Patent Publication Number: US-2003236778-A1

Title: Drawing search support apparatus and drawing search method

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001] 1. Field of the Invention  
       [0002] The present invention relates to a method of searching for desired information from among a great deal of drawing information, and an apparatus for supporting such a search operation. The present invention is used in a field which requires a search for documents that includes drawings, such as a search for patent documents, machine drawings, electronic circuit drawings, etc.  
       [0003] 2. Description of the Related Art  
       [0004] In a conventional drawing search operation, information that matches a keyword inputted by a user is searched for using a keyword search technology that targets the attribute data of drawing information. The titles or abstracts obtained by this keyword query operation are listed in matching order to be offered to the user. In this technology, only a small amount of information is offered if the keyword is appropriately inputted, and accordingly the desired information can be easily detected.  
       [0005] If the keyword does not represent the user&#39;s search intention appropriately, or the user&#39;s search intention itself is not clear, the list of features of information to be presented becomes potentially large. Consequently, the order of the presented information does not always match the user&#39;s intention. In some cases, the information is omitted from the list of retrieved results. Additionally, if relevant attribute data is not affixed to drawing information, the information about the drawing cannot be searched.  
       [0006] Alternatively, an image search technology that uses an image query to search for similar images has been recently used for searching for drawing. In this method, a user designates a certain image to be the image query, a system searches for images similar to this image, displays a resulting list of retrieved similar images in similarity order, and offers this list to the user. A general user, however, cannot easily designate an appropriate query image. Furthermore, only image characteristics such as the color of images, cursory layout information, etc. can be used as criteria for similarity matching between images. Therefore, the displayed list of retrieved results does not always match the user&#39;s intention.  
       [0007] The following is a summary of the above-mentioned problems.  
       [0008] (1) It is difficult to designate an appropriate keyword to narrow down drawing information.  
       [0009] (2) In the case where relevant attribute data is not affixed to drawing information, a keyword search cannot be performed.  
       [0010] (3) It is difficult to designate an appropriate query image to narrow down drawing information.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0011] It is an object of the present invention to provide a drawing search support apparatus for easily searching desired information from among a great deal of drawing information, and also a method for executing such a drawing search.  
       [0012] The first drawing search support apparatus of the present invention is provided with a generation device, an arrangement device, a display device, a change device, and a storage device. This apparatus supports the operation of searching for desired drawing information from among a plurality of pieces of drawing information.  
       [0013] The generation device extracts a drawing region from among image data for each of the plurality of pieces of drawing information, and generates an icon highlighting a line drawing in the extracted drawing region. The arrangement device determines an arrangement position of each icon in a virtual space based on a feature amount of a corresponding piece of drawing information. The display device simultaneously displays icons for the plurality of pieces of drawing information arranged in the virtual space.  
       [0014] The second drawing search support apparatus of the present invention is provided with a generation device, an arrangement device, and a transmission device. This apparatus supports the operation of searching for desired drawing information from among the plurality of pieces of drawing information.  
       [0015] The generation device extracts a drawing region from among image data for each of the plurality of pieces of drawing information, and generates an icon highlighting a line drawing in the extracted drawing region. The arrangement device determines an arrangement position of each icon in a virtual space based on a feature amount of a corresponding piece of drawing information. The transmission device transmits display data for simultaneously displaying icons for the plurality of pieces of drawing information arranged in the virtual space.  
       [0016] The third drawing search support apparatus of the present invention is provided with a storage device, a generation device, an arrangement device, and a display device. This apparatus supports the operation of searching for desired drawing information from among a plurality of pieces of drawing information.  
