JPH06251064A - Information retriever - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To efficiently retrieve required information from a many pieces of information by enabling plural kinds of classification of a retrieval target to be selected from the display screen of the hierarchical structure of the whole classification in which information in a data base is hierarchically classified. CONSTITUTION:This retriever is constituted in such a way that a retrieval condition is inputted from a classification menu selection part or a retrieval character string input part to an information retrieval part, and the information corresponding to the retrieval condition is read out from a data base part by the information retrieval part, and a retrieval result is displayed on the screen of a display part. In such a case, an information retriever in which the information in the data base is hierarchically classified and the whole classification is hierarchically displayed is constituted so that the plural kinds of classification in arbitrary hierarchies can be selected from the whole classification (A-1), (B-1). (B-2), (B-3)..., as targets to be retrieved. In other words, the plural kinds of classification can be selected from the whole classification as the retrieval targets, and also, the information corresponding to a retrieval character string can be retrieved for each of selected whole classification, respectively.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information retrieving apparatus, and is particularly suitable for application to an information retrieving apparatus which retrieves a large amount of information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of information retrieval apparatus, a keyword retrieval is generally used to retrieve necessary information from a database in which a large amount of information is hierarchically classified and managed. Information corresponding to the keyword input by the user is read out from the database and displayed in a one-dimensional list.

[0003]

However, in such a keyword-based search method, the condition entered by the user is ambiguous when the user cannot keep track of the search target or cannot remember the appropriate keyword. And often, the desired information cannot be reached. Moreover, the classification (range) in the database to be searched is
Very few items can be searched over a plurality of categories at a time, and in most cases, the system side can only search for one predetermined item.

Further, even when the user can specify one class (range) that can be searched in addition to the class determined in advance on the system side, the position of the class (range) in the entire class is determined. If the user did not know in advance, this function could not be used effectively.

This is because it is difficult for the user to grasp the position in the structure of the search result and the type of information because the display of the search result is enumerated, and the evaluation of the search result and the search result are difficult. This is because the information selection from is difficult to accumulate as experience and cannot be used for the next search. Also, if the search conditions are ambiguous, it is difficult to set appropriate conditions from the beginning, so there is no choice but to narrow down gently with relatively rough conditions, and the search results are displayed in a one-dimensional list. It was more difficult to understand the search results because the number of search results was large.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, so that the target information can be efficiently searched even when the user does not have a keyword associated with the search target. The present invention intends to propose an information search device that can support a search operation and can easily grasp the entire classification of search results.

[0007]

In order to solve such a problem, in the present invention, in the information retrieval apparatus 1 which hierarchically classifies information in the database 5 and hierarchically displays all the classes, the entire classification "A -1 "," B-1 "," B-
2 ”,“ B-3 ”... A plurality of classifications in arbitrary layers can be selected as search targets.

[0008]

[Function] Since a plurality of classifications belonging to an arbitrary hierarchy can be selected as a search target from all the classifications, it is possible to efficiently search information by narrowing the search range even when the search condition is unclear.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an information retrieval system as a whole, in which a retrieval condition is input to the information retrieval unit 4 from the classification menu selection unit 2 or the retrieval character string input unit 3, and information corresponding to the retrieval condition is retrieved. Database part 5 according to 4
The search results are displayed on the screen of the display unit 6.

Here, the classification menu selection unit 2 is used by the user to select a classification (range) to be searched from among the classifications in the database in which the relation between information is hierarchically displayed. The area of the desired classification can be selected by clicking with the mouse. At this time, the classification selected by the user is given to the tree structure management unit 4A, and the area of the selected classification is displayed with the color inverted.

On the other hand, the search character string input unit 3 is adapted to be used for inputting a search condition (search character string) for the user to extract necessary information, and is input by the user. The search condition (folder name, file name, owner name, keyword, etc.) is given to the AND search unit 4C.

The information retrieving unit 4 uses the tree structure managing unit 4A.
In addition to the AND search unit 4C, the path extraction unit 4B and the search number calculation unit 4D are composed of four processing units. Here, the tree structure management unit 4A manages the hierarchical information structure in the database, and the path extraction unit 4B extracts the path name from the root of the classification selected by the classification menu selection unit 2 and It is designed to count the number.

The AND search unit 4C also includes a path extraction unit 4B.
Information that satisfies a combination of an arbitrary path name and search character string extracted from the database is AND-searched from the database, and the number-of-searches calculation unit 4D uses the data searched for from the database unit 5 as the search condition. It is designed to count the number of cases. The information search system 1 is configured to display the number of data items searched by the information search unit 4 on the display unit 6 for each classification.

In the above structure, it is assumed that each data D1, D2, D3 ... Is managed in the database as shown in FIG. 2, and the classification path names P1, P from the root are stored.
2 and P3 ... and keywords K1, K2, K3 ... As an example, the information retrieval system 1
A procedure for searching information according to will be described with reference to FIG.

