JP7091725B2 - Information processing equipment, search method, program, network system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing device, a search method, a program, and a network system.

In organizations such as companies and organizations, the terminal devices of each employee can communicate via the network, and it is more efficient for employees to share information and send information through the network. We are trying to carry out our business. One user of such a network system wants to contact the other user, but may not immediately know the user ID that can accurately identify the user on the network. In preparation for such a case, the network system may provide a function to search for another user by fragmentary information of another user (for example, a part of a user ID, a part of a name, etc.). .. For example, as organizations grow larger, employee search is often a mandatory feature.

However, in recent years, companies have become multinational, and employees from various countries and regions are working in one organization. When a user searches for a user of such a network system, he or she may not even know a part of the exact name in the first place. This is because a person's name is given in the language of the country of origin, and its reading is also determined by the language of the country of origin. For example, an English-speaking or Japanese-speaking user can search for a Chinese-speaking user by name (eg Zhou) by entering his name in Chinese (eg Zhou) or reading Chinese. Must be entered (eg zhou). However, it is often difficult for non-Kanji-speaking users to enter the Kanji name. In addition, there are many cases where even users in the Chinese character area cannot remember the Chinese characters of the name of the user to be searched or do not know how to read Chinese. For example, even if you enter "shu", "Zhou-san" does not hit the search.

For such inconvenience, a technique for supporting the input of a name in a plurality of languages has been devised (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In Patent Document 1, a pinyin (Chinese reading in English) and a name mapping in Chinese are prepared, and an English-speaking employee can search for a Chinese name by entering the pinyin. The technology is disclosed.

However, the conventional search method has a problem that the user to be searched cannot be searched unless a search word registered in advance is input. For example, to search for a Chinese-speaking user, you must know the pinyin, so you cannot search without knowing the pinyin. It is also considered that designers register some inaccurate search words that users are expected to enter when building a system so that they can search without knowing the pinyin, but in various countries. Corresponding to a wide variety of search words entered by the user is expected to increase the cost significantly.

It should be noted that the problem that the user to be searched cannot be searched without inputting such a pre-registered search word occurs even if there is no restriction that the country of origin or region of origin of the user is various.

In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an information processing apparatus capable of searching a user without inputting a search word registered in advance.

In view of the above problems, the present invention is an information processing device that transmits a search result of the user in response to a search request of the user acquired from a terminal device connected via a network, and searches the user from the terminal device. The search word acquisition means for acquiring the first search word for the purpose, the identification information of the user, and one or more second search words used when the user is searched are associated with each other. An extraction means for extracting the identification information of the user associated with the second search word including at least a part of the first search word acquired by the search word acquisition means from the search history information storage unit. Search result transmission means for transmitting the user's identification information extracted by the extraction means or the user's name acquired from the user information storage unit in which the user's identification information and the user's name are associated with each other to the terminal device. And, in the search history information storage unit, the second search word is registered in association with the identification information of the user for each language used by the search user who searches for the user. The language used by the search user is registered in the user information storage unit in association with the identification information of the search user, and the extraction means is associated with the identification information of the search user. The first search acquired by the search word acquisition means from one or more of the second search words associated with the acquired language used by acquiring the language used in the user information storage unit. The second search word including at least a part of the word is specified, and the identification information of the user associated with the specified second search word is extracted from the search history information storage unit . ..

It is possible to provide an information processing device that can search a user without inputting a search word registered in advance.

It is an example of the figure explaining the outline of the search procedure by the network system. It is a figure which shows the system configuration example of a network system. It is a hardware block diagram of an example of a computer. This is an example of a functional block diagram showing the functions of the terminal device and the search server of the network system in a block shape. It is a figure which shows an example of the login screen which the terminal apparatus displays on the LCD. It is a figure which shows an example of the system use screen which the terminal apparatus displays on the LCD. It is a figure which shows an example of the user setting screen which the terminal apparatus displays on the LCD. It is a figure which shows an example of the search screen which a terminal apparatus displays on the LCD. It is an example of a sequence diagram explaining a user's search procedure. It is a figure which shows an example of the search result screen which a terminal apparatus displays on the LCD. This is an example of a flowchart showing a procedure for the search unit to search the search history DB. It is an example of the figure schematically explaining the search method of the search history DB. This is an example of a diagram illustrating a method of updating the search history DB.

Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

<Outline of the network system of this embodiment>
In the network system of the present embodiment, the search history is created by associating the search word actually input by the user using the network system with the user ID of the search target user in order to search for the search target user. The user searches for the user using this search history. The outline of the search will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 is an example of a diagram illustrating an outline of a search procedure by the network system of the present embodiment.

(1) First, as shown in FIG. 1 (a), the user inputs a search word for searching the user to be searched, and at this time, the language used by the searcher (search user) (this is used). The search source language) is automatically entered. For example, when a Japanese searches for a user named "Shuko Takashi", he or she may enter "shu" for reading Japanese.

(2) FIG. 1 (b) shows the search results. When the user finds the user to be searched from the search results, the user ID (Zhou Zigao), the search word (shu), and the search source language (Japanese) of this user are associated with each other. That is, in the search source language of this user, a history is obtained that the search word entered by this user is used for the search of the found user. Note that finding a user to be searched means that the user who wants to be contacted is displayed (included) in the search results.

