JP2002207735A - Information retrieval device, information retrieval method, and computer-readable storage medium with program stored therein - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow a user to easily use a plurality of retrieval processings. SOLUTION: This information retrieval device 17 comprises an accepting means 23 for accepting a retrieval request from the user; a determination means 24 for determining a retrieval processing to request a retrieval on the basis of retrieval processing information showing properties of retrieval processings 161-16n and the retrieval request; a retrieval requesting means 25 for providing a retrieval request to the retrieval processing determined by the determination means 24; and an answer forming means 27 for receiving the retrieval result from the retrieval processing determined by the determination means 24, forming the answer information to the retrieval on the basis of the retrieval result, and providing the answer information for the user.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information retrieval apparatus for outputting a retrieval result corresponding to an inputted retrieval request, an information retrieval method, and a computer-readable recording medium recording a program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There are various search systems for outputting information corresponding to an input identifier, such as a search site on the Internet and SlideCards.
For example, if SlideCards is used, the conversion server converts the identifier (number, etc.) into a URL (Uniform Resource Locater).
Can be converted to

FIG. 11 is a general configuration diagram of a system using SlideCards.

In this network system 1, a user terminal 2, a conversion server 31, and a connection destination server 4 are connected via the Internet 5.

[0005] The user terminal 2 is provided with an identifier acquiring device 6 and a browser 7. The identifier described by a barcode or the like is read by the identifier acquisition device 6. Then, a conversion request from the identifier to the URL is transmitted to the conversion server 31 via the browser 7.

[0006] In the conversion server 31, information is exchanged by the Web server 8. When the Web server 8 receives the identifier, the URL conversion server 9 changes the conversion table 1
0, and if necessary, refers to the usage information 12 using the usage information acquisition device 11, and performs information conversion processing.

[0007] It is assumed that the URL obtained by the conversion by the conversion server 31 points to the content 47 on the connection destination server 4. This URL is stored in the browser 7 of the user terminal 2.
Is sent back to the server 7 and the browser 7
This is displayed by issuing an acquisition request to the server 13. As a result, the user can access various information on the Internet 5 without inputting a long URL from the keyboard.

The connection destination server 4 is a Web server 1
3 and provides a content 47 that is information indicated by the URL received from the browser 7.

[0009]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] General SlideCards
Is used when there is only one conversion server.

However, for example, when a plurality of businesses enter the conversion server operation business, it is assumed that a plurality of conversion servers 31 to 3n exist on the Internet 5 as shown in FIG.

Conversion servers 31 to 3n for a certain identifier
Are not necessarily the same. That is, the URLs obtained as a result of the conversion are stored in the conversion servers 31-31.
3n, and different contents may be selected for the same identifier.

Further, with this conventional system configuration, it is not possible to determine to which conversion server a conversion request should be sent.

[0013] A user wants to use a conversion server that can obtain the content that best suits his taste. The same is true for other search systems other than SlideCards.

[0014] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and for example, when there are a plurality of conversion servers in an environment using SlideCards, an information search device that collectively uses the conversion servers, and It is an object to provide an information search method and a computer-readable recording medium on which a program is recorded.

[0015]

Hereinafter, specific measures taken to realize the present invention will be described.

In the information search device of the present invention, the receiving means receives a search request from a user, and the determining means based on search processing information indicating at least one property of the search processing and the search request received by the receiving means. Determine a search process to request a search. Further, the search request means provides the search request received by the reception means for the search processing determined by the determination means. And
The answer creating unit receives the search result from the search process determined by the determining unit, creates answer information for the search request accepted by the accepting unit based on the search result, and provides the answer information to the user.

Further, according to the present invention, a priority determination for determining a priority of a search result by a search process determined by the determination means based on at least one of user information and search process information set for a user. Means may be added. In this case, the answer creating means creates answer information in accordance with the priority determined by the priority determining means.

