Information display apparatus

1. An information display apparatus, comprising:

an obtaining unit operable to obtain, from one or more web servers connected to a network, a plurality of pieces of web data, each piece of web data composing either a portion of or a whole web page;

a reception unit operable to receive, from a user, an instruction for specifying information to be extracted from each of the obtained pieces of web data, the instruction showing (i) a predetermined character string that is a display item in a list and that is in association with the information to be extracted, (ii) a relative positional relationship in web data between the information to be extracted and the predetermined character string, and (iii) a character count of the information to be extracted; and

a display unit operable to

search each of the obtained pieces of web data for the predetermined character string,

extract, based on the character count, information from web data in the relative positional relationship with the predetermined character string found as a result of the search,

construct, with use of the extracted information, a list having a heading item that is the predetermined character string, and

display the constructed list.

2. The information display apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the reception unit includes:

a candidate storage subunit operable to store in correspondence, for each of a plurality of candidates for the information to be extracted, a name expressing the information to be extracted and the instruction for specifying the information to be extracted; and

a candidate selection subunit operable to present the names stored in the candidate storage subunit to the user, and have the user select one or more of the names, and

the reception unit, for each of the one or more selected names, reads the instruction corresponding to the name, and receives the read instruction as the instruction from the user.

3. The information display apparatus of claim 2 , wherein

the plurality of candidates for information to be extracted are sorted into a plurality of categories,

the candidate storage subunit stores the name and instruction of each candidate in correspondence with the category of the candidate, and

the candidate selection subunit receives a designation of one of the categories from the user, reads the names in the designated category from the candidate storage subunit, presents the read names to the user, and has the user select one or more of the names.

4. The information display apparatus of claim 1 , wherein

each of the pieces of web data includes information indicating a feature of a different one of a plurality of products, and

the information to be extracted that is indicated by the received instruction is information indicating the feature.

5. The information display apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the obtaining unit includes:

a search subunit operable to search the one or more web servers connected to the network for a plurality of web pages, based on a keyword input by the user, and

the obtaining unit obtains web data relating to web pages found by the search subunit as a result of the search.

6. The information display apparatus of claim 5 , wherein

the obtaining unit further includes:

a selection subunit operable to receive a selection of web pages from among the plurality of web pages found by the search subunit, and

the obtaining unit obtains web data relating to the selected web pages.

7. The information display apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the selection subunit includes:

a web page display subunit operable to display each of the found plurality of web pages for a purpose of user selection.

8. The information display apparatus of claim 7 , wherein

the selection subunit receives, in addition to the selection from among the plurality of web pages, a selection from the user of a portion of each of the web pages displayed by web page display subunit, and

the obtaining unit obtains web data of the web pages and the portions selected according to the selection subunit.

9. The information display apparatus of claim 8 , wherein

the instruction received by the reception unit indicates that the information to be extracted is the web data relating to the selected portions, and

the display unit, according to the instruction, creates images, using pieces of web data that correspond respectively to the selected portions, each image corresponding to a different one of the pieces of web data, constructs the screen using the created images, and displays the constructed screen.

10. An information display method used in an information display apparatus, the method comprising:

an obtaining step for obtaining, from one or more web servers connected to a network, a plurality of pieces of web data, each piece of web data composing either a portion of or a whole web page;

a reception step for receiving, from a user, an instruction for specifying information to be extracted from each of the obtained pieces of web data, the instruction showing (i) a predetermined character string that is a display item in a list and is in association with the information to be extracted, (ii) a relative positional relationship in web data between the information to be extracted and the predetermined character string, and (iii) a character count of the information to be extracted; and

a display step for

searching each of the obtained pieces of web data for the predetermined character string,

extracting, based on the character count, information from web data in the relative positional relationship with the predetermined character string found as a result of the search,

constructing, with use of the extracted information, a list having a heading item that is the predetermined character string, and

displaying the constructed list.

11. The information display method of claim 10 , wherein

the obtaining step includes:

a search substep for searching the one or more web servers connected to the network for a plurality of web pages, based on a keyword input by the user, and

a selection substep for receiving a selection of web pages from among the plurality of web pages found in the search substep, and

in the obtaining step, web data relating to the selected web pages is obtained.

12. An information display method used in an information display apparatus, the method comprising:

an obtaining step for obtaining, from one or more web servers connected to a network, a plurality of pieces of web data, each piece of web data composing either a portion of or a whole web page;

a reception step for receiving, from a user, an instruction for specifying information to be extracted from each of the obtained pieces of web data the instruction showing (i) a predetermined character string that is a display item in a list and is in association with the information to be extracted, (ii) a relative positional relationship in web data between the information to be extracted and the predetermined character string, and (iii) a character count of the information to be extracted; and

a display step for

searching each of the obtained pieces of web data for the predetermined character string,

extracting information based on the character count of the information to be extracted, from each of the pieces of web data in the relative positional relationship with the predetermined character string found as a result of the search,

constructing, with use of the extracted information, a list having a heading item that is the predetermined character string, and

displaying the constructed list.

13. The program of claim 12 , wherein

the obtaining step includes:

a search substep for searching the one or more web servers connected to the network for a plurality of web pages, based on a keyword input by the user, and

a selection substep for receiving a selection of web pages from among the plurality of web pages found in the search substep, and

in the obtaining step, web data relating to the selected web pages is obtained.