JPH11143912A - Related document display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To support an operator in retrieving a necessary document or a document group which may include the necessary document out of a set of document including a large number of documents. SOLUTION: Document groups contained in a forum/conference room are stored as a document group data base 301 of a prescribed server computer. A document group analyzing device 302 analyzes the document group which is included in every set of documents corresponding to each conference room stored in the data base 301. A totalizing device 303 generates a metaindex 304, a thread index 305 and an index file based on the analysis results by the device 302. A display device 306 displays the document groups in either display form of a keyword view or a thread view by means of the metaindex 304 and the thread index 305.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technique for assisting a user in accessing necessary information by arranging a group of documents in a reference relationship and displaying the group of documents from various viewpoints.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an electronic conference room or an electronic news operated on a personal computer communication or a computer network, necessary documents can be quickly and easily selected from a set of documents stored sequentially. There has been a request to find out.

[0003] In response to such a request, a conventional technique is known in which the titles of each document in a document set are sorted in the order of creation date, and the resulting title list is posted to the user.

[0004] Further, a document set is classified into a document group composed of documents having a reference relation to each other, and the title of each document in the document group is indented and displayed, thereby displaying the reference relation of each document. 2. Description of the Related Art There is also known a technology and a conventional technology of displaying the reference relation of each document by displaying the number of each document in a document group in a tree.

[0005] Further, there is also known a conventional technique in which a document including a specific keyword is full-text searched from a set of documents, and the search results are displayed in a list. However, only the limited information display as in these conventional techniques cannot solve the following problems. 1. To find the required documents or documents that may contain the required documents from a miscellaneous document set,
You have to rely on the title of the document being posted. Since the title does not always accurately represent the contents of the document, it is difficult to perform an accurate search. 2. It is difficult to grasp the structure of the entire document group and the transition of topics in the document group only by indent display of the title or tree display of the document number. 3. Necessary documents cannot be accessed from various viewpoints. 4. When there are a large number of search results, a necessary document cannot be accessed unless the refined search is executed or the search result list is checked one by one. On the other hand, there is known a technique of extracting a keyword from a plurality of specific documents and automatically setting a link to another document for each document including a common keyword. This prior art makes it possible to efficiently spread a plurality of related documents by allowing each other to cross-reference each other in a specific document such as a known example of a patent or a research paper.

However, such prior art aims at facilitating reference to related documents, and includes necessary documents or necessary documents from a document set such as an electronic conference room or electronic news. It could not be applied to assist in retrieving documents that would have been found.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to support a search for a required document or a group of documents likely to include the required document from a document set including a large number of documents.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is based on a related document display device for displaying a document group consisting of documents having a reference relationship.

A first aspect of the present invention has the following configuration. First, a document group analysis unit (structure analysis unit 402) analyzes one or more documents having a reference relationship between a plurality of documents constituting a document set by analyzing a reference relationship between a plurality of documents constituting the document set. The document is classified into groups (threads), and information on the classification is extracted as document group information (thread index 305).

Document group keyword extracting means (content analysis unit 4)
In step 03), by referring to the document group information, a keyword included in the documents constituting the document group is extracted for each document group.

Document group keyword display means (display device 30)
6) displays, for each document group, a title associated with the document group and a keyword extracted by the document group keyword extracting means for the document group in association with each other.

According to the configuration of the first aspect of the present invention described above, it is possible to easily find out a document group that may include a necessary document from a miscellaneous document set by using a keyword. Become.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the configuration of the first aspect of the present invention, the document group keyword display means includes a document group including a document corresponding to a search specification specified by a user or a search thereof. It has a configuration for highlighting the keyword corresponding to the designation.

According to the configuration of the second aspect of the present invention described above, it is possible to grasp at a glance the document group corresponding to the search designation. A third aspect of the present invention has the following configuration.

The document group analysis means (structure analysis unit 402)
Analyzing a reference relationship between a plurality of documents constituting a document set, the plurality of documents constituting the document set are classified into one or more documents having a reference relationship, and information on the classification is referred to as document group information. Extract.

Document attribute analysis means (format analysis unit 401)
Is document attribute information (meta index 3) indicating an attribute of each of a plurality of documents constituting a document set.
04) is extracted.

Document group structure display means (display device 306)
Refers to the document group information and the document attribute information, and for each document group, the reference relation of the document group is changed to the document attribute information corresponding to each document constituting the document group or the omitted information. It is displayed by a tree structure displayed as each node. More specifically, the document group structure display means compares, for each document group, the reference relationship of the document group with each omitted author name and each document amount information (each line) corresponding to each document constituting the document group. ) Are combined and displayed as a tree structure displayed as each node.

According to the configuration of the third aspect of the present invention described above, it is possible to easily grasp the structure of the entire document group. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the configuration of the third aspect of the present invention described above, the document group structure display means includes:
A plurality of topics (main topics and subtopics) extracted from the documents included in the document group are associated with each node forming a tree structure displayed corresponding to the document group, and further displayed. . More specifically, the document group structure display means displays, for each document group, each topic and each node related thereto in the same color.

According to the configuration of the fourth aspect of the present invention described above, it is possible to easily grasp the transition of the topic of the entire document group. The fifth aspect of the present invention is the third aspect of the present invention described above.
In the configuration of the aspect, the document group structure display means has a configuration in which a node corresponding to a document corresponding to the search specification specified by the user is highlighted.

According to the configuration of the fifth aspect of the present invention described above, it is possible to execute a search while grasping the structure of a thread. A sixth aspect of the present invention has the following configuration.

The document group analysis means (structure analysis unit 402)
Analyzing a reference relationship between a plurality of documents constituting a document set, the plurality of documents constituting the document set are classified into one or more documents having a reference relationship, and information on the classification is referred to as document group information. Extract.

Topic analysis means (structure analysis unit 402)
Classifies the classified document groups further based on the topics extracted from the documents constituting each of the classified document groups, and extracts information on the fine classification as topic classification information (subtopic index).

The topic keyword extracting means (content analysis unit 403) refers to the document group information and the topic classification information, and includes, for each document group and each sub-classified topic, a document related to the topic. Extract keywords.

Topic keyword display means (display device 3)
06) displays, for each document group and each sub-topic that has been subdivided, a title related to the topic and a keyword extracted by the topic keyword extracting means for the topic in association with each other.

According to the configuration of the sixth aspect of the present invention described above, it is possible to narrow down topics more precisely by using keywords. Note that the present invention can also be configured as a computer-readable recording medium that, when used by a computer, causes the computer to perform the same functions as the functions realized by the above-described configurations of the present invention.

[0026]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. Overall Configuration FIG. 1, the embodiment of the present invention is applied is a diagram showing an example of a document set and document group.

In this example, a virtual public discussion site called a forum for users to discuss by topic is provided on a computer network, and each forum has a more subdivided topic called a conference room. It is categorized into multiple virtual venues. The discussion proceeds when the user posts (uploads) a statement document to the conference room. Both forums and conference rooms are configured as storage areas on server computers,
Documents are stored in them according to the classification criteria described above. In each conference room, a document group including a plurality of documents having a reference relationship with each other forms a thread.

A document posted by a user has, for example, a data structure shown in FIG. 2, and includes a document number indicating the number of the document, a date, a title, and a reference document which is the number of the document referred to by the document. It is composed of a header section in which attribute fields of the document such as a number and an author name (speaker name) are described, and a content section in which the body of the document is described.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the following display modes are possible. 1. Keyword view : In a set of documents forming a conference room, for each thread in the set of documents, keywords are extracted from a group of documents forming the thread, and the keywords are determined by the number of the documents and the thread in which they are included. 25 is displayed in the display form shown in FIG.

The keyword view enables the user to easily find a thread (document group) that may include a necessary document from a miscellaneous document set by relying on the keyword. 2. Thread view : A group of documents constituting each thread is displayed in a display form shown in FIG. 26 in which the reference relation, title, author name, and number of lines of the document can be seen at a glance.

The thread view makes it possible to grasp the structure of the entire thread and easily grasp the transition of topics. 3. Speaker view : The titles of each document are classified for each speaker (author) and are sorted in descending order of the speakers, and are displayed in the same speaker in chronological order in the display form shown in FIG. Is done.

It is possible to refer to the documents in the document set (meeting room) from the viewpoint of the speaker and the date of the statement. 4. Reflection of search results in each view : A document related to a search keyword specified by the user is highlighted in the display form shown in FIG. 32 or 33, such as a keyword view or a thread view.

As a result, it is possible to grasp the document more accurately. 5. Switching function of each view : Keyword view described above,
Since the thread view and the speaker view can be arbitrarily switched, a necessary document can be accessed from various viewpoints. An embodiment of the present invention that enables the above display mode will be described in detail.

FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are system configuration diagrams according to the embodiment of the present invention. The document group in the forum / meeting room is stored as a document group database 301 on a predetermined server computer.

The document group analyzer 302 analyzes a document group contained in each document set corresponding to each conference room in the document group database 301. The aggregation device 303 generates a meta index 304, a thread index 305, and an index file 404 based on the analysis result by the document group analysis device 302.

The display device 306 is provided with the meta index 30
4 and the thread index 305, a document group is displayed in any one of a keyword view, a thread view, and a speaker view.

The character string search device 405 executes a search for each document constituting a document set in the document group database 301 using the index file 404 based on the designation of a search word by the user. Display device 306
Displays the search result in a keyword view or a thread view.

The display device 306 displays the meta index 30
4 and the thread index 305, a document group is displayed in any one of a keyword view, a thread view, and a speaker view.

The document group analysis device 302 includes a format analysis unit 40
1, a structure analysis unit 402 and a content analysis unit 403. The format analysis unit 401 stores the document group database 3
01, a document number, a title, an author name,
The date and the reference document number are extracted, the number of lines in the content part of each document is calculated, and these are registered in the meta index 304 having the data structure shown in FIG. .

The structure analysis unit 402 classifies each document into a group of documents in units of threads based on the document number and the reference document number extracted from each document by the format analysis unit 401, and via the tallying unit 303. For each thread, a thread index 305, which is a list of reference relations of documents constituting the thread, is created.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the data structure of the thread index 305. For each thread, a root document number, the number of documents, and a list indicating the structure of the thread are registered. The list is described in a description format of (parent document number child document number / subtree child document number / subtree ....), and the "child document number / subtree" part further recursively (recursively) Lists can be described.

