JPH1063680A - Information retrieval system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To perform an efficient search for a plurality of databases even if the user does not specify all. In an information search system in which a plurality of database servers (101) are distributed on a network (110), an agent having a search condition of a user is generated by an agent generation unit (107). This agent is connected to the database server 101 and the database server 1 via the network 110.
11 and retrieves information according to the above retrieval conditions from a database connected to the destination database server, and sends the retrieval result back to the user via the network 110. This eliminates the need for the user to take the time to access a plurality of database servers, and the user does not need to know the access method.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information retrieval system for retrieving information from a database distributed on a network, and more particularly to an agent (program).
The present invention relates to an information search system for searching information satisfying a user's request by walking through a database distributed on a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a database system as an information aggregation system aiming at effective use of information resources. The database system is composed of a database and a database management system, and is usually constructed on a computer. The database refers to the data itself, but sometimes the whole system is simply a database. The database management system refers to system software for realizing a database system.

Generally, a database system provides both functions of searching and updating data, and both are used in general business. However, there are systems in which the ratio is extremely extreme. For example, a system such as a document search system and an information service system that is search-centric and is unlikely to be updated by the user is particularly called an information search system. here,
The information search system will be described.

Conventionally, in this type of information retrieval system, agents are relegated to a database (information source),
In some cases, information obtained by an agent is obtained by connecting the agent to a database management unit.

[0005] An agent is a concept proposed as a next-generation man-machine interface, and is software that operates autonomously. When software is resident in a PC (personal computer) or portable personal information terminal connected to the network, the agent of a user with a certain personality, that is, the software is resident, this electronic proxy A person acts in a network based on a user's intention without giving any particular instructions.

[0006] In the information retrieval system having such an agent, a database can be autonomously searched according to the conditions only by the user, without human intervention. That is, the agent acts as a user's agent, performs a predetermined operation required for searching the database, and notifies the user of only the result.

[0007]

As described above, information obtained by an agent has been obtained by retreating the agent to the database. However, in the conventional system, when there are a plurality of databases, the user himself / herself determines the agent's ancestors and at what point the search is terminated.
I needed to give directions.

That is, in the conventional system, when a result is obtained for a certain database, the user looks at the result and determines what processing is to be performed next (for example, searching for another database). Do you want to do that, or stop the search here?) For this reason, a burden is imposed on the user, and the user must always start up and operate the apparatus until a series of searches is completed, and there are problems such as a large time constraint.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and provides an information search system capable of performing an efficient search on a plurality of databases without a user instructing all of them. With the goal.

[0010]

According to the present invention, in an information retrieval system in which a plurality of database servers are distributed on a network, an agent having a user's retrieval condition is connected between the database servers via the network. And retrieves information according to the retrieval condition from a database connected to the destination database server, and sends the retrieval result back to the user via the network.

The agent has a function of deciding search termination, a function of deciding the next destination, and a function of deciding to send its own copy to a plurality of remaining database servers as destinations.

Further, the present invention is applicable to an information retrieval system in which a plurality of database servers are distributed on a network, and each of the above-mentioned database servers holds information on a database of another database server. An agent having a search condition of the other person moves between the database servers via the network with reference to the other database server information,
The information according to the search condition is searched from a database connected to the destination database server, and the search result is sent back to the user via the network.

The agent has its own search history information and provides the history information to each of the database servers when moving, so that each of the database servers collects the history information as other database server information. Go.

According to such a configuration, the agent walks across a plurality of database servers distributed on the network and searches for information that satisfies the user's request. Therefore, users do not need to spend time on multiple database servers themselves,
Also, the user does not need to know the access method.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an information search system according to one embodiment of the present invention. In this system, a database server 101, a Web server 108, and a user terminal 109 are connected via a network 110. The database 106 is connected to the database server 101. Further, a plurality of database servers 111... Other than the database server 101 are distributed on the network 110, and each has its own database 112.

The database server 101 is a computer (server) for database search, is equipped with a database engine (program for executing database search and the like), and executes search of the database 106 on behalf of another personal computer (client). I do.

As shown in FIG. 1, the database server 101 comprises an agent activation / management unit 102, a server management unit 104, and a database operation unit 105. The agent activation / management unit 102 includes an agent 103
Start and manage. The server management unit 104 manages various information related to the server. Database operation unit 10
5 performs an operation necessary for searching the database 106.
Note that the other database server 111 has the same configuration.

