JP2009015552A - Search intermediary system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a search intermediary system capable of controlling information to be disclosed according to a person attempting to access information. <P>SOLUTION: A user of the system registers his or her own information beforehand as a searcher in a searcher information storing means 21, and the establisher of a database registers disclosure conditions in a disclosure condition storing means 22. In addition, when a search acceptance means 23 accepts a search request from a user terminal 10, a search requesting means 24 makes a search request to each of databases 30a to 30c, based on the search request. Each of the databases 30a to 30c returns a search result to a search intermediary system 20 according to each of the accepted search requests. When a search result acquisition means 25 receives the search results, a search result providing means 26 refers to the searcher information storing means 21 and the disclosure condition storing means 22, extracts information to be provided, and transmits the information to the user terminal 10. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for searching a plurality of databases with different founders.

In recent years, it has been required to share information on logistics management and article location management across companies. As represented by ebXML (electronic business XML), basic information acquisition mechanisms, information sharing / exchange frameworks, and common information items are being developed. Using this common information sharing / exchange framework, it is possible to start a smooth business operation by allowing existing or potential business partners to search a database that stores business information as needed. is there. On the other hand, a system for mediating data storage destinations has already been proposed (see Patent Document 1).
JP 2006-146293 A

  Disclosing information managed by the company has the advantage that new customers can be cultivated thereby. However, if the information is unconditionally disclosed, there is also a problem that it reveals the hand to the competitor. This is not only the content of the information, but also the location of the database itself should be made known to potential business partners, but it should be kept secret to inconvenient partners such as competitors in order to prevent industrial espionage and cracking interference. You will have inconsistent demands. Today, as standardized data sharing and exchange methods are becoming popular, the benefits of this are linked to a common foundation, and there is a potential opportunity for new, more advantageous business relationships that have never been met before. ing. However, it is still difficult to detect the presence and location even if it is shared as a base.

  On the other hand, search engines have been widely used and contributed greatly as Internet shopping services for general consumers other than business-to-business transactions and services that inform or introduce extremely ordinary content services that do not involve business transactions. The UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration) method is also used in part for the purpose of announcing the supply of inter-company information XML Web services on the Internet. Anonymous search engine use is a convenient and desirable service form that allows the searcher to obtain the location of the information requested in one stop in a batch, but for that purpose providing a copy in advance on the assumption of anonymous access Due to the limitations due to the confidentiality of the business information described above, it is difficult for providers to accept from the viewpoint of information management. UDDI is only a means of announcing the content of the service provided. Whether the information content requested by the searcher actually exists under the service provider is determined by exchanging the service usage contract and communicating. After searching and after obtaining permission, it will be forced to take a great effort to find the validity only after searching.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a search mediation system capable of controlling access to a database and information to be disclosed in accordance with a partner who wants to access information.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, in the present invention, a searcher information storage unit that stores searcher information is a system that mediates a search when searching a plurality of databases with different establishers from a user terminal. Public condition storage means for storing the public conditions of each database, search acceptance means for accepting a search request from a user terminal, search request means for making a search request to each database according to the accepted search request, Based on the search result acquisition means for acquiring the search result sent from the database, the searcher information, and the publication condition, the search result that can be disclosed to the searcher of the request source is extracted, A search mediation system having search result providing means for providing to a user terminal is provided.

  Further, in the present invention, the publication condition is expressed by all combinations of a searcher category determined by a searcher registration attribute and a searcher disclosure attribute and a corresponding granularity processing rule, and the granularity processing rule Defines the number of levels of granularity for each item in the database and the conversion rule or replacement vocabulary applied when displaying the original value of the item at each granularity level at the granularity level. The result providing means determines the searcher category of the searcher from the original data that is the acquired search result according to the release condition, applies a specific granularity processing rule according to the release condition, and sets each item of the search result to a predetermined granularity Provides a search mediation system that creates converted search results converted to level displays and provides them to user terminals That.

  In the present invention, the search receiving means further extracts searcher information about the searcher who is the search request source from the searcher information storage means, and refers to the disclosure condition storage means with the searcher information, A database that can be disclosed to the searcher is specified, and the search requesting means provides a search mediation system that makes a search request only to the specified database.

