JP2022107874A - Information processing device and software creation support system - Google Patents

Abstract

To support creation of software even when a user does not have expert knowledge.SOLUTION: An information processing device stores attribute information of software in association with a use record, and retrieves the attribute information of the software desired by a user to output it with the use record.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to technology for assisting users in creating software.

With the development of network technology and sensing technology, data collection using IoT devices is progressing. In recent years, data collected through a data collection system is analyzed by a specialized engineer who is familiar with data analysis, called a data scientist.

Building such a data collection system requires a high degree of expertise in programming. For example, by creating a source program in a programming language such as C language, C++ language, or JAVA (registered trademark) and compiling it with a compiler, a computer-executable machine language program is created. There are also programming languages such as JAVASCRIPT that do not require compilation.

Since the required data differs depending on the purpose and method of data analysis, it is assumed that multiple data collection systems will be required. However, since system creation requires labor and man-hours, there is a concern that a data collection system cannot be supplied when needed and that it takes time.

Patent Literature 1 below discloses a method of providing a data collection system that requires little effort to develop a program and can easily create a program without requiring advanced knowledge.

Japanese Patent No. 4568262

With the technology described in Patent Document 1, the user can generate a data collection program, a table generation program, and a table access program without requiring advanced program design skills or knowledge and without directly entering source code. It becomes possible. However, its simplicity can create an ineffective data collection system. Generally, in software development, reuse of existing components is effective for efficient development, but this is based on the premise that users have advanced program design skills and knowledge. Therefore, if a data collection system is simply created by reusing components, there is a possibility that a data collection system that is not necessarily useful from the viewpoint of collection efficiency and collection items will be generated.

In addition, data analysts may not be able to arrive at the target system without understanding what kind of data the created system collects. However, it is difficult to grasp such information for all systems. Therefore, there is a demand for a mechanism that can assist users in creating software.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to assist users in creating software even if they do not have specialized knowledge.

The information processing apparatus according to the present invention stores software attribute information and usage history in association with each other, retrieves software attribute information desired by the user, and outputs the information together with the usage history.

According to the information processing apparatus of the present invention, even if the user does not have specialized knowledge, it is possible to easily find software that meets the user's needs and has a track record of use. As a result, it is possible to assist users in creating useful software even if they do not have expertise in software development.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of a software creation support system 1 according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 4 shows an example of a data table held by the management database 120. FIG. It is an example of a software registration screen used for registering software information. 4 is a flow chart showing a procedure for registering software information by the management device 140. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure for the management device 140 to create and register a search index; It is an example of a usage record registration screen used for registering the usage record of software. It is an example of a creation instruction screen on which the user instructs the software creation support system 1 to create software. FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram showing a procedure for supporting creation of software; 4 is a flowchart for explaining search processing by the search device 150; FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram showing another procedure of software creation support; 4 shows an example of a management screen displayed on the terminal 200. FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing a procedure for the creation device 300 to create software. 1 is a configuration diagram of a software creation support system 1 according to a second embodiment; FIG. FIG. 11 is a configuration diagram of a software creation support system 1 according to Embodiment 3;

<Embodiment 1>
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a software creation support system 1 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The software creation support system 1 is a system that assists a user in creating software (hereinafter sometimes referred to as an application). Here, as software created by the user, a data collection system used by the user to collect various data is taken as an example.

The software production support system 1 generally includes an information processing device 100 , a terminal 200 , a production device 300 and a template database 310 . The data collection system 400 is a system that executes data collection software created by the software creation support system 1 . Two data collection systems 400a and 400b are shown in FIG. Since these systems have the same structure, the alphabetic suffixes are omitted when they are not distinguished.

The information processing apparatus 100 is communicably connected to a terminal 200, a creation apparatus 300, and a data collection system 400 via an appropriate network 10. FIG. Software creation support and management are performed by the information processing apparatus 100 as an execution entity. The creation device 300 is an execution entity that creates the data collection system 400 .

At the terminal 200, a user (for example, a person who is planning to use the created software) inputs attribute information of the software to be created. The information processing apparatus 100 receives the input and processes it as described later. The terminal 200 is a computer terminal such as a PC (Personal Computer), a tablet terminal, a smart phone, a mobile phone, etc., in which an operator can browse and operate information provided by a display/input device 110, which will be described later.

The information processing apparatus 100 searches the attribute information of the software developed in the past accumulated in the management database 120 and presents it to the user, thereby prompting the user to reuse the past software. Then, the creating device 300 is instructed to distribute the software.

The creation device 300 is a server device that creates and provides software based on the attribute information of the software passed from the information processing device 100 . The creation device 300 provides functions for executing various types of software such as virtualized software functions, platform functions, and hardware functions, and provides software and services. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the creation device 300 executes platform functions for executing various software such as virtualized WEB servers, software servers, database servers, etc., and software executed thereon.

The information processing device 100 includes a display/input device 110 , a result collection device 130 , a management device 140 , a search device 150 and an execution device 160 . Each of these devices can be implemented as hardware, or can be implemented by an arithmetic device executing a program provided in the information processing device 100 . For convenience of description, these will be referred to as "devices" below, but their implementation is not limited to hardware.

The display/input device 110 provides the terminal 200 with an input/output interface such as a GUI (Graphical User Interface), an API (Application Programming Interface), and a CLI (Command Line Interface). The display/input device 110 receives input/output operations related to settings for creating software and search keywords for searching created software via this interface. The terminal 200 allows the user to browse information and perform operations via an interface provided by the display/input device 110 .

The history collection device 130 collects the usage history of software and components based on the settings for collecting the usage history of software and components input from the terminal 200 .

