JP2011013842A - Device and service system for retrieving information - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information retrieval device and an information retrieval system for presenting a relevant user from relevancy between actions taken by a plurality of users centering on information.SOLUTION: An information retrieval device includes: a storage means for storing an information group and an information group retrieval index with which the information group is associated; a history information storage means for storing action history information of a user with respect to an information group retrieval index or its information group form a user terminal; and user relevance calculation means for extracting the user actions of a first user and a second user with respect to the information group retrieval index or its information group on the basis of the history information of the user action and for calculating relevance of the second user with the first user by using the relevance between the extracted user actions.

Description

  The present invention relates to an information search apparatus and an information search service system, and more particularly to an information search apparatus and an information search system that search for and present other users to a user who uses an information search service.

  For example, as described in Patent Document 1, a usage history of a similar user having a high similarity is calculated by comparing the usage history of a search user with another user from the accumulated usage history of each user and calculating the similarity. Based on the above, there is a technique for calculating the degree of association between each piece of information and the search condition presented by the search user and searching for information with a high degree of association.

  These technologies are used to improve the accuracy of search results presented to users who search, and to provide wide-ranging information searches and efficient information searches by referring to other users' usage histories. Is done.

JP 2007-183859 A

  However, the prior art accumulates the usage history of each user individually, and calculates, for example, whether the interests and preferences are similar depending on whether the same information is browsed or not. However, it does not provide user relevance based on the relationship between actions (activities) performed by a plurality of users.

  In other words, in the past, if one user and another user browsed the same information based only on the history of browsing, the interests and preferences would be similar, but each user would wake up to one information. In other words, the relationship between users is not provided from the relationship between user actions in which other users have browsed information recommended by one user, for example.

  In addition to the similar relationship between users and the relationship between contents, the user is positioned in a plurality of user groups using the information search service, for example, other users' own usage history If you can see whether your service usage activity is useful to other users by referring to your usage history or reflecting your usage history in other users' search results, Will increase opportunities for communication with other users.

  In addition, by knowing the relationship between one user and other users around it, for example, it is possible to reach information that is desired to be searched from users who are useful to many other users, Opportunities to acquire can be improved.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an information search apparatus and an information search system that can present related users from the relationship between actions caused by a plurality of users centering on information.

  Another object of the present invention is to provide an information search device and an information search system capable of presenting a relationship between users based on a relationship between actions caused by a plurality of users centering on information. .

  An information search apparatus for searching for information based on a search instruction input from a user terminal according to one aspect of the present invention includes a storage unit that stores an information group and an information group search index associated with the information group, History information storage means for storing user action history information for the information group search index or information group from a user terminal, and a first user for the information group search index or information group based on the user action history information And user relevance calculation means for extracting each user action of the second user and calculating a relevance of the second user to the first user using relevance between the extracted user actions. It is characterized by having.

  Further, the user action can be an information addition action for adding information to the information group of the information group search index and an information group search index registration action for registering the information group search index of high interest of the user, When the information addition action is input from the user terminal, a first control unit that stores the added information in the storage unit in association with the information group search index, and the information group search index registration action is input. And a second control unit that stores the information group search index in response to a registration request for each user in the history information storage unit.

  The user action can be an information addition action to the information group of the information group search index and an information group search index evaluation action for the information group search index, and when the information addition action is input from the user terminal A first control unit for storing the added information in association with the information group search index in the storage unit, and for each information group search index evaluated when the information group search index evaluation action is input And second control means for storing evaluation information including the evaluated user in the history information storage means.

  The user action may include an information evaluation action for each piece of information in the information group. The second control unit may include evaluation information including the evaluated user for each piece of evaluated information in the history information storage unit. Can be stored.

  Further, the user relevance calculating means extracts history information that is duplicated in each history information of the first and second users for the information group search index or the information group for each action based on the history information of the user action. And calculating the degree of relevance of the second user to the first user based on the ratio of the history information for each action in the entire history information of the second user corresponding to the extracted history information that overlaps. Can do.

  In addition, it may further comprise a user relation type definition storage means for defining a relation type between users according to the relation between the information group search index and each action of a plurality of users for the information group, and calculating the user relevance level The means refers to the user related type definition storage means, and can specify the related types of the first user and the second user from the extracted user actions of the first user and the second user.

  In addition, an information search system according to another aspect of the present invention includes a Web server to which a user terminal connects via a network, and a search application server that searches for information based on a search instruction input from the user terminal through the Web server. The search application server includes a storage unit that stores an information group and an information group search index associated with the information group, and the information group search index or the information from the user terminal. A history information storage means for storing user action history information for the information group, and each user action of the first user and the second user for the information group search index or the information group based on the history information of the user action. Extract and extract the extracted user action Using relationships between ® down, and having a user relevance calculating means for calculating the relevance of the second user to the first user.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, in the some user group using an information search service, the related user can be shown from the relationship between the actions which the some user took centering on information.

