JP4707476B2 - Information retrieval system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information search system that supports a user's flexible information comparison and selection behavior.

In recent years, various information retrieval systems have been proposed and put into practical use on the Internet. As a typical information retrieval system, a system that searches information based on a keyword input from a user is generally used. In addition, there is a type of searching information by not presenting a keyword but presenting a plurality of search conditions to a user, selecting some search conditions and pressing a search execution button. At this time, it is possible to narrow down the information by classifying the search conditions into a plurality and ANDing the selected search conditions between the classifications.
Japanese Patent No. 3368270

  However, in the current Internet, since a wide variety of information is flooded, it is becoming difficult for a user to access desired information in a short time using a general-purpose search system. Even when the information is narrowed down based on a plurality of search conditions, the search is started after all the search conditions are input, and therefore the user cannot recognize the search results for each search condition.

  For this reason, for example, the search condition may be narrowed down too much, so that the number of hits in the search result may be too small. In order to solve this, it is only necessary to execute a search every time a search condition is input and see the search results. However, in order to obtain a desired search result, it is necessary to repeat this operation, which is great for the user. It will be a hassle.

  The present invention has been made in view of these problems, and an object thereof is to provide a user-friendly information search technique.

  In order to solve the above problems, an information search system according to an aspect of the present invention includes a storage unit that stores a plurality of data elements to be searched, and a selection area for a plurality of attribute values of the data elements for narrowing down the data elements. Is displayed on the display device, an input receiving unit that receives a selection input of an attribute value in the selection area, and a search process that searches for a data element based on the attribute value specified by the received selection input A part. The search processing unit performs a search process every time a selection input is received by the input receiving unit, and provides the search processing result to the display processing unit. The display processing unit obtains a result of the search process performed by the search processing unit. Are reflected in the display of the search processing result for each attribute value. For example, information regarding attribute values that change due to selection input may be displayed as a search processing result.

  According to this aspect, the search process is performed each time an attribute value for narrowing down the data elements is input, and the user executes the search process by displaying the search process result in association with each attribute value. It becomes possible to know the relationship between the result and the attribute value. Thereby, the information search system of this aspect can support a user's selection action efficiently.

  The search processing unit counts, for each attribute value, the number of data elements having attribute values displayed on the display device for the data elements extracted by the search processing, and provides the display processing unit with the display processing unit. The number of data elements having each attribute value may be displayed for each attribute value. As a result, the number of data elements having each attribute value can be displayed for the extracted data elements as a result of the search process, so that the user can see the result of the search process for each attribute value sequentially, and the user can select It can provide direction in behavior.

  The search processing unit counts, for each attribute value, the number of data elements having attribute values displayed on the display device for the data elements extracted by the search processing, and provides the display processing unit with the display processing unit. The attribute value selection area where the count value is 0 may be set so that the user cannot select the attribute value. If a data element with a certain attribute value does not exist, that attribute value cannot be used to narrow down the information. Therefore, when the count value of the data element is 0, the attribute value cannot be selected, thereby avoiding the situation where the user performs the search process based on the attribute value, and the user's search time is reduced. It becomes possible to reduce.

  In addition, what converted the expression of this invention between the apparatus, the method, the system, and the computer program is also effective as an aspect of this invention.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, it is possible to implement | achieve the information management system which can support a user's comparison selection action effectively.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an external configuration of an information search system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this information search system 10, a plurality of user terminals 20 a, 20 b, 20 c (hereinafter, user terminals are represented by reference numeral “20”) and a data management apparatus 30 are connected via a network 40. The information search system 10 has a function of managing various data (information), and specifically has a function of supporting a flexible data search by a user. The network 40 may be a network of various protocols such as the Internet or an intranet.

  An information retrieval system has been developed in accordance with infrastructures related to communication functions and arithmetic processing functions such as improvement of communication speed of the network 40, improvement of processing speed of the user terminal 20 and the data management apparatus 30, and increase of recording capacity. There are various possible implementations of ten. For example, when the user terminal 20 stores all data elements necessary for the search process in its own recording device, the user terminal 20 can function alone as the information search system 10. At this time, the presence of the data management device 30 is not necessarily required, but may be present, for example, to update a data element stored in the user terminal 20.

  Also, the user terminal 20 downloads and installs a predetermined search support program described in Java (registered trademark) or the like, and the search result data supplied from the data management device 30 is stored in its own browser in a predetermined format. It is also possible to display. Further, the data management device 30 describes the search result in the form of text data or the like based on the search condition transmitted from the user terminal 20 and returns it to the user terminal 20, and the user terminal 20 sends the search result to the browser. It is also possible to display. As described above, the method for realizing the information retrieval system 10 according to the present invention can be arbitrarily selected by the system designer, and a system that realizes the functions described below is the present invention regardless of which method is adopted. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that this is in the range.

