Related word presentation device

• US 8,504,357 B2
• Filed: 07/30/2008
• Issued: 08/06/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Tsuzuki, Takashi, Matsuura, Satoshi, Takata, Kazutoyo
• Primary Examiner(s): COLUCCI, MICHAEL C
• Application Number:
  US12/521,927
• Publication Number:
  US 20100042405A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,833 Days
• Field of Search: 704/10, 704/256.1, 704/243, 707/750, 725/9, 725/46, 725/45, 725/20, 715/745, 715/200, 706/47, 705/7.29, 455/426.1, 455/420, 370/397, 348/734, 348/569, 340/533
• US Class Current: 704/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3322 using system suggestions G06F16/3325 takes precedence

Abstract

A related word presentation device includes a program information storage unit that stores program information of each program; and an information dividing unit that generates, for each of the attributes of the words included in the program information, at least one group which includes a reference word belonging to the attribute and a set of words which co-occur with the reference word in a program. A degree-of-relevance calculating unit stores attribute-based association dictionaries each of which indicates, for the corresponding attribute of words, (i) the words and (ii) the degrees of relevance between the words calculated based on the frequency of co-occurrence in each of groups. A search condition obtaining unit obtains the search word and the attribute; a substitute word obtaining unit selects substitute words from the attribute-based association dictionary for the obtained attribute; and an output unit presents the selected substitute word.

Claims

1. A related word presentation device which generates association dictionaries, each association dictionary including words and degrees of relevance between the words, the related word presentation device comprising:

a computer configured to operate as;

a program information storage unit in which program information is stored, the program information being information indicating, for each program among programs contents of each program using words;

a classifying unit configured to generate groups for each attribute among attributes of the words included in the program information, each of the groups being made for a reference word, each reference word being among reference words included in each attribute, each of the groups including (i) a corresponding one of the reference words and (ii) a set of words which co-occur with the corresponding one of the reference words in the program information including the corresponding one of the reference words;

a first degree-of-relevance calculating unit configured to store the association dictionaries for the respective attributes, the association dictionaries each including (i) a possible pair of words in the groups of a corresponding one of the attributes of the words and (ii) the degree of relevance between the words in the possible pair, a value of the degree of relevance becoming greater with an increase in the number of the groups of the corresponding one of the attributes of the words including the possible pair of words in a same group;

an obtaining unit configured to obtain a search word and an attribute of the search word;

a first related word selecting unit configured to select, as a first related word, a word related to the search word obtained by the obtaining unit from a corresponding association dictionary for the attribute obtained by the obtaining unit from among the association dictionaries for the respective attributes; and

a presenting unit configured to present the first related word selected by the first related word selecting unit.

2. The related word presentation device according to claim 1,

wherein each of the association dictionaries for the respective attributes stored in the first degree-of-relevance calculating unit indicates a unique association of the possible pair of words and a degree of relevance between the words in the possible pair.

3. The related word presentation device according to claim 1,

wherein the classifying unit configured to remove the corresponding one of the reference words in the group from among words in the group which co-occur in the program.

4. The related word presentation device according to claim 1, wherein the first degree-of-relevance calculating unit is configured to calculate the degree of relevance between the words in the possible pair according to a frequency of co-occurrence of the words in the possible pair in each of the groups generated by the classifying unit, and generate the association dictionary which indicates the possible pair of words and the degree of relevance between the words in the possible pair in an associated manner.

5. The related word presentation device according to claim 4, wherein the first related word selecting unit is configured to preferentially select a word having a greatest degree of relevance with the search word obtained by the obtaining unit as the first related word from the association dictionary for the attribute obtained by the obtaining unit.

6. The related word presentation device according to claim 5, further comprising:

a degree-of-relevance calculating unit configured to calculate a degree of relevance between the possible pair of words according to a frequency of co-occurrence of the possible pair of words in each program indicated in the program information, generate the program association dictionary which indicates the possible pair of words and the degree of relevance between the words in the possible pair in an associated manner, and store the association dictionary in a dictionary storage unit; and

a second related word selecting unit configured to preferentially select a word having a greatest degree of relevance with the search word obtained by the obtaining unit as a second related word from the corresponding one of the program association dictionaries stored in the dictionary storage unit,

wherein the presenting unit is configured to further present the second related word selected by the second related word selecting unit.

