JP2006119868A - Information search system based on information generation process, information search method based on information generation process, and information search program based on information generation process - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To use an accurate and easy search condition when searching a file created by a user in the past.
SOLUTION: Time information related to a time when a user performs an operation for file creation, application information related to an application used on a computer by the user at that time, application usage information related to information used by the application, or each Information storage DB 106 which is a recording means for recording directory information related to a directory storing information in correspondence with file information, and a file recorded based on these time information, application information, application usage information, or directory information Provided is an information search system based on information generation history having a history search unit 103 as search means for searching for information and a client terminal 115 as display means for displaying file information that matches the search conditions.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a set of information related to an application or created information file that is used for a certain purpose by a user at a certain time on a computer, on a computer network such as the Internet using information described in a user profile as a clue. In addition to information such as time information, used application name, or file name by associating with various information provided in the The present invention relates to an information retrieval technique based on a user's information generation process that supports information retrieval by displaying a set on a computer screen used by the user.

  As a method for searching for a file created by a user, a file search tool is generally used. There is also a method in which the user remembers the storage location of a file on the computer, searches for a file stored in a directory or folder, and finds the corresponding file.

  For example, a user creates a file “installation manual.doc” on a computer on which Windows XP (TM) is installed, and places it in a folder “manual” in “software” of “2004” in “My Documents”. Assume that it has been saved. To use the file search tool, select “Search” from the start menu and click “Files and folders ...”. Select the type of information to be searched based on the information stored by the user, enter the information that meets the conditions, and press the search button to search for the corresponding file from the files and folders on the hard disk on the computer .

  In addition, a system for searching for a necessary file by applying metadata and storing and associating various information such as a file handled by a user on a computer, a mail or a URL of a browser (for example, non-patent literature) 1).

On the other hand, as a method for efficiently displaying information provided on a network, a method for simultaneously displaying a plurality of pieces of information obtained by searching on an actual screen and allowing a user to select the information (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Has been proposed.
Hiroyuki Sato and four other authors, “Knowledge Sharing Platform Technology for Utilizing Metadata on the Semantic Web”, NTT Technology Journal, published April 1, 2003, p. 25-p. 28 JP 2001-75987 A ([0059] [0061] [0063])

  When the above search is performed, if the user inputs wrong information, there is a problem that the target file cannot be found or a completely different file is searched.

  On the other hand, when the user remembers the storage location of the file, it is necessary to remember the purpose of creating the file. In other words, the directory, folder, or file is searched accordingly, but the creation / naming rules and file storage rules are not always the same even for the same user, from creation to search. The more time you pass, the harder it will be to find.

  Moreover, it is often possible to create information with a plurality of applications running. In the above case, when creating "Installation Manual.doc" with Microsoft Office Word (TM), refer to the information described in the URL of the browser or reflect the information sent by e-mail in the document Such work is performed on a daily basis. If the user's purpose is to modify the installation manual, it is possible to review the information of the URL that was referred to last time. However, in the current operation system, only the document is saved as the final result. It is not possible to search the referenced information. For this reason, the user must remember the URL itself and access it with a browser, or search using the information on the page as a clue and find the corresponding page, and both methods are troublesome. There is a problem such as.

  In the method of handling metadata, related information can be collected by drag and drop, but information that is not related to the contents of work performed by the user, such as external news and event information, cannot be added.

  On the other hand, what is handled by the information search and display method on the network is limited to that which can be displayed by a Web browser, and information on a computer that a user normally uses cannot be handled.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an information search technique based on a user's information generation process that can solve the above-described problems.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that time information related to a time when a user performs an operation for creating a file, application information related to an application used on a computer by the user at that time, and the application Recording means for recording application usage information relating to information used by the user or directory information relating to the directory storing each information in correspondence with the file information;
Search means for searching for recorded file information based on the time information, application information, application usage information, or directory information;
Display means for displaying file information that matches the search condition.

  The invention described in claim 2 is characterized by comprising presentation means for acquiring the application information or application usage information from the displayed information and presenting it.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided news information recording means for recording news information related to the time information in correspondence with file information, and news for searching recorded file information based on the news information. And an information search means.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a profile creation means for creating a user profile that collects information relating to user preferences, and a user from a portal site or information providing site on the Internet using the created user profile. Related information recording means for recording the news or event information related to the file information in correspondence with the file information, and related information search means for searching the recorded file information based on the news or event information related to the user. It is characterized by that.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a deleting unit that deletes unnecessary information from the recorded file information, an adding unit that adds necessary information to the recorded file information, and the recorded file information. Comment adding means for adding a user comment to the file information.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided periodic news information recording means for recording regular news information obtained at regular time intervals corresponding to file information, and file information recorded based on the regular news information. And periodic news information searching means for searching.