  Hereinafter, in order to explain the present invention, a case where the information search system 10 executes a used car search process is taken as an example. This is merely an example, and the information search system 10 of the present invention can be used for searching various objects such as accommodation facility search and real estate search.

In order to describe the present invention, the following terms are defined.
“Target child”: Data element to be searched. When a used car search is performed, “used car” is a target child.
“Evaluator”: An index for evaluating the target child.
“Evaluation value”: an attribute value obtained when the target child is evaluated by the evaluator. For example, when a used car is evaluated by color, if the used car is white, it has an attribute value of “white”.
“Evaluation condition”: “Attribute” expressed by a combination of an evaluator and an evaluation value.
“Selector”: An evaluator having a finite number of evaluation values. For example, “year”, “color”, “travel distance”, “number of doors”, “vehicle inspection remaining period”, etc. for evaluating used cars are applicable.
“Selected value”: An attribute value obtained when the target child is evaluated by the selector. For example, when a used car is evaluated by color, if the used car is white, it has an attribute value of “white”. This attribute value is classified into a plurality of types in advance for use in searching. In principle, each target child is assigned at least one selection value (attribute value) to one selector, but there may be a target child to which no attribute value is assigned.
“Selection condition”: “Condition for search” expressed by a combination of a selector and a selection value.
"Logical type selector": A selector that can be expressed by True / False as a selection value. Generally a selector with two selection values. The selection condition by the logic type selector is called a logic type selection condition.
“Non-Logical Selector”: A selector that is not a logical selector. Generally, a selector with three or more selection values. A selection condition by a non-logic type selector is called a non-logic type selection condition.

  The relationship between the evaluation value and the selection value will be described. The evaluation value corresponds to the true attribute value of the target child, and the selection value corresponds to the attribute value for searching the target child. For example, when a certain used car (target child) is evaluated by the evaluator “travel distance”, the evaluation value is assumed to be 15,000 km. On the other hand, the “travel distance” as a selector is set with a width of several thousand km or tens of thousands km, and therefore when the used car is evaluated by the selector “travel distance”, the selected value is “ 10,000 to 20,000 km ”. As described above, in this embodiment, the selector and the selected value are created for the search process from the evaluator and the evaluated value, and the information search system 10 uses this selector and the selected value to search. Narrowing processing is performed.

  In some cases, the evaluation value and the selection value are the same. For example, regarding “color”, if the evaluation value is white, the selection value is also white. In this case, the evaluation value can be used as a selection value for search processing.

  In the present embodiment, a case is considered in which the information search system 10 is used to narrow down a target child population including a variety of data elements by a user. In a general search refinement system, a predetermined target child subset is defined as a category from the entire target child population in advance. For example, in the used car search, categories are set as “domestic car” and “foreign car”, and a search is made to the user by presenting a valid selector / selection value for each category. However, in that case, it is difficult to meet the user's request that “the budget is only a constraint and it can be a domestic car or a foreign car”.

  On the other hand, in the information search system 10, it is assumed that the user performs a free search from all target child populations without being restricted to a predetermined category, and an arbitrary subset obtained from the target child population. On the other hand, an object is to increase the “degree of freedom” of user search / restriction behavior by dynamically presenting a “valid” selection condition subset. Here, the “valid selection condition subset” means a set of selectors and selection values such that at least one target child of the subset has such a selection value as an attribute value.

  FIG. 2 conceptually shows the relationship between the target child and the selection condition in this embodiment. FIG. 2A shows an example of mapping from the target child population to the selection condition. In this example, 10,000 used cars as target children exist as a population, and “year”, “color”, “air conditioner”, “airbag”, and the like are set as selectors. “Year” and “Color” are non-logic type selectors and have three or more selection values. On the other hand, “air conditioner” and “airbag” are logical type selectors and have two selection values (true, false). For example, a logical type selector has as a selection value the presence or absence of an object specified by the selector, the selection value true of “air conditioner” indicates that an air conditioner is installed, and the selection value false indicates an air conditioner. Indicates that is not installed. In this map, an attribute value of at least one of 10,000 used cars is expressed as a selection value. Therefore, for example, if there is no used car having the selection value “red” among the selection colors “color”, the selection value “red” is not expressed as a mapping from the target child population to the selection condition.

