JP2011060246A - Information processor, information processing method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide information processing technology that achieves efficient retrieval. <P>SOLUTION: The information processor includes: a generation means extracting a retrieval attribute candidate of an image and a retrieval attribute candidate from retrieval history information of a user, and generating a retrieval condition candidate by combining the extracted retrieval attribute candidate with attribute value candidate; a presentation means presenting the retrieval condition candidates having another retrieval attribute different from a retrieval attribute selected by the user in common on a screen as one set; an advanced search means narrowing a retrieval range based on a retrieval condition selected by the user; and a first storage means storing the retrieval history information where a plurality of retrieval conditions selected in advanced search are associated. A determination means determines the order of the retrieval history information having the retrieval attribute different from the retrieval attribute constituting the retrieval condition selected by the user in common, in the retrieval history information obtained by narrowing the retrieval range on the basis of the retrieval condition having the same retrieval attribute as the retrieval attribute constituting the retrieval condition presently selected by the user, and extracts the retrieval attribute candidate and the value candidate. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program.

  In recent years, with the increase in the capacity of storage media, the number of documents handled by devices has increased, and the demand for search has increased. One of the reasons is that there are a wide variety of data such as text, images, moving images, and composite data combining them. However, it is difficult to set the search condition in a device that does not have a sufficient UI environment for inputting the search condition.

  In order to reduce such a search condition setting load for the user, there has been an effort to automatically generate and present a search condition. Also, efforts have been made to store used search conditions as a history and reuse them.

  For example, in Patent Document 1, a method for accepting a designation of a word that is determined to be unnecessary by a user from a document set of search results, and automatically generating and presenting a search condition for narrowing down to those that do not include an unnecessary word Is disclosed. Patent Document 2 discloses a method of storing input search conditions as a search history and sorting and displaying the search conditions in the history according to a narrowing rate.

JP 2003-259243 A JP-A-6-325101

  However, when the automatically generated and presented search conditions are stored and presented as candidates for the next search condition, the purpose of the search may be different from that presented in the past. For this reason, there is a problem in that the search condition cannot be appropriately narrowed down, and the search cannot be performed efficiently.

  In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to enable efficient search.

An information processing apparatus according to the present invention that achieves the above object is as follows.
Extraction of search attribute candidates for classifying images included in an image set and candidate attribute values corresponding to the search attribute candidates and indicating the contents of the image from search history information indicating a search history of user operations Extraction means to
A search attribute is obtained from the search attribute candidate extracted by the extraction means, an attribute value is obtained from the attribute value candidate extracted by the extraction means, and is configured by a combination of the search attribute and the attribute value. Generating means for generating search condition candidates,
A determination means for determining a ranking for presenting the search condition candidates on the screen as a set having the other search attributes different from the search attributes constituting the search conditions currently selected by the user;
Setting means for setting the set of search condition candidates as data for presenting on the screen in the order determined by the determining means;
Presenting means for presenting the search condition candidates on the screen according to the order set by the setting means;
Narrowing means for narrowing down the search range based on selection of the search condition by a user operation via the screen presented by the presenting means;
Association means for associating a plurality of search conditions selected by the user operation as the search history information indicating a search history of the user operation when the search range is narrowed by the narrowing means;
First storage means for storing the search history information associated by the association means;
The determination means includes the search history information after the search range is narrowed down by the search condition having the same search attribute as the search attribute constituting the search condition currently selected by the user. The ranking is determined in descending order of the frequency of those having other search attributes different from the search attributes constituting the search condition,
The extraction means includes the search attribute constituting the search condition from search history information after the search range is narrowed down by the narrowing means out of the search history information stored in the first storage means. A candidate and a candidate for the attribute value are extracted.

  According to the present invention, it becomes easy to select a search condition desired by a user, and an efficient search is possible.

