JP2003271660A - Information processing method and device, program of method therefor and recording medium recorded with the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information mapping technique for mapping and presenting total information by making map or location information merged corresponding to user's intention and automatically extracting the related information from WWW, etc. <P>SOLUTION: An information mapping system comprises an information providing means for a database 2 and the WWW 3, etc. The database 2 stores information on map information and shop information, etc., and a WWW searching means 14 extracts information related to the information contained in the database 2 from the WWW 3, etc. An scoring unit 15 has functions of associating the information contained in the database 2 with the information obtained from the related home page information, etc., contained in the WWW 3 and mapping them. As the result, location information can be accurately related on map information automatically and presented, and multiple pieces of detailed information such as stores focused on key information on stations and roads, etc., can be presented. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing method and an information processing apparatus, a program of the method, and a recording medium having the program recorded therein. The present invention relates to an information mapping method and information mapping device for performing fusion, retrieval, and presentation, a program of the method, and a recording medium recording the program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a system for providing map information and information associated with a position, there is a conventional system, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
The techniques disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 15839 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-76285 are known.

The former accepts the name of the location of a tourist spot, a store, a real estate property, or the like, or the longitude and latitude of the location on the map, and searches the map around the location or a map including the location based on the accepted information. , Is to be displayed.

On the other hand, the latter is the received web (WE
B) The position information is extracted from the page, and the map including the position corresponding to the extracted position information is displayed.

However, the above-mentioned conventional technique has the following problems. That is, in the former case, there is a problem that related information such as map information and position information cannot be presented in association with each other, and the user needs to associate the obtained map information and position information by himself.

[0006] In the latter case, although related information such as map information and location information can be presented in association with each other, the WWW homepage itself can be, for example, location information of a store obtained from the WWW homepage. At the base, there was the annoyance that the user had to find it himself.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to solve the above problems in the prior art.
It is to provide information mapping technology that presents rich, wide, accurate, and easy-to-understand information to users and enables flexible information retrieval.

More specifically, the present invention relates to an information processing method and an information processing apparatus for presenting abundant, wide, accurate and easy-to-understand information to a user, a program of the method, and a recording recording the program. To provide the medium.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, an information processing method according to the present invention has a database storage means including at least a map information database and a store information database of a town page, and the database storage means. An information processing method in an information processing system including information providing means on a network including information related to store information and an information processing apparatus, wherein the information processing apparatus searches the database according to a user's request. From this, the map information and the store information that meet the user's wishes are extracted, then the information providing means on the network is accessed to extract the information related to the extracted information, and these extracted information are related to each other. It is characterized by being presented to the user.

Further, in the information processing method according to the present invention, the compatibility of the extracted information from the database and the extracted information from the information providing means on the network with the store information of the town page is emphasized. Characterized by mapping.

Further, in the information processing method according to the present invention, the user is allowed to collect a plurality of pieces of information having a wide range of position information, and the information processing apparatus allows the position information having the range desired by the user and its surroundings to be collected. The existing store information is extracted and associated with each other, and the extracted information from the information providing means on the network is further associated and mapped.

On the other hand, the information processing apparatus according to the present invention comprises a database storage means including at least a map information database and a store information database of the town page,
An information processing unit in an information processing system including an information providing unit on a network including information related to store information included in the database, and an analysis processing unit for a request input by a user. Based on the database searching means, searching means for accessing the information providing means on the network to extract relevant information, extracted information from the database and extracted information related to the extracted information from the information providing means on the network And a means for associating, and mapping and presenting.

In addition, in the information processing apparatus according to the present invention, in addition to the above-mentioned means, the extracted information from the database and the extracted information from the information providing means on the network are stored in the town page as store information. It is preferable to have a means for mapping with an emphasis on the suitability of.

Further, in the information processing apparatus according to the present invention, in addition to the above-mentioned means, the user is allowed to collect a plurality of pieces of information having a wide range of position information, and the information processing apparatus allows the user to expand the desired information. It is preferable to have a means for extracting certain position information and store information existing in the vicinity thereof and associating them with each other, and further for associating and mapping with the extracted information from the information providing means on the network.

A software program for causing a computer to execute the information processing method according to the present invention is:
It goes without saying that the product itself can be distributed as a product in the form of being recorded on a recording medium, and the scope of rights of the present invention extends to such products.

