JPH086955A - Device and method for retrieving information - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce useless retrieving work and to attain effective retrieval by retrieving information matched with a retrieving condition from a mother set, setting up the retrieved information as a node and expressing retrieving history on a network by using the retrieving condition as a link. CONSTITUTION:A data storing part 1 stores data as an object to be retrieved and a retrieving processing part 2 applies a retrieving condition inputted from a retrieving condition input part 3 to data stored in a data storing part 1 and prepares a set of retrieved results. Retrieval history is managed by a retrieval history managing part 5 and stored in a retrieval history storing part 4 and displayed on a retrieval history display part 7 as a network-like graphic using the retrieved information as a node and the inputted retrieving condition as a link. Thereby retrieving work can be reexecuted from an optional point of time and a new set to be retrieved can easily be prepared from plural optional results by the use of set operation. In addition, the overlap of work generating the same effect can be prevented by checking the identify of respective nodes in the history.

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 method for interactively retrieving, for example, a user inputs a retrieval condition and newly gives a retrieval condition to the result.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in an information retrieval apparatus that interactively retrieves a large amount of data, new retrieval conditions are added to already retrieved retrieval results, or the product and sum of retrieval results are combined. It is usual to carry out trial and error of the search work by treating the search result as a search target set by calculating the difference or the like. However, in the conventional device of this type, the process of the search work can be handled only as one-dimensional information such as a list of commands input as search conditions or a set sequence created as a search result.

[0003]

Therefore, the user is
In the process of search work, you can forget the previous search process and repeat the same work, or even if the search target sets with exactly the same content are generated from different search histories, you can check the contents of both sets individually. For example, there are drawbacks such as not being aware that they are the same and not being able to perform efficient search.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks. The history of search work is displayed in an easy-to-understand manner, and the history can be easily restarted from an arbitrary point in time so that a previous search can be performed. You can use the results effectively, and
(EN) An information search device and a method for checking the sameness of nodes in a history to prevent duplication of work producing the same effect, reduce waste of user's search work, and perform more effective search. The purpose is to provide.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the information retrieval apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration.
That is, an information retrieval device that gives a condition and retrieves information that meets the condition, and a storage unit that stores the information,
Selecting means for selecting a population from the information stored by the storage means; input means for inputting search conditions; search means for searching the population for information matching the search conditions; Display means for displaying the search history on the network using the searched information as a node and the search condition input by the input means as a link.

The information retrieval method of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, an information search method for giving a condition and searching for information matching the condition, including a storing step of storing the information, a selecting step of selecting a population from the information stored by the storing step, and a search condition. An input step of inputting, a search step of searching for information matching the search condition from the population, the information searched by the search step as a node, and the search condition input by the input step as a link A display step of displaying the search history on the network.

[0007]

With the above configuration, the history of the search work performed by the user can be displayed in the form of a network for easy understanding,
By making it possible to select any node in the history, it is easy to re-execute the search work from any time and create a new search target set from any multiple results using the set operation. By automatically checking the identities of the nodes, the duplication of the work producing the same effect can be prevented, and the trouble of searching for the data sets having the same contents can be saved.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A search system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the system configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a data storage unit that stores data to be searched, 2 is a search processing unit that applies input search conditions to the stored data, and creates a search result set, 3 is input of search conditions A part 4, a search history holding part for storing a search history, 5 a search history management part, 6 a history edit instruction input part, 7 a search history for displaying the held search history as a network diagram It is a display unit. Although an example of display will be described later, this network-like display shows search results as nodes and search conditions as links between nodes.

In the search processing unit 2, the search history management unit 5
Then, the contents of the target set in the data storage unit 1 are accessed, the search condition input from the search condition input unit 3 is applied,
Create a search result set.

The created search set and the search conditions used are sent to the search history management unit 4, created as the next node of the set targeted by the above-described processing, and sent to the search history holding unit 5. At this time, the node identity is checked, and if there is an identical node, they are combined as the same node. A node refers to a data set that satisfies a desired condition, or a node corresponding to a data set in a network diagram.

At the same time that the search history is updated, the display of the search history display section 7 is also updated, and the network of the search history is rewritten.

The history edit instruction input unit 6 accepts mouse input such as node selection, switches the search target set when the next search condition is input, and specifies a plurality of nodes to create a product of nodes.・ Accepts calculation instructions such as sum and difference, and creates new nodes.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration example for realizing the configuration of FIG. 1 by a computer system. The input units 3 and 6 are a pointing device 53 and a keyboard 5.
4 and the display unit 7 includes a CRT 56. The data storage unit 1 is realized by the large-capacity memory 51, and the search history holding unit 4
Can be realized by the data / program memory 52. Further, the configuration of FIG. 1 including the above-described units is realized by the CPU 55 executing a program stored in the memory 52.

Next, the operation of this apparatus will be described with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG.

First, in step S1, an input from the user is waited for, and in step S2, it is determined whether or not it is an end instruction.

If not, it is determined in step S3 whether or not the input is designation of the search condition. When the search condition is designated, the process proceeds to step S4 to refer to the search target set. If this is the input of the last search condition, all the sets stored in the data or the data set designated as the default is set as the search target set. If the node of the previous search result is selected and designated as the search target during the search operation, the selected node becomes the search target set. If multiple nodes are specified, the union of the nodes is set as the search target set.

In step S5, the search formula created when the search condition determined in step S3 is added to the search target confirmed in step S4, and the search formulas in the search history that have been used so far. And check if there is a node with the same search expression. Whether or not they are the same search expression must be able to be checked not only for the search condition given when the node is created, but also for all the nodes that created the node. This search expression may be created by expanding the history search conditions and set operations at the time of node generation and added to all nodes, or may be created by tracing the nodes when checking. Good.

If a node having the same search expression already exists, a new search is not performed, and the process proceeds to step S6 to create a link connecting the node currently being searched and the existing node. Then, the process proceeds to step S7, the search history is updated, the history network is re-displayed in step S8, and the process returns to step S1 to wait for the next input. When this history is updated, the search target set or the selected node at the time of the next input may be the merged node or the newly created node.

When it is determined in step S5 that the same search expression does not exist, the process proceeds to step S9, the search conditions are applied to the search target set to collate the data, and a search result set is created. To do. Next, in step S10, it is checked whether or not a node having a search result of the same set as the search result exists in the search history so far. If it exists, the process proceeds to step S6, a link to an existing node is generated, and the process proceeds to step S7. If it does not exist, a history node is newly created in step S11,
A link is set from the search target set, and the process proceeds to step S7.

The above is a series of processing when the search condition is input.

When it is determined in step S3 that the search condition is not input, it is determined in step S9 whether it is an instruction to execute a set operation.

If it is an instruction to execute a set operation, step S
In step 13, it is determined whether a node has been selected as a calculation target. The following may be considered as the order of this determination, but any of them may be used.

Select an operator after selecting two or more nodes.

Select an operator to select two or more nodes.

The nodes and operators are selected in the order in which general mathematical expressions are written. Therefore, the presence or absence of the selected node in S13 determines whether or not all the materials for creating the set operation expression are available. If the materials are not available, just step S1
Return to and wait for input.

If the materials are prepared, the process proceeds to step S14 and the same check as in step S5 is performed. With this check,
If it is determined that there is a node having the same search expression, the process proceeds to step S6 and a link with an existing node is established. On the other hand, if it is determined that the search target set is not present, the process advances to step S15 to perform a set operation to create a search target set. Then, the process proceeds to step S10, and it is checked whether or not the nodes of the same set already exist. The subsequent processing is the same as when the search condition is input.

The above is the processing when it is determined in step S12 that a set operation instruction has been input.

When it is determined in step S12 that there is an input other than the set operation instruction, it is determined in step S16 whether it is a node selection. If not, the process directly proceeds to step S1 and waits for input.

In the case of node selection, the fact that the selected node has been selected as the search target set or the calculation target set is registered, and the flow advances to step S1 to wait for input. At this time, it is assumed that the number of selected nodes does not have to be one at the same time, and it is possible to determine whether the node has been newly selected or additionally selected.

3 to 4 are views for explaining the search history display. 3 and 4 display the number of areas satisfying a desired condition as a node.

In FIG. 3, first, the operator's search intention is that it is drawn in the frame of the broken line, and the conditions "summer resort" and "Pacific area" are set from the population. Searches for English or Japanese regions. This is displayed as the network 31. The node that meets each condition is the condition "Summer Resort"
1000, with that as the condition of condition "Pacific area"
Indicates that 150 areas were searched for by the condition "English" and 15 areas were searched by the condition "Japanese" using that as a mother set.

The node thus searched is used as a mother set and further searched under the condition "French cuisine". The network 3 is selected by selecting the nodes 321 and 322 and is searched by the condition "French cuisine".
It is 3. As a result of retrieving the node 321 and the node 322 respectively, both have obtained the same set, so that a link is established for a single node 331.

The number 2 indicated by the node 331 thus obtained
0 is the number of areas that satisfy the above conditions.

Further, FIG. 4 shows how a further search is performed based on the network 33. The network 41 in FIG. 4 is a display when the node 411 is selected, and when the condition “old French territory” is searched, the network 42 is displayed. In this case, the node 411
A node 421 including 30 regions with a population of is selected,
Is displayed.

In this state, the network 43 is the result of searching for the node 421 as the mother set under the condition "English". In this case, since the obtained result is the same as that of the node 331, the node is not added and the node 421 and the node 33 are not added.
Just create a new link in one hour.

As described above, since the search population can be selected at a desired point in the search history, the search results can be effectively used, and the search can be speeded up and made more efficient. .

Furthermore, the sameness of the nodes obtained as a result of the search is checked from the two aspects of the sameness of the search expression and the sameness of the constituent elements of the set, and the same nodes are displayed as the same, so the same contents are displayed. It is possible to prevent duplication of work that hinders the efficiency, such as performing a search under the same condition with a plurality of nodes having the as a mother set.

Further, since the search history is displayed in a network-like diagram, the correspondence between the search condition and the search result is obvious and the visibility is very good.

In this embodiment, the search condition to be added is described on the link as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, but it may be displayed on the node.

Further, not only the search condition given at the end is described as the search condition, but the search condition obtained by tracing the history and expanding all is displayed on one node, and the approximate search operation is performed. It may be easy to notice what is being done.

Further, in the present embodiment, when a search condition is given in the state where a plurality of nodes of the target set are designated, the sum of the target sets is taken and then the search condition is applied.
It may be replaced by another operation such as a product or a difference.

In the present embodiment, no particular distinction is made between the nodes merged because the search expressions are the same and the nodes merged because the contents of the search target (search result) set are the same. This may be displayed by different colors so that it can be recognized as a different type.

In the case where the contents of the set are the same, it is not necessary to merge two nodes and replace them with one node in order to show that the results of both search histories are the same. Alternatively, another node may be formed separately, and a link may be attached from the two nodes so that the merge can be distinguished from the merge according to the same search formula.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of one device. Further, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to the case where it is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus.

[0046]

As described above, the information retrieval apparatus and method according to the present invention display the history of retrieval work as a network in an easy-to-understand manner and use the retrieval result at a desired point in the history as a population. It is selectable, which facilitates re-execution of the search operation from an arbitrary point of time and creation of a new search target set using a set operation from the desired multiple results, and the same search result in the history. By automatically checking the sex, it is possible to prevent the duplication of the work that produces the same search result, and to avoid the trouble of considering the weight of the data sets having the same content.

[0047]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operation flowchart showing a processing procedure according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a search history display according to the embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a search history display according to the embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration for realizing the system of the exemplary embodiment of the present invention by a CPU.

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. An information search device for giving a condition and searching for information matching the condition, comprising: storage means for storing the information; and selection means for selecting a population from the information stored by the storage means. An input unit for inputting a search condition, a search unit for searching the population for information matching the search condition, and a search condition input by the input unit with the information searched by the search unit as a node And a display unit for displaying a search history on the network with the link as a link. 2. The information search device according to claim 1, wherein the selection unit selects the information searched by the search unit as a population. 3. A comparison means for comparing whether search results retrieved from different populations are the same, and the same search result is displayed as a single node by the comparison means. The information search device according to claim 1. 4. An information retrieval device for providing a condition and retrieving information matching the condition, comprising: storage means for storing the information; selection means for selecting a search population; and input for inputting the retrieval condition. Means, a search means for searching the population for information matching the search condition, and a history storage means for storing a search history by the search means, wherein the selecting means stores the population in the history storage means. An information retrieval device characterized by selecting from the following. 5. An information retrieval apparatus for providing a condition and retrieving information matching the condition, comprising: storage means for storing the information, selecting means for selecting a search population, and input for inputting the retrieval condition. Means, retrieval means for retrieving information matching the retrieval condition from the population, comparison means for comparing whether the retrieval results retrieved from different populations are the same, and the same retrieval by the comparison means An information retrieval device characterized by displaying a result as a single node. 6. A method for retrieving information matching a condition by giving a condition, the storing step of storing the information, and the selecting step of selecting a population from the information stored by the storing step. An input step of inputting search conditions, a search step of searching the population for information matching the search conditions, and a search condition input by the input step with the information searched by the search step as a node And a display step of displaying a search history on the network with the link as a link. 7. The information retrieval method according to claim 6, wherein the selection step selects the information retrieved by the retrieval step as a population. 8. The method further comprises a comparison step of comparing whether search results retrieved from different sets are the same, and the same search result is displayed as a single node by the comparison step. The information search method according to claim 6. 9. A method for retrieving information that meets a condition by giving a condition, comprising: a storing step of storing the information, a selecting step of selecting a search population, and an input for inputting a search condition. And a history storing step of storing a search history by the searching step, wherein the selecting step stores the population in the history storing step. An information retrieval method characterized by selecting from the following. 10. A method for retrieving information that meets a condition by giving a condition, comprising: a storing step of storing the information; a selecting step of selecting a search population; and an input for inputting a search condition. A process, a search process for searching the population for information matching the search condition, a comparison process for comparing whether search results retrieved from different populations are the same, and an identical search by the comparison process. An information retrieval method characterized by displaying the result as a single node.