On the other hand, the user terminal 109 is a computer used by the user, and is connected to the network 110. The user inputs search conditions through the user terminal 109.

The Web server 108 has a WWW (world
d wide web). This Web server 108 has an agent generation unit 107. The agent generation unit 107 generates an agent for executing a search according to the received search condition information.

In the following, the actual search flow will be described with reference to a document search as an example, but any search / database may be used in practice. The user sets We on the user terminal 109
b When the browser is started and a predetermined page is accessed, a search condition input screen is displayed. Using this search condition input screen, search conditions are input. The search condition can include a search strategy in addition to a specific search target. For example, when setting restrictions on time and cost or performing a search from a plurality of databases, specify the route,
Whether a result (information) should be obtained or all related information is desired can be given as a strategy.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a search condition input screen used in document search. In FIG. 2, a portion indicated by reference numeral 201 is an area for inputting a specific search target, and here relates to “title”, “author name”, “publisher”, “publishing year”, and “keyword”. Information is to be entered. The area indicated by reference numeral 202 is an area for inputting information necessary for a strategic search,
Here, information on “time limit”, “cost limit”, “route designation”, and “search result” is input.

For "time limit", select "Yes" / "No", and if "Yes", enter the time (minutes). For "cost limit", select "Yes" / "No", and if "Yes", enter the amount (yen).
In the “route specification”, “Yes” / “No” is selected, and in the case of “Yes”, the route is input. In the "search result", "all related" / "one" / "arbitrary" is selected. In the case of "arbitrary", the number of the search is input.

When the input of the search condition is completed through such an input screen, the content is input to the agent generation unit 107 in the Web server 108 via the network 110.
Sent to. The agent generation unit 107 generates an agent that has the received search condition information and executes a search in accordance with the information.

The generated agent is sent to the database server when the database server to be searched is specified in the search conditions, and the database server specified by default when no such server is specified. Move to This default may be specified by the user or may be set on the Web server 108 side. Here, it is assumed that the process first moves to the database server 101.

The movement of the agent means that the data (program) of the agent itself is actually transferred to the network 11.
0 to the database server 101, and the agent activation / management unit 102 on the database server 101 stores the agent in the database server 1
01 is to be activated as the agent 103 that actually moves.

The agent 103 started on the database server 101 requests the server management unit 104 to provide information on the database 106. This information may be any information. For example, database 1
If 06 is a relational database, schema information or the like can be considered, or more basic information about what is related to the database may be used. In short, any information can be used as long as it can determine whether or not the agent 103 requests the search, and in what format the search condition should be presented to make the request.

Here, an example in which the database 106 is a relational database will be described. It is considered that the attribute name and the attribute that can be a search key differ depending on the database. Therefore, the server management unit 104
The agent 10 stores data necessary for creating a query sentence for actually searching in the database operation unit 105 by using a predetermined common attribute name in the system.
3 to be transmitted in this order.

The agent 103 is a server management unit 10
4 to determine whether to search in the database 106. This criterion is whether the target data is the same (for example, it is meaningless to search a database on clothes when searching for documents), and whether there is data required for the search key. Can be considered.

Hereinafter, the flow of a process for performing a search in the database 106 will be described. If the search is not performed, a process to determine the next destination described later is performed. The agent 103 first converts the search condition from the user into a form suitable for the format sent from the server management unit 104. That is, the search condition from the user is converted into a form suitable for the unique database server 101. The agent 103 transmits the converted search condition to the server management unit 104. The server management unit 104 includes the agent 103
A query sentence for actual search is created based on the search condition received from, and the execution is requested to the database operation unit 105.

The database operation unit 105 executes the inquiry sentence requested by the server management unit 104 to search the database 106, and returns the obtained search result to the server management unit 104. This database operation unit 10
Reference numeral 5 may be a general database management system. The server management unit 104 includes the database operation unit 1
The search result returned from 05 is returned to the agent 103.

The agent 103 determines whether to continue or terminate the search based on the search result. This determination is performed, for example, as follows. That is, when the target information cannot be obtained from the database 106,
Alternatively, the intended result was obtained, but the user
In the case where a search condition for obtaining all information that is considered to be applicable is specified, not just one, it is determined that the search is to be continued as it is. Conversely, if the desired information is obtained and the user has specified the search condition that only one result is required, it is determined to terminate the search.

