JP6040398B2 - Information providing apparatus, method and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information providing apparatus.

  We get a lot of information from daily life, TV, the Internet, conversations with people and so on. To remember it, take notes, save files, write a schedule book. And what is memorized is used as knowledge by searching by a keyword (for example, patent documents 1).

  However, it is difficult to search with keywords such as the above for knowledge ties that are organized only by one's own brain, such as “This photo reminds me of this ...”.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 08-077795

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to realize an information providing apparatus that searches for personal knowledge and provides it as information.

  In order to solve this problem, the present invention stores a plurality of pieces of information linked by a link, and stores a relevance of information linked by the link, and information stored in the storage unit. And processing means for searching and outputting. The processing unit receives information serving as a search key from the input interface, and searches the storage unit for information that matches the received search key. Further, the processing means repeats the process of searching the storage means for information linked to the searched information. The processing means reads the information group searched by this repetition from the storage means together with the relevance of the link linking the information group, and outputs it to the output interface.

  According to the present invention, since a plurality of pieces of information linked by links are output together with information relevance, knowledge that one information and another information are in a predetermined relationship can be provided as information.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a data structure. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the data structure. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a data structure. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the third embodiment. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the third embodiment. FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the fourth embodiment. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of the fourth embodiment. FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the fifth embodiment. FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the operation of the fifth embodiment. FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the sixth embodiment. FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the operation of the sixth embodiment. FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the seventh embodiment. FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing the operation of the seventh embodiment. FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the eighth embodiment.

[First Embodiment]
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. The information providing system shown in FIG. 1 includes a storage unit 1 that stores one piece of linked information and other information, and relation information indicating what kind of relationship the one piece of information and the other information have. Yes. Also, it accepts input of a search condition specifying one information and relation information, and the relation information specified by the search condition matches among other information linked to the one information specified by the input search condition. Processing means 2 for reading out and outputting other information from the storage means 1 is provided.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the first embodiment. The processing means 2 accepts input of a search condition that designates one piece of information and related information (S11). Subsequently, the processing unit 2 reads from the storage unit 1 other information that matches the relationship information specified by the search condition among the other information linked to the one information specified by the input search condition. And output (S12).

  For example, if one information is “guitar”, the other information is “after 10 pm”, and the related information is “careful”, the one information “guitar” and the related information “careful” By inputting a search condition specifying “attach” to the processing means 2, the processing means 2 outputs other information “after 10 pm”. By searching for “careful” for “guitar”, the guitar practice outputs knowledge that “after 10 pm” should be careful. In this way, it is possible to realize an information providing apparatus that searches for personal knowledge and outputs it as information.

[Second Embodiment]
In the configuration of FIG. 1 described as the first embodiment, the storage unit 1 is a storage device such as a hard disk drive or a flash memory. One information and other information are various data, and are managed in the file system as files. The data may be of any type, such as text, image, or sound. The data may be a file name. The data may be stored in any area in the file structure. For example, data stored in file properties, memos or logs may be treated as one piece of information or other information. A link indicates a state in which one piece of information is associated with another piece of information. The related information is associated with each link.

  The processing means 2 includes a processor that provides various functions by executing a program, an input interface that receives input of information such as search conditions, an output interface that outputs information, and an input / output interface between the storage means I have.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a data structure including a plurality of links between one piece of information and other information. Each of the nodes 1 to 4 corresponds to one piece of information or other information. They are linked by links 1 to 3. The same information may be linked as one information or may be linked as other information. Episodes 1 and 2 indicate information to be linked as one piece of information or other information in the future.

  FIG. 4 is an image diagram of a data structure including many links between one piece of information and other information. Each black circle such as A resort or ANA flight schedule corresponds to one information or other information. The display of current progress, past, fun, belongings, and photographs enclosed in a frame also corresponds to one piece of information or other information. A line connecting them indicates a link between one piece of information and other information.

  FIG. 5 shows one piece of information, other information, and related information. One information “guitar” is linked to other information “guitar TAB score”, and the related information is “practice”. One information “guitar” is linked to other information “early morning jogging”, and the related information is “hobby”. One information “guitar” is linked to other information “after 10 pm”, and the related information is “careful”.