The management device 140 has (a) a function of newly registering software attribute information in the management database 120 based on the settings input from the terminal 200, and (b) information collected by the performance collection device 130 and It has a function of newly registering usage records of software and components in the management database 120 based on the input information, and (c) a function of displaying information on software and components created through the terminal 200 .

The search device 150 (a) searches for suitable software (or components constituting the software) from the management database 120 based on search keywords specifying a search target input from the terminal 200 and settings for creating software. (b) when a plurality of software or component candidates are identified as a result of the search, a function of identifying the software or component with the highest aptitude ranking among the plurality of candidates from the plurality of candidates. The aptitude ranking can be determined by referring to the software usage history table 520 of the management database 120 or the component usage history table 540 (described later).

Based on the settings input from the terminal 200, the execution device 160 instructs the creation device 300, which will be described later, to deploy the software.

The hardware configuration of the information processing apparatus 100 includes (a) a storage device configured with appropriate nonvolatile storage elements such as a solid state drive (SSD) and a hard disk drive, and (b) configured with a volatile storage element such as a RAM. (c) Arithmetic device such as a CPU that reads out and executes programs stored in a storage device, performs overall control of the device itself, and performs various judgments, calculations, and control processing, (d) Processing data and (e) a communication device connected to the network 10 and responsible for communication processing with other devices.

The creation device 300 creates data collection software based on settings input from the terminal 200 . The data collection software is software for displaying data collection contents on the mobile terminal 420 and accepting collection results. The creation device 300 provides data collection software to the mobile terminal 420 via the network 10 . The production device 300 also produces a data lake generation program and data management software. The data lake generation program is a program that generates a data lake for receiving and storing collection results from mobile terminal 420 via network 10 . Data management software has management functions for extracting data from the data lake and providing it to users in a timely manner. The creation device 300 provides the data lake generation program and data management software to the data management device 410 via the network 10 . A data collection worker can view the collected data on the mobile terminal 420 by executing the data collection software. Collected data is collected by the data management device 410 through the network 10 .

The mobile terminal 420 is a portable device such as a personal computer, a smart phone, a tablet terminal device, or the like. More specifically, the portable terminal 420 is carried by the data collector when collecting data, and collects data based on the data collection contents displayed by executing the data collection software, and the data management device 410 Used to send data to The data collector uses the camera of the mobile terminal 420 to photograph the object, uses the microphone of the mobile terminal 420 to record the sound of the object, or responds to the input form displayed on the mobile terminal 420. Input to the portable terminal 420 using a keypad or the like. In addition to these images, voices, and information directly input by the data collector, the information acquired includes built-in sensors such as the acceleration sensor, geomagnetic sensor, and GPS (Global Positioning System) unit of the mobile terminal 420, Information acquired by an external sensor is also included. Acquisition of these information may be done automatically by data collection software, in addition to being intentionally collected by a data collector. For example, the GPS unit of mobile terminal 420 may be used to automatically obtain location information.

An example of a hardware configuration of the mobile terminal 420 includes the arithmetic device described above, the memory described above, the storage device described above, and the communication device described above. As means for acquiring data, for example, an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, a camera, a microphone, and a GPS unit are provided. As a user interface, an input device for receiving input and an output device are provided. The storage device stores a program that implements the necessary functions of the mobile terminal 420 of this embodiment.

Since the hardware configuration of the data management device 410 is the same as that of the information processing device 100 described above, the description is omitted. As will be described later, the data management device 410 may be implemented using virtual hardware functions. The storage device of the data management device 410 stores a program that implements the functions necessary for the data management device 410 of this embodiment.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a data table held by the management database 120. As shown in FIG. The management database 120 is a database that manages descriptions of software that has already been created, information on parameters (collection components implemented on software, collection items, etc.) input to create software, and usage history of software. be. The management database 120 stores a software information table 510, a software usage history table 520, a component information table 530, and a component usage history table 540. FIG.

The software information table 510 has a software ID 511, which is a unique identifier of software, as a key, a software name 512 indicating the name of the corresponding software, a software description 513 indicating the description of the corresponding software, a search term 514 to be described later, and the corresponding software. It is an aggregate of records in which each value of creator 515 is associated. The software ID 511 and software name 512 are required values.

The software usage history table 520 uses a software usage history ID 521, which is a unique identifier of the software usage history, as a key, and includes data number 522 indicating the number of collected data of the corresponding software, software user number 523 indicating the number of users of the software, Last update date 524 indicating the date when the applicable software was last updated, Latest data collection date 525 indicating the latest data collection date of the applicable software, Data collector given by the data collector who collected the data of the applicable software It is a set of records in which each value of the evaluation 526 and the data analyst evaluation 527 given by the data analyst who analyzed the collected data of the software are associated with each other. The software usage record ID 521 and the last update date 524 are essential values.

In the component information table 530, a component ID 531, which is a unique identifier of a component, is used as a key to create a component name 532 indicating the name of the corresponding component, a component description 533 indicating the description of the corresponding component, a search term 534 to be described later, and the corresponding component. It is an aggregate of records in which each value of creator 535 is associated. Component ID 531 and Component Name 532 are required values.

The component usage history table 540 uses a component usage history ID 541, which is a unique identifier of the component usage history, as a key, a software usage number 542 indicating the number of pieces of software in which the corresponding component is used, and the date when the corresponding component was last updated. The last update date 543 indicated, the latest data collection date 544 indicating the latest data collection date of the corresponding component, the data collector evaluation 545 given by the data collector who collected the data of the corresponding component, and the collected data of the corresponding component are analyzed. It is a set of records in which each value of the data analyst evaluation 546 given by the analyst who performed the analysis is associated with each other. The component usage history ID 541 and the last update date 543 are essential values.