In addition, if the search is continued further, if the time and cost restrictions in the search conditions specified by the user are exceeded, it is determined to terminate the search. When the search is terminated, the search result up to that point is transmitted to the user via the network 110 by e-mail.

Next, a description will be given of a method of determining the next destination when the search is continued. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of an information search system having another database server information management unit. As shown in FIG. 3, the database server 1
01, another database server information management unit 113 is provided. The other database server information management unit 113 manages information (hereinafter, referred to as other database server information) about the databases 112 connected to the other database servers 111.

In the case where the search is continued, the agent 103 sets the other database server information management unit 113
Refer to other database server information held in
From among them, a database server having information matching the search condition is searched. As a result, if a corresponding database server is found, the agent 103 determines that database server as the next destination. If the corresponding database is not found, the agent 103 sets the server management unit 104
The default database server 111 set in advance is set as the next destination.

The other database server information management unit 1
It is not necessary to prepare information on all database servers in advance in the database 13. Agents can also be used to collect this information.

For example, it is assumed that the agent has finished searching on a database server and has moved to the database server 101. At this time, the database server 1
01 as the history information, the search result of the database server searched before 01 (whether or not there is a corresponding one). The other database server information management unit 113
With the search condition held by the agent 103, information is obtained as to which database server has the corresponding information and which database server did not, and the information is registered. As a result, appropriate information for determining the next destination database server can be provided to other agents who have come to the search with the same search conditions.

According to such a method, since information on another database server can be obtained every time the agent moves, there is no need to collectively manage information on database servers in the system. Therefore, it is easy to add a new database server to the system.

When the next destination is determined, the agent moves to the database server and repeats the same processing. When the agent moves to another database server, the agent running on the database server up to that time (the agent 103 in the case of the database server 101) disappears.

When the agent is moved, for example, there may be many candidates for the next move destination (database servers still remaining), and the time limit for the search may be imminent. In such a case, since there is no time to move one by one between the database servers one by one, the agent may make a copy of itself and send it to a plurality of database servers.

However, in this strategy, if access should be made one by one in order, it would be possible to search for the corresponding information in the middle, but all the remaining database servers would be accessed. There is a drawback that unnecessary cost is required. Therefore, it is effective when there is a time limit, but it is not very effective in other cases.

As described above, the agent having the user's search condition walks across a plurality of database servers distributed on the network and searches for information satisfying the user's request. Therefore, the user does not need to take the time to access a plurality of database servers, and the user does not need to know the access method.

[0042]

As described above, according to the present invention, in an information search system in which a plurality of database servers are distributed on a network, an agent (program) having a user's search condition interacts with the database search program. Can be searched without the user having to be aware of the database access method, and the agent can walk across multiple database servers distributed on the network to strategically obtain information that meets the user's request. Since the search is performed, an efficient search can be performed for a plurality of databases without the user instructing all of them.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an information search system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a search condition input screen.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of an information search system having another database server information management unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 Database Server 102 Agent Startup / Management Unit 103 Agent 104 Server Management Unit 105 Database Operation Unit 106 Database 107 Agent Generation Unit 108 Web Server 109 User Terminal 110 Network 111 Other Database Server 112 Other database 113 ... Other database server information management unit 201 ... Input area 202 ... Input area

Claims (6)

[Claims] In an information retrieval system in which a plurality of database servers are distributed on a network, an agent having a user's retrieval condition moves between the database servers via the network, and the destination An information retrieval system which retrieves information according to the above retrieval conditions from a database connected to a database server, and sends the retrieval result back to a user via the above network. 2. The information retrieval system according to claim 1, wherein the agent has a function of determining the termination of the retrieval. 3. The information retrieval system according to claim 1, wherein the agent has a function of determining a next destination. 4. The agent according to claim 1, wherein said agent has a function of deciding to dispatch its own copy to a plurality of remaining database servers as destinations.
Information retrieval system described. 5. An information search system in which a plurality of database servers are distributed on a network and each of the database servers holds information on a database held by another database server. An agent moves between the database servers via the network with reference to the other database server information, searches the database connected to the destination database server for information according to the search conditions, and performs the search. An information retrieval system wherein the result is sent back to the user via the network. 6. The agent has its own search history information and provides the history information to each of the database servers when moving, so that each of the database servers collects the history information as other database server information. 6. The information retrieval system according to claim 5, wherein the search is performed.