JP2004102894A - Retrieval method for electronic business form - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a retrieval method for electronic business form capable of retrieving data in consideration of the relationship of the data for any types of business forms. <P>SOLUTION: Layout is defined by forming the type of a business form in an assembly of lines of multiple types and the parentage of the layout is defined by a tree fashion, and the data of the business form is classified. Based on the definition of the layout, business form data is retrieved. Thus the data can be retrieved in consideration of the relationship of the data for any types of business forms. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an electronic form search method, and more particularly to an electronic form search method capable of searching for desired data from forms having various formats.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art A search for an electronic form according to the related art is executed by searching a fixed layout, or by searching a layout using a plurality of rows as one layout (for example, see Patent Document 1). The search of the electronic form according to the related art is not performed with consideration of the relevance of the data.
[0003]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-11-161726 (page 2-5, FIG. 1-6)
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In general, since the forms of electronic forms are various, the above-described search method according to the related art has a problem that some forms cannot be searched. Further, the conventional search method has a problem in that it is not possible to perform a search conscious of the relevance of data because the relevance of the data itself is not considered.
[0005]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic form search method that solves the above-described problems of the conventional technology and enables data search in any form form in consideration of data relevance. Is to do.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
According to the present invention, it is an object of the present invention to provide a search method for an electronic form, in which a layout of a form is defined as an aggregate of rows in a plurality of forms, and a parent-child relationship of the layout is defined in a tree form, and data of the form is defined. Are classified, and the form data is searched based on the definition of the layout.
[0007]
Further, the object is to define an array type item for a data item included in the layout, treat a plurality of items as items having the same meaning, perform association between layouts having a parent-child relationship with respect to the array item, This is achieved by searching for data at a specific sequence position.
[0008]
According to the present invention having the above-described child, data can be searched in consideration of data relevance for any form, and different items have the same meaning. Can be searched for, and a search associated with an item of a different layout having the same sequence number can be performed in the search for an array type item.
[0009]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of an electronic form search method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The electronic form targeted by the embodiment of the present invention has an arbitrary format, and in the embodiment of the present invention which handles such a form, the form of the form is set as a set of rows of a plurality of forms. The layout is defined, and the layout is associated in a tree format. It should be noted that electronic form data targeted by the embodiment of the present invention is all defined as electronic data in a computer system, and retrieval and other processes are performed by a program operating on the computer system.
[0010]
FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a definition example of a layout, and FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a definition of a layout in a tree format. First, a layout as an aggregate of rows included in a form will be described with reference to FIG.
[0011]
The example shown in FIG. 1A is a definition example in the case where one row is one layout, and this definition example 1 includes items such as a product name, a price, and a number in one row. These items are searched for in the layout.
[0012]
The example illustrated in FIG. 1B is a definition example in which a plurality of rows are defined as one layout, and the definition example 2 is a definition example in which two rows are defined as one layout. The definition example 2 includes, for example, a first line including items such as a product name, a price, and a number, and a second line including a type code such as a maker name of the product and supplementary information.
[0013]
The example shown in FIG. 1C is a definition example in the case where a plurality of layouts are mixed, and this definition example 3 is a layout definition example in a form in which two layouts are mixed. In the definition example 3, the layout of the upper row is sales information in the illustrated example, the layout of the lower row is product information, and the layouts of these two rows have a parent-child relationship. I have. As a result, the layout of the specific product information in the specific sales can be searched.
[0014]
Although the example shown in FIG. 1C shows detection of two layout diodes in a parent-child relationship, the layout of product information in the lower row may include a plurality of rows. ), Each “child” may have one or more layouts that are “grandchildren”.
[0015]
Next, with reference to FIG. 2, a definition example of a layout in a tree format will be described. The definition example shown in FIG. 2 is an example of a tree format in which product information is defined below sales information, and information for each product is defined below product information. Here, the parent-child relationship of the layout is defined by, for example, a method in which a user arranges predefined layout data at an arbitrary position on a screen of a display device of a computer system.
[0016]
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating search conditions when searching for a form having the above-described layout combination.
[0017]
The first condition 4 of the search condition shown in FIG. 3 uses the layout at the top of the tree as a search condition, and is a condition for searching only the “parent” layout. In this case, for example, in the case of the definition example shown in FIG. 1C, it is possible to search for information relating to January of the sales information. The second search condition 5 uses the layout at the bottom of the tree as a search condition, and is a condition for searching only the “child” layout. In this case, for example, in the case of the definition example shown in FIG. 1C, it is possible to search for information relating to the television of the sales information. The third search information 6 uses layouts of all hierarchies from the layout at the top of the tree to the layout at the bottom of the tree as search conditions, and includes all of “parent”, “child”, and “grandchild”. This is a condition for searching the layout.
