JPH0696130A - Information retrieval system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable speedy access to an objective image, to reduce the input error of an information user and to improve operability to the information user. CONSTITUTION:Concerning the information retrieval system to display plural retrieved results in a blousing form and to track the view point of the information user in the process of retrieval action by the information user, when the information user gazes at a series of images presented from the system, following images are presented by lowered blousing speed and when the information user does not gaze at a series of images, following images are presented by accelerating the blousing speed. When the information user gazes at select conditions arranged in a presented menu but does not designate any selectable conditions and there is the next page in the menu, the next page is presented to the information user and when there is no next page in the menu, following retrieval is advanced by presenting a higher-order menu to the menu.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information retrieval system, and more particularly to an information retrieval system for displaying images of retrieval results in a browsing format or an information retrieval system for proceeding with a retrieval in a menu format.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional information search system for displaying a plurality of search results in a browsing format, a plurality of target images are read from a database and the plurality of images are automatically switched and displayed on a display. .

In general, an information retrieval system which realizes display in a browsing format is provided with a function for changing the browsing speed (high speed, standard speed, low speed, etc.) currently being executed. The information user has adjusted the browsing speed to a desired speed with a keyboard or a mouse.

Further, in the conventional information search system that advances the search in the menu format, the menu is presented to the information user, and the information user extracts a desired option from the menu, Searching for the desired information by specifying options with a keyboard or the like.

Generally, the menu itself is composed of a plurality of layers. Further, each menu has a plurality of options arranged, and when the number of options increases, each menu is composed of a plurality of pages.

When the information user presents a menu from the information retrieval system, the information user looks at the menu displayed on the display and finds that there is no desired option, and if the menu is composed of a plurality of pages. Request the next page, pay attention to each option on the next page, extract the desired option, and if the menu consists of one page, go back to the parent menu (higher-order menu of the menu). Redo search.

[0007]

However, in the conventional information retrieval system for displaying a plurality of retrieval results in the browsing format, the information user has requested the alteration of the browsing speed by manually inputting the keyboard or mouse. Therefore, when the information user moves the viewpoint from the display to the keyboard, the mouse, or the like, a request delay or an input error occurs, and the keyboard operation is troublesome.

Also, in the conventional information retrieval system which proceeds the retrieval in the menu format, the information user requests the next page or the parent menu by manually inputting with a keyboard or the like. Therefore, similarly to the above, by moving the viewpoint from the display to a keyboard or the like, a delay in request or an input error occurs, and keyboard operation or the like is troublesome.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a technique capable of quickly accessing a desired image.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a technique capable of reducing input mistakes by an information user and improving operability for the information user.

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, in the means (1) of the present invention, a plurality of search results are displayed in a browsing format, and information is displayed in the process of a search action by an information user. In an information retrieval system that tracks the user's viewpoint, when the information user is gazing at a series of images presented by the system, the browsing speed is reduced to present the subsequent images, and the information user When is not gazing at, the browsing speed is increased to present the subsequent image.

According to the means (2) of the present invention, the desired information is retrieved by designating the option desired by the information user from the menu presented by the information retrieval system,
In addition, in an information search system that tracks the viewpoint of the information user in the course of the search action by the information user, the information user pays attention to the options arranged in the presented menu and specifies the options. When there is no next page in the menu, the next page is presented to the information user, and when there is no next page in the menu, the upper menu of the menu is presented and subsequent searches are performed. It is characterized by trying to proceed.

Here, gaze refers to a state in which an information user is looking at an image or a menu for a certain period of time or longer.

[0015]

According to the above-mentioned means (1), in the information retrieval system for displaying a plurality of retrieval results in a browsing format and tracing the viewpoint of the information user in the course of the retrieval act by the information user. , If the information user is gazing at a series of images presented by the system, the browsing speed is slowed down, and if the information user is not gazing, the browsing speed is fast. It is possible to quickly access the image, reduce input mistakes by the information user, and improve operability for the information user.

According to the means (1), the information user searches the target information by designating the option desired by the information user from the menu presented by the information search system, and the search by the information user. In an information retrieval system that follows the viewpoint of an information user in the course of an action, when the information user refers to the options arranged in the presented menu and does not specify the option, If there is a page, the next page is presented to the information user, and if there is no next page in the menu, the menu above the menu is presented. Therefore, the next page of the menu or the parent menu is automatically requested. In addition, it is possible to quickly access the target image, reduce input errors by the information user, and improve operability for the information user. .

