JP2005115790A - Information retrieval method, information display and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily retrieve various information from a wide range without especially requiring a complicated operation. <P>SOLUTION: This information retrieval method is constituted so that processing such as display of a first content such as a received broadcast program is performed, a keyword relevant to the first processed content is extracted, displayed, a second content in a predetermined form such as a web page on the Internet is retrieved based on the displayed keyword and the second contents searched by the retrieval is displayed. In addition, the method is constituted so that, for example, as a keyword, a plurality of keywords relevant to the program are displayed and it is selected by a user's operation. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an information search method for searching for information via the Internet and the like, an information display device for displaying searched information, and a program for executing information search and display, and in particular, broadcasting such as a television receiver. The present invention relates to a technique suitably applied to an apparatus for displaying content such as a program.

  Conventionally, when trying to access contents on the Internet, such as web pages written in HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language), streaming music, videos, etc., the content is entered by entering the ULR address where the contents exist. An operation to reach the place where it was placed was necessary. As a device for accessing the Internet, a personal computer device is generally used, and in the case of a computer device, characters can be input relatively easily, so input of an ULR address can also be performed relatively easily. The necessary content can be acquired relatively easily.

  On the other hand, home appliances represented by television receivers, video recorders, set-top boxes, etc. have few devices with full-scale keyboards such as computer devices, and perform character input and the like. For this purpose, special measures are required, and it is difficult to easily input an ULR address or the like. Even if the ULR address can be input, the user who handles these home appliances may not have knowledge of access to the Internet, and is required to be easier to operate than a computer device. .

  For this reason, when making it possible to access the Internet with general home appliances, for example, the manufacturer side prepares a “dedicated portal site” corresponding to each device without assuming the input of a URL or the like. The content was accessed according to the link information prepared on the “dedicated portal site”.

Conventionally, for example, in a video device such as a hard disk recorder for recording a television broadcast program, a program corresponding to a keyword input by a user is searched from EPG (Electric Program Guide) data attached to the broadcast program. Things are also being developed. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228561 discloses a search for a broadcast program or the like using a keyword input by the user as described above.
JP 2003-30206 A

  However, if a dedicated portal site is prepared and accessed, it will not be easy to provide users with the fact that there are practically no restrictions on the location of access to the Internet, which does not exist. As a result, only the content that was closed was shown. In addition, when searching for a program to be received from EPG data or the like based on a keyword input by the user, it is necessary to input the keyword by a user operation, and a range to be searched is also transmitted as EPG data. Therefore, it cannot be said that a sufficiently wide range search can be performed.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a point, and an object thereof is to make it possible to easily search various information from a wide range without requiring a particularly complicated operation.

  The present invention displays the first content, extracts and displays a keyword related to the displayed first content, and searches for the second content in a predetermined form based on the displayed keyword. And the second content found by the search is displayed.

  By doing in this way, the thing relevant to the displayed 1st content is automatically searched from the content of a predetermined form using the keyword extracted from the 1st content.

  According to the present invention, since the content related to the first content is automatically searched using the keyword extracted from the first content, the user does not perform the keyword input operation or the like, for example, It becomes possible to view content such as a web page related to the content currently being viewed.

  In this case, the first content is the content of the broadcast program, a keyword is extracted from the program guide information accompanying the content, a web page on the Internet is searched based on the extracted keyword, and the search is performed. By displaying the web page at the same time as the broadcast program, a good keyword can be easily extracted based on the program guide information, and an appropriate web page search on the Internet becomes possible.

  In addition, a keyword related to the first content is extracted by extracting a plurality of candidate keywords and searching for the content based on a keyword selected from the extracted plurality of candidate keywords. A more appropriate keyword can be selected simply by performing an operation of selecting from a plurality of candidate keywords.

  Further, by searching for and displaying another keyword associated with the extracted and displayed keyword, and selecting the displayed another keyword as a keyword for the second content search, the keyword can be further selected. The range expands and it is possible to search for any information that the user wants to know.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an apparatus to which the information search process of this example is applied. In the case of this example, the device is provided with display means capable of displaying a moving image, and can be applied to various information display devices such as a television receiver and a computer device. In FIG. 1, details of a processing unit (for example, a tuner or the like) that executes a function specific to each device such as a television receiver is omitted, and a search based on displayed information and a result of the search are performed. The explanation is centered on the display portion.

