JP5271843B2 - Information terminal device, information search method, and information search program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for searching for information corresponding to a search condition instructed to be searched by a user.

  In general, in a client server type information search system in which a client terminal makes an information search request to a server via a network, the client terminal acquires all search result data via the network. In order to reduce the amount of network communication that accompanies this data acquisition, there exists an information search system in which a part of search target data held by a server is distributed in advance to client terminals.

  For example, as shown in Patent Document 1, an identification code is assigned to a subset of search target data including information with a high search frequency or information used for a specific purpose, and the client terminal captures the subset and stores it locally. An information retrieval method for storing in a database has been proposed.

  According to this information search method, it is determined whether to search the local database or the center database in the server according to the identification code specified by the user search instruction, and all the search target data is accumulated in the local database. If it is, access to the center database is not required, and the communication amount associated with the search is reduced.

JP 62-61119 A

  However, in the information search method described in Patent Document 1, confirmation is made in advance between the client terminal and the server whether or not the data requested by the user is included in the data set stored in the local database of the client terminal. Can only be done with an identification code. For this reason, it is essential for the client terminal side to share in advance knowledge about the data set represented by the identification code with the server side. As a result, the data set to be distributed in advance cannot be flexibly organized, and the server load is reduced. And search request response improvement may not be realized.

  The present invention has been made to solve such a problem. By increasing the flexibility of organizing a data set pre-distributed from a server to a client terminal, the server load is reduced and a response to a search request is achieved. It is a problem to improve.

  Therefore, the present invention stores the identifier (data set identifier) and version information (data set version information) of the data set received at the client terminal, and puts the data set when the search condition is input to the search engine. An identifier and data set version information are transmitted. The search engine sends only search result data other than the data associated with the received data set identifier and data set version information to the client terminal, and the rest sends only the data identifier. The data set identifier and the data set version information may not be separate information, and the data set may be specified only by a single identification information.

  One aspect of the present invention is an information terminal device that requests a search engine based on a search condition specified by a user and obtains a search result, and stores one or more data packages distributed in advance from the search engine The storage means capable of sending, and the search condition and the data package specifying information for specifying the data package are sent to the search engine, and the search engine identifies the search result included in the data package indicated by the data package specifying information. Search request means for acquiring search results not included in the data package; data acquisition means for acquiring search results according to the identification information acquired by the search request means from the data package of the storage means; The search results obtained by both means are presented to the user.

Another aspect of the present invention is an information search method using an information terminal device that requests a search engine based on a search condition specified by a user and obtains a search result, which is distributed in advance from the search engine. A first step of storing a data package in a storage means in the information terminal device, and the information terminal device sends the search condition and data package specifying information for specifying the data package to the search engine, A second step of acquiring identification information of a search result included in the data package indicated by the data package specifying information and a search result not included in the data package in a search engine; and the information terminal device includes: A third step of acquiring a search result corresponding to the identification information acquired in the second step from the data package of the storage means. And flop, the information terminal device has a fourth step of presenting the search results obtained through the second step and the third step to the user.

The present invention may be a mode of a program for executing the steps of the method for retrieving the computer, the program may be distributed stored in a recording medium.

  According to the present invention, the organization of data sets distributed in advance from the server to the client terminal can be set flexibly, the server load is reduced, and the response to the search request is improved.

The block diagram of the information terminal device which concerns on embodiment of this invention. The processing flow figure of the same information terminal device. (A) is a conceptual diagram of data package distribution processing, (b) is a conceptual diagram showing an example of data transmission / reception between a server and an information terminal device.

  FIG. 1 shows an information terminal device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Here, the information terminal device 1 constitutes a data search system connected to the multicast server 2 and the unicast server 3 via the Internet.

  The multicast server 2 has a function of performing simultaneous broadcast (multicast) of data to a plurality of information terminal devices 1 connected to the Internet, and is frequently searched for data extracted as pre-distributed data, A set of data used by a large number of users is divided into units called data packages and transmitted to a plurality of information terminal devices 1 simultaneously.

  Each data package is provided with data package specifying information for specifying each package, such as a package identifier and package version information. Here, a list (package list) in which the package identifier and package version information are recorded in association with each other is also transmitted to the information terminal device 1.

  The information terminal device 1 constitutes a client terminal owned by the user, and stores the data package group and the package list transmitted from the multicast server 2 in a storage unit such as a database. In addition, the information terminal device 1 transmits the identifier and version information of each data package stored in the storage unit to the unicast server 3 together with a search condition input by the user.

  The unicast server 3 has a function of performing bidirectional communication (unicast) with the information terminal device 1 connected to the Internet. The unicast server 3 receives a search condition and an identifier of each data package from the information terminal device 1. When the version information is received, the data set represented by the identifier and the data package indicated by the version information is confirmed, and a search result group corresponding to the search condition is acquired.

  If the obtained search result is included in the confirmed data package, a data identifier (for example, a data ID) is returned to the information terminal device 1 instead of the entire data. The unicast server 3 includes a search engine that searches for a group of electronic documents published on the Internet.

