JPH0546673A - Data retrieving device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To output various retrieved data without newly constructing a user interface by realizing the user interface with an improved versatility. CONSTITUTION:An inputted retrieving request is transmitted to a question processing part 3, and analyzed. Then, the data are retrieved from a data managing part 4 according to the analyzed result of the retrieving request, the data fulfilling the retrieving request are fetched from a data storage part 5, and the definition information of the data are fetched from a data defining part 6. The fetched data and the data definition are transmitted to an interface control part 7. The interface control part 7 selects the appropriate interface from an interface library 8 by referring to the data definition, and transfers the data to the interface. The pertinent interface outputs the data to a console 1.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data retrieving apparatus for retrieving data stored in a database or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a data retrieval apparatus for storing different types of data such as numerical values, characters, figures, and images, and for retrieving the stored data, conventionally, an interface for displaying the retrieved data is specified by a user. It was generally made fixed according to the search purpose of. Further, there is also a unit that has layout information of the data to be output and outputs the data based on the layout information, but the layout information also needs to be prepared for each specific search purpose of the user. As a related prior art, there is one disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-15787.

[0003]

Therefore, in order to cope with a search purpose different from the conventional one, it is necessary to construct a new interface, which makes it difficult to flexibly respond to the user's request. was there. Also, if the stored data changes, most of the interface needs to be rebuilt, which requires a lot of man-hours for rebuilding and makes data search impossible during rebuilding. There was a problem that

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and handles data of various formats,
An object of the present invention is to provide a data search device which realizes a highly versatile user interface and can output various searched data without newly constructing a user interface.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data retrieval device, an interface library 8 for storing an interface for outputting data of the format to an output device for each individual format of the data, and an output. An interface control unit 7 for referencing the format of data to be used from the data definition unit 6 and selecting an appropriate interface from the interface library 8 according to the format is provided.

A data search device according to the invention of claim 2 is
The layout control unit 9 determines the layout of the output of the interface selected by the interface control unit 7 according to the relationship information between the plurality of data.

A data search device according to a third aspect of the invention is
A rule storage unit 1 that stores a rule for determining the layout of the output of the interface selected by the interface control unit 7 and defines the operation of the layout control unit 9.
It is equipped with 0.

[0008]

In the invention of claim 1, the interface library 8 stores an interface for outputting the data of each format for each format of the data to the output device, and the interface controller 7 determines the format of the data to be output. An appropriate interface is selected from the interface library 8 according to the format with reference to the data definition section 6. Therefore, by simply preparing a standard interface for each of the data formats in advance, various retrieved data can be output without newly constructing a user interface.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the layout control section 9 determines the layout of the output of the interface selected by the interface control section 7 according to the relationship information between the plurality of data. Therefore, it is possible to arrange and output a plurality of data in an appropriate form.

In the invention of claim 3, the rule storage unit 1
0 stores a rule for determining the layout of the output of the interface selected by the interface control unit 7, and defines the operation of the layout control unit 9. Therefore, it becomes possible to adjust the way of arranging the data.

[0011]

【Example】

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a data search apparatus according to the invention of claim 1. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is a console for a user to input a search request and to view a search result, and 2 is a data search apparatus main body. Reference numeral 3 denotes a question processing unit for analyzing a data search request from a user, searching the requested data from the data management unit described below, and outputting the data to the user. Reference numeral 4 denotes a data storage unit 5 for storing relationship information defined between various different types of data and a plurality of relevant data, and a data definition for managing definition information indicating the format of the relevant data and the relevant information. It is a data management unit having a unit 6. Reference numeral 8 denotes an interface library for storing an interface for outputting the data of the format to an output device (in this case, the console 1) for each format of the data, and 7 is the definition information of the data definition unit 6 for the format of the data to be output. It is an interface control unit for further referring to and selecting an appropriate interface from the interface library 8 according to the format.

Next, the operation will be described. When a user searches for data, a search request is first input from the console 1. The input search request is sent to the question processing unit 3 and analyzed. Data is retrieved from the data management unit 4 according to the analysis result of the retrieval request, data satisfying the retrieval request is retrieved from the data storage unit 5, and definition information of the data is retrieved from the data definition unit 6. The extracted data and data definition are sent to the interface control unit 7. The interface control unit 7 refers to the data definition, selects an appropriate interface from the interface library 8, and passes the data. The interface to which the data is passed outputs the data to the console 1.

Although the interface library 8 for storing the interface is provided separately from the interface control unit 7 in the above embodiment, the necessary interface may be stored inside the interface control unit 7 as the interface library. The data management unit 4 may manage the interface library 8. In this case, the interface control unit 7 will retrieve the required interface from the data management unit 4.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the structure of a data search apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. That is, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment in which a layout control unit is added to the first embodiment. In FIG. 2, 9
Is a layout control unit that determines the layout of the interface from the relationship information between data when a plurality of data are displayed simultaneously. That is, the layout control unit 9 determines the layout of the output of the interface selected by the interface control unit 9 according to the relationship information between the plurality of data.

