Received the condition and received Searching the position information matching the search condition from the position-dependent information content index database, and returning a search result including the link information associated with the matching position information via the Internet. And

[0008] A position-dependent information content search system according to the present invention is connected to a position-dependent information content server that provides a position-dependent information content, which is a content including a description of position information, via the Internet, and is included in the position-dependent information content. Position information, a position-dependent information content search server that collects link information of the position-dependent information content, and the position information that is connected to the position-dependent information content search server and collected by the position-dependent information content search server; A position-dependent information content index database that stores the link information in association with the link information, wherein the position-dependent information content search server receives a search condition related to the position via the Internet, and Location information that matches Retrieved from the location-dependent information content index database, the search result including the link information associated with the matching the position information, and wherein the reply via the Internet.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of the entire position-dependent information content search system according to the first embodiment.

The information terminal 1 used when a user searches and browses content is connected to the Internet, and runs Internet communication software and WWW content browsing software. 2 is a position-dependent information content server for providing position-dependent information content, 3 is a position-dependent information content search server for collecting and searching index data including link information of the position-dependent information content, and 4 is position-dependent information content This is a position-dependent information content index database that stores index data of position-dependent information content collected by the search server 3.

FIG. 2 shows a description example of the position-dependent information content provided by the position-dependent information content server 2.

[0012] WWW (W
The document data (Web page) of the old Wide Web content is stored in W3C (World Wide Web Conso), a standardization promotion organization of WWW technology.
rtium) (HyperText)
Markup Language) or XML (eXt
The content is described in a text-based content description language such as "enable Markup Language". A Web site published on the Internet and a Web page registered therein are URL (Uniform Reform) indicating a logical position on the Internet.
source Locator) or URI (U
niform Resource Identifier
r). Access these Web pages by using WWW content browsing software or the like by directly specifying them or by following the link information if a link information to a specific Web page is described in another Web page on the Internet. It is possible to

The present invention relates to a Web described in the above description language.
As shown in 6 in the page, a description is given in the Web page that a description about physical position information to be associated with the content is given. In this example, <lo indicating a position information element
event> tag and its attribute LONGITUDE
(Longitude), LATITUDE (latitude), RADIUS
(Radius) specifies the position of the reference point and the effective range as physical position information. In this example, for simplicity of description, the effective range is a circular area centered on the reference point. However, the specification is made more in accordance with the actual area shape by a method such as specifying a plurality of reference points. It may be. Also, altitude and other supplementary information may be included as attributes.

The provider that provides the location-dependent information content places the Web page to which the location information has been added as described above on the WWW content server 2 and registers it on an Internet search site in the same manner as when publishing a normal Web page. Method of other Web on the Internet
Follow the link from the site and make it accessible.

The location-dependent information content search server 3
As with the widely used Internet search sites, information on Web pages on the Internet is collected by automatically following links in Web pages, and the information in Web pages is extracted, and the position is determined as described above. When a Web page in which information is described is found, an index of link information for accessing the Web page is created and registered in the position-dependent information content index database 4. As an example, for the content 6 in which the position information is described in the Web page, the title character string is extracted from the position information (longitude, latitude, range) and the <title> tag 7, and is associated with the URL of the Web page and indexed. The data is shown in FIG.

The user who searches for the position-dependent information content accesses the search Web page on the position-dependent information content search server 3 from the information terminal 1 connected to the Internet. When performing a search, an information search is performed by transmitting position information (longitude, latitude, range, etc.) of a place to be searched to a search server. Fig. 4 shows the process during search
This will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

In step S101, position data transmitted from a user information terminal is received. The position data can be specified by directly specifying the specific data used by the user to search for longitude, latitude, range, etc., as well as by using the position information specified on the map on the screen and keywords indicating the position. Alternatively, the search server may convert the data into specific position data. In addition, in order to limit the search target, a search condition such as a related keyword may be added in addition to the position information, similarly to a normal search.

In step S102, a process of searching for corresponding information from the index database based on the position data is performed. At this stage, data to be searched is narrowed down based on the area information, keywords, and the like designated in step S101, and candidates are extracted. The purpose of step S102 is to roughly narrow down candidates before performing a detailed search. If all regions and genres are to be searched, the amount of information is enormous. Here, the region, the genre, and the like are specified, and the operation is performed to limit the number of search candidates. At this stage, only a database to be searched (for example, it is conceivable that a plurality of databases are distributed) or a group to be searched in the database is specified, and detailed area calculation is not necessarily performed. You may.

In step S103, candidate data is determined. If there is candidate data, step S104
The process proceeds to step S107 if there is no candidate data.

In step S104, one piece of data is obtained from the candidate data.

