JP2002041571A - Information retrieving device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information retrieving device whose retrieval operation is easy by displaying data easy to see even when there are a large number of data by appropriately limiting contents to be displayed on a map screen and the number of keywords. SOLUTION: When selecting an instruction item to be displayed on the map, a control part 8 selects and displays the instruction item of the keyword and contents having a high utility index calculated from the number of times of utilization based on a utilization history on the map preferentially rather than the instruction item of the keyword and contents having a low utility index.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information retrieval apparatus for retrieving contents stored in a storage device such as a computer. It is another object of the present invention to provide an information retrieval apparatus in which a retrieval operation is easy to understand and easy to use.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the development of computer technology and Internet technology, a very large amount of contents can be accessed. Along with this, the importance of search technology for extracting only necessary items from a large amount of contents has been increasing.

In a general search method for text data, a user often inputs a keyword, determines whether or not the keyword is included in the data, and selects the data. . However, when a search is performed on content such as images and sounds, it is difficult to express the feature with an appropriate keyword, and there has been a problem that the method of inputting a keyword does not provide sufficient usability.

As one technique for solving this problem, there has been proposed a method of mapping a content and a keyword as an attribute thereof to two-dimensional coordinates for display. On these coordinates, contents or keywords having similar characteristics are arranged nearby, and the user selects one point on the map with a pointing device such as a mouse to perform a search. Since keywords or contents having similar characteristics are arranged nearby, it is possible to easily search for another keyword or content to be associated with based on one keyword or content. As a method of creating such coordinates, a self-organizing map, principal component analysis, or the like is used.

[0005] In such a search method, when the number of contents and keywords increases, the contents and keywords displayed on the screen overlap with each other, making the display complicated and difficult for the user to use.

As an invention for solving this problem, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-120180 is disclosed. Here, words representing images such as "elegance", "power", and "lyrical" and the degree of the words are given as attribute values to the image data, and each image data is arranged on two-dimensional coordinates. To display. The display is performed using two hierarchical two-dimensional planes, so that it is easy to find necessary data even when the search data is large.

[0007]

Problems to be Solved by the Invention
No. 80 addresses the problem of complicated screen display by performing display using a first two-dimensional plane and a second two-dimensional plane. However, in the first two-dimensional plane, which is a search screen used first by the user, each data is represented by a simple graphic symbol, and it is easy to know what type of data the symbol on the coordinate represents. It was difficult. When the characters are displayed on the first two-dimensional plane, the position on the coordinates and the characteristics of the data are easy to understand, but when the number of data is large, the screen becomes complicated and difficult to see. It also mentions displaying a reduced image of the image (content) in addition to the symbol, but when the number of data is large, the problem that the reduced images of the image (content) overlap to make it difficult to see is mentioned. I didn't.

