JPH011030A - File search method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to a file search method, and more particularly to a file search method in which a keyword is input and files containing the keyword are extracted.

[Prior Art] A typical German example is a database that has been widely used in recent years. The storage status of files in this database is - once per month for each file.
They are usually saved with one or more keywords, and the keywords are usually words that best describe the contents of these individual files, or words that are frequently used within the files. There are many things.

Therefore, when extracting a desired file from a database, first input the keywords that the file probably contains (these keywords are called search keywords), and when that process is completed, search for each individual file. Search for keywords corresponding to the file,
Matching files (or file names) were output in sequence.

For example, by inputting information such as "computer n artificial intelligence n voice recognition" as search keywords using the keyboard, all files containing at least these three keywords will be searched. Note that this “n” is the logical operation symbol 1.
It is a mark that means "゛and-fill)".

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, with only such file search processing, the following problems occur.

■You must know all the search keywords in advance.

■If you are unable to narrow down the number of search results to a sufficient number as a result of searching using a search keyword using an arbitrary logical operation, you must input a logical operation that includes a new search keyword.

■Furthermore, if you can't think of a search keyword to add in the case of ■, you can't narrow it down any further.

Such problems were occurring.

The present invention is based on the prior art, and is intended to provide a file search method that allows file searches to be performed easily and efficiently.

[Means for solving the problem] In order to solve this problem, the present invention includes the configuration shown below.

That is, a file search method that inputs a search keyword and searches and outputs a corresponding file based on the search keyword, comprising an input means for inputting at least one search keyword, and a group of files corresponding to the input search keyword. a first extraction means for extracting a keyword group excluding the search keyword from the extracted file group; and a display for displaying the keyword group extracted by the second extraction means. and means.

[Operation] In the configuration of the present invention, the first extraction means extracts a corresponding file group based on the search keyword input by the input means, and the second extraction means extracts files other than the search keyword extracted by the second extraction means. A group of keywords is displayed on a display means.

[Embodiments] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1. Schematic Block Diagram (FIG. 1) FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an information processing apparatus in an embodiment.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a CPU that controls the entire device, and operates according to the processing procedure (this program is stored in the ROM 1a) of the flowchart of FIG. 7, which will be described later. Further, 1b is a RAM, which serves as a work area for the CPU 1 or temporarily stores various information. 2
A is a keyboard, and 2b is a mouse, which is one of the pointing devices, both of which are used to input various information and select tasks. 3 is a display case, and 4 is an external storage device storing a plurality of files, such as a hard disk device.

Explanation of the outline of the search process (Figs. 2 to 6)> Fig. 2 shows the state of the files stored in the external storage device 4 described above. The following description will be made assuming that a total of six files (first to sixth files) have already been stored. Now, as shown in the figure, each file has a keyword area, such as "computer," which best represents the contents of the individual file.

When such files are stored, the operator must input a logical expression for the search keyword to search only for the desired file, but if the file to be searched is the first file If only "computer" can be remembered as a search keyword, all of the first to fifth files will be search results as in the conventional case, making it difficult to perform further search processing.

Therefore, in the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment, the search results for this search keyword "computer" are displayed as shown in FIG. 3. That is, as shown in the figure, the search keyword 11 and the number of files corresponding to the search result "5" (first to fifth files) are of course displayed, and in each of these five files, the search keyword that was input earlier is displayed. The types of irrelevant keywords and their frequencies (13 to 20 in the figure) are displayed. In addition, 21 is a graphic cursor (hereinafter referred to as
When you move this cursor 21 to the search file list 22 also displayed at a predetermined position on the screen and press a predetermined button (mouse button) on the mouse 3, the name of each searched file ( In the case shown in the figure, a list of the first to fifth files is displayed (described later).

Now, from this display screen, you can see that there are 3 files with the keyword "artificial intelligence" among the 5 searched files.
Below, there are two files each with the keywords “automatic translation,” “speech recognition,” and “network.”
It can be seen that there is one file with the keywords ``Expert System'', ``Character Recognition'', ``Office Automation'', and ``Database''. This is extremely user-friendly; i.e., you can narrow down the files further. In order to narrow down the number of files, it is important to know what additional keywords to enter in addition to the search keywords entered earlier, and if you add a new keyword, for example "automatic translation", the number of files narrowed down to two. This is because you can understand that.

Therefore, it is necessary to add this new search keyword, which is specified by moving the cursor 21 to the desired keyword using the mouse 3. by this,
- This saves the effort of inputting search keywords using the keyboard 2. For example, if you move the cursor 21 to the search keyword "artificial intelligence" and press the mouse button, the logical formula for the search keyword (calculation in artificial intelligence) is added to the previously entered search keyword "calculator". ) to perform a search process, and then add "Voice recognition" (Computer n Artificial intelligence n Speech recognition) to search. A display example of this search result is shown in FIG.

As shown in the figure, as a result of the search using these three keywords, the number of files narrowed down to two (first and second files). When the operator determines that the files have been sufficiently narrowed down by looking at this display, the operator can confirm the searched file name by moving the cursor 21 to the search file list 22 and pressing the mouse button. An example of the display at this time is shown in FIG. As can be seen from this display example, two file names are displayed, but it can also be seen that keywords that accompany each file and are not search keywords are also displayed. Next, the operator will view (or print) the contents of either (or both) of these files. For example, suppose that the first file is specified here. Then, the contents of the first file are displayed on the display screen as shown in FIG.

<Explanation of search processing procedure (FIG. 7)> If the CPUI processing procedure is explained based on the above-mentioned processing outline, the result will be a flowchart as shown in FIG. 7. The search process in the embodiment will be described below according to this flowchart.

