JP2005115753A - Device, method and program for processing search result, recording media, and search result processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the burden of a user needed to obtain desired node information when searching a database in which nodes each given a predetermined keyword are arranged in the form of a tree structure and to display points of information in a user-friendly way. <P>SOLUTION: This device for processing search results processes a tree structure database 12 in which the nodes each given a predetermined keyword are arranged in the form of a tree structure. That is, the device has a keyword search part 11 that searches the tree structure database 12 for nodes matching inputted keywords, and a display data creating part that creates display data for displaying together the content of at least one of the corresponding nodes found by the search and at least one of the keywords matching the node higher than the corresponding node in the tree structure. The characteristics of the nodes searched for are thus made clear and the burden of the user needed to obtain the desired node information is reduced. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a search result processing apparatus, a search result processing method, a search result processing program, a recording medium, and a search result processing system for displaying a search result of a user in an easy-to-understand manner.

  Conventionally, there is a method for providing information described in an HTML format or the like. However, since such information is usually provided in a network structure that is associated with each other in a network, it is difficult for a user to understand.

  Therefore, generally, as shown in FIG. 3, a method is used in which information is classified into a plurality of menus manually in advance and arranged in a tree structure. Specifically, each piece of information is classified into a plurality of menus according to type, and is divided into a plurality of menus for each type. Therefore, each information can be browsed by selecting a menu including the information.

  And when acquiring the information about "Hotel of Nara" from the information arranged in the tree structure as shown in FIG. 3, the following conventional techniques 1 to 3 are known as user interfaces.

  1. The user selects a menu corresponding to the level of the hierarchy from the top menu, and selects a tree path of “Hotel in Nara” (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-46338). For example, if the information is organized in a tree structure as shown in FIG. 3, the user can select “Travel” in the hierarchy level 1 menu, “Reserve” in the hierarchy level 2 menu, and the hierarchy level 3 menu. For example, “Nara” is selected from the “Hotel” and Level 5 menus.

  2. The tree structure data as shown in FIG. 3 is displayed as it is (see JP-A-6-36042), and the user selects a menu.

3. When the user inputs a keyword such as “Nara”, as shown in FIG. 22, all information belonging to a menu matching the keyword (hereinafter referred to as a search result menu) is displayed, and the user further desires from among them. Select the information.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 5-46338 (Publication Date: August 20, 1991) Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-36042 (publication date February 20, 1994)

  However, the prior arts 1 to 3 have the following problems. In addition, the number of each subject corresponds with the number of a corresponding prior art.

  1. In the case where the tree hierarchy is large, the user must select a menu many times and specify the path of the tree until the user obtains desired information, so that the burden on the user is very large. In addition, it is difficult for the user to know what menu should be selected at which level.

  2. When a large-scale tree structure is displayed, it is necessary for the user to visually search a tree path including a desired keyword from a large number of menus, and the burden on the user is large to obtain desired information.

  3. When there are a large number of search result menus, if the matching information is displayed as a list as shown in FIG. 22, it is difficult for the user to understand the point of the information content, and it is difficult to intuitively know which information to select.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problem, and reduces the burden on the user to obtain desired information, and the search result processing device for displaying the information points in an easy-to-understand manner to the user, An object is to provide a search result processing method, a search result processing program, a recording medium, and a search result processing system.

  In order to solve the above problems, the following matters can be raised.

  1. When displaying the search result, the keywords corresponding to the upper nodes of the search result menu are displayed together. The tree-structured menu creator tends to add a keyword representing a high-level concept to the high-level menu. Therefore, displaying the keywords together makes it easy for the user to understand the points of information content.

  2. When displaying the keywords corresponding to the upper nodes of the search result menu together, the duplicate keywords are omitted or replaced with specific symbols. For example, instead of displaying all the keywords of the upper node as shown in FIG. 17, duplicate keywords such as “travel”, “Kinki”, “region information” are omitted, and FIG. 14, FIG. 15 or FIG. To display. By omitting duplicate keywords or replacing them with specific symbols, the points of information content can be emphasized more.

  3. When displaying multiple search result menus, the search result menus are ranked using the distance between the currently browsed menu and the search result menu tree structure, The image is displayed on the back on a pseudo 3D display (a two-dimensional plane image that is displayed three-dimensionally so as to have a pseudo depth). In this case, keywords corresponding to the upper menu are not hidden. For example, in the case of the menu structure as shown in FIG. 3, a menu of “travel-reservation-hotel” is displayed, and when “Nara” is entered and searched, as shown in FIG. 14, FIG. 15 or FIG. Is displayed. Creators of tree-structured menus tend to place highly relevant menus close to the tree structure, and users can intuitively understand how much the search result information is related to the current information. It is easy to understand which information should be selected. In addition, since the second and lower menus display only keywords, only information points can be displayed in a compact manner.