Further, in the present invention, the answer creating means includes:
Information for prompting the user to input an evaluation of the priority order by the priority order determination means may be included in the answer information. In this case, the priority determining means uses the evaluation result of the priority received from the user who has obtained the answer information for the subsequent determination of the priority.

By utilizing the present invention, a plurality of search processes can be handled collectively, and the burden of information search by the user can be reduced.

Note that the same processing as that of the information search apparatus of the present invention may be realized by an information search method for providing answer information to a search request by a computer system. That is, in this information search method, a search request is received from a user, a search process is determined based on the search request and the search process information, and the received search request is provided for the determined search process. A search result is received from the performed search processing, answer information is created based on the search result, and the answer information is provided to the user.

Further, the functions of the information retrieval apparatus of the present invention may be recorded as a program on a recording medium and realized by a computer. By using a storage medium storing such a program, it is possible to easily add the function of the information search device of the present invention to a computer, a computer system, or a server that does not have the above-described functions, The same operation and effect as the present invention can be obtained.

[0022]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In the present embodiment, a search server requesting a search among a plurality of search servers is determined based on search conditions and client attributes provided by the client, and the search result by the determined search server is determined. The information search site provided to the client will be described.

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a network system having an information search site according to the present embodiment.

The network system 14 includes a client 15 serving as a search request transmission source, a plurality of search servers 161 to 16n for executing an actual search process, and a plurality of search servers receiving a search request from the client 15. And an information search site 17 for executing an operation for selecting an appropriate result from the search results.

The client 15 has a search request acquisition unit 1
8, a display unit 19, and a search request requesting unit 20. The display unit 19 and the search request requesting unit 20 may be realized by a browser.

The search request obtaining unit 18 obtains search conditions, its own attributes, auxiliary information for determining the priority of search results, and the like. For example, an identifier represented by a barcode is acquired. The auxiliary information includes a user ID for specifying user information including a user's age and gender.

The display section 19 is a section for displaying various information such as a final result to the user.

The search request requesting unit 20 includes the search request obtaining unit 1
8 transmits the search request obtained to the information search site 17 and obtains answer information to the search request from the information search site 17. The search request includes search conditions and user attributes.

On the information search site 17, a search server information storage unit 21, a client attribute information storage unit 22, a search request reception unit 23, a search server determination unit 24, a search request unit 25, a priority determination unit 26, a reply There is a creating unit 27.

The search server information storage unit 21 stores information indicating the properties and characteristics of a plurality of search servers. For example, it stores which search server performs a search for women, which search server performs a search for the elderly, and the like.

The attribute information storage unit 22 of the client stores the operation history of the user (for example, which search server answered in the past search, etc.) and the personal information of the user (for example, address, age, gender, hobby, etc.). Save and so on.

The search request receiving unit 23
A search request is received from the search request requesting unit 20 of FIG.

The search server determining unit 24 determines to which of the plurality of search servers 161 to 16n the search request received by the search request receiving unit 23 is to be output. In determining the search server, information in the search server information storage unit 21 and information in the client attribute information storage unit 22 are used. For example, only a search server that can be used by a user is a request destination of a search request. Further, a search server that can provide a search result effective for the user may be guessed to be a request destination of a search request.

[0035] The search request unit 25 is a search server determination unit 24.
Request a search to one or more search servers determined by, and obtain the respective search results.

The priority order determination unit 26 ranks the search results obtained by the one or more search servers obtained by the search request unit 25. To determine the order, information in the search server information storage unit 21 and the client attribute information storage unit 22
Information is used. For example, the priority of a search server that is frequently used by the user is increased from the search server use history of the user. The priority is set higher as the size of the search server is larger (for example, the amount of data to be searched is larger).

The answer creating section 27 creates answer information to be returned to the client 15 based on the ranked search results, and transmits the answer information to the client 15.

Each of the plurality of search servers 161 to 16n is provided with a search unit 28 for executing a search and returning the result.

The information retrieval site 17 as described above is used for SlideC.
The case of applying to ards is described below.

FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram showing a first example in which the information search site 17 according to the present embodiment is applied to SlideCards. In FIG. 2, the same portions as those in FIG. 12 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted. Here, only different portions will be described in detail.

The Web server 41 of the information search site 40 provided in the network system 29 includes the search request receiving unit 23 and the search server determining unit 2 shown in FIG.
4. Functions as a search request unit 25, a priority order determination unit 26, and an answer creation unit 27 (search request reception function, search request function,
Search server determination function, priority order determination function, answer creation function). Further, the search server information storage unit 21 stores conversion server information regarding the conversion servers 31 to 3n.

In other respects, the network system 29 is almost the same as the network system shown in FIG.

In the network system 29, there are a plurality of conversion servers 31 to 3n. One or more conversion servers to which conversion is requested are determined by the search server determination function of the Web server 41 in the information search site 40. You.

The operation of the network system 29 will be described. First, when a user reads a barcode or the like, an identifier is obtained. For example, an identifier “Barcode standard EAN 2061620172” is given from a barcode pasted on a CD “ABC” of “Musician M”. Then, it can be assumed that the user is requesting some information related to this CD. The identifier is transmitted to the information search site 40. It should be noted that the barcode reader detects that the barcode affixed to the distributed music CD is a barcode system called EAN. The bar code by EAN is issued uniquely by the bar code allocation center. Therefore, by searching the database of the barcode allocation center, it is possible to specify that this identifier is the music CD “ABC” of “Musician M” sold by “Company X”.

In the information search site 40, conversion servers are determined based on the conversion server information as shown in FIG. 3 held in the search server information holding unit 21, and an identifier is transmitted to each of the determined conversion servers. Is done. Using the conversion server information of FIG. 3, n conversion servers 3
1 to 3n are determined, and an identifier is transmitted to each of the n servers.

In each of the determined conversion servers, the identifier is converted into a URL by referring to the conversion table 10, and this U
The RL is returned to the information search site 40. When there are a plurality of conversion servers, one conversion server obtains a URL indicating the content 4 (for example, the career of the musician M) on the connection destination server 4 by conversion, and another conversion server obtains another content (for example, CD “ ABC ”song introduction)
There is a possibility that a different URL is returned for each conversion server, for example, an RL is obtained.

In the information search site 40, the obtained URL
Is generated based on the information, and is returned to the user terminal 2. In the user terminal 2, the content on the connection destination server is acquired by the browser 7 and displayed on the screen. When there are a plurality of URLs, as shown in FIGS. 4 to 7, the plurality of URLs are displayed in various expressions such as itemized items or itemized items excluding overlapping elements.

FIG. 8 is a system configuration diagram showing a second example in which the information search site 17 according to the present embodiment is applied to SlideCards.

In the information search site 40 of the network system 42, user information as shown in FIG. 9 is stored in the attribute information storage section 22 of the client shown in FIG. In FIG. 9, the user information includes a member number, a name,
It consists of items such as gender, age, address, number of families, occupation, etc., but also includes hobbies, credit card numbers,
Phone numbers and past search histories may be used as items.

In the network system 42 shown in FIG. 8, when a search request is issued, a user ID (for example, “member number 111”), which is information for specifying a user, is transmitted from the user terminal 2 to the information search site 40. The age, sex, etc. (for example, 30 years old, male, etc.) indicated by the user information corresponding to the user ID are obtained.

The user information such as age and gender is provided to a search server determining function of the Web server 41 operating as an inference system, and it is estimated which conversion server is appropriate for this user. Note that it is also possible to include the user's preference in the user information and determine the conversion server according to the user's preference. In this case, as shown in FIG. 10, the conversion server information includes items such as a conversion server name, conversion server identification information, and attributes of a user assumed by the conversion server. In FIG. 10, since the user is a man, a lover of classical music, and a company employee, the priority of the results of the conversion servers 31 and 32 is increased, the priority of the result of the conversion server 3n is set to normal, and the conversion server 33 is , 34
Lower the priority of the result.