  FIG. 2B shows an example of mapping from a subset of the target child to a subset of the selection condition when an arbitrary subset is extracted from the target child population. The extraction of the subset from the target child population is performed by setting a selection condition according to an instruction from the user and performing a search process based on the selection condition. In this example, there are 100 used cars constituting the target child subset. As shown in the figure, for the three types of selection values (2003, 2001, 1995) in the selector “Year”, there are at least one applicable used car, but they exist in the population. The remaining selection values for the year are not included in the selection condition subset because there is no used car corresponding to this subset. “Applicable” means that a used car belonging to a set of target children to be searched has the selected value as an attribute value. The same applies to the other selectors. Regarding the selector “color”, only used cars having the selection value “white” exist, and there are no used cars having other colors. That is, all the 100 used cars included in the subset of objects are white, and there are no used cars of other colors. As long as there are no second-hand cars other than white, it is useless to maintain other colors as selection conditions. Therefore, the mapping shown in FIG. 2B is excluded from the subset of selection conditions. Similarly, with regard to “air conditioners”, there are no used cars that are not equipped with air conditioners, and all used cars are equipped with air conditioners. On the other hand, with respect to airbags, those that are installed and those that are not are mixed, so there are two types of selection values.

A technique for implementing a logic (so-called narrowing function) for extracting a specific target child subset from an arbitrary target child set (population or subset) will be described. This narrowing function uses a selection condition that is a combination of a selector and a selection value. As described above, there are two types of selectors constituting the selection condition: a logical type selector and a non-logical type selector.
(1) Logical type selector There are two selection values, and all the target children correspond to one of the two selection values (generally expressed as True / False).
(2) Non-logical type selectors with three or more selection values. In that case, each selected value is logically connected by OR.
In the search process, regardless of whether it is a logical type selector or a non-logical type selector, when a selection condition is set over a plurality of selectors, the selection conditions by each selector are combined by AND. .

Here, from the target child subset generated from the target child population by an arbitrary combination of the logical type selector and the non-logical type selector (hereinafter referred to as “restricted target child subset”), the “selectable selection condition” The mapping to “subset” will be described. “Settable selection condition subset” means a further selection condition (hereinafter referred to as “additional selection condition”) from the narrowed-down child subset at that time (hereinafter referred to as “initial narrowing-target child subset”). To obtain the next level narrowing target child subset (hereinafter referred to as “new narrowing target child subset”), the additional selection so that the new narrowing target child subset satisfies the following conditions: Means a set of conditions.
(i) When the additional selection condition is a logical type selection condition Since an AND condition is added, the new narrowing target child subset is a subset of the initial narrowing target child subset, but the new narrowing target child The subset contains one or more objects.
(ii) When the additional selection condition is a non-logical type selection condition When a selection condition for the same non-logical type selector is already set, a selection condition of the same selector but with a different selection value is added. Since the OR condition is added, the initial narrowing target subset is a subset of the new narrowing target subset, but the new narrowing target subset is the initial narrowing target. Different from a subset.

An example relating to “settable selection condition subset” is presented below.
・ If you specify “Air Conditioner: false” (logical type selection condition) as an additional selection condition for a subset of used cars (100), this additional selection will be used The condition is not included in the selectable selection condition subset.
・ If “Airbag: true” (logical type selection condition) is specified as an additional selection condition for a subset (100) of a used car, add this if the number of used cars reaches 60 The selection condition is included in the settable selection condition subset.
・ When “Year: 2003” (non-logical type selection condition) is specified as an additional selection condition for a subset (100) of a used car, the corresponding used car remains at 100. In this case, this additional selection condition is not included in the settable selection condition subset.
・ If “color: black” (non-logical type selection condition) is specified as an additional selection condition for a subset (100) of a used car, add this if there are 120 used cars. The selection condition is included in the settable selection condition subset.

Mapping from an arbitrary child subset to a settable selection condition subset can be logically defined by the following logic.
<Logical type selector>
A selection condition subset is obtained from the target child subset by mapping defined as shown in FIG. All selection conditions included in this selection condition subset are included in the settable selection condition subset.
<Non-logic selector>
A subset of selection conditions set for obtaining the target child subset from the target child population is defined as an initial selection condition subset. When the selector is not included at all in the initial selection condition subset, the selection condition included in the selection condition subset obtained from the mapping defined from the target child subset as shown in FIG. All are included in the settable selection condition subset.
On the other hand, if the selector is included in the initial selection condition subset, a new selection obtained by removing all combinations of (the selector, selection value) from the initial selection condition subset for the target child population A target child subset to which the conditional subset is applied is created, and the mapping defined in FIG. 2 from the new target child subset is included in the selection condition subset obtained (the selector: selection value). All combinations are included in the settable selection condition subset.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an outline of the internal configuration of the information search system 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention. The information search system 10 includes an input tool 22, a display device 24, an input reception unit 50, a storage unit 60, and a processing unit 100. As described with reference to FIG. 1, these configurations are provided in one or both of the user terminal 20 or the data management device 30, and which of the user terminal 20 or the data management device 30 is configured to have. Is optional in system design. When these configurations are provided in one of the user terminals 20, the user terminal 20 can function alone as the information search system 10, and these configurations are provided in both the user terminal 20 and the data management device 30. In this case, the user terminal 20 and the data management device 30 function as the information search system 10 in cooperation.