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the construction of an information retrieval terminal which is an embodiment of the present invention.
1 is a display unit of the information retrieval terminal, 2 is a keyboard (KB),
3 is a keyboard (KB) control unit, 4 is a mouse, 5 is a mouse control unit, 6 is a communication control unit, 7 is a line control unit, 8 is a camera control unit, 9 is a camera, 10 is an information retrieval terminal, and 11 is information. It is the center. The information search terminal 10 is connected to the information center 11 via a communication network or the like.

In this information retrieval system, as shown in FIG. 1, the information user can select the keyboard (K) of the information retrieval terminal 10.
B) When the user identifier and the password are input via 2, the keyboard (KB) control unit 3 notifies the communication control unit 6 of the input information. The communication control unit 6 edits the logon request command in which the user identifier and password are specified, and sends the command to the information center 11 via the line control unit 7. When the information center 11 receives the logon request command, the information center 11 checks the user identifier and the password, and when access is permitted, transmits the logon confirmation response information search terminal.

When the information retrieval terminal 10 receives the logon confirmation response, the line controller 7 notifies the communication controller 6 of the response. The communication control unit 6 edits the initial menu request command and adds the command to the line control unit 7.
To the information center 11 via. Information center 11
Upon receiving the initial menu request command, reads out the initial menu from the database and sends it to the information retrieval terminal 10.

In the information retrieval terminal 10, the line control unit 7 notifies the communication control unit 6 of the initial menu. The communication control unit 6 transfers the initial menu to the display unit 1. The display unit 1 displays the initial menu and notifies the communication control unit 6 of the completion of the display process.

In order to extract the desired information, the information user selects each option of the menu displayed on the display unit 1 and inputs the option number of the desired option and the browsing request from the keyboard (KB) 2. To do. The keyboard (KB) control unit 3 notifies the communication control unit 6 of the input information. The communication control unit 6 sets the communication status to “in browsing”.
Is set, the search request command designating the option number and the browsing request is edited, and the search request command is transmitted to the information center 11 via the line control unit 7. Similar to the conventional system, the information center 11 reads each image from the database in order from the head of the tree structure for all the images under the option, and outputs the layout information and the read image to the information search terminal 10. I will send them one by one.

Here, FIG. 2 shows an example of a communication sequence between the information center information search terminals related to the browsing format display. FIG. 3 shows an example of a signal format for transferring an image displayed in the browsing format between the information center and the information retrieval terminal. Further, FIG. 4 shows an example of the inter-block interface information regarding the viewpoint tracking processing.

In the present signal format, the speed display indicates a time interval for switching the image displayed on the display unit 1, and includes, for example, "high speed", "standard", and "low speed". The time interval for switching the image depends on the content of the speed display from the information center 11
Shall be done in. The continuous display indicates whether or not there is a subsequent image after the image transferred by this signal. Also,
The start X coordinate, the start Y coordinate, the end X coordinate, and the end Y coordinate are layout information for displaying each image on the display of the display unit 1. The upper left end of the display of the display unit 1 is the origin, and the left and right sides of the display. The direction is the X axis, the vertical direction of the display is the Y axis, and the upper left vertex of the image is the start point and the lower right vertex is the end point.

In the information search terminal 10, the line control unit 7 notifies the communication control unit 6 of the received search confirmation response. The communication control unit 6 extracts all parameters from the search confirmation response. Then, the layout information is notified to the camera control unit 8 in the parameter group (see FIG.
A), the layout information and the image are transferred to the display unit 1 (a in FIG. 4). The communication control unit 6 holds the speed display (here, the speed display is "standard"). For the images notified thereafter, the same processing as described above is performed at appropriate time intervals according to the speed display. The camera control unit 8 holds the notified layout information. The display unit 1 displays the notified image according to the notified layout information. The camera 9 keeps track of the viewpoint of the information user, and constantly notifies the camera controller 8 of the viewpoint of the information user (C in FIG. 4).