The operation of the network system 42 shown in FIG. 8 will be described. First, the user ("member number 111"
When a barcode or the like is read by “Taro” of the above, an identifier is obtained. The identifier is transmitted from the user terminal 2 to the information search site 40 together with the user ID.
Here, the identifier “barcode standard EAN 2061620172” and the user ID “111” are transmitted by the barcode attached to the CD “ABC”.

In the information search site 40, the attribute of the user is determined from the user information corresponding to the user ID, and is compared with the conversion server information to determine a candidate search server. The server is queried.

In each of the candidate conversion servers, the identifier is converted into a URL, and this URL is returned to the information search site 40.

In the information search site 40, screen information is created based on the URL obtained as a result of the inquiry,
Returned to the user terminal 2.

In the user terminal 2, screen information is displayed by the browser 7.

Here, a screen displayed by the browser 7 of the user terminal 2 will be described below with reference to FIGS.

For example, the URL obtained by the conversion server 31 indicates a “Web page that specializes in the music CD of the musician M, such as the title and year of presentation”, and the conversion server 32
The URL obtained by the conversion server 33 indicates “the live information page of the musician M”, the URL obtained by the conversion server 33 indicates the “official website of the musician M”, and the conversion server 3
The URL obtained by “4.
Site ".

FIG. 4 shows that, when a plurality of URLs are obtained from a plurality of conversion servers based on the identifier, the Web page 43 indicated by the URL determined to have the highest priority by the priority determination unit 26 is displayed on the browser 7. Is shown as an example. For example, the user information shown in FIG.
In the example of the conversion server information, the conversion server 31, which is presumed to obtain the most promising result, has high priority of the URL obtained by the conversion server 33, and conversely, the conversion server 33 which is presumed to be difficult to obtain the promising result, URL obtained by 34
Lower priority.

As described above, by displaying the Web page 43 indicating the URL having the highest priority, the user can determine the desired conversion result from among many information conversion results.
There is an advantage that the labor for selection is reduced. In some cases, the URL determined to have a higher priority does not indicate the information desired by the user. Therefore, it is desirable that information indicated by another URL can be displayed based on the user's instruction.

FIG. 5 shows a list of URLs returned from the conversion server. This screen prompts the user to select one of the URLs.

When the user selects the URL displayed on the screen, the information indicated by the URL is displayed on the browser 7. Therefore, to get the final result,
One or more explicit operations are required. Also, a certain UR
After selecting L and displaying the screen, in order to select another URL and display the screen, move to at least a screen displaying all candidates and then explicitly select the next candidate. Is required.

FIG. 6 shows a screen having a display area 44 of a URL list obtained from a plurality of conversion servers by converting information and an area 45 for displaying information indicating the URL selected by the user. This screen is a mixed form of FIGS. Even when the user wants to display information indicated by another URL, it is not necessary to move to a screen displaying all candidates, so one operation is sufficient.

FIG. 7 shows a screen having an area 46 including an interface for allowing the user to input feedback information to be used for the next and subsequent priority determinations. The result of input to this area 46 is notified from the user terminal 2 to the information search site 40 as feedback information. In addition,
Here, the case where the region 46 is added to the screen of FIG. 6 is shown, but it may be added to FIGS.

After viewing the information provided to the user, the user inputs in the area 46 how the content of this information was compared with the information he / she wanted. Then, the input result of the user is transmitted to the information search site 40 as feedback information, and is added to the attribute information storage unit 22 of the client as attribute information of the user. From the next time on, when the priority is determined by the priority determination function, this feedback information is taken into account, and the priority can be further reflected that reflects the user's preference.

On the other hand, on the information retrieval site 40 side, by collecting the user's preference and inferring it with a data mining tool or the like, it is possible to know the contents of the information required by the user in detail.

Use in a service business, such as conducting consulting for each of the conversion servers 31 to 3n based on the contents of information requested by the user, within a range that does not pose a problem from the viewpoint of privacy protection and law. Is also possible.

