JPH10187755A - Retrieval information visualization system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information retrieval visualization system that displays not only a retrieval result based upon an inputted retrieval word, but also information relating to the retrieval word so that a user can refer to them at the same time as an information retrieval system, which retrieves information and displays the retrieval result. SOLUTION: This system is equipped with a retrieval input part 101, through which the user inputs a retrieval word, an arrangement display part 106, which displays a retrieval result to the user, a retrieval request part 102 which generates a retrieval expression from the retrieval word from the retrieval input part and sends a request for retrieval to a data base, a data base 103, an expansion retrieval request part 104, which retrieves information relating to the retrieval word, and an arrangement generation part 105, which arranges the retrieval results from the retrieval request part 102 and expansion retrieval request part 104 on the same screen, and displays not only the retrieval result 111 based upon the retrieval word, but also its relative information 112 to the user.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information retrieval system, and more particularly, in a system for retrieving information (for example, the title of a book) and displaying the retrieval result, for example, "author name" in the retrieval of a book. When outputting and displaying the type of the result and the distribution such as “number of pages” in book search as a three-dimensional object,
The present invention relates to a search information visualization system capable of continuously searching related items from an initial search.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a method of visualizing data, the following techniques (1) and (2) are known as conventional techniques using a three-dimensional display mode.

[0003] (1) Documents using three-dimensional computer graphics imitating an actual library include, for example, Reference (1) (Toshiyuki Kamiya, "Development of an electronic library interface using three-dimensional walkthrough and CG librarian") , Information Processing Society of Japan, Information Media Study Group Report, Vol.95, No.1, 2nd
7-34, 1995).

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a screen of such a virtual library, and is a diagram showing an example of a screen showing a state in which a virtual shelf is being moved. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of such a virtual library system.

The system pre-reads a description file for a three-dimensional bookshelf to be displayed to the user (step 9-1 in FIG. 9) and displays the three-dimensional graphics of the open shelving library (step 9-2).

The user gives a search instruction by moving through the open shelves by an operation via an input means (for example, a pointing device such as a mouse or automatic recognition of voice input). 9-
3).

In this virtual library system, the data to be searched is the title or author name shown on the cover image of the book (book), and by moving around the book shelf, the target book or its surroundings is displayed. It is possible to find a related book. In this system, the search target is represented by, for example, displaying a book cover image.

(2) As a search system for displaying a search result as a three-dimensional shape by inputting a search key (for example, author name) of a book as a character string, for example, reference (2) (52nd Information Proceedings of the National Conference of Processing Society, 6th
Vol., Pp. 367-368).

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a screen of a system for visualizing search results by such three-dimensional shape display, and FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a processing flow thereof. The system searches the database according to the instruction by the keyword input by the user (step 11 in FIG. 11).
-3), and displays the search result to the user as a three-dimensional shape description (step 11-4).

As a result of this search, the visualization system displays the search result in a three-dimensional manner, and only the result that exactly matches the search target is displayed as a three-dimensional shape.

[0011]

The above-described conventional visualization system of search information has the following problems.

(1) In the virtual library system described above, the user operates the three-dimensional space by himself / herself to search for book information (data to be searched), thereby obtaining desired book information (search). Target data), and at the same time, the position of the search target data in the entire information or similar information can be known.

[0013] However, in this system, it is difficult to find the desired information quickly because it is not possible to directly obtain the desired information by using a keyword (eg, author name, title).

(2) On the other hand, in the search result visualization system, the user inputs a keyword (for example, author name),
A three-dimensional shape can be visualized based on the search result.

However, in this system, the search result is displayed and output as a single unit, so that it is difficult for the user to know the position of the search result in the entire information in the database and the related information. is there.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to enable a search to be performed quickly and easily using a keyword or the like, and to provide a search result within the entire information in a database. It is to provide a search information visualization system that enables easy access to positioning and related information.

[0017]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an information retrieval system for retrieving information and displaying retrieval results, in which a database to be retrieved and a retrieval request from a user are transmitted. Search input means for receiving, search request means for generating a search expression from the search word input from the search input means and making a search request to the database, and information related to search results obtained from the search word from the database. The expanded search means for searching, the search result by the search request means, and the search result by the expanded search means are combined, and the general information of the search result by the search request means is displayed at the center of the three-dimensional display. The search request means is called so that the summary information of the search result in the expansion search request unit is arranged therearound, and the detailed information can be obtained from the arranged summary information. And arrangement generating means for embedding the link, and arrangement displaying means for displaying search results to the user,
It is characterized by having.

