JPH10269237A - Document browsing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make user not troubled by displaying a browsed document and a list of relative documents only by specifying the browsed document, by composing a relative document retrieval request with an extracted key word and sending it to a retrieval server, and receiving and displaying a retrieval result. SOLUTION: A client device 121 has a document browsing program 400 consisting of a basic process 410 regarding document browsing such as document send request issue, acquisition... browsing, etc., and a relative document list generating process 500 for retrieving whereabouts of relative documents according to the obtained contents of the document and displaying the retrieval result, and an external storage device 103 is stored with key word information 1000. A retrieval server device 124 has a document sending-out program 130 and a retrieval program 140 which retrieves the whereabouts of the documents relating to the browsed document and sends the result of the retrieving process to the client device 121 having issued the retrieval request after the retrieving process. Consequently, the browsed document and relative document list can be obtained only by specifying the document to be browsed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a document browsing system for browsing locally stored documents, and a network environment in which a plurality of workstations and personal computers are connected to a network.
The present invention relates to a document browsing system for browsing browsing documents stored in a server device with a client device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It is convenient for a document browsing system user to be able to know the location of a document related to a viewed document. Many of the browsed documents include link information of related documents, and a document stored in the linked server device can be received and displayed by clicking the link information portion of the displayed document with the mouse. However, among documents published on the network, there are many related documents in addition to the documents related in the browsed document.

Currently, the most common method of obtaining a list of related documents on a network is to use a search server on the network called a search engine. When the user accesses the search server, inputs a keyword of interest, and presses a search button, a list of the locations of related documents as search results is transmitted to the client. For search servers on the Internet, Infoseek and ALtaVi
sta and others are famous. All of these use software agents called spiders to build detailed records of websites.

[0004] The search result includes link information to the main body of the related document, and by clicking the mouse on the portion, the main body of the related document can be accessed and its contents can be displayed.

An example of incorporating a function of presenting related information into a text system is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-134720. There is a "related information presentation method and apparatus in a text creation system". This apparatus extracts a related element from a character string input by a user who is performing a text creation operation, and retrieves and displays related information of a text being created from a document storage device in the background of a text creation operation. As a result, the user can use the related information only by inputting characters for text creation without interrupting the text creation work.

[0006] Further, in the "document database search system and document database search method" disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-77201, additional information such as bibliographic information is stored in a server in addition to the text from a search request for the text of the document. The client sends a search result to the client and displays the result of combining the search result and the text with the client.

[0007]

In the document browsing system, there is no method of presenting the location of the related document without interrupting the work as in the above-mentioned known example, and the location of the related document is determined by using the above search engine. The method of obtaining is to refer to the browsing document, select a keyword, switch the display screen of the browsing document, access the search server anew, and enter the keyword. I can't. In addition, since a keyword that is always conscious when browsing a document according to the user's field of interest or work field is determined to some extent, it is troublesome to input every time a search is performed.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned inconvenience. The first object of the present invention is to specify a browsing document only when a user requires it, and to display a browsing document and display a related document list. Another object of the present invention is to provide a related document list without bothering a user who is browsing a document by accessing a search server, switching a browsing screen, or inputting a keyword.

[0009] Normally, it takes a certain amount of time to receive a browsed document, during which time the user enters a waiting state for document reception. In particular, when transmission is performed using a serial line and access is made to a remote server device, it takes a considerable amount of time to complete the transmission. A second object of the present invention is to provide a location list of related documents to a user at the same time as a browsed document, so that the user can use a list of related documents of a received document when the user is in a waiting state for reception of the browsed document. It is to make.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, a document browsing apparatus and system with a related document list display function according to the present invention has the following configuration.

First, a search server device having a document sending program, a search server device having a document sending program for searching for the location of related text on a network, and a search server device having a document sending program. Document browsing for sending and displaying electronic documents via a network in a network environment in which a plurality of client devices having a document browsing program having a document browsing basic process for acquiring and browsing are connected to the network. Assume the system.

In order to achieve the first object, the present invention provides keyword information provided on a client device of the document browsing system, the keyword information including standard keyword information and user keyword information in which a field of interest of a user is registered in advance. Extracting the keywords from the browsed document by referring to the words contained in the received browsed document and the words stored in the keyword information, assembling and searching for a related document search request from the extracted keywords A document browsing program including a related document list creation process including a step of transmitting to a server and a step of receiving and displaying a search result.