The figure which shows an example of the hardware constitutions of information processing apparatus. The figure which showed an example of the search condition selection log | history of a user in this embodiment. The figure which showed an example of the search initial screen displayed when search is instruct | indicated with respect to the designated image set. The figure which showed an example of the structure of the image database which is the information for managing an image in this embodiment, and the figure which showed an example of the structure of a search condition candidate table. The figure which showed an example of the structure of the search history database for managing the selected search conditions, and the figure which showed an example of the structure of the co-occurrence frequency database for managing the co-occurrence frequency in the series between search attributes . The flowchart which shows an example of the operation | movement of the search device of this embodiment, and more specifically, the processing procedure of CPU based on a program. The flowchart which showed the detail of the search condition set presentation process. The flowchart which showed the detail of the process of search attribute extraction. The flowchart which showed the detail of the process of search attribute extraction from a series. The flowchart which showed the detail of the process of search condition candidate setting.

(First embodiment)
An example of the hardware configuration of the information processing apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, a CPU 101 (central processing unit) performs calculation / logic determination for document search, and controls each component described later connected to the bus 108 via a bus 108 described later. The ROM 102 stores a control program serving as a processing procedure of the CPU 101 and various data. The RAM 103 is used as a work area for temporary storage for various controls during processing. The input device 104 includes a button, a touch panel, a mouse, and the like. The display device 105 includes a liquid crystal display or the like. The storage device 106 includes various disk devices such as a hard disk, a flash memory, and the like, and stores various data such as a control program that is a processing procedure of the CPU 101 and document files and metadata. The communication device 107 includes an external input / output device such as a USB and a wired or wireless communication device such as a modem, and exchanges data with the external device. The bus 108 exchanges control programs and data between devices from the CPU 101 to the communication device 107.

  The information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment operates in response to various events from the input device 104 or the like. When an interrupt from the input device 104 is supplied, a signal is sent to the CPU 101, and an event occurs accordingly. The CPU 101 reads out various commands (programs) stored in the ROM 102 or the RAM 103 in accordance with the generated event, and executes various controls.

An example of a search condition selection history in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The search conditions selected by the user are arranged in chronological order from top to bottom. The search criteria used to narrow down the search scope to the target image is
A search attribute for classifying the images included in the image set and an attribute value corresponding to the search attribute and indicating the content of the image are included as constituent elements. In this embodiment, the attribute value is an equivalence condition for the search attribute. That is, the search condition is “search attribute = attribute value”, and the selected search attribute and attribute value are shown as the search condition selection history. The search attribute 201 and the attribute value 202 indicate that the search condition “Subject = Taro” is first selected.

An arrow 203a to an arrow 203j, an arrow 204a to an arrow 204c, and an arrow 205 indicate the change of the search target between the selected search conditions. Arrows 203a to 203j indicate that a search result based on the immediately preceding search condition is a search target, that is, a narrow search.
For example, the search condition is initially that the search attribute 201 is “subject” and the attribute value 202 is “Taro”. A narrow-down search is executed by the arrow 203a, and “object = Taro” is narrowed down to image data whose search attribute 201 is “date” and attribute value 202 is “August 2008”. Further narrowing search is executed by the arrow 203b, and the search attribute 201 is “location” and the attribute value 202 is “home” for “subject = Taro” and “date = August 2008”. Similarly, further narrowing-down search is executed by the arrow 203c. For “subject = Taro”, “date = August 2008”, and “location = home”, the search attribute 201 is “mode” and the attribute value 202 is “party”. "Is narrowed down to image data. Similarly, an arrow 203d to an arrow 203j indicate that a narrow search is executed under each search condition.

  Arrows 204a to 204c indicate resetting of the search target, which indicates that the search target is changed to the search target when the search is first executed. That is, the end of the search or the start of a new search indicates that the narrowing has been canceled. An arrow 205 indicates that the search target is not changed, and indicates that the previous search result is not set as a new search target.

  The history 206 is the latest history, and since the arrow 203 is present immediately after that, the refinement search with the result of the history 206 as a search target is continuing. The search condition used immediately before the ongoing refinement search is “lens = telephoto”.

