JPH0736934A - Method and device for information retrieval - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the information retrieving method and device which prevents a failure in retrieval using a unregistered key word. CONSTITUTION:A retrieval part 104 retrieves data matching a 1st key word stored in a retrieval information storage part 103 by using a key word inputted from an input part 101 and a display part 105 displays a 2nd key word registered in the 1st key word; and an operator selects the 2nd key word at a selection part 106 and data registered in the 2nd key word are retrieved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information retrieval device for retrieving desired data from stored data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, various information retrieval devices have been developed in information retrieval for retrieving desired data from a large number of stored data. As a conventional information retrieval device,
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-143181 discloses an image information retrieval device. FIG. 18 shows a block diagram of this conventional image information retrieval apparatus.

In FIG. 18, an image file portion 1201 stores image data together with address information. FIG. 17 shows a mountain-shaped image as an example of image data. The image file unit 1201 stores this image data in association with address information (not shown). An auxiliary storage unit 1202 stores address data of the image file unit 1201 and search information composed of a plurality of keywords paired with the address data. Character information such as "mountain" or "beautiful" is used as the keyword. An input unit 1203 inputs keyword data and other commands. 1204 is a control unit, which is based on the keyword input from the input unit 1203
02 to access the image file portion 1201 to read the image data corresponding to the keyword.

A display unit 1205 visually displays the read information as needed. FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing the control operation of the image information search device. When the operator inputs character information “mountain” and “beautiful” as keywords (S101), the control unit 1204 accesses the auxiliary storage unit 1202. , It is checked whether there are addresses corresponding to the keywords “mountain” and “beautiful” (S102). If there is a corresponding address, the address is used to access the image file section 1201 and read out only the necessary image data (S103, 104).
Then, the read image data is displayed on the display unit 1205 (S105).

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned configuration, although the data can be searched by using a plurality of keywords, it is not known whether or not the keyword to be used is registered for the data and it is registered. If a keyword that does not exist is used, the processing ends immediately from S102, and there is a problem that data is not retrieved.

[0006] Further, before carrying out a search, it is necessary to decide all of a plurality of keywords to be used in advance,
There is a problem that it takes time to determine all the keywords. The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an information retrieval device that is very convenient for information retrieval and does not cause a search with an unregistered keyword.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention of claim 1 provides an input step of inputting a first keyword and a second keyword constrained by the first keyword from a storage unit. It is specified by the step of reading and displaying, the step of selecting a desired one from the displayed second keywords, and the combination of the input first keyword and the second keyword selected in the step. It is characterized by comprising a search step of searching data and a step of displaying the searched data.

The invention of claim 2 is characterized in that, in addition to the information retrieval method of claim 1, when there are two or more retrieved display data, a step of selecting any one of the data is included. . In addition to the information search method of claim 2, the invention of claim 3 further includes a learning step of newly storing the index of the selected display data in association with the combination of the first keyword and the second keyword. Is characterized by.

According to the invention of claim 4, the step of inputting the first keyword, the step of reading and displaying the second keyword restricted by the first keyword from the storage unit, the step of displaying, and the step of displaying are displayed. And a step of selecting a desired one of the second keywords, a step of inputting display data, and a correspondence relationship between the input display data and the input first keyword and the selected second keyword. And a step of newly editing and registering.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the step of inputting the first keyword and the step of reading out and displaying the second keyword restricted by the first keyword from the storage unit in group units having similar meanings And a step of selecting a desired one from the displayed second keywords, and a step of searching for data specified by a combination of the input first keyword and the second keyword selected in the above step And a step of displaying the retrieved data and an instruction from the operator that the displayed data is undesired, the second keyword having a similar meaning but not selected is specified. Data that is present only in the former by comparing the specified data with the data specified by the selected second keyword It is characterized by including the step of displaying.

According to the invention of claim 6, the first keyword,
A second keyword that is restricted by the first keyword, a search information storage unit that stores an index of data specified by the combination of the first keyword and the second keyword, and display data that corresponds to the index are stored. The data storage unit, the display unit, the input unit for inputting a keyword, the same keyword in the search information storage unit is searched using the input keyword as the first keyword, and the second keyword constrained by the keyword is searched. Retrieval / display control means for reading and displaying on the display section, and keyword selecting means for selecting a desired keyword from the second keywords displayed on the display section,
Data display control means for reading out data specified by a combination of the input keyword and the second keyword selected by the keyword selection means from the data storage portion and displaying the data on the display portion. There is.

