JPH11143885A - Method and device for information retrieval, storage medium for storing information retrieval program, method and device for information transmission, and storage medium for storing information transmission program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information retrieval method and its device and a storage medium for storing an information retrieval program that can retrieve an information observing point on a computer network related to an 'entity' from an object identifier of the 'entity' in the rear world, and also to provide an information transmission method and its device and a storage medium for storing an information transmission program that can uniquely specify its 'entity' in referring to the 'entity' which has the object identifier in the real world. SOLUTION: The proposed devices read out an object identifier for identifying an 'entity' in the real world, relate the object identifier to an information resource identifier, and present the information resource identifier and an information resource that the information resource identifier refers to. In the information resource transmitted to a computer network, it reads the object identifier that the 'entity' in the real world has, includes the object identifier in the information resource to be transmitted and edits them and transmits edited information to an information server on the computer network.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information search method and apparatus, a storage medium storing an information search program, an information transmission method and apparatus, and a storage medium storing an information transmission program. Instruction manuals and product specifications related to "things" such as various products
Articles of books, newspapers, magazines, etc., information such as comments of other users, a storage medium storing an information search method and apparatus and an information search program for accurately searching and presenting from a computer network such as the Internet or an intranet, In addition, the present invention relates to an information transmitting method and apparatus for making it easy for an information user to specify a "thing" to be referred to when transmitting information about the "thing" on a computer network, and a storage medium storing an information transmitting program. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, information retrieval used on the Internet or the like searches the name and model number of a "thing" in order to search for information related to the "thing", and the user himself searches for the information on a keyboard or the like. This is a method of specifying using an input device. Also, when sending information on the Internet, when referring to a "thing", check the name and model number of the "thing" and specify it using an input device such as a keyboard by the user himself. is there.

Information required for various products such as manuals is distributed along with the products.

[0004]

However, the above-mentioned prior art has the following problems.・ It is necessary to store information related to “things” in a different form from “things”, and “things” and related information
May be physically unrelated (e.g., you need to save your TV manual in a different form from your TV, but if you need it while using the TV, You don't know where you saved it, etc.).

When searching for information related to "things" on the Internet or transmitting information on the Internet, it is necessary to check the name and model number of the "thing". In some cases, the name or model number is not known. In addition, the user can input “things” from an input device such as a keyboard.
The task of inputting the name and model number of the user in the form of a character string is imposed and takes time.

When a user specifies a name or a model number of a "thing", there is a possibility that ambiguity is generated. -ISBN for books, barcode symbols for various products,
In many cases, "things" are already assigned identifiers for production management and distribution management, but there is no way to use these identifiers for information retrieval or information transmission on the Internet. .

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and enables an information viewpoint on a computer network relating to a "thing" to be searched from an object identifier of the "thing" in the real world. An object of the present invention is to provide an information search method and apparatus and a storage medium storing an information search program. Further, a further object of the present invention is to provide an information resource transmitted on a computer network which can uniquely specify the "thing" when referring to the "thing" having the real-world object identifier. It is an object of the present invention to provide a transmission method and apparatus and a storage medium storing an information transmission program.

[0008]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the principle of the present invention. The present invention provides an information search method in a situation where information resources can be accessed by specifying an information resource identifier for uniquely specifying information resources distributed and arranged on a computer network.
An object identifier for identifying a "thing" in the real world is read (step 1), the object identifier is associated with the information resource identifier (step 2), and the associated information resource identifier and the information resource indicated by the information resource identifier are presented. (Step 3).

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the principle of the present invention. The present invention relates to an information retrieval apparatus in a situation where an information resource can be accessed by designating an information resource identifier for uniquely specifying an information resource that is distributed and arranged on a computer network. Object identifier reading means 130 for reading an object identifier for identifying an object identifier, an object identifier / information resource identifier conversion means 210 for associating an object identifier with an information resource identifier, and an information resource associated by the object identifier / information resource identifier conversion means 210 It has an identifier and information resource presenting means 220 for presenting an information resource retrieved based on the information resource identifier.