  According to the present invention, searcher information and database disclosure conditions are recorded in advance, and information that can be disclosed is extracted from the searched information and provided in accordance with the searcher who has requested the search. Therefore, it becomes possible to control the information to be disclosed according to the other party who wants to access the information.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a search mediation system according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, 10 is a user terminal, 20 is a search mediation system, and 30a to 30c are databases.

  The user terminal 10 is a terminal device used by a user who performs a search, and is realized by a general-purpose computer that can access the search mediation system 20 via a network. The search mediation system 20 is a server computer having a function of searching a database on the network in response to a search request from the user terminal 10 and returning a search result to the user terminal 10. It has a disclosure condition storage unit 22, a search reception unit 23, a search request unit 24, a search result acquisition unit 25, and a search result provision unit 26.

  The searcher information storage unit 21 is a storage unit that stores information about a searcher. The disclosure condition storage unit 22 is a storage unit that stores the disclosure conditions of the databases 30a to 30c. The search receiving unit 23 has a function of receiving a search request from the user terminal 10. The search request unit 24 has a function of making a search request to the databases 30 a to 30 c according to the search request received from the user terminal 10. The search result acquisition unit 25 has a function of acquiring search results from the databases 30a to 30c. The search result providing unit 26 refers to the searcher information stored in the searcher information storage unit 21 and the public conditions stored in the public condition storage unit 22, and among the search results acquired from the databases 30 a to 30 c, Only a search result that can be disclosed to the user terminal 10 is extracted and provided to the user terminal 10 of the search request source.

  The databases 30a to 30c are databases that are managed by different companies and permit access from the search mediation system 20. The databases are independent of each other and do not cooperate with each other unless the search mediating system 20 is used. In FIG. 1, the network connecting the user terminal 10 and the search mediation system 20 and the network connecting the search mediation system 20 and the databases 30a to 30c may be the same or different. Although it is possible to reach the databases 30a to 30c from the user terminal 10 as a potential communication path, the location as a communication destination is not known, and the user terminal 10 is known from the viewpoint of the databases 30a to 30c. Because there is no relationship, direct access is not possible. Since the databases 30a to 30c record important information managed by the company, only the search mediation system 20 is permitted to access. As described above, the databases 30a to 30c cannot be directly accessed from the user terminal 10, and the search mediation system 20 is always mediated. Conversely, by using this mechanism, the searcher need not specify the location of the databases 30a to 30c. In practice, it is not necessary for the searcher to request and negotiate individually with the openers of the databases 30a to 30c to conclude an access permission contract.

  The search mediation system 20 is realized by incorporating a dedicated program in a server computer connected to a network. Further, a data storage area for information as the searcher information storage means 21 and the disclosure condition storage means 22 is secured in a large-capacity storage device such as a hard disk. When the Internet is adopted as the network connecting the user terminal 10 and the search mediation system 20, the XML media service is provided from the user terminal 10 by providing the search mediation system 20 with the function of the XML Web service server. Can be used to access the search mediation system 20. In order for the search mediation system 20 to have the function of an XML Web service server, software called Apache axis (registered trademark) is incorporated into a computer that implements the search mediation system 20.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of searcher information stored in the searcher information storage unit 21. A person who wants to search using this system must register information about himself as searcher information in advance. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the name of the searcher, the type of business, the location, the annual sales scale, the searcher information disclosure condition, and other information are registered as the searcher information. Other information includes public key data that identifies a user terminal for concealing communication between the user terminal of the searcher and the search mediation system 20. Each searcher is issued a searcher ID for specifying the searcher and is registered in the searcher information storage unit 21 in association with the searcher ID. The searcher information disclosure condition defines the conditions for disclosing the searcher information to the database opener. The searcher information disclosure conditions are set for each item of the searcher information and the settings according to the type of business of the opener. It is possible. The searcher information disclosure condition can set a plurality of contents for one searcher as long as no contradiction occurs.

