JPS6299829A - Information retrieving system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain a system to retrieve information over plural fields by having the typical guide display of the information on the position where the information exists and selecting desired data out of the displayed position information. CONSTITUTION:A screen having the 2-dimensional spread is displayed as a guide for retrieval and a position is designated within said guide screen. Thus the desired data are retrieved and a coordinate input device 11 extracts the coordinate value of an indicated point within the retrieving guide screen. Here the coordinates of the input point show the value of a 2-dimensional space and are expressed by X and Y. An address conversion table 12 obtains an address of a memory device 15 storing the desired data based on the input X and Y. The address obtained through the table 12 is sent to a memory device read control part 13 and the corresponding data are read out of the device 15 through the part 13 based on the received address. Then the read-out data are displayed on a display device 14.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a system for searching document information, etc., and particularly to a system that uses data regarding the location of information as a search key.

[Background of the invention]

Devices for storing and retrieving document information include microfilm and optical storage devices. When searching for information using these, the information is generally specified using titles, keywords, classification codes, or the like. However, when searching, not all titles, keywords, etc. are necessarily known, and if only part of the search information is known, as shown in Japanese Patent Application No. 59-201666, a guide containing other search information may be used. We are developing a method for displaying images and selecting desired data from them.

On the other hand, when actually searching for data from books or files, instead of using the keywords mentioned above,
Information about the location of data is often used. For example, this is a case based on information such as the front of a book or the next page of a color gravure. An example of such a search based on location information is "The Human Interface" by Bolt (R, Bolt).
Interface), pp, f5゜16 [Lifetime Learning Publications (Lifeti)
me Learning Publj, cation)
, 1984). This is a method that uses visual information such as computer graphics and video images to simulate actual operations such as page turning. In this method, since the operations are similar to those in the real world, it is possible to provide a user interface that is easy to use even for non-experts in computer systems. However, such a method cannot overcome the problems encountered in the real world. for example,
When looking up the meaning of a word using a dictionary, it is desirable to change the ease of explanation depending on the researcher's prior knowledge.

Even when explaining the same word, it seems that the explanation to children is different from the explanation to adults. Also, regarding technical terms,
The same word may have different meanings depending on the field.

In such cases, it is currently not possible to make connections between data of different difficulty levels or across multiple fields, as in the case of children's dictionaries or field-specific technical terminology glossaries, and the data must be treated as completely different data. This situation cannot be improved at all by the above-mentioned method that simulates the actual method.

[Purpose of the invention]

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for searching for information across different levels of difficulty and across a plurality of fields.

[Summary of the invention]

In the present invention, data regarding the location where information exists, or data similar thereto, is used for the search. In the conventional page free rubbing method, the location information used for searching had only a one-dimensional spread, but this dimension is expanded, and by that expanded dimension, the second and subsequent dimensions such as difficulty level and field can be expanded. Search items can be specified.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail using examples.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration diagram of one embodiment. In this example,
A method is adopted in which a two-dimensional screen is displayed as a search guide, and desired data is searched by specifying a position on the screen.

11 in FIG. 1 represents a coordinate input device. As a result, the coordinate values of the point specified in the search guide screen are imported. The coordinates of the point input here indicate values in a two-dimensional space. Represent the value as X, Y Address conversion table 12
Now, the input X.

Based on Y, find the address on the storage device where the desired data is stored. The address translation table 12 executes this. This content will be explained in detail from FIG. 2 onwards. The address on the storage device 15 determined by the address conversion table 12 is stored in the storage device read control unit 1.
Sent to 3. The storage device read control unit 13 reads the corresponding data from the storage device 15 based on the sent address, and sends the data to the display device 14, where it is displayed. Here, as the coordinate input device 11, in addition to a so-called pointing device such as a mouse, joystick, or trackball, a keyboard or the like may be used. The storage device 15 is a disk.

A magnetic storage device such as a drum, an optical storage device such as an optical disk, an optical video disk, a compact disk, or a microfilm can be used.

The storage device read control unit 13 is a control device for the two storage devices 15. The display device 14 is.

A CRT, LED, plasma display, etc., a television receiver, etc. can be used.

The structure of the address translation table is shown in Figure 2 a, b and 3.
As shown in the figure. In FIG. 2, coordinate values X and Y on the screen sent from the coordinate input device 11 are converted into internal codes P and Q for processing. The coordinates X and Y on the screen are restricted by the size and configuration of the screen. Therefore, the seat on the screen 'JRx
, Y have a limited resolution. On the other hand, there are various cases regarding the amount of search targets. For example, when representing one page, if the number of pages is smaller than the resolution on the screen, one page is made to correspond to several dots (vixels) on the screen. Conversely, if the number of pages is greater than the resolution on the screen, multiple pages will correspond to one dot (pixel). The table in FIG. 2 performs this conversion. In the example in this figure, regarding the X-axis direction of the screen,
One dot (pixel) corresponds to 5 pages, and in the y-axis direction, two dots (pixels) correspond to ll! By having the table shown in Figure 2, which expresses the level of ease, the following processing can be made unaffected by physical constraints such as the size of the display device. Figure 3 is , is a table for determining the address of the file in which information is stored from the above P and Q. This table has a two-dimensional structure.