  According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, the recording means uses the time information related to the time when the user performed the file creation operation, the application information related to the application that the user uses on the computer at that time, and the application Recording step of recording application usage information related to the information being stored or directory information related to the directory storing each information in correspondence with the file information, and search means, the time information, application information, application usage information, or A search step for searching the recorded file information based on the directory information, and a display step for displaying the file information that matches the search condition are provided.

  The present invention is characterized in that the presenting means has a presenting step of obtaining the application information or the application usage information from the displayed information and presenting it.

  According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, the news information recording means records the news information related to the time information in correspondence with the file information, and the news information search means records the news information in the news information. And a news information searching step for searching the recorded file information.

  The invention according to claim 10 is a profile creation step in which the profile creation means creates a user profile that collects information related to user preferences, and the related information recording means uses the created user profile, The related information recording step for recording the news or event information related to the user in correspondence with the file information from the portal site or information providing site on the Internet, and the related information search means based on the news or event information related to the user And a related information retrieval step for retrieving the recorded file information.

  Further, the invention according to claim 11 is such that the deleting means deletes unnecessary information from the recorded file information, and the adding means adds necessary information to the recorded file information. And a comment adding means for adding a user comment to the recorded file information.

  In the invention described in claim 12, the periodic news information recording means records the regular news information obtained at regular time intervals in correspondence with the file information, and the periodic news information search means includes: And a periodic news information searching step of searching recorded file information based on the periodic news information.

  The invention described in claim 13 can execute the information search system based on the information generation process or the information search method based on the information generation process described in any of claims 1 to 12 by a computer program. It is characterized by that.

  In claims 1 and 7, time information, application information, application usage information, and directory information are recorded, and the recorded file information is searched based on information that these users can easily provide.

  In Claims 2 and 8, application information and application usage information are presented from information displayed on the screen.

  In Claims 3 and 9, the recorded file information is searched based on the news information related to the time information.

  In the fourth and tenth aspects, news information is recorded based on a user profile obtained by collecting information related to user preferences.

  According to the fifth and eleventh aspects, the user can delete and add file information search conditions.

  According to the sixth and twelfth aspects of the present invention, the periodic news information is obtained at regular time intervals, recorded in correspondence with the file information, and the file information is searched based on the periodic news information.

  In Claim 13, the program of Claims 1-12 can be provided.

  According to claims 1 and 7, file information can be provided by information that can be easily provided as a search condition by the user.

  Claims 2 and 8 can present application information and application usage information used by the user for file creation.

  According to the third and ninth aspects, it is possible to add search conditions that are likely to remain in memory, and to provide file information to the user more easily.

  According to the fourth and tenth aspects, since a matter close to the user's interest is collected, it is possible to provide the user with a search condition that is more likely to remain in memory.

  According to the fifth and eleventh aspects, the information generation process can be described in more detail, and a search system and a search method that can be easily searched by the user can be constructed.

  According to the sixth and twelfth aspects, it is possible to provide a supplementary means when the user forgets to acquire search information such as time information.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an information search system based on information generation history. The user profile management unit 101 stores the description contents of the items displayed on the user profile setting screen shown in FIG. 2 in the user profile storage DB 105.

  Items displayed on the user profile setting screen are searched in the news article DB 110 and the event information storage DB 111 by the keyword extraction unit 109 in the portal server 108. The “interesting genre” displayed on the user profile setting screen is based on the news category used in the portal server 108. The user profile management unit 101 inquires the keyword extraction unit 109 of the portal server 108 about the category and the content described by the user, and the keyword extraction unit 109 returns the corresponding result to the user profile management unit 101.

  For example, the user profile management unit 101 makes an inquiry to the keyword extraction unit 109 of the portal server 108 for the entered anniversary, and the keyword extraction unit 109 searches the event information storage DB 111 for event information of the corresponding date, and news articles Search the DB 110 for news of information that the user is interested in on the relevant date, and return the result to the user profile management unit 101.

  When history information is acquired from the information search program 116 based on the information generation process installed in the client terminal 115, it is transmitted to the history information acquisition unit 102 based on the information generation process on the server via the Internet 107. Is done. In the history information acquisition unit 102 based on the information generation process that has received the history information, the information is stored in the history information storage DB 106 based on the information generation process together with information about the user.

