JPH10187753A - Www information extraction system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information required by a user on a WWW with a little burden by generating and storing information for specifying the start and end position of designated data. SOLUTION: The start and end positions of data required for a user himself are designated in a WWW document by a user interface 201, and the designated contents are specified by a scrap data specification information part 202. The pair of URL and scrap data specification information of a document, for which a user designates scrap data, is stored in a scrap information storage part 203. The latest WWW document corresponding to the stored URL is possessed by a possessing part 205 and based on the stored scrap data specification information, data required for the user are extracted out of the newly possessed WWW document by a data extracting part 204. Afterwards, the extracted data are collected into one page by a link part 206.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a WWW (World
The present invention relates to a system for obtaining a WWW document from a Wide Web) site, and more particularly to a WWW information extraction system that enables only a user to extract necessary information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There is a WWW browser as a tool for acquiring and browsing information existing on a WWW site. The user can enter the URL (Uniform Resourc) of the target WWW document.
It is possible to browse target information by designating e Locator (a standard used to identify files on the Internet or WWW).

Further, an autopilot tool has been developed for the purpose of simplifying the user's work for specifying a URL. By utilizing this, it is possible to collectively obtain WWW documents of a plurality of URLs specified in advance by the user at the date and time or time interval specified by the user.

[0004]

In order to obtain necessary information from a WWW document existing on a WWW site using a WWW browser, a user specifies a URL of a target WWW document, and the document is displayed on the WWW browser. It is necessary to perform a work such as visually searching while scrolling the document (manual search) or using a character string search function after being displayed on the screen.

[0005] When information is acquired from a plurality of WWW documents, the above-mentioned operations are repeated. This means that the same operation as described above must be repeated. Thus, W
When a WW document is updated daily, the operation for obtaining information from a plurality of WWW documents becomes complicated, increasing the burden on the user, and quickly obtaining desired information for this search operation. Becomes difficult.

Further, by using the above-mentioned auto-pilot tool, it is possible to download a plurality of WWW documents collectively to a local machine, but even in this case, the user himself can download files on the local machine. You have to open up and find the information you need.

[0007] For this reason, the labor required for a user to browse necessary information is not much different from the case of using a WWW browser.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and has as its object to solve the above-mentioned problems of the conventional system and to obtain information required by a user on the WWW with a small burden. It is to provide a WWW information extraction system that enables the above.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the WWW information extraction system of the present invention automatically scrapes only the information required by the user from a plurality of WWW pages and collects it into one document. This is presented to the user.

That is, a WWW information extraction system according to the present invention is a system for acquiring information from a WWW (World Wide Web) site.
Means for allowing the user to specify a part of the data in the WWW document, data specifying information generating means for generating information for specifying the start and end points of the data specified by the user, Storage means for storing a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the WWW document specifying the URL and information generated by the data specifying information generating means; a WWW document obtaining means for obtaining a WWW document from the WWW site; Using the information generated by the means and stored in the storage means
WWW data corresponding to the data specified by the user first
Means for extracting the data from the document, even if the content of the WWW document is updated, extracting data corresponding to the data specified by the user.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, (a) a user interface (201 in FIG. 2) that allows a user to specify a start position and an end position of data required by the user in a WWW document; b) means (202 in FIG. 2) for generating scrap data specifying information for specifying the start and end points of the data specified by the user on the user interface (hereinafter referred to as “scrap data”); It has a scrap information storage unit (203 in FIG. 2) for storing a set of URL of a document for which the user has specified scrap data and scrap data specifying information (hereinafter referred to as “scrap information”).

The user can specify scrap data for a plurality of locations on a plurality of WWW pages.

The system generates scrap data specifying information for each piece of scrap data specified by the user, and stores it in the scrap information storage unit (203 in FIG. 2).

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in addition to the above (a) to (c), (d) the URL stored in the scrap information storage unit (203 in FIG. 2)
Means for acquiring the latest WWW document corresponding to (2 in FIG. 2)
05), (e) scrap information storage unit (203 in FIG. 2)
Means for identifying a start point and an end point of data required by a user from a newly obtained WWW document based on scrap data identification information stored in, and extracting data between the start point and the end point (204 in FIG. 2),
(F) After performing the processes in (d) and (e) above for all sets of URLs and scrap data specifying information stored in the scrap information storage unit (203 in FIG. 2), It is configured to include means (206 in FIG. 2) for combining into one page.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, if a user first specifies a start position and an end position of data required by the user in a WWW document, then the user can specify the latest WWW on the system side. The document is acquired, and only the data considered necessary by the user is automatically extracted from the newly acquired document.

