JPH06243168A - Pattern searching device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To exactly and efficiently execute the pattern search by describing graphically a search pattern in advance, generating a search code by allowing it to be subjected to code conversion, and applying it to a search engine. CONSTITUTION:This searching device consists of a search pattern editing part 11, a terminal equipment 12, a search code generating part 13 and a search engine 14. Also, searching method parts 16 and search supplementary information editing part parts 17 are provided in accordance with necessity. First of all, the searching method parts 16 are generated, and it is registered. Thereafter, by the search pattern editing part 11, a search pattern is inputted, while looking at a search pattern editing screen on the terminal equipment 12. Also, a special search part is designated, and a search operation from a search object 15 is executed by the search engine 14. In the case the searching method is not required newly, generation of the searching method parts 16, and its registration are unnecessary.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pattern search apparatus, and in particular, a physical structure or behavior model of a target system is specified from a target specified as a network consisting of a set of nodes and arcs between nodes. The present invention relates to a pattern search device for searching a part that matches a search pattern.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A physical structure or behavior model of a target system is represented as a network consisting of a set of nodes and arcs between nodes, and matches a specific search pattern having a desired substructure inside the network. There is a demand for a pattern search device for searching a part to be processed.

Specifically, in designing an electronic circuit of various electronic devices or a logic circuit of a semiconductor element, an operation of extracting a structure having a specific connection from the entire circuit diagram or identifying a defective portion, or In fault diagnosis of various plants and accident diagnosis of electric power system, the operation of identifying the accident occurrence part from the system diagram of the entire system corresponds to the pattern search here. The pattern search device that performs this pattern search is used as an inference system that automatically performs these tasks.

In an application area such as the design of electronic circuits and logic circuits, the circuit structure is described and edited by a design support tool such as CAD, and as a circuit data file represented by a network consisting of a set of nodes and arcs between the nodes. It is stored. The pattern search in this application area means performing a search for such circuit data.

One of the methods of realizing a pattern search device for circuit data is to specify the nodes included in a specific pattern (hereinafter referred to as a search pattern) having a desired partial structure to be searched and the conditions of the search pattern. This is a method of describing a procedure for finding satisfying data by sequentially searching a circuit data file in a procedural programming language. However, such a procedural programming language requires a great deal of effort to write a search program. In addition, the search program expressed in the form of a code cannot intuitively understand the content, and it is difficult to debug or modify it. That is, the description of each search method is integrated in the procedure of the entire operation of the pattern search apparatus, and it is not easy to partially change the description of the search pattern and the search method.

On the other hand, a method of simplifying the description of the search pattern and the search method by describing the search pattern graphically and directly converting the search pattern diagram etc. into a search program in a procedural programming language format. Can be considered, but its realization is difficult. Also, if you want to perform a special search such as a search that finds repeated structures or a negative search that finds a part that does not match the desired substructure, describe the search program in a procedural programming language. With this, various methods can be realized freely, but the work of diverting it to other places was not easy.

Further, as another conventional pattern search method, there is a method of writing a search program in a rule format using a production system. When a search program is written in the form of rules, the basic search operation is performed using the pattern matching function of the production system, so the amount of description is smaller and easier than in the case of procedural description. It is possible to build a pattern search device.

However, since the search program described in the rule format is expressed in the form of a code, it is not possible to intuitively understand its contents like the one described in the procedural programming language, and debugging is performed. It is also difficult to correct. In addition, the inference engine (search engine) that realizes the search operation must follow the fixed method of the production system, and special rules such as combining multiple rules are used to change the search method. It cannot be realized without it. On the other hand, since the production system itself is a general-purpose problem solver regardless of the target problem, pattern search can be performed quickly from network information with a huge number of elements such as electronic circuits realized by semiconductor integrated circuits. Is difficult to do.