In order to achieve the second object, in the document browsing program including a related document list creation process, a step of checking whether the received document is a browsed document or a related document search result, Steps to execute apparently parallel processing of receiving / displaying the divided browsing document and the related document list creation processing related to the received document based on the document, monitoring / receiving / displaying the browsing document by monitoring the number of related document search requests And judging the end of the entire process at the time when both reception and display of the related document have been completed.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

(First Embodiment) Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6 and FIGS.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of a document browsing apparatus with a related document list display function according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1
01 is a display device for displaying the processing result, 102 is input means for receiving an input from a user, and 103 is an external storage device such as a hard disk. As described above, 101 to 103 are basic devices provided in all devices connected to the network 110.

The client device 121 performs basic processing 41 relating to document browsing, such as issuing, acquiring, and browsing a document transmission request.
0, a document browsing program 400 comprising a related document list creation process 500 for searching for the location of a related document from the acquired document content and displaying the search result, and executing the related document list creation process in the external storage device 103 Keyword information 1000 used for the execution is stored.

The document server device 122 has a document transmission program 130 for transmitting a document for browsing specified in response to a transmission request from the client device 121, and the browsing documents 131 to 132 are stored in the external storage device 103. ing.

The search server device 124 has a document sending program 130 and a search program 140 for searching for the location of a document related to a browsed document. After the search process, the result is sent to the client device that issued the search request.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a display screen of the present invention, and shows a document browsing screen on which a list of related documents is displayed. The document browsing screen 200 displays the document input by the user in the browsing document designation area 201 in the document browsing basic processing 410 of the document browsing program 400 by the document server device 122.
This is a screen that is acquired from and displayed. This browsing screen is usually one screen, and the specified document is displayed on the entire screen. Therefore, it is necessary to devise a display method to display the related document list in a state where the designated document can be viewed.

As an example, FIG. 2 shows a screen in which a designated document display screen 202 and a related document list display screen 203 are displayed in advance.
The method of dividing and displaying each is shown. The display modes 204 to 205 of the related document displayed on the related document list display screen 203 not only indicate the location but also include link information to the document body. Allows the user to browse the text of the related document. Reference numerals 206 to 207 denote document browsing screens each displaying a relevant document text obtained when the mouse is clicked at the position of 204 to 205, respectively. Reference numerals 208 to 209 denote scroll bars, which allow the user to browse the scroll destination document by operating the mouse.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a related document list display method other than the method described with reference to FIG.

Reference numeral 310 denotes a method for preparing a related document list display button 311 as one of the function buttons on the document browsing screen. When the user clicks this button, a window 312 displaying the related document search result newly appears on the screen, and the related document list can be viewed simultaneously with the browsing screen.

Reference numeral 320 denotes a method of displaying a related document search result as a well-known bookmark function provided in the document browsing system. The bookmark is a function of saving the location of a document that has been browsed once. By registering the location of frequently viewed documents in bookmarks,
The next time you browse the same document, you can browse it with just a mouse operation without having to enter the location with the keyboard. As shown at 321, a bookmark is typically included in one of the menu bars that specifies commands to the document viewing program. Reference numeral 322 denotes a display screen of a title list of documents registered in the bookmark, which is displayed when the cursor is moved to the position of 321 and the left button of the mouse is pressed. The title list displayed in 322 includes link information to the document body, and the document body can be immediately browsed by operating the mouse (323). As an example, a method of preparing a related document menu bar, changing the title list displayed according to the document to be browsed, and displaying the related document list like this function can be considered.

Reference numeral 330 denotes a method of opening and displaying a related document list display screen 331 simultaneously with the browsed document, instead of displaying the same on the same screen as the browsed document display screen.

Although there are several possible related document list display screen methods as described above in steps 310 to 330, the following processing flow chart assumes that the screen described in FIG. 2 is divided and the related document list is displayed. Will be described.

FIG. 4 shows the document browsing program 4 in FIG.
00 is a flowchart of the document browsing basic process 410 and a related document list creation process 500 which is a core part of the present invention.
The position of is shown. First, it is checked whether or not the user wants to display the related document list and the related document list creation process is turned on (step 401). For example, it is possible to provide a button for selecting a request for displaying a related document list, and determine whether or not the button is pressed by a user when browsing a document.

