JP7178650B2 - Information retrieval method, information retrieval program, information retrieval terminal and information retrieval device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information retrieval method, an information retrieval program, an information retrieval terminal, and an information retrieval device using non-verbal information.

With the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics to be held in 2020, the number of foreign tourists is expected to increase significantly over the next 10 years. Against this background, there is a demand for a sightseeing spot search system that is easy for foreigners to use. However, the languages used by foreigners vary. For this reason, tourist information systems in foreign languages are multilingualized so that guidance can be provided in major languages such as English, Chinese, French, and Spanish (Patent Documents 1 and 2).

Patent Literature 1 describes a tourist information system that allows users to download files that provide guidance and guidance in a language desired by the user, with regard to sightseeing guide information for each tourist spot.

In addition, in Patent Document 2, tourists from overseas use mobile phones (smartphones), etc., from information tags attached to guide boards and signboards installed in tourist spots, etc., or from mobile phones, etc. describes a tourist information system that selectively obtains, via the Internet, guidance voices and explanation data consisting of characters and graphics regarding the above-described tourist destinations in a plurality of languages from GPS position information obtained by .

However, the languages used by foreign tourists visiting from various regions are diverse, and it is not always possible to use the main languages mentioned above, and it is difficult to develop a system that supports all languages. Therefore, even in the systems of Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, there is a problem that it is difficult for foreign tourists who are not good at major languages to obtain sightseeing information.

JP-A-2000-029942 JP 2012-038278 A

The present invention has been completed through intensive research focusing on such a problem, and its purpose is to utilize non-verbal information for input and output in information retrieval, so that the user can find the language without feeling any difference in language. To appropriately search and provide information such as sightseeing desired by a person.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a receiving step of receiving input of first non-linguistic information from a plurality of first non-linguistic information candidates; , a search step of searching for information to be searched based on the search syntax, and a display step of displaying the search result of the search step as second non-verbal information.

According to the present invention, information desired by a user can be retrieved and provided appropriately using non-linguistic information, so that the burden of supporting multilingualization can be suppressed and language disparities can be corrected.

1 is an overall view of an information retrieval system according to Example 1 of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the information retrieval system of FIG. 1; FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an input screen of the information search system of FIG. 1; FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a result display screen of the information search system of FIG. 1; FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing an example of the operation of the information retrieval system of FIG. 1; 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an information retrieval system according to Example 2 of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an outline of a data structure stored in the relationship storage device of FIG. 6; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing another example of a result display screen;

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an overall view of an information retrieval system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. Here, as an example of the information search system, a tourist information search system for searching tourist spots will be described. The information retrieval system is composed of a client terminal 100 and a server 200 . The client terminal 100 may be a mobile information terminal such as a smart phone (hereinafter simply referred to as a terminal). Then, the terminal 100 downloads and installs the information search application software according to the first embodiment as a program, cooperates with the server 200, and implements an information search system.

Terminal 100 requests execution of information search processing from server 200 via network 300 , receives search results from server 200 , and displays them on the screen of terminal 100 . The network 300 includes a public wireless LAN (Local Area Network), a mobile phone network such as LTE (Long Term Evolution), and the like. When terminal 100 requests server 200 to execute information search processing, terminal 100 acquires position information of terminal 100 from GPS (Global Positioning System) satellites 400 and transmits this position information to server 200 .

<Configuration>
First, the configuration of the information retrieval system according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 2, 3, and 4. FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the information retrieval system according to the first embodiment. The flow of processing in the terminal 100 and the server 200 is indicated by a solid line, and the transfer of information between the terminal 100 and the server 200 is indicated by a dotted line.

The terminal 100 has an input unit 110 that receives inputs from foreign tourists (hereinafter referred to as users), a location information acquisition unit 120 that acquires location information of the terminal 100 from the GPS satellites 400, and an input unit 110 that receives the location information. A syntax generation unit 130 generates a syntax for information retrieval from an input and location information acquired by a location information acquisition unit 120; a transmission unit 140 transmits the generated syntax to a server 200; 200, and a display unit 160 for displaying the received search results.

