JP2005327172A - Object retrieval device (reconfiguration of retrieval expression) - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an efficient means in order to retrieve a target object from large quantities of objects, and also to provide a means for easily performing retrieval again. <P>SOLUTION: An object retrieval device comprises: a means for extracting attributes from a plurality of objects (character strings, images, sounds, attributes, etc.); and a means for selecting the extracted attributes to retrieve an object again, and retrieves attributes and narrows down a range of objects. When a target object cannot be obtained after the range of objects is narrowed down, a retrieval expression is automatically changed to perform retrieval again. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a user interface for searching for classified objects in an apparatus that holds a plurality of objects (data).

Conventionally, in order to extract a target object from many objects, a search expression or a search key is configured, and a target object is searched for by searching for a plurality of objects through the database based on the search expression. Has been working.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 01-259454

  However, in order to find a target object from a large number of objects, an accurate search expression must be input.

  For example, if the search expression covers a very wide area, the number of objects extracted by the search is large, and even if the target object is included in the extracted objects, it is not possible to specify it On the other hand, when a search is performed with a search formula that is too narrow, the number of extracted objects may be small, but the target object may not be included in the extracted objects.

  In the former case, a method of performing a refined search based on a new search expression for only the extracted objects has been put into practical use. In the latter case, a search is performed by entering a new search expression for all objects. Therefore, the operation is complicated and there is no guarantee that the target object can be extracted.

  In view of the above problems, the present invention proposes a method for easily generating a search expression, performing a search once, and then performing a re-search easily.

  In order to solve the above problems, an object search device according to the present invention is an electronic device capable of accumulating a plurality of types of data having various link information and attribute information and performing a refined search by inputting data as a keyword. The device has a means to select any of a plurality of accumulated objects, extracts attribute information from the selected objects, and counts the number of objects that have each attribute in common It has the means to do.

  In the object search device of the present invention, one or more of the above object types are attributes themselves.

  In addition, the object search device of the present invention is characterized in that it has means for extracting only the object to which the attribute is automatically added or only the object to which the attribute is added manually.

  Further, the object search device of the present invention extracts attribute information from a plurality of selected objects, and displays the number of objects having the attribute together with the attribute from the result of counting the number of objects having each attribute in common. It has the means.

  In addition, the object search apparatus of the present invention includes means for rearranging and displaying attributes in descending order of the number of objects having the attribute from the result of counting the number of objects having each attribute in common. .

  In addition, the object search device of the present invention is characterized by having means for collectively displaying each attribute type when displaying the attribute.

  The object search device of the present invention is characterized in that the attribute type is date or time.

  The object search device of the present invention is characterized in that the attribute type is location.

  The object search device of the present invention is characterized by having means for separately displaying automatically added objects and manually added objects.

  In addition, the object search device of the present invention has means for the user to select a plurality of attributes for the displayed attributes, and connects the selected attributes with a logical operation expression to obtain the search expression. It has the means to produce | generate, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.

  Also, the object search device of the present invention extracts all attribute information of the search result by inputting a keyword in an electronic device capable of performing a narrow search by inputting the keyword of the object, and has each attribute in common It has a means which totals the number of objects of a search result.

  In addition, the object search device of the present invention is characterized by having means for displaying a plurality of extracted attributes together with the number of search result objects belonging to the attribute.

  In addition, the object search device of the present invention is characterized by having means for displaying a plurality of extracted attributes together with the number of search result objects belonging to the attribute.

  In addition, the object search device of the present invention includes means for rearranging the plurality of extracted attributes in descending order of the number of search result objects belonging to the attribute.

  Furthermore, the object search device of the present invention has means for the user to select a plurality of attributes for the displayed attributes, and connects the selected attributes with a logical operation expression to obtain the search expression. It has the means to produce | generate, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.

  As described above, according to claims 1 and 2 of the present invention, an attribute can be handled as one of objects, and attributes of an object can be extracted from a plurality of objects and combined.

  Further, according to claim 3 of the present invention, it is possible to search and display separately the attribute input manually for search and the attribute input automatically.

  According to the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth aspects of the present invention, the extracted attributes can be classified and displayed so that the user can easily see them.

  According to claim 10 of the present invention, an object search expression can be easily configured based on automatically aggregated attribute information.

  According to claim 11 of the present invention, the range of date information held by the selected object can be aggregated and used.

  Further, according to claims 12 and 13 of the present invention, once a search expression is input and searched, and when there is no target object among the narrowed candidates, one related keyword is extracted and newly searched. Related search expressions can be generated.