  In addition, in order to link the history information stored in the history information storage DB 106 based on the information generation process and the matter of interest of the created user and the matter related to the created date, the portal information at a certain time. The cooperation management unit 104 is activated, and passes an interesting matter and creation date to the keyword extraction unit 109 in the portal server 108. The keyword extraction unit 109 searches the news article DB 110 and the event information storage DB 111 based on the information, passes the corresponding items to the portal information cooperation management unit 104, and performs information relating to history information, and then information based on information generation history. Store in the storage DB 106. If no information is returned as a result of the search, the information is stored in the information storage DB 106 based on the information generation process in the state created by the user.

  When a history information search request is received from the client terminal 115, the history information storage DB 106 based on the information generation process is inquired via the history search unit 103 created based on the information generation process, and the search is executed. The result obtained by the execution is displayed on the client terminal 115 via the Internet 107 through the history search unit 103 created based on the information generation process.

  Further, when a file created by the user is placed in the disk rental space 114, the storage location is managed by the data management unit 113 in the disk rental server 112. When the user selects a history by the history search unit 103 created based on the information generation process and displays the file, the client terminal 115 requests the data management unit 113 for information necessary for calling the file. At this time, information is directly requested from the information search program 116 based on the information generation process of the client terminal 115 to the data management unit 113 of the disk rental server 112.

  FIG. 3 is an example of a desktop screen of a computer used by a user. It is common for multiple applications to be running in daily operations. FIG. 3 also shows that the word processor 301, the browser 302, and the mail 303 are activated to perform a certain operation, and that the file management tool 304 and the always-on sticky note software 305 are activated. ing. In the lower right of the screen, information search program software 306 based on the information generation process for realizing the present invention is activated. Here, like the sticky note software 305, the embodiment will be described in a state where it is always activated.

  FIG. 4 is a screen example when the menu of the information search program software 306 based on the information generation process is displayed as a button. FIG. 5 is a screen example when the information search program software 306 based on the information generation process is displayed as a menu. Here, each menu item is also displayed. When each button in FIG. 4 is pressed, the menu items shown in FIG. 5 are displayed, and the user can select the work he / she wants to perform.

  Switching between FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 is performed by clicking “Tools”. When “Tool” → “Button display” is selected in FIG. 5, the screen is switched to FIG. 4. When “tool” is clicked in FIG. 4, the characters “menu display” are displayed at the location of the item “button display” in FIG. That is, the third item of “tool” is toggled depending on the state.

  When the user wants to save the work contents, click “File” in FIG. 4 and select “Save” from the display menu item. Information on the application being used, information used by each application, and information on the directory storing the information are recorded.

  FIG. 6 is an example of a screen showing the contents recorded by the above method in a table. FIG. 7 is an example of a screen showing the contents recorded by the above method as thumbnails. Each table arranged in FIG. 6 corresponds to the thumbnail displayed in FIG. Switching between FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 is executed by selecting “Tool” → “Thumbnail Switch” or “Tool” → “List Switch”.

  The information generation process is uniquely determined by the time when the user saves the work content. What is displayed in common in both FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 is a table storing the creation date and time, the acquirer, and the comment. When “File” → “Save” is selected, the creation date and the acquirer are automatically stored. When the user wants to add a comment to the acquired information, the user can add a comment to a plurality of pieces of information by inputting text in a blank field on the right side of the comment.

  For example, the software used in the table displayed at the top in FIG. 6 is a word processor. The main role of the word processor is to create a document. The second name of the table stores the name of the directory in which the document is stored, and the third name stores the file name of the created document. The fourth stores the creation date and time, and the fifth stores the update date and time. The sixth content is the result of parsing the entire sentence written in the document or the sentence included in the range specified by the user and extracting the keyword, or the result of inputting the keyword that the user himself wants to store, etc. Stores useful information for searching documents.

  The top table corresponds to the thumbnail displayed in the top left of the thumbnails displayed in the left area of FIG. The thumbnail displays a screen capture with the created document open. A thicker frame than the other thumbnails indicates that this thumbnail is selected. Information related to the selected thumbnail is displayed in the right area. All the contents displayed in the nth position in the table are displayed in this area.

In FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, information on software that is always running is also acquired. In both examples, the tag software 305 is applicable. If it is not directly related to the actual work content, by deleting this, only what is used in the actual work is stored as information. In FIG. 6, after checking a check box in front of the corresponding software, a “delete check item” button is pressed, or “edit” → “delete item” is executed. In FIG. 7, the thumbnail of the corresponding software is selected and “Edit” → “Delete Item” is executed, or the “delete” key is pressed on the keyboard.

  On the other hand, in order to add contents related to the work contents later, “Edit” → “Add Item” is executed. FIG. 8 is an example of a screen displayed when “Add item” is pressed. First, select the software to use. By specifying in advance which items are to be input to which software, the user need only input items necessary for information retrieval. FIG. 8 shows an example in which the software used is a word processor. When a word processor is selected, a window display prompting input of a file name, a directory name in which the file is stored, a creation date / time, an update date / time, and contents is displayed. Click the "Load" button next to the file name and specify the file. At this time, directory name, creation date / time, and update date / time information are also input. As for the contents, necessary information is input by the user directly describing it.

  FIG. 9 is a screen showing the acquired information as a list. In FIG. 6 or FIG. 7, the acquired information is selected from “display” → “list list”, and FIG. 9 is displayed. In FIG. 9, a link is pasted to the creation date and time, and information can be displayed by clicking the corresponding item. Alternatively, there is an “Open” button to the right of the applicable one, so you can click here to display the information. For items that are considered unnecessary from the list, there is a “delete” button to the right of the corresponding item, so if you want to delete the information, press this “delete” button.

  FIG. 2 described above is an example of a user profile setting screen. This is for acquiring news and event information related to the user's own interests and the interests the user has from portal sites and information providing sites on the Internet. In particular, the genres you are interested in can be divided into detailed items and categories that combine them. It is possible to collect matters that are closer to the user's interest by selecting the large frame by a selection formula and having the contents that the user always wants to be written in a descriptive formula. These pieces of information are used as clues for searching for the work contents previously performed by the user by linking with the information acquired by the information generation process.

  10 and 11 are examples of screens in which the news and event information collected in FIG. 2 and information acquired through information generation history are linked. FIG. 10 shows an example of a screen when list information is displayed, and FIG. 11 shows an example of a screen when thumbnails are displayed. These collaborations will take place the next day when news articles come out. Therefore, when information is linked, the creation date of information acquired by the information generation process is used as a key. The user edits and deletes linked news articles and event information. Alternatively, by adding a new item, it helps to create information that is easy to search for.

  On the other hand, when searching for relevant information, “Edit” → “Search” is selected. FIG. 12 is an example of a screen for searching for information acquired by the information generation process. Here, the description will be made assuming that the information displayed in FIGS. 6 and 7 is searched. It is assumed that the user remembered the time when the installation manual for a certain system was created as the summer time one year ago. Therefore, August 2003 is entered as the creation time of the information acquired by the information generation process, and a range up to one month before and after is set to express the summer time. When the software name used is selected, matters related to the software names used are displayed as in FIG. In this case, since the software name used is “word processor”, a character input area for searching for file names, directory names, and matters related to contents is displayed. Here, “install” is input as a character included in the file name. In addition, when linked to news or event information as shown in FIG. 10 or FIG. 11, a character that seems to be relevant may be input at the news / event. On the other hand, a free format is provided as an input area for searching across. All the information is searched using the characters entered here as a clue, and the result of the intersection with other information searches (creation time in FIG. 12) is displayed as a list.

  FIG. 13 is a screen displaying the result of the search execution of FIG. Select what you think is applicable, and click "Open" to confirm the contents, and find the work you have done previously.

  At this time, the information used by the application and the directory for storing the information do not need to be on the computer used by the user. Yahoo! Yahoo! There is a place where a disk rental service is provided on a portal site, such as Japan's BrieCase or Business of Google's storage (my space / shared space). By using such a service, a user who has an account on the portal site can perform work other than his computer.

  The present invention also provides a recording medium in which a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is recorded to a system or apparatus, and a program in which the CPU (MPU) of the system or apparatus is stored in the recording medium. This can also be realized by reading and executing the code. In that case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and a storage medium storing the program code, for example, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, a CD-R, CD-RW, MO, HDD, etc. constitute the present invention.