(3) FIG. 1 (c) shows the search history DB 50. The search history DB 50 is associated with the user ID, the search source language, the search word, and the number of times the search is performed with the search word. Since one user ID is searched in a plurality of search source languages, there is a one-to-many relationship between the user ID and the search source language. Further, since the search word is recorded for each search source language, the search word and the number of times searched by the search word are associated with each search source language. This number includes the number of times that the user to be searched was not found. FIG. 1 (c) shows the search word and the number of times when the search source language is “Japanese”. When the user to be searched is found in the process of (2), the network system increases the number of times associated with the user ID "Zhou Zigao", the search source language "Japanese", and the search word "shu" by one. Therefore, the finding that the search word entered by the user is used to search for the found user ID in the search source language of this user who is the searcher is reflected in the number of times.

(4) A search method of the search history DB 50 when obtaining a search result will be described. The network system acquires a search word associated with the search source language for each user ID (“Zhou Zigao” in the figure), and identifies a search word that at least partially matches the search word entered by the user. The network system calculates the total number of times by totaling the number of times associated with the partially matching search words.

(5) The same process is performed for all user IDs.

(6) The network system presents the user ID in descending order of the total number of times. This is the search result of FIG. 1 (b).

As described above, in the network system of the present embodiment, the search word input by the user of a certain search source language to search for the user to be searched and the number of times the search word is used are accumulated in the search history DB 50. Therefore, even if the user's country of origin or region of origin varies, it is possible to search for the user to be searched with a search word that is common in the country of origin or region of origin. Therefore, it is not necessary to register the search word at the time of system construction, and the user can be searched without inputting the search word registered at the time of system construction. In addition, it is possible to search for a user in the country of origin or region of origin in which another language is used by reading in the language of the country of origin or region of origin of the user who is the searcher.

In addition, it is possible to search by analogy with the user ID or name, which the machine is not good at. For example, when searching for a user named "Ichiro", there are not only users who input "ichiro" but also users who input "ichiroo", "ichirou" or "itiro". Humans can search for "ichiro" by analogy with "ichiroo", "ichirou", or "itiro", but machines cannot search by analogy unless there is a database. In the network system of the present embodiment, the search word "shaking" is accumulated in the search history DB 50, so that a pseudo analogical search becomes possible.

<Terminology>
Searching means executing a search, and does not include whether or not the user to be searched is obtained.

Further, in the present embodiment, the fact that the user to be searched is obtained by the search (displayed in the search result) is referred to as "found". In some cases, finding is a hit in the search, matching, etc.

The user to be searched is the user to be searched, and the user to be searched or the user who is the searcher is the user (search user) who executes the search.

The search word is a character string for identifying the user, such as the user's name and user ID. For example, a part of the name or user ID becomes a search word, and further, even if it is completely different from the name or user ID, it becomes a search word.

<System configuration example>
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a system configuration example of the network system 100. There are a wide variety of systems that users can search for, such as information systems, business systems, and core systems. The network system 100 may be any system that can be searched by a user. For example, any system such as a mail transmission system, a conference room reservation system, a schedule management system, a personnel system, or an accounting system may be used.

The network system 100 of FIG. 2 has a terminal device 10, a search server 30, a user information DB 40, and a search history DB 50 connected to the network. Although the search server 30, the user information DB 40, and the search history DB 50 are located in the data center, they may be located in a building on the user side such as in the company. A data center is a physical facility where computer equipment such as servers and mainframes (large computers) and IT equipment such as network equipment are installed and operated.

The network N is a LAN (Local Area Network) of a facility where the terminal device 10 is arranged, an outside Internet (cloud environment), or the like. However, the network system 100 may be closed within the facility. In addition, VPN (Virtual Private Network) and wide area Ethernet (registered trademark) may be included. Further, the network N may be constructed either by wire or wirelessly, and may be a combination of wired and wireless. Further, in the case of wireless, in addition to a mobile phone network such as wireless LAN, 3G, LTE (Long Term Evolution), and 4G, short-range wireless communication such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) may be included.

The terminal device 10 is an information processing device used by a user who searches for a user to be searched. The terminal device 10 is, for example, a PC (Personal Computer), a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a wearable PC, or the like, but any terminal having a function of a general information processing device may be used. Further, it is preferable that the browser software operates in the information processing device. Since the browser software is prepared for the OS (Operating System) of a general information processing device, it is possible to search for a user on many types of terminal devices 10. Therefore, the terminal device 10 may be, for example, a game machine on which browser software operates, a car navigation device, a projector, an electronic blackboard, a video conference terminal, or the like.

On the other hand, an application having a search function may operate on the terminal device 10. Since such an application is prepared for each OS, there is a possibility that the cost will increase, but the user can communicate with the search server 30 and search for the user to be searched with fewer steps just by starting the application.

The search server 30 is one or more information processing devices that search for a user to be searched and return a search result to the terminal device 10 in response to a search request from the terminal device 10. The search server 30 may have a function related to business in addition to the search function.

The user information DB 40 is a storage device that stores information about the user, and the search history DB 50 is a storage device that stores the above-mentioned search history. The user information DB 40 and the search history DB 50 are information processing devices such as NAS (Network Attached Storage). The user information DB 40 and the search history DB 50 may be possessed by the search server 30, and may be located in a location accessible from the search server 30. Details of the user information DB 40 and the search history DB 50 will be described later.