It is a network diagram of the information search system in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram of each server of the information search system in the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the storage part for summary searches in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the connection user information storage part in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the log | history information storage part in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the user related type definition storage part in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the processing flow of the information search service system in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the processing flow of the information addition process to the summary search index in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the processing flow of the information search service system in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the information search service screen in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the information search service screen in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the information search service screen in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the information search service screen in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the information search service screen in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the information search service screen in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the information search service screen in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of my page of the information search service screen in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the connection user search screen of the information search service screen in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the connection user search screen of the information search service screen in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the connected user search processing flow of the information search service system in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the connection user search process of the information search service system in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the connection user search process of the information search service system in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the connection user search process of the information search service system in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the connection user search screen of the information search service screen in 1st Embodiment of this invention.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(First embodiment)
1 to 24 are diagrams showing an example of an information search service system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  FIG. 1 is a network configuration diagram of an information search service system according to the present embodiment. The information search system 1 includes a Web server 100 connected to a user terminal 500 through a network N such as the Internet in order to use the information search service. A search application server (search App server) 200 that controls search processing based on a search keyword (search term) input by a user, and a search index that collects web information from websites on the Internet and stores the collected web information The server 300 includes a database server (DB server) 400 that stores user information of users who use various services provided through the Web server 100.

  The user terminal 500 is an information processing terminal device having a communication function and an arithmetic function such as a mobile communication terminal device such as a mobile phone or a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a personal computer, etc., and displays a Web page transmitted from a Web site. Web browser is provided. The network N is not limited to the Internet, and may be another communication network, for example, another wireless communication network / wired communication network, or a dedicated line network.

  The Web browser is an application program for browsing Web pages, downloads HTML files, image files, music files, and the like from the Internet, analyzes the display layout, and performs display processing and playback processing on the display device. To function. Also, input data can be sent to a website (Web server) via an input form, and programs and animations written in JavaScript (registered trademark), Flash (registered trademark), Java (registered trademark), etc. can be played / A function to operate can also be provided.

  FIG. 2 is an example of a configuration block diagram of each server constituting the information search service system 1 of the present embodiment.

  The web server 100 transmits the various web pages to the user terminal 500 via the communication control unit 110 and the communication control unit 110 that performs communication control with the user terminal 500 through the network N such as the Internet. Communicates with the display control unit 120 that receives user operation input information through operation input means such as a mouse and a keyboard, and the DB server 400 that stores user information registered by the user through the user terminal 500, and uses an information search service And an authentication processing unit 130 for performing user authentication processing.

  The Web server 100 is an information search site that provides an information search service. When the user terminal 500 is accessed from a Web browser, the display control unit 120 transmits an information search page including a search window to the user terminal 500. Further, the display control unit 120 transmits the search term input through the search window to the search App server 200, receives the search result data for the search term from the search App server 200, and processes (generates) the search term data into a predetermined search result page format. The search result page is transmitted to the user terminal 500.

  As described above, the Web server 100 according to the present embodiment controls the interface of the information search service through the Web browser with the user terminal 500, and sends various Web pages to the user terminal 500 according to the operation input from the user terminal 500. In addition to transmission, the search request from the user terminal 500 and requests for various functions provided by the information search service are relayed and transmitted to the search App server 200, and the data transmitted from the search App server 200 or other servers is relayed. To the user terminal 500.

  The search App server 200 includes a first search unit 210A that performs a first search process based on a user search word transmitted from the Web server 100 and a second search that performs a second search process based on a user search word. A search processing unit 210 including a unit 210B, and a summary search index control for registering a summary search index (information group search index) and adding (registering) information specified or input by a user to the registered group search index information group A unit 220 (first control means), and a summary search storage unit 230 that stores a summary search index and a group of information related to the summary search index.

  The search App server 200 collects user action histories (activity histories) in this information search service and generates a connected user information 240 (second control means and user relevance calculation means) described later. ), A connection information storage unit 250 for storing connection user information, a history information storage unit 260 for storing user action history, and a relationship type between users based on the actions of each user in the information search service of this embodiment A user-related type definition storage unit 270 that stores the definition;

  The first search unit 210A searches the Web information collected from the Web site on the Internet from the WWW search storage unit 330 of the search index server 300 based on the search term input by the user received via the Web server 100. The first search process is performed. Specifically, Web information including or related to the search word is searched, and the title, URL, and content (HTML page data, image, video, etc.) of the corresponding Web information are extracted from the WWW search storage unit 330.

  The second search unit 210B performs a second search process for searching the summary search index and its information group from the summary search storage unit 230 based on the search term input by the user received via the Web server 100. Specifically, a summary search index including or related to the search term is searched, and the summary type, title, summary keyword, and number of participating users of the corresponding summary search index are extracted from the summary search storage unit 230. Also, a process of extracting each information group of the extracted summary search index from the summary search storage unit 230 is performed.

  The search processing unit 210 receives a user's search word via the Web server 100, causes the first search unit 210A and the second search unit 210B to perform each search process, and the search is performed by the first search unit 210A. The first search result data (Web search result data) based on the search term and the second search result data (information group search result data) based on the search term searched by the second search unit 210B are transmitted to the Web server 100. In addition, each search process of the first search unit 210A and the second search unit 210B using the user's search word may be performed individually.

  Further, the search processing unit 210 receives a connected user search request from the user terminal 500 via the Web server 100 and connects to a user who has made a user search request from the connected user information storage unit 250 or a specified user other than himself / herself. The other users having the same are extracted and transmitted to the Web server 100.