[0009]

As described above, in the prior art, when searching for a part that matches a specific search pattern from an object expressed as a network consisting of a set of nodes and arcs between nodes, Since the search program for searching the nodes included in the pattern and the data satisfying the conditions is described in the form of a non-graphical procedural programming language or rule, the search expressed in the search program There was a problem that the contents were not intuitively understandable and it was difficult to debug and fix them.

Further, basically, a search function considering a procedure for searching a portion matching a search pattern of a complicated structure at a speed that can withstand actual use and a search pattern having ambiguity are used. The person himself had to develop it as a program, and the user himself had to deal with it by putting effort into it.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and matches a specific search pattern from an object expressed as a network consisting of a set of nodes and arcs between the nodes. It is an object of the present invention to provide a pattern search device capable of efficiently searching a part.

[0012]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a part that matches a specific search pattern specified from an object expressed as a network consisting of a set of nodes and arcs between the nodes. In a pattern search device for searching, a search pattern editing means for graphically describing a search pattern, a search code generating means for converting a search pattern expressed graphically to generate a search code, and A basic feature is provided with a search means for receiving a search code and searching a portion of the object that matches a search pattern expressed as the search code.

Further, in various embodiments of the present invention, the search pattern editing means can graphically designate a part of a part matching a search pattern, which partly performs a search method different from the normal one. In addition to the normal search method, the search means includes a negative search, an iterative search, an OR type search, an omissible type search, and a special search method created and registered by the user. The configuration is such that a search can be performed by calling a routine. These embodiments are listed below.

(A) The search pattern editing means can graphically specify a portion to be negatively searched among the portions that match the search pattern, and the search code generating means can graphically specify the portion using the search pattern editing means. Is converted into a search code including a part to be searched negatively as a negative search block, and the searching means determines that the pattern included in the negative search block does not exist. It is assumed that the search is successful.

(B) The search pattern editing means is capable of graphically designating a portion to be iteratively searched among the portions matching the search pattern, and the repeating structure of the portion graphically designated as the one for performing the iterative search. The search code generation means converts the search code including the portion to be subjected to the iterative search graphically designated by the search pattern editing means and the repetitive structure as a repetitive search block, and the search means, Regarding the repeated search block, it is assumed that the search is successful even when the pattern included in the block is repeated a plurality of times.

(C) The search means repeats the pattern in the case where the pattern is repeated a plurality of times for the part to be repeatedly searched, which is graphically designated by the search pattern editing means in (b). The search is considered to be successful only when the number of times is maximum.

(D) The search pattern editing means can graphically describe a plurality of partial patterns to be subjected to the OR type search in the part matching the search pattern, and the search code generating means is the search pattern editing means. Specified OR
The part for performing the type search is converted into a search code including an OR type search block, and the search means matches the specified part with any of the plurality of search patterns described by the search pattern editing means. It is assumed that the search has succeeded when exists.

(E) The search pattern editing means can graphically specify a portion of the portion that matches the search pattern and on which the eliminable search is to be performed, and the search code generating means is the search pattern editing means. To a search code that includes a portion that should be subjected to an optional search that is to be performed as an optional search block, and the search means performs a search regardless of whether or not a matching pattern was found for the specified portion. Succeed.

(F) The search means can preliminarily register search method components for realizing the search method, and at the same time, a specific portion included in the search pattern can be designated by the search method components according to the designated search method. The search pattern editing means registers the search supplemental information input component for inputting the supplementary information necessary for performing the search by the search method component, and specifies the portion to be searched by the search method component. Further, the search supplemental information input component for inputting supplementary information can be activated as required.

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention, the search pattern itself is described graphically, and the search pattern described graphically is converted into a code in a form that can be searched by the search engine as the search means. Then, the search code is generated and applied to the search engine. Therefore, unlike the method of using a search program described in the form of a procedural programming language or rules that has been used in conventional pattern search, the search contents can be intuitively understood, and debugging and modification are easy. Therefore, the pattern search can be performed accurately and efficiently.