<Hardware configuration example>
One or more information processing devices (terminal device 10 or search server 30) that realize the network system 100 of FIG. 3 are realized by a computer having a hardware configuration as shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a hardware configuration diagram of an example of a computer.

The computer includes a CPU 201 and a memory 202 that enables high-speed access to the data used by the CPU 201. The CPU 201 and memory 202 are connected via system bus 203 to other hardware elements of the computer, such as the graphics driver 204 and the network driver (NIC) 205.

The graphics driver 204 is connected to the LCD 206 via a bus and monitors the processing result by the CPU 201. The network driver 205 also connects the computer to the network N at the data link layer level and the physical layer level.

An I / O bus bridge 207 is further connected to the system bus 203. On the downstream side of the I / O bus bridge 207, a storage device such as an HDD (hard disk drive) 209 is used by IDE, ATA, ATAPI, Serial ATA, SCSI, USB, etc. via an I / O bus 208 such as PCI. Is connected. The HDD 209 stores a program 209p that controls the entire computer. HDD 209 may be SSD (Solid State Drive).

Further, an input device 210 such as a keyboard and a mouse (called a pointing device) is connected to the I / O bus 208 via a bus such as USB, and receives inputs and commands by an operator such as a system administrator. There is.

The search server 30 preferably supports cloud computing. Cloud computing refers to a usage mode in which resources on a network are used without being aware of specific hardware resources. In this case, the hardware configuration of the illustrated computer does not need to be housed in one housing or provided as a group of devices, and it is preferable that the search server 30 has a hardware element. show.

<About functions>
Subsequently, the functions of the network system 100 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is an example of a functional block diagram showing the functions of the terminal device 10 and the search server 30 of the network system 100 in a block shape. In addition, in FIG. 4, in order to facilitate the explanation, the aspect in which the search server 30 has the user information DB 40 and the search history DB 50 is described.

<< Terminal device >>
The terminal device 10 has a communication unit 11, an operation reception unit 12, and a display control unit 13. These functions of the terminal device 10 are realized by operating any of the components shown in FIG. 3 by a command from the CPU 201 according to a program expanded from the HDD 209 to the memory 202. Or it is a means. Also, this program is browser software or application as described above.

The communication unit 11 transmits and receives various information to and from the search server 30. For example, screen information described in HTML, CSS (Cascade Style Sheet), and JavaScript (registered trademark) is acquired from the search server 30. The screen information may include search results, or the search results may be transmitted independently. Further, the communication unit 11 transmits the search word input by the user to the search server 30.

The operation receiving unit 12 receives various operations on the terminal device 10 by the user. For example, it accepts the input of a search word. The display control unit 13 analyzes screen information described in HTML, CSS, JavaScript (registered trademark), etc., and causes the LCD 206 to display, for example, a user search screen or the like. The display control unit 13 can acquire new screen information via the communication unit 11 by the operation received by the operation reception unit 12 and change the screen.

<< Search server >>
The search server 30 has a screen generation unit 31, a communication unit 32, a search unit 33, and a search history recording unit 34. These functions of the search server 30 are realized by operating any of the components shown in FIG. 3 by an instruction from the CPU 201 according to a program expanded from the HDD 209 to the memory 202. Or it is a means.

The communication unit 32 transmits and receives various information to and from the terminal device 10. For example, screen information described in HTML, CSS (Cascade Style Sheet), and JavaScript (registered trademark) is transmitted to the terminal device 10. The screen information may include search results, or the search results may be sent independently. Further, the communication unit 32 receives the search word input by the user from the terminal device 10.

The screen generation unit 31 is a Web server that builds the above screen information. That is, in response to the HTTP request from the terminal device 10, various screen information transmitted by the HTTP response is generated. It should be noted that the screen generation unit 31 generates dynamic screen information, or such a mechanism is called a Web application. A Web application refers to software or a mechanism thereof that operates by coordinating a program in a script language (for example, JavaScript (registered trademark)) that operates on a browser and a program on the Web server side, and is used on the browser.

The search unit 33 acquires the language (language used) used by the user from the user information DB 40, uses this language as the search source language, and uses the search word (first search word) transmitted from the terminal device 10 to search history DB 50. To search for. The search history recording unit 34 records the user's search history (user ID, search source language, and search word) in the search history DB 50.

Further, the search server 30 has a user information DB 40 and a search history DB 50 built in the HDD 209 and the memory 202 shown in FIG. These will be described with reference to Tables 1 and 2.

