JP2002082952A - Method and apparatus for retrieving information - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize a method and an apparatus for retrieving information by which a desired back number retrieved by using not only a title but also a magazine text as the object of retrieval. SOLUTION: The title of an already issued mail magazine (back number) and the magazine text corresponding to the title are registered in a data base, and the title including a retrieval keyword applied from a user is retrieved from the data base, and the retrieved titles are linked and presented to a user. When the user selects his or her desired title from among the retrieved titles, the magazine text linked to the selected title is extracted from the data base, and the part pertinent to the retrieval keyword is identified and displayed from the the extracted magazine text, and presented to the user.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a service using the Internet or the like. The present invention relates to an information search device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the spread of the Internet, mail magazines of various genres have been issued, for example, dealing with business information of various industries as well as categories of hobbies and entertainment. An e-mail magazine is an information publication using e-mail. Usually, if you register an e-mail address as a reader on the publishing site, the information publication will be sent to that e-mail address regularly for free or for a fee It is supposed to be.

[0003]

By the way, recently, a search service for searching for an already published e-mail magazine (hereinafter referred to as a back number) is known. In such a search service, a title (heading) including the keyword is searched by a keyword search. In most cases, the back number is searched for from each issue site on the Internet, and there is a problem that the back number search for the body of the magazine cannot be performed. Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and provides an information search method and an information search device capable of searching not only a title but also a magazine body as a search target for a desired back number. The purpose is.

[0004]

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for searching for information in response to a request from a user, the method comprising: A first search process in which a title including the search keyword is searched from a database in which the titles of the previously published e-mail magazines and the magazine body corresponding to the titles are registered, and a link is provided to the searched titles and presented to the user. When the user selects a desired title from the titles searched in the first search process, a magazine body linked to the selected title is extracted from the database, and the search keyword is extracted from the extracted magazine body. And a second search step of identifying and displaying a portion corresponding to That.

[0005] The invention according to claim 2 is an apparatus for retrieving information in response to a request from a user, wherein a back number in which a title of a previously published e-mail magazine is recorded as a record and a body of the magazine corresponding to the title is registered as a database as an item. Registration means, first search means for searching a title including the search keyword from the back number registration means based on a search keyword given by the user, linking the searched title, and presenting the title to the user; When the user selects a desired title from the titles searched by the first search means, a magazine body linked to the selected title is extracted from the database, and the search is performed from the extracted magazine body. A second search for identifying and displaying a portion corresponding to the keyword and presenting it to the user. Characterized by comprising a means.

In the present invention, the title of a previously published e-mail magazine (back number) and the text of the magazine corresponding to the title are registered in a database, and a title including a search keyword given by a user is searched from the database and searched. Link to the title and present it to the user. Then, when the user selects a desired title from the searched titles, a magazine text linked to the selected title is extracted from the database, and a portion corresponding to the search keyword is identified and displayed in the extracted magazine text. Thus, not only the title but also the body of the magazine can be searched for a desired back number.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. (1) Outline FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an information search system according to an embodiment. The system shown in FIG. 1 includes a user 1 (client 10) and a service provider 2 connected to each other via a network NT such as the Internet.
(Information retrieval device 20). In such a system, when a search keyword is given from the user 1,
The service provider 2 searches for a title including the search keyword from the back numbers stored in the database and presents the title to the user 1. A link is provided to the presented title, and when the user 1 selects one of them (click operation), the service provider 2 presents the user 1 with the magazine text linked to the selected title. I do. At that time, a portion corresponding to the search keyword is identified and displayed from the magazine text. In this way, a desired back number can be searched not only for the title but also for the magazine text.

(2) System Configuration The client 10 provided in the user 1 has a well-known Web browser function, accesses the information retrieval device 20 via the network NT, and receives an HTML file transmitted from the information retrieval device 20. And display it on the screen. The information search device 20 provided in the service provider 2 includes a center server 21, a search engine 22, and a database 23, which are connected to a local area network LAN. The center server 21 is connected to the network NT
While the search condition input by the client 10 accessed through the server is transmitted to the search engine 22, the search result returned from the search engine 22 is converted into a format that can be browsed by the client 10. Also, the center server 21
Registers a search condition input from the client 10 and a search result returned from the search engine 22 in the database 23 as a log (search history).

[0009] The search engine 22 includes a center server 21.
Database 2 based on the search conditions sent from
3, a record or an item matching the search condition is searched and returned to the center server 21. Examples of the search method performed by the search engine 22 include a well-known free word search, a keyword search method in a category specified by the client 10, and, when the number of search hits is large, the number of hits with a new keyword. For example, a method of narrowing down the search from among the methods is prepared, and any one of the methods can be arbitrarily selected based on a request from the client 10 to perform the search. Database 2
Reference numeral 3 denotes a database in which the title (heading) of the back number (published mail magazine) provided by the publisher of each mail magazine is registered as a record, and the body of the magazine corresponding to the title is registered as a database.