Here, the input unit 110 and the display unit 160 are configured as the same touch panel display of a terminal (for example, smart phone). The location information acquisition unit 120 may acquire the location information of the terminal 100 from GPS information, or acquire the location information from a signal from a public wireless LAN, a mobile phone network such as LTE, or a beacon. good too. Syntax generator 130 corresponds to the processor and memory of terminal 100 on which information retrieval application software operates. Transmitter 140 and receiver 150 correspond to wireless communication modules, and communicate with server 200 via a network.

The server 200 includes a receiving unit 210 that receives a syntax for information retrieval from the terminal 100, an information retrieval unit 220 that searches for information to be searched stored in the information storage device 500 using the received syntax, an information and a transmission unit (output unit) 230 that transmits the search result to the terminal 100 .

Here, the information search unit 220 performs information search processing on the information storage device 500 in cooperation with the processor and memory of the server 200 . The information storage device 500 may be provided inside the server 200 . Alternatively, it may be provided as an external storage device. In the case of an external storage device, the server 200 executes transmission and reception of information with this external storage device. The receiving unit 210 and the transmitting unit 230 correspond to wireless communication modules, and communicate with the terminal 100 via a network such as a public wireless LAN or a mobile phone network such as LTE.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of an input screen displayed on the input unit 110. As shown in FIG. The input screen 600 includes a transportation means selection screen 610 for the user to select a transportation means, a movement time selection screen 620 for selecting the time to spend on the movement, and a fee selection screen for selecting the entrance fee of the sightseeing spot. It has a screen 630 and a search execution button 640 for starting a search based on a user's instruction.

The transportation selection screen 610 displays a guide pictogram (pictogram) as non-verbal information. Here, as the display of means of transportation, the pictorial symbols for guidance are displayed in order from the left in the upper row: ``walk'' 611, ``automobile'' 612, ``train'' 613, and ``bus'' 614; 615, "ship" 616, and "bicycle" 617 are displayed, and at least one means of transportation can be touched and selected. In this figure, "Walk" 611 is selected and highlighted.

The travel time selection screen 620 displays a clock mark, which is non-verbal information, and allows selection from a plurality of travel time interval candidates from a pull-down menu. In this figure, the down arrow of the pull-down menu is clicked and "~15 minutes" is selected. In other words, the condition "movable within 15 minutes" is selected. The reason why the user can understand the display of this figure in this way is that the movement time selection screen 620 is displayed under the transportation means selection screen 610 and the clock mark as non-verbal information is displayed. This is because it reminds us of the choice of means of transportation and travel time. Therefore, foreign tourists (users) using any language can intuitively understand that the Arabic numeral "15" displayed on this screen 620 represents the travel time. Here, Arabic numerals are non-verbal information.

Here, when the Arabic numeral is a number smaller than "24", it may be difficult for the user to understand whether it is "minute" or "hour". Therefore, by displaying the English word "minutes" together with the Arabic numerals, the user can understand the Arabic numerals (that is, non-verbal information) as complementary information. As complementary information, the abbreviation "min" or "m" may be displayed instead of the English word "minutes." If it is a simple English word or its abbreviation such as "minutes", even foreign tourists (users) who are not good at English can understand the meaning of "minutes".

Complementary information does not need to be displayed for all candidates of travel time intervals. For example, if "15 to 30 minutes" is simply displayed next to "~15 minutes" in the pull-down menu, the user can guess "15 to 30 minutes". For tourists, “15 minutes to 30 hours” is too wide a time interval as a candidate for travel time, and it is also recalled that “15 hours to 30 hours” is the next candidate for the above-mentioned selection. because it does not.

The price selection screen 630 displays a Japanese yen mark as non-verbal information, and by clicking the down arrow in the pull-down menu, it is possible to select a plurality of price interval candidates. In this figure, "Unspecified" is selected, which means that "there is no particular charge selection".