The camera control unit 8 converts the viewpoint into a coordinate value on the display of the display unit 1, and the coordinate value is included in the display area indicated by the layout information notified from the communication control unit 6. Determine if When the coordinate value is included in the display area of the image, the time during which the information user is gazing at the presented series of images is added to the gazing time management table. In addition, the camera control unit 8
Then, when the gaze time elimination function operates in a cycle with respect to the browsing speed, and the camera control unit 8 that detects the magnitude relation between the gaze time and a predetermined value is less than the predetermined gaze time, In order to delete the gaze time on the gaze time management table, the communication management unit 6 is requested to increase the browsing speed (d in FIG. 4). The communication control unit 6 edits the browsing speed change request command (parameter “speed display” = “high speed”) and transmits the browsing speed change request command to the information center 11 via the line control unit 7. Information center 1
1 transmits the information of the browsing speed change confirmation response to the information retrieval terminal 10 as in the conventional system.

In the information retrieval terminal 10, the line control unit 7 notifies the communication control unit 6 of the browsing speed change confirmation response. The communication control unit 6 holds the speed display, and the subsequent images received from the line control unit 7 perform the same processing as described above with a time interval according to the speed display.

When the gaze time is equal to or more than a predetermined value, the camera control unit 8 deletes the gaze time on the gaze time management table and causes the communication management unit 6 to reduce the browsing speed. Request. Communication control unit 6
Edits the browsing speed change request command (parameter “speed display” = “low speed”) and transmits the de-browsing speed change request command to the information center via the line control unit 7. The information center transmits a browsing speed change confirmation response to the information retrieval terminal 10 as in the conventional system.

In the information retrieval terminal 10, the line control unit 7 notifies the communication control unit 6 of the browsing speed change confirmation response. The communication control unit 6 holds the speed display, and the subsequent images received from the line control unit 7 perform the same processing as described above with a time interval according to the speed display.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a browsing speed changing process flowchart in the information retrieval terminal 10.

In the browsing speed changing process, as shown in FIG. 5, first, the initial menu transmitted from the information center 11 is displayed (step 501). And a browsing request (step 502). A search request command specifying this input information is transmitted to the information center 11 (step 503). The speed display from the information center 11 is held (step 504), and the image arrived according to the held speed display is displayed (505). The information user's viewpoint is tracked (step 506) and the time during which the information user is gazing at a series of images is added. And information center 1
It is determined whether there is a subsequent image from 1 (step 5
08), if there is a subsequent image from the information center 11 (Y
ES), the process returns to step 506, and the processes of step 506 and subsequent steps are repeated. If there is no subsequent image from the information center 11 (NO), the browsing speed changing process ends.

As shown in FIG. 6 (continuation of FIG. 5), the periodic start of the browsing speed changing process is a value in which the added value of the time during which the information user is gazing at a series of images is a predetermined value. It is checked whether or not it is larger (step 601), and if it is smaller (NO), the information center 11 is requested to speed up (step 602), and if it is larger (YE).
S), request the information center 11 to slow down (step 6
03), the added time is erased (step 604).
Next, the speed display from the information center 11 is held (step 605). FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the gaze time management table.

The information user can also use the keyboard (KB)
If you enter the user identifier and password via 2,
The keyboard (KB) control unit 3 notifies the communication control unit 6 of the input information. The communication control unit 6 edits the logon request command specifying the user identifier and the password, and transmits the logon request command to the information center via the line control unit 7. Upon receiving the logon confirmation response from the information center 11, the line control unit 7 notifies the communication control unit 6 of the logon confirmation response. The communication control unit 6 edits the initial menu request command and transmits the initial menu request command to the information center 11 via the line control unit 7. Upon receiving the initial menu request command, the information center 11 reads the initial menu from the database and sends it to the information retrieval terminal 10.

Here, FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of inter-block interface information relating to viewpoint tracking processing.

In the information retrieval terminal 10, the line control unit 7 notifies the communication control unit 6 of the initial menu. The communication control unit 6 notifies the camera control unit 8 of the layout information of each option in the initial menu (e in FIG. 8). The camera control unit 8 holds the layout information and erases the contents of the gaze time management table.

Here, the layout information is a coordinate value for indicating in which area on the display of the display section 1 each option is arranged, and for example, the display section 1
With the upper left corner of the display as the origin, the horizontal direction of the display as the X axis, and the vertical direction of the display as the Y axis, the upper left corner of the rectangle in which each option is laid out is the starting point,
It is indicated by the coordinate value when the lower right vertex is the end point.

The communication control unit 6 transfers the initial menu to the display unit 1 (F in FIG. 8). The display unit 1 displays the initial menu and notifies the communication control unit 6 of the completion of the display process. The information user looks at each option of the menu displayed on the display unit 1 in order to extract desired information. The camera 9 keeps track of the viewpoint of the information user, and constantly notifies the camera controller 8 of the viewpoint of the information user (key in FIG. 8).

