Abstract:
An information collection retrieval system includes: a facility information database for storing individual information items about facilities; an information acquisition terminal for inputting a retrieval keyword, and for outputting results of searching the facility information database using the retrieval keyword; an information registration terminal for registering the individual information items about the facilities into the facility information database; and a control unit for controlling the information acquisition terminal, information registration terminal and facility information database. The control unit includes: a registration analyzing section for analyzing registration information transmitted from the information registration terminal, and for storing the analyzed results in the facility information database as the individual information items about the facilities; and a retrieval section for searching the entire facility information database using the retrieval keyword input from the information acquisition terminal, and for transmitting information representing retrieval results to the information acquisition terminal.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to an information collection retrieval system for searching for facilities that provide products or services by utilizing the Internet and/or other communication networks. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     An information collection retrieval system has been known conventionally that collects information items from providers of products and/or services by utilizing the Internet, car navigation network and other communication networks, stores them in a database, and provides a user with on-target information required (see Relevant Reference 1, for example). 
     The information collection retrieval system has a database for storing facility identifying information fed from an information provider terminal and content information including data about facilities, products and/or services in accordance with a specified format as individual information items. When the individual information items are stored in the database, their content information is associated with a basic classification table. The basic classification table is searched according to the individual facilities and products and/or services or combinations of them sent from a consumer terminal. Then applicable individual information items including the facility identifying information satisfying the consumer&#39;s request are read from the database to be transmitted to the display unit of the consumer terminal. According to such an information collection retrieval system, since it classifies the same facilities from a variety of viewpoints, it can prevent the omission of them from the retrieval. 
     Relevant Reference 1: Japanese patent application laid-open No. 11-328217/1999. 
     The method of classifying the individual information items about the facilities the conventional information collection retrieval system employs cannot carry out classification beyond the number of items of the predetermined classification. Thus, when a very detailed retrieval keyword such as a product name is supplied, it sometimes happens that the applicable classification is absent. In addition, since the classification must be prepared in advance, when a retrieval keyword designating a new product or service is input, it is not unlikely that its applicable classification is not yet prepared. 
     Furthermore, if a relevant classification of the product or service required by the user is not present, the user must speculate about the classification that is likely to include the product or service. Accordingly, it sometimes happens that the user can acquire only part of many relevant facilities as the retrieval results, or that only part of the many retrieval results includes the facilities meeting the user request, thereby hindering the user from acquiring only the facilities relevant to the user request. 
     Moreover, to update information registered via an information registration terminal, it is necessary for the information provider to send the information to be registered again. Thus, a problem can occur that the retrieval information is old and different from the present conditions, and even if new products or services are handled, they cannot be hit in the retrieval in some cases. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is implemented to solve the foregoing problems. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an information collection retrieval system capable of registering a wide variety of facilities, products and/or services using an information registration terminal, and capable of retrieving a wide variety of facilities, products and/or services using an information acquisition terminal. 
     According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information collection retrieval system including: a facility information database for storing individual information items about facilities; an information acquisition terminal for inputting a retrieval keyword, and for outputting results of searching the facility information database using the retrieval keyword; an information registration terminal for registering the individual information items about the facilities into the facility information database; and a control unit for controlling the information acquisition terminal, the information registration terminal and the facility information database, wherein the control unit includes: a registration analyzing section for analyzing registration information transmitted from the information registration terminal, and for storing analyzed results into the facility information database as one of the individual information items about the facilities; and a retrieval section for searching the facility information database in its entirety using the retrieval keyword input from the information acquisition terminal, and for transmitting information representing retrieval results to the information acquisition terminal. 
