JPH1069496A - Internet search device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To provide an Internet search device capable of automatically obtaining a keyword indicating a trend in the world from program information, teletext, and the like, and easily obtaining further information from the Internet. SOLUTION: A word is extracted from information which is fetched from program information, teletext or the like by a text information input means 101 and stored in a text information storage means 102 using a word extraction means 103, and a word appearance frequency counting means 104 To count the frequency of occurrence of those words, and list the keywords with high frequency of occurrence. These keywords are selected as search keys by the designation of the user, and the search key input means 107 causes the search engine on the Internet to input and search for the keywords, thereby automatically searching for related information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention searches and displays, based on program guide information of satellite digital broadcasting or text information such as text multiplex broadcasting, an Internet home page on which information related to the information exists based on the information. The present invention relates to a television receiver configured as described above.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Information existing on the Internet can be browsed by an Internet browser in a format called a homepage. In recent years, the number of homepages published on the Internet is rapidly increasing, and the information obtained is also diverse. In order to obtain desired information from such a large amount of information, a user accesses a homepage for information search on the Internet called a search engine or a directory service to perform search.

[0003]

However, the above-described conventional information search on the Internet was only possible by performing complicated procedures on the search engine. In addition, in order to obtain the latest information on trends in the world, that is, trends (recent trends, trends, trends) from the Internet, a user estimates words considered to be trends as search keywords and inputs them by himself. It was very cumbersome.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and automatically obtains a trend in the world and automatically applies it to a search engine as a search key, thereby obtaining the trend. It is an object of the present invention to provide an Internet search device that can easily browse homepages on the Internet related to information.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, an Internet search device according to the present invention comprises a monitor for displaying an image, information selecting means for selecting information displayed on the monitor, and text information. Text information input means for input, text information storage means for storing the text information, word cutout means for cutting out words from the stored text information, and words for counting the appearance frequency of the cut out words An appearance frequency counting means, a trend information management means for managing word information according to the appearance frequency, an Internet connection means for connecting to the Internet via a telephone line or the like, a homepage browser for browsing a homepage on the Internet, Trends managed by the trend information management means displayed on the monitor And a search key input means for inputting a search engine on the Internet trend keyword selected by the information selecting means from the keyword as a search key. With this configuration, a trend word having a high frequency of appearance can be automatically extracted from text information and applied to a search engine, and detailed related information about a keyword having an important meaning in the input text information can be obtained. You can easily browse.

[0006] Next, in the Internet search apparatus, there is provided similar word merging means for merging similar words among the words cut out by the word cutting means,
It is preferable that the trend information management means manages the word information in the merged state according to the appearance frequency. With this configuration, of the trend words cut out from the text information, similar words having the same meaning can be combined and handled, and keywords that are more suitable for the actual trend can be extracted and related information can be easily browsed. can do.

Next, the Internet search device of the present invention
Program information receiving means for receiving program information including information on main performers of a program, program information storage means for storing the program information, and word extraction for extracting words of performer names from performer information in the program information Means, word appearance frequency counting means for counting the appearance frequency of performers, trend information management means for managing performer information according to the appearance frequency, Internet connection means for connecting to the Internet by a telephone line, etc., and the Internet A homepage browser for browsing the above homepage, and a search engine on the Internet using, as a search key, a trend keyword selected by the information selection means from trend keywords managed by the trend information management means displayed on the monitor. And a search key input means for inputting the search key. With such a configuration, program information sent by satellite digital broadcasting is used as text information, and in particular, since trend words are extracted from performer information from among them, information on trends such as actors and singers can be obtained from the Internet. You can easily browse.

Further, in the Internet search apparatus, the program information receiving means can receive program information including summary information on the contents of the program, and the word extracting means cuts out words from the outline information on the contents of the program. It is preferable to input trend word information as a search key in the order of appearance frequency. With this configuration, program information sent by satellite digital broadcasting is used as text information, and in particular, trend words are extracted from program summary information from among them, so that information on topics that are trends can be easily obtained from the Internet. You can browse.

Further, in the Internet search device, there is provided program information selecting means for selecting program information of a genre relating to a trend from the program information stored in the program information storing means, and the word appearance frequency counting means is provided for selecting the word occurrence frequency. It is preferable to be configured to count the frequency of appearance of words from the word information of the program information. With such a configuration, since the program information on which the appearance frequency of the word is counted is filtered according to the genre of the program described in the program information, the processing time for extracting the trend word is reduced.