[0008] The present invention is an information retrieval apparatus for converting a content and a keyword assigned thereto into multidimensional coordinates and displaying the converted coordinates, and by appropriately limiting the number of contents and keywords displayed on a map screen. It is another object of the present invention to provide an information retrieval apparatus that performs an easy-to-read display even when the number of data is large and facilitates a retrieval operation.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides the following information retrieval apparatus. (1) Content attribute storage means for storing the degree of conformity of each content with respect to each keyword, and a keyword coordinate value and a content coordinate value for arranging each keyword and each content in a multidimensional space using the degree of conformity At least one of a coordinate calculation means for calculating, a keyword instruction item indicating the keyword corresponding to the coordinate value in the keyword coordinate value, and a content instruction item indicating a content corresponding to the coordinate value in the content coordinate value Display means for displaying items as a two-dimensional or three-dimensional map; input means for specifying a position on the map; and selection means for selecting content having a coordinate value close to the coordinates specified by the input means. And usage history storage means for storing usage history of keywords and contents used by the user; When selecting the instruction item to be displayed on the map, a keyword and a content instruction item with a high usage index calculated from the number of uses based on the usage history are given priority over a keyword and a content instruction item with a low usage index. And a control unit for selectively displaying the information on the map. (2) Content attribute storage means for storing the degree of conformity of each content to each keyword and the production date of each content, and a keyword for arranging each keyword and each content in a multidimensional space using the degree of conformity Coordinate calculation means for calculating coordinate values and content coordinate values;
At least one of the keyword instruction item indicating the keyword corresponding to the coordinate value in the keyword coordinate value and the content instruction item indicating the content corresponding to the coordinate value in the content coordinate value is two-dimensional or three-dimensional. Display means for displaying as a map, input means for specifying a position on the map, selection means for selecting content having a coordinate value close to the coordinates specified by the input means, and display on the map A control unit for preferentially selecting a content instruction item corresponding to the new content of the production date when selecting the content instruction item to be displayed, and displaying the selected content instruction item on the map. . (3) The information retrieval device according to (1), wherein the usage index increases as the number of uses increases, and increases as an elapsed time from a use date and time decreases. (4) In the information search device according to the above (1) or (3), the control unit changes a display state of the keyword instruction item and the content instruction item according to the usage index in displaying the map. An information retrieval device characterized by the following. (5) The information search device according to (2), wherein the control unit changes a display state of the content instruction item according to the production date in displaying the map.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of an embodiment of an information retrieval apparatus according to the present invention. A content storage unit 1 for storing content, and a content attribute storage for storing attributes such as a content ID for uniquely identifying the content, a title, a creator name, a content storage location (file name), a content creation date, and a keyword matching degree. Part two,
A coordinate calculation unit 3 that calculates a coordinate value of a content and a keyword in a multidimensional space from a keyword assigned to the content, a coordinate storage unit 4 that stores a calculation result of the coordinate calculation unit 3, and a user used. A usage history storage unit 5 for storing keywords and usage history of the content, a title of the content, or an icon indicating the content of the content,
Alternatively, the keyword is two-dimensional or three-dimensional according to the coordinate value.
A display device 6 such as a CRT display for displaying as a dimensional map, an input device 7 such as a mouse capable of designating a position on the display screen of the display device 6, and a control unit 8 for controlling the entire operation are provided. I have.

FIG. 1 shows each section of the information retrieval apparatus as a functional block, but these can be realized as software using a computer having a general configuration.
Also, instead of configuring each unit with one computer, it is also possible to configure a server / client type distributed system.

[Content Registration Operation] When registering content, the content is stored in the content storage unit 1, the content attributes are set, and these are stored in the content attribute storage unit 2. The content attributes include a content ID that uniquely identifies the content, a title, a creator name, a storage location (file name) of the content body, a storage location (file name) of a content icon (such as a reduced image), a production date, and a keyword. There is a degree of conformity and the like, and is stored in the content attribute storage unit 2 as a content attribute table as shown in FIG.

The keyword matching degree is a numerical value indicating how well the content applies to each keyword, and is set to “1” when the content completely applies to a certain keyword and “0” when the content does not apply at all. . The keyword matching degree may be a binary value of “1” and “0”, or a degree to which the keyword is slightly applicable may be represented by an intermediate value such as “0.5”. In FIG. 2, assuming that the number of keywords is N, the relevance of each content from keyword 1 to keyword N is stored. In the following description, it is assumed that the number of contents stored in the content attribute storage unit 2 is M. The keywords are stored as a keyword table in the content attribute storage unit 2 in the format shown in FIG.

[Coordinate calculation operation] After the content registration process,
The coordinate calculation unit 3 performs a coordinate calculation operation. All the keyword conformances are read from the content attribute storage unit 2, each content is taken in the row direction, and each keyword is taken in the column direction to create a data matrix A as shown in FIG. Here, since the number of contents is M and the number of keywords is N, A is a matrix of M rows and XN columns. The data matrix A is subjected to a multivariate analysis method having no external standard, for example, a known principal component analysis, a quantification class, or a correspondence analysis, to obtain coordinate values of each content and each keyword. As a result, the coordinate value Ciq
(I = 1 to M, q = 1 to Q), the coordinate value Wj for the keyword j
q (j = 1 to N, q = 1 to Q) is obtained. Here, Q is the number of valid dimensions, and is a constant satisfying Q <min (M, N). Further, a dimension having a smaller degree such as q = 1 or 2 is an important dimension. The coordinate value Ciq and the coordinate value Wjq are standardized to have an average “0” and a variance “1”, respectively.

