JP3711710B2 - Information search and collection system and storage medium storing information search and collection program - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
When collecting specific information from the Internet, the present invention collects information that meets a user's request from a large number of information related to a keyword input by the user, and collects the collected information as one comprehensive. The present invention relates to an information search and collection method and system for outputting as simple information.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Recently, it has become possible to search and collect various information using the Internet. In order to search and collect information from the Internet, for example, there is a search method in which a keyword input by a user is applied to a search engine and addresses of all pages hit by the keyword are output. For example, if information about a famous person is collected and the name of the person is input as a keyword, all addresses of pages hit with the keyword are output. As a result, in order to obtain the information that the user needs among various information related to the person, the user accesses a page where the information is likely to exist and retrieves only the necessary information. By doing so, the desired information is obtained.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the search / collection method as described above, if the person whose information is to be collected is a person who is active in many fields, when searching with a keyword of only the name, the number of pages searched is Sometimes it can be hundreds of pages. This is not only for people, but for example, if you are trying to get information about a certain facility, it is highly likely that information about the facility exists in various fields in the case of a famous facility. If an attempt is made to search and collect the facility name as a keyword, a huge number of pages are searched.
[0004]
As a method to improve the search and collection effort as much as possible, for example, it is possible to input a plurality of keywords representing the information to be collected and output the address of the page hit for all the keywords. In some cases, information is narrowed down to some extent, such as outputting addresses only for pages where a certain number of keywords appear.
[0005]
As a specific example, when collecting information on a person's main occupation and various related information as information on a famous person active in a wide field, the person's name and main occupation are used as keywords. By inputting, the addresses of only the pages that hit both keywords are output, thereby greatly reducing the number of pages to be extracted.
[0006]
However, even if a certain degree of narrowing is performed in this way, the information that the user really needs is not all of the retrieved pages, but is often a part of them. It is necessary to perform an operation in which the user selects necessary information from the extracted pages.
[0007]
As described above, in the current search service, even if the information is narrowed down to some extent, the user eventually searches for necessary information from a large amount of searched information and edits it as one information page. It is necessary and there is room for further improvement in terms of usability.
[0008]
Therefore, the present invention analyzes the user input request based on the keyword from the user, converts the user request into a format that can be understood by the system, and searches and collects information based on a preset algorithm. The purpose is to be able to provide comprehensive information according to user request input.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The information search and collection method of the present invention is an information search and collection method for searching and collecting information based on a request input. The request input is a request input format that can be understood by the system, and the request input is based on the request input format. It is characterized by collecting related information, analyzing the collected results, extracting necessary contents, and outputting the extracted contents as comprehensive information according to a request input.
[0010]
More specifically, in an information search and collection method for searching and collecting information based on a request input, a category class that represents each content category is defined based on object-oriented programming. Information items to be collected for each category are set as properties, and each property has a method that describes the information acquisition method and information processing method, etc. After that, the requested input is classified into the category class, and the information items to be collected are based on the properties of the class to which the requested input belongs and the contents described in the method. Search and collect information about the It is characterized by outputting a comprehensive information.
[0011]
Then, title classes representing the information items to be collected are defined, and each title class is set with information content for each information item as a property for each information item, and each information content Each class structure may have a method describing a data acquisition method, a data processing method, and the like.
[0012]
Furthermore, an information format class that expresses the content of the information is defined, and each information format class is set as a property how to represent information for each information content, and each information Each of the representation methods may have a class structure having a method describing a data acquisition method, a data processing method, and the like.
[0013]
Furthermore, in such an information search and collection method, the property for each category may be displayed so that an arbitrary property can be selected from the displayed properties.
[0014]
Also, the information search and collection system of the present invention is a request analysis means for making a request input a request input format that can be understood by the system in the information search and collection system for searching and collecting information based on the request input, and the request analysis means. Information collection means for collecting information related to the request input, content analysis / collection means for analyzing the collected results and extracting necessary content, and the content analysis / collection means. It is characterized by having information editing / outputting means for editing and outputting the content extracted by the collecting means as comprehensive information corresponding to the request input.
[0015]
More specifically, in an information search and collection system that searches and collects information based on a request input, a request analysis unit that makes the request input a request input format that can be understood by the system, and a request obtained by the request analysis unit Based on the input format, information collection means for collecting information related to the request input, content analysis / collection means for analyzing the collected results and extracting necessary contents, and the content analysis / collection means Information editing / output means for editing and outputting the content as comprehensive information corresponding to the requested input, and defining a category class that represents each content category based on object-oriented programming. In the class, information items to be collected for each category are set as properties. Each property has a method that describes the information acquisition method and information processing method, etc., and the request input is made into a request input format that can be understood by the system. Based on the properties of the class to which the requested input belongs and based on the contents described in the method, information related to the information item to be collected is retrieved and collected, and the collected result is requested. It is characterized by being output as comprehensive information according to the input.
