JPH0458066B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Technical Field The present invention relates to a search device that can easily search reference materials.

Prior Art Conventionally, when there are reference documents or reference materials, in most cases, the materials are manually searched from the corresponding files based on their names or material codes. Furthermore, in order to retrieve materials stored in a storage medium such as a floppy disk using a word processor or the like, it is necessary to input the corresponding document name and material name separately using a keyboard or the like to search.

Problems with the Prior Art Conventional manual methods have the disadvantage that the name of the material is often memorized or entered incorrectly, making the search process time-consuming and troublesome. Furthermore, when a word processor or the like is used, the user must change the display screen each time to display reference materials, which has the disadvantage that the materials cannot be referenced smoothly.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks, and an object of the present invention is to provide a search device that can search and refer to desired materials with simple operations.

Structure of the Invention Materials and the relationships between the materials are stored in a storage means, the reference relationships between the materials in the storage device are indicated by an instruction means, and the information is searched by a search means based on the reference relationships. The materials are displayed on the display means.

Effects of the Invention Since a desired reference material can be retrieved only by using the search means based on the reference relationship between the materials indicated by the instruction means, the reference material can be searched easily and accurately.

Embodiment of the Invention FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the invention. That is, this thing includes a memory 1 for storing materials and relationships between materials, and a memory 1 for displaying materials, for example.
A display device 2 consisting of a CRT display, an input device 3 having, for example, a keyboard and a light pen for inputting the contents of materials, and a function key, for example, which is added to this input device 3 and indicates reference relationships between materials. It is comprised of an instruction device 4, a search device 5 that is attached to the input device 3 and instructs a search based on reference materials, and a CPU 6 that controls these devices.

Next, its effect will be explained.

For example, assume that a document as shown in FIG. 2 is displayed on the display device 2 as a document.

At this time, according to an instruction from the indicating device 4, a symbol, for example, an underline a, indicating a reference relationship between materials is added, and a special code is added to the contents of the memory 1 corresponding to the underline a portion.

In this state, if it is desired to display the reference material corresponding to underline a, the user first uses the input device 3 to move the cursor, for example, to the underline a portion, operates the search device 5, and inputs a search code.
Then I received a search code and a special code.
The CPU 6 recognizes, for example, a character string from the character code immediately before the special code to a blank, period, or comma code as material to be referenced. In this case, "Schedule Table 05" is read out from the memory 1 and an instruction is given to the display device 2 to display this material.
As a result, the schedule table shown in FIG. 3 is displayed on the display device 2.

To display the original document in this state, input device 3
When a command to return is input, the display returns to the one shown in FIG.

In addition to the above-mentioned symbols, "→", "[]", etc. may be used as symbols to indicate the reference relationship, but any symbol that is easy for the user to use may be used.

Therefore, in this way, it is possible to refer to materials simply by inputting a search code based on the reference relationship between materials specified in advance, which eliminates the hassle of inputting material names, etc. You can search for reference materials quickly and accurately.

Other Embodiments of the Invention Next, another embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to FIG.

That is, in the above-described embodiment, the display screen was changed to display the retrieved material. Therefore, in this other embodiment, a multiple screen control device 7 for displaying multiple materials on the display device 2 is provided.
and an area specifying device 8 consisting of, for example, a function key for specifying a display area on the input device 3.
By adding , multiple materials can be displayed on the display device 2 at the same time. The rest is the same as in FIG. 1, so the explanation will be omitted here.

Next, similar to the above embodiment, the operation when referring to related materials for the materials shown in FIG. 2 will be described. First, before searching, specify the area in which reference materials are to be displayed. For example, using the input device 3, for example, with a light pen, specify the upper left end point of the frame of the area in which reference material (for example, "Schedule Table 05") is to be displayed on the screen of the display device 2, and operate the area specifying device 8. . Then, the CPU 6, which has received the position coordinates and the area designation code, gives an instruction to the multi-screen control device 7, so that a band-shaped window frame is displayed as shown in FIG. 5a. When the search is performed using the same procedure as in the above embodiment, part of the "Schedule Table 05" is displayed within the window frame, as shown in Figure 5b.
You can refer to multiple materials at the same time.

It is also possible to designate the upper left end point and the lower right end point for the window frame, use a window frame that is not strip-shaped, or designate two or more window frames to refer to two or more materials at the same time.

Therefore, in this way, the user can easily refer to the document in a manner similar to referring to paper documents without having to input the name of the document, which is very useful.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, but can be implemented with appropriate modifications without changing the gist. For example, in the above example, the accumulation of materials is centralized, but it can also be distributed. For example, in an electronic mail system, if you want to send a considerable amount of material, you can send only the reference material name to the other party, and store the material itself in a data center, for example, so that you can easily refer to the material. Various modifications and applications are possible.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are explanatory diagrams showing an example of display on a display device of the same embodiment, and FIG. 4 is another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B are explanatory diagrams showing display examples on display devices of other embodiments. 1...Memory, 2...Display device, 3...Input device, 4...Instruction device, 5...Search device, 6...
CPU, 7...multi-screen control device, 8...area designation device.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A first document, a second document referenced in the first document, and a second document related to the position where the second document is referenced in the first document. a storage means for storing information indicating a reference relationship with the second material, and a first material stored in the storage means and a position corresponding to the referenced position of the second material in the first material; a display means for displaying a predetermined symbol indicating the existence of a second material; and an input means for specifying a position of the first material displayed by the display means with a predetermined symbol and instructing a search. , a retrieval means for retrieving the second material corresponding to the position marked with the predetermined symbol from the storage means based on information indicating the reference relationship in accordance with a retrieval instruction from the input means; A search device characterized in that the second material searched by is displayed on the display means.