JP3707132B2 - Database management system - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a database management system for managing structured documents, and more particularly to a database management system capable of creating a query based on the logical structure of a document using information on syntax rules that define the structures that the document can take. .
[0002]
[Prior art]
In general, some documents are composed of logical components represented by chapters, sections, sections, etc., but such logical components are hierarchized into a tree structure according to predetermined rules. Documents are specifically called structured documents. For example, SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language; ISO 8879) is known as an international standard for structured documents. Here, an example of a structured document is shown.
[0003]
FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating an example of a structured document expressed in a tree structure.
As shown in the figure, the structured document is represented by a tree structure corresponding to the logical components of the document. In the structured document 40, a portion represented by a rectangle represents a component of the document, and a character string shown in the rectangle represents a component name. Each component at the end of the tree structure has text such as the illustrated character string.
[0004]
A structured document is created according to rules that define the types of components that can appear in the document, the order of appearance of each component, the inclusion relationship between components, and the like. This rule defining structured documents is called a document type. In SGML described above, DTD (Document Type Definition) is a concept corresponding to a document type. Here, the document type that defines the structured document 40 shown in FIG. 20 will be described.
[0005]
FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example of a document type.
In the document type 41 shown in the figure, a rectangle represents a constituent element of the document type, and an ellipse represents a generation rule that defines the appearance form of a lower constituent element. The meaning of this generation rule will be described. First, the generation rule “SEQ” represents that the lower order components of this generation rule appear in order from left to right. The generation rule “REP” represents that a lower-order component of the generation rule repeatedly appears one or more times. The production rule “CHO” indicates that any one of the lower components of the production rule appears.
[0006]
The highest-level component in the document type 41 is “report”. The highest level component represents the entire document, and it can be seen that this document type 41 is a document type named “Report”. Further, the following can be understood from the document type 41. That is, the component “report” has three components, “front”, “main body”, and “retro”, in its lower structure. The production rule “SEQ” for these three components below the component “report” stipulates that the three components must appear in this order in the document.
[0007]
Under the component “front matter”, the four components “title”, “author”, “date”, and “summary” must appear in this order. In addition, the component “paragraph” must appear one or more times below the component “summary”. The component “chapter” must appear repeatedly one or more times below the component “main body”. In addition, the component “heading” and “chapter content” must appear in this order below the component “chapter”. Under the component “chapter content”, either the component “paragraph” or the component “section” must appear repeatedly one or more times. Furthermore, the component “heading” and “section content” must appear in this order below the component “section”. The component “paragraph” must appear repeatedly one or more times below the component “section content”. Then, under the component “retrofitting”, the component “document” must repeatedly appear one or more times.
[0008]
Thus, a document generated based on a document type having a predetermined rule can be managed using a database. In a database that manages a large number of documents, when searching for a document or its constituent elements, an efficient search can be performed if a query is created using a condition relating to the context of the necessary document or its constituent elements.
[0009]
The condition relating to the context of the document referred to here means a condition expressed by a combination of a condition for specifying a component of the document and a condition for specifying a hierarchical relationship between the components. For example, “searching and extracting a chapter that includes the character string“ database ”in the chapter heading and the character string“ structure ”in an arbitrary paragraph in the chapter” is a context-related condition. Here, “chapter”, “heading”, and “paragraph” represent components that appear in the structured document. In addition, “heading” including the character string “database” and “paragraph” including the character string “structure” respectively represent the conditions regarding the constituent elements. It can be said that the heading of “chapter” as “heading” and the inclusion of “paragraph” in “chapter” define the hierarchical relationship between the constituent elements.
[0010]
FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an example in which an inquiry having a condition regarding a document context is schematically represented.
The query 42 shown in the figure indicates that the above-mentioned condition “retrieve and retrieve a chapter that includes the character string“ database ”in the heading of the chapter and includes the character string“ structure ”in any paragraph in the chapter” ”. Represents the specified query. An element indicated by a rectangle is a component included in the condition, and a character string connected by a double line below the component is a condition relating to a character string to be included in the component. This indicates that the highest-order component among the components included in the condition is taken out as a search target. In order to define the hierarchical relationship between the constituent elements, the constituent elements in the parent-child relationship are connected by a solid line, and the constituent elements in the relationship between the ancestor and the descendant are connected by a dotted line. For structured documents, detailed search is possible by specifying context-related conditions in this way.
[0011]
In a conventional database that manages structured documents, there is a method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-301721 as a method for performing a search by specifying conditions relating to the context of a document. In this method, a document is decomposed into components and stored in a relational database. A search language that can specify a document structure is converted into SQL (Structured Query Language), which is a standard processing language of a relational database, and a search is performed.
[0012]
However, in this method, a query cannot be created unless the user knows in advance the document type information, that is, the constituent elements that can appear in the structure of the document type and the information about the appearance order and inclusion relations of all the constituent elements. . In other words, if you do not know the document type information, even if you create a query that specifies the context, you do not know whether the query conforms to the structure of the document type, and as a result, there are no documents that satisfy the condition. There is also a possibility.
[0013]
As a method of solving this problem, there is a method of creating a query by presenting the structure of the document type to the user when performing a search. For example, "MULTIS (" Multimedia Office Filling-The MULTOS Approach- ", Edited by C. Thanos, North-Holland, 1990, ISBN: 0-444-88456-4)", one of the document database management systems, ODA (Open Document Architecture; ISO 8613) documents are managed, and the conditions related to the logical structure of the document are expressed as nodes (representing components) and arcs (representing relationships between components) by a graphical pointing device called an inquiry editor. ) And so on. In the query editor of “MULTIS”, the structure of the document type or the structure of a specific document in the database is displayed on the screen in a tree structure, the document type or the component of the document is selected, and the conditions for the corresponding component are described. can do. An example of the query editor is shown below.
