JPH09185632A - Method and device for retrieving/editing information - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To acquires desired information by retrieving plural data bases and further, to edit and work that information into format desirable for a user. SOLUTION: The retrieving instruction of target information estimated to be preserved in plural data bases, the editing and working instruction of retrieved information and output format deciding instruction (S1) of edited and worked information are received and based on the retrieving instruction, the databases are retrieved (S2) by generating a command for retrieving the plural databases. Concerning one piece of acquired target information, editing and working (S3) is performed according to the instruction of a 1st process, and the edited and worked target information is transformed into prescribed output format according to the output format deciding instruction of information and outputted (S4) through the method for catching it by the sense of sight, the sense of hearing or any other sense.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information editing / processing method and apparatus, and more particularly, it searches a plurality of databases to obtain desired information and further edits / processes the information in a format desired by a user. The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for editing and processing information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a device and method for searching a database, a process of searching the database based on an instruction from the user and returning the search result to the user is generally used. In addition to this process, there is a process of rearranging the information obtained as a result of the search in descending order of similarity with the search condition.

There is also a method of searching a plurality of databases, and a plurality of search results are acquired based on the search condition designated by the user.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional technique, editing or processing other than sorting is not performed. Further, conventionally, in a method or apparatus for searching a plurality of databases, a plurality of search results obtained from a plurality of databases are treated as separate information, respectively, and mutual relation between information obtained from different databases is not considered.

As a result, the following problems occur. (1) We are aware of the similarity between the search conditions and the obtained information, but we are not aware of the relationship between the obtained information, so there is a possibility that related information may be displayed apart from each other. .

(2) Since information obtained from a plurality of databases is treated as separate information, information obtained from different databases may not be provided in time order or relevance order. The present invention has been made in view of the above points, solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, obtains desired information by searching a plurality of databases, and further edits / processes the information in a format desired by the user. It is an object of the present invention to provide an information retrieval / editing method and device capable of performing the information retrieval.

A further object of the present invention is to supplement the search phrase or character string and search again when the target information (desired search result) cannot be obtained from the input search phrase or character string. An object of the present invention is to provide an information search / editing method and device that enables the information.

A further object of the present invention is to present the search result of the database to the user and, by interacting with the user, appropriately change the search phrase or the character string to perform the information search again. -To provide an editing method and apparatus. A further object of the present invention is to provide an information retrieval / editing method and device capable of presenting retrieval results in the sort order desired by the user.

[0009] A further object of the present invention is to provide an information retrieval / editing method and apparatus by which a user can extract an unknown term, add a comment to the term, and present it. . A further object of the present invention is to provide an information retrieval / editing method and apparatus capable of explaining the retrieval situation to the user.

[0010]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention. The information retrieval / editing method of the present invention includes a retrieval instruction for target information estimated to be held by at least one remote database, an instruction for editing / editing the retrieved information, and an instruction for determining an output form of the edited / edited information. And a second step (step 2) for generating a command for searching at least one database based on the search instruction and searching the database.
And according to the instruction of the first process for at least one target information acquired in the second process (step 2),
By the third process (step 3) of performing editing / processing and the third process (step 3), the target information edited / processed is converted into a predetermined output form in accordance with an information output form determining instruction. , A fourth step (step 4) of outputting by a method that can be perceived visually, aurally or by other senses.

In the first step of the above step 1, if a character string satisfying the search information for the target information is not obtained from the received search phrase or sentence, the search phrase or sentence is , And the process of complementing the expression so that the character string satisfies the search condition.

The third process of the above step 3 is
The acquired at least one purpose information is once presented to the user, and the suitability or unsuitability determination result made for the presented purpose information is accepted, and the determination result is reflected to create a new search phrase or , Sentence generation, step 1 first
The process of using the generated search phrase or sentence,
Search the database again.

Further, according to the present invention, the third process and the first process are recursively performed. Also, the first of step 1
In the process of, the search expression for accepting the search condition for the target information is visually presented, the editing operation for the presented search expression is accepted, and a series of processes for modifying the search expression according to the editing operation are recursively performed. To do.

