JPS61256441A - Retrieving method for table data - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain the retrieval of table data with the highest accuracy by retrieving the column of a real data while referring a table where the hierarchical relation is defined among the names in a data storage column and therefore reducing the load of the retrieving job. CONSTITUTION:When a retrieving sentence is supplied from a terminal equipment 202, a data base control system DBMS 206 transfers the table type data showing the hierarchical relation to a buffer area 207 from an external memory device 201. Then a column name key word and a document name emerging in a retrieving sentence are extracted within an area 207. The retrieving document is converted with reference to proper names in a table type data column. Then the DBMS 206 transfers a relative table type data in the device 201 to the area 207 and extracts the value whose output is requested to transmit it to the equipment 202 and to display it as the result of retrieval. Thus the load of a retrieving job is reduced with the table type data and the retrieval of the table data is possible with the highest accuracy.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a method for searching table-type data, and in particular, in a database management system, when data is requested to be stored and searched from a user, data is stored in an external storage device. This invention relates to a table data search method suitable for manipulating the above data.

[Background of the invention]

Regarding storage and retrieval methods for table-type data.

For example, System R: Relational Approach to Database Management; M.M. Astrakhan et al., A.C.M.D.
Relational Approach to Da
tabageManagement: M, M,
Astrahan et al., ACM To D
51976 Jun, PP, 97-137) and the like are known. A user's search request in a relational database is generally made by issuing a search statement that describes the conditions for retrieving rows in the table specified by the name of the table from which data is to be retrieved, the name of the column in that table, and the value of the column. It will be done.

Creating such a search statement is easy for a general user or the table creator who is familiar with table names, column names, and meanings of values. However, when a user who is not familiar with the structure of the database as described above searches for related data based on a value that is not clear which column in the table corresponds to, the search statement Before publication, it was necessary to refer to the database specifications or the dictionary within the database. As a result, it was necessary to restore all names of columns that may contain values that were not clearly associated with which column. Furthermore, it is necessary to specify the name of the restored column as it is stored, configure the search condition along with the unclear value of the correspondence mentioned above, and issue the search statement one after another. was there.

[Purpose of the Invention] The purpose of the present invention is to reduce the burden on users and to bring it closer to human intelligence activities, by specifying a retrieval column and specifying a column in search conditions during a search. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a table data search method that facilitates the search of table data.

[Summary of the invention]

In the present invention, as the name of a column for referring to a specific column of table-type data stored in a memory device such as an external storage device, in addition to the name corresponding to only one column of a row of a table, Names that correspond to multiple columns in a row at the same time can be defined in advance, and the hierarchical relationship between the names can be stored in these storage devices, so that a specific column in a table can be referenced by multiple names when searching. The aim is to realize the purpose by making it possible.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5. FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing the relationship between table-type data on an external storage device of a computer system to which the present invention is applied and the names of columns for referencing the table-type data. FIG. 2 is a conceptual configuration diagram of a computer system to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 3 is an example of table-type data in an external storage device to be searched.

In FIG. 1, 101 is table type data on an external storage device, 102 to 103 are rows of the table,
104 to 110 are columns of the table. 111-117
is the unique name of the column in the storage structure of the table, and 11
8-124 are species names corresponding to only one column in a row of the table.

125 to 128 are species names that simultaneously correspond to row columns of the table, and are species names indicated by hierarchical relationships with other species names.0For example, the use of 122 species names is 108
The use of species names in 127 is 108-11.
This is a reference to the 0 column.

In FIG. 2, 201 is an external storage device, and 202 is a terminal device having a keyboard and a display.

203 is a CPU, 204 is a channel, 205 is a main storage device, and within the main storage device is a database management system (hereinafter abbreviated as DBMS) 206. Buffer area 2
07 is provided.

FIG. 3 is an example in which information regarding documents as search targets is stored as table-type data. 301 is a line and corresponds to each document. A column 302 stores individual data related to documents. 303 is a unique name of a column for referring to column 302.

FIG. 4 is an example of table-type data that accumulates hierarchical relationships of species names that can be used to refer to each column of the table-type data of FIG. 3. 401 is the species name used in the search sentence, and 402 is the unique name of the column of the third table-type data that is referred to according to the species name that appears in the search sentence. After creating the definition of table-type data to be searched as shown in FIG. 3, table-type data representing the hierarchical relationship of species names as shown in FIG. 4 is defined and created.

Next, using FIG. 5, the operation of the system shown in FIG. 2 when the table-type data shown in FIG. 3 and the table-type data shown in FIG. 4 are stored in the external storage device will be explained.

