Keyword output apparatus and method

A keyword output apparatus comprising:

• a keyword storage unit that stores therein a plurality of keywords in association with each other according to degrees of relation among each other, the plurality of keywords having been used for a search at a search site for searching contents;
• an evaluation expression storage unit that stores evaluation expressions correspondingly with each of the plurality of keywords stored in the keyword storage unit, each evaluation expression having been extracted from a content containing the corresponding keyword;
• a target keyword receiving unit that receives a target keyword from a predetermined input unit;
• a related keyword extracting unit that extracts from the keywords stored in the keyword storage unit a plurality of related keywords that have degrees of relation equal to or greater than a predetermined degree of relation with respect to the target keyword received by the target keyword receiving unit;
• an evaluation expression commonness degree calculating unit that reads evaluation expressions corresponding to the target keyword and the plurality of related keywords from the evaluation expressions stored in the evaluation expression storage unit, and calculates for each of the plurality of related keywords a commonness degree between the evaluation expressions corresponding to the related keyword and the evaluation expressions corresponding to the target keyword;
• a degree-of-association calculating unit that calculates for each of the plurality of related keywords a degree of association between the related keyword and the target keyword by using a distance derived from the keyword storage unit for each of the plurality of related keywords with respect to the target keyword and the commonness degree of the evaluation expressions calculated for each of the plurality of related keywords by the evaluation expression commonness degree calculating unit;
• a same-region keyword extracting unit that determines whether the degree of association calculated by the degree of association calculating unit is greater than a predetermined degree of association, and extracts at least one of the plurality of related keywords having a degree of association greater than the predetermined degree of association as a same-region keyword included in a same region as the target keyword;
• and
• a keyword layout drawing output unit that outputs a keyword layout drawing including the target keyword and the plurality of related keywords arranged according to the degrees of association between each other through a predetermined output unit such that the same-region keyword extracted by the same-region keyword extracting unit is displayed distinguishably from other related keyword or keywords not included in the same region.

A keyword output method comprising:

• receiving a target keyword from a predetermined input unit;
• extracting, from a keyword storage unit that stores a plurality of keywords in association with each other according to degrees of relation among each other, a plurality of related keywords that have degrees of relation equal to or greater than a predetermined degree of relation with respect to the target keyword received, the stored plurality of keywords having been used for a search at a search site for searching contents;
• reading evaluation expressions corresponding to the target keyword and the plurality of related keywords from an evaluation expression storage unit that stores evaluation expressions correspondingly with each of the plurality of keywords stored in the keyword storage unit, each evaluation expression having been extracted from a content containing the corresponding keyword, and calculating for each of the plurality of related keywords a commonness degree between the evaluation expressions corresponding to the related keyword and the evaluation expressions corresponding to the target keyword;
• calculating for each of the plurality of related keywords a degree of association between the related keyword and the target keyword by using a distance derived from the keyword storage unit for each of the plurality of related keywords with respect to the target keyword and the commonness degree of the evaluation expressions calculated for each of the plurality of related keywords;
• determining whether the degree of association calculated is greater than a predetermined degree of association and extracting at least one of the plurality of related keywords having a degree of association greater than the predetermined degree of association as a same-region keyword included in a same region as the target keyword;
• and
• outputting a keyword layout drawing including the target keyword and the plurality of related keywords arranged according to the degrees of association between each other through a predetermined output unit such that the same-region keyword is displayed distinguishably from other related keyword or keywords not included in the same region.