The invention of claim 7 is characterized in that, in addition to the information retrieving device of claim 6, when there are two or more retrieved display data, display data selecting means for selecting one of them is included. To do. The invention of claim 8 relates to claim 7.
In addition to the information retrieving device, the learning / retrieving means for newly storing the index of the selected display data in association with the combination of the first keyword and the second keyword is provided. It is characterized in that the learning means is searched before searching the information storage section, and the search information storage section is searched when the learning means is not learned.

According to the invention of claim 9, the first keyword,
A search information storage unit that stores an index of data specified by a combination of the second keyword and the second keyword that is restricted by the first keyword;
A data storage unit for storing display data corresponding to each index, a display unit, an input unit for inputting a first keyword and display data, and the same search information storage unit in the search information storage unit using the input first keyword. Retrieval / display control means for reading out the second keyword restricted by the keyword and displaying it on the display section, and the second keyword displayed on the display section.
A keyword selecting means for selecting a desired keyword from among the keywords, and a first keyword and a selected second keyword which are activated when the display data is input from the input section and are input through the input section. An editing / registration means for newly editing the correspondence and registering it in the information search storage unit and the data storage unit is provided.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, the first keyword, the second keyword restricted by the first keyword, and the index of the data specified by the combination of the first keyword and the second keyword are associated with each other. The second keyword is stored as a group, and the second keyword is grouped and stored for each item having a similar meaning content, a data storage unit for storing display data corresponding to each index, and a display unit. , The same keyword in the search information storage section is searched using the input section for inputting a keyword and the input keyword as the first keyword, and the second keyword constrained by the keyword is read for each group, and the display section Search / display control means for grouping and displaying the second keyword and the second keyword displayed on the display unit Keyword selecting means for selecting a desired keyword from the inside, and data display for reading out data specified by a combination of the input keyword and the second keyword selected in the selecting section from the data storing section and displaying the data through the display section. When there is an instruction from the control means and the operator that the displayed data is undesired, the data identified by the second keyword that has a similar meaning but is not selected,
Group data display control means for comparing with the data specified by the selected second keyword and extracting and displaying the data existing only in the former.

[0015]

According to the invention of claims 1 and 6, when a keyword is input from the input unit, the first keyword matching the keyword is searched and the second keyword constraining the first keyword is displayed. If any of the second keywords is selected by, the second selected
Display data for keywords. When there are a plurality of displayed data, the operator can select the desired data from among them.

According to the inventions of claims 3 and 7, the learning section is
The index of the data for the second keyword selected by the operator is learned. According to the configurations of claims 4 and 9, the operator can edit the data corresponding to the keyword from the search information editing unit. According to the invention of claims 5 and 10, when a keyword is input from the input unit, the first keyword that matches the keyword is searched, and the second keyword that constrains the first keyword is displayed for each group. When the data specified by the two keywords does not include data desired by the operator, the group data display control unit controls the display of the data registered in the same group of the second keyword.

[0017]

【Example】

<First Embodiment> An information retrieval apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an information retrieval apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 1
Reference numeral 01 is an input unit for inputting keywords and data.

A data storage unit 102 stores data in association with address information. Here, as the data, for example, image data 401 to 403 in FIG. 4 is used. The numbers above the image data 401 to 403 are address information (data index). A search information storage unit 103 stores a first keyword, a second keyword restricted by the first keyword, and an index of data corresponding to the second keyword. FIG. 2 shows the stored contents of the search information storage unit 103. Character information such as "sea" and "mountain" is stored in the first keyword column, and character information such as "rough" and "beautiful" is stored in the second keyword column as information describing the first keyword information. ing. The address information of the image data stored in the data storage unit 102 is stored in the column of the data index. However, the address information stored in the column of the data index is unlearned information. Therefore, for example, the data index corresponding to the first keyword “mountain” and the second keyword “beautiful” is “7, 10, 11 ”as the plurality of image data candidates shown in FIG. That is, it may include image data that does not correspond to “beautiful”.

A search unit 104 searches the data storage unit 102 for data using the keyword input from the input unit 101 and the search information stored in the search information storage unit 103. A display unit 105 displays keywords and data. A selection unit 106 selects a keyword and data displayed on the display unit 105.

A learning unit 107 learns the index of the data selected for the keyword. 6 to 8
3 is a flow chart showing a control operation of the information search device having the above configuration. First, when the operator inputs the keyword "mountain" from the input unit 101 (S1), the search unit 104
Is the first registered in the search information storage unit 103 as shown in FIG. 2 by obtaining the keyword “mountain” from the input unit 101.
“Yama” is searched from the keyword (S2). On the other hand, the display unit 105 obtains all the second keywords corresponding to the first keyword “mountain” from the search information storage unit 103 and displays the keywords (S3).

