JP2017068307A - Information retrieval device, control method thereof, and information retrieval program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate retrieval of indexes in a digital content such as an electronic manual in which font indexes (icons) are mixed.SOLUTION: A content 6 including indexes first formed into fonts so as to be usable as types of characters unique to the content is acquired. In the content 6, retrieval style identifiers defining the indexes usable as retrieval queries and font information associated with the retrieval style identifiers are described. During retrieval in which the indexes in the content 6 as queries, a font information list is generated for each of the described retrieval style identifiers, and the position of an index present in the content can be specified with an index selected among the indexes presented as selection candidates on the basis of the list. The specified index is reverse-displayed on a viewer.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a search technique for information contained in digital content.

  In recent years, product manuals for electronic devices such as printers and digital cameras have been digitized and distributed as electronic manuals to users of electronic devices. For example, Patent Document 1 provides a system in which product manuals for a plurality of types of electronic devices are accumulated and a product manual that a user wants to refer to is automatically searched and presented. In this system, an electronic manual requested from a terminal operated by a user is searched, and the electronic manual specified by the search is provided to the terminal via a communication network. The user stores the provided electronic manual in the terminal and then displays it with a viewer corresponding to the document format. Examples of the viewer include a web browser, a PDF reader, and an EPUB viewer.

JP 2002-149874 A

When content such as an electronic manual is created as a structured document, the creator of the content can arbitrarily set a font to be applied when characters included in the content are displayed on the viewer. The font is information used to align the font design of the drawn characters. The content creator can design the appearance of the text by specifying a Gothic font for the title portion of the content and a Mincho font for the body. In recent years, there are cases in which not only characters that have been conventionally used in writing, such as alphabetic characters, such as pictographs used in mobile phones, but also characters are associated with images and handled as a kind of characters. The font is stored in the electronic device as a font file in which a character code that is a character identifier and a glyph that is shape information for reproducing the appearance are associated with each other. To draw a character specified to be drawn in a certain font, refer to the font file of the font specified according to the rules of the structured document, read the glyph based on the character code of the character and draw I do. In some electronic manuals of electronic devices, icons used on the screen of the electronic device are converted into fonts and used as text in the text. Here, icon fontification means assigning a character code, which is an identifier as a character, to the icon, associating it with a glyph, and storing it in the generated font file. When generating a font of an icon unique to each electronic device by fontification, the image information of each icon is used as a glyph. Font icons are called “icon fonts”.
For mobile phone pictograms, standardized character codes are assigned so that the same pictograms can be input and viewed on various terminals from different manufacturers. On the other hand, the icon font unique to the electronic device is not used in other electronic devices. For this reason, standardized character codes are often not assigned. In addition, even icons that are similar in appearance or have the same role are often named differently, for example, different names are set depending on the manufacturer and model. Furthermore, since the icon itself is represented by an arbitrary image, it does not have elements such as radicals and strokes that are conventionally used when searching for characters used in writing such as kanji. Therefore, it is difficult for a user of an electronic device to display an electronic manual with a viewer and search for related sentences (a character string including an icon font) using an icon font as a query.
Such a problem occurs not only in the icon font but also in the case where the content creator searches for the index in the digital content used in the text as a unique character (pictogram) by converting the original index into a font. .

  It is a main object of the present invention to provide an information search apparatus that facilitates searching for an index included in digital content when the digital content is displayed by a viewer.

  The information search apparatus according to the present invention includes input control means for receiving input of digital content having style definitions in which font-like indicators are mixed and displayed in a predetermined viewer. Analysis means for analyzing the style definition of the digital content, and search means for searching the digital content based on the analysis result of the style definition and information input as a search query. Describes a search style identifier representing the index that can be searched, and font information associated with the search style identifier, and the analysis means includes each search style identifier described in the style definition. The font information list is generated and stored in a buffer, and the search means includes: Based on the existing list, a candidate for an index to be the query to be searched is presented, and the index in the digital content is used using information on the index selected as the search query among the presented candidates. It is characterized by specifying a part where the sigma exists.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, when displaying digital content with a viewer, the information search device which makes it easy to search the parameter | index contained in digital content can be provided.