[0016]
In such an information search and collection system, the information items to be collected are defined as title classes, and the content of information for each information item is set as a property in each title class for each information item. At the same time, each information content may have a class structure having a method describing a data acquisition method, a data processing method, and the like. Further, the information content is defined as an information format class, and each information format class is set with a property representing how to represent the information for each information content, and each information representation class. Each method may have a class structure having a method describing a data acquisition method, a data processing method, and the like.
[0017]
Furthermore, in such an information search and collection system, the property for each category may be displayed, and any property may be selected from the displayed properties.
In addition, the storage medium storing the information search and collection program of the present invention is a storage medium storing an information search and collection program that executes a process of searching and collecting information based on a request input.
A request analysis step for converting the request input into a request input format that the system can understand;
An information collecting step for collecting information related to the request input based on the request input format obtained by the request analysis step;
A content analysis / collection step that analyzes the collected results and retrieves the necessary content,
An information editing / output step for editing and outputting the content extracted by the content analysis / collection step as comprehensive information according to the request input,
It is characterized by performing.
More specifically, in a storage medium storing an information search collection program that executes processing for searching and collecting information based on a request input, the information search collection program includes:
A request analysis step for converting the request input into a request input format that the system can understand;
An information collecting step for collecting information related to the request input based on the request input format obtained by the request analysis step;
A content analysis / collection step that analyzes the collected results and retrieves the necessary content,
An information editing / output step for editing and outputting the content extracted by the content analysis / collection step as comprehensive information corresponding to a request input from the user;
Define category classes that represent each content category based on object-oriented programming. In each category class, information items to be collected for each category are set as properties. It has a method that describes the information processing method, etc., and after making the request input from the user into a request input format that can be understood by the system, the request input is classified into the category class, and the request input for the request input Based on the property of the class to which the input belongs and based on the contents described in the method, the information about the information item to be collected is searched and collected, and the collected result is determined according to the user's requested input. It is characterized by executing processing that outputs as comprehensive information. .
[0018]
As described above, according to the present invention, after the request input from the user is made into a request input format that can be understood by the system, the request input is classified into a category class, and the property of the class to which the request input belongs to the request input. In addition, information is retrieved and collected based on the contents described in the method for each property, and the collection result is output as comprehensive information corresponding to the user's request input. As a result, the system can search and collect information desired by the user simply by processing according to a predetermined algorithm based on a keyword input by the user, and efficient information search and collection can be performed. It becomes possible. The collected information can be taken out as a single piece of information corresponding to the user's request input.
[0019]
In addition, by defining information items as title classes, setting information contents as properties for each title class, and determining the method, information collection methods and information It is not necessary to set a method indicating the processing method for each category class classified by the keyword from the user, the algorithm can be simplified, and the processing efficiency can be improved.
[0020]
In addition, for each content of information, how to represent information is set as a property, and each information representation method has a method describing a data acquisition method, a data processing method, etc. When the information is in the same format in different classes, the processing can be performed with a common algorithm, and the processing efficiency can be improved.
[0021]
In addition, the property for each category is displayed to the user, and the user can select any property from the displayed properties, so user customization can be realized, and only information according to user preferences On the other hand, it is possible to collect data by searching, and the processing efficiency can be improved.
[0022]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0023]
As a schematic process of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, when a search request from a user is received, the search request is analyzed (step s1), and the system can understand it. Then, based on the request input from the user, for example, information information related to the search request is collected through a search engine (step s2), content analysis is performed, and necessary information is collected (step s3). Then, the collected information is edited and displayed to the user (step s4). The above process flow is a schematic process to be performed by the present invention, and each process will be specifically described.
[0024]
For example, a case will be described in which a user tries to collect information on a person who is famous around the world (this person is referred to as “A”). It is assumed that this person A is a person who is famous worldwide as an engineer, a manager, and in other fields. Here, the user A is based on a predefined category class structure. Suppose that it is going to collect information as an engineer and manager. It is assumed that the information as the engineer and manager of the person A required by the user includes, for example, a photograph of the face of the person A, a career history, a technical paper as the engineer, and an asset as the manager.