表１は、ユーザ情報ＤＢ４０に記憶されているユーザ情報の一例を示す。ユーザ情報ＤＢ４０には、ユーザＩＤ、氏名、会社、国、言語、パスワードなどの各項目が対応付けて登録されている。ユーザＩＤはユーザを識別又は特定するための識別情報である。本実施形態ではアルファベットで記載されたユーザ名がユーザＩＤであるものとする。ユーザＩＤがあることで、組織内で氏名が重複したとしてもユーザを一意に特定できる。なお、ユーザＩＤは数値列などの番号でもよい。ＩＤはIdentificationの略であり識別子や識別情報という意味である。ＩＤは複数の対象から、ある特定の対象を一意的に区別するために用いられる名称、符号、文字列、数値又はこれらのうち１つ以上の組み合わせをいう。ユーザＩＤは一意性が保証されている。

Table 1 shows an example of user information stored in the user information DB 40. Items such as a user ID, a name, a company, a country, a language, and a password are registered in the user information DB 40 in association with each other. The user ID is identification information for identifying or identifying a user. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the user name described in the alphabet is the user ID. By having a user ID, a user can be uniquely identified even if the name is duplicated in the organization. The user ID may be a number such as a numerical string. ID is an abbreviation for Identification and means an identifier or identification information. An ID refers to a name, a code, a character string, a numerical value, or a combination thereof used to uniquely distinguish a specific object from a plurality of objects. Uniqueness is guaranteed for the user ID.

The name is the name of the user written in the native language of each user. Japanese and Chinese users are written in Chinese characters, English-speaking users are written in alphabets, and Arab users are written in Arabic. The company indicates the organization to which the user belongs. For example, the corporate name of each country in one holding company. In addition, departments and the like may be registered. The country is the country of origin of the user. It may be called your home country. The native language may or may not be an official language. In addition, there is also a method of classifying countries as regions, and regions may be included in the countries in Table 1. The language is the user's native language. In other words, it is a language that users have been accustomed to since childhood. Multiple languages may be registered. For example, the language of a user whose country of origin is Japan is Japanese, and the language of a user whose country of origin is the United Kingdom is English. However, the correspondence between the country and the language may differ depending on the user. A password is a combination of normally concealed letters, numbers, symbols, etc. for authenticating a user.

The user information in Table 1 can be registered or changed by the user himself / herself. In addition, the system administrator may register as long as there is no problem. In addition to those shown in Table 1, passwords, e-mail addresses, and the like may be registered.

表２は、検索履歴ＤＢ５０の構成例を示す。検索履歴ＤＢ５０は、ユーザＩＤテーブル５１と、ユーザＩＤに対応付けられた検索元言語テーブル５２と、検索ワードテーブル５３とを有する。ユーザＩＤテーブル５１は組織内の好ましくは全てのユーザのユーザＩＤが登録されたテーブルである。一例として、ユーザＩＤテーブル５１の「Zhou Zigao」というユーザＩＤには、「Chinese、Japanese、…」の検索元言語を含む検索元言語テーブル５２が対応付けられている。これは、過去に、「Zhou Zigao」というユーザＩＤが「Chinese、Japanese、…」の検索元言語のユーザにより検索され最終的に見つかったことを示している。検索元言語テーブル５２は過去にこのユーザが検索された際に検索したユーザの言語（表１に示した）が登録されたテーブルである。

Table 2 shows a configuration example of the search history DB 50. The search history DB 50 has a user ID table 51, a search source language table 52 associated with the user ID, and a search word table 53. The user ID table 51 is a table in which user IDs of preferably all users in the organization are registered. As an example, the user ID "Zhou Zigao" in the user ID table 51 is associated with the search source language table 52 including the search source language "Chinese, Japanese, ...". This indicates that in the past, the user ID "Zhou Zigao" was searched by the user in the search source language "Chinese, Japanese, ..." and finally found. The search source language table 52 is a table in which the language (shown in Table 1) of the user searched when this user was searched in the past is registered.

Further, in the search history DB 50, the search word table 53 is associated with each search source language. The search word table 53 is a table in which the number of times is associated with each search word (second search word). This number of times is the number of times that the user ID is searched by the search word. Note that it is not the number of times it was found. For example, when the search source language is "Chinese", it is registered that the number of times the user ID "Zhou Zigao" is searched by the search word "Zhou Zigao" is 2481 times. When the search source language is "Japanese", it is registered that the number of times the user ID "Zhou Zigao" is searched by the search word "shuu" is 256 times.

<Screen example>
Hereinafter, some screens displayed on the LCD 206 by the terminal device 10 will be described.
FIG. 5 shows an example of a login screen 501 displayed on the LCD 206 by the terminal device 10. The login screen 501 is a screen for the user to log in to the search server 30. The login screen 501 has a login user name input field 502, a password input field 503, and a login button 504. In the login user name input field 502, the user ID of the user to log in is input. A password is entered in the password entry field 503. The login button 504 is a button for the terminal device 10 to send a login request (user ID, password) to the search server 30.

If the set of the user ID and the password transmitted by the terminal device 10 is registered in the user information DB 40, the search server 30 determines that the user authentication is successful, and puts the user in the logged-in state. As a result, a session with the terminal device 10 is established, and the communication unit 32 transmits the system use screen generated by the screen generation unit 31 to the terminal device 10. A biometric authentication information or an IC card may be used for login.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the system use screen 511 displayed on the LCD 206 by the terminal device 10. The system usage screen 511 is a screen for displaying menus available to the user. The system usage screen 511 has, for example, a mail button 512, a calendar button 513, a business list button 514, a user setting button 515, and a logout button 516.

The mail button 512 is a button that displays a receiving folder, a sending folder, and the like, and further displays a screen for accepting new mail creation. The calendar button 513 is a button for displaying a calendar (schedule table). The business list button 514 is a button for displaying a list of business (for example, system development, accounting, personnel affairs, etc.) performed by the user. The user setting button 515 is a button for setting user information. The logout button 516 is a button for the user to log out.