  That is, a ROM 12 and a RAM 13 are connected via an internal bus line to a central control unit (CPU) 11 that controls the operation of the apparatus of this example, and further includes a network interface 14 for connecting to an external network. The CPU 11 functions as a control unit that executes information search processing described later, and the connected memories 12 and 13 also function as a database storage unit described later. Further, a program for executing the information search process is mounted on the ROM 12 or the RAM 13, and the CPU 11 executes the information search process based on the program. The storage means such as the RAM 13 may be a storage means such as a hard disk in addition to the semiconductor memory, or may be a removable storage means such as a memory card. When a large-capacity storage means (recording means) such as a hard disk is provided, for example, in the case of a television receiver, a recording function for accumulating broadcast programs may be provided.

  Examples of the network interface 14 include an analog modem for an analog telephone line, a modem for an ISDN line, a router or modem for an ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line), an adapter for a LAN (Local Area Network). A wireless telephone adapter, a wireless communication adapter such as Bluetooth (trademark), and the like are applicable. It is configured to be able to connect to the Internet via the interface 14 having these configurations.

  In addition, a graphic controller 15 for performing display control of various information and moving images is provided. A VRAM 16 that holds video data is connected to the graphic controller 15, and a video drawn under the control of the graphic controller 15 is displayed on the display unit 17. As the display unit 17, display means such as a liquid crystal display panel or a cathode ray tube is used. The display unit 17 can also display a video (image) based on a video signal received by a tuner (not shown) or a video signal input from the outside (for example, a video signal reproduced from a video playback device). The video based on these video signals and the video based on the Internet web page, which will be described later, can be simultaneously displayed on one screen under the control of the graphic controller 15, and character information such as keywords described later can be displayed. It is also possible to display the images in a superimposed manner.

  In addition, an operation unit 19 including various operation keys and operation buttons and a user interface controller 18 that receives operations of the operation unit 19 are provided, and operation data received by the user interface controller 18 is supplied to the CPU 11. Further, the infrared signal received (received) by the light receiving unit 20 is determined by the user interface controller 18, and remote control from a remote control device or the like is also possible.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example in which the apparatus of this example is configured as a television receiver. In this example, as shown in FIG. 2, a video display 17a of a television broadcast program is displayed on the display screen of the display unit 18 of the television receiver 10, and keywords extracted based on the displayed program are displayed. The list display 17c is superimposed on a part of the display of the program. Further, the web page display 17b searched based on the keyword selected from the keyword list display 17c is arranged side by side with the broadcast program display 17a. As for the web page display 17b, for example, when there are a plurality of web pages searched based on a keyword, the plurality of web pages may be displayed in order at regular intervals. When one content to be displayed such as a web page is composed of a plurality of screens, the plurality of screens may be changed in order.

  The display state shown in FIG. 2 shows an example, and the arrangement and display size may be other display forms. In addition, each display may be performed sequentially by switching operation instead of simultaneously. Operations related to these displays can be performed by, for example, key operations arranged on the remote control device 21 attached to the television receiver 10.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example in which the apparatus of this example is configured as a personal computer apparatus. In this example, as shown in FIG. 3, a personal computer device body 30 and a display device 31 are configured, and an image created by the personal computer device body 30 is displayed on the display device 31. In this example, only the keyword list display 31b is displayed on the screen 31a of the display device 31, but the same display as the screen of the television receiver 10 shown in FIG. 2 may be performed.

  Note that processing for performing similar display may be performed by an electronic device having a display function other than the television receiver and the personal computer device shown in FIGS. For example, you may comprise as portable electronic devices, such as PDA (Personal Digital Assistants) and a mobile telephone terminal.