In step S105, the position / area information of the acquired data is compared with the search target position information from the user. If the search target position is included in the data area, the process proceeds to step S106; It returns to step S103. In step S105, step S1
For the candidates narrowed down in 02, it is determined in detail whether or not the position specified by the user is included in the area of each candidate. At this stage, it is supposed that a certain amount of time is required due to the numerical calculation process.
By narrowing down the candidates in the second stage, the search time can be reduced.

In step S106, the corresponding data is added to the search result list, and the process returns to step S103.

In step S107, information such as a Web page title and a URL is transmitted from the search result list to the user terminal. If the corresponding data does not exist, it is notified.

By accessing the Web page from the link information obtained in the above process, the user can obtain information content associated with a specific position.

Embodiment 2 In the first embodiment, the user performs a search from a fixed terminal connected to the Internet. Next, a case in which a user searches for information content relating to a place where he or she is now using a portable information terminal will be described. Here is an example.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a case where the user terminal is a portable information terminal in the first embodiment shown in FIG.

It is assumed that the portable information terminal 9 communicates with the radio base station 13 and is connected to the Internet via the gateway 14. Also, the portable information terminal 9 here is a GPS (Global Positioning Sy).
It is assumed that the information processing apparatus has a function of acquiring information on the current position by using a function such as “stem”).

In the present embodiment, the user
By obtaining the current position by performing the above-described steps, and performing an information search based on the position information in the same manner as in the first embodiment, it is possible to easily access information content related to the current position.

In indoors where GPS radio waves cannot be used, location information can be obtained by using a map, or in a public place, by installing a sign indicating the location information of the place. If possible, the user can search for information content depending on the current position, regardless of where he is.

The present embodiment can be applied to, for example, the use of obtaining information on nearby stores and traffic at an outing place, and searching for information on a timetable and transfer guidance in a station yard.

Means for adding physical location information to location-dependent information content published on the Internet;
Means for automatically collecting and accumulating index information of the position-dependent information content to which the position information has been given by the means,
Means for performing a search using the physical position information from the index information accumulated by the means, and obtaining link information to the position-dependent information content related to the specific position. The system has been described.

[0032]

As described above, the position information is added to the general Web contents and the general Web contents are associated with the position information.
By indexing the link information of the content using the location information on the search site, the user can search for information content related to a place or an area using the location information.

Further, in the position-dependent information content search system of the present invention, information of the position-dependent information content on the Internet can be automatically collected. Dependency information can be provided. Furthermore, since the information update operation can be frequently performed in a relatively short period of time by automating information collection, it is easy to obtain the latest information.

By providing physical location information to the information content, the content provider can provide more detailed location-dependent information, while the user can easily and accurately search for the location-dependent information content. It is possible to do.

The location-dependent information content according to the present invention can be created in the same manner as a normal Web page and published on the Internet, so that it is troublesome to register the content, which is a conventional location-dependent information providing service. There is no. Further, since the contents and format of the posted information of the contents are not restricted by the service provider, it is possible to provide more various forms of position-dependent information contents.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an entire position-dependent information content search system according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a description example of position-dependent information content.

FIG. 3 is an example of index data of position-dependent information content.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of searching for position-dependent information content based on position data.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of an entire position-dependent information content search system according to a second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 information terminal, 2 position-dependent information content server, 3
Position-dependent information content search server, 4 position-dependent information content index database, 5 position-dependent content description example, 6 tag specifying physical position, 7 title tag, 8 position-dependent information content index example, 9 portable information terminal, 10 GPS satellites, 11 maps, 12 position indicators, 13 radio base stations, 14 gateways.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A position-dependent information content server that connects to the Internet and provides position-dependent information content that is a content including a description of position information, a position information included in the position-dependent information content, and a link of the position-dependent information content. Information, via the Internet, a position-dependent information content search server, which is connected to the position-dependent information content search server, and the position information collected by the position-dependent information content search server; and the link information. And a position-dependent information content index database for storing the position-dependent information content search database, wherein the position-dependent information content search server receives a search condition regarding the position via the Internet, and matches the search condition regarding the received position. Information is stored in the location-dependent information content Search from the index database,
A position-dependent information content search system, wherein a search result including the link information associated with the matching position information is returned via the Internet. 2. A position-dependent information content server that provides position-dependent information content, which is a content including a description of position information, is connected via the Internet, and the position information included in the position-dependent information content is linked to the position-dependent information content. A position-dependent information content search server that collects information; and a position-dependent information content search server that is connected to the position-dependent information content search server, and stores the position information collected by the position-dependent information content search server in association with the link information. A position-dependent information content index database, wherein the position-dependent information content search server receives a search condition related to the position via the Internet, and stores the position information matching the received search condition related to the position in the position-dependent information. Search from content index database And,
A position-dependent information content search system, wherein a search result including the link information associated with the matching position information is returned via the Internet.