[0025]
Now, when the user tries to obtain information as an engineer and manager of the person A, there are various information request input methods. One method is, for example, the name of the person A from the keyboard. Enter “A”. At this stage, the system side analyzes the input and understands that the user's request is an information search request for “a person named A”. Next, the user inputs information to be collected about the person A. Here, since the user intends to collect information on the engineer and manager of the person “A”, the user inputs contents such as the engineer and manager.
[0026]
Thus, on the system side, the request from the user is in an input format based on a predefined category class structure, such as “person, engineer and manager, name is A”.
[0027]
In other words, the present invention has a class structure (referred to as class structure 1) by object-oriented programming as shown in FIG. As can be seen from FIG. 2, there is a category as content, and the category includes, for example, a category class such as facility, person, product, etc. As a subclass of the category class, There are managers and classes such as athletes and politicians, not shown.
[0028]
In such a class structure, for example, “A” is an instance of an engineer / manager who inherits the manager class and the engineer class which are subclasses of the person class.
[0029]
The user request input may be an instance of one class of the category class, but may be an instance inheriting a plurality of category classes as in the above example.
[0030]
When any class in the category is determined, items of information to be collected are determined for each class. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, if the class is a person class, for example, face, career, occupation, etc. are set as properties, and if it is a manager class, for example, an asset is set as that property, and the engineer If it is a class, for example, an item of information to be collected for each class is set in advance as a property such that a paper is set as the property.
[0031]
Further, for each property, a method of collecting information (constructor) and a method of displaying information to the user (show) are described in advance as methods.
[0032]
For example, for the face class property “face”, a face image file whose title is the name of the person in the information collected by the search engine using the name “A” as a keyword. The method of collecting information is described for each item, such as extracting an image.
[0033]
As described above, in this embodiment, for example, a keyword input by a user such as a person name or a manager / engineer is set in an input format based on a category class structure that the system has in advance. Pre-defined for each category class, such as face and career for the person class, assets for the manager class, papers for the engineer class, etc. Information is collected based on the information collection method, and the collected information is output to the user as comprehensive information.
[0034]
That is, in this case, the user only specifies the category. For example, for the person “A”, the information as the manager / engineer of the person A, such as the face photo, career, papers, and assets, is one. It is displayed to the user in a form organized on a page. By the way, the class structure 1 shown in FIG. 2 is an example of a class structure that sets each class of a category or its subclass as content contents, and sets information collection items for each category class and its subclass as properties. In the example, the information collection method and information processing processing are described as methods for each property. However, as the contents of the content, collection items for the title class are set as properties, and for each property, You can also define a method.
[0035]
In other words, the properties in the class structure 1 (for example, face, career, asset, paper, etc.) are the titles of each item when creating a page to be displayed to the user, and this is the title class. Properties for the title class are determined in advance, and for each property, a method for collecting information (constructor) and a method for displaying information to the user (show) are described in advance as methods.
[0036]
The example of the class structure (referred to as class structure 2) shown in FIG. 4 shows an example in which a face class, a career class, a thesis class, an asset class, etc. are defined as title classes, and each title class is shown in FIG. For example, for the face class, as the content of the information of the face class, for example, the information source URL indicating where the photograph and the photograph were taken from on the Internet is set as a property, and for the career class, For example, text, list, etc. are set as properties for the content of the information, and for the paper class, for example, a list is set as the property for each paper property. The method of collection (constructor) and the way of displaying information to the user (show) are described in advance as methods. To keep.
[0037]
In this way, for each title class, a property representing the content of information for each title class is defined, and for each property, a method of collecting information predetermined for each information content (constructor) And a predetermined information display method (show).
[0038]
By adopting such a method, when there are properties that are common to different category classes, it is necessary to describe methods such as how to collect information about each title for each category class. Disappear.
[0039]
Further, an information format class can be defined for a property indicating how to represent information for each content of information such as a photograph, text, list, etc. shown in the class structure 2.
[0040]
For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the content of information of each item representing a title is a class structure (referred to as class structure 3) representing each information format such as text, graphic, table, list, video, sound, and the like. Set. As shown in FIG. 7, for example, in the case of a text class, the format, size, etc. are set as properties, and the information acquisition method, information processing method, etc. are described in the method. In this method, if it is text, it describes how to collect the text, how to format and size, or to summarize the contents.
[0041]
In this way, by representing the information content of the item representing the title in the class structure as an information format class, it is possible to share information collection processing when extracting the same format information in different category classes. is there.
[0042]
For example, if the category class is a person class, the information to be collected in the person class includes text information about the person, and if the category class is a facility class, the text information indicating the outline of the facility is also included. is there. As described above, even in different category classes, information formats (information contents) representing the contents of information items corresponding to the respective category classes are often common. Therefore, the efficiency of information collection can be further improved by making the information collection processing method common to the format representing the contents of the information item.
