Patent ID: 8412737

Claim:
A retrieval device which retrieves information from semi-structured data formed by item elements and value elements, the retrieval device comprising: a processor, the processor configured to: create aggregate structure information from the semi-structured data by aggregating a plurality of child item elements into one representative child item element, the plurality of child item elements that are aggregated share a same name and are directly connected to parent item elements sharing a same name; receive a retrieval request with an output condition and a constraint condition specified on the aggregate structure information; compute branch point candidates based on a result of a check of the output condition and the constraint condition; determine a branch point from the branch point candidates; check for the branch point at common item elements associated with each of the output condition and the constraint condition in the aggregate structure information to determine whether a plurality of queries are created according to the retrieval request; and re-aggregate the aggregate structure information based on the determined branch point and outputs, to a display device, re-aggregate structure information corresponding to the plurality of queries, the re-aggregate structure information showing the branch point which is not expressed in the aggregate structure information.