  In the search mediation system 20, the “granularity” of information obtained by searching each database according to the relationship between the searcher and the database founder can be controlled and provided to the searcher. That is, the search result providing means 26 has a granularity processing rule table defined by each database founder as shown in FIG. 3, and the value of each item recorded in the database depends on the disclosed granularity level. It is converted into a value represented by roughness defined for each item and provided to the searcher. The disclosure granularity level of each item in the database at the time of a certain search request is determined according to a class correspondence table and a class definition table, which will be described later. As shown in FIG. 3, in the granularity processing rule table, for each item, the degree of accuracy with which information is provided in a maximum of seven levels from level A to level d is defined. In order to execute the granularity process, a conversion rule of “value” corresponding to the granularity level is determined for each DB item. This is because, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the expression vocabulary or conversion rule of “value” corresponding to each granularity level is hierarchically defined in advance from the coarsest level D to the finest level A. There is nothing else.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a hierarchical structure (used vocabulary and conversion rules when displaying at each granularity level) of the item “product location”. The item “product location” has four levels of granularity from level A to level D. For example, when the value of the item “product location” is displayed at level A, “storage area a”, “storage area b”, etc. Displayed by value. In level B, the value of the item “product location” is displayed as “building / facility a”, “building / facility b”, and the like. That is, a set of values (vocabulary) that can be taken at each granularity level is defined in advance. In addition, the value displayed in any one of “Storage Area A”, “Storage Area B”, and “Storage Area C” at Level A should be displayed at Level B with the granularity level raised by one layer. Converted to “building / facility a”. That is, “building / facility a” is a replacement vocabulary for “storage area a”, “storage area b”, and “storage area c”. The hierarchical structure shown in FIG. 4 shows what values of lower level values are replaced at higher levels, that is, conversion rules.

  The public condition storage means 22 stores two classes of public conditions: a class definition table and a class correspondence table for each searcher category. In the present embodiment, the disclosure conditions are determined by the class definition table and the class correspondence table for each searcher category. FIG. 5 shows an example of the class definition table. In the class definition table, the level of disclosure of each item of information held in the database is set for each class. A class is a set of disclosure granularity levels when the disclosure granularity level for each item in the database is defined for all items. In the example of FIG. 5, class 1, class 2,... May be considered as names given to various sets of such disclosure granularity levels. That is, a set of disclosure granularity levels is specified by class 1, class 2,. This class definition table allows the database founder to easily set the disclosure granularity level of each item without setting each item individually when setting how much information is disclosed. .

  In the example of FIG. 5, class 1 is the strictest, and the content becomes more gradual as the class number increases. Class 1 cannot disclose the existence of a database, nor can it disclose the type of business of the person who established the database. In the case of class 1, since the existence of the database cannot be disclosed, the items of information recorded in the database cannot be disclosed. Class 2 can disclose the existence of a database, but cannot disclose the type of business of the founder, and the inventory quantity and product location are disclosed at level D. As for levels, level A provides the most detailed information, and as levels B, C, and D, rough information is provided. Accordingly, Class 2 provides information in a very vague manner with respect to both the number of stocks and the location of goods. From Class 3 onwards, both the existence of the database and the type of business of the founder can be made public, and each item will be disclosed at a more detailed level as the class number increases with regard to inventory quantity and product location. I understand that.

  An example of the class correspondence table by searcher category is shown in FIG. The searcher category is a category for identifying a searcher determined by the database operator for the convenience of the database operator. The searcher category is usually determined by multiplying a category arbitrarily defined by the database founder based on the searcher attribute information registered as searcher information, with two combinations of whether the searcher is an identity disclosure searcher or not. . “Identity” in an identity non-disclosure searcher or an identity disclosure searcher means information sufficient to specify the searcher, and in this embodiment is a searcher name. The class correspondence table for each searcher category shown in FIG. 6 is for one database, and the same one is set for each database. The setting of the class can be arbitrarily set by the founder, but normally, as shown in FIG. 6, it is strict for non-disclosure searchers. It is also possible to specify a searcher name directly as a category and set a class.