In step S1, first input the first search keyword,
In the next step S2, a search process is executed based on the search keyword. In step S3, a total of keywords other than the search keyword input in step S1 is calculated from the keywords attached to each file, and in step S4, the search results and keywords other than the search keyword are displayed together with their frequencies (Figure 3.4). . In step S5, it is determined whether the information inputted from the mouse 3 is an addition of a search keyword or a command input. If this input judgment indicates that the information indicates addition of a search keyword, a logical formula is constructed to add to the previously input search keyword, and the search, aggregation, and display processes from step 32 onwards are executed.

Now, if it is determined in step S5 that the soil information inputted from the mouse is a command, that is, information for displaying a search file list, the processing from step 37 onwards is executed.

In step S7, a list of file names narrowed down by the search results is displayed, and the operator
6), select one of the file names (step S8), and display the contents of the selected file in step S9 (FIG. 6). At this time, messages instructing various processes such as ``Continue'', ``From the beginning'', and ``End'' are displayed on the display screen.
Branch at 10. For example, if you select "Continue", the process goes to step S7 and you can view the contents of other files obtained as search results, and if you select "From the beginning", the process returns to step S1.Furthermore, Selecting "End" will end the process described above.

In the process described above, if the operator forgets even the initial search keyword, the operator can leave the search keyword blank (or enter a keyword unrelated to total heat) and execute the search process to find the keywords of all files. The types and frequencies of all keywords may be displayed only when it is determined that they do not exist in the keyword, or only when information to that effect is input. Furthermore, as the number of files increases, it is expected that the types of keywords that are not related to the search will also increase, so it is completely fine to display only the frequency number according to the number of files, or conversely, if the frequency number is There is no problem even if only the keyword "5" is displayed.

Explanation of other embodiments (Figures 8 and 9)> Also, when some of the search keywords are clearly known, the search can be performed by adding the search keywords one by one as in the previous embodiment. This process can be rather troublesome. In such a case, it may be possible to input a plurality of keywords in step S1 of the flowchart described above. For example, if the search keyword "computer n artificial intelligence" is clear (even if the keywords that follow are unclear), input such as "computer, artificial intelligence" from the keyboard is allowed in step S1. Then, in step S2, a search for "computer n artificial intelligence" is performed, and the following processing is the same as in the above-mentioned embodiment.

By the way, it is not necessary to have a pointing device such as a mouse to indicate the keyword displayed on the screen. For example, as shown in FIG. 8, a host computer (large computer) 81, which is the main body of the database, a CPU 1', a display 3',
A terminal device 92 consisting of a keyboard 4', a modem 10, etc.
In the case of a database device that is constructed by connecting the
The exchange of information obtained by devices is often not considered in general.

In such a case, the keywords displayed on the screen may be input from the keyboard. That is, the third
The screen display in the figure is as shown in FIG. ” keywords can be specified respectively. Also, by inputting the number "O", the command "search file-view" can be specified.

By performing the processing as described above, the present invention can be applied to a database device that does not include a pointing device such as a mouse.

As explained above, according to the embodiment, the keywords that are considered to be the most important when performing a search, or the most important? You can start a search by entering at least one keyword that falls on Saturdays and Sundays. Furthermore, even if you cannot remember the search keyword, you can search with this search keyword blank and find out what kinds of keywords exist, making it possible to extremely reduce the burden on the operator. .

In addition, when you add a new keyword to a search result and want to perform a further search, you can simply specify the keyword displayed on the screen without having to re-enter the logical formula as in the conventional case. You can also add search keywords to the tube. Therefore, unlike the conventional example, the user is no longer unable to proceed with the search because he or she did not come up with a keyword to add.

Additionally, it is possible to discover unexpected keywords from a group of files that have related keywords, making it possible to perform efficient file searches.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, if at least one search keyword is known, it is possible to narrow down the number of files that can be retrieved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the blocks of the information processing system in the embodiment (schematic diagram); FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the relationship between each file stored in the external layout and the α device and the keyword of each file; Figure 4 shows an example of the display during the search process. Figure 5 shows an example of a search file list being displayed after the display in Figure 4. Figure 6 shows the display at the end of the display in Figure 5. Select file 1,
A diagram showing an example of displaying file contents, FIG. 7 is a flowchart of CPU search processing in the embodiment, FIG. 8 is a block schematic diagram of the embodiment in another embodiment, and FIG. 9 is a search in another embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a display during processing. In the figure, 1.1'-CPU, 1 a, 1 a'...
ROM, lb, lb'...RAM, 2.2'...
Keyboard, 3... Mouse, 4.4'... Display device, 5... External storage M microcomputer, 2...
・Disk device, 3... Display, 4... Keyboard, 5... Mouse, 10... Modem, 81...
- It is a host computer. Patent applicant Canon Co., Ltd. agent Patent attorney Yasunori Otsuka (and 1 other attorney)

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A file search method that inputs a search keyword and searches and outputs a corresponding file based on the search keyword, comprising an input means for inputting at least one search keyword, and a file corresponding to the input search keyword. a first extraction means for extracting a group; a second extraction means for extracting a keyword group excluding the search keyword from the extracted file group; and displaying the keyword group extracted by the second extraction means. A file search method comprising display means. (2) The file search method according to claim 1, wherein the second extraction means extracts the type of keyword group and its frequency. (3) further comprising a selection means for selecting at least one of the displayed keyword groups, the selected keyword being added to the search keyword input by the input means and extracted by the first extraction means; A file search method characterized by searching for a group of files.