  As described above, the link between one information and another information is stored in the storage means 1 in the image as shown in FIGS. One piece of linked information or other information is not limited to the substance of the information but may be a pointer indicating the location of the information. For example, one piece of information or other information may be one or more URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) indicating the location of a web page. In this case, information in all files indexed by the URL is also one piece of information or Treat as other information.

  In a general search system, for example, even if “guitar” is specified as a search keyword, “early morning jogging” is not normally hit as a search result. On the other hand, in the present invention, when “guitar” is designated as one information and “hobby” is designated as related information, “early morning jogging” is output. Even if “guitar” is designated as the same information, “after 10 pm” is output if different “careful” is designated in the related information. According to this, it is possible to search for personal knowledge such as guitar TAB score, guitar hobbies early morning jogging, guitar attention after 10 pm performance, etc. for guitar practice.

The search condition may be input by the user operating an input device such as a keyboard, or may be automatically input from an external device such as a sensor or a television. When a user inputs search conditions and obtains knowledge as a search result, it is close to the action of checking, while on the other hand, it is recalled that search conditions are automatically input from an external device and knowledge is output as the search result. Close to action.
The search result may be output in a form in which a chart visually showing a link between one piece of information and other information is displayed to the user. Further, the search result may be output by executing a program based on other searched information.

[Third Embodiment]
Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In the information providing apparatus shown in FIG. 6, the processing means 2 includes a registration unit 3A and an update unit 3B. Other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment. The registration unit 3A receives input of registration information (association of one information, other information, and related information) from the input interface, adds the related information to the link between the one information and the other information, and stores the storage means 1 Register with. At this time, the registration unit 3A analyzes whether or not one information to be registered or other information includes information capable of specifying time or place, and if it is included, The time or place information is added to other information.

  For example, if the information “Tokyo Tower” is included in one information or other information, the information will include the time of 1958, the completion year of Tokyo Tower, and the location of Shiba Park 4-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo. Is added. The time and place information can be written, for example, in the property area of one information file or another information file. The location information may be GPS location information. In order to realize this operation, a universal information dictionary in which an association between information and time or place is recorded is stored in the storage unit 1, and the registration unit 3A inquires the universal information dictionary stored in the storage unit 1 and corresponds to the information. Get time and location information. Alternatively, the registration unit 3A may make an inquiry to an external universal information dictionary to acquire time and place information corresponding to the information.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of this embodiment. In the information registration stage, the registration unit 3A accepts input of registration information in which one piece of information, other information, and related information are associated from the input interface (S21). Subsequently, the registration unit 3A detects information capable of specifying time or place from among information included in one information and other information while making an inquiry to the universal information dictionary (S22). When such information can be detected, the time or place corresponding to the information is acquired from the universal information dictionary (S23), and the information of the acquired time or place is included in one information or other information including the information. Information is added (S24). Then, the registration unit 3A registers the association of the one information, the other information, and the related information in the storage unit 1 (S25).

  Thereafter, in the information update stage, the update unit 3B receives designation of one piece of information registered in the storage unit 1 and input of additional data from the input interface (S26). Subsequently, the update unit 3B adds the additional data that has been accepted to the designated one information (S27). The additional data can be added to the file property, memo or log area corresponding to one piece of information.

  To give a specific example, as a first example, when one piece of information “TV” is registered in the storage unit 1, the update unit 3B specifies the one piece of information “TV” and adds additional data. Information of the TV program viewed by the user is received via the input interface. The designation and additional data of this one information “TV” are automatically input to the input interface from the TV as an external device, for example. The update unit 3B repeatedly adds information on the TV program viewed by the user who has received the input to the file of the single information “TV”.

  As a second example, when one piece of information “weather” is registered in the storage unit 1, the update unit 3B specifies the one piece of information “weather”, the current date and time as additional data, and the weather. Are received via the input interface. The designation and additional data of this one piece of information “weather” are automatically input to the input interface periodically, for example, from a weather sensor as an external device. The update unit 3B repeatedly adds the date and time of receiving the input and the weather information to the file of one piece of information “weather”.

  As a third example, when one piece of information “walking” is registered in the storage unit 1, the update unit 3 </ b> B designates the one piece of information “walking” and the date on which walking is performed as additional data. , Time, step count, and distance information are received via the input interface. The designation and additional data of this one piece of information “walking” is input to the input interface as needed from a pedometer as an external device, for example. The update unit 3B repeatedly adds information on the date, time, number of steps, and distance of receiving the input to the file of one piece of information “walking”.