  Here, the summary search index of this embodiment will be described in detail. The summary search index of this embodiment is a search index that represents a topic that a user wants to know about other users, an intention that the user wants to share with other users, a subject that other users want to collect information, and the like. In other words, the search index includes an information group of information that the user wants to know, information group of information that the user wants to share with other users, and information group of information that other users want to collect.

  This summary search index includes implications as a community where users can participate in each other's information search and can share each user's knowledge and user answers to the search purpose through the search. The information (question of information possessed by information groups such as titles and intentions) is added to and posted by multiple users, and information groups are formed. Has a community aspect to look for.

  The user adds Web search result data and link information, image data, moving image data, articles, and comments that the user knows to the information group of the collective search index, so that the information group (community) of the collective search index You can share search information of other users for the topic.

  In the present embodiment, the second search unit that searches the summary search storage unit 230 for the summary search index and its information group based on the search term input by the user received via the Web server 100 as described above. 210B, and provides the user with a search result including a collective search index and its information group together with the searched Web information.

  Further, the summary search index of the present embodiment can be set according to an arbitrary purpose by the user or an operator who operates the information search service. In this embodiment, the user wants to know as described later. A summary search index for the subject can be created through the summary creation screen.

  The summary search index control unit 220 is input to the summary creation screen when a user requests creation of the summary search index through the summary creation screen provided from the display control unit 120 of the Web server 100 to the user terminal 500. Are received via the Web server 100 and stored in the summary search storage unit 230.

  Further, when there is a request for adding information to the summary search index from the user terminal 500, the summary search index control unit 220 stores the information in the summary search storage unit 230 in association with the relevant summary search index.

  Specifically, a plurality of users including the user who created the summary search index can obtain the Web search result data searched by the first search process, the link information, image data, video data, articles, comments that the user himself / herself knows. Can be added to the summary search index as one of a group of information related to the summary search index. The user can add information to the designated collective search index via an information addition screen described later.

  Further, the summary search index control unit 220 stores the user who has added information to the summary search index in the summary search storage unit 230 as user information that has participated in the summary search index.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the summary search storage unit 230. The summary search storage unit 230 of this embodiment includes a summary search index file 231, a summary search resource file 232, a summary content file 233, and a content storage unit 234.

  The summary search index file 231 includes, for each summary search index, a summary ID that is an identification ID of the summary search index and a summary type (for example, link collection, Image collection, video collection, free talk, etc., summary title indicating the title name of the summary search index, explanation of the summary topic of the created user (what kind of information you want to know, what kind of information you want to share with other users) Or explanation of what information other users want to collect), summary keywords that are representative keywords of the summary search index, and users who have added (posted / registered) information to the summary search index information group The number (number of participating users) is stored.

  In this embodiment, the information group of the summary search index is classified according to the type of information such as link collection, image collection, video collection, free talk, etc., but these are combined and links, images, videos, etc. are mixed. You may make it form with an information group.

  The summary search resource file 232 stores detailed data of each piece of information added to the summary search index. Resource ID for identifying each information, information type (link, image, video, text, etc.), summary ID to which this resource ID belongs, information title, user who added this information to the summary search index, and this information are stored Storage location (URL of the added information in the content storage unit 234) is stored.

  The summary content file 233 includes the content stored in the content storage unit 234, that is, the content ID attached to each information forming the information group of the summary search index, the resource ID to which the information belongs, the summary ID, and the summary search index. A keyword (search term) when information added to the information group is searched in the first search process, or whether the added information is registered from the Web search result data by the first search process A direct input flag for identifying whether the information is directly uploaded to the search App server 200 (for example, addition from search result data: 0, direct upload: 1) is stored.

  The content storage unit 234 stores content as link information (HTML data, etc.), image information (JPEG data, GIF data, etc.), moving image information (SWF file, mpeg data, etc.), text information (Text data), etc. As shown in the summary search resource file 232, the storage location of the content in the content storage unit 234 can be specified by the URL.

  The user connection control unit 240 performs history information collection processing for collecting user action history (activity history) and connection user information generation processing. Details of the connected user information generation process will be described later.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the connected user information storage unit 250. The connected user information storage unit 251 stores a plurality of users (user IDs) having connections for each user ID and generates them in the user information generation process. Stores the degree of connection (%) and connection type. In addition, although the connection user information of one user (user ID_U0001) is illustrated in FIG. 4, connection user information is similarly stored separately for each of a plurality of other users.

  5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the history information storage unit 260. FIG. 5A illustrates a summary participation history table 261 that stores a history of information added by the user to the information group of the summary search index. (B) is an example of a summary subscription history table 262 that stores a history in which a user registers (favorites) a summary search index as a summary search index of interest to the user.

  The summary participation history table 261 is a summary search in which information is added for each user ID in response to the process in which the summary search index control unit 220 adds information to the information group of the corresponding summary search index based on an information addition request from the user terminal 500. The summary ID of the index and the number of times information is added to the summary search index are stored as a summary participation history.

  The summary subscription history table 262 stores a summary search index requested for a favorite summary registration request from the user terminal 500 for each user. For example, the user can register a summary search index of interest as a “favorite summary”. In this embodiment, the term “subscription” is used. This means that information that is likely to be browsed as information to be watched (attention) by the user is registered in advance. It does not mean the required information browsing.