Each reference relationship represented by each list of the two threads illustrated in FIG. 6 is as shown on the right side of the table in FIG. Further, the structure analysis unit 402 further classifies the documents forming the analyzed thread into sub-documents having the same title, assigns a color number to each sub-document group, and assigns a document included in each sub-document group. The color number assigned to the sub-document group to which the document belongs is registered in the entry in the meta index 304 having the data structure of FIG.

The content analysis unit 403 compiles a group of documents constituting the thread into one combined document file for each thread classified by the structure analysis unit 402, and extracts keywords from the combined document. Various known techniques can be adopted as a technique for extracting a keyword from a Japanese document. In this case, in order to improve the accuracy of keyword extraction, characters that become noise are removed by pattern matching. Also, for example, only a predetermined number of keywords at the top are extracted.

The keyword of each thread extracted by the content analysis unit 403 is registered in the entry of the meta index 304 having the data structure of FIG. .

Further, the content analysis unit 403 extracts an index term included in the keyword extracted from the keyword extracted for each thread, and transmits the index word via the counting device 303 to the index file 404 having the data structure shown in FIG. Generate

The index file 404 is referred to by the character string search device 405 as described above. Detailed illustration of documents analyzer 302 8, the format analysis unit 4 of the document group analysis device 302 of FIG. 4
11 is an operation flowchart showing a control operation realized by the first and the second structural analysis units.

First, the format analysis unit 401 reads the document data line by line from the newly registered new document file from the document group database 301, and reads the document number, the document number, and the like from the header portion (see FIG. 2) of the document file. The title, author name, date, and reference document number are extracted (step 801 → 802 → 803 → 801 loop).

When the extraction of the header part is completed, the format analysis unit 401 generates a new entry in the meta index 304 having the data structure shown in FIG. , Title, author name, date, and reference document number (steps 802 → 804).

Next, the format analysis unit 401 reads the document data line by line from the content portion (see FIG. 2) after the header portion in the new document file, and reads the document end (EO).
F: Count the number of lines in the content section until an end of file is detected (steps 805 → 806 → 807)
→ loop of 805).

Upon detecting the end of the document, the format analysis unit 401 passes the number of lines of the content part counted up to that time via the counting device 303 to the currently processed meta index 304 having the data structure of FIG. Is registered in the entry corresponding to the document number of the new document (steps 806 → 80)
8).

In the above-described line counting process, a line cited from another document (for example, a line starting with “>”) is not included in the line number counting, so that the document is substantially not counted. It may be configured to count the number of lines that are actively speaking.

Subsequently, control is transferred to the structure analysis unit 402,
First, the structure analysis unit 402 registers the document number of the new document currently being processed in the thread index 305 having the data structure of FIG. 6 via the counting device 303 (step 809).

FIG. 9 is an operation flowchart showing the registration operation in step 809 described above. First, the structural analysis unit 40
2 determines whether the new document currently being processed is the root document of a certain thread (step 901). More specifically, the structure analysis unit 402 determines whether steps 801 to 801 in FIG.
In the loop of 803, when a reference document number is not detected from a new document currently being processed, it is determined that the document is a root document.

If the structure analysis unit 402 determines that the new document currently being processed is the root document of a certain thread, the structure analysis unit 402 generates a new entry in the thread index 305 via the aggregation device 303, and The document number of the new document currently being processed is registered as the root document number in the entry (step 901 → 902).

After the processing in step 902, the structure analysis unit 402 initializes the number of documents in the entry to 1 (step 906), and ends the processing in step 809 in FIG. On the other hand, if the structure analysis unit 402 determines that the new document currently being processed is not the root document of a certain thread, the structure analysis unit 402 includes the reference document number extracted from the header part of the new document currently being processed. Thread index 305
Then, it is determined whether or not a list having the reference document number as the parent document number exists in the entry therein (step 901 →).
903).

The structure analysis unit 402 stores
If it is determined that there is a list with the reference document number extracted from the header of the new document currently being processed as the parent document number, the document number extracted from the header of the new document currently being processed is Is registered as a child document number of the list (step 903 → 905).

On the other hand, if the structure analysis unit 402 determines that the above-mentioned entry does not include a list in which the reference document number extracted from the header part of the new document currently being processed is set as the parent document number, After creating a list with the reference document number as the parent document number in the entry, register the document number extracted from the header part of the new document currently being processed as a child document number of the list (step 903 → 904 → 905).

After the processing of step 905, the structure analysis unit 402 updates (plus one) the number of documents in the above-mentioned entry (step 906), and ends the processing of step 809 in FIG.

A specific example of the control operation realized by the operation flowchart of FIG. 9 will be described with reference to the explanatory diagram of FIG. This figure shows a process of generating a list of entries of the thread whose root document number is “001” in the thread index 305 of FIG.

First, when the root document having the document number “001” is processed, a new entry is generated in the thread index 305 by executing steps 901 → 902 in FIG. 001 "is registered as the root document number (see FIG. 10).
(1)), the number of documents in the entry is initialized to 1.

Next, when the document with the document number "002" is processed, steps 901 → 903 → 904 → FIG.
By executing 905 → 906, in the entry of the root document number “001” in the thread index 305, a list having the reference document number “001” extracted from the document of the document number “002” as the parent document number is obtained. After generation ((2) in FIG. 10), the document number “002” is registered as a child document number of the list (underlined in (3) in FIG. 10), and the number of documents in the entry is updated to two. You.

Next, when the document having the document number “003” is processed, the steps 901 → 903 → 904 → FIG.
By executing 905 → 906, in the entry of the root document number “001” in the thread index 305, a list having the reference document number “002” extracted from the document of the document number “003” as the parent document number is obtained. After generation (underlined part of (4) in FIG. 10), document number "0"
03 "is registered as a child document number of the list (see FIG. 1).
Underlined part of 0 (5)), the number of documents in the entry is updated to three.

Next, when the document with the document number “004” is processed, the steps 901 → 903 → 905 → FIG.
By executing 906, a child document of the list having the reference document number “001” extracted from the document with the document number “004” as the parent document number in the entry of the root document number “001” in the thread index 305 The document number “004” is registered as the number (underlined part in (6) of FIG. 10), and the number of documents in the entry is updated to four.

Next, when the document with the document number “005” is processed, the steps 901 → 903 → 904 → FIG.
By executing 905 → 906, in the entry of the root document number “001” in the thread index 305, a list having the reference document number “004” extracted from the document of the document number “005” as the parent document number is obtained. After being generated (underlined part in (7) of FIG. 10), the document number “0”
05 "is registered as a child document number of the list (see FIG. 1).
(0 underlined in (8)), the number of documents in the entry is updated to 5.

Finally, when the document with the document number "006" is processed, steps 901 → 903 → 904 in FIG.
By executing → 905 → 906, in the entry of the root document number “001” in the thread index 305, a list having the reference document number “005” extracted from the document of the document number “006” as the parent document number Is generated (underlined portion in (9) of FIG. 10), the document number "
006 "is registered as a child document number of the list (underlined portion in (10) of FIG. 10), and the number of documents in the entry is 6
Will be updated to

After the processing of step 809 in FIG. 8 described above, the structure analysis unit 402 determines a color number for the new document currently being processed, and stores the color number in the meta index 304 having the data structure of FIG. (Step 810 in FIG. 8) of registering an entry corresponding to the document number of the new document.

FIG. 11 is an operation flowchart showing the registration operation in step 810. In this registration operation, a color table having the data structure shown in FIG. 12 is used. This table is stored in a storage device (not shown).

First, the structure analysis unit 402 determines whether or not the new document currently being processed is the root document of a certain thread (step 1101). Specifically, when a reference document number is not detected from a new document currently being processed in the loop of steps 801 to 803 in FIG. 8, the structure analysis unit 402 determines that the document is a root document. .

When the structure analysis unit 402 determines that the new document currently being processed is the root document of a certain thread, the structure analysis unit 402 stores the entry corresponding to the document number of the root document in the thread.
Registered in the color table having the data structure of FIG. 12,
The entry includes the document number and title extracted from the new document currently being processed (see step 804 in FIG. 8).
Register the initial color number (Step 1101 → 1102 →
1103). In the example of FIG. 12, the root document number “00”
An entry corresponding to the color number “# 1” of “1” is registered,
The title is the main topic, and only the root document number “001” is initially registered in the document number field of the entry.

After that, the structure analysis unit 402 stores the entry corresponding to the document number of the new document in the meta index 304 having the data structure of FIG.
Register the initial color number registered in step (1103 → 1)
110), and ends the process of step 810 in FIG.

On the other hand, if the structure analysis unit 402 determines that the new document currently being processed is not the root document of a certain thread, the title extracted from the new document currently being processed (step 804 in FIG. 8). It is determined whether or not (see step 11) includes a reference symbol such as “Re:” (step 11).
01 → 1104).

If the structure analysis unit 402 determines that the title extracted from the new document currently being processed includes a reference symbol, the structure analysis unit 402 deletes the reference symbol from the title (step 1104 → 1105). If it is determined that the title extracted from the new document does not include the reference symbol, step 1105 is not executed.

After that, the structure analysis unit 402 sets the entry in the color table having the data structure shown in FIG. 12 corresponding to the thread to which the new document currently being processed belongs.
It is determined whether the same title as the title extracted from the new document currently being processed and not including the reference symbol is registered (step 1106). The thread to which the new document currently being processed belongs and its root document number are detected when the entry of the thread index 305 having the data structure of FIG. 6 is determined in the processing of step 809 in FIG. An entry in the color table is determined from the number. For example, if the new document that is currently being processed is the document with the document number “002”, FIG.
In the color table shown in, the root document number "
001 "is detected.

The structure analysis unit 402 stores the reference symbol extracted from the currently processed new document in any entry corresponding to the thread to which the currently processed new document belongs in the color table having the data structure of FIG. If it is determined that the same title that is not included is registered,
The document number of the new document currently being processed is registered in the document number field of the entry (steps 1106 → 11).
07). For example, the new document currently being processed is document number “0”.
In the case of the document of "02", the document number "002" is entered in the document number field of the entry belonging to the root document number "001" and registered with the color number "# 1" in the color table shown in FIG. Is registered.

Thereafter, the structure analysis unit 402 stores the entry corresponding to the document number of the new document in the meta index 304 having the data structure of FIG.
Register the color number set in the entry in the color table registered in (1107 → 111).
0), the process of step 810 in FIG. 8 ends.

On the other hand, the structure analysis unit 402 extracts and refers to any entry corresponding to the thread to which the new document currently being processed belongs in the color table having the data structure shown in FIG. 12 from the currently processed new document. If it is determined that the same title that does not include the symbol is not registered, a new entry corresponding to the thread is created in the color table (step 1108), and the created entry is newly added to the thread. The color number, the document number and the title extracted from the new document currently being processed (see step 804 in FIG. 8) are registered (steps 1106 → 1108 → 1109). For example, if the new document currently being processed is the document with the document number “003”, a new entry belonging to the root document number “001” is created in the color table of FIG. “# 2” and document number “003”
, And the document number “003” are registered. This title becomes subtopic 1 with respect to the main topic which is the title of the root document number “001”.

After that, the structure analysis unit 402 stores the entry corresponding to the document number of the new document in the meta index 304 having the data structure of FIG.
Then, the new color number set in the new entry in the color table is registered (steps 1109 → 1110), and the process of step 810 in FIG. 8 is terminated.

The content analysis unit 403 refers to the thread index 305 having the data structure shown in FIG. 6 and, for each thread, compiles a group of documents constituting the thread into one combined document file, as described above. The keyword is extracted from the combined document. As a result, the extracted keyword of each thread is registered in the entry of the meta index 304 having the data structure of FIG. 5 corresponding to the root document of the thread. Detailed description of the display device 306 As described above, the display device 306 uses the meta-index 304 having the data structure of FIG. 5 and the thread index 305 having the data structure of FIG. The document group can be displayed in any of the display modes of the view.

Here, for example, if the system of FIG. 4 is configured to be connected to a Web server that controls the display of a home page, the user can use the Web browser application on a terminal such as a personal computer to access the Web server. After connecting to the server and logging in to a specific conference room of a specific forum, by clicking each predetermined GUI (graphical user interface) button with a mouse device or the like, a keyword view, a thread view, or a speaker view is switched. Can be displayed.

More specifically, the display device 306 displays
functions as a CGI (Common Gateway Interface) application to the server
In response to a request from a user transferred from a server, document data is generated in HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) expressing each view such as a keyword view, a thread view, or a speaker view, and is generated by a Web server. Hand over to And these HTM
When the Web server returns the L document data to the user via a computer network such as the Internet, the view is displayed in the Web browser application on the user's terminal.

First, the display operation of the keyword view realized by the display device 306 will be described. As described above, in the keyword view, for each thread, the keywords extracted from the group of documents constituting the thread are displayed together with the number of documents in the group of documents and the title of the thread, as shown in FIG. Is displayed with.

FIG. 13 is an operation flowchart showing a keyword view display operation performed by the display device 306. . First, the display device 306 reads the file of the meta index 304 having the data structure of FIG. 5 (step 1301).

Next, the display device 306 searches for an entry in which a root document is registered while reading data one by one from the file of the meta index 304 (step 1301 → 1302 → 1301 loop). Whether each entry is an entry in which a root document is registered can be determined based on whether the value of the reference document number field of each entry is an invalid data value.

When the display device 306 detects an entry in which a root document is registered, the display device 306 changes the root document number to
Document group database 30 corresponding to the root document number
URL (Uniform Resource), which is the unified address information to the application for displaying the root document in
urce Locator) is converted to an anchor tag specified as the value of the HREF attribute (step 1302 → 130)
3).

Next, the display device 306 obtains the number of documents (the number of child documents) included in the thread by referring to the entry corresponding to the root document number in the thread index 305 having the data structure of FIG. (Step 1304).

Then, the display device 306 extracts the title (main topic) and the keyword from the entry in which the root document is registered, in the meta index 304 having the data structure of FIG.
HT including, as one table record, a data string including the root document number in the anchor tag format converted in step 1303 and the number of child documents acquired in step 1304
Create ML table document data (step 130)
5).

Subsequently, the display device 306 repeatedly executes the series of processes of steps 1301 to 1305 until the end of document (EOF) is detected from the file of the meta index 304, thereby obtaining the HTM for each thread.
Create L table document data (step 1306 →
1301).

The display device 306 displays the meta index 30
When the end of the document is detected from the file No. 4 (step 13)
If the determination in step 06 is YES), the finally obtained HTML table document data is transferred to the Web server, and the keyword view display operation ends. As a result, the keyword view is displayed in a table format as illustrated in FIG. 25 on the Web browser application of the user's terminal.

The user can easily find a thread that may contain a necessary document from a miscellaneous document set by relying on a keyword for each thread in the keyword view.

Further, the user can immediately access the root document of a desired thread by clicking the anchor corresponding to the root document with a mouse device or the like.

In the display operation of the keyword view described above, the table record of each thread may be displayed in different colors according to the number of child documents. This allows the user to determine at a glance the number of utterances for each thread.

Next, the display operation of the thread view realized by the display device 306 will be described. As described above, in the thread view, a group of documents constituting each thread is displayed in the display form shown in FIG. 26 in which the reference relation, title, author name, and number of lines of the document can be seen at a glance.

In FIG. 26, the reference relation of threads and the transition of topics are displayed by a colored tree. The nodes of each tree correspond to each document, and are displayed in the form of an author name [number of lines] using the first character (2 bytes) of the author name of the document and the number of lines of the document. A symbol such as “*”, “+”, “=”, or “.” Is attached before and after each node. The meaning of these symbols is as follows. "*" The document with this symbol is the root document.

"+" The document referenced by the document to which this symbol is attached is also referenced by another document. "=" There is a document that refers to the document to which this symbol is attached.

"." No document refers to the document to which this symbol is attached. Also, in FIG. 26, the title of the root document of the thread is displayed after “Main Topic:”, and “Sub Top” is displayed.
ic: "is displayed followed by titles other than the title of the root document appearing in the thread. Each title is color-coded, and the node corresponding to a document having the same title (excluding reference symbols) as each title is Are displayed in the same color as the title.

Thus, the user can grasp the structure of the entire thread and grasp the transition of the topic in the thread at a glance. Further, each node is displayed as an anchor. Thus, the user can immediately access the document corresponding to the node by clicking the node with the mouse device or the like.

FIG. 14 is an operation flowchart showing a thread view display operation executed by the display device 306. . First, the display device 306 reads a list of one entry (one line) corresponding to one thread and the number of documents included in the thread from the file of the thread index 305 having the data structure of FIG. 1401). For example, in the thread index 305 having the data structure of FIG.
(001 (002 003) (004 (005 006))) is read as a list corresponding to “001”, and “6” is read as the number of documents.

Next, the display device 306 restores, for example, the tree structure of the thread shown on the right side of the table in FIG. 6 from the read list (step 1402). In order to represent this tree structure, the display device 306 is, for example, shown in FIG.
Sequence data as shown in FIG.

Next, the display device 306 provides, for each document number constituting each node of the read list, a meta index 3 having the data structure of FIG. 5 corresponding to the document number.
04, and the author name,
Extract the number of lines, color number, and title (step 14)
03). These extracted data are stored in association with the respective nodes.

Next, the display device 306 executes step 140
The color of each title displayed at the top of the thread view is determined from the number of documents read in step 1 and the color number of each node extracted in step 1403 (step 140).
4). This operation is realized as an operation of mapping an actual color to each color number.

Next, the display device 306 changes the title of the root document included in the thread and other titles to “M”.
ain Topic: "and" Sub Topic: "
Next, an HTML document to be displayed is created. In this case, each title is sequentially read from each entry belonging to the thread in the color table shown in FIG. 12 managed by the structure analysis unit 402, and is determined in step 1404 from each color number sequentially read simultaneously. Each color is calculated, and the display in each color is sequentially specified.
Each color is a color specification command of HTML document (<font color =
> Tags etc.).

Finally, the display device 306 displays step 14
In step 1406, an HTML document for displaying the tree structure is created by sequentially processing the document numbers of the leftmost nodes constituting the array data indicating the tree structure of the thread restored in step 02. In this case, as described above, the display device 306 performs the processing based on the author name, the number of lines, and the color number of each node extracted in step 1403.
The document number of each node in the tree structure is converted into display data including the first character (2 bytes) of the author name of the document corresponding to the node and the number of lines of the document, and the author name [number of lines]
Further, it generates HTML document data for displaying the display data in a color corresponding to the color number of the node.
The correspondence between the color numbers and the actual colors follows the correspondence determined in step 1404. Further, as described above, the display device 306 performs “*”, “+”, and “*” before and after the display data corresponding to each node based on the connection relationship.
= ”Or“. Generates HTML document data for displaying a symbol such as "". Here, in order to enable the tree structure to be displayed as it is, for example, a pre-format tag <PRE> which is a control tag in HTML is used. Further, the display data for each node is such that the URL to the application for displaying the document data in the document group database 301 corresponding to the node is HRE.
It is generated as an anchor tag specified as the value of the F attribute.

Subsequently, the display device 306 repeatedly executes the series of processes of steps 1401 to 1406 until the end of the document (EOF) is detected from the file of the thread index 305, thereby changing the view data of each thread. Create (step 1407 → 140
1).

When the display device 306 detects the end of the document from the file of the thread index 305 (the determination in step 1407 is YES), the finally obtained HTML is obtained.
The table document data is delivered to the Web server, and the thread view display operation ends. As a result, the thread view is displayed on the Web browser application of the user's terminal in a format as illustrated in FIG.

Next, the display operation of the speaker view realized by the display device 306 will be described. As described above, in the speaker view, the titles of the documents are classified for each speaker (author), and the speakers are sorted in descending order of the speakers. It is displayed in the display form shown.

FIG. 16 is an operation flowchart showing a speaker view display operation performed by the display device 306. . The display device 306 uses author sequence data having the data structure of FIG. 17 to implement the speaker view. Then, the display device 306 initializes the author sequence data at the start of the display of the speaker view (step 1601).

Next, the display device 306 reads the data of one entry from the file of the meta index 304 having the data structure of FIG. 5 (step 1602).
Next, the display device 306 determines whether or not the creator whose creator name is extracted from this entry is not included in the creator array data (step 1603).

If the creator whose creator name is extracted from the entry is not included in the writer arrangement data, the display device 306 adds a new creator item to the writer arrangement data (step 1603 → 1604). ). If the creator whose creator name is extracted from the entry is the creator included in the writer array data, the display device 306 does not execute the process of step 1604.

Next, the display device 306 registers the document number extracted from the entry in the corresponding author item in the author sequence data (step 1605). Subsequently, the display device 306 repeats step 1 until the end of document (EOF) is detected from the file of the meta index 304.
By repeatedly executing a series of processes from 602 to 1605, all document numbers registered in the meta index 304 are registered in the author array data for each author.

The display device 306 has the meta index 30
When the end of the document is detected from the file No. 4 (step 16)
If the determination in step 06 is NO), the author items in the author sequence data are sorted based on the number of document numbers registered in each item, that is, the number of utterance documents for each author (step 1607).

Subsequently, the display device 306 sorts the document numbers in the same author item in the author sequence data based on the date extracted from the corresponding entry in the meta index 304 (step 1608).

Lastly, for each author item of the author sequence data obtained as a result of the sorting in steps 1607 and 1608, the display device 306 displays the author name and the meta index 304 corresponding to each document number in the item. H to display date and title extracted from entries in
The TML table document data is generated and delivered to the Web server, and the display operation of the speaker view ends.
As a result, on the Web browser application of the user terminal, in a table format as illustrated in FIG.
The speaker view is displayed.

The user can refer to the documents in the document set (meeting room) from the viewpoint of the speaker and the statement date on the speaker view. In addition, it is possible to refer to a utterance of a certain utterer over time, and to confirm at a glance a leader utterer who makes many utterances in the conference room. Other Display Modes of Display Device 306 Next, other display modes realized by the display device 306 other than the display operations of the respective views will be described.

First, the operation of displaying the content of a comment realized by the display device 306 will be described. As described above, the user clicks the anchor on each thread in the keyword view or the anchor on each node in the thread view with a mouse device or the like to thereby obtain the root document of each thread or the document corresponding to each node. To
It can be accessed instantly.

When these operations are performed by the user, the display device 3 is instructed by the Web server.
The process of the operation flowchart shown in FIG. 18 executed by 06 is started as, for example, CGI. In this case, information of the document number included in the anchor tag specified by the user is delivered to this process.

As a result, first, the display device 306 reads the information on the document number (step 1801), and then reads the document group until a document file containing the same document number as the read document number in the header portion is read. The document file is read from the database 301 (step 1802 → 1803 → 1802 loop).

When the display device 306 reads a document file whose header portion includes the same document number as the read document number (YES in step 1803), the display device 306 repeats step 1804 until the header portion of the new document is read.
The data is read one line at a time from the above document file by the loop of ~ 1809, and the data is read for one line of HTML.
Convert to HTML document data and convert the HTML document data to Web
Output to the server (step 1808).

In this case, when the data of each line includes a URL to another document or the like, the display device 306 converts the data into an anchor tag whose URL is specified as a value of the HREF attribute. Output on (Step 1
804 → 1805).

As a result, the user can further jump to another resource by further clicking the anchor displaying the content of the comment with a mouse device or the like. If the data of each line is a comment line citing a line of another document, the display device 306 adds a tag for converting the color of the data and outputs the data (steps 1806 → 1807).

As a result, the user can determine the comment line at a glance. When the display device 306 ends the output process of the corresponding document data, it generates and outputs HTML document data for displaying the tree structure of the thread including the document, and ends the operation of displaying the comment contents (steps 1809 → 1810). ). This processing can be realized in the same manner as the display operation of the thread view shown in the operation flowchart of FIG.

As a result of the above display operation, the W
On the web browser application, for example, as shown in FIG. 28, the contents of a statement are displayed in the upper half of the display screen, and the tree structure of a thread including the document of the statement is displayed in the lower half of the display screen. . As shown in FIG. 28, an anchor for displaying a keyword view or a thread view, an anchor for executing a search, and the like can be simultaneously displayed on this display screen.

By switching these views, for example, a document (speech) in the conference room can be displayed by the user in the following manner: keyword view → thread view → speaker content display → speaker view speaker content display → thread view →. It is possible to cross-reference according to preference.

Next, for each creator realized by the display device 306,
The operation of the color-coded display by date will be described. FIG. 19 is an operation flowchart showing the operation. First, the display device 306 displays, based on the meta index 304 and the thread index 305, the author sequence data in which the document numbers are classified for each author item as shown in FIG. And date array data in which the document numbers are classified for each date item so as to be created. Although the details of these creation processes are omitted, they can be realized by the same processes as those in the operation flowchart of FIG. Then, a different color is assigned to each author item in the author array data or each date item in the date array data. This color assignment is determined from the total number of authors for each author item or the total number of dates for each date item.

Next, the display device 306 acquires item selection button information based on the user's designation via the Web server, and determines whether the author button or the date selection button has been pressed (step 1902, 1904, FIG. 29
reference).

If the display device 306 determines that the author button has been pressed, the display device 306 creates and outputs thread tree display data by referring to the author array data shown in FIG. 20A (step 1902). → 1903).
This processing is realized by the same processing as the above-described operation flowchart of FIG. 14. In this case, each node of the tree is assigned to an author item in the author array data corresponding to the author name corresponding to the node. Displayed in the color shown.

On the other hand, if the display device 306 determines that the date selection button has been pressed, it creates and outputs thread tree display data by referring to the date array data shown in FIG. 20 (b). (Step 1904 → 1
905). This processing is also realized by the same processing as the operation flowchart of FIG. 14 described above. In this case, each node of the tree is assigned to a date item in the date array data corresponding to the date corresponding to the node. Is displayed in the color of

As a result of the above display operation, for example, when the user presses the author button, a tree of threads that are color-coded for each author is displayed on the Web browser application of the user terminal as shown in FIG. 29, for example. Is displayed, and the user can confirm the document of the same author at a glance.

Next, the operation of highlighting the search result using the thread view realized by the display device 306 will be described. FIG. 21 is an operation flowchart showing the operation. First, the display device 306 generates and outputs HTML document data for displaying the input form screen after search (step 2101). As a result, the user terminal We
On the b browser application, for example, a search input form screen as shown in FIG. 30 is displayed. The user inputs a search word in this search input form and specifies execution of the search.

The search term input in the search input form is passed to the character string search device 405 (FIG. 4) via the Web server. The character string search device 405 performs a full-text search on each document constituting the specified thread in the document group database 301 using the index file 404 based on the specification of the search term by the user. Is output (step 210).
2, 2103).

When the display device 306 receives the document number including the search word, the display device 306 converts the HTML document data for displaying the tree structure of the thread including the document number into the above-described FIG.
4 is displayed by the same processing as the operation flowchart of FIG. In this case, the display device 306 specifies the color of the node including the document number as the highlight color (step 2104,
2105).

As a result, on the Web browser application of the user's terminal, the highlighting of the thread view based on the search result as shown in FIG. 31, for example, is realized. Thereby, the user can execute the search while grasping the structure of the thread.

Next, the operation of highlighting the search result using the keyword view realized by the display device 306 will be described. FIG. 22 is an operation flowchart showing the operation. First, the display device 306 displays the information in step 210 of FIG.
As in the case of No. 1, HTML document data for displaying the post-search input form screen is generated and output (step 2201). The user inputs a search word in this search input form and specifies execution of the search.

The search term entered in the search input form is passed to the character string search device 405 (FIG. 4) via the Web server. The character string search device 405 performs a full-text search for each document constituting the specified conference room in the document group database 301 using the index file 404 based on the designation of the search term by the user. Output the document number including the word (step 2202,
2203).

When the display device 306 receives the document number including the search term, it first refers to the thread index 305 having the data structure of FIG. 6 to extract the root document number corresponding to the entry including the document number. (Step 2204).

Subsequently, the display device 306 displays the HTML document data for displaying the keyword view relating to the designated conference room by the same processing as the above-described operation flowchart of FIG. In this case, the display device 306
Specifies the title of the thread corresponding to the root document number extracted in step 2204 or the color of the entire display area thereof as an emphasis color, and furthermore, when the displayed keyword includes a search term, The keyword is also designated as the highlight color (steps 2205, 2206, 220)
7).

As a result, the keyword view is highlighted on the Web browser application of the user terminal based on the search result as shown in FIG. 32, for example. Thereby, the user can grasp the thread including the search word at a glance.

Note that the display device 306 can be configured to display the document numbers of the search results and the titles corresponding to the search results in a list as shown in FIG. 33, for example.

Lastly, a description will be given of a keyword view display operation for each subtopic realized by the display device 306. The keyword view described above displays keywords for each thread. On the other hand, in the keyword view for each subtopic, keywords can be extracted and displayed for each subtopic in one thread.

In this operation, the display device 306 uses a subtopic index having the data structure of FIG. The subtopic index has a data structure in which a keyword field is added to the data structure of the color table shown in FIG.

Since the subtopic index substantially replaces the color table described above,
The contents of the fields other than the keyword field in the subtopic index have been registered in advance by the processing of step 810 in FIG. In this case, as described above in the description of the processing of step 810 in FIG. 8, the subtopic index, which is a color table, includes, for each root document number (for each thread), a main topic indicating the title of the root document included therein. , An entry corresponding to each of the subtopics indicating the titles of the other documents is obtained. The display device 306 uses the registered contents.

FIG. 23 is an operation flowchart showing control of keyword extraction from a subtopic realized by the display device 306. First, for each thread, the display device 306 joins a group of documents belonging to each main topic and subtopic in units of main topics and subtopics based on the document numbers registered in each entry included in the thread in the subtopic index. The document files are combined (step 2301), and the resulting combined document files are input to the content analysis unit 403 (FIG. 4) (step 23).
02).

The content analysis unit 403 extracts a keyword for each combined document file, and returns the result to the display device 306. The display device 306 registers the keyword for each combined document file returned from the content analysis unit 403 in the keyword field of the entry corresponding to each of the combined document files in the subtopic index (step 2).
303).

As described above, for each thread,
Keywords are extracted from a group of documents belonging to each of the main topic and the subtopic. Thereafter, based on the content of the subtopic index, the display device 306 displays, for each thread specified by the user, a main topic and a subtopic unit of the thread,
It generates and outputs HTML document data for displaying each title and the keywords belonging to each title.

As a result, a keyword view for each subtopic is displayed on the Web browser application of the user's terminal, for example, in a format as shown in FIG. This allows the user to narrow down the topic more precisely by the keyword. Another Embodiment of the Present Invention (Second Embodiment) Next, another embodiment of the present invention (hereinafter, referred to as a second embodiment) will be described. Functions realized by the second embodiment of the present invention First, in the second embodiment, the following three functions are realized. 1. A function for grasping the entire structure of the thread in a narrow screen The tree of the thread is curtailed, so that the entire tree structure can be displayed in a screen of a certain size. In the second embodiment, display on a TTY character terminal will be described as an example.

In the character terminal, since one node is displayed in one line, n nodes can be drawn in an n-line screen. There are the following criteria for selecting a node to be drawn.