The vertical axis represents P and the horizontal axis represents Q. In each frame of the table, the address of the file in which data corresponding to P and Q is stored is written. However, data corresponding to all combinations of P and Q does not necessarily exist. For example, for a certain item, the difficulty level is 1 to 31.
There are explanatory texts up to 0, but for other items, it may be said that only 1 exists for difficulty levels 3 to 8.

In this way, if there is no data corresponding to the frame in the table in Figure 3, a value other than the file address (for example, a negative number, a non-existent file address, etc.)
Therefore, indicate not applicable.

As shown in FIG. 3, by having the address conversion table 7 in a two-dimensional configuration, for example, within the same difficulty level, it is possible to access information in the next item, or conversely, to access information in the same item in one step. Vertical and horizontal access can be performed at will, such as accessing the difficulty level above.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a display screen for realizing the above processing. The display screen consists of a main body display section 41 for displaying search information and a search guide display section 42. The search guide display section visually displays data necessary for the search, such as physical location information where the search information exists, difficulty level, and related fields. For the display direction, a table is used as shown in FIG. 4, or three-dimensional computer graphics or the like is used to increase the sense of reality. Furthermore, if the search axes span multiple dimensions, it is also possible to use animation techniques. #As an example of a simple case, Figure 4 uses a table format, and the horizontal axis of the 5 tables indicates the order of information arrangement (Ai-U-E order,
ARC order, etc.), and the vertical axis shows related fields of information, and for certain fields, the difficulty level is shown as a breakdown.

In addition, although not shown in the figure, the depth axis represents information such as publication year, bookshelf classification, and floor number of the library or the like where the related information is located. There may be not only one type of search guide display, but also many types depending on the type of information to be searched and the user's usage method. Furthermore, when using complex search guide information, it is also possible to use a combination of multiple guide displays. Note that in one or more examples, the main body display section and the search guide display section were displayed simultaneously on the same screen. This is effective in that it is possible to search while comparing the two, but it has the disadvantage that the effective screen becomes narrower. In order to eliminate this problem, there is a method of switching display between the main body display section and the search guide display section, or a method of using independent display devices for the main body display section and the search guide display section.

FIG. 5 shows a processing flow of data search using a search guide. Item No. 50 indicates a state in which an interrupt from the coordinate input device 11 is being waited for. Here, the search guide display section 42
The item number 50 remains until one of the points is selected, and the process advances to item number 51.

In item No. 51, the screen piece 4191 (X, Y) of the selected point in the search guide display section 42 is read. In item No. 52, screen coordinates (x, y) are calculated using the conversion table shown in Figure 2.
Convert to normal other piece m (P, Q).

Based on this (P, Q), the first item number 53 uses the address conversion table shown in FIG. 3 to find the address of the file in which the search information is stored.

On the other hand, if the search information cannot be specified using only the previous data, it is necessary to display the next search guide display. In that case, the address translation table in Figure 3 contains the following information:
Instead of a file address, a sign indicating that the search information cannot be specified and an identifier for the next search guide display are stored.

In this case, a determination is made in item number 54, and the process proceeds to item number 55. If the search information can be specified, proceed to item number 57.

In item number 55, a new search guide is displayed according to the contents stored in the address conversion table shown in FIG. 3, and in item number 56, the management status indicating the currently displayed content is updated and then
3! ! Return to the selection key input waiting process (item No. 50). If the search information can be specified, the second item No. 57 reads the data stored in the address of the file indicated by the address conversion table in FIG. do. Further, in item number 59, the management letter indicating the current display contents is updated, and then the search processing is ended.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) When searching for information, it becomes possible to use data indicating the location where the information exists, improving operability.

(2) Data regarding the difficulty level and field of information can be used for searching in the same way as the data regarding the location of information, so a wide range of data can be searched in a unified manner.

(3) The device used for the search is low cost because it can be implemented using a general-purpose device such as a personal computer.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a hardware configuration diagram in an embodiment of the present invention, Figures 2 and 3 are table configuration diagrams of an address conversion table, Figure 4 is the content of the search guide display, and Figure 5 is the processing flow. . DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11... Coordinate input device, 12... Address conversion table, 13... Storage device read-out control part, 14... Display device, 15... Storage device, 41... Main body display part, 4
2...Search ■ 1 Figure! 5 T z Figure (Lily (
Inno Collection 3 Country L 4 Diagram

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In an information retrieval device comprising a coordinate input device, an address conversion table, a storage device read control unit, a display device, and a storage device, schematically guiding position information where information exists An information retrieval method characterized in that a search is made possible by displaying desired data and selecting desired data from the displayed data. 2. An information retrieval method according to claim 1, characterized in that a field in which information exists and a difficulty level are schematically displayed as a guide, and a search is made possible by selecting desired data from the guide. .