  In terms of hardware components, the information retrieval system 10 is realized by a CPU, a memory, a program loaded in the memory, or the like of at least one computer, but here, functional blocks realized by their cooperation are drawn. . Therefore, those skilled in the art will understand that these functional blocks can be realized in various forms by hardware only, software only, or a combination thereof.

  The user terminal 20 includes at least an input tool 22 and a display device 24. The display device 24 presents a search screen. The input tool 22 is an input interface such as a pointing device that operates a pointer on the screen of the display device 24, and is preferably a tool that allows the user to visually perform a search action based on the screen display. Note that the input tool 22 may be a keyboard or the like that can input text.

  The input receiving unit 50 receives an instruction input from the user via the input tool 22. The input receiving unit 50 may receive an instruction input via a network. The storage unit 60 stores data elements necessary for the search. The processing unit 100 executes a search process based on an instruction input from the user.

  FIG. 4 illustrates a detailed configuration of the information search system according to the embodiment. The information search system 10 includes an input tool 22, an input receiving unit 50, a processing unit 100, a display device 24, and a storage unit 60. The processing unit 100 includes a selection condition acquisition unit 102, a search processing unit 104, and a display processing unit 106, and the storage unit 60 includes an object child storage unit 62 and a selection condition storage unit 64.

  The target child storage unit 62 stores data elements (target children) to be searched in association with a plurality of attribute values. This attribute value is used for classifying data elements, and may be an evaluation value or a selection value. In this embodiment, the selection value is used as an attribute value for search. The data element is preferably stored in association with the selected value. When the data element is stored in association with the evaluation value, the evaluation value is converted into a selection value before the search process, and then the search process is performed. The data element may be stored in association with both the evaluation value and the selection value.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of the correspondence between data elements (target children) stored in the target child storage unit and selectors. For example, the database may be configured as a relational database. In this database, the target child is a used car, and the selector is a selector for evaluating a used car. “Evaluation” in the information search system 10 is to classify the target child by the selection value of the selector, that is, by classifying the target child based on the attribute value assigned to the target child. is there.

  The database in FIG. 5 shows some of the plurality of selectors. Here, “year”, “color”, “travel distance”, and “price range” are non-logic type selectors having three or more selection values, “air conditioner”, “power steering”, “airbag” "," Car TV "is a logic type selector having two selection values. The selection value true indicates that the element specified by the selector is included, and the selection value false indicates that the element specified by the selector is not included.

  As described above, the target child may be associated with the evaluator. For example, the true travel distance may be registered such that the evaluation value for the evaluator “travel distance” is 15000 km.

  Returning to FIG. 4, the selection condition storage unit 64 holds a search condition expressed by a combination of a selector and a selection value as a selection condition. In the information search system 10 of the present embodiment, as a general rule, selection conditions input from the user for different selectors are ANDed together to narrow down the information, but selection is performed for the same selector. Conditions are connected to each other by OR. For this reason, it is important to store the selector and the selection value in association with each other, thereby enabling effective search processing. In the logical selector, a plurality of selection conditions cannot be input, and a plurality of selection conditions may be input per selector only in the non-logical selector. Note that the AND or OR combination in this embodiment depends on how to set a logical expression for search, and AND and OR can be arbitrarily combined depending on the selection condition. In the present embodiment, the logical expression of the search condition is expressed by a method of combining the OR condition with the AND condition, but any logical expression can be expressed by this method by performing equivalence transformation. Those skilled in the art will understand that the same technique as in the present embodiment can also be applied when the search condition is expressed by combining the AND condition with the OR condition.

  The display processing unit 106 displays on the display device 24 a selection area of a plurality of attribute values of the data elements for narrowing down the data elements. At this time, since the non-logic type selector has three or more selection values, the selection values included in the selection are displayed as a list. For example, the selection value may be displayed surrounded by a frame, and the selection area may be clearly indicated to the user, or the selection area may be clearly indicated in the form of a button or the like. On the other hand, the logical type selector has only two logical values, and it is not necessary to select both, so the selection area may be provided as a check box. Note that the configuration of the selection region is not limited to the above-described format.

  The user uses the input tool 22 to select a selection area on the search screen displayed on the display device 24. On the search screen, a selection area of a non-logical type selector and a logical type selector is provided, and a corresponding selection value is selected and input as a selection condition by clicking the selection area with a mouse or the like. In the case of a non-logical type selector, the selection value is selected and input by pressing the list of selection value buttons. In the case of a logical type selector, the selection value is selected by checking the check box. Input is made. When the input receiving unit 50 receives a selection input of an attribute value in the selection area, that is, a selection condition, the input receiving unit 50 supplies the selection value acquisition unit 102 with the selection input.

  Upon receiving the selection condition, the selection condition acquisition unit 102 supplies a selection condition addition instruction to the search processing unit 104. In the course of the search process, there is a case where what the user has once set as the selection condition is canceled. At that time, an instruction to cancel the already set selection condition is supplied to the search processing unit 104.

  The search processing unit 104 performs a search for the target child stored in the target child storage unit 62 based on the selection condition supplied from the selection condition acquisition unit 102. Specifically, the search processing unit 104 refers to the attribute value of the target child included in the database shown in FIG. 5 and searches for the target child based on the selection value specified by the selection input received from the user. . The search processing unit 104 creates a logical expression with reference to the selector included in the selection condition, and performs a target child search process. Specifically, the AND processing of the selection conditions is executed between the selectors, and the OR processing of the selection conditions is executed within the same selector. Therefore, if a selection condition of a selector that is different from the selection condition selector that has already been set is added, the number of search (hits) for the target child will not increase, but usually it will decrease and the information will be narrowed down. be able to. On the other hand, when the selection condition for the same selector is added, the number of search for the target child does not decrease and usually increases. The search processing unit 104 provides the search processing result to the display processing unit 106. The display processing unit 106 reflects the result of the search processing performed by the search processing unit 104 in the display of the search processing result regarding each attribute value.

  FIG. 6 shows an initial screen for search. In this example, 90668 used cars (target children) are registered in the target child storage unit 62, and information about all used cars is disclosed before the search is started. The number of searches is displayed on the search number display screen 31 in the upper right, and since the search process is not executed on the initial screen, the total number of used cars is displayed. On the non-logic type selector selection screen 32, non-type selectors of “Year”, “Mission”, “Color”, “Mileage”, “Number of doors”, “Remaining vehicle inspection”, “Price range” are displayed For each selector, a selection area 33 for selecting a selection value is provided for each selection value. For example, for the selector “year”, “2003”, “2002”, “2001”, “2000”, “1999”, “1998”, “1997”, “1996”. Eleven selection values of “year”, “1995”, “˜1994”, and “other” are set. The user selects the selection area 33 using the input tool 22, whereby the selection condition is set and the search processing by the search processing unit 104 is executed.

  In the logic type selector selection screen 34, “left handle”, “air conditioner”, “power steering”, “cassette deck”, “CD player”, “MD deck”, “car navigation”, “car TV”, “air” Logical type selectors of “bag”, “ABS”, “three-row sheet”, and “4WD” are displayed, and a selection area 35 for selecting a selection value is provided for each selector. The selection area 35 is configured as a check box, and when checked, the selector is set as a selection condition.

  In this initial screen, each selection value (or selector) is displayed in association with a number. The numbers are preferably arranged in the vicinity of the selected value so that the user can easily understand that there is a correspondence with the selected value. This number indicates the number of target children having the selection value (selector) as an attribute in the target child population of 90668. For example, the selection condition of the selector “year” and the selection value “2003” indicates that 1820 used cars are applicable. When the number of used vehicles given to each selection value of the non-logic type selector is counted, the total is 90668. The same applies to other non-logical type selectors. Further, there are 5098 used cars having the selector “left steering wheel” as an attribute value, and the number of used cars that are not the left steering wheel is 85570 (= 90668-5098).

  By giving the number of corresponding used cars to each selection value, it is possible to give the user the direction of selection of the selection condition in the search process in the pre-search stage. For example, a user who is looking for a purple used car can recognize at a glance that there are only 530 out of 90668 cars. Further, for a user who is looking for a silver used car, 22314 out of 90668 cars exist in the pre-search stage, and it can be recognized that it is necessary to narrow down considerably. Thus, by displaying the number of corresponding target children for each selection value in the pre-search stage, it is possible to effectively support the user's selection behavior.

