JP2002297601A - Method and device for structured document management, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and a device for structured document management which unitedly manage documents based upon various document structure definitions together with structured documents whose document structures are not defined while maintaining the identity of document structures predetermined corresponding to the kinds of the document and also easily perform document retrieval over a wide range unlimited to specific document structures. SOLUTION: A structured document is stored in a logical area of a structured database specified according to the logical structure and the respective constitution elements of the structure document are managed as constitution elements forming the logical structure; and a schemer document as a structured document whose document structure is defined corresponding to the logical area is stored in the logical area specified according to the logical structure to set different document structures on the logical structure and in the logical area where the document structure is set, only a structured document having the document structure matching the document structure corresponding to the area is stored.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a structured document management method, a structured document management apparatus and a structured document management method for managing a plurality of structured documents having different document structures in a structured document database having a hierarchical logical structure. Related to the chemical document management system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, with the evolution of IT (information technology),
An enormous amount of information has become readily available. On the other hand, there is also a problem that necessary information is buried in a large amount of data and cannot be fully utilized. Even if there is a large amount of information, it is meaningless if it cannot be used effectively.

[0003] Therefore, an activity of accumulating know-how and business data possessed by a specific individual or department that is important for the management of a company and utilizing it as "management assets", that is, knowledge management has been proposed. I have.

For example, depending on the type of a document such as a patent specification or a weekly report, the format is generally predetermined and unified into one format. While some documents are unified in one format, many free-form documents have no format at all.

Therefore, in order to realize knowledge management, a database is required which can store and manage all such documents having a predetermined document structure and other free-form documents.

[0006] XML is a technology expected as a core technology of next generation knowledge management. XML
(Extensible Markup Language)
e) is a standard document description language with flexible extensibility and coordination, and has been promised support from major vendors.

[0007] As a structured document database, RDB
There is a method of storing a structured document by (Relational DataBese). In this case, only a structured document group having a document structure according to one schema (data structure definition) can be stored. It is difficult to convert to RDB, and the RDB cannot be used as it is as a structured document database.

[0008] Further, since a structured document has a hierarchical structure, an OODB (Object-Oriented Database) in which constituent elements to be written constituting the structured document are regarded as objects.
And high affinity. However, in OODB,
The document structure must be determined in advance by a schema, and it is difficult to model with an object model such as arbitrary repetition of child elements, and OODB cannot be used as it is as a structured document database.

An XML document is data having a tree structure. In recent years, X that stores and manages such XML documents
The ML database is in the spotlight.

[0010] The XML database is an XML-specific tree-like hierarchical data structure that manages the components of a plurality of structured documents to be managed as components constituting the document structure of one huge structured document. have. A component in the hierarchical structure is specified by a “path”. The path is XM
This is a means for indicating a specific area on the L database.

An XML document group stored in an XML database is configured as one large XML document in a tree shape. To access a partial XML document, use XML
An access means called a path to the document is used. With such features, it is possible to search and process XML documents widely.

A document structure of an XML document stored in an XML database does not necessarily need to have a schema defined. However, if a schema is defined, only one schema is allowed in one database. That is, if a schema is not used, documents having different document structures can be stored and managed in a mixed manner. However, if one schema is set, documents having a different document structure cannot be mixed.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-210 proposes a method of setting one schema in an XML database and storing and managing only documents conforming to the set schema.
Japanese Patent No. 56786 discloses a “structured document management device”.

[0014]

In order to store and manage an enormous number of structured documents having different document structures on a database, when a specific document structure is predetermined for a certain type of document, It is more convenient for all such types of documents to have the same document structure in later operation data operations such as retrieval.

However, in the conventional XML database,
There is no document that can store and manage documents having different document structures due to different types on a single database while maintaining uniformity in the document structure corresponding to each type. That is, even if a document conforming to one schema can be stored and managed, a plurality of schemas cannot be mixed and stored together with a document that does not correspond to the schema, and a document corresponding to each schema cannot be stored and managed.

It is conceivable to provide a plurality of databases corresponding to each of the plurality of schemas. In this case, however, different databases access different databases. Therefore, access to an enormous number of documents having various document structures is not uniform, and it has been difficult to search and extract a related information group from an enormous variety of information.

As described above, conventionally, a document according to a variety of document structure definitions is not defined while maintaining the same document structure predetermined for the type of the document. Because it cannot be centrally managed together with structured documents, documents with various document structures
With unified access, it is possible to search and retrieve related information groups from a huge variety of information without being limited to a specific document structure.
Could not be extracted.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and has been developed in accordance with the present invention to convert a document conforming to a variety of document structure definitions into a document structure while maintaining the same document structure predetermined for the type of document. An object of the present invention is to provide a structured document management method and a structured document management apparatus using the same, which can be centrally managed together with undefined structured documents and can easily search a wide area document that is not limited to a specific document structure. And

[0019]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is intended to manage a plurality of structured documents having different document structures in a structured document database having a hierarchical logical structure. Comprising at least one component, storing the structured document in a logical area of the structured database specified according to the logical structure,
The structured document which manages each component of the structured document as a component forming the logical structure, and defines a document structure corresponding to the logical area in a logical area specified according to the logical structure. A plurality of different document structures are set on the logical structure by storing the document structure definition information (schema) as the document structure. The logical area in which the document structure is set has a document structure corresponding to the area. Characterized in that only structured documents having a document structure that matches are stored.

According to the present invention, a structured document (schema document, query document, and other content documents having various document structures such as patent information, weekly report, etc.) according to various document structure definitions is converted into the document. While preserving the identity of the document structure that is predetermined for each type, it can be centrally managed together with structured documents that have no defined document structure, and can easily search a wide area document that is not limited to a specific document structure .

More specifically, an enormous structured document having various document structures is centrally managed as one huge structured document, and a wide area document search that is not limited to a specific document structure can be easily performed. A structured document database can be easily constructed.

The logical area where each structured document exists on the structured document database is specified using a structured document path.

(Document creation support using acquired schema)
The document structure definition information (schema) is acquired from a logical area designated according to the logical structure, and a new structured document created based on the document structure described in the acquired document structure definition information is acquired. , By using the document structure definition information acquired from the logical area indicated by the designated structured document path, by storing the document structure in the logical area to maintain the same document structure in the same type of document. In this case, it is possible to easily support creation of a document having a document structure predetermined in correspondence with the type of document.

(Schema Search) Further, based on a search request for the document structure definition information defining a specific component specified by a user in a document structure among the components constituting the structured document, By performing a search on the structured document database and referring to document structure definition information (schema) obtained as a search result, for example,
Determine whether a document structure similar to the document structure of the document that the user is about to store is stored in the structured document database or exists in the document, and if so, what kind of document structure is present. In addition to the confirmation, it is possible to confirm the document structure to be stored in the structured document database of the document that the user intends to store. Further, the document structure definition information obtained as a search result can be changed as needed.

(Document Retrieval) In addition, a search request for a structured document including a specific component specified by the user among the components constituting the structured document, or a value of the specific component by the user. Based on a search request (query) for structured documents (all types of structured documents, including schemas and queries) that contain the specified specified string,
By performing a search on the structured document database, an extensive search over a large number of structured documents according to a variety of document structure definitions can be performed independently of the document structure of the structured document. By specifying one unified search condition, which is not limited to a specific document structure, that is, a search based on each component forming the logical structure of the document database, the search can be performed easily and at high speed.

(Schema search for document creation support) Also, the document structure definition information which defines, in the document structure, a specific component designated by the user among the components constituting the structured document. Based on the search request, and searches the structured document database, and stores a new structured document created based on the document structure described in the obtained document structure definition information in the logical area. This makes it easy to support the creation of a document having a predetermined document structure corresponding to the document type so as to maintain the same document structure for the same type of document using the document structure definition information obtained by the search. Can be done.

(Search Result) A list of information indicating a logical area where the structured document is stored can be obtained as a search result.

(Specification of Search Range) When a logical area on the logical structure is specified as a search range in the search request, a search is performed from the specified logical area. As a result, it is possible to perform a search with a limited search range in advance from an enormous number of structured documents of various document structures stored in the structured document database, and to speed up the search process. .

(Query for Structured Document) The search request is a structured document described in accordance with a predefined document structure. When the search request is received, the structure in which the search request is described is described. By storing a search request sentence as a structured document in a predetermined logical area on the logical structure, a structured document describing the search request is also stored in the structured document database, and other structured documents are stored. Like documents, they can be searched.

(Reuse of Query) The search request is a structured document described in accordance with a predefined document structure. When the search request is received, the structured request in which the search request is described is described. A search request sentence as a document is stored in a predetermined logical area on the logical structure, and the structuring is performed based on a search request for the search request sentence with the predetermined logical area as a search range. By performing a search on the document database, receiving a search request based on a new search request sentence created based on the obtained search request sentence, and performing a search on the structured document database, the structure in which the search request is described The structured document is also stored in the structured document database, and is searched as well as other structured documents. As a result of the search, the description part of the search condition in the structured document of the obtained search request is obtained. And re-use of the search, such as performing a new search request request to change, it is possible to input support of search criteria.

[0031]

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

As a structured document, a document described in XML, SGML, or the like can be given. SGML (Standard
rd Generalized Markup Lan
“gage” is a standard defined by ISO (International Organization for Standardization). XML (extensible Ma)
rkup Language) is W3C (World)
d Wide Web Consortium). These are structured document rules that enable each document to be structured.

Hereinafter, a description will be given by taking a document described in XML as an example of a structured document. Data defining the document structure of the structured document (document structure definition data) is called a schema. XML uses XML to define its schema.
-Schema and XDR (XML Data Redu
ced) and other schema languages have been proposed. Here, for example, a case of describing a schema in XDR will be described as an example.

The schema is also a structured document to be managed by the structured document management system of the present invention, and may be called a schema document. In order to distinguish it from a schema document, a document having various contents such as a patent specification, an e-mail, a weekly report, and an advertisement may be referred to as a content document.