       [0017] The storage device stores a predetermined icon image prepared in advance for each type of drawing information. The generation device obtains an icon image corresponding to the type of each of the plurality of pieces of drawing information, and generates an icon using the obtained icon image. The arrangement device determines an arrangement position of each icon in a virtual space based on a feature amount of a corresponding piece of drawing information. The display device simultaneously displays icons for the plurality of pieces of drawing information arranged in the virtual space, and displays additional information showing the content that is specific to each piece of drawing information, in the vicinity of each icon. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0018]FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a drawing search support apparatus of the present invention;  
     [0019]FIG. 2 shows a drawing display process;  
     [0020]FIG. 3 shows the configuration of another drawing search support apparatus;  
     [0021]FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of an icon generating process;  
     [0022]FIG. 5 shows an icon with a reduced image;  
     [0023]FIG. 6 shows the first icon arrangement;  
     [0024]FIG. 7 shows the second icon arrangement;  
     [0025]FIG. 8 shows the display method of drawing information;  
     [0026]FIG. 9 shows the re-arrangement of icons;  
     [0027]FIG. 10 shows the first labeled icon;  
     [0028]FIG. 11 shows the second labeled icon;  
     [0029]FIG. 12 shows a predetermined icon;  
     [0030]FIG. 13 shows the third labeled icon;  
     [0031]FIG. 14 shows a network system;  
     [0032]FIG. 15 shows the configuration of an information processing apparatus; and  
     [0033]FIG. 16 shows recording media. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
     [0034] Provided below is the detailed explanation of the preferred embodiment of the present invention with reference to the drawings.  
     [0035]FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a drawing search support apparatus of the present invention. The drawing search support apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is provided with a generation device  11 , an arrangement device  12 , a display device  13 , a change device  14 , and a storage device  15 . This apparatus supports the operation of searching for desired drawing information from among a plurality of pieces of drawing information.  
     [0036] The generation device  11  extracts a drawing region from among image data for each of the plurality of pieces of drawing information, and generates an icon highlighting a line drawing in the extracted drawing region. The arrangement device  12  determines an arrangement position of each icon in a virtual space based on the feature amount of the corresponding piece of drawing information. The display device  13  simultaneously displays icons for the plurality of pieces of drawing information arranged in the virtual space.  
     [0037] The drawing region of drawing information corresponds to a region in which a line drawing is depicted. In the case of a machine drawing, for example, the shape of a component is depicted in the drawing region. When an icon is generated from the image data for drawing information, the image is not simply reduced, but a drawing region is extracted from the image data and the line drawing is highlighted by thickening or coloring lines included in the drawing region. Thus, the line drawing in the reduced image can be easily recognized, thereby enhancing the efficiency of a search operation. Therefore, a user can easily search for an icon of his or her desired drawing information while looking at the displayed virtual space.  
     [0038] A change device  14  changes a user&#39;s visual point in the displayed virtual space. Since such a function is provided, a user can search for his or her desired information while freely moving his or her visual point in the virtual space.  
     [0039] The storage device  15  (icon database) stores a predetermined icon image that is prepared in advance for each type of drawing information. The generation device  11  obtains an icon image corresponding to the type of each piece of drawing information from the storage device  15 , and generates an icon using the obtained icon image. The display device  13  displays a virtual space in which icons for a plurality of pieces of drawing information, generated using the predetermined icon image, are arranged, and it displays additional information (label) showing the content that is specific to each piece of drawing information, in the vicinity of each icon.  
     [0040] An icon with a stable picture quality can be displayed by preparing in advance an icon image corresponding to the type of drawing information. Furthermore, the content that is specific to the drawing information can be offered to a user by displaying the additional information in the vicinity of the corresponding icon. Then, a user selects either the icon generated from the image data for the drawing information or the icon generated using a predetermined icon image, so that he or she can manipulate the drawing search support apparatus to display the selected icon.  
     [0041] The generation device  11 , the arrangement device  12 , and the change device  14  shown in FIG. 1 correspond to, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit)  71  and a memory  72  shown in FIG. 15, which will be described later. The display device  13  shown in FIG. 1 corresponds to, for example, the output apparatus  74  shown in FIG. 15, while the storage device  15  corresponds to, for example, an external storage apparatus  75  shown in FIG. 15.  