     The information collection retrieval system is configured such that it searches the entire facility information database using the retrieval keyword input from the information acquisition terminal. Thus, it can obviate the need for preparing the classification items in advance, and prevent such conditions as no applicable classification is present or the classification is difficult. In addition, because it is not necessary to prepare the classification in advance, it can also handle retrieval keywords designating new products or services with ease. As a result, it offers an advantage of being able to register a wide variety of facilities, products and/or services using the information registration terminal, and to retrieve a wide variety of facilities, products and/or services using the information acquisition terminal. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram showing a general configuration of an embodiment 1 of the information collection retrieval system in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a diagram illustrating an example of individual information items about facilities to be registered in a facility information database from an information acquisition terminal in the embodiment 1 of the information collection retrieval system in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a flowchart illustrating the information registration processing performed by the embodiment 1 of the information collection retrieval system in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating the information acquisition processing performed by the embodiment 1 of the information collection retrieval system in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is a diagram illustrating a display example of retrieval results arranged systematically according to the distances from a reference position to facilities in the embodiment 1 of the information collection retrieval processing in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 6  is a diagram illustrating a display example of the retrieval results of the facilities within the distance of one kilometer from the reference position in the embodiment 1 of the information collection retrieval system in accordance with the present invention; and 
         FIG. 7  is a diagram illustrating an example of individual information items about facilities to be registered from an external database to the facility information database in the embodiment 1 of the information collection retrieval system in accordance with the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The embodiment in accordance with the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     Embodiment 1 
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram showing a general configuration of an embodiment 1 of the information collection retrieval system in accordance with the present invention. The information collection retrieval system includes an information acquisition terminal  10 , an information registration terminal  11 , a facility information database  12 , a control unit  13  and an external database  14 . 
     The information acquisition terminal  10  is composed of a portable terminal such as a notebook personal computer, PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) or mobile phone, a car navigation terminal, a desktop personal computer, or one of other electronic information terminals. The information acquisition terminal  10  is used by a user to retrieve a desired information item. 
     The information acquisition terminal  10  includes an input section  101  and a result display section  102 . The input section  101  includes a keyboard and a touch panel, for example, and is used to input retrieval conditions. As the retrieval conditions, a retrieval keyword is used which consists of a facility, product and/or service to be retrieved, or a combination of them. The retrieval keyword input from the input section  101  is transmitted to the control unit  13  via a communication channel composed of a radio or wired circuit. 
     The result display section  102  consists of a liquid-crystal or CRT display unit, for example, and is used to display the retrieval results. The result display section  102  displays the retrieval results transmitted from the control unit  13  via the communication channel consisting of the radio or wired circuit. More specifically, it displays the individual information items about the facilities retrieved using the retrieval keyword. 
     The information registration terminal  11  is composed of a personal computer, for example, and is used by the information provider to register the individual information items about the facilities into the facility information database  12 . The individual information items about the facilities input from the information registration terminal  11  are transmitted to the control unit  13  via the communication channel consisting of the radio or wired circuit. 
     The facility information database  12  stores the individual information items about the facilities, which are transmitted from the information registration terminal  11  via the control unit  13 , according to a specified format. In addition, in response to a retrieval request transmitted from the information acquisition terminal  10  via the control unit  13 , the facility information database  12  transmits the individual information items about the applicable facilities to the information acquisition terminal  10  via the control unit  13 . 
     The control unit  13  consists of a server computer, for example, and is installed in a center that operates the information collection retrieval system. The control unit  13  includes a registration analyzing section  131 , a retrieval section  132  and an external database (DB) acquiring section  133 . 
     The registration analyzing section  131  analyzes the individual information items about the facilities transmitted from the information registration terminal  11  or the individual information items about the facilities acquired from the external database  14 , and classifies them according to the specified formats. The individual information items about the facilities classified by the registration analyzing section  131  are transmitted to the facility information database  12  to be stored. 
     The retrieval section  132  searches the facility information database  12  using the retrieval keyword transmitted from the information acquisition terminal  10 , and retrieves from the facility information database  12  the individual information items about the facilities which include the retrieval keyword in the facilities, products and/or services. The individual information items about the facilities read from the facility information database  12  by the retrieval section  132  are transmitted to the information acquisition terminal  10 . 
     When the individual information items about the facilities registered by the information registration terminal  11  contain an external database ID  22  for making access to the external database  14 , the external database acquiring section  133  accesses the external database  14  to acquire the characteristic identifying information and content information of the facilities, the details of which will be described later with reference to  FIG. 2 . The information associated with the facilities in accordance with the present invention is composed of the characteristic identifying information and content information. The characteristic identifying information and content information of the facilities acquired by the external database acquiring section  133  are registered in the facility information database  12  as part of the individual information items about the facilities. 