Further, among the parts that match the search pattern, a part for which a search method that is partially different from the normal is partially specified, and the specified part is subjected to the negative search / in addition to the normal search method. By applying the iterative type search / OR type search and the special search method created and registered by the user, it is possible to make a schematic description of these special / complex search patterns, and to enable efficient search. Become.

[0022]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the structure of a pattern search apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. This search pattern search device includes a search pattern editing unit 11 and a terminal device 1.
2, a search code generator 13 and a search engine 14. Further, a search method component 16 and a search supplemental information editing unit component 17 are provided as needed.

The search pattern editing unit 11 is an editor for the user to create and edit a search pattern to be searched from the search target 15, and can describe the search pattern diagrammatically. Among the parts that match the search pattern, the part that performs a search method that is partially different from the normal one can be designated graphically. In the present embodiment, the search target 15 is, for example, an electronic circuit, and elements such as transistors and resistors correspond to nodes, connection relationships between elements correspond to arcs, and the entire circuit corresponds to a network.

The terminal device 12 includes a search pattern editing unit 11
The search pattern edit screen shown in FIG. 3 is displayed. This pattern edit screen is a screen that graphically displays the search pattern created / edited by the user, a "load / save" button to read or write the search pattern from a file, and add or delete nodes to the search pattern. There is a "node" button for specifying, a "arc" button for adding or deleting an arc in the search pattern, and a "specify special search part" button for specifying a part in the search pattern where a special search is desired. As the type of special search method of "special search part designation",
There are "negative type", "repeated type" and "OR type".

The search code generation unit 13 receives the data of the search pattern represented graphically from the search pattern editing unit 11 and converts the data into a code that can be handled by the search engine 14 to obtain the search code. To generate. The search engine 14 receives the generated search code and searches the search target 15 for a part that matches the search pattern expressed as the search code.

The search method component 17 is used as a search method in the search engine 14 in addition to a normal search method, for example, a negative search, an iterative search, an OR search, or a special search created and registered by the user. The method etc. are specified.

The search supplemental information editing component 17 is used, for example, to define a relative connection relationship between two repetitive basic configurations in a repetitive search described later.

In the pattern searching apparatus according to the present embodiment, as shown in the flow chart of the pattern searching process in FIG. 2, the searching method component 16 is first created (S
1) This is registered (S2). Thereafter, the search pattern editing unit 11 inputs the search pattern while looking at the search pattern editing screen on the terminal device 12 (S3), and further specifies the special search portion (S4). The search operation of is executed (S5).
If a new search method is not required, the steps S1 and S2 are unnecessary. Hereinafter, a detailed configuration of each unit in FIG. 1 and a specific operation example will be described.

FIG. 4 is an example of the search pattern data that is created or edited by the search pattern editing unit 11 and is schematically expressed, and defines a network structure in which two resistors are connected to each other as a search pattern. .

FIG. 5 shows an example of the search code generated by the search code generator 13 based on the search pattern data of FIG. The first line means that the data of the search pattern named "redundant resistance degeneration" starts from here. From the second line to the fourth line, information about each node included in the search pattern is represented by one line for each node. The information about each node includes mainly what kind of node the node is and what other node the node is connected to. In addition to such a network structure, conditions such as "the resistance value is 10 Ω or more" and "the two resistors are the same type of resistance" may be present, but in the present embodiment, such a condition is set. The case where there is no description will be described.

The second line in FIG. 5 indicates that the corresponding node has one resistor and its ID number (which the system adds to distinguish it from other nodes in the search pattern) is 1. Shows. Further, () in FIG. 5 shows connection information with other nodes, and the second line shows that the connection is made with the node having the ID number of 2. In the third line of FIG. 5, there is one wire with ID number 2 in the corresponding node,
It is shown that the nodes having ID numbers 1 and 3 are connected. The 6th line in FIG. 5 indicates that the data of the search pattern ends.

