JPH113203A - Screen dialog processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve both operating efficiency and reliability by securing the correspondence between a single browser and plural screens to start a WWW server by a single operation against the same requests or to perform retrievals in response to plural branches. SOLUTION: A sending information input means 2 notifies a dialog screen generation means 1 of the retrieval expression that is inputted by an operator, and the means 1 refers to a condition table 3 and converts plural registered WWW servers into each form via a sending information conversion means 4. A screen frame generation means 5 starts a browser to ask every WWW server to perform each processing, and the browser sends a retrieval expression to the designated URL via a screen sending means 6. The designated WWW server starts and executes the database retrieval programs which are cooperative with each other based on the requested retrieval expression and then sends the result of retrieval to the browser. The browser which received the data shows the result of retrieval via a received screen display means 7.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to the Internet and intranet WWW (World Wide Web).
Software that accesses the server to view the data,
About the browser. In particular, the present invention relates to improvement of operability in the case of an application that performs a search from input conditions.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a WWW server, data (page) displayed by a browser is stored as a file, and when a data transmission request is received from the browser, the corresponding data file is transmitted to the browser, and the browser receives the data. Interpret and display the contents of the file.

[0003] The WWW system is a distributed system, and data displayed by a browser is distributed to a plurality of WWW servers. The browser determines the location of the data you want to display,
URL, which is a unique address on the Internet consisting of the transmission protocol name, server name, and file name
(Uniform Resource Locator). Since the name of the WWW server that is the destination of the transmission request is managed in association with the IP address that is the address on the communication network, the server name specified by the browser is converted into the IP address and searched on the network. A transmission request is notified.

[0004] In addition to transmitting the file specified by the URL to the browser, the WWW server can activate another program to request processing, and return the processed result to the browser. In the WWW system, C
It has an interface called GI (Common Gateway Interface), and it is possible to specify arguments when specifying a URL from a browser. Therefore, if the search expression is notified from the browser as an argument, the WWW server notifies the search expression when the database search program is started, and the database program notifies the browser of the search according to the search expression via the WWW server. It becomes possible.

Conventionally, when there are a plurality of WWW servers cooperating with a database search program, a browser has to specify a search formula for a database and send a request for transmission of search results to a URL of each WWW server. was there. For example, when searching a database connected to a plurality of WWW servers, the browser requests a search request to another server Y after displaying a document of the search result received from the server X, as shown in FIG. (Request for transmission of search results).

[0006] For example, even when information is searched for in one database, when tracking a search route of several branches in a tree structure, it is necessary to return to the source of the branch. To continue the search by following another route, it was necessary to go back to the screen of the original browser one by one and follow a screen for selecting a branch. Even if you return to the top screen directly from the menu, if you follow another branch and return to the original screen, it is necessary to repeat the same operation to find the screen of the search result of another route searched earlier (A3 *, B2 found by following each of the branch information A, B, and C in FIG. 9B)
*, C4 * When comparing screens).

[0007]

As described above, since the operation is complicated or requires a repetition of a particularly simple operation, it is necessary to promote an operation error, reduce the desire to work, or reduce the work efficiency. This is a problem that causes a decrease in the quality of the product, and a solution has been required.

In view of the above, the present invention provides a plurality of screens corresponding to one browser, and for a single request, activates a WWW server by a single operation or retrieves a screen corresponding to a plurality of branches. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a means for making it possible to make a copy of a document.

[0009]

The above object is achieved by a screen interactive processing apparatus constructed as follows. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 denotes a screen interactive processing apparatus using a computer. Reference numeral 1 denotes a dialogue screen generating means of the present invention, which displays a plurality of dialogue screens 10 based on information from the transmission information input means 2, the condition table 3, the reception screen display means 7, and the like, and switches screens simultaneously or simultaneously. To interact with a plurality of objects. Here, the condition table 3 is a table in which the attributes of the object to be interacted through the screen are stored, and includes the format of address data of the object to be interacted (claim 1).

The transmission information input means 2 is for inputting information to be transmitted to a conversation target. When trying to send the same information to multiple targets, the input operation is one even if the format of the data accepted by the other party is different.
What converts the format of the input transmission information so that only the number of times is set is transmission information conversion means 4 which is one means constituting the interactive screen generation means 1.