Further, according to the present invention, in the third process of step 3, the search results displayed in the fourth process are sorted in the output order designated by the user. Further, it is assumed that any one of the information relevance degree order, the information generation time order, or the search order is used as the output order.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the principle of the present invention. The present invention is an information retrieval / retrieval that retrieves at least one database 9 existing on a network to obtain desired information.
An editing apparatus, which determines a database 9 to be searched based on a request acquisition unit 1 that interactively acquires a user's request for a search condition and an output, and a search condition obtained by the request acquisition unit 1. Search means 2 for searching for a desired search result from each database 9 and editing for editing / processing the search result obtained by the search means 2 in response to the output request obtained by the request obtaining means 1.・
It has a processing unit 4 and a providing unit 5 for providing the user with the edited / processed information obtained by the editing / processing unit 4.

Further, according to the present invention, the above request acquisition means 1 is provided.
Has a sort order acquisition means for acquiring the output sort order as one of the output requests, and the editing / processing means 4
Includes sorting means for sorting the information acquired by the searching means 2 based on the sort order acquired by the sort order acquiring means.

The above sort order may be any of a relevance order, a time order, and a search order. Further, the information retrieval / editing apparatus of the present invention is specialized in terms of technical terms or a glossary of terms that are unknown to the user and a pair of glossary terms and their explanations, and the contents of the information obtained by the search means 2. Term extraction means for extracting terms or terms that are unknown to the user,
A comment extraction means for obtaining a glossary of a term from a glossary dictionary, a link means for establishing a link between the term and an entry for the term in the glossary dictionary, and a link means for selecting a term by a user. Display means for displaying the entry in the glossary dictionary for the term by following the given link.

The above-mentioned providing means 5 includes means for explaining the outline of the information to be provided to the user in a natural language sentence. Further, the outline of the above information is the search condition, the name of the database 9 in which the information matching the search condition exists, and the number of searches.

The editing / processing means 4 has means for extracting the contents corresponding to 5W1H from the information obtained by the searching means 2. Further, the editing / processing means 4 summarizes and compares the information from the plurality of databases 9 obtained by the search means 2.

As described above, according to the present invention, the plurality of databases 9 existing on the network are searched according to the search condition of the user, and desired information is acquired. Next, the information acquired from the plurality of databases 9 is edited / processed such as sorting in order of relevance, content extraction, or creating a summary, and finally, after editing / processing according to the output format desired by the user. Providing information to the user. Therefore, related information will not be randomly arranged on another screen.

Further, according to the present invention, when the target information (desired search result) cannot be obtained from the input search phrase or character string, the search phrase or character string is complemented to enable the search again. Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to present the search result of the database to the user and, by interacting with the user, appropriately change the search phrase or the character string to search the database again.

Further, according to the present invention, the search results can be presented in the order desired by the user by sorting and outputting the search results in the sort order specified by the user. Further, according to the present invention, it becomes possible for the user to extract a term that is unknown, add a comment to the term, and present the term.

The present invention also makes it possible to explain the search status such as the number of searches to the user. As a result, the information obtained from the plurality of databases 9 can be sorted in the order of relevance or a summary can be created and provided to the user without being aware of the information. Also, since the output format desired by the user is acquired and the search result information is provided accordingly, the user can further sort the search result information,
Eliminates the need to manually extract content.

[0024]

FIG. 3 shows the system configuration of the present invention. The system shown in the figure includes an information search / editing device 6 connected to a network 10, a plurality of databases 9, and an input device 7 connected to the information search / editing device 6.
And an output device 8.

The input device 7 is a key touch panel, a keyboard, a voice recognition device, or the like. The output device 8 is a display, a voice synthesizer, or the like. The information retrieval / editing device 6 is composed of a CPU and a memory in terms of hardware, and has a configuration as shown in FIG. Information retrieval·
The editing device 6 acquires a user's request input from the input device 7 and interprets the request, and a database that searches the database 9 via the network 10 based on the search request interpreted by the request acquisition part 1. Retrieval unit 2, Retrieval destination determination unit 3 for notifying the address of the database 9 where the information satisfying the retrieval request exists, Information editing / processing unit 4 for editing / processing the searched information according to the user's request, Information editing / processing The information providing unit 5 is configured to provide the information obtained by the unit 4 to the user via the output device 8.

