JPH10232881A - Information visualization method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To read and display document contents corresponding to a specified unit by extracting a logical structure from the document data as long as they are electronized document data even when it is not a special format for visualization, turning the logical structure to a unit, visualizing the mutual relation of the respective units and instructing one of the units. SOLUTION: The electronized document data are converted into a mark-up language system (step s1), the logical structure is extracted by analyzing the contents of the data converted into the mark-up language system (step s2) and the mutual relation of the logic structure is indicated by a tree structure and displayed on a screen (step s3). Then, when a user looks at the displayed contents and selects one of the displayed contents, details for the contents are displayed (step s4).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention extracts a logical structure such as a table of contents, a chapter, a section, etc., contained in document data from digitized document data, and visualizes a relationship between the logical structures with a visual map. The present invention relates to an information visualization method in which, when a predetermined unit displayed on a map is specified, the specified content is displayed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A method for performing an information search for obtaining contents required by a user from document data having a large amount of information is described below.
Conventionally, several methods have been proposed.

For example, as a method of visualizing and displaying the logical structure of document data, a character string of a logical structure (chapter, paragraph, etc.) in an outline processor is displayed as a two-dimensional tree structure as a visual map. ,
In some cases, both can be switched and displayed, and both the grasp of the logical structure by a normal character string and the visual grasp of the logical structure by map display can be performed.

[0004] Further, like HotSauce of Apple Inc., there is a system in which a bookmark of www having a directory structure is three-dimensionally expressed, and clicking any one of the bookmarks allows the user to go to the web.

As described above, there is an idea of visualizing the logical structure of document data and an idea of accessing a desired document based on a visual result.

[0006]

However, in the prior art of this type, when visualizing the logical structure of document data, document data created in a special format (for example, for HotSauce) MFC, outline processor character strings, etc.). In other words, documents that are not completely conscious of visualization (for example, document data created by DTP software,
It is not possible to automatically extract and visualize the logical structure of a general document such as a book. In other words, it is impossible to visualize document data unless the document data is created in a format that assumes visualization from the beginning, and other document data must be manually created one by one. .

[0007] In the idea of accessing a desired document based on the result of visualizing the logical structure,
For example, Apple's HotSauce mentioned above
With access to b, visualization is considered a way to make it easier to find pointers to go to various webs. For example, the visualization of the logical structure of document data by the outline processor is considered to make it easy to visually recognize and understand the contents of a document, which is an array of serial character strings.

As described above, the conventional technique does not visualize document data that is not based on a specific format and does not provide a pointer so that the actual document content can be accessed.

Therefore, for example, the logical structure of document data such as an instruction manual of an electronic device created by DTP or the like is extracted, and each item such as a chapter or a section is visualized. A series of processes, such as selecting a certain part and displaying its detailed contents, could not be performed by the conventional technology.

Therefore, the present invention makes it possible to extract a logical structure from digitalized document data and visualize the document data, even if the document data is not a special format for visualization. , Visualization not only makes it easier to understand the logical structure of the original document data, but also provides specific displays that make it easier to access the actual document contents,
It is an object of the present invention to realize an information visualization method in which the display contents are displayed by selecting and indicating the display contents.

[0011]

According to the present invention, a logical structure of the information is extracted from the digitized information, and the extracted logical structure is visualized and displayed. If you specify a unit from the displayed display,
It is characterized in that the contents corresponding to the specified unit are visualized and displayed.

[0012] According to a second aspect of the present invention, a logical structure of the information is extracted from the digitized information as a unit of information.
Performs a display by visualizing the mutual relationship between units of the extracted information as a hierarchical structure, and when a certain unit is specified from the visualized hierarchical structure, the contents corresponding to the specified unit are visualized and displayed. It is characterized by:

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect, after converting the digitized information into a markup language system, a logical structure is extracted from the converted data as a unit of information. I have to.

[0014] The invention of claim 4 is the invention according to claims 1 and 2,
In the invention of the third aspect, when visualizing the mutual relationship between units of the extracted information, information summarizing the contents of the corresponding information is added.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the fourth aspect, the information summarizing the content of the information is a text summary or a keyword representing the content of the corresponding information.

Further, the invention of claim 6 is characterized in that, in the invention of claim 4, the information summarizing the content of the information is an image image representing the content of the corresponding information.

As described above, according to the present invention, a logical structure is extracted from electronic document data even if the format is not a special format for visualization, and the logical structure is used as a unit. By visualizing the mutual relationship and designating one of the units, it becomes possible to read out and display the document content corresponding to the designated unit.