  The configuration for realizing the above items is specifically as follows.

  The search result processing apparatus according to the present invention is a search result processing apparatus for a database in which nodes assigned with a predetermined keyword are arranged in a tree structure, and searches for a node corresponding to an input keyword in the database. Means, and display data creation means for creating display data for displaying at least one content of the corresponding node determined by the search and at least one of keywords corresponding to a higher node in the tree structure of the corresponding node. It is characterized by having.

  In the above search result processing device, the display data creating means includes the display data in which the duplicate keyword is omitted when there are a plurality of the relevant nodes and there are duplicates of keywords of higher nodes of the relevant nodes. It is good also as a structure which produces.

  In the above search result processing device, the display data creation means replaces the duplicate keyword with a specific symbol when there are a plurality of the relevant nodes and there are duplicates of keywords of the upper nodes of the relevant nodes. The display data may be created.

  In the above search result processing device, the display data creation means includes inter-node distance calculation means for calculating a distance between the currently displayed node and the corresponding node on the tree structure, and the distance between the nodes is The smaller the size is, the larger the font size of the keyword corresponding to the upper node of the corresponding node may be.

  In the above search result processing device, the display data creation means includes inter-node distance calculation means for calculating a distance between the currently displayed node and the corresponding node on the tree structure, and the distance between the nodes is The display data may be created such that the smaller the size is, the more the drawing area corresponding to the corresponding node is arranged in front in the pseudo 3D display.

  The search result processing method of the present invention is a computer search result processing method for a database in which nodes to which a predetermined keyword is assigned are arranged in a tree structure, and searches the database for a node corresponding to the input keyword. And a display data creation step for creating display data for displaying together at least one content of the corresponding node corresponding to the search and at least one keyword corresponding to a higher node in the tree structure of the corresponding node It is characterized by including.

  The search result processing program of the present invention is a search result processing program for operating any of the search result processing apparatuses described above, and is for causing a computer to function as each of the above-described means.

  The recording medium of the present invention is a computer-readable medium on which the search result processing program is recorded.

  The search result processing system of the present invention is a search result processing system configured by connecting a search processing device as a network server and at least one terminal device as a network client via a network. The terminal device receives input means, transmission means for transmitting a keyword input via the input means to the search processing device via the network, and display data transmitted from the search processing device. A search result processing device for a database in which nodes to which a predetermined keyword is assigned are arranged in a tree structure. Receiving means for receiving the keyword transmitted from the terminal device via the network; A search means for searching the database for a node corresponding to the keyword, and at least one content of the corresponding node determined by the search and at least one keyword corresponding to an upper node in the tree structure of the corresponding node. Display data creating means for creating display data to be transmitted, and transmission means for transmitting the display data created by the display data creating means to the terminal device.

  With the above configuration, the following effects can be obtained in the present invention.

  1. As shown in FIG. 9, FIG. 10 or FIG. 11, the search is performed by arranging the regions 2, region 3,..., Region n in which the upper keywords of each searched node are drawn so as not to overlap. Compared to displaying information of all nodes, the user can easily understand the points of information and select desired information. In addition, by overlapping the area where the information content is displayed, the display screen area can be used more efficiently than when the information of all the searched nodes is displayed.

  2. By omitting duplicate keywords from the upper keywords or replacing them with other symbols, only keywords that represent the content of information remain, so that the points of information content can be more emphasized.

  3. The smaller the distance between the currently displayed node and the searched node, the larger the font size of the keyword, or by placing the drawing area in the foreground on the pseudo 3D, the user can see how much information of the search result is. It is easy to understand intuitively whether it is related to the information currently being viewed, and it is easy to judge which information should be selected.

  The effect by each structure of this invention is specifically as follows.

  The search result processing apparatus according to the present invention is a display for displaying both search means and at least one content of a corresponding node corresponding to the search and at least one of keywords corresponding to an upper node in the tree structure of the corresponding node. Display data creating means for creating data.

  Also, the search result processing method of the present invention displays the search step, at least one content of the corresponding node corresponding to the search, and at least one of keywords corresponding to a higher-level node in the tree structure of the corresponding node. A display data creation step for creating the display data.

  Further, the search result processing system of the present invention is a search result processing system configured by connecting a search processing device as a network server and at least one terminal device as a network client via a network. The terminal device includes an input unit, a transmission unit, a reception unit, and a display unit, and the search processing device includes at least a reception unit, a search unit, and a corresponding node corresponding to the search. Display data creation means for creating display data for displaying together one content and at least one of the keywords corresponding to the upper node in the tree structure of the corresponding node, and transmission means.

  According to the above configuration, by the action of the display data creation means and the display data creation step, at least one content of the corresponding node corresponding to the search and at least one keyword corresponding to the upper node in the tree structure of the corresponding node are obtained. Since both can be displayed, it is easier for the user to understand the point of information and to select desired information than to display information of all searched nodes.