  An example of a search screen in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. An area 301 is an area for displaying a search condition set. In the example of FIG. 3, the search attribute is a date, and attribute values as an equivalence condition of the search attribute are displayed, and “date = 2000”, “date = 2001”, “date = 2006”, “Date = 2007” and “Date = 2008” are presented. An area 302 displays thumbnail images of image data as search results narrowed down after the search condition is selected. In the area 303, the displayed search result displays the ratio of the entire search result set as an elevator. An area 304 is a button for the next candidate, and instructs to display the next set of search conditions when it is determined that the search conditions are difficult to select or useless. An area 305 is a cancel button, and instructs to cancel the search selected immediately before and to display it again before executing the search. An area 306 is a new button, and instructs to cancel all searches that have a narrowing relationship with the previous search and display the initial search screen. An area 307 is a history button, and instructs to display a search condition set based on search conditions in the search history.

  The user operates the input device 104 or the like to select a search condition as shown below. That is, a search condition is selected from a search condition set as a search condition candidate presented on the screen of the area 301 that functions as a presentation unit. The information processing apparatus functioning as a selection unit selects a search condition based on a user operation via the search screen. Then, the information processing apparatus executes a search and displays the search result in the area 302.

  With reference to FIG. 4A, an example of the configuration of an image database that is information for managing image data to be searched in the present embodiment will be described.

  ID 401 is an image ID attribute, and stores an ID for specifying the image. The date 402 is a shooting date attribute, and stores the shooting date of the image. Time 403 is a shooting time attribute, and time zone information such as “morning” and “night” is stored in accordance with the shooting time of the image. A location 404 is a shooting location attribute, and stores the shooting location of the image. The subject 405 is a subject attribute and stores the name of the person who is the subject of the image. The lens 406 is a lens attribute and stores lens type information used at the time of photographing the image. The mode 407 is a shooting mode attribute, and stores shooting mode information used when shooting the image. The image data 408 is an image data attribute and stores image data main body or link information to the image data main body. Since these pieces of information are stored and indexed in a so-called relational database, the information processing apparatus can check the number of hits based on various search attributes. Note that the image database is stored in the storage device 106 or the like that functions as the first storage unit.

  An example of the configuration of the search condition candidate table will be described with reference to FIG. The search condition candidate table is composed of several search condition sets. Each search condition set (in the example shown in FIG. 4B, search condition set 1 to search condition set n) includes a search attribute, a series of search conditions, and a score. As the search attribute, a search attribute name managed as metadata of the image database is used, and a search attribute name that actually appears in the search target image set is used. Each search condition includes an attribute value and a hit rate in the target set. As the attribute value, the one that actually appears in the image set included in the search range is used. The target set hit rate stores the ratio of images satisfying “search attribute = attribute value” in the target image set. The score which comprises a search condition set is a presentation order score, and is used as a basis of the rank which should present a search condition set.

  In the presentation order score, the co-occurrence frequency is managed in the co-occurrence frequency database described in detail in FIG. On the other hand, when it is not a narrowing-down process or when there is no co-occurrence frequency, the square average is used as the presentation order score for the hit rate in the target set according to each search condition in the search condition set. This is a measure of variance in statistics. The variance is generally calculated by subtracting the mean square from the mean square, but in the comparison of the search condition sets here, the mean is considered to be approximately equal, and the mean square is used as an index.

  With reference to FIG. 5A, an example of the configuration of a search history database for managing the search conditions selected in the present embodiment will be described. The plurality of search conditions selected by the user operation are managed as search history information including information for associating with other selected search conditions as a search execution date and time series in the narrowing-down process.

