A system for retrieving information from a plurality of databases, even
when the content of the databases is different. A target
database-extracting device extracts databases containing data that has
been sought to retrieve. An integrated information retrieval device
integrates data from the extracted databases and retrieves records from
the databases matching retrieval conditions. A systematic retrieval device
retrieves other record from the extracted databases that are
systematically close to the records designated to be retrieved. The
systematic closeness between records is calculated as a function of the
degree of similarity between information in the records. Records are
calculated A retrieval result display device displays the results of the
retrieval by the integrated retrieval device and by the systematic
retrieval device.