Next, the Internet search device of the present invention
Teletext receiving means for receiving teletext, teletext storage means for storing received teletext, word cutout means for cutting out words from stored teletext, and counting the frequency of appearance of cutout words Word appearance frequency counting means, trend information management means for managing word information according to the appearance frequency, Internet connection means for connecting to the Internet via a telephone line, etc., and a homepage browser for browsing homepages on the Internet. A search key input unit for inputting a trend keyword selected by the information selection unit from the trend keywords managed by the trend information management unit displayed on the monitor as a search key to a search engine on the Internet, The trend word information is used as a search key according to the appearance frequency order. Enter Te. With this configuration, since the trend word is extracted using teletext as the text information, information on a topic that is the latest trend from the latest news can be easily browsed on the Internet.

[0011] Further, it is preferable that the Internet search device includes a television broadcast receiving means. As a result, it becomes possible to receive television broadcasts and search for information on the Internet using keywords.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, an embodiment of an Internet search device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an Internet search apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 denotes text information input means for inputting text information, 102 denotes text information storage means for storing the input text information, 103
Is a word extracting means for extracting each word constituting the sentence from the stored text information, 104 is a word appearance frequency counting means for counting the appearance frequency of the extracted words, and 105 is a similar word for merging similar words Merging means 106; trend information managing means 10 for storing and managing the counted word appearance frequency information according to the appearance frequency;
7 is a search key input means for giving a trend keyword as a search key to a homepage browser, 108 is a homepage browser for displaying an Internet homepage, 109 is an Internet connection means for connecting to the Internet, and 110 is displayed on a screen. An information selecting unit typified by a mouse or the like for selecting and specifying necessary information from the collected information, and a monitor 111 for displaying an image. The text information input means 101 may be a keyboard, a device for reading a recording medium such as a magnetic disk, or a terminal for inputting text from an external device. Internet connection means 1
Reference numeral 09 may be a modem required for dial-up connection using a telephone line or an I / O circuit required for TCP / IP connection.

The operation of the thus configured Internet search device according to the first embodiment will be described below with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS.

First, in Step A1, the text information 10 is input from the text information input means 101 and stored in the text information storage means 102. The input may be made with a keyboard, read from a storage medium such as a magnetic disk, or data may be read from a terminal from an external device or the like. The text information 10 is a normal sentence as shown in FIG.

Steps A2 to A7 are processed in cooperation with the word appearance frequency counting means 104 and the trend information managing means 105. In Step A2, the text information storage unit 1
From 02, the text information 10 is read onto the memory. St
At epA3, a word keyword constituting a sentence is cut out from the text information 10, and at Step A4, it is determined whether the word keyword already exists in the word keyword table. If the word keyword is cut out for the first time, it does not yet exist in the word keyword table, so the process proceeds to Step A5 to add the word keyword to the word keyword table as a new keyword. This word keyword table is set to be common to the word appearance frequency counting means 104 and the trend information management means 105.

When a new keyword is added to the word keyword table in Step A5, or
If the extracted word keyword already exists in the word keyword table, the process proceeds to Step A6, and a point is given to the word keyword as an appearance frequency. That is, the count value of the word keyword is incremented by one. Next, the process proceeds to Step A7, where it is determined whether or not the text information 10 which has not been read by the CPU in this routine exists in the text information storage means 102, and the reading / counting process for all the text information 10 is completed. If not, the process returns to Step A2, and thereafter, the same processing is repeatedly executed. As described above, the number of appearances of words constituting a sentence is counted from all the text information 10 stored in the text information storage unit 102. Various methods have been proposed for extracting words in the field of natural language processing, and any of these methods may be used.

Subsequently, in Steps A8 to A11, the similar word merging means 105 checks a similar word keyword. This is because, for example, “Aum Shinrikyo” and “Aum cult” represent the same thing, but in order to prevent them from being treated as different words. The check for similar word keywords is determined based on how many character strings are shared between the keywords to be compared. StepA
8, the similarity of the keywords existing in the keyword table is obtained, and based on the similarity, Step A 9 is performed.
It is determined whether or not there is a similar word keyword, and if so, a process of merging word keywords (merging two or more data into one) is performed. In the merging process, the total of the points given to the word keywords is also performed. When the merging process ends, the process proceeds to Step A11. When there is no similar word keyword, the process proceeds to Step A11. In Step A11, the similar word merging unit 105 determines whether or not an unprocessed word keyword still exists in the word keyword table.
Returning to step A8, the same processing is repeated. However, when the similar word merging processing is terminated because it no longer exists, S
Proceed to step A12.