The present invention is directed to a storage medium storing an information search program in a state where an information resource can be accessed by designating an information resource identifier for uniquely specifying an information resource distributed and arranged on a computer network. An object identifier reading process for reading an object identifier for identifying a "thing" in the real world; an object identifier / information resource identifier conversion process for associating the object identifier with the information resource identifier; and an information resource associated by the conversion process An identifier and an information resource presentation process for presenting information resources retrieved based on the information resource identifier.

According to the present invention, by specifying an information resource identifier for uniquely specifying information resources distributed and arranged on a computer network, a real-world "thing"
In an information transmission method for transmitting information about a computer network, an information resource transmitted to a computer network reads an object identifier of a real-world "thing", edits the information resource to be transmitted including the object identifier, and edits the edited information. Send to an information server on the computer network.

According to the present invention, by specifying an information resource identifier for uniquely specifying an information resource distributed and arranged on a computer network, a real-world "thing"
An information transmission device for transmitting information relating to a computer network, wherein in an information resource transmitted to a computer network, an object identifier reading means for reading an object identifier of a real thing, and an object identifier reading means for reading the transmitted information resource. Editing means for editing the object information including the object identifier, and transmitting means for transmitting the edited information to an information server on a computer network.

According to the present invention, by specifying an information resource identifier for uniquely specifying an information resource distributed and arranged on a computer network, a real-world "thing"
Storage medium storing an information transmission program for transmitting information relating to an information resource transmitted to a computer network, wherein an object identifier reading process for reading an object identifier of a real thing is provided; There is an editing process for editing the object identifier including the object identifier read by the object identifier reading process, and a transmission process for transmitting the edited information to an information server on a computer network.

As described above, the present invention relates to an identifier of a real-world "thing" such as a barcode symbol or RF-ID, and an information resource identifier on a computer network such as a URL widely used on the Internet. It is possible to link "things" with information resources on a computer network by linking "". That is, in the present invention, by associating a "thing" identifier with an information identifier such as a URL widely used in a computer network, it is possible to search not only manuals but also information about distributed "things". Is possible.

[0015]

FIG. 3 shows the configuration of an information retrieval system to which the present invention is applied. The information search system shown in FIG. 1 includes an object identifier reading device 130, an information search device 200, a computer network 170, and an information server 180.

The information retrieval apparatus 200 includes an object identifier / information resource identifier converter 210 for associating an object identifier with the information resource identifier, and an information resource presentation for presenting the associated information resource identifier and the information resource indicated by the information resource identifier. Unit 220 and transmission information editing unit 2 for editing the information resource to be transmitted including the object identifier
30.

The information retrieval device 200 of the present invention is connected to an object identifier reading device 130 for reading a bar code symbol of the “thing” 110 or an object identifier 120 such as an RF-ID. The user reads the object identifier of “thing” with the object identifier reading device 130 and uses the read object identifier, the object identifier / information resource identifier conversion unit 210, and the information resource presentation unit 220 on the computer network 170. Of information related to "things" stored in the information server 180 of the user.

Further, the Internet information transmitting function of the present invention is provided with a bar code symbol of "thing",
An object identifier reading device 130 that reads an object identifier such as an ID is connected, and has a transmission information editing unit 230. The transmission information editing unit 230
By including the object identifier read by the object identifier reading device 130 in the information created by the above, information searchable by the information search method can be created. By transmitting this information to the information server 180 on the computer network, the information can be searched by the above information search method.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the information search operation of the present invention. When the user wants to obtain information about a certain “thing”, the user reads an object identifier such as a barcode symbol or an RF-ID attached to the “thing” using the object identifier reading device 130. The read object identifier is sent to the object identifier / information resource identifier conversion unit 210.
The object identifier / information resource identifier conversion unit 210
It holds information resource identifiers corresponding to various object identifiers, and outputs information resource identifiers corresponding to the input object identifiers. The output information resource identifier is input to the information resource presentation unit 220.