The transmission information conversion means 4 generates respective screen frames corresponding to a plurality of dialogue objects notified separately by the transmission information input means 2 or set in advance and stored in the condition table 3. The input transmission information is converted based on the attribute of the conversation target. The screen frame generating means 5 is activated by the transmission information converting means and generates a required number of screen frames. This screen frame is for inputting data to be transmitted to the conversation target and displaying a screen received from the conversation target. Further, link information to another document embedded in the received screen can be used as information to be selected and transmitted on the screen (claims 2 and 4).

The screen transmitting means 6 designates the information embedded in the screen displayed in the screen frame and transmits the information to the conversation target, or transmits the transmission information input in the screen frame. The reception screen display means 7 displays the screen information received from the conversation target in a corresponding screen frame.

The screen copy means 8 converts the screen information received by the received screen display means 7 into screen frame generating means 5 as necessary.
Is copied to the screen frame generated by the above to make a new interactive screen. Each of the copied screens is a dialog screen for performing a dialog independently (claims 3 and 5).

The case where the present invention is realized on a WWW system will be described below.

In the condition table 3, URLs of a plurality of WWW servers requesting a search, a format of a search formula for each database search program linked to the WWW server, and the like are set. When the transmission information input unit 2 notifies the dialog screen generation unit 1 of the search formula input by the operator, the dialog screen generation unit 1 refers to the condition table 3 and sends a plurality of registered WWW servers to each of the registered WWW servers. The transmission information conversion means 4 converts the data into a format for each WWW server. The screen frame generating means 5 starts a browser for requesting processing for each WWW server, and each browser issues a search request to each WWW server based on the data converted by the transmission information converting means 4. The browser transmits the search formula to the specified URL by the screen transmission unit 6. The designated WWW server activates and executes a cooperative database search program based on the requested search formula, and transmits the search result to the browser. The browser that has received the data displays the search result on the reception screen display unit 7.

When searching for a plurality of WWW servers,
When using the search results already obtained, the screen frame generating means 5 starts up one browser and receives the search result data instead of starting up a plurality of browsers at the same time.
The received search result data and link information indicating the URL of another WWW server are displayed together. The reception screen display means 7 notifies the screen copy means 8 when the search result data is received, and the screen copy means 8 displays the screen data composed of the link information of another WWW server registered in the condition table and the search result data. Is generated and notified to the browser started by the screen frame generating means 5. Since the browser can display not only the data notified from the server but also the data on the local disk, the browser displays the search result and the link information according to the notified data.
The started browser is another WWW together with the search result data.
Since the link information of the server is displayed, the operator can select an appropriate server from a plurality of link information according to the search result and request the search.

[0018]

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram (part 1) of an embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, a mode realized by a computer program executed on a computer used for general purposes such as a personal computer and a workstation will be described.

A screen interactive processing device according to the present invention comprises a processing device,
It is realized by executing a computer program on a computer including a main storage device, an auxiliary storage device, an input / output device, and the like. The computer program is provided by being stored in a portable medium such as a floppy disk or a CD-ROM, or in a main storage device or an auxiliary storage device of another computer connected to a network. The recording medium of the present invention corresponds to the portable medium, the main storage device, and the auxiliary storage device.

The provided computer program is loaded directly from the portable medium to the main storage device of the computer, or once copied or installed from the portable medium to the auxiliary storage device, and then loaded into the main storage device and executed. Also, when provided by being stored in another device connected to a network, it is also copied to an auxiliary storage device, loaded into a main storage device, and executed after receiving from another device via a network.

FIG. 1 shows a system for retrieving books from a plurality of libraries.
A library A and a library B having W servers 28a and 28b, and a book search browser 20 which is a WWW browser to which the present invention is applied. Reference numerals 28a and 28b are provided with information for managing lending of collections in the databases 29a and 29b, respectively, and provide services such as searching for collections via the Internet. Here, one book search request RQ26 corresponds to claim 2, and the book search browser 20
Is input to the search request RQA 26a, RQB 26b for a plurality of libraries by the request conversion unit 21 of the present invention.
And is sent out via ports Pa and Pb which are interfaces to the network 27.

As shown in the figure, the book search browser 20 further includes a screen frame generation unit 22, and a plurality of screens, screens A24a,
A screen B24b is generated to interact with the servers 28a and 28b. On the screens 24a and 24b, a document A25a and a document B25b indicating search results from the server of each library or the process thereof are displayed. The operation of the book search is described below.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram (part 1) of the operation of the embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 5, 6, and 7 are explanatory views (part 2), (part 3), and (part 4) of the operation of the embodiment of the present invention. The left half of FIG. 4 shows a flowchart, and the right half shows the state of transmission of the corresponding search information. A description will be given according to a flowchart with reference to the right-side diagram.

