Method of and an apparatus for retrieving and delivering documents and a recording media on which a program for retrieving and delivering documents are stored

• US 6,549,898 B1
• Filed: 03/03/2000
• Issued: 04/15/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Okamoto, Takuya, Matsubayashi, Tadataka, Tada, Katsumi, Ushiroji, Yousuke, Sugaya, Natsuko, Inaba, Yasuhiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Hosain T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Veillard, Jacques
• Application Number:
  US09/518,689
• Time in Patent Office: 1,138 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/2, 707/3, 707/4, 707/5, 707/6, 707/10, 709/217, 709/218, 709/227
• US Class Current: 715/255
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/335 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles filtering in web context G06F16/9535, G06F16/9536
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/337 Profile generation, learning or modification
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/917 Text
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

Retrieval conditions inputted from a plurality of users are registered. According to the retrieval conditions, a retrieval is conducted for a text inputted. As a result of the retrieval, similarity of the text is calculated for each retrieval condition. The text is delivered to users of which the retrieval condition satisfies the similarity.

Claims

1. A document retrieving and delivering method comprising the steps of:

registering retrieval conditions inputted from a plurality of users; and

retrieving, from texts of document information inputted, texts satisfying the retrieval conditions and delivering the texts to the users associated therewith, wherein

the retrieval and delivery step includes the steps of;

calculating similarity of the text for the retrieval condition;

determining according to the similarity whether or not the retrieval condition is satisfied; and

delivering, when the retrieval condition is satisfied, the text to the user corresponding to the retrieval condition;

the retrieval condition registration step comprises the steps of;

reading a seed document from the retrieval conditions registered by the users, wherein the seed document includes one of a word, a sentence, and a document;

analyzing seed documents read in the step of reading a seed document, and extracting retrieval terms therefrom for retrieval;

registering, for each retrieval term extracted in the retrieval term extraction step, a user identifier of a user having specified a seed document read in the seed document read step; and

registering a delivery condition written by each user in the retrieval condition; and

the text retrieval and delivery step comprises the following steps of;

retrieving, for each text, a retrieval term extracted by the retrieval term extraction step;

obtaining the user identifier registered for the retrieval term retrieved in the retrieval term retrieval step;

calculating similarity of the text for each retrieval condition according to a predetermined calculation formula using information of appearances of the retrieval term retrieved in the retrieval term retrieval step and the user identifier obtained in the user identifier obtaining step; and

delivering a text of which the similarity calculated in the similarity calculation step satisfies the delivery condition registered in the delivery condition registration step to a user of the delivery condition.

2. A document retrieving and delivering method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the text retrieval and delivery step includes

a step of controlling an order of calculating similarity of the text for the retrieval conditions.

3. A document retrieving and delivering method in accordance with claim 2, wherein the similarity calculation order control step includes

a step of determining the similarity calculation order according to one of a predetermined delivery priority, a delivery priority specified by the user, and a delivery priority according to a contract charging rate of a delivery service.

4. A document retrieving and delivering method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the text retrieval and delivery step further includes

a step of saving all texts obtained and similarity of each of the text for the retrieval condition of each of the users.

5. A document retrieving and delivering method in accordance with claim 4, further including

a delivery threshold setting support information presenting step, of presenting, to the user, contents saved by the text retrieval and delivery step.

6. A document retrieving and delivering method in accordance with claim 5, wherein the delivery threshold setting support information presenting step presents the contents in the form of a list, the contents including similarity, delivery time, and a delivery threshold value at delivery of the text delivered to the user.

7. A document retrieving and delivering method in accordance with claim 5, wherein the delivery threshold setting support information presenting step presents the contents including a number of texts for each similarity calculated in the past to the user.

8. A document retrieving and delivering method in accordance with claim 5, wherein the delivery threshold setting support information presenting step presents the contents in the form of a graph of similarity of texts obtained in the past versus text reception time.

9. A document retrieving and delivering method comprising the steps of:

registering retrieval conditions inputted from a plurality of users; and

retrieving, from texts of document information inputted, texts satisfying the retrieval conditions and delivering the texts to the users associated therewith, wherein

the retrieval and delivery step includes the steps of;

calculating similarity of the text for the retrieval condition;

determining according to the similarity whether or not the retrieval condition is satisfied; and

delivering, when the retrieval condition is satisfied, the text to the user corresponding to the retrieval condition;

the retrieval condition registration step comprises the steps of;

reading a seed document from the retrieval conditions registered by the users, wherein the seed document includes one of a word, a sentence, and a document;

analyzing seed documents read in the step of reading a seed document, and extracting retrieval terms therefrom for retrieval;

calculating a weight for the retrieval term extracted in the retrieval term extraction step;

registering, for each retrieval term extracted in the retrieval term extraction step, a user identifier of a user having specified a seed document read in the seed document read step; and

registering a delivery condition written by each user in the retrieval condition; and

the text retrieval and delivery step further comprises the steps of;

counting a number of appearances in the text of the retrieval term extracted in the retrieval term extraction step;

obtaining the user identifier registered for the extracted retrieval term;

calculating similarity of the text to each retrieval condition using the weight of the retrieval term calculated in the retrieval term calculation step and the number of appearances of the retrieval term counted in the appearance counting step; and

delivering a text of which the similarity calculated in the similarity calculation step satisfies the delivery condition registered in the delivery condition registration step to a user of the delivery condition.

10. A document retrieving and delivering method in accordance with claim 9, wherein the retrieval term weight calculation step includes the steps of:

calculating a number of texts in which the retrieval term extracted by the retrieval term extraction step appears; and

calculating a weight of the retrieval term using the number of texts.

11. A document retrieving and delivering method comprising the steps of:

registering retrieval conditions inputted from a plurality of users; and

retrieving, from texts of document information inputted, texts satisfying the retrieval conditions and delivering the texts to the users associated therewith, wherein

the retrieval and delivery step includes the steps of;

calculating similarity of the text for the retrieval condition;

determining according to the similarity whether or not the retrieval condition is satisfied;

delivering, when the retrieval condition is satisfied, the text to the user corresponding to the retrieval condition; and

comparing a calculation result of similarity of the text with a predetermined delivery threshold value as a reference value to determine delivery or non-delivery of the text and delivering, when the similarity of the text is greater than the delivery threshold value, the text to the user.

12. A document retrieving and delivering method in accordance with claim 11, further including

a delivery threshold setting step of setting a delivery threshold value for each user.

13. A document retrieving and delivering method in accordance with claim 12, wherein:

the text retrieval and delivery step includes a delivery threshold setting support information presenting step, of presenting, to the user, contents saved by the text retrieval and delivery step; and

the delivery threshold setting step scans the text saved in the text retrieval and delivery step, calculates similarity of the text for the retrieval condition set by each user, and thereby calculates and sets a delivery threshold value for each user.

14. A document retrieving and delivering method in accordance with claim 12, wherein:

the text retrieval and delivery step includes a delivery threshold setting support information presenting step, of presenting, to the user, contents saved by the text retrieval and delivery step; and

the delivery threshold setting trial step of selects, from all texts within a predetermined period of time in the past, texts which exceed a new delivery threshold value that is set; and

presents the texts selected to the user.

15. A document retrieving method in accordance with claim 12,

wherein the text retrieval and delivery step include a delivery threshold setting support information presenting step of presenting, to the user, contents saved by the text retrieval and delivery step;

and

further including a delivery threshold correction proposal presenting step, of presenting a message to the user to correct the delivery threshold value according to the information saved in the text retrieval and delivery step.

16. A document retrieving and delivering method in accordance with claim 12, further including:

a desired delivery count setting step of; and

a delivery condition setting mode selection step for enabling the user to select for operation either one of the delivery threshold setting step and the desired delivery count setting step.

17. A document retrieving and delivering method in accordance with claim 11,

wherein the text retrieval and delivery step includes a delivery threshold setting support information presenting step, of presenting, to the user, contents saved by the text retrieval and delivery step;

and

further including a text additional delivery step of delivering, according to the information saved in the text retrieval and delivery step, the texts having a similarity equal to or less than the delivery threshold value of texts in a descending similarity order, the delivery beginning at a text having highest similarity and continuing until a predetermined number of texts additionally delivered during a predetermined period of time is satisfied or a total of a number of texts having a similarity that exceeds the delivery threshold value set by the user and a number of texts to be additionally delivered is satisfied.

18. A document retrieving and delivering method comprising the steps of:

registering retrieval conditions inputted from a plurality of users; and

retrieving, from texts of document information inputted, texts satisfying the retrieval conditions and delivering the texts to the users associated therewith, wherein

the retrieval and delivery step includes the steps of;

calculating similarity of the text for the retrieval condition;

determining according to the similarity whether or not the retrieval condition is satisfied; and

delivering, when the retrieval condition is satisfied, the text to the user corresponding to the retrieval condition;

a desired delivery count setting step of setting a desired number of delivery texts desired by the user within a predetermined period of time set by the user.

19. A document retrieving and delivering method in accordance with claim 18,

wherein the text retrieval and delivery step includes a delivery threshold setting support information presenting step, of presenting, to the user, contents saved by the text retrieval and delivery step; and

further including a delivery threshold setting step, of setting a delivery threshold for each user for each predetermined period of time according to the number of texts set in the desired delivery count setting step and the information saved in the text retrieval and delivery step.