The information resource presenting section 220 presents the information resource identifier to the user, and also provides the user with guide information such as the title, excerpt, and summary of the information indicated by the information resource identifier. The user can select and obtain desired information from the presented information. FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the information transmission operation of the present invention.

When the user wishes to transmit information referring to a certain thing on the Internet, the information to be transmitted is created using the transmission information editing unit 230, and a bar code symbol or the like attached to the "thing" is created. The object identifier is read from the object identifier reading device 13
Read using 0. The read object identifier is input to the transmission information editing unit 230.

The transmission information editing section 230 outputs transmission information by including the input object identifier in the generated information. The user can place the outgoing information output by the outgoing information editing unit 230 on an information server 180 such as an arbitrary WWW server or an FTP server on the Internet and publish the information, thereby transmitting the information on the Internet. Thus, the transmitted information can be searched for by the information search method of the present invention. Thus, when another user wants information on a specific "thing", it is possible to search for information on the "thing" uniquely determined by the object identifier.

[0023]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. [First Embodiment] First, as a first embodiment, a case of searching for manual information and related information of a product will be described as an example.

When a product such as a home appliance is purchased, a manual for the product is installed on a personal computer (PC) of the purchaser, and when relevant information such as manual information of the product is required, the product 1 shows an example of an information search method of the present invention in which manual information can be obtained by simply reading the barcode symbol of the product with the barcode symbol reading device 130 and at the same time information related to the product present on the Internet can be obtained. .

FIG. 6 shows an example of the configuration of an information retrieval system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, a product has a barcode symbol as a barcode identifier as an object identifier. The PC 300 is connected to the Internet 17
Connected to 0. In the PC 300, the WWW server 3
20, local information guide server 200, and WWW
The client 310 is activated.

The WWW server 320 and the local information guide server 200 are connected by TCP, and the WWW server 320 and the WWW client 310 are connected by TCP. The output of the local information guidance server 200 is sent to the WWW server 320. The WWW server 320 transmits the data by the server push method, or the WWW client 310 of the user.
, An HTTP request is issued to the WWW server 320 and transmitted as a response, or the information is transmitted to the WWW client 310 by HTTP in either method, and the output result is presented to the user via the WWW client 310. Is done.

The local information guide server 200 has a part of an object identifier / information resource identifier conversion unit 210 (barcode symbol / URL conversion unit) and an information resource presentation unit (URL information presentation unit) 220. The local information guidance server 200 uses the barcode symbol reading device 1
The value of the barcode symbol is obtained from 30. This value is sent to the internal barcode symbol / URL converter 210 and also to the remote information guide server 400 on the Internet 170.

The internal barcode symbol / URL conversion section 210 holds the correspondence between the input barcode symbol value and the URL associated therewith. Table 1 shows an example of the correspondence. The relationship between the value of the barcode symbol and the URL associated therewith is one-to-one or one-to-many. Object identifier / URL converter 21
0 outputs a URL corresponding to the input barcode symbol based on this correspondence.

[0029]

[Table 1]

In this embodiment, when the manual data of a product is installed on the PC 300, the correspondence between the bar code symbol value of the product and the URL of the installed manual data is determined by the object identifier and the local information guide server. Notify the URL conversion unit 210,
The object identifier / URL conversion unit 210 adds the correspondence to the already held correspondence. Therefore, the object identifier in the local information guide server
The URL conversion unit 210 outputs a URL indicating information stored in the PC 300.

On the other hand, the remote information guidance server 400
A large number of information published on the Internet 170 is collected, keywords of the collected information are extracted, and the following changes are made to a search engine having a database for presenting information corresponding to the keywords. Normally, such a search engine extracts a keyword in a natural language, but the remote information guide server 400 according to the present embodiment transmits the keyword based on the extracted keyword using an example of transmission information editing software on the Internet described later. The value of the barcode symbol is changed from the information including the value of the hardcode symbol to be extracted as a search keyword in the same manner as other natural language keywords. Thus, the remote information guide server 400 can have the correspondence between the barcode symbol value and the URL of the related information on the Internet as shown in Table 1 above. The identifier / information resource identifier conversion unit 210 can be used. Therefore, based on the value of the barcode symbol sent from the local information guidance server, a URL is output using this correspondence and sent to the local information guidance server 200.