     [0042] In the present preferred embodiments, drawing information is offered to a user as much as possible using a computer, thereby enable a user to search for his or her desired information from among the information. In the case where the drawing information to be searched for is composed of the image data and the attribute data of a drawing, a user can with relative ease detect his or her desired information from among the great amount of images offered, by listing and displaying the image data as icons which are well browsable.  
     [0043] Furthermore, by arranging the related icons in close proximity to each other based on the feature amount extracted from drawing information, or by arranging the image with a specific feature in a specific position, a user&#39;s search efficiency can be enhanced.  
     [0044]FIG. 2 shows the flow of a drawing display process performed by a drawing search support apparatus of a preferred embodiment. This process includes the following functions:  
     Designating Function of a Search Target ( 22 )  
     [0045] A user  29  designates a drawing information group  21  composed of the image data and the attribute data for a drawing as a search target. For designation, there are two methods; one method is to designate a directory for storing the drawing information, and a second method is to designate a group of drawing information obtained by a search using an existing information search device (for example, keyword search engine).  
     Icon Generation (Information Visualization) Function ( 23 )  
     [0046] Each piece of the drawing information selected as a search target is converted into an icon for visibly expressing the content of the information using an information visualization device. For conversion, a manual conversion method and an automatic conversion method are adopted. An automatic conversion method extracts a component which is important when a user wishes to distinguish his or her desired drawing from among drawing data (in the case of a machine drawing, the outline or other components in the drawing), and then the method converts the extracted component into a thumbnail image which highlights the component.  
     Feature Extraction Function ( 24 ) (for Determining the Arrangement)  
     [0047] A feature amount  26  for determining the arrangement position of an icon  25  is extracted from the respective pieces of drawing information. The feature amount  26  is extracted for each of media included in each piece of drawing information.  
     [0048] In the case of numeric value attribute data having an order like a date, the numeric value is extracted as the feature amount  26 . In the case of text attribute data such as a title or an explanation document, a feature vector for each text is extracted as the feature amount  26 .  
     [0049] In the case of a tf-idf (term frequency-inverse document frequency) method, a feature vector having the tf-idf value of a word as an element is extracted from each text by selecting in advance a set of words that is thought to be effective for characterizing a text, by measuring the degree of relative importance of each word, and by listing the obtained degrees of importance. In the case where a text can be divided into a plurality of regions, a plurality of feature vectors can be also extracted.  
     [0050] In the case of image data, a color characteristic, a texture characteristic, a frequency characteristic (Fourier characteristic or DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform) characteristic), a shape characteristic, or the like is extracted as the feature amount  26 . In the case that an image can be divided into a plurality of regions, a plurality of image features can be extracted. In this case, a piece of drawing information can be expressed by a plurality of icons by preparing different icons for respective image features or copying the same icon.  
     Icon Arrangement Function ( 27 )  
     [0051] The feature amount  26  corresponding to each piece of drawing information is generally a vector in a space of a higher order. The icon  25  is arranged within a virtual space which is on or below the three dimension in a computer, in order to visualize the distribution status for the case that all the pieces of drawing information designated as search targets are plotted on the corresponding space of higher order. Each coordinate axis of the virtual space corresponds to a part of the feature amount  26 , and accordingly the icon  25  can be arranged on the basis of the corresponding feature amount  26 . For the arrangement decision, principal component analysis, multi-dimensional scaling analysis, etc, that is, statistical methods, or a Self Organizing Map (SOM), that is, a kind of a neural network are used.  
     Virtual Space Display Function ( 28 )  
     [0052] A virtual space in which the icons  25  are arranged is displayed. At this time, the user  29  changes his or her visual point in the virtual space using computer graphics technology, and accordingly the user can freely walk through the space, or can fly through the space. This significantly helps the user  29  to search for the drawing information. When the user  29  clicks the icon  25  using a pointing device such as a mouse, etc., the original drawing information is displayed.  