(3) Operation Next, the back number search operation in the information search system having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. First, when the client 10 of the user 1 accesses the center server 21 of the service provider 2 via the network NT and inputs search conditions (step S1).
The center server 21 receives the search condition and sends it to the search engine 22 (step S2), and stores the search condition in the database 23 (step S4).

On the other hand, the search engine 22 searches for a title including the search keyword from among the back numbers stored in the database 23 based on the given search conditions, that is, the search keyword and the search mode specified by the user 1 (step S1). S2), and store the result in the center server 21
Is received and presented to the user 1 (step S5). As a result, in the user 1, the client 10 displays a list of titles including the relevant portion of the search in a manner shown in FIG. 3A (step S6). In this list display, a link L is attached to the body of the corresponding e-mail magazine at the relevant location.

When the user 1 performs a click operation to select one of the links (step S7), the center server 21 requests the search engine 22 to search for the corresponding mail magazine body (step S8). The search engine 21 extracts the mail magazine body of the link destination from the database 23 and delivers it to the center server 21. The center server 21 converts the mail magazine text extracted by the search engine 22 into a format that can be viewed by the client 10 (step S9). As a result, in the user 1, the client 10 browses the mail magazine body including the relevant portion in the manner shown in FIG. 3B (step S10). At this time, the searched portion is centered on the screen and displayed with different display colors.

The center server 21 registers the access log of the finally viewed back number in the database 23 in the same manner as in step S4 described above. Note that the search conditions and access logs registered in the database 23 are accumulated each time the user 1 performs a search, and by analyzing the information thus accumulated, for example, the user's consumption behavior and demand trend are predicted. Can be used for sales activities.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the service provider 2 registers the title of the back number provided from the publisher of each mail magazine as a record, and registers the text of the magazine corresponding to the title as an item. When a search keyword is provided from the user 1, a title including the search keyword is searched from the database 23, a link is provided to the search result, and the search result is presented to the user 1. Then, when the user 1 selects (clicks on) a desired title from the search result linked with the link, that is, the searched title, the user 1 corresponds to the search keyword from the text of the magazine linked to the selected title. Since the location is identified and displayed, a desired back number can be searched not only for the title but also for the magazine text as a search target.

In the above-described embodiment, the center server 21, the search engine 22, and the database 23 constituting the information search device 20 are connected by the local area network LAN. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Each of the server 21, the search engine 22, and the database 23 may be an independent site directly connected to the network NT such as the Internet.

[0016]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, based on a search keyword given by a user, a title including a search keyword from a database in which a title of an already-published mail magazine and a magazine body corresponding to the title are registered. Is searched, and a link is provided to the searched title to be presented to the user. Then, when the user selects a desired title from the searched titles, a magazine text linked to the selected title is extracted from the database, and a portion corresponding to the search keyword is extracted from the extracted magazine text. Can be identified and presented to the user, so that not only the title but also the body of the magazine can be searched for a desired back number. According to the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a back number registering means for registering a title of a previously published mail magazine as a record, and a magazine body corresponding to the title as an item in a database, and a first search means provided by a user. Based on the keyword, a title including the search keyword is searched from the back number registration unit, a link is provided to the searched title, the link is presented to the user, and when the user selects a desired title from the searched titles, The second search means extracts a magazine text linked to the selected title from the database, identifies and displays a portion corresponding to the search keyword from the extracted magazine text to the user, and thus displays not only the title but also the title. , Search for the desired back number with the body of the magazine as the search target Rukoto can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a back number search operation according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a search result.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... User, 2 ... Service provider, 10 ... Client, 20 ... Information search device, 21 ... Center server, 22
... search engine, 23 ... database.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A method for retrieving information in response to a request from a user, comprising the steps of: A first search step of searching for a title including a search keyword, linking the searched title, and presenting it to the user; and, from among the titles searched in the first search step, the user selects a desired title. When the selected title is selected, a second search process of extracting the magazine text linked to the selected title from the database, identifying and displaying a portion corresponding to the search keyword from the extracted magazine text, and presenting the same to the user. An information retrieval method, comprising: 2. A device for retrieving information in response to a request from a user, comprising: a back number registering means for registering a title of an already published e-mail magazine as a record and a magazine body corresponding to the title as an item in a database; A first search unit that searches for a title including the search keyword from the back number registration unit based on the given search keyword, links the searched title to the title, and presents the title to the user; When the user selects a desired title from the searched titles, the magazine body linked to the selected title is extracted from the database, and a portion corresponding to the search keyword is identified from the extracted magazine body. Having a second search means for displaying and presenting to the user An information retrieval device characterized by the following.