In step A12, the trend information management means 1
06 sorts the word keywords according to points in the word keyword table, that is, the order of appearance frequency, and displays the trend word information as trend information on the monitor screen 111 in the order of appearance frequency in Step A13 based on the result. The higher the frequency of appearance, the higher the trend of the input text information 10. FIG.
Is a display screen 11 of the trend word displayed on the monitor screen 111. The trend ranking number and the trend word are displayed in pairs in descending order from the highest trend ranking.

In Step A14, the user selects one of the displayed trend keywords from the trend word display screen 11 by the image portion selecting means 110. The selection of a keyword by the image portion selecting means 110 may be performed by pointing a keyword on the screen with a mouse or a cursor key, or by specifying a keyword number by a numeric key of a remote controller. In Step A15, the Internet connection means 109 connects to the search engine through a TCP / IP connection using a telephone line or a dedicated line, and the homepage browser 108 displays the search engine on the screen. A search engine, also called a directory service, is a service that searches the Internet home pages around the world for the location of information that users want to find. Screen 12 in FIG. 6 is a screen connected to a search engine. Next, in Step A16, the search key input means 107 inputs the trend keyword selected in Step A14 as a search key as a search engine search key to cause a search. The screen 12 shows a case where “emerging religion” is selected as a search key on the screen 11. In Step A17, the result of this search is displayed on the monitor 111. Screen 13 in FIG. 7 is a display example of the search result. Here, for the search key “Emerging religion”, a URL (Unif
orm Resource Locator. Addresses that specify the location of Internet homepages) are listed.

On the screen 13, the user selects a desired one from the URLs listed on the screen 13 by the screen portion selecting means 110 as Step A18. Then, the homepage browser 108 and the Internet connection means 10
9 connects to the URL specified by the user, and Step A1
In step 9, the home page of the URL is displayed.

According to the Internet search apparatus of the first embodiment, the trend keywords of the text information 10 are displayed on the screen 11 in a list in descending order of appearance frequency.
Key words that are important in understanding the contents of the input text information 10 are found, and further detailed information on the keywords is obtained and displayed by automatically searching for the Internet location. It is possible to do.

In extracting a keyword, in the first embodiment, the similar word merging unit 105 sets
Merging of similar words in pA8 to pA11 is preferably performed because the effect of reducing redundancy in the keyword extraction result is obtained.

[Embodiment 2] FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an Internet search apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. In FIG. 8, reference numeral 112 denotes a program information receiving means for receiving program information periodically or irregularly transmitted from a broadcasting satellite, reference numeral 113 denotes a program information storage means for storing received program information, and reference numeral 114 denotes a storage. Program information selecting means for selecting only a genre that represents the trend of the era, such as a drama or a song program, from the selected program information, and 115 extracts a performer name as a word from the performer information of the selected program information. Performer performer extracting means, 104 is a word appearance frequency counting means for counting the appearance frequency of the extracted words, 105 is similar word combining means for combining similar words, and 106 is the counted word appearance frequency information as the appearance frequency. 107 is a trend information management means for storing and managing according to a search key for a trend keyword to a homepage browser. Search key input means for giving it, homepage browser for displaying a homepage of the Internet 108, Internet connection means for connecting to the Internet 109, 110
Is an information selection unit represented by a mouse or the like for selecting and specifying necessary information from information displayed on the screen;
Is a monitor for displaying video, and 116 is a television broadcast receiving means for receiving television broadcasts such as terrestrial waves and satellite waves. The text information input means 101 may be a keyboard, a device for reading a recording medium such as a magnetic disk, or a terminal for inputting text from an external device. The Internet connection means 109 is a modem necessary for dial-up connection using a telephone line, or T
Any of the I / O circuits necessary for the CP / IP connection may be used.

The operation of the thus configured Internet search device according to the second embodiment will be described below with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS.