In this embodiment, a pattern search is performed for an electronic circuit as shown in FIG. The data of the circuit shown in FIG. 6 is as shown in FIG. 7, for example. In FIG. 7, each row represents information about one node. Each line consists of a node type, node name, and connection information (arrangement). The connection information indicates, for a node other than the wiring, which wiring the node is connected to. For example, in the case of an NPN transistor, it shows which wiring the collector, the base, and the emitter are connected to in the order in which they are arranged.
1 indicates that the collector is connected to the wiring N1 and the base is not connected to anything ("-" indicates that there is no wiring connected), and the emitter is connected to the wiring N2. ing.

Next, referring to FIG. 8, an operation example in the search engine 14 in the case of a normal search and a special search such as a negative search, an iterative search and an OR search will be described.

A description will be given.

(In the case of normal search) After the search is started, the search engine 14 reads the search code shown in FIG. 5 from the search code generator 13 and performs the search (S11 to S1).
4). In the example of FIG. 5, first, the resistance in the second row is searched. In this case, the resistance in the second row is the first element, and the condition of the connection relation with another node cannot be checked. Therefore, the one whose type is resistance is searched from the beginning of FIG. The resistor R1 is taken out as a match. The first element was found, so the next element is fetched. In the example of FIG. 5, 3
Search the wiring in the row. That is, the wiring which is connected to the already found resistor R1 is searched. In this search, the wirings N2 and N3 are taken out from the data of FIG. 7, but first, N2 is examined.

Next, the resistance on the fourth row in FIG. 5 is searched. A normal search is performed to search for a resistance connected to the wiring N2 (S14), a resistance in which N2 appears in the connection information portion is searched, and it is determined whether the search has succeeded or failed (S14).
16). In this example, there is no resistance in which the wiring N2 appears in the connection information portion, so the search is determined to have failed. Therefore, in this case, return to the previous element (S17 to S18),
The wiring N3 that remains as a wiring candidate for the third row is taken out and the search is continued (S13 to S16). It searches the resistance on the 4th line again, but it fails because it cannot be found.

Then, returning to the previous element again, an attempt is made to continue the search for the wiring on the third row. However, since there are no candidates left, the element is returned to the previous element and another resistance is added on the second row. Search for an appropriate one, and take out the resistor R2 as one that meets the conditions. In this case, there are N1 and N4 as wiring candidates which are the next elements. First, N1 is taken out and examined, but the search fails because no other resistor is connected to this wiring N1, and then N4 is selected. Take it out as a candidate. Next, when the resistance connected to the wiring N4 is searched, the resistance R3 is found, and it is determined that the search is successful in S17.

When the search is successful in this way, it is determined each time whether the searched element is the last element (S19),
If it is not the last element, the process returns to S12, and if it is the last element, the search result is output (S20). In the case of this example, resistor R3 is the last element included in FIG.
The combination of the wiring N4 and the resistor R3 means that a partial structure satisfying one condition is found, and this is displayed and output as a search result on the terminal device 2.

A display example of the search result finally obtained by continuing the search in the same manner is shown in FIG. 9 and is surrounded by a dotted line "R".
2 / N4 / R3 "," R3 / N6 / R4 "," R4 / N "
It indicates that three patterns "8.R5" have been searched.

(In case of negative type search) Here, the above-mentioned 3
Of the two search results, what I really wanted was "R4 ・ N
8 · R5 ”only, and the other two are wrong. In the other two cases, since the transistor is connected to the wiring included in the pattern, such a thing should be eliminated, but this cannot be expressed by the ordinary method of directly searching the described pattern.

Therefore, a portion of the transistor which is not connected to such a wiring is searched for by a negative type search. FIG. 10 shows an example in which the search pattern is specified in the negative type search. In FIG. 10, a portion surrounded by a dotted line box labeled “NOT” indicates that a negative type search is performed. In this case, two resistors are connected by a wiring, and a transistor of the transistor is connected to this wiring. It means to search the part where the base is not connected.

