JP3339937B2 - Database search device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a database search apparatus, and more particularly to a database search apparatus for specifying database search conditions when searching for desired data from a database. In particular, the present invention relates to a database search device that can be used by a user who is not familiar with the grammar of a computer or software to search a database under various search conditions.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 10 shows the configuration of a conventional database search system, in which a database 200 for storing data to be searched, a keyboard 380 for a user to input search conditions, and information for the user are displayed. The display unit 390 includes a display unit 390 and a data acquisition unit 320 that acquires data from the database 200 using search conditions input by a user.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a conventional database search system in which a user inputs search conditions for searching a database from a keyboard. The database 200 includes a database 200, a keyboard 380 in which the user inputs search conditions, and Data acquisition unit 32 that acquires data from database 200 using search conditions input by a user
0, and a display unit 390 that displays the data acquired by the data acquisition unit 320. In the figure, a database 200 is a database “home electric appliance sales” relating to sales of home electric appliances, and its attributes are a customer name, a product name, and a sales amount.

When a user acquires desired data from the database 200, the user inputs, for example, a file name as a database identifier (ID), and inputs, for example, a set of an attribute and an attribute value condition as a data search condition. FIG.
For example, when the user searches the “home appliance sales” database 200 described in No. 1 for data whose product name matches “television”, the database ID and search conditions are specified as follows. Database ID: “sales of home appliances” Search condition 1: (attribute name = “product name”) Search condition 2: (attribute value = “TV”) Search condition 3: Search condition 1 AND Search condition 2 Using database 200
Can be searched for data whose product name matches "TV". According to another expression (the left side represents an attribute name and the right side represents the attribute value of the attribute corresponding to the attribute name), the condition obtained by the AND operation of the search condition 3 in the above example is a product It matches the condition that the name can be described as “TV”.

[0005] When a user searches for "data on home electric appliances whose sales are 20,000 or more and less than 60,000 and their customer names", a database ID: "sales of electric home appliances" search condition 1: (attribute name = "sales" High ”) Search condition 2: (attribute value ≧ 20000) AND (attribute value ≦ 60000)
) Search condition 3: Input search condition 1 AND search condition 2. The search condition 3 is that “sales are 20,000
As described above, and the sales are 60000 or less. " The data acquisition unit 220 reads “sales of 20,000 or more,
And the data that matches the search condition of “sales is 60000 or less”. The display unit 390 displays the data acquisition unit 32
The search result obtained at 0 is displayed.

If one wants to know more detailed data, for example, data on the sales of the product name “TV”, the database ID is “sales of home appliances”. Search condition 1: (attribute name = “product name”) Search condition 2: (Attribute value = “TV”) Search condition 3: Search condition 1 AND Search condition 2 Search condition 4: (Attribute name = “Sales”) Search condition 5: (Attribute value ≧ 20000) AND (Attribute value ≦ 60000)
) Search condition 6: Search condition 4 AND Search condition 5 Search condition 7: Search condition 3 AND Search condition 6 Enter and search the database.

As described above, in the conventional database search system, the user uses the keyboard 380 to input a search condition in the form of a search condition expression including an attribute name or an attribute value. Further, the search result is output on the display screen using a character string in a table format or the like.

In recent years, with the development of personal computers and the like, a user-oriented man-machine interface (MMI) has been provided for various kinds of application software using a graphical user interface (GUI) including a graphical display device and a mouse. The search condition expression for database search is input as a character string from the keyboard.

[0009]

However, in the conventional database search apparatus, when a user specifies a search condition for obtaining desired data, a conditional expression is created according to a predetermined grammar. Needs to learn the grammar for describing conditional expressions in advance. Furthermore, since the user needs to input the attribute name, the above-mentioned conditional expression including the attribute value, or the key data selected from the attribute value in the desired attribute of the database from the keyboard, in order to use the database properly, It is also necessary to become familiar with the contents of data included in the database, such as the types of data stored in the database and key data for searching the stored data.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and when a user searches for and obtains desired data from a database, the user learns a description grammar of a search condition formula of the database in advance, and An object of the present invention is to provide a database search device capable of designating a search condition while referring to detailed information of data stored in a database without becoming proficient in detailed contents of data stored in the database.