  An example of information recorded in the database 30a is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, information is recorded in the database 30a according to items of recording time, product ID, product location, and inventory quantity. Among these, the merchandise location is recorded in a hierarchical structure as shown in FIG. The databases 30a to 30c are independent from each other, and the databases 30b and 30c may be different from the structures shown in FIGS.

(Processing operation)
Next, the processing operation of the system shown in FIG. 1 will be described. First, a user registered as a searcher in the searcher information storage unit 21 accesses the search mediation system 20 from the user terminal 10 and transmits a search request. At this time, the search receiving unit 23 authenticates the searcher and identifies which searcher is registered in the searcher information storage unit 21. This may be done, for example, by registering a password in the searcher information storage means 21 and requesting the searcher ID and password from the accessing user. In order to more reliably identify the searcher and protect the communication, the sender certificate obtained by encrypting the hash value of the search expression document transmitted by the searcher with the private key issued to the user terminal 10 is sent in advance. It is also possible to decrypt with the paired public key and collate with a value obtained by the same hash method as that at the time of transmission from the sent search expression. At the same time, the search formula text is also encrypted and transmitted with the public key issued by the search mediation system 20, and decrypted with the received secret key of the search mediation system 20, so that communication on the network can be protected. As a result, the identity of the searcher self-reported is identified as the registered original user.

  When the searcher ID is specified, the search receiving unit 23 refers to the searcher information storage unit 21 with the searcher ID, and acquires the attribute information of the searcher. Here, the business type and searcher information disclosure conditions are acquired as attribute information. Subsequently, the search receiving unit 23 refers to the disclosure condition storage unit 22 with the acquired attribute information, and acquires the address of the database that can be disclosed to the searcher. For example, in the examples of FIGS. 5 and 6, since the existence of the database cannot be disclosed to the non-business type searcher, the address is not acquired. In the examples of FIGS. 5 and 6, in other cases, the database address is acquired. In this way, the search receiving means 23 acquires the address of the database that can be disclosed to the received searcher.

  When the database address is acquired from the disclosure condition storage unit 22, the search reception unit 23 requests the search for all the databases from which the address has been acquired so as to search the contents according to the search request received from the user terminal 10. . Therefore, if the searcher's attribute does not meet the database disclosure condition, the address for the database is not acquired, and therefore the search request is not targeted. As a result, useless search processing and invalid traffic on the way are suppressed in advance in order to obtain a search result that is determined in advance to be invalidated and discarded in the search mediation system 20. When all the addresses of the databases 30a to 30c have been acquired, a search request is transmitted to the database 30a, the database 30b, and the database 30c.

  If the data sharing / exchange method is standardized and all of the databases 30a to 30c requested to be searched conform to this, each database 30a to 30c is searched with the same content in this common format. Is requested. On the other hand, for a database that does not conform to this standard method, it is entrusted after converting it to a communication procedure and search expression format that can be communicated with the database. For this, use a conversion comparison table designed by acquiring the specifications of the database in advance, or apply transformation rules based on XSLT (XML Stylesheet Language Transformations).

  In each of the databases 30a to 30c, when a search request is received, the search request is accepted after authentication that the request is from the search mediation system 20. Then, each database searches its own database according to the received request contents, and obtains a search result. When the search result is obtained, each of the databases 30 a to 30 c transmits the search result to the search mediation system 20. The search result returned at this time may include confidential business information that needs to be restricted from being disclosed depending on the searcher. It is possible to realize the process of recognizing the actual searcher in the reply and omitting the contents to be concealed by referring to the business relationship on the side of the answering databases 30a to 30c. The database system developed for in-house use needs to be modified to provide an unexpected external information management function, and the information management processing load causes pressure on the original application. May occur or you may be forced to increase your capacity in anticipation of it. In the present invention, since the search mediation system 20 performs public content extraction based on the public conditions, it is not necessary to bear this confidential processing load on the databases 30a to 30c side.