  In addition, when the display areas of the information contents of the corresponding nodes are displayed so as to overlap each other, the display screen area can be used more efficiently than displaying the information contents of all the corresponding nodes.

  In the search result processing system, the search processing device performs keyword search and display data creation, so that the burden on the terminal device can be reduced. Further, since the search processing apparatus has the tree structure database, there is no need to rewrite the tree structure database in the terminal device.

  In the above search result processing device, the display data creating means includes the display data in which the duplicate keyword is omitted when there are a plurality of the relevant nodes and there are duplicates of keywords of higher nodes of the relevant nodes. It is good also as a structure which produces.

  According to the above configuration, by omitting duplicate keywords, only keywords that represent the content of information remain, so that the point of information content can be more emphasized.

  In the above search result processing device, the display data creation means replaces the duplicate keyword with a specific symbol when there are a plurality of the relevant nodes and there are duplicates of keywords of the upper nodes of the relevant nodes. The display data may be created.

  According to the above configuration, since the overlapping keywords are replaced with different symbols, only the keywords that represent the information contents remain, and the points of the information contents can be emphasized more.

  In the above search result processing device, the display data creating means may be configured to increase the font size of the keyword corresponding to the upper node of the corresponding node as the distance between the nodes is smaller.

  According to the above configuration, the user can intuitively understand how much the search result information is related to the currently viewed information, and can easily determine which information should be selected.

  In the above search result processing device, the display data creation means creates the display data so that the drawing area corresponding to the node is arranged in front in the pseudo 3D display as the distance between the nodes is smaller. It is good also as a structure.

  According to the above configuration, it becomes easy for the user to intuitively understand how much the search result information is related to the currently viewed information, and it is easy to determine which information should be selected. In addition, when a part or all of the contents of information other than the node with the closest distance between the nodes is hidden, the user only has to look at the keywords for the information, and thus to obtain desired information. There is little burden.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 3, the search result processing apparatus of the present invention performs search result processing for a database in which nodes to which predetermined keywords are assigned are arranged in a tree structure. First, the hardware configuration when the present invention is implemented by one terminal device will be described with reference to FIG. Here, the search result processing apparatus of the present invention is applied to a search result display apparatus having a search result display function.

  2 includes a CPU 1, an input device 2, a microphone 3, a display device 4, a RAM 5, and an HD drive 6, and each unit is connected by a bus 7.

  The CPU 1 constitutes a keyword search unit 11 (search unit) and a display data creation unit 13 (display data creation unit) which will be described later, stores processing results thereof in the RAM 5, and displays the contents stored in the RAM 5 as a display device. 4 is output.

  The input device 2 includes a keyboard having various keys such as cursor keys, a handwritten OCR, or a pointing device (for example, a mouse), and a signal input by the input device 2 (for example, a signal of a key pressed on the keyboard). Output to CPU1.

  The microphone 3 is a device that captures sound. The acquired audio data is stored in the RAM 5. However, if voice input is not used, there is no need to provide a microphone.

  The display device 4 includes a CRT, a liquid crystal monitor, and the like, and displays data on the RAM 5.

  The RAM 5 has a work area for storing designated means, input instructions, input data, temporary data, and processing data. Note that a storage area for data to be output to the display device 4 may have a display-dedicated RAM in addition to the RAM 5. Similarly, a display-dedicated CPU may be provided separately from the CPU 1 for data processing to be output to the display device 4.

  The HD drive 6 stores a program for carrying out the present invention and data for describing the tree structure menu shown in FIG.

  Here, data for describing the tree structure menu will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 shows a data structure of the node, and the node is composed of a node identifier, an identifier list for an upper node, an identifier list for a lower node, information content data, a keyword list, and a keyword match counter.

  The node identifier is an ID for identifying the data itself (node) shown in FIG. The node position information in the tree structure can be specified by having a list of the upper node identifier and the lower node identifier. The information content data is specific information such as “▼ Nara hotel information...” As shown in FIG. 14, and is composed of text, image, or sound data. The keyword list is a list of character strings corresponding to menu names. As will be described later, the keyword match counter is used for keyword search. However, tree-structured node data must be created manually in advance.

  FIG. 5 is a specific example of data when the database is structured in a tree structure as shown in FIG. 3 (in the following description, the tree structure database in FIG. 3 is specifically configured with data as shown in FIG. Explain). The data of each node in FIG. 5 includes, in order from the top, a node identifier, an identifier list for an upper node, an identifier list for a lower node, information content data, a keyword list, and a keyword match counter. For example, the node of the keyword “travel” with the node identifier 2 is the node (identifier 0) of the keyword “top menu” in the upper node, the keywords “gourmet” (node identifier 5) and “reservation” (node identifier 6) in the lower node. It shows that it has two nodes. Here, “NULL” is a symbolic word indicating nothing. In the example of FIG. 5, the information content data is represented by a file name, read as necessary, and output to the display device 4.