Further, by converting the digitized document into a markup language system such as HTML and then processing it, the logical structure can be easily extracted. It becomes high.

Further, when visualizing the mutual relation between the units of the extracted information, the contents of the corresponding information are summarized to summarize the sentences, frequently appearing keywords, or accurately represent the contents. By adding information such as pictures and photographs, more specific visualization becomes possible.

[0020]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart for explaining a rough processing procedure according to the embodiment of the present invention. First, the digitized document data is converted to a markup language section (step s1), and the contents of the data converted to the markup language section are analyzed to extract a logical structure (step s2). The mutual relationship between the logical structures is represented by a tree structure and displayed on the screen (step s3). Then, when the user looks at the displayed contents and selects any of the displayed contents, the details of the contents are displayed (step s).
4).

The above processing will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 2, the digitized document data handled here is not particularly limited. For example, a markup language document 1 (SGML: Standar
d Generalized Markup Language, HTML: Hyper
Texts such as Text Markup Language, TeX, and the logical structure of an image are already described), general document data 2 created by a word processor, document data 3 created by DTP software, simple text document 4, etc. It is.

Of these documents, the markup language document 1 has a logical structure already described. Further, the word processing document data 2 and the document 3 created by the DTP software store sentences and images with their own layout information. However, although there are differences in applications between the respective devices, the logical structure can be extracted. is there.

The text document 4 is usually only a document (in some cases, an image is specified separately), and it is possible to extract a logical structure from document data based on paragraphs or the like.

Further, in addition to these, ordinary documents 5
The result of character recognition, layout recognition, and document understanding of a document image obtained by reading a document (for example, a printed document) with a scanner or the like can also be handled as digitized document data 5a.

From the digitized document data as described above, a unit such as a table of contents, a chapter, or a section included in each data is extracted.

At this time, the contents of the word processor document data 2, the document data 3 created by the DTP software, the simple text document data 4, and the document data 5a read by the scanner are directly analyzed. Each unit may be extracted by performing the conversion. Alternatively, the unit may be once converted into a markup language system such as HTML, the converted data may be analyzed, and the logical structure may be extracted as each unit. .

For example, since the document data 2 created by the DTP software has a defined layout structure, it is possible to determine what layout corresponds to a chapter or a section. It is possible. Then, in order to recognize and extract a logical structure from data converted into HTML or the like, a unit such as a chapter, a section, or a phrase is extracted by a tag, a modifier, a morphological analysis, or the like.

When the logical structure is set as a unit and each unit is extracted, the contents of the document corresponding to each unit are specified and cut out. Further, if necessary, a summary of the document contents corresponding to each unit and a phrase having a high appearance frequency are extracted as keywords.

As described above, an electronic document is converted to an HTM
If converted to a markup language system such as L, the logical structure can be easily extracted, and the application and versatility can be improved. In particular, recently, markup language documents have become a de facto standard due to the spread of the web and the like, and conversion to HTML or the like as an intermediate process is often advantageous in performing various processes.

By the way, the above-mentioned unit here means
In a certain document, for example, when the n1st line to the n2th line of the page p1 are represented by the concept of "A", the unit is one unit. Therefore, the concept of "A" corresponds to the n1st line to the n2th line of page p1 of the document. Alternatively, a paragraph can be used as a unit.

As described above, when the contents of the document are analyzed and a plurality of units (which are expressed as units U1, U2,...) Are extracted, each unit U1, unit U
.., For example, according to the contents of the document, a unit U1 representing a higher concept, a unit U2, U3 representing a lower concept belonging to the unit U1, and the units U2, U3
U4, U5, U6,... Representing lower concepts belonging to
-The mutual relationship of each unit is expressed in a tree structure.

Each of these units U1, U2,...
Corresponds to the document content in each unit extracted from the document as described above. For example, the unit U2 corresponds to the part of the content p2 in the document, and the unit U2
3 corresponds to the portion of the content p3, and the unit U4 corresponds to the portion of the content p4. Further, the unit U5 corresponds to the portion of the content p5 in the document, the unit U6 corresponds to the portion of the content p6, and the unit U7 corresponds to the portion of the content p7. The content of each of these documents is a text, a picture, or both.

For example, the content p2 is the original document 10
This is the content of the p2 part (sentence) cut out in
The content p5 is a content obtained by cutting out the portion (picture) of p5 in the original document 10, and the content p7 is a content obtained by cutting out the portion (text and picture) of p7 in the original document 10.

By the way, the visualized tree structure shown in FIG. 2 is, specifically, shown in FIG.