The lineblock diagram of the information search device concerning a 1st embodiment. Process procedure explanatory drawing of the content search process by 1st Embodiment. Explanatory drawing of a detailed procedure of search style list generation processing. Explanatory drawing of a detailed procedure of a search result acquisition process. The figure which shows the example of a description of a search style table. The figure which shows the example of a display of a search request input screen. (A) is a search character string input screen, (b) is a figure which shows the example of a display of a search result. The figure which shows the example of description by HTML of content. The block diagram of the information search device which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. Processing procedure explanatory drawing of the content search process by 2nd Embodiment. (A), (c) is a description example of a font, (b) is a figure which shows the description example of a list. The block diagram of the information search device which concerns on 3rd Embodiment. Explanatory drawing of the process sequence of the content search process by 3rd Embodiment.

[First Embodiment]
<Device configuration>
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an information search apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The information retrieval apparatus 100 is a tablet terminal equipped with a computer having a CPU, RAM, and ROM. However, a mobile phone, a smart phone, an electronic book reader device, a personal computer, or the like can be used as the information search device 100. A CPU (Central Processing Unit) executes a predetermined information retrieval program installed in a RAM (Random Access Memory). The RAM also provides a work area for the CPU. A ROM (Read Only Memory) stores basic control programs and data that does not need to be rewritten.

  The information search apparatus 100 causes the computer to operate as the main control unit 10 when the CPU executes the information search program. The main control unit 10 has functions such as an input control unit 11, an analysis unit 12, a style operation unit 13, a search unit 14, and a display control unit 15. Further, the buffer 16 is formed in the RAM. The main control unit 10 is functionally connected to the communication unit 2, the display unit 3, the operation unit 4, and the content storage unit 5 via the control bus 1.

  The communication unit 2 is for communicating with an external electronic device via a network such as the Internet. The display unit 3 includes a display, and provides an interface for using the display as a viewer or other display screen. The operation unit 4 receives the operation content input by the user through the display screen displayed on the display unit 3 or the like. The display unit 3 and the operation unit 4 may be integrated as a touch panel. The content storage unit 5 is a hard disk, a semiconductor memory, or the like, and stores digital content 6 to be searched. Hereinafter, the digital content 6 is simply referred to as content 6.

  In this example, the content 6 is an electronic manual in HTML (HyperText Markup Language) format. The content 6 has a content main body and a style definition, and fontified indexes are mixed with characters that are not. The “fontized index” refers to an index (index) that does not have a standardized character code and that can be recognized as one of the characters in the content by being converted into a font. For example, a graphic or image expressed in a vector format used to represent an icon or a trademark can be a “font index”. In other words, the fontized index can be recognized as independent font information in the same manner as other characters. Font information is handled as a font file. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the following two font files are generated in advance and stored in the storage unit 5 in the same manner as the content 6. One is an icon drawing font in which a character code is assigned to each icon unique to an electronic device (for example, a printer) described by the electronic manual that is the content 6, and an image of each icon is associated as a glyph. . The other is a trademark drawing font in which a character code is assigned to each trademark (trademark) described in the electronic manual which is the content 6 and an image of each trademark is associated as a glyph. Note that each font file is stored not only in the storage unit in the information search apparatus 100, but may be a font server on a network, for example.