In the structured document management system according to the present invention, the schema document, the content document, and a query describing the contents of a search request from a user, as described later,
That is, query documents are also managed, and these are collectively referred to as “documents”.

Hereinafter, unless otherwise specified, "document"
Is used to refer to all of the content document, schema document, and query document.

First, XML will be briefly described before describing the embodiment.

FIG. 3 shows an example of "patent" information as an example of a structured document described in XML. X
In ML and SGML, tags are used to represent the structure of a document. The tag has a start tag and an end tag. By surrounding the components of the document structure information with the start tag and the end tag,
It is possible to clearly describe a character string (text) delimiter in a document and to which structural element the text belongs.

Here, the start tag means that the element name is closed by symbols "<" and ">", and the end tag means that the element name is closed by symbols "<//" and ">". The content of the component following the tag is a text (character string) or a repetition of the child component. In addition, the start tag is "<
Attribute information can be set such as “element name attribute =“ attribute value ”>”. "<Patent DB></ Patent DB
A component that does not include text, such as ">", can also be represented as "<Patent DB />" as a simple notation.

The document shown in FIG. 3 has an element beginning with a “patent” tag as a root, and an element set starting with “title”, “filing date”, “applicant”, and “abstract” tags as its child elements. Exists. Also, for example, one text (character string) such as “XML database” exists in an element starting with a “title” tag.

A structured document such as XML repeatedly includes arbitrary constituent elements, and further has a document structure that is not predetermined (cannot be defined by a schema of RDB (relational database) or OODB (object-oriented database)). Is common.

In order to logically represent a structured document as shown in FIG. 3, a tree representation as shown in FIG. 4 is used. The tree is composed of nodes (numbered and indicated by a circle), arcs (data-attached lines connecting the circles representing the nodes), and text surrounded by rectangles.

A node corresponds to a document object, and a plurality of arcs from the node to which labels corresponding to tag names and attribute names are given. The tip of the arc is a character string (text) as a node or element value. Alphanumeric characters (# 0, # 49) described in the nodes are object IDs.

The tree structure shown in FIG. 4 is called a document object tree of the structured document shown in FIG.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of a structured document management system according to this embodiment. In FIG.
The structured document management system is roughly composed of a request control unit 1, an access request processing unit 2, a search request processing unit 3, a data access unit 4, a document storage unit 5, and an index storage unit 6. The document storage unit 5 and the index storage unit 6 are configured using, for example, an external storage device.

The system configuration shown in FIG. 1 can be realized using software.

The request control section 1 comprises a request receiving section 11 and a result processing section 12. The request receiving unit 11 receives a request from a user for storing a document, acquiring a document, searching for a document, and the like, and calls the access request processing unit 2. The result processing unit 12 performs a process of returning a result processed by the access request processing unit 2 to the requesting user.

The access request processing unit 2 is composed of a plurality of processing units that respond to requests from the user for storing and obtaining documents. That is, it is configured by a document storage unit 21, a document acquisition unit 22, and a document deletion unit 23.

The document storage section 21 performs processing for storing a document in a logically designated area in the document storage section 5.

When a logical area in the document storage unit 5 is specified, the document obtaining unit 22 performs a process of obtaining a document existing in the specified area.

The document deletion unit 23 performs a process of deleting a document existing in a logical designated area in the document storage unit 5.

The document storage unit 5 is a structured document database. For example, as shown in FIG.
(Registered trademark) in a hierarchical tree structure like a directory structure.

As shown in FIG. 8, the structured document database can be expressed in the same manner as the tree structure of one structured document as shown in FIG. That is, a partial hierarchical tree (partial tree) below an arbitrary node is a structured document cut out from the structured document database, and is called a document object tree here. Each node is assigned an object ID. The object ID is
It shall have a unique numerical value in the structured document database.

It is assumed that the node which is the root of the hierarchical tree is assigned an object ID "# 0" for specifying that it is the root node.

A link is provided from the root node, that is, the node of “# 0” to the node of “# 1” having a “root” tag at the top. From the node "# 1",
A link to a “# 2” node having a “patent DB” tag at the top is provided. From the “# 2” node, a “# 42” node, a “# 52” node having a “patent” tag at the top,
A link to the “# 62” node is provided.

The “patent” information shown in FIG. 3 is “# 42”
It corresponds to the partial tree below the node. From this node, a link is provided to a node having a "title" tag, an "applicant" tag, a "summary" tag, and the like at the beginning, and from the terminal node, "XML database" and "T company". "XM
A link to a character string (element value) is provided.

A partial tree below the "# 52" node, "# 52"
Partial nodes below the "62" node are also parts corresponding to one piece of "patent" information.

By the way, for example, the element value of “XML database” linked to the “# 43” node is:
It is connected to the “# 43” node with a special tag name “#value”. Since this tag name starts with “#”, it cannot be used as a standard tag name in the XML standard.

A structured document path is used to specify a specific node in such a structured document database. The structured document path is a character string starting with “uix: // root”. ix (Universal Identity)
“fier for XML) is a prefix character string indicating a structured document path.

For example, “uiix: // root / Patent D
“B” corresponds to the node indicated by the arc to which “patent DB” is assigned from the “# 1” node, that is, the “# 2” node. In this way, by regarding the partial character string delimited by “/” from “root” as a tag name, the corresponding arc descends from the “# 0” node along the tag name sequence, and the last arc indicates the same. A node points to the location of the path.

For example, “uiix: // root / Patent D
B / Patent ”is a“ # 42 ”node,“ ux: // ro
“ot / patent DB / application date / year” indicates the “# 45” node.

When a plurality of pieces of “patent” information are stored under the “# 2” node, that is, in the “patent DB”, an index is added to the structured document path to identify each piece of “patent” information. Expression is possible.

If it is the first “patent” information of “patent DB”, “uix: // root / patent DB / patent [0]”
This is "uiix: // root / patent DB /
Patent ".

If it is the second “patent” information of “patent DB”, “uix: // root / patent DB / patent [1]”
If it is the fifth “patent” information of “DB”, “uix: //
/ Root / patent DB / patent [4] ".

The index storage unit 6 stores an element name occurrence index and a data occurrence index used at the time of retrieval.

The element name occurrence index is an index file in which a list of element names stored in the structured document database is associated with the position of the structured document (document object tree) in which each element name is at the head. It is. For example, as shown in the structured document database of FIG. 8, a structured document in which the element name “patent” (corresponding to “patent” information) is a node “# 42” or less, “# 5”
If there is a structured document under the “2” node and a structured document under the “# 62” node, these are indexed, and their parent nodes, “# 2”, as shown in FIG.
The nodes are stored in the element name occurrence index file in a chain from the “patent” key.

As described above, when indexing is performed at the parent node, the index file can be compressed.
In other words, if indexing is performed using the parent node, even if the number of child nodes increases, the size of the chain does not increase because the parent node is used instead. On the other hand, if real nodes are indexed, the chain size increases in proportion to the number of stored "patent" information.

The data occurrence index is an index file in which a list of character string data stored in the structured document database is associated with the position of a structured document (document object tree) in which each character string data is located. is there. For example, as shown in the structured document database of FIG. 8, character string data of "XML" (and
If a character string including a character string “XML” exists in a structured document under the “# 43” node and a structured document under the “# 49” node, these are indexed.
As shown in FIG. 10, the “# 43” node and the “# 49” node add “XML” to the data occurrence index file.
Stored in a chain from the key.

It is to be noted that another index file such as an inverted hierarchical index may be used. The inverted hierarchical index stores a correspondence between a certain node and its parent node (the parent node can be obtained from a certain node).

The logical designation area in the document storage unit 5 indicates a storage location of a document designated by a user using a structured document path. The structured document path is an expression that can be recognized by the user.

Returning to the description of FIG.

The data access unit 4 is a set of basic interfaces for accessing the document storage unit 5. The data access unit 4 includes a document object tree storage unit 47,
A document object tree deletion unit 48, a document object tree acquisition unit 49, a document character string acquisition unit 44, a path-based document object tree acquisition unit 45, a document parser unit 46,
It is composed of a composite document creating section 47 and an index updating section 48.

The document object tree storage section 41 performs processing for storing the document object tree in a physically designated area in the document storage section 5.

The document object tree deletion section 42 deletes a document object tree existing in a physically designated area in the document storage section 5.

The document object tree acquisition section 43 performs a process of acquiring a document object tree existing in a physically designated area in the document storage section 5.

The document character string acquisition unit 44 performs a process of converting a document object tree into a structured document (XML document).

Document Object Tree Acquisition Unit 4 from Path
Reference numeral 5 performs a process of analyzing a structured document path, specifying a physical area in the document storage unit 5, and extracting a document object tree existing in the area.

The document parser unit 46 reads the structured document input by the user, parses the structured document, checks the consistency, and further checks whether a schema, which is document structure definition data, is structurally valid. Perform verification. The output result is a document object tree. Document parsers are typically lex (lexical analyzer geo)
lexical analyzer (performs lexical analysis and decomposes into tokens) such as
another compiler compile
r) can be constructed in combination.

When storing a document, deleting a document, or the like, the synthetic document creating section 47 must check whether or not the document matches the schema. However, the synthetic document creating section 47 creates and outputs data necessary for the checking.

The index updating unit 48 updates the element name occurrence index and the data occurrence index shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 each time the storage content of the structured document database is updated due to document storage or document deletion. .

The physically designated area in the document storage unit 5 is internal data indicating a unique document data location in a structured document database such as a file offset and an object ID. The data cannot be recognized by the user.

A process for searching for a document stored in the document storage unit 5 is performed. When the request receiving unit 11 of the request control unit 1 receives a document search request from a user, the search request processing unit 3 receives a query document described in a query language from the request receiving unit 11. Then, it accesses the index storage unit 6 and the document storage unit 5 through the data access unit 4 to acquire a document set that matches the search request, and outputs the result via the result processing unit 12.