First, in Step B 1, program information is inputted from the program information receiving means 112 and the program information storage means 113
Is stored. FIG. 11 shows the program information required in the case of the second embodiment among the various kinds of program information, and shows the program information of one program in which the program information is stored in the program information storage means 113. Table 1
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a storage state of program information in FIG. In the case of the second embodiment, the program information table 14 stores a program name, a program broadcast date and time, a broadcast channel, a main cast (name) of the program, and a genre of the program for each program. However, this does not exclude the inclusion of other program information. The program information storage means 113 has a very large number of program information tables 14 as described above.

In Step B2, the program information storage means 113
, The program information table 14 is read out to the memory. This reading is performed for each program information table. In Step B3, the program information selection unit 114 applies a genre filter to the read program information. That is, only the program information in which the genre is a genre representing the trend of the era or a song program is selected from the read program information. In Step B3, it is determined whether or not the genre belongs to either a drama or a song program.
The processing below pB4 is abandoned and the process returns to Step B2, and the process proceeds to reading of program information from the next program information table (increment of program information reading is performed). If it belongs, the process proceeds to Step B4. Note that the type of genre that represents the trend in the age of filtering program information is arbitrary. Here, drama and song program are taken as an example.

Steps B4 to B8 are processed by the cooperation of the word appearance frequency counting means 104 and the trend information management means 105. In Step B4, the content of the performer item (name of the performer) is cut out as a word keyword from the program information table 14 filtered in Step B3, and it is determined in Step B5 whether the word keyword already exists in the word keyword table. I do. If the word keyword is cut out for the first time, it does not exist in the word keyword table yet, so the process proceeds to Step B6 to add the word keyword to the word keyword table as a new keyword. This word keyword table is set to be common to the word appearance frequency counting means 104 and the trend information management means 105.

When a new keyword is added to the word keyword table in Step B6, or
If the extracted word keyword already exists in the word keyword table, the process proceeds to Step B7 to give a point as the appearance frequency to the word keyword. That is, the count value of the word keyword is incremented by one. Next, the process proceeds to Step B8 to determine whether or not the program information table 14 which has not been read by the CPU in this routine exists in the program information storage means 113. If the processing has not been completed, the process returns to Step B2, and thereafter, the same processing is repeatedly performed. As described above, all the program information tables 14 stored in the program information storage
From the number of appearances of the performer name.

Subsequently, in Steps B9 to B12, the similar word merging means 105 checks for similar word keywords. This is to prevent, for example, "Date Player" and "Date Kimiko" from representing the same person, each of which is treated as a different word. The procedure for merging similar words is described in Step A8 in the first embodiment.
To A11, and a description thereof will be omitted.

In step B13, the trend information management means 1
06 sorts the word keywords in the word keyword table according to the point, that is, the order of appearance frequency, and displays the trend word information as the trend information on the monitor screen 111 in Step B14 in the order of appearance frequency based on the result. The higher the frequency of appearance, the higher the current trend. FIG. 12 shows a monitor screen 111.
6 is a display screen 15 of the trend word (performer) displayed in FIG. The trend ranking number and the trend word are displayed in pairs in descending order from the highest trend ranking.

Steps subsequent to Step B15 are the same operations as those of Step A14 to Step A19 of the first embodiment. That is, in Step B15, the user selects one trend keyword from the trend word display screen 15. In Step B16, the Internet connection means 109 connects to the search engine, and the homepage browser 108 displays the search engine on the screen. Screen 16 in FIG. 13 is a screen connected to the search engine. next,
In Step B17, the search key input means 107
The trend keyword selected in step B15 is input as a search key as a search key of a search engine, and a search is performed. The screen 16 is a case where “Takuya Kimura” is selected as a search key on the screen 15. In Step B18, the result of this search is displayed on the monitor 111. Screen 17 in FIG. 14 is a display example of the search result.

On the screen 17, the user selects a desired one from the URLs listed on the screen 17 as Step B19. Then, the homepage browser 108 and the Internet connection means 109 connect to the URL specified by the user, and display the homepage of the URL in Step B20.

According to the Internet search apparatus of the second embodiment, as shown in screen 15, trend keywords obtained from program information are displayed in a list in descending order of appearance frequency. Can easily find popular performers in the world from now on, and obtain and display the Internet's location of more detailed information about those performers by performing an automatic search. .

In counting the number of trend performers, in the second embodiment, the similar word merging unit 105 is used.
Therefore, it is preferable to perform the merging of similar words in Steps B9 to B12 since the effect of reducing redundancy in the keyword extraction result is obtained.