  Next, functional blocks when the present invention is implemented in a search result display device as one terminal device will be described with reference to FIG. The search result display device includes an input unit 10, a keyword search unit 11, a tree structure database 12, a display data creation unit 13, and a display unit 14.

  The tree structure database 12 is specifically a collection of data shown in FIG. 4 and is stored in the HD drive 6.

  In the input unit 10, a word string is input by the user. The input unit 10 includes the input device 2 or the microphone 3.

  The keyword search unit 11 is configured by the CPU 1 and a program executed by the CPU 1, and searches the tree structure database 12 for a node having a keyword that matches each word input by the input unit 10.

  The display data creation unit 13 includes a CPU 1 and a program executed by the CPU 1. The display data creation unit 13 includes an inter-node distance calculation unit 13a, a keyword font size change unit 13b, and a screen layout unit 13c. In order to output the data to the display device 4, a search as shown in FIG. 14, FIG. 15, or FIG. A result screen is created in the RAM 5.

  The inter-node distance calculation unit 13a obtains the distance between the currently displayed node and each node corresponding to the search result.

  In the keyword font size changing unit 13b, display data is created so that the font size of the keyword corresponding to the upper node of the searched node is increased as the distance between the nodes obtained by the inter-node distance calculating unit 13a is smaller. . Then, in the screen layout unit 13c, the drawing area corresponding to the searched node is arranged on the front side in the pseudo 3D as the distance between the nodes obtained by the inter-node distance calculation unit 13a is smaller.

  For example, in FIG. 14, FIG. 15 or FIG. 16, the travel-reservation-hotel node is displayed and the keyword “Nara” is entered and searched, so that it is currently displayed as shown in FIG. 17. The keyword font of “Travel-Reservation-Hotel-Kinki”, which is the node closest to the node, is displayed in the largest size, and the information content of “Travel-Reservation-Hotel-Kinki-Nara” is placed in the foreground on the pseudo 3D. The

  The display unit 14 displays the display data created on the RAM 5 by the display data creation unit 13 on the display device 4.

  Here, the operation of the search result display device in the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, in step S1 (hereinafter, step S is abbreviated as S), a node data set as shown in FIG.

  In S2, a display node that is a node corresponding to menu information to be displayed is set as a top node. The display node is a node corresponding to the information currently displayed, and is stored in the RAM 5 (hereinafter, the display node is stored in the RAM 5). Here, the node of the keyword “top menu” with the node identifier 0 in FIG. 5 is set as the display node.

  In S3, the information content data of the display node is displayed on the display device 4. However, if the information content data is NULL, only the lower menu is displayed. If the information content data is NULL and the lower menu is NULL, nothing is displayed.

  In S4, S5 and S6, the type of user input is determined. User input may be performed from either the input device 2 or the microphone 3. However, when speech input is performed using the microphone 3, a speech recognition system having a speech recognition dictionary describing keywords of all nodes is required. When the user input is an end instruction (S4), the operation of the search result display device is ended. If the user input is menu selection (S5), the node corresponding to the selected menu is set as the display node (S7), and the information content data of the display node is displayed on the display device 4 (S8). When the user input is a keyword input (S6), the process proceeds to S9, and the processes of S9 to S15 are appropriately performed as follows.

  In S9, a node having the same keyword as the input keyword is searched. The process of S9 will be described in detail later.

  In S10, display data is created to display the search result menu based on the node acquired in S9. The process of S10 will be described in detail later. In S11, the display data created in S10 is displayed on the display device 4.

  After displaying the search result menu, in S12 and S13, the user input is awaited. When the user input is selection of a search result menu (S12), a node corresponding to the selected menu is set as a display node (S14), and information content data of the display menu is displayed on the display device 4 ( S15).

  When the information content display process in S15 is completed, the user input is awaited in S4, S5, and S6. In the search result menu display process, if there are too many search result menus to fit on one screen, the search result menu will be divided and displayed (the specific process will be described in the description of S9). Describe). In this case, as shown in FIG. 9, a “next page” button is prepared, and when the user gives an instruction to turn the next page, the screen of the search result menu is switched in S16.

  Here, the keyword search processing in S9 of FIG. 6 by the keyword search unit 11 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

  In S101, the keyword match counters of all nodes in the tree structure database unit 12 are initialized to zero.