[0011]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the principle of the present invention.

The database search apparatus of the present invention uses an apparatus having a pointing function for inputting an information request from a user and inputting the information request from a user. Data acquisition means 120 for acquiring data desired by the user, and acquired data discrimination means for classifying the data acquired by the data acquisition means 120 into attributes of numerical data types and attributes of other data types according to the attributes. 130, a statistic calculation unit 140 for calculating a statistic of an attribute value included in the attribute of the numerical data type, and a statistic calculated by the statistic calculation unit 140 is subjected to graphic processing, and the statistic obtained by the graphic processing Value display means 152 for displaying attribute values and attribute value list display means for displaying a list of attribute values included in other types of attributes And a 54 and a display unit 150 for displaying a list of attributes in the database.

Further, in the database search device of the present invention, the statistic calculation means 140 calculates the frequency distribution of the appearance frequency of the attribute value included in the numerical type attribute, and the statistic display means 1
52, the frequency distribution calculated by the statistic calculation means 140 is graphically processed and displayed as a frequency distribution chart, and is used as a search condition from the attribute value range of the frequency distribution chart displayed by the statistic display means 152. Value range is input means 11
It is characterized by being selected by 0.

[0014]

With the database search device of the present invention, a list of attributes of the database 200 is displayed, and the user is allowed to select an attribute using a device having a pointing function such as a mouse without using a keyboard. Attributes are classified into numeric data type attributes and attributes of other data types. If the classified attribute is a numeric data type, calculate the statistic of the attribute value included in the attribute, display the calculated result as a graphic, and display the range of possible values of the desired attribute value to the user. To select. On the other hand, if the classified attribute is of another data type, a list of attribute values of the attribute is displayed to allow the user to select a desired attribute value. Thus, the user selects a desired attribute from the information displayed on the display unit 150 by the input unit 110, and further sets a condition for the attribute value from the range of the attribute value displayed in the figure or the attribute value displayed in the list. By selecting, a database search condition for searching for desired data can be designated. Therefore, when the user specifies the search condition,
There is no need to create a conditional expression according to a predetermined grammar and input this conditional expression from the keyboard, and it is not necessary to know in advance the detailed contents of the database such as the statistics of attribute values or a list of attribute values.

[0015]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS When searching and outputting necessary information from a database in response to an information request from a user, a search condition for a user to search for desired data is determined from information displayed on a graphic display device by a pointing device. An embodiment of the database search device according to the present invention designated by the following will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a database search system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The database 200 stores information to be searched, and a user searches the database 200 for necessary information. It comprises a graphical user interface (hereinafter, referred to as a GUI) 210 as an input / output device to be used, and a database search device 220 for searching and outputting necessary information from the database 200 in response to an information request from a user.

The GUI 210 according to one embodiment of the present invention includes:
It comprises a high-resolution bitmap display 212 for displaying characters and graphic information and the like, and a mouse 214 as a pointing device for indicating a position on the screen.

Further, the database search device 220 according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a data acquisition unit 230 for acquiring data according to a user input via the GUI 210 from the database 200, and a data acquisition unit 230 for acquiring data from the database 200 according to the user input. Acquired data discriminator 240 that determines whether the attribute of the acquired data is a numeric data type or another data type, and a minimum value, a maximum value, an average value, a median value, and a frequency distribution of attribute values of the numeric data type Statistic calculation unit 250 for calculating statistics such as variance, standard deviation, deviation value, normal distribution, binomial distribution, etc., and a statistics result display unit 262 for displaying the statistic calculation results, and attributes in the database 200 Display section 26 having an attribute list display section 266 for displaying a list of attribute values, and an attribute value list display section 264 for displaying a list of attribute values included in a predetermined attribute. Consisting of.

