Document management method and apparatus and document search method and apparatus

1. A document management method for managing document data stored in a document data region of a storage unit, comprising:

shifting a character string of a given number of characters from document data and clipping the character string to generate a management Gram;

in a registration mode, determining that the management Gram is one of a first Gram of relatively low occurrence frequency less than a threshold and a second Gram of relatively high occurrence frequency not less than the threshold;

if the management Gram is determined to be the first Gram, storing first post data in a series in a first post region of a storage unit in association with a Gram value obtained by computing the character string of the first Gram, the first post data being configured with a set of a document identification (ID) indicating document data including the character string of the first Gram and an intra-document offset indicating a position of the character string of the first Gram;

if the management Gram is determined to be the second Gram, storing second post data in series in a second post region of the storage unit in association with the character string of the second Gram, the second post data being configured with a set of a document identification (ID) indicating document data including the character string of the second Gram and an intra-document offset indicating a position of the character string of the second Gram;

in a search mode, obtaining a retrieval Gram;

determining whether or not an occurrence frequency of the retrieval Gram is less than the threshold;

if the occurrence frequency of the retrieval Gram is less than the threshold, scanning only the first post region; and

if the occurrence frequency of the retrieval Gram is not less than the threshold, scanning both of the first post region and the second post region,

wherein the determining in the registration mode includes determining the management Gram as the first Gram when Rk(g)<V 1 is satisfied, where V 1 indicates a minimum order in order of decreasing occurrence frequency of the management Gram and Rk(g) indicates an order of the management Gram in all management Grams arranged in the order of decreasing occurrence frequency.

2. The document management method according to claim 1 , wherein the determining in the registration mode includes determining the management Gram to be the first Gram when Oc(g)<O ave×V 2 is satisfied,

where V 2 indicates a value representing a multiple of an average occurrence frequency of Gram for calculating the occurrence frequency of the first Gram in an initial state of beginning to store the document data in the document data region, Oc(g) indicates the occurrence frequency of the management Gram, and Oave=ΣgOc (g) indicates an average occurrence frequency of the management Gram.

3. The document management method according to claim 1 , further including computing a hash value of the character string of the first Gram to obtain the Gram value.

4. The document management method according to claim 1 , wherein clipping the character string includes clipping two Japanese characters from document data of a Japanese document while shifting the character string in units of one character.

5. A document management apparatus including comprising:

a storage unit having a document data region in which document data is stored;

a first determination unit configured to determine, in a registration mode, that a management Gram corresponds to one of a first Gram of relatively low occurrence frequency less than a threshold and a second Gram of relatively high occurrence frequency not less than the threshold, the management Gram being generated by shifting a character string of a given number of characters from the document data of the storage unit and clipping the character string;

a first write-in unit configured to store first post data in series in a first post region of the storage unit in association with a Gram value obtained by computing the character string of the first Gram if the management Gram is determined to be the first Gram, the first post data being configured with a set of a document identification (ID) indicating the document data including the character string of the first Gram and an intra-document offset indicating a position of the character string of the first Gram; and

a second write-in unit configured to store second post data in series in a second post region of the storage unit in association with the character string of the second Gram if the management Gram is determined to be the second Gram, the second post data being configured with a set of a document identification (ID) indicating document data including the character string of the second Gram and an intra-document offset indicating a position of the character string of the second Gram;

a generation unit configured to generate a retrieval Gram by shifting a character string of a given number of characters from a retrieval key word clipping the character string, the retrieval key word being used for searching the document data stored in the document data region of the storage unit in a search mode;

a second determination unit configured to determine whether or not an occurrence frequency of the retrieval Gram is less than the threshold;

a first scanner configured to read first post data by scanning only the first post region according to a retrieval Gram value obtained by computing the character string of the retrieval Gram if the second determination unit determines that the occurrence frequency of the retrieval Gram is less than the threshold;

a second scanner configured to read first post data and second post data by scanning both of the first post region and the second post region according to the character string of the retrieval Gram if the second determination unit determines that the occurrence frequency of the retrieval Gram is not less than the threshold; and

a search unit configured to search the document data region for document data matching with the retrieval key word using the first post data and the second post data,

wherein the first determination unit comprises an order determination unit configured to determine the management Gram as the first Gram when Rk(g)<V 1 is satisfied, where V 1 indicates a minimum order in order of decreasing occurrence frequency of the management Gram and Rk(g) indicates an order of the management Gram in all management Grams arranged in the order of decreasing occurrence frequency.

6. The document management method according to claim 5 , wherein the first determination unit comprises an occurrence determination unit configured to determine the management Gram to be the first Gram when Oc(g)<O ave×V 2 is satisfied,

where V 2 indicates a value representing a multiple of an average occurrence frequency of Gram for calculating the occurrence frequency of the first Gram in an initial state of beginning to store the document data in the document data region, Oc(g) indicates the occurrence frequency of the management Gram, and Oave=ΣgOc (g) indicates an average occurrence frequency of the management Gram.

7. The document management apparatus according to claim 5 , further including a computation unit configured to compute a hash value of the character string of the first Gram to obtain the Gram value.

8. The document management apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the first determination unit includes a clipping unit configured to clip two Japanese characters from document data of a Japanese document while shifting the character string in units of one character.