FIG. 3 shows a state in which the display unit 105 is displaying the second keyword. However, the character string at the bottom of the screen is an instruction statement to the operator. When the operator looks at this directive and selects the second keyword “beautiful” through the selection unit 106 (S4), the search unit 104.
The search unit 107 searches the index of the data corresponding to the first keyword “mountain” and the second keyword “beautiful” (S5).

In this case, if the index corresponding to the learning unit 107 is stored, it is read and displayed. However, when the designation by the combination of the first keyword and the second keyword is the first time, the learning unit 107 stores the index. No index is stored. Therefore, in that case, the process proceeds to step S6, and the search unit 104 obtains the data index “7/10/11” for the second keyword “beautiful” from the search information storage unit 103, and the data storage unit 102. From the index “7 · 10” shown in FIG.
The image data 401 to 403 corresponding to "11" are obtained.
Then, the display unit 105 sequentially displays the image data indicated by 401, 402, and 403 in FIG. 4 obtained by the search unit 104 (S7).

Along with this display, a notice that the operator is to select any image data is posted to prompt the operator to make a selection. As a result, the operator selects the desired image data 403 in FIG.
If the image data corresponding to the index “11” shown in is selected (S8), the learning unit 107 obtains the first keyword “mountain” and the second keyword “beautiful” from the search unit 104, and the selection unit 106. The index “11” of the image data selected from is obtained, and they are learned and stored as the combination shown in FIG. 5 (S9).

When the learning is completed in this way, the process returns to step S5 again, the process proceeds from S5 to S10, and the search unit 1
04 is the first keyword “mountain” and the second from the learning unit 107.
The index “11” of the data corresponding to the keyword “beautiful” is obtained, and the data storage unit 102 stores the index 40 in FIG.
The image data corresponding to the index “11” shown in No. 3 is obtained. Then, the display unit 105 displays the image data indicated by 403 in FIG. 4 obtained by the search unit 107 (S1).
1).

In the above description, the first combination of the first keyword and the second keyword is designated.
From the second time onward, since the learning unit 107 stores the index data corresponding to the combination of the first keyword and the second keyword, without performing the processing of S5 to S9,
The desired image data will be displayed immediately. As described above, according to the present embodiment, by providing the search information storage unit that stores the first keyword and the second keyword that is restricted by the first keyword, the registered keyword is used to store data. Since it is searched, it is possible to prevent the search from failing by using the unregistered keyword. In addition, by providing a learning unit that learns the data selected by the operator, when the data is repeatedly searched using the same keyword, the learned data is automatically searched, so the search efficiency is improved. It becomes possible.

<Second Embodiment> FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an information retrieval apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention. In this configuration diagram, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 10
6 is the same as the component of the same number in FIG. 1 shown in the first embodiment of the present invention, the description thereof is omitted. 108
Is a search information editing unit, which is activated when image data is input through the input unit 101, and the search information storage unit 103 is activated.
Edit the keywords and data index stored in.

Next, the operation of the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 10 centering on the search information editing unit 108. First,
The control operation of FIG. 10 starts when the power of the apparatus is turned on, but the process does not proceed unless the first keyword or the image data is input from the input unit 101. If one of the processes, for example, "mountain" is input as the first keyword, the process proceeds from S20 to S22, and the first
Similar to the embodiment, the first keyword “rough, beautiful, magnificent” is displayed on the display unit 105, and the operator is allowed to select 1 (S23). If the operator selects one keyword and image data is not input until a certain period of time elapses thereafter (S26, S27), the search unit 104 relates to the combination of the first keyword and the second keyword as in the first embodiment. The index data is read, the image data having the index as an address is read from the data storage unit 102, and is displayed on the display unit (S
28).

On the other hand, if it is assumed in S21 that the image shown in FIG. 11 is input from the input unit 101, the process proceeds to S21.
Proceed to 29 to wait for the input of the first keyword. When "mountain" is input as the second keyword, the search unit 104 searches the search information storage unit 103 for the second keyword restricted by the "mountain" and displays it on the display unit 105 (S3).
0). Then, when the operator selects, for example, "beautiful" as one of them (S31), the search information editing unit 1
08 is the data index portion related to the combination of the first keyword “mountain” and the second keyword “beautiful” stored in the search information storage unit 103, and the input unit 101
For example, “20” is registered as an index corresponding to the image data input from, and the image data shown in FIG. 11 is stored in the data storage unit 102 (S32, S3).
3). After that, the image data is displayed on the display unit 105.

When the first keyword is input before the image data, the second keyword displayed on the display unit 105 is selected and before the elapse of a certain time set in the rear timer (S25) ( S27), when the image data is input (S24, S26), the process proceeds to S32, S33.
The process proceeds to step S21, and is edited and registered in the same manner as when the image data is input in S21.

As described above, according to this embodiment, by providing the search information editing section for registering the data index stored in the search information storage section, the original data created by the operator can be used as a desired keyword. It becomes possible to register by adding and to search. The operation of the information search device configured as described above will be described below with reference to the drawings.

<Third Embodiment> FIG. 12 is a block diagram of an information retrieval apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention. In this configuration diagram, 101, 102, 104, 105 and 106 are the same as the components with the same numbers in FIG. 1 shown in the first embodiment. 109 is a group search information storage unit, which is the first
A keyword, a second keyword group in which a second keyword restricted by the first keyword is classified into groups having similar meanings, and an index of data corresponding to the second keyword are stored. FIG. 13 shows group search information in which the second keywords are classified into groups. In the figure, broken lines are used to distinguish different keywords within the same group. A group data display control unit 110 controls display of data registered in the second keyword group. A display example is shown in FIG.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. When the operator inputs the keyword "mountain" from the input unit 101 (S40), the search unit 104
Is a figure obtained from the first keyword registered in the group search information storage unit 109 and obtaining the second keyword group “beautiful / excellent” “silent / desolate / killing landscape” corresponding to “mountain”. It is displayed for each group as shown in 14 (S42). Looking at this display, when the operator selects, for example, "beautiful" as the second keyword in the selection unit 106 (S43), the search unit 104 causes the group search information storage unit 109 to retrieve the data corresponding to the second keyword "beautiful". The index “7/10/11” is obtained, and the data storage unit 102 reads 401, 402, and 403 in FIG.
The image data corresponding to the index “7/10/11” shown in FIG.
The image data indicated by 402 and 403 are sequentially displayed (S44). If there is no desired image data displayed, the operator notifies that (S46).
Then, the group data display control unit 110 causes the search unit 1 to
From 04, the index “7/10/11” corresponding to the displayed data is obtained, and the data index corresponding to the keyword “excellent” of the same group as the second keyword “beautiful” is obtained from the group search information storage unit 109. "10.19" is obtained and collated with the index "7.10.11" of the already displayed data (S4
7), change the index of the data that is not displayed to "1.
9 ”. The search unit 104 obtains the index “19” of the data not displayed from the group data display control unit 110, obtains the image data corresponding to the index “19” shown in FIG. 16 from the data storage unit 102, and displays the image data. It is displayed through the unit 105 (S48). If the displayed image data is unacceptable, the same operation as described above is performed again according to the operator's instruction, and another image data is searched. On the other hand, when the operator determines that the data is the desired data, the image data shown in FIG. 16 is selected.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, by providing the group search information storage unit for storing the first keyword and storing the second keyword restricted by the first keyword in a group of similar meanings, Since two keywords can be displayed for each group, the operator can easily select the second keyword.
Further, by providing a group data display control unit for controlling the display of the data corresponding to the group of the second keyword, it is possible to display the data which is not displayed in the group. It becomes possible to omit reselecting two keywords.

Although image data is used as an example of data in each embodiment, data other than image data may be used. Further, in each embodiment, the number of keywords used for the search is two, but the number of keywords may be two or more.

[0035]

As described above, according to the present invention, by searching the data by using the second keyword registered in advance, it is possible to prevent the operator from failing to search by using the unregistered keyword. be able to. Further, by displaying the second keywords in groups having similar meanings, it is possible for the operator to easily select the second keywords, so that the practical value thereof is high.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing search information stored in a search information storage unit in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a screen on which a display unit displays a second keyword in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing image data stored in a data storage unit in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing keywords and data indexes learned by a learning unit in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a control operation in the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a control operation in the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a control operation in the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of the second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing image data registered in a data storage unit in the second embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a configuration diagram of a third embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing search information stored in a group search information storage unit in the third embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example in which a second keyword is displayed for each group.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of the third embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of the third embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing image data stored in a data storage unit in the third embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a configuration diagram of a conventional information search device.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a conventional device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference numeral 101 input unit 102 data storage unit 103 search information storage unit 104 search unit 105 display unit 106 selection unit 107 learning unit 108 search information editing unit 109 group search information storage unit 110 group data display control unit

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. An input step of inputting a first keyword, a step of reading out and displaying a second keyword constrained by the first keyword from a storage unit, and a step of selecting a desired second keyword from the displayed second keywords. A step of selecting data, a search step of searching for data specified by a combination of the input first keyword and the second keyword selected in the step, and a step of displaying the searched data. Information retrieval method characterized by having 2. The information retrieval method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of selecting any one of the retrieved display data when there are two or more retrieved display data. Method 3. The information retrieval method according to claim 2, further comprising a learning step of newly storing the index of the selected display data in association with the combination of the first keyword and the second keyword. Information search method 4. A step of inputting a first keyword, a step of reading out and displaying a second keyword constrained by the first keyword from a storage section, and a step of selecting a desired second keyword from the displayed second keywords. A step of selecting an item, a step of inputting display data, a step of newly editing and registering a correspondence relationship between the input display data and the input first keyword and selected second keyword, Information retrieval method characterized by having 5. A step of inputting a first keyword, a step of reading out and displaying a second keyword constrained by the first keyword from a storage unit in units of groups having similar meanings, Selecting a desired one from the second keywords, searching for data specified by the combination of the input first keyword and the second keyword selected in the above step, The step of displaying the displayed data and the operator's instruction that the displayed data is undesired, the data identified by the second keyword having a similar meaning but not selected is displayed. , Comparing with the data specified by the selected second keyword and extracting and displaying the data existing only in the former Information retrieval method, characterized in that it comprises Tsu and up, the 6. A search information storage unit that stores a first keyword, a second keyword constrained by the first keyword, and an index of data specified by a combination of the first keyword and the second keyword. And a data storage unit that stores display data corresponding to the index, a display unit, an input unit that inputs a keyword, and the same keyword in the search information storage unit is searched using the input keyword as the first keyword, A retrieval / display control unit for reading out a second keyword restricted by the keyword and displaying it on the display unit; and a keyword selection unit for selecting a desired keyword from the second keywords displayed on the display unit, A combination of the input keyword and the second keyword selected by the keyword selecting means. An information retrieval device comprising: data display control means for reading out data specified by the data from the data storage portion and displaying the data on the display portion. 7. The information retrieving apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising display data selecting means for selecting one of the retrieved display data when there are two or more retrieved display data. 8. The information search device according to claim 7, further comprising: learning means for newly storing the index of the selected display data in association with the combination of the first keyword and the second keyword, and the search. An information search device characterized in that the display control means searches for the learning means before searching the inside of the search information storage portion, and searches the search information storage portion when the learning means is not learned. 9. A search information storage unit storing a first keyword, a second keyword restricted by the first keyword, and an index of data specified by a combination of the second keyword, and a search information storage unit corresponding to each index. The data storage unit that stores the displayed display data, the display unit, the input unit that inputs the first keyword and the display data, and the same keyword in the search information storage unit that uses the input first keyword A retrieval / display control means for reading out a second keyword that is displayed on the display unit, a keyword selection unit for selecting a desired keyword from the second keywords displayed on the display unit, and a display for the input unit. It is activated when data is input, and the first keyword and the selected second key are input through the input unit. An information retrieving apparatus comprising: an editing / registration unit that newly edits a correspondence relationship with a word and registers it in the information retrieval storage unit and the data storage unit. 10. The first keyword, the second keyword restricted by the first keyword, and the index of the data specified by the combination of the first keyword and the second keyword are stored in association with each other. , The second keyword is divided into groups having similar meanings and stored, a search information storage section, a data storage section for storing display data corresponding to each index, a display section, and a keyword input The same keyword in the search information storage unit is searched by using the input unit and the input keyword as the first keyword, the second keyword constrained by the keyword is read out for each group, and is grouped on the display unit. The desired search / display control means to be displayed and the second keyword displayed on the display unit are selected. A keyword selection means for selecting a keyword, and data display control means for reading out data specified by a combination of the input keyword and the second keyword selected by the selection section from the data storage section and displaying the data through the display section. When there is an instruction from the operator that the displayed data is undesired, the data identified by the second keyword that has a similar meaning but is not selected is changed to the selected second keyword. Group data display control means for extracting and displaying data existing only in the former by comparing with the data specified by the information retrieving device.