The camera control unit 8 converts the viewpoint into a coordinate value on the display of the display unit 1, and further includes the coordinate value based on the layout information notified from the communication control unit 6 above. Convert to the option number of the option arranged in the area, and measure the time when the viewpoint of the information user is placed in the option. When the time during measurement is equal to or more than the value defined in advance, the option number is notified to the communication control unit 6 (C in FIG. 8).

If the communication control unit 6 has received from the camera control unit 8 a notice that the information user has gazed at all the options, it edits the next page request command and sends the next page request command to the line. It is transmitted to the information center 11 via the control unit 7.

As in the conventional system, the information center 11 reads the next page of the menu from the database and sends it to the information retrieval terminal 10.

In the information retrieval terminal 10, the line control unit 7 notifies the communication control unit 6 of the next page. Communication control unit 6
Performs the same processing as above.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an example of the next page request process or the upper menu request process of the information search terminal 10.

In the next page request process or the upper menu request process of the information retrieval terminal 10, as shown in FIG. 9, the initial menu transmitted from the information center 11 is displayed (step 901). Next, the viewpoint of the information user is tracked (step 902) and converted into an option number corresponding to the viewpoint (step 903). The time during which the viewpoint is placed at the option number is measured (step 904).

Next, it is determined whether or not the time during measurement is smaller than a predetermined value (step 905). If it is smaller (YES), the process returns to step 902 and the steps after step 902 are repeated, If it is larger (NO), the option number is held.

Next, it is determined whether or not all the options are being watched. If all the options are not being watched (YES), the process returns to step 902 and the steps after step 902 are repeated to determine which one. If the user is paying close attention to the option (NO), it is determined whether or not there is a next page in the menu (step 908). If there is a next page in the menu (YES), the next page is requested to the information center. (Step 909) If there is no next page in the menu (NO), the upper menu is requested to the information center (Step 910).

Although the present invention has been specifically described based on the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Absent.

[0047]

As described above, according to the present invention, search results are displayed in a browsing format, or
The user selects the desired option from the menu presented by the information retrieval system to retrieve the desired information, and also tracks the information user's viewpoint in the process of the information user's search act. In the information retrieval system to go, when the information user is gazing at the series of images presented by the system, the browsing speed is made slow, and when the information user is not gazing, the browsing speed is made high. At the same time, by automatically requesting the next page of the menu or the parent menu, it is possible to quickly access the target image, reduce input errors by the information user, and improve operability for the information user. Can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram showing a configuration of an information search terminal which is an embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a communication sequence between information center information search terminals according to a browsing format display of the present embodiment,

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a transfer format of an image displayed in a browsing format between an information center and an information search terminal in the present embodiment,

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of inter-block interface information relating to viewpoint tracking in the present embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for changing the browsing speed of the information search terminal according to the present embodiment,

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for starting a browsing speed changing process of the information search terminal according to the present embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a gaze time management table in the present embodiment,

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example sand of inter-block interface information relating to viewpoint tracking in the present embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an example of a next page request process or an upper menu request process of the information search terminal according to the present embodiment.

[Explanation of Codes] 1 ... Display unit, 2 ... Keyboard (KB), 3 ... Keyboard (KB) control unit, 4 ... Mouse, 5 ... Mouse control unit, 6 ...
Communication control unit, 7 ... Line control unit, 8 ... Camera control unit, 9 ...
Camera, 10 ... Information retrieval terminal, 11 ... Information center.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An information search system for displaying a plurality of search results in a browsing format and tracking the viewpoint of an information user in the course of a search action by the information user,
If the information user is gazing at a series of images presented by the system, the browsing speed is set to be slow and the subsequent image is presented, and if the information user is not gazing, the browsing speed is set to be high. An information retrieval system characterized by presenting subsequent images. 2. The information user searches for the target information by designating the desired option from the menu presented by the information search system, and the information user is in the process of a search action by the information user. In the information retrieval system that tracks the viewpoint of, when the information user pays attention to the options arranged in the presented menu and does not specify the options, if there is the next page in the menu, the next page is displayed. An information search system characterized by presenting a page to an information user and, if there is no next page in the menu, presenting a higher-order menu of the menu and proceeding with subsequent searches.