[0014]
FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of a conventional inquiry editor.
The inquiry editor display screen 50 includes a document type name input unit 51 and a document type display window 52.
[0015]
When the user inputs the document type name to the document type name input unit 51, the document type having the corresponding document type name is displayed in the document type display window 52 in the form of a tree structure. In the example shown in the drawing, the user inputs the document type name “report”, and the document type display window 52 displays the document type of the “report”. Further, in this inquiry editor, a component for which a condition is to be specified can be selected from the displayed document type components, and the component condition specifying unit 53 can be opened. The constituent element condition designating unit 53 can input a character string included in the text of the constituent element as a condition for the constituent element. In the example shown in the figure, a component element condition specifying unit 53 for specifying a condition related to the component element “title” is open. The conditions can be specified for any of a plurality of components.
[0016]
By using such an inquiry editor, the user can create an inquiry by referring to the structure of the document type displayed on the screen, so it is not necessary to know the document type in advance.
[0017]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, considering a structured document on a practical scale, the document type has a large number of components and often has a complex structure. In addition, when the document type is expressed in a tree structure, one component may appear as a plurality of nodes, so that the number of nodes in the tree is larger than the number of components.
[0018]
For example, “Books DTD”, which is defined as one of the document type definitions (DTD) of SGML documents in the international standard (Information and documentation − Electronic manuscript preparation and markup; ISO 12083: 1994), describes the structure of the document type. The number of elements is over 70. In addition, if this document type is expressed in a tree structure, the number of nodes in the tree will be enormous. Even if the same component appears multiple times, only one of them will be expanded to the subtree and the others will not be expanded. Even so, the number of nodes in the tree exceeds 1000.
[0019]
In this way, when creating a search query for a structured document based on the structure of a document type of a practical scale, the structure that is displayed in the method of creating a query by displaying the structure of the document type Since the number of elements is very large, there is a problem that it takes a lot of work to search for a component for which a condition is to be specified.
[0020]
In addition, since the same component can appear multiple times in one document type, if you want to specify the same condition for a certain component regardless of the appearance position, it will be applicable from the displayed tree structure. All components must be searched for and conditions must be specified, which has been a heavy burden on the user.
[0021]
The present invention has been made in view of such points, and the user is not aware of the structure of the document type, and for the same component appearing at a plurality of positions, a single condition instruction is given. It is an object of the present invention to provide a database management system capable of creating a query for document retrieval.
[0022]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In the first invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, in a database management system for managing structured documents having a logical structure hierarchized in a tree structure, a syntax rule defining a logical structure that can be taken by the document A document type holding unit that holds the document type, a component extraction unit that extracts all components of the document type from the document type holding unit, and a first of the components extracted by the component extraction unit set And the user selects from the displayed first set Any one component of the user Accept by input operation First component selection means, and the first component selection means Accepted The first component and User Between the components to be selected next User specified Relationship of user Accept by input operation Relationship specifying means and the first component selection means Accepted The relationship specifying means as seen from the first component Accepted A component element search unit that searches all component elements having the same relationship from the document type held in the document type holding unit; and a second set of component elements searched by the component element search unit And the user selects from the displayed second set Any one second component of the user Accepted by input operation Second component selection means and the first component selection means Accepted First component, the relationship specifying means Accepted Relationship and the second component selection means Accepted Query generating means for generating a query from the second component, and components included in the query generated by the query generating means When the user selects the displayed component In Of the selected component A user by Edit Accept A query editing means; and a first set of components extracted by the component extraction means; The relationship between the components to be specified by the user, There is provided a database management system comprising: a second set of component elements searched by the component element search means; and a display means for displaying an inquiry generated by the inquiry generation means. The
[0023]
According to such a database management system, when creating a query for document retrieval, first, all the components of the document type are extracted from the document type holding unit by the component extracting unit, and these are displayed on the display unit. indicate. From the set of extracted components, Any one component selected by the user First component selection means Accepted Furthermore, the relationship between the currently selected component and the next component to be selected is Specified by the user Relationship designation means Accept . Next, the constituent element search means searches all the constituent elements having the designated relationship as seen from the selected constituent element from the document type holding means, and displays the search result on the display means. From a set of retrieved components Any one component selected by the user Second component selection means Accepts The query generation means generates a query from the two selected components and the specified relationship. . Raw Constituents included in the generated query When the component is selected by the user, the query editing means accepts editing of the selected component by the user . Therefore, an inquiry can be created without being conscious of the structure of the document type. At that time, for the same component appearing at a plurality of positions, an inquiry can be created with one condition instruction by widely specifying the relationship.
[0024]
In the second invention, in a database management system for managing structured documents having a logical structure that is hierarchized in a tree structure, a document type that is a syntax rule that defines a logical structure that the document can take is specified. Document type holding means to hold, component extraction means for extracting all components of the document type from the document type holding means, and a set of components extracted by the component extraction means And the user selected from the displayed set of components Any two components of the user Accept by input operation Component selection means, and the component selection means Accepted A relationship search means for searching all of the relationships existing between the two components from the document type held in the document type holding means, and a set of relationships searched by the relationship search means And the user selected from the displayed relationships Relationship of user Accepted by input operation Relationship selection means and the component selection means Accepted Two components and the relation selection means Accepted Query generation means for generating a query from the relationship, and components included in the query generated by the query generation means When the user selects the displayed component In Of the selected component A user by Edit Accept A query editing unit; a set of component elements extracted by the component element extracting unit; a set of relationships searched by the relationship search unit; and a display unit for displaying the query generated by the query generation unit. There is provided a database management system characterized by comprising.