[0018]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the database to be searched (10 in FIG.
3), a search input unit (101 in FIG. 1) that receives a search request from a user, and a search input unit (101 in FIG. 1).
A search expression for database search is generated from search words (keywords) input from the
Search requesting means for making a search request to (3) (102 in FIG. 1)
And expansion search means for searching the database for information related to the search result obtained from the search word (104 in FIG. 1)
And the search result by the search request means (102 in FIG. 1) and the search result by the expansion search means (104 in FIG. 1) together with the summary information of the search result by the search request means (102 in FIG. 1). Three
In the center of the dimensional display, the outline information of the search result by the expansion search requesting means (104 in FIG. 1) is arranged around it.
At this time, preferably, an arrangement generating means (105 in FIG. 1) for embedding a link for calling the search request means (102 in FIG. 1) so that detailed information can be obtained from the arranged outline information.
And arrangement display means (106 in FIG. 1) for displaying the search result to the user.

Further, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, an expanded search formula generation for generating a search formula for searching a database for information related to a search term and a search result of search request means (102 in FIG. 2). Means (107 in FIG. 2), and the retrieval formula obtained by the expanded retrieval formula generating means is displayed in the periphery of the retrieval result arranged at the center of the screen.

In the embodiment of the present invention, in addition to the search requesting means for issuing a search request by the search word from the user to the database, based on the search result of the search requesting means, information related thereto. The expanded search requesting means (104 in FIG. 1) for searching for information that is close to the search result (information in which a part of the attribute information is the same, or a superordinate term of the attribute information) is searched. To the database.

As described above, in the embodiment of the present invention, a three-dimensional structure is generated such that the search result by the expansion search means is arranged in the three-dimensional space around the search result by the search request means. As a result, the user is required to display the initial search results most needed and an image is provided so that related information can be naturally acquired.

[0022]

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.

[0023]

[Embodiment 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a first embodiment of a search information visualization system of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, in the present embodiment, a database 103 holding data to be searched (for example, book data)
And a search input unit 101 through which a user inputs a search request,
Search word (keyword) input from the search input unit 101
A search request unit 102 for generating a search formula from the database and executing a search on the database 103;
A search expression for searching for information (related information) close to the search result is generated from the search result obtained in 02, and the expanded search requesting unit 104, the search requesting unit 102, and the expanded search requesting unit for searching the database 103. An arrangement generation unit 105 that generates a three-dimensional shape description from the search word obtained from the search result 104 and the search result, and an arrangement display unit 106 that displays the three-dimensional shape description transmitted from the arrangement generation unit 105 to the user. It is comprised including.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the processing of this embodiment. Referring to FIG. 3, in the present embodiment, a search request receiving step 301, a search expression generation step 302, a database search step 303, a neighborhood search expression search step 304, a neighborhood data search step 305, a three-dimensional shape A generation step 306 and a three-dimensional shape visualization step 307 are included.

The operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. In the following, the operation (processing flow) will be described, taking as an example the case where the user searches for the information in the book.

First, the user accepts a word string for obtaining desired book information such as the author name and title input by the search input unit 101 composed of a pointing device such as a keyboard and a mouse (step). 301).

The search request unit 102 determines the type of search request from the received word string, and generates an appropriate search expression in a database search language (eg, SQL: Structured Query Language) (step 30).
2).

Further, the database 103 is searched using the generated search formula (step 30).
3).

The search results obtained by searching the database 103 and the search words are sent to the layout generation unit 105 and also to the expansion search request unit 104.

The expansion search request unit 104 searches for information on books near the search result. For example, if you search for books containing information similar to the title of the search result book or books that are similar to the title of the search result in the order of book titles in the target database, or search by author name, A search expression for searching the information of the books of the authors arranged before and after the search word in the order of the author name is generated (step 30).
4) The database 103 is searched (step 305), and the search result obtained by this search is also sent to the layout generator 105.