  FIG. 5C shows a summary evaluation history table 263 that stores the history that the user has sympathized with the summary search index, and FIG. 5D shows each information (each of the plurality of information groups of the summary search index). It is an example of a content evaluation history table 264 that stores a history of evaluation of the content) by the user.

  The summary evaluation history table 263 stores the users who have browsed the information group of the summary search index and evaluated the evaluation (for example, reference) for the summary search index for each summary ID and the number of times of evaluation.

  The content evaluation history table 264 indicates that the user who browsed the information group of the summary search index evaluated the evaluation (sympathy etc.) for each information of the information group of the summary search index for each content ID and the evaluation. Stores the number of times.

  The connected user control unit 240 collects history information to store each history information in the history information storage unit 250 based on the information addition request, favorite summary registration request, summary evaluation request, and content evaluation request from the user terminal 500. Perform (update) processing.

  In addition, as an action of the user of this embodiment, information addition to the summary search index (summary participation action), favorite registration of any summary search index (summary subscription action), evaluation of the summary search index (summary evaluation action), There are four user actions: evaluation of each piece of information in the information group of the summary search index (content evaluation action).

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of the user-related type definition storage unit 270. The user relation type definition table 271 stores a user relation ID, a relation type, and an action definition.

  In this embodiment, when one user who uses this information search service searches for another user, a user who is automatically connected is extracted, and a related type with the extracted connected user is provided. To do. When the first user is a first user and the second user is a user who is connected to the first user, the first relation type (first user = second user), second relation type (first user) 1 user → second user) and 3rd relationship type (1st user ← 2nd user). There are 3 related types, based on the relationship between actions of multiple users for one summary search index and its information group. The association type is defined.

  The information search service according to the present embodiment allows the user himself / herself to collect information on a topic that other users want to know, an intention to share with other users, and a collective search index that other users want to collect information. In addition, a group of information edited by the user for a predetermined subject is provided. This summary search index is provided to users as search results using search terms in the same way as conventional Web search results, so that users can participate in each other's information search and provide answers to the user's knowledge and search objectives through the search. An information retrieval service that can be shared with each other can be provided.

  For this reason, a user's action with respect to a summary search index or its information group naturally has directionality in the relationship between users centering on the summary search index or information group. For example, information and actions of each user added to the same summary search index can be regarded as users having the same interest and preference (first user = second user). In addition, the second user who frequently browses the summary search index to which the first user has added information or who has evaluated the information added by the first user can be regarded as a user who is interested in the first user. (First user → second user). The reverse is also true: if the first user frequently sees a summary of the second user's participation, or if the second user evaluates the additional information, the first user is interested in the second user. It can be understood as a certain user (first user ← second user).

  Therefore, in the information search service system according to the present embodiment, the relationship between users is based on the relationship between actions that the users participate in each other and share the information, centering on the summary search index and the information group. While calculating sex (degree of connection), the user relation type between the users is specified and provided to the users.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the search index server 300 collects information from a website on the Internet such as a WWW robot, and stores the collected information in a WWW search storage unit 330 based on a predetermined index. WWW search for storing the indexer 320 to be stored, the website name of the information collected for each index, the URL of the information, keywords and tags, and the contents (HTML page data, images, videos, etc.) contained in the collected information The storage unit 330 is provided.

  The search index server 300 of the present embodiment can apply a conventional WWW search engine (for example, see http://www.jpo.go.jp/shiryou/s_sonota/hyoujun_gijutsu/search_engine/douko.htm).

  7 to 9 are flowcharts showing an example of processing transition of the information search service system 1 of the present embodiment. The information search service of this embodiment and the processing flow of each server will be described with reference to examples of screens shown in FIGS.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the user terminal 500 connects to the Web server 100 through a Web browser in order to use the information search service. The display control unit 120 of the Web server 100 transmits an information search service page to the user terminal 500 in response to the connection of the user terminal 500 (S1).

  When the user inputs a search term in the search window 1001 and selects the search button 1002, the search term is transmitted from the user terminal 500 to the Web server 100 (S3). At this time, the user can specify a search condition on a search tab (general search, web, image, video, blog, bulletin board, theme, summary) 1003 (see FIG. 10). For this reason, the search request transmitted from the user terminal 500 can include a search word and a search condition. Receiving the search request, the Web server 100 transmits the search term and the search condition to the search App server 200 (S5).

  The search processing unit 210 of the search App server 200 performs the first search process (S7) and the second search process (S9), generates search result data from the searched information, and transmits it to the Web server 100 (S11). ). Receiving the search result data from the search App server 200, the Web server 100 processes the search result data into a predetermined search result page format and transmits the search result page to the user terminal 500 (S13).

  FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a search result page displayed on the Web browser of the user terminal 500. The search result page of the present embodiment is the Web search result (Web search result column) searched by the first search process. 1004) and the summary search result (summary search result column 1005) searched by the second search process, and not only the Web search result but also the summary search result is transmitted to the user terminal 500 as the search result for the search term input by the user. Is done.

  The summary search result field 1005 includes a summary search index (summary title) list 1006 and an active summary search index thumbnail 1007.

  Next, when the user selects a summary title from the summary search index list in the summary search result field 1005 shown in FIG. 10 (S15), the user terminal 500 sends the selected summary title or the corresponding summary ID to the Web server 100. The Web server 100 transmits the summary ID to the search App server 200 (S17).