FIG. 2 shows one use form of the structured document management system shown in FIG. 1. In FIG.
(World Wide Web) backend,
2 shows a case where the structured document management system 100 having the configuration shown in FIG. 1 is operating.

A WWW browser 103 operates on each of a plurality of (here, for example, three) client terminals (for example, personal computers, portable communication terminals, etc.) 102. Users can access WWW from each client terminal.
By accessing the server 101, the structured document management system 100 can be accessed. WWW
The browser 103 and the WWW server 101 are HTTP
(Hyper TextTransfer Proto
col). Further, the WWW server 101 and the structured document management system 100 communicate with each other by CGI (Comm.
on Gateway Interface) or C
OM (Component Object Mode)
1) and so on.

Requests such as document storage, document acquisition, and document search from the user are transmitted from the WWW browser 103 and received by the structured document management system 100 through the WWW server 101.
The request is returned to the requesting WWW browser 103 through the server 101.

Hereinafter, (1) the storage function and (2) the search function of the structured document management system of FIG. 1 will be described in detail. In (3) Application Example, a case of patent search using concept search will be described as an example.

(1) Storage Function The storage commands in the structured document management system of FIG. 1 include the following.

InsertXML (path, Nth, XML): document storage appendXML (path, XML): document storage getXML (path): document acquisition removeXML (path): document deletion setSchema (path, schema): schema storage getSchema ): Schema acquisition “insertXML” is a command for inserting a document at the Nth position below the structured document path specified in parentheses (hereinafter simply referred to as an insert command).

“AppendXML” is a command for inserting a document at the end below the structured document path specified in parentheses (hereinafter simply referred to as an additional command).

“GetXML” is a command (hereinafter, referred to as a command) for retrieving documents below the structured document path specified in parentheses.
(Referred to simply as an acquisition command).

“RemoveXML” is a command (hereinafter simply referred to as a delete command) for deleting a document (a document other than a schema document, mainly a content document) below the structured document path specified in parentheses. is there.

"SetSchema" is a command for setting a schema in the structured document path specified in parentheses (hereinafter simply referred to as a schema storage command).

“GetSchema” is a command for extracting the schema set in the structured document path specified in parentheses (hereinafter simply referred to as a schema acquisition command).

Of the above commands, the processing for the insertion command, the addition command, and the schema storage command is executed by the document storage unit 21 of the access request processing unit 2, and the processing for the acquisition command and the schema acquisition command is performed by the document acquisition unit 22. The processing for the executed deletion command is executed by the document deletion unit 23.

Referring to FIG. 5, a case where an additional command is executed in the initial state of the structured document database (see FIG. 5A) will be described.

As shown in FIG. 5 (a), for the initial state in which the “# 0” node and the “# 1” node are connected by a “root” arc, “appendXML (“ ui
As a result of executing “x: // root”, “<patent DB />”), a “# 2” node and a “patent DB” arc are created as shown in FIG. 5B.

A case where an acquisition command is executed on the structured document database in the state shown in FIG. 5B will be described.

For example, “getXML (“ uix: ///
When “root”) is executed, “root” in FIG.
The document object tree below the “# 0” node indicated by the “t” arc is extracted, and is converted into an XML character string representation. As a result, as shown in FIG. 6, “<root>
A character string "<patent DB // </ root>" is extracted. The processing of the acquisition command is executed by the document acquisition unit 22 of the access request processing unit 2.

Next, an additional command for storing “patent” information as a content document (XML document) as shown in FIG. 3 is added to the structured document database in the state shown in FIG. 5B. The case of execution will be described. That is, in this case, “append XML (“ uix:
/// root / patent DB ”,“ <patent>... </ Patent> ”)”. In this command, ""<Patent> ... <
/ Patent>"" corresponds to the "patent" information shown in FIG.

When the processing of the additional command is executed,
As shown in FIG. 7, a document object tree (corresponding to FIG. 4) having the "# 42" node at the top is added below the "# 2" node.

It is assumed that the following additional command is repeatedly executed three times on the structured document database in the state shown in FIG. 5B.

"Append XML (" uix: // r
out / patent DB ","<patent> ... </ patent>")] In the above command,"<patent> ... </ patent>"corresponds to the content document having the document structure shown in FIG.

Then, as shown in FIG. 8, the “# 42” node, the “# 52” node, the “# 6” node
A document object tree with the "2" node at the top is added.

Next, a case where an acquisition command for extracting three pieces of “patent” information is executed on the structured document database in the state shown in FIG. 8 will be described. In this case, “getXML (“ uix: // root / patent DB ”)” is executed. Then, a document object tree below the “# 2” node indicated by the “patent DB” arc is extracted, and converted into an XML character string expression (XML document). As a result, as shown in FIG.
B><patent>...</Patent><patent>...</Patent><patent>...</Patent></ patent DB>

In the structured document database, data defining the document structure of a content document (XML document) such as the above-mentioned “patent” information, that is, a schema is also managed.

FIG. 12 shows an example of a schema that defines the document structure of an XML document. Here, XM
XDR (XML-D
data Reduced). Of course, X
Another document structure definition language such as ML-Schema may be used.

The schema shown in FIG. 12 defines the document structure of the “patent” information shown in FIG. 3 by XDR. As can be easily understood from FIG. 12, the schema is also XM
This is a structured document in the L format. It starts with a component that starts with a “Schema” tag, and has “El” as its child element.
There is an element set starting with the “elementType” tag.

In the schema shown in FIG. 12, for example, a child element starting from the first “ElementType” tag means the following information.

Document definition of an element having a “patent” tag (“ElementType name =“ patent ”)”
It is.

The child element is only an element (“content
= "EltOnly"").

It is composed of child elements starting with “title”, “filing date” and “summary” tags (“element
type = “title”,... Further, the order is uniquely determined (“order =” se
q ")).

[0112] In addition to the document structure definition of the element starting from the "patent" tag, "title", "applicant", "summary"
It describes the document structure definition of "year", "month", "day" and "filing date". That is, excluding the “filing date”, the “title”
The child element of the component starting from the tags of “applicant”, “summary”, “year”, “month” and “day” is defined as text only (“content =“ textOnly ””).

The child elements of the constituent elements starting from the “application date” tag are a sequence of “year”, “month”, and “day”.

A case where a schema storage command for storing the schema document shown in FIG. 12 is executed on the structured document database in the state shown in FIG. 8 will be described. In this case, "setSchema (" uix: /
/ Root / patent DB ","<Schema> ... <// S
chema> ”)”. In this command,
“<Schema>... </ Schema>” ”corresponds to the schema document shown in FIG.

By executing the above command, as shown in FIG. 13, a “#schema” arc is added below the “# 2” node, and after that, a document object tree having the “# 3” node as the top node Is added. Since the schema itself is expressed in an XML document, the tree can be expanded similarly to the case of storing the content document such as the “patent” information described above.

In FIG. 13, arcs starting with "@" such as "@name" correspond to attributes. Tag name "#s
Since “chema” also starts with “#” and “$”, it cannot be used as a standard tag name in the XML standard.

Since the schema document shown in FIG. 12 is stored under the “# 2” node, the document structure of a document to be stored under the “# 2” node is changed to the schema document shown in FIG. It is required to conform to the document structure defined by That is, the schema shown in FIG. 12 is set below the “# 2” node.

When the schema shown in FIG. 12 is set below the “# 2” node, as shown in FIG. 14, the document object file of the “# 2” node contains the document of the “# 2” node and below. An attribute value indicating that the schema exists is set in the object tree.

After the schema shown in FIG. 12 is set under the “# 2” node, “patent” information as shown in FIG. 3 that matches the document structure defined by this schema is shown in FIG. As described above, when stored in the structured document database as a document object tree, the document structure of this document includes an attribute value indicating that the schema shown in FIG. Set. For example, for each document object file constituting the document object tree, an attribute value indicating that a schema exists ((for example,
“1” is set in “schema conformance”. Figure 1
In FIG. 4, each document object (node) conforming to the schema is indicated by a double circle. Each document object indicated by a double circle has a document structure definition corresponding to the document object.

FIG. 15 conceptually shows the contents of the file of each document object. For example, the file of the document object having the object ID “# 42” includes
The attribute value is described together with information (for example, an arc, a pointer value to a linked document object, and the like) related to another document object linked to the document object. When there is no schema to be applied to the document object, the value of “schema conformance” is “0”.

FIGS. 16 and 17 show examples in which the concept hierarchy used in the search is represented by a structured document in the structured document management system of FIG. 1 as needed. The “concept” information shown in FIGS. 16 and 17 is a content document described in XML.

The example of “concept” information shown in FIG. 16 expresses an “information model” used as one classification axis for classifying the contents of a patent document in a so-called patent search in a concept hierarchy. “Concept” information surrounded by “concept” tags has a document structure having a nested structure. That is, in the example of FIG. 16, the concept “document”, the concept “relation”,
The concept "object" exists. In addition, as a child concept of the concept “document”, there are a concept “structured appeal” and a concept “unstructured document”. Further, as a child concept of the concept “structured document”, the concept “XML” and the concept “ SGML "exists.

The description example of the “concept” information shown in FIG. 17 expresses a classification axis “information operation” different from that in FIG. 16 in a concept hierarchy. In the example of FIG. 17, as the child concepts of the concept "information operation", the concept "search", the concept "storage", the concept "processing",
The concept "distribution" exists.

The “concept” information as shown in FIGS. 16 and 17 can be stored in the structured document database in the same manner as the “patent” information described above. That is, for example, first, for the structured document database in the state shown in FIG. 8, “appendXML (“ uix: // ro
ot ”,“ <concept DB / >> ”)”, a “# 201” node and a “concept DB” arc are created as shown in FIG. In this state, when the “concept” information shown in FIG. 16 is stored, “appendXML” is used.
(“Uix: // root / concept DB”, “<concept name>... </ Concept>”)). In this command, "<concept name> ... </ concept>" corresponds to the "concept" information shown in FIG.