  Further, according to claims 14 and 15 of the present invention, once a search expression is entered and searched, if there is no target object among the narrowed candidates, a related keyword is extracted and already narrowed down Among the candidates, the attributes can be displayed in descending order of commonality.

  Furthermore, according to claim 16 of the present invention, when a target object is not found in the narrowed-down candidates by inputting a search formula once, any attribute from the attributes displayed in descending order of commonality is selected. An attribute can be selected and a new related search expression can be created as a related keyword.

(First embodiment)
Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of an object search device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 1 is a hardware block diagram of an object search apparatus according to the present invention.

  The object search device is configured by a device similar to a general computer. That is, the CPU 11 that controls the entire operation, the readable / writable memory (RAM) 12, the read-only memory (ROM) 13, the input device 14 such as a keyboard or mouse (Input Method) 14, the display device (Display) 15, and the clock A real-time clock (RTC) 16 to be supplied, an external memory (Ext. Memory) 17 for storing objects, and a bus 18 for transmitting information between the respective devices.

  The program for the object search device of the present invention is also stored in the ROM 13.

  In the object search apparatus of the present invention, various objects can be handled. In this embodiment, in addition to this, attribute information automatically added to each object by the system, such as the update time of the object. It is assumed that the attribute information arbitrarily added by the user can be handled.

  In the object search apparatus of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2, the initial screen displays the registered objects as thumbnails or icons (23), and displays a screen for directly inputting a search expression or inputting attributes. And a button 22 for searching the attribute itself.

  Since it is common to directly input a search expression or input an attribute to search for an object, the description in this embodiment is omitted.

  In the present embodiment, a method for searching for an attribute itself and narrowing down objects from the attribute will be described.

  FIGS. 3 and 4 respectively show the configuration and operation flow of the object search apparatus of this embodiment.

  First, with all the objects displayed (steps s31 and s401), a plurality of objects having contents relatively close to the target object are selected from the screen of FIG. 2 (steps s32 and s402). The selected object is highlighted (24).

  Next, the button 22 is pressed, and attribute search is performed by the attribute search means in step s33. The attribute search means s33 extracts all the attributes registered in the plurality of selected objects in step s403, and the number of the selected objects having attributes for each attribute extracted in step s403 in step s404. Count. At the same time, the latest update date and time of all the target objects selected in step s402 are extracted, and the most recent date and latest date are detected.

  Next, in the attribute sorting means (step s34), for the update time and attribute totaled in step s404, the oldest update date and the latest update date and time are displayed as the date and time range of the object, and at the same time an object with that attribute The attribute list is rearranged in descending order (step s405), and the attribute count result display means s35 displays the attributes in the order rearranged in step s405 (step s406).

  A displayed example is shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 5, the update date / time range 51 extracted from the selected object and the sorted attribute list are displayed in order with the check box 53 and the number of selected objects belonging to the attribute (52). Further, a button 54 for exiting the screen of FIG. 5 and returning to all object display screens as shown in FIG. 2 and a button 55 for searching for an object based on the attribute count result are displayed.

  If the attributes from the selected object are listed, the operations up to here may be completed (step s407).

  When the object search is further performed based on the attribute search results so far, the process proceeds to step s408.

  In FIG. 5, the user performs an operation on the date and time and attributes that are the keys of the object to be searched. The date / time range is set by operating the choice 56, and in the attribute, the check box 53 for the attribute to be used as a key of the search expression is checked. In the present embodiment, the search expression generation means s36 generates a search expression for each attribute checked with the date and time by using an AND operation expression (step s409).

For example, as shown in FIG. 5, when the date and time is September 24, 1999 to September 24, 2001, and the attributes "Shoot by yourself" and "Sent by email" are selected, the search formula is
(Date and time (September 24, 1999 to September 24, 2001)) AND (Shoot by yourself) AND (Sent by email)
It becomes.

  Using the search formula, the object search means s37 searches for an object that matches the search formula from all objects (s410). The object extracted by the object display means s31 is displayed as shown in FIG. 6 (s411).

  If the target object is found, the process ends (s412). If the target object cannot be searched, the process returns to step s408, and a search expression is formed again to search for the object again.

  In the present embodiment, in step s409, the search formula is configured by AND logic for the date and time and all selected attributes, but the search formula may be configured by OR instead of AND.

  Alternatively, in each item, AND and OR may be selected.