The procedure for implementing the software creation support/management method according to the present embodiment will be described below. Various operations corresponding to the software creation support/management method described below are implemented by a program that the information processing apparatus 100 reads into a memory or the like and executes. This program consists of code for performing various operations described below.

FIG. 3 is an example of a software registration screen used for registering software information. The software registration screen is used for registering attribute information of already developed software, and is displayed on terminal 200 . By performing a predetermined operation on the terminal 200, the registration screen of FIG. 3 is displayed. Attributes of software include components possessed by the software and attribute information of the components. The registration screen may be provided by the information processing apparatus 100 or may be provided by an application on the terminal 200 .

The software basic information input area 610 is an area for inputting basic attribute parameters of the software, such as "software name", "software description", and "creator name/department".

The component basic information input area 611 is an area for selecting and inputting "component name", "component description", and "component type". A component setting area 612 is an area for inputting display sentences, field names of collected data, settings for collecting, etc. according to the type of component. A component information area 613 is obtained by putting together the component basic information input area 611 and the component setting area 612 for each component. When the component addition button 614 is pressed, one component information area 613 is added. When the component delete button 615 is pressed, one component information area 613 is deleted. When registration start button 616 is pressed, terminal 200 transmits the entered information to management database 120 . FIG. 3 illustrates component information areas 613 for each of the three components. In FIG. 3, since there are a plurality of component basic information input areas 611, component setting areas 612, and component information areas 613, they are distinguished by subscripts a to c.

A component type selection box 620 is a box for designating the type of component to be used. Types of components that can be selected include, for example, a text box component that allows the user to enter text (denoted as text in the figure), a choice component that allows the user to select from among multiple options (denoted as option in the figure), There is an audio component (denoted as audio in the figure) that allows the user to record audio using a microphone. By selecting any desired type from the component type selection box 620, a component setting area 612 corresponding to the selected type is displayed.

The first component information area 613a is a display example when "text" is selected as the component type. The first component setting area 612a is provided with a field name input area 621 for inputting a field name to be stored in the database, and a display text input area 622 for guiding the user in what to input in the text box. there is In the illustrated example, the text component presents a display sentence prompting the user to enter the model ID, and stores the collection result as the field name MachineID.

The second component information area 613b is a display example when "choice" is selected as the component type. In the second component setting information area 612b, a field name input area for inputting a field name to be stored in the database, an answer input area 623 for setting options to be presented to the user, and an answer addition area 623 are added. A button 624 and an answer delete button 625 for deleting the answer input area 623 are provided. In the illustrated example, the option component presents a display text prompting the user to select a part, the user selects from options such as a pump or an engine, and the collected results are stored as the field name Component.

The third component information area 613c is a display example when "audio" is selected as the component type. The third component setting information area 612c is provided with a sampling rate input area 627 for setting the sampling rate when recording with a microphone, and a condition input area 628 for inputting recording conditions to be presented to the user. In the example shown, the audio component prompts the user to record at a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz and at a distance of 1 m from the subject.

These components are components that have been created in the past, and can be created by the creation device 300, which will be described later. The component setting information area may change for each applied component. For example, in the component that collects the same sound, in addition to prompting the user to go to a place 1m away, an acceleration sensor or camera is actually used to determine if the user is 1m away from the object, A component is also conceivable that allows recording only when Since these are treated as separate components, they are treated as separate types in the component type selection box 620 .

When the registrant enters the software basic information input area 610 and the component information area 613 on the screen of FIG. 3 and presses the registration start button 616, the management device 140 starts information registration. Instead of manual input by the registrant, a setting file reading area may be provided and a setting information file describing software information may be read to automatically input. The configuration file may be in any format such as JSON format or CSV format.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing a procedure for the management device 140 to register software information. When the display/input device 110 receives the parameters input by the user using the screen of FIG. 3, the management device 140 starts this flowchart.

The management device 140 first takes in the input parameters (S101). The search device 150 checks for each component (S102) whether it is an existing component that has already been registered in the management database 120 (S103). If the component is not an existing component, it is given a component ID (S104) and registered in the component information table 530 of the management database 120 (S105). If items other than essential items are not entered in the component information table 530, NULL is set as the initial value. In the case of an existing component, S104-S105 are not performed. The above operations of S102 to S105 are repeated for each component.

After the processing for each component is completed (S106), the search device 150 checks whether it is existing software that has already been registered in the management database 120 (S107). If it is not existing software, it is given a software ID (S108) and registered in the software information table 510 of the management database 120 (S109). If items other than essential items are not entered in the software information table 510, NULL is set as the initial value. In the case of existing software, S108 and S109 are not performed.

Through the above processing, attribute information of each component and software is set in the software information table 510 and the component information table 530 of the management database 120 based on the parameters input by the user using the screen of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a procedure for the management device 140 to create and register a search index. 4, the display/input device 110 accepts the parameters input by the user using the screen of FIG. 3, the management device 140 reads the parameters, This is a process of extracting keywords and registering them as search terms 514 or 534 in the management database 120 .

The management device 140 receives parameters from the display/input device 110 (S201), and performs the following for each component (S202). First, the format of the imported file and the language characteristics in which it is written are grasped (S203). In the case of Japanese, keywords are extracted by segmenting each phrase according to the characteristics of Japanese. After that, particles and auxiliary verbs are separated, and only characteristic keywords are extracted (S204). A list of feature words may be prepared in advance and extracted with priority. For example, for software that collects data at a construction site, words related to assumed conditions such as cold regions and normal regions, and words related to parts of machines such as engines and pumps are considered as candidates for feature words. A model that extracts feature words in advance may be created. TF-IDF may be used as an example of statistics for building the model. This is an index in which, among words that are frequently used in a sentence, words that are rarely used in other sentences have a large value. This index is based on the assumption that "a word that appears frequently in a sentence is an important word". Software feature words may be calculated by learning and modeling information on the category to which the software belongs, the name of the software, and the frequency of appearance of nouns (words or character strings) included in the description. Software that achieves the same purpose is considered to belong to the same category. This is because it is assumed that there is a tendency to The management device 140 registers the extracted keyword as a search term in the component information table 530 (S205).