  As a fourth example, when one piece of information “blood pressure” is registered in the storage unit 1, the updating unit 3 </ b> B measures the designation of the one piece of information “blood pressure” and the blood pressure as additional data. The date and blood pressure values are received via the input interface. The designation and additional data of the one piece of information “blood pressure” is input to the input interface as needed from a blood pressure monitor as an external device, for example. The update unit 3B repeatedly adds the date and time of blood pressure measurement and the blood pressure value to the file of one piece of information “blood pressure”.

  Thereafter, in the information search stage, the processing means 2 accepts not only designation of one information and related information as a search condition, but also designation of time, place or additional data (S26). When the time, place, or additional data condition is specified as the search condition, the processing means 2 extracts only information that matches the time, place, or additional data information added to one information or other information. The search target is selected (S27). In addition, among other information linked to the one information specified by the input search condition, other information matching the relation information specified by the search condition is read from the storage means 1 and output (S28). .

  According to this, time, place or additional data information can be added to the one information or other information according to the information contained in the one information or other information, and the time, place or additional information can be added as a search condition. By specifying data conditions, it is possible to perform a refined search according to the time, place, or additional data.

[Fourth Embodiment]
Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In FIG. 8, the processing means 2 includes a condition determination unit 4 that determines one piece of information and relation information used for a search based on a search condition. Other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment described above. When the same data as the one information and the relationship information described in the search condition is registered in the storage unit 1, the condition determination unit 4 uses the one information and the relationship information described in the search condition as a search key. Then, the processing unit 2 is made to search the data registered in the storage unit 1.

  On the other hand, when the same data as the one information or the relationship information described in the search condition is not registered in the storage unit 1, the condition determination unit 4 refers to the conversion dictionary prepared in advance and is described in the search condition. One information or relation information is replaced with a corresponding word such as a synonym or synonym, and the processing means 2 is made to search data registered in the storage means 1 using the replaced one information or relation information as a search key. At this time, the search processing performed by the processing means 2 is the same as that in the first embodiment described above. The condition determination unit 4 may present a corresponding word candidate registered in the conversion dictionary to the user, and adopt the corresponding word selected by the user as a search key. The conversion dictionary in the present embodiment may be provided in the storage unit 1 or a corresponding word may be obtained by inquiring the conversion dictionary provided in the external system.

  According to this embodiment, in addition to the same effects as the first embodiment, knowledge information can be provided flexibly by allowing fuzzy search.

[Fifth Embodiment]
Next, a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In FIG. 10, the processing means 2 includes an authentication unit 5. Other configurations are the same as those of the third embodiment including the registration unit 3A and the update unit 3B.

  When the user requests registration of registration information from the registration unit 3A or when the user requests registration of additional data from the update unit 3B, the authentication unit 5 determines whether the user has authority to register information. Authenticate The registration unit 3A and the update unit 3B accept input of authentication information such as a user ID and a password from the user before accepting input of registration information or additional data from the user, and pass it to the authentication unit 5 (S41). The authentication unit 5 compares the authentication information received from the registration unit 3A or the update unit 3B with previously prepared user authority information, determines whether or not the user is authorized to register information, and the result is stored in the registration unit. It returns to 3A or the update unit 3B (S42). If the user requesting information registration is a user who has information registration authority, the registration unit 3A and the update unit 3B accept and accept registration of one information, other information and related information, or registration of additional data. Information is registered in the storage means 1 (S43, S44). User authority information is stored in the storage unit 1 in advance.

  According to the present embodiment, the same effect as the third embodiment can be obtained, and the registration of knowledge information can be permitted only for a specific user, and the knowledge information of another person is captured while ensuring the security of the registration information. be able to.

[Sixth Embodiment]
Next, a sixth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In FIG. 12, the processing means 2 includes a link management unit 6. Other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment. The link management unit 6 controls the strength of the link according to feedback from the user with respect to the output. In the search stage, the processing means 2 searches the storage means 1 for other information corresponding to this search condition and outputs it according to the one information and the relationship information specified by the search condition (S51). This is the same as in the first embodiment. The user who has input the search condition confirms the knowledge information output as the search result, and inputs feedback indicating whether or not the output knowledge information is used to the processing means 2 (S52). This feedback is passed to the link manager 6. Based on the feedback, the link management unit 6 strengthens the used links, while weakening the unused links (S53).