[0043]
In the embodiment described above, the user tries to collect information as a manager / engineer for the person “A”, and the system side uses “A” and “manager / This is information retrieval / collection processing when a keyword such as “engineer” is input.
[0044]
In this way, when a user inputs a predetermined keyword, first, a request input format that can be understood by the system based on the keyword is set. In this case, “A” input by the user and “manager / technology” The search request of the user is “a person, the person is a manager and an engineer, and the name is A”, that is, “person / management” To a form that can be understood by a system such as “Engineer / Engineer / A”.
[0045]
And, for each category class (person class, manager class, engineer class), preset properties (person class: face, career, occupation, manager class: asset, engineer class: paper, etc.) After collecting information by a predetermined method, the collected information is displayed in a predetermined format in response to a user request. FIG. 8 shows a display example of information collected in this way. In this case, the property of the category class (in this case, face, career, paper, asset) as the title for each item on the display page is based on the class structure 2 as shown in FIG. It is possible to collect information. Further, information can be collected for each format (text class, graphic class, photo class, etc.) of each title class as shown in the example of FIG. 7 based on the class structure 3 as shown in FIG.
[0046]
In the example of FIG. 8, a face photograph of the person “A” and its information source URL are displayed, a summary of the history and a history list are displayed as a history, a paper list as a paper, and a summary as an asset. . In this way, only the information according to the user's request is extracted from the large number of information searched based on the keyword input by the user, and these are output as a single piece of information.
[0047]
In addition, although the example which the user inputs unilaterally from a keyboard was demonstrated as the method of receiving the request | requirement from a user, it is not restricted to this, For example, it is good also as an interactive system. Hereinafter, this interactive method will be schematically described.
[0048]
First, the user performs an input such as “I want to know about the person A”. As a result, the system side performs input analysis based on the input from the user. At this stage, an analysis result such as “person,-?-, A" is obtained. "Is there anything else?" Or "What do you want to know about?"
[0049]
As a result, when the user makes a response such as “A is said to be a visionary in the information industry,” the system converts the user's request into the form of “person / manager / engineer, A”. Based on this, search processing is performed. In addition, this interactive method is not an interactive method using a keyboard and a screen display, but an interactive method using a natural language.
[0050]
Alternatively, a category class property in which the input keyword becomes an instance may be displayed to the user, and the user may select a property from the displayed properties. Furthermore, the class structure as shown in Fig. 2 is displayed on the screen of the system, and the user clicks and selects the required category class from the category classes, and the properties of the category classes are displayed. Then, the user may select from the displayed contents such as the user selecting from the displayed property.
[0051]
In this way, by selecting the required property or selecting the class and allowing the processing based on it to be performed, only the necessary search items need to be processed. Efficiency can be improved, and high-speed data search and collection processing becomes possible.
[0052]
FIG. 9 shows a schematic configuration of the system of the present invention. The request analysis unit 11, the information collection unit 12, the content analysis / collection unit 13, the information editing unit 14, the information display unit 15 and the like are main components.
[0053]
The request analysis means 11 is a format in which the keyword input by the user can be understood by the system. That is, as described above, based on the contents input by the user, for example, the format is “person / manager / engineer / A”.
[0054]
Based on such a request format, related information is collected on the Internet by the information collecting means 12, and necessary information is collected by the content analysis / collecting means 13 from the collected information. As described above, as to the method of collecting this information, for example, in the case of a person class, the face, career, occupation, etc. as its properties are collected based on the method defined for each property.
[0055]
Then, the collected information is edited into a predetermined format by the information editing unit 14 and the information display unit 15 displays the information. This editing work is not just a fixed format. For example, if it is text data, the contents may be summarized, and if it is graphic data, the data may be compressed or reduced. Such processing is also included, and after such editing work, it is output as page information in a format as shown in FIG.
[0056]
By the way, the present invention can be realized not only by a server but also by client software. In this case, for example, you have something like the category class described so far as client software, the user inputs keywords based on the class structure of that category class, and retrieves the final result from the server. It is also possible to distribute the processing between the client software and the server, such that some processing is performed by the client software and the processing is performed by the server, and all processing is performed by the client software. It is also possible to do this.
[0057]
Note that the processing program for performing the processing of the present invention can be stored in a storage medium such as a floppy disk, an optical disk, or a hard disk, and the present invention also includes such a storage medium. A format for obtaining data may also be used.