     The external database  14  is a database that is connected to the outside of the information collection retrieval system, to the Internet, for example. The contents of the external database  14  are read by the external database acquiring section  133  of the control unit  13  as described above. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates a format of the individual information items about the facilities to be registered in the facility information database  12 . Each of the individual information items about the facilities consists of the characteristic identifying information  20 , content information  21  and external database ID  22 . 
     The characteristic identifying information  20  is the information characteristic to the facility, which consists of such information items as the name of the facility, phone number (TEL), address, location (specified by the latitude and longitude), availability of a parking lot and its accommodations, and the nearest station. 
     The content information  21  includes the type of the facility, and the products and/or services marketed. In the example of  FIG. 2 , the type of the facility is “gardening”, products marketed are “flowerpots”, “seedlings”, “fertilizers” and so on. 
     The external database ID  22 , which is optional, consists of a home page address on a network such as the Internet, for example. The home page address is used as the identifier of the information item about the facilities stored in the external database  14  of the network. The external database ID  22  can be acquired from the information acquisition terminal  10  as the characteristic identifying information  20 . In addition, the external database ID  22  is used to acquire the characteristic identifying information, content information and the like from the external database  14 . For example, when the facility to be retrieved is a store, it often has its home page introducing itself. In this case, the information collection retrieval system can extract the individual information items about the facility from the home page by describing its URL (Uniform Resource Locator) in the external database ID  22 . Thus, the information collection retrieval system can save some work for registering the individual information items about the facility to the facility information database  12 , and acquire the latest detailed content information about the products and/or services. 
     Next, the operation of the embodiment 1 of the information collection retrieval system in accordance with the present invention will be described with reference to the flowcharts of  FIGS. 3 and 4  with placing emphasis on the processing of the control unit  13 . 
     First, the information registration processing will be described with reference to the flowchart of  FIG. 3 . The information registration processing is carried out for registering the individual information items about the facilities to the facility information database  12  in response to the information registration request from the information registration terminal  11 . 
     In the information registration processing, when the information registration request is transmitted from the information registration terminal  11 , the processing of accepting the registration is carried out (step ST 10 ). More specifically, the registration analyzing section  131  of the control unit  13  accepts the registration information transmitted from the information registration terminal  11  as the information registration request. 
     Subsequently, the registration analyzing section  131  analyzes the registration information accepted at step ST 10  (step ST 11 ). More specifically, the registration analyzing section  131  acquires the characteristic identifying information and content information from the registration information. In this case, when the registration information includes the external database ID  22 , the registration analyzing section  131  acquires it. 
     Subsequently, the registration analyzing section  131  makes a decision as to whether to acquire information from the external database  14  or not (step ST 12 ). The decision is made by checking whether the registration information transmitted from the information registration terminal  11  includes the external database ID  22  or not. 
     If the registration analyzing section  131  makes a decision that it should acquire the information from the external database  14  at step ST 12 , that is, that the registration information includes the external database ID  22 , the information including the individual information items about the facility is obtained from the external database  14  (step ST 13 ). More specifically, the external database acquiring section  133  of the control unit  13  makes access to the external database  14  using the external database ID  22 , and acquires the information including the individual information items about the facility. 
     Subsequently, the registration analyzing section  131  analyzes the information acquired from the external database  14  at step ST 13  (step ST 14 ). More specifically, the registration analyzing section  131  obtains from the information acquired from the external database  14  the information items such as the name, phone number, address, location (latitude and longitude), and products and/or services of the facility, with classifying them into the characteristic identifying information and content information of the facility. Even if the type of the information cannot be identified as is often the case in the information on the Internet, since the information is likely to include the products and/or services, the registration analyzing section  131  obtains the information stored in the external database  14 , and classifies it into the content information. 
     Incidentally, as for the individual information items about the facilities stored in the facility information database  12  and having the external database ID  22 , the external database acquiring section  133  of the control unit  13  can be configured such that it makes access to the external database  14  at regular intervals, and acquires the characteristic identifying information and content information about the facilities by executing the same processing as that of steps ST 13  and ST 14  to update the contents of the facility information database  12 . 