20. A document retrieving and delivering apparatus comprising:

retrieval condition registering means for registering retrieval conditions inputted from a plurality of users; and

retrieval and delivery means for retrieving, from texts of document information inputted, texts satisfying the retrieval conditions and delivering the texts to the users associated therewith, wherein

the retrieval and delivery means calculates similarity of the text for the retrieval condition, determines according to the similarity whether or not the retrieval condition is satisfied, and delivers, when the retrieval condition is satisfied, the text to the user corresponding to the retrieval condition;

the retrieval condition registration means further being for;

reading a seed document from the retrieval conditions registered by the users, wherein the seed document includes one of a word, a sentence, and a document;

analyzing seed documents read in the step of reading a seed document, and extracting retrieval terms therefrom for retrieval;

registering, for each retrieval term extracted in the retrieval term extraction step, a user identifier of a user having specified a seed document read in the seed document read step; and

registering a delivery condition written by each user in the retrieval condition; and

the text retrieval and delivery means further being for;

retrieving, for each text, a retrieval term extracted by the retrieval term extraction step;

obtaining the user identifier registered for the retrieval term retrieved in the retrieval term retrieval step;

calculating similarity of the text for each retrieval condition according to a predetermined calculation formula using information of appearances of the retrieval term retrieved in the retrieval term retrieval step and the user identifier obtained in the user identifier obtaining step; and

delivering a text of which the similarity calculated in the similarity calculation step satisfies the delivery condition registered in the delivery condition registration step to a user of the delivery condition.

21. A document retrieving and delivering program comprising the steps of:

registering retrieval conditions inputted from a plurality of users; and

retrieving, from text data of document information inputted, texts satisfying the retrieval conditions and delivering the texts to the users associated therewith, wherein

the retrieval and delivery step includes the steps of;

calculating similarity of the text for the retrieval condition;

determining according to the similarity whether or not the retrieval condition is satisfied; and

delivering, when the retrieval condition is satisfied, the text to the user corresponding to the retrieval condition;

the retrieval condition registration step comprises the steps of;

reading a seed document from the retrieval conditions registered by the users, wherein the seed document includes one of a word, a sentence, and a document;

analyzing seed documents read in the step of reading a seed document, and extracting retrieval terms therefrom for retrieval;

registering, for each retrieval term extracted in the retrieval term extraction step, a user identifier of a user having specified a seed document read in the seed document read step; and

registering a delivery condition written by each user in the retrieval condition; and

the text retrieval and delivery step comprises the following steps of;

retrieving, for each text, a retrieval term extracted by the retrieval term extraction step;

obtaining the user identifier registered for the retrieval term retrieved in the retrieval term retrieval step;

calculating similarity of the text for each retrieval condition according to a predetermined calculation formula using information of appearances of the retrieval term retrieved in the retrieval term retrieval step and the user identifier obtained in the user identifier obtaining step; and

delivering a text of which the similarity calculated in the similarity calculation step satisfies the delivery condition registered in the delivery condition registration step to a user of the delivery condition.

22. A computer-readable recording media storing therein a document retrieving and delivering program comprising the steps of:

registering retrieval conditions inputted from a plurality of users; and

retrieving, from text data of document information inputted, texts satisfying the retrieval conditions and delivering the texts to the users associated therewith, wherein

the retrieval and delivery step includes the steps of;

calculating similarity of the text for the retrieval condition;

determining according to the similarity whether or not the retrieval condition is satisfied; and

delivering, when the retrieval condition is satisfied, the text to the user corresponding to the retrieval condition;

the retrieval condition registration step comprises the steps of;

reading a seed document from the retrieval conditions registered by the users, wherein the seed document includes one of a word, a sentence, and a document;

analyzing seed documents read in the step of reading a seed document, and extracting retrieval terms therefrom for retrieval;

registering, for each retrieval term extracted in the retrieval term extraction step, a user identifier of a user having specified a seed document read in the seed document read step; and

registering a delivery condition written by each user in the retrieval condition; and

the text retrieval and delivery step comprises the following steps of;

retrieving, for each text, a retrieval term extracted by the retrieval term extraction step;

obtaining the user identifier registered for the retrieval term retrieved in the retrieval term retrieval step;

calculating similarity of the text for each retrieval condition according to a predetermined calculation formula using information of appearances of the retrieval term retrieved in the retrieval term retrieval step and the user identifier obtained in the user identifier obtaining step; and

delivering a text of which the similarity calculated in the similarity calculation step satisfies the delivery condition registered in the delivery condition registration step to a user of the delivery condition.