  In S102 and S103, for each input word (keyword input by the user), a character string comparison is performed with a character string in the keyword list of each node. As a result of this comparison, if the input word (input keyword) matches the character string of the node (S104), and if the character strings match, the keyword match counter of that node is incremented in S105. The processes of S104 and S105 are performed for combinations of all input words and all nodes. However, when keywords are input in the form of sentences, it is necessary to divide them into word strings using morphological analysis or the like. In the case of the tree structure database as shown in FIG. 3, if “Nara” is entered, the keyword match counter of all nodes having the keyword “Nara” becomes 1.

  Next, the display data creation processing of the search result menu in S10 of FIG. 6 by the display data creation unit 13 will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. S201 to SS206 are processes by the inter-node distance calculation unit 13a, S207 to S209 are processes by the keyword font size changing unit 13b, and S210 is a process by the screen layout unit 13c.

  As shown in FIG. 9, FIG. 10, or FIG. 11, the layout of the screen when displaying the search result menu is such that the area 2, area 3,. It will be arranged as follows. Then, display data is created by modifying a screen template as shown in FIG. 9, FIG. 10, or FIG. By displaying the search result based on such a template, the user can easily understand the point of information and select desired information, rather than displaying the list of all the searched node information as shown in FIG. It becomes easy. In addition, by overlapping the display area of the information content, the display screen area can be used more efficiently than displaying the information of all searched nodes.

  In the following description, processing when the screen template of FIG. 9 is used will be described. Further, since the process can be easily applied even when the screen templates of FIGS. 10 and 11 are used, the description of the cases of FIGS. 10 and 11 is omitted.

  First, the processing of S201 to S205 will be described. The processes of S201 to S205 are processes for acquiring a tree path (hereinafter referred to as a search result path) from a root node (for example, the node located at the top of the drawing) to a node with a matching keyword.

  In S201, all the nodes with matching keywords (keyword matching counter is 1 or more) are assigned to the stack. When “Nara” is entered in the tree structure database as shown in FIG. 3, “Travel-Gourmet-Kinki”, “Travel-Reservation-Hotel-Kinki”, “Regional information-Transport-Kinki” and “Regional information-Weather” -Each node of the keyword "Nara" existing under "Kinki" is assigned to the stack.

  Here, the stack is a buffer created on the RAM 5 every time the process of S9 is started. Then, the processes of S203 to S205 are repeated until the stack becomes empty.

  In S203, the node in the stack is popped from the lowest layer node, that is, the node farthest from the root node. When “Nara” is entered in the tree structure database as shown in FIG. 3, the node of the keyword “Nara” that exists under “Travel-Reservation-Hotel-Kinki” is the lowest layer node and is stacked first. Popped from.

  In S204, a search result path that is a tree path from the root node to the popped node is acquired. This can be acquired by following the identifier of the upper node from the popped node to the root node. The search result path is specifically represented by a node identifier string and stored in the RAM 5. Further, the lowest layer node in the search result route is a node to be moved, and is hereinafter referred to as a movement destination node. When “Nara” is entered in the tree structure database as shown in FIG. 3 and the node of the keyword “Nara” existing under the “travel-reservation-hotel-kinki” is popped, “travel”, “reservation” , “Hotel”, “Kinki” as a keyword identifier column of nodes is a search result path. Further, the node of the keyword “Nara” popped at that time becomes the destination node.

  In S205, the node that matches the node on the search result path acquired in S204 is deleted from the stack. This is to prevent the display of overlapping tree paths.

  When “Nara” is entered in the tree structure database of FIG. 3, “Travel-Reservation-Hotel-Kinki-Nara”, “Travel-Gourmet-Kinki-Nara”, “Regional Information-” is performed by the processing of S202 to S205. A search result route of “transport-Kinki-Nara” and “local information-weather-Kinki-Nara” is obtained.

  Next, the processing of S206 to S210 will be described. In the processes of S206 to S210, a screen layout for outputting the search results acquired in the processes of S201 to S205 is performed.

  In S206, the distance between the display node and the movement destination node is calculated for the search result route. However, the distance from a certain node A to a certain node B is defined as “the number of nodes existing in the route from the node A to the node B + 1”. For example, in the case of FIG. 3, there is a “travel” and “reservation” node between the “gourmet” node and the “hotel” node, so the distance is 3. This distance intuitively represents how much the current viewing information and the information of the movement destination are deviated. The node distance calculated in S206 is stored in the RAM 5 in association with each search result path.

  In S207, the search result paths are sorted in ascending order of the node distance calculated in S206 (information order close to the display information) and divided into n pieces (hereinafter, each set of divided n search result paths). Is called the same screen set). Here, if the node distances are the same, the keywords may be arranged in alphabetical order (in Roman alphabet for Japanese). However, n is the number of search results that can be displayed at a time and is defined in advance. n may be any integer, but if n is too large, the heights of the regions 2, 3,..., n in FIG. n is preferably determined empirically from the resolution of the display device 4, but may be set to 10, for example.