  In general, one font includes character codes and glyphs of a plurality of characters. In many cases, each of the plurality of fonts includes glyphs having different designs for the same character (for example, each alphabet). On the other hand, it is rare to have glyphs that cover the character codes of all characters with only one font. For example, in many cases, fonts used to draw Japanese sentences have kana and kanji glyphs, but fonts optimized for drawing English sentences are kana and kanji glyphs. Will not prepare. If the designated font does not have a glyph corresponding to the character code of the character to be drawn, the drawing of the character is supplemented with another font, or the character is replaced with an alternative character called a missing glyph. Therefore, in order to draw the text of the entire content, not limited to fonts generated by fontification, a plurality of fonts are often used so that characters without glyphs are complemented. The two fonts generated in the present embodiment are also fonts for drawing icons and trademarks, respectively, and therefore do not include alphabetic character glyphs. In the content 6, when alphabetic characters are drawn, a font separately designated for the drawing is used. However, since drawing and searching of general characters using fonts can be realized by a conventionally used method, detailed description will be omitted in the description of the present embodiment.

  Moreover, not only the font generated by fontification but all the fonts used for character drawing have a unique name for uniquely identifying it. However, the name of the font includes a name as a name for a person to specify the font and a name defined as an identifier or symbol for calling one or more fonts in the processing of the information search apparatus 100. is there. In the style definition, the latter is described in order to specify a font file used for drawing and searching. However, depending on the font, both may match. In this embodiment, as will be described later, when a search in an electronic manual using an icon or trademark as a query is performed, candidates that can be selected as a search query based on the font name defined in the style definition To extract. As an example, in the present embodiment, the font name of the icon drawing font described above is defined as “font_icon_camera_DSC2001”. The font name of the trademark drawing font is defined as “font_trademark_maker_XYZ”.

The “style definition” describes the style of the content body characters (including indices that are now treated as one of the characters by fontification) when the content 6 is displayed on a predetermined viewer. . Also called “style description” or “style sheet”. In the case of HTML, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is generally used as the style definition.
The style includes contents such as color, shape, size, design, layout, positioning, and other effects to be added to characters. The style can be set for each sentence portion of the content. In that case, a style identifier is set to distinguish the target character from characters set with other styles. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that a search style identifier representing an index that can be used as a search query by the content creator and character information associated with the search style identifier are described in the style definition. The character information is, for example, a font name and a character code.

  An example of the content 6 is shown in FIG. The content 6 is created by the content creator on the assumption that it is displayed by the Web browser on the information search apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment. In the illustrated example, the style definition is described by the content creator in a portion surrounded by [style type = "text / css"] and [/ style] tags. The style definition includes a character information definition portion 801 and a search style definition portion 802. In the character information definition portion 801, the font file indicated by the “src” property is associated with the font name specified by the “font-family” property. In the search style definition part 802, CSS class names “SearchStyle_Icon” and “SearchStyle_TradeMark” are associated with font names. In the example of FIG. 8, the CSS class name is used as the style identifier. Further, when the prefix name “SearchStyle_” is added to the CSS class name, this is handled as a search style identifier. However, other notations may be used as long as the search style identifier can be identified. In the example of FIG. 8, the class name “SearchStyle_Icon” and the class name “SearchStyle_TradeMark” are both identified as search style identifiers. The class name “SearchStyle_Icon” is associated with the font name “font_icon_camera_DSC2001”. The class name “SearchStyle_TradeMark” is associated with the font name “font_trademark_maker_XYZ”. As will be described later, the information search apparatus 100 uses an icon or a trademark as a search query in order to search for a desired part of the electronic manual by a process based on the information defined in the content 6. It is possible to specify. In other words, the content to be processed by the information processing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment needs to have a search style identifier defined as in the example of the content 6.

  The content body corresponds to a portion 803 surrounded by [body] and [/ body] tags in FIG. Reference numeral 804 is a search style identifier, and reference numerals 805 and 806 are character information associated with the search style identifier. For example, the character code “D” 805 is a hexadecimal number “44”, and is associated with a glyph of a single icon icon having a sun shape in the font file of the icon drawing font generated in this embodiment. . Similarly, the character code “E” 806 is associated with a glyph of a single circle icon.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the input control unit 11 functions as an input unit that receives the content 6 stored in the content storage unit 5 and stores it in the buffer 16. The style operation unit 13 performs operation processing (changing color, size, etc.) according to the style operation described in the style definition. The analysis unit 12 analyzes the style definition of the input content 6. Specifically, a list (search style list) in which character information is listed for each search style identifier described in the style definition is generated and stored in the buffer 16.