  More specifically, a link between one piece of information and another piece of information is stored in the storage unit 1 with a strength parameter for each link. The link management unit 6 increases the strength of the link between the one information and the other information when the other information searched according to the one information and the related information is used by the user. When the other information thus used is not used by the user, the strength of the link between the one information and the other information is reduced. When searching for other information based on one information and related information, the processing means 2 preferentially selects and outputs other information having a higher link strength.

  According to this, knowledge information with a high probability that the user is seeking can be preferentially provided by learning the usage status of the search result.

  Further, the link management unit 6 has a function of setting the link direction and the link strength according to the link condition input from the input interface. The direction of the link is one-way or two-way, and is usually set in one direction from one information to another information. For example, when one information and other information are synonymous, In the case where there is no problem in the direction search, the link direction can be set to bidirectional. Here, the direction is a direction that permits a search, and a link set in one direction can acquire other information from one information, but acquires one information from other information. It is not possible. On the other hand, a link set in both directions is allowed not only to acquire other information from one information but also to acquire one information from other information in terms of search processing. The direction and strength of the link are set for each link stored in the storage unit 1 according to the link condition, and the setting is also stored in the storage unit 1.

[Seventh Embodiment]
Next, a seventh embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. Also in this embodiment, the processing means 2 includes the link management unit 6 as in the sixth embodiment, but the function of the link management unit 6 is different. In this embodiment, when a certain cause link is registered by the registration unit 3A, the link management unit 6 deletes a certain destination link previously registered. The function of the registration unit 3A is the same as that of the third embodiment. Here, the cause link is a link between one information that causes the action destination link to be deleted and other information, and the action destination link is deleted from the storage unit 1 by registering the cause link. It is a link between one piece of information and other information.

  For example, when a link between one information “My car image” and other information “2011 car insurance information” is registered as a cause link, one information “My car image” and other information are used as an action destination link. The link with the information “2010 automobile insurance information” is automatically deleted. The relationship between the cause link and the destination link is reserved in the storage unit 1 in advance, and the link management unit 6 refers to the reservation information to determine whether newly registered information corresponds to the cause link. If the cause link is found, the corresponding action destination link is identified from the reservation information, and the association of one information corresponding to the action destination link, other information and related information is stored from the storage means 1. delete.

 According to this, since unnecessary links can be automatically maintained, provision of unnecessary knowledge information can be prevented.

  Further, when the link management unit 6 tries to register the same link as the link already registered by the registration unit 3A (one information, another information, and the same relationship information), the link management unit 6 uses the duplicate registration. Instead, the strength of the link is strengthened.

[Eighth Embodiment]
Next, an eighth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the present embodiment, the processing unit 2 includes a link generation unit 7. Other configurations are the same as those of the third embodiment described above.

  Depending on the function of the updating unit 3B, information on the time at which a certain action was taken may be added as additional data to one piece of information stored in the storage unit 1 as needed. For example, for one piece of information “walking”, the date and time of walking is added every time walking is performed. In addition, for one piece of information “blood pressure”, the date and time of blood pressure measurement and the value of blood pressure are added. The link generation unit 7 has a function of analyzing the relationship between two pieces of information according to a pre-programmed algorithm and creating a new link between the two pieces of information. For example, it is learned from the additional data of one information “Walking” that the walking is being repeated, and the additional data of one information “Blood pressure” reduces the blood pressure value at the same time as walking. Know that the trend is. From this result, for example, one piece of information “walking” and another piece of information “blood pressure” are linked by a link of related information “effective” and registered in the storage means 1.

  Further, the link generation unit 7 has another function. When the registration unit 3A tries to register the same link as the link already registered in the storage unit 1, the link generation unit 7 records the number of times that the link is registered in the storage unit 1 in duplicate. For example, when a headache occurs, in order to register what was done before that, link one information "headache" and the other information "payment" with the related information "what you did before" and register . Other than that, there will be a lot of registrations that we had done before the headache occurred. After that, every time a headache occurs, if the relationship between “headache” and “payment” is registered with high frequency as a result of repeated registration of what was done before that, the link generation unit 7 registers the same link It is detected that the number of times has exceeded a predetermined threshold value, and one piece of information “headache” and another piece of information “payment” are linked by new relation information “cause” and registered in the storage means 1. Similarly, when “acne” was made and “night stay” was repeatedly registered before that, the same link was repeatedly registered, so the number of registrations exceeded a predetermined threshold, The information “acne” and other information “night stay” are registered in the storage means 1 by a link “cause”.