  In S208, the height of the area for displaying the keyword for each search result (height of areas 2, 3,..., N in FIG. 9) is calculated. Specifically, the height of each area of a certain screen set is “the height of the entire keyword display area (see FIG. 9) × the reciprocal of the distance between nodes / the distance between nodes for the search result path of the same screen set”. This is expressed as the sum of the reciprocal numbers. However, the inter-node distance here is the distance obtained in S206. Here, the height of the region 1 needs to be set in advance. For example, the height may be set to 2/3 of the screen size. Instead of “the height of the entire keyword display area”, “the height of the area 1 + the height of the entire keyword display area” may be used. In that case, the initial setting of the height of the region 1 becomes unnecessary. In this way, by increasing the height at which the keyword is displayed as the distance between the nodes is smaller, the user can intuitively understand how much information in the search results relates to the information currently viewed, and which information It is easy to understand whether to choose.

  In S209, a keyword string for each search result path drawn in the areas 2 to n in FIG. 9 is created. As shown in FIG. 17, even if the keyword string corresponding to the node identifier string of the search result path is displayed in order, the point of the information is easy to understand, but by deleting or substituting duplicate keywords, the contents of the information are represented. Since only the keywords remain, the points of information become easier to understand. The process of S209 will be described in detail later.

  In S210, the heights of the regions 2 to n of the template in FIG. 9 are set to the values obtained in S208, the keyword string obtained in S209 is written in each region, and the display data is stored in the RAM 5.

  FIG. 14 shows an example of display data created based on the screen template of FIG. 9 when searching for “Nara” in the tree structure database as shown in FIG. 15 and 16 are display data created based on the screen templates of FIGS. 10 and 11, respectively.

  In FIG. 15, only one piece of information content data is displayed, and a part of the upper keywords are displayed in the search results of the second and lower ranks. In this case, there is an advantage that the display screen area can be used most efficiently.

  14 and 16, there is an advantage that a part of the information content data of the second or lower search result can be displayed. However, in FIG. 14 and FIG. 16, the place where the information content data of the search result of the second place or lower is shown is different.

  Each of the screen templates of FIGS. 9 and 10 has advantages and disadvantages, and it is preferable to select in advance which one to use according to the user's preference.

  Next, the process for creating the keyword string displayed in S209 will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In order to make the explanation easy to understand, a specific example of processing when “Nara” is searched in the tree structure database of FIG. 3 will be described with reference to FIG. However, since the destination node of each search result always has the same keyword (for example, when searching for “Nara” in the tree structure database of FIG. 3, the keywords of the destination node are all Nara), these are the processing targets in S209. do not become.

  In S301, the counter i is initialized to 1. The counter i indicates data of each search result route.

  In S302, it is determined whether i is equal to or less than the number of search result paths. If i is larger than the number of search result paths, it is considered that the process for all the search result paths is finished, and the process of S209 is ended.

  In S303, the i-th search result route Ri is acquired. At this time, the movement destination node of the search result route Ri is excluded from the processing target. For example, in FIG. 13, the first search result route R1 is “travel-reservation-hotel-kinki” excluding the destination node of the keyword “Nara”.

  In steps after S303, a process for deleting a keyword that overlaps each keyword of the search result Ri is performed.

  In S304, the counter j is initialized to 1. The counter j indicates each keyword existing in the search result route Ri.

In S305, it is determined whether j is equal to or less than the total number of keywords in the search result route Ri.
If j is less than or equal to the total number of keywords in the search result route Ri, the jth keyword Kj of the search result route Ri is acquired in S306. For example, in FIG. 13, the first keyword K1 of the search result route R1 is “travel”.

  In S307, the counter m is initialized to 1 and the erase flag is set to OFF. The counter m indicates data of each search result route. The deletion flag is a flag indicating whether or not to delete the keyword Kj.

  In S308, it is determined whether m is equal to or less than the number of search result paths.

  If m is equal to or less than the number of search result routes, the search result route Rm is acquired in S309. Also at this time, the destination node of the search result route Rm is excluded from the processing target.

  In S310, it is determined whether or not the search result paths Ri and Rm are different. If Ri and Rm are the same, the process is skipped and the process proceeds to S317.

  In S311, the counter n is initialized to 1. The counter n indicates each keyword existing in the search result route Rm. If n is equal to or less than the total number of keywords of the search result route Rm, the nth keyword Kn of the search result route Rm is acquired in S313.

  In S314, it is determined whether or not the keyword Kj of the search result route Ri matches the keyword Kn of the search result route Rm. If they match, the keyword Kn is deleted in S315. In S315, an erase flag is set to ON to erase the keyword Kj. For example, in FIG. 13, since the keyword K1 “travel” of the search result route R1 matches the “travel” of the keyword K1 of the search result route R2, the keyword “travel” of the search result route R2 is deleted. .