  ID 501 is a history ID attribute, and stores an ID for specifying the search history information. The date and time 502 is a search date and time attribute, and stores the search execution date and time of the search history information. A user 503 is a user attribute, and stores a user who has performed a search for the search history information. The parent ID 504 and the child ID 505 are information indicating a relationship with other search history information as a series in the narrowing-down process. The parent ID 504 is a parent history ID attribute. When the search target of the search history information is the execution result of the previous search, the history ID attribute of the search history information indicating the previous search execution is stored. In the case of search history initial information that is search history information for which there is no previous search as in a new search, 0 is stored. The child ID 505 is a child history ID attribute, and stores the history ID attribute of all the search history information indicating the search performed with the search execution result of the search history information as a search target. If the search is not possible with the execution result as a search target by the end of the search or the start of a new search, 0 is stored. Nothing is stored if the refinement search is ongoing.

  The search attribute 506 and the attribute value 507 are search condition attributes, and the search condition “search attribute = attribute value” of the search history information is stored. The search attribute 506 stores search attributes that constitute a search condition. The attribute value 507 stores an attribute value corresponding to the search attribute that constitutes the search condition. Since these pieces of information are stored and indexed in a so-called relational database, the information processing apparatus can check the latest search history information and the relevance based on the search target based on various search attributes. It is assumed that the search history database is stored in the storage device 106 that functions as a storage unit. Further, since the number of search history information that can be managed according to the storage space of the storage device 106 or the like is limited, when the number of search history information that can be managed is exceeded, the search history with the old search date / time attribute for the excess It shall be automatically deleted from the information.

With reference to FIG. 5B, an example of the configuration of a co-occurrence frequency database functioning as a second storage unit for managing the co-occurrence frequency between the search attributes in the present embodiment will be described.
The co-occurrence frequency is the search condition currently selected by the user in the search history information after the search range is narrowed down by the search condition having the same search attribute as the search attribute constituting the search condition currently selected by the user. The frequency of those having in common other search attributes different from the search attributes constituting the. The co-occurrence frequency ID 551 is a co-occurrence frequency ID attribute, and an ID for specifying the co-occurrence frequency information is stored. The selected condition 552 is a selected condition attribute and stores the search attribute of the selected search condition. The frequency 553 is a frequency attribute, and stores the number of times the search attribute stored in the selected condition 552 is selected. The co-occurrence frequency 554 is a co-occurrence frequency attribute, and other search attributes selected in the same series as the search attribute stored in the selected condition 552 and the number of times of selection are stored as co-occurrence frequency list information. Is done. Since these pieces of information are stored and indexed in a so-called relational database, the information processing apparatus can check the relationship between search attributes that co-occur within the same series based on the search attributes. It is assumed that the co-occurrence frequency database is stored in the storage device 106 that functions as a storage unit.

  With reference to FIG. 6, an operation of the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment, specifically, a flowchart illustrating an example of a CPU processing procedure based on a program will be described.

  In step S601, the CPU 101 executes a system initialization process. Here, in the system initialization process, the CPU 101 initializes various parameters, which is a process for displaying an initial screen and the like.

  In step S602, the CPU 101 waits until an event from the input device 104 such as a button press occurs. When an event occurs, the CPU 101 determines the event in step S603. In step S604, processing corresponding to various events is executed. A search condition set presentation process in FIG. 7 described later is one of the processes. Other processes include search condition candidate selection processing, search condition reset processing, data management processing, data attribute change processing, and the like, although details are not described.

  In step S605, the CPU 101 notifies the processing result of each of the above processes and the end of the process, and displays a corresponding screen according to the instruction of each process. The process of step S605 is an error display process when there is an error, or a process of reflecting preset display data on the screen display when a normal process is performed.

  With reference to FIG. 7, a flowchart showing details of the search condition set presentation process which is a part of step S604 will be described.

  In step S701, the CPU 101 determines an image set to be searched. The CPU 101 may search for the entire image in the image database as an image set included in the search range. In addition, the CPU 101 displays the already executed search result on the display device 105 or the like, and when the refinement search is instructed by the user, the image set that is the refined search result is set as a search target as the designated image set. Also good.

  In step S702, the CPU 101 functioning as an extraction unit extracts search attributes for generating search condition candidates to be presented from a search history database or search target in FIG.

