JP2008015611A - Information search support program and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide support to an information search that starts with a portal site, so that a user can quickly and easily obtain the information needed to achieve a purpose. <P>SOLUTION: A program for installation in a computer having a browser and storing keyword reference format information and search result document format information causes the computer to implement a step for accepting a search keyword; a step for providing, in accordance with procedure based on the keyword reference format information, the search keyword to each of the search engines of a plurality of services provided by a predetermined portal site; a step for obtaining search result documents sent back from the search engines; a step for obtaining, based on the search result document format information, the number of records written in the search result documents; and a step for displaying a screen containing the number of records obtained and a function for displaying the search result documents individually. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a program that is installed in a computer and supports a user who searches information on the Internet based on a search keyword. Specifically, users can quickly access target information when searching for information existing on a website corresponding to each of a plurality of services included in a portal site based on a single search keyword. The present invention relates to an information retrieval support program for making it possible. The present invention also relates to an information search support apparatus configured by a computer and realized by executing the program.

The portal site provides various services such as search engines, Web directories, news, online dictionaries, auctions, and online shopping (see Non-Patent Document 1). Each service is provided by an independent Web site (hereinafter referred to as a service providing site), and users of each service providing site enjoy various services by appropriately using information existing in the Web site. . In other words, a user who browses a portal site's homepage for the purpose of enjoying a specific service can link his / her browser terminal from the portal site to the homepage of the service providing site (hereinafter referred to as the service window). Trace and access. The service window page is a portal site in the service providing site, and the user enjoys main services (bidding / listing in auction, product sales in shopping, etc.) in the service providing site starting from the service window. . In addition, the service providing site also provides ancillary services such as a search engine and a Web directory for information in its own site.
Yahoo Japan Corporation, “YAHOO! JAPAN”, [online], [Search June 26, 2006], Internet <URL: http://www.yahoo.co.jp/>

  The usage form of the service providing site using the portal site as an entrance will be specifically exemplified. For example, suppose a user wants to get an item cheaper. Then, it tries to check whether or not the item is listed in the online auction. So, let your browser terminal access the portal site, get the service window page of the net auction, narrow down the genre and category of the target item using the incidental services such as search engines and Web directories, finally, Check if the desired item is listed. For this investigation, a search keyword input field arranged on the service window page or each Web page in the service providing site is used. The user inputs the name of a target item, a specific product name, and the like in a keyword input field arranged on an appropriate Web page in the service providing site. Thereby, it is possible to search whether or not the item is listed in the online auction.

  If the item is listed, the user can obtain a Web page with detailed information about the item, check the bid status for the item, the desired bid price of the seller, etc. If it judges, it will transfer to specific procedures, such as a bid.

  In addition, the user checks whether the desired item is listed in the online auction, while trying to achieve the purpose of obtaining a certain item at a low price by another means such as joint purchase or bargain sale. In many cases, it is also checked whether the same product can be purchased cheaply through online shopping. In such a case, the user, in turn, accesses the browser window to the service window page of the online shopping service providing site, searches for information on the same item in the same manner as the search for an auction item, and sells the sales price. Find out.

  In this way, the user considers the service provided by the portal site from various perspectives for the purpose of obtaining a certain item. Of course, before you get the item, you want to know the detailed specifications and reputation of the item, and use the search engine, web directory, electronic bulletin board, blog, and other services provided by the portal site to achieve the purpose. Sometimes it tries to get various information.

  As described above, it can be understood that the information retrieval using the portal site as a window takes a lot of time and is troublesome even if only a specific example of obtaining a certain item at a low cost is seen. An object of the present invention is to provide a technique for assisting a user to quickly and easily obtain information necessary for achieving a purpose in information retrieval starting from a portal site.

