JPH08314965A - Document retrieving device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a document retrieving device whereby retrieval system generating time is reduced, a document required by a user is efficiently picked-up and the improvement of retrieval efficience is attained. CONSTITUTION: The document retrieving device is provided with a controller 1 constituted of CPU and a memory, etc., an input device 2 for a user to input a retrieval keyword with a keyboard, a mouse or a pen, etc., and to execute a retrieval operation, a display device 3 for displaying the retrieval keyword inputted by the input device 2, the instruction for the retrieval operation, a retrieval result and the contents of the retrieved document and an external storage device 4 for storing a retrieval object document, etc. Since a retrieval key can be directly indicated from the document in close relation to the document required to be retrieved in a retrieval system input, the retrieval system generating time is reduced. The retrieval system is inputted so as to execute an retrieval and, in result retrieval interruption and re-retrieval by converging the retrieval condition are also executed when concerned case numbers are large so that unnecessary waiting time is reduced.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a document retrieval apparatus for retrieving a document containing a desired word from a large number of registered documents.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a document retrieval system that retrieves all relevant documents from a large number of documents registered in a database according to an entered retrieval formula, when the retrieval formula is input, There are a method in which a user directly inputs a word to be searched, and a method in which a list of words or search expressions used in the past is displayed and a user can select one that can be used to create a search expression.

Regarding search execution, there has been a method in which only the search process or the search process and the display of the corresponding document can be performed until the search is completed, and the progress of the process is displayed. In addition, after performing a search once, it is possible to narrow down the results of the previous search by adding further conditions, but the state before the search could not be returned by a simple operation.

[0004]

As described above, in the conventional search device, the user inputs a search expression by inferring a word that is deeply related to the document that the user wants to search or by selecting an arbitrary document that is deeply related. I had to create a search formula by referring to it.

Further, when a search is performed by inputting a search expression having a large number of relevant documents, the user often spends unnecessary time until the search is completed during the search.
Even if there is a function for interrupting the search, it is difficult to determine whether or not to input the search expression again because the time required to complete the search is unknown.

In addition, if the number of relevant documents becomes smaller than necessary as a result of changing the search expression to narrow it down, the user inputs the search expression before narrowing down again to restore the original state. However, there is also a troublesome problem that the search must be executed by selecting an appropriate search expression from the search expression history.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances. It is possible to solve the above problems, reduce the time required for creating a search expression, efficiently extract the document requested by the user, and improve the search efficiency. It is an object of the present invention to provide a document retrieval device designed.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention cuts out specified character string information and combines search key information with each other by using a specified predetermined logical operator. A document search device characterized by: input means for inputting search key information and the like; search means for searching document information including the search key information; and a search result by the search means and contents of the document information And a display unit for displaying the document.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has an input means for inputting search key information and the like, a search means for searching document information including the search key information, a search result by the search means and the A document search device comprising a display unit for displaying the contents of document information, storing a specified number of cases, comparing the stored number with the corresponding number obtained during the search, and interrupting the search based on the result. The document retrieval apparatus is characterized in that

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention searches the document information containing the search key information, the search interrupting means capable of instructing the search to be interrupted at all times, the inputting means for inputting the search key information and the like. What is claimed is: 1. A document search apparatus, comprising: a search means; and a display means for displaying a search result obtained by the search means and the contents of the document information, which has a method of calculating an expected number of hits at the end of the search. The document retrieval device is characterized by sequentially displaying the number of cases calculated by the method.

Further, in order to achieve the above object, the present invention searches the document information including the search interrupting means for inputting search key information etc., the search interrupting means capable of instructing interrupting the search all the time. A document search device comprising a search means and a display means for displaying a search result by the search means and the contents of the document information, which has a method of calculating an expected time until the end of the search. The document retrieval apparatus is characterized by sequentially displaying the time calculated by the method.