  The information terminal device 1 acquires the data from the storage unit of the search result returned from the unicast server 3 for the data identifier returned from its own storage unit, and outputs it via an output unit such as a display. Present to the user.

  In another embodiment, the data set is confirmed using only the data package identifier. In addition, the multicast server 2 and the unicast server 3 are not necessarily provided separately, and may be configured by the same server that can execute multicast and unicast.

  1 shows a configuration example in which the devices 1 to 3 are connected via the Internet. However, the devices 1 to 3 are connected by a network other than the Internet, such as an in-house LAN (Local Area Network). It may be. Hereinafter, a specific configuration example of the information terminal device 1 will be described.

<Configuration example of information terminal device 1>
The information terminal device 1 is configured by a mobile terminal such as a personal computer (PC) or a mobile phone to which an arbitrary search condition is input by a user operation, and is a normal computer hardware resource, that is, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), A memory (RAM), a hard disk drive, input means such as a keyboard, a communication interface, a display, and the like are provided.

  As a result of the cooperation between the hardware resource and the software resource (OS, application), the information terminal device 1 has a data package receiving unit 4, a data package storage DB 5, a search condition receiving unit 6, as shown in FIG. It functions as a server search request means 7, a package data acquisition means 8, and a search result output means 9.

  That is, the data package receiving unit 4 stores the data package group and the package list distributed in advance from the multicast server 2 in the storage unit, that is, the data package storage DB 5. The data package storage DB 5 is constructed in the hard disk drive device. The search condition accepting unit 6 accepts a search condition input by the user using the input unit.

  The server search request means 7 sends the data package identifier and version information recorded in the package list of the data package storage DB 5 to the unicast server 3 together with the search condition to request a search. Further, the server search request means 7 acquires from the unicast server 3 the identification information of the search result included in the data package indicated by the identifier and version information, and the search result not included in the data package. .

  The package data acquisition unit 8 acquires a search result by referring to the data package storage DB 5 based on the identifier acquired by the server request unit 7. The search result output means 9 outputs the search results acquired by the means 7.8 to output means such as the display and presents it to the user.

<Operation Example of Information Terminal Device 1>
Hereinafter, an operation example of the information terminal device 1 will be described with reference to FIG. Here, a data package group distributed in advance by the multicast server 2 is extracted in advance, and the data package group and a package list in which the identifier and version information of each data package are recorded are transmitted to the information terminal device 1 via the network. It is assumed that

  S01: First, the data package receiving means 4 receives a data package group and a package list and stores them in the data package storage DB 5.

  Here, it is assumed that the data package group and the package list transmitted from the multicast server 2 are received through the communication interface. The data package storage DB 5 may store a plurality of data packages having different identifiers, and data packages having the same identifier are overwritten with data packages having different version information.

  The process of S01 will be specifically described based on FIG. Here, as indicated by an arrow P, the package group transmitted from the multicast server 2 is composed of three types of data packages “Package 1”, “Package 2”, and “Package 3”, and each data package has “ID = 003”. And version information such as “Rev = 98751”. The data package group is received by the package data receiving means 4, and a package list L indicating the correspondence between the package identifier and the version information is stored in the data package storage DB 5.

  The distribution method of the data package group and the package list is not limited to via the network, and may be distributed by any method including a recording medium such as a CD-ROM.

  S02: The search condition accepting means 6 accepts a search condition input by a user using an input means such as a keyboard, and transfers the search condition to the server search request means 7.

  S03: The server search requesting means 7 sets the search conditions transferred from the search condition accepting means 6 in S02 and the package identifier / version information recorded in each package list as a data set, and the communication interface To the unicast server 3.

  Here, when the unicast server 3 receives the data set group from the server search request means 7, the unicast server 3 performs a search process. In that case, after confirming the data set represented by each data package based on the version information included in the data set, a search result corresponding to the search condition is acquired, and a list of search results is sent to the server search request means 7. Send back.

  For each data of the search result, if the data is included in the confirmed data set, only the data identifier (for example, data ID) is included in this list, not the substance of the data, and included in the confirmed data set. If not, the data entity is included in this list.

  A transmission / reception example of S03 will be described with reference to FIG. Here, as indicated by an arrow Q, the server search request means 7 sends the search conditions (specified by Title and date), the data package identifier and version information (“001, 44285”, “002” to the unicast server 3. , 1213 "," 003, 98751 "). At this time, the unicast server 3 confirms the data set represented by each data package based on the version information of the data set.

  At this time, it is assumed that the search result “Data1” is included in one of the data package (Package1, Package2, Package3) groups of FIG. Therefore, in the “Metadata-List” indicated by the arrow R returned from the unicast server 3 to the server search request means 7, the search result “Data1” is not a data entity but a data identifier (ID = A in this case). It is included. On the other hand, for other search results (such as “Data2” and “Data3”), a data body (metadata body) is included.

