Apparatus, system, and method for information search

• US 8,229,927 B2
• Filed: 01/09/2009
• Issued: 07/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Itoh, Hideo
• Primary Examiner(s): Ali, Mohammad
• Assistant Examiner(s): TRAN, BAO G
• Application Number:
  US12/351,451
• Publication Number:
  US 20090182733A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,292 Days
• Field of Search: 707/748, 707/758, 707/999.003, 707/999.005, 707/713, 707/741, 707/706, 707/722, 707/769, 707726-730, 707/767, 715/227, 715/205, 715/206, 715/700, 715/230, 715/255, 715/212, 715/215, 715/217, 715/219
• US Class Current: 707/730
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems

Abstract

A search option input by a user is obtained through a user interface and a search term is determined based on the search option. A document database is searched to obtain a document that matches the search term and a search result is generated, including document information identifying the document that matches the search term and relevancy information indicating a degree of relevancy between the search term and the document. A display device displays the search result in a format indicating the correspondence relationship of the document information, the search term, and the relevancy information.

Claims

1. An information search apparatus, comprising:

an interface configured to obtain a search option input by a user;

a processor; and

a storage device configured to store a plurality of instructions which causes the processor to perform searching when the search option is obtained through the interface,

wherein the processor is further configured to;

determine a search term based on the search option, the search term including an extracted search term that is extracted from the search option;

search a document database to obtain a document that matches the search term;

generate a search result including document information identifying the document that matches the search term and relevancy information indicating a degree of relevancy between the search term and the document;

cause a display device to display the search result in a format indicating the correspondence relationship of the document information, the search term, and the relevancy information,

wherein the format indicating the correspondence relationship is a matrix, the matrix including a cell that represents relevancy information between the search term and the document, the matrix is displayed on the display device, and the cell, which is linked to the document, is configured to be activated by a user input and to cause the display device to display at least a portion of the document having the search term with the search term displayed in the document differently from other words in the document,

wherein the matrix includes

a row including a matrix element representing one of the search term or the document information,

a column including a matrix element representing another one of the search term or the document information, and

the cell being provided at a location where the matrix element representing the search term and the matrix element representing the document information meet and indicating the degree of relevancy between the search term represented by the corresponding matrix element and the document identified by the document information represented by the corresponding matrix element, and

wherein, when the search term includes a plurality of search terms, the processor is further configured to generate a plurality of search results for each one of the plurality of search terms, and cause the display device to display the plurality of search results in the format indicating the correspondence relationship of the document information, the search term, and the relevancy information for each one of the plurality of search results; and

the relevancy information is displayed visually in a graphical image having a shape representing the relevancy information.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein, when the document that matches the search term includes a plurality of documents, the processor is further configured to:

generate, for each one of the plurality of documents, search result correspondence relationship information indicating the correspondence relationship of at least two of the document information, the search term, and the relevancy information,

wherein the cell representing the relevancy information includes the search result correspondence relationship information.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a storage device configured to store the plurality of search terms, wherein;

the processor is further configured to generate, for each one of the plurality of search terms, search term identification information for identifying each search term and to store the search term identification information that corresponds to each one of the plurality of search terms in the storage device.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein, when the plurality of search terms further includes a related search term corresponding to the extracted search term, and the processor is further configured to:

generate correspondence relationship information indicating the correspondence relationship between the extracted search term and the related search term; and

cause the display device to display the extracted search term and the related search term in a format indicating the correspondence relationship between the extracted search term and the related search term using the correspondence relationship information.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to determine an arrangement of a plurality of matrix elements included in the matrix based on the relevancy information.

6. The information search apparatus of claim 1, wherein the search result is caused to be displayed for the extracted search term and a related search term corresponding to the extracted search term, wherein the related search term is acquired from a dictionary database, and the extracted search term and the related search term are caused to be displayed in format indicating a correspondence relationship between the extracted search term and the related search term.

7. The information search apparatus of claim 1, wherein the graphical image represents the relevancy information by circular shape.