In the present invention, the term "mapping" emphasizes the compatibility between the information extracted from the information providing device such as the WWW and the store information of the town page according to a predetermined rule. The information extracted from the information providing device is assigned an order, and the information is associated based on the order.

[0017]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments shown in the drawings. It should be noted that the drawings shown below are for better understanding of the operation of the present invention, and do not limit the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the concept of an information mapping system according to an embodiment of the present invention, which maps and presents information related to information desired by a user, where 1 is information. The mapping server 2 is a database that stores map information and, for example, store information held by town pages and the like, and 3 is accessed by the information mapping server 1 in order to further extract information related to information desired by the user. An information providing network such as WWW 4 is a user who extracts necessary information.

In the information mapping system according to this embodiment, the user 4 inputs a desired request in a free format. The information mapping server 1 extracts the key information that can be used for the database search from the user's request by the request analysis processing function (request analysis processing unit) of the information mapping server 1, and the user desires from the database based on this key information. Extract information (database search unit).

The information mapping server 1 further accesses the information providing network 3 such as WWW by the WWW search function (WWW search unit) based on the key information.
Get related information. The information mapping server 1 uses the information mapping processing function (scoring unit) of the information mapping server 1 to rank the WWW information based on various conditions based on the database information collected by the key information.

Finally, the information mapping server 1 presents the mapped and ranked information from the output function unit to the user 4 as a response to the request.

Since the information mapping system according to the present embodiment is configured as described above, the information desired by the user can be stored in the database of the information mapping system by
For example, it can be extracted in the form of map information and store information, and is related to these pieces of information, and if they are related to each other, the value is further increased.
Information such as the homepage address of W can be automatically extracted from the homepage via WWW or the like, and the information in the database and the homepage information can be mapped and presented so as to meet the user's request.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail based on specific examples. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an embodiment of the present invention, taking as an example the case of presenting position information such as store information desired by the user centering on key information such as stations and roads.

[A] "Where is the easiest ramen restaurant along this road?" Is the input of the requirement desired by the user, as described with reference to FIG. Similarly, B's "・ Citizen Ramen,
"Hakata Ramen, Kinryu Ramen" is a part of the information corresponding to the user's wish extracted from the database 2 of the information mapping system.

[0025] In addition, "Cinmin AND Ramen, Hakata AND Ramen, Kinryu AND Ramen" of C is a WWW for extracting information related to information desired by the user.
Information obtained as a result of access to the information providing network 3, such as “D Community, Channel,
・ “Shopping” is an example of information that the homepage has.

"Telephone number, address and price" shown in E
Is also an example of the condition described with reference to FIG. 1 for ranking the information obtained as a result of the access to the information providing network 3 such as WWW performed by the information mapping server 1. F's “・ 1. Kinryu Ramen Price: 450 yen
Tel: xxx-xxx Musashino City, Tokyo ... Surrounding map display, 2. "" Is an example of information presented by the information mapping system according to the present embodiment in accordance with the user's request.

Since the information mapping system according to the present embodiment operates as described above, the key position information such as stations and roads and a plurality of position information such as stores are mutually stored in the map information from the database according to the user's request. Information related to location information is extracted, more detailed information related to location information such as shops is automatically accessed to other information providing means such as WWW, and the database and location information obtained from WWW are mapped and presented. However, it is possible to present accurate, rich and flexible information that the user desires.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an internal configuration example of the information mapping server 1 described above. As shown in FIG. 3, the information mapping server 1 includes a request analysis processing unit 11, a database search unit 12, an integrated unit 13 of extracted information, and a WW.
The W search unit 14, the scoring unit 15, and the output unit 16 are included.

Here, the request analysis processing section 11 is a section for analyzing a request input by the user, and the database search section 12 is a section for performing a database search based on the analysis result of the input request by the request analysis processing section 11. The information integration unit 13 is a unit that integrates information extracted from two databases (store information database and map information database) in the database 2.

The WWW search unit 14 is a unit for searching the information providing network (WWW) 3, and the scoring unit 15 ranks the results obtained from the search results of the database search unit 12 and the WWW search unit 14. The output unit 16 is a unit that controls the output of the final results ranked by the scoring unit 15.

As shown by the arrow in FIG. 3, the output from the request analysis processing unit 11 is the store information and map information related to the analysis result of the user input, and the database search unit 1
The output from 2 is the store information and the map information related to the database search result, and the output from the information integration unit 13 is the information obtained by integrating these store information and the map information.