  An example of a search style list is shown in FIG. The search style list is a list having a search style identifier field 501 and a font name field 502. The search style identifier field 501 stores a search style identifier. The font name column 502 stores the font name designated for each search style. In the example of the content 6 shown in FIG. 8, the search style identifier “SearchStyle_Icon” and the designated font name “font_icon_camera_DSC2001” are associated with each other in the first row. In the second row, the search style identifier “SearchStyle_Trademark” and the specified font name “font_trademark_maker_XYZ” are associated with each other.

  In the search style list shown in FIG. 5, an icon (“Icon”) and a trademark (Trademark) intended by the content creator are prepared as indexes that can be searched in the content 6. This means that when searching for an icon (“Icon”), the search query is any font in which the glyph associated with the character code is stored in the font file whose font name is “camera_DSC2001”. Means that. The same applies when searching for a trade mark. In other words, it means that any of the trademarks in which the glyph associated with the character code is stored in the font file of the font whose font name is “trademark_maker_XYZ” can be used as a search query.

  The names and contents of icons and trademarks shown in FIGS. 8 and 5 are merely examples. There may be more various icons and trademarks that are actually described in an electronic manual and used as a search query. In this case, for example, when “icons related to printing function” and “icons related to scan function” are converted into fonts, they may be generated as separate font files. In that case, a plurality of font names and font files may be specified for one search style. In the present embodiment, even when the fonts for icons and trademarks are not limited to one, the analysis unit 12 collects them into two groups of “icons” and “trademarks” and sets search styles. . And the process which produces | generates a list for every group is performed. However, in the examples of FIGS. 8 and 5, it is assumed that one font is set for each group. In this embodiment, based on the analysis result of the style definition by the analysis unit 12, a selection window is generated that allows a viewer to select an index of either type of icon or trademark as an index to be used as a search query. Is done. The selection window is used when the search unit 14 is activated. An example of the selection window is shown in FIG. In the selection window, an option 601 for using text as a search query, an option 602 for using an icon (Icon) as a search query, and an option 603 for using a trademark (Trademark) as a search query are displayed.

  When the option 601 is selected, it is possible to search for sentences in the content 6 using text as a search query, as in the past. In general, the characters that can be specified for a search query are any combination of characters that can be input with a keyboard. In the present embodiment, an option 602 for searching for an icon (Icon) and an option 603 for a trade mark (Trademark) search group enable selection of a search request based on a search style identifier. The selection window can be realized by extracting a character string excluding the prefix name “SeachStyle_” from the character string stored in the search style identifier field 501 of the list shown in FIG. However, as long as the character string can be associated with the search style identifier, another easy-to-read character string can be used as an option. For example, in the style definition, the names of items that are options in the selection window may be separately specified.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the search unit 14 searches for information on the content 6 based on the analysis result of the style definition. Specifically, character information corresponding to any index is selected from the search text list stored in the buffer 16, and the index existing in the content 6 is specified using the selected character information. More specifically, the search unit 14 uses one or more indexes belonging to the group selected through the selection window shown in FIG. 6 in the search style list as search candidate indexes in a predetermined display area of the display unit 3. Display. In addition, a search request using the selected index as a query is accepted. Then, character information corresponding to the query received together with the search request is acquired from the search style list, and a range (character string range) in which the acquired character information matches the character information described in the content body is specified.

  The display control unit 15 renders the content 6 and displays it on the viewer. Further, the selection window is displayed in accordance with an operation input by the viewer of the content 6. Furthermore, the index corresponding to the character information of the range specified by the search part 14 among the displayed contents 6 is displayed in a mode different from the other information. For example, the characters in the specified range (including indicators such as icons and trademarks) are highlighted so as to be emphasized. In the present embodiment, the viewer is a Web browser that displays an HTML page on the display screen. However, other forms such as a viewer dedicated to manual content may be used.