  Next, processing for searching for contents such as a homepage on the Internet using the apparatus of this example will be described. First, in order to perform a search, the apparatus of this example having the configuration shown in FIG. 1 obtains a selected sentence 300 from a sentence 100 input to this apparatus by an arithmetic processing unit functioning as a discrimination engine 200. It is. If, for example, a keyword described later is obtained as the selected sentence 300, a homepage search based on the keyword can be performed. The keyword itself is determined by an arithmetic process in the apparatus of this example. For example, a homepage search based on the determined keyword is searched outside (for example, a search engine prepared on the Internet). The discrimination engine 200 configured in the apparatus includes, for example, a circuit such as a CPU 11 and its peripheral memory.

  The input sentence 100 is text data obtained in relation to the content being displayed (processed) by this apparatus. For example, in the case of a television broadcast program, program guidance information added to the program data is used. There is some EPG (Electric Program Guide) data. FIG. 5 shows an example of EPG data prepared for each program. In addition to the broadcast date and time and the program title, a sentence such as a simple description of the program is added. A determination process is performed for extracting a word (sentence) as a keyword from text data constituting the EPG data.

  If the content being processed by this apparatus is streaming music content and the data embedded in (added to) the music data includes data representing meta information, the keyword is determined from the data. For example, when there is text data added to music data, a determination process is performed to extract a word (sentence) as a keyword from using the text data. For example, in the case of audio data compressed and encoded by a method called MP3 (MPEG1 Audio Layer 3), tag information such as the title and artist name of music data is added as shown in FIG. It is possible to extract keywords from these text data. In the case of moving image content having image data instead of music content, a keyword may be selected based on meta information included in the moving image content.

  As a keyword extraction process, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, the user's preference using this device is analyzed based on the past operation history of the functions handled by this device such as a web browser, media playback, and mail function. From there, keywords can be extracted using sentence analysis techniques and statistical techniques. Then, the extracted keywords are sent as search keywords to a web page search engine prepared on the Internet, for example, and displayed from the candidate web pages obtained as a result. Find and display a suitable web page.

  FIG. 8 shows an example of keyword discrimination by a more specific discrimination engine and a web page search process based on the discriminated keyword. For example, it is extracted from a web page or the like as training data for preference extraction. A process 210 for evaluating the importance of a word based on the keyword group, a process for obtaining a set of keywords by performing a data extraction process 220 based on a user operation from the evaluation data for the importance of the word. 230 is performed. From the obtained keyword collection, a process 240 for extracting a preference vector is performed.

  Also, a process for evaluating the importance of words based on keyword groups extracted from candidate web pages obtained using an external search engine as recommendation candidate data for recommending web pages 250, a process 260 for vectorizing the obtained evaluation data of the importance of the word is performed, a matching calculation process 270 with the preference vector is performed, and a web page having a high similarity is extracted as a display page. Process 280 is performed.

  Here, when vectorization is performed, it is possible to perform “word importance evaluation” by using, for example, the TFIDF method for each vector itself, add evaluation values, and arrange them in order of importance. The TFIDF method is a product of a word appearance frequency TF (term frequency) and an inverse document frequency IDF (inverse document frequency). A document is represented by a feature vector, and the inner product between the documents is taken to be related. Is to examine. By rearranging in order of increasing values (that is, in order of high relevance) by such processing, keywords can be arranged in rank order. In addition, the keyword ranking is updated daily by user operation (for example, evaluation is performed in the process at the time of data extraction in the process 220), so that the keyword ranking can be updated as needed.

  Next, using the search process performed in this manner, a keyword for a program received or reproduced by a television receiver is extracted, and content display or the like is performed based on the extracted keyword. A typical processing example will be described. Here, as shown in FIG. 2, a video display 17a of a television broadcast program is displayed on the display screen of the television receiver 10, and a keyword list display 17c extracted based on the displayed program is displayed. This is an example in which a display 17b of a web page retrieved based on a keyword selected from the list display 17c is displayed by being superimposed on a part of the display of the program.

  The process flow will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 9. The CPU 11 determines whether or not the keyword display mode is selected (step S11), and proceeds to the next process when the keyword display mode is selected. When the keyword display mode is selected, the keyword window is displayed on the screen (step S12). This keyword window corresponds to the list display 17c in the display example of FIG. 2, and here, a plurality of keywords (five keywords in the example of FIG. 2) are extracted from the data of the program being broadcast based on user preferences and the like. Then, a list of the plurality of keywords is displayed.