[0012]

According to the above configuration, since the user can directly input the search expression from a document that is closely related to the document to be searched, the search expression creation time can be reduced. Further, as a result of performing a search by inputting a search expression, when the number of hits is large, the search can be interrupted and the search conditions can be narrowed down and the search can be performed again, and unnecessary waiting time for the user can be reduced. Furthermore, the estimated time required to complete the search and the expected number of hits can be known at an early stage, making it easier to judge whether or not the search should be redone.
Search efficiency is improved. Also, as a result of changing the search formula and narrowing it down, if the number of relevant documents becomes less than necessary,
Work efficiency is improved because you can return to the original state without executing the search again.

[0013]

The outline of the present invention is as follows. (1) An automatic search formula creation method characterized by cutting out a character or character string designated by a pointing device and combining search keys using a logical operator specified by the user. (2) The method of (1) above, an input means for inputting a search key and the like, a search means for searching a document including the search key,
A document search device comprising a display unit for displaying a search result and contents of a document. (3) A search method characterized in that during the execution of the search, the search is executed again immediately by the search expression created using the method of (1) above. (4) The method of (3) above, an input means for inputting a search key and the like, a search means for searching a document including the search key,
A document search device comprising a display unit for displaying a search result and contents of a document. (5) An automatic search interruption method characterized by storing the number of cases designated by the user, comparing the stored number of cases with the number of hits obtained during the search, and suspending the search according to the result. (6) The method of (5) above, an input means for inputting a search key and the like, a search means for searching a document including the search key,
A document search device comprising: a display unit for displaying a search result and the content of a document. (7) A method of displaying the expected number of hits, which has a method of calculating the expected number of hits at the end of the search and sequentially displaying the calculated number of hits. (8) The method of (7) above, means for constantly suspending a search, input means for inputting a search key, etc., search means for searching a document including the search key, search results and document contents And a display unit for displaying. (9) Having a method to calculate the estimated time until the end of the search,
An expected end time display method characterized by sequentially displaying calculated times. (10) The method of (9) above, means for constantly suspending the search, input means for inputting a search key, etc.,
A document search device comprising: a search unit that searches for a document including a search key; and a display unit that displays the search result and the content of the document. (11) The above (1), (3), (5), (7), and (9), an input means for inputting a search key, a search means for searching a document including the search key, a search result, A document retrieval device comprising: a display unit for displaying the content of a document.

That is, according to the present invention, in order to efficiently extract a document requested by a user, a reference document is displayed when a search formula is created, and a word in the document is designated by a pointing device to search the formula. A method that can be created, a method that can interrupt the search when the user determines that the search expression entered during the search is inappropriate, and a word in the document displayed during the search. By pointing with a pointing device, you can instantly execute a search by connecting a new key with a logical operator specified by the user in the search expression, and the user must set the value before performing the search. When the number of hits exceeds the value, the search is automatically terminated, the user is notified of that, and the search expression is ready to be entered.
When a search is performed, the time until the search is completed and the number of hits that will finally appear are sequentially shown and shown to the user, so that the user can be informed early or not whether the search formula was appropriate. The present invention has a configuration including a means capable of performing the search and a means capable of easily returning to the original state when the search result is narrowed down and the user obtains an undesired result.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the schematic block diagram of FIG. 1, the device is a control device 1 composed of a CPU and a memory, and a user inputs a search keyword or performs a search operation with a keyboard, a mouse, a pen or the like. Input device 2, a display device 3 for displaying a search keyword input by the input device 2, a search operation instruction, a search result, and the content of a searched document, an external storage device 4 for storing a search target document, and the like. It consists of

As shown in FIG. 2, the control device 1 includes an initialization unit 100, a search key cutout unit 101, an input unit 102,
Search key addition unit 103, search initialization unit 104, search control unit 105, search processing unit 106, applicable document list display unit 10
7, relevant document adding unit 108, search history clearing unit 109,
Search interruption determination unit 110, output unit 111, forced search interruption unit 112, reference history change unit 113, document content display unit 11
4, total hit count prediction unit 115, search end time prediction unit 11
6, etc., a search key storage buffer 150, a search target document number storage buffer 151, a searched document number storage buffer 152, a corresponding document number storage buffer 153, a search interruption condition storage buffer 154, and a search key concatenation operator Storage buffer 155, search expression storage buffer 156, search expression history storage buffer 157, search result storage buffer 158,
It is composed of each buffer unit such as the retrieval use time storage buffer 159.