  In addition, a configuration in which “include” or “not include” the date and time may be selected in the search expression may be used.

  In addition, when searching for an attribute or searching for an object, it is possible to clearly select whether the added attribute is automatically assigned or manually assigned. May be.

  Furthermore, in step s404, when the target objects belonging to the attribute are aggregated, the date / time range is separately aggregated. However, not only the date / time but also the attribute with the attribute type such as the location is aggregated individually, and the attribute is As shown in FIG. 7, the date and place may be displayed together as separate items.

  As described above, in the object search apparatus, instead of directly inputting a search expression, an object similar to the target object can be selected and the attribute can be extracted to search the attribute itself. A search expression can be easily constructed based on this attribute, which helps to extract a target object.

  In some cases, it is possible to create a search expression that the user does not think about, which may lead to the discovery of an unexpected object.

(Second embodiment)
A preferred embodiment of the object search apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

  The hardware configuration of this embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment.

  FIG. 8 shows a screen for performing a search by the object search device according to the present embodiment.

  In the area surrounded by the broken line 81, the range of time that the target object is considered to be updated is described, and in the area surrounded by the broken line 82, the attribute that the target object is supposed to belong is described.

  In the area of the broken line 82, all the attributes handled by the object search device may be displayed and selected.

As shown in FIG. 8, when the time of September 24, 1999 to September 24, 2001 is selected as the attribute and “Hawaii trip” is selected as the attribute, the search expression is composed of AND logic operations,
(September 24, 1999-September 24, 2001) AND (Hawaii Travel)
It becomes.

  When the search execution button 83 is pressed here, extraction from all objects stored in the object search device is performed using the above search formula.

  When the search is completed, the search result is output as shown in FIG. Obj1, Obb2, ... are all icons that are extracted by searching.

  When the search refinement button 31 is pressed in this state, a search screen as shown in FIG. 8 is displayed, and a further refinement search is performed from the extracted objects.

  When the re-search button 92 is pressed in the state of FIG. 9, a search screen as shown in FIG. 8 is displayed, and the search conditions that have reached the display of FIG. 9 are discarded and input for performing the search again is performed.

When the related search button 93 is pressed in the state of FIG. 9, the following is performed.
a. Extract all attributes from all extracted objects.
b. Factor the number of extracted objects with each attribute.
c. Extract the attribute with the largest number of extracted objects (hereinafter the attribute with the highest degree of commonality).
d. Search for all objects stored in the object search device using the attribute with the highest degree of commonness as a search expression.

  FIG. 10 shows a block diagram of the configuration of the object search apparatus of the present invention that performs the above operation, and FIG. 11 shows a flowchart thereof.

  First, the user inputs a search formula in the search formula input means s101 (step s111), the search means s102 searches from all objects stored in the object search device (step s112), and the search result display means s103 searches the search results. Is displayed (step s113).

  If the target object can be found in step s114, the process ends.

  If not, the common attribute extraction unit s104 extracts all attributes from the object extracted in step s112, and extracts the attribute to which the most of the objects extracted in step s112 belong (the attribute with the highest commonality). (S114). Further, a search expression is generated from the attribute having the highest degree of commonality, and the search is performed again by the search means s42 (s112).

  As described above, in the object search device, when the target object could not be extracted due to over-restricted search, the range was easily expanded by automatically generating and searching related search expressions. A search can be performed, which helps to extract the target object.

  In some cases, it is possible to create a search expression that the user does not think about, which may lead to the discovery of an unexpected object.

(Third embodiment)
Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the object search apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  The hardware configuration of this embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment.

  FIG. 12 shows the flow of this embodiment.

  First, in step s121, a search expression is input by a user's operation. Based on the search expression, a stored object is narrowed down in step s122, and the result is displayed in step s123.

  The display screen is as shown in FIG. 10, as in the first embodiment.

  If the target object can be found in the search result in step s124, the process ends.

  Up to this point, the flow from when the user inputs a search expression to an object stored in the object search device of the present invention until the search result is displayed is the same as in the first embodiment.

  Next, if the target object is not included in step s124, a refinement search is performed by pressing the refinement search button 91, a new search is resumed by pressing the re-search button 92, or an associated search button By pressing 93, the target object is searched again.

  The behavior when the re-search button 91 and the narrow search button 92 are pressed is as described in the first embodiment.

  When the related search button 93 is pressed, first, in step s124, all attributes are extracted from the search result objects, and the number of search result objects having the respective attributes is counted.