The present invention for achieving the above object is an information search support program specified by the following items (1) to (9).
(1) A program installed on a computer that implements a browser and stores keyword query format information and search result document format information. (2) Keyword query format information is provided using a predetermined portal site as a contact point. For each of a plurality of services, a procedure for inquiring a search keyword for each search engine corresponding to each service is described. (3) Search result document format information is stored for each search engine corresponding to each service. Describing the description location of the number of records corresponding to the search keyword in the search result document to be returned to the searched search keyword (4) The program stores the following items (5) to (9) in the computer: (5) Search key by user input Keyword input step for accepting a word (6) Keyword sending step for individually giving the inputted search keyword to each search engine of the plurality of services according to a procedure based on the keyword inquiry format information. (7) For each keyword sending step, Search result acquisition step for acquiring a search result document returned from a search engine corresponding to the service (8) Corresponding to the number of records described in the search result document corresponding to each service acquired in the search result acquisition step Record number acquisition step acquired based on search result document format information for each search engine (9) Record number corresponding to each of the search engines acquired in the record number acquisition step and the search result document from each search engine individually Use to display The number of records presented step of displaying the number of records presentation screen that contains a function that accepts an input

The present invention also extends to an information search support device configured by a computer that executes the program specified by the above items (1) to (9). The information search support device includes the following items (21) to (21) It is specified by (28).
(21) Consists of a computer that implements a browser (22) When querying a search keyword for each search engine corresponding to each service for each of a plurality of services provided using a predetermined portal site as a window (23) For each search engine corresponding to each service, the number of records corresponding to the search keyword in the search result document returned for the searched search keyword is provided. (24) Provide keyword input means for receiving a search keyword by user input (25) Based on the keyword query format information Each search engine of the plurality of services according to the procedure (26) Provide search result acquisition means for acquiring a search result document returned from the search engine corresponding to each service for the search keyword sent by the keyword transmission means. (27) Provide record number acquisition means for acquiring the number of records described in the search result document corresponding to each service acquired by the search result acquisition means based on the search result document format information for each corresponding search engine. (28) Record number presentation screen including the number of records corresponding to each of the search engines acquired by the record number acquisition means and the function of accepting user input for individually displaying search result documents from each search engine Provide record number display means to display

Furthermore, the present invention for achieving the above object can be applied to a client / server system, and a program installed in a server computer in the system is also within the scope of the present invention. The program is an information search support program specified by the following items (31) to (40).
(31) The program is installed in a computer configured to be communicable with a browser. (32) The computer stores keyword query format information and search result document format information. (33) The keyword query format information is For each of the services provided using a given portal site as a window, describe the procedure for querying the search keyword for each search engine corresponding to each service. (34) Search result document format information For each search engine corresponding to the service, describe the description location of the number of records corresponding to the search keyword in the search result document to be returned to the searched search keyword (35). Have each step described in items (36) to (40) executed (36) Keyword input step for receiving a search keyword sent from the browser (37) Keyword sending step (38) for giving the input search keyword individually to each search engine of the plurality of services according to a procedure based on the keyword query format information In response to the sending step, a search result document that is returned from the search engine corresponding to each service is acquired. (39) The search result document corresponding to each service acquired in the search result acquisition step is described. Record number acquisition step to acquire the number of records based on the search result document format information for each corresponding search engine (40) The number of records corresponding to each of the search engines acquired in the record number acquisition step, and from each search engine Search results document for The number of records presentation page back step to return the number of records presentation page that contains a hyperlink to the browser for Toriyoseru by the browser

The present invention also extends to an information search support device configured by a computer that executes a program specified by the above items (31) to (40). The information search support device includes the following items (41) to (41) It is specified by (48).
(41) The computer is configured to be communicable with a browser. (42) For each of a plurality of services provided using a predetermined portal site as a window, the search keyword is inquired for each search engine corresponding to each service. (43) Records corresponding to the search keyword in the search result document to be returned for the queried search keyword for each search engine corresponding to each service. (44) Provide keyword input means for receiving the search keyword sent from the browser (45) Query the entered search keyword as a keyword Each of the plurality of services according to a procedure based on format information (46) Search result acquisition means for acquiring a search result document returned from the search engine corresponding to each service for the search keyword sent by the keyword transmission means. (47) Record number acquisition means for acquiring the number of records described in the search result document corresponding to each service acquired by the search result acquisition means based on the search result document format information for each corresponding search engine (48) Record number display page including the number of records corresponding to each of the search engines acquired by the record number acquisition means and the hyperlink for obtaining the search result documents from each search engine by the browser in the browser Provide return means for returning the number of records to be returned

  According to the present invention, when performing information retrieval based on the same search keyword for various services provided on a portal site using a browser terminal, a user can quickly and easily obtain necessary information. I can help you.