This is the document data of the instruction manual of the printer, and the "model name" is displayed at the highest level as a large item, and the item of "performance" and the item of "usage" for the model are displayed. Is displayed.

Items such as “installation”, “printer driver”, and “color printing” are displayed in the “usage” item, and these items such as “installation”, “printer driver”, and “color printing” are displayed. The sub-items belonging to each are displayed.

For example, the item of "installation" will be described as an example. As sub-items, "attention to the installation location", "setting related to paper", "attachment of ink cartridge", "power connection", "operation check" , "Connection to a computer", etc., in short sentences.

Then, the user can now select “Install ink cartridge” from the screen 20 displayed in this manner.
Is clicked with a mouse or the like, the screen 20
At the top, as shown in FIG. 4, a display indicating the contents of the attachment of the ink cartridge is made.

When the display as shown in FIG. 4 is made,
For example, when a display portion such as "return to installation" displayed at the end on the screen 20 is clicked, the screen is switched, and, for example, a display related to "installation" is made as shown in FIG. In addition, a display such as "Return to Usage" is displayed at the upper end on this screen 20, and when this is clicked, a display relating to "Usage" is displayed.

When the display as shown in FIG. 3 is performed, a two-dimensional display or a three-dimensional display with a depth may be used. Further, when there are many hierarchies, the visible hierarchies may be limited or the parent / child directories may be used.

Further, in the display of FIG. 3, a summary or image of the document content may be added in addition to the content representing the item. For example, in the case of a summary of the document content, a general summary for the document content, a keyword having a high frequency of appearance in the document content, and only the beginning portion may be added as the summary. In the case of an image, a picture or a photograph related to the contents of the document is added. For example, a picture or picture of the ink cartridge is added to "Install the ink cartridge", and a picture or picture of the power cord is added to the content of "Connection to computer". May go.

As described above, according to this embodiment, first, document data (for example, instruction manual) created by DTP software or the like is converted into document data of a markup language system such as HTML. Then, the logical structure is extracted, and, for example, the items such as chapters and sections are visualized and displayed in a tree structure with respect to each other, and an item related to desired contents is designated from the displayed. The detailed contents are displayed. Thus, the present invention does not require a special format for visualization,
In the case of digitized document data, the logical structure can be extracted from the document data and visualized, and the display of the content can be immediately obtained by selecting and indicating the display content. .

The embodiment described above is an example of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. It is.

The processing program for performing the processing of the present invention can be stored in a storage medium such as a floppy disk, an optical disk, or a hard disk, and the present invention includes those storage media. Alternatively, data may be obtained from a network.

[0047]

As described above, according to the present invention, if the document data is digitized even if it is not a special format for visualization, a logical structure is extracted from the document data, and the logical structure is extracted. You can visualize their relationships,
In addition, visualization should not only make it easier to grasp the logical structure of the original document data, but also make it a specific display that makes it easy to access the actual document contents, and select and indicate the display contents. In this way, since the actual contents of a document can be read and displayed, when obtaining desired information existing in text data having a huge data amount, the information can be easily accessed and the desired information is immediately Can be taken out.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a schematic process of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary view for explaining the processing procedure according to the embodiment of the present invention along the flowchart in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of visualized contents according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example of document content when a predetermined content is designated from the visualized content in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a view showing a display example when display contents are switched in the document content display shown in FIG. 4;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Document data of markup language system 2 General document data created by word processor 3 General document data created by DTP 4 Simple text data 5 General document 5a Document data U1 which digitized a general document U2, unit corresponding to logical structure p1, p2, document contents

Claims (6)

[Claims] When the logical structure of the information is extracted from the digitized information, and the extracted logical structure is visualized and a certain unit is designated from the visualized display,
An information visualization method characterized in that contents corresponding to the specified unit are visualized and displayed. 2. Extracting the logical structure of the information from the digitized information as a unit of information, performing a display in which the mutual relationship between the extracted information units is visualized as a hierarchical structure, and displaying the visualized information. An information visualization method characterized in that when a certain unit is designated from a hierarchical structure, the contents corresponding to the designated unit are visualized and displayed. 3. The information visualization according to claim 1, wherein after converting the digitized information into a markup language system, a logical structure is extracted as a unit of information from the converted data. Method. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein information for summarizing the contents of the corresponding information is added at the time of the visualization.
2. The information visualization method according to 2 or 3. 5. The information visualization method according to claim 4, wherein the information summarizing the content of the information is a text summary or a keyword representing the content of the corresponding information. 6. The information visualization method according to claim 4, wherein the information summarizing the content of the information is an image representing the content of the corresponding information.