Here, it is assumed that the user setting button 515 is pressed. By pressing the user setting button 515, the communication unit 11 of the terminal device 10 sends an HTTP request to the search server 30, the communication unit 32 of the search server 30 receives the HTTP request, and the screen generation unit 31 displays the user setting screen. Generated, the communication unit 32 transmits the user setting screen as an HTTP response. As a result, the user setting screen is displayed on the terminal device 10.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a user setting screen displayed on the LCD 206 by the terminal device 10. The user setting screen 521 has a login user name display field 522, a name field 523, a display language selection field 524, an email address input field 525, an icon image 526, and an update button 527.

The user ID of the logged-in user is displayed in the login user name display field 522. Since the user ID is specified by login, the screen generation unit 31 can set the user ID in the login user name display field 522. Similarly, the name of the user information DB 40 is displayed in the name field 523.

In the display language selection field 524, a list of languages that the search server 30 can display on the terminal device 10 is displayed. The list of languages includes the official languages of the world or the official languages of all users' countries of origin, from which the user selects his or her native language. The operation reception unit 12 of the terminal device 10 accepts the user's selection. This language selected by the user is registered in the user information DB 40, and when the user searches for the user to be searched, the language becomes the search source language.

The user inputs his / her own e-mail address in the e-mail address input field 525. The icon image 526 is an image in which an icon or an image (photograph) representing the user is arbitrarily set by the user. When the user presses the update button 527, the information set by the user on the user setting screen 521 is transmitted to the search server 30 and registered in the user information DB 40.

FIG. 8 shows an example of the search screen 531 displayed on the LCD 206 by the terminal device 10. The search screen 531 is displayed when a button that may search for a user, such as a mail button 512, is pressed on the system usage screen 511, for example. Further, it can be displayed when the user performs an operation to display the search screen 531 on any screen. For example, by pressing the mail button 512 on the system usage screen 511, the communication unit 11 of the terminal device 10 sends an HTTP request to the search server 30, the communication unit 32 of the search server 30 receives the HTTP request, and the screen generation unit. 31 generates the search screen 531 and the communication unit 32 transmits the search screen 531 as an HTTP response. As a result, the search screen 531 is displayed on the terminal device 10. Alternatively, the search screen 531 may be displayed on any screen, such as a pop-up screen.

The search screen 531 has a search word input field 532 and a search button 533. The user inputs a search word that seems to be the user ID or name of the user to be searched in the search word input field 532.
-The user ID is entered in alphanumerical characters as described above.
-The name is entered in the native language of the user to be searched.

If it is easy to understand that the name is written in the mother tongue, but it is difficult to enter the name in the mother tongue, it is possible to search by the user ID. In the present embodiment, even if the input user ID is not appropriate, it is easy to find the user to be searched in the present embodiment. Even if the search word does not include any part of the user ID or the name, the past search word is searched in this embodiment, so that the user to be searched can be searched. When the user presses the search button 533, the search by this search word is executed.

<Search procedure>
Subsequently, a search method using the search history DB 50 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 is an example of a sequence diagram illustrating a user search procedure. The procedure of FIG. 9 starts from, for example, a state in which the terminal device 10 displays the system usage screen.

S1: The communication unit 32 of the search server 30 transmits screen information regarding the search screen 531 for searching for the user to be searched to the terminal device 10.

S2: The communication unit 11 of the terminal device 10 receives the screen information, and the display control unit 13 displays the search screen 531 on the LCD 206. The user inputs a search word (user ID or name) from the search screen 531. The operation reception unit 12 of the terminal device 10 accepts the input of the search word.

S3: When the user presses the search button 533, the operation reception unit 12 of the terminal device 10 accepts this, and the communication unit 11 transmits a search request including the search word to the search server 30.

S4: The communication unit 32 of the search server 30 receives a search request including a search word. Since the communication unit 32 sends the search word to the search unit 33, the search unit 33 stores the search word in the memory 202. This is because even if the user to be searched is not found by this search word, this search word is registered in the search history DB 50 or the number of times is updated. The memory 202 holds one or more search words acquired by the search unit 33 by the time the decision button on the search result screen described with reference to FIG. 10 is pressed. The update of the search history DB 50 by the past search words will be described with reference to FIG.

S5: The search unit 33 of the search server 30 extracts a predetermined number of users from the search history DB 50 using search words. The details of the search will be described with reference to FIG.

S6: Further, the search unit 33 extracts all users having a name or a user ID including at least a part of the search word from the user information DB 40. That is, the same search as before is also possible.

S7: The screen generation unit 31 of the search server 30 generates screen information for the terminal device 10 to display the search result. In the present embodiment, since two search results of the search of the search history DB 50 and the search of the user information DB 40 are obtained, screen information for displaying the two types of search results is generated. The communication unit 32 of the search server 30 transmits screen information to the terminal device 10.
(A) One or more users searched from the search history DB 50
(B) All users whose search words at least partially match the user name or user ID of the user information DB 40.
S8: The communication unit 11 of the terminal device 10 receives the screen information, and the display control unit 13 displays the search result screen on the LCD 206. An example of the search result screen is shown in FIG.

S9: The user confirms whether the user to be searched is displayed on the search result screen. If the search target user is not displayed on the search result screen, the process returns to step S2 because the user redoes the search with another search word.

