Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
1998-08-31
2001-06-12
Vu, Kim (Department: 2172)
Data processing: database and file management or data structures
Database design
Data structure types
C703S004000, C703S006000, C703S010000, C703S007000, C703S007000, C709S203000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06247010
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a technology for helping a user formulate or draft documents, and more particularly to a method and a system used to search for information related to a document to be formulated and to present the searched information to the user.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Description of the Related Art
The following systems are provided as a related information search system which searches for information related to a document to be formulated and presents it to the user in order to help him or her formulate the document.
(1) First conventional system
A first conventional system is one of the most widely used systems today. Upon receiving a search instruction from a user, the system searches for information related to a search key entered by the user and presents the related information to the user.
FIG. 14
shows the block diagram.
In response to a user's search instruction, a related information search system
140
searches for information related to an entered search key and presents the searched information to the user. The system comprises a search instruction accepting module
145
, a related information searching module
144
, and a search result displaying module
146
. An input device
141
is a pointing device such as a mouse or a keyboard, and a display unit
142
is a CRT display and so on. A related information storage device
143
, a storage device such as a hard disk or a CD-ROM, contains a database in which text, documents/(translation) sample sentences, dictionary information, words, and Kanji samples etc. are stored. A search instruction accepting module
145
first displays on the display unit
142
the interaction elements (search button, dialog box, and so on) for accepting user's instructions and search keys and then accepts user's instructions and search keys from the input device
141
for transmission to the related information searching module
144
. The related information searching module
144
searches the related information storage device
143
for information related to the search keys. This information includes text or (translation) sample sentences containing a search key and dictionary information containing a search key as the head word. A search result displaying module
146
displays the search result on the display unit
142
.
(2) Second conventional system
A second conventional system is a related information search system disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication Kokai JP-A No. Hei 7-134720 and Japanese Patent Publication Kokai JP-A No. Hei 9-69087. The system analyzes text entered by a user to formulate a document, automatically extracts a search key, searches for related information, and automatically presents the results to the user.
FIG. 15
shows a block diagram.
A related information search system
150
, which comprises an input analyzing module
155
, a related information searching module
154
, and a search result displaying module
156
, automatically extracts search keys from entered text, searches for related information, and presents the result to the user. An input device
151
, a display unit
152
, and a related information storage device
153
are the same as those shown in FIG.
14
. The input analyzing module
155
performs dictionary-based morphemic analysis or pre-defined keyword matching analysis on the text entered via the input device
151
to extract search keys such as characters or words and sends them to the related information searching module
154
. The related information searching module
154
searches the related information storage device
153
for information related to the search keys. This information includes text or (translation) sample sentences containing a search key and dictionary information containing a search key as a head word. The search result displaying module
156
displays the search result on the display unit
152
.
(3) Third conventional system
A third conventional system is a related information search system disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication Kokai JP-A No. Hei 3-154152. This system, designed for use in a document formulating system with the kana-kanji translation (conversion) function, automatically searches for a sample of candidate kanji characters corresponding to the kana characters being entered. Rather than displaying the contents of the sample instantly, the system blinks or displays in reverse video to show the user merely the presence or absence of a sample of each candidate kanji character. Although a specific method for displaying the contents of a sample is not described in the publication, it is assumed that the user gives an instruction to display the contents of the sample.
SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE
Following problems have been encountered during the course of the investigations toward the present invention.
The first conventional system described above allows the user to get and use related information while the user is formulating a document. However, whenever the user wants to search for related information, the system requires him to interrupt document formulation to enter a search key. This means that the system, although designed for helping the user formulate a document, prevents him from concentrating on document formulation. This problem is most serious when the search does not give the user any related information. This is because the first conventional system accepts a user instruction and then starts the search for related information. Thus, when no related information is obtained, the waiting time is entirely wasteful.
On the other hand, the second conventional system allows the user to get information related to entered text without requiring him to enter a search instruction or a search key explicitly. This means that the system gives the user related information without interrupting document formulation. However, the second conventional system, with an interface different from that of the first conventional system which is widely used today, is not easy to use for users who have been familiar with the first conventional system. In addition, the second conventional system, which automatically searches for related information without interrupting document formulation, immediately displays searched information to the user. So, when there is a large amount of related information, the system is likely to interrupt document formulation often.
In contrast to the above two systems, the third conventional system allows the user to get information on the presence or absence of information related to entered text without requiring the user to enter an explicit search instruction and a search key and without immediately displaying related information. Therefore, this system does not interrupt user document formulation more often than the above two systems.
However, although the third conventional system, which displays, not the contents of, but the presence or absence of, related information, does not interrupt user's document formulation, it distracts the user from concentration on the related information search. Therefore, the user often fails to notice the related information display and, after entering some amount of information, realizes that he should have searched related information. In addition, after completing a sentence, some users want to make a global reference to information related to the words etc. contained in that sentence. In such a case, the conventional system cannot even re-display the presence or absence of related information but requires the user to search for related information again, significantly decreasing the efficiency.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel method and system for related information search, free of the disadvantages in the prior art.
Particularly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a related information search method and a related information search system which takes (i) advantage of the second conventional system which automatically extracts search keys before the user makes an
Doi Shinichi
Kamei Shinichiro
Tamura Shinko
Foley & Lardner LLP
Ly Anh
NEC Corporation
Vu Kim
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