When the processing of the additional command is executed,
As shown in FIG. 19, “# 2” is placed under the “# 201” node.
A document object tree with the “02” node at the top is added.

As described above, in the structured document management system of FIG. 1, a huge number of XML documents (content documents, schema documents, query documents, etc.) having different document structures registered in the structured document database From FIG. 18,
As shown in FIG. 19, it is handled as one huge XML document in a tree shape having a “root” tag at the top. Therefore, to access a partial XML document, a huge X
By using a unified access means that does not depend on a document structure such as a path to the ML document, it is possible to search and process the XML document widely.

Also, by setting a schema in a part of the structured document database, it is possible to check whether the document structure of the document to be stored matches the document structure defined by the schema. Can be automatically performed (described later).

(1-1) Document Storage Processing Next, the document storage processing operation of the structured document management system of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

When any one of an insert command, an add command, and a schema storage command is transmitted as a document storage request from the client terminal to the structured document management system, and is received by the request receiving unit 11, FIG. The processing operation shown in FIG.

A predetermined display device of the client terminal includes:
For example, a screen as a user interface as shown in FIG. 31 provided by the structured document management system 100 (for example, the request control unit 1) is displayed.

On the screen shown in FIG. 31, a list (menu) of operation items for the structured document management system 100 is displayed. As operation items, “XML registration / deletion”,
There are “schema setting” and “XML search”.

When the user selects “XML registration / deletion” on this screen by using a pointing device such as a mouse, for example, the document storage / deletion as shown in FIG.
A screen as a user interface for performing deletion is displayed.

In FIG. 32, in the area W1, the element names (tag names) of the current tree structure of the document structured document database are simply displayed so that the user can understand them. In FIG. 32, only the element names in the upper hierarchy are displayed, but up to the terminal element names can be displayed. An area W2 is an input area of a structured document path, and an area W1
The structured document path is input in accordance with the display contents of. In the area W3, a document to be stored is input, and the acquired document is displayed.

For example, as a structured document path, “root
When inputting "t", "root" in the area W1 may be selected with a mouse or the like. Then, as shown in FIG. 32, "uix:" is displayed in the input area of the structured document path in the area W2.
// root "is displayed. In addition, newly, "Patent D
To add an element "B", "patent DB" is input in the area W3 as shown in FIG. And
When the “Registration” button B1 is selected, an appendXML (“uix: // root”,
An additional command “<patent DB />”) is transmitted to the structured document management system. The structured document management system receives the additional command and executes a process as described below. As a result, for example, as shown in FIG.
A “2” node and a “patent DB” arc are created. Also,
As shown in FIG. 33, “patent DB” is additionally displayed under “root” in the area W1.

Now, for example, when the user places a document “<A” in an area W3 on the document storage / deletion screen as shown in FIG.
> Data </A> ”(or input by reading from a predetermined recording medium such as a CD-ROM),
When "Patent [0]" in the area W1 is selected with a mouse or the like, "ux: /// root" is displayed in the input area W2 of the structured document path.
t / Patent DB / Patent [0] "is displayed. And
When the “Registration” button B1 is selected, an appendXML (“uix: // root”,
An additional command “<patent DB />”) is transmitted to the structured document management system.

Here, for example, when the structured document database is in the state shown in FIG. 14, “appendX
An example in which an additional command ML (“uix: // root / patent DB / patent [0]”, “<A> data </A>”) ”is received will be described.

Upon receiving the additional command, the request receiving unit 11 receives the structured document path “uix: // root / patent DB”, which is two parameters in the additional command.
/ Patent [0] "and the document"<A> data </A>"(hereinafter referred to as a stored document) to the document storage unit 21 (step S1).

First, the document storage section 21 stores the document parser section 4
6 to pass the stored document. The document parser unit 46 reads the stored document, performs syntax analysis, and checks whether the document structure of the stored document is in a correct format defined by XML (step S2).

If an error is found in the consistency check (step S3), a message indicating "document storage failure" is returned to the client terminal via the document storage unit 21 and the result processing unit 12 (step S4).

If no error is found in the consistency check, the document storage unit 21 passes the structured document path from the path to the document object tree acquisition unit 45. From the path, the document object tree acquisition unit 45 specifies a physical area in the document storage unit 5 from the structured document path, and thereby a node (document object Ox0) represented by the structured document path existing in that area. ) Is extracted (step S5). If the specification of the structured document path is correct, the object ID of the document object Ox0 can be acquired (step S6). In that case, the process proceeds to step S8.

For example, in the case of the above additional command, “# 4
Since the “2” node becomes the document object Ox0, “# 42” is acquired as the object ID, and a document object tree including this “# 42” node (for example, all descendant nodes of the “# 42” node and The document object tree including all (sibling) nodes in the same hierarchy as the “# 42” node and the “# 2” node that is the parent node of the “# 42” node is acquired.

If the corresponding document object Ox0 is not found from the designated structured document path, an error occurs (step S6), and the "document storage failure" is sent to the client terminal via the document storage unit 21 and the result processing unit 12.
Is returned (step S7).

For example, if the structured document database is the one shown in FIG.
In the state shown in FIG. 8, when the structured document path is expressed as “ux: // root / other” as a parameter of the additional command, there is no corresponding document object, so that in step S6 Error
Proceed to step S7.

Next, in step S8, it is checked whether or not a schema exists in the document object Ox0. In this inspection, as described above, since the attribute value is described in the file of each document object, this value may be checked. If the value of “schema conformance” of the document object Ox0 is “1”, the process proceeds to step S9.

Hereinafter, the process of step S9 in FIG. 20 (the process of the composite document creating unit 47) will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

The document storage unit 21 passes the document object tree obtained in step S5 to the composite document creation unit 47.

The synthetic document creating section 47 traces this document object tree back from the document object Ox0 and returns “Sc
document object O having a "hema" tag as a child element
x1 is searched (step S21).

For example, in the structured document database shown in FIG. 14, “# 4” as the document object Ox0
From the “# 2” node, which is the parent node of the “2” node, “Sc”
hema "tag ("#
3 "node) (" Sch
ema "tag as a child element).
The node becomes the document object Ox1. Therefore, the process skips step S22 and proceeds to step S23.

The document object Ox1 to the document object Ox0, and further tracing an arc from the document object Ox0, a document object tree Ot1 downstream of the document object consisting of all the child nodes whose attribute value is "1". (Step S2)
3).

For example, if the structured document path of the parameter in the above-mentioned additional command is “ux: // root / patent DB”
/ Patent [0] ", the document object tree Ot1 is composed of nodes"# 42 "to"# 49 "(see FIG. 14).

Next, the process proceeds to a step S25.

In the step S25, the document object tree of the stored document is inserted into the document object tree Ot1 as a child node of the document object Ox0. The resulting new document object tree is referred to as a document object tree Ot2.

The document object tree Ot2 is converted to an XM
The document is converted into an L document and output to a temporary file A (step S27).

For example, the document object tree (in this case, one document object) of the stored document “<A> data </A>” of the parameter in the above-mentioned additional command is changed from the “# 42” node to the “# 49” node. FIG. 22 shows the result of converting the document object tree Ot2 of the composite document obtained by inserting it as a child node of the "# 42" node into the document object tree Ot1 composed of XML documents into an XML document. This composite document contains “<
A> data </A> ”.

The XML document shown in FIG. 22, ie, the synthesized document, is output to the temporary file A and temporarily stored in the temporary file A.

On the other hand, the document object tree Ot3 below the schema tag is converted into an XML document, and is output to the temporary file B (step S28). That is, the schema document is temporarily stored in the temporary file B.

For example, FIG. 23 shows a result obtained by converting a document object tree having the “# 3” node which is the document object tree Ot3 as a top node into an XML document. The XML document shown in FIG.
And temporarily stored in a temporary file B.

As shown in FIG. 22, the temporary file A (“tmp000.xml”) includes, in addition to the original “patent” information element, a stored document, that is, for example, “<A> data”. </A> ”is inserted. Also, "xmlns =" x-schema: tm
p001. xml ””, a temporary file B
(“Tmp001.xml”). This description specifies the temporary file B to which the schema applied to the “patent” information is output.

Next, the description returns to FIG.

In step S10, the document storage section 21 provides the document parser section 46 with the temporary file A of the composite document and the temporary file B of the schema, and checks the validity of the document structure of the composite document. That is, the document parser unit 46 reads the temporary file A of the synthetic document and the temporary file B of the schema, and checks whether or not the document structure of the synthetic document matches the document structure defined by the schema.

For example, the composite document shown in FIG.
When the validity check is performed with the schema shown in FIG. 3, an element “A” not defined by the schema exists in the synthetic document. (Step S1
1). In this case, a message indicating "document storage failure" is returned to the client terminal via the document storage unit 21 and the result processing unit 12 (step S12).

For example, a message as shown in FIG. 35 is displayed on a predetermined display device of the client terminal.

Next, the structured document database shown in FIG.
In the state shown in FIG. 5, "append XML (" ui
x: / root / patent DB ","<patent> ... </ patent>")"
This will be described with reference to FIG. In the same manner as described above, the object ID “# 2” of the document object Ox0 is acquired (step S5). Since a schema exists in this document object (step S8), a composite document is created in step S9.

In this case, since the link from the “# 2” node itself, which is the document object Ox0, to the node (“# 3” node) having the “Schema” tag at the top (top) is established, The “2” node becomes the document object Ox1 (step S21 in FIG. 21). That is, the document object Ox0 and the document object Ox1
Are the same (step S22), the process proceeds to step S29, where the document object tree of the stored document “<patent>... </ Patent>” is converted into an XML document and output to the temporary file A (step S29).

For example, as shown in FIG. 24, the temporary file A (“tmp000.xml”) contains “patent” information as a stored document, that is, here, “<patent>... </ Patent>”. Has been output. Also, "xmln
s = “x-schema: tmp001.xml” ”and a temporary file B (“ tmp001.xml
l)).

