JP2009134453A - Data record retrieving device and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a data record retrieving device and program for retrieving desired data record in the database containing a large amount of data records, without excluding a keyword for easy narrow-down retrieval, for dispensing with inputting of characters in an input device of which the number of input buttons is limited. <P>SOLUTION: The data record retrieving device includes an input device 1, an output device 2, a query table updating part 4, a work database generating part 5, a display data determining part 6, a display control part 7, a display control data storing part 8, a database storing part 9, and a query table storing part 10. The data record retrieving device further includes: an option presenting means which presents to a user options for designating an attribute key for reserving an option used for retrieving as well as options for designating an attribute key which is never to be used for retrieving; and an option re-presenting means which re-presents to the user the reserved attribute key for selection if the number of reserved attribute keys falls to a predetermined number or less. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a system for selecting a data record desired by a user from a database having a large number of data records.

  In the conventional television viewing mode, with the spread of video-on-demand and multi-channel broadcasting, it has become necessary for a user to search for a content he / she wants to watch from a database storing a large amount of content (for example, movies).

  One means for a user to search for desired data from a database is a full-text search using keywords. In order to perform this full-text search, the user needs to input a search keyword each time. An input device for selecting content to be viewed on a television by a user is mainly a remote controller with a limited number of buttons (for example, 12), and each button is assigned one function (for example, , Channel selection), is not suitable for character string input.

  There is a mobile phone as a terminal having the same restrictions as a remote controller. There are a multi-tap method and a 2-tap method for inputting characters on a mobile phone, but these users have a trouble of learning how to use them for users who are not familiar with mobile phones. In recent years, prediction conversion for predicting and displaying character string candidates without inputting all character strings has become widespread, but the user still has to input characters that are used to predict candidates.

  Another method for a user to search for desired data from a database is to follow a menu structure prepared in advance by the database. In this method, the user does not have to input a character string. However, when the number of contents in the database becomes enormous, the number of menu structure layers or options per layer also becomes enormous. In the method of following the menu structure, it becomes a burden for the user to find a desired option from among the options when the options become enormous.

In order to solve this problem, the conventional technology has proposed a method for generating a menu structure for efficiently narrowing down data in a situation where the number of items in one layer of a menu and the number of menu selections are limited. Yes. Specifically, an AND search is performed on the database for all combinations of keywords for the number of menu selections from a set of search keywords prepared in advance, and the number of results is not zero and the number of items in one menu hierarchy A menu structure is generated based on the following keyword combinations. Since this method limits the number of items displayed in one layer, it is also suitable for an input device such as a remote controller with a limited number of buttons (see Patent Document 1).
JP2000-311179A

  However, in the prior art, since the number of selections (that is, the number of keywords used for AND search) is limited, a combination of keywords that results in the AND search exceeding the upper limit of the number of items per layer is a menu. There was a risk of being eliminated at the time of generation.

  In addition, since the number of AND search results is large and the keywords for generating the menu are determined, only keywords that are useful for narrowing the search results but are not necessary for the user, or keywords that are difficult to assume the narrowed results remain. The keyword expected by the user may not appear.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and its purpose is to eliminate the need for character input to an input device with a limited number of input buttons and eliminate keywords that are likely to be narrowed down. It is an object of the present invention to provide a data record search apparatus and program for searching a desired data record from a database having a plurality of data records.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present invention according to claim 1 is for searching for a desired data record from a database configured by storing a plurality of data records to which a user is assigned an attribute key used for search. In the data record search apparatus, an option for designating an attribute key for deferring selection for use in the search and an option for designating an attribute key not used for the search are presented to the user. And an option re-presenting means for prompting the user to select the attribute key again when the number of the reserved attribute keys is equal to or less than a predetermined number. Prepare.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data record search program for searching for a desired data record from a database configured by storing a plurality of data records to which a user is assigned an attribute key used for search. Then, the option presenting means presents to the user an option for designating an attribute key for holding a selection for use in the search and an option for designating an attribute key not used for the search at all. And in the option re-presenting means, when the number of the reserved attribute keys becomes equal to or less than a predetermined number, the reserved attribute keys are again presented to the user for prompting selection. Install and run on.

  According to the present invention, it is not necessary to input characters to an input device with a limited number of input buttons, and a desired data record is searched from a database having a large number of data records without eliminating keywords that are likely to be narrowed down. Data record search apparatus and program can be provided.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, the situation in which the user selects a desired movie from the movie database is described as an example for facilitating understanding.

  FIG. 1 shows a configuration diagram of a data record search apparatus, and details of each unit will be described.

  Regarding the input device 1 and the output device 2 connected to the control device 3, in the present embodiment, the input device 1 is assumed to be a general TV remote control having 12 buttons. The output device 2 is assumed to be a general television. A data record search device is configured by the configuration of the input device 1, the output device 2, and the control device 3.