  The processing of S313 to S316 is performed for all keywords in the search result route Rm.

  If it is determined in S308 that m is greater than the number of search result paths, that is, if the process for all search result paths Rm is completed, the process proceeds to S318.

  In S318, it is determined whether or not the erasure flag is ON. If it is ON, the keyword Kj is deleted. For example, in FIG. 13, when the keyword K1 “travel” in the search result route R2 is deleted, the deletion flag is set to ON, so the keyword K1 “travel” in the search result route R1 is deleted.

  In S320, j is incremented, and the process proceeds to S305. If j is larger than the total number of keywords in the search result path Ri in S305, the process proceeds to S321, the counter i is incremented, and the process for the next search result path is performed.

  Further, instead of deleting a keyword in steps S315 and S319, a symbol such as * may be substituted as shown in FIG. However, if there are multiple paths with similar keywords in the tree structure database, there will be a search result path in which all keywords are completely deleted, so do not create such paths when creating a tree structure menu. It is necessary to keep.

  In the above description, the search result display device according to the present embodiment is configured by one terminal device, and all processing is performed by the terminal device. However, the search result display device is a telephone line as shown in FIG. Alternatively, a server / client system connected to each other via a communication line such as a LAN cable may be used.

  In this case, data input by the input unit (input unit) 20 of the client device (terminal device) 31 is transmitted to the server (search processing device) 32 by the transmission unit (transmission unit) 21. The server 32 receives the data input by the client device 31 at the reception unit (reception unit) 22, and, similar to the processing in FIG. 1, the keyword search unit (search unit) 23, the tree structure database 24, and display data creation Display data is created by the unit (display data creation means) 25, and the display data is transmitted to the client device 31 by the transmission unit (transmission means) 26. In the client device 31, the display data received by the reception unit (reception unit) 27 is displayed on the display unit (display unit) 28.

  At this time, the processing of S 1, S 2, S 7, S 9, S 10, S 14 and S 16 in FIG. 6 is performed by the server 32, and the other processing is performed by the client device 31.

  As described above, by performing keyword search and display data creation in the server 32, processing of the terminal device (client device 31) can be reduced. Further, since the server 32 has the tree structure database, there is no need to rewrite the tree structure database on the terminal side.

  An object of the present invention is to supply a recording medium that records a program code of software that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments to another system or apparatus, and the computer CPU of the system or apparatus is stored in the recording medium. Needless to say, this can also be achieved by reading and executing the program code.

  In this case, the program code itself read from the recording medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the recording medium on which the program code is recorded constitutes the present invention.

  As a recording medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, or the like can be used.

  The program code may be downloaded from another computer system to a recording device or the like via a transmission medium such as a communication network.

  Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS (operating system) operating on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by performing part or all of the actual processing and the processing is included.

  Furthermore, after the program code read from the recording medium is written in a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function is determined based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that the CPU of the expansion board or function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

  When the present invention is applied to the recording medium, the recording medium stores program codes corresponding to the flowcharts described above.

  Finally, an example (screen display example) of an application (the tree structure database is FIG. 3) to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIGS.

  First, as shown in FIG. 19, the top menu is displayed, and it is waited whether the user selects a menu or inputs a keyword for searching.

  Then, when the user selects the “Travel” menu and subsequently selects the “Reservation” and “Hotel” menus, a menu as shown in FIG. 20 is displayed.

  In the case of FIG. 20, since there are a plurality of menus and it is difficult to select, if the keyword “Nara” is input and the “search button” is pressed, FIG. 14 (FIG. 15 or FIG. 16 may be used). The search result screen is displayed. In this case, since it is assumed that the user wants to see the information below “travel-reservation-hotel”, a search result screen corresponding to a node close to the displayed node (travel-reservation-hotel) in a tree structure By increasing the font size of the upper keyword or displaying it in front on the pseudo 3D, the user can intuitively understand how much the search result information is related to the information currently viewed.

  However, just looking at the “travel-reservation-hotel” menu does not necessarily mean that the user needs only information about nodes below it. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 14, FIG. 15, or FIG. 16, the upper keywords of each searched node are displayed.

  Such applications can be applied to convenience store information terminals, etc. by organizing book information in a tree structure by field and organizing library guidance systems or product information in a tree structure by type. It is.