Next, the process proceeds to a step S28. As shown in FIG. 25, a result obtained by converting the document object tree of the schema having the “# 3” node as the top node into an XML document is output to the temporary file B.

In step S10 in FIG. 20, when the validity of the composite document shown in FIG. 24 and the schema shown in FIG. 25 are checked, the document structure of the composite document and the document defined by the schema are checked. The structure matches. In this case, the process proceeds from step S11 to step S13.

In step S13, the document object tree of the stored document is added below the document object Ox0. That is, the document storage unit 21 assigns an object ID to each of the document objects (files) constituting the document object tree of the stored document, and links the document object Ox0 to the first document object of the document object tree of the stored document. Can be Then, the document objects (files) constituting the document object tree of the stored document are stored in the document storage unit 5 by the document object tree storage unit 41.

Then, the process proceeds to a step S14, wherein the index in the index storage unit 6 is updated.

If the attribute value of the document object Ox0 is “0” in step S8, the validity of the document structure of the composite document using the above-described schema is not checked, and the Proceeding to S13, the document object tree of the stored document is stored in the document object Ox.
0 (step S13), and the index in the index storage unit 6 is updated accordingly (step S13).
14).

(1-2) Document Acquisition Processing Next, the document acquisition processing operation of the structured document management system of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

FIG. 26 shows a case where one of an acquisition command and a schema acquisition command is transmitted as a document acquisition request from the client terminal to the structured document management system and accepted by the request accepting unit 11. Perform the processing operation.

For example, when the user selects (clicks on) “Patent DB” in the area W1 on the document storage / deletion screen as shown in FIG. 36 with a mouse or the like, the input area W2 of the structured document path becomes "Ux: // root / Patent D
B "and" getXML ("uix:
/// root / patent DB ")" is transmitted to the structured document management system.

Here, for example, when the structured document database is in the state shown in FIG.
(“Ux: // root / patent DB”) ”will be described as an example.

Upon receiving the acquisition command, the request receiving unit 11 passes the structured document path “uix: // root / patent DB”, which is a parameter in the acquisition command, to the document acquisition unit 22 (step S31).

The document acquisition unit 22 passes the structured document path from the path to the document object tree acquisition unit 45. From the path, the document object tree acquisition unit 45 specifies a physical area in the document storage unit 5 from the structured document path, and thereby a node (document object Ox5) represented by the structured document path existing in that area. ) Is taken out (step S32). If the specification of the structured document path is correct,
Since the object ID of the document object Ox5 can be obtained (step S33), in that case, the process proceeds to step S35.

For example, in the case of the above acquisition command, "#
Since the “2” node is the document object Ox5, “# 2” is acquired as the object ID, and the document object tree Ot5 (“# 2” node, “# 42” node to “# 42” node) below this “# 2” node is acquired. "# 4
9 "node,"# 52 "node or less,"# 62 "node or less) are acquired (step S35).

At step S32, the designated document object Ox5 is extracted from the designated structured document path.
If not found, an error occurs (step S3).
3) Return a message indicating "document acquisition failed" to the client terminal via the document acquisition unit 22 and the result processing unit 12 (step S34).

The document object tree Ot5 obtained in step S35 is converted into an XML document by the document character string obtaining unit 44. For example, in the case of the above acquisition command, the acquired XML document includes three “patents” as shown in FIG.
It becomes an XML document of information.

The document acquiring section 22 outputs the XML document as shown in FIG.
L (extensible Style Langua)
ge)) and returns it to the client terminal (step S37).

At the client terminal, X shown in FIG.
The ML document is converted into HTML data using a style sheet, and is displayed in an area W2, for example, as shown in FIG.

By using XSL, an XML document can be converted into various forms. It can be converted to an XML document with a different syntax, and an HTML page can be generated from the XML document.

(1-3) Document Deletion Processing Next, the document deletion processing operation of the structured document management system of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

When a deletion command is transmitted from the client terminal to the structured document management system as a document deletion request and is received by the request receiving unit 11, FIG.
The processing operation shown in FIG.

For example, when the user selects (clicks) “Patent DB” in the area W1 on the document storage / deletion screen as shown in FIG. 36 with a mouse or the like, the structured document path input area W2 becomes "Ux: // root / Patent D
B "is displayed, and when the" delete "button B2 is selected," removeXML ("uix: // root /
A patent DB “)” delete command is transmitted to the structured document management system.

Here, for example, when the structured document database is in the state shown in FIG. 14, “removeX
ML ("uix: // root / patent DB / patent [0]
An example in which a delete command “/ application date“) ”is received will be described.

Upon receiving the deletion command, the request receiving unit 11 copies the structured document path “uix: // root / patent DB / patent [0] / filing date”, which is a parameter in the deletion command, to the document deleting unit. 23 (Step S
41).

Next, the document deletion unit 23 passes the structured document path from the path to the document object tree acquisition unit 45.
From the path, the document object tree acquisition unit 45 specifies a physical area in the document storage unit 5 from the structured document path, and thereby a node (document object Ox0) represented by the structured document path existing in that area. ) Is extracted (step S42).
If the specification of the structured document path is correct, the object ID of the document object Ox0 can be obtained (step S43). In that case, the process proceeds to step S45.

For example, in the case of the above delete command, “# 4
Since the “4” node is the document object Ox0, “# 44” is acquired as the object ID, and a document object tree including this “# 44” node (for example, all descendant nodes of the “# 44” node and A document object tree including all (sibling) nodes in the same hierarchy as the “# 44” node, a “# 42” node that is a parent node of the “# 44” node, and a “# 2” node that is the parent node ) To get.

If the corresponding document object Ox0 is not found from the designated structured document path, an error occurs (step S43), and the client terminal via the document storage unit 21 and the result processing unit 12 sends a "document deletion failure". Is returned (step S44).

Next, in a step S45, it is checked whether or not a schema exists in the document object Ox0. In this inspection, as described above, since the attribute value is described in the file of each document object, this value may be checked. If the attribute value of the document object Ox0 is “1”, the process proceeds to step S46.

Hereinafter, the processing of step S46 in FIG. 27 (the processing of the composite document creation unit 47 (for the delete command)) will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

In FIG. 28, the same parts as those in FIG. 21 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

The document storage unit 21 passes the document object tree obtained in step S42 to the composite document creation unit 47.

The synthetic document creating section 47 traces this document object tree back from the document object Ox0, and returns “Sc
document object O having a "hema" tag as a child element
x1 is searched (step S21).

For example, in the structured document database shown in FIG. 14, “# 4” as the document object Ox0
From the "# 2" node upstream of the "4" node
Since the link to the node (“# 3” node) having the “ma” tag at the top (top) is provided (“Schem”).
The “# 2” node becomes the document object Ox1 because the “a” tag is included as a child element).

The document object Ox1 to the document object Ox0, and further tracing an arc from the document object Ox0, a document object tree Ot1 downstream of the document object consisting of all the child nodes whose attribute value of the document object is "1". (Step S2)
3).

For example, the structured document path of the parameter in the additional command is “ux: // root / patent DB”
/ Patent [0] / filed date ", the document object tree Ot1 includes nodes"# 42 "to"# 4 ".
9 "node (see FIG. 14).

Then, the process proceeds to a step S26 to delete the document object tree below the document object Ox0 from the document object tree Ot1. The resulting new document object tree is referred to as a document object tree Ot2.

The document object tree Ot2 is converted to an XM
The document is converted into an L document and output to a temporary file A (step S27).

For example, the structured document path “uix: // root / patent DB /
The document object tree below the “# 44” node indicated by “Patent [0] / filing date” is changed from “# 42” node to “# 4”.
Document object tree Ot1 composed of "9" nodes
FIG. 2 shows the result of converting the document object tree Ot2 of the composite document obtained by deleting the
It is shown in FIG. This synthetic document is obtained by deleting data of “<application date>... </ Application date>” from the original “patent” information.

The XML document shown in FIG. 29, that is, the synthesized document is output to the temporary file A, and is temporarily stored in the temporary file A.

On the other hand, the document object tree Ot3 below the schema tag is converted into an XML document and output to a temporary file B (step S28). That is, the schema document is temporarily stored in the temporary file B.

For example, FIG. 30 shows a result obtained by converting a document object tree having the “# 3” node, which is the document object tree Ot3, as a top node into an XML document. The XML document shown in FIG.
And temporarily stored in a temporary file B.

Next, the description returns to FIG.

In step S47, the document deleting section 21 provides the document parser section 46 with the temporary file A of the composite document and the temporary file B of the schema, and executes the document structure of the composite document in the same manner as in the document storing process. Check the validity of

For example, the composite document shown in FIG.
When the validity check is performed with the schema shown in FIG. 0, there is no element called “filing date” defined by the schema in the synthetic document. An error occurs (step S4
8). In this case, a message indicating "document deletion failed" is returned to the client terminal via the document deletion unit 21 and the result processing unit 12 (step S49).

Note that the structured document database corresponds to FIG.
In the state shown in, “removeXML (“ ui
When the delete command “x: // root / patent DB / patent [0]”) ”is processed according to FIG. 27, the combined document as shown in FIG. Is output. The temporary file B is the same as in FIG.

At this time, when the validity of the composite document shown in FIG. 24 and the schema shown in FIG. 30 are checked, the document structure of the composite document matches the document structure defined by the schema. Therefore, the process proceeds from step S48 to step S50.

In step S50, the document object O
Delete the document object tree below x0. That is, the document object tree deletion unit 42 stores (the files of) each document object constituting the document object tree of the document object Ox0 or lower in the document storage unit 5.
Removed from. For example, from “# 2” node to “# 4”
The file of the document object under the "2" node is deleted.

Then, the flow advances to a step S51 to update the index in the index storage unit 6. Further, “Patent [0]” is not displayed in the area W1 of the display screen of the client terminal as shown in FIG.