In the genre selection, drama and song program are used in the second embodiment. However, for other genres, genres whose performers can be considered to be trends reflecting the times and the world are considered. It may be a target for counting trend keywords. For example, a drama, a song program, a variety program, a quiz program, and a news program may be selected based on a combination of two or three or more genres, or may be simply selected based on one genre. Further, the program information selection means 11
The present invention also includes the case where the appearance frequency is counted in all genres without performing such selection and omitting step 4.

The program information is not limited to satellite digital broadcasting, but may be terrestrial broadcasting or CATV broadcasting.

The television broadcast receiving means 116 is used for receiving a television broadcast, and is not essential for the Internet search device according to the second embodiment.

[Third Embodiment] FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an Internet search device according to a third embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 15, reference numerals 103 and 1
The same reference numerals as in FIG. 8 according to Embodiment 2 indicate the same configuration except for 14, but, again, 112 is program information receiving means for receiving program information, and 113 is program information in which received program information is stored. Storage means; 104, word appearance frequency counting means for counting the appearance frequency of the cut-out words;
05 is a similar word merging means for merging similar words, 10
6 is a trend information management means for storing and managing the counted word appearance frequency information according to the appearance frequency, 107 is a search key input means for giving a trend keyword as a search key to a homepage browser, 108 is displaying an Internet homepage A homepage browser for connecting to the Internet; 109, an Internet connection means for connecting to the Internet; 110, an information selection means for selecting and specifying necessary information from information displayed on the screen; 111, a monitor for displaying an image; , A television broadcast receiving means for receiving television broadcasts such as satellite waves. This embodiment differs from the second embodiment in that the reference numeral 103 is present and the operation of the reference numeral 114 is different.
Is a program information selecting means for selecting only a genre in which a topic taken up by the program represents a trend of the era, such as a news genre or a news report, from a recorded program information. ,
This is a word extracting means for extracting each word constituting the sentence. This word extracting means 103 is the same as that of the first embodiment.

The operation of the Internet search apparatus according to the third embodiment configured as described above will be described below with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. The following operations are controlled by a CPU (Central Processing Unit) not shown.

First, in Step C 1, program information is inputted from the program information receiving means 112 and the program information storage means 113
Is stored. FIG. 18 shows program information required in the case of the third embodiment among various kinds of program information, and program information for one program in which the program information is stored in the program information storage means 113. Table 1
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a storage state of program information in FIG. In the case of the third embodiment, the program information table 18 stores a program name, a program broadcast date and time, a broadcast channel, a program genre, and a brief description of the program contents for each program. However, this does not exclude the inclusion of other program information. The program information storage means 113 has a large number of program information tables 18 as described above.

In Step C2, the program information storage means 113
, The program information table 18 is read out to the memory. This reading is performed for each program information table. In Step C3, the program information selection unit 114 applies a genre filter to the read program information. That is, of the read program information, only the program information in which the content of the program is a genre representing the trend of the era or a news program is selected. In Step C3, it is determined whether the genre belongs to any of the news program and the news program. If not, the processing of Step C4 and subsequent steps for the program information is abandoned and Step C4 is abandoned.
Returning to C2, the process proceeds to reading of program information from the next program information table (increment of program information reading is performed). If it belongs, the process proceeds to Step C4. Note that the type of genre that represents the trend in the age of filtering program information is arbitrary. Here, news and news programs are taken as an example.

Steps C4 to C8 are processed by the cooperation of the word appearance frequency counting means 104 and the trend information management means 105. In Step C4, the program information table 18 filtered in Step C3 is cut out as a word keyword from a sentence describing the outline of the content of the program, and in Step C5, it is determined whether or not the word keyword already exists in the word keyword table. .
If the word keyword has been cut out for the first time, it does not yet exist in the word keyword table, so the process proceeds to Step C6 to add it to the word keyword table as a new keyword. This word keyword table is set to be common to the word appearance frequency counting means 104 and the trend information management means 105. Various methods for extracting words have been proposed in the world of natural language processing, and any of them may be used.

When a new keyword is added to the word keyword table in Step C6, or
If the extracted word keyword already exists in the word keyword table, the process proceeds to Step C7, and the word keyword is given a point as an appearance frequency. That is, the count value of the word keyword is incremented by one. Next, the process proceeds to Step C8, where it is determined whether or not the program information table 18 which has not been read by the CPU in this routine exists in the program information storage means 113, and the reading and counting process for all the program information tables 18 is performed. If the processing has not been completed, the process returns to Step C2, and thereafter, the same processing is repeatedly performed. As described above, all the program information tables 18 stored in the program information storage
Count the number of occurrences of the word name from.

