KR20010086808A - Method and apparatus for realtime information search - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method and apparatus for retrieving information in real time is provided so that a user can select one among many information providers. CONSTITUTION: A CPU(102) in a management server(100) is connected to a network. A RAM(104) and a ROM(10) is connected with the CPU(102). The management server is provided with an OS(Operating System)(107) and a debate space operating program(108). A data storage unit(110) stores various databases, such as a user DB(114), an information provider DB(116), a debate room DB(118), etc., and necessary webpages(112). The user DB(114) stores the names, IDs, passwords, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers of users, the addresses and names of selected news provision servers, and so forth. The information provider DB(116) stores the names, IDs, e-mail addresses and contact information of information providers and the URLs of information provider servers. The debate room DB(118) stores a debate space initiator's ID, subject news items, the IDs of the information providers who provide the subject news items, and the webpage addresses of opinion information posted in debate rooms.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REALTIME INFORMATION SEARCH}

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for retrieving real-time information, wherein a client computer runs an information retrieval program and retrieves and provides basic information on unit information such as news through the Internet from a preset information providing server connected to the Internet. A method and apparatus are disclosed.

There are a number of computer programs and information providing services that find information in real time on the Internet. For example, NetZ, soft messenger, Internet friend, etc. However, there are a limited number of information providers in these programs and information services. Newspaper articles are mainly provided as a way of providing a service, and the one-sided method of showing only the news of a newspaper company (or the location of the newspaper article) that can be supported by the service provider. In addition, only some of the plurality of information providers may not be specified in the program.

Therefore, while being able to receive information from a plurality of information providers, it should be possible to select only the information providers that are suitable for them. In addition, when receiving information from the information provider selected by the user, brief information (ie, basic information such as URL location information or title) about information limited to a topic desired by the user should be provided.

On the other hand, in the existing system, information only flows in one direction. However, a bidirectional flow of information is required. Furthermore, multi-directional flow of information is needed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention in consideration of the problems of the prior art is to provide an information retrieval method and apparatus in which a procedure is configured so that a user can set an information provider among a plurality of information providers.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an information retrieval method and apparatus configured to open a discussion space and to be able to discuss information retrieved therein.

1 is a block diagram of a real-time information retrieval system according to an embodiment of the present invention

2 is a configuration diagram of a service server in the system of FIG.

3 is a configuration diagram of an information providing server in the system of FIG.

4 is a configuration diagram of a client computer in the system of FIG.

5 is a flow chart for performing basic information retrieval

6 is a discussion space operation processing diagram

* Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings

10: information retrieval system 100: management server

200: information server 300: client computer

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is run on a client computer connected to the management server and the information providing server and the Internet, an information retrieval method for receiving the basic information of the unit information provided to the user from the information providing server and display it As

Receiving and setting information about an information providing server desired by a user from the management server;

Requesting basic information on the unit information from the set information providing server;

Receiving the basic information;

Displaying the basic information

Provided is an information retrieval method comprising:

According to another aspect of the present invention, a server running on a client computer connected to the management server and the information providing server through the Internet, as an information retrieval program for receiving and displaying the basic information of the unit information provided to the user from the information providing server

Receiving and setting information about an information providing server desired by a user from the management server;

Requesting basic information on the unit information from the set information providing server;

Receiving the basic information;

Displaying the basic information

A computer readable recording medium having a computer program recorded thereon is provided.

Briefly describing the information providing flow according to the present invention, information desired by a user (hereinafter referred to as providing information) is stored in a server of an information provider. The user runs a real-time automatic information retrieval program on the client computer and selects only the desired information provider. The program automatically retrieves basic information of the type of unit information (user's location information (URL), title, headline, etc.) of the unit information that the user wants to obtain from the information provider's server set at a fixed time. Display. When the user clicks on the area of the unit information that he / she wants to see in detail by viewing the brief information of the plurality of displayed information displayed, the browser is automatically activated and the web page of the provided information is displayed on the client computer. At this time, when the discussion space establishment area (or icon) of the displayed unit information is pressed, a discussion space may be opened in the management server.