  Next, in step s125, the attributes are rearranged in the descending order of the number of objects counted in step s124 and displayed as shown in FIG. 13 (step s126).

  The area 131 in FIG. 13 displays the search conditions performed in step s122, and the area 132 displays the attributes rearranged in step s124 together with the number of objects having the attributes.

  In addition, a check box 133 is provided for each displayed attribute. By checking this check box, a key for generating a search expression for the next search is used.

  FIG. 13 shows a state in which “photographed by myself” and “sent by e-mail” are checked.

  When the search execution button 74 is pressed in this state, the attributes checked in step s127 are combined with OR, and the time range displayed in the area 71 is ANDed.

That is, the search expression is
(September 24, 1999-September 24, 2001) AND ((photographed by myself) OR (sent by e-mail))
It becomes.

  A search is performed in step s132 using the above search formula, and the search result is displayed in step s133.

  As described above, compared to the second embodiment, the search expression can be selected by the user, and a plurality of attributes can be selected, so that a wider search system can be achieved.

It is a figure showing the apparatus structure for incorporating the object search device of this invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an initial screen for performing a search according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a screen displaying a result of attribute extraction according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a screen displaying a result of object search according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the operation of the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In the display of attribute extraction results according to the first embodiment of the present invention, an example is shown in which attributes of types related to places are displayed together. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an initial screen for performing a search according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10 is a view showing a screen displaying a result of a search according to a second example of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the operation of the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of the third exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a screen for selecting an attribute for generating a search expression for performing a related search according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

11 CPU
12 RAM
13 ROM
14 Input device
15 display
16 Real time clock
17 External memory
18 Bus
23 Object icons, thumbnails
24 Highlight indicating that an object was selected
31 Search date and time
32 extracted attributes
81 Area for defining the update time for a search expression for performing a search
82 Area for defining attribute values for search expressions for searching
84 Search button
93 Related Search Button

Claims (16)

Accumulate multiple types of objects (data) with various link information and attribute information,
In an electronic device that can search for objects by entering a keyword,
A means for selecting any of a plurality of accumulated objects;
Extract attribute information from multiple selected objects,
An object search apparatus comprising means for counting the number of objects having common attributes. In the object search device according to claim 1,
One or more of the above object types are attributes themselves. In the object search device according to claim 2, and an object search device capable of adding an attribute automatically or manually,
An object search apparatus comprising means for extracting only an object to which an attribute is automatically added or only an object to which a manual addition is added. In the object search device according to claim 3,
Extract attribute information from multiple selected objects,
From the result of counting the number of objects that have each attribute in common,
An object search apparatus comprising means for displaying the number of objects having the attribute together with the attribute. In the object search device according to claim 4,
An object search apparatus comprising means for rearranging and displaying attributes in descending order of the number of objects having the attribute from the result of counting the number of objects having each attribute in common. In the object search device according to claim 5,
An object search device characterized by having means for collectively displaying each attribute type when displaying the attribute. The object search device according to claim 6,
An object search device characterized in that the attribute type is date or time. The object search device according to claim 6,
An object search device characterized in that the attribute type is location. The object search device according to claim 6,
An object search apparatus comprising means for separately displaying an automatically added object and an manually added object. In the object search device according to claim 5,
For the plurality of displayed attributes, the user has means for selecting a plurality of attributes,
An object search apparatus comprising means for generating a search expression by connecting a plurality of selected attributes with a logical operation expression. In the object search device according to claim 3,
An object search apparatus comprising means for simultaneously counting the date and time range in which all objects are included when counting attributes. Accumulate multiple types of data with various link information and attribute information,
In an electronic device that can perform a refined search by entering keywords in the data,
An object search apparatus comprising means for extracting attribute information of all search results by inputting a keyword, and counting the number of search result objects having each attribute in common. The object search device according to claim 12,
An object search apparatus comprising means for extracting an attribute having the largest number of search result objects belonging to a plurality of extracted attributes. The object search device according to claim 12,
An object search apparatus comprising means for displaying a plurality of extracted attributes together with the number of search result objects belonging to the attributes. The object search device according to claim 14,
An object search apparatus comprising means for rearranging a plurality of extracted attributes in descending order of the number of search result objects belonging to the attribute. The object search device according to any one of claims 14 to 15,
For the plurality of displayed attributes, the user has means for selecting a plurality of attributes,
An object search apparatus comprising means for generating a search expression by connecting a plurality of selected attributes with a logical operation expression.

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