<Providing content>
Next, a method for providing the content 6 using the information search apparatus 100 configured as described above will be described. This method includes a content creation step and a content search step. In the content creation step, content creators create content that uses fonts uniquely created and uses indexes that are unique to the content. At this time, in the content 6, a search style identifier indicating that the index is usable as a search query and character information associated with the search style identifier are described in the style definition. In other words, entrust the content creator's intention to the style definition.
In the content search step, a search style list in which character information is listed for each search style identifier described in the style definition is generated and stored in the buffer 16. Then, the character information corresponding to any index is selected from the stored search style list, and the index existing in the content can be specified using the selected character information. As a result, the content creator can search for information according to the intention.

An outline of the content search process will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a procedure explanatory diagram of processing executed by the main control unit 10 of the information search apparatus 100.
When the main control unit 10 reads the content 6 (S201), the main control unit 10 executes a search style list generation process and generates the search style list shown in FIG. 5 (S202). Details of this processing will be described later. The main control unit 10 renders the content 6 and then displays it on the viewer of the display unit 3 (S203). Further, in order to accept an information search request from the user through the input of the operation unit 4, the search request input screen shown in FIG. 6 is displayed on the display unit 3 with reference to the search style list stored in the buffer 16. (S204). When receiving the search request, the main control unit 10 determines whether the received search request is a search request for a content-specific index (S205, S206). For example, if a search style identifier corresponding to the icon (option 602 in FIG. 6) exists in the search style list, it is determined that the search request is for a content-specific index (S206: Yes). The main control unit 10 acquires a font name as character information associated with the search style identifier (S207). Further, the glyph is acquired from the font file associated with the font name, and the search character string input screen is displayed on the display unit 3 (S208).

  A display example of the search character string input screen is shown in FIG. In the illustrated example, a character string input area 701, a candidate selection area 702, an enter button 703, and a cancel button 704 are displayed on the search character string input screen. The character string input area 701 is an area in which icons and trademark glyphs selected from the candidate selection area 702 are displayed for a search query. The candidate selection area 702 is an area in which font files corresponding to the indices listed in the search style list are referenced, the stored glyphs are arranged, and these are displayed so as to be click-selectable by the operation unit 4. The decision button 703 is to confirm the search query by clicking the selected index (glyph). A cancel button 704 is used to cancel the information search. Since it is only necessary to display the search query so that the index can be selected, the search character string input screen may be displayed using a combo box or a check box. In the example of FIG. 7A, the sun-shaped icon is selected from the glyphs listed in the candidate selection area 702 and displayed in the candidate selection area 702.

Returning to FIG. 2, when an index (glyph) is designated on the search character string input screen, the main control unit 10 treats the index as a kind of character having a search query and starts a search (S209). Thereafter, a search result acquisition process described later is executed (S210), and the process ends.
On the other hand, if it is determined in S206 that the search request is not a request related to the content-specific index (S206: No), the main control unit 10 displays the search character string input screen shown in FIG. S211). At this time, since the character string can be input with a normal input device such as a keyboard, the candidate selection area 702 is not displayed, and only the character string input area 701, the determination button 703, and the cancel button 704 are displayed. When a character string is input through the operation unit 4, the search is started using the character string as a search query (S212). At that time, using the character code of the character string, the character string found by the character string search in the content 6 is displayed in reverse (S213), and the process is terminated.
In the present embodiment, an example is shown in which the search result is displayed in reverse video. However, it is easy to determine where the character string of the search result such as a color change or underline display is on the displayed content 6. Any display style may be used as long as it is a form.