The initialization unit 100 initializes each buffer. The search key cutout unit 101 stores the search key specified by the user using the input device 2 in the search key storage buffer 1
50 (see FIG. 8).

The input unit 102 controls the input device 2. The search key adding unit 103 includes the search key cutting unit 10
The value of the search key storage buffer 150 cut out by 1 is added to the search expression storage buffer 156 using the value of the search key concatenation logical operator storage buffer 155 (FIG. 17).
reference).

The search initialization unit 104 acquires the number of documents to be searched and stores it in the search target document number storage buffer 151 (see FIG. 9), and the corresponding document number storage buffer 153 and the searched document number storage buffer. 152 and the search use time storage buffer are cleared.

The search control unit 105 includes a search initialization unit 10
4, the search processing unit 106, the search interruption determination unit 110, and the search key addition unit 103 are controlled. The search processing unit 106
Perform a search on part of a document. The relevant document list display unit 107 displays the contents of the search result storage buffer 158 on the display device 3. The applicable document list adding unit 108 adds the applicable document to the applicable document list display and the search result storage buffer. The search history clearing unit 109 clears the search result storage buffer 156 and the search expression history storage buffer 157 (see FIG. 15).

The search interruption determination unit 110 compares the search interruption condition storage buffer 154 with the corresponding document number storage buffer 153, and interrupts the search when the corresponding document number is larger.

The output unit 111 outputs to the display device 3. The forced search suspending unit 112 suspends the search. The reference history changing unit 113 changes the reference positions of the search result storage buffer 158 and the search expression history storage buffer 157, and displays them on the display device 3. The document content display unit 114 reads the content of the document from the external storage device 4 and displays it on the display device 3.

The number-of-corresponding-number predicting unit 115 stores the value of the number-of-searched-documents storage buffer 151 and
The number of hits at the end of the search is predicted by using the value of 53 and the value of the searched document number storage buffer 152 (first expression) and displayed on the display device 3.

The search end time predicting section 116 has a value of the search use time storage buffer 159, a value of the search target document number storage buffer 151, and a searched document number storage buffer 152.
The time until the end of the search is predicted based on the value of (2nd formula) and displayed on the display device 3.

The above is the outline of the present system, FIGS. 3 to 20 are for explaining the operation of the above-mentioned embodiment respectively, and FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6 and FIG. It is a figure which shows the flow of. 8 shows an example of storage in the search key storage buffer 150, FIG. 9 shows an example of storage in the search target document number storage buffer 151, and FIG. 10 shows an example of storage in the retrieved document number storage buffer 152. Figure, Figure 11
Shows a storage example in the relevant document storage buffer 153, FIG. 12 shows a storage example in the search interruption condition storage buffer 154, and FIG. 13 shows a storage example in the search key concatenation logical operator storage buffer 155. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of storage in the search expression storage buffer 156, FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of clearing the search result storage buffer, and FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of storage in the search result storage buffer 158. 17 is a diagram showing an example of adding a search key in the above embodiment, FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a storage example of the retrieval formula history storage buffer 156, FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an arithmetic formula, and FIG. 20 is a screen display example. FIG.

The operation of the above embodiment will be described below with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG. First, each buffer is initialized (step 200). When the end is instructed by the input device 2 (step 201), the process ends.

When a search key is directly input by the input device 2 or a character or character string on the display device is designated (step 202), the search key adding unit 103 is activated,
Performs search key addition processing.

When it is instructed by the input device 2 to refer to an arbitrary sentence (step 203), the document content display unit 114 is activated to display the instructed document content on the display device (step 203). 204) and returns to step 201.

If the search key is not designated, the process proceeds to step 205. When the search key concatenation logical operator is instructed by the input device 2 (step 205)
The designated logical operator is stored in the search key concatenation logical operator storage buffer 155 (step 206), and the process returns to step 201. FIG. 13 shows an example when the logical operator “AND” is instructed. If the key connection logical operator is not designated, the process proceeds to step 207.