=== Embodiment of the Invention ===
As an embodiment of the present invention, a personal computer (PC) in which a browser is mounted and an information search support program according to the present invention is mounted is illustrated. The information search support program according to the present embodiment is installed on a PC as a plug-in of an original web browser or an existing browser, and provides a plurality of services provided on a portal site with search keywords specified by user input The processing is performed for each search engine of the site and the number of records for each corresponding service providing site is displayed and output as a list.

  The search keyword may be specified by the user inputting characters using a keyboard or the like. However, in this embodiment, an arbitrary word is selected from the documents described on the Web page obtained by the browser. When the instruction is issued, the word is recognized as a search keyword. Here, in order to recognize words in the document, well-known morphological analysis and syntax analysis techniques are used.

=== Extracting Words as Search Keywords ===
The information retrieval support program decomposes a document into words by a well-known morphological analysis. Further, the document is parsed to recognize the dependency relationship in the document. A search keyword can be specified in units of words, phrases, and sentences by user input.

  Since the technology related to morphological analysis and syntax analysis is not the essence of the present invention, the functions realized by executing the information search support program will be schematically described here. In the morphological analysis in the present embodiment, a dictionary in which parts of speech and utilization forms are associated with a large number of words in an external memory of a PC is prepared, and an information search support program refers to the dictionary to analyze from a document to be analyzed. Extract words. Then, each extracted word is managed in association with grammatical information such as part of speech and usage form. FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of the result of morphological analysis of a certain sentence. In this example, documents such as “Mr. Noda, who stayed at the International Space Station conducted a third outboard activity early in the morning of the 3rd” were broken down into words, and grammatical information was associated with each word. Yes.

  In this embodiment, each character string unit of a word, a phrase, and a sentence is recognized from a continuous character string in the document, and the dependency relationship is recognized by parsing the clause in the recognized sentence. A phrase is a phrase that is a string unit that makes sense by adding “ne” to the end of the string. Specifically, a sentence “I read a book” is a word obtained by morphological analysis. If “ne” is added to the end of a word that continues before and after it, it makes a meaning and that word becomes a phrase. That is, since each character string makes sense such as “I am a book”, “I read a book”, and “I read a book”, each of “I am”, “I read a book”, and “Read” is a phrase. “I read a book” and “read a book” are also phrases. In this embodiment, phrase breaks are recognized based on combinations of parts of speech of consecutive words before and after the sentence. The dictionary referred to by the information search support program includes a table in which the combination type of parts of speech before and after the sentence is associated with the determination of whether or not the phrase is a phrase. Note that the “sentence” is a character string delimited by punctuation marks and punctuation marks in this embodiment. Furthermore, the information search support program recognizes the dependency relationship in the sentence by syntax analysis. Dependency relationships include, for example, a combination modification relationship such as “delicious meal”, a combined modification relationship such as “run slowly”, and a subject predicate relationship such as “I walk”.

  FIG. 2 shows a recognition procedure for each character string in this embodiment. Here, the phrase recognition procedure in sentence 10 “I speak fluent Japanese” is shown. First, the sentence 10 to be analyzed is subjected to morphological analysis, and the part of speech 12 of each word 11 is acquired (A). Next, with reference to the table 16 in which the type 14 corresponding to the combination (13a, 13b) of the part of speech 12 of the word 11 preceding and following in the sentence 10 and the determination 15 of whether or not the phrase is associated (B), Which type 14 corresponds to each boundary 17 between words in the table 16 is specified (C). Then, from the determination result 15 corresponding to the identified type 14, it is determined whether adjacent words form one phrase or not, and the minimum unit phrase 18 is cut out from the sentence (D).