After the processing for each component is completed (S206), the entire parameters are used to grasp the language characteristics of the parameters related to the software (S207), the feature words of the software are extracted (S208), and the extracted keywords are used as search words for the software. It is registered in the information table 510 (S209). The technique for extracting feature words is the same as the technique for extracting feature words for components.

Through the above processing, the search keywords for each component and software extracted from the parameters input by the user using the screen of FIG. 514 and 534). As a result, it becomes possible to perform a search using characteristic words, thereby enabling an effective search.

Different feature words are extracted according to the content input by the user on the screen of FIG. In order to extract appropriate feature words, it is desirable to specify the input method on the screen of FIG. For example, in addition to setting mandatory items, you may set a lower limit on the number of characters that can be entered and force the number of characters to exceed the upper limit. In addition, using the feature word extraction process described above, what kind of feature words are registered from the information of the corresponding application or component may be displayed in real time. may be searched for and presented as reference information.

As a user, it is necessary to appropriately select information to be input so that appropriate characteristic words are registered. For example, when registering an application for the purpose of collecting engine operating sounds for the purpose of diagnosing machine engine abnormalities, set "App Name" to "Engine Operating Sound Collection App" and "App Description" to "Operating Sounds". It is desirable to select the input content so that the purpose of collection of the application can be understood, such as "This is for diagnosing abnormalities in the engine used." When registering a component that constitutes an application for the purpose of collecting engine operating sounds, the "Component name" should be "Engine operating sound collection", and the "Component description" should be "For engine operating sound collection". As such, it is desirable to select input content that provides information about what the component collects. In the display example of FIG. 3, it is appropriate to input words related to assumed conditions such as cold regions or ordinary regions, or words related to parts of machines such as engines and pumps, in the "name" or "description" field. is useful for extracting

FIG. 6 is an example of a usage history registration screen used for registering software usage history. The usage history registration screen is a screen used for registering the usage history of already developed software, and is displayed on the terminal 200 . By performing a predetermined operation on the terminal 200, the screen of FIG. 6 is displayed.

A collection condition input area 630 is an area for selecting a collection method from manual input/automatic input, selecting a collection target from software/components, and selecting a corresponding ID. The various information input area 631 is an area where the user inputs API (Application Program Interface) settings according to the selected registration method. A storage information input area 632 is an area for setting the registration format of the collected usage history, and a registration start button 633 is a button for starting registration of the usage history.

A collection method selection box 634 is a box for selecting a method of collecting results to be used. Examples of collection methods that can be selected include (a) a "manual input" method in which the user inputs the usage record as text via the stored information input area 632, and (b) generally for realizing predetermined processing in various software. There is an "automatic" method of obtaining usage history stored in the software, such as the date the software was last updated, the date the software was last collected, etc., using APIs provided in . By selecting the automatic type from collection method selection box 634, information input area 631 is displayed.

When the registrant enters the collection condition input area 630, various information input area 631, and storage information input area 632 on the screen of FIG. do. As in FIG. 3, it may be automatically input by a setting file. When the creating apparatus 300, which will be described later, performs the registration process, each piece of information is automatically input from the creating apparatus 300 without going through the terminal 200, and a registration instruction is given.

Details of the various information input area 631 and the stored information input area 632 will be described using specific examples described later.

The performance collection device 130 first takes in the input parameters. The result collection device 130 collects the collection items according to the specified method, and outputs the usage results of the target software or component to the software use result table 520 or the component use result table of the management database 120 via the management device 140. Register with 540. NULL is set as an initial value for items that could not be collected.

The details of how to collect usage records by "manual input" will be explained. The user inputs each item in the stored information input area 632, and the result collection device 130 acquires the input value as the usage result. The result collection device 130 stores each item in the table based on the collection condition input area 630 and the storage information input area 632 .

The details of the various information input area 631 and the stored information input area 632 will be described using an example in the case of "automatically" collecting usage records. The registrant inputs the program used for collecting the usage record in the automatic collection setting in the various information input area 631 . The "execution program" column in FIG. 6 is an example of the source code. This example collects usage records by HTTP requests to the collection target software. Therefore, it is also necessary to enter the request type (GET or POST) of the HTTP request, the request destination URL, and the request parameters (pair of key and value). In the storage information input area 632, variables in the source code are specified as data items to be stored in the management database 120. FIG. In the example of FIG. 6, it is specified that the value of the variable dataNumber in the source code is stored for the data number 522 .

As described above, usage records of software and components are collected and stored in the management database 120 .

An example of executing the registration process by pressing the start registration button 616 and the start registration button 633 using the screens of FIGS. 3 and 6 has been described above. If so, registration processing is automatically executed for the entered parameters. In particular, in this embodiment, the automatic registration described above is automatically performed in conjunction with the creation device 300 .

FIG. 7 is an example of a creation instruction screen on which the user instructs the software creation support system 1 to create software. The creation instruction screen is obtained by replacing the registration start button 616 in FIG. 3 with a creation start button 642 (a button for instructing the start of creation), and other screen configurations are the same as in FIG. When the user inputs the software basic information input area 640 and the component information input area 641 on the screen of FIG. 7 and presses the creation start button 642, the information processing apparatus 100 starts the creation support process.

FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram showing a procedure for software creation support. A user who intends to newly create data collection software will input the requirements of the new system to be constructed through the terminal 200 . It is assumed that attribute information of already developed software is already registered in the management database 120 .

The user uses the screen of FIG. 7 to input the attribute information parameters of the software to be created (S302). The display/input device 110 receives parameters (S302), and the search device 150 receives the parameters. The search device 150 searches for similar software or components created in the past by executing a search process, which will be described later, on the management database 120 based on the parameters included in the received parameter file (S303). As a result of this search, if similar software or components in the past are found (S304: Y), the search device 150 extracts the software or components using the usage records described later (S305), and returns the results to the terminal 200. do. Terminal 200 displays the result (S306). This will present the user with past software and components that are similar to the software they are trying to create.

As a result of the search in S303, if no past similar software or component is found (S304: N), the search device 150 returns a flag indicating that it was not found to the terminal 200 (S307), and ends the process.

On the terminal 200, the user can recognize the software or component specified by the search in FIG. 8 and select the software or component from the displayed search results. The parameters input when creating the selected software or component are automatically input to the screen of FIG. This makes it possible to create new software while referring to proven software and components among similar software and components in the past.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining search processing by the search device 150. As shown in FIG. The search device 150 receives parameters from the display/input device 110 (S401), and performs the following processing for each component (S402). The search device 150 comprehends the fetched parameter linguistic characteristics (S403). In the case of Japanese, keywords (characteristic words) are extracted by segmenting the parameters into clauses in accordance with the characteristics of the Japanese language. After that, particles and auxiliary verbs are separated, and only characteristic keywords are extracted (S404). The search device 150 performs a search by searching for search terms registered in advance in the component information table 530 of the management database 120 using the extracted feature terms (S405). In this search, search words that match the feature words extracted by the search device 150 are extracted from the search words registered in the management database 120 . The search device 150 calculates the priority according to the usage record stored in the component usage record table 540, and ranks the components according to the priority. Based on the result, the components are rearranged and extracted (S406). Details of the priority will be described later. After the processing for each component is completed (S407), the language characteristics of the software attribute information are grasped using all the parameters (S408), and the feature words of the software attribute information are extracted (S409). The search device 150 performs a search using search terms registered in the software information table 510 (S410). The search device 150 calculates the priority according to the usage history stored in the software usage history table 520, ranks and rearranges the software based on the result, and extracts the result (S411).

For example, software with a large number of data items 522 and a large number of software users 523 can be considered to have a high usage record. The software usage number 542 is also the same. An appropriate evaluation function that evaluates by combining these evaluation items may be used.

Regarding the search processing (S405), in addition to identifying common search terms, similar search terms may be identified using the degree of similarity between search terms. In that case, one example of a measure of similarity is cosine similarity. Cosine similarity is calculated based on how many words are common between texts, since it is considered that the same word appears in each text with a close probability when the texts are similar. Alternatively, the degree of similarity may be calculated using a method of vectorizing constructed words based on the assumption that words appearing around words with similar meanings are similar.

Details of the priority are described below. The priority is an index used to display software or components that have a track record of use and are effective and can be evaluated with a higher priority. Regarding how to determine the priority, in this embodiment, the priority is determined from two viewpoints. The first is "prioritization based on data analyst" and the second is "prioritization based on data collector".

In "prioritization based on data analysts", the evaluation of data analysts is prioritized. For example, if the evaluation by the data analyst is "4" for software A and "2" for software B, software A has a higher priority. If the data analyst's assessment does not exist or is the same, software with more data is desirable and a higher priority from the data analyst's point of view because more data is available for analysis.

In "prioritization based on data collectors", the evaluation of data collectors is prioritized. For example, if the evaluation by the data collector is "4" for software A and "2" for software B, software A has a higher priority. If the data collector's evaluation does not exist or is the same, it can be inferred that the software with a large amount of data is the software that is used more from the viewpoint of the data collector, and the data collection work is less complicated. Therefore, it is desirable and has a higher priority. As for the priority of the components, a component with a shorter data collection time is preferable because the data collection work is easier, and the priority is higher.

The search device 150 calculates priority based on these two viewpoints. For example, 5 for 1000 or more data, 4 for 1000 to 500, 2 for 500 to 100, 1 for 100 to 10, 0 for 10 or less, etc. Priority = evaluation by data collector + evaluation by data analyst + Evaluate the number of data, etc. These calculation formulas and distribution of points may be changed according to the system to be applied. Priority may be calculated in any suitable manner. This method of calculating priority is just one example. Since the higher the priority, the more proven the software or component is, so the search results are displayed so that the software and components with more proven results have higher priority. The number of software and components to be displayed may be determined in advance, or only software and components with a certain level of priority or higher may be displayed.

As described above, when a user searches for software or components, it is possible to present software or components that have been used more effectively to encourage the user to reuse the software or components more efficiently.

The terminal 200 displays the software and component information transmitted from the information processing apparatus 100 by the search process described above as a software component list on a predetermined GUI. Terminal 200 accepts an instruction from the user as to which software and component information to refer to in this list. The parameters entered when creating the software or component selected by the user are automatically entered in the screen of FIG.

Through this series of processes, it is possible to create new software while referring to proven software and components among similar software and components in the past.

FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram showing another procedure for software creation support. A user who is going to construct new data collection software inputs the requirements of the new system to be constructed through the terminal 200 . It is assumed that attribute information of already developed software is already registered in the management database 120 .