7. The related word presentation device according to claim 6,

wherein the second related word selecting unit is configured to select, as the second related word, only a word having an attribute different from the attribute of the search word obtained by the obtaining unit.

8. The related word presentation device according to claim 6, further comprising

a search unit configured to search out, from the program information, a program whose contents are shown using the search word obtained by the obtaining unit,

wherein the first and second related word selecting units select first related words and second related words, respectively, and

the presenting unit is configured to present a greater number of the second related words than the first related words when a greater number of programs is searched out by the search unit, and present a greater number of the first related words than the second related words when a smaller number of programs is searched out by the search unit.

9. The related word presentation device according to claim 5,

wherein the obtaining unit is configured to obtain the search word and the attribute of the search word in response to an input operation by the user.

10. The related word presentation device according to claim 5, further comprising;

a program selecting unit configured to identify programs selected by a user from among the programs indicated in the program information,

wherein the obtaining unit is configured to obtain a single word as the search word from among the words according to a frequency of appearance of the words used in the program information to indicate the contents of the programs identified by the program selecting unit.

11. The related word presentation device according to claim 5,

wherein the first related word selecting unit is configured to select, as the first related word, only a word having an attribute identical to an attribute of the search word obtained by the obtaining unit.

12. The related word presentation device according to claim 5,

wherein the first related word selecting unit is configured to further select a word having a greater degree of relevance with another search word as a third related word from the association dictionary for the attribute of the other search word in the case where the other search word and the attribute of the other search word have been obtained in a predetermined period prior to the obtainment of the search word by the obtaining unit, and

the presentation unit further presents the third related word obtained by the first related word selecting unit.

13. A related word presentation method for generating association dictionaries, each association dictionary including words and degrees of relevance between the words, and presenting a related word related to a search word using a corresponding one of the association dictionaries, the related word presentation method comprising:

generating groups for each attribute among attributes of the words included in the program information, each of the groups being made for a reference word, each word being among reference words included in each attribute, each of the groups including (i) a corresponding one of the reference words and (ii) a set of words which co-occur with the corresponding one of the reference words in the program information including the corresponding one of the reference words, using a non-transitory program information storage unit in which the program information is stored, the program information being information indicating, for each of programs, contents of the program using words;

storing the association dictionaries for the respective attributes, the association dictionaries each including (i) a possible pair of words in the groups of a corresponding one of the attributes of the words and (ii) the degree of relevance between the words in the possible pair, a value of the degree of relevance becoming greater with an increase in the number of the groups of the corresponding one of the attributes of the words including the possible pair of words in a same group;

obtaining a search word and an attribute of the search word;

selecting, as a related word, a word related to the search word obtained in the obtaining from a corresponding association dictionary for the attribute obtained in the obtaining from among the association dictionaries for the respective attributes; and

presenting the related word selected in the selecting.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a program for generating association dictionaries, each association dictionary including words and degrees of relevance between the words, and presenting a related word related to a search word using a corresponding one of the association dictionaries, the program causing a computer to execute steps comprising:

generating groups for each attribute among attributes of the words included in the program information each of the groups being made for a reference word, each reference word being among reference words included in each attribute, each of the groups including (i) a corresponding one of the reference words and (ii) a set of words which co-occur with the corresponding one of the reference words in the program information including the corresponding one of the reference words, using a program information storage unit in which the program information is stored, the program information being information indicating, for each of programs, contents of the program using words;

storing the association dictionaries for the respective attributes, the association dictionaries each including (i) a possible pair of words in the groups of a corresponding one of the attributes of the words and (ii) the degree of relevance between the words in the possible pair, a value of the degree of relevance becoming greater with an increase in the number of the groups of the corresponding one of the attributes of the words including the possible pair of words in a same group;

obtaining a search word and an attribute of the search word;

selecting, as a related word, a word related to the search word obtained in the obtaining from a corresponding association dictionary for the attribute obtained in the obtaining from among the association dictionaries for the respective attributes; and

presenting the related word selected in the selecting.