  The search App server 200 performs a second search process based on the received summary ID, searches the summary search storage unit 230 for the relevant summary search index and its information group (S19), and includes the retrieved information group. The search result data of the summary search index is transmitted to the Web server 100 (S21). Then, the Web server 100 that has received the search result data of the summary search index including the searched information group processes the search result data into a predetermined search result page format, and sends the search result page (summary page) to the user terminal 500. Is transmitted (S23).

  FIG. 11 is an example of a summary page on which a group of information for a summary search index is displayed. As shown in FIG. 11, the summary page includes a title display column 2001 in which a summary title is displayed, a summary information display column 2002 in which a list of images (image information group) added (registered) to the summary search index is displayed, A display column 2003 is displayed including a summary keyword that is a representative keyword of the summary.

  Then, when information is added to the summary search index, that is, when participating in the summary search index, when an information addition item (“add image”) 2004 is selected (S25), the page transitions to FIG. An image addition screen as shown is displayed on the user terminal 500 (see FIG. 8).

  In order to search for information to be added to the summary, the user can perform a Web search by inputting a search term in the search window 3001 on the image addition screen and selecting a search button 3002. When the user inputs a search term in the search window 3001 and selects the search button 3002, the user's search term is transmitted from the user terminal 500 to the Web server 100 (S27). The Web server 100 transmits an image as a search term and a search condition to the search App server 200 (S29).

  The search processing unit 210 of the search App server 200 performs a first search process (S31), generates search result data from the searched Web information, and transmits it to the Web server 100 (S33). Receiving the Web search result data from the search App server 200, the Web server 100 performs display control so that the search result data is displayed in the Web search result column 3003 of the information addition screen shown in FIG. 12 (S35).

  Each of the Web searched images displayed in the Web search result field 3003 is displayed with both a size and a URL indicating the storage location of the information, and a summary addition button 3004 is provided. When the user selects an arbitrary image summary addition button 3004 from the Web search result, an image addition screen 4000 shown in FIG. 13A is displayed. The image addition screen 4000 displays an image to be added and its URL, and is provided with an image title input field 4001 and an introduction comment input field 4002.

  When the participation button 4003 is selected, the URL information, image title, and introduction comment of the image displayed on the image addition screen 4000 together with the summary information addition request are transmitted to the search App server 200 via the Web server 100 (S37). The search App server 200 collectively stores these pieces of information in the search storage unit 230 (S39).

  In addition to the process of the summary search index control unit 220 for adding information to the summary search index, the connection user control unit 240 of the search App server 200 updates the summary participation history table 251 in the history information storage unit 260 (S41). Then, when information is added to the summary search index (history information is updated), the connected user control unit 240 performs a connected user information generation process (S43), which will be described later, and a connected user information storage unit. The connected user information generated in 250 is stored (updated) (S45).

  As shown in FIG. 12, instead of adding information from the Web search result to the collective search index, the information stored by the user stored in the user terminal 500 is selected by selecting the image upload button 3005. Can be added directly to the index. FIG. 13B is an example of an image addition screen 4000a that collectively adds information held by the user. By selecting an image selection button 4005, information stored in the storage device of the user terminal 500 is selected. Can do. Similarly, an image title input field 4001 and an introduction comment 4002 are provided. When the participation button 4003 is selected, URL information, an image title, and an introduction comment of an image displayed on the image addition screen 4000a together with a summary information addition request are displayed. It is transmitted to the search App server 200 via the Web server 100. The search App server 200 stores these pieces of information in the summary search storage unit 230 and updates the summary participation history table 251 in the history information storage unit 260. At this time, since the information held by the user is directly added to the summary, the direct input flag is set to 1 and stored in the summary search storage unit 230.

  The summary search index control unit 220 obtains the Web search result when information is added from the Web search result, in other words, when information is added to the summary search storage unit 230 with the direct input flag set to 0. Therefore, the search term input by the user in the search window 3001 can be stored in association with the collective search index (see the collective content file 233).

  Next, FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of a summary creation screen 5000 for creating a summary (summary search index). When the user selects “Create summary” 2008 shown in FIG. 11, the Web server 100 transmits the summary creation screen 5000 shown in FIG. 14 to the user terminal 500 and displays the summary creation screen 5000 in the Web browser of the user terminal 500. Is displayed.

  The summary creation screen 5000 includes a type selection field 5001 for selecting a summary information type (content type), a summary topic input field 5002 for inputting a summary topic, a summary topic 5003 for inputting description items for the summary topic, and a creation button 5004. Including. The user can create a summary search index that can share each user's knowledge and the user's answer to the search purpose through the search from the summary creation screen 5000.

  FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of a search result page when the information type of the summary search index is a link collection. FIG. 16A shows a link addition screen for adding a link from the Web search result, FIG. b) is an example of a link addition screen when the link information held by the user is directly added from the user terminal 500.

  In the examples of FIGS. 10 to 14, information is added from the summary page shown in FIG. 11, but FIG. 15 is preliminarily summarized from the search result page displayed on the Web browser of the user terminal 500 corresponding to FIG. 10. This is an example of adding Web search results to a search index without selecting a search index. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 16, a link is added by selecting a destination to which a link is added, that is, a summary to join.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a processing flow in which the user collects and updates the user search history for the collective search index and its information group. In the present embodiment, in addition to adding information to the above-described summary search index, the user registers each summary search index as a favorite summary, evaluates the summary search index, and each information group of the summary search index. Information (content) can be evaluated.

  As shown in FIG. 11, the summary search index can be evaluated by selecting a “referenced” selection column 2005 on the summary page displayed on the user terminal 500. This summary evaluation is transmitted from the user terminal 500 to the Web server 100 as a summary evaluation request (S47).

  If the user is interested in the summary search index, the user can register the summary search index as the “favorite summary” of the user by selecting the “Register to Favorites Summary” selection field 2006. It is transmitted from the user terminal 500 to the Web server 100 as a favorite summary registration request (S49).

  When the user sympathizes with each information in the information group of the summary search index, the user selects each information (content) by selecting the “sympathized” selection column 2007 of each information displayed in the summary information display column 2002. Can be assessed individually. This evaluation is transmitted from the user terminal 500 to the Web server 100 as a content evaluation request (S51).

  Then, the search App server 200 that has received each request of the favorite summary registration request, the summary evaluation request, and the content evaluation request through the Web server 100, stores the corresponding summary ID in the summary subscription history table 262 for each user based on the favorite summary registration request. (Summary search index) is stored, the user ID evaluated for each summary search index based on the summary evaluation request and the number of evaluations are stored in the summary evaluation history table 263, and the user ID evaluated for each content based on the content evaluation request History information collection (update) processing for storing the number of evaluations is performed (S53).

  Further, the connected user control unit 240 performs connected user information generation processing after the history information update processing (S55), and stores the generated connected user information in the connected user information storage unit 250 (S57).

  FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user-dedicated page for each user. As shown in the figure, the activity index display field 6001 displays the summary created, the number of information added to the summary, and the number of added information evaluated by other users, and the my summary keyword display field 6002 displays the summary. The keyword (search term) input in the search window 1001 (see FIG. 10) for the information added to the search index is displayed. In the favorite summary display column 6003, the registered favorite summary is displayed.

  Further, the user-dedicated page shown in FIG. 17 includes a user information display field 6004 in which user information is further displayed, a display field 6005 in which a summary in which information is added, a summary evaluated by the user, and the like are displayed. And a display field 6006 in which a selection item “” is displayed.

  When the Web server 100 receives a user-specific page display request from the user terminal 500, the Web server 100 transmits an information acquisition request to the search App server 200, and the search processing unit 210 of the search App server 200 performs a collective search. The corresponding information is extracted from the tables of the storage unit 230 and the history information storage unit 260. The page extraction information is transmitted from the search App server 200 to the Web page 100, and the display control unit 120 of the Web page 100 processes the page extraction information into a predetermined page format and transmits it to the user terminal 500.

  As for the My Summary keyword, for example, the user's keyword can be extracted from the summary content file 233 using the corresponding user ID, and can be extracted as the user's My Summary keyword.

  Next, the user can search for other users who are connected to him / her by selecting “Connected User Search” from his / her own user-specific page, and can also search for other users other than himself / herself. Can also be done.

  FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of a connected user search screen. For example, when a user name is input in the search window 7001, a search condition 7003 (user name) is selected, and a search button 7002 is selected (FIG. 18). 9, S 59), a connected user search request is transmitted from the user terminal 500 to the search App server 200 via the Web server 100. The search processing unit 210 of the search App server 200 extracts other users connected to the user from the connected user information storage unit 250 (S61 in FIG. 9), and extracts the extracted user names, connection types, and the like of the other users. The connected user search result data is transmitted to the Web server 100 (S63, S65 in FIG. 9).

  In this embodiment, together with a connected user search for itself, another user name can be entered into the search window 7001 to perform a connected user search for another user. In addition, in the default state of the connected user search screen displayed by selecting “connected user search” from the user dedicated page, for example, it is possible to display the user's own connected user who desires the connected user search It is.

  The Web server 100 transmits the user search result data to the user terminal 500, and the search results of other users who are connected to the user are displayed in the connected user search result column 7006. In the connected user search result column 7006, another user name 7007, a connection type 7008, and a connection search button 7009 of the other user are displayed. In the user information display column 1005, user information of the user himself / herself is displayed.

  FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a modified example of the display mode of the connected user search result of FIG. 18. In this embodiment, since the connection type with other users is included in the user search result, for example, the connection type Can also be displayed with an arrow. In FIG. 19, an object of another user who has a connection with the user's own object as a center is arranged, and the connected user relationship in which the objects are connected by an arrow indicating the direction of the connection type (direction of the relationship between the users). An example of the figure is shown.

  Next, the connected user information generation process of the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process flow of the connected user information generation process of the present embodiment. The connected user control unit 240 performs connected user information generation processing on the processing target user (user A) and a plurality of other users (user B).

  The connected user control unit 240 extracts the history information of the user A and the history information of the user B from the history information storage unit 260 and the summary search storage unit 230 (S101). Specifically, as shown in FIG. 21, the keywords (my summary keywords) and the number of each user, the summary search index to which the user has added information (summary participation history), the summary subscription history registered in the favorites summary, the user Extracts a summary evaluation history that evaluates the summary search index and a content evaluation history that evaluates information of the information group of the summary search index.

  As shown in FIG. 21, the history information of the user A and the user B is extracted, and the user action is associated with each history. For example, when information is added to the summary search index, the user action “participation” is associated with the summary search index ID.