The search destination determining unit 3 is composed of a reference table (contrast dictionary) in which a keyword and an address are paired and stored, and is referred to by the database searching unit 2. In addition, the information editing / processing unit 4 uses the glossary dictionary 13
By referring to, the glossary addition process is performed.

Next, the outline of the operation of the information retrieval / editing device 6 will be described. FIG. 5 is a flow chart for explaining the outline of the operation of the information retrieval / editing apparatus of the present invention. Step 100) The request acquisition unit 1 acquires the search request and the output request from the user via the input device 7. As a request from the user, a keyword for searching the database 9, an output order as a request for output,
Whether there is a need to extract contents, a need to summarize search results, a need to explain terms, etc. Then, the acquired search request is transferred to the database search unit 2, and the output request is transferred to the information editing / processing unit 4.

Step 200) The database search unit 2 that has accepted the search request obtained in Step 100.
Generates a search formula for searching each database from the search request (keyword), and searches a plurality of databases 9 existing in the network 10. Then, all the information matching the search conditions and obtained from the plurality of databases 9 is transferred to the information editing / processing unit 4.

Step 300) Information editing / processing section 4
Matches the output request specified in the request acquisition unit 1 obtained in step 100, without being aware of which database the search result acquired from the database search unit 2 in step 200 is information from. To edit and process. Then, the edited / processed information is transferred to the information providing unit 5.

Step 400) The information providing unit 5 provides the edited and processed information acquired from step 300 to the user via the output device 8 together with a sentence explaining the outline of the information.

[0031]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, the detailed operation of the request acquisition unit 1 in step 100 of FIG. 5 will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the request acquisition unit according to the embodiment of the present invention. In the following operation, an example in which a user inputs a request for output will be described.

Step 101) First, the request acquisition unit 1
Gets the search condition. At this time, the application filed by the inventor “Japanese Patent Application No. 6-123682 (search input analysis device and search input analysis method)”, “Japanese Patent Application No. 7-150585 (matching pattern generation method and device)”, “Japanese Patent Application No. 7- 19846
By applying "0 (information retrieval method and apparatus)", the retrieval request can be acquired while interacting with the user.

According to Japanese Patent Application No. 6-123682, when a character string corresponding to a search item in the database 9 is not obtained from the search text (or keyword) input by the user, the input search text is input. It is a technology that complements search expressions that can be searched. To supplement the search expression,
It is performed by referring to a table in which the relationship of search expressions is preset.

Further, Japanese Patent Application No. 7-150585 describes that the entire text which is the collation result by the text collation processing, or
This is a technique in which the user determines conformity or incompatibility with respect to a part of text, and generates a matching pattern only from conformity information that is text that the user has determined to be conformity and nonconformance information that is text that the user has determined to be nonconformity. .

Further, in Japanese Patent Application No. 7-198460, the search text (keyword) input when adjusting the search expression is used.
Search the database with, create a figure for each search result,
The number of search results is displayed together with the figure, and the user visually adjusts the search formula by using the figure operation. When the figure by the search result A and the figure by the search result B are displayed, the search result can be adjusted by overlapping the figure part of the search result A and the figure part of the search result B with each other (that is, the search result). The intersection of A and the search result B) is acquired as the final search result. Furthermore, it is a technique that can update the number of search results displayed on a graphic in response to a graphic operation.

Note that any of the above methods may be used as the method of specifying the keyword in the request acquisition unit 1. Step 102) Next, the request acquisition unit 1 acquires a request regarding output. Here, as the output request, the output order of the differences for displaying the retrieved results is specified. As the output order, any one of the relevance order, the time order, and the search order is determined by the input from the user.

Step 103) Also, the request acquisition unit 1
Is 5W1H (WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHO, WHICH, HOW)
It is determined by the input from the user whether or not the information editing / processing unit 4 performs the process of extracting the contents corresponding to. Step 104) Further, the request acquisition unit 1 summarizes the search results and determines whether or not to perform the process of comparison in the information editing / modifying unit 4 based on an input from the user.

Step 105) It is decided by an input from the user whether or not the information editing / processing section 4 performs a process of adding a glossary to a technical term included in the search result or a term unknown to the user. . Then, the request acquisition process is terminated and the process proceeds to the database search process (step 200 (FIG. 5)).

