Information retrieval apparatus and information retrieval method

• US 6,442,540 B2
• Filed: 09/28/1998
• Issued: 08/27/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Kinoshita, Satoshi, Sako, Takayuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Hosain T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): FLEURANTIN, JEAN B
• Application Number:
  US09/161,383
• Publication Number:
  US 20020002547A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,429 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1-10, 707/531-532, 704/9-10
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3334 Selection or weighting of terms from queries, including natural language queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/338 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/268 Morphological analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/289 Phrasal analysis, e.g. finite state techniques or chunking
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99938 Concurrency, e.g. lock management in shared database
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99939 Privileged access

Abstract

Character data of a word or phrase in a document is designated. Desired data is retrieved from a predetermined database on the basis of the designated character data. One sentence including at least the designated character data is cut out and subjected to sentence analysis. On the basis of a sentence analysis result, specific data is selected from the retrieval result acquired from the database. In addition, character data of a word or phrase in a document is designated. One sentence including at least the designated character data is cut out and subjected to sentence analysis to extract a keyword. A retrieval condition is prepared on the basis of the extracted keyword, and desired data is retrieved from a predetermined database on the basis of the retrieved conditional expression.

Claims

1. An information retrieval apparatus comprising:

a display device configured to display a document;

an input device configured to specify a desired word in the displayed document;

a retrieval section configured to search a database on the basis of the specified word and to acquire a plurality of retrieval results;

a sentence extracting section configured to extract a sentence including the specified word from the displayed document;

a sentence analysis section configured to analyze the sentence extracted by the sentence extracting section;

an evaluation section configured to evaluate each of the plurality of retrieval results obtained by the retrieval section based on the result of sentence analysis made by said sentence analysis section; and

a selector configured to select one of the plurality of retrieval results on the basis of the result of evaluation made by said evaluation section,

wherein said evaluation section comprises a first keyword generator configured to select a first keyword from the sentence extracted by said sentence extracting section based on the result of the sentence analysis made by said sentence analysis section, and a calculator configured to calculate the number of occurrences of the first keyword in each of the retrieval results acquired by the retrieval section,

wherein each of the number of occurrences of the first keyword and the corresponding retrieval result are stored in a keyword number table, and

wherein the selector sequentially displays the plurality of retrieval results stored in the keyword number table corresponding to a retrieval result with a largest number of occurrences of the first keyword to a retrieval result with a smallest number of occurrences of the first keyword, said sequentially displayed retrieval results being different from each other.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said sentence extracting section extracts one sentence including the specified word from the input document.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said sentence extracting section extracts one sentence including the specified word and a plurality of sentences associated with said one sentence, from the input document.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said sentence analysis section performs a morphological analysis for the sentence extracted by the sentence extracting section.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said sentence analysis section performs parsing of the sentence extracted by the sentence extracting section.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first keyword generator sets a scope of the sentence analysis results acquired by the sentence analysis section, and generates a predetermined word in the scope as the keyword.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said evaluation section further comprises:

a second keyword generator configured to search thesaurus data having conceptual relationships with the first keyword to generate a second keyword,

wherein the calculator calculates the number of occurrences of the second keyword in each of the retrieval results acquired by the retrieval section.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said evaluation section further comprises:

a second keyword generator configured to search, with use of the first keyword, another database of a language different from the language of the first keyword to generate a second keyword,

wherein the calculator calculates the number of occurrences of the second keyword in each of the retrieval results acquired by the retrieval section.

9. An information retrieval apparatus comprising:

a display device configured to display a document;

an input device configured to specify a desired word in the displayed document;

a sentence extracting section configured to extract a sentence including the specified word from the displayed document;

a sentence analysis section configured to analyze the sentence extracted by the sentence extracting section;

a keyword generating section configured to generate a first keyword based on a sentence analysis result analyzed by the sentence analysis section;

a retrieval formula generating section configured to generate a predetermined retrieval formula based on one of the first keyword generated by the keyword generating section and the specified word;

a retrieval section configured to search a database on the basis of the retrieval formula;

a calculator configured to calculate the number of occurrences of the first keyword in each of the retrieval results acquired by the retrieval section;

a memory configured to store each of the number of occurrences of the first keyword and the corresponding retrieval result in a keyword number table; and

a selector configured to sequentially display the plurality of retrieval results stored in the keyword number table corresponding to a retrieval result with a largest number of occurrences of the first keyword to a retrieval result with a smallest number of occurrences of the first keyword, said sequentially displayed retrieval results being different from each other.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein

said sentence analysis section analyzes each word included in the sentence and finds a part of speech of each word included in the extracted sentence; and

said keyword generating section generates a noun in the extracted sentence as the keyword.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said sentence extracting section extracts one sentence including the specified word from the displayed document.

12. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said sentence extracting section extracts one sentence including the specified word and a plurality of sentences associated with said one sentence, from the input document.

13. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said sentence analysis section performs a morphological analysis for the sentence extracted by the sentence extracting section.

14. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said sentence analysis section performs parsing of the sentence extracted by the sentence extracting section.

15. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said keyword generating section sets a scope of the sentence analysis results acquired by the sentence analysis section, and generates a predetermined word in the scope as the first keyword.

16. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said keyword generating section searches thesaurus data having conceptual relationships with the first keyword to generate a second keyword,

wherein the calculator calculates the number of occurrences of the second keyword in each of the retrieval results acquired by the retrieval section, and

wherein said selector selects one of the retrieval results, which has a highest one of the number of occurrences of the second keyword.

17. The apparatus according to claim 10 wherein said keyword generating section, searches with use of the first keyword, another database of a language different from the language of the first keyword to generate a second keyword,

wherein the calculator calculates the number of occurrences of the second keyword in each of the retrieval results acquired by the retrieval section, and

wherein said selector selects one of the retrieval results, which has a highest one of the number of occurrences of the second keyword.

18. An information retrieval method comprising the steps of:

specifying a desired word in a document displayed on a display device;

searching a database on the basis of the specified word and acquiring a plurality of retrieval results;

extracting a sentence including the specified word from the displayed document;

analyzing the sentence extracted in the sentence extracting step;

evaluating each of the plurality of retrieval results obtained in the searching step based on the result of sentence analysis made in the sentence analyzing step; and

selecting a predetermined one of the plurality of retrieval results on the basis of the result of evaluation made in the evaluating step,

wherein said evaluating step comprises selecting a first keyword from the sentence extracted by said sentence extracting step based on the result of the sentence analysis made by said sentence analyzing step, and calculating the number of occurrences of the first keyword in each of the retrieval results acquired by the searching step,

wherein each of the number of occurrences of the keyword and the corresponding retrieval result are stored in a keyword number table, and

wherein the selecting step sequentially displays the plurality of retrieval results stored in the keyword number table corresponding to a retrieval result with a largest number of occurrences of the first keyword to a retrieval result with a smallest number of occurrences of the first keyword, said sequentially displayed retrieval results being different from each other.

19. An information retrieval method comprising the steps of:

specifying a desired word in a document displayed on a display device;

extracting a sentence including the specified word from the displayed document;

analyzing the sentence extracted in the sentence extracting step;

generating a first keyword based on a sentence analysis result analyzed in the sentence analyzing step;

generating a predetermined retrieval formula based on one of the first keyword generated in the keyword generating step and the specified word;

searching a database on the basis of the retrieval formula;

calculating the number of occurrences of the first keyword in each of the retrieval results acquired by the searching step;

storing each of the number of occurrences of the first keyword and the corresponding retrieval result in a keyword number table; and

sequentially displaying the plurality of retrieval results stored in the keyword number table corresponding to a retrieval result with a largest number of occurrences of the first keyword to a retrieval result with a smallest number of occurrences of the first keyword, said sequentially displayed retrieval results being different from each other.

20. A computer-readable memory comprising:

a first computer instruction for causing a computer to specify a desired word in a document displayed on a display device;

a second computer instruction for causing a computer to search a database on the basis of the specified word and for acquiring a plurality of retrieval results;

a third computer instruction for causing a computer to extract a sentence including the specified word from the displayed document;

a fourth computer instruction for causing a computer to analyze the sentence extracted by the third computer instruction;

a fifth computer instruction for causing a computer to evaluate each of the plurality of retrieval results obtained by the second computer instruction based on the result of sentence analysis made by the fourth computer instruction; and

a sixth computer instruction for causing a computer to select a predetermined one of the plurality of retrieval results on the basis of the result of evaluation made by the fifth computer instruction,

wherein said fifth computer instruction selects a first keyword from the sentence extracted by said third computer instruction based on the result of the sentence analysis made by said fourth computer instruction, and calculates the number of occurrences of the first keyword in each of the retrieval results acquired by the second computer instruction,

wherein each of the number of occurrences of the first keyword and the corresponding retrieval result are stored in a keyword number table, and

wherein the sixth computer instruction sequentially displays the plurality of retrieval results stored in the keyword number table corresponding to a retrieval result with a largest number of occurrences of the first keyword to a retrieval result with a smallest number of occurrences of the first keyword, said sequentially displayed retrieval results being different from each other.

21. A computer-readable memory comprising:

a first computer instruction for causing a computer to specify a desired word in a document displayed on a display device;

a second computer instruction for causing a computer to extract a sentence including the specified word from the displayed document;

a third computer instruction for causing a computer to analyze the sentence extracted by the second computer instruction;

a fourth computer instruction for causing a computer to generate a first keyword based on a sentence analysis result analyzed by the third computer instruction;

a fifth computer instruction for causing a computer to generate a predetermined retrieval formula based on one of the first keyword generated by the fourth computer instruction and the specified word;

a sixth computer instruction for causing a computer to search a database on the basis of the retrieval formula;

a seventh computer instruction configured to calculate the number of occurrences of the first keyword in each of the retrieval results acquired by the sixth computer instruction;

an eighth computer instruction configured to store each of the number of occurrences of the keyword and the corresponding retrieval result in a keyword number table; and

a ninth computer instruction configured to sequentially display the plurality of retrieval results stored in the keyword number table corresponding to a retrieval result with a largest number of occurrences of the first keyword to a retrieval result with a smallest number of occurrences of the first keyword, said sequentially displayed retrieval results being different from each other.