  Furthermore, the information search support program recognizes the dependency relationship between clauses in the sentence 10 divided by the minimum unit clauses 18 by syntactic analysis. FIG. 3 shows a dependency recognition procedure by syntax analysis. In the sentence 10 divided into the minimum unit clauses 18 (A), which clause 18 is related to which clause 18 and what dependency relationship (19a-c) is obtained (B), the adjacent clause 18 is related. If it is in the receiving relationship (19a-c), it recognizes that it can become a bigger phrase (18b, 18c) by the adjacent phrase 18 (C) (D). Thus, in this embodiment, when a sentence is divided into a plurality of character string units, the character position to be divided, such as for each word, for each minimum unit clause, and for each of a plurality of clauses having a dependency relationship, etc. Can be set freely.

=== Outline of information retrieval support program ===
The information search support program of this embodiment extracts a document part from HTML of a Web page obtained by a browser. Then, the above-described morphological analysis and syntax analysis are applied to the document, and character strings corresponding to words, phrases, and sentences in the document recognized based on the analysis result are extracted as search keywords. Then, the search keyword is inquired to the search engine of each service providing site of the predetermined portal site, and the inquiry result is acquired and presented.

  In this embodiment, when an appropriate word or a character string description location such as a clause or sentence in the document being displayed is designated by the user and an operation for giving the character string to the search engine is received, the character is received. A column is given to a predetermined search engine as a search keyword, and a process of presenting the number of records corresponding to the keyword is executed based on a search result document returned as a search result from the search engine. The PC stores keyword query format information and search result document format information as reference data in processing related to keyword query and record number presentation.

=== Keyword Query Format Information ===
The keyword inquiry format information stores keyword inquiry format information describing rules for giving search keywords to each search engine of a plurality of service providing sites in a predetermined portal site, and the keyword corresponding to each service providing site. The inquiry format information includes a URL description format when a search keyword is given to the corresponding search engine and designation information about a character code when the search engine recognizes Japanese.

  For example, the URL description format for giving a search keyword to a search engine in a certain service providing site is “http://search.engine.co.jp/service1/bin/query?=”, and the character string of this URL is Subsequently, the URL to which the search keyword is added is the URL that is actually given to the search engine. If the search engine accepts Japanese (Kana-Kanji) using the EUC code, the PC stores the URL description format and information indicating that the Japanese character code is EUC in association with each other. .

  To give a specific example, a URL indicating that the word “book” converted into an EUC code is given to a search engine as a search keyword is “http://search.engine.co.jp/service1/bin/query?=% CB% DC ". Here, when a character string corresponding to Japanese (Kana-Kanji) is described in the URL, it is necessary to convert the character string into a well-known URL encoding format, so the Kana-Kanji described in 2 bytes is decomposed into 1 byte. Hexadecimal display is made, and the Kana-Kanji character is converted by describing the character in hexadecimal notation after the “%” symbol. That is, “% CB% DC” in the previous URL “http://search.engine.co.jp/service1/bin/query?=%CB%DC” is obtained by URL-encoding “book”.

  Also, in this embodiment, a plurality of portal sites are supported, designation of a specific portal site is accepted by user input, and a search engine of each service providing site in the portal site is set as a search keyword reference destination.

=== Search result document format information ===
In the present embodiment, the search result document format information recognizes only a numeric string or a character string indicating the number of corresponding records described in a Web page (search result page) listing the corresponding records as search results from the search engine. This information is stored for each search engine. Specifically, the search result document format information is information for specifying the description position of the number of corresponding records in the HTML document that describes the search result document returned by the search engine, and is described in, for example, HTML. It describes a specific character string or tag and the positional relationship between the character string or tag and a number sequence corresponding to the number of records. FIG. 4 shows a part of HTML describing a search result document. In this HTML 30, a number 33 described between ““> search result &nbsp;<b> ”31 and“ case ”32 indicates the number of records. Of course, if the search engine returns a document that can arbitrarily define items such as the number of items, such as XML, as a search result, it is easier to extract only the number of records from the search result document. That is, in the search result document format information, a definition name corresponding to the number of records in the returned document may be described. In addition, since the number of records can be specified by the definition name, the number of records is examined each time the appearance of the page changes due to the convenience of the portal site, as in the search result page described in HTML. There is no need to rewrite the search result document format information each time.