[0058]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, after the request input from the user is made into a request input format that can be understood by the system, the request input is classified into a category class, and for the request input, based on the property of the class to which the request input belongs, In addition, information is searched and collected based on the contents described in the method for each property, and the collection result is output as comprehensive information corresponding to the user's request input. As a result, the system side can search and collect information desired by the user simply by processing the keyword input by the user according to a predetermined algorithm, and can efficiently search and collect information. . The collected information can be extracted as a single piece of information corresponding to the user's request input. For example, in the case of collecting information on a person, items such as the person's background and work contents can be used as the title, and information can be provided in a state where each piece of information is edited for each title.
[0059]
In addition, a title class is defined for each item of information output by the system in response to a request input from the user, and each title class has the information content for each item set as a property for each item. Each information content has a method describing a data acquisition method, a data processing method, and the like. In this way, for each title class, the information content is set as a property, and by determining the method, a method that indicates how to collect information on the item (title), how to process the information, etc. Therefore, it is not necessary to set each category classified by the keyword from the user, the algorithm can be simplified, and the processing efficiency can be improved.
[0060]
Furthermore, an information format class indicating how to represent information is defined for each content of the information, and each information format class is set with a property representing how to represent information for each content of each information. Each method of representing information has a method describing a data acquisition method, a data processing method, and the like. As a result, when the information is in the same format in different classes, the processing can be performed with a common algorithm, and the processing efficiency can be improved.
[0061]
In addition, by displaying the properties for each category to the user and allowing the user to select any property from the displayed properties, user customization can be realized, and only information according to user preferences Thus, it is possible to search and collect the data, and the processing efficiency can be improved. In the case of a paid search service, the service can be received at a low price.
[0062]
As described above, according to the present invention, when searching for and collecting information on the Internet based on a request input from the user, it is not necessary for the user to narrow down information from a huge search result as in the past. The information required by the user can be efficiently extracted as one piece of information for each item according to a predetermined algorithm.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a flowchart schematically illustrating an information search collection processing procedure according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a class structure of a category class corresponding to a user request input in the information search / collection processing according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a view for explaining an example of properties and methods in the category class structure shown in FIG. 2;
4 is a diagram showing a class structure in which a property in the category class shown in FIG. 3 is a title class. FIG.
FIG. 5 is a view for explaining an example of properties and methods in the title class structure shown in FIG. 4;
6 is a diagram showing a class structure in which properties in the title class shown in FIG. 4 are information format classes. FIG.
7 is a diagram for explaining an example of properties and methods in the information format class structure shown in FIG. 6; FIG.
FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining an example of a format of information output by information search collection processing in the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a schematic system configuration diagram according to the embodiment of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
11 Requirements analysis means
12 Information collection means
13 Content analysis / collection means
14 Information editing means
15 Information display means

Claims (5)

An information retrieval and collection system that has a predefined class structure and retrieves information based on a user request input including requests for instances and classes,
The class structure is defined by associating a plurality of different classes in a one-layer or multi-layer hierarchical structure, and an item of content to be collected for each class is set as a property, and the content to be collected for each property Collection method, processing method and display method are set,
Request analysis means for converting the request input into a request in a format based on the class structure;
Information collecting means for collecting external related information according to the collection method based on the request;
Content analysis / collection means for analyzing / collecting content included in the collected information based on the class structure;
Information editing means for editing the analyzed and collected content as comprehensive information in a predefined format according to the processing method and the display method;
Information display means for displaying the edited content;
An information search and collection system characterized by comprising: In claim 1,
The information retrieval and collection system according to claim 1, wherein the class structure is a category class structure that represents a category of content. In claim 1,
The information search and collection system according to claim 1, wherein the class structure is a title class structure expressing a title of content. In claim 1,
The information search and collection system, wherein the class structure is an information format class structure that represents an information format of content. A storage medium having a predefined class structure and storing an information search and collection program for causing a computer to search for information based on a user request input including requests for instances and classes, wherein the information search and collection program is a computer In addition,
The class structure is defined by associating a plurality of different classes in a one-layer or multi-layer hierarchical structure, and an item of content to be collected for each class is set as a property, and the content to be collected for each property Collection method, processing method and display method are set,
A request analysis step for converting the request input into a request in a format based on the class structure;
An information collecting step of collecting external related information according to the collection method based on the request;
A content analysis / collection step of analyzing / collecting content included in the collected information based on the class structure;
An information editing step of editing the analyzed / collected content as comprehensive information in a predefined format according to the processing method and the display method;
An information display step for displaying the edited content;
A storage medium storing an information search and collection program for causing a computer to search for information.

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