In the arrangement generation unit 105, a three-dimensional space description language, for example, reference (3) (information processing Vol. 37, No. 10, pp. 89)
9-906, Information Processing Society of Japan), the search result is associated with the description of the three-dimensional display by VRML.

First, a three-dimensional shape representation (for example, a three-dimensional book shape representing the retrieval result) showing the retrieval result 111 for the retrieval word desired by the user is represented in the center of the three-dimensional space. Then, a description is generated such that a three-dimensional representation of the search result 112 obtained from the expanded search request unit 104 is arranged in the periphery (step 306).

The generated description is represented as three-dimensional graphics on the layout display unit 106 (step 307).

For example, as a search request, a search is performed with the author name "Nagao" and the book name "Digital Library". When the search result shown in FIG. 4 is obtained, the author name and the book name are used. Including a book in the vicinity, for example, it is three-dimensionally displayed graphically as shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 shows the search result obtained by the search request unit 102 (see FIG. 4) and the search result obtained from the expansion search request unit 104 via the layout generation unit 105.
3 shows a display screen three-dimensionally displayed on the display.

Referring to FIG. 5, in the three-dimensional graphics shown to the user, the search result corresponding to the search word desired by the user is expressed in the central part (electronic library, Makoto Nagao), and the relation The search results are displayed in the surrounding area.

Further, the user selects the search result displayed as the three-dimensional shape on the layout display unit 106 from the search input unit 101, and thereby the book selected from the database 103 via the search request unit 102 can be selected. Detailed information can be obtained, and the detailed information can be displayed on the arrangement display unit 10 via the arrangement generation unit 105. Further, the search result can be used as an input for a new search. That is, in order to search for more detailed information by instructing the information displayed on the screen, a link for calling the search request unit 102 is embedded by the arrangement generation unit 105.

[0038]

Second Embodiment FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the second embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, this embodiment is similar in system configuration to the first embodiment, and in FIG. 2, the components corresponding to the components of FIG. 1 are the same. Reference numerals are attached.

Referring to FIG. 2, in this embodiment, a database 103 holding data to be searched (for example, book data), a search input section 101 for a user to input a search request, and a search input section 101 are used. A search request unit 102 that generates a search expression from the input search word and executes a search on the database 103, a search word and a search request unit 10
The expanded search expression generation unit 107 that generates a search expression for searching for information close to the search result from the search result obtained in 2 above.
And a search expression obtained from the expansion search expression generation unit 107, a search word obtained from the search request unit 102, a layout generation unit 105 that generates a three-dimensional shape description from the search result, and sent from the layout generation unit 105. And an arrangement display unit 106 for displaying the three-dimensional shape description to the user.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the processing of this embodiment. The processing according to the present embodiment includes a search request receiving step 601.
A search expression generation step 602, a database search step 603, a neighborhood search expression generation step 604, and
The method includes a three-dimensional shape generation step 505 and a three-dimensional shape visualization step 606.

The operation of this embodiment will be described. The operation (flow of processing) when the user searches the information object of the book will be described below, as in the first embodiment.

The steps from the user inputting a search request to the search from the database 103 are the same as those in the first section.
7 is similar to the embodiment of FIG.
603 is steps 301 to 301 in FIG. 3, respectively.
03, and a description thereof will be omitted.

In the neighborhood search expression generation step 604, in order to search the information of the book near the search result in the expanded search expression generation unit 104, a search expression in a data search language such as SQL is generated.

That is, in the order of titles in the target database,
Information such as books that line up before and after books in the search results, or a search expression that searches for book titles that contain similar words to the book titles in the search results, or in the order of author names in the target database. Generates a search formula for searching the information of books of authors in a line. The generated search formula is also sent to the arrangement generation unit 105.

The layout generation unit 105 associates the search result with the description of the three-dimensional display by using the three-dimensional space description language (eg VRML).

First, a three-dimensional shape expression (eg, a three-dimensional book shape representing the search result) showing the search result 111 for the search word desired by the user is expressed in the center of the three-dimensional space. , An expansion search expression generation unit 104
A description is generated that arranges a three-dimensional shape representation of the search expression 113 obtained from (step 606).

The generated description is represented as three-dimensional graphics on the layout display unit 106 (step 607).

