JP2000057066A - System and method for automatic question and answer with electronic mail - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and a device for automatic question and answer by electronic mail where the contents of a received question are automatically decoded and automatically answered by electronic mail in the case of questioning/answering the contents of provided information due to a product catalog or world wide web(WWW) while using the electronic mail. SOLUTION: This automatic question/answer system is provided with an electronic mail transmitting/receiving part 11 for performing question/answer while using the electronic mail, electronic mail decoding part 13 for decoding the contents of the received question, answer retrieving part 16 for retrieving whether any suitable answer is stored in an answer data storage part 17 based on these decoded contents or not, answer preparing part 12 for preparing the electronic mail containing answer data corresponding to an instruction from a control part 14 when there are answer data, and answer input part 18 for inputting/preparing new answer data and storing them in the answer data storage part 17 based on display on an electronic mail display part 15 when there are not answer data.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a product catalog and a WW
When questions and answers regarding the contents of information provided by W (World Wide Web) etc. are made by e-mail, the system and method for automatically decoding the received question contents and automatically sending the answers .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, software for managing a database (DBMS) has a query (= query) processing function, and a method for efficiently processing a database access request issued by a user has been developed. However, in the case where questions and answers regarding information provided by a product catalog, WWW, or the like according to the present invention are performed using e-mail, for example, questions with the same content are frequently transmitted from different questioners, In response to this, respondents may have to create and reply to the same answer, or if multiple emails need to be answered immediately, it may be possible for multiple respondents to respond. There was no question answering device corresponding to.

[0003]

As described above, when questions and answers relating to the contents of information provided by a product catalog or the WWW are performed by e-mail, questions having the same contents are frequently asked by different questioners. Respondents often have to respond by creating and responding to the same answer, responding quickly to numerous emails, or responding to the same task. If there is a problem that the work efficiency is low and there is a different question that has not been received in the past and multiple respondents are responding, the respondents There were many issues to be resolved, such as the need to unify answers and the need for quick responses by e-mail requiring work by multiple people. In order to solve these problems, the present invention has already stored answers as a database, decodes an e-mail from the questioner, selects an answer, automatically transmits the answer, and sends a new question. A method is provided that has a means for storing new answers.

[0004]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for asking and questioning the contents of provided information by using an electronic mail.
When giving an answer, it has a function to automatically decode the content of the received question and automatically reply by e-mail to the previously stored answer to the question. If there is no suitable answer to the question, the question is automatically sent to the respondent by e-mail with the function of notifying the respondent and accumulating new answers to enrich the answer data and automatically replying to the new answer. In the system, an e-mail transmission / reception unit that is connected to the commercial Internet or intranet and receives and transmits e-mail, an answer data storage unit that stores response data to e-mail questions, and decrypts e-mail questions An e-mail decryption unit for transferring the decrypted result to the answer search unit, and a result decrypted by the e-mail decryption unit. Based on the answer search unit that selects an answer from the answer data stored in the answer data storage unit, and the presence or absence of answer data from the answer search unit, if there is answer data, the answer creation unit A control unit that instructs an electronic mail display unit to generate an electronic mail in which the answer is input, and in the case where there is no answer data, instructs an electronic mail display unit to display an electronic mail in which the content of the question is described. An answer creation unit that creates a response based on the instruction to create an email, and an answer input unit that creates new answer data based on the display on the email display unit and stores the new answer data in the answer data storage unit. It is characterized by doing. The invention according to claim 2 provides an e-mail transmission / reception unit that performs a question / answer using an e-mail, an e-mail decoding unit that decodes the content of the received question, and an answer data storage unit based on the decoded content. An answer search unit that searches whether the relevant appropriate answer is stored, an answer creation unit that creates an e-mail containing the answer data according to an instruction from the control unit if there is answer data, and no answer data In the case of a method for responding to an automatic question answering system by e-mail, the method comprises the steps of: inputting and creating new answer data based on the display of an e-mail display section and storing the answer in an answer data storage section; Receiving the e-mail from the interrogator via the Internet, deciphering the contents of the e-mail question, and A step of searching for stored answer data, and a step of creating an answer for the questioner based on the stored data if the corresponding answer data is stored. Is characterized by having a process in which a respondent inputs a response, accumulates the response, retrieves the response again, and prepares the response, and a process in which the prepared response is returned as an e-mail to the requester. And According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the response method of the automatic question answering system by e-mail according to the second aspect,
If the content of the e-mail sent from the questioner via the commercial Internet or intranet relates to items other than the question, for example, a request for the provision of a new service, a request for the provision of a new product, the request is sent to the e-mail display section The message is transmitted to the respondent by the display of and is answered by the respondent.

[0005]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the construction of an automatic e-mail question answering apparatus according to the present invention. The apparatus of the present invention includes an e-mail transmission / reception unit 11, an answer creation unit 12, an e-mail decoding unit 13, a control unit 14, an e-mail display unit 15,
Answer search unit 16, answer data storage unit 17, answer input unit 1
8 is provided.