  The configuration shown in FIG. 1 can also be realized by a computer program. In order to execute the information processing function of each component by a computer program, the computer program can be installed and executed. Each component may be replaced with an information processing step on a computer program.

  The display control data storage unit 8 holds an upper limit on the number of data records to be displayed in the display area of the output device 2. The upper limit of the display area is the number of buttons that the input device 1 has. In the present embodiment, since the input device 1 has 12 buttons, the upper limit of the number of data records that can be displayed is 12.

  The upper limit of the number of attribute keys to be displayed is a value obtained by subtracting three special query option display areas described later from the upper limit of the number of data records that can be displayed. In the present embodiment, since the number of buttons of the input device 1 is 12, the upper limit of the display area is set to 9 after subtracting 3 special query options.

  In the database storage unit 9, the content database is composed of a binary table of data records and attribute keys of each data record. An example of the binary table is shown in FIG. 2, and one data record represents one movie work in this embodiment. The attribute key is composed of metadata of the movie work, and the data record has a binary value indicating whether the attribute key is included in the data record as the value of each attribute key. For example, in the table shown in FIG. 2, the attribute key indicates a director “Tim Burton”, a cast “Nicholas Cage”, a genre “action”, and the like. At this time, a category in which attribute keys such as “director”, “appearance”, and “genre” are grouped is referred to as “attribute category”.

  The query table storage unit 10 stores a query table for narrowing down the database. The query table includes an attribute key and a query status table corresponding to the attribute key. An example is shown in FIG. There are four query states: 1, 0, *, null. 1 represents that the user desires a data record including the corresponding attribute key. 0 represents that the user desires a data record that does not include the corresponding attribute key. * Indicates that the user may or may not include the corresponding attribute key, or does not know whether or not it includes the corresponding attribute key. null represents a state where a query has not yet been input by the user. In the initial state, the query state of all attribute keys is null.

  The work database creation unit 5 uses the query table to extract a database data record group that matches the attribute key value of the query table from the database. This is called a “working database”. The work database extracts only data record groups in which the attribute key value of the database matches the query state of the corresponding attribute key in the query table. However, a value of 0 or 1 may be used for an attribute key whose attribute key value is * or null in the query table. As an example, FIG. 9 shows an image of the query table when “Tim Burton” is selected from the choices of the attribute category “Director”. An image of the updated work database is shown in FIG.

  The display data determination unit 6 determines options to be presented to the user from the work database.

  First, the number of appearances is counted for all attribute keys in the work database. The number of appearances is incremented by 1 when the value of the attribute key is 1. The counted result is stored as an attribute key appearance count table. An example of this is shown in FIG.

  At this time, as for the attribute key whose occurrence number is 0 as a result of counting, the query state of the corresponding attribute key in the query table is set to 0. This situation can occur for attribute keys whose attribute key query state in the query table is null or *. This is to prevent presenting to the user an attribute key that does not already exist in the narrowing-down result when determining an attribute key as an option to be displayed, which will be described later.

  Next, the attribute keys are sorted in descending order of the number of appearances for each attribute category. An example of the result of sorting is shown in FIG.

  Then, one of the attribute categories is determined as an option to be presented to the user. As a method for determining the attribute category to be presented, for example, a method of preferentially selecting an attribute category having the smallest number of items of attribute keys having an appearance number of 1 or more can be considered.

  An attribute key to be displayed as an option is determined from the attribute category. At this time, it is assumed that the attribute key whose query state is 1 in the query table among the attribute keys at the top of the attribute key appearance count table sorted in descending order of the number of appearances has already been selected by the user. Excluded from choice candidates. Then, in the query table, an attribute key whose query state is null is preferentially selected. If the number of options reaches the upper limit of the display area by this process, the process ends here, and a list of attribute keys selected as options is output to the display control unit.

  If the attribute key whose query status is null does not reach the upper limit of the display area, then, among the higher-level attribute keys in the attribute key appearance count table, those whose query status is * are added to the options. If the number of choices reaches the upper limit of the display area by this process, the process ends.

  In addition, even when all attribute keys whose query status is null or * are added to the choices, the process ends when the upper limit of the display area is not reached.

  A list of attribute keys determined as options to be displayed by the above procedure is output to the display control unit 7.

  Then, the display control unit 7 collectively displays the attribute key list received from the display data determination unit 6 and the special query options on the output device 2.

  Here, special query options will be described. There are three types of special query options: “view current search results”, “don't know”, and “none”.

  When the user selects “view current search results”, a list of upper data records is displayed according to the upper limit of the display area among the current work database narrowing results. The method of determining the upper data record at this time is, for example, the title in the order of the Japanese syllabary or the weight assigned to the data record separately, but the description is omitted here.

  When the user selects “I don't know”, if the query state of the attribute key currently displayed in the query table is null, the query key is changed to *. This clearly indicates that the content desired by the user does not matter whether or not there is an attribute key currently displayed.