FIG. 11 shows an example of the search code generated by the search code generator 13 based on the search pattern data of FIG. 10 created by the search pattern editor 11.
In FIG. 11, the process up to the fourth line is exactly the same as in FIG.
In line 5 of FIG. 11, the first negative search block starts from here (numbered in this way because the negative search block may include multiple blocks), line 7 It is shown to end with. 6 of FIG.
The line is the contents of the negative search block in this case, I
This means that a transistor whose base is connected to the node having the D number of 2 must not exist. However, if the number in parentheses is not only the ID number as in this example, it means that the terminal is connected to the terminal designated by the name.

The search operation in this case is the same as the previous example up to the point of finding two resistors and one wiring. The operation after this, for example, the operation after finding the combination of R2, N4 and R3 is as follows. The next search element is shown in FIG.
The transistor in the fifth row of 1 is in the negative search block as described above, so the negative search routine is called. If a circuit is searched for an NPN transistor whose base is connected to the wiring N4 (“N4” appears in the second field of the connection information data), it is found that TR2 satisfies the condition. .
For the part included in the negative search block, the search of that block will fail if any one is found,
We will return to the previous element and look for a resistor connected to N4 other than R3.

When the search is repeated in the same manner, "R
Even in the case of the combination of "3.N6.R4", the search fails because TR3 is found. In the end, the search succeeds only in the case of R4.R5 so that the correct result can be obtained as shown in FIG. Become.

(Case of Iterative Search) Further, in the search pattern of FIG. 4, a large number of overlapping pairs of two resistors as shown by the dotted line in FIG. 9 appear, and a similar structure is obtained. Even if they exist continuously, they cannot be searched collectively as one. If you can only search for the part that has exactly the same shape as the input search pattern,
In order to search for the grouped form, it is necessary to prepare the search pattern for each number of times such as double case, triple case, ... You will not be able to search. Therefore, by using the iterative search, it is possible to search all of the forms summarized by one search pattern.

In FIG. 13, the search pattern editing unit 11 displays 2
It shows a basic configuration consisting of one resistance, one wiring and one transistor, and a search pattern defined such that a portion consisting of one resistance, one wiring and one transistor may be repeated. FIG. 14 shows a search code generated from this data.

In FIG. 14, the second line shows that there is one resistor and its ID number is 1. The third line shows that the repeated search block 1 starts from here (it is numbered as it may contain a plurality of blocks) and ends at the 10th line. 3-5
The line shows the basic structure of the repetition. The sixth line is
From here, it is shown that the part that defines the relative connection relationship between the two basic configurations begins. Lines 6-9 are
The second basic configuration for defining a relative connection relationship and information about the connection are shown.

In general, merely expressing the search pattern as shown in FIG. 13 does not uniquely determine the repeating structure of how the basic repeating structure is repeated. In other words, it is not known in which form (A) or (B) of FIG. 15 the basic structure is repeated, or whether it is repeated in another way. Therefore, FIG.
The search supplementary information editing component 17 of FIG. 1 is used as an editor for inputting information specifically required in the case of the iterative search as shown in FIG. By defining, the repeating structure can be specified.

The iterative search operation in this case is as follows. It is the same as a normal search until one basic configuration is found, so the first resistor R2 and the basic configuration N
The explanation starts from the point where 4R3TR2 is found.

In the iterative search, since the structure in which the basic configuration is repeated is searched from the search target 15, the wiring which is the first element of the basic configuration is searched again. However, the repeat provided in the search pattern editing unit 11 is performed. From the relative connection relationship defined by the structure editing unit, the wiring N6 is found as being connected to the resistor (R3 in this case) in the already found basic configuration. Further, TR is used as a resistor connected to the wiring N6 and R4 as an NPN transistor whose base is connected to N6.
3 are respectively searched, and the search for the second basic configuration is successful. Next, as a search for the element of the third basic configuration, the wiring N8 and the resistor R5 are searched, but this search fails because there is no NPN transistor succeeding at the base to the wiring N8. After all, in the iterative search of this example, the search of the double basic configuration has succeeded, so that the search result as shown in FIG. 17 is obtained.