  Further, the user action “subscribe” is given to the summary search index ID registered in the favorite summary, the user action “sympathy” is given to the evaluated summary search index ID, and the user action “sympathy” is given to the evaluated content ID. Associated.

  In other words, in the connected user information generation process of this embodiment, the history information of each user is extracted for each action, and the summary search index ID, content ID, etc. for each action are extracted.

  Then, the connected user control unit 240 assigns points to each extracted history information (each user action), and the ratio of each history information to the total score (all history information) (each user among all user actions) Calculate the ratio of actions. For example, the keyword is the keyword number × 1.0, the summary participation history is the summary ID × 5.0, the summary subscription history is the summary ID × 3.0, the summary evaluation history is the summary ID × 1.0, and the content evaluation For the history, the content ID × 1.0 and the score weighted between each history information are calculated, and the calculated scores for each history information are totaled (S102). Further, the ratio (history ratio) of points of each history information is calculated from the calculated total score (S103).

  Next, the connected user control unit 240 extracts history information in which keywords, summary IDs, and content IDs are duplicated (common) from the history information of the user A and the user B (S104). The user A and user B user actions associated with the information and the history ratio of the user B history information are extracted. And the sum total of the history ratio of each history information of the user B which overlaps is calculated as a connection degree (%) of the user B with respect to the user A (S105).

  In the example of FIG. 21, the keyword “Ebisu” and summary ID_2001, 2002, 2003 are extracted as overlapping history information. 49%, which is the sum of the history ID_2002 history ratio (19%) and the summary ID_2003 history ratio (4%), is the connection degree of the user B to the user A.

  Further, the connected user control unit 240 refers to the user relation type definition table 271 and identifies the relation type from the relationship between user actions of the user A and the user B (S106). Then, the history ratio of each history information of the user B is summed for each identified relation type, and the relation type having the highest sum of the history ratios of each history information of the user B for each relation type is selected as the user B for the user A. The connection type is specified (S107).

  For example, in the overlapping history information (user action), since the user A is a “participation” action and the user B is a “participation” action for the summary ID_2001, the first user is participating from the user relation type definition table 271. It is possible to specify the related type (first user = second user) in which the second user also participates in the summary. Similarly, since the user A is a “subscribe” action and the user B is a “participation” action for the summary ID_2002, the related type (first user ← second user) can be specified. The summary ID_2003 can specify the association type (first user = second user).

  Then, the connected user control unit 240 sums up the history ratio of the user B for each identified relation type, and determines the highest relation type among the sum of the history ratios of the user B totaled by the relation type. As a connection type of user B to In the example of FIG. 21, since the sum of the history ratios of the related types (first user = second user) is the highest, it is specified as the connection type of user B to user A.

  The connected user control unit 240 stores the calculated connection degree and the identified association type (connection type) in the connected user information storage table 251 (S108).

  FIGS. 22 and 23 are diagrams showing another form of the connection degree calculation process and the related type specifying process shown in FIG. 21. In the example of FIG. 22, the related type is “first user ← second user”. In the example of FIG. 23, the relation type is specified as “first user → second user”.

  Also, as shown in FIG. 24, a keyword can be entered into the search window 7001 and a search condition 7004 (keyword) can be selected to perform a connected user search. In this case, the summary content in the summary search storage unit 230 It is also possible to extract a user (user ID) who has added each content based on the keyword input from the file 233, extract the connected users in the descending order of the number of matching keywords for each extracted user, and provide the user to the user.

  In the connected user information generation process of the present embodiment, for example, the user B presenting the user A with the summary search index having the highest history ratio among the duplicated pieces of history information as information associated with each connected user. Can be extracted as a representative summary search index. Further, the user B's My Summary keyword can be included in the connected user search result as accompanying information of the connected user to be searched.

  In addition, when extracting the summary search index having the highest history ratio among the duplicated history information as the representative summary search index of the user B presented to the user A, if there are a plurality of summary search indexes having the same history ratio, The latest summaries can be extracted as a representative summary of the user B in order of participation date. In addition, a predetermined number of keywords can be extracted in the order of the count number in the My B keyword of user B. If there are a plurality of keywords having the same count number, the most recently entered keyword is given priority to user A. Priorities can also be given as presented.

  Then, the representative summary and keywords of these connected users can be stored in the connected user information storage unit 250 by the connected user control unit 240, and the search processing unit 210 is based on the connected user search request from the user terminal 500. The representative summary of connected users and keywords can be extracted from the connected user information storage unit 250 and presented to the user and associated information of the searched connected users.

  As described above, the information search system 1 according to the present embodiment can provide connected users from the relationship between actions caused by a plurality of users centered on one piece of information. For this reason, unlike a similar user who is provided to each user only by history matching as in the past, it is possible to provide a user whose interest and preference for information are connected in the action.

  Moreover, in this embodiment, since the relationship between one user and a connected user can be specified and a user relation type can be provided, how the user himself / herself is in a plurality of user groups using the information search service. You can find out whether the information you are looking for (or added) is useful to other users, and you can increase your enjoyment of information search and communicate with other users. Opportunities can be improved.

  In addition, it is possible to know the relationship between one user and other users around it, so that you can find information you want to search from users who are useful to many other users, and get information Opportunities to improve.