When the user to be searched is displayed on the search result screen, the user selects (inverts) the user to be searched and presses the enter button. The operation reception unit 12 of the terminal device 10 accepts the pressing of the enter button.

S10: As a result, the communication unit 11 transmits to the search server 30 that the enter button has been pressed and the user ID of the user to be searched.

S11: The communication unit 32 of the search server 30 receives the user ID of the user to be searched, and the search history recording unit 34 updates the search history DB 50. That is, among the search source languages associated with the user ID of the user to be searched, the number of search words associated with the search source language of the user who is the searcher is increased by one. If the search word is not registered in the search word table 53, the search word used for the search this time is added to the search word table 53, and the number of times is set to 1.

<Example of search result screen>
An example of the search result screen 541 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10 shows an example of the search result screen 541 displayed on the LCD 206 by the terminal device 10. The search result screen 541 has the same search word input field 532 and search button 533 as the search screen.

The search result screen 541 has a search result field 542, a cancel button 543, and a decision button 544, in addition to the search word input field 532 and the search button 533. The search result field 542 has an item of a user ID and a name associated with one-to-one. The search result column 542 is divided into two areas, the search result of the search history DB 50 is displayed in the upper area 542a, and the search result of the user information DB 40 is displayed in the lower area 542b.

The cancel button 543 is a button for returning to the original screen. In this case, the search history DB 50 is not updated. The decision button 544 is a button for the terminal device 10 to accept that the user to be searched has been found. When the user to be searched is found, the user reverses (selects) the user to be searched with a mouse or the like and presses the enter button 544. In FIG. 10, "Zhou Zigao" is inverted. As a result, the user ID is confirmed. Since the user ID confirmed by the decision button 544 is notified to the search server 30, the search server 30 acquires the user information associated with this user ID from the user information DB 40 and transmits it to the terminal device 10. As a result, the searched user can send an e-mail or the like to the user to be searched. Further, as described above, the search server 30 updates the search history DB 50.

<Search example of search history DB>
FIG. 11 is an example of a flowchart showing a procedure in which the search unit 33 searches the search history DB 50. In the description of FIG. 11, the description will be made with reference to FIG. 12 as appropriate. FIG. 12 is an example of a diagram schematically explaining a search method of the search history DB 50.

S101: The user inputs the search word "shu" on the search screen 531 (FIG. 12 (a-1). The search unit 33 of the search server 30 acquires a search request including the search word.

S102: The search unit 33 of the search server 30 acquires the search source language of the user who is the searcher from the language of the user information DB 40. Here, the search source language is "Japanese" (Fig. 12 (a-2)).

S103: The search unit 33 determines one user ID from the user ID table 51 (FIG. 12 (b-1)). Since the same processing is performed for all user IDs, the method of determining the user ID may be in any order.

S104: The search unit 33 identifies the search source language table 52 associated with the determined user ID (FIG. 12 (b-2)).

S105: The search word table 53 corresponding to the search source language of the user who is the searcher is specified (FIG. 12 (b-3)).

S106: All the search words in the search word table 53 whose search words are at least partially matched are detected. In FIG. 12, "shu" and "shu" are detected.

S107: The total number of times of the detected search words is calculated, and the total number of times is determined as the total number of matching search terms of the user ID determined in step S103.

S108: The search unit 33 performs the processes of steps S101 to S107 for all the user IDs in the user ID table 51.

S109: The search unit 33 determines the user IDs of the higher predetermined number (for example, 3 people) in descending order of the total number of matches (total number of times) of the search terms (FIG. 12 (c)). In FIG. 12 (c), the user IDs from the 1st to the 3rd place, the total number of matching search terms, and the partially matched search words are shown. The search unit 33 acquires, for example, the names of these three user IDs from the user information DB 40. The screen generation unit 31 generates screen information of the search result screen including the user ID and the name, and causes the communication unit 32 to transmit the screen information.

As explained in FIG. 12, the Japanese user who searches wants to search for "Zhou-san", but cannot even think of a part of the user ID "Zhou Zigao". Therefore, the user to search entered the Japanese reading of "Zhou-san", "shu-san", in the alphabet. "Zhou Zigao" does not include "shu" at all, and with conventional technology, the searching user cannot find "Zhou-san". In this embodiment, "Zhou-san" can be found by using the search history in which many Japanese users search for "Zhou-san" with "shu-san". Therefore, the name of the user in the country of origin or region of origin of another language can be searched by reading in the language of the country of origin or region of origin of the user who is the searcher.

<Update search history DB>
The update of the search history DB 50 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 13 is an example of a diagram illustrating a method of updating the search history DB 50. When the search source language is "Japanese", the search result screen is displayed with the search word "shu", and the user who searches for the user ID "Zhou Zigao" in it reverses and presses the enter button 544. And. As a result, the search history recording unit 34 of the search server 30 can acquire the user ID "Zhou Zigao", the search source language "Japanese", and the search word "shu". Using this, the search history recording unit 34 identifies the search source language table 52 associated with "Zhou Zigao" in the user ID table 51, and is associated with "Japanese" in the search source language table 52. The search word table 53 is specified, and the number of "shu" in the search word table 53 is increased by one. In FIG. 13A, the number of “shu” is 179 times.