Since the operator of the information retrieval site 40 has led the user to the conversion server, the operator may charge the conversion server every time the conversion result by the conversion server is used by the user. .

As the number of search requests to the information search site 40 increases, user preferences are collected, the accuracy of search results improves, the value of the information search site 40 increases, and contracts with more conversion servers are made. Can be tied.

It is desirable for the information search site 40 to return many highly accurate feedback information from various users in order to improve the quality of the feedback information from the users.

Therefore, in order to actively collect feedback information from the user, some benefit may be given when the user inputs the feedback information.

For example, on the information search site 40 side, the user returns feedback information, so that search results matching the user's own hobbies and preferences are returned with higher priority.

Further, for example, every time the user returns the feedback information, the information search site 40 accumulates privilege points for the user as thanks for the cooperation. The points are used for reducing the rental fee of the user terminal 2, providing a present coupon, and the like.

In the information search sites 17 and 40 according to the present embodiment described above, even if there are a plurality of conversion servers used for SlideCards, the plurality of conversion servers can be handled collectively. .

Further, since it is automatically determined which conversion server gives priority to the conversion result, the user's selection effort is reduced, and the user can quickly obtain the conversion result desired by himself.

In addition, user preferences and hobbies can be collected satisfactorily, which can be used for analyzing user needs.

In the network systems 14, 29, and 42 described in the above embodiment, the arrangement of each component may be changed as long as the same operation and function can be realized. Any combination may be used. For example, the search server determination unit 24 and the priority order determination unit 2
6 etc. may be provided to the client 15.

Further, in the above embodiment, a case where a barcode is used as an identifier has been described as an example, but the same applies to a case where other information such as a keyword is used as an identifier.

The functions for realizing the information search sites 17 and 40 described in each of the above-described embodiments are, for example, a magnetic disk (floppy (registered trademark) disk, hard disk, etc.) as a program that can be executed by a computer. ), Optical disk (CD-ROM, DVD
Etc.) and can be applied to a computer by writing to a recording medium such as a semiconductor memory, and can also be transmitted to a communication medium and applied to a computer. The computer that realizes the above functions reads the program recorded on the recording medium, and executes the above-described processing by controlling the operation of the program.

[0080]

As described above in detail, in the present invention, a search request from a user is accepted, and a search process to be requested to be searched among at least one search process is determined.
Request a search for the determined search process. And
The search results are returned to the user collectively.

As a result, a plurality of search processes can be handled collectively, and the burden on the user for information search can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a network system including an information search site according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows an information search site according to the embodiment, SlideCar.
FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram showing a first example applied to ds.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of conversion server information.

FIG. 4 is a screen diagram displaying a conversion result having the highest priority among a plurality of conversion results.

FIG. 5 is a screen view displaying a list of a plurality of conversion results.

FIG. 6 is a screen view showing a list of a plurality of conversion results and the contents of the conversion results selected by the user.

FIG. 7 is a screen view showing an interface for inputting a list of a plurality of conversion results, the contents of the conversion results selected by the user, and the evaluation of the display contents.

FIG. 8 shows the information search site according to the embodiment as SlideCar.
FIG. 9 is a system configuration diagram showing a second example applied to ds.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of user information.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of conversion server information.

FIG. 11 is a general configuration diagram of a system using SlideCards.