  In the search mediation system 20, the search result acquisition unit 25 acquires the search results transmitted from the databases 30a to 30c. At this time, if there is a communication procedure and response format that deviates from the standard in the database to be answered, the search results are obtained with the corresponding response means, and the search formula conversion is performed from the standard inconsistent format. By applying conversion means based on the specifications acquired in advance in the same way as when performing the pre-processing, the same disclosure provision as the following other answers is provided by pre-converting the response to the equivalent of other standard methods Possible information can be extracted. Subsequently, the search result providing means 26 refers to the searcher information stored in the searcher information storage means 21 and the public conditions stored in the public condition storage means 22 and extracts search results to be provided. For example, when the searcher ID of this search is A001, the search result providing unit 26 refers to the searcher information storage unit 21 and describes the industry “drug store chain” and the searcher information disclosure condition “ “Disclosure only for industry”. Then, the search result providing unit 26 refers to the disclosure condition storage unit 22 with the acquired information.

  Here, the process for the database 30a will be described. Since the searcher A001 is “disclosure of only the business type to the pharmaceutical industry”, the search result providing means 26 confirms the business type of the founder of the database 30a. Assuming that the founder of the database 30a is the pharmaceutical industry, the searcher information of the searcher A001 is “disclose only industry” for the database 30a. Then, the search result providing means 26 refers to the class correspondence table by searcher category (FIG. 6) for the non-disclosure searcher and business type “drug store chain”, and acquires “class 4”. Furthermore, with reference to the class definition table (FIG. 5) by “class 4”, “publicly available” in the presence of the database, “publicly available” in the founder industry, product location “level D”, inventory quantity “level C”, The product ID “level B” is acquired.

  At this time, if it is information relating to the merchandise location, the level D “company (major representative)” is applied according to the granularity processing rule table shown in FIG. 3 in which the founder of the database 30 a registers the extraction condition setting. Accordingly, FIG. 4 describes the facility belonging relationship of the establishment to which the database founder that is notified in advance to the search mediation system 20 or the database 30a itself supplies in response to an inquiry from the search mediation system 20 belongs. By referring to the business site composition master data of the structure, the attribution destination is moved up from the acquired product location information to the level of “company (major representative)” as the stage semantic attribute assigned to this attribution hierarchy. Therefore, it is possible to obtain location notation content suitable for the specified information granularity to be answered to the searcher, and by extracting this as an answer to the searcher, the actual search result originally has the product location It is possible to comply with the disclosure range designated by the founder of the database 30a different from the definition. As for the number of stocks, the level C “digit number answer” is applied according to the granularity processing rule table of FIG. Therefore, the number of stocks is returned as the decimal digit of the number of stocks of the product. For the product ID, level B “round to product code” is applied according to the granularity processing rule table of FIG. Therefore, as for the product ID, information on the product type code for specifying the product type is obtained instead of each individual.

  In many cases, the information stored in the database 30a is a business record. In this case, since the information is originally provided for personal use by the database founder, the recorded content is naturally the most detailed level. It is described in. Therefore, as raised as a problem to be solved by the present invention, unless a self-built filter system for processing the fineness of business information for in-house use for data sharing / exchange with other companies is applied to the processing, The business record from the database 30a provided to the search mediation system 20 maintains the same description as that for the company. However, this most detailed level of description is the content itself that can be used to spill out to the outside, such as the business performance status, business know-how, and security, or it can be easily inferred. In many cases, the contents are irrelevant or irrelevant for the searcher. In order to properly share and exchange data across companies, it is desirable for both the searcher and the founder to appropriately adjust the granularity of the record and the accuracy of the exchange as the disclosure level.

  Similarly, processing is performed for each item other than the product ID, the inventory quantity, and the product location, and a search result for the request source is created and transmitted to the user terminal 10 of the searcher. Similarly, the searcher obtains information of a level corresponding to his / her searcher information and database disclosure conditions from other databases.

  The determination of information to be disclosed will be described again. For example, consider the case where the type of business of the database 30a is the pharmaceutical industry. When the searcher A003 searches the database 30a, as shown in FIG. 2, the searcher information disclosure condition is “disclosure to retail and pharmaceutical industry”. Therefore, the searcher information of the searcher A003 is stored in the database 30a. Will be disclosed. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, since the searcher A003 is a wholesaler, it is determined as class 6 with reference to the information disclosure searcher and wholesaler in the searcher category class correspondence table of FIG. . On the other hand, when the searcher A001 searches the database 30a, as shown in FIG. 2, the searcher information disclosure condition is “disclose only the business type to the pharmaceutical industry”. In this case, since the founder of the database 30a is the pharmaceutical industry, only the business type is disclosed. Then, in the class correspondence table by searcher category in FIG. 6, it is determined as class 4 by referring to the identity non-disclosure searcher and the drug store chain. In the case of class 4, the product location is level D, the inventory quantity is level C, and the product ID is level B from the class definition table shown in FIG. Since the product location is level D, only the company name is disclosed. Since the stock quantity is level C, only the number of digits is disclosed. Since the product ID is level B, the product type code is disclosed. In this way, even if the searcher has disclosed only the type of business, that is, when limited attribute disclosure that falls between anonymous and real names is performed, an appropriate public information extraction range is set and surely Can be implemented.

  As described above, the information to be disclosed is determined and the search result is provided. From the searcher information disclosure condition in the searcher information stored in the searcher information storage means 21, FIG. It is also possible to create a searcher-opener correspondence table for each opener as shown in FIG. By storing the searcher-opener correspondence table as shown in FIG. 8 in a predetermined storage area, the search intermediary system 20 refers to the searcher-opener correspondence table after specifying the searcher ID. In addition, the database to be requested for search can be immediately identified, and when the content to be answered to the searcher is specified from the returned search result, the table corresponding to the class by searcher category shown in FIG. 6 is referred to. Can be performed at high speed.

  The preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made. For example, in the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, in the class correspondence table by searcher category, which is a part of the disclosure condition, the class is set for each type of searcher. The class may be set for other items in the searcher information such as the annual sales scale. In the above embodiment, the disclosure condition is determined by the class definition table and the class correspondence table by searcher category, but may be configured to be determined by combining other tables.

It is a block diagram which shows one Embodiment of the search mediation system which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the searcher information memorize | stored in the searcher information storage means. It is a figure which shows a granularity process rule table | surface. It is a figure which shows the hierarchical structure of the merchandise location which is one item of merchandise information. It is a figure which shows the class definition table memorize | stored in the open condition memory | storage means. It is a figure which shows the class correspondence table classified by searcher category memorize | stored in the open condition memory | storage means. It is a figure which shows an example of the information memorize | stored in the database 30a. It is a figure which shows a searcher-opener correspondence table.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... User terminal 20 ... Search mediation system 21 ... Searcher information storage means 22 ... Disclosure condition storage means 23 ... Search reception means 24 ... Search request means 25 ... Search Result acquisition means 26 ... Search result providing means 30a to 30c ... Database

Claims (4)

A system that mediates search when searching a plurality of databases with different founders from a user terminal,
Searcher information storage means for storing searcher information;
A disclosure condition storage means for storing the disclosure conditions of each database;
Search accepting means for accepting a search request from a user terminal;
Search request means for making a search request to each database according to the received search request;
Search result acquisition means for acquiring search results sent from each of the databases;
Based on the searcher information and the disclosure conditions, a search result providing unit that extracts information that can be disclosed to the searcher of the request source from the acquired search results and provides it to the user terminal;
A search mediation system comprising: The publication condition is expressed by all combinations of a searcher category determined by a searcher registration attribute and a searcher disclosure attribute and a corresponding granularity processing rule,
The granularity processing rule defines the number of levels of granularity for each item of the database and the conversion rule or replacement vocabulary applied when displaying the original value of the item at each granularity level at the granularity level. And
The search result providing means determines a searcher category of a searcher from the original data that is the acquired search result according to the publication condition, and applies a specific granularity processing rule according to the publication condition to determine each item of the search result. The search mediation system according to claim 1, wherein a converted search result converted into a display of a granularity level is created and provided to a user terminal. The search receiving means extracts searcher information about a searcher who is a search request source from the searcher information storage means, refers to the public condition storage means with the searcher information, and Identify databases that can be published,
The search intermediary system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the search requesting unit makes a search request only to the specified database.   The program for functioning a computer as a search mediation system in any one of Claims 1-3.

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