[0025]
According to such a database management system, when a query for document search is created, first, all the components of the document type are extracted from the document type holding unit by the component extracting unit, and the extracted components are displayed. Display on means. From a set of extracted components The user selects any two components and Component selection means Accepted Then, all relationships that can exist between the two selected components are searched from the document type by the relationship search means, and the search results are displayed on the display means. From the retrieved relationship Any one relationship selected by the user Relationship selection means Accepted Then, the query generation means generates a query from the two selected components and the selected relationship. . Raw Constituents included in the generated query When the component is selected by the user, the query editing means accepts editing of the selected component by the user . Therefore, an inquiry can be created without being conscious of the structure of the document type. At that time, for the same component appearing at a plurality of positions, an inquiry can be created with one condition instruction by widely specifying the relationship.
[0026]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a principle configuration and an embodiment of a database management system according to the first invention.
[0027]
A database management system according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a document type holding unit 1 that holds a document type that is a syntax rule that defines a logical structure that can be taken by a document, and a component extracting unit 2 that extracts all the components in the document type. A first component selecting unit 3 that selects the first component, a relationship designating unit 4 that specifies a relationship between the first component and a second component that is to be selected later, A component search unit 5 that searches for all components that have a specified relationship as viewed from the first component, a second component selector 6 that selects the second component, and the first configuration A query generator 7 that generates a query from the element, the second component, and the relationship between the two components, a query editor 8 that edits the component included in the query, and various types of information are displayed. Display unit 9 It is constructed from.
[0028]
In the database management system configured as described above, the document type holding unit 1 holds all the document types that define the logical structure of documents handled by the own database management system.
[0029]
Here, the data structure for holding the document type may be in any format as long as it can reach any upper and lower constituent elements from one constituent element. In the present embodiment, the data structure has a format in which components and generation rules are objects and objects are linked by pointers. Note that a component having the same name, such as “heading” or “paragraph”, may appear a plurality of times at a plurality of positions in one document type. In such a case, there is only one object corresponding to each of “heading” and “paragraph”, and the object has a plurality of pointers to upper components.
[0030]
The component extraction unit 2 extracts all the components of the document type from the document type holding unit 1 and displays the extracted components on the display unit 9. In this embodiment, when creating a query, the first component, the second component, and the relationship between the two components are considered as basic conditions regarding the context of the document. Therefore, an arbitrary one component is selected by the first component selection unit 3 from the set of extracted components, and this becomes the first component of the inquiry to be created. Further, the relationship designating unit 4 designates the relationship between the first component and the second component to be selected later. In the following, the first component, the second component, and the relationship between the two components, which are conditions when a query is created in the database management system of the first invention, are described. This is called a basic condition.
[0031]
The component search unit 5 searches the document type held in the document type holding unit 1 for a component that satisfies the condition based on the selected first component and the specified relationship. As a result of this search, all the constituent elements having the specified relationship as seen from the first constituent element are obtained and displayed on the display unit 9. The second component selection unit 6 selects any one component from the searched components and becomes the second component of the created query. When the basic conditions are met, the inquiry generation unit 7 generates an inquiry from the first component, the second component, and the relationship between the two components.
[0032]
The inquiry editing unit 8 edits the generated inquiry. The editing referred to here is detailed conditioning for components included in the inquiry. Further, the display unit 9 displays all the constituent elements of the document type extracted by the constituent element extracting unit 2 or is in a specified relationship as viewed from the first constituent element. 5 is a process that displays all the searched components or displays an inquiry generated by the inquiry generation unit 7.
[0033]
Next, in the database management system according to the first aspect of the invention, the procedure for creating an inquiry will be described.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a procedure for creating a query according to the embodiment of the first invention.
[0034]
When an inquiry is created, a document type name to be searched is first specified. When the database management apparatus accepts an instruction for creating a query and designation of a document type name, the component extraction unit 2 reads the designated document type from the document type holding unit 1 (step S1). Next, the component extraction unit 2 extracts all the components included in the read document type, creates a component list, and displays it on the display unit 9 (step S2).
[0035]
One arbitrary component is selected from the displayed component list by the first component selector 3, and the component selected here is the first component for creating an inquiry (step S3). ). The inquiry generation unit 7 generates an inquiry from the conditions determined in the processing so far, and displays the inquiry on the display unit 9 (step S4).
[0036]
In the present embodiment, the basic condition described above is considered as a basic condition for creating a query, but a query itself can be created from only one component. When searching for documents using queries with fewer conditions, the number of resulting documents or their components only increases.
[0037]
Next, it is determined whether or not the generated inquiry is completed (step S5). If completed, the process of this flowchart ends. If the inquiry is incomplete, the process of this flowchart continues.
[0038]
If the inquiry is incomplete, the cause is determined (step S6). If the basic conditions are not yet met, the process proceeds to step S7, where basic processing is performed. In the present embodiment, the creation of a query is considered based on basic conditions, but components that serve as conditions may be added as necessary. If the basic conditions have already been determined and another component is added to the inquiry, the process proceeds to step S3 again. This process will be described in detail later. Furthermore, when detailed conditions are given to the components already included in the inquiry, the process proceeds to step S12 and editing processing is performed. This process will also be described later.
[0039]
If the basic condition still has only the first component, the relationship specifying unit 4 specifies the relationship between the first component and the second component to be determined (step S7). . Then, the component search unit 5 searches the document type holding unit 1 for a component having a specified relationship when viewed from the first component (step S8), and sets it as a candidate for the second component. The detailed procedure of this process will be described later.