As a result, in the three-dimensional graphics shown to the user, the result corresponding to the search word requested by the user is expressed in the central part, and the search formula for searching the related information is arranged in the peripheral part. It becomes a thing. FIG. 6 shows an example of the display.

When this embodiment is compared with the first embodiment, since the related items are not searched in advance, the list of information in the first display is inferior, but the search execution time and the display time are reduced. The feature is that it is shorter and the response to the user is faster.

Further, the user selects a search result displayed as a three-dimensional shape on the layout display unit 106 from the search input unit 101, and thus, as in the first embodiment, more detailed search results are obtained. Information can be displayed and the search results can be used as input for a new search.

Further, by selecting a search formula displayed as a three-dimensional shape from the search input unit 101, the selected search formula is transmitted from the search request unit 102 to the database 103.
Can be similarly displayed on the screen.

[0053]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The information is searched using keywords, etc., and not only the words entered by the user, but also the words related to the entered words, the superordinate concepts, etc. are automatically expanded, and the search result or search expression is used as the search result. By arranging in the same three-dimensional space display, it is possible to search for the search target desired by the user in a short time, and the positioning of the search information in the entire information structure and related information can be simplified. Thus, it is possible to improve the search efficiency, the operability, and the convenience.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining a processing flow according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining one embodiment of the present invention,
It is a figure showing an example of a search demand and the processing result.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining one embodiment of the present invention,
It is a figure showing an example of a display.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining a processing flow of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining another embodiment of the present invention and is a diagram showing a display example.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a screen example of a “Virtual Library (virtual library)” according to the related art.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a processing flow of a “Virtual Library” of a conventional technique.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a screen of a search result visualization system which is another conventional technique.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a search result visualization system which is another conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 search input unit 102 search request unit 103 database 104 expanded search request unit 105 layout generation unit 106 layout display unit 107 expanded search expression generation unit 111 search word search result 112 related word search result 113 related search expression 301 search request acceptance step 302 search Expression generation step 303 Search execution step 304 Neighborhood search expression generation step 305 Neighborhood search execution step 306 Shape description generation step 307 Shape visualization step 601 Search request acceptance step 602 Search expression generation step 603 Database search step 604 Neighborhood search expression generation step 605 Three-dimensional Shape generation step 607 3D shape visualization step

Claims (4)

[Claims] In a system for searching for information and displaying search results, a search formula for searching in a database storing information is generated based on an input search word, and the search is executed. The information related to the search term and the search result of the database is further searched from the database. These search results are integrated, and the search result information corresponding to the search term is displayed at the center of the screen display, and the search result is displayed. An information retrieval visualization system characterized in that retrieval information related to information is displayed around it, preferably in a three-dimensional manner. 2. A system for searching for information and displaying search results, wherein a search formula for searching in a database storing information is generated based on an input search word, and the search is executed. A search expression for searching information related to the search word and the search result of the database is separately generated, and search result information corresponding to the search word is displayed in the central portion of the screen display of the separately generated search expression. An information retrieval visualization system characterized in that information is arranged and displayed around the central part, preferably three-dimensionally. 3. An information search system for searching information and displaying a search result, a database to be searched, a search input means for receiving a search request from a user, and a search input from the search input means. Search request means for generating a search expression from a word and making a search request to the database; expanded search means for searching the database for information related to a search result obtained from the search word; and search results by the search request means The summary information of the search result obtained by the search request means is provided at the center of the three-dimensional display, and the summary information of the search result obtained by the expansion search request section is provided around the center of the three-dimensional display. And an arrangement generating means for embedding a link for calling the search request means so that detailed information can be obtained from the arranged outline information. Information retrieval visualization system comprising: the arrangement displaying means for displaying the result, the. 4. A search for performing a search for a search word and related information obtained from the search result, instead of the expansion search requesting means for sending a word related to a search result obtained from the search word to the arrangement generating means. A search result sent from the search request means and a search expression sent from the search expression generating means are arranged three-dimensionally on the same screen; In order to obtain detailed information from the arranged summary information and to use the search expression from the search expression, there is provided arrangement generating means having a function of embedding a link for calling the search request means. The information retrieval visualization system according to claim 1.