When the input device 2 gives an instruction to clear the search result storage buffer 158 (step 20).
7) The search history clearing unit 109 is activated to clear the search result storage buffer 158 and the search expression history storage buffer (step 208). FIG. 16 shows an example of clearing the search result storage buffer 158.

When a search interruption condition is input by the input device 2 (step 114), the input value is stored in the search interruption condition storage buffer 154 (step 21).
5). FIG. 12 shows a storage example when 100 is input as the search interruption condition.

When the reference of the previous history is instructed by the input device 2 (step 216), the reference history changing unit 11
3 is activated, and based on the contents of the search result storage buffer 158 and the search expression history storage buffer 157, the previous search result and the previous search expression are displayed on the display device 3 (step 21).
7).

When the next history reference is instructed (step 218), the next search result and the next search expression are displayed on the display device 3 based on the contents of the search result storage buffer 158 and the search expression history storage buffer 157. Displayed on the screen (step 21)
9).

When the search execution is instructed by the input device 2 (step 220), the search control unit 105 is activated. If the search execution is not instructed, step 201
Return to.

The process flow of the search key adding unit 103 is as follows. If the search key has already been input (step 209), it is determined whether or not a logical operator is described at the end of the search expression storage buffer 156 (step 21).
0), if not described, search expression storage buffer 15
At the end of 6, a search key concatenation logical operator storage buffer 15
5 is added (step 211).

Next, the designated search key is added to the end of the search expression storage buffer 156 (step 212). For example, if the content of the search key storage buffer 150 is “search”,
The content of the search key concatenation operator storage buffer 155 is "A
ND ”, and the content of the search expression storage buffer 156 is“ Pen AN ”.
In the case of "D computer", the content of the search expression after the addition is "pen AND computer AND search" (see FIG. 17).

When the search result is stored in the search result storage buffer 158 (step 213), the search control unit 105 is activated. The processing flow of the search control unit 105 is as follows.

The search initialization unit 104 is activated, and the number of documents to be searched is stored in the search target document number storage buffer 151 (the storage example when the number of search target documents is 200
As shown in the figure), the retrieved document number storage buffer 152, the pertinent document number storage buffer 153, and the retrieval use time storage buffer 159 are cleared (step 221).

Next, the retrieval processing unit 106 is activated to perform retrieval processing on a part of the document (step 222). If there is a document corresponding to the search formula of the search formula storage buffer 156 (step 223), the corresponding document adding unit is activated,
The relevant document is added to the relevant document list and the search result storage buffer 158.

Next, the retrieved document number storage buffer 152
Is incremented, the relevant document number storage buffer 153 is incremented by the relevant number (step 224), and the retrieval use time storage buffer 159 is incremented by the time used for retrieval.

Next, when a document in the relevant document list is selected (step 225), the document content display unit 114 is activated, the document content is read from the external storage device 4 and displayed on the display device 3 (step 226).

When the search key is designated by the input device 2 (step 227), the search key adding section is activated,
Add the instructed search key to the search formula, and step 221
Return to. If the search key is not designated, the process moves to step 231.

When a search interruption is instructed by the input device 2 (step 229), the process proceeds to step 234.
When the search suspension is not instructed, the search suspension determination unit 1
10 is started, and the value of the corresponding document number storage buffer 153 is
If it is larger than the value of the search interruption condition storage buffer 154 (step 230), the search is interrupted and the process proceeds to step 234.

Next, the corresponding document number prediction unit 115 is activated,
The value of the search target document number storage buffer 151, the value of the relevant document number storage buffer 153, and the value of the retrieved document number storage buffer 152 are used to predict the relevant number at the end of the search (Formula 1), and the display device Display in 3 (step 23)
1).

Next, the search end time predicting section 116 is activated, and based on the value of the search use time storage buffer 159, the value of the search target document number storage buffer 151, and the value of the searched document number storage buffer 152. The time until the end of the search is predicted (second formula) and displayed on the display device 3 (step 23).
1).

If all the search target documents have not been searched (step 232), the process returns to step 222. When the search is completed, the search result delimiter code is added to the search result storage buffer 158 (step 233). Then, the process returns to step 201.