     For example, when a URL is stored as the external database ID  22 , the external database acquiring section  133  extracts the individual information items about the facility from the home page at regular intervals, and updates the contents of the facility information database  12 . Thus, it can update the characteristic information and content information of the facility information database  12  following the update of the home page of the facility. Thus, every time the facility updates its home page when it starts marketing new products or services, the facility information database  12  automatically updates its contents to reflect the contents of the home page, thereby always enabling the retrieval of the facility in terms of the new products or services. 
     When the registration analyzing section  131  makes a decision that it does not acquire information from the external database  14  step ST 12 , that is, that the registration information does not include the external database ID  22 , it skips the processing of steps ST 13  and ST 14 . 
     Subsequently, the storing processing into the facility information database  12  is performed (step ST 15 ). More specifically, the registration analyzing section  131  of the control unit  13  stores into the facility information database  12  the individual information items about the facility acquired from the information registration terminal  11  at step ST 11  and/or the individual information items about the facility acquired from the external database  14  by the external database acquiring section  133  at step ST 14 . 
     It is preferable that the storing of the individual information items about the facilities into the facility information database  12  be made with a format enabling high-speed retrieval using the locations (latitude and longitude) of the facilities, facilities and products and/or services, and the like. In addition, as for the content information, it is preferably classified as follows according to the appropriateness for the user requirements: the content information acquired from the information registration terminal  11  (called “first content information” from now on); content information which is acquired from the external database  14  and whose type can be identified (called “second content information” from now on); and content information which is acquired from the external database  14 , but whose type cannot be identified, and which includes noise in general as the content information obtained from the Internet (called “third content information” from now on). As for the first to third content information items, although two or three of them match the retrieval keyword, the preceding information item (that is, the first than the second information item, etc.) is considered to have a higher probability of being suitable for the user requirements. To take advantage of the accuracy level of the information, the facility information database  12  can be configured such that it stores the content information with dividing it into the first content information, second content information and third content information. In this case, carrying out the retrieval in the order of the first content information, second content information and third content information can improve the probability of satisfying the user requirements, thereby being able to perform quick retrieval of the facilities. 
     Next, the information acquisition processing, which acquires the individual information items about the facilities from the facility information database  12  in response to the information acquisition request from the information acquisition terminal  10 , will be described with reference to the flowchart illustrated in  FIG. 4 . 
     In the present embodiment 1, it is assumed that the information acquisition terminal  10  consists of a mobile terminal such as a portable terminal or car navigation terminal, and that it is possible to set or not to set a limit of the facilities to be retrieved to those in the neighborhood of the information acquisition terminal  10 . In this case, the information acquisition terminal  10  transmits to the control unit  13  not only the retrieval keyword, but also its location information as the retrieval reference position information. 
     In the information acquisition processing, the retrieval section  132  of the control unit  13  makes a decision as to whether the facilities to be retrieved are limited according to the location of the information acquisition terminal  10  or not, first (step ST 20 ). If a decision is made that the facilities to be retrieved are limited at step ST 20 , the retrieval section  132  of the control unit  13  acquires the retrieval reference position information from the information acquisition terminal  10  (step ST 21 ). 
     Subsequently, the retrieval section  132  of the control unit  13  accepts the retrieval keyword transmitted from the information acquisition terminal  10  (step ST 22 ). In this case, the retrieval section  132  can be configured such that it accepts a plurality of retrieval keywords in order to enable the retrieval based on the logical AND or logical OR operation of the plurality of retrieval keywords. 
     Subsequently, the retrieval section  132  retrieves the facilities which satisfy the condition that they exist in the neighborhood of the location designated by the retrieval reference position information acquired from the information acquisition terminal  10 , and which match the retrieval keywords input from the information acquisition terminal  10  (step ST 23 ), and transmits the information about the facilities retrieved to the information acquisition terminal  10  (step ST 26 ). In the processing at step ST 23 , the retrieval section  132  searches the entire content information  21  registered in the facility information database  12  by the information provider, and decides that the facilities including the words corresponding to the retrieval keyword match the retrieval keyword. 