[0040]
As a result of the search by the component search unit 5, it is determined whether there is a second component candidate (step S9), and if it exists, the process proceeds to step S10. If there is no second component candidate, an error message is issued (step S14), and the process returns to step S4.
[0041]
The constituent element search unit 5 creates a list of constituent elements that are candidates for the second constituent element as a result of the search, and displays the list on the display unit 9 (step S10). The second component selection unit 6 selects any one component from the search result, and the component selected here becomes the second component of the inquiry to be created (step S11). Since all the basic conditions are now complete, the process proceeds to step S4 again, and an inquiry is generated.
[0042]
Here, a process when the addition of a component is selected in the branch of step S6 will be described. Even when a component is added to an inquiry, the two components and their relationship are the basic units. Proceeding to step S3, components are added in the same procedure as selecting the basic condition. That is, the first component, the second component, and the relationship between the first component and the second component may be aligned.
[0043]
However, when a component is added, from the component list Only But already Generated in step S4 Inquiry conditions and Displayed in a tree structure Any one of the constituent elements may be selected as the first constituent element. When this process is repeated, a tree structure having an arbitrary size becomes a query condition.
[0044]
Next, processing when editing of a component is selected in the branch of step S6 will be described. When detailed conditions are given to the components already included in the inquiry, first, the target components are selected (step S12). Thereafter, the conditions to be added are input, and the inquiry is edited (step S13).
[0045]
Next, step S in FIG. 8 The component search process described in the above item will be described.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the component search process.
First, the component element search unit 5 reads a document type to be searched (step S21). Then, the first component determined in the process so far is searched from the read document type (step S22).
[0046]
Next, the component search unit 5 determines what the relationship designated as the relationship between the first component and the second component is (step S23). If the specified relationship is “parent”, the parent element of the first component is searched (step S24). If the specified relationship is “child”, the child element of the first component is searched (step S25). Further, if the specified relationship is “ancestor”, the ancestor element of the first component is searched (step S26). If the specified relationship is “descendant”, the descendant element of the first component Is searched (step S27).
[0047]
Here, an inquiry creation procedure in the embodiment of the database management system according to the first aspect of the invention will be described with reference to an example of an inquiry creation screen.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of an inquiry creation screen based on the embodiment of the first invention.
[0048]
The inquiry creation screen 10 includes a component display unit 11 that displays a document type component list, and a relationship specification unit 12 that specifies the relationship between the first component and the second component. An edit start button 13 for giving an instruction to edit the created inquiry, a search start button 14 for instructing a search for a component having a specified relationship with the first component, and a candidate for the second component And a query display unit 16 for displaying the created query.
[0049]
The inquiry creation screen 10 corresponds to the display unit 9 shown in FIG. Here, the component display unit 11 plays the role of displaying the component extracted by the component extraction unit 2 of FIG. 1 and the role of the first component selection unit 3. Similarly, the search result display unit 15 plays the role of displaying the search result of the component search unit 5 and the role of the second component selection unit 6.
[0050]
Here, it is assumed that a query for searching for a document based on the document type “report” shown in FIG. 21 is created, and the display and use of the query creation screen will be described in order.
[0051]
Note that the query condition to be created is a search for a chapter including the character string “database” in the chapter heading and the character string “structure” in any paragraph in the chapter shown in FIG. And take it out. "
[0052]
Although an inquiry is created according to the flowchart of FIG. 2, first, description will be made up to step S7 in which the relationship between the first component and the second component is designated.
[0053]
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an inquiry creation screen when a relationship between two components is designated in the embodiment of the first invention.
The document type name “report” is input (step S1), and “chapter” is selected as the first component by a pointing device or the like from the components (step S2) listed on the component display unit 11. (Step S3). Further, “child” is selected as the relationship between the first component and the second component (step S7).
[0054]
As a result of selecting “chapter” as the first constituent element, the constituent element display unit 11 displays the constituent element “chapter” separately from other constituent elements. Further, as a result of selecting “child” as the relationship between the first component and the second component, the relationship designating unit 12 checks the relationship “child”.
[0055]
The inquiry display section 16 displays a confirmed inquiry condition “chapter”. When the creation of the inquiry is completed, the inquiry becomes an inquiry “search and extract“ chapter ”from“ report ””.
[0056]
As described above, when the document type to be searched is designated, the component extraction unit 2 extracts the component of the corresponding document type from the document type holding unit 1 and displays it on the component display unit 11. Therefore, the user can determine the first component without knowing what component the document type has.
[0057]
Next, description will be made up to step S10 in which candidates for the second component are displayed. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an inquiry creation screen when a search result is displayed according to the embodiment of the first invention.
[0058]
The element search button 14 is pressed, and a component having a specified relationship as viewed from the first component “chapter”, that is, a component corresponding to “child” is searched (step S8). Referring to FIG. 21, it is understood that the component “chapter” of the document type “report” includes the component “heading” and the component “chapter content” as elements corresponding to “child” (step). S9). Therefore, the component “heading” and the component “chapter content” are displayed on the search result display unit 15 (step S10).
[0059]
In this way, when the relationship between the first component and the second component is designated, the component search unit 5 sends a component that is a candidate for the second component from the document type holding unit 1. Search and display on the search result display unit 15. Therefore, the user can obtain a constituent element that is a candidate for the second constituent element without knowing the appearance order or inclusion relation of the constituent elements of the document type.
[0060]
Next, description will be made up to step S11 in which the second component is selected.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an inquiry creation screen when the second component is selected in the embodiment of the first invention.
[0061]
From the components displayed on the search result display unit 15, the component “heading” is selected as the second component by a pointing device or the like (step S11). Here, as a result of the selection as the second component, the component “heading” is displayed separately from the other components. Further, the inquiry display section 16 displays the confirmed inquiry conditions “chapter” and “headline”. Since the relationship between the component “chapter” and the component “heading” is a parent-child relationship, the two components are connected by a solid line indicating the parent-child relationship.
[0062]
When the creation of the query is completed, the query becomes a query for searching for “component“ chapter ”including“ headline ”as a“ child ”.
[0063]
Next, description will be made up to step S13 in which conditions are added to the constituent elements included in the inquiry.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an inquiry creation screen when a component to be edited is selected in the embodiment of the first invention.
[0064]
The component “heading” is selected as an editing target from the inquiry display unit 16 by a pointing device or the like (step S12). When the edit target is selected and the edit start button 13 is pressed, the inquiry edit screen 17 is activated.
[0065]
In the inquiry display unit 16, the component “heading” selected as the editing target is surrounded by a double line to be distinguished from other components. The inquiry editing screen 17 accepts an input of “condition of“ headline ””.
[0066]
In the activated inquiry editing screen 17, a character string “database” is input as a condition to be attached to the component “heading” (step S13).
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an inquiry creation screen when a condition is added to a component in the embodiment of the first invention.
[0067]
Since the character string “database” is a condition relating to the component “headline”, the inquiry display unit 16 connects this character string with a double line under the component “headline” to express this relationship. When the creation of the query is completed, the query is a query for searching for a “chapter component” having a “headline” component that includes the character string “database” as a child.
[0068]
Next, the case where a component is added by determination of step S6 is demonstrated.
FIG. 10 shows an embodiment of the first invention. State It is a figure which shows the inquiry creation screen when a component is added.
[0069]
The component “chapter” is selected as a first component from the inquiry display unit 16 by a pointing device or the like (step S3). In addition, “descendant” is selected as the relationship between the first component and the second component in the relationship specifying unit 12 (step S7). The element search button 14 is pressed, the component corresponding to the “descendant” as viewed from the component “chapter” is searched (step S8), and the search result is displayed on the search result display unit 15 (step S10). From the displayed result, the component “paragraph” is selected as the second component by the pointing device or the like (step S11).
[0070]
Since the relationship between the component “chapter” and the component “paragraph” is an grandchild relationship (a relationship between an ancestor and a descendant), the two components are connected by a dotted line indicating the grandchild relationship.
When the creation of the query ends here, this query has a “heading” component with the string “database” in the child and a “chapter” component in the “paragraph” descendant. It becomes an inquiry to search.
[0071]
Next, description will be made up to step S13 in which the added component is edited.
FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an inquiry creation screen when a condition is added to the component added in the embodiment of the first invention.
[0072]
When the component “paragraph” is selected as an object to be edited from the inquiry display unit 16 by a pointing device or the like (step S12) and the edit start button 13 is pressed, the inquiry edit screen is activated. On the activated inquiry edit screen, the conditions associated with the component “paragraph” are set (step S13), and the creation of the inquiry is completed (step S5).
[0073]
Here, the created query has a “heading” component with the character string “database” as a child, and a “paragraph” component with a character string “structure” as a descendant. This is a query for searching for “component”.
[0074]
In the above description, the editing of the component “heading” is performed before the addition of the component “paragraph”, but the order of this work may be reversed. In addition, as in the case where the component “paragraph” is added, there are as many inquiries as possible. Further, the inquiry creation screen is not limited to the example given here. If the component can be selected and the parent-child relationship and the grand-grandchild relationship between the components can be distinguished, the format corresponding to the usage method may be adopted. In addition, a condition other than a character string can be specified as a condition to be added to the inquiry component. If the document type component has an attribute, it is configured so that the conditions relating to the attribute can also be edited.
[0075]
With such a database management system, when creating a query for searching for a document, the user can create a query without knowing the components of the document type, their appearance order, and the inclusion relationship.
[0076]
Next, a second invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the principle configuration and embodiment of the database management system according to the second invention.
[0077]
The database management system according to the second aspect of the present invention includes a document type holding unit 21 that holds a document type that is a syntax rule that defines a logical structure that can be taken by a document, and a component extraction unit 22 that extracts all the components in the document type. A component selection unit 23 that selects the first and second components, a relationship search unit 24 that searches for a relationship that may exist between the first component and the second component, and a first A relationship selecting unit 25 that selects the relationship between the component and the second component, and a query generator 26 that generates a query from the relationship between the first component, the second component, and the two components. And an inquiry editing unit 27 for editing the components included in the inquiry, and a display unit 28 for displaying various information.
[0078]
In the database management system configured as described above, the document type holding unit 21 holds all the document types that define the logical structure of documents handled by the own database management system.
[0079]
Here, the data structure for holding the document type may be in any format as long as it can reach any upper and lower constituent elements from one constituent element. The data structure in the present embodiment is the same as the data structure in the first embodiment.
[0080]
The component extraction unit 22 extracts all the component elements of the document type from the document type holding unit 21, and the extracted component elements are displayed on the display unit 28. Also in the present embodiment, as in the first embodiment, when creating an inquiry, the first component, the second component, and the relationship between the two components are basically used. Think of it as a condition. Therefore, any two components are selected by the component selector 23 from the extracted set of components, and are used as the first and second components of the created query.
[0081]
The relationship search unit 24 searches for the document type held in the document type holding unit 21 based on the two selected components. As a result of this search, all relationships that can exist between the first component and the second component are obtained and displayed on the display unit 28. From the retrieved relationship, the relationship selection unit 25 selects the relationship between the first component and the second component. When the basic conditions for creating a query are complete, the query generator 26 generates a query from the first component, the second component, and the relationship between the two components.
[0082]
The inquiry editing unit 27 performs detailed conditioning on components included in the generated inquiry. In addition, the display unit 28 displays all the constituent elements of the document type extracted by the constituent element extracting unit 22, or between the first constituent element and the second constituent element searched by the relationship searching unit 24. For example, all the relationships that may exist are displayed, and the inquiry generated by the inquiry generation unit 26 is displayed.
[0083]
Next, in the database management system according to the second aspect of the invention, the procedure for creating an inquiry will be described.
FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a procedure for creating a query according to the embodiment of the second invention.
[0084]
When an inquiry is created, a document type name to be searched is first specified. When the database management system receives an inquiry creation instruction and a document type name designation, the component extraction unit 22 reads the designated document type from the document type holding unit 21 (step S31). Next, the component extraction unit 22 extracts all the components included in the read document type, creates a component list, and displays it on the display unit 28 (step S32).
[0085]
From the displayed component list, any one component is selected by the component selector 23, and the component selected here becomes the first component of the inquiry to be created (step S33). The inquiry generation unit 26 generates an inquiry from the conditions determined in the processing so far, and displays the inquiry on the display unit 28 (step S34).
[0086]
Next, it is determined whether or not the generated inquiry is completed (step S35). If completed, the process of this flowchart ends. If the inquiry is incomplete, the process of this flowchart continues.
[0087]
If the inquiry is incomplete, the cause is determined (step S36). If the basic conditions are not yet met, the process proceeds to step S37 to perform basic processing. When the basic condition has already been determined and another component is added to the inquiry, the process proceeds to step S33 again. This process will be described in detail later. Furthermore, when detailed conditions are given to the components already included in the inquiry, the process proceeds to step S42, and editing processing is performed. This process will also be described later.
[0088]
If only the first component exists in the basic condition, any one component is selected by the component selection unit 23 from the displayed component list, and the selected component is created. The second component of the inquiry to be made (step S37). The relationship search unit 24 searches the document type holding unit 21 for a relationship that may exist between the first component and the second component (step S38), and displays the search result on the display unit 28. The detailed procedure of this process will be described later.
[0089]
As a result of the search by the relationship search unit 24, it is determined whether there is a relationship that may exist between the first component and the second component (step S39). If there is a relationship, the process proceeds to step S40. If no direct relationship (parent-child relationship or grand-grandchild relationship) exists between the two components, an error message is issued and the process returns to step S34 (step S44).
[0090]
The relationship search unit 24 creates a list of relationships existing as a result of the search between the first component and the second component, and displays the list on the display unit 28 (step S40). Next, an arbitrary one relationship is selected from the list of search results by the relationship selecting unit 25 (step S41). Since all the basic conditions have been prepared, the process proceeds to step S34 again to generate an inquiry.
[0091]
Here, a process when the addition of a component is selected in the branch of step S36 will be described. Even when a component is added to an inquiry, the two components and their relationship are the basic units. Proceeding to step S33, components are added in the same procedure as selecting the basic condition. That is, the first component, the second component, and the relationship between the first component and the second component need only be aligned.
[0092]
However, if a component is added, only from the component list Is Not already Generated in step S34 Inquiry conditions and Displayed in a tree structure Any one of the constituent elements may be selected as the first constituent element. When this process is repeated, a tree structure having an arbitrary size becomes a query condition.
[0093]
Next, processing when editing of a component is selected in the branch of step S36 will be described. When a detailed condition is applied to a component that has already been inquired, a target component is first selected (step S42). Thereafter, the conditions to be added are input, and the inquiry is edited (step S43).
[0094]
Next, step S3 in FIG. 8 The processing for searching for a relationship that may exist between the first component and the second component described in the above will be described.
FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the relationship search process.
[0095]
First, the relationship search unit 24 reads a document type to be searched (step S51). Then, the first component determined in the process so far is searched from the read document type (step S52).
[0096]
Next, the relationship search unit 24 searches for a component that can be a parent of the first component (step S53). It is determined whether or not there is a search result that matches the second component (step S54), and if it exists, the “child → parent” relationship is displayed (step S55).
[0097]
Subsequently, the relationship search unit 24 searches for a component that can be an ancestor of the first component (step S56). It is determined whether or not there is a search result that matches the second component (step S57). If there is a search result, the “descendant → ancestor” relationship is displayed (step S58).
[0098]
Further, the relationship retrieval unit 24 retrieves the second component determined in the process so far from the read document type (step S59). Further, a component that can become a parent of the second component is searched (step S60). It is determined whether there is a search result that matches the first component (step S61). If there is a search result, a "parent->child" relationship is displayed (step S62).
[0099]
Finally, the relationship search unit 24 searches for a component that can be an ancestor of the second component (step S63). It is determined whether there is a search result that matches the first component (step S64). If there is a search result, an "ancestor → descendant" relationship is displayed (step S65).
[0100]
Here, an example of a query creation screen in the embodiment of the database management system of the second invention will be described to explain the query creation procedure.
FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of an inquiry creation screen based on the embodiment of the second invention.
[0101]
The inquiry creation screen 30 includes component display units 31 and 32 for displaying a document type component list, an edit start button 33 for issuing an instruction to edit the created query, a first component, and a second component. A relationship search button 34 for searching for a relationship that can exist between the elements, a relationship display unit 35 that displays a relationship that exists between the first component and the second component, and a created inquiry And an inquiry display unit 36.
The inquiry creation screen 30 corresponds to the display unit 28 shown in FIG. Here, the component display units 31 and 32 play a role of displaying the component extracted by the component extraction unit 22 of FIG. 12 and a role of the component selection unit 23. Similarly, the relationship display unit 35 plays a role of displaying the search result of the relationship search unit 24 and a role of the relationship selection unit 25.