The number of child nodes referencing the node. The number of child nodes referencing that node, obtained as a search result. A node having a title different from the root node or parent node. 2. Estimating the progress of a topic in a thread A specific conversation pattern such as "Question-Answer-Thank" is detected, and the information is used for display and search.
Efficient information access becomes possible.

More specifically, in the second embodiment,
The topic pattern in the thread is extracted by inferring the attribute information (title, author, reference relationship) of the document and a specific sentence pattern characterizing the content of the document. 3. Visualization of user's utterance patterns In network news, the ratio of utterers to readers is very small. In many cases, even a large thread is actually just a few people in dispute. In addition, in a specific newsgroup, there are many cases where a person who sends useful information is determined. Therefore,
In the second embodiment, a new view is provided by organizing news and threads from the viewpoint of a user who posts an article.

More specifically, in the second embodiment,
Based on the posting history in the newsgroup and the above-mentioned topic guessing function, a view from the viewpoint of the user is provided. Overall Configuration of the Second Embodiment of the Present Invention FIG. 35 is a configuration diagram of the second embodiment of the present invention.

First, in the preparation phase before the search phase, the following operation is performed. Processing device 3501
A document acquisition unit 3502 acquires a document group having a reference relationship via a network, and stores the acquired document group in the secondary storage device 3503.

The content estimating unit 3504 operates in the secondary storage device 35.
A display index 3505 is created based on the document contents of the document group stored in the document group 03, the document accompanying information, and the reference relationship between the documents.

The search engine 3506 operates in the secondary storage device 3
503 based on the document content of the document group stored in
A search index 3507 is created. For example, in a network news service, documents are posted as needed. Therefore, the above-mentioned preparation phase is periodically executed, for example, once a day, and the latest document group is always stored in the secondary storage device 3503.

At the time of executing the search phase, the following operation is executed. The user gives an input instruction from the input device 3509. The input information includes the search keyword, the type of view for displaying the search result, and the size of the display area of the view.

The view generation unit 3508 includes the input device 350
The search engine 3506 is called based on the input instruction from the user 9 and the document group corresponding to the input instruction is searched from the documents stored in the secondary storage device 3503.

The view generating unit 3508 uses the display index 3505 to create a result view for displaying the group of documents searched by the search engine 3506, and outputs it to the display device 3510. In this case, a thread tree degeneration process described below is executed.

The above operation is executed based on the interactive processing with the user. That is, the user looks at the result display, adds or changes the search keyword, or switches the result view. Structure of Display Index 3505 In the second embodiment, in the preparation phase before search, the following types of indexes are created. 1. User Index This index is for managing users, and as shown in FIG. 36, holds the following information for each entry. User ID (UserID): The ID (key) of the user corresponding to the entry.

Name: The name of the user corresponding to the entry. Abbreviation: the abbreviation of the user corresponding to the entry. -Number of utterances (number of answers): The total number of utterances in the conference room of the user corresponding to the entry and the number of answer documents in the Q and A pattern. 2. Document Index This index is an index for managing information for each document, and as shown in FIG. 37, holds the following information for each entry. Document ID: The ID (key) of the document corresponding to the entry.

User ID (UserID): The ID (key) of the user who created the document corresponding to the entry. Title: The title of the document corresponding to the entry.

Date: The creation date of the document corresponding to the entry. Reference Descendants: The total number of documents that refer to the document corresponding to the entry. Path to root: the path from the first article referred to by the document corresponding to the entry to the document.

Title identification number: A number indicating the title of the document corresponding to the entry in the thread (document group) including the document.

Article type: When the document corresponding to the entry is included in the Q and A pattern, whether the document corresponds to a Q (question) document, an A (answer) document, or a T (thank you) document Is information indicating 3. Thread index This index is an index for managing information for each thread, and as shown in FIG. 38, holds the following information for each entry. Thread ID: I of the thread corresponding to the entry
D (key).

A tree structure of a thread: a reference relationship of documents in a thread corresponding to the entry is expressed by a list of document IDs. -Number of documents: The total number of documents in the thread corresponding to the entry.

Number of authors: The number of authors of the document in the thread corresponding to the entry. Most uttered UID: The user ID of the author who uttered the most in the thread corresponding to the entry.

Content list: Q and A patterns included in the thread corresponding to the entry, controversy (Disc
This is a list of pattern IDs of a “usion” pattern or a chat (Chat) pattern. QA_ID, which is the pattern ID of the Q and A pattern, is registered in one of the entries in the QA index described later. D
DS that is the pattern ID of the issue pattern
-ID is registered in any of the entries in the DISCUSS index described later. CT_ID which is a pattern ID of the Chat pattern is a CHAT to be described later.
It is registered in any entry in the index. 4. QA Index This index is for managing information of Q and A patterns, and as shown in FIG. 39, holds the following information for each entry. QA_ID: The ID (key) of the Q and A pattern corresponding to the entry.

"Question": a field for storing a document ID corresponding to a Q (question) document constituting a Q and A pattern corresponding to the entry. Answer: a document ID corresponding to an A (answer) document group constituting the Q and A pattern corresponding to the entry
This is a field that stores a column.

• Tanks: A field for storing a document ID corresponding to a T (Thank You) document constituting the Q and A pattern corresponding to the entry. MaxAnswerUID: the author of each A (answer) document that constitutes the Q and A pattern corresponding to the entry, ie, corresponds to each document ID in the document ID column registered in the “Answer” field in the entry. This field stores the user ID (or user ID string) of the person (or persons) who appear the most frequently among document authors.

ThreadID: ID of the thread in which the Q and A pattern corresponding to the entry exists. This thread ID is registered in any entry in the thread index. 5. DISCUSS Index This is an index for managing information of a Discussion pattern, and as shown in FIG. 40, holds the following information for each entry. DS_ID: Discuss corresponding to the entry
This is the ID (key) of the ion pattern.

An article ID list: a field for storing a document ID string of a document group constituting a Discussion pattern corresponding to the entry. UID: Discussio corresponding to the entry
It is a user ID string of a document group forming n patterns.

Thread ID: ID of the thread in which the Discussion pattern corresponding to the entry exists. This thread ID is registered in any entry in the thread index. 6. CHAT index This index is an index for managing the information of the Chat pattern, and holds the following information for each entry as shown in FIG. CT_ID: An ID (key) of a Chat pattern corresponding to the entry.

Chat list: A field for storing a document ID string of a document group constituting a Chat pattern corresponding to the entry. -ThreadID: Chat corresponding to the entry
This is the ID of the thread in which the pattern exists. This thread ID is registered in any entry in the thread index. Structure and Operation of Content Estimating Unit 3504 The operation of the content estimating unit 3504 in the second embodiment shown in FIG. 35 will be described in detail below.

As described above, the content estimating unit 3504
On the basis of the document contents of the document group stored in the secondary storage device 3503, the document accompanying information, and the reference relationship between the documents, a user index, a document index, a thread index, a QA index, a DISCUS index, a display index 3505, And create a CHAT index.

FIG. 42 is an operation flowchart showing the operation executed by content estimating section 3504. First, a document index having the data configuration shown in FIG. 37 and FIG.
Is created (step 4201). Although these details are omitted, it can be basically realized by the same operation as the operation flowchart shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 described above. In this case, the above-mentioned meta index corresponds to the document index. At this time, at the same time, the creation user name and user ID, abbreviation, and number of comments (number of responses) appearing in each document
Also, a user index having the data configuration shown in FIG.

Next, by referring to each entry in the thread index, a thread document group corresponding to each entry is read (step 4202), and it is determined that the processing of the thread document group for all entries has been completed. (Step 4206), the Q and A pattern determination processing (step 4203), the Discussion pattern determination processing (step 4204), and the Chat pattern determination processing (step 4205) are executed for each of the read thread document groups. Is done.

FIG. 43 is a flowchart showing the processing performed in step 4203 in FIG.
6 is an operation flowchart of an and A pattern determination process. In this operation flowchart, the Q and A pattern is estimated for each reference path in the thread document group.

First, one document ID corresponding to the leaf document (the document at the end of the path) is selected by referring to the “thread tree structure” field of the corresponding entry in the thread index (step 4301). .

Next, in the document index, a document ID that satisfies the following condition is searched from the “path to the root” field in the entry including the document ID selected in step 4301 in the “document ID” field (step S301). 4302). (Condition) In the document index, the "article type" field in the entry including the document ID in the "document ID" field is not registered. Subsequently, it is determined whether a document ID satisfying the above condition is found (step 4303).

A document ID that satisfies the above condition (hereinafter referred to as a processed document ID) is found, and the determination in step 4303 is Y
In the case of ES, the document corresponding to the processed document ID is read from the secondary storage device 3503 (FIG. 35),
It is determined whether or not a sentence pattern as shown in FIG. 44 exists in the document (step 430).
4).

If the determination in step 4304 is NO, the process jumps to step 4308. If the determination in step 4304 is YES, step 430 of the document index
It is determined whether there is a document ID that satisfies the following condition among the document IDs registered in the “path to the root” field in the entry referred to in step 2 (step 4305). (Condition) The document corresponding to the document ID is the processed document ID
And the document ID is “Thanks” in one of the entries in the QA index having the data structure shown in FIG.
Registered in the field. If the determination in step 4305 is YES, the processing document ID is added to the “Question” field of the entry in the QA index referred to in step 4305. Further, in the document index having the data configuration shown in FIG. 37, the symbol “Q” is added to the “article type” field in the entry including the processed document ID in the “document ID” field (step 4306).

Further, step 430 of the document index
Step 4 of the document ID group registered in the “path to the root” field in the entry referred to in Step 4
The processing document ID registered in the “Question” field of the entry in the QA index referred to in 305 and the document ID group sandwiched between the document IDs registered in the “Thanks” field of the entry are the “Answer” of the entry. Field. Also,
In the document index having the data structure shown in FIG. 37, each of the registered document IDs is referred to as a “document I”.
The symbol "A" is added to the "article type" field in each entry included in the "D" field (step 4306).

On the other hand, if the determination in step 4306 is NO, the value of {(maximum value of QA_ID in that index) +1} is set to “QA_ID” in the QA index.
An entry having the value of the field is created, and the processing document ID is registered in the “Question” field in the entry. In the document index having the data configuration shown in FIG.
Is registered in the "article type" field in the entry including "" in the "document ID" field (step 4307).