Subsequently, in Steps C9 to C12, the similar word merging means 105 checks for similar word keywords. This is because, for example, “Aum Order” and “Aum Shinrikyo” represent the same thing, but in order to prevent them from being treated as different words. The procedure for merging similar words is described in the Stee in the first embodiment.
The description is omitted because it is the same as pA8 to A11.

In step C13, the trend information management means 1
06 sorts the word keywords in the word keyword table in the order of points, that is, the order of appearance frequency, and displays the trend word information as trend information on the monitor screen 111 in the order of appearance frequency in Step C14 based on the result. The more frequently appearing words are the current trend. FIG. 19 shows the monitor screen 111.
Is a display screen 19 of the trend word displayed in FIG. The trend ranking number and the trend word are displayed in pairs in descending order from the highest trend ranking.

Steps subsequent to Step C15 are the same operations as those of Step A14 to Step A19 of the first embodiment. That is, in Step C15, the user selects one trend keyword from the trend word display screen 19. In Step C16, the Internet connection means 109 connects to the search engine, and the homepage browser 108 displays the search engine on the screen. The screen 20 in FIG. 20 is a screen connected to a search engine. next,
In Step C17, the search key input means 107
The trend keyword selected in step C15 is input as a search key as a search key of a search engine, and a search is performed. The screen 20 is a case where “Nomo” is selected as the search key on the screen 19. In Step C18, the result of this search is displayed on the monitor 111. FIG.
Is a display example of the search result.

On the screen 21, the user selects a desired one from the URLs listed on the screen 21 as Step C19. Then, the homepage browser 108 and the Internet connection means 109 connect to the URL specified by the user, and display the homepage of the URL in Step C20.

According to the Internet search apparatus of the third embodiment, the trend keywords obtained from the program information are displayed in a list in the descending order of the appearance frequency on the screen 19, so that the current world can be selected from a very large number of programs. It is possible to easily find popular topics on the Internet, and to obtain and display the Internet location of more detailed information on those topics by automatically searching.

When counting the number of trend keywords, in the third embodiment, similar word merging means 105 performs merging of similar words in Steps C9 to C12 because the effect of reducing redundancy in the keyword extraction result is obtained. Is preferred.

In the genre selection, news and news programs are used in the third embodiment. However, for other genres, genres whose topics can be considered to be trends reflecting the times and the world are not considered. The keyword may be counted.
For example, selection may be made based on a combination of any two or more genres from a news program, a news program, a variety program, and a quiz program, or may be performed based on a single genre. Further, the program information selection means 114
The present invention also includes the case where the appearance frequency is counted in all genres without performing such selection and omitting the above.

The program information is not limited to satellite digital broadcasting, but may be terrestrial broadcasting or CATV broadcasting.

The television broadcast receiving means 116 is used for receiving a television broadcast, and is not essential for the Internet search device according to the third embodiment.

[Fourth Embodiment] FIG. 22 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an Internet search apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 22, reference numerals 103 to 11
1, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 according to the first embodiment denote the same components. However, when described again, reference numeral 103 denotes a word extracting means for extracting each word constituting a sentence from the stored text broadcast text information. , 104 are word appearance frequency counting means for counting the appearance frequency of the extracted words, 10
5 is a similar word merging means for merging similar words, 106
Is a trend information management means for storing and managing the counted word appearance frequency information according to the appearance frequency, 107 is a search key input means for giving a trend keyword as a search key to a homepage browser, and 108 is displaying an Internet homepage. A reference numeral 109 denotes an Internet connection means for connecting to the Internet; 110, an information selection means for selecting and specifying necessary information from information displayed on the screen; and 111, a monitor for displaying an image.

This embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that reference numerals 116 to 118 are present. Reference numeral 116 denotes a television broadcast receiving means for receiving television broadcasts such as terrestrial waves and satellite waves. Reference numeral 117 denotes a teletext receiving unit for receiving teletext, and reference numeral 118 denotes a teletext storage unit for storing text information of the received teletext.

The operation of the Internet search apparatus according to the fourth embodiment configured as described above will be described below with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS.