The user inputs setting information using the screen of FIG. 7 (S501), and the display/input device 110 receives the setting information (S502). The search device 150 receives parameters from the display/input device 110, and searches for similar software or components created in the past by executing search processing, which will be described later, on the management database 120 based on the received parameters ( S503). If past similar software or components are found as a result of the search (S504: Y), the attribute information of the software specified by the search is returned to the display/input device 110 (S505). Along with this reply, an inquiry is made to the user as to whether or not "similar software has been created in the past, but you still want to create it." The terminal 200 receives a final instruction from the user as to whether deployment is permitted (S506). After that, when the user determines to deploy and inputs the instruction to the terminal 200 (S507: Y), the terminal 200 receives the instruction to execute the deployment and notifies it to the executing device 160 (S508). If the user determines not to deploy and inputs the instruction to the terminal 200 (S507: N), the process ends without issuing the deployment instruction.

If past similar software or components are not found as a result of the search in S503 (S504: N), an instruction to execute deployment is received and this is notified to the executing device 160 (S508). The execution device 160 that has received this notification deploys the corresponding software designated by the terminal 200 via the creation device 300 (S508).

As described above, by referring to past similar software according to requirements, it is possible to prevent the proliferation of similar software and to allow only meaningful software creation.

FIG. 11 shows an example of a management screen displayed on the terminal 200. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 11, the management screen includes a display target selection box 650 for the user to select a display target, a display target category selection box 651 for the user to select the target to be displayed from among prepared candidates, and a A search box 652 for entering a search condition or keyword and a display section 653 are displayed.

On the display portion 653 of the management screen, software or components registered in the management database 120 are displayed based on the display conditions entered in a display target selection box 650, a display target category selection box 651, and a search box 652, which will be described later. are listed. The user selects software or components from the displayed list to display detailed information about the target.

In the display target selection box 650, the user selects either software (application) or component as the display target. In the display target category selection box 651, the user selects a display target category from the category candidates prepared in advance. The keyword selected in the display target category selection box 651 is received by the display/input device 110 and transferred to the search device 150 . The search device 150 performs the above-described search processing based on the received keyword, searches for similar software or components created in the past, and displays the search results on the display unit 653 . The display target category selection box 651 is not limited to the form of selecting options as shown. For example, if you want to display software related to a certain part of a machine, prepare an image for each part (front part, rear part, undercarriage, etc.) of the car body, display a silhouette corresponding to the part, and select one of them. When clicked, related software may be displayed.

A search box 652 is a box in which the user himself/herself inputs an arbitrary keyword. Specifically, in this manual input box, the user inputs an arbitrary keyword from a keyboard or the like, and the input keyword is accepted by the display/input device 110 and transferred to the search device 150 . The search device 150 performs the above-described search processing based on the received keyword, searches for similar software or components created in the past, and displays the search results on the display unit 653 to present them to the user.

Through this series of operations, effective software can be found among a plurality of created software with less effort, so that the information processing apparatus 100 can support the user when creating software.

The implementation procedure of the software creation method in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 12 . Various operations corresponding to the software creation method described below are implemented by a program that the creation device 300 reads out to a memory or the like and executes. This program consists of code for performing various operations described below.

FIG. 12 is a flow chart showing a procedure for creating software by the creation device 300 . If there is no past software or component that has the functions desired by the user, the creation device 300 newly creates software desired by the user. Here is an example of creating a data lake creation program and data management software. The data lake creation program displays the data collection contents on the mobile terminal 420 based on the settings input from the terminal 200, generates data collection software for receiving collection results, and transmits the data collection software via the network 10. The program is provided to the mobile terminal 420 and receives and stores the collected results from the mobile terminal 420 via the network 10 . Data management software is software that extracts data from the data lake and appropriately provides it to users.

Specifically, the software creation in this flow chart uses a template and parameters as input, and a template engine that replaces the variables in the template based on the parameters. It can be realized by creating a code.

A user who has a certain data collection purpose and wants to create data collection software that satisfies the requirements operates the terminal 200 to access the information processing apparatus 100 and start the creation process.

First, the display/input device 110 accepts requests that satisfy the above requirements via an appropriate interface. The user uses the screen of FIG. 7 to input the attribute information parameters of the software to be created. Terminal 200 transmits the parameters to creation device 300 . It is assumed that the display/input device 110 mediates the exchange of information between the terminal 200 and the creation device 300. It shall be omitted (same below).

The creation device 300 receives parameters from the display/input device 110 (S601). The creation device 300 selects a template for the data collection software from the template database 310 based on the received parameters (S602), and replaces predetermined arguments in the template with the received parameters to create the data collection software. A source code is generated (S603). When the source code of the data collection software is completed, if the source code is written in a language that requires compilation, compilation of the source code of the data collection software is performed.

The creation device 300 provides data collection software to the mobile terminal 420 (S604). For example, the data collection software can be made public on the network 10 and downloaded to the mobile terminal 420 . Alternatively, the data collection software may be created by sending the parameters in an appropriate format such as JSON format to the software existing on the mobile terminal 420 and having the software read the parameters. This technology can be realized by a known technology such as ReactNative, which enables smart phone software development using Javascript in recent years.

The data collection software maintains parameters for accessing the data lake so that it can send collected data to the data lake. This access information may be input by the user, or may be automatically sent to the data collection software when the data lake generation program or data management software is generated.

The data collection software includes basic components by default, in addition to the components that are modified based on the user-entered parameters described above. For example, the function to store data based on the access information to the data lake is not defined on the screen in Figure 7, because the access information is included in the source code of the data collection software. is. In this way, the description of functions that have been realized in advance is omitted. In addition to its basic functions, the data collection software stores collected data when the mobile terminal 420 is not connected to the network 10, i.e., offline, and stores collected data when the mobile terminal 420 is connected to the network 10. That is, it has the ability to send stored data to the data lake when it comes online. As a result, even at a construction site that is basically assumed to be offline, data can be transmitted to the data lake when the portable terminal 420 is moved from offline to online, so data can be collected effectively. It is possible.