  The number of selection values “unknown” of the selector “car inspection residual” is zero. At this time, this selection value cannot be a selection condition. This is because the number of searches is always 0 when a search process is performed based on the selection conditions of the selector “car inspection residual” and the selection value “unknown”. In addition, if another selection value of the selector “car inspection residual” is selected, an OR process with the selection value is executed, so it is possible to avoid the number of searches from becoming zero, but in that case, “Unknown It is clear that the selection condition “” does not affect the search process.

  For the above reason, in the information search system 10 of the present embodiment, the display processing unit 106 sets the selection value selection area 33 in which the count value is 0 to a state in which the user cannot select the selection value. In FIG. 6, the selection area 33 of the selection condition specified by the selector “car inspection residual” and the selection value “unknown” is hatched. This indicates that the input from the user is impossible. Yes. Actually, the input accepting unit 50 may not accept input from the user by not accepting input to the selection area. By making the selection input by the user impossible, it is possible to avoid a situation where the search process becomes complicated in advance and to support efficient selection behavior. In addition to disabling input by the input tool 22, for example, the display color may be changed to another selection area 33 to allow the user to visually recognize. This makes it clear that the user does not have a used car having a selected value in the selected area.

  The search processing unit 104 performs a search process every time the input receiving unit 50 receives a selection condition, and provides the display processing unit 106 with the result of the search process. The display processing unit 106 reflects the result of the search processing performed by the search processing unit 104 in the display of the search processing result for each selected value. As described above, the search process is sequentially performed every time the selection condition is received, so that the user can see in real time what kind of search process has been executed based on the one input selection condition. As another view, the user knows in advance how many target children will be selected by setting the selection condition for all selection conditions that can be selected as the next selection input. Can do. As a result, it is possible to realize an information search system 10 that is user-friendly.

  In a conventional information retrieval system, a search process is executed after a plurality of selection conditions are input together with an AND condition. In this case, what kind of selection conditions are included in the entire search process. I couldn't know if it had an impact. On the other hand, according to the information search system 10 shown in the present embodiment, the search process is performed every time a selection input is received, and the execution result is sequentially reflected in the display of the search process result regarding the selected value. Then, it is possible to predict which selection condition will be selected next for efficient search processing.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of a search screen when a search is executed from the search initial screen of FIG. Here, a selection condition with a selector “year” and a selection value “2003” is input to the search processing unit 104. When the user designates a selection condition of the selection value “2003” using the input tool 22, a display color different from that of other selection areas is given. Thereby, the user can easily recognize the currently selected selection condition, and the convenience can be improved.

  The search processing unit 104 extracts 1820 used cars (target children) by the search process. On the search number display screen 31, the number of used cars extracted according to this selection condition is displayed as 1820. The search processing unit 104 counts (counts) the number of used cars having a selection value displayed on the display device 24 for each of the used cars extracted by the search process. The count value for each selection value is provided to the display processing unit 106, and the display processing unit 106 displays the count value of a used car having each selection value for each selection value. For example, the count value of the selection value “white” of the selector “color” is 416, which represents that the number of white used cars of the 2003 model is 416. This indicates that when the selection value “white” of the selector “color” is added to the selection condition in the next step, that is, when the “white button” is pressed, 416 search results are obtained. Here, since 1820 used cars that are subsets always have one selection value for each non-logic type selector, each of the non-type selectors other than “year” is included. The sum of the count values of the selection values is 1820.

  With respect to other selection values in the same selector “year”, the selection value “2003” is not allowed to act as a selection condition. Therefore, the number of 90668 vehicles in the population is continuously displayed. In order to clearly indicate a state that is not set as the selection condition, a predetermined sign such as “+” may be added before the number. In the next step, when a different selection value is added to the selection condition from the already set selectors, the OR condition is added, so the corresponding target child is increased. By adding this “+” sign, an “increasing” state can be expressed. For example, in the example of FIG. 7, when “2002” of “Year” is set in the next search step, this means that the number of corresponding data elements increases by 5959 to 7779.

  As shown in the drawing, the number of target children constituting the population subset has decreased, so that the selection value at which the count value of the target children is 0 has increased. Specifically, the selection value “unknown” of the selector “color”, the selection values “50 to 60,000 km”, “60 to 70,000 km”, “70 to 80,000 km” of the selector “travel distance”, Selection values of “10 to 120,000 km”, “120,000 km”, selection values of “car inspection residual” “half year to one year”, “to half year”, “unknown”, selection values of the selection value “price range” “ Since the number of used cars having “less than 200,000 yen” and “200,000,000,000 yen” has become 0, the selection area of these selection values is set to an unselectable state. If the selection is disabled, the input receiving unit 50 does not receive the input even if the selection area is instructed from the input tool 22. When the selection value of the logical type selector is 0, display processing is performed so that the check box of the logical type selector selection screen 34 cannot be checked, and the input receiving unit 50 also receives the input. Not accepted.

  FIG. 8 shows an example of a search screen when a search is further executed from the search screen of FIG. Here, selection conditions of selection values “2002”, “2001”, and “2000” among the selection values of the selector “Year” are added and input to the search processing unit 104. FIG. 8 shows a state in which three selection values are added as selection conditions. However, the search processing by the search processing unit 104 is performed each time a selection condition is input. Therefore, each time a selection condition is input, the number of used cars having the respective selection values is displayed on the display device 24.

  Since the input selection value is included in the same selector, the search processing unit 104 ORs each selection condition and extracts 26512 used cars. On the search number display screen 31, the number of used cars extracted according to these selection conditions is displayed as 26512 units. The search processing unit 104 counts the number of used cars each having a selected value for each used value regarding the used cars extracted by the search process. The count value for each selection value is provided to the display processing unit 106, and the display processing unit 106 displays the count value of a used car having each selection value for each selection value. For example, the count value of the selection value “white” of the selector “color” is 5747. This indicates that the number of white used cars in the year between 2000 and 2003 is 5747. expressing. Note that the sum of the count values of the selection values included in the non-logic type selectors other than “Year” is 26512.

  For other selection values in the same selector “year”, the selection values “2003”, “2002”, “2001”, “2000” are not allowed to act as selection conditions, and therefore the population The number out of 90668 is continuously displayed.

  FIG. 9 shows an example of a search screen when a search is further executed from the search screen of FIG. Here, a selection condition of the selection value “purple” of the selector “color” is added and input to the search processing unit 104.

  Since the input selection value “purple” belongs to a different selector than the selector that has been input so far, the search processing unit 104 selects the selection condition in the selector “year” and the selector “color”. AND processing is performed on the selection conditions to extract 151 used cars. On the search number display screen 31, the number of used cars extracted according to these selection conditions is displayed as 151 units. The search processing unit 104 counts the number of used cars each having a selected value for each used value regarding the used cars extracted by the search process. The count value for each selection value is provided to the display processing unit 106, and the display processing unit 106 displays the count value of a used car having each selection value for each selection value. For example, although the count value of the selection value “less than 5,000 km” of the selector “travel distance” is 52, this is the year 2000 to 2003, purple, and the travel distance is 5000 km. The number of used cars less than 52 is expressed as 52.

  For each selection value of the selector “year”, the selection value “purple” of the selector “color” acts as a selection condition. The total number of used cars of the year from 2000 to 2003 is 151, and the number of used cars of each year is displayed. For other selection values that are not set as search conditions, AND processing of each selection value and the selection value “purple” is performed, and the corresponding number of cases is displayed. When selection conditions are set in different selectors by the above search processing, the selection conditions in one selector can act on the selection values of other selectors, and therefore the selection conditions belong to different selectors. The influence on the selection value can be effectively expressed.

  FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram illustrating hardware components of the information search system according to the embodiment of the present invention. In particular, this configuration diagram expresses the hardware components of the user terminal 20 shown in FIG. 1, and when the information search system 10 is realized by the cooperative operation of the user terminal 20 and the data management device 30, Represent both hardware components.

  The information search system 10 includes a display device 24, an input tool 22, a CPU 300, a RAM (random access memory) 304, a hard disk 302, and a drive device 306. The display device 24 and the input tool 22 denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIGS. 3 and 4 realize the functions and operations described with reference to FIGS. These components are electrically connected by a signal transmission path such as a bus 308.

  The hard disk 302 is a large-capacity magnetic storage device, and the information retrieval system 10 records data elements and selection conditions. 3 and 4 is a concept including both the hard disk 302 and the RAM 304.

  The recording medium 310 records a program for causing the CPU 300 to realize the functions of the information search system 10 described in connection with the embodiment. When the recording medium 310 is inserted into the drive device 306, the program is read to the RAM 304 or the hard disk 302, and the CPU 300 uses the read program to support the information search function, that is, the user's comparison and selection behavior. Realize the function. The recording medium 310 is a computer-readable medium such as a CD-ROM, DVD, or FD. Further, when the recording medium 310 records a data element and the recording medium 310 is inserted into the drive device 306, the data element may be written to the hard disk 302.

  Here, the example in which the information retrieval program is recorded in the recording medium 310 has been described. However, in another example, the program is transmitted from an external server to the user terminal 20 or the like regardless of wireless or wired. May be. In the hardware configuration shown in FIG. 10, the program only needs to realize the data management function in the computer, and may be stored in the hard disk 302 in advance as well as supplied from the outside. It will be understood by contractors.

  In the above, this invention was demonstrated based on the Example. These embodiments are exemplifications, and it is understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made to the combination of each component and each processing process, and such modifications are within the scope of the present invention. is there.

It is a figure which shows the external structure of the information search system concerning the Example by this invention. It is a figure which shows notionally the relationship between the object child and selection condition in a present Example. It is a block diagram which shows the outline of the internal structure of the information search system concerning the Example by this invention. It is a figure which shows the detailed structure of the information search system concerning an Example. It is a figure which shows the example of the correspondence of the data element (target child) and selector which are stored in a target child storage part. It is a figure which shows the initial screen of a search. It is a figure which shows the example of a search screen when a search is performed from the search initial screen of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a search screen when performing a search further from the search screen of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a search screen when performing a search further from the search screen of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the hardware component of the information search system concerning the Example of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Information retrieval system, 20 ... User terminal, 22 ... Input tool, 24 ... Display apparatus, 30 ... Data management apparatus, 31 ... Search number display screen, 32 ... Non-logical type selector selection screen, 33... Selection area, 34... Logical type selector selection screen, 35... Selection area, 40... Network, 50. Storage unit 62: Target child storage unit 64 ... Selection condition storage unit 100 ... Processing unit 102 ... Selection condition acquisition unit 104 ... Search processing unit 106 ... Display processing unit.

Claims (8)

A storage unit for storing a plurality of data elements to be searched;
For a selector that is an index for evaluating a data element, a display processing unit that displays a selection area of a plurality of attribute values of the data element for narrowing down the data element on a display device;
An input receiving unit that receives selection input of attribute values in the selection area as a selection condition ;
A search processing unit for performing a search for a data element based on the received selection condition ,
The search processing unit, the input performed accepts a search processing selection condition in the reception section, with respect to data element extracted by the search process, the attribute the number of data elements having attribute values displayed in the display device Count each value and provide it to the display processor,
The display processing unit displays the number of data elements having respective attribute values for each attribute value,
The search processing unit does not perform search processing based on the attribute value included in the selection condition for other attribute values in the same selector as the attribute value included in the selection condition,
The display processing unit continues to display the number of data elements that were displayed before receiving the selection condition for the other attribute values.
Information retrieval system characterized by   When the input receiving unit receives a selection input of an attribute value of a second selector different from the first selector to which the attribute value included in the selection condition input so far belongs as a new selection condition,
  The search processing unit
  For attribute values belonging to the first selector, except for selection conditions including attribute values belonging to the first selector, and based on all selection conditions including selection conditions including attribute values belonging to the second selector. Perform a data element search, count the number of data elements for each attribute value, and provide the display processing unit,
  For the attribute value belonging to the second selector, except for the selection condition including the attribute value belonging to the second selector, and based on all the selection conditions including the selection condition including the attribute value belonging to the first selector. Performing a search for data elements, counting the number of data elements for each attribute value, and providing the display processing unit,
  The information search system according to claim 1.   For the attribute value of a selector that is neither the first selector nor the second selector, the search processing unit calculates a selection condition including an attribute value belonging to the first selector and an attribute value belonging to the second selector. The data element search is performed based on the selection condition including any of the selection conditions included, the number of data elements is counted for each attribute value, and provided to the display processing unit. Item 3. The information search system according to Item 2.   The display processing unit displays, for other attribute values in the same selector as the attribute value included in the selection condition, the number that increases the number of data elements extracted by the search process when selected and input. The information search system according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The information search according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the display processing unit sets a selection area of an attribute value having a count value of 0 in a state in which the user cannot select the attribute value. system. The search processing unit performs a search process each time a selection input is received in the input receiving unit,
6. The information search system according to claim 1, wherein the display processing unit displays a result of the search process every time the search process is performed.   On the computer,
  For a selector that is an index for evaluating a data element, a display function for displaying a selection area of a plurality of attribute values of the data element for narrowing the data element on a display device;
  An input reception function for receiving selection input of attribute values in the selection area as a selection condition;
  A program for realizing a search function for searching for a data element based on an accepted selection condition,
  When the input reception function accepts the selection condition, the search function performs a search process, and for each data element extracted by the search process, the number of data elements having an attribute value displayed on the display device is determined for each attribute value. Counting and providing to display function,
  The display function displays the number of data elements having each attribute value for each attribute value,
  The search function does not perform search processing based on the attribute value included in the selection condition for other attribute values in the same selector as the attribute value included in the selection condition,
  The display function continues to display the number of data elements that were displayed before accepting the selection condition for the other attribute values.
  A program characterized by A computer-readable recording medium on which the program according to claim 7 is recorded.

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