Next, the operation will be described. When a user searches for data, a search request is first input from the console 1. The input search request is sent to the question processing unit 3 and analyzed. Data is retrieved from the data management unit 4 according to the analysis result of the retrieval request, data satisfying the retrieval request is retrieved from the data storage unit 5, and definition information of the data is retrieved from the data definition unit 6. The extracted data and data definition are sent to the interface control unit 7. Further, the related information between the data and the definition information are respectively taken out from the data storage unit 5 and the data definition unit 6 and sent to the layout control unit 9. The interface control unit 7 refers to the data definition, selects an appropriate interface from the interface library 8, and passes the data. The layout control unit 9 refers to the relevant information and its definition information to determine the layout of the interface. The interface to which the data is transferred outputs the data to the console 1 according to the layout determined by the layout defining unit 6.

(Embodiment 3) FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a data search apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. That is, FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an embodiment in which a rule storage unit is added to the second embodiment. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 10 denotes a rule storage unit that stores a description of a rule for determining the layout of the interface from the relationship information between the data when displaying a plurality of data at the same time. That is, the rule storage unit 1
0 stores a rule for determining the layout of the output of the interface selected by the interface control unit 7, and defines the operation of the layout control unit 9.

Next, the operation will be described. When a user searches for data, a search request is first input from the console 1. The input search request is sent to the question processing unit 3 and analyzed. Data is retrieved from the data management unit 4 according to the analysis result of the retrieval request, data satisfying the retrieval request is retrieved from the data storage unit 5, and definition information of the data is retrieved from the data definition unit 6. The extracted data and data definition are sent to the interface control unit 7. The related information between the data and the definition information are extracted from the data storage unit 5 and the data definition unit 6 and sent to the layout control unit 9. The interface control unit 7 refers to the data definition, selects an appropriate interface from the interface library 8, and passes the data. The layout control unit 9 refers to the relevant information and its definition information, retrieves a rule for performing an arrangement suitable for the relevant information from the rule storage unit 10, and determines the arrangement of the interface according to the rule. The interface to which the data is transferred outputs the data to the console 1 according to the layout determined by the layout control unit 9.

Although the rule storage unit 10 is arranged outside the layout control unit 9 in the above embodiment,
The rule storage unit 10 may be arranged inside the layout control unit 9. In addition, the rule storage unit 10 may be managed by the data storage unit 5. In this case, the layout control unit 9 searches the rule from the data management unit 4.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, an interface library for storing an interface for outputting the data of the format to the output device for each format of the data, and the format of the data to be output Data that can output various retrieved data without constructing a new user interface by adding an interface control unit to refer to the definition unit and select an appropriate interface from the interface library according to the format. The effect that it is possible to construct a search device is obtained. Further, even when it becomes necessary to handle data of a new format, only the interface for outputting the data of the format needs to be created and registered in the interface library. Therefore, the effect that it becomes possible to deal with the addition or change of the data format handled by simply adding an interface for each format is obtained.

Further, by having a layout control section that determines the arrangement of the output of the interface selected by the interface control section according to the relation information between the plurality of data, the plurality of data are arranged in an appropriate form. The effect that it is possible to output as a result is obtained.

Further, by adding a rule storage section for defining the operation of the layout control section, it is possible to arrange a plurality of data in a more flexible manner.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the invention of claim 1;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the invention of claim 2;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the invention of claim 3;

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 console (output device) 2 data retrieval device body 3 question processing unit 4 data management unit 5 data storage unit 6 data definition unit 7 interface control unit 8 interface library 9 layout control unit 10 rule storage unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A data storage unit that stores various types of data and relationship information defined and associated between a plurality of the data, and management of definition information that represents the format of the data and the relevant information. A data management unit having a data definition unit for performing data analysis, and a query process for analyzing the data search request from the user, searching the requested data from the data management unit, and outputting the data to the user. In a data search device having a section, refer to the interface library that stores an interface for outputting the data of the format to the output device for each format of the data and the format of the data to be output from the data definition section. An interface controller for selecting an appropriate interface from the interface library according to the format is provided. Characteristic data retrieval device. 2. The data according to claim 1, further comprising a layout control unit that determines an arrangement of outputs of the interface selected by the interface control unit according to relationship information between the plurality of data. Search device. 3. A rule storage unit for storing a rule for determining an arrangement of outputs of the interface selected by the interface control unit and defining an operation of the layout control unit is provided. The data search device according to item 2.