[0018]
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of output of search hit data when a form having the layout described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 is searched under the search conditions described with reference to FIG. Here, an example is shown in which search hit data is output in CSV (Comma Separated Value) format.
[0019]
Output example 7 shown in FIG. 4A is an example in which search hit data for one layout is output in CSV format, and is output when data of the layout shown in FIG. 1A is hit and extracted. It is an example. An output example 8 shown in FIG. 4B is an example in which search hit data according to the first condition 4 of the search condition shown in FIG. 3 is output in a CSV format. In the illustrated example, the layout shown in FIG. Is an example in which two data items are hit and extracted, and output as the top, bottom, and bottom layouts.
[0020]
An output example 9 shown in FIG. 4C is an example in which search hit data according to the second condition 5 of the search condition shown in FIG. 3 is output in CSV format, and data in a lower layout of the tree is output. It is an example. An output example 10 shown in FIG. 4D is an example in which search hit data according to the third condition 6 of the search condition shown in FIG. 3 is output in a CSV format, and the layout data shown in FIG. Are extracted as hits and output as the top, bottom, and bottom layouts.
[0021]
Here, the search conditions shown in FIG. 3 are not limited to those specifying the top and bottom layouts, or those specifying all the layouts from the top to the bottom. One or more may be specified.
[0022]
FIG. 5 is a view for explaining a general format when search hit data specifying a higher-order layout is output in CSV format. As can be seen from this figure, when a search specified by a higher-level layout is performed, the hit data is assigned to the tree from the highest-level layout of the specified search conditions, such as the top, bottom, and bottom. All layouts are arranged in order up to the lowest layout.
[0023]
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a form in which the number of values included in an item in one layout is unspecified, and FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a layout defined for the form shown in FIG. Will be described.
[0024]
In the example of the form shown in FIG. 6, the layout of the year and month data including the year value and the array of the months as shown in FIG. 7A and the layout of FIG. The layout of the product data as shown in FIG. The layout of the product data as the lower layout is, for example, the number of sales of the product corresponding to the higher year / month data, and there may be a lower layout for a plurality of products. In addition, the form may include a plurality of layouts in which the layout having such a high-order or low-level relationship is one set, and in that case, the number of items included in each layout may be different for each layout.
[0025]
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example in which search hit information when the form shown in FIG. 6 is searched using array items is output in CSV format. The output example 11 shown in FIG. 8A is an example in the case where the number of sales in March is searched under the condition that the number of sales in March is 5 or more. In the example shown in FIG. The number of TV sales in March 2001 matches the condition. For this reason, the search hit information includes the entire layout of the year / month data of 2000 and the video layout which is the lower product layout thereof, and the layout of the year / month data of 2001 and the lower product layout thereof. The entire TV layout will be output.
[0026]
In addition, the output example 12 shown in FIG. 8B is a case where the year and month are searched under the condition that the number of sales of the video is 20 or more, that is, the search hit information obtained by searching the array position of the array item. Is output in a CSV format.
[0027]
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing sales information and product information defined as the tree format layout described with reference to FIG. 2 and an example of a form including the information. Next, FIG. 9 and each drawing described above will be used. With reference to an example, a description will be given of a method of searching an electronic form according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0028]
First, in the definition of a layout, it is necessary to define the number of lines constituting a record in a form and a plurality of items to be searched in the line as information for constructing the layout. By defining such a layout, data can be associated in layout units, and data conditioned on a plurality of items can be searched as a layout.
[0029]
As described above, the definition example 1 shown in FIG. 1A is a definition example of the layout of one line, and the items of the product name, the price, and the number are items to be searched. Further, definition example 2 shown in FIG. 1B is a definition example in which two rows constitute one layout. The definition example 3 shown in FIGS. 1C and 1D is a definition example in a case where a plurality of layouts are mixed, and the layout of the upper row (sales information) is the layout of the lower row (product information). ) And a parent-child relationship. As a result, the layout of the specific product information in the specific sales can be searched. For example, a layout can be searched under conditions such as sales information / month is January and product information / product is video.
[0030]
Here, when a form includes a plurality of layouts, it is necessary to determine which layout corresponds to a certain row. As a determination method, a layout can be determined by adding a determination condition as a key item for determining one or more specific items in the layout items. As the determination conditions, for example, a specific character string is included in an item, a character string that is not a specific character string (for example, a blank) is included in an item, or a special format such as a numerical value or date and time is included in an item. In the embodiment of the present invention, the layout can be determined on the condition that the characters “*” and “**” are included in the identification item of the product information. In addition, the layout of the sales information can be determined on the condition that the sales information is not product information without specifying a condition.
[0031]
The method of defining the parent-child relationship of the layout is defined by a tree method as described above with reference to FIG. By defining in a tree format, it is possible to define a parent-child relationship of a complicated layout.