FIG. 3 shows a display unit 26 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The statistic calculation result display part 262 of 0 is shown. In the figure, a title 282 indicating the type of the statistic and the attribute name is displayed.
A graphical statistic 284 that displays a statistical quantity (for example, a bar graph) that has been subjected to the graphic processing; an attribute value scale 286 that indicates a range of attribute values corresponding to the horizontal axis of the statistic diagram; An area (hereinafter, referred to as a slider box) 288 for designating a desired value range from the value range is displayed.

In the database 200 used in one embodiment of the present invention, the attribute names are “customer name”, “product name”,
This is a “home appliance sales” database including three attributes “sales”, and the attribute values of “customer name” include “A”,
"B" and "C" are included, and the attribute value of "product name"
Includes “TV”, “Refrigerator” and “Radio”, and the attribute values of “Sales” include “100000”, “500000”, and “15”.
00000 "and" 200000 ".

Next, the operation of the database search device 220 according to the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 2 will be described in detail.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining an outline of search condition specification in the database search device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

In the following description, it is assumed that a database to be searched has already been selected in one embodiment of the present invention, and it is not necessary to select a database again in the process of specifying search conditions.

Step 100) The data acquisition unit 230 acquires a database attribute list, that is, “customer name”, “product name”, and “sales” from the database 200, and displays them on the attribute list display unit 266 of the display unit 260. The data is converted into a data format (for example, display position, format, display data) and displayed on the bitmap display 212.

Step 110) The user designates an attribute specified as a search condition from the database attribute list displayed on the bitmap display 212 by the mouse 214.
Use to select. The data acquisition unit 230 notified of the selected information acquires the attribute value of the corresponding attribute from the database 200.

Step 120) Acquired data judging section 240
Is based on the attribute specified by the user.
Whether the data type of the attribute acquired at 0 is a numeric data type (for example, if “sales” is selected as the attribute),
For other data types, for example, character type (the attribute is
"Customer name" or "product name"), and if the data type is other than the numerical data type, step 150
Proceed to.

Step 130) Since the data type of the attribute is a numerical data type, the statistic calculation unit 250 uses the attribute value acquired by the data acquisition unit 230 to calculate the statistic of the attribute value (minimum value, maximum value, Mean, median, frequency distribution, variance,
A standard deviation, a deviation value, a normal distribution, a binomial distribution, and the like are calculated, and any statistical amount (for example, a frequency distribution) is output to the statistical result display unit 262. The statistical result display section 262
The statistic is converted into a display data format, and a slider box 288 for the user to specify a range of the attribute value is added to the display data.
Output to

Step 140) The user refers to the statistics of the attribute values displayed on the bitmap display 212 and selects a desired attribute value condition from the range of the attribute values displayed in the slider box 288 with the mouse 214. (For example, by clicking the mouse button at the minimum value of the range,
While holding down the button, move to the maximum value in the range and release the button (eg). The data acquisition unit 230 notified of the designated attribute value range acquires data that falls within the designated attribute value range from the database 200, and acquires the acquired data, ie, the search, via the attribute list display unit 266. An attribute list in which the data thus obtained is marked by hatching or the like is output to the bitmap display 212.

Step 150) Since the data type of the attribute is a data type other than the numerical data, a list of attribute values is set as character string data, which is converted into a display data format and output to the bit map display 212.

Step 160) The user refers to the list of attribute values displayed on the bitmap display 212 and selects a desired attribute value condition with the mouse 214 (for example, when the desired attribute value is displayed). Mouse 21 where you are
Click 4) to specify. The data acquisition unit 230 to which the designated attribute value has been notified acquires data having the designated attribute value from the database 200. Via the attribute list display unit 266, the acquired data, that is, an attribute list in which the searched data is marked by shading or the like, is output to the bitmap display 212.

Step 170) If a new attribute is to be added to the search condition, the process returns to step 110. When the additional specification of the search condition is unnecessary, the search condition specification ends.