  According to this, a causal link is empirically generated without the user being aware of it, and can be used as new knowledge.

[Ninth Embodiment]
Next, a ninth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The present embodiment is characterized by a search function performed by the processing means 2. Other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment. Here, for the link between one piece of information and another piece of information, the direction and strength are set for each link by the function of the link management unit 6 described in the sixth embodiment or the seventh embodiment. .

  In the present embodiment, the processing means 2 identifies one piece of information and related information to be searched according to the search condition, and acquires other information that becomes the first search result. Subsequently, the processing means 2 searches for a link having the same information as the other information as the first search result in one information, and acquires other information as the second search result. Similarly, a search for a link having other information acquired as a search result as one information is repeated, and a series of links that can be searched is displayed on the output device as a visual chart. In the process of this repeated search, the processing means 2 excludes links whose link strength is lower than a predetermined threshold from the search target, and searches for links with high link strength preferentially.

  According to this, the linked knowledge can be searched, and the result desired by the user can be output with high accuracy by the link strength.

  Each embodiment described above can be implemented in combination. The present invention is described in the claims, and is not limited to the above embodiments.

1 Memory means
2 Processing means
3 Registration Department
4 Input specification part
5 Authentication function
6 Link management department
7 Link generator

Claims (6)

Storage means for storing one piece of linked information and other information, and relation information indicating what kind of relationship the one piece of information and the other information have;
The search condition is acquired, and for the one information corresponding to the search condition, among other information linked to the one information, other information associated with the relation information corresponding to the search condition is Processing means for reading out from the storage means and outputting;
Analyzing whether or not information capable of specifying time or place is included in the one information, and if included, a registration unit for adding information on the time or place to the one information; With
The processing means includes
When a time or place condition is specified as the search condition, the other information linked to the one information with respect to the one information whose time or place added to the one information matches the search condition Among these, the information provision system which reads the other information linked | related with the said relationship information applicable to the said search conditions from the said memory | storage means. In the information provision system of Claim 1,
An update unit that accepts designation of one piece of information stored in the storage means and input of additional data from an input interface, and adds the additional data that has been accepted to the designated one piece of information,
The processing means includes
When the condition for the additional data is designated as the search condition, the additional data added to the one information is the one of the information that matches the search condition, and the other information linked to the one information. Among these, the information provision system which reads the other information linked | related with the said relationship information applicable to the said search conditions from the said memory | storage means. In the information provision system of Claim 1,
The storage means stores the association between the cause link and the action link,
When the link between the one information corresponding to the cause link and other information is registered in the storage means, the one information and other information corresponding to the action destination link associated with the cause link An information providing system comprising a link management unit that deletes the link from the storage unit. In the information provision system of Claim 1,
The storage means stores the number of times that the same link between the one information and the other information is attempted to be registered, and
When it is detected that the number of times exceeds a predetermined number of times, the storage means associates related information indicating that the one information has reached another information due to the link of the one information and the other information. An information provision system comprising a link generation unit for registering with the system. An information providing method for an information providing system comprising storage means for storing linked one information and other information, and relation information indicating the relationship between the one information and other information. ,
Analyzing whether or not information capable of specifying time or place is included in the one information, and if included, adding the information of the time or place to the one information; and
When a time or place condition is specified as a search condition, the time or place added to the one information matches the search information with respect to the other information linked to the one information. An information providing method in which the information providing system executes a step of reading out and outputting other information associated with the relation information corresponding to the search condition from the storage unit. An information providing program for an information providing system comprising storage means for storing linked one information and other information, and relationship information indicating what kind of relationship the one information and other information have. And
Analyzing whether or not information capable of specifying time or place is included in the one information, and if included, adding the information of the time or place to the one information; and
When a time or place condition is specified as a search condition, the time or place added to the one information matches the search information with respect to the other information linked to the one information. An information providing program for causing the information providing system to execute a step of reading out and outputting other information associated with the relation information corresponding to the search condition from the storage unit.

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