First, the user inputs a search sentence from the terminal device 202 (
Step 501), if the search sentence is "output the literature base whose keyword is relational database", the DBMS 206 outputs the fourth data from the external storage device 201.
Table type data representing the hierarchical relationship of species names in the diagram is transferred to the buffer area 207 (502). Next, regarding the species name keywords and literature bases that appeared in the search sentence, the line 403 containing the column 401 in Figure 4 is taken out in the buffer area, and the proper name in the table type data column is referred to. Table type data column 5 (307), column 6 (308), II7 (
309), and the species name document name is in column 2.
(304), column 1 (303), the DBMS 206 executes the search sentence rli5 (3
07) or @6 (308) or field 7 (309)
Ill of the row whose value is relational database
(303) and the values in column 2 (304).'' (503). After that, the DBMS 206 stores one of the table-type data in FIG. 3 in the external storage device 201.
i5 (307) or column 6 (308) *Taha w7
(309) (7) Transfer the line 301 with the value ``NJ L/- National Database'' to the buffer area 207 (504), and select the column 1 (303) that was requested to be output from the line transferred to the buffer area 207. Column 2 (30
Extract the value of 4) (505), send it to the terminal device 202, and as the search results, "Search document 01 database" and "
Document 02 Database Speedup” is displayed (506
).

According to this embodiment, when a user makes a search request,
Even if it is not possible to clearly determine in which column of table-type data in an external storage device the word that will serve as a clue for a search or the data that you want to retrieve exists, multiple columns can be created according to the hierarchical relationship of the accumulated species names. This has the effect that it is possible to issue a search sentence that automatically references the .

In addition, if the search sentence is changed to ``Output the literature base whose means is a relational database'', the words that serve as the clues for the search are the same, but the species names are changed so that they are in a hierarchical relationship, the third Diagram of table type data! 7
Only rows whose value in (309) is "Relational database" are transferred to the buffer area (207), and "Reference 01 database search" is obtained as a search result.

In this way, even if the word that serves as a search clue is the same, by changing the corresponding species name up and down the hierarchy,
By controlling the number of search results, it is possible to conduct a search that matches the user's intentions.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram when the present invention is applied to a hierarchical relationship including similar words. (b) As shown in the figure, it shows a search system having a table that holds synonym relationships of species names in the table.

The present embodiment is characterized in that species names that can be replaced with species names in a search sentence are stored separately into two types, one in a similar word relationship and the other in a hierarchy relationship. The table that expresses these two relationships provides standard words (60
Only 2) is accumulated, and for other words (603), a table (Fig. 4) that expresses similar word relationships is first created.
is converted into a standard word (602), and then the unique species name (111 to 114) of the actual data table (101) is converted with reference to the table representing the hierarchical relationship.
can be converted to . Compared to the method of storing replaceable species names in a table all at once, this method eliminates the need to store combinations of non-standard words and unique species names that are lower in the hierarchy of that word, reducing storage capacity. 1. It is possible to construct hierarchical relationships and make associations based on similar concepts that humans normally do.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, when a user requests a search to a database management system that manages table-type data, when the user does not know the exact proper name of the column in which the data he/she wants to retrieve exists, or Even if you do not know the exact proper name of the field where the word that is a clue exists, there is no need to create and issue multiple search statements one by one, and you can manage the database by creating and issuing one search statement. The system can be made to perform searches according to the hierarchical relationship of species names. This not only has the effect of reducing the user's work when searching for table-type data, but also improves the searcher's knowledge.

Advanced searches can be achieved using associative keywords that go beyond experience.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the correspondence between table-type data in an external storage device and species names for referring to that data in the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a conceptual configuration diagram of a computer system to which the present invention is applied. , Figure 3 is. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of accumulation of table-type data to be searched in the present invention. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an accumulation example of hierarchical relationship of species names in the present invention. FIG. FIGS. 6(a) and 6(b) are explanatory diagrams showing other application examples of the present invention. 101...Table type data to be searched, 118
~124...Species names that correspond one-to-one to the columns of accumulated table-type data, 125-128...Species names that correspond one-to-many to the columns of accumulated table-type data. '$ 1st TI 2nd mouth 3rd 4-01 苧σ/ 4 o t
wt 5th mouth 2nd mouth

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Names of columns in which data is stored in an information processing system that stores a table-type database in a storage device and has a database management system in the main storage device for writing and reading the data. 1. A method for searching table data, comprising: a table defining hierarchical relationships; and searching a column of actual data while referring to the table. 2. The table data search method described in item 1, which uses a plurality of names in different hierarchies as column names for search. 3. The table data search method described in item 1, which uses not only hierarchical relationships but also like-word relationships as the column names.