Next, the detailed operation of the database search unit 2 in step 200 of FIG. 5 will be described. Figure 7
3 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the database search unit according to the embodiment of the present invention. Step 201) The database search unit 2 inquires of the search destination determination unit 3 which database to search based on the search conditions acquired by the request acquisition unit 1 in Step 100, and searches. Get the address in the network where the database exists. As a method of acquiring an address, for example, a target table (or a contrast dictionary) in which a word and an address of a database including the word as a keyword are collected in pairs in the search destination determination unit 3 is prepared in advance, and the comparison table is obtained. There is a method of acquiring the address of the database of the search destination by searching with the word input as the search condition as the keyword.

Step 202) Next, the database retrieval unit 2 substitutes the number of retrieval target databases obtained in Step 201 for the variable n. For example, network 1
If there are 10 databases 9 connected to 0, n = 10. Step 203) Further, the database search unit 2 sets 1 as an initial value to the variable i.

Step 204) Database search unit 2
Depending on the search condition acquired in step 100.
The second database is searched, and the number of successful searches and its contents are acquired and stored together with the database name. Step 205) Next, the database search unit 2 adds 1 to the variable i.

Step 206) Further, the database search section 2 divides the processing depending on whether or not the variable i exceeds the number n of the predetermined databases 9. If it does not exceed n, the process returns to step 204. If n is exceeded, it means that the search of all the databases 9 has been completed, so the database search processing is completed and the process proceeds to step 204. At this time, all the information (search results) obtained in step 204 is transferred to the information editing / processing unit 4.

Next, the detailed operation of the information editing / processing section 4 in step 300 of FIG. 5 will be described. FIG.
FIG. 6 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the information editing / processing unit of the embodiment of the present invention. Step 301) The information editing / modifying unit 4 sorts the search results in the request acquisition unit 1 according to the output order specified by the user (either the degree of association, the order of time, or the order of search). Sorting in the order of relevance can be performed, for example, by applying an application by the inventor (Japanese Patent Application No. 7-193461 “Related information determination method and apparatus”). This method
The degree of association is evaluated by extracting partial information from the search results of the database and comparing the partial information. When comparing partial information, not a word but a character or a continuous character string is used to determine how many common characters or character strings exist between the comparison source and comparison target partial information. This is a technique for comparing with the threshold value of.

Step 302) The processing is divided according to the result of the processing (step 103) for determining whether or not the information processing / processing unit 4 performs the processing for extracting the contents corresponding to 5W1H. If the process is performed, the process proceeds to step 303, and if not, the process proceeds to step 304.

Step 303) Information editing / processing section 4
Applies the content extraction processing for extracting the content corresponding to 5W1H from the search result. In order to execute this processing, for example, an application by the inventor himself (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-
152780 “automatic database creation device”) can be applied. This device displays the character string corresponding to each item of the extraction pattern obtained by collating the predefined extraction pattern with the digitized document, and the correspondence relationship between each item of the database and each item of the extraction pattern and the conversion format. It refers to the specified table and converts it into a character string according to the database specifications.

Step 304) Next, the processing is divided according to whether or not the processing for summarizing and comparing the search results is performed by the information editing / processing section 4 (acquired by the request acquisition section 1 (step 104)). If processing is to be performed, the process proceeds to step 305, and if not, the process proceeds to step 306.

Step 305) Information editing / processing section 4
Applies a summary / comparison process that summarizes and compares each search result. Step 306) Whether or not the information editing / processing section 4 performs a process of adding a term explanation to a technical term included in the search result or a term unknown to the user (acquired by the request acquisition section 1 (step 105). )) Separate the processing. If the process is to be performed, the process proceeds to step 307. If not, the process of the information editing / processing unit 4 is terminated and the process proceeds to step 400 (FIG. 5). At this time, all the results of the information editing / processing process are transferred to the information providing unit 5.

Step 307) Information editing / processing section 4
Applies a term explanation giving process for giving a term explanation to each search result to a technical term contained therein or a term unknown to the user (details will be described later with reference to FIG. 9). After applying the term explanation adding process, the information editing / processing process is terminated, and the process proceeds to step 400 in FIG. At this time, all the results of the information editing / processing process are transferred to the information providing unit 5.