When returning to the step 110 from the step 170, the search data can be narrowed down by continuing the processing while the search result up to the immediately preceding is left. On the other hand, when the search result up to the immediately preceding is deleted, a new attribute is obtained. You can start your selection.

Hereinafter, a search condition designating method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to a search condition designating screen.

FIG. 5 shows an initial state of a condition designation screen according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which a list of database attributes is displayed. At this stage, one of the attributes of “customer name”, “product name”, and “sales” can be selected. Here, the position where the attribute “product name” is displayed on the screen is clicked with the mouse 214.

FIG. 6 shows a condition designation screen according to one embodiment of the present invention. This figure shows a state in which the attribute “product name” is selected, and a list of attribute values of the attribute “product name” is displayed in a pull-down menu format. Since the data type of the attribute value of the attribute "product name" is not a numeric data type but a character type,
Displays a list of attribute values in table format. When the mouse 214 is moved, the inverted part (“TV” in FIG. 6) in the attribute value list moves, and the user can select a desired attribute value. Releasing the mouse 214 button selects the attribute value. By such a user operation, FIG.
, Search condition 1: (attribute name = “product name”) search condition 2: (attribute value = “television”) search condition 3: search condition 1 AND search condition 2 are designated as search conditions.

FIG. 7 shows a condition designation screen according to an embodiment of the present invention. A list of database attributes obtained as a result of a search from the database under the above search conditions is displayed by shading data portions corresponding to the search conditions. FIG.

FIG. 8 shows a condition designation screen according to one embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, a state where the attribute “sales” is selected on the initial screen of the database attribute list display is shown. Since the data type of the attribute “sales” is a numerical data type, a statistic is calculated and the result is displayed on the screen. In one embodiment of the present invention, a frequency distribution of the appearance frequency of each sales amount is obtained as a statistic, and a distribution diagram is displayed.
Further, a slider box 430 is displayed below the distribution chart so that the user can specify the range of the attribute value of the sales and the mouse 214. In the figure, the fact that the user has specified the range of 50 to 300 is indicated by hatching in the slider box. In the figure, search condition 4: (attribute name = “sales”) search condition 5: (attribute value ≧ 500000) AND (attribute value ≦ 300000)
0) Search condition 6: Search condition 4 AND Search condition 5 are specified as search conditions.

FIG. 9 shows a condition designation screen according to one embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, using the above search condition 3,
This shows a state in which the attribute “sales” is already selected from the database attribute list display screen where the data whose “product name” is “television” has been searched. Since the data type of the attribute “Sales” is a numeric data type, the statistic is calculated and the result is displayed on the screen. The data for which the statistic is calculated is the data whose product name is “TV” Is limited to In one embodiment of the present invention, a frequency distribution for each amount of sales is obtained as a statistic and a distribution diagram is displayed. further,
Below the distribution chart, a slider box 288 for the user to specify the range of attribute values of sales and the mouse 214
Is displayed. In the figure, search condition 1: (attribute name = “product name”) search condition 2: (attribute value = “television”) search condition 3: search condition 1 AND search condition 2 search condition 4: (attribute name = “sales” High ”) Search condition 5: (Attribute value ≧ 500000) AND (Attribute value ≦ 300000)
0) Search condition 6: Search condition 4 AND search condition 5 Search condition 7: Search condition 3 AND Search condition 6 is equivalent to being specified as a search condition.

In the above description of one embodiment of the present invention,
The case where the data retrieval processing is executed simultaneously when the data acquisition unit acquires data from the database has been described as an example. However, a method in which the database retrieval part is separated from the data acquisition unit may be used.