(In case of OR type search) Further, in FIG. 18, a partial structure (C) composed of "TR1, N2, R1, N3, TR2" and a partial structure composed of "TR3, N5, TR4" ( D) is a differential amplifier circuit that is functionally the same, and the shapes are also very similar only in the presence or absence of resistance, but when searching for only those of the same shape, they are described as separate search patterns. Must. Therefore, the search pattern is described as shown in FIG. 19 by designating the OR type search part. The two sub-blocks (1) and (2) described in the part surrounded by a dotted line box labeled "OR" are successfully searched if any one of them exists. The subblock (2) is an empty subblock.

FIG. 20 shows an example of the search code generated by the search code generation section based on the search pattern data of FIG. 19 created by the search pattern editing section. The 3rd to 6th lines indicate the OR type search block. 4-5
The first row is the OR sub-block, and the sixth row is the sub-block delimiter. Usually, the constituent elements of the second sub-block are arranged after this, but in this case it is empty. Therefore, the 7th line indicating the end of the OR type search block immediately follows. Lines 8-9 are also normal search blocks.

The operation of the OR type search is as follows. First, search for an NPN transistor as the first element, and
R1 is taken out. Next, the OR type search block is entered, and the block (1) is searched first, and N2.R1 is taken out. Next, N3 / TR2 is taken out in the normal search, and one search is successful. Since there is no node that can be taken out separately from the NPN transistor of the ninth row and the wiring of the eighth row, the operation returns to the OR type search block again. The block of (1) does not have a node that can be fetched separately, so the process moves to (2). Here, since (2) is empty, the search succeeds and proceeds to the next without performing any search, but the search fails because there is no NPN transistor connected to the next extracted wiring N2.

As the first NPN transistor,
The operation when TR3 is taken out is as follows.
Enter the OR-type search block, and enter sub-block 4 of (1)
Although N5 can be taken out as the wiring of the row, the search for this sub-block fails because there is no resistance connected to it. Next, in sub-block (2), since this block is empty, the search succeeds without taking anything out, and N5 is taken out as the wiring of the eighth row and TR4 is taken out as the NPN transistor of the ninth row. To succeed. In this way, the case where there is resistance and the case where there is no resistance can be expressed by one search pattern.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but various modifications can be carried out. For example,
It is also possible to specify the lower limit or the upper limit of the number of iterations during the iterative search so that the search fails if the number of iterations is less than or equal to the lower limit or greater than or equal to the upper limit.

Similarly, in the repeated search, it is possible to avoid the duplication by making the search successful only when the number of repetitions of the same portion is maximum.

In the embodiment, the number of sub-blocks is two in the OR-type search, but in practice, it may be any number. Furthermore, in the OR-type search, the number of sub-blocks including 2 and an empty sub-block is the same as the search performed assuming that the non-empty sub-block can be omitted.

Further, a routine for realizing a special search method such as a negative search or an iterative search, or an editor for inputting information necessary for performing the search method, such as an iterative structure editing section, is provided with a search engine. A special search method can be easily added later by deciding an interface for starting from the search pattern editing unit and freely registering and starting as the search method component 16 or the search supplemental information input component 17. can do.

In the embodiment, as the condition for each node included in the search code, only the node type and the connection information with other nodes are examined. However, the condition for the attribute value of each node and the attribute to be performed between nodes are examined. It is also possible to add a value comparison or the like as a condition for searching, and to make the search successful if those conditions are also satisfied.

In the embodiment, the wiring is treated as a node to represent an electronic circuit, but it is also possible to process data in which only elements such as resistors and transistors are used as nodes. Other than an electronic circuit, for example, a power system, a water supply / sewerage network, a telephone line network, a computer network, or an instrument structure can also be searched by the present invention.

[0062]

As described above, according to the present invention, a search pattern is graphically described, the code is converted to generate a search code, and the search code is applied to the search engine to obtain a procedural procedure. Compared with the case of using a search program written in various programming languages or rules, the search contents can be intuitively understood and can be debugged and modified easily, so pattern search can be performed accurately and efficiently. It becomes possible to do it.

