JP3588507B2 - Information filtering device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an information filtering apparatus that selects a text article that meets a user's request and interest from a large number of text articles and periodically provides the user with the information.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In recent years, with the spread of word processors and electronic computers and the spread of electronic mails and electronic news via computer networks, the digitization of documents is accelerating.
[0003]
As the term “electronic publishing” implies, it is expected that information on newspapers, magazines, and books will be provided electronically in the future. As a result, the amount of text information available to individuals in real time is expected to be enormous.
[0004]
Along with this, there is an increasing demand for an information filtering system or an information filtering service for selecting a user's request and interest from a huge number of text articles such as newspapers and magazines and periodically providing the user with the information.
[0005]
Conventionally implemented information filtering systems search for articles that match a user profile that expresses a user's requirements and interests, and presents the list of headlines or the entire article to the user. Usually, a user profile is created by designating some themes (topics) that the user is interested in.
[0006]
Since the content of the text article presented to the user changes depending on how the theme selection is performed, the theme selection processing is very important in the information filtering system. For this reason, various studies have been made on how to efficiently select a theme.
[0007]
Such a theme selection is also performed by an information search service called SDI (Selective Dissemination of Information). This is used in a library, a database search service, or the like, in which a user describes a document or article that the user wants to search for a searcher, and the searcher creates a search command based on the document or article.
[0008]
Further, according to the method known by the name of the standard SDI, a user can view a theme list of a booklet prepared in advance and select an appropriate theme from the list. The theme list includes, for example, references (edited by Japan Science and Technology Information Center, "List of Standard SDI Themes in 1994").
[0009]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, there is a problem in that it is difficult for a user to understand the contents of the theme, addition or change of the theme, etc. only with the information described in the theme list written in such a booklet. In particular, in an information filtering system in which a user himself / herself selects a theme without using a searcher, it is required to provide the user with sufficient information for theme selection. For this reason, in the information filtering system, the theme selection cannot be performed efficiently in the theme list written in the booklet.
[0010]
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and when a user selects a theme for information filtering, the user can easily understand the contents of the theme, and can easily add or change the theme name to the user. The purpose is to be able to present.
[0011]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention relates to an information filtering device that receives distribution of articles such as texts and images from a plurality of information sources, selects articles related to a theme specified in advance for each user from among the distributed articles, and presents them to the user. A means for associating, as a sample article, an article similar to the search formula of the theme with respect to each of the plurality of themes using the search formula of the theme, and a theme including the plurality of themes. A means for presenting a selection screen to each user; a means for presenting a user with a sample article associated with the theme for each theme on the theme selection screen; and a theme selected on the theme selection screen, Means for generating a search condition for selecting the article, searching for an article distributed from the information source, Characterized by comprising a means for presenting to the user selects an article that matches the.
[0012]
According to this information filtering system, a list of the themes provided by the system is displayed on the theme selection screen. For example, when the user requests a description of the theme on the theme selection screen, an article corresponding to the theme is displayed. A sample is displayed on the selection screen. Thus, when the user selects a theme for information filtering, the user can easily understand the contents of the theme and obtain useful information for selecting the theme.
[0013]
It is preferable that a means for presenting, for each theme on the theme selection screen, user number information indicating the number of users selecting the theme is further provided.
[0014]
Further, the information filtering apparatus of the present invention includes means for managing, for each user, the version number of the theme selection screen referred to for theme selection, the latest theme selection screen provided by the information filtering system, and the theme of each user. Means for comparing the version of the selection screen with the version of the selection screen and generating the theme selection screen for each user so that the difference is presented.
[0015]
According to this configuration, when the theme name provided by the information filtering device is added or changed, the difference between the theme selection screen that the user has referred to and the latest theme selection screen can be determined. A new theme selection screen is generated and presented to the user. Therefore, information such as the addition or change of the theme name can be presented to the user in an easily understandable manner, and the efficiency of theme selection can be improved.
[0016]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
(Embodiment 1)
Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
First, the configuration of the entire information filtering system according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
[0017]
The information filtering system is an information providing system that receives distribution of text articles from a plurality of information sources 2 such as newspaper companies, news agencies, or publishers, and periodically transmits the text articles to each of the subscribing user terminals 3. Is provided by the information filtering center 1.