     For example, consider the facility with the contents as illustrated in  FIG. 2 , which is registered from the information provider. The facility is considered to be matching the retrieval keyword, when the retrieval is carried out using the retrieval keyword “flower pots”, because its content information  21  includes “flower pots”. Incidentally, a decision as to whether the facility matches the retrieval keyword is made only according to whether the content information  21  includes the retrieval keyword itself or not. Accordingly, when part of the retrieval keyword “flower pots” input from the information acquisition terminal  10  is written using hiragana, a decision is made that it does not match the retrieval keyword “flower pots” written in kanji in its entirety. As a result, the facility is not selected as the facility matching the retrieval keyword. 
     The processing at step ST 23  can offer the handling as illustrated in  FIGS. 5 and 6  using the retrieval reference position information. First, as illustrated in  FIG. 5 , it can arrange the retrieval results in the order of the distance from the reference position to the facility. Second, as illustrated in  FIG. 6 , it can supply the information acquisition terminal  10  with only the facilities, the locations of which are within the neighborhood of the reference position, as the relevant facilities. 
     The content information  21  has a difference in the matching level between the retrieval keyword and the facilities and products and/or services depending on the acquisition sources. Therefore when the acquisition source of the content information  21  can be identified, the matching level is determined for each acquisition source so that only the content information  21  acquired from the acquisition sources with the matching level higher than a specified level is subjected to the retrieval, or so that the retrieval results are rearranged in the order of the matching level after the retrieval, to be supplied back to the information acquisition terminal  10 . 
     For example, consider the facility as illustrated in  FIG. 2  whose content information  21  is registered from the information registration terminal  11 , and the facility as illustrated in  FIG. 7  whose content information  21  is acquired from the external database  14 , the Internet. When a decision is made as to whether they include the retrieval keywords “flower pots” and “cage”, both the facilities include the two retrieval keywords. However, it is a mistake to makes a decision from the content information  21  as illustrated in  FIG. 7  that the facility trades the products and/or services matching the “cages”. It is reasonable in this case that facility with the content information  21  as illustrated in  FIG. 7  has a lower matching level than the facility with the content information  21  as illustrated in  FIG. 2 . 
     If a decision is made that the facilities to be retrieved are not limited at step ST 20 , the retrieval section  132  of the control unit  13  accepts the retrieval keyword transmitted from the information acquisition terminal  10  (step ST 24 ). In this case, the retrieval section  132  can be configured such that it accepts a plurality of retrieval keywords in order to enable the retrieval in terms of the logical AND or logical OR operation of the plurality of retrieval keywords. 
     Subsequently, the retrieval section  132  retrieves the facilities which match the retrieval keyword input from the information acquisition terminal  10  (step ST 25 ), and transmits the information about the facilities retrieved to the information acquisition terminal  10  (step ST 26 ). In the processing at step ST 25 , the retrieval section  132  searches the entire content information  21  registered in the facility information database  12  by the information provider, and the content information including the words corresponding to the retrieval keyword is decided to be the facilities matching the retrieval keyword. 
     In the processing at step ST 25 , as in the processing at the foregoing step ST 23 , when the acquisition source of the content information  21  can be identified, the matching level is determined for each acquisition source so that only the content information  21  acquired from the acquisition sources with the matching level higher than a specified level is subjected to the retrieval, or so that the retrieval results are rearranged in the order of the matching level after the retrieval, to be supplied back to the information acquisition terminal  10 . 
     As described above, the embodiment 1 of the information collection retrieval system in accordance with the present invention is configured such that it searches the facility information database  12  in its entirety using the retrieval keyword input from the information acquisition terminal  10 . Consequently, it can obviate the need for preparing the classification items in advance, and can prevent such conditions from occurring in which no applicable classification is present or the classification is difficult. In addition, since it is not necessary to prepare the classification in advance, it can handle such a case quickly as the retrieval keyword designating the new product or service is input. Thus, it enables a wide variety of facilities, products and/or services to be registered and retrieved by using the information registration terminal.