If this selection is turned off, a basic document browsing process 410 is executed. Steps 411 to 415 will be described below as the document browsing basic process 410. First, a designation of a document to be viewed is received from the user (step 4).
11), assembling a transmission request from the specification of the received browsed document (step 412). Next, a document transmission request is issued to the document server that owns the designated document (step 4).
13). The transmission request includes a command for requesting transmission of a document, a specified document name, header information, and the like. Next, the designated document is received (step 414), and the received document is displayed at the browsed document display position (step 415). If it is determined in step 401 that the related document list process has been turned off, this process is performed and the entire process ends.

Hereinafter, the processing when the related document list display is turned on in step 401 will be described. When the related document list creation processing is executed, preprocessing (step 402) for displaying the related document list as described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 is required. For example, when the related document list is displayed by the method shown in FIG. 2, the display screen is divided into two in order to divide the document browsing screen into a browsing document display and a related document list display. As a means for dividing the screen, for example, a frame function of the hypertext description language HTML can be used. Here, the method shown in FIG. 2 is shown as an example. However, the display method of the related document list is not limited to this method, and there are various methods including the method shown in FIG.

Next, the document browsing basic processing 410 is performed, and after the processing is completed, the related document list creation processing 500 is executed.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the flow of the related document list creation processing 500 in FIG. First, referring to the keyword table 1000, the document received in step 414 is compared with a keyword included in the keyword table to see if it matches with the keyword included in the keyword table, and the matching keyword is extracted (step S414). 501). An example of the structure of the keyword table 1000 will be described later with reference to FIG. Next, a related document search request is assembled using the extracted keywords (step 502). An example of the format of the related document search request will be described later with reference to FIG.

When a plurality of keywords are extracted, a search request is created by associating them with "and" or "or". Next, a related document search request is issued to the search server having the search program (step 503).
The search servers include the known Infoseek and AltaVi.
and the like. These search servers receive a search request from a client including a keyword, and return a list of locations of documents including the keyword to the client in an HTML format file. The search result includes a title indicating the content of the document and link information to the document body. Next, the search result is received (step 504), and the related document display position (2 in FIG. 2) is displayed.
03).

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a time chart of processing between the client device, the document server device, and the search server device in the flow chart shown in FIG. First, a document transmission request is assembled by the client device 400, and a transmission request of, for example, document A is issued to the document server (steps 412 to 413). The document server device 600 receives the request (step 601) and transmits the designated document A to the client (steps 602-a to 602-n). The client receives and displays the document transmitted from the server as needed (steps 414-an), and when all document transmission from the document server to the client is completed (step 414).
-N), assemble a related document search request from the received document (steps 501 to 502), and issue a related document search request to the search server (step 507). The search server receives the request (step 611), performs a related document search process (step 612), and transmits the search result to the client (step 613). The client receives and displays the search results (step 505).

FIG. 10 shows the keyword information 100 stored in the external storage device 121 of the client device shown in FIG.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of 0. The keyword information 1000 is used in step 501 for extracting a keyword from the received document in the related document list creation processing described with reference to FIG. 5 to check whether the keyword included in the keyword information is included in the browsed document. Is done. The keyword information 1000 includes the standard keyword 101
0 and a user keyword 1020. The standard keyword 1010 is composed of a standard keyword often used for a document title and the like, and the user keyword 1020 is composed of a plurality of keyword groups 1022 associated with the mode name 1021. Mode name 102
1 is specifically a user name, a field name, and the like. The user keyword 1020 can be registered by the user in advance. In the keyword extraction process in the related document list creation process, the user name is checked, and the standard document and the user keyword are collated by the browsed document to extract the keyword. You.

FIG. 11 shows an example of the format of a related document search request passed from the keyword extracted in step 501 of FIG. 5 to the search server. An area 1101 stores header information necessary for communication. Reference numeral 1102 denotes an area for storing a command requested to the search program, which is "search" in the case of a request from the document server to the search server.
An area 1103 indicates a search formula, and automatically generates a search formula in which the extracted keywords are associated with each other by "and" or "or". "And""o" to associate keywords
The selection of “r” is designated when registering a user keyword in the keyword information 1000.