First, in step D 1, text information of teletext is input from teletext receiving means 117 and stored in teletext storage means 118. FIG. 25 shows an example of teletext, which is one content 22 of teletext. In the teletext storage means 118, there are a very large number of contents 22 as described above. In Step D2, the content 22 is read from the teletext storage unit 118 onto the memory.

Steps D3 to D7 are processed by the cooperation of the word appearance frequency counting means 104 and the trend information management means 105. In Step D3, a word keyword is cut out from the content 22 read out in Step D2,
In step D4, it is determined whether the word keyword already exists in the word keyword table. If the word keyword was cut out for the first time,
Since it does not yet exist in the word keyword table,
Proceeding to Step D5, a new keyword is added to the word keyword table. This word keyword table includes the word appearance frequency counting means 104 and the trend information management means 1
05 is set in common. Various methods for extracting words have been proposed in the world of natural language processing, and any of them may be used.

When a new keyword is added to the word keyword table in Step D5, or
When the extracted word keyword already exists in the word keyword table, the process proceeds to Step D6, and a point is given to the word keyword as an appearance frequency. That is, the count value of the word keyword is incremented by one. Next, the process proceeds to Step D7, where the contents 22 that have not been read by the CPU in this routine are stored in the text broadcast storage unit 118.
Is determined, and if the reading / counting processing for all the contents 22 is not completed, the process returns to Step D2, and the same processing is repeatedly executed. As described above, the number of appearances of the word name is counted from all the contents 22 stored in the teletext storage unit 118.

Subsequently, in Steps D8 to D11, the similar word merging means 105 checks a similar word keyword. This is because, for example, “Aum Order” and “Aum Shinrikyo” represent the same thing, but in order to prevent them from being treated as different words. The procedure for merging similar words is described in the Stee in the first embodiment.
The description is omitted because it is the same as pA8 to A11.

In step D12, the trend information management means 1
06 sorts the word keywords according to points in the word keyword table, that is, in descending order of appearance frequency, and displays the trend word information as trend information on the monitor screen 111 in descending order of appearance frequency in Step D13 based on the result. The more frequently appearing words are the current trend. FIG. 26 shows the monitor screen 111
Is a display screen 23 of the trend word displayed in FIG. The trend ranking number and the trend word are displayed in pairs in descending order from the highest trend ranking.

The steps subsequent to Step D14 are the same operations as those of Step A14 to Step A19 of the first embodiment. That is, in Step D14, the user selects one trend keyword from the display screen 23 of the trend word. In Step D15, the Internet connection means 109 connects to the search engine, and the homepage browser 108 displays the search engine on the screen. Screen 24 in FIG. 27 is a screen connected to a search engine. next,
In Step D16, the search key input means 107
The trend keyword selected in step D14 is input as a search key as a search key and a search is performed by a search engine. The screen 24 is a case where “Matsushita Electric” is selected as a search key on the screen 23. In Step D17, the result of this search is displayed on the monitor 111. Screen 25 in FIG. 28 is a display example of the search result.

On the screen 25, the user selects a desired one from the URLs listed on the screen 25 as Step D18. Then, the homepage browser 108 and the Internet connection means 109 connect to the URL specified by the user, and display the homepage of the URL in Step D19.

According to the Internet search apparatus of the fourth embodiment, trend keywords obtained from teletext are displayed in a list on the screen 23 in order of appearance frequency, so that trend topics can be easily found in the present world. In addition, it is possible to obtain and display the Internet location of more detailed information on those topics by automatically performing a search.

When counting the number of trend keywords, in the fourth embodiment, the similar word merging means 105 performs merging of similar words in Steps D8 to D11 because the effect of reducing the redundancy in the keyword extraction result is obtained. Is preferred.

In the fourth embodiment, the screen 2 shown in FIG.
When a keyword is selected in 3, the search is started with the keyword. However, before the search is started, contents including the keyword once selected may be displayed. FIG.
9 shows the state, and the screen 26 shows the content when “Matsushita Electric” is selected on the screen 23 and includes “Matsushita Electric”. In the screen 26, words indicating the top trends as trend keywords are surrounded by squares (Matsushita Electric, Multimedia, Hewlett-Microsystems). In this case, when the user selects a trend keyword surrounded by these squares, the search is started as shown in a screen 24 shown in FIG.