The creation device 300 generates the source code of the data lake generation program by replacing the predetermined arguments in the source code template of the data lake generation program with the received parameters (S605). Then, when the source code of the data lake generation program is completed, if the source code is written in a language that requires compilation, the source code of the data lake generation program is compiled. The creation device 300 transmits the data lake generation program to the data management device 410 via the network 10 (S606). The creation device 300 instructs the data management device 410 to execute the data lake generation program (S607). The data management device 410 creates a data lake including databases by executing the received data lake creation program.

The data table of the database created here has a data structure corresponding to the data items collected by the data collection software. However, it is difficult to manage unstructured data such as voice and images in a database. storage location. Thus, a data lake is created that stores structured and unstructured data. When storing the data collected by the mobile terminal 420, the data management device 410 accesses the data lake based on the data lake access information, and stores the collected data in the corresponding data lake.

The creation device 300 replaces the specified arguments in the template for the data management software with the parameters in the parameter file to generate the source code of the data management software (S608). Then, when the source code of the data management software is completed, if the source code is written in a language that requires compilation, the source code of the data management software is compiled. The creation device 300 transmits the data management software to the data management device 410 via the network 10 (S609). The creation device 300 instructs the data management device 410 to deploy the data management software (S610). The data management device 410 deploys the received data management software.

The data management software maintains the parameters for accessing the data lake so that data can be retrieved from the data lake and presented to the user. This allows users to check and download data through the data management software. For example, if the data is written in CSV format, the downloaded data can be read into a spreadsheet software or the like, and can be easily aggregated and charted, enabling various analyses.

In order to cooperate with the analysis environment, the data management software may have a cooperation function of issuing a code for reading selected data on the analysis environment in addition to the function of downloading each data used for analysis. As a result, analysts can immediately perform data analysis by linking functions with the analysis environment. This function can be realized by a known technique called GraphQL, for example. GraphQL changes the existing data storage method by using a schema that defines data types including data relationships and a resolver that defines how to access data for each data type based on the schema. data utilization.

The data management device 410 provided with a data lake and data management software may use virtualized software functions, platform functions, and hardware functions in addition to physically prepared servers. For example, it is conceivable to use a container technology capable of packaging (containerizing) software, which has been widely used in recent years, for each execution environment such as a file system and dependent libraries. Specifically, when using Docker, an Open Source Software (OSS) container execution and management tool developed mainly by Docker, it is possible to create a container image from a Dockerfile script. Yes, it is possible to build, deploy and run container images (software). With it, you can run data lake generators during container builds to generate data lakes and build, deploy, and run data management software at the same time. In the case of Docker, it is possible to instruct Docker to perform the above processing using WebAPI, which is an interface for calling remote functions over a network.

As described above, the user can create a system for collecting data without requiring programming knowledge.

<Embodiment 1: Summary>
According to the software creation support system 1 according to the first embodiment, the user does not need advanced knowledge, and by posting software that has been used from among similar software created in the past, Effective software can be found out of created software with less effort. As a result, the information processing apparatus 100 can provide support when the user creates software.

When the existing software (or component) having the attribute desired by the user is not found, the software creation support system 1 according to the first embodiment replaces the variables of the source code template according to the attribute information specified by the user. Create new software. As a result, even if there is no valid software among the software created in the past, it is possible to create software that meets the user's request. For example, even if the basic part of the algorithm, etc., is software that matches the user's request, there is a possibility that the desired software will not be hit in the search because the attribute information does not match the user's request. Even with such software, it is possible to create software that meets the user's request by using the existing source code and replacing the parameters with attribute information specified by the user.

<Embodiment 2>
In the first embodiment, creation of software by the creation device 300 has been described. In Embodiment 2 of the present invention, a configuration example in which software is created using a software creation service provided by an external business operator without using the creation device 300 will be described. Differences from the first embodiment will be mainly described below.

FIG. 13 is a configuration diagram of the software creation support system 1 according to the second embodiment. Information processing apparatus 100 is communicatively connected to terminal 200 and software providing system 770 via appropriate network 10 . Comparing with the first embodiment, the creating device 300 is changed to the software providing system 770 .

The software providing system 770 is a service provided by the data collection system 400 based on settings input by the user through a screen provided by the provider. This form of provision assumes a form in which a provider provides various resources such as hardware or software of the data collection system 400 to users as services. The detailed specifications of such services are not always open to users, and service specifications may change without disclosure. Therefore, when providing the above creation support and management for such a service, the input screen corresponding to the screen in FIG. 7 in the software providing system 770 is changed to that provided by the service provider. One example of a well-known service of software provisioning system 770 is Mobile Form Builder provided by Teamscope.

Regarding the information processing apparatus 100, portions that are significantly different from those of the first embodiment will be described. The biggest difference is that the input screen corresponding to the screen in FIG. 7 in the software providing system 770 is changed. Therefore, in the information processing apparatus 100 of the second embodiment, the screen of the software providing system 770 is displayed on the terminal 200 via the display/input device 110 . The contents input by the terminal 200 are reflected on the screen of the software providing system 770 via the display/input device 110 . The management device 140 acquires the user's input portion from the output screen via the display/input device 110 and registers it in the management database 120 as software information. Registration processing, creation support, and management are the same as in the first embodiment. Further, by appropriately changing the items of the input screen corresponding to the screen of FIG. 100 can be supported.

According to the second embodiment, by posting the settings of software that has a track record of use among similar software created in the past for existing software providing services, Software can be found with less effort.