Therefore, there is no need for the user himself / herself to search the newly acquired WWW document for the information he / she needs.

The information required by the user is a plurality of W
Even if it exists in a WWW document, the WWW information extraction system according to the embodiment of the present invention extracts data required by the user from each WWW document, and combines the extracted data into one document. In order to present the information to the user, the user does not need to open each WWW document one by one and browse the contents, but can browse only the necessary information in a batch.

For this reason, it is possible to greatly reduce the work cost required for acquiring and searching the necessary information from the WWW site.

[0019]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In order to describe the above-mentioned embodiment of the present invention in more detail, an embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing an overall configuration of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.
Referring to FIG. 1, the system according to the present embodiment includes a display device 101 for displaying data, an input device 102 such as a pointing device such as a mouse and a keyboard, and a storage device 103 for storing scrap data specifying information and the like. , These display devices 1
01, an input device 102, and a computer 104 that controls the storage device 103 to execute processing.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of the WWW information extraction system of one embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, the WWW information extraction system generates a user interface 201 for the user to specify a specific portion of the WWW document and information for specifying the data specified by the user in the WWW document. A scrap data specifying information generating unit 202, a scrap information storing unit 203 that stores a set of a URL of a WWW document for which data is specified by the user and scrap data specifying information, and a scrap page updating unit 207; 207 is a WW corresponding to the specified URL
WWW document acquisition unit 2 for acquiring a W document from a WWW site
05 and a data extraction unit 204 that cuts out a part of a newly obtained WWW document based on the scrap data specifying information.
And an extracted data linking unit 206 for linking the extracted data to form a single document.

In the following, data specified by the user on the user interface 201 is referred to as “scrap data”, and scrap data is specified by the scrap data specifying information generating unit 202 to specify the start and end of the scrap data in the WWW document. The information to be performed is "scrap data specifying information", and W
A set of the URL of the WW document and the scrap data specifying information is referred to as “scrap information”.

An interface (201 in FIG. 2) for designating scrap data can designate a URL of a WWW document including data required by a user and a start and end point of specific data in the document. I just need.

As an example, a WWW browser having a function of selecting a text being displayed can be used as this interface.

When a WWW browser is used as an interface for designating scrap data, referring to FIG.
After the user selects a specific location on the WWW browser (the highlighted portion indicates the selected location; the hatched area in the figure), the system informs the system that the selected location is the scrap data required by the user. Will be instructed. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example (an example of screen display) of selecting scrap data on a WWW browser.

After this instruction, the system stores the URL of the WWW document currently displayed by the WWW browser in the scrap information storage unit 203 in the WWW browser.

Further, HTML (HyperText Markup Lan), which is the source of the document being displayed by the WWW browser, is used.
guage: a document in the form of a hypertext markup language) and data specified by the user as scrap data are passed to the scrap data identification information generation unit 202.

The scrap data specifying information generating section 202
Generates scrap data specifying information for specifying the start and end points of the scrap data in the WWW document based on the HTML document and the scrap data, and stores the information in the scrap information storage unit 203.

The scrap data identification information generated by the scrap data identification information generation unit 202 and stored in the scrap information storage unit 203 is used to extract information required by the user from a newly obtained WWW document later. First, the data extraction unit 204 is used. Therefore, even after a WWW document on a WWW site is changed, it is necessary that the information be highly likely to remain in the document.

An example of such information is HTML
There is something related to the document structure such as the type and order of tags in the document. In WWW sites, documents are often changed while keeping the document structure (headings, number and order of lists, etc.). Therefore, information such as the number of tags surrounding the scrap data in the document is useful.

Further, as another example, there are contents of the start line of the scrap data, and contents of lines immediately before / after the start / end portion of the scrap data. Usually, the user
A portion that may be changed in the document is designated as scrap data, but the contents before and after the changed portion in the WWW document are often not changed. Therefore, the contents of the immediately preceding line, the starting line, and the immediately following line of the scrap data are useful.