The output from the WWW search unit 14 is the store information and map information related to the WWW search result based on the integrated store information and map information, and the output from the scoring unit 15 is the WWW. It is information (ranking result) in which the shop information and the map information related to the search result are ranked according to a predetermined rule. This information is output by the output unit 16
Is returned (output) to the user.

According to the information mapping system according to the specific embodiment configured as described above, the information desired by the user can be extracted from the database in the form of map information and store information. Information that is related to information and that increases in value if related, such as store phone numbers and addresses, WWW homepage addresses, etc., is automatically extracted from the homepage via WWW, etc., These can be ranked and presented to meet the user's request.

As described above, the information mapping system according to the above-described embodiment is preferably realized by software program control by a computer, and the software program used here and a recording medium recording this software program are also included. , Which are included in the scope of rights of the present invention.

It should be noted that the above-described embodiments and examples are merely examples of the present invention, and the present invention should not be limited to these, and various changes are made without departing from the gist of the present invention. , Needless to say, improvements may be made.

[0036]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the position information desired by the user can be accurately and automatically presented on the map information, and further related to the position information. It is possible to provide an information mapping technique capable of automatically extracting information to be displayed from a home page such as WWW and presenting it in association with map information.

Further, if a plurality of pieces of location information such as stores such as stations and roads are mainly extracted from key information on a map and are associated with each piece of location information, the value is further increased. For example, telephone numbers, addresses, WWW, etc. Information such as homepage address is WW
It is also possible to automatically extract from a homepage such as W and present all the information in association with each other. And, by this, it is possible to provide information mapping technology that presents rich, wide, accurate, and easy-to-understand information and enables flexible information retrieval.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an information mapping system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operation explanatory diagram of the information mapping system according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an internal configuration explanatory diagram showing a specific configuration example of an information mapping server.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Information mapping server 11 Request analysis processing unit 12 Database Search Department 13 Information Integration Department 14 WWW search section 15 Scoring department 16 Output section 2 database Information providing means such as 3 WWW 4 users A User's desired conditions B Part of the extracted user desired information Extraction information from C WWW D Homepage information E Information mapping server processing Information presentation of F information mapping system

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Kazuhiro Kikuma             2-3-1, Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo             Inside Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (72) Inventor Yasuyuki Ichikawa             3-15 Babacho, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka             Inside Telegraph and Telephone Corporation F-term (reference) 2C032 HB06 HB08 HD04                 5B075 KK07 ND20 PP24 PQ02 PQ32                       PQ42 UU14

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A database storage unit including at least a map information database and a store information database of a town page, and an information providing unit on a network including information related to the store information of the database.
An information processing method in an information processing system including an information processing device, wherein the information processing device searches the database and extracts map information and store information according to the user's request from the database according to the user's request. Then, the information processing method is characterized by accessing the information providing means on the network to extract information related to the extracted information, and presenting the extracted information to the user in association with each other. 2. The information processing apparatus maps the extraction information from the database and the extraction information from the information providing means on the network, with emphasis on compatibility with store information of the town page. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the information processing method is provided. 3. A user is allowed to collect a plurality of pieces of information having a wide range of positional information, and the information processing apparatus extracts the positional information having a wide area desired by the user and store information existing in the vicinity of the positional information. And the extracted information from the information providing means on the network is further associated and mapped.
Information processing method described in. 4. A database storage means including at least a map information database and a database of shop information held by a town page, and an information providing means on a network including information related to the shop information held by the database.
An information processing apparatus in an information processing system including an information processing apparatus, which analyzes a request input by a user, searches the database based on the analysis processing unit, and accesses an information providing unit on the network. A search means for extracting information, and a means for associating the extracted information from the database and the related extracted information from the information providing means on the network with each other, and mapping and presenting the information. Information processing device. 5. A means for mapping the extracted information from the database and the extracted information from the information providing means on the network, in addition to the respective means, by placing importance on the compatibility with the store information held by the town page. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising: 6. In addition to the above-mentioned means, the user is allowed to collect a plurality of pieces of information having a wide range of position information, and the information processing device allows the position information having a range desired by the user and stores existing in the vicinity thereof. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising means for extracting information and associating them with each other, and further associating and mapping the extracted information from the site on the network. 7. A software program for causing a computer to execute the information processing method according to claim 1. Description: 8. A computer-readable recording medium in which the software program according to claim 7 is recorded.