After the processing in step 4306 or 4307, or when the determination in step 4304 is NO, the document corresponding to the processing document ID read from the secondary storage device 3503 is included in FIG. It is determined whether there is a sentence pattern as shown in (4) (step 4308).

If the determination in step 4308 is NO, the process returns to step 4302. The determination in step 4308 is YE
If it is S, it is determined whether or not there is a document ID that satisfies the following conditions among the document IDs registered in the “path to the root” field in the entry referenced in step 4302 of the document index ( Step 430
9). (Condition) The document corresponding to the document ID is the processed document ID
And the document ID is “Question” in one of the entries in the QA index having the data structure shown in FIG.
n "field. If the determination in step 4309 is YES, the QA referenced in step 4309
The processing document ID is added to the “Thanks” field of the entry in the index. In the document index having the data configuration shown in FIG. 37, the symbol “T” is added to the “article type” field in the entry including the processed document ID in the “document ID” field (step 4310).

Further, step 430 of the document index
Step 4 of the document ID group registered in the “path to the root” field in the entry referred to in Step 4
Processed document ID registered in the “Thanks” field of the entry in the QA index referenced in 309
And the document ID group sandwiched by the document IDs registered in the “Question” field of the entry are added to the “Answer” field of the entry. Also,
In the document index having the data structure shown in FIG. 37, each of the registered document IDs is referred to as a “document I”.
The symbol "A" is added to the "article type" field in each entry included in the "D" field (step 4310).

On the other hand, if the determination in step 4309 is NO, the value of {(maximum value of QA_ID in that index) +1} is set to “QA_ID” in the QA index.
An entry having the value of the field is created, and the processing document ID is registered in the “Thanks” field in the entry. In the document index having the data configuration shown in FIG. 37, the symbol “T” is registered in the “article type” field in the entry including the processed document ID in the “document ID” field (step 4311).

After the processing in step 4310 or 4311, the flow returns to step 4302 to search for the next document ID. As a result of repeating the processing of steps 4302 to 4311, step 43
If it is determined that a document ID that satisfies the condition in 02 is not found, the document corresponding to all leaf documents is referred to by referring to the “thread tree structure” field of the entry currently being processed in the thread index. It is determined whether a process for the ID has been attempted (step 4312).

If the processing for the document IDs corresponding to all leaf documents has not been tried and the determination in step 4312 is NO, the process returns to step 4301 to repeat the topic pattern estimation processing corresponding to the next path. .

The processing for the document IDs corresponding to all the leaf documents is tried, and if the determination in step 4312 is YES, the Q and Q of step 4203 in FIG.
The determination process of the pattern A ends.

FIGS. 46 and 47 show examples of a thread structure extracted by the above-described Q and A pattern determination processing and a document group corresponding thereto. For the creator of the document corresponding to the document ID of the entry in which the symbol “A” is added to the “article type” field of the document index, the entry of the user index (see FIG. 36) corresponding to the creator is referred to. Is updated in the "Number of utterances (number of answers)" field of "."

FIG. 48 is a flowchart showing the operation of step 4204 in FIG.
It is an operation | movement flowchart of the determination process of an assumption pattern. In this operation flowchart, a Discussion pattern is estimated for each reference path in the thread document group.

First, the document ID corresponding to the leaf document (the document at the end of the path) is searched by referring to the “thread tree structure” field of the corresponding entry in the thread index (step 4801).

Next, as a result of the search, it is determined whether or not the processing for the document IDs corresponding to all the leaf documents has been attempted (step 4802). If the processing for the document IDs corresponding to all the leaf documents has not been tried and the determination in step 4802 is NO, the document ID searched in step 4801 in the document index
Is referred to the “path to the root” field in the entry including the “document ID” field, and the length from the document ID corresponding to the leaf document to the root document (the document ID)
Is determined to be 6 or more (step 4).
803).

If the length is not 6 or more, step 480 is executed.
If the determination of No. 3 is NO, it is assumed that the topic pattern of the reference path is not the Discussion pattern, and the process returns to step 4801 to execute the processing for the next leaf document.

If the length is 6 or more and step 480
If the determination in step 3 is YES, the user IDs different from each other in the document group corresponding to the document ID group included in the “path to the root” field referred to in step 4803.
Are counted (step 4804).

Next, whether or not the ratio of the {number of different user IDs} to the {number of document IDs (total number of documents) included in the "path to the root" field "is smaller than 0.3 Is determined (step 4805).

If this determination is NO, it is presumed that no dispute has been made by a specific small number of users, and the flow returns to step 4801 to execute the processing for the next leaf document.

On the other hand, if the determination in step 4805 is YES, it is presumed that a dispute is being made by a specific small number of users, and D having the data configuration shown in FIG.
In the ISCUSS index, the value of {(maximum value of DS_ID in the index) +1} is set to “DS_I
An entry is created having the value of the "D" field. Then, in the “article ID” field in the entry, a document ID group included in the “path to the root” field referred to in step 4803 is registered as a list, and based on the registered contents, the “UID” field and The contents of the “ThreadID” field are registered. Further, in the document index having the data configuration shown in FIG.
The symbol "D" is registered in the "article type" field in each entry included in the "D" field (step 480).
6). Thereafter, the process returns to step 4801 to execute the processing for the next leaf document.

The processing for the document IDs corresponding to all the leaf documents is tried, and when the judgment in step 4802 is YES, the disc in step 4204 in FIG.
The determination process of the usage pattern ends.

FIG. 49 shows an example of a thread structure extracted by the above-described Discussion pattern determination processing. It can be seen that only a few initials of a small number of users appear, and it can be inferred that there is controversy in this thread.

FIG. 50 is a view showing the C of step 4205 in FIG.
7 is an operation flowchart of a hat pattern determination process. In this operation flowchart, a Chat pattern is estimated for each reference path in the thread document group.

First, the document ID corresponding to the leaf document (the document at the end of the path) is searched by referring to the “thread tree structure” field of the corresponding entry in the thread index (step 5001).

Next, as a result of the search, it is determined whether or not the processing for the document IDs corresponding to all the leaf documents has been tried (step 5002). If the processing for the document IDs corresponding to all the leaf documents has not been tried and the determination in step 5002 is NO, the document ID searched in step 5001 in the document index
Is referred to the “path to the root” field in the entry including the “document ID” field, and the length from the document ID corresponding to the leaf document to the root document (the document ID)
Is determined to be 6 or more (step 5).
003).

If the above length is not 6 or more, step 500
If the determination in step 3 is NO, it is presumed that the topic pattern of the reference path is not a Chat pattern.
Returning to step 001, the processing for the next leaf document is executed.

If the length is 6 or more and step 500
If the determination in step 3 is YES, the user IDs in the document group corresponding to the document ID group included in the “path to the root” field referred to in step 5003 are different.
Are counted (step 5004).

Next, whether or not the ratio of the {number of different user IDs} to the {number of document IDs (total number of documents) included in the "path to the root" field "is greater than 0.6 Is determined (step 5005).

[0204] If this determination is NO, it is presumed that chat has not been performed by a large number of users, and the flow returns to step 5001 to execute processing for the next leaf document.

On the other hand, if the determination in step 5005 is YES, it is presumed that a chat has been conducted by many users, and CHAT having the data configuration shown in FIG.
In the index, ｛(CT in that index
An entry having the value of (the maximum value of _ID) +1} as the value of the “CT_ID” field is created. Then, a document ID group included in the “path to the root” field referred to in step 5003 is registered as a list in the “Chat list” field in the entry, and the “UID” field and "T
The contents of the "headID" field are registered (step 4806). Thereafter, the process returns to step 5001 to execute the processing for the next leaf document.

The processing for the document IDs corresponding to all the leaf documents is tried, and if the determination in step 5002 is YES, the Chat in step 4205 in FIG.
The pattern determination processing ends.

FIG. 51 shows an example of a thread structure extracted by the above-described Chat pattern determination processing. It can be seen that the initials of a large number of users appear miscellaneously, and it can be inferred that chats are taking place in this thread. Principle of Thread Tree Reduction Processing Next, the principle of thread tree reduction processing in the second embodiment will be described.

FIGS. 52 and 53 are diagrams showing display examples of the thread structure. FIG. 52 is a display example of a conventional traditional news reader, and FIG. 53 is a display example based on the above-described thread view display processing of FIG.

Even in a thread composed of only 17 articles, the number of lines is increased as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, it is found that it is necessary to scroll the screen in order to see the entire thread by protruding in the horizontal direction, and it is difficult to grasp the entire structure.

FIG. 54 is an example of display for the top n descendant nodes in the thread (n = 6 in the example of FIG. 54).
The “+” sign at the beginning of the line indicates that the child node is omitted, and the number in parentheses at the end of the line indicates the number of descendant nodes (FIG. 37).
(The number of reference descendants in the document index shown in FIG. 3). By adjusting the value n in accordance with the screen or window size, it is possible to display only necessary parts.

FIG. 55 is a display example in which nodes having the same title (excluding the head “Re:”) among the descendant nodes are omitted. A “+” sign at the beginning of a line indicates that a child node is omitted. In documents of the same thread, by default, the title is the same as the parent node, or "Re:" indicating follow is added first. The fact that the author intentionally changed the title clearly indicates that the topic has changed. With this view, it is possible to easily grasp what kind of topic change has occurred in the thread.

FIG. 56 is a display example of a thread structure of a document created in a time section from 10/1 to 10/5. The node represents the author's initials. In this view, you can see only the temporal development of the thread and information within a certain section. In addition, by displaying the information on the screen of a personal computer side by side with an application having temporal information such as a scheduler, it is possible to view document information in association with one's own schedule and events in the world.

FIG. 57 is a graph structure in which a thread creator is a node. Nodes are the author's initials. The node represented by the double circle represents the speaker of the first article in the thread. The number of exchanges between authors is represented by the density of the link. Further, the node of the user corresponding to the user ID registered in the most uttered UID of the corresponding entry in the thread index shown in FIG. 38 is, for example, highlighted. It can be easily understood that this thread is mainly the exchange between Ogawa (small) and Partibar (pa). Operation at the Time of Search Phase Execution Next, the operation at the time of execution of the search phase including the above-described thread tree degeneration processing will be described.

[0214] At the time of retrieval, the user operates the input device 3509.
Instructs a search request. FIG. 58 shows a search request input screen. The input items include the following.・ Keyword column included in the article you want to find (required).

A keyword string that must not be included in the article to be searched.・ As the type of article to be searched, all articles or Q and
Is only the article corresponding to the A pattern? If omitted, all articles.