Further, among the parts that match the search pattern, a part for which an unusual search method is performed can be designated graphically, and the specified part can be negatively searched / repeated in addition to the normal search method. Type search / OR
By applying the type search, omissible search, and the special search method created and registered by the user, it is possible to efficiently search these special and complicated search patterns with a schematic description. it can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a pattern search device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a schematic process flow of pattern search in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a search pattern edit screen in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a search pattern.

5 is a diagram showing an example of a search code corresponding to the search pattern of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an electronic circuit which is an example of a search target in the embodiment.

7 is a diagram showing circuit data relating to the electronic circuit of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a pattern search operation of the search engine in the embodiment.

9 is a diagram showing a display output example of search results for the electronic circuit of FIG.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a search pattern used for a negative type search in the embodiment.

11 is a diagram showing an example of a search code corresponding to the search pattern of FIG.

12 is a diagram showing a display output example of search results when a negative search is performed on the electronic circuit of FIG.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a search pattern used for an iterative search in the embodiment.

14 is a diagram showing an example of a search code corresponding to the search pattern of FIG.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing examples of various repeating structures including the search pattern of FIG.

16 is a diagram showing a display example of a repeating structure defined by a repeating partial connection relation definition editor from the repeating structure of FIG.

17 is a diagram showing an example of display output of search results when an iterative search is performed on the electronic circuit of FIG.

18 is a diagram showing a display output example of search results when an OR type search is performed on the electronic circuit of FIG. 6;

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of a search pattern used for an OR-type search in the embodiment.

20 is a diagram showing an example of a search code corresponding to the search pattern of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 ... Search pattern editing unit 12 ... Terminal device 13 ... Search code generating unit 14 ... Search engine 15 ... Search target 16 ... Search method component 17 ... Search supplemental information editing component

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A pattern search device for searching a part matching a specified search pattern from an object represented as a network consisting of a set of nodes and arcs between nodes, wherein the search pattern is described graphically. Search pattern editing means, a search code generating means for converting the search pattern schematically expressed by the search pattern editing means to generate a search code, and a search generated by the search code generating means And a search means for receiving a search code and searching a portion of the object that matches the search pattern expressed as the search code. 2. The search pattern editing means is capable of graphically designating a portion to be negatively searched out of a portion matching the search pattern, and the search code generating means is provided for the search pattern generating means. The editing means converts into a search code including a portion to be negatively specified to be graphically designated as a negative search block, and the searching means is included in the negative search block. The pattern search apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the search is successful if there is no existing pattern. 3. The search pattern editing means is capable of graphically designating a portion to be iteratively searched out of the portions matching the search pattern, and repeating the portion graphically designated to perform the iterative search. A structure can be defined, and the search code generation means converts the search code including a portion to be repeatedly searched, which is graphically designated by the search pattern editing means, and the repeated structure as a repeated search block. The search means is characterized in that the search is successful even when the pattern included in the repeated search block is repeated a plurality of times. 1. The pattern search device according to 1. 4. The search pattern editing means is capable of graphically describing a plurality of partial patterns to be OR-searched in a portion matching the search pattern. The portion to be subjected to the OR type search that is graphically designated by the search pattern editing means is O
The search means is to be converted into a search code included as an R-type search block, and the search means has a part that matches any of the plurality of search patterns described by the search pattern editing means. The pattern search apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the search is successful if the pattern search is performed. 5. The search means can pre-register a search method component for realizing a search method, and a search method component corresponding to a search method in which a specific portion included in the search pattern is designated. The search pattern editing means preliminarily registers a search supplemental information input component for inputting supplementary information necessary for performing the search by the search method component, and performs the search by the search method component. 2. The pattern searching apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a power portion can be designated, and a search supplemental information input component for inputting supplementary information is activated as necessary.