The function of each unit will be described below with reference to FIG.
The e-mail transmission / reception unit 11 is connected to the commercial Internet or intranet, and receives e-mail and transmits the e-mail created by the answer creation unit 12. The e-mail decryption unit 13 has a function of decrypting the contents of the question, and transfers the decrypted result to the answer search unit 16. The answer search unit 16 selects an answer from the answer data stored in the answer data storage unit 17 based on the result of the decryption. If there is answer data, the answer search unit 16 informs the control unit 14 that there is an answer, and the control unit 14
2 is instructed to create an e-mail with the answer entered. If there is no answer data, the control unit 14 sends an e-mail describing the content of the question to the e-mail display unit 1.
5 is displayed. The respondent who sees the electronic mail display unit 15 creates new answer data for the question using the answer input unit 18. The answer input unit 18 stores the new answer data in the answer data storage unit 17. When the answer data storage unit 17 reports to the control unit 14 that the new answer data has been stored, the control unit 14
6 is instructed to search for an answer to the question again. At this time, since the new answer is accumulated, the answer search unit 16 notifies the control unit 14 that there is the new answer to the question. As a result, the new answer is created by the answer creating unit 12 and transmitted to the requester via the e-mail transmitting / receiving unit.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Upon receiving an e-mail from the requester (step 21), the e-mail decryption unit 1
In step 3, the contents of the question are decoded (step 22). Next, the answer search unit 16 searches the answer data stored in the answer data storage unit 17 (step 23). It is determined whether the corresponding answer data is stored based on the presence or absence of the answer data (step 24). If the corresponding answer data is accumulated, the answer creating unit 12 creates an answer for the questioner based on the accumulated data (step 2).
5). If there is no answer, the respondent is input from the answer input unit 18 (step 29), and the answer is stored in the answer data storage unit 17 (step 28). In this case, an answer search for the question is performed again (step 23), the presence or absence of answer data is searched (step 24), and after confirming that there is an answer, an answer is created (step 25).
The answer is created by the answer creating unit 12, and is returned to the requester by e-mail transmission (step 26). At this time, as for the e-mail address of the questioner, since the address of the sender is usually described in the transmitted e-mail, a reply is made using the address.

In the above-described embodiment, the e-mail decoding unit 13 has been described as a means for decoding the contents of a question by an e-mail. However, inquiries by an e-mail are not limited to questions only. Inquiries are also envisaged regarding requests to provide such products. In such a case,
When the control unit receives information indicating that there is no answer in the answer search unit 16 by the same processing method, it is displayed on the e-mail display unit 15 so that the request can be transmitted to the respondent. Another characteristic is that it does not just do it.

[0009]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When a question or answer regarding information provided by a product catalog or WWW (World Wide Web) is performed by e-mail, the received question content is automatically decrypted and stored in advance for the question. Answers can be sent automatically by e-mail, and if there is no suitable answer to the question among the answers stored in advance, enter and accumulate new answers to enhance the answer data. ,
The new answer can be sent automatically. This has the effect of reducing the number of respondents and the work involved in answering. In addition, there is an effect that a quick answer can be expected for the questioner.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic mail automatic question answering system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the automatic e-mail question answering system of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... E-mail transmission / reception part 12 ... Reply preparation part 13 ... E-mail decoding part 14 ... Control part 15 ... E-mail display part 16 ... Reply search part 17 ... Reply data storage part 18 ... Reply input part

Claims (3)

[Claims] When a question or an answer is provided by using an e-mail regarding the content of the provided information, the content of the received question is automatically decoded, and a response from the previously stored answer to the question is made. It has a function to automatically reply the relevant answer by e-mail, and if there is no suitable answer for the question among the stored answers, notify the respondent of the question and give a new answer In an automatic e-mail question answering system having a function of storing and automatically returning the new answer, an e-mail transmitting / receiving unit connected to the commercial Internet or an intranet for receiving and transmitting e-mails; An answer data storage unit that stores answer data for, and a function of decoding the content of the question by the email,
An e-mail decoding unit that transfers the decoded result to an answer search unit; and an answer search unit that selects an answer from the answer data stored in the answer data storage unit based on the result decoded by the e-mail decoding unit. In response to the presence or absence of answer data from the answer search unit,
If there is answer data, it instructs the answer creation unit to create an e-mail with the answer entered, and if there is no answer data, an e-mail with the contents of the question described in the e-mail display unit A response unit for creating an answer based on the instruction for creating an e-mail, and a new answer data based on the display on the e-mail display unit. An automatic answering system for questions by e-mail, comprising: an answer input unit for storing. 2. An e-mail transmission / reception unit for making a question / answer using an e-mail, an e-mail decoding unit for decoding the content of the received question, and an appropriate An answer search unit that searches for stored answers, an answer creation unit that creates an email containing answer data according to instructions from the control unit if there is answer data, and an email if there is no answer data A response method of an automatic question answering system by e-mail comprising:
A step of receiving an e-mail from the questioner via the commercial Internet or an intranet, a step of decoding the contents of the question in the e-mail, and a search for the stored answer data based on the decoding of the contents of the question The process, if the relevant answer data is stored, the process of creating an answer for the questioner based on the stored data, and if there is no answer data, the respondent inputs the answer, A method of automatically answering questions by e-mail, comprising the steps of: accumulating the answers, retrieving the answers and creating an answer, and returning the created answer to the questioner as an e-mail. 3. When the content of an e-mail sent from a requester via a commercial Internet or an intranet relates to an item other than a question, for example, a request for providing a new service or a request for providing a new product, the request is made electronically. 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the reply is transmitted to the respondent by the display of the mail display unit and the respondent answers.