In the present specification, the information that can be finally received by the user (that is, the information containing the content actually requested by the user) is referred to as "unit information" or "provided information". For example, in breaking news, each news article forms its own unit information. The URL address where this unit information is located or the short information of this unit information (for example, the headline of a news article) is called "basic information" corresponding to the unit information.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the following embodiment, the breaking news information is described as "unit information" provided by the information provider. However, the present invention is not limited to this.

<Configuration of the system>

1, there is shown a real-time information providing system 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The management server 100, the plurality of client computers 200, and the plurality of information providing servers 300 are connected through the Internet 12.

Referring to Figure 2, the configuration of the management server 100 is shown. The CPU 102 of the management server 100 is connected to the network. The CPU 102 is connected with a RAM 104 and a ROM 106. The management server 100 is provided with an operating system (OS) 107 and a discussion space operating program 108. The data storage device 110 stores various databases and necessary web pages 112. The stored database may be a user database 114. The user database is information about a person who installs and uses the search program of the present invention on his client computer. The user database stores the user name, user ID, password, email address, contact information such as address or phone number, the address of the selected news server and its name, and the user's interest forecast. Data about the user is also stored. In a user database, it is desirable to have a file created for each user.

The information provider database 116 includes the information provider name (for example, Seoul Newspaper, Hankyoreh Newspaper, etc.), the information provider's ID, password, and the address (URL) of the information provider server. You can get brief information such as web page address containing breaking news information and the title of each news information, which may be the address of the database described below), information provider's e-mail address, address or phone number. Contact information, etc. of the information provider, the nature of the information provider, the measured information providing ability, etc. are stored, and contracts to cope with legal problems in the future (eg, legal issues due to the provision of pornographic information) Related information may also be stored. On the other hand, the credibility of the news provider is rated by the administrator of the management server and this information is also stored. In the information provider database, it is desirable to have a file generated for each information provider.

The discussion space database 118 is a database for discussion spaces that are frequently created. This database stores the ID of the user who established the discussion space, the news article that is the subject, the information provider ID that provided the news article, and the web page address of the opinion information posted in the discussion space. In addition, technical and relevant information for building a discussion system is also stored. Real-time generation of the discussion system, long-term backup information, and information about the relationship between the discussion spaces are also stored.

Web pages include web pages for work such as member management and the like, web pages of opinion information when the management server 100 enters.

Referring to Figure 3, the configuration of the information providing server 200 is shown. The CPU 202 of the information providing server 200 is connected to the network. The RAM 204 and the ROM 206 are connected to the CPU 202. The information providing server 200 is provided with an operating system (OS) 207. The data storage device 210 stores the basic information database 214 of the provided information and the necessary web page 212. The basic information database stores information provided to the client computer by the search program of the present invention. In the basic information database (in the embodiment described, the basic information about the news information is stored), a web page address (URL) containing a news headline, a time of generating news information, and contents of the news (ie, providing information) is stored. do. That is, the basic information database stores the location of each unit information and the brief information of the unit information. The web page 212 contains news information (unit information).

4, a configuration of a client computer 300 is shown. The CPU 302 of the client computer 300 is connected by network. The RAM 304 and the ROM 306 are connected to the CPU 302. The management server 300 is provided with an operating system (OS) 307 and an information retrieval program 308. The data storage device 310 stores data necessary for news searching. First, management server data 312 (that is, URL of a management server) for managing various kinds of information is stored. The information provider data 314 includes the URL address of the information provider's server selected by the user. The search term data 316 is for retrieving the information transmitted from the information provider server so that only the information desired by the user is displayed and the search term set by the user is stored. Data for other program settings is saved.

The user installs the information retrieval program 308 on the client computer 300 according to the procedure described below, and the silver information retrieval program 308 operates the client computer 300 to obtain information.

Referring to Fig. 4, first, a user obtains an information retrieval program. It can access the management server's address and download it from the address connected to the management server's web page. Alternatively, it may be provided on a floppy disk or CD-ROM. The user installs this program on the client computer. After installing on the client computer, start the program (run it). The program is, for example, preferably present in a window that is always active for the user to see at any time.

<Operation Flow of Information Retrieval Program>

1. Member Registration

Register the membership by running the program for the first time. When the program is executed, if membership is not registered, start a web browser (for example, Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator) and request a web page from the management server's member registration web page address. When the web page appears in the web browser of the client computer, the user enters his or her information and completes the registration as a member. The management server then opens the account and creates a user data file. In addition, it saves the initial environment of the news feed program to the client computer. This allows the user to use the program.