  The search result processing device, the search result processing method, the search result processing program, the recording medium, and the search result processing system of the present invention can be applied to an information providing service that displays information search results by a user in an easy-to-understand manner.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure at the time of implement | achieving the search result processing apparatus in one Embodiment of this invention with one terminal device by each function part. It is a block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions at the time of implement | achieving the search result processing apparatus in embodiment of this invention with one terminal device. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of a display in an example of the database arranged in the tree structure used as the process target of the search result processing apparatus shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the data structure of the node of a tree structure used as the process target of the search result processing apparatus shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of data of the node of a tree structure when a database is comprised like a tree structure like FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of the search result processing apparatus shown in FIG. 1. It is a flowchart which shows the processing content of S9 of FIG. 6 in detail. It is a flowchart which shows the processing content of S10 of FIG. 6 in detail. It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the template of the screen used in the process of S10 of FIG. It is a schematic diagram which shows the other example of the template of the screen used in the process of S10 of FIG. It is a schematic diagram which shows the further another example of the template of the screen used in the process of S10 of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the processing content of S209 of FIG. 8 in detail. It is explanatory drawing which shows the process example of S209 of FIG. It is a schematic diagram which shows the example of a display of the search result by the search result processing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 with respect to the database shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating another display example of search results obtained by the search result processing apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1 for the database illustrated in FIG. 3. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing still another display example of a search result by the search result processing device shown in FIG. 1 for the database shown in FIG. 3. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing still another display example of a search result by the search result processing device shown in FIG. 1 for the database shown in FIG. 3. It is a block diagram which shows the structure at the time of implement | achieving the search result processing apparatus in embodiment of this invention with a server client system by each function part. It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the application to which this invention is applied. It is a schematic diagram which shows the other example of the application to which this invention is applied. It is a schematic diagram which shows the example of a display at the time of replacing the duplicate keyword with * with respect to the example of a display shown in FIG. It is a schematic diagram which shows the example of a display of the conventional search result with respect to the database shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1 CPU
2 Input device 3 Microphone 4 Display device 5 RAM
6 HD drive 7 Bus 11 Keyword search unit 12 Tree structure database 13 Display data creation unit 13a Inter-node distance calculation unit 13b Keyword font size change unit 13c Screen layout unit 14 Display unit 20 Input unit (input means)
21 Transmitter (transmission means)
22 Receiver (Receiving means)
23 Keyword search part (search means)
24 tree structure database 25 display data creation part (display data creation means)
26 Transmitter (transmission means)
27 Receiver (Receiver)
28 Display section (display means)
31 Client device (terminal device)
32 server (search processing device)

Claims (9)

A search result processing apparatus for a database in which nodes assigned with predetermined keywords are arranged in a tree structure,
Search means for searching the database for a node corresponding to the input keyword;
Display data creating means for creating display data for displaying together at least one content of the corresponding node determined by the search and at least one keyword corresponding to an upper node in the tree structure of the corresponding node; A search result processing apparatus characterized by that.   The display data creation means creates the display data in which the duplicate keyword is omitted when there are a plurality of the relevant nodes and there are duplicates of keywords of the upper nodes of the relevant nodes. The search result processing apparatus according to claim 1.   The display data creation means creates the display data by replacing the duplicate keyword with a specific symbol when there are a plurality of the relevant nodes and there are duplicates of keywords of the upper nodes of the relevant nodes. The search result processing apparatus according to claim 1. The display data creation means includes inter-node distance calculation means for calculating a distance on the tree structure between the currently displayed node and the corresponding node,
The search result processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a font size of a keyword corresponding to a higher-order node of the corresponding node is increased as a distance between the nodes is smaller. The display data creation means includes inter-node distance calculation means for calculating a distance on the tree structure between the currently displayed node and the corresponding node,
The search result processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display data is generated so that a drawing area corresponding to the node is arranged in front in the pseudo 3D display as the distance between the nodes is smaller. . A search result processing method by a computer for a database in which nodes assigned with predetermined keywords are arranged in a tree structure,
A search step of searching the database for a node corresponding to the input keyword;
A display data creation step of creating display data for displaying at least one content of the corresponding node corresponding to the search and at least one of keywords corresponding to a higher-order node in the tree structure of the corresponding node. The search result processing method characterized by this.   A search result processing program for operating the search result processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the search function processing program causes a computer to function as each of the above means.   A computer-readable recording medium on which the search result processing program according to claim 7 is recorded. A search result processing system configured by connecting a search processing device as a network server and at least one terminal device as a network client via a network,
The terminal device
Input means;
Transmitting means for transmitting the keyword input via the input means to the search processing device via the network;
Receiving means for receiving display data transmitted from the search processing device;
Display means for displaying the received display data,
The search processing device includes:
A search result processing apparatus for a database in which nodes assigned with predetermined keywords are arranged in a tree structure,
Receiving means for receiving the keyword transmitted from the terminal device via the network;
Search means for searching the database for a node corresponding to the received keyword;
Display data creating means for creating display data for displaying together at least one content of the corresponding node determined by the search and at least one of the keywords corresponding to the upper node in the tree structure of the corresponding node;
A search result processing system, comprising: transmission means for transmitting display data created by the display data creation means to the terminal device.

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