If the value of the attribute value of the document object Ox0 is “0” in step S45, the validity of the document structure of the composite document using the above-described schema is not checked, and the Proceeding to S50, the document object tree below the document object Ox0 is deleted (step S50), and the index in the index storage unit 6 is updated accordingly (step S51).

(1-4) Schema Setting, Document Storage Using Schema When the user selects “Schema setting Win” on the screen shown in FIG. 31 using a pointing device such as a mouse, etc., FIG. A screen as a user interface for setting the schema as shown is displayed.

When the user inputs, for example, a schema of “patent” information as shown in FIG. 12 in the area W3 and sets the input schema in a node under “patent DB”, the area W1 From the “Patent DB” by clicking with a mouse or the like (in the area W2, “uiix: // r
"Oot / Patent DB" is displayed), "Schema setting"
Select button B3. Then, "setSchema
(“Ux: // root / patent DB”, “<Sche
ma> ... </ Schema>")" is transmitted to the structured document management system. The processing of this command is the same as the document storage processing operation described above.

Next, "uiix: // root / Patent D"
A case where “patent” information is to be stored under “B” by inputting “patent” information using a schema that has already been set in nodes below “patent DB” will be described.

First, a schema is obtained. For example, FIG.
When a “schema” is selected from a region W1 of the screen for storing / deleting a document as shown in FIG. 8 using a mouse or the like, “uiix: /// root” is displayed in a document path input region W2.
t / Patent DB / # Schema "
"GetXML (" uix: // root / patent DB /
A schema acquisition command “Schema”) is transmitted to the structured document management system.

The processing of this command is the same as the above-described document acquisition processing. The XML document returned from the structured document management system is displayed in the area W3 on the screen in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 38, in a region R3, a data input region of “patent” information is set and displayed for each element. In accordance with this display, the user may input data. For example, data input areas such as "title" and "year" are hierarchically arranged and displayed. The user can easily create a stored document having a document structure defined by the schema by inputting data into the data input area.

When "patent DB" is selected in the area W1 using a mouse or the like as a storage destination of the "patent" information input in the area W3, a structured document path is stored in the area W2 as a structured document path.
“Uix: // root / patent DB” is displayed. After that, when the “register” button B1 is selected, “appen
dXML (“uix: // root / patent DB”, “<
An additional command "patent> ... </ patent>") "is transmitted to the structured document management system.

In this case, since the stored document is input in advance according to the schema, no error occurs in the validity check in step S10 in FIG.

(2) Search Function Search commands in the structured document management system of FIG. 1 include the following.

Query (ql) "query" is a command (hereinafter referred to as a search command) for executing the query ql in parentheses as a parameter and obtaining the resulting XML document.

As shown in FIG. 39, the query is SQL
(Structured QueryLanguag
This is a structured XML document that describes search positions, search conditions, information extraction parts, and the like in a language similar to e). Query documents are also managed by the structured document management system of the present invention.

[0224] The element starting from the "kf: from" tag has a description for specifying a search position and associating a variable with the value of a document element. The element starting from the "kf: where" tag includes a description of a condition relating to the variable. There is a description, "kf:
The element starting with the “select” tag describes the output format of the search result.

The search includes a simple search and a concept search.
Simple search is to search and extract information that satisfies the search condition specified in the query. Concept search is the search specified in the query using the concept information specified in the query. It searches and extracts information that satisfies the conditions.

FIG. 40 shows an example of a simple search query. The query in FIG. 40 is, for example, in the structured document database in a state as shown in FIG. 14, in the document group of “patent” information stored under the node indicated by the “patent DB” arc, “1999” And "P
C "means a search request to enumerate the" title "of a document (" patent "information) having an element of" summary "such as" C ".

According to the description of the element starting from the “kf: from” tag, the “title”, “year”, and “summary” of the “patent” information are added to the variables “$ t”, “$ y”, and “$ s”, respectively.
Is assigned.

With the description of the element starting from the “kf: where” tag, a comparison is made that the variable “$ y” = “1999”. The component “MyLike” is a function for detecting a variable “$ s” having a value similar to “PC” using the variables “$ s” and “PC” as arguments.

By describing the element starting from the “kf: from” tag, the variable “$ t” is used as an output value.

The “kf: star” tag is an ambiguous expression of the structure, for example, “<patent><kf:star><
"Year>" means "an element which exists as a descendant element of an element whose tag name is" patent "and whose tag name is" year "".

FIG. 41 shows a search result using the simple search query shown in FIG. This search result is also an XML document.

FIG. 42 shows an example of a concept search query. The query shown in FIG.
The structured document database in the state shown in
For searching for a document group of "patent" information stored under the node indicated by the "patent DB" arc using "concept" information stored under the node indicated by the "concept DB" arc Search request. Here, the value of the child element of the tag having the value of the concept “peripheral device” includes the concept “SCS”.
I "," memory "," HDD ", and the like.
Although not shown in FIG. 18, it is assumed that each component of the “patent” information includes an element starting with a “keyword” tag.

That is, the query in FIG. 42 is a search for “enumerate the“ titles ”of documents (“ patent ”information) having any of the concepts below the concept“ peripheral device ”in the value of the element“ keyword ”. Means request.

According to the description of the element starting from the “kf: from” tag, the values of the “title” and “keyword” elements of the “patent” information are substituted into the variable “$ t” and the variable “$ k”, respectively. You. The value of the child element of the tag having the value of “peripheral device” (“SCSI”, “memory”, “HDD”, etc.) is substituted for the variable “$ x” as “concept” information.

According to the description of the element starting from the “kf: where” tag, “$ k” = “peripheral device” or “$
A comparison is made that “k” = “$ x”.

Next, the document search processing operation of the structured document management system of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

[0237] On the screen shown in FIG.
When "L search Win" is selected using a pointing device such as a mouse, a screen as a user interface for performing a document search as shown in FIG. 44 is displayed.

In the search screen of FIG. 44, the element name (tag name) of the current tree structure of the structured document database is simply displayed in the area W1 so that the user can understand it, as described above. .

The area W2 is an area for inputting a search target range (a search range in a tree structure), a search condition, and the like. The search result is displayed in the area W3.

For example, among documents having a heading of “patent” under “ux: // root”, a character string “document” is included in a “title” tag, and “1998”
In the case of a search request of "search for documents created after the year", "root" is selected from the area W1 with a mouse or the like, and a structured document path is input as a search target range. Then, "patent" is input as the top node (in this case, "patent" may be input by selecting the "patent" from the area W1 with a mouse or the like). In addition, as a search condition, the contents of “the value of the element“ title ”includes the character string of“ document ”” and “the value of the element“ year ”is“ 1998 ”or more” are set in the preset data input area. Should be entered.

Then, by selecting the "search" button B21, for example, a query as shown in FIG. 45 is transmitted to the structured document management system together with an additional command for storing the query in the structured document database. Is done. The storage location of the query is determined in advance, and the system automatically sets the parameters of this additional command. For example, when the structured document database is in the state shown in FIG. 18, the structured document path as a parameter indicating the storage location of the query is “uix: //
/ Root / query DB ". The other parameter of the additional command is the query document.

Upon receiving the above query (step S101), the request receiving unit 11 passes the query to the search request processing unit 3. Then, the parameter of the additional command for storing the query document is passed to the document storage unit 21. This additional command is processed in the same manner as described above, and the query is stored in the document storage unit 5.

For example, in the case of a query as shown in FIG. 42, it is expanded in the structured document database as shown in FIG. 46, and the structured document path “uix: // root /
It is linked to a node under “# 301” node indicated by “query DB”.

On the other hand, the search request processing unit 3 accesses the index storage unit 6 and the document storage unit 5 through the data access unit 4 based on the received query, and obtains a document set matching the search request. The information requested in the query is extracted and output via the result processing unit 12.

For example, in the case of the above-described query, it is efficient to first search for a query that satisfies the condition that “the character string“ document ”is included in the“ title ”tag”. Therefore, the object ID of the node (document object) linked to the character string “document” is obtained using the data occurrence index as shown in FIG. Then, for each of them, the document object tree is traced back to the upstream side by one, and “Title”
When it reaches the tag name of "patent", the document object tree Ot11 below that node is extracted when it reaches the tag name of "patent".

Next, from the plurality of extracted document object trees Ot11, a document object tree Ot12 in which the value of the element “year” is “1998” or more is further extracted.

This document object tree Ot12 is a document that matches the contents of the above query. Further, according to the request contents of the above query, each document object tree Ot
Then, a structured document path to the top node No. 12 is obtained (step S102).

Note that the above-described search processing is not limited to the above-described method, and various efficient search methods using index information are possible.

The search request processing section 3 integrates the results obtained in step S102 and creates an XML document as a search result (step S103).

For example, the XML document of the search result is as follows: <out> <result> ux: // root / patent DB / patent [0] </ result> <result> uix: // root / patent DB / patent [2] </ Result> </ out>

The search request processing unit 3 includes the search result processing unit 12
Through the XML document with the style sheet,
Return to the requesting client terminal (step S10
4).

In the client terminal, X shown in FIG.
The ML document is converted into HTML data using a style sheet, and is displayed in the area W12, for example, as shown in FIG.

Similarly, a schema search can be performed.

For example, from among documents having a head tag of “schema” under “uiix: // root”,
In the case of a search request of "search for a schema having tag names of" patent "and" summary "", as shown in FIG. 47, "root" is selected from the area W1 with a mouse or the like and set as a search target range. , Enter the structured document path. Then, “#schema” is input as the top node. In addition, as a search condition, "patent"
What is necessary is to input the content "includes the character string""and" includes the character string "abstract" in the attribute name of the element "into the preset data input area.

Then, by selecting the "search" button B21, the query describing the search request (see FIG. 48) is added to the structured document management together with an additional command for storing the query in the structured document database. Sent to the system.