=== About Search Keyword Setting ===
The information search support program according to the present embodiment recognizes a character string unit such as a word, a phrase, or a sentence based on the result of morphological analysis, and sets an appropriate character string unit as a keyword extraction range by a setting input by a user. You can also For example, when a sentence is set as a keyword extraction range, a plurality of words existing in a sentence including a character string position designated by the user can be extracted as search keywords for AND search. When a word is set as a keyword extraction range, one word at the specified character string description position is extracted as a search keyword. In addition, the word to be extracted as a search keyword is not limited to a noun, but it can be set to other parts of speech, or the result of morphological analysis can be used to end the word, such as “advanced” is “beautiful”. It is also possible to set the search keyword to be a word that has been transformed into a shape and that has been transformed into its final shape.

=== Operation of Information Retrieval Support Program ===
In order to explain the operation of the information search support program of this embodiment, a user who wants to obtain a product accesses the website of the manufacturer of the product through a browser and browses a web page describing detailed information about the product. Then, a specific example is given in which the search engine of each service providing site of the portal site is inquired using the product name or product type included in the page as a search keyword.

  FIG. 5 shows the flow of processing by the information search support program. FIGS. 6 to 8 show transitions of screens displayed on the display of the PC 40 as the information search support program is executed. In this embodiment, the information search support program functions as a plug-in of Internet Explorer (registered trademark) serving as a browser, and a menu for operating the plug-in function is displayed in a predetermined area 61 of the browser screen 60. The In the operation menu area 61 of the plug-in, radio buttons (62 to 64) for setting a reference destination of a search keyword, and radio buttons 65 and instruction buttons (66 for calling various functions using morphological analysis results) , 67), an “option” button 68 is provided for setting various parameters and operation environments (such as character string units from which search keywords are extracted) with respect to the plug-in function.

  Here, the “Web search” radio button 62 is selected to designate a search engine of each service in the portal site as a search keyword introduction destination. In addition, a specific portal site and a specific service on the portal site are set as a search keyword reference destination and a reference method by a user setting operation based on an instruction to the option button 68. It is assumed that the search engine is inquired for one word composed of nouns described in the character string position 71 designated by the person in the web page 70.

  First, the user activates a browser on which the information retrieval support program is mounted as a plug-in on the PC 40, and uses the browser to obtain a web page on which detailed product information is described on the manufacturer's website (s1). . The information search support program displays the screen (FIG. 6, reference numeral 70) of the Web page while maintaining the initial appearance after performing morphological analysis on the document described in the Web page obtained by the browser. When a character string indicating the product name described on the screen 70 is designated with the mouse cursor 71 and a predetermined operation (double click of the mouse, etc.) is performed, the word 72 at the described position is recognized / The extracted word 72 is highlighted (s2 to s5).

  It should be noted that this description is made when a predetermined operation (double click of the mouse, etc.) is performed after the character string is designated with the mouse cursor 71 without performing morphological analysis before the document described on the Web page is read. A certain word 72 may be recognized and extracted by performing morphological analysis on the position and the character string before and after the position, and the word 72 may be highlighted (for example, s2 to s5 in the order of s3 → s4 → s2 → s5). Change).

  Further, the information search support program inquires each search engine 50 of each service providing site based on each keyword inquiry format information using the extracted word 72 as a search keyword (s6, s7). When a search result document including a list of records corresponding to the search keyword is returned from each of the plurality of search engines 50, each search result document is stored and the corresponding number of records in the search result document is searched. It specifies based on result document format information, and acquires the number of records (s11 to s13).