If the search word "shu" is not registered in the search word table 53, "shu" is registered and the number of times is set to "1".

FIG. 13B is a diagram illustrating a method of updating the search history DB 50 when a search is performed with a plurality of search words before the enter button 544 is pressed. For example, the searching user searched for "jou", "zou", and "zuu" as search words in order to find "Zhou-san", but "Zhou Zigao" was not displayed on the search result screen. The search unit 33 holds all the search words input from the first (first) search word until the user presses the enter button.

Then, when "shu" is searched as a search word, "Zhou Zigao" is displayed on the search result screen, and the user presses the enter button. The search unit 33 acquires the fact that the enter button has been pressed and the user ID of the user to be searched from the terminal device 10, and sends "shu" to the search history recording unit 34 together with "jou", "zou", and "zuu". .. As a result, the search history recording unit 34 can increase the number of times of "jou", "zou", and "zuu" by one, or newly register the number of times in the search word table 53 (the number of times is 1). The number of "shu" is also increased by one.

In this way, the search word when the search target user is not found is also accumulated in the search history DB 50, so that when the search target user is searched next time, "jou", "zou", and "zuu" are used. Is more likely to be found. For example, even if no search word is registered when the network system 100 is constructed, the search word is registered in the search word table 53 by finally finding the user from the user ID of the user information DB 40 or the user's name. .. After the search word is registered, it becomes easier to find the user to be searched, so that the search word is gradually enriched. It is no longer necessary to register a search word when building a system, and users can be searched without entering the search word registered when building a system. It should be noted that there is no problem in registering some expected search words when constructing the system.

<Summary>
As described above, in the network system 100 of the present embodiment, the user ID, the search source language, and the search word of the found user are accumulated in the search history DB 50, and the search word is searched, so that the country of origin of the user is searched. You can search for the user to be searched with a search word that is common in the country of origin or region of origin, even if the region of origin is various. You can search for the name of the user in the country of origin or region of origin of another language by reading in the language of the country of origin or region of origin of the user who is the searcher. In addition, it is no longer necessary to register a search word when constructing the system, and a user can be searched without inputting the search word registered when constructing the system.

<Other application examples>
Although the best mode for carrying out the present invention has been described above with reference to examples, the present invention is not limited to these examples, and various modifications are made without departing from the gist of the present invention. And substitutions can be made.

For example, in the present embodiment, the mode in which the user is searched by the client-server method has been described, but the user search can also be performed by a stand-alone information processing apparatus. In this case, the stand-alone information processing device may have the functions of the terminal device 10 and the search server 30.

Further, in the present embodiment, the search source language table 52 is selected as the search source language registered in the user information DB 40, but the search source language may be transmitted by the terminal device 10. For example, the search source language table 52 is selected in the search source language entered by the user each time the search is performed.

Further, although the user ID is displayed on the search result screen, the user ID may not be displayed on the search result screen. This is because the user often recognizes the user by the name. However, even if it is not displayed, the user ID is transmitted from the search server 30 to the terminal device 10 for registration of the search history, and the terminal device 10 holds the user ID in preparation for pressing the enter button.

Further, the search of the present embodiment can be performed without the search source language table 52. In this case, the user ID and the search word table 53 are associated with each other. Even in this case, if the user ID or name is found in the search word, the number of search words increases, so that the user to be searched can be searched by a general search word in the country of origin or region of origin.

Further, the configuration example shown in FIG. 4 is divided according to the main functions in order to facilitate the understanding of the processing of the terminal device 10 and the search server 30. The present invention is not limited by the method of dividing the processing unit or the name. Further, the processing of the terminal device 10 and the search server 30 can be further divided into more processing units according to the processing contents. Further, one processing unit can be divided so as to include more processing.

Further, a plurality of search servers 30 may exist, or the functions of the search server 30 may be distributed among the plurality of servers.

Further, each function of the embodiment described above can be realized by one or a plurality of processing circuits. Here, the "processing circuit" as used herein is a processor programmed to perform each function by software, such as a processor implemented by an electronic circuit, or a processor designed to execute each function described above. It shall include devices such as ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), DSP (digital signal processor), FPGA (field programmable gate array) and conventional circuit modules.

The communication unit 32 is an example of a search word acquisition means, the search history DB 50 is an example of a search history information storage unit, the search unit 33 is an example of an extraction means, and the screen generation unit 31 is a search result transmission means. As an example, the user information DB 40 is an example of a user information storage unit, and the search history recording unit 34 is an example of a search history recording means. The operation reception unit 12 is an example of reception means, and the communication unit 11 is an example of transmission means.