     [0053] Furthermore, the drawing search support apparatus can activate another apparatus to display a virtual space via a communication network, such as the Internet, intranet, etc. In this case, the data of the icons  25  is transmitted to another apparatus via the network.  
     [0054] The user  29  can also return to an arbitrary function while searching for his or her desired information in the displayed virtual space. Specifically, the user  29  can re-designate the group of search targets, can switch over the icon  25  corresponding to the same drawing information to another icon, or can change the arrangement of an icon by switching over the feature for arrangement decision to another feature.  
     [0055]FIG. 3 shows a drawing search support apparatus of supporting the search for a machine drawing. The drawing search support apparatus  31  shown in FIG. 3 corresponds to a computer system for implementing the programs that consist of the respective functions, for example, shown in FIG. 2. The following is a flow of the drawing display process performed by the drawing search support apparatus  31 .  
     [0056] Designation of Search Target ( 22 )  
     [0057] The user  29  designates a group of the plurality of pieces of drawing information as a search target. For example, in the case that the user  29  inputs “a screw” as a keyword  34 , a text search engine  32  retrieves the drawing information that is stored in a drawing database  33  using the keyword  34 , and it selects matched drawing information  35  as a search target. Image data  37  and attribute data  38  of the selected drawing information  35  are input to the drawing search support apparatus  31 .  
     [0058] Icon Generation ( 23 )  
     [0059] The drawing search support apparatus  31  converts each piece of the drawing information  35  that is selected as a search target, into the icon  25 . At this time, the contents of the attribute data  38  are analyzed. If a numerical value for attribute data exists in the attribute data  38 , the numerical value and the attribute name are extracted as a pair.  
     [0060] Furthermore, if text attribute data exists in the attribute data  38 , the word(s) (keyword(s)) that characterizes the drawing information  35  is extracted from the data. Specifically, with reference to the text attribute data in all the pieces of the drawing information that is to be searched for, a keyword is extracted either by the method using the mutual information amount, by the method using the Chi-square value, or by the tf-idf method and by using a technical term dictionary or rules as occasion demands.  
     [0061] A region division process is performed on the image data  37 , and a component drawing region  36  (region in which a line drawing of a component is depicted) is distinguished from the other regions, so that the component drawing region  36  can be extracted. Then, the icon  25  is generated by using the extracted numerical values, the keywords, the images from the component drawing region  36 , etc.  
     [0062]FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of such an icon generating process. Firstly, the drawing search support apparatus  31  reads both the image data  37  and the attribute data  38  as a drawing image ( 41 ). In the case that the given drawing is a paper drawing, the drawing is converted into a digital image using a scanner, and then the digital image is binalized to be loaded into a main memory unit. In the case that the given drawing is a digital image, this image is binalized to be loaded into the main memory unit.  
     [0063] Next, the loaded drawing image is analyzed, and the component drawing region  36  is automatically or semi-automatically extracted from the drawing image ( 42 ) The following is the explanation of an automatic extraction method and a semi-automatic extraction method.  
     [0064] (1) Automatic Extraction Method  
     [0065] For this process, various methods can be adopted as described in section 3.5 (2) (pp.1089) of the following document.  
     [0066] Document 1:  
     [0067] Akio Tojo, Takanori Sato, “Automatic Recognition and Interpretation of Sketches and Drawings”, Information Processing, vol. 24, no. 9, pp. 1086-1094, 1983.  
     [0068] These are a method for evaluating the frequency of appearances of a black run and a white run, a method for evaluating the feature amounts of frequency distribution and peripheral distribution of a density function and run-length, and a method of using two-dimensional Fourier transformation and the like.  
     [0069] According to the method described in section 3.7 of document 1 (pp. 1090), drawing region  36  can be extracted by dividing the drawing into a plurality of regions, extracting a line segment or the like for each region and collecting the obtained results.  
     [0070] Furthermore, according to the method described in chapter 4 (pp. 162-165) of the following document, the component drawing region  36  can be extracted by evaluating the frequency of appearances of a black run and a white run in the binary image.  
     [0071] Document 2:  
     [0072] Michihiko Mino and Shunichi Kato, “Document Image Processing”, O plus E separate volume 1986/11 (Mikio Takagi, Junichiro Toriwaki and Hideyuki Tamura, “Latest Trend of Image Processing Algorithm”), pp. 158-171, New technology communications, 1986.  
     [0073] (2) Semi-Automatic Extraction Method  
     [0074] A method of directly presenting a component drawing region to a system, through tracing the outline of a component by the user  29  or a method of indirectly presenting a component drawing region to a system by clicking the inside of a component drawing region by the user using a pointing device, is conceivable. The latter case uses a method of extending the region from a point designated by the user  29  up to a boundary line, as is described in chapter 2.2 (pp. 59-60) of the following document.  
     [0075] Document 3:  
     [0076] Keiichi Abe and Hideo Ogawa, “Processing of Geometrical Characteristic (2)”, O plus E separate volume 1986/11 (Mikio Takagi, Junichiro Toriwaki and Hideyuki Tamura, “Latest Trend of Image Processing Algorithm”), pp. 58-72, new technology communications, 1986.  
     [0077] Next, the drawing search support apparatus  31  reduces a drawing image and highlights its component drawing region ( 43 ). When a drawing image is reduced, in many cases, pixels are simply thinned or a pixel is interpolated by the values of peripheral pixels. If a drawing is reduced in such a way, however, the outline of its component becomes thin or breaks up depending on the circumstances. Therefore, the user  29  is barely able to confirm the shape of the component by sight.  
     [0078] Thereupon, the shape of a component is highlighted by thickening or coloring the line of the component in the drawing region, and then an icon image is generated using the highlighted line ( 44 ). For example, the icon image as shown in FIG. 5 is generated from the drawing information  35  of “a screw” shown in FIG. 3. Thus, by extracting the component drawing region  36  and highlighting the line, a shape of the component within the reduced drawing image can be easily recognized.  
     [0079] Feature Extraction ( 24 )  
     [0080] The drawing search support apparatus  31  extracts the feature amount  26  from the image data  37  and the attribute data  38 . In the case of numerical value attribute data, for example, the numerical value is directly used as the feature amount  26 , while in the case of text attribute data, a feature vector is extracted using the tf-idf method, etc. In the case of image data, a color characteristic, a texture characteristic, a frequency characteristic, a shape characteristic, etc. are extracted.  
     [0081] Icon Arrangement ( 27 )  
     [0082] The drawing search support apparatus  31  arranges icons  25  in a virtual space, on the basis of the extracted feature amounts  26 . In the case that the feature amount  26  is a numerical value, the icons  25  are arranged in descending order or in ascending order, for example, in a row-first manner from the top of the left of a screen. In some cases, the icons  25  are arranged in numerical order in the virtual space from the back of the screen as shown in FIG. 6. In FIG. 6, a preparation date  51  for the drawing is extracted as its feature amount  26 , and the icons  25  are thus arranged in numerical order from the back of the screen.  
     [0083] In the case that the feature amount  26  is a text characteristic or an image characteristic, the dimension of a feature vector is generally high, so that the high number of dimension should be reduced. To reduce the dimension of the feature vector, KL expansion, which projects data in a direction where many data can be seen scattered, etc. is used. By enabling an icon  25  to be arranged on a two-dimensional plane by the Self Organizing Map using the obtained low dimensional feature vector, all the icons  25  can be arranged in such a way that a plurality of pieces of similar drawing information can be gathered in close proximity to each other as shown in FIG. 7.  
     [0084] The image feature of a drawing is extracted as the feature amount  26 , in FIG. 7, and the icons  25  are arranged so as to gather in close proximity a plurality of pieces of the drawing information of components that have similar shapes. When the user  29  instructs that the display of a region  52  be expanded, another screen  53  is displayed.  
     [0085] Virtual Space Display ( 28 )  
     [0086] The drawing search support apparatus  31  displays on a screen, a virtual space  39  in which the icons  25  are arranged according to their arrangement information. A user changes his or her visual point in the displayed virtual space  39  using a pointing device, and searches for his or her desired icon  25 , so that he or she can search for the drawing information  35 . When the user  29  clicks the icon  25  of interest and accesses the original drawing information  35 , the original drawing information  35  is displayed as shown in FIG. 8.  
     [0087] Furthermore, the drawing search support apparatus  31  can change the arrangement of the icons  25 . In the re-arrangement of the icons  25 , the icons  25  are classified to be arranged from various viewpoints by changing a feature amount that is allocated to each coordinate axis of the virtual space  39 , as described in the following document.  
     [0088] Document 4:  
     [0089] PCT gazette WO 01/31503 A1, “Multimedia Information Sorting/Arranging Device and Sorting/Arranging Method”, 2001.  
     [0090] For example, the icon  25  can be re-arranged using a text characteristic instead of an image characteristic, as the feature amount  26  used for arrangement decision. As shown in FIG. 9, the user  29  inputs some keyword, compares the input keyword with the text attribute data included in the drawing information  35 , and re-arranges the icons  25  corresponding to the drawing information  35  in such a way that the icon with a higher degree of matching appears closer to the user&#39;s visual point.  
     [0091] Furthermore, the information showing the content specific to the drawing information  35  can be added to the icon  25 . For example, the drawing search support apparatus  31  identifies the type of the component in the drawing image using an image recognition technology, and depicts a label in which the type is described, in the vicinity of the icon  25 . By adding the label to the icon  25 , the drawing information of a different component, that has the similar outline, can be easily distinguished.  
     [0092]FIG. 10 shows an example of such a labeled icon. Here, a label  54  such as “a screw” is added to the icon  25  of the reduced image that is shown in FIG. 5. This label  54  functions as an auxiliary icon, and it is used for the display of the original drawing information  35  in a similar way as the icon  25 .  
     [0093] In the case that the type of a component is distinguished by a label, the line of the icon image does not necessarily have to be highlighted, and a simple reduced image of a drawing image may be used as shown in FIG. 11. An icon  55  shown in FIG. 11 is generated only by reducing the image of the original drawing information  35 , and neither the extraction of the component drawing region  36  nor the highlighting of the drawing outline is performed. A label  54  is added to the icon  55  instead.  
     [0094] In the above-mentioned preferred embodiment explanation, an icon is generated by using a reduced image of the drawing information  35 . In addition to this, it is also possible to store a set of predetermined icon images in an icon database, and to generate icons using this set.  
     [0095] In this case, a predetermined icon image that is prepared in advance for each type of component is stored in the icon database. In an icon generating process  23  in FIG. 3, the drawing search support apparatus  31  recognizes the type of a component in a drawing image using an image recognition technology, obtains the icon image corresponding to the identified type from the icon database, and allocates the obtained icon image to the corresponding drawing information  35 .  
     [0096] For example, if the recognition result is “a bolt”, an icon  56  (image symbolically showing the shape of a typical bolt) that has been assigned to “a bolt”, is allocated to the drawing information  35  and drawn as shown in FIG. 12. Furthermore, it is also possible to add a label that is shown in FIGS. 10 and 12, to the icon  56 . FIG. 13 shows an example of adding a label  57  for a “bolt” to the icon  56 .  
     [0097] In the case that the drawing search support apparatus  31  is equipped with a function for generating both the reduced image as shown in FIG. 5 and the predetermined icon as shown in FIG. 12, a user can select and display either icon.  
     [0098] In FIGS. 10, 11 and  13 , a user can also add a label describing other information showing the content specific to the drawing information  35 . For example, if the specific size (length, breadth, diameter, etc.), the material, the color, and related characteristics of a component are described using labels, the drawing information  35  of components of the same type can be easily distinguished.  
     [0099] The drawing search support device  31  can receive a processing request from another apparatus through an arbitrary communication network. FIG. 14 shows such a network system. The system shown in FIG. 14 consists of the drawing search support apparatus  31 , a user terminal  62 , and a communication network  61  for connecting them.  
     [0100] A user instructs the drawing search support apparatus  31  to perform a drawing display process from the terminal  62 , and designates the drawing information to be searched. Upon receipt of this instruction, the drawing search support device  31  generates the display data of the virtual space by generating and arranging the icon for each drawing information, and then transmits the display data to the terminal  62 . Then, the terminal  62  displays the virtual space in which icons are arranged, on a screen using the received data. Consequently, this constitution enables many users to use the drawing search support apparatus  31 .  
     [0101] Furthermore, the present invention can apply to arbitrary drawing information including a line drawing such as an electronic circuit drawing, a patent document, or a document including illustrations, in addition to the above-mentioned machine drawing.  
     [0102] The drawing search support apparatus  31  shown in FIG. 3 and the terminal  62  shown in FIG. 14 are constituted by using, for example, an information processing apparatus (computer) as shown in FIG. 15. The information processing apparatus shown in FIG. 15 is composed from a CPU (Central Processing Unit)  71 , a memory  72 , an input device  73 , an output device  74 , an external storage device  75 , a medium driving device  76 , and a network connection device  77 . These devices are mutually connected by a bus  78 .  
     [0103] The memory  72  includes, for example, a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), etc., and it stores programs and data to be used for a process. The CPU  71  performs required processes by executing the programs using the memory  72 .  
     [0104] The input device  73  is, for example, a keyboard, a pointing device, a touch panel, etc., and it is used for the input of instructions or information from a user. The output device  74  is, for example, a display device, and it is used for the display of a virtual space.  
     [0105] The external storage device  75  is, for example, a magnetic disk device, an optical disk device, a magneto-optical disk device, a tape device, etc. the information processing apparatus stores the programs and data in the external storage device  75 , and loads them into the memory  72  to be used when necessary. The external storage device  75  is also used as the drawing database  33  shown in FIG. 3 or as an icon database for storing predetermined icon images.  
     [0106] The medium driving device  76  drives a portable recording medium  79  to access the recorded contents. As the portable recording medium  79 , an arbitrary computer-readable recording medium, such as a memory card, a flexible disk, a CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory), an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, or the like is used. A user stores the programs and data in the portable recording medium  79 , and loads them into the memory  72  to be used when necessary.  
     [0107] The network connection device  77  is connected to an arbitrary communication network such as a LAN (Local Area Network), etc., and performs data conversion associated with communications. The information processing apparatus receives the programs and data from another apparatus through the network connection device  77 , and it loads them into the memory  72  to be used when necessary.  
     [0108] In the case of a network system shown in FIG. 14, the information processing apparatus shown in FIG. 15 corresponds to the drawing search support apparatus  31  or the terminal  62 , and it communicates with the other through the network connection apparatus  77 .  
     [0109]FIG. 16 shows a computer-readable recording medium for supplying a program and data to the information processing apparatus shown in FIG.15. The program and data that are stored in the portable recording medium  79  or a database  81  of a server  80  are loaded into the memory  72 . At this time, the server  80  generates a propagation signal for propagating a program and data, and transmits the signal to the information processing apparatus through an arbitrary transmission medium on a network. Then, the CPU  71  executes the program using the data, and performs the required process.  
     [0110] According to the present invention, the desired drawing information can be efficiently searched for by roughly designating a drawing information group using a specific directory or a keyword, and by browsing the virtual space in which well-browsable icons are arranged.