  As described above, the present invention has been described by taking a preferred embodiment as an example. However, the above-described processing for adding information to the summary search index can also be realized through a toolbar of a Web browser, for example, a Web page or image being browsed If you want to add to the search index, you can add information by selecting "Add Summary" from the toolbar.

  In addition, the process of adding information to the summary search index does not need to immediately add the result of the web search to the summary search index. For example, the link information and image information searched by the user in the storage area allocated for each user. Once saved and searched for various summary search indexes (summary pages), link information and image information stored in the user's save area may be added. Alternatively, the user search history may be stored by date and time, and information may be added from the user search history to a desired summary search index.

  In addition to the above-described hardware configuration, each server described above includes a CPU that controls the entire server, memory, mouse, keyboard, touch panel, scanner and other operation input means, printer and speaker output means, auxiliary storage, and the like. A device (such as a hard disk) can be provided.

  Each part of the search App server 200 of the present invention can be embodied as a computer-executable program, and the computer in which the program is installed performs information processing for executing the search App server 200 of the present invention. It is possible to operate as a device. For example, the program is stored in an auxiliary storage device (not shown), and a control unit such as a CPU reads the program stored in the auxiliary storage device to a main storage device such as a memory, and the program read to the main storage device It can be executed by the control unit and cause the computer to operate the processing of the present invention. The program of the present invention can be stored in a computer-readable recording medium. Computer-readable recording media include optical disks such as CD-ROM, phase change optical disks such as DVD-ROM, magneto-optical disks such as MO (Magnet Optical) and MD (Mini Disk), floppy (registered trademark) disks, Examples include magnetic disks such as removable hard disks, memory cards such as compact flash (registered trademark), smart media, SD memory cards, and memory sticks. A hardware device such as an integrated circuit (IC chip or the like) specially designed and configured for the purpose of the present invention is also included as a recording medium.

  Although the present invention has been described according to a preferred embodiment, it can be variously modified in light of the technology in the technical field without departing from the gist of the present invention. Therefore, the technical scope of the present invention should not be limited to the above-described embodiment, but should be determined based on the description of the claims and equivalents thereof.

1 Information Search System 100 Web Server 110 Communication Control Unit 120 Display Control Unit 130 Authentication Processing Unit 200 Search Application Server 210 Search Processing Unit 210A First Search Unit 210B Second Search Unit 220 Summary Search Index Control Unit 230 Summary Search Storage Unit 240 Connection user control unit 250 Connection user information storage unit 260 History information storage unit 270 User related type definition storage unit 300 Search index server 310 Information collection unit 320 Indexer 330 WWW search storage unit 400 Database server 410 User information storage unit 500 User terminal

Claims (9)

An information search device for searching for information based on a search instruction input from a user terminal,
Storage means for storing an information group and an information group search index associated with the information group;
History information storage means for storing user action history information for the information group search index or the information group from the user terminal;
Based on the user action history information, the user action of each of the first user and the second user for the information group search index or the information group is extracted, and using the relationship between the extracted user actions, User relevance calculating means for calculating relevance of the second user to the first user;
An information retrieval apparatus comprising: The user action is an information addition action for adding information to the information group of the information group search index and an information group search index registration action for registering the information group search index of high interest of the user,
First control means for storing the added information in the storage means in association with the information group search index when the information addition action is input from the user terminal;
Second control means for storing, in the history information storage means, the information group search index that is in a registration request for each user when the information group search index registration action is input;
The information search apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: The user action is an information group search index evaluation action for the information group search index information addition action and the information group search index for the information group search index,
First control means for storing the added information in the storage means in association with the information group search index when the information addition action is input from the user terminal;
Second control means for storing, in the history information storage means, evaluation information including the user evaluated for each evaluated information group search index when the information group search index evaluation action is input;
The information search apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: The user action includes an information evaluation action for each piece of information in the information group,
4. The information search apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the second control unit stores evaluation information including the evaluated user for each evaluated information in the history information storage unit. The user relevance calculation means includes:
Based on the user action history information, the history information that is duplicated in each history information of the first and second users for the information group search index or the information group is extracted for each action, and the extracted history information is duplicated. 5. The degree of association of the second user with respect to the first user is calculated based on a corresponding ratio of history information by action in the entire history information of the second user. The information search device according to any one of the above. A user relation type definition storing means for defining a relation type between users according to a relationship between actions of a plurality of users for the information group search index and the information group;
The user relevance calculation means refers to a user relation type definition storage means, and specifies the relation types of the first user and the second user from the extracted user actions of the first user and the second user. The information search device according to claim 1, wherein the information search device is an information search device. An information search service system comprising: a Web server to which a user terminal connects via a network; and a search application server for searching for information based on a search instruction input from the user terminal through the Web server,
The search application server
Storage means for storing an information group and an information group search index associated with the information group;
History information storage means for storing user action history information for the information group search index or the information group from the user terminal;
Based on the user action history information, the user action of each of the first user and the second user for the information group search index or the information group is extracted, and using the relationship between the extracted user actions, User relevance calculating means for calculating relevance of the second user to the first user;
An information retrieval service system comprising:   The program for functioning a computer as each means which comprises the information search device of Claims 1-6.   A computer-readable recording medium storing the program according to claim 8.

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