  S04: When the server search request means 7 receives the reply list (the “Metadata-List”) from the unicast server 3 in S03, the server search request means 7 uses the data identifier for the n-th search result (initially n = 1). Check if only the reply. Here, in the search result in which only the data identifier is returned, the identifier is transferred to the package data acquisition means 8 and the process proceeds to S05. Otherwise, the nth search result is transferred to the search result output means 9 and the process proceeds to S06.

  S05: When the data identifier is transferred from the server search requesting unit 7 in S04, the package data acquisition unit 8 acquires data having the identifier from the package data storage DB 5, and uses the search result as the search result. Transfer to the output means 9. At this time, the use method of the package data may be arbitrarily set such that only data having a specific data identifier is used as a search result.

  S06: The server search request means 7 confirms whether or not the processes of S04 and S05 have been completed for all the search results, and proceeds to S07 if completed. If not completed, “n ← n + 1” is returned to S04, and all the search results are processed in S04. The process of S05 is repeated.

  S07: The search result output means 9 inserts the search result data transferred from the package data acquisition means 8 into a column corresponding to the data identifier of the reply list, and displays the search results in the posting order of the reply list. Output to etc. As a result, the final search result is presented to the user.

  As described above, according to the information terminal device 1, whether or not the search result corresponding to the search condition is included in the pre-distributed data is based on the reply data from the unicast server 3 (the “Metadata-List”). It is confirmed. As a result, the following effects can be obtained.

  (1) That is, the information terminal device 1 confirms whether or not the search result is included in the pre-distributed data without depending on external knowledge about the pre-distributed data such as an identification code as in Patent Document 1. Is done. Therefore, it is not necessary to decide the format of the pre-distributed data with the multicast server 2, and in this respect, the degree of freedom for organizing the pre-distributed data in the multicast server 2 is improved.

  (2) Since the information terminal device 1 transmits the package identifier and version information, not the data list held by itself, to the unicast server 3, the amount of communication at the time of a search request is reduced.

  At this time, although the information terminal device 1 and the unicast server 3 store data in a distributed manner, the search processing itself is performed by the unicast server 3, so the information terminal device 1 has duplicate search results. Eliminating or sorting is not necessary, and the processing load is reduced in this respect. In addition, if data having a high search frequency extracted in advance is distributed to the information terminal device 1, the response time to the search request from the user can be shortened.

  Here, compared with the case where all data held by the multicast server 2 is distributed in advance, the amount of data stored in the information terminal device 1 is reduced, and the compression of the storage area is also reduced.

  (3) The search result included in the pre-distributed data is not returned on the unicast server 3 side, so the amount of data on the network is reduced and the transmission band is reduced.

  At this time, by identifying the data package including the latest one managed by itself based on the identifier / version information of the data package transmitted from the information terminal device 1, the content of the data package changes over time Even so, accurate search results can be returned.

  Here, since the identification of the data package is performed at any time, the multicast server 2 does not need to manage the distribution status of the data package to the individual information terminal devices 1, and the load is reduced in this respect as well.

  In addition, this invention can also be comprised in the program which makes a computer function as some or all of each means 4-9 of the said information terminal device 1. FIG. According to this program, the computer executes all or part of the processing steps (S01 to S07, etc.) of the embodiment.

  This program can be provided through a network such as a website or e-mail. The program is stored in a recording medium such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, MO, HDD, Blu-ray Disk (registered trademark). It is also possible to save and distribute. This recording medium is read using a recording medium driving device (such as an optical drive device), and the program code itself realizes the processing of the above-described embodiment, so that the recording medium also constitutes the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Information terminal device 2 ... Multicast server 3 ... Unicast server 4 ... Data package reception means 5 ... Data package storage database 6 ... Search condition reception means 7 ... Server search request means 8 ... Package data acquisition means 9 ... Search result output means

Claims (3)

An information terminal device that requests a search engine based on a user-specified search condition and obtains a search result,
Storage means capable of storing one or more data packages distributed in advance from the search engine;
Data package specifying information for specifying the search condition and the data package is sent to the search engine, and the search package includes identification information of a search result included in the data package indicated by the data package specifying information, and the data package Search request means for acquiring search results not included in
Data acquisition means for acquiring search results according to the identification information acquired by the search request means from the data package of the storage means,
An information terminal device that presents a search result acquired by both means to a user. An information search method using an information terminal device that requests a search engine based on a user-specified search condition and obtains a search result,
A first step of storing a data package distributed in advance from the search engine in a storage means in the information terminal device;
The information terminal device sends data package specifying information for specifying the search condition and the data package to the search engine, and the search engine identifies a search result included in the data package indicated by the data package specifying information. A second step of obtaining information and search results not included in the data package;
A third step in which the information terminal device acquires a search result corresponding to the identification information acquired in the second step from the data package of the storage unit;
A fourth step in which the information terminal device presents a search result acquired through the second step and the third step to the user;
A method for retrieving information, comprising: Information retrieval program for the steps of the information retrieval method according to claim 2, causes the computer to execute.

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