Whether the date of the article to be searched is in the entire section, within one month, or within one week If omitted, all sections. In the lower part of the input screen shown in FIG. 58, the latest date and time when the article was stored (downloaded) in the secondary storage device 3503 in the preparation phase before the search is displayed.

The search results include the following. -Thread list (see FIG. 60).

Display of thread structure (including degenerated display by reference number and degenerated display by the same title) (see FIG. 61). -Time section thread display (see FIG. 62).

-Q and A contrast display. -Author node graph display (see Fig. 57).・ Show author list.

[0220] Article text display. These display screens can be switched between each other as shown in FIG. A representative one of these display screens will be described below. Output result 1: Thread list For example, when "engine" is input as a search keyword, a thread list screen as shown in FIG. 60 is displayed. The search results displayed in FIG. 60 are shown below. -The title of the thread's top article.

The name of the author. ·date.・ Size (number of articles in thread, overall article size).

Thread contents (QA: Q and A pattern, DC: Discussion pattern, CT: C
hat pattern). At the time of retrieval, a sorting process based on the size of the thread is executed, and the top 10 threads are displayed. When the user clicks "next 10 threads", the next 10 threads are displayed.

When the number of results is large, it is possible to execute a refined search by further adding a keyword. You can move to other screens in the following ways.・ Click the title to display the thread structure.

When the author's name is clicked, an author node graph is displayed.・ Click on the date to display the time section thread display. -When you click on the QA of the thread content, a QA pair is displayed. Output result 2: Thread structure display FIG. 61 is a display example of a thread structure.

As shown in FIG. 54, the thread structure is displayed as a tree structure degenerated based on the number of reference nodes. Depending on the number of rows (vertical length) in the display area,
Nodes with a small number of reference nodes are omitted and displayed. The display contents of the node are as follows. Items displayed at each node are also omitted as appropriate according to the number of digits (length in the horizontal direction) of the display area. -A "+" sign at the beginning of a line is added when there is an omitted child node.

In the article including the keyword input by the user, the title and the author portion are highlighted (in FIG. 61, the portion surrounded by a rectangle). -Article title. Follow articles are marked with the “Re:” symbol.

The author of the article. -Article type. According to the topic pattern estimated by the content estimating unit 3504 (FIG. 35), Q (question), A
(Answer), D (dispute) is added.

The number of descendant nodes of the own node. It is added only to the node to which the “+” symbol is added. In this thread, it is also possible to execute a narrowing-down search by further specifying a keyword.

The screen can be moved to another screen by the following method.・ Click the title to display the article text.

When the author's name is clicked, an author node graph is displayed. When the “title list” is clicked, the thread structure is displayed as a tree structure degenerated based on the same title (see FIG. 55). Output result 3: time section thread display FIG. 62 (a) is a display example of a thread in a fixed time section. Articles containing keywords are indicated by bullets.
Articles that are not are indicated by gray circles. The author's initials are added below each node.

On this screen, the display section of the date, the vertical and horizontal display of the date, the size of the window, the width of the cell, and the like are variable. Therefore, for example, it is possible to match the size with another scheduler. For example, FIG. 62 (b) shows another scheduler, and the cell widths of the scheduler and the time section thread display shown in FIG. 62 (a) are matched.

The screen can be moved to another screen by the following method.・ Click the black circle or gray circle to display the article text.

When the author's initial is clicked, an author node graph is displayed. Output result 4: QA pair display The QA pair display is a table in which a question and answer pair corresponding to the Q and A pattern estimated by the content estimating unit 3504 (FIG. 35) is displayed as a table. The following information is displayed in one line of the table. ·title.

The questioner. -Respondents (multiple). You can move to other screens in the following ways.・ Click the title to display the thread structure.

When the author's name is clicked, an author node graph is displayed. Output result 5: author node graph The author node graph is a graph in which the conversation relationship between the authors of each article in the thread is graphed. FIG. 57 described above.
Is a display example.

The screen can be moved to another screen by the following method.・ Clicking on the author displays a list of posts by that author.

When the link is clicked, a thread structure is displayed. Output result 6: Author's posting list The author's posting list is a screen for viewing a list of articles posted by each author. Date, title, article type (Q,
A, D) are displayed in chronological order.

The screen can be moved to another screen by the following method.・ Click the title to display the article text. Output result 7: article body This is the article body. In addition, author name, title,
Displays the date and a link to the parent article.

The screen can be moved to another screen by the following method.・ Click the title to display the thread structure.

When the date is clicked, a time section thread display is displayed.・ Click the author name to display the author node graph. Operation of Time Section Thread Display FIG. 63 is an operation flowchart of time section thread display executed by the view generation unit 3508 (FIG. 35).

First, in the thread index having the data structure shown in FIG. 38, the "thread tree structure" field in the entry corresponding to the thread to be displayed is referred to, so that the document ID included in the thread is 1 Are selected (step 6301).

Next, in the document index having the data structure shown in FIG.
Is referred to, and the date is registered in the calendar index having the data structure shown in FIG. 64 (step 630).
2).

Next, it is determined whether or not processing has been attempted for all document IDs in the “thread tree structure” field in the entry corresponding to the thread to be displayed in the thread index (step 6303).

If the processing for all document IDs has not been tried and the determination in step 6303 is NO, the process returns to step 6301 and the processing for the next document ID is repeated.

If the processing for all document IDs is tried and the determination in step 6303 is YES, the processing in FIG.
The document node is mapped to the calendar by referring to the calendar index having the data configuration shown in FIG. The edge of the reference relationship is displayed with reference to the thread index. Display Operation of Author Node Graph FIG. 65 is an operation flowchart showing the display operation of the author node graph executed by the view generation unit 3508 (FIG. 35).

First, in the thread index having the data structure shown in FIG. 38, the “thread tree structure” field in the entry corresponding to the thread to be displayed is referred to, so that the document ID included in the thread is 1 Are selected. Next, by referring to the document index having the data configuration shown in FIG. 37 and the user index having the data configuration shown in FIG. 36, the parent document (parent statement) of the document corresponding to the selected document ID is referred to. ) Is acquired (step 65).
01).

Next, it is determined whether or not an entry corresponding to the parent-child relationship exists in the speaker array having the data configuration shown in FIG. 66 (step 6502). If the entry exists, the process proceeds to step 6504.

If the entry does not exist, an entry on the horizontal or vertical axis of the speaker array is added (step 6).
503). Thereafter, the number of the entry is incremented by 1 (step 6504).

Next, it is determined whether or not processing has been attempted for all document IDs in the “thread tree structure” field in the entry corresponding to the thread to be displayed in the thread index (step 6505).

If processing for all document IDs has not been tried and the determination in step 6505 is NO, processing returns to step 6501 and processing for the next document ID is repeated.

If the processing for all document IDs is tried and the determination in step 6505 is YES, the processing in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, nodes are drawn by the number of entries in the speaker array having the data configuration shown in FIG.
A “→” line is drawn from the parent to the child. The thickness of this line is determined according to the frequency of conversation between the parent and child (step 6506).

In the second embodiment described above,
By reducing the tree structure of the thread, it becomes possible to display the thread according to the display range of the screen. Further, since the search result is displayed together with the topic automatically estimated, even when the number of threads of the search result is large, the user can easily grasp the outline of the search result.

Further, even if the number of documents in a thread is large, the same author may post many times. By providing a view showing the author in the center, not only can the key person in the thread be grasped, but also the entire structure of the thread can be displayed compactly. A recording medium on which a program for realizing each embodiment is recorded.
The present invention is a computer-readable storage medium that, when used by a computer, causes the computer to perform the same functions as the functions realized by the configurations of the above-described embodiments of the present invention. It can also be configured.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 68, for example, a portable storage medium 6802 such as a floppy disk, a CD-ROM disk, an optical disk, a removable hard disk, or the like, or a network line 6803 is used. Programs for realizing various functions are stored in a memory (RAM) in the main body 6804 of the computer 6801.
Or a hard disk) 6805 and executed.

[0255]

According to the configuration of the first aspect of the present invention, a document group which may include a necessary document is accurately and easily found from a miscellaneous document set by relying on keywords. It becomes possible.

According to the configuration of the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to grasp at a glance the document group corresponding to the search designation. According to the configuration of the third aspect of the present invention, it is possible to easily grasp the structure of the entire document group.

According to the configuration of the fourth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to easily grasp the transition of topics in the entire document group. According to the configuration of the fifth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to execute the search while grasping the structure of the thread.

According to the configuration of the sixth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to narrow down topics more precisely by keywords. Further, according to the present invention, the tree structure of the thread is reduced, so that the thread can be displayed according to the display range of the screen.

Further, according to the present invention, the search result is displayed together with the topic automatically estimated, so that even when the number of threads in the search result is large, the user can easily grasp the outline of the search result. Becomes possible.

In addition, according to the present invention, even if the amount of documents in a thread is large, the same author may post many times. By providing a view showing the author in the center, not only can the key person in the thread be grasped, but also the entire structure of the thread can be displayed compactly.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to access a document group from various viewpoints.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a document group having a reference relationship.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of a document.

FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram (part 1) of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a system configuration diagram (part 2) of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a data structure of a meta index.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a data structure of a thread index.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a data structure of an index file.

FIG. 8 is an operation flowchart of a format analysis unit and a structure analysis unit.

FIG. 9 is an operation flowchart of registering a document number in a thread index.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of an operation of registering a document number in a thread index.

FIG. 11 is an operation flowchart of color number registration.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a color table.

FIG. 13 is an operation flowchart of a keyword view.

FIG. 14 is an operation flowchart of a thread view.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of a thread view control array.

FIG. 16 is an operation flowchart of a speaker view.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example of an array for controlling a speaker view.

FIG. 18 is an operation flowchart of a statement content display.

FIG. 19 is an operation flowchart of color-coded display by author / date.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of an array for color-coded display by author / date.

FIG. 21 is an operation flowchart of highlight display of a search result using a thread view.

FIG. 22 is an operation flowchart of highlight display of a search result using a keyword view.

FIG. 23 is a control operation flowchart of keyword extraction from a subtopic.

FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating an example of a subtopic index.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing a display example of a keyword view.

FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a thread view.

FIG. 27 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a speaker view.

FIG. 28 is a diagram illustrating a display example of comment contents.

FIG. 29 is a diagram illustrating an example of emphasis (by color) display of a document attribute “author” using a thread view.

FIG. 30 is a diagram showing a search (input) display example of all utterances in a conference room.