10 Terminal device 30 Search server 50 Search history DB
100 network system

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2013-232193

Claims (8)

An information processing device that transmits the user's search results in response to a user's search request acquired from a terminal device connected via a network.
A search word acquisition means for acquiring a first search word for searching the user from the terminal device, and
From the search history information storage unit in which the identification information of the user is associated with one or more second search words used when the user is searched.
An extraction means for extracting the identification information of the user associated with the second search word including at least a part of the first search word acquired by the search word acquisition means.
Search result transmission means for transmitting the user's identification information extracted by the extraction means or the user's name acquired from the user information storage unit in which the user's identification information and the user's name are associated with each other to the terminal device. And have
In the search history information storage unit, the second search word is registered in association with the identification information of the user for each language used by the search user who searches for the user.
The language used by the search user is registered in the user information storage unit in association with the identification information of the search user.
The extraction means acquires the language used by the search user associated with the identification information of the search user from the user information storage unit.
From the acquired second search word associated with the language used, the second search word including at least a part of the first search word acquired by the search word acquisition means is obtained. An information processing apparatus characterized by extracting the identification information of the user identified and associated with the identified second search word from the search history information storage unit . The search history information storage unit is associated with the number of times the second search word is used for the user's search for each of the second search words.
The extraction means calculates the total number of times by totaling the number of times associated with all the second search words including the first search word acquired by the search word acquisition means in at least a part thereof.
The total number of times is calculated for each of the user's identification information.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a predetermined number of identification information of the user is extracted in descending order of the total number of times. When the identification information of the user and the fact that the user to be searched is found are acquired from the terminal device, the first search acquired by the search word acquisition means associated with the identification information of the user. Increase the number of times of the second search word that is the same as the word by one, or
It is characterized by having a search history recording means for registering the first search word as the second search word in the search history information storage unit and setting the number of times to 1 in association with the user's identification information. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2 . The extraction means obtains all the first search words obtained from the terminal device between the time when the first search word is acquired from the terminal device and the time when the user to be searched is found. Keep one search word,
When the search history recording means acquires the identification information of the user and the fact that the user to be searched is found, the second search word is the same as all the first search words held by the extraction means. Increase the number of search words by one, or
3. The third aspect of the present invention is that all the first search words held by the extraction means are registered in the search history information storage unit as the second search words, and the number of times is set to 1. The information processing device described in. The first search word is an alphabetical representation of the reading in the language of the user to be searched.
The name of the user having the identification information of the user associated with the second search word including at least a part of the first search word extracted by the extraction means is the first search word. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , wherein the information processing apparatus is not included. It is a search method performed by an information processing device that transmits a search result of the user in response to a user's search request acquired from a terminal device connected via a network.
A step in which the search word acquisition means acquires a first search word for searching the user from the terminal device, and
From the search history information storage unit in which the user's identification information is associated with one or more second search words used when the user is searched, the extraction means and the search word acquisition means are used. A step of extracting the identification information of the user associated with the second search word including at least a part of the acquired first search word, and
The search result transmitting means uses the user's identification information extracted by the extraction means or the user's name acquired from the user information storage unit in which the user's identification information and the user's name are associated with the terminal device. Have a step to send, and
In the search history information storage unit, the second search word is registered in association with the identification information of the user for each language used by the search user who searches for the user.
The language used by the search user is registered in the user information storage unit in association with the identification information of the search user.
The extraction means acquires the language used by the search user associated with the identification information of the search user from the user information storage unit.
From the acquired second search word associated with the language used, the second search word including at least a part of the first search word acquired by the search word acquisition means is obtained. A search method for extracting the identification information of the user identified and associated with the specified second search word from the search history information storage unit . An information processing device that transmits the user's search results in response to a user's search request acquired from a terminal device connected via a network.
A search word acquisition means for acquiring a first search word for searching the user from the terminal device, and
From the search history information storage unit in which the identification information of the user is associated with one or more second search words used when the user is searched.
An extraction means for extracting the identification information of the user associated with the second search word including at least a part of the first search word acquired by the search word acquisition means.
Search result transmission means for transmitting the user's identification information extracted by the extraction means or the user's name acquired from the user information storage unit in which the user's identification information and the user's name are associated with each other to the terminal device. To function as,
In the search history information storage unit, the second search word is registered in association with the identification information of the user for each language used by the search user who searches for the user.
The language used by the search user is registered in the user information storage unit in association with the identification information of the search user.
The extraction means acquires the language used by the search user associated with the identification information of the search user from the user information storage unit.
From the acquired second search word associated with the language used, the second search word including at least a part of the first search word acquired by the search word acquisition means is obtained. A program that extracts the identification information of the user identified and associated with the specified second search word from the search history information storage unit . A network system including a terminal device connected via a network and an information processing device that transmits a search result of the user in response to a search request of the user acquired from the terminal device.
The terminal device is
A reception means that accepts the first search word for searching the user,
It has a transmission means for transmitting the first search word received by the reception means to the information processing apparatus.
The information processing device is
A search word acquisition means for acquiring a first search word for searching the user from the terminal device, and
From the search history information storage unit in which the identification information of the user is associated with one or more second search words used when the user is searched.
An extraction means for extracting the identification information of the user associated with the second search word including at least a part of the first search word acquired by the search word acquisition means.
Search result transmission means for transmitting the user's identification information extracted by the extraction means or the user's name acquired from the user information storage unit in which the user's identification information and the user's name are associated with each other to the terminal device. And have
In the search history information storage unit, the second search word is registered in association with the identification information of the user for each language used by the search user who searches for the user.
The language used by the search user is registered in the user information storage unit in association with the identification information of the search user.
The extraction means acquires the language used by the search user associated with the identification information of the search user from the user information storage unit.
From the acquired second search word associated with the language used, the second search word including at least a part of the first search word acquired by the search word acquisition means is obtained. A network system that extracts the identification information of the user identified and associated with the specified second search word from the search history information storage unit .

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