Next, the operation of the term explanation adding process in step 307 will be described. FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining the term explanation adding process according to the embodiment of the present invention. (Step 3071) The information editing / processing unit 4 extracts terms (technical terms or terms unknown to the user) to which a glossary is to be added from the search results. As a method of extracting the term, for example, a term explanation dictionary 13 that collects technical terms or terms that are unknown to the user is prepared in advance, and the term explanation dictionary 13 is searched for with a word included in the search result to perform a search. There is a method to extract the words that have succeeded as a term to be explained as terms. In addition, as a method of identifying words included in search results, a method of identifying words by morphological analysis of search results and extracting character strings at the change points of character types (character types such as hiragana, katakana, and kanji), There is a method of identifying this character string as a word.

Step 3072) Next, the information editing / processing section 4 substitutes the number of terms to which the term explanation obtained in step 3071 should be given, in the variable n. Step 3073) Next, the information editing / processing unit 4 sets the variable i to 1. (Step 3074) The information editing / processing section 4 searches the terminology dictionary 13 using the i-th term as a key. The term explanation dictionary 13 is a dictionary that collects pairs of term face and term explanation. Therefore, by searching the terminology dictionary 13 for the character of the i-th term, the terminology for the term can be obtained.

Step 3075) The processing is divided depending on whether or not there is a description regarding the i-th term in the term explanation dictionary 13. If there is a description, the process proceeds to step 3076, and if not, the process proceeds to step 3077. (Step 3076) The information editing / modifying unit 4 acquires a glossary of the term regarding the i-th from the glossary dictionary 13 and establishes a link between this glossary of terms and the position in the search result where the i-th term exists.

Step 3077) Next, the information editing / processing section 4 adds 1 to the variable i. (Step 3078) The processing is divided depending on whether i exceeds n. If you have not exceeded it, the glossary 13
There are more terms to search for, so step 3074
Move to If it exceeds the limit, the processing has been completed for all terms, so the term explanation adding processing is ended, and the processing shown in FIG.
Step 307 subsequent to step 307, that is, step 400 in FIG. At this time, the link result obtained in step 3076 is sent to the information providing unit 5.

Next, the processing of the information providing unit 5 in step 400 in FIG. 5 will be described. FIG. 10 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the information providing unit according to the embodiment of the present invention. Step 401) The information providing unit 5 generates an explanatory note showing an outline of the search result, and provides the explanatory note to the user via the output device 8. In the explanation that shows the outline of the search result,
It includes how many information items are obtained from which database for what search conditions. For example, as shown in Fig. 11, for the "search condition" A and B and (C or D) ", a description such as" There were 3 records in database AA and 2 records in database BB "was generated. To do.

Step 402) Next, the information providing unit 5
Generates an explanatory note about the output order acquired by the request acquisition unit 1 and provides it to the user via the output device 8. For example, a description such as “Display search results in order of relevance” is generated.

Step 403) The processing is divided depending on whether or not the processing for extracting the contents corresponding to 5W1H is performed in the information editing / processing 4. When this processing is performed (Step 3
02 (necessary)), the process proceeds to step 404, and if not performed (step 302 (unnecessary)), step 406.
Move to

Step 404) Next, the information providing unit 5
Generates an explanatory note related to the content extraction result, and outputs it to the output device 9
To the user via. For example, a description such as “Display the content of the item extracted from each search result” is generated.

Step 405) Next, the information providing unit 5
Provides the content extraction result to the user via the output device 8. For example, the content extraction result is displayed in a table format as shown in FIG. The content extraction result shown in the figure includes a database name, an information ID, an extraction item name, and an extraction content.
In this example, the information ID “000” of the database AA
Items extracted from "1" are "seller", "product type", and "product name". The vendor-company A, product type-mobile phone, product name-corresponding to each item.
AAA has been extracted.

Step 406) The search results obtained in step 405 are summarized and the processing is divided depending on whether or not the information editing / processing section 4 has performed the processing for comparison. If this process is performed (step 304 (necessary)), the process proceeds to step 407, and if not performed (step 304).
For (unnecessary), the process proceeds to step 409.