  In step S703, the CPU 101 selects a certain attribute from the extracted attributes. In step S704, the CPU 101 functioning as a generation unit generates a search condition candidate for the selected attribute in the search condition candidate table, as will be described later with reference to FIG. When the search condition candidate generation is completed, in step S705, the CPU 101 confirms whether or not all attributes have been processed. If there is an unprocessed attribute, the CPU 101 selects the next attribute in step S706 and loops to step S703. If all attributes have been processed in step S705, the CPU 101 functioning as a determination unit proceeds to step S707, and displays the search condition set (search condition candidate set) group created on the search condition candidate table. 8 is sorted in the order of the presentation order score described later. The order in which the search condition candidates having in common other search attributes different from the search attributes constituting the search condition currently selected by the user are presented as a set on the screen is determined.

  In step S708, the CPU 101 sets the first search condition set sorted from the search condition set group as a search condition candidate to be presented. In step S709, the CPU 101 functioning as a setting unit sets the search condition set to be presented as display data, and returns.

  A flowchart showing details of the search attribute extraction process in step S702 will be described with reference to FIG.

  In step S <b> 801, the CPU 101 confirms whether or not search history information indicating the results of searches performed in the past exists in the search history database, in addition to the search history information that is currently being refined. Specifically, the presence / absence of existence is confirmed by searching the search history database for search history information having a child history ID attribute of 0. Since the search history information whose child history ID attribute is 0 indicates that the refined search has been completed, it can be determined that there is search history information indicating the results of searches performed in the past. If there is no past search history information, search attribute candidates used in the image set included in the search range are extracted in step S806. Here, even if an attribute exists in the entire image database, it may not exist in a designated image set that is a subset thereof, and such a search attribute is excluded in advance. After extracting the search attributes in step S806, the CPU 101 returns.

  If there is past search history information in step S801, the CPU 101 proceeds to step S802. In step S802, it is confirmed whether or not the current narrowing search is ongoing. This is determined by checking whether or not there is search history information that has been selected in the search history database, that is, the child history ID attribute is not set. That is, when there is search history information in which the child history ID attribute is not set, it is determined that the current narrowing search is ongoing.

  If the current refinement search is not ongoing, the CPU 101 extracts the search attribute from the latest search history information that is the first refinement order and is the search history initial information that does not have a parent history ID in step S808, and returns To do. The latest search history information with the first narrowing-down order follows the parent history information having the value of the parent history ID attribute of the search history information in order from the latest search date and time, and the parent history ID attribute value is It can be obtained by specifying one that is 0 (one that has no parent history).

  On the other hand, in step S802, if the refined search is currently being continued, that is, if there is selected search history information, the process proceeds to step S803. In step S803, the CPU 101 extracts search history information having the same search conditions as the selected search history information from the search history database. In step S804, the presence / absence of the extracted search history information is confirmed. If not extracted, the process proceeds to step S807. In step S807, the CPU 101 extracts a search attribute that co-occurs with the selected search attribute, and returns. The co-occurrence search attribute is obtained by acquiring co-occurrence frequency information from the co-occurrence frequency database and extracting unselected search attributes corresponding to the value of the co-occurrence frequency attribute of the information.

  If the search history information is extracted in step S804, the process proceeds to step S805. In step S805, as will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 9, the CPU 101 extracts search attributes from the series including the extracted search history information, and returns.

  With reference to FIG. 9, a flowchart showing details of processing for extracting search attributes from the series of search history information in step S805 will be described.

  In step S901, the CPU 101 sorts the search history information having the same search condition as the selected search history information extracted in step S803 in chronological order from the latest search date attribute value. In step S902, search history information is acquired.

  In step S903, the CPU 101 confirms the existence of child history information from the child history ID attribute of the acquired search history information. If there is no child history information, the process proceeds to step S908. In step S908, it is confirmed whether or not all extracted search history information has been processed. If there is unprocessed search history information, the next search history information is selected in step S909, and the process loops to step S902. To do.

