TEXT PROCESSING APPARATUS, TEXT PROCESSING METHOD, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT

• US 20150121200A1
• Filed: 08/13/2014
• Published: 04/30/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation), Toshiba Solutions Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation), Toshiba Solutions Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Hamada, Shinichiro, Tanaka, Shiro, Shimizu, Ayumu, Kano, Toshiyuki, Tada, Tomoari
• Application Number:
  US14/458,477
• Publication Number:
  US 20150121200A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/243
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/345 Summarisation for human users

Abstract

According to an embodiment, a text processing apparatus includes a generator and a list display unit. The generator is configured to generate topic structure information by analyzing input text. The topic structure information includes information that represents a subordinate relation between a plurality of topics included in the text and information that represents a relative positional relation between the topics included in the text. The list display unit is configured to display, on a display, a topic structure list in which a plurality of nodes each corresponding to a topic included in the text and each including a label that represents a subordinate relation between a topic corresponding to each node and another topic are arranged based on the topic structure information in accordance with a relative positional relation between topics corresponding to the respective nodes.

Claims

1. A text processing apparatus comprising:

a generator configured to generate topic structure information by analyzing input text, the topic structure information including information that represents a subordinate relation between topics included in the text and information that represents a relative positional relation between the topics included in the text; and

a list display unit configured to display, on a display, a topic structure list in which a plurality of nodes each corresponding to a topic included in the text and each including a label that represents a subordinate relation between a topic corresponding to each node and another topic are arranged based on the topic structure information in accordance with a relative positional relation between topics corresponding to the respective nodes.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each node included in the topic structure list, in a case where a topic corresponding to the node is a topic that is subordinate to another topic, includes the label that represents a subordinate relation between the topic corresponding to the node and the another topic by arranging a topic name representing the topic corresponding to the node and a topic name representing another topic to which the topic corresponding to the node is subordinate, with a predetermined symbol being interposed therebetween.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the list display unit is configured to, in a case where a first operation is performed for a node that is a node within the topic structure list displayed on the display and is a node corresponding to the topic to which another topic is subordinate as a target, display on the display a new topic structure list from which the node that is the target for the first operation is deleted and to which all the nodes corresponding to all the other topics that are subordinate to the topic corresponding to the node that is the target for the first operation are added.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the list display unit is configured to, in a case where a second operation is performed for a node that is a node within the topic structure list displayed on the display and is a node corresponding to a topic that is subordinate to another topic as a target, display on the display a new topic structure list from which all the nodes that include the node that is the target for the second operation and correspond to all the topics subordinate to another topic to which the node that is the target for the second operation is subordinate are deleted and to which a node corresponding to another topic to which the node that is the target for the second operation is added.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the generator is configured to, when two topics included in the text are set as topic A and topic B, detect a text unit in which a description relating to the topic A appears first in the text with a predetermined text unit in the text as a processing unit, and

the generator is configured to, in a case where a description relating to the topic B is present near front side than the description relating to the topic A in the detected text unit, determine that the topic A is a topic that is subordinate to the topic B.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the generator is configured to, when two topics included in the text are set as topic A and topic B, determine a relative positional relation between the topic A and the topic B by comparing a position at which a description relating to the topic A first appears in the text with a position at which a description relating to topic B first appears in the text.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the generator is configured to, for each of a plurality of topics included in the text, detect a topic distribution range that is a range from a position at which a description relating to the topic first appears to a position at which a description relating to the topic finally appears in the text, and

the topic structure information further includes information that represents the topic distribution range of each of the plurality of topics included in the text.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the generator is configured to divide the topic of which the size of the topic distribution range exceeds a predetermined upper limit into a plurality of topics each having the topic distribution range of which the size is the upper limit or less.

9. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the generator is configured to divide the topic including a blank in which sentences of a predetermined number or more not including a description relating to the topic are continued within the topic distribution range into a topic having the topic distribution range disposed near the front side than the blank and a topic having the topic distribution range disposed near the rear side than the blank.

10. The apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising a summary display unit configured to, in a case where a third operation is performed for an arbitrary node within the topic structure list displayed on the display as a target, summarize the text with the topic distribution range of a topic corresponding to the node that is the target for the third operation as a summary target, and further display a summary text that is a result of the summarizing on the display.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the summary display unit is configured to, in a case where a fourth operation designating an arbitrary position within the summary text displayed on the display and a summarizing rate is performed, summarize the text at the designated summarizing rate with a synthesis range acquired by synthesizing the topic distribution ranges of all the topics including the designated position in the topic distribution range or a selection range selected from among the topic distribution ranges of all the topics including the designated position in the topic distribution ranges in accordance with a predetermined rule set as a new summary target, and update the summary text to be displayed on the display.

12. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the summary display unit is configured to, with a predetermined text unit in the text set as a processing unit, for each text unit included in the summary target within the text, summarize the text by detecting all the descriptions relating to the topic included in the text, determining a degree of importance of the text unit in accordance with a degree of importance of each topic corresponding to the detected description, and selecting the text unit to be deleted or added from among the text units included in the summary target in accordance with the degree of importance in the determined text unit.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the degree of importance of the topic becomes higher as the number of other topics that are subordinate to the topic increases.

14. A text processing method performed in a text processing apparatus, the method comprising:

generating topic structure information by analyzing input text, the topic structure information including information that represents a subordinate relation between topics included in the text and information that represents a relative positional relation between the topics included in the text; and

displaying, on a display, a topic structure list in which a plurality of nodes each corresponding to a topic included in the text and each including a label that represents a subordinate relation between a topic corresponding to each node and another topic are arranged based on the topic structure information in accordance with a relative positional relation between topics corresponding to the respective nodes.

15. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium containing a program executed by a computer, the program causing the computer to execute:

generating topic structure information by analyzing input text, the topic structure information including information that represents a subordinate relation between topics included in the text and information that represents a relative positional relation between the topics included in the text; and

displaying, on a display, a topic structure list in which a plurality of nodes each corresponding to a topic included in the text and each including a label that represents a subordinate relation between a topic corresponding to each node and another topic are arranged based on the topic structure information in accordance with a relative positional relation between topics corresponding to the respective nodes.