Step 407) Next, the information providing unit 5
Generates an explanation sentence related to the summarization / comparison process and provides it to the user via the output device 8. For example, a description such as “Display a summary of each search result and the comparison result thereof” is generated.

Step 408) Next, the information providing unit 5
Provides the summary / comparison processing result to the user via the output device 8. Step 409) The processing is divided depending on whether or not the information editing / processing unit 4 has performed the processing of adding a glossary to a technical term included in the search result or a term unknown to the user. When this processing is performed (step 30)
6 (necessary)), the process proceeds to step 410, and if not performed (step 306 (unnecessary)), step 411.
Move to

Step 410) Furthermore, the information providing unit 5
Then, the search result main body sent from the information editing / processing unit 4 is provided with a glossary to the user via the output device 8. Step 411) Further, the information providing unit 5 outputs the search result body sent from the information editing / processing unit 4 to the output device 8
To the user via.

Next, an example displayed on the output device 8 in each of the above operations will be described. FIG. 13 shows a display example on the output device according to the embodiment of the present invention. Figure (A)
Is an example of an input screen for the user to specify search conditions, and (B) is an example of a result screen for displaying search results.

In FIG. 9A, the user inputs an output designation method (sorting method) and a keyword. In the example of FIG. 9A, as the sorting method, "order of relevance" is specified on the startup screen, and three keywords "company A", "telephone", and "mobile" are input on the input screen. The request acquisition unit 1 acquires such a request from the user and transfers it to the database search unit 2. Here, the search destination determining unit 3 determines the database to be searched, and the database searching unit 2 searches the database based on the determination. When the information editing / processing unit 4 obtains the number of searches for each database 9, which is the search result, the information is transferred to the information providing unit 5 and shown in (B) of FIG. There are a total of 9 data that satisfy "&phone". The breakdown is 6 in SYS1 and 2 in SYS2. Image DB
There is one case. The search results are displayed below in order of relevance. The description such as "is output.

Further, by using the method according to the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application No. 7-198460, by displaying a graphic representation of the search result on the display and operating the graphic, the search result is narrowed down and the desired search is performed. It is also possible to get the results. Further, the information editing / processing unit 4 is shown in FIG.
In, the sort specification is "order of relevance", so the search results acquired in order of related content are sorted,
It is transferred to the information providing unit 5. As a result, the information providing unit 5
Displays collectively the related information acquired from the databases SYS1, SYS2, and the image DB.

As described above, according to the above-described embodiment, it is possible to collectively acquire the related data acquired from the plurality of databases 9 and output it. By the above processing, it is possible to search a plurality of databases 9 existing on the network and edit / process the results. As a result, even if the information is obtained from different databases, related information can be provided to the user in close proximity, and the information obtained from different databases can be provided in chronological order. Even in the order of relevance, it can be appropriately performed.

In the above embodiment, the information providing unit 5
The content output in is not limited to the example of FIG. 13, and for example, the summarized result is displayed in a character string,
It is possible to output various display patterns by adding various editing / processing to the search result in the information editing / processing unit 4 such as displaying the term explanation result in a character string.

In the above embodiment, the output device 8
Although the information editing / processing unit 4 and the information providing unit 5 have been described on the assumption that is a display unit, the present invention is not limited to this example, and audio data may be handled. When the information editing / processing unit 4 acquires a voice data output request from the request acquisition unit 1 by voice recognition processing, corresponding voice information is searched and acquired based on the voice recognition result, and various voice waveform data is acquired. Is digitized using an A / D conversion circuit and transferred to the information providing unit 5. The information providing unit 5 performs voice synthesis on the transferred voice data using the voice parameter and outputs the synthesized voice data using a speaker or the like.

Although the method of appealing to the sense of sight and the sense of hearing has been described above, other senses can be similarly applied by using a transducer corresponding to those senses. In addition,
The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications and applications are possible within the scope of the claims.

[0069]

As described above, according to the information searching / editing method and apparatus of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. (1) Since the relationship between the obtained information is taken into consideration, the related information can be provided to the user in close proximity to each other.