  When the user selects “None”, the query state of the attribute key currently displayed in the query table is changed to zero. As a result, the data record including the currently displayed attribute key is excluded by the next work database update and narrowed down. Then, in the second and subsequent choices presented in the same attribute category, the user can narrow down based on the renewed attribute key. This output image is shown in FIG.

  When the user selects any one of the displayed attribute keys instead of the special query options described above, the query state of the selected attribute key is changed to one in the query table. As a result, only the data records including the selected attribute key are narrowed down by the next work database update.

  The query selection described above is performed by the input device 1. The input device 1 has buttons corresponding to the number of display areas output to the output device 2. This allows the user to enter one query or select content by pressing one button. An example of an image displayed by the input device 1 and the output device 2 is shown in FIG.

  Here, FIG. 12 shows a control flow of the system when the user narrows down the contents. First, the work database is updated using the query table (S1). An example of the work database updated by the query table of FIG. 9 is shown in FIG.

  Next, the total number of data records possessed by the current work database is recounted (S2). An example of the result of recounting the work database is shown in FIG.

  If the total number of remaining data records is below the upper limit of the number that can be displayed in the display area (YES in S3), a list of currently remaining data records is transmitted to the display data determining unit 6. The display data determination unit outputs a list of data records to the display control unit 7, and the display control unit 7 displays a list of data records currently remaining on the output device 2 (S11). An example of the output image is shown in FIG.

  When the total number of data records exceeds the upper limit of the number that can be displayed in the display area (NO in S3), the number of appearances of attribute keys in the work database is counted as described above (S4), and the query table is updated. (S5) The attribute keys are sorted in descending order of the number of appearances for each attribute category (S6), the attribute category to be displayed is determined (S7), and the attribute key is displayed on the output device 2 (S8).

  The user selects an option displayed on the output device 2 using the input device 1.

  In response to the input, the query table update unit 4 updates the query table (S9). At this time, the query table update unit 4 counts the number of attribute keys whose attribute key query state is null or * for each attribute category (S10).

  If the counted number of attribute keys is below the upper limit of the number that can be displayed in the display area (YES in S10), the corresponding attribute key and special query option are displayed on the output device 2. This indicates that, in a certain attribute category remaining in the query table, there are remaining selectable attribute keys below the upper limit of the number that can be displayed in the display area.

  By this processing, the user is again required to select an attribute category that was suspended from selection at the initial stage of content narrowing down or an attribute key that was not a selection target.

  With this processing, the user can continue to hold until an option he desires appears without being forced to select a query in the initial stage of narrowing down.

  If the counted number of attribute keys exceeds the upper limit of the number that can be displayed in the display area (NO in S10), the process returns to S and is repeatedly executed.

  According to the embodiment of the present invention described above, it is not necessary to input characters to an input device with a limited number of input buttons, and from a database having a large number of data records without eliminating keywords that are likely to be narrowed down. A data record search apparatus and program for searching for a desired data record can be provided.

The block diagram for demonstrating embodiment of this invention is shown. An example of the binary table of a record pair attribute key based on Embodiment of this invention is shown. The example in the initial state of the query table based on embodiment of this invention is shown. An example of the attribute key appearance number count table according to the embodiment of the present invention is shown. An example of the result of having sorted the appearance numbers for each attribute category in descending order according to the embodiment of the present invention is shown. An example of the image of the display image of the input device and output device based on embodiment of this invention is shown. An example of the second choice presentation of the attribute category according to the embodiment of the present invention is shown. An example of the display image of the data record list based on embodiment of this invention is shown. An example of the query table at the time of selecting the attribute key based on embodiment of this invention is shown. An example of the work database updated by the query table based on embodiment of this invention is shown. An example of the count table which recounted the appearance number of the attribute key of the updated work database based on embodiment of this invention is shown. The flowchart of the flow of content narrowing-down based on embodiment of this invention is shown.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Input device 2 ... Output device 3 ... Control apparatus 4 ... Query table update part 5 ... Work database creation part 6 ... Display data determination part 7 ... Display control part 8 ... Display control data storage part 9 ... Database storage part 10 ... Query Table storage unit

Claims (2)

In a data record search device for searching for a desired data record from a database configured by storing a plurality of data records to which an attribute key used by a user is assigned,
An option presenting means for presenting to the user an option for designating an attribute key to hold a selection for use in the search, and an option for designating an attribute key not used for the search at all; ,
Option re-presenting means for prompting the user to select the attribute key again when the number of the attribute keys held is equal to or less than a predetermined number;
A data record retrieval apparatus comprising: A data record search program for searching a desired data record from a database configured by storing a plurality of data records to which an attribute key to be used by a user is assigned,
In the option presenting means, a step of presenting to the user an option for designating an attribute key for holding a selection for use in the search and an option for designating an attribute key not used for the search at all. When,
In the option re-presenting means, when the number of the reserved attribute keys is equal to or less than a predetermined number, re-presenting the reserved attribute keys to the user and prompting selection;
A data record search program that is installed in a computer and executed.

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