[0067]

According to the Internet search apparatus of the present invention, elements related to trends (for example, words extracted from the contents of major performers and programs or the latest news) from text information, program information or teletext information. , Etc.) and search the Internet using trend keywords with a high frequency of occurrence, so you can search for information related to elements related to trends that are popular in the world today from a large number of Internet information It can be easily found.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an Internet search device according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the Internet search device according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the Internet search device according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing text information according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a display state diagram of a trend keyword according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a display state diagram of the Internet search engine according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a display state diagram of search results of the Internet search engine according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an Internet search device according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the Internet search device according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the Internet search device according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a program information table to be received according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a display state diagram of a trend keyword according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a display state diagram of the Internet search engine according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a display state diagram of search results of the Internet search engine according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an Internet search device according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the Internet search device according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the Internet search device according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a program information table to be received according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a display state diagram of a trend keyword according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 20 is a display state diagram of the Internet search engine according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 21 is a display state diagram of search results of the Internet search engine according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an Internet search device according to a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the Internet search device according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the Internet search device according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing teletext content to be received according to the fourth embodiment;

FIG. 26 is a display state diagram of a trend keyword according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 27 is a display state diagram of the Internet search engine according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 28 is a display state diagram of search results of the Internet search engine according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 29 is a display state diagram of trend keywords in teletext content according to the fourth embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Text information 14, 18 Program information table 22 Teletext content 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 2
1, 23, 24, 25, 26 screen 101 text information input means 102 text information storage means 103 word cutout means 104 word appearance frequency counting means 105 similar word merging means 106 trend information management means 107 search key input means 108 homepage browser 109 internet Connection means 110 information selection means 111 monitor 112 program information reception means 113 program information storage means 114 program information selection means 115 performer cutout means 116 television broadcast reception means 117 teletext broadcast reception means 118 teletext broadcast storage means

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A monitor for displaying an image, an information selecting means for selecting information displayed on the monitor, a text information input means for inputting text information, and a text information storage means for storing the text information. Word extracting means for extracting words from the stored text information, word frequency counting means for counting the frequency of appearance of the extracted words, and trend information managing means for managing word information according to the frequency of occurrence Internet connection means for connecting to the Internet via a telephone line, a homepage browser for browsing homepages on the Internet, and the information selection from trend keywords managed by trend information management means displayed on the monitor. Use the trend keyword selected by the means as a search key An Internet search device comprising: a search key input means for inputting to a search engine on the Internet. 2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising a similar word merging unit for merging similar words among the words extracted by the word extracting unit, wherein the trend information managing unit manages the word information in the merged state according to the appearance frequency. The Internet search device according to claim 1, wherein 3. Program information receiving means for receiving program information including information on main performers of a program, program information storage means for storing the program information, and information on the name of the performer from the performer information in the program information. Word cutout means for cutting out words, word appearance frequency counting means for counting the appearance frequency of performers, trend information management means for managing performer information according to the appearance frequency, and the Internet connected to the Internet by a telephone line or the like Connection means, a homepage browser for browsing a homepage on the Internet, and a trend keyword selected by the information selection means from the trend keywords managed by the trend information management means displayed on the monitor as a search key. A search key input means for inputting to a search engine on the Internet; An internet search device for inputting trend performer information selected by said information selection means as a search key. 4. The program information receiving means can receive program information including summary information about the contents of the program, the word extracting means cuts out words from the general information on the contents of the program, and the information selecting means 4. The selected trend word information is input as a search key.
An Internet search device according to item 1. 5. A program information selecting means for selecting program information of a genre relating to a trend from the program information stored in said program information storing means, wherein said word appearance frequency counting means includes a word of said selected program information. The internet search device according to claim 3, wherein the Internet search device is configured to count the frequency of appearance of the word from the information. 6. A teletext receiving means for receiving teletext, a teletext storage means for storing the received teletext, a word extracting means for extracting words from the stored teletext, and the extracted words. Word appearance frequency counting means for counting the appearance frequency of words, trend information management means for managing word information according to the appearance frequency, Internet connection means for connecting to the Internet via a telephone line, etc., and browsing homepages on the Internet Key input for inputting a trend keyword selected by the information selecting means from the trend keywords managed by the trend information managing means displayed on the monitor to a search engine on the Internet as a search key And the train selected by the information selecting means. An Internet search device characterized by inputting word information as a search key. 7. The Internet according to claim 1, further comprising a TV broadcast receiving means, capable of receiving a TV broadcast and searching for information on the Internet by using a keyword. Search device.