Now, in the case of the above query, for example, "[#
A search that matches the condition of “having“ schema ”as the first tag” ”is performed. Then, the object ID of the node (document object) linked to the element “#schema” is obtained using the element name occurrence index as shown in FIG. Then, for each of them, the document object tree is traced to the downstream side, and when the attribute name reaches the element of “patent” and “summary”, the document object tree having “#schema” at the top tag Extract Ot21.
The document object tree Ot21 is a document that matches the content of the query. Further, according to the request content of the query shown in FIG. 48, each document object tree Ot
The structured document path to the top node 21 is determined.

If there are a plurality of document object trees Ot21, the search request processing unit 3 puts together the structured document paths to the respective top nodes, and outputs XML as a search result.
A document is created, and the above-mentioned XM
The L document is returned to the requesting client terminal together with the style sheet.

In the client terminal, the XML document received as a search result is converted into an HTM using a style sheet.
The data is converted into L data and displayed in the area W12, for example, as shown in FIG.

At the client terminal, one of the search results
When one schema is selected and displayed, for example, FIG.
Along with a screen for storing / deleting a document as shown in FIG. 8, a data input area of “patent” information is set and displayed for each element in the area W3.

The user can easily create a stored document having the document structure defined by the schema by inputting data into this data input area.

For example, when "patent DB" is selected in the area W1 using a mouse or the like as a storage destination of the "patent" information input in the area W3 in FIG. 38, "uix: // root / patent DB "is displayed. After that, when the “register” button B1 is selected, “a”
ppendXML ("uix: // root / Patent D
B ","<patent> ... </ patent>")" are transmitted to the structured document management system.

In this case, since the stored document has been input according to the schema in advance, no error occurs in the validity check in step S10 in FIG.

Similarly, a query can be searched. By searching for a query, an existing query obtained as a search result can be processed and reused (query reuse).

The retrieval of the query is performed in the same manner as the retrieval of the structured document as described above, and the retrieval range is a part of the document object tree on the structured database in which the query group is stored.

For example, a case will be described in which a query including “patent DB” in the “kf: from” tag is searched from the structured document database in the state as shown in FIG. FIG. 49 shows a query describing such a search request.

The query shown in FIG. 49 is ““ ux: ///
A query that includes “patent DB” in the “kf: from” tag is searched from among the queries existing under the “# 301” node indicated by the “root / query DB”, and the content (the element whose tag name is “query”) is searched. Enumerate the following document object tree).

Note that the content of the “kf: as” tag contains the variable “$ elt” and the “kf: from” tag contains “patent D
The document object tree below the element whose tag name of the query including "B" is "query" is substituted.

When the query is processed by the search request processing unit 3, similarly to the above, for example, using the element name occurrence index as shown in FIG.
The object ID of the (document object) of the node linked to the element "m" is obtained. Then, for each of them, the document object tree is traced downstream to the arc, and when the tag name "patent" is reached, the arc is further traced upstream to "quer".
When the tag name "y" is reached,
document object tree Ot31 having "y" as the first tag
Is extracted. This document object tree Ot31 is a document that matches the content of the query.

When a plurality of document object trees Ot31 are retrieved, they are integrated to create an XML document, and return it to the client terminal together with the style sheet.

In the client terminal, one of the search results
When one query is selected and displayed, for example, FIG.
The content of the search request described in the query is displayed in the area W11 of the search screen shown in (1) in a state where data is input to each data input area.

[0271] From this state, the user selects "" ux: //
Search for documents created after "1998" that contain the character string "document" in the "title" tag from among the documents having "patent" at the top tag under "/ root". "
"Document" in the search request described in the query is changed to "XML" and the "Search" button B21 is selected. Then, "Patent" under "uix: // root" is set as the first tag. From the documents you have, add "XM
A query including a character string "L" and meaning "search for documents created after 1998" is transmitted to the structured document management system.

As described above, in the structured document management system shown in FIG. 1, a huge number of XML documents (content documents, schema documents, query documents, etc.) having different document structures registered in the structured document database From FIG. 18,
As shown in FIG. 19, it is handled as one huge XML document in a tree shape having a “root” tag at the top. Therefore, it is possible to easily search for a document that meets the search condition from a vast number of documents having various schemas and different document structures.

Also, since the query used for the search is also a structured document, by storing it as a log in the structured document database, an application that reuses a past query can be easily constructed.

(3) Application Example Next, an application example of the above-described concept search to a patent search will be described.

FIG. 50 shows an example of a structured document database in patent search, which stores "concept" information in addition to "patent" information.

The most important task in the patent search is to collect related “patent” information, analyze the “patent” information from various viewpoints, and create a patent map (see FIG. 54). is there. Conventionally, in order to create a patent map, the vertical axis and the horizontal axis in the patent map are determined in advance, and accordingly, a search is sequentially performed using any item on the vertical axis and any item on the horizontal axis as search conditions. It was done in a way that was very costly. However, by using the structured document management system of the present invention, it is possible to greatly reduce the cost of this part.

Here, the map means a vertical axis (y-axis).
Are sorted and arranged using the x-axis and the y-axis as the classification axes, with the search result using the arbitrary items arranged in a row and the arbitrary items arranged in the horizontal axis (x-axis) as search conditions.

In the structured document management system of the present invention, when the user of the client terminal intends to create a patent map as shown in FIG. 54, the user is displayed on the display device on the client terminal as shown in FIG. Referring to the current tree structure of such a structured document database, FIG.
On the search screen as shown in FIG. 5, the path of the "patent" information to be analyzed and the elements serving as the axes of analysis (for example, the x-axis and the y-axis) are input to the areas W21 and W22, respectively.
The element serving as the axis of the analysis may be either the element of “patent” information or the element of “concept” information in the structured document database.

For example, in FIG. 51, “function” and y are plotted on the x-axis.
The element of "concept" information called "technology" is input to the axis.

After that, the user presses the “execute” button B31.
When is selected, a query as shown in FIG. 52 is sent from the client terminal to the structured document management system of FIG.

In the query in this case, from the document group of the “patent” information stored under the node indicated by the “patent DB” arc, the query is stored under the node indicated by the “concept DB” arc. , One of the child elements of the concept "function" and one of the child elements of the concept "technology"
Search for "patent" information that is included in the value of elements such as and "summary". As the search result, the child element of "function" and the child element of "technology" and the "public number" of the "patent" information corresponding to them
List the pairs with Is a search request.

The concepts “function” include “search”, “store”, and so on.
There is a child element called "analysis support", and the concept "technology"
It is assumed that there are child elements such as “implementation database”, “anti-structure database”, and “natural language processing”.

The search request processing unit 3 of the structured document search system that has received the above query uses, for example, a data occurrence index as shown in FIG. 10 to convert each child element (character string) of the concept “function”. The object ID of the linked node (document object) is obtained. Then, for each of them, when the document object tree is traced upstream to the tag “patent”, the document object tree below that node is traced downstream, and the child element (character) of the concept “technology” is further traced. When the tag name linked to any of the columns is reached, the document object tree and the character string (element value) linked to the “public number” tag are extracted. In this way, for each of the extracted “patent” information, the corresponding set of the child element of “function”, the child element of “technology” and the “public number” is integrated as shown in FIG. An XML document as a search result is created and returned to the requesting client terminal together with a predetermined style sheet.

[0284] The display device of the client terminal receiving these displays a patent map in a table format as shown in FIG.

As described above, by simply designating a desired concept as an “axis”, information accumulated in the structured document database is tabulated and classified based on the concept designated as an “axis” and displayed on a map. But can be done easily. That is, the information stored in the structured document database can be easily tabulated and classified from various viewpoints using the “concept” information.

The method of the present invention described in the embodiment of the present invention can be implemented as a program that can be executed by a computer, such as a magnetic disk (floppy (registered trademark) disk, hard disk, etc.), an optical disk (C
D-ROMs, DVDs, etc.) and storage media such as semiconductor memories for distribution.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be variously modified in the implementation stage without departing from the gist of the invention. Furthermore, the above embodiments include inventions at various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by appropriate combinations of a plurality of disclosed configuration requirements. For example, even if some components are deleted from all the components shown in the embodiments, (at least one of) the problems described in the column of the problem to be solved by the invention can be solved, and the effect of the invention can be solved. If at least one of the effects described in (1) is obtained, a configuration from which this component is deleted can be extracted as an invention.

[0288]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Documents that conform to a variety of document structure definitions are centrally managed together with structured documents that have no document structure defined, while maintaining the same document structure that is predetermined for the type of document, and specified. A wide area document search that is not limited to the document structure of the above can be easily performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a structured document management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing one use form of the structured document management system shown in FIG. 1, showing a case where the structured document management system is operating on the back end of WWW.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a structured document described in XML.

FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing a document structure of the structured document of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the function of the additional command, and shows a case where the additional command is executed in an initial state of the structured document database.

FIG. 6 is a view showing a processing result when an acquisition command is executed on the structured document database in the state shown in FIG. 5B;

FIG. 7 illustrates a case where a document object tree of one “patent” information is added by executing an addition command to the structured document database in the state illustrated in FIG. 5B.

FIG. 8 shows a case where an add command is executed to add a document object tree of three pieces of “patent” information to the structured document database in the state shown in FIG. 5B.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a storage example of an element name occurrence index.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a storage example of a data occurrence index.

FIG. 11 is a view showing an execution result when an acquisition command for extracting three pieces of “patent” information is executed on the structured document database in the state shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a schema that defines the document structure of an XML document.

13 is a diagram illustrating a case where a schema storage command is executed in the structured document database in the state illustrated in FIG. 8 to additionally store (set) the schema illustrated in FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is a view showing a document object tree in which a schema is set and an attribute value indicating that the schema exists is set.