In this way, the user can understand the display of this figure to mean ``no price selection'' because this information retrieval system is for searching tourist spots and there are multiple prices. This is because it is possible to recall that the item is related to the selection of the fee, since the candidate for the interval of . Therefore, foreign tourists (users) using any language can intuitively understand that the screen 630 is the admission fee for the sightseeing spot.

Also, symbols such as "-" (hyphen) and "-" (dash) may be used instead of the English word "Unspecified". In this way, even users who do not know the English word "Unspecified" can use this system intuitively.

As shown in FIG. 3, the search execution button 640 is provided in a specific area on the input screen 600, and is touched by the user after selecting search conditions to execute a search by the information search system. As described above, a configuration using a combination of image display and a touch panel display may be used, and a mechanical switch or the like arranged on the terminal 100 may play a similar role. When the user presses the search execution button 640, a search according to predetermined search conditions is instructed.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a result display screen displayed on the display unit 160. As shown in FIG. On the result display screen 700, a geographic information screen 710 around the tourist spot that is the search result, a guide pictogram (pictogram) 720 indicating the type of this tourist spot, and a tourist spot information screen 730 are displayed. Sightseeing spot information screen 730 displays tourist spot information 731 indicated by the aforementioned guide graphic symbol 720 .

The geographic information screen 710 displays a map of the vicinity of the guide pictorial symbol 720 of the tourist spot that is the search result. The guide symbol 720 indicating the search result is displayed in a so-called outline (the background color of the symbol is darkened and the symbol inside is displayed in white), and the user can intuitively recognize that it is the tourist spot of the search result. understandable. In this figure, the symbol "hot spring" is displayed.

Sightseeing spot information screen 730 displays tourist spot information 731 which is a detailed display of guide symbol 720 of the search result. Here, a space image photograph of the sightseeing spot “hot spring” indicated by the guide symbol 720 (a photograph that allows an intuitive understanding of the outline of the tourist spot) and the name of the “hot spring” displayed in white with the guide symbol 720 are shown. is romanized as "Onsen 1". It should be noted that when notating the name, it is generally preferable to use Roman letters or English notation. In this way, in addition to the space image photograph, the name is written as supplementary information, even if the user does not understand the supplementary information, people around the user (clerks at tourist spots, etc.) can understand it. This is because it may be possible. Also, the spatial image photograph is non-verbal information.

In FIG. 4, in addition to the tourist spot guide pictorial symbol 720, a plurality of kinds of guide pictorial symbols (guidance pictorial symbols 721, 722, and 723) are displayed. For example, when the user selects one of the guide symbols 721, 722, and 723 of a plurality of sightseeing spots (for example, when 721 is selected), the guide guide symbol 721 is displayed in white. The displayed guide pictorial symbol 720 is normally displayed (the background color of the symbol is made white and the symbols inside it are displayed dark). The tourist spot information on the tourist spot information screen 730 is switched from the tourist spot information 731 corresponding to the guide pictorial symbol 720 to the tourist spot information corresponding to the guide pictorial symbol 721 . Here, the geographic information and the pictorial symbols for guidance are non-verbal information.

Sightseeing spot information on the tourist spot information screen 730 can be slid to the left and right. For example, if the tourist spot information 731 of “Onsen” in FIG. 720 returns to normal display, the guide pictorial symbol 723 is selected and displayed in white, and the tourist spot information corresponding to the guide pictorial symbol 723 is displayed on the tourist spot information screen 730 instead of the tourist spot information 731 . When the tourist spot information 731 is slid to the right, the guide pictorial symbol 720 on the geographic information screen 710 returns to the normal display, and the guide pictorial symbol 722 is selected and displayed in white as described above, and the tourist spot information is displayed. Sightseeing spot information corresponding to the guide symbol 722 is displayed on the screen 730 instead of the tourist spot information 731 . In order to encourage intuitive operation by the user, it is preferable that the slide direction of the tourist spot information and the arrangement of the guide pictorial symbols on the geographic information screen 710 correspond.

