The present invention claims priority of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2011-0129998, filed on Dec. 7, 2011, which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a file search apparatus and method using tag graph, and more particularly, to a file search apparatus and method using tag graph which enables the easy search of the files along a plurality of associated tag nodes.
As computers and networks advance and smart mobile equipments become more common, data that a user needs to manage becomes massive. Currently to access a file, users must know the exact path of the directories of a file, or searches for the desired file with keyword matching in the title or in the body text or in the tag list. This method needs to know an accurate path or keywords.
A conventional method called tag search, which searches a file with keywords (which are not included in the title or body text of the file), for example, associated words, uses tags, a list of words liked to a file and searches for the words in the tags. This method also has the following limitations. First, a user needs to personally input all tag words for each file through a keyboard. Second, there are very often many different words to mean one thing in practice.
Third, when current tag words are listed in one list with no correlation therebetween and when the number of tag words increases, it takes long time to perform a search because all the words in the tags must be checked.
In view of the above, the present invention provides a file search apparatus and method that add tags to a file, including various forms of electronic items, into a graph showing an association relationship and thus enable an easy search of a file by following a plurality of associated tag nodes, thereby enabling a user to easily find a desired item or a list of desired items among various electronic items, such as documents, photographs, and video on a computer, even without knowing accurate keywords.
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a file search apparatus, which includes: a tag graph storage storing a tag graph that includes tag nodes with tag words linked thereto, links/edges between pairs of the tag nodes having association relationships, wherein each tag node has a list of files tagged with the tag word of the tag node, and files, and a link which links the tag node and the file having an association relationship; a tag word searcher configured to navigate along the links of the tag nodes with the tag words related to the association words when a desired file is not found as a file search result using keywords; and a file searcher configured to perform file search using the keywords and listing the files, linked to the tag nodes found in the file search, or chosen by user during navigation in the tag graph.
In the embodiment, the file search apparatus, further includes: a file generator for generating a new file; a tag node link generator for generating a link, linking the new file to a corresponding tag node, to update the tag graph when association words for the new file are included in the tag nodes of the tag graph; and a tag node generator for generating a new tag node and generating a link, linking the new file to the new tag node, to update the tag graph when the association words for the new file are not included in the tag nodes of the tag graph.
In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a file search method using a tag graph, including: performing file search using keywords; enabling user to navigate along the tag nodes with the tag words related to the association words given by the user in a pre-stored tag graph when a desired file is not found; and listing the files, linked to the tag nodes found in the file search, or chosen by user during navigation in the tag graph.
In the embodiment, the file search method further includes: determining, when a new file is generated, whether in the pre-stored tag graph, there are tag nodes which have the association words for the new file as tag words; generating a link, linking the new file to the corresponding tag node, to update the tag graph when there exist, in the tag graph, tag nodes that contain the association words as tag words; and generating a new tag node and generating a link, linking the new file to the new tag node, to update the tag graph when, in the tag graph, there does not exist any tag node that contains the association words for the new file as tag words.
In the embodiment, the file search method further includes: determining whether there is an association relationship between a pair of tag nodes in the tag graph; and additionally generating a link between a pair of tag nodes, determined as having an association relationship, so that the tag graph represents association relationship between the tag words.
The above and other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of embodiments given in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that they can be readily implemented by those skilled in the art.
In
In
According to an embodiment of
For example, in
As illustrated in
The tag graph storage 160 stores a tag graph. The tag graph includes tag nodes with tag words linked thereto, and files, wherein each tag node has a list of files tagged with the tag word contained in the tag node. Further, there are links/edges between pairs of the tag nodes having association relationships, wherein a link links the tag node and the file having an association relationship.
The tag word searcher 130 searches for the tag nodes containing the words provided from the user, among all tag nodes in the tag graph when a desired file is not found as a file search result with keywords.
The file searcher 120 performs file search using keywords and searches the list of files linked to the tag nodes searched by the tag word searcher 130, thereby determining whether there is a desired file among the file list.
The file generator 110 generates a new file.
The tag node link generator 140 generates a new tag node when the association words for the new file are contained in the tag nodes in the tag graph, and then generates a link that links the new file to the new tag node, thereby updating the tag graph.
Referring to
An operation, in which the file search apparatus generates a file and adds a link, will now be described with reference to
First, when the file generator 110 generates a new file in operation S201, the tag word searcher 130 determines whether association words for the new file, namely, tag words to be linked to the new file are contained in the existing tag node in a tag graph, in operation S203.
When it is determined that the tag words to be linked to the new file are contained in the existing tag node in the tag graph, the tag node link generator 140 links the new file to the existing tag node in operation S205.
However, when it is determined that the tag words to be linked to the new file are not contained in the existing tag nodes in the tag graph, the tag node generator 150 generates a new tag node, and the tag node link generator 140 links the new file to the new tag node in operation S207.
Subsequently, the tag node link generator 140 determines whether there is an association relationship between the tag nodes in the tag graph in operation S209. When it is determined that there is an association relationship between the tag nodes, the tag node link generator 140 additionally generates links between the tag nodes in operation S221. An operation of generating the links is repeatedly performed until there is no association relationship between the tag nodes.
Referring to
An operation, in which the file search apparatus searches for files, will now be described with reference to
First, the file searcher 120 performs file search using keywords in operation S301. When a desired file is not found even performing the file search using keywords, the file searcher 120 notifies the tag word searcher 130 that the desired file is not found, in operation S303. Further, when long search time is necessary because there are too many linked files which are targeted for file search, the file searcher 120 may notify the tag word searcher 130 that long search time is necessary.
The tag word searcher 130 searches for tag nodes containing the tag words provided from a user, among the tag nodes in the tag graph stored in the tag graph storage 160, in operation S305. In this way, performing operation S305 is for reducing a search range.
Subsequently, the file searcher 120 determines whether to search a list of files linked to the tag nodes searched by the tag word searcher 130 one by one, in operation S306. According to the determined result, the file searcher 120 again performs operation S305, or searches the list of files linked to a tag node containing the tag words, to determine whether a desired file is founded in operation S307.
Such search operations S305 and S307 are repeatedly performed until the desired file is found.
According to the embodiments of the present invention, when tag words of a user have a correlation therebetween, by drawing a link, the user can easily determine and manipulate a relationship between tags while looking at a graph.
Moreover, a user may perform work while looking at the degree of relation between the existing tags through a graph, and thus, a probability that tag words are overlapped and tag words related to a file are omitted is relatively lower than a conventional tagging method.
Moreover, in searching a file, even though a user cannot know accurate information (which is recorded in a computer) such as a file name, a storage location, words of the body text, and time, the user can search tag words by following the degree of association/relation.
While the invention has been shown and described with respect to the embodiments, the present invention is not limited thereto. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
10-2011-0129998 | Dec 2011 | KR | national |