[0102]
Here, it is assumed that a query for searching for a document based on the document type “report” shown in FIG. 21 is created, and the display and use of the query creation screen will be described in order. The query condition to be created is “retrieve and retrieve a chapter including the character string“ database ”in the heading at an arbitrary position in the chapter” shown in FIG.
[0103]
Although an inquiry is created in accordance with the flowchart of FIG. 13, first, description will be made up to step S37, in which the second component is selected.
FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an inquiry creation screen when two components are selected in the embodiment of the second invention.
[0104]
The document type name “report” is input (step S31), and “chapter” is selected as the first component by a pointing device or the like from the components (step S32) displayed in a list on the component display unit 31 (step S31). Similarly, “heading” is selected as the second component from the components displayed in the component display section 32 (step S37).
[0105]
As a result of selecting “chapter” as the first constituent element, the constituent element display section 31 displays the constituent element “chapter” separately from other constituent elements. In addition, as a result of selecting “Heading” as the second component, the component “Heading” is displayed separately from the other components on the component display unit 32.
[0106]
The inquiry display section 36 displays the confirmed inquiry conditions “chapter” and “headline”. When the creation of the inquiry is completed, the inquiry becomes an inquiry for searching for “component“ chapter ”or“ component “headline” ”.
[0107]
As described above, when the document type to be searched is designated, the component extraction unit 22 extracts the component of the corresponding document type from the document type holding unit 21 and displays it on the component display units 31 and 32. Therefore, the user can determine the first and second constituent elements without knowing what kind of constituent elements the document type has.
[0108]
Next, description will be made up to step S40 in which the relationship existing between the first component and the second component is displayed.
FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an inquiry creation screen when a search result is displayed in the embodiment of the second invention.
[0109]
The relationship search button 34 is pressed to search for a relationship that may exist between the “chapter” that is the first component and the “headline” that is the second component (step S38). Referring to FIG. 21, a parent-child relationship and a grandchild relationship (an ancestor-grandchild relationship) exist between the component “chapter” and the component “headline” of the document type “report”. It can be understood (step S39). Therefore, the “parent → child” relationship and the “ancestor → descendant” relationship are displayed on the relationship display unit 35 (step S40).
[0110]
In this way, when the first component and the second component are selected, the relationship search unit 24 determines the relationship that can exist between the first component and the second component as the document type. The information is retrieved from the holding unit 21 and displayed on the relationship display unit 35. Therefore, the user can obtain the relationship that exists between the first component and the second component without knowing the appearance order or inclusion relationship of the component that the document type has.
[0111]
Next, description will be made up to step S41 in which the relationship between the first component and the second component is selected.
FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an inquiry creation screen when a relationship between two components is selected in the embodiment of the second invention.
[0112]
From the relationship displayed on the relationship display unit 35, the relationship “ancestor → descendant” is selected as a relationship between the first component and the second component by a pointing device or the like (step S42). Here, as a result of selection as the relationship between the first component and the second component, the relationship “ancestor → descendant” is displayed separately from other relationships. In the inquiry display section 36, the component “chapter” and the component “heading” are connected and displayed by a dotted line indicating a grandchild relationship.
[0113]
When the creation of the query ends here, the query becomes a query for searching for “a component“ chapter ”including a component“ heading ”as a descendant”.
[0114]
Next, description will be made up to step S43 in which conditions are added to the constituent elements included in the inquiry.
FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an inquiry creation screen when a condition is added to a component in the embodiment of the second invention.
[0115]
The component “heading” is selected as an editing target from the inquiry display unit 36 by a pointing device or the like (step S42). When an edit target is selected and the edit start button 33 is pressed, an inquiry edit screen is activated. Then, the character string “database” is input as a condition to be attached to the component “heading” on the activated inquiry editing screen (step S43).
[0116]
This inquiry is an inquiry for searching for a “component“ chapter ”that includes a character string“ database ”in a component“ headline ”at an arbitrary position of“ subordinate to the component “chapter” ”. In the case of “chapter” having a component “heading” as a descendant, in the document type 41 shown in FIG. 21, the component “heading” is a child of the component “chapter” and a great-grandchild. There are two types of cases, but the distinction is not made here.
[0117]
In the above description, an inquiry including only two components has been created. However, as with the first embodiment, the number of inquiry conditions can be increased as much as possible. Furthermore, the inquiry creation screen is not limited to the examples given here, and may be expressed in an easy-to-use manner according to the user's usage method. Other than the character string can be included in the condition of the component included in the inquiry.
[0118]
With such a database management system, when creating a query for searching for a document, the user can create a query without knowing the components of the document type, their appearance order, and the inclusion relationship.
[0119]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, in the present invention, if a document type name to be searched is input, the component extraction means for displaying all the components of the corresponding document type, the first component, and the second component Means for selecting, means for specifying or selecting a relationship between the first component and the second component, and a query generating unit for generating a query from the two components and the relationship between them I made it. As a result, the user can create a query for document search without being aware of the structure of the document type.
[0120]
Further, in the present invention, when displaying a component, it is not necessary to specify information on where the component is located in the document type. Therefore, once for the same component appearing in a plurality of positions, Inquiries for document search can be created with condition instructions.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a principle configuration and an embodiment of a database management system according to a first invention.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a procedure for creating a query in the embodiment of the first invention;
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure of a component element search process.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of an inquiry creation screen based on the embodiment of the first invention.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an inquiry creation screen when a relationship between two components is specified in the embodiment of the first invention.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an inquiry creation screen when search results are displayed according to the embodiment of the first invention.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an inquiry creation screen when a second component is selected in the embodiment of the first invention.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an inquiry creation screen when a component to be edited is selected in the embodiment of the first invention.