(Second Embodiment) A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In the first embodiment, the related document search request is assembled and the related document list generation processing is performed after the reception of the browse document is completed. In the present embodiment, the reception is performed when a certain amount of the browse document is received. A keyword is extracted from the completed document, a related document list generation process is executed, and apparently, the reception of the browsed document and the related document location list creation process are executed in parallel.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing another embodiment of the flowchart of the document browsing basic process and the related document list generation process shown in FIG. Steps 401 to 402 are steps already described in the first embodiment. If it is determined in step 401 that the related document list creation process is off, the document browsing basic process 410 in FIG. 4 is performed. When the related document list creation process is turned on, a variable rc for counting the number of related document search requests is prepared for use in determining the end of the entire process,
The initial value is set to 0 (step 701). Hereinafter, the subsequent processing when the related document list creation processing is turned on will be described.

Next, basic document browsing processing is performed in steps 411 to 413, and a document is received (step 702).
After receiving the document, the type of the received document is checked (step 7).
03). The first reception is always a read document. The checking method includes checking the transmission source server and checking the header information of the received document.

The processing 710 when the received document is a browsed document will be described below with reference to steps 711 to 716 and the already described steps 501 to 503 in the related document creation processing 500. First, the received document is displayed at the browsed document display position (step 711). Next, the number of bytes of the received document is counted, and it is checked whether or not a certain amount (for example, 3 KB) has been received (step 712). If a certain amount has been received, steps 501 to 503 in the above-described related document creation processing 500 are executed to issue a related document search request to the search server, and 1 is added to the related document search request issuance number rc (step 713). ). If a certain amount of the document has not been received, the process returns to step 702 again to be in a document reception waiting state.

Next, processing 720 when the received document is a related document will be described with reference to steps 721 to 724. First, it is checked whether the received search result is the first search result (step 721). If the number of times the search result has been received is the second or subsequent time, the display data is processed and displayed so as to be displayed in a format in which the newly sent search result is added to the end of the already displayed related document. . (Step 722
To step 723). If the related document search result is the first time, the document display in step 723 is immediately performed. After the related document is displayed, the related document search request issuance number rc is reduced by 1 (step 724).

Next, as a first end determination of the processing, it is checked whether or not rc is 0 to check whether there is a related document search request for which the search result has not been returned (step 72).
5). If rc is 0, it is checked as to whether the reception of the browsed document has been completed or not as a final end determination of the related document list creation processing (step 726). If rc is not 0, or if the reception of the browsed document has not been completed, the process returns to step 702 again to wait for the reception of the document. When the related documents are received by the number of issuance of the search request and the reception of the browsed document is also finished, a series of processing ends.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a time chart of processing between the client device, the document server device, and the search server device in the flow chart shown in FIG. For example, the client device 400 assembles a transmission request for the document A (step 412), issues a request to the document server device (step 413), and the document server 600 receives the request (step 601) and sends the designated document to the client. The same procedure as in FIG. 6 is performed until the document is transmitted (step 602-a) and the client device 400 receives and displays the document (step 414-a). Next, if the number of received documents is a certain amount, a related document search request is assembled (steps 501 to 501).
502), and issues a request to the search server 610 (step 503). The search server 610 receives the request (step 611), starts a search program, searches for the location of the related document, and transmits the search result (list of related document locations) to the client (steps 612 to 613). The client receives and displays the related document search result (step 505).

The document server transmits the remaining documents (steps 602-a to n). If the amount of the document received by the client is equal to or more than a certain value, the series of processes described above (steps 414-i and step 501) are performed at any time. ~ 503, 505,
Steps 611 to 612) are performed, and the document transmission from the document server to the client ends (step 605).
Continue processing until Actually, the order following the first related document search request is not limited to the order shown above.
FIG. 8 shows an example because the transmission of the second and subsequent documents may arrive earlier in time than the transmission of the related document search result. Actually, the type of the document is checked at the timing when the document is received in step 703 in FIG. 7, and the processing corresponding to each is performed.

According to the present embodiment, the first related document search result can be obtained earlier in time than in the first embodiment, and the related document list of the already received document can be obtained while waiting for the reception of the browsed document. Can be seen. 6 and 8, which show time charts of processing between the client device, the document server device, and the search server device in the flowchart shown in FIG. 4, show that FIG. 8 shows that the related document search result is obtained first. It turns out that it is early.

Further, according to the present embodiment, a request is sent from the received document to the search server using the CPU on the client side which is used just for waiting for the document to be transmitted from the document server. By issuing,
The search processing in the search server and the document reception processing in the client can be executed apparently in parallel, and the client can obtain search results efficiently.