2. Preferences (select an information provider)

In the information providing program of the present invention, an information provider for providing news information can be determined. That is, by setting, the user changes his or her environment by obtaining information on the information providing server registered as the information provider and information on how to obtain the information from the management server. In setting the environment, the program displays information (name and URL address of the information provider) of the information provider currently registered on the user's screen. Here, the user can delete the information about the information provider. In addition, if you want to add to the management server requests information about the information provider. If this is requested, the program launches a web browser on the client computer and delivers a web page listing information about the CONTENTS PROVIDER (CP). From there, the user decides on a contributor, which sends information about the contributor (name and URL address) to the client computer, how to get basic information from the contributor's address, which is stored in storage and the information. The search program uses this.

The user may also set a search word. When setting a search term When receiving breaking news, the program searches for the search term from the brief information of the news (mostly the headline of the news). The program is operated to display only the basic information of the news corresponding to the search word on the client computer. If you do not set the query, you will receive all news information (breaking news).

In the environment setting, it is possible to set the time interval to go to the information providing server to receive the basic information.

3. Information retrieval

In the set state, the program retrieves basic information from the information provider at each set time. Information provider name and URL address provided by the management server, the URL address, and the method of obtaining information from the information provider. (The method of obtaining such information is determined by the administrator of the management server. For example, a program may be configured to obtain information according to a form set by an administrator when the program is run, for example, a provider may create a separate directory, create a directory by date at the bottom, and place information there. The information retrieval program can access the information provider automatically by using the commercial or emergency Internet bulletin board supported by the management server. Get the location and summary information of the information (the location and summary information of the information is called basic information) Come on.

Among the plurality of basic information thus obtained, simple information is always displayed alternately. If you click a certain area of the active window displayed by the program, you can see the list of unit information currently downloaded. On the other hand, it may be displayed whether a discussion space is set for each unit information (to be described later). When you select the information you want from the list, the IR program launches the web browser and the web page at the URL is displayed in the web browser so that the user can read the details.

<Operation of Discussion Space>

The discussion space is intended to induce new information. A user can open a discussion space about the information if the user does not end up with only passive choices about the information obtained from the information provider and has an opinion or other idea. This is dynamically generated and deleted by the management server dynamically when no further discussions take place. The discussion space is managed on the management server. This discussion space itself is another information provider. Therefore, the contents posted by the users in the discussion space are delivered to the user through the information search program. Thus, the person who is the subject of the discussion space can check in real time that the article is posted in the discussion space.

Referring specifically to FIG. 6 for the sake of clarity, first, a general user who has viewed the news information (502) wishes to argue (504) or request a detailed description of the information that the general user obtains from the information provider. This allows the information retrieval program at the client computer to pass 506 the ID and URL of the information to the server. At this time, the management server opens a discussion space based on the information raised by the general user (508). When the discussion space is opened, the fact is notified to the user who requested to open the discussion space and a specific information provider (the provider's URL) that is the source of the information (510). The user receives the fact that the discussion space is created from the management server (512). On the other hand, the information provider may also receive the opening of the discussion space (514). In this "discussion space", a number of unit informations are created by continuing to provide dissent or support for a single piece of information. The "discussion space" having such characteristics also becomes one information provider, and the management server is registered as an information provider based on the information (name of the discussion space, URL address) of the discussion site (516). The information provider at this time is not an individual, but everyone who participates in the discussion space becomes the main information provider. In such a system, when the user selects the discussion space as the information provider, the information coming and going from the discussion space becomes information. That is, the information about the registered article is provided to each user when the forum URL address is registered as an information provider at the time of registering the information retrieval program setting on the client computer (518). Other users will be able to read in and out of this discussion space, and naturally join the discussion space. When you want to participate in the discussion space and write, click on a certain area (icon) presented in the information search program on the client computer. The web browser is launched and the web browser displays the web page of the discussion space. Is passed on. The management server sends a web page to the discussion space where users can post.

In this form, when the unidirectional information flow is not the correct information or when the information is of a narrow nature, the information can be directed in the right direction and deeper contents can be obtained. As a result, the bidirectional flow of information called "discussion space" can create a sharing of relevant information among many people.