  Then, it is determined whether or not a specific keyword has been selected by the user's operation from the displayed keywords (step S13). If selected, the selected keyword is searched outside. The search is sent to the engine, and the content corresponding to the keyword is searched from the contents that can be searched by the search engine, such as a web page on the Internet, and the result is displayed as a content window (step S14). When a list of contents is displayed as the contents window, it is determined whether or not it has been selected (step S15). If selected, a process for displaying the selected contents is executed (step S15). Step S16). Note that the content display may be automatically displayed in order from the most suitable one without being selected by a user operation. Then, it is determined whether or not a content display end instruction has been issued (step S17), and when the end instruction is issued, the content display is ended.

  Next, an example of processing executed based on the keyword display will be described. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a display example of the keyword window. As shown in FIG. 10 (a), for example, in the first displayed keyword window, the content that is most suitable for the user's preference at that time is selected from the content (broadcast program, etc.) displayed at that time. Display keywords for. At this time, the display form is such that the keyword selected from the five keywords can be understood. In the example of FIG. 10A, the top keyword is selected. In addition, the keyword window at this time has a button display for closing the display of the keyword window (the portion displayed as “Close”) and a button for searching for another keyword further related to the selected keyword. The display (the part where “Speaking” is displayed) is performed, and when the corresponding part is selected by operating the remote control device, the corresponding operation is performed.

  When one specific keyword is selected, a list of processing candidates to be performed in relation to the keyword is displayed in the keyword window, as shown in FIG. 10B. In this example: Web display, 2. 2. Program reservation; 3. streaming music; You can choose from four streaming videos. When the web display is selected, a web page related to the keyword is searched using a search engine on the Internet and displayed. When the program reservation is selected, a program related to the keyword is searched from the electronic program guide, and automatic recording reservation for the program is performed. When streaming music or streaming video is selected, the streaming music or streaming video that can be acquired on the Internet related to the keyword is searched, and the music is played back or displayed. The search for streaming music and streaming video is also performed using a search engine on the Internet.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example when a program reservation is selected. As shown in FIG. 11A, when a program reservation is selected, a candidate program is searched from the electronic program guide using the keyword selected in the preceding stage. A screen for selecting a genre or the like is displayed as shown in FIG. Then, a list of programs searched based on keywords in the selected genre is displayed as shown in FIG. Then, when making a recording reservation for the found program, the process proceeds to a recording reservation process.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 12 (a), when a program reservation is selected, it is suitable for a keyword among a program broadcast in the past, a program currently broadcast, and a program broadcast in the future. As a display shown in FIG. 12B for searching for and displaying a program, processing corresponding to the program selected from the display may be performed. For example, when a program broadcast in the past is selected, the program data stored in a recording medium such as a hard disk is searched. When the program data is recorded, the program is viewed. Let it begin. When a program currently being broadcast is selected, a channel on which the program is broadcast is received and viewing of the program is started. When a program to be broadcast in the future is selected, a recording reservation is made for the time when the program is broadcast.

  In this example, as described with reference to FIG. 10A, the keyword window is searched for another keyword further related to the selected keyword. An example of processing in that case will be described with reference to FIG. 13. As shown in FIG. 13A, a button display for searching for another keyword related to the keyword ("Speaking of ..." is displayed). When (part) is selected, as shown in FIG. 13B, a list of related searched keywords is displayed at the top of the keyword window. In the lower part of the keyword window, the relationship between the keywords is briefly explained. As for searching for another keyword related to the keyword, the search using the CPU 11 and its peripheral circuit may be performed in the apparatus by the same process as the case where the keyword is first determined. An engine or the like may be used.

  Then, when any keyword is selected by the user operation from the related keyword display shown in FIG. 13B, as shown in FIG. 13C, processing to be performed in relation to the keyword. A list of candidates is displayed in the keyword window. The display shown in FIG. 13C is the same as the display already described with reference to FIG.