In some cases, the guide pictorial symbols 721, 722, and 723 of a plurality of sightseeing spots are not displayed.

Further, although the graphical guidance symbols shown on the result display screen 700 of FIG. 4 are different from the graphical guidance symbols shown on the input screen 600 of FIG. 3, they may be the same. In other words, it is possible that the input pictorial symbols for guidance and the pictorial symbols for guidance that are output and displayed are the same. For example, even if the same graphical guide symbol “hot spring” as the graphical guide symbol “hot spring” 720 shown in the result display screen 700 of FIG. good.

<Action>
Next, operations of the information retrieval system according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 2, 3, and 5. FIG. FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing an example of the operation of the information retrieval system.

First, when the user selects "on foot" 611 as the means of transportation on the means of transportation selection screen (610 in FIG. 3), the syntax generator 130 accepts that the means of transportation is "on foot" 611 (S110). Next, when the user selects a travel time interval of "~15 minutes" on the travel time selection screen (620 in FIG. 3), the syntax generator 130 accepts that the travel time interval is "within 15 minutes" ( S120).

Subsequently, when the user selects "Unspecified" on the fee selection screen (630 in FIG. 3), the syntax generation unit 130 accepts that the entrance fee is "no particular" (S130).

Finally, when the user presses the search execution button (640 in FIG. 3), the syntax generator 130 generates a search syntax (that is, search formula) is generated (S140).

In the above example, the syntax generation unit 130 generates (transportation: walking) AND (Travel time: within 15 minutes) AND (entrance fee: not specified) is generated.

Here, the syntax generator 130 acquires the location information of the terminal 100 at the time when the user presses the search execution button (640 in FIG. 3) from the location information acquisition unit 120 in FIG. The acquired position information may be sent to the server 200 in a form separate from the search formula, or may be sent in a form included in the search formula.

As described above, the user selects the transportation means on the transportation selection screen 610, selects the time to spend traveling on the transportation time selection screen 620, selects the admission fee for the sightseeing spot on the fee selection screen 630, and finally, By pressing the search execution button 640, a search syntax using a logical product (AND condition) can be generated from the information selected by the user.

Here, the user's selection is received for each process of steps S110, S120, and S130, but this is not limiting, and the processes of S110, S120, and S130 are performed when the user presses the search execution button in S140. You may accept all the user's selections in . Also, the order of steps S110 to S130 can be changed.

Transmitter 140 transmits the search syntax generated by syntax generator 130 to receiver 210 of server 200 .

The information search unit 220 searches the information storage device 500 using the search syntax received by the reception unit 210, and transmits the search result from the transmission unit 230 to the reception unit 150 of the client terminal 100 as non-verbal information. The display unit 160 can display the received search results as shown in FIG.

According to Example 1, instead of directly entering text information for generating a search syntax, the user enters (or selects) one or more non-linguistic information on the input screen 600 of FIG. Then, the input unit 110 receives this non-verbal information, the syntax generating unit 130 generates a search syntax from the received non-linguistic information, and the information searching unit 220 can search for information. Here, inputting non-verbal information means selecting one non-linguistic information from a plurality of candidates for non-linguistic information when accepting input of one non-linguistic information.

In addition, as shown in Fig. 4, the search result display screen also uses non-verbal information such as spatial image photographs of tourist spots and pictorial symbols for guidance, so that the tourist spots that are the search results can be intuitively understood. has the effect of As a result, foreign tourists using any language can obtain tourist information.

When displaying the tourist spots, in addition to the space image photograph, for the sake of convenience, language information is used to indicate the name as complementary information. However, it should be noted that supporting information is not mandatory.

<Modification 1-1>
In Example 1, the syntax generator 130 is provided in the client terminal 100 . However, without being limited to this, the syntax generator 130 may be provided in the server 200 .