The coordinate value Ciq is stored in the content coordinate table of the coordinate storage unit 4, and the coordinate value Wjq is stored in the keyword coordinate table of the coordinate storage unit 4. FIG. 5 shows the format of the content coordinate table, and FIG. 6 shows the format of the keyword coordinate table.

[Search Operation in Mode 1] As a method of performing a search, a method of selecting a keyword (mode 1)
And a method of selecting a title and an icon of the content (mode 2). The user can select a favorite method.

FIG. 7 shows the flow of the search operation in mode 1.
I will explain using. First, a keyword map as shown in FIG. 8 is displayed on the screen of the display device 6. This is because the coordinate value Wjq of the keyword stored in the coordinate storage unit 4 is 2
It is displayed in dimensions. In the initial state, two dimensions having the smallest dimension numbers, that is, q = 1 and q = 2, are selected, but any two dimensions can be displayed according to the setting of the user. Hereinafter, the description will be made on the assumption that the dimension of the initial state is set. The user can select the number of keywords to be displayed on the screen by operating the slider shown in FIG.
This will be described later. Also, the size and color of the display font may be changed according to a keyword usage index described later.

Next, the user selects a part on the keyword map using the input device 7 such as a mouse. The user may specify a single point on the map or a certain area. When one point is designated, the two-dimensional coordinate value of the designated point is defined as (P1, P2), and each content i (i
= 1 to M) is calculated in accordance with the equation (1), and content whose distance is smaller than a predetermined value is selected. Here, the Euclidean distance as in equation (1) is used, but other distances may be used.

[0019]

(Equation 1)

When an area is designated, the content having the coordinate values (Ci1, Ci2) of the content included in the area is selected. Next, the search result is displayed. One example is shown in FIG. Here, in addition to displaying the title of the content, the creator, and the like on a screen different from the keyword map, if the content is an image, an icon (reduced image) is displayed. As another display method, a title of the corresponding content may be displayed so as to be overlaid on the keyword map as shown in FIG.

Next, the user selects the content to be used. This is performed, for example, by clicking and selecting one content from the search result screen.
Then, display / reproduction of the selected content is performed. Next, the history of the keyword and the content used in the search operation are stored in the use history storage unit 5, and the search operation ends.

The use history storage unit 5 stores information on the used keywords in a keyword use table in the format shown in FIG. When the user designates one point on the map, it is considered that a keyword whose coordinate value (Wj1, Wj2) is within a certain distance from (P1, P2) is used.
When the user specifies a map area, it is assumed that the keyword included in the area has been used. The usage history of the displayed / reproduced content is shown in FIG.
And stored in the content usage table in the format shown in

[Mode 1 Display Item Selection Operation] Such a two-dimensional map makes it easy to grasp the relationship between keywords and contents, and is also suitable for searching for images and sounds for which it is difficult to search for an appropriate keyword. However, when the number of items to be displayed on the map increases, the items overlap, which is very difficult to use. Therefore, it is important to appropriately select the items to be displayed.

When the slider shown in FIG. 8 is set to the "display all" position, all keywords (N) are displayed. On the other hand, when it is set to the “refine display” position, N1 keywords are displayed. Here, N1 is a number smaller than N and larger than 0. When the slider is set at the middle, Nx (N
1 ≦ Nx ≦ N) are displayed.

Next, a method of selecting Nx keywords by the control unit 8 will be described. Using the keyword usage table, calculate the usage index of each keyword. The usage index Fj of the keyword j (j = 1 to N) is calculated according to the following equation (2). Here, the number of entries (the number of rows) of the keyword usage table is K, and Φkj is “1” when the entry k (k = 1 to K) of the keyword usage table is the keyword j, and “0” otherwise. Function. G (x) is a function that monotonically decreases as the input x increases, as shown in FIG. 13. Tc is the current date and time, and Tk is the date and time of use of the keyword of the entry k. That is, the keyword usage index Fj increases as the number of keywords j registered in the keyword usage table increases, and increases as the keyword j is used recently.

[0026]

(Equation 2)

It is sufficient to select Nx keywords from the total N keywords in descending order of the keyword usage index Fj and display them on a map. Also,
At this time, the size and color of the display font of the keyword may be changed in accordance with the keyword usage index, so that the higher the keyword usage index, the more noticeable.

[Search Operation in Mode 2] The flow of the search operation in mode 2 will be described with reference to FIG. First, a content map as shown in FIG. 15 is displayed on the screen of the display device 6. This is a two-dimensional display of the content coordinate value Ciq stored in the coordinate storage unit 4. In this figure, the title of the content is displayed together with the coordinate values, but an icon or the like for identifying the content may be displayed.

In the initial state, the two dimensions having the smallest dimension numbers, that is, q = 1 and q = 2, are selected, but any two dimensions can be displayed according to the setting of the user. ing. Hereinafter, the description will be made on the assumption that the dimension of the initial state is set. The user can set the number of items to be displayed on the screen by operating the slider shown in FIG. 15, which will be described later. Also, by selecting the button shown in FIG.
It is possible to select whether to adjust the number of items on the screen display using the content usage index or to adjust the number of items on the screen display using the production date of the content, which will also be described later. Further, the size and color of the display font may be changed according to the content usage index and the content production date described later.

Next, the user selects a part on the content map using input means such as a mouse. The user may specify a single point on the map or a certain area. If one point is specified, 2 of the specified point
Assuming that the dimensional coordinate values are (P1, P2), each content i (i = 1
To M) are calculated according to the above equation (1),
Content whose distance is smaller than a certain value is selected.
Here, the Euclidean distance as in equation (1) is used, but other distances may be used. When an area is specified, the content whose coordinate value (Ci1, Ci2) is included in the area is selected.

Next, the search result is displayed. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, the title of the corresponding content, the creator, and the like are displayed on a screen separate from the content map, and an icon for identifying the content or a reduced image when the content is an image is displayed. It may be displayed. Or,
As shown in FIG. 16, the content may be displayed so as to be overlaid on the content map. In this case, detailed information such as titles, creators, and icons of all the corresponding contents including those not displayed on the content map is displayed.

Next, the user selects the content to be used. This is performed, for example, by clicking and selecting one content from the search result screen.
Then, display / reproduction of the selected content is performed. Next, the history of the content used in the search operation is stored in the use history storage unit 5, and the search operation ends. The usage history of the displayed / reproduced content is stored in the content usage table in the format shown in FIG.

[Mode 2 Display Item Selection Operation] Such a two-dimensional map makes it easy to grasp the relationship between keywords and contents, and is also suitable for searching for images and sounds for which it is difficult to search for an appropriate keyword. However, when the number of items to be displayed on the map increases, the items overlap, which is very difficult to use. Therefore, it is important to appropriately select the items to be displayed.

When the slider shown in FIG. 15 is set to the "display all" position, all contents (M) are displayed. On the other hand, if it is set to the “narrow display” position, M1 contents are displayed. However, M1
Is a number smaller than M and larger than 0. When the slider is set at the middle position, Mx (M1 ≦ Mx ≦ M) items are displayed according to the position.

Next, a method of selecting Mx contents by the control unit 8 will be described. There are two types of criteria for selecting display content: a method using a content usage index and a method using a content registration date. This 2
In the two methods, a user can select a preferable method by setting a button shown in FIG.

First, a method of using the content usage index will be described. The usage index of each content is calculated using the content usage table. The usage index Ei of the content i (i = 1 to M) is calculated according to equation (3). Here, the number of entries (the number of rows) of the content usage table is P,
Φpi is the entry p of the content usage table (p = 1 to
This function takes a value of “1” when P) is the content i, and a value of “0” otherwise. G (x) is shown in FIG.
Is a function that decreases monotonically with respect to the input x, such as
Tc is the current date and time, and Tp is the date and time of use of the content of entry p. That is, the content usage index Ei increases as the content i is more frequently registered in the content usage table, and increases as the content i is used more recently.

[0037]

(Equation 3)

From the entire contents (M), Mx contents are selected in ascending order of the content index Ei and are displayed on a map. next,
A case where the selection is made using the production date of the content will be described. Since the production date of the content is recorded in the content attribute table, it is sufficient to select and display Mx contents from this table in the order of the newest production date. Furthermore, the size and color of the display font of the keyword may be changed in accordance with the keyword usage index, so that the higher the keyword usage index, the more noticeable.