  Next, a detailed procedure of the search style list generation process in S202 will be described with reference to FIG. This processing is executed by the analysis unit 12 of the main control unit 10. After the input of the content 6 by the input control unit 11, the analysis unit 12 creates a search style list and acquires a style identifier from the style definition of the content 6 (S301). Then, the processes of S303 to S306 are repeated for the number of acquired style identifiers (S302, S307). That is, when the acquired style identifier is a search style identifier (S303: Yes), the analysis unit 12 acquires the font name described in the style definition (S304). Then, the search style identifier and the acquired font name are associated with each other and added to the search style list (S305). On the other hand, when it is determined in S303 that the acquired style identifier is not the search style identifier (S303: No), the analysis unit 12 causes the style operation unit 13 to perform the operation of the style defined in the style identifier (S306). . Examples of operations performed by the style operation unit 13 include character size and color settings.

Next, a detailed procedure of the search result acquisition process in S210 will be described with reference to FIG. This processing is executed by the search unit 14. When the search unit 14 receives a search request accompanied by the specification of an index that is a search query through the search character string input screen shown in FIG. 7A, the search unit 14 repeats the processes of S402 to S406 for the content body (S401, S407). ).
That is, the search unit 14 searches for a character string in which a style identifier is designated from the content body (S402). Then, the style identifier is the search style identifier (reference numeral 804 in FIG. 8), and a character string corresponding to the index (reference numeral 805 in FIG. 8) for which the search style identifier is specified is found (S403). When the character string is found (S403: Yes), the search unit 14 compares the character code corresponding to the index specified as the search query with the character code of the character in the found character string (S404). If a portion that matches the character code corresponding to the index of the search query exists in the found character string (S405: Yes), the analysis unit 12 causes the display control unit 15 to emphasize the found character. The display is reversed (S406). If there is no matching part (S405: No), the process returns to S402.
On the other hand, if no character string corresponding to the index for which the search style identifier is specified is found in S403 (S403: No), the analysis unit 12 ends the search result acquisition process.

  Here, the above process will be described using the example of FIG. 8 described above. When the search style identifier specified together with the search request is “SearchStyle_Icon”, the search style identifier 804 is specified in S403. Character string 805. In addition, since the search query specified together with the search request is a single icon in the shape of a sun (the character code is the same hexadecimal number 44 as “D”) 44, the character string 805 is found in the character string 805 in S404. The As a result, in S406, the character code “D” (hexadecimal number 44) in the character string 805 is replaced with an icon having a sun shape, and the icon is displayed in reverse video. An example of the reverse display is shown in FIG. In the illustrated example, the icon 710 is highlighted as a search result. In addition to the reverse display, if it is possible to determine where the character string of the search result is on the display content, such as a color change or an underline display, the display may be highlighted using another display method.

  In the search result acquisition process, the discovery of an element (part of a document) for which a specific class name is specified in HTML and the process of acquiring and comparing the character strings in the element can be realized using DOM. it can. DOM (Document Object Model) is a kind of standard API (Application Programming Interface).

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram of an information search apparatus according to the second embodiment. The information search apparatus 200 includes a search candidate sorting unit 17 in addition to the configuration shown in FIG.
The search candidate sorting unit 17 functions as search candidate sorting means for sorting these search candidate indices according to a predetermined priority when there are a plurality of search candidate indices. In this case, the search unit 14 displays the search candidate indices in the sorted order. The priority is described in advance in the style definition by the content creator. However, it may be described only in the content body. In any case, in the second embodiment, when the search character string input screen is displayed, the candidate selection areas 702 (see FIG. 7) are displayed in order of priority according to the intention of the content creator. As a result, it is possible to reduce the trouble of searching for the search candidate index by the content viewer user. The search candidate sorting unit 17 stores the sorted search candidate index.

  With reference to FIG. 10, the content search process in 2nd Embodiment is demonstrated. The processing in FIG. 10 is the same as that in FIG. 2 except for the processing in S1001 and S1002. Therefore, the same step numbers are assigned, and description of the duplicated steps is omitted. When the font name corresponding to the search style identifier is acquired through the processing of S201 to S206 (S207), the search candidate sorting unit 17 acquires the priority of the character search candidate index from the style definition of the content 6 (S1001). .