(Third Embodiment) A third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In this embodiment, a step 703 for checking the type of a received document described in FIG. 7 showing a flow chart of the second embodiment is a process 710 when a browsed document is received, and a process 710 when a related document is received. In this embodiment, a thread is generated in the process 720 of FIG. 1 and the thread can be executed in parallel, not apparently, by multi-thread programming. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a time chart among three devices of a client device, a document server device, and a search server device.

According to the present embodiment, the client-side CPU, which is in a waiting state to receive a browsed document, can be efficiently used for the related document creation processing, and a higher processing speed than in the second embodiment can be expected. .

[0047]

According to the present invention, when a user needs a list of related documents to be browsed in a document browsing program, the user can specify the document to be browsed and acquire the related document list together with the browsed document. Therefore, the user does not have to interrupt the browsing operation of the document, and can save the trouble of the user who normally needs to input a keyword or activate a search program. Further, according to the second and third embodiments, a list of related documents of a document already received can be obtained while waiting for the completion of reception of the browsed document, and the location of the related document can be determined more quickly. Can be obtained.

Also, since the keywords are registered in advance for each user, the user's own field of interest is reflected in the related document list result. Even if the same document is browsed, the display result of the related document list differs depending on the user. That means
The required information can be provided without bothering the user.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an example of a system configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an example of a related document list display screen.

FIG. 3 is an example other than FIG. 2 of a related document list display screen.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a position of a related document list creation process in the document browsing program.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a related document list creation process in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a time chart of processing among a client device, a document server device, and a search server device in the flowchart shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of a document browsing basic process and a related document list creation process.

FIG. 8 is a time chart of processing among a client device, a document server device, and a search server device in the flowchart shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a time chart of a document browsing basic process and a related document creating process among a client device, a document server device, and a search server device when a multithread is used.

FIG. 10 is an example of a keyword table.

FIG. 11 is an example of a format of a related document search request.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 display device, 102 input means, 103 external storage device, 110 network, 121 client device, 122 to 123 document server device, 124
Search server device, 130: document sending program, 1
31 to 134: document for browsing, 140: search program,
200: document browsing screen, 201: related document designation area, 202: browsed document display screen, 203: related document display screen, 204 to 205: display form of related document location list,
206 to 207: display examples of the relevant document main body, 208 to 20
9: scroll bar, 301 to 303 ... example of related document list display screen, 400: document browsing program, 410: basic document browsing process, 500: related document list creation process, 100
0: An example of a keyword table, 1100: An example of a related document search request.

Claims (4)

[Claims] In a network environment in which a plurality of computers each having a display device, an input unit, and an external storage device are connected to a network, a browsing document is provided in the external storage device, and another computer connected to the network receives the browsing document. A document server device having a document sending program for sending the document in response to the request; a client device having a document browsing program for acquiring the browsing document from the server device via a network and displaying the document on a display device; A document browsing system comprising a search server device having a search program for receiving a search request including a keyword and searching for a location of a related document on a network including a keyword, wherein keyword information registered in advance for each user, for each field, etc. Prepare the external storage device for browsing documents such as receiving / displaying browsed documents. After the basic processing, referring to the keyword information and extracting a keyword by collating with a word included in a browsed document, assembling a related document search request from the extracted keyword, transmitting the request to a search server, and searching. Receiving a related document search result from a server and displaying a related document location list of the document together with a browsed document;
A document browsing system provided on the client side. 2. The document browsing system according to claim 1, wherein, when executing the related document list creation process according to claim 1, even if the basic process related to document browsing is not completely finished, At the time when the document is received, a keyword is extracted from the received document, the execution of the steps of the related document list creation process is started, and the basic process related to document browsing and the related document creation process are executed in parallel. Featured,
A document browsing system equipped with related document list creation. 3. The document browsing system according to claim 1, wherein the related document list creation processing is executed, and a function of displaying a related document list together with the browsed document when browsing the document is used. Is provided for the user to specify when using, and only when the user specifies the related document list display,
A document browsing system for executing the related document list creation process and displaying a related document list. 4. The document browsing system according to claim 1, wherein in the keyword information according to claim 1, together with standard keywords used for general purposes, individual fields of interest / attributes for each user are set in advance. A document browsing system characterized by being registered and including a user keyword reflecting a personality of the user.