<Modification 1-2>
In Example 1, the search syntax is generated by connecting the selection results of the transportation selection screen 310, the travel time selection screen 320, and the fare selection screen 330 with a logical product (AND condition). However, it is not limited to this, and a search syntax may be generated by linking with a logical sum (OR condition), logical negation (NOT condition), or the like. In this case, the input unit 110 may be configured so that graphical symbols representing OR conditions and NOT conditions can be input, or English words such as "OR" and "NOT" can be input as complementary information.

<Modification 1-3>
In the first embodiment, the syntax generation unit 130 acquires the location information of the terminal 100 at the time when the user presses the search execution button (640 in FIG. 3) from the location information acquisition unit 120 in FIG. Information is being sent to the server 200 . However, the position information acquisition unit 120 may not acquire the position information of the terminal 100 without being limited to this.

For example, the input screen 600 in FIG. 3 is provided with a screen (not shown) that allows the user to select the type of tourist spot as a guide pictogram, selects "restaurant" as the tourist spot type, and further, If a star (not shown) indicating the rank of the restaurant is selected from the guide pictograms, a search syntax can be generated that sufficiently narrows the search target. Therefore, when the information search unit 220 searches for information, the location information of the terminal 100 is not necessarily essential.

<Configuration>
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an information retrieval system (client terminal 1100 and server 1200) according to the second embodiment. The input unit 110 described in the first embodiment makes it difficult to specify detailed conditions compared to the case of inputting a keyword as text. Therefore, it is difficult to reflect the user's detailed search intention. Therefore, in the second embodiment, an information recommendation unit 800 is newly provided.

The information search processing, that is, the processing from the input unit 110 to the information search unit 220 is the same as that of the first embodiment, and the description thereof is omitted.

In the second embodiment, the information search unit 220 searches the information storage unit 500 and acquires tourist spots as search results, and then transmits the search result tourist spots to the information recommendation unit 800 . Then, the information recommendation unit 800 searches the relevance storage device 900 for tourist spots similar to the tourist spot of the search result, and returns the similar tourist spots to the information search unit 220 as information recommendation results. The relationship storage device 900 may be provided inside the server 200 . Alternatively, it may be provided as an external storage device.

FIG. 7 is a diagram schematically showing the structure of data stored in the relationship storage device 900. As shown in FIG. The data structure is a network structure in which each piece of information (sightseeing spots in this case) is a node and the relationship between information (such as common attributes of sightseeing spots) is a link. This network structure consists of an XML (Extensible Markup Language) database of tourist spot names and attributes, which are text data.

For example, the node "hot spring 1" and the node "hot spring 2" are linked by the common attribute "hot spring". Also, the nodes 'hot spring 1' and 'hot spring 2' are linked by the common attributes 'accommodation possible' and 'large bath', and also by the travel time 'one hour by train'. Furthermore, the node "hot spring 1" is linked to the node "aquarium 1" with a travel time of "30 minutes by train", and the node "tower 1" is linked with a travel time of "one hour by train".

When the information recommendation unit 800 receives the name information of the tourist spot “Onsen1” in the search result, the name information of the similar tourist spot from the relationship storage device 900, for example, the similar tourist spot “Onsen2” from the common attribute “hot spring”. , a similar tourist spot "hotel 1" is recommended from the common attributes "accommodation possible" and "large public bath".

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a result display screen of the display unit 160 according to the second embodiment. The tourist spot information 1010 of the tourist spot “Onsen1” as the information search result includes a spatial image photo screen 1020 on which a spatial image photo of this tourist spot is posted, a geographic information screen 1030, means of transportation, telephone number, address, A complementary information screen 1040 such as admission fee, business days, business hours, etc. is displayed. Then, on the similar sightseeing spot information screen 1050 below, a spatial image photograph is displayed as non-verbal information. Here, spatial image photographs of four pieces of similar sightseeing spot information are displayed.

<Action>
A user who has viewed the screen of FIG. good.

On the other hand, if the user's search condition is not satisfied, the user does not search again, but a similar sightseeing spot information screen 1050 is displayed on the touch panel display in which the input unit 110 and the display unit 160 are integrated. You can select one from multiple aerial image photos (ie, refine your search). Input unit 110 accepts the selection result and sends it to information recommendation unit 800 again.