Incidentally, in the case of this embodiment, each data in the database is hierarchically classified, and the hierarchical state thereof is managed by the tree structure management unit 4A as shown in FIG. Further, it is assumed that the classified data is displayed on the screen in a nested state in which the upper layer of the classification wraps the lower layer as shown in FIG.

When the information retrieval system 1 starts the information retrieval (step SP1), first, the retrieval range is set to the entire category displayed on the screen by the category menu selecting unit 2 or a part of the categories is displayed. Whether to do it is selected (step SP2). Here, as shown by the slanted lines in FIG. 6, the user is in all categories ("A-1", "B-1" to "B
-3 ”,“ C-1 ”to“ C-15 ”), the second layer classification“ B-2 ”and the third layer classification“ C- ”as search targets.
If "3" and "C-12" are specified (step SP
3), the tree structure management unit 4A sets a flag for the classification corresponding to the classification selected on the screen based on the information input from the classification menu selection unit 2 (hatched portion in FIG. 7).

The path extraction unit 4B takes out the path name from the root of the flagged classification from the tree structure management unit 4A (step SP4) and counts the number of classifications (n). Next, the search character string required for the search is the search character string input unit 3
When the input is further input (step SP5), the information search section 4 AND-search section 4C AND-searches the database for information satisfying both the two conditions of the selected classification path name and search character string (step SP6).

When the data search unit 4 searches the database unit 5 for data in which the classification path name and the search character string (keyword) match, the information search unit 4 passes the search result to the search count calculation unit 4D to classify the search count into each classification. The number of searches is registered in the number buffer in the tree structure management unit 4A (step SP7). After that, the information retrieval unit 4 moves to the next step SP8 to count up the counter, and determines whether or not the updated counter value is larger than the classification number n designated by the user (step SP9).

While the negative result is obtained in step SP9, the information search section 4 returns to step SP6 and executes the AND search of the next classification path name and the search character string to obtain the number of searched results. We register sequentially in the number of cases buffer. When all the searches are completed, the information search unit 4
Displays the search result (the number of pieces of information corresponding to the search character string in each classification selected by the user) on the display area of the preselected classification (step SP10), and ends the search processing (step SP11).

In the case of this embodiment, the retrieval result is displayed as shown in FIG. 8, and the classification "B-" selected by the user is displayed.
2), classification “C-3”, and classification “C-12” are displayed in the areas “7”, “5”, and “3”. It turns out that there are three cases. In this way, the user can visually check the distribution status of the information corresponding to the search character string in each classification, and use the search result in the next search.

According to the above configuration, a plurality of classifications can be selected as a search target from all classifications, and information corresponding to the search character string can be searched for for each of the selected classifications. By doing so, the information can be narrowed down from the two viewpoints of the selection of the classification and the search character string, and the search efficiency is further improved as compared with the conventional case of searching one classification by the search character string. be able to.

By displaying the number of pieces of information matching the search character string on each classification of the classification structure, it is possible to easily confirm the distribution of the search results even when there are many pieces of information that meet the search conditions. Therefore, it is possible to facilitate the evaluation of the search result, as compared with the case where the classifications satisfying the conditions are listed as in the conventional case.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where the search target is searched based on the processing procedure shown in FIG. 3 has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the search target is searched from the database according to another processing procedure. May be searched for.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where the number of pieces of information corresponding to the search condition is displayed on the searched classification area is described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the searched classification area is displayed. The number of pieces of information corresponding to the search condition may be displayed in the vicinity.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to select a plurality of classifications to be searched from the display screen of the hierarchical structure of the entire classification in which the information in the database is hierarchically classified. With this, it is possible to efficiently retrieve necessary information from a large amount of information.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining an information structure managed in a database.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining an information retrieval procedure.

FIG. 4 is a dendrogram showing a hierarchical structure of information.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining a display screen.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram for explaining selection of a search range.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram for explaining a path extraction corresponding to a classification selected as a search range.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing a display screen of search results.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Information retrieval system, 2 ... Classification menu selection section,
3 …… Search character string input section, 4 …… Information search section, 4A ……
Tree structure management unit, 4B ... Path extraction unit, 4C ... AND search unit, 4D ... Search number calculation unit, 5 ... Database unit, 6 ... Display unit.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. Information in a database is classified hierarchically,
In an information retrieval device that hierarchically displays all classifications, an information retrieval device characterized in that a plurality of classifications in an arbitrary hierarchy can be selected as search targets from the entire classifications. 2. The information corresponding to the search condition is searched only for the classification selected as the search target and the classification belonging to the classification lower than the classification, and the search result is displayed. Information retrieval device described in. 3. The number of pieces of information that belong to a category selected as the search target and a category belonging to a lower layer of the category and that meet the search condition are displayed in an area on the screen corresponding to the category. The information search device according to claim 2, wherein 4. The information search device according to claim 1, wherein the search target is selected by moving a cursor to a display area of the classification with a mouse. 5. The hierarchical structure of the classification is displayed by a nested structure in which a frame of a lower layer is displayed within a frame representing a higher layer. Information retrieval device described.