In this embodiment, the line immediately before the scrap data,
The contents of the start line and the line immediately after are stored in the scrap information storage unit 2.
It should be stored in 03.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of data stored in the scrap information storage unit 203 in this embodiment. Referring to FIG. 5, WWW for which the user has specified data
According to the URL of the document, the line immediately before the scrap data,
A scrap data start row and a row immediately after scrap data are stored.

Only the data actually displayed on the browser is stored in the scrap information storage unit 203 as the contents of the immediately preceding line, the starting line, and the immediately following line of the scrap data.

That is, only the text included in these lines, the <IMG> tag for displaying the image, and the <HR> tag for displaying the horizontal rule (horizontal rule) are stored, and the text is modified <FONT> Do not remember tags.

Although the type of tag that has the effect of displaying data on the browser differs depending on the HTML version, in this embodiment, it is assumed that only the <IMG> tag and the <HR> tag are used.

Therefore, the HTML document shown in FIG.
When the scrap data is displayed on the WW browser and the user specifies the scrap data (the inverted display section in FIG. 3) as shown in FIG.
As the scrap data start line, the scrap information storage unit 203 stores only the character string “10/2 15:00 update” with the <FONT> tag and the <I> tag deleted.
To memorize.

Immediately after the scrap data, <H
R> memorize tag.

As a result, the scrap information storage unit 203
Stores information shown in the third row of FIG. 5 as scrap data specifying information. That is, the line immediately before the scrap data is “Today's Top News”, the start line of the scrap data is “10/21 15:00”, and the line immediately after the scrap data is <HR>.

In the HTML document shown in FIG.
The <H2> tag designates a middle heading, the <BR> designates a line feed, the <I> tag designates italic (italic), the <UL> tag designates an itemized list, and <LI> designates an itemized item.

FIG. 6 shows a processing procedure when a request for acquiring the latest WWW information is issued from a user by using PAD (problem analysis).
is diagram (tree structure chart). For convenience of explanation, the i-th URL stored in the scrap information storage unit 203 is Surl [i], the content of the line immediately before the scrap data is Sprv [i], the content of the start line of the scrap data is Sbgn [i], and the content of the start line of the scrap data is Sbgn [i]. Let the content of the line be Snxt [i].

First, in the WWW document acquisition section 205,
Latest WWW document doc corresponding to Surl [i]
[I] is replaced with HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Proto)
col) (step 602).

Next, in the data extraction unit 204, doc
The start position B [i] of the data to be cut out from [i] is Spr
It is specified using v [i] and Sbgn [i] (step 603).

When B [i] can be specified (step 60)
5), the data extraction unit further performs doc
The end position E [i] of the data cut out from [i]
Identification is performed using t [i] (step 606).

If both B [i] and E [i] have been identified (Yes in step 607), B [i] and E [i]
The text between [i] and all tags surrounding the text are extracted from doc [i] and assigned to EXT [i] (step 608).

If any of B [i] and E [i] cannot be specified, it is determined that there is no extracted data.

After the above processing has been performed for all scrap information, the extracted data linking unit 206 combines the already extracted data EXT [i] (1 <= i <= n) into one HTML document (step 609). ).

FIG. 7 is a PAD showing a processing procedure for specifying the start position B [i] of the data to be extracted in the data extraction unit 204.

First, in doc [i], Sprv
A portion where the character strings of [i] and Sbgn [i] are continuous is searched (step 701). However, the search is doc
It is performed for [i] from which tags other than <IMG> and <HR> are removed.

The document is scanned from the head of doc [i], and the head of the Sbgn [i] character string at the first matching position is set to B [i] (step 703).

If B [i] cannot be specified, S
The above search is performed using only the character string of prv [i] (step 704), and the head of the line next to the first matched portion is set to B [i] (step 706).

If B [i] cannot be specified in this search, the above search is further performed using only the character string of Sbgn [i] (step 707). B [i] (Step 70)
8).

Here, if B [i] cannot be specified, it is assumed that B [i] cannot be finally found (step 709).

The end point E [i] of the data to be extracted by the data extraction unit 204 is determined by the B specified in the above procedure.
Search from [i] to doc [i] end of document.

A search is performed using the character string of Snxt [i], and the end of the line immediately before the first match is set to E [i].
And If there is no match, it is assumed that E [i] could not be specified.