Further, the configuration of the GUI 210 is not limited to the embodiment of the present invention. For example, a character display or a graphic display having a low resolution can be used as a display device. Also,
As a pointing device for designating a position on the screen, an external device such as a dial or a slider, a cursor movement on the screen by a key operation of a keyboard, or the like can be used.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the search condition is specified by using only the pointing device. However, the method of inputting the search condition expression using the keyboard and the input by the pointing device may be used together. It is possible. For example, the above search condition 5 is specified by a slider box on the screen and a mouse operation. Along with the display of the slider box, a keyboard input box of a search condition expression is displayed. When clicked, the search condition expression input from the keyboard is accepted.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the slider box is used to specify the range of the attribute value. However, the present invention is not limited to the slider box, but may be any method capable of specifying the range. It is possible to substitute a method of clicking a button for increasing or decreasing a numerical value with a mouse, or displaying a circular dial and rotating it to specify a range.

[0042]

As described above, according to the database search apparatus of the present invention, the user does not need to specify search conditions such as search conditions using a keyboard. It does not require learning, and contributes to the elimination of obstacles to the penetration of computing by users.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a principle configuration diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a database search system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a statistical result display unit according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an operation flowchart for specifying a database search condition by the database search device according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a condition designation screen (part 1) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a condition designation screen (part 2) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a condition designation screen (part 3) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a condition designation screen (part 4) according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a condition designation screen (part 5) according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a system configuration diagram according to the related art.

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining a system according to the related art.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 110 input means 120 data acquisition means 130 acquired data determination means 140 statistics calculation means 150 display means 152 statistics display means 154 attribute value list display means 200 database 210 graphical user interface (GUI) 212 bitmap display 214 mouse 220 database search device 230, 320 Data acquisition unit 240 Acquisition data discrimination unit 250 Statistics calculation unit 260 Display unit 262 Statistics result display unit 264 Attribute value list display unit 266 Attribute list display unit 282 Title 284 Graphical statistics 286 Attribute value scale 288 Attribute value range Designated area (slider box) 310 Database search system 380 Keyboard 390 Display section 400 Database attribute list display 410 Database attribute value selection pull-down Menu 420 Attribute value statistics display 430 Attribute value range specification slider box

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-4-216169 (JP, A) JP-A-1-72231 (JP, A) JP-A-4-125774 (JP, A) JP-A-5-215 289920 (JP, A) JP-A-5-181908 (JP, A) JP-A-7-6179 (JP, A) JP-A-6-348762 (JP, A) JP-A-6-68151 (JP, A) JP-A 64-1030 (JP, A) Yoshihisa Horio, Kazuyuki Tsuda, Masato Hirakawa et al., Development of Iconic Browser, IPSJ Research Report 89-DBS-70, Japan, Information Processing Society of Japan, March 1989 March 14, Vol. 89, No. 23, pp. 1-8 (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 17/30

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A database search device for searching and outputting necessary information from a database in response to an input of an information request from a user, wherein the information request from the user is input using a device having a pointing function. Input means (110); data acquisition means (120) for acquiring data desired by the user from the database based on search conditions of the database input from the input means (110); Acquisition data discrimination means (13) for classifying the data acquired by (120) into an attribute of a numerical data type and an attribute of another data type according to the attribute.
0), and a statistic calculation means (140) for calculating a statistic of an attribute value included in the attribute of the numerical data type when the acquired data determination means (130) determines that the attribute is a numerical data type.
The statistic calculated by the statistic calculation means (140) is subjected to graphic processing, and the statistic display means (152) for displaying the statistic processed by the graphic processing is included in the attributes of the other types. Display means (150) including an attribute value list display means (154) for displaying a list of attribute values to be displayed, and a display means (150) for displaying a list of attribute values of the database. A database search apparatus characterized by allowing a user to specify a search condition desired by the user by the input means (110). 2. The statistic calculation means (140) calculates a frequency distribution of appearance frequencies of attribute values included in the numerical type attribute, and the statistic display means (152) calculates the statistic calculation means (140). ) Is calculated and displayed as a frequency distribution chart, and is used as the search condition from the attribute value range of the frequency distribution chart displayed by the statistics display means (152). 2. A database search apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a range of values to be selected is selected by said input means.