FIG. 12 is a system configuration diagram when a plurality of conversion servers are provided in a system using SlideCards.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 14, 29, 42 Network system 2 User terminals 31 to 3n Conversion server 4 Connection server 5 Internet 6 Identifier acquisition device 7 Browser 8, 13, 41 Web server 9 URL conversion server 10 ... Conversion table 11 ... Usage information acquisition device 12 ... Usage information 15 ... Clients 161-16n ... Search server 17, 40 ... Information search site 18 ... Search request acquisition unit 19 ... Display unit 20 ... Search request request unit 21 ... Search server information Storage unit 22 Client attribute information storage unit 23 Search request reception unit 24 Search server determination unit 25 Search request unit 26 Priority order determination unit 27 Answer creation unit 28 Search unit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G06F 17/30 370 G06F 17/30 370Z (72) Inventor Shigeru Hirahara 1st Ota Toshiba-cho, Ota, Ibaraki-shi, Osaka No. 6 Inside the Toshiba Osaka Plant (72) Inventor Yoko Suwabe 1-1-1, Shibaura, Minato-ku, Tokyo Inside the Toshiba Head Office (72) Inventor Masao Isshiki 1-1-1, Shibaura, Minato-ku, Tokyo No. F-term in Toshiba Corporation head office (reference) 5B075 KK03 KK07 KK13 KK33 KK37 ND03 ND20 ND23 ND36 NK46 NK54 PP02 PP05 PP12 PP30 PQ02 PQ20 PR03 PR08 QP10 QS07

Claims (9)

[Claims] A receiving unit for receiving a search request from a user; a search process to request a search based on search process information indicating at least one property of the search process and the search request received by the receiving unit. Determining means for determining; searching request means for providing a search request received by the receiving means for the search processing determined by the determining means; receiving a search result from the search processing determined by the determining means And an answer creating means for creating answer information for the search request received by the receiving means based on the search result and providing the answer information to the user. 2. The information search device according to claim 1, wherein the search is performed by a search process determined by the determination unit based on at least one of user information set for the user and the search process information. An information search apparatus, further comprising priority determination means for determining a priority of a result, wherein the answer creation means creates the answer information in accordance with the priority determined by the priority determination means. 3. The information search device according to claim 2, wherein the answer creating unit includes information prompting the priority order input by the priority order determining unit in the answer information, and the priority order determining unit includes: An information search device characterized in that an evaluation result of a priority received from a user who has obtained answer information is used for subsequent determination of a priority. 4. An information search method for providing answer information to a search request by a computer system, comprising the steps of: receiving a search request from a user; and receiving the received search request and search processing information indicating at least one property of search processing. Determining a search process for which a search is to be requested, based on the following, providing the received search request to the determined search process, and receiving a search result from the determined search process And generating answer information for the received search request based on the search result, and providing the answer information to the user. 5. The information search method according to claim 4, wherein a search result is received from the determined search processing.
Determine the priority of the search result by the determined search process based on at least one of the user information and the search process information set for the user,
An information search method, wherein answer information for the accepted search request is created based on a search result of the determined search process and the priority order, and the answer information is provided to the user. 6. The information search method according to claim 5, wherein the answer information includes information for prompting an evaluation input of the determined priority, and the determined priority is determined by a user who has obtained the answer information. Receiving an evaluation result of the above, and holding the received evaluation result in a state where it can be used for determining the priority order of the search results obtained thereafter. 7. A computer should request a search based on a receiving function of receiving a search request from a user, search processing information indicating at least one property of the search processing, and a search request received by the receiving function. A determination function for determining a search process; a search request function for providing a search request received by the reception function for the search process determined by the determination function; and a search from the search process determined by the determination function. A computer-readable recording device for receiving a result, creating answer information for the search request accepted by the accepting function based on the search result, and providing an answer creating function of providing the answer information to the user. Possible recording medium. 8. A computer-readable recording medium on which the program according to claim 7 is recorded, wherein the computer stores the program based on at least one of user information set for the user and the search processing information. A program for realizing a priority determination function for determining a priority of a search result by the search processing determined by the determination function is recorded, and the answer creation function is performed according to the priority determined by the priority determination function. A computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for creating the answer information. 9. The computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon the program according to claim 8, wherein the answer creation function includes, in the answer information, information prompting an input of an evaluation of a priority order by the priority order determination function. The priority determination function is a computer-readable recording medium storing a program, wherein a priority evaluation result received from a user who has obtained the answer information is used for subsequent determination of priority.