  Then, a screen (FIG. 7, reference numeral 80) listing the number of records described in each search result document is displayed (s14). In the present embodiment, a sub-screen (record number presentation page) 80 different from the Web page screen 70 first obtained is displayed, and the record number 81 corresponding to each search result document is listed in the record number presentation page 80. To describe. Further, a button 82 for displaying each search result page is displayed in association with each record number 81 in the record number presentation page 80. When the user wants to browse a specific search result page, the user performs an instruction operation on the corresponding button 82. When there is the instruction operation, the information search support program displays the corresponding search result page (FIG. 8, reference numeral 90) (s15 → s16). In this example, the search result page 90 is displayed instead of the screen of the Web page 70 on which the detailed information of the product that the browser originally ordered is described. The search result page 90 to be displayed may use a cache obtained when the page is first obtained, or may be obtained again. That is, a URL indicating that a search keyword is given to the search engine 50 may be set as a hyperlink for each button 82. Then, when the button 82 is instructed, the browser obtains the search result page 90 again based on the URL and provides it for the user's browsing.

  In this way, the search engine corresponding to each service is queried for the same search keyword, and first, the number of corresponding records described in the search result document from each search engine is presented to the user. Then, in view of the number of records, the user can further narrow down the number of records before browsing the search results page, or browse only the search results page for a specific service as necessary. Can be. Accordingly, it is possible to omit a complicated operation of inquiring a search keyword with respect to each search engine of a plurality of services or checking the contents of a search result page for the search keyword one by one. Therefore, when searching for information by the user, the user can be supported so that the target information can be obtained with the minimum necessary work.

=== Reference timing of search keyword ===
The timing at which the search keyword is given to the search engine may be when the user clicks on a certain word. For example, a button for receiving a search instruction by clicking is placed on the operation screen generated by the information search support program, When a word is clicked, the word may be set as a search keyword, and when the button is clicked again, the set search keyword may be given to the search engine. When a plurality of words are selected one after another and a search instruction is accepted by the button, an AND search using the selected plurality of words may be executed. As is well known, AND search using a plurality of words may be performed by providing a search engine with a character string in which half-width spaces or full-width spaces are inserted between the plurality of words.

=== Server / Client System ===
In the above-described embodiment, the information search support program installed on the PC includes a function of giving a search keyword to a plurality of search engines. The information search support program is not limited to this example, and may be a program installed on a server computer in the server / client system. That is, the PC is a client computer, and the client computer has a function as a user interface of the information search support program.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the information search support function by this server / client system will be exemplified. In the example shown here, the client computer only needs to have a browser and a program (client program) that sends a search keyword input by the user to the server computer. Further, the client computer stores location information on the network of the server computer that is a communication partner, such as a URL, and the information search support program is executed as, for example, a plug-in of a running browser. When the search keyword is specified by a predetermined user input, the client computer sends the search keyword to the server computer.

  On the other hand, the server computer that communicates with the client computer includes a WWW server function, inquires a plurality of search engines for a search keyword sent from the client computer, and displays a Web page corresponding to the record number presentation page described above. create. Further, similarly to the record number presentation page 80, a hyperlink for displaying the search result page on the client computer is set in this Web page. That is, a button or the like in which a URL for obtaining a search result page by giving a search keyword to the search engine 50 as a hyperlink is provided on the Web page. Then, this Web page is returned to the client computer, and the client computer may display the returned Web page as appropriate.

It is the schematic which shows the result of having performed the morphological analysis of a certain document by the information search assistance program in the Example of this invention. It is the schematic of the process which extracts a clause from the sentence by the said program. It is the schematic of the process which recognizes the dependency of the clauses by the said program. It is a partial schematic diagram of HTML describing a Web page. It is a flowchart of the information processing by the said program. It is the schematic of the screen which the computer by which the said program was mounted is displayed. It is the schematic of the screen which the computer by which the said program was mounted is displayed. It is the schematic of the screen which the computer by which the said program was mounted is displayed.