In step S41, common conditions to be searched for a plurality of libraries are input from the WWW browser screen 40 by book name and author name. Here, the common condition is a search condition required by a server of a plurality of libraries, which is required at least in any library, and a book name “Hanayome”, an author name “Akazawa” and the like are input. In step S42, screen frames corresponding to the preset number of ports corresponding to the number of libraries to be searched are created. That is, 43a, 4
This is a screen frame displayed on 3b and 43c.

In step S43, the input common search condition is converted into a form script adapted to a search item format for each library. RQ for Library A in the figure on the right
A41a, RQB41b for library B, and the like. In step S44, each form script is transmitted in parallel to the server of each library by designating the screen frame of each port set above.

In step S45, the document of the search result sent from each server or the document of the intermediate result for which additional conditions are to be specified are displayed on the screen frame of the port corresponding to each server. That is, 43a, 43
The screens b and 43c are displayed. Then, step S4
As shown at 6, detailed information is designated for each library according to the display contents of each screen, and a target book is searched. Of course, at this time, the library that had a different number of dialogues with the server for each library was immediately found to have the current collection, there was no book, and the other books were more desirable books. Since it is likely, there will be situations such as continuing dialogue to exchange additional information.

In this way, in step S47, the search results 44a, 44b, and 44c for each library are displayed in parallel, and a method of performing the operation of adopting the most desirable search result by comparison can be realized.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram (part 2) of the operation of the embodiment of the present invention. Here, the conversion of the search item format shown in FIG. 4 will be additionally described. The items required for the search differ depending on the difference in the search system of the server that accepts each library and the difference in the operation of the library as described above. However, when searching for the desired book through a browser, it is natural for all libraries to start searching for the required items in common. As shown in the figure, if the book title and author name are specified, any library will be able to find printed materials, CDs, etc. containing the desired contents.

As shown on the screen 50, the search data transmitted to both the A and B libraries by specifying the book name "Hanayome" and the author name "Akagawa" is transmitted from the A library 52a from the communication port Pa. In addition to the destination for the item IK as shown in 51a
SJOUKEN0 has the title "Hanayome", item IK
“Akagawa” is specified as the author name in SJOUKEN 1 and “0” is specified in the item IKSZENPO, and the search method specifies that the search item is to be searched with a forward match. This item is not entered, but is embedded as a normal standard value for Library A. As shown in 51b, library B differs from library A in item names specified by book name and author name, and has no difference in search method.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a screen transition of a browser as an explanatory diagram (part 3) of the operation of the embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 60 denotes a first input screen for common search conditions. When the search button on the screen is pressed after inputting the book name and the author name, the respective search data is sent to the A library and the B library as described above. When the search results are sent, they are displayed on separate screens generated for each server in each library as shown at 61. As seen here, the display of each screen is different from the display format and the search result content. The search can be advanced while comparing these multiple screens. If necessary, a detailed RQ button on the screen is pressed to advance the search, and detailed information as shown at 62 is displayed.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a condition table as an explanatory diagram (part 4) of the operation of the embodiment of the present invention. As described above, the condition table 70 stores the attribute for transmitting the common search item to the server of each library in accordance with the interface to be accepted. In the figure, the port number is used for associating transmission information with reception information and a screen when transmitting and receiving data to and from the network.

The address is the network address of the server of each library. The search item format is a list of items required as a format of a search request item for each library, and includes a type in which the common search item input as described above is embedded and a type in which a standard value is set for a specific item.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention corresponding to claim 3 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram (part 2) of the embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 30 denotes a WWW browser to which the present invention is applied. When a document is requested by accessing a WWW server by accessing information input by a user, there are a plurality of anchor tags in which links between documents are embedded, and information is searched by following each link. This is used when a history is left for each route or a document obtained by the latest search result is compared and viewed.

The form data 32 generated by the user input 31 is sent to the WWW server A 36a by designating the port number Pa of the screen A. The document A is transmitted from the WWW server A 36a to the screen A35a corresponding to the port number Pa. Generally, the state may be considered as a state after several exchanges between the screen A of the WWW browser 30 and the WWW server A.