FIG. 31 is a diagram illustrating an example of highlighting a node including a character string “protocol” using a thread view.

FIG. 32 is a diagram illustrating an example of highlighting a thread including a character string “protocol” using a keyword view.

FIG. 33 is a diagram illustrating a search (result output) display example of all statements in a conference room.

FIG. 34 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a keyword extracted from a subtopic.

FIG. 35 is a configuration diagram of another embodiment (second embodiment) of the present invention.

FIG. 36 is a configuration diagram of a user index.

FIG. 37 is a configuration diagram of a document index.

FIG. 38 is a configuration diagram of a thread index.

FIG. 39 is a configuration diagram of a QA index.

FIG. 40 is a configuration diagram of a DISCUSS index.

FIG. 41 is a configuration diagram of a CHAT index.

FIG. 42 is an operation flowchart of the content estimating unit.

FIG. 43 is an operation flowchart of a Q and A pattern determination process.

FIG. 44 is a diagram illustrating an example of a pattern included in a Q (question) document.

FIG. 45 is a diagram illustrating an example of a pattern included in a thank-you document.

FIG. 46 is a diagram illustrating an example of a thread structure estimated by a Q and A pattern determination process.

FIG. 47 is a diagram illustrating an example of a thread document group estimated by the Q and A pattern determination processing.

FIG. 48 is an operation flowchart of a dispute pattern determination process.

FIG. 49 is a diagram illustrating an example of a thread structure estimated by a Discussion pattern determination process.

FIG. 50 is an operation flowchart of a chat pattern determination process.

FIG. 51 is a diagram illustrating an example of a thread structure estimated by a Chat pattern determination process.

FIG. 52 is a diagram illustrating a display example of an original thread structure.

FIG. 53 is a diagram illustrating a display example of an original thread structure.

FIG. 54 is a diagram showing a display example of a thread structure degenerated by the number of reference nodes.

FIG. 55 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a thread structure in which the same title document is degenerated.

FIG. 56 is a diagram showing a display example of a thread structure extracted in a time section.

FIG. 57 is a diagram showing a graph structure in which the author is a node.

FIG. 58 is a diagram illustrating a display example of the network news search system.

FIG. 59 is a diagram showing a list of search screens.

FIG. 60 is a diagram showing an output result 1: a thread list.

FIG. 61 is a diagram showing an output result 2: thread structure display.

FIG. 62 is a diagram showing an output result 3: time section thread display.

FIG. 63 is a diagram showing a flow of creating a time section thread display.

FIG. 64 is a data configuration diagram of a calendar index.

FIG. 65 is a diagram showing a flow of creating an author node graph.

FIG. 66 is a data configuration diagram of a speaker array.

FIG. 67 is an explanatory diagram of creation of an author node graph.

FIG. 68 is an explanatory diagram of a recording medium on which a program for realizing the present embodiment is recorded.

[Explanation of symbols]

 301 Document group database 302 Document group analysis device 303 Totaling device 304 Meta index 305 Thread index 306 Display device 401 Format analysis unit 402 Structure analysis unit 403 Content analysis unit 404 Index file 405 Character string search device 3501 Processing device 3502 Document acquisition unit 3503 Two Next storage device 3504 Content estimation unit 3505 Display index 3506 Search engine 3507 Search index 3508 View generation unit 3509 Input device 3510 Display device

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FIG06F 15/403 380D

Claims (22)

[Claims] 1. A related document display device for displaying a document group consisting of documents having a reference relationship, wherein the related document display device analyzes the reference relationship between a plurality of documents constituting the document set, thereby forming a plurality of documents constituting the document set. Document group analyzing means for classifying the documents into one or more document groups having a reference relationship, and extracting information on the classification as document group information, by referring to the document group information, Document group keyword extracting means for extracting a keyword included in the documents constituting the document group; a title associated with each document group; and a keyword extracted by the document group keyword extracting means for the document group. And a document group keyword display unit for displaying the document group in association with each other. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the document group keyword display unit highlights a document group including a document corresponding to a search specification specified by a user or a keyword corresponding to the search specification. A related document display device. 3. A related document display device for displaying a document group consisting of documents having a reference relationship, wherein a plurality of documents constituting the document set are analyzed by analyzing a reference relationship between a plurality of documents constituting the document set. Document group analyzing means for classifying the documents into one or more document groups having a reference relationship, and extracting information on the classification as document group information; and Document attribute analysis means for extracting document attribute information indicating an attribute; and by referring to the document group information and the document attribute information, a reference relationship of the document group is formed for each of the document groups. Document group structure display means for displaying each document attribute information corresponding to each document or its omitted information in a tree structure displayed as each node. Communication document display device. 4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the document group structure display unit refers to the document group information and the document attribute information, and for each of the document groups,
The reference relation of the document group is displayed by a tree structure displayed as each node in which each omitted author name corresponding to each document constituting the document group and each document amount information are combined. Related document display device. 5. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the document group structure display unit includes, for each document group, a plurality of topics extracted from documents included in the document group, in the document group. A related document display device, wherein the related document display device further displays in association with each of the nodes constituting the tree structure displayed correspondingly. 6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the document group structure display unit displays, for each of the document groups, the respective topics and the respective nodes related thereto in the same color, Related document display device characterized by the above-mentioned. 7. The related document according to claim 3, wherein the document group structure display unit highlights a node corresponding to a document corresponding to a search specification specified by a user. Display device. 8. A related document display device for displaying a document group consisting of documents having a reference relationship, wherein the plurality of documents constituting the document set are analyzed by analyzing a reference relationship between a plurality of documents constituting the document set. Document group analyzing means for classifying the documents into one or more document groups having a reference relationship, and extracting information on the classification as document group information, and extracting the classified document groups from the documents constituting the respective documents. Topic analysis means for further subdividing based on the topic to be performed, and extracting information on the subclass as topic classification information; and by referring to the document group information and the topic classification information, each document group and the A topic keyword extracting means for extracting a keyword included in a document related to the topic for each of the sub-categorized topics; For each of the topics that it was subdivided,
A related document display device, comprising: a topic keyword display unit for displaying a title related thereto and a keyword extracted by the topic keyword extraction unit for the topic in association with each other. 9. A recording medium storing a program read by the computer when used by a computer, wherein the document set is constructed by analyzing a reference relationship between a plurality of documents constituting the document set. A function of classifying a plurality of documents into one or more document groups having a reference relationship, and extracting information on the classification as document group information; and, by referring to the document group information, A function of extracting a keyword included in a document constituting a group, and for each document group, a title associated with the document group and a keyword extracted by the document group keyword extracting means for the document group in association with each other. And a computer-readable recording medium recording a program for causing the computer to perform the following functions. 10. A recording medium storing a program read by the computer when used by a computer, wherein the document set is constructed by analyzing a reference relationship between a plurality of documents constituting the document set. A function of classifying a plurality of documents into one or more document groups having a reference relationship, and extracting information related to the classification as document group information; and an attribute of the document from each of the plurality of documents constituting the document set. A function of extracting document attribute information to be indicated, and by referring to the document group information and the document attribute information, the reference relation of the document group corresponding to each document constituting the document group for each document group A function of displaying each document attribute information or its omitted information in a tree structure displayed as each node, and Readable recording medium a computer the program was recorded. 11. A related document display device for displaying a document group consisting of documents having a reference relationship, wherein the document is displayed on the basis of a document content and a posting pattern between authors from a document database consisting of a document group having a reference relationship. Content estimating means for estimating the content of the group and generating an index corresponding to the topic pattern of the content; input means for inputting a search request for the document database from a user; and searching for a document in the document database Search engine means, and view generation means for generating one or more views using the search result from the search engine means and the index, switching the one or more views, and displaying the one or more views on a display device. Related document display device characterized by the above-mentioned. 12. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the view generating unit collects documents having the same attribute in the displayed documents, thereby obtaining a tree structure of a reference relationship between the displayed documents and A related document display device, wherein information on a node corresponding to each document is displayed in a simplified manner so that a user can easily understand the entire structure of a reference relationship between documents displayed. 13. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the view generation unit selects only a document having a large number of references in a reference relationship between displayed documents according to a size of a screen, By simply displaying the tree structure of the reference relation between the displayed documents and the information on the node corresponding to each document, the user can easily grasp the entire structure of the reference relation between the displayed documents. Related document display device. 14. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the view generating means is displayed by selecting only a document including a keyword input by the user and having a large number of references to the document. A related document characterized by allowing a user to easily grasp the entire structure of a search result for a document database by simply displaying information on a tree structure of reference relationships between documents and nodes corresponding to the respective documents. Display device. 15. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the view generating unit determines a reference relationship between the displayed documents together with a topic pattern estimated by the content estimating unit for each document. A related document display device, wherein a related document display device is displayed so that a user can easily grasp the entire structure of a search result of a document database. 16. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the view generation means displays only a document in a specific time section among the displayed documents in a calendar format, thereby providing a user with a document database. A related document display device, characterized by associating search results with temporal information for easy grasp. 17. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the view generating means emphasizes and displays the specific topic pattern estimated by the content estimating means, so that the user can view the document in the document database. A related document display device, which allows the user to easily grasp only the important part of the reference relationship. 18. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the view generating means corresponds to a question and an answer among the specific topic patterns estimated by the content estimating means for the search engine means. A related document display device characterized in that a search is executed only for a document so that a pair of a question and an answer corresponding to a user's question can be easily grasped. 19. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the view generating unit specifies the view based on a posting history of each document in the document database and a specific topic pattern estimated by the content estimating unit. A related document display device characterized by highlighting and displaying the author of the document, thereby allowing the user to easily grasp only the important part of the reference relation of the document in the document database. 20. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the view generating means sets an author of each document in the document database as a node, and links a reference relationship between the documents,
A related document display device, wherein a reference graph is displayed by using a directed graph in which the number of times of reference is set as a degree of link emphasis, thereby allowing a user to easily grasp a reference relationship of documents in a document database from an author's viewpoint. 21. The related document display device according to claim 11, wherein the document stored in the document database is an article document of a network news downloaded through a network. 22. A recording medium which records a program which is read by the computer when used by a computer, the recording medium comprising: a document database comprising a group of documents having a reference relationship; A function of estimating the content of the document group and generating an index corresponding to a topic pattern of the content; a function of inputting a search request for the document database from a user; and a function of searching for a document in the document database. A function of generating one or more views by using the search result and the index, switching the one or more views, and displaying the one or more views on a display device; Readable recording medium.