Explanation of symbols

40 Personal Computer 50 Search Engine 60 Browser Operation Screen 61 Information Search Support Program Operation Area 70 Web Page 80 Record Number Presentation Page 90 Search Result Page

Claims (4)

A program installed on a computer that implements a browser and stores keyword query format information and search result format information,
The keyword query format information describes the procedure for querying a search keyword for each search engine corresponding to each service for each of a plurality of services provided using a predetermined portal site as a window.
The search result document format information describes the number of records corresponding to the search keyword in the search result document returned for the searched search keyword for each search engine corresponding to each service,
The program includes a keyword input step of accepting a search keyword by user input to the computer;
A keyword sending step of individually giving the input search keywords to each search engine of the plurality of services according to a procedure based on the keyword query format information;
In response to the keyword sending step, a search result obtaining step for obtaining a search result document returned from a search engine corresponding to each service;
A record number acquisition step for acquiring the number of records described in the search result document corresponding to each service acquired by the search result acquisition step based on the search result document format information for each corresponding search engine;
Displays a record count display screen that includes the number of records corresponding to each search engine acquired in the record count acquisition step and a function that accepts user input for individually displaying search result documents from each search engine. A record count presentation step;
An information retrieval support program characterized by causing It consists of a computer that implements a browser,
Means for storing keyword query format information describing a procedure for querying a search keyword for each search engine corresponding to each service for each of a plurality of services provided by using a predetermined portal site as a window;
Means for storing search result document format information describing a description location of the number of records corresponding to the search keyword in the search result document to be returned for the searched search keyword for each search engine corresponding to each service;
Keyword input means for accepting search keywords by user input;
Keyword sending means for individually giving the input search keywords to each search engine of the plurality of services according to a procedure based on the keyword query format information;
Search result acquisition means for acquiring a search result document returned from the search engine corresponding to each service for the search keyword sent by the keyword sending means;
Record number acquisition means for acquiring the number of records described in the search result document corresponding to each service acquired by the search result acquisition means based on the search result document format information for each corresponding search engine;
Displays a record count presentation screen that includes the number of records corresponding to each of the search engines acquired by the record count acquisition means and the function of accepting user input for individually displaying search result documents from each search engine. Record number presentation means;
An information search support apparatus comprising: A program installed on a computer configured to communicate with a browser,
The computer stores keyword query format information and search result document format information,
The keyword query format information describes the procedure for querying a search keyword for each search engine corresponding to each service for each of a plurality of services provided using a predetermined portal site as a window.
The search result document format information describes the number of records corresponding to the search keyword in the search result document returned for the searched search keyword for each search engine corresponding to each service,
The program includes a keyword input step for receiving a search keyword sent from a browser to the computer,
A keyword sending step of individually giving the input search keywords to each search engine of the plurality of services according to a procedure based on the keyword query format information;
In response to the keyword sending step, a search result obtaining step for obtaining a search result document returned from a search engine corresponding to each service;
A record number acquisition step for acquiring the number of records described in the search result document corresponding to each service acquired by the search result acquisition step based on the search result document format information for each corresponding search engine;
Presenting the number of records to be returned to the browser including the number of records corresponding to each of the search engines acquired in the record number acquisition step and the hyperlink for obtaining the search result documents from each search engine by the browser A page return step,
An information retrieval support program characterized by causing A computer configured to communicate with a browser,
Means for storing keyword query format information describing a procedure for querying a search keyword for each search engine corresponding to each service for each of a plurality of services provided by using a predetermined portal site as a window;
Means for storing search result document format information describing a description location of the number of records corresponding to the search keyword in the search result document to be returned for the searched search keyword for each search engine corresponding to each service;
Keyword input means for receiving search keywords sent from the browser;
Keyword sending means for individually giving the input search keywords to each search engine of the plurality of services according to a procedure based on the keyword query format information;
Search result acquisition means for acquiring a search result document returned from a search engine corresponding to each service for the search keyword sent by the keyword sending means;
Record number acquisition means for acquiring the number of records described in the search result document corresponding to each service acquired by the search result acquisition means based on the search result document format information for each corresponding search engine;
Presenting the number of records to be returned to the browser including the number of records corresponding to each of the search engines acquired by the record number acquisition means and a hyperlink for obtaining the search result documents from each search engine by the browser Page return means,
An information search support apparatus comprising:

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