<Embodiment 3>
In Embodiments 1 and 2, configuration examples in which software is created by the creating device 300 or the external software providing system 770 have been described. In the third embodiment of the present invention, a configuration example specialized only for software management will be described. The following description will focus on differences from the first and second embodiments.

FIG. 14 is a configuration diagram of the software creation support system 1 according to the third embodiment. The information processing device 100 is communicably connected to the terminal 200 via an appropriate network 10 . Compared with the first embodiment, the creation device 300 and the execution device 160 are eliminated.

In this embodiment, the software attribute information and the software usage record are registered in the management database 120 only through the software registration screen and the record collection screen. In this embodiment, registered software is managed by searching for software. The software registration screen is flexibly changed according to the software to be registered.

According to this embodiment, systems created by other than the creating device 300 and the software providing system 770 can also be managed. For example, according to this embodiment, even software created by a programmer can be managed.

<Regarding Modifications of the Present Invention>
The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and includes various modifications. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail in order to explain the present invention in an easy-to-understand manner, and are not necessarily limited to those having all the described configurations. Also, part of the configuration of one embodiment can be replaced with the configuration of another embodiment, and the configuration of another embodiment can be added to the configuration of one embodiment. Moreover, it is possible to add, delete, or replace part of the configuration of each embodiment with another configuration.

1 Software Creation Support System 10 Network 100 Information Processing Device 110 Display/Input Device 120 Management Database 130 Result Collection Device 140 Management Device 150 Search Device 160 Execution Device 200 Terminal 300 Creation Device 310 Template Database 400 Data Collection System 410 Data Management Device 420 Mobile Phone Terminal 510 Software information table 520 Software usage record table 530 Component information table 540 Component usage record table

Claims (14)

An information processing device that supports creation of software for use by a user,
a storage device that stores software identification information that identifies previously created software;
a computing device for searching the software identification information stored in the storage device;
with
the storage device associates and stores the software identification information, software attribute information representing attributes of the software, and usage history of the software;
The computing device is
receiving a request for desired software desired by the user together with desired software attribute information representing attributes of the desired software;
searching the storage device for the software attribute information that matches the desired software attribute information;
An information processing apparatus, wherein the software identification information obtained by the search is output as a response to the request together with the usage record associated with the software identification information. The storage device stores component identification information for identifying components constituting the software, component attribute information representing attributes of the components, and usage history of the components in association with the software identification information. ,
The computing device is
receiving desired component attribute information representing attributes of components constituting the desired software as the desired software attribute information;
searching the storage device for the component attribute information that matches the desired component attribute information;
2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the component identification information obtained by the search is output as a response to the request together with the usage record associated with the component identification information. The information processing device further comprises a registration interface for a user to input a registration request for storing the software identification information and the software attribute information in correspondence with each other in the storage device,
The computing device is
extracting a first feature word that can be used as a search keyword from the software attribute information input through the registration interface;
2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said extracted first characteristic word is stored in said storage device as said software attribute information or together with said software attribute information. The computing device is
extracting a second characteristic word that can be used as a search keyword from the desired software attribute information received together with the request;
The software attribute information matching the desired software attribute information is retrieved from the storage device by retrieving the first feature word matching the extracted second feature word from the storage device. 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3. The software has an API for outputting usage history of the software,
The computing device is
Collect usage records of the software via the API;
2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the collected usage record of the software is stored in the storage device in association with the software identification information. When a plurality of pieces of the software identification information are obtained by the search, the computing device sorts the software identification information obtained by the search in descending order of the usage records associated with the software identification information. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the response is output after arranging. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the software is a data collection program that implements a process of collecting data. The storage device stores a data collector evaluation value representing a result of evaluation of the software by a data collector who performs the task of collecting the data, and an evaluation value of the software by a data analyst who performs the task of analyzing the data. A data analyst evaluation value representing the result of the analysis is stored in association with the software identification information,
When a plurality of pieces of the software identification information are obtained by the search, the arithmetic device determines the software identification information obtained by the search based on the data collector evaluation value and the data analyst evaluation value. 8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the responses are output after being arranged according to the priority. In the case where the data collector evaluation value and the data analyst evaluation value are the same, the arithmetic device sorts in descending order of the usage record associated with the software identification information, and then, as the response, 9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the information is output. The component is a data collection component that implements a process of collecting data;
The storage device stores a data collector evaluation value representing a result of evaluation of the component by a data collector who performs the task of collecting the data, and an evaluation value of the component by a data analyst who performs the task of analyzing the data. and a data analyst evaluation value representing the result of the analysis is stored in association with the software identification information,
When a plurality of pieces of the component identification information are obtained by the search, the arithmetic device determines the component identification information obtained by the search based on the data collector evaluation value and the data analyst evaluation value. After arranging according to priority, output as the response,
3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the data collector evaluation value is configured such that the shorter the time interval for collecting the data by the component, the higher the evaluation value. A software creation support system that assists a user in creating software to be used,
The information processing device according to claim 1,
a creation device for creating the software;
with
A software creation support system, wherein the creation device creates software used by a user by combining the software retrieved by the information processing device. The software creation support system further comprises a template database storing source code templates of the software,
The creation device is
obtaining from the template database the template corresponding to the software identification information obtained by the search by the computing device;
12. The software creation support system according to claim 11, wherein said software is created using said acquired template. The template includes replaceable parameters,
The creation device is
receiving a request to create said software with specified values for said parameters;
creating the source code by replacing the parameters in the template with the specified values;
13. The software production support system according to claim 12, wherein said software is produced by said produced source code. Said software is
a data collection program that implements a process for collecting data;
a data lake creation program implementing a process of creating a data lake for accumulating the data collected by the data collection program;
a data management program implementing processing for managing the data stored in the data lake;
12. The software production support system according to claim 11, wherein at least one of

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