Then, the information recommendation unit 800 extracts information directly related to the selection result, that is, information directly linked to the selected information, and the display unit 160 displays the extracted information.

According to the second embodiment, the inconvenience of information retrieval using non-linguistic information is resolved by repeatedly displaying the information that meets the conditions from the linked information after the user narrows down the search. It has the effect of being able to That is, compared to keyword input, it is possible to eliminate the inconvenience of not being able to specify detailed conditions.

<Modification 2-1>
In the similar tourist spot information screen 1050 of FIG. 8, four pieces of similar tourist spot information are equally displayed. However, if the relationship storage device 900 has the strength of the relationship of each node (sightseeing spot), the information recommendation unit 800 recommends the strength of the relationship as a rank, and the display unit 160 displays the recommended rank. may be displayed on the similar tourist spot information screen 1050 . For example, three stars are assigned to a similar tourist spot that is most closely related to the tourist spot 1010 as an information search result, and two stars are assigned to a similar tourist spot that is second most closely related. , and one star mark may be given to a similar tourist spot with the second highest degree of relevance.

<Modification 2-2>
As the relationship storage device 900 in FIG. 6, a plurality of search results are extracted from a plurality of information storage devices 500, and the network structure in FIG. may be asked for.

Although the embodiments (including modifications) of the present invention have been described above, two or more of these embodiments may be combined for implementation. Alternatively, one of these embodiments may be partially implemented. Furthermore, two or more of these examples may be partially combined for implementation.

For example, the present invention is an information retrieval system using non-verbal information, and can be applied to, for example, a general navigation system other than a system that handles tourist information, regardless of the mode of operation of the information system.

For example, if it is implemented as a web system, a web server stores a recording medium holding guide symbols, Arabic numerals, spatial image photographs, and geographic information, and responds to a client (web browser) using those information. It may be a system. Alternatively, the Web server may not have a recording medium, and the data may be obtained from another server as needed.

If implemented as a terminal application such as a smart phone, at least one of graphical symbols for guidance, Arabic numerals, spatial images, and geographic information may be used to input search words. These pieces of information may be held in the terminal, or may be held in a server and transferred in response to a request from an application.

The invention is in no way limited to the description of the embodiments of the invention. Various modifications are also included in the present invention within the scope of those skilled in the art without departing from the description of the claims. For example, although the input unit 110 and the display unit 160 are configured as the same touch panel display, they may be configured as separate touch panel displays.

100, 1100 client terminal 200, 1200 server 110 input unit 120 location information acquisition unit 130 syntax generation unit 140, 230 transmission unit 150, 210 reception unit 160 display unit 220 information search unit 500 information storage device 800 information recommendation unit 900 relationship storage Device

Claims (10)