The functional block diagram of the information search system based on information generation history. The figure which shows the example of a user profile setting screen. The figure which shows the example of the desktop screen of the computer which the user is using. The figure which shows the example of a screen at the time of displaying the menu of the information search program software based on information generation history as a button. The figure which shows the example of a screen at the time of displaying the information search program software based on information generation history as a menu. The figure which shows the example of a screen which showed the recorded content by the table | surface. The figure which shows the example of a screen which showed the recorded content by the thumbnail. The figure which shows the example of a screen displayed when the item addition is pushed. The figure which shows the screen which showed the acquired information by the list list. The figure which shows the example of a screen when displaying news and event information, and the list information in cooperation with the information acquired by the information generation process. The figure which shows the example of a screen at the time of displaying news and event information, and the information acquired by the information generation process, and displaying the thumbnail. The figure which shows the example of a screen which searches the information acquired by the information generation process. The figure which shows the screen which displayed the result of having performed search.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Information search apparatus based on information generation process 101 ... User profile management part 102 ... History information acquisition part 103 based on information generation process 103 ... History search part created based on information generation process 104 ... Portal information cooperation management part 105 ... User Profile storage DB
106 ... History information storage DB based on information generation process
107 ... Internet 108 ... Portal Server 109 ... Keyword Extraction Unit 110 ... News Article DB
111 ... Event information storage DB
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 112 ... Disk rental server 113 ... Data management part 114 ... Disk rental space 115 ... Client terminal 116 ... Information retrieval program based on information generation process 301 ... Word processor software 302 ... Browser software 303 ... Mail software 304 ... File management software 305 ... Tag Software 306 ... Information retrieval program

Claims (13)

Stores time information related to the time when the user performed the file creation operation, application information related to the application used on the computer by the user at that time, application usage information related to information used by the application, or each information. Recording means for recording the directory information related to the directory corresponding to the file information;
Search means for searching for recorded file information based on the time information, application information, application usage information, or directory information;
An information search system based on information generation history, comprising display means for displaying file information that matches the search conditions.   The information search system according to claim 1, further comprising presentation means for acquiring the application information or application usage information from the displayed information and presenting the acquired information. News information recording means for recording news information related to the time information in association with file information;
The information search system according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: news information search means for searching for recorded file information based on the news information. Profile creation means for creating a user profile that collects information about user preferences;
Related information recording means for recording news or event information related to a user from a portal site or information providing site on the Internet in association with file information using the created user profile;
4. An information search based on information generation history according to claim 1, further comprising related information search means for searching recorded file information based on news or event information related to a user. system. Deleting means for deleting unnecessary information from the recorded file information;
Adding means for adding necessary information to the recorded file information;
5. An information retrieval system based on information generation history according to claim 1, further comprising comment adding means for adding a user comment to the recorded file information. Regular news information recording means for recording regular news information obtained at regular time intervals in correspondence with file information;
6. An information retrieval system based on information generation history according to claim 1, further comprising periodic news information retrieval means for retrieving recorded file information based on the periodic news information. Time information related to the time when the user performed the file creation operation by the user, application information related to the application used on the computer by the user at that time, application usage information related to information used by the application, or each A recording step of recording directory information related to a directory storing information in association with file information;
A search step for searching the recorded file information based on the time information, application information, application usage information, or directory information;
A display step for displaying file information that matches the search condition; and an information search method based on information generation history.   8. The information search method according to claim 7, wherein the presenting means includes a presenting step of acquiring the application information or application usage information from the displayed information and presenting the information. A news information recording means for recording the news information related to the time information in correspondence with the file information;
9. The information search method based on information generation history according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the news information search means includes a news information search step for searching recorded file information based on the news information. . A profile creation step in which a profile creation means creates a user profile that collects information about user preferences;
Related information recording means for recording news or event information related to a user from a portal site or information providing site on the Internet using the created user profile in association with file information; and
10. The information according to claim 7, further comprising a related information search step for searching for recorded file information based on news or event information related to a user. Information retrieval method based on generation process. A deletion step of deleting unnecessary information with respect to the recorded file information;
An adding step in which the adding means adds necessary information to the recorded file information;
11. The information search method based on the information generation process according to claim 7, wherein comment adding means includes a comment adding step of adding a user comment to the recorded file information. . A periodic news information recording step in which the periodic news information recording means records the periodic news information obtained at regular intervals in correspondence with the file information;
The information generation process according to any one of claims 7 to 11, wherein the periodic news information search means includes a periodic news information search step of searching recorded file information based on the periodic news information. Information retrieval method based on.   13. An information generation process according to claim 1, wherein the information search system based on the information generation process or the information search method based on the information generation process is described in a computer program and can be executed. Based information retrieval program.

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