The user recognizes such a situation that the copy is required, and inputs the instruction to copy the document. At this time, the number of screens to be copied is specified based on the state of the anchor tag of the original document A. Document A having links to a plurality of other documents in this manner
Install multiple screens that have copied. In FIG. 3, two screens are newly copied to screen B35b and screen C35c.
Create

The screen frame generator 34 newly generates a required number of screens. The screen copy unit 33 copies the document A to the generated screens B and C. Each screen is operated independently using the copied link information of the document A, and the screen B accesses the server B 36b by clicking on the anchor tag in which the link information to the server B is embedded as shown in the figure. At this time, the document B received from the WWW server B by designating the port number Pb corresponding to the screen B
Are displayed on the screen B. The same applies to screen C.

In each screen, link information of each displayed document can be tracked independently. FIG. 8 is a view (part 5) for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention, illustrating an example of information links between the plurality of documents and an example of a search route when using the plurality of screens. Reference numeral 80a corresponds to the document A copied from the screen A in FIG. 3, and is a document Da at the branch source of the information search route. Reference numeral 80a indicates a document as described above, but there are a plurality of screen frames for displaying the document, and each screen on which the document is displayed can independently follow the link of the document described here. It should be noted that the link of the document shown here is HTML (Hy
per Text Markup Language)
This document is exchanged between a WWW browser and a WWW server using a communication protocol (HTTP).

That is, the tag Ta embedded in 80a
The information retrieval route branches from 1, Ta2, and Ta3.
For example, the search route indicated by Ra is Ta of the document Da.
Are linked by an address on the network. Tb1 in Db links Dc. Tc in Dc can be displayed on the screen by linking to detailed information in the same document and clicking Tc. Thus, document D
By copying a to a plurality of screens, a plurality of routes can be searched for in parallel while comparing screens.

[0039]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, a browser is made to correspond to a plurality of screens, and for the same request, a plurality of WWW servers can be accessed by a single operation, or a plurality of search branches. By providing a means to copy and create documents that cause erroneous operations on multiple screens, to prevent the occurrence of operation errors due to the complexity of operations, repeated simple operations, and a decrease in work efficiency. There is an industrial effect of improving the operation, the reliability of operation, and the motivation to work.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram (part 1) of an embodiment of the present invention (a system for searching for books in a plurality of libraries);

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention (part 2) (a search system using a screen copy).

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an operation according to the embodiment of the present invention (part 1) (flowchart and status of transmission of search information);

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of an operation of the embodiment of the present invention (part 2) (conversion of search item format)

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the embodiment of the present invention (part 3) (example of screen transition of browser)

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram (part 4) of the operation of the embodiment of the present invention (example of condition table)

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of an operation of the embodiment of the present invention (part 5) (an example of a search route using information links between a plurality of documents and a plurality of screens).

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Dialogue screen generation means 2 Transmission information input means 3 Condition table 4 Transmission information conversion means 5 Screen frame generation means 6 Screen transmission means 7 Reception screen display means 8 Screen copy means

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A screen dialogue processing apparatus for performing processing by interacting with a screen, comprising: a dialogue screen generating means for generating a plurality of dialogue screens based on one request. 2. A screen interaction processing apparatus for performing processing by interacting with a screen, comprising: a screen frame generating means for generating a screen frame; and a screen frame generated for each of a plurality of dialogue targets by the screen frame generating means. Transmission information conversion means for converting the transmission information input by the transmission information input means into a format for each conversation target based on the attribute information of each conversation target stored in the condition table and setting the transmission information. A screen interactive processing apparatus for generating a plurality of interactive screens based on the screen. 3. A screen interaction processing apparatus for performing processing by interacting with a screen, comprising: a screen frame generating means for generating a screen frame; and one or more screen frames generated by the screen frame generating means.
A screen copying means for copying one previously displayed interactive screen to the generated screen frame and displaying the screen, and generating a plurality of interactive screens based on one request; apparatus. 4. A screen frame generation procedure for generating a screen frame, wherein transmission information input by transmission information input means is stored in a condition table in a screen frame generated for each of a plurality of dialogue targets by the screen frame generation means. A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute a transmission information conversion procedure of converting and setting a format for each conversation target based on attribute information of each conversation target. 5. A screen frame generating procedure for generating a screen frame, wherein one or more screen frames are generated by the screen frame generating means,
A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute a screen copy procedure of copying one previously displayed interactive screen to the generated screen frame and displaying the screen.