a first display step of displaying a plurality of candidates only for the first non-verbal information, which is at least one of a guide pictorial symbol, Arabic numerals, a spatial image photograph, and geographic information;
a receiving step of receiving selection of the first non-verbal information from a plurality of candidates for only the first non-verbal information;
a generation step of generating a search syntax from the selected first non-linguistic information;
a searching step of searching for information to be searched based on the search syntax;
a recommendation step of recommending information relevant to the search result of the search step;
A second display of the search result of the search step and the recommendation result of the recommendation step using a plurality of second non-verbal information, which is at least one of graphical symbols for guidance, Arabic numerals, spatial image photographs, and geographic information. and a display step of
a selection step of selecting one of the recommended results if the search result displayed in the second display step is not the desired information;
a second recommendation step of recommending information related to the selected recommendation result;
The selected recommendation result and the recommendation result of the second recommendation step are displayed by a plurality of third non-verbal information, which is at least one of graphical symbols for guidance, Arabic numerals, spatial image photographs, and geographic information. a third display step of displaying,
An information search method for narrowing down information by repeating the narrow search step with the third display step as a new second display step ,
The data structure of the information to be searched has a network structure in which information is a node, and one or more pieces of second information related to the first information are linked with the first information as a base point. wherein the first information is the search result and the selected recommendation result , and the second information is the recommendation result recommended based on the first information . 2. The information retrieval method according to claim 1, wherein said accepting step accepts selection of said first non-verbal information from a plurality of candidates for only said first non-verbal information displayed on a screen. 2. The information retrieval method according to claim 1, wherein said first non-verbal information for which selection has been accepted and said second non-verbal information to be displayed are the same or different. 4. The information retrieval method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said accepting step accepts a combination of Arabic numerals and units or a symbol as complementary information for said first non-verbal information. 5. The information retrieval method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein said accepting step accepts at least one input of logical product, logical sum and logical negation in the form of graphical symbols. 6. The information retrieval method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein said accepting step accepts at least one input of logical product, logical sum, and logical negation as a combination of Arabic numerals and units, or a symbol. 7. The searching step according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein said searching step receives the selected location accepted by said receiving step as positional information, and searches for an information searching device based on said search syntax and said positional information. Information retrieval method. a first display step of displaying a plurality of candidates only for the first non-verbal information, which is at least one of a guide pictorial symbol, Arabic numerals, a spatial image photograph, and geographic information;
a receiving step of receiving selection of the first non-verbal information from a plurality of candidates for only the first non-verbal information;
a generation step of generating a search syntax from the selected first non-linguistic information;
a searching step of searching for information to be searched based on the search syntax;
a recommendation step of recommending information relevant to the search result of the search step;
A second display of the search result of the search step and the recommendation result of the recommendation step using a plurality of second non-verbal information, which is at least one of graphical symbols for guidance, Arabic numerals, spatial image photographs, and geographic information. and a display step of
a selection step of selecting one of the recommended results if the search result displayed in the second display step is not the desired information;
a second recommendation step of recommending information related to the selected recommendation result;
The selected recommendation result and the recommendation result of the second recommendation step are displayed by a plurality of third non-verbal information, which is at least one of graphical symbols for guidance, Arabic numerals, spatial image photographs, and geographic information. a third display step of displaying,
An information search program capable of executing a computer-executable information narrowing down by repeating the narrowing search step with the third display step as a new second display step ,
The data structure of the information to be searched has a network structure in which information is a node, and one or more pieces of second information related to the first information are linked with the first information as a base point. wherein the first information is the search result and the selected recommendation result , and the second information is the recommendation result recommended based on the first information . Information to be retrieved based on first non-linguistic information selected from a plurality of candidates of only first non-linguistic information that is at least one of a guide symbol, Arabic numerals, spatial image photograph, and geographic information a search unit for searching an information storage device that stores
an information recommendation unit that recommends information related to the search result of the search unit from a relationship storage device;
An output that outputs the search result of the search unit and the recommendation result of the information recommendation unit as a plurality of second non-verbal information that is at least one of graphical symbols for guidance, Arabic numerals, spatial image photographs, and geographic information. Department and
has
When the search result output by the output unit is not the desired information and one of the recommendation results is selected ,
The information recommendation unit recommends a second recommendation result related to the selected recommendation result,
The output unit converts the selected recommendation result and the second recommendation result into a plurality of third non-linguistic information, which is at least one of graphical symbols for guidance, Arabic numerals, spatial image photographs, and geographic information. output with
Do a narrow search,
An information search device for narrowing down information by repeating the narrowing search with the third non-linguistic information as new second non-linguistic information ,
The data structure of the information to be searched has a network structure in which information is a node, and one or more pieces of second information related to the first information are linked with the first information as a base point. wherein the first information is the search result and the selected recommendation result , and the second information is the recommendation result recommended based on the first information . 10. The relationship storage device according to claim 9, wherein the relationship storage device has the strength of the relationship between the nodes, the information recommendation unit recommends the strength of the relationship as a rank, and the output unit outputs the recommended rank. information retrieval device.

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