[0032]
The layout search conditions using the parent-child relationship have been described with reference to FIG. 3, and an output example in the case where a search has been performed with the search conditions has been described. In the case of a form search in which a plurality of related layouts exist, The data is grouped according to the hierarchical relationship of the layout and then displayed as hits. In the grouping, when a lower-level layout follows an upper-level layout, the layout is treated as one group until an equivalent or higher layout appears. By such grouping, related data can be displayed in a hit manner in a related form.
[0033]
Specifically, as described above, when a search is performed by the search under the search condition 4 described with reference to FIG. 3, the hit layout group is displayed as shown in FIG. 4B. This makes it possible to judge at a glance the cluster of related data. When a search is made by the search under the search condition 5 described with reference to FIG. 3, as a search for a specific layout, only the corresponding lower layout is hit and displayed as shown in FIG. 4C. Further, when a search is made by the search under the search condition 6 described with reference to FIG. 3, the upper layout group is displayed as a hit as shown in FIG. 4D, and the lower layout is also hit with another color. indicate. This makes it easier to obtain necessary information.
[0034]
Normally, in a search of an electronic form, search hit information is output in a CSV format and can be taken into EXCEL (registered trademark) or the like. Each example of the search hit information shown in FIG. 4 shows an output example when hit data is output in CSV format, and the example shown in FIG. 4A is an example in which data of one layout is output. One layout is treated as a meaningful data unit, and is output in units of rows.
[0035]
The example shown in FIG. 5 shows a general format when search hit data designating a higher-order layout of the search condition 4 described with reference to FIG. 3 is output in a CSV format. As shown in FIG. 4 (b), everything from the highest level to the lower level of the tree is arranged in order from the highest level to the lower level.
[0036]
Next, a method of arranging the items in the layout to make the items in the layout relevant will be described. The arrangement of items is useful when there is an unspecified number of items having the same meaning. If the items are not arranged, all of the items must be defined as separate items, and the search condition becomes complicated. In particular, when the number of values included in an item in one layout is not specified, it is possible to easily perform a search.
[0037]
In the example of the form in which the number of values included in the item in one layout shown in FIG. 6 described above is unspecified, the number of months varies depending on the year. In this case, the row displaying the year and month is defined as the upper layout, and the product portion is defined as the lower layout. Then, the month portion is defined as the array item in the upper layout, and the numeral portion is defined as the array item in the lower layout. An example of the layout definition in this case is as shown in FIG. 7 as described above.
[0038]
In the search for array items, it is possible to perform a search on the condition of each array individual item. However, the embodiment of the present invention also enables an item search as an aggregate ignoring the array. For example, a certain year such as March and May is searched.
[0039]
Further, the embodiment of the present invention can make it possible to perform a search by associating an array item with a layout item having a parent-child relationship, thereby enabling a search for complicated conditions. For example, it is possible to perform a search under such a condition that a product whose March number is 5 or more is searched. An example in which the search hit information in this case is output as a CSV is the example already described with reference to FIG. Further, for example, in the item of the number of sales, it is possible to search for a specific arrangement position such as searching for a month in which the number of videos is 20 or more. In this case, the CSV output of the search hit information is such that only the array hit in the array item is output and the non-applicable array is ignored. An example of the search hit information in this case is the example already described with reference to FIG.
[0040]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, in a search for an electronic form, data can be searched for any form in consideration of data relevance.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a definition example of a layout.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the definition of a layout in a tree format.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating search conditions when searching for a form having a combination of layouts.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an output example of search hit data when a form having the layout described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 is searched under the search conditions described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a general format when search hit data specifying a higher-order layout is output in a CSV format.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a form in which the number of values included in an item in one layout is unspecified.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example in which a layout is defined for the form shown in FIG. 6;
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example in which search hit information when the form shown in FIG. 6 is searched using array items is output in CSV format.
9 is a diagram showing sales information and product information defined as a layout in a tree format described with reference to FIG. 2, and an example of a form including the information.
[Explanation of symbols]
1-3 Example of layout definition 4-6 Example of search condition 7-12 Example of search hit data output in CSV format

Claims (3)

In a method of searching an electronic form handled by a computer system, a layout is defined as an aggregate of rows in a plurality of forms, and a parent-child relationship of the layout is defined in a tree form to classify the form data. An electronic form search method, wherein form data is searched based on the definition of the layout. Define an array type item for the data items included in the layout, treat a plurality of items as items having the same meaning, perform association between layouts having a parent-child relationship with respect to array items, and specify data of a specific array position. 2. The search method for an electronic form according to claim 1, wherein the search is performed. The search condition for retrieving the form data based on the definition of the layout is a search condition designating at least one hierarchical layout in the parent-child relationship of the layout, and all the form data corresponding to the search condition are searched. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the electronic form is extracted.

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