[0047]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, since the user can directly input a search key from a document closely related to a document to be searched, the time for creating the search formula can be reduced. In addition, when the number of hits is large as a result of entering the search formula and performing the search, the search can be interrupted and the search can be re-searched by narrowing down the search conditions at all times, reducing unnecessary waiting time for the user. Since it is possible to know the predicted time required to complete the search and the predicted number of hits at an early stage, it becomes easier to judge whether or not the search should be redone and the search efficiency is improved. In addition, when the number of relevant documents becomes smaller than necessary as a result of changing the search formula and narrowing it down, it is possible to restore the original state without executing the search again, thus improving the work efficiency. Therefore, according to the present invention, the search efficiency of the user can be significantly improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control unit according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a flow of search processing according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a flow of a search process according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a flow of search processing according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a flow of search processing according to the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the flow of a search process according to the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of storage in a search key storage buffer according to the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of storage in a search target document number storage buffer according to the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of storage in a retrieved document number storage buffer according to the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of storage in a corresponding document storage buffer according to the embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of storage in a search interruption condition storage buffer according to the embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of storage in a search key concatenation logical operator storage buffer according to the embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of storage in a search expression storage buffer according to the embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a view showing an example of clearing the search result storage buffer according to the embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of storage in a search result storage buffer according to the embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example of adding a search key according to the embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a storage example of a search expression history storage buffer according to the embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an arithmetic expression according to the embodiment.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing a screen display example according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Control device, 2 ... Input device, 3 ... Display device, 4 ... External storage device, 100 ... Initialization part, 101 ... Search key cutout part, 102 ... Input part, 103 ... Search key addition part, 10
4 ... Search initialization unit, 105 ... Search control unit, 106 ... Search processing unit, 107 ... Applicable document list display unit, 108 ... Applicable document addition unit, 109 ... Search history clearing unit, 110 ... Search interruption determination unit, 111 ... Output unit, 112 ... Search forced interruption unit,
113 ... Reference history change section, 114 ... Document content display section, 1
15 ... Applicable number prediction unit, 116 ... Search end time prediction unit,
150 ... Search key storage buffer, 151 ... Search target document number storage buffer, 152 ... Searched document number storage buffer, 153 ... Applicable document number storage buffer, 154 ... Search interruption condition storage buffer, 155 ... Search key concatenation operator storage Buffer, 156 ... Search expression storage buffer, 157 ... Search expression history storage buffer, 158 ... Search result storage buffer, 159 ... Search used time storage buffer.

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Kenichi Nogami 1381 Shinmachi, Ome-shi, Tokyo Within Toshiba Computer Engineering Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Isamu Iwai 2-9 Suehiro-cho, Ome-shi, Tokyo Ome Toshiba Corporation in the factory

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A document search device, characterized in that specified character string information is cut out, and search key information is combined with each other by using a specified predetermined logical operator. Document search characterized by comprising: an input unit for inputting a search result, a search unit for searching document information including the search key information, and a display unit for displaying a search result by the search unit and contents of the document information. apparatus. 2. Input means for inputting search key information and the like,
A document search device comprising a search means for searching document information including the search key information, and a display means for displaying a search result by the search means and contents of the document information, storing a specified number of cases, A document search device characterized by comparing the stored number of cases with a corresponding number of cases obtained during a search and suspending the search according to the result. 3. A search interruption means capable of instructing interruption of a search at all times, an input means for inputting search key information and the like, a search means for searching document information including the search key information, and a search result by the search means. And a display unit for displaying the content of the document information, which has a method of calculating the expected number of hits at the end of the search, and sequentially calculates the number of hits calculated by the method. A document retrieval device characterized by displaying. 4. A search interruption means capable of always instructing interruption of a search, an input means for inputting search key information and the like, a search means for searching document information including the search key information, and a search result by the search means. And a display unit for displaying the contents of the document information, which has a method of calculating an estimated time until the end of the search, and the time calculated by the method is sequentially calculated. A document retrieval device characterized by displaying.