(2) Since information obtained from a plurality of databases is handled as a uniform, it is possible to appropriately provide information obtained from different databases in time order or relevance order.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a principle configuration diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an information search / editing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the outline of the operation of the information search / edit device of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a request acquisition unit according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the database search unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the information editing / processing unit of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the information providing unit according to the embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining a term explanation adding process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of providing a screen according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a display example of a content extraction result according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a display example on the output device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 request acquisition unit, request acquisition unit 2 database search unit, search unit 3 search destination determination unit 4 information editing / processing unit, editing / processing unit 5 information providing unit, providing unit 6 information search / editing device 7 input device 8 output device 9 Database 10 Network 13 Glossary dictionary

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. A first accepting a search instruction for target information presumed to be held by at least one remote database, an edit / edit instruction for the searched information, and an output form determination instruction for the edited information. A second step of generating a command for searching the at least one database based on the search instruction and searching the database; and the at least one piece of target information acquired by the second step. A third step of performing editing / processing according to the instruction of the first step, and a predetermined output form according to the output form determining instruction of the information for the target information edited / processed by the third process. An information retrieving / editing method comprising a fourth step of converting and outputting by a method that can be perceived visually, aurally or by other senses. 2. In the first step, when a character string satisfying the search information for the target information is not obtained from the received search phrase or sentence,
2. The information search / edit method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of complementing the expression of the search phrase or sentence so that the search string or sentence becomes a character string satisfying the search condition. 3. The third step is to present the acquired at least one piece of purpose information to a user once, and to accept a judgment result of suitability or unsuitability made to the presented purpose information, The information search according to claim 1, wherein a new search phrase or sentence is generated by reflecting the determination result, and the first step searches the database again using the generated search phrase or sentence. -Editing method. 4. The information retrieval / editing method according to claim 3, wherein the third step and the first step are recursively performed. 5. The first step visually presents a search formula for accepting a search condition for the target information, accepts an edit operation for the presented search formula, and in accordance with the edit operation, The information retrieval / editing method according to claim 1, wherein a series of processes for modifying the retrieval formula is recursively performed. 6. The information search / edit method according to claim 1, wherein in the third step, the search results displayed in the fourth step are sorted in an output order designated by a user. 7. The information searching / editing method according to claim 6, wherein any one of an information relevance order, an information generation time order, or a search order is used as the output order. 8. At least one existing on the network
An information retrieval / editing apparatus for retrieving desired information by retrieving two databases, request acquisition means for interactively acquiring a user's search condition and a request regarding output, and a search condition obtained by the request acquisition means. Based on the above, the database to be searched is determined, the search means for searching the database to obtain a desired search result from each database, and the search means for obtaining the desired output result by the request obtaining means by the search means. Information retrieving / editing, characterized by having an editing / processing means for editing / processing the retrieved search result and a providing means for providing the user with the information after editing / processing obtained by the editing / processing means. apparatus. 9. The request acquisition means includes a sort order acquisition means for acquiring an output sort order as one of the output-related requests, and the editing / modification means sorts the information acquired by the search means. 9. The information retrieval / editing device according to claim 8, further comprising sorting means for sorting based on the sort order acquired by the order acquiring means. 10. The sorting order is relevance order, time order,
The information retrieval / editing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the information retrieval / editing apparatus is in any one of retrieval order. 11. A terminology dictionary, which is a collection of pairs of technical terms or terms that are unknown to the user and their explanations, and a technical term or information unknown to the user based on the contents of the information obtained by the search means. A term extracting means for extracting a term, a comment extracting means for obtaining a term explanation for the term from the term explanation dictionary, and a link means for establishing a link between the term and an entry for the term in the term explanation dictionary. 11. The information search according to claim 8, further comprising: and a display unit for displaying an entry in the glossary dictionary for the term by following a link provided by the link unit when the user selects the term. Editing device. 12. The information retrieving / editing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said providing means includes means for explaining an outline of information to be provided to the user in a natural language sentence. 13. The information search / editing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the outline of the information is a search condition, a name of a database in which information matching the search condition exists, and the number of searches. 14. The information searching / editing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said editing / processing means has means for extracting the content corresponding to 5W1H from the information obtained by said searching means. 15. The information searching / editing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the editing / processing means summarizes and compares information from a plurality of databases obtained by the searching means.