  On the other hand, if there is child history information, the process proceeds to step S904. In step S904, the CPU 101 extracts search attributes from the search conditions for all child history information. In step S905, it is confirmed whether or not those search attributes are the same as those already selected in the current narrowing process. If all the extracted search attributes are the same as the selected search attributes, the process proceeds to step S906. In step S906, the presence of the next child history information is further confirmed from the child history ID attribute of the child history information. If the next child history information exists, the next child history information is selected in step S907, and the flow advances to step S904. Loop.

  On the other hand, if there is a search attribute that has not been selected in step S905, the process proceeds to step S910. In step S910, the CPU 101 extracts only the search attributes that are not selected, excluding the selected search attributes, and returns.

  If the next child history information does not exist in step S906, the process proceeds to step S908. In step S908, it is confirmed whether or not all the extracted search history information has been processed. If there is unprocessed search history information, the process loops to step S902 as described above.

  In step S908, when the processing of all the extracted search history information has been completed, the CPU 101 proceeds to step S911. In step S911, the search attributes used in the image set included in the search range are extracted as in step S806, and the process returns.

  With reference to FIG. 10, a flowchart showing details of the processing for generating search condition candidates in step S704 will be described.

  In step 1001, the CPU 101 initializes necessary variables. In step S <b> 1002, the CPU 101 functioning as an extraction unit extracts, as an attribute value candidate for the search attribute, an item that appears as an attribute value of the search attribute in the image set to be searched. In step S <b> 1003, the CPU 101 extracts one attribute value from the search attribute candidate attribute values to be searched. In step S1004, the CPU 101 calculates the hit rate by obtaining the number of search conditions “search attribute = attribute value” in the image set.

  In step S1005, the CPU 101 stores “search attribute” and “attribute value”, which are search condition candidates, and the calculated hit rate in the search condition candidate table. In step S1006, the CPU 101 confirms whether or not all candidate attribute values have been processed. If there is an unprocessed attribute value, the CPU 101 acquires the next attribute value in step S807 and loops to step S803. In step S1006, when the processing of all attribute values has been completed, the CPU 101 proceeds to step S1008. In step S1008, the co-occurrence frequency of the search attribute in the search condition set and the selected search attribute is acquired from the co-occurrence frequency database, and stored in the search condition candidate table as a presentation order score in descending order of the co-occurrence frequency. Here, when it is not a narrowing-down process or when there is no co-occurrence frequency, the mean square is calculated for each target set hit rate in the search condition set. Then, the mean square is stored in the search condition candidate table as a presentation order score. After storing the presentation order score in the search condition candidate table, the CPU 101 returns.

According to the present embodiment, search condition candidates that are likely to co-occur with the selected search condition are generated and presented from the search history even during the refined search, so that it becomes easy to select the user-desired search condition and improve efficiency. A good search is possible.
(Second Embodiment)
In the first embodiment, the latest series including the selected search condition is selected from the search history database, and the search attribute of the search history information in the next narrowing-down order of the selected search condition is extracted from the series.

  On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the CPU 101 may select not only the latest series including the selected search condition from the search history database, but also all stored series. Alternatively, selection may be limited to one or more arbitrary series from the latest. Moreover, you may limit to the series which consists of the search history information selected by the user in search.

  The CPU 101 may extract the search attributes from all the search history information instead of extracting the search attributes only from the search history information in the next narrowing order of the selected search conditions in the series. Or you may extract only the search attribute of the search condition with a high narrowing-down effect from all the search history information. Alternatively, only search attributes that co-occur with a selected search attribute based on information in the co-occurrence frequency database may be extracted.

  Further, when generating search condition candidates from search attributes, all appearing as attribute values of search attributes specified in the image set included in the search range are extracted as candidates, but stored in the storage device 106 or the like. It may be limited to those existing in the search history information.

  The CPU 101 is a candidate for presenting only the first search condition set sorted from the generated search condition candidates, but may be a candidate for presenting one or more search condition sets having different search attributes.