  As described above, in a state where display processing of predetermined content (first content) such as viewing of a television broadcast program is being performed, a keyword related to the content is extracted, and based on the keyword By searching and displaying a predetermined form of content (second content) such as a homepage on the Internet or streaming music, the user can input any content with a simple operation without performing a keyword input operation. It becomes possible to find out.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 13, by searching for a plurality of other keywords related to the first selected keyword, a search for content and the like based on the keyword can be performed extensively. Various information related to the original content can be found.

  In the processing described so far, the keyword is automatically searched from the displayed content or the like, but the keyword is input by the user operation, and the Internet web page or the like is based on the input keyword. Or other related keywords may be searched. In this case, for example, in the case of the television receiver having the configuration shown in FIG. 2, a keyboard for character input is not prepared, but the character input screen 17d as shown in FIG. 14 is displayed on the television receiver, for example. On the screen of

  In the above-described embodiment, the process of extracting a keyword in conjunction with displaying a television broadcast program or the like and searching for content on the web based on the keyword has been described. Even when searching for content, instead of using a search engine prepared on the Internet, it may be possible to search from some database, which can be handled by the device that extracts keywords. In some cases, the search may be performed within the apparatus.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the function of performing the process of this example is implemented in a specific device such as a television receiver has been described. For example, a program for executing the process of the present example is prepared, The program may be installed in various data processing devices such as a personal computer device to realize the same function.

It is the block diagram which showed the example of an apparatus structure by one embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which showed the example which used the apparatus by one embodiment of this invention as the television receiver. It is explanatory drawing which showed the example which used the apparatus by one embodiment of this invention as the computer apparatus. It is explanatory drawing which showed the example of a selection process by one embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which showed the example of the EPG information used by one embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which showed the example of the tag information used by one embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which showed the process example relevant to the keyword extraction by one embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which showed the example of the discrimination | determination engine by one embodiment of this invention. It is the flowchart which showed the example of a content display process by one embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which showed the example of the keyword window display by one embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which showed the example of a program reservation process by one embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which showed the example of a program reservation process by one embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which showed the example of a process based on the keyword by one embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which showed an example of the keyword input screen.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Television receiver, 11 ... Central control unit (CPU), 12 ... ROM, 13 ... RAM, 14 ... Network interface, 15 ... Graphic controller, 16 ... VRAM, 17 ... Display part, 18 ... User interface, 19 ... Operation unit, 20 ... light receiving unit, 30 ... personal computer device, 31 ... display device

Claims (9)

In a state where the first content is being processed, a keyword related to the first content is extracted and displayed,
An information search method for searching for a second content in a predetermined form based on the displayed keyword and displaying the second content found by the search. The information search method according to claim 1,
The first content is a content of a broadcast program, the keyword is extracted from program guide information accompanying the first content,
An information search method for searching a web page on the Internet based on the extracted keyword and displaying the searched web page simultaneously with the broadcast program. The information search method according to claim 1,
The extraction of keywords related to the first content includes extracting a plurality of candidate keywords,
An information search method for searching for a second content based on a keyword selected from a plurality of extracted candidate keywords. The information search method according to claim 1,
An information search method for searching and displaying another keyword associated with the extracted and displayed keyword, and using the displayed other keyword as a second content search keyword. Display means for displaying the first content;
A keyword related to the first content displayed on the display means is extracted and displayed on the display means, and a second content in a predetermined form is searched based on the displayed keyword. An information display device comprising: control means for performing control to display the found second content on the display means. The information display device according to claim 5,
The first content displayed on the display means is a broadcast program content, and the control means extracts the keyword from program guide information accompanying the displayed first content, and the extracted keyword An information display device that searches a web page on the Internet based on the information and displays the searched web page simultaneously with the broadcast program. The information display device according to claim 5,
The control means extracts a plurality of candidate keywords as keywords related to the first content, and searches for the second content based on a keyword selected from the extracted plurality of candidate keywords. apparatus. The information display device according to claim 5,
The control means searches for and displays another keyword associated with the extracted keyword displayed on the display means, and uses the displayed another keyword as a second content search keyword. apparatus. Display processing for displaying the first content;
A keyword related to the first content displayed in the display process is extracted and displayed, the second content in a predetermined form is searched based on the displayed keyword, and the keyword is found by the search. A program that executes a function as a control process for controlling the display of the second content.

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