8. An information search system, comprising:

an information processing apparatus configured to send a search option input by a user; and

an information search apparatus coupled to the information processing apparatus via a network and configured to;

determine a search term based on the search option received from the information processing apparatus, the search term including an extracted search term that is extracted from the search option;

search a document database to obtain a document that matches the search term;

send a search result to the information processing apparatus, the search result including document information identifying the document that matches the search term and relevancy information indicating a degree of relevancy between the search term and the document,

wherein the information processing apparatus is further configured to display the search result in a format indicating the correspondence relationship of the document information, the search term, and the relevancy information,

wherein the format indicating the correspondence relationship is a matrix, the matrix including a cell that represents relevancy information between the search term and the document, the matrix is displayed on a display device, and the cell, which is linked to the document, is configured to be activated by a user input and to cause the information processing apparatus to display at least a portion of the document having the search term with the search term displayed in the document differently from the other words in the document,

wherein the matrix includes

a row including a matrix element representing one of the search term or the document information,

a column including a matrix element representing another one of the search term or the document information, and

the cell being provided at a location where the matrix element representing the search term and the matrix element representing the document information meet and indicating the degree of relevancy between the search term represented by the corresponding matrix element and the document identified by the document information represented by the corresponding matrix element, and

wherein, when the search term includes a plurality of search terms, the information search apparatus is further configured to generate a plurality of search results for each one of the plurality of search terms, and the information processing apparatus is configured to display the plurality of search results in the format indicating the correspondence relationship of the document information, the search term, and the relevancy information for each one of the plurality of search results; and

the relevancy information is displayed visually in a graphical image having a shape representing the relevancy information.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the information processing apparatus is further configured to:

display a document display section in the cell representing the relevancy information;

obtain at least a portion of the corresponding document having the corresponding search term when the document display section is activated by a user input; and

display the obtained portion of the corresponding document having the corresponding search term.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein, when the document that matches the search term includes a plurality of documents, the information search apparatus is further configured to:

generate, for each one of the plurality of documents, search result correspondence relationship information indicating the correspondence relationship of at least two of the document information, the search term, and the relevancy information,

wherein the cell representing the relevancy information includes the search result correspondence relationship information.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the information processing apparatus is further configured to determine an arrangement of a plurality of matrix elements included in the matrix based on the relevancy information.

12. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

a storage device configured to store the plurality of search terms, wherein;

the information search apparatus is further configured to generate, for each one of the plurality of search terms, search term identification information for identifying each search term and to store the search term identification information that corresponds to each one of the plurality of search terms in the storage device.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein, when the plurality of search terms further includes a related search term corresponding to the extracted search term, the information search apparatus is further configured to:

generate correspondence relationship information indicating the correspondence relationship between the extracted search term and the related search term and to send the correspondence relationship information to the information processing apparatus,

wherein the information processing apparatus is further configured to display the extracted search term and the related search term in a format indicating the correspondence relationship between the extracted search term and the related search term using the correspondence relationship information.

14. The information search system of claim 8, wherein the search result is caused to be displayed for the extracted search term and a related search term corresponding to the extracted search term, wherein the related search term is acquired from a dictionary database, and the extracted search term and the related search term are caused to be displayed in format indicating a correspondence relationship between the extracted search term and the related search term.

15. The information search system of claim 8, wherein the graphical image represents the relevancy information by circular shape.

16. An information search method, comprising:

obtaining a search option input by a user through a user interface;

determining a search term based on the search option, the search term including an extracted search term that is extracted from the search option;

searching a document database to obtain a document that matches the search term;

generating a search result including document information identifying the document that matches the search term and relevancy information indicating a degree of relevancy between the search term and the document;

displaying through a display device the search result in a format indicating the correspondence relationship of the document information, the search term, and the relevancy information,

wherein the format indicating the correspondence relationship is a matrix, the matrix including a cell that represents relevancy information between the search term and the document, the matrix is displayed on the display device, and the cell, which is linked to the document, is configured to be activated by a user input and to cause the display device to display at least a portion of the document having the search term,

wherein the matrix includes

a row including a matrix element representing one of the search term or the document information,

a column including a matrix element representing another one of the search term or the document information, and

the cell being provided at a location where the matrix element representing the search term and the matrix element representing the document information meet and indicating the degree of relevancy between the search term represented by the corresponding matrix element and the document identified by the document information represented by the corresponding matrix element; and

wherein the search term includes a plurality of search terms, generating a plurality of search results for each one of the plurality of search terms, causing the display device to display the plurality of search results in the format indicating the correspondence relationship of the document information, the search term, and the relevancy information for each one of the plurality of search results; and

the relevancy information is displayed visually in a graphical image having a shape representing the relevancy information.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the graphical image represents the relevancy information by circular shape.