  Further, although the search condition in the first embodiment uses the equivalence condition “search attribute = attribute value”, the CPU 101 determines a range other than the equivalence condition in the case of a search attribute expressed by a quantity such as a date. The specified condition may be presented.

Further, the CPU 101 may use a combination of the above series selection method, search attribute extraction method, search condition candidate generation, and presentation candidate determination method.
(Other embodiments)
The present invention can also be realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (program) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various storage media, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, or the like) of the system or apparatus reads the program. It is a process to be executed.

Claims (5)

Extraction of search attribute candidates for classifying images included in an image set and candidate attribute values corresponding to the search attribute candidates and indicating the contents of the image from search history information indicating a search history of user operations Extraction means to
A search attribute is obtained from the search attribute candidate extracted by the extraction means, an attribute value is obtained from the attribute value candidate extracted by the extraction means, and is configured by a combination of the search attribute and the attribute value. Generating means for generating search condition candidates,
A determination means for determining a ranking for presenting the search condition candidates on the screen as a set having the other search attributes different from the search attributes constituting the search conditions currently selected by the user;
Setting means for setting the set of search condition candidates as data for presenting on the screen in the order determined by the determining means;
Presenting means for presenting the search condition candidates on the screen according to the order set by the setting means;
Narrowing means for narrowing down the search range based on the selection of the search condition by a user operation via the screen presented by the presenting means;
Association means for associating a plurality of search conditions selected by the user operation as the search history information indicating a search history of the user operation when the search range is narrowed by the narrowing means;
First storage means for storing the search history information associated by the association means;
The determination means includes the search history information after the search range is narrowed down by the search condition having the same search attribute as the search attribute constituting the search condition currently selected by the user. The ranking is determined in descending order of the frequency of those having other search attributes different from the search attributes constituting the search condition,
The extraction means includes the search attribute constituting the search condition from search history information after the search range is narrowed down by the narrowing means out of the search history information stored in the first storage means. An information processing apparatus that extracts candidates and candidates for the attribute value.   Of the search history information after the search range is narrowed down with the search condition having the same search attribute as the search attribute constituting the search condition currently selected by the user, the search condition currently selected by the user is configured The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a second storage unit that stores a frequency of a common search attribute different from the search attribute.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the extraction unit extracts the search attribute candidates in descending order of the frequency. Search history information indicating a search history of user operations, wherein the extraction means classifies search attribute candidates for classifying images included in the image set, and attribute value candidates corresponding to the search attribute candidates and indicating the contents of the image. An extraction process for extracting from the inside,
The generation unit acquires a search attribute from the search attribute candidate extracted by the extraction step, acquires an attribute value from the attribute value candidate extracted by the extraction step, and sets the search attribute and the attribute value A generation step of generating search condition candidates configured by the combination;
A determining step for determining the order in which the search condition candidates that have other search attributes in common with the search attributes constituting the search condition currently selected by the user are presented on the screen as a set;
A setting step in which the setting means sets the set of search condition candidates as data for presenting on the screen in the order determined by the determination step;
A presenting step of presenting the search condition candidates on the screen according to the order set by the setting step;
A narrowing-down process for narrowing down a search range based on selection of the search condition by a user operation via the screen presented in the presenting step,
An associating unit associating a plurality of search conditions selected by the user operation as the search history information indicating the search history of the user operation when narrowing down the search range by the narrowing step;
A first storage unit that stores the search history information associated by the association step;
The determination step includes the search history information selected by the user among the search history information after the search range is narrowed down by the search condition having the same search attribute as the search attribute constituting the search condition currently selected by the user. The ranking is determined in descending order of the frequency of those having other search attributes different from the search attributes constituting the search condition,
The extraction step includes the search attribute constituting the search condition from the search history information after the search range is narrowed down by the narrowing step among the search history information stored in the first storage unit. An information processing method, wherein a candidate and a candidate for the attribute value are extracted.   A program for causing a computer to execute the information processing method according to claim 4.

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