FIG. 15 is a diagram conceptually showing a state in which an attribute value indicating that a schema exists is stored in each object file.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example in which a concept hierarchy used in a search is represented by a structured document as needed.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example in which a concept hierarchy used in a search is represented by a structured document as needed.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a case where an addition command is executed on the structured document database in the state shown in FIG. 8 to add a document object tree of “concept” information shown in FIGS. 16 and 17;

19 is a diagram showing a case where an addition command is executed on the structured document database in the state shown in FIG. 8 to add a document object tree of “concept” information shown in FIGS. 16 and 17;

FIG. 20 is a flowchart for explaining a document storage processing operation of the structured document management system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 21 is a flowchart for explaining the processing of step S9 in FIG. 20 (processing by the composite document creating unit);

FIG. 22 shows a result of converting a document object tree of a synthesized document obtained by inserting a document object tree of a document storing a parameter in an additional command into a document object tree obtained from a structured document database into an XML document. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a composite document stored in a temporary file A.

FIG. 23 is a view showing an example of a schema document stored in a temporary file B and acquired from a structured document database.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing another example of the composite document stored in the temporary file A.

FIG. 25 is a view showing an example of a schema document stored in a temporary file B and acquired from a structured document database.

FIG. 26 is a flowchart for explaining a document acquisition processing operation of the structured document management system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 27 is a flowchart for explaining a document deletion processing operation of the structured document management system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 28 is a flowchart for explaining the processing of step S46 in FIG. 27 (processing by the synthetic document creation unit (for a delete command));

FIG. 29 is a view showing still another example of the composite document stored in the temporary file A, which is an example of the composite document created when the delete command is executed.

FIG. 30 is a diagram showing an example of a schema document stored in a temporary file B and acquired from a structured document database.

FIG. 31 is a view showing a display example of a screen as a user interface.

FIG. 32 is a diagram showing a display example of a screen as a user interface for storing / deleting a document.

FIG. 33 is a view showing a display example of a screen as a user interface for storing / deleting a document.

FIG. 34 is a view showing a display example of a screen as a user interface for storing / deleting a document.

FIG. 35 is a view showing a display example of a display example of a message returned to the client terminal when an error occurs in the validity check.

FIG. 36 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a screen as a user interface for storing / deleting a document, and illustrating a document acquisition operation.

FIG. 37 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a screen as a user interface for setting a schema, and illustrating a schema setting operation.

FIG. 38 illustrates a display example of a screen as a user interface for acquiring a schema, and illustrates a display example of an acquired schema.

FIG. 39 is a view showing an example of a query (XML document).

FIG. 40 is a diagram showing an example of a simple search query (XML document).

FIG. 41 is a diagram showing a search result (XML document) using the simple search query of FIG. 40;

FIG. 42 is a view showing an example of a query (XML document) for concept search.

FIG. 43 is a flowchart for explaining a document search processing operation of the structured document management system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 44 is a view showing a display example of a screen as a user interface for performing a document search.

FIG. 45 is an exemplary view showing a query created based on information input from the screen shown in FIG. 44;

FIG. 46 is a view showing a storage example of the query shown in FIG. 42 in the structured document database.

FIG. 47 is a display example of a screen as a user interface for performing a document search, and is a diagram for explaining a schema search processing operation.

FIG. 48 is a diagram showing an example of a schema search query.

FIG. 49 is a diagram showing an example of a query for searching for a query.

FIG. 50 is a diagram showing an example of a structured document database in a patent search.

FIG. 51 is a view showing a display example of an input screen for concept search.

FIG. 52 is a view showing a query corresponding to input information on the input screen shown in FIG. 51;

FIG. 53 is a view showing an XML document as a search result corresponding to the query shown in FIG. 52;

FIG. 54 is a diagram showing an example of a patent map.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Request control part 2 ... Access request processing part 3 ... Search request processing part 4 ... Data access part 5 ... Document storage part 6 ... Index storage part 11 ... Reception request part 12 ... Result processing part 21 ... Document storage part 22 ... Document Acquisition unit 23 Document deletion unit 41 Document object tree storage unit 42 Document object tree deletion unit 43 Document object tree acquisition unit 44 Document character string acquisition unit 45 Document object tree acquisition unit from path 46 Document parser 47 Synthetic document creation unit 48 Index update unit 100 Structured document management system 101 WWW server 102 Client terminal 103 WWW browser

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Katsuhiko Nonomura 1 Tokoba, Komukai Toshiba-cho, Saisaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture (72) Inventor Hiroshi Niina Komukai, Koyuki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa No. 1 Toshiba-cho, Toshiba R & D Center (72) Inventor Shozo Isobe No. 1, Komukai Toshiba-cho, Koyuki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa F-term (reference) 5B075 ND35 NR03

Claims (19)

[Claims] Claims 1. A plurality of structured documents having different document structures,
In a structured document management method for managing in a structured document database having a hierarchical logical structure, the structured document includes at least one component,
Storing the structured document in a logical area of the structured document database specified according to the logical structure,
The structured document which manages each component of the structured document as a component forming the logical structure, and defines a document structure corresponding to the logical area in a logical area specified according to the logical structure. By storing the document structure definition information as
A plurality of different document structures are set on the logical structure, and only the structured document having a document structure matching the document structure corresponding to the area is stored in the logical area where the document structure is set. A structured document management method characterized by the following. 2. The document structure definition information is acquired from a logical area designated according to the logical structure, and a new structured document created based on the document structure described in the acquired document structure definition information is obtained. 2. The structured document management method according to claim 1, wherein the structured document is stored in the logical area. 3. The structured document database based on a search request for the document structure definition information that defines a specific component designated by a user among the components constituting the structured document in a document structure. 2. The structured document management method according to claim 1, further comprising: 4. A search request for a structured document including a specific component specified by a user among components configuring the structured document, or a specification specified by a user in a value of the specific component. 2. The structured document management method according to claim 1, wherein the structured document database is searched on the basis of a structured document search request including the character string. 5. The structured document database based on a search request for the document structure definition information that defines a specific component specified by a user among the components constituting the structured document in a document structure. 2. A structure according to claim 1, wherein a search is performed on the document structure, and a new structured document created based on the document structure described in the obtained document structure definition information is stored in the logical area. Document management method. 6. The structured document management according to claim 3, wherein a list of information indicating a logical area in which the structured document is stored is obtained as a search result. Method. 7. When the search request specifies a logical area on the logical structure as a search range, the search is performed from the specified logical area. Item 6. The structured document management method according to any one of Items 3 to 5. 8. The search request is a structured document described according to a document structure defined in advance, and when the search request is received, a search request statement as a structured document describing the search request The structured document management method according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein is stored in a predetermined logical area on the logical structure. 9. The search request is a structured document described according to a document structure defined in advance, and when the search request is received, a search request statement as a structured document describing the search request Is stored in a predetermined logical area on the logical structure, and a search is performed on the structured document database based on a search request of the search request sentence with the predetermined logical area as a search range. 5. The structured document management method according to claim 4, wherein the structured document database is searched in response to a search request based on a new search request sentence created based on the obtained search request sentence. 10. A structured document management apparatus which manages a plurality of structured documents having different document structures by a structured document database having a hierarchical logical structure, wherein the structured document includes at least one component. ,
Management means for storing the structured document in a logical area of the structured database specified according to the logical structure, and managing each component of the structured document as a component forming the logical structure; A plurality of different document structures are set on the logical structure by storing document structure definition information as the structured document that defines a document structure corresponding to the area in a logical area specified according to the logical structure. Setting means, and storage means for storing a new structured document in a designated logical area on the logical structure, wherein the storage means stores the area in the designated logical area. When a corresponding document structure is set, the area stores only a structured document having a document structure that matches the area corresponding document structure. Document management device. 11. An apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising: an acquisition unit configured to acquire the document structure definition information from a logical area designated according to the logical structure, wherein the document structure described in the document structure definition information acquired by the acquisition unit is provided. 2. A new structured document created based on the logical area is stored in the logical area.
0. A structured document management device according to item 0. 12. The structured document according to a search request for the document structure definition information defining a specific component designated by a user among the components constituting the structured document in a document structure. 11. The structured document management apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising a first search unit that searches a database. 13. A search request for a structured document including a specific component specified by a user among the components configuring the structured document, or a value specified by the user for the value of the specific component. 11. The structured document management apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising a second search unit that searches the structured document database based on a structured document search request including a specific character string. . 14. The structured document according to a search request for the document structure definition information defining a specific component designated by a user among the components constituting the structured document in a document structure. A first search unit for searching the database; and a new structured document created based on the document structure described in the document structure definition information obtained by the first search unit. 11. The structured document management device according to claim 10, wherein the structured document management device stores the structured document in a safe area. 15. The structured document management according to claim 12, wherein a list of information indicating a logical area in which the structured document is stored is obtained as a search result. apparatus. 16. When a logical area on the logical structure is specified as a search range in the search request,
15. The structured document management apparatus according to claim 12, wherein a search is performed from the designated logical area. 17. The search request is a structured document described according to a document structure defined in advance, and when the search request is received, a search request statement as the structured document describing the search request 15. The structured document management apparatus according to claim 12, wherein is stored in a predetermined logical area on the logical structure. 18. The search request is a structured document described according to a document structure defined in advance, and when the search request is received, a search request statement as a structured document describing the search request Is stored in a predetermined logical area on the logical structure, and a search is performed on the structured document database based on a search request of the search request sentence with the predetermined logical area as a search range. 14. The structured document management device according to claim 13, wherein the structured document management apparatus performs a search on the structured document database in response to a search request based on a new search request sentence created based on the obtained search request sentence. 19. A program for causing a computer to execute a process for managing a plurality of structured documents having different document structures in a structured document database having a hierarchical logical structure, the program comprising: Consists of at least one component,
Management processing for storing the structured document in a logical area of the structured database specified according to the logical structure, and managing each component of the structured document as a component forming the logical structure And storing, in a logical area designated according to the logical structure, document structure definition information as the structured document defining a document structure corresponding to the area, a plurality of different document structures on the logical structure And a storing process for storing a new structured document in a specified logical area on the logical structure. The storing process includes: When a document structure corresponding to the area is set in a typical area, it is necessary to store only a structured document having a document structure that matches the document structure corresponding to the area in the area. Features program.