Although mode 1 and mode 2 have been described in detail above, it is also possible to display the content and the keyword on the same map and select the content together. In this case, depending on the position of the slider,
It is only necessary to narrow down the keywords to be displayed by the method described in Mode 1 and to narrow down the content to be displayed by the method described in Mode 2.

In the above description, a two-dimensional map has been described as an example.
Displaying as a three-dimensional map using technology can also be easily realized.

[0041]

As described above, the information retrieval apparatus of the present invention
As items (keywords and contents) to be displayed on the screen, items that are frequently used, items with new use dates and times, items with new production dates, and the like can be selected and displayed. Many of the items having such conditions have a high value at the time of search for the user. Therefore, even when there are many display candidate items, the information search device of the present invention provides useful information to the user in a display that is easy to see. And the search operation can be facilitated. Furthermore, the information retrieval apparatus assigns coordinate values to the content and the keyword by using the relationship between the content and the keyword, and visualizes the coordinate as a two-dimensional or three-dimensional map. Is easy to grasp intuitively, and the user can easily understand the search operation even when searching for a content that is difficult to express in a language such as an image or sound. In addition, since a search method using a keyword map and a search method using a content map can be provided, a user can select a method that is easy for the user to use, thereby improving usability. Furthermore, when the display state of the display item is changed according to the usage index, this information search device can make information having high value for the user stand out, and the user becomes more A search can be easily performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a format of a content attribute table in a content attribute storage unit.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a format of a keyword table in a content attribute storage unit.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a format of a data matrix created by a coordinate calculation unit.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a format of a content coordinate table in a coordinate storage unit.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a format of a keyword coordinate table in a coordinate storage unit.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a search operation in mode 1;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a keyword map.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a display method of a search result.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a search result display method.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a format of a keyword usage table in a usage history storage unit.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a format of a content usage table in a usage history storage unit.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating characteristics of functions used for calculating a keyword usage index and a content usage index.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a search operation in mode 2;

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of a content map.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of a display method of a search result.

[Description of Signs] 1 Content storage unit 2 Content attribute storage unit 3 Coordinate calculation unit 4 Coordinate storage unit 5 Usage history storage unit 6 Display device 7 Input device 8 Control unit

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. Content attribute storage means for storing a degree of relevance of each content with respect to each keyword, and a keyword coordinate value and a content coordinate value for arranging each keyword and each content in a multidimensional space using the degree of matching. At least one of a keyword instruction item indicating the keyword corresponding to the coordinate value in the keyword coordinate value, and a content instruction item indicating the content corresponding to the coordinate value in the content coordinate value Display means for displaying the designated item as a two-dimensional or three-dimensional map, input means for specifying a position on the map, and content having a coordinate value close to the coordinate specified by the input means is selected. Selection means, and a usage history record storing the usage history of keywords and contents used by the user. When selecting means, the instruction items displayed on the map,
A control unit that selects a keyword and a content instruction item having a high usage index calculated from the number of times of use based on the usage history with higher priority than a keyword and content instruction item with a low usage index and displays the selected item on the map. An information retrieval device characterized by being provided. 2. Content attribute storage means for storing a degree of conformity of each content with respect to each keyword and a production date of each content, and arranging each keyword and each content in a multidimensional space using the degree of conformity. Coordinate calculating means for calculating the keyword coordinate value and the content coordinate value, the keyword coordinate item indicating the keyword corresponding to the coordinate value, and the content coordinate value indicating the content corresponding to the coordinate value Display means for displaying at least one of the content instruction items as a two-dimensional or three-dimensional map; input means for specifying a position on the map; and coordinates close to the distance specified by the input means Selecting means for selecting a content having a coordinate value; and the content indicating item to be displayed on the map The in selecting, the information retrieval device content instruction item corresponding to the new content preferentially selected and characterized by providing a control unit to be displayed on the map of the production date. 3. The information retrieval apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the use index increases as the number of uses increases, and increases as an elapsed time from a use date and time decreases. 4. The information search device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit changes display states of the keyword instruction item and the content instruction item according to the usage index in displaying the map. Characteristic information retrieval device. 5. The information search device according to claim 2, wherein the control unit changes a display state of the content instruction item according to the production date when displaying the map.