  Here, FIG. 11A shows a definition example in which icons used in the content 6 are described in the SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) language. The font definition may be embedded in the content 6 or may be stored in another file that is linked and referenced from the content by a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). Here, the description portion 1101 indicates that the related information when the search style is “SearchStyle_Icon” is described using the prefix name “icon”. The description portion 1102 indicates the search priority of each character when the search style identifier is “SearchStyle_Icon”.

  Next, the search candidate sorting unit 17 rearranges the character codes of each character in the order of search priority in the font definition, and creates a search candidate search style list for each type of search style identifier (S1002). An example of the created search candidate search style list is shown in FIG. The search character candidate search style list includes a priority column 1103 for storing search priority for each character, and a character code column 1104 for storing a character code assigned to each character. In this example, the character codes “0x43”, “0x42”, and “0x41” are stored in association with each other for the priorities 0, 1, and 2.

  Thus, the search character string input screen in which the indexes are arranged in the order of the search candidate search style list in the candidate selection area 702 shown in FIG. 7 is displayed (S208). Since the subsequent processing flow is the same as that of the first embodiment (FIG. 2), a duplicate description is omitted.

[Third Embodiment]
Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 12 is a configuration diagram of an information search apparatus according to the third embodiment. The information search apparatus 300 includes a search state management unit 18 in addition to the configuration of FIG. An external electronic device 27 is connected via the communication unit 2. The electronic device 27 is an electronic device in which operating instructions are described in the content 6. The analysis unit 12 acquires a state identifier for identifying the state in which the index is displayed in the content 6, and enables search for a search candidate index corresponding to the acquired state identifier. The state identifier is identification information (for example, a screen name) of the display screen of the electronic device 27 on which the index is displayed, and is described in the style definition or the content body. Therefore, the analysis unit 12 acquires the state identifier from the content 6 and the electronic device 27.

  In the third embodiment, a search candidate index corresponding to the page of content 6 displayed on the electronic device 27 is displayed in the candidate selection area 702 in FIG. 7A. In the following description, it is assumed that the electronic device 27 is a digital camera and an electronic manual for introducing the operation contents of the digital camera as the content 6.

Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 13, the processing procedure of the content search process according to the third embodiment will be described. Except for the processes of S1301 to S1303 in FIG. 13, the process is the same as in FIG. 2. Therefore, the same step numbers are assigned, and the description of the duplicated steps is omitted.
When the font name corresponding to the search style identifier is acquired through the processing of S201 to S206 (S207), the screen name of the viewer is acquired from the electronic device 27 as the state identifier (S1301). Next, the character code of the character whose state identifier matches is acquired from the content 6 (S1302).

  FIG. 11C is a diagram illustrating a description example of a part that defines an icon drawing font in the icon style definition used in the content 6. However, the font definition may be embedded in the content 6 or may be stored in a separate file that is linked from the content 6 with a URL. The description portion 1105 indicates that the related information when the search style identifier is “SearchStyle_Icon” is described using the prefix name “icon”. The description portion 1106 is a state identifier for identifying the state of the content 6 displayed on the viewer, and describes the screen name of the viewer that enables the search operation. In the third embodiment, when the screen name acquired in S1301 is “screen2”, the character code (hexadecimal 41 and 43) of the character whose icon: state value is “screen2” in FIG. To be acquired. As described above, there is a description of an operation using a screen in the content 6, and the state identifier may be an identifier of the screen used in the operation.

  Thereafter, the characters corresponding to the acquired character code are displayed side by side in the candidate selection area 702 (see FIG. 7) of the search character string input screen (S1303). Since the subsequent processing flow is the same as that of the first embodiment (FIG. 2) described above, a duplicate description is omitted.

  As described above, according to the first to third embodiments, an index unique to the content 6 can be searched with reference to the style definition. Therefore, it is possible to search for information in a search style according to the intention of the content creator. For example, when the content 6 is an electronic manual of an electronic device and is displayed on a viewer, the user of the electronic device can easily search for an explanation location regarding an index used in the electronic device.