According to the above data extraction procedure, WWW
When the WWW document of the site is updated and the contents matching the scrap data start line, the immediately preceding line, and the immediately succeeding line held as the scrap information are deleted from the original document, the portion intended by the user cannot be extracted. .

For example, the scrap information storage unit 20 shown in FIG.
When the document of the second URL of No. 3 is updated as shown in FIG. 8B, the character string “Kanagawa Weather” immediately after the scrap data is not searched for from the updated new document. Data cannot be specified. In this case, the user needs to display the entire original WWW document on the browser and search for necessary information by himself.

However, by inserting the extracted data linking unit 206 as a hyperlink in the URL of the original document as shown in FIG. 9, it is possible to display the original document with a small amount of trouble, which is a practical problem. There is no. FIG. 9 shows the HT generated by the system of the present embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of an ML document (“http: //www.aa.co.j
p / index.html ”).

[0060]

As described above, according to the present invention, if the user first specifies the start position and end position of the necessary data in the WWW document, then the system can update the latest WWW document. And extracts only data considered necessary by the user from the newly obtained document. Therefore, there is no need for the user to search for the information he or she needs from the newly acquired WWW document. For this reason, a remarkable effect of significantly reducing the user's work for extracting information and improving the convenience is achieved.

Further, according to the present invention, even when information required by a user exists in a plurality of WWW documents, the system extracts data required by the user from each WWW document, and extracts the extracted data into one. Since the documents are presented together in one document, it is not necessary for the user to open each WWW document one by one and browse the contents, and it is possible to browse only the necessary information in a batch. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to greatly reduce the operation cost for acquiring and searching for necessary information from a WWW site.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining one embodiment of the present invention;
It is a figure showing an example of selection of scrap data on a WWW browser.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining one embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of an HTML document.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining one embodiment of the present invention;
It is a figure showing contents of a scrap information storage part.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a processing flow in one embodiment of the present invention, and is a PAD diagram showing a data extraction algorithm.

FIG. 7 is a PAD diagram showing a data extraction algorithm for explaining the processing flow according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining one embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a WWW document.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining one embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of an HTML document generated by the system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 101 display device 102 input device 103 memory 104 computer 201 user interface 202 scrap data identification information generation unit 203 scrap information storage unit 204 data extraction unit 205 WWW document acquisition unit 206 extracted data connection unit

Claims (5)

[Claims] In a WWW information extraction system for acquiring information from a WWW (World Wide Web) site, when a user designates a location where data required for a WWW document exists, the WWW document has Information for specifying the specified portion (referred to as "specific information") is automatically generated, and the generated specific information is stored, and thereafter, the specific information is used from a newly acquired WWW document. And extracting only data required by the user. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the specifying information for specifying the specified portion includes information indicating a start and an end portion of the data specified by the user in the WWW document, and the specifying information is stored in a URL (URL) of the WWW document. Uniform Resou
2. The W according to claim 1, wherein the W is stored in association with a uniform resource locator (rce Locator).
WW information extraction system. 3. A start point and an end point of data corresponding to data previously specified by the user in a newly acquired WWW document based on the stored specific information, and the start point and the end point are determined. 3. The WWW according to claim 2, wherein by extracting data between the end points, data considered necessary by the user is extracted from the newly acquired WWW document.
Information extraction system. 4. Extraction of data between a start point and an end point of a newly acquired WWW document for a set of all stored URLs and the specific information, and the newly acquired WWW document is 3. The WWW information extraction system according to claim 2, further comprising means for presenting data extracted from each WWW document in a single document when there are a plurality of WWW documents. 5. A WWW information extraction system for acquiring information from a WWW (World Wide Web) site, comprising: means for allowing a user to designate a part of data in a WWW document; A data specifying information generating means for generating information for specifying the start and end points of the specified data, and the URL (Unifo) of the WWW document for which the user has specified the data.
rm Resource Locator) and a storage unit that stores information generated by the data identification information generation unit, a WWW document acquisition unit that acquires a WWW document from the WWW site, and a storage unit that is generated by the data identification information generation unit. Means for extracting, from the WWW document, data corresponding to the data specified by the user using the information stored in the WWW document, even if the content of the WWW document is updated, A WWW information extraction system for extracting corresponding data.