In general, search engines on the Internet provide guidance information of information indicated by the URL, such as the title of the information indicated by the URL to be output, and excerpts and summaries.
Output together with RL. Similarly, the remote information guidance server 400 of this embodiment also outputs guidance information of the information pointed to by the URL, together with the URL. The URL information presentation unit 220 in the local information guidance server 200
It corresponds to the information resource presentation unit 220 of the present invention. U
The RL information presenting unit 220 is a local information guide server 20
Identifier in 0 URL output by URL conversion unit 210
And the URL output by the remote information guidance server 400
And guide information of the information indicated by the URL.

For the URL output by the object identifier / URL conversion unit 210 in the local information guidance server 200, the URL information presentation unit 220 acquires the information indicated by the URL by itself, and extracts and summarizes the title and contents. And the like, and the URL input from the remote information guidance server 400 and the guidance information of the information indicated by the URL, together with the W guide such as HTML format.
The document is transmitted to the WWW server 320 in the form of a WWW document. At this time, for the purpose of shortening the processing time for acquiring the information pointed to by the URL output by the object identifier / URL conversion unit 210 in the local information guidance server 200 and extracting the guide information of the information, one day a day is set in advance. The frequency, such as the number of times, is determined, and the URL held by the identifier / URL conversion unit 210 in the local information guidance server 200 is received by the URL information presentation unit 220, and the guide information of the information indicated by the received URL is extracted, and It is also effective to output guidance information based on the stored correspondence when the URL output by the identifier / URL converter 210 in the local information guide server is input. It is.

When this method is used, the URL
Only when a URL for which the information presentation unit 220 does not hold the correspondence is input, as described above,
What is necessary is just to acquire the information pointed to by L and extract the guide information. The WWW server 320 transmits the information in the WWW document format output from the local information guide server 200 to the WWW client 310 in the form of a server push or the like.

Thus, the user can read the manual information stored in the PC 300 and the information on the Internet related to the product only by reading the bar code symbol of the product with the bar code symbol reading device 130. be able to. [Second Embodiment] In this embodiment, an Internet information transmission method for transmitting information referring to a product having a barcode symbol on the Internet will be described.

FIG. 7 shows a configuration example of an information transmission system according to a second embodiment of the present invention. The product has a barcode symbol as an object identifier. The barcode symbol reading device 130 is connected to the PC 300. PC
In 300, the transmission information editing software 230 is activated. The transmission information editing software 230 corresponds to the transmission information editing unit 230 in FIG.
Like a WWW document editing software such as an L editor, a WWW document is created. A barcode symbol of a product referred to in the document is read by a barcode symbol reading device 130, and a value of the read barcode symbol is read. , Capture in that document.

Specifically, "keywords" (eg, <META name = "keywords" cont) in the META tag in the document
ent = "astronomical object, telescope, star, galaxy, astronomical observation, night sky">)
Is described as a barcode symbol. Let the user select a string for the product name from within the document, and write it after the name (barcode: 4-123456-123456) so that readers of the document can read it.
<BARCODE> 4-123456-123456 There is a method such as using a unique tag like </ BARCODE>.

As a result, a WWW document including the value of the barcode symbol can be created, and the user can copy this WWW document to the WWW on the Internet.
By registering and publishing in the W server 180, a WWW document including the barcode symbol value of the mentioned product can be transmitted. In this way, the transmitted WWW document is collected by the remote information guide server 400 in the example of the search method shown in FIG. 6 as described above, and is stored in the correspondence table of the barcode symbol value and the URL held by this server. , Its documentation. Thus, according to the above-described example of the search method of the present invention, when the user wants to know the related information of the product, the search can be easily performed.

Further, according to the present invention, among the configurations shown in FIG.
The object identifier / information resource identifier conversion unit 210, the information resource presentation unit 220, and the transmission information editing unit 230 are constructed as a program, and are connected to the information search device 200 and the PC 300.
-Stored in a portable storage medium such as a ROM, and can be used for general purposes by appropriately installing and using it when performing information search and information transmission processing.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be variously modified and applied within the scope of the claims.

[0041]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to retrieve an information resource on a computer network related to a "thing" from an object identifier of the "thing" in the real world. When referring to "things" with real-world object identifiers in information resources transmitted over computer networks,
The "thing" can be uniquely specified.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a principle configuration diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of an information search system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining an information search operation of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining an information transmission operation of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an information search system according to a first example of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an information transmission system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

110 object 120 object identifier 130 object identifier reader, barcode symbol reader 170 computer network, Internet 180 information server, WWW server 200 information retrieval device, local information guide server 210 object identifier / information resource identifier conversion means, object identifier / information Resource identifier conversion unit, bar code symbol / URL conversion unit 220 Information resource presentation means, information resource presentation unit, URL information presentation unit 230 Transmission information editing unit, Transmission information editing software 300 PC (personal computer) 310 WWW client 320 WWW server 330 Manual data 400 Remote information guidance server

Claims (6)

[Claims] An information retrieval method in a situation where an information resource can be accessed by designating an information resource identifier for uniquely identifying an information resource distributed and arranged on a computer network, comprising: An object identifier that identifies
Reading the information identifier, associating the object identifier with the information resource identifier, and presenting the associated information resource identifier and the information resource indicated by the information resource identifier. 2. An information retrieval apparatus in a situation where an information resource can be accessed by designating an information resource identifier for uniquely specifying an information resource distributed and arranged on a computer network, comprising: Object identifier reading means for reading an object identifier for identifying an object, object identifier / information resource identifier conversion means for associating the object identifier with the information resource identifier, and the object identifier / information resource identifier conversion means An information search device, comprising: an information resource identifier; and an information resource presentation unit that presents an information resource searched based on the information resource identifier. 3. A storage medium storing an information search program in a situation where an information resource can be accessed by designating an information resource identifier for uniquely specifying an information resource distributed and arranged on a computer network. An object identifier reading process for reading an object identifier for identifying a real-world "thing"; an object identifier / information resource identifier conversion process for associating the object identifier with the information resource identifier; A storage medium storing an information search program, comprising: an information resource identifier; and an information resource presentation process for presenting an information resource searched based on the information resource identifier. 4. A real-world "thing" for information retrieval in a situation where an information resource can be accessed by specifying an information resource identifier for uniquely specifying an information resource distributed and arranged on a computer network. In an information transmission method for transmitting information relating to a computer network, an information resource transmitted to a computer network reads an object identifier of a real thing, edits the information resource to be transmitted including the object identifier, and edits the information. Transmitting the information to an information server on the computer network. 5. A real-world "thing" for information retrieval in a situation where an information resource can be accessed by specifying an information resource identifier for uniquely identifying an information resource distributed and arranged on a computer network. An information transmission device for transmitting information about an object resource, wherein in an information resource transmitted to a computer network, an object identifier reading means for reading an object identifier of a real thing, and an object identifier reading means for transmitting the information resource. An information transmitting apparatus comprising: an editing unit configured to edit the object identifier including the read object identifier; and a transmitting unit configured to transmit the edited information to an information server on the computer network. 6. A real-world "thing" for information retrieval in a situation where an information resource can be accessed by designating an information resource identifier for uniquely specifying an information resource distributed and arranged on a computer network. Storage medium storing an information transmission program for transmitting information relating to a computer network, wherein an information resource transmitted to a computer network reads an object identifier of a real-world "thing"; An information transmission program, comprising: an editing process of editing the object identifier including the object identifier read by the object identifier reading process, and a transmission process of transmitting the edited information to an information server on the computer network. Store Storage media.