[0018]
The information filtering center 1 is realized by one computer system connected to a plurality of information sources 2 and a plurality of subscribing user terminals 3 via a communication network, and includes control and processing for information filtering. A central processing unit 4, a storage device 5 such as a semiconductor memory for storing programs and data, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, etc .; a receiving unit 6 for receiving a text article from the information source 2 via a communication network such as a line or a radio wave; It comprises a transmission unit 7 for transmitting a text article to the user terminal 3 via a communication network such as a radio wave.
[0019]
Each user terminal 3 is, for example, an information processing terminal such as a personal computer or a workstation, and includes a text information receiving unit 8 for receiving a text article transmitted from the information filtering center 1 and a display unit for displaying the received text article on a screen. 9 and the like.
[0020]
As shown in FIG. 2, the information filtering center 1 holds a kind of search condition called a user profile 10 for each user, and searches for articles to be provided to the corresponding user according to the user profile 10. I do. The user profile 10 is configured based on a plurality of themes (topics) specified by the user, and articles matching the themes are searched and selected, and sent to the user.
[0021]
FIG. 3 shows a specific configuration of the information filtering center 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, solid arrows indicate the flow of control, and broken arrows indicate the flow of data.
[0022]
As shown, the information filtering center 1 includes a theme selection unit 11, a user theme storage unit 12, a reception unit 13, an article storage unit 14, a theme ID storage unit 15, a search expression storage unit 16, an article search unit 17, and a transmission unit. 18, a theme management unit 19, a control unit 20, and the like. Among these components, the theme selection unit 11, the article search unit 17, the theme management unit 19, and the control unit 20, which are surrounded by a dashed line, can be realized by, for example, software executed by the central processing unit 14 in FIG.
[0023]
The theme selection unit 11 is for controlling the theme selection by the user. The theme selection unit 11 generates a theme selection screen and a sample article to be presented to the user based on the information stored in the theme ID storage unit 15. The selected theme is stored in the user theme storage unit 12.
[0024]
The user theme storage unit 12 stores the theme selected by the user for each user. The receiving unit 13 receives a theme selected by the user, a text article sent from the information source 2, and the like. The article storage unit 14 stores a text article from the information source 2 received by the receiving unit 13.
[0025]
The theme ID storage unit 15 stores the name and ID of the theme, and information for explaining the theme. The search formula storage unit 16 stores a search formula generated according to a theme selected by each user. The article search unit 17 searches for an article related to the theme from the received text article by using the corresponding search formula in the search formula storage unit 16. In the search processing of the article search unit 17, the similarity between the search condition specified by the search formula and the arrived article is checked, and the articles are sorted in descending order of the similarity. Then, for example, all the articles having a similarity value exceeding a certain threshold value, or some top-ranked articles having a high similarity degree are selected as articles to be presented to the user.
[0026]
The transmitting unit 18 transmits to the user a theme selection screen including a theme name and information on the theme, a text article selected based on a search result, and the like. The theme management unit 19 generates a search expression indicating search conditions for each user according to the theme of the user theme storage unit 12, stores the search expression in the search expression storage unit 16, and gives the article search unit 17 a corresponding search expression. Perform processing. The control unit 20 controls the operation of all the units inside the center 1, and activates the theme management unit 19 at a fixed time every day by holding a clock device.
[0027]
FIG. 4 shows a processing flow of the theme management unit 19.
The theme management unit 19 performs the following processing on the theme stored in the user theme storage unit 12. First, one theme is retrieved from the user theme storage unit 12 (step S102), and a retrieval formula of the retrieved theme is retrieved from the retrieval formula storage unit 16 (step S103). Then, the retrieved search formula is sent to the article search unit 17, and a search result is received (step A104).
[0028]
As a search formula and a search method, for example, a known technique such as a document ("SMART information search system", edited by Gerald Sulton, translated by Shinji Kenko, Planning Center) is used, and the similarity to the search formula is increased. It is possible to output articles side by side.
[0029]
Thereafter, the theme management unit 19 selects an article with the highest similarity from the received search results and stores the article in the theme ID storage unit 15 (step S105). The processing of steps S102 to S105 is repeatedly executed until the processing for the theme for all users is performed (step S101).
[0030]
FIG. 5 shows an example of a data storage format of the theme ID storage unit 15 and data actually stored.
As shown in the figure, a theme ID (for example, “001”, “002”, “003”,...) For all the themes managed by the center 1 and a name of the theme (PC) are stored in the theme ID storage unit 15. , Workstations, supercomputers ...), and headlines of sample articles selected according to each theme (XX: CD-ROM personal computer sales, XX: low-priced workstation sales, world's fastest computer) And an area for storing pointers (321654, 450120, 673453) to the article storage unit 14 indicating the storage position of the body of the article.
[0031]
The theme management unit 19 does not store the selected actual article text but stores the headline of the article and a pointer to the text of the article in the theme ID storage unit 15.
FIG. 6 shows a processing flow of the control unit 20.
[0032]
When a command transmitted from the user terminal 3 or a command from the manager of the center 1 is input, the control unit 20 performs a process corresponding to the command.
That is, the control unit 20 waits for a command transmitted from the user terminal 3 or the manager of the center 1 (step S201). If the transmitted command is a command for selecting a theme, the control unit 20 transfers control to the theme selection unit 11 to execute a process of displaying a theme selection screen and the like, and the control returns from the theme selection unit 11. (Step S203).
[0033]
When the control unit 20 receives the end command, the control unit 20 ends the process, and when the received command is another command, performs another process corresponding to the command (steps S204 and S205).
[0034]
FIG. 7 shows a processing flow of the theme selection unit 11.
The theme selection unit 11 refers to the theme ID storage unit 15, takes out the name of the theme stored in the theme ID storage unit 15, generates a theme list, and displays the theme list on the user terminal as a theme selection screen ( Step S301). FIG. 8 shows an example of the theme selection screen. As shown in the figure, the theme selection screen displays a plurality of theme names and sub-theme names that are subordinate to each theme, and is used to instruct "explanation of theme", "selection of theme", and "end". Button is displayed.
[0035]
The user selects some interesting themes on the displayed theme selection screen using a mouse or the like. Each time a theme is selected, the theme selecting unit 11 stores the ID of the selected theme in a buffer (not shown) (steps S302 and S303).
[0036]
When the user selects “Explanation of the theme” displayed at the bottom of the theme selection screen, the theme selection unit 11 determines the theme stored in the buffer from the theme ID storage unit 15 as the article heading. The article body is taken out and displayed as a sample article in a window on the theme selection screen (steps S304, S305).
[0037]
For example, as shown in FIG. 9, when the user selects the theme of “PC”, “Workstation”, and “Supercomputer” and then selects “Description of theme”, FIG. As shown, each article headline and article body are displayed on the screen of the user terminal.
[0038]
When the user selects “select theme”, the theme selecting unit 11 adds and stores the theme stored in the buffer to the user theme storage unit 12 (steps S306 and S307). When “end” is selected by the user (step S308), the processing of the theme selecting unit 11 is ended.
[0039]
FIG. 11 shows an example of a data storage format of the user theme storage unit 12 and data actually stored.
In the user theme storage unit 12, IDs (356, 357,...) For identifying users and user names (Hanako Yamada, Yamaichiro Oyama,...) Are registered in advance for each user.
[0040]
When “select theme” is selected, the theme ID is registered after the user ID and the user name in the user theme storage unit 12, as shown in FIG.
[0041]
The theme stored in the user theme storage unit 12 is used every day as a search condition for searching for a received article, and is used to transmit an obtained result to a user who has selected the theme. .
[0042]
As described above, in the system according to the first embodiment, a list of the themes provided by the system is displayed on the theme selection screen, and when the “explanation of the theme” is requested by the user, the text article corresponding to the theme is displayed. A sample is displayed on the selection screen. Thus, when the user selects a theme for information filtering, the user can easily understand the contents of the theme and obtain useful information for selecting the theme.
[0043]
Also, instead of or in addition to the sample display of text articles, it is also possible to present, for each theme on the theme selection screen, information on the number of subscribed users indicating how many users have selected articles on that theme.
[0044]
In this case, the data storage format of the theme ID storage unit 15 is as shown in FIG. That is, the theme management unit 19 counts the number of theme IDs in the user theme storage unit 12 for each theme ID, and uses the count as the number of subscribed user information as shown in FIG. Additional registration is performed after the applicable theme ID and theme name.
[0045]
When “Explanation of theme” is selected by the user, the theme selecting unit 11 refers to the theme ID storage unit 15 and displays the number of subscribed users for each theme as shown in FIG.
[0046]
(Embodiment 2)
FIG. 15 shows a specific configuration of the information filtering center 1 according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
[0047]
The information filtering center 1 operates under the same environment as the system of the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and includes a theme editing unit 21 in addition to the configuration of the center 1 of FIG. .
[0048]
The theme editing unit 21 is for revising a theme list (theme selection screen) provided by the information filtering center 1 by deleting, adding, or changing a theme for search. For example, a text editor or the like is used. Has been realized. The editing result by the theme editing unit 21 is stored in the theme ID storage unit 15 together with the theme list version number each time it is revised.
[0049]
FIG. 16 shows an example of a data storage format of the theme ID storage unit 15 and data actually stored. As shown in the figure, the theme ID storage unit 15 stores a theme list version number (3, 4) and a list of themes constituting the theme list (version 3, hardware, personal computer, workstation, supercomputer). , Software, operating system, AAA, BBB, application software, word processor, machine translation, information service, personal computer communication, CATV, version 4, hardware, personal computer, workstation, supercomputer, software, operating system, AAA, Application software, word processing, machine translation, full-text search, information service, personal computer communication, CATV), and the symbol "@END" indicating the end of the theme list are registered.
[0050]
FIG. 17 shows a data storage format of the user theme storage unit 12 and an example of data actually stored.
The user theme storage unit 12 stores, for each user, a user ID (356, 357,...), A user name (Hanako Yamada, Yamaichiro Oyama,...), And a list of themes the user last viewed (theme selection screen). ., Are stored. The version number of the theme list that the user last saw is updated by the theme selection unit 11.
[0051]
FIG. 18 illustrates the processing performed in step S301 in the processing flow of the theme selecting unit 11 illustrated in FIG.
That is, the theme selection unit 11 first searches the user theme storage unit 12 with the user ID received from the control unit 20, and extracts the theme list version number n1 last referenced by the user (step S401). Next, the theme selecting unit 11 extracts the largest version number (latest version number) n2 from the theme ID storage unit 15 (step S402).
[0052]
Then, the theme selection unit 11 compares the versions n1 and n2 (step S403). If the versions n1 and n2 are different, the arrangement of the theme of the version number n1 and the arrangement of the theme of the version number n2 in the theme ID storage unit 15 are performed. Are compared (step S404).
[0053]
If there is a theme in the list of themes with the version number n1 but not the one with the version number n2, the theme selecting unit 11 sets the theme name T1 and the theme in the list of themes with the version number n1. The theme name T2 immediately before the name T1 is stored in the work buffer B1 (not shown) (step S405). If there is no theme in the list of themes with the version number n1 and there is a certain theme with the version number n2, the theme selecting unit 11 stores the theme name T3 in the work buffer B2 (not shown) (step S2). S406).
[0054]
Next, the theme selecting unit 11 generates a new list using the contents of the buffers B1 and B2 and the latest theme list of the version number n2, and displays the new list on the user terminal. This process is specifically performed as follows.
[0055]
First, the theme selection unit 11 displays the latest theme list of the version number n2 on the user terminal (Step S408). Further, when the buffer B1 is not empty (step S408), the theme name T1 is displayed immediately below the theme name T2 stored in the buffer B1, and a message indicating that this theme has been deleted in the latest version is displayed. It is displayed (step S409). If the buffer B2 is not empty (step S410), a message indicating that this theme has been newly added is displayed on the line of the theme name T3 stored in the buffer B2 (step S411). FIG. 19 shows a display example of the list display screen generated in this manner.
[0056]
As described above, in the system according to the second embodiment, when a theme name provided by the information filtering system is added or changed, the difference between the theme selection screen previously referred to by the user and the latest theme selection screen is determined. , A new theme selection screen is generated and presented to the user. Therefore, information such as the addition or change of the theme name can be presented to the user in an easily understandable manner, and the efficiency of theme selection can be improved.
[0057]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, with respect to the theme of information filtering, the user can refer to the theme selection, such as an example of an article obtained by selecting the theme or the number of users who have selected the theme. The following information can be obtained. Further, the user can obtain information on deletion, addition, change, and the like of the theme. Therefore, operability and efficiency of theme selection can be improved.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an entire system of an information filtering device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram conceptually showing an operation mode of the system according to the first embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an information filtering center provided in the system of the first embodiment.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing of a theme management unit in the system of the first embodiment.
FIG. 5 is a view showing an example of a data storage format of a theme ID storage unit in the system of the first embodiment.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing of a control unit in the system of the first embodiment.
FIG. 7 is an exemplary flowchart showing the flow of a process of a theme selecting unit in the system of the first embodiment.
FIG. 8 is a view showing an example of a theme selection screen in the system of the first embodiment.
FIG. 9 is an exemplary view showing how a theme is selected on the theme selection screen shown in FIG. 8;
FIG. 10 is a view showing an example of a sample article displayed on the theme selection screen of FIG. 8;
FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a data storage format of a user theme storage unit in the system of the first embodiment.
FIG. 12 is a view showing a state where a theme ID is registered in the user theme storage unit of FIG. 11;
FIG. 13 is a view showing another example of the data storage format of the theme ID storage unit in the system of the first embodiment.
FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a state where the number-of-subscribers information held in the theme ID storage unit of FIG. 13 is displayed on a theme selection screen.
FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an information filtering center provided in an information filtering device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of a data storage format of a user theme storage unit in the system according to the second embodiment.
FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example of a data storage format of a theme ID storage unit in the system of the second embodiment.
FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing of a theme selecting unit in the system of the second embodiment.
FIG. 19 is a view showing a display example of a theme selection screen in the system of the second embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Information filtering center, 2 ... Information source, 3 ... User terminal, 10 ... User profile, 11 ... Theme selection part, 12 ... User theme storage part, 13 ... Reception part, 14 ... Article storage part, 15 ... Theme ID storage Section, 16: search formula storage section, 17: article search section, 18: transmission section, 19: theme management section, 20: control section, 21: theme editing section.

Claims (3)

An information filtering device that receives distribution of articles such as texts and images from a plurality of information sources, selects articles related to a theme specified in advance for each user from among the distributed articles, and presents them to the user.
Means for associating, as a sample article, an article similar to the search expression of the theme for each theme by searching for an article using the search expression of the theme for each of the plurality of themes;
Means for presenting to each user a theme selection screen including the plurality of themes,
Means for presenting to the user a sample article associated with the theme for each theme on the theme selection screen;
Means for generating a search condition for selecting the article according to the theme selected on the theme selection screen;
Means for searching for an article distributed from the information source, selecting an article that matches the search condition, and presenting the selected article to a user. 2. The information filtering apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: means for presenting, for each theme on the theme selection screen, user number information indicating the number of users who have selected the theme. An information filtering device that receives distribution of articles such as texts and images from a plurality of information sources, selects articles related to a theme specified in advance for each user from among the distributed articles, and presents them to the user.
Means for presenting a theme selection screen including a plurality of themes to each user;
Means for generating a search condition for selecting the article according to the theme selected on the theme selection screen;
Article search means for searching for articles distributed from the information source, selecting articles that match the search conditions, and presenting them to the user;
Means for managing the version number of the theme selection screen referred for theme selection for each user,
Means for comparing the latest theme selection screen provided by the information filtering system with the version of the theme selection screen of each user, and generating the theme selection screen for each user so that the difference is presented. An information filtering device characterized by the following.

Images