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an inquiry creation screen when a condition is added to a component in the embodiment of the first invention.
FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an inquiry creation screen when a component is added in the embodiment of the first invention.
FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an inquiry creation screen when a condition is added to the component added in the embodiment of the first invention.
FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a principle configuration and an embodiment of a database management system according to a second invention.
FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a procedure for creating a query according to the embodiment of the second invention;
FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a procedure of a relationship search process.
FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of an inquiry creation screen based on the embodiment of the second invention.
FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an inquiry creation screen when two components are selected in the embodiment of the second invention.
FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an inquiry creation screen when a search result is displayed in the embodiment of the second invention.
FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an inquiry creation screen when a relationship between two components is selected in the embodiment of the second invention.
FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an inquiry creation screen when a condition is added to a component in the embodiment of the second invention.
FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating an example of a structured document expressed in a tree structure.
FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an example of a document type.
FIG. 22 is a diagram schematically showing an example of an inquiry having a condition regarding a document context.
FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of a conventional inquiry editor.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 Document type holding part
2 Component extraction section
3 First component selection unit
4 Relationship designator
5 Component search part
6 Second component selection unit
7 Inquiry generator
8 Inquiry Editing Department
9 Display section

Claims (6)

In a database management system that manages structured documents with a logical structure that is hierarchized into a tree structure,
A document type holding means for holding a document type which is a syntax rule that defines a logical structure that a document can take;
Component extraction means for extracting all components of the document type from the document type holding means;
And displaying a first set of components taken out by said component extracting means, the Ru accepted by an input operation of any one component selected by the user from among the first set of displaying user 1 component selection means;
A relationship specifying unit accepting an relationship designated by the user by the input operation of the user between the components first component and the user to which the first component selected unit receives in turn tries to select,
A component for searching all component elements having the relationship accepted by the relationship designating unit from the document type held in the document type holding unit as seen from the first component received by the first component selection unit Search means;
A second set of components searched by the component search means is displayed, and any one second component selected by the user from the displayed second set is received by a user input operation. Second component selection means,
Query generation for generating a query from the first component received by the first component selection unit, the relationship received by the relationship designating unit, and the second component received by the second component selection unit Means,
A query editing means for accepting editing of the inquiry generating means to display the elements included in the generated query by, according to user selected components when the components displayed user selects,
A first set of components extracted by the component extraction means, a relationship between components to be specified by a user , a second set of components searched by the component search means, and the inquiry Display means for displaying the inquiry generated by the generating means;
A database management system characterized by comprising:   The first component selection unit is configured to select a component included in the already generated query when adding a component to the query generated by the query generation unit. The database management system according to claim 1, wherein In a database management system that manages structured documents with a logical structure that is hierarchized into a tree structure,
A document type holding means for holding a document type which is a syntax rule that defines a logical structure that a document can take;
Component extraction means for extracting all components of the document type from the document type holding means;
The Display set of components taken in components extraction means, a component selection means any two components selected by the user Ru received by the input operation of the user from the set of the indicated components ,
A relationship search means for searching all of the relationships existing between the two components received by the component selection means from the document type held in the document type holding means;
A relationship selecting means Ru received by the input operation of the user the relationship selected by the user from the displayed set of retrieved relationship display relationships by the relationship retrieval means,
Query generating means for generating a query from the two constituent elements received by the constituent element selecting means and the relation received by the relation selecting means;
A query editing means for displaying the components included in the generated query, add undergone editing by the user of the selected components when the components displayed user selected by the query generation means;
A display means for displaying a set of constituent elements extracted by the constituent element extracting means, a set of relations searched by the relation searching means, and a query generated by the query generating means;
A database management system characterized by comprising:   The component selection unit is configured to select a component included in the already generated query when adding a component to the query generated by the query generation unit. The database management system according to claim 3, wherein: In the query creation method of the database management system for managing structured documents having a logical structure layered in a tree structure,
The component extraction means extracts all the components of the document type from the document type holding means that holds the document type, which is a syntax rule that defines the logical structure that the document can take,
The first set of extracted components is displayed on the display means, and the first component selection means accepts any one first component selected by the user from the displayed first set. And
Relationship specifying means the relationship specified by the user between a component first component and the user to which the first component selected unit receives in turn tries to select is accepted by the input operation of the user,
The document in which the component search unit holds all the components having the relationship received by the relationship specifying unit with respect to the first component received by the first component selection unit. Search by type,
The second set of searched components is displayed on the display means, and the second component selecting means selects any one second component selected by the user from the displayed second set. Is accepted by the input operation of
Query generation means said first component, before Symbol relationship, and generates a query from the second component,
Displaying the component included in the query generated by the query generating unit on the display unit, and when the user selects the displayed component, the query editing unit accepts editing of the selected component by the user ;
A method for creating a query of a database management system characterized by the above. In the query creation method of the database management system for managing structured documents having a logical structure layered in a tree structure,
The component extraction means extracts all the components of the document type from the document type holding means that holds the document type, which is a syntax rule that defines the logical structure that the document can take,
The set of extracted components is displayed on the display means, and any two components selected by the user from the displayed set of components are received by the component selection means by the user's input operation ,
The relationship search unit searches all the relationships existing between the two components received by the component selection unit from the document type held in the document type holding unit ,
A set of retrieved relationships is displayed on the display means, and the relationship selection means accepts a desired relationship selected by the user from the displayed set by the user's input operation ,
The query generation means generates a query from the two selected components and relationships,
Displaying the component included in the query generated by the query generating unit on the display unit, and when the user selects the displayed component, the query editing unit accepts editing of the selected component by the user ;
A method for creating a query of a database management system characterized by the above.

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