  In addition to the electronic manual, the content 6 may be an electronic document such as an electronic book, an electronic textbook, a catalog, and a specification. Moreover, although each embodiment demonstrated the example at the time of expressing the content 6 using HTML, the content 6 is not restricted to an HTML format. For example, it may be an EPUB (Electronic PUBlication) format content 6 in which one or a plurality of HTML format files are archived. Alternatively, content 6 in XML (Extensible Markup Language) format may be used.

  The present invention can take an embodiment as a program or a recording medium (storage medium). The object of the present invention can also be achieved by the following. That is, a recording medium (or storage medium) in which the program code (computer program) of the information retrieval program that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to the terminal. Such a storage medium is a computer-readable storage medium. Then, the computer (or CPU or MPU) of the terminal reads out and executes the program code stored in the recording medium. In this case, the program code itself read from the recording medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the recording medium on which the program code is recorded constitutes the present invention.

Claims (14)

Input control means for receiving input of digital content having a style definition in which font indicators are mixed and the style of the indicator is displayed when displayed on a predetermined viewer;
Analyzing means for analyzing the style definition of the input digital content;
Search means for performing a search on the digital content based on the analysis result of the style definition and information input as a search query;
In the style definition, a search style identifier representing the index that is made searchable and font information associated with the search style identifier are described.
The analysis unit generates a list of the font information for each search style identifier described in the style definition and stores it in a buffer.
The search means presents index candidates as the query to be searched based on the stored list, and uses the index information selected as the search query among the presented candidates. Identify the portion of the digital content where the indicator exists,
Information retrieval device. The index is a graphic or image expressed in a vector format,
The information search device according to claim 1. The index is generated as an independent font file for each type,
The analysis unit generates the list for each type based on a font name defined to uniquely identify a font file described in the style definition.
The information search device according to claim 1 or 2. The indicator type includes an icon or a trademark,
The information search device according to claim 3. Generating a selection window that allows any type of the indicator to be selected for use as a candidate for the search query;
The information search device according to claim 4. The search means displays one or a plurality of indices belonging to the type selected through the selection window in the list generated by the analysis means in a predetermined display area as a search candidate index that is a candidate for the search query. And accept a search request for the selected indicator.
The information search device according to claim 5. Search candidate sorting means for sorting these search candidate indices according to a predetermined priority when there are a plurality of the search candidate indices,
The search means displays the search candidate index in the sorted order.
The information search device according to claim 6. The analysis means acquires a state identifier for identifying a state in which the index is displayed in the digital content, and enables a search for a search candidate index corresponding to the acquired state identifier.
The information search device according to claim 6. The analysis means acquires the state identifier from the digital content and an external electronic device on which the digital content is displayed.
The information search device according to claim 8. The state identifier is identification information of a display screen of the electronic device on which the indicator is displayed.
The information search device according to claim 9. The search means acquires character information corresponding to the search candidate index from the style definition, and specifies a range in which the acquired character information matches the character information described in the content body.
The information search device according to any one of claims 6 to 10. The digital content is further rendered and displayed on the viewer, and further includes display control means for displaying a portion specified by the search means and a portion not included in the displayed digital content in different manners. ,
The information search device according to claim 11. The input control means obtains digital contents having style definitions in which font-like indices are mixed and the styles of the indices when displayed on a predetermined viewer are described, and the digital contents input by the analysis means A method for controlling an information search apparatus for performing a search on the digital content based on an analysis result of the style definition and information input as a search query by a search means,
In the style definition, a search style identifier representing the index that can be searched, and font information associated with the search style identifier are described.
In the analysis, a list of the font information is generated for each search style identifier described in the style definition and stored in a buffer.
In the search, based on the stored list, a candidate for an index serving as the query to be searched is presented, and the information on the index selected as the search query among the presented candidates is used for the digital. Identify the part of the content where the indicator exists,
Control method of information retrieval apparatus.   An information search program readable by the computer for operating the computer as the information search apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 12.