On the other hand, when receiving the basic information of the information by using the information search program of the user client computer, it may be set to determine whether a discussion space is created for each unit information. This can be done by informing the opening of the discussion space from the management server to the information providing server (514), the information provider includes whether or not to open the discussion space in the basic information of the unit information and send it to the user. On the other hand, after receiving all the basic information of the unit information to the client computer information retrieval program, the information retrieval program of the client computer connects to the management server and checks whether the discussion space is opened and delivers it to the client computer to determine whether the user opens the discussion space. You can also check

The discussion system is created in real time and backups are maintained over the long term. In addition, information on the relationship between the discussion spaces is provided.

Other functions provided by the information retrieval program and management server are as follows.

1. Automatic upgrade function

The information retrieval program according to the present invention should provide a new information retrieval method to obtain information from the homepage of the existing information provider in order to meet the needs of users various information, due to the addition of various various functions Program upgrade is required. However, because of the programs that change frequently, it is very cumbersome for users to always download and install the installed program. To solve this problem, the information retrieval program of the client computer itself has the information provided by the server and only the necessary files are downloaded from the management server and executed according to the upgrade status.

The IR program has several unit programs. The first unit program (also called a driven program) checks whether the second unit program (also called a driven program) that actually performs a search is the latest version, and if it is the latest version, it finishes its execution. If the latest version exists, upgrade information is obtained from the management server, and only the files necessary for the upgrade are downloaded from the management server to upgrade the running program. When the upgrade is completed, the driven program finishes execution and executes the driven program.

2. Sectioned information provider function (function of management server)

As can be seen from the schematic diagram of the system of FIG. 1, a management server is located between an information provider and a general user. The information provider registers with the server that he is the information provider and uploads the information he wants to post in the form given. The user selects the desired information provider from among the registered information providers in the server to create his environment. However, since it is the ID (name) of the information provider that can distinguish the information providers, the user has many difficulties in selecting the information provider. It is also difficult to know which information is posted by which provider. In order to solve this problem, the management server continuously monitors the information of the specialized information provider and classifies each field. For example, it is a function that helps users to select information providers by classifying them according to the nature of information of the information providers in fields such as art, politics, and science.

3. Control client computers on the server

An information retrieval program that is a client program is not an independent program alone. In order for this program to work, you need to get the necessary information from the server. By extending these functions, the server not only provides upgrade information to clients but also downloads and executes necessary parts from the server. And because such a channel exists, it can be used for information messages or other purposes that the server wants to convey to each user.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the above embodiments, the present invention is not limited thereto. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that modifications, changes, and the like may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, and such modifications and changes also belong to the present invention.

According to the above configuration of the present invention, in the information retrieval system, a management server can manage information on a plurality of information providers CP. Therefore, the information provider is not limited. On the other hand, the user can select only the desired information provider. In some cases, a search word may be set to display only basic information about unit information requested by a user. That is, only information required by the user can be delivered. This can of course be done in real time. If the user sets a time, the user can receive basic information at a preset time. On the other hand, since anyone can freely open a discussion space dynamically, information can flow in both directions. This discussion space can also be a provider of information so that the user can see the content of the discussion in real time.

Claims (3)

An information retrieval method for receiving and displaying basic information of unit information provided to a user from an information providing server, which is run on a management computer and a client computer connected to the information providing server and the Internet. Receiving and setting information about an information providing server desired by a user from the management server; Requesting basic information on the unit information from the set information providing server; Receiving the basic information; Displaying the basic information The information retrieval method characterized by the above-mentioned. An information retrieval program for receiving and displaying basic information of unit information provided to a user from an information providing server, which is run on a management computer and a client computer connected to the information providing server and the Internet. Receiving and setting information about an information providing server desired by a user from the management server; Requesting basic information on the unit information from the set information providing server; Receiving the basic information; Displaying the basic information And a computer-readable recording medium having a computer program recorded thereon. Processor, A computer, coupled to the processor, having a contact information database and a storage device storing a program for operating the processor. The program It is operated on the client computer connected to the management server and the information providing server through the Internet to receive and display the basic information of the unit information provided to the user from the information providing server. Receiving and setting information about an information providing server desired by a user from the management server; Requesting basic information on the unit information from the set information providing server; Receiving the basic information; Displaying the basic information A computer comprising: