KR102310963B1 - Apparatus for providing answer - Google Patents

Abstract

The answer providing apparatus for generating a response tree including only responses related to a user's query according to an embodiment of the present invention and providing a response to the query based on the response tree includes, in an original tree, a leaf related to the query extracting nodes as candidate nodes, generating a response tree including branch nodes on a path from the root node of the original tree to each of the candidate nodes, and responding to the query from the root node of the response tree When a level in which two or more nodes exist is met during the process of proceeding to a leaf node corresponding to When any one node is selected and the selected node is any one of the candidate nodes, the selected node may be provided as a response to the query.

Description

ANSWER PROVIDING DEVICE {APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING ANSWER}

The present invention relates to an answer providing apparatus that generates a response tree including a response related to a user's query, and provides a response to a user's query based on the generated response tree.

Due to the rapid development of information and communication technology, various types of terminals such as mobile communication terminals and personal computers are being implemented to perform various functions.

Taking the mobile communication terminal as an example, the mobile communication terminal goes beyond the basic voice communication function, and recently, data communication, taking pictures or videos using a camera, playing music or video files, playing games, watching broadcasts, etc. is being implemented.

Recently, the number of users who want to obtain an answer by uploading a query to the system through such a terminal has increased, and thus a problem is emerging.

For example, while a number of service providers are shifting from a method of providing an answer by a counselor to a method of allowing users to search for a desired answer through a search, the introduction of this method makes the user's search process complicated and cumbersome. A problem occurred.

In particular, in order to provide a detailed answer, many systems allow the user to obtain the desired answer by going through a selection process for a plurality of steps. There was a problem that the user's search process became cumbersome because it did not exist.

The present invention is to solve the above-described problem, and in a process for a user to obtain an answer to his/her query, the process of searching for a response is simplified by omitting a process for selecting content that does not require selection.

In addition, the present invention aims to improve the efficiency of the question answering process by roughly specifying the user's query from the user's initial query and determining the approximate range of the response according to the specified content.

In addition, the present invention aims to improve the accuracy of response to a user's query in spite of the above-described simplification and efficiency.

In the answer providing apparatus for generating a response tree including only responses related to a user's query according to an embodiment of the present invention, and providing a response to the query based on the response tree, the apparatus includes: Extracting leaf nodes related to a query as candidate nodes, generating a response tree including branch nodes on a path from a root node of the original tree to each of the candidate nodes, and from the root node of the response tree When a level in which two or more nodes exist is met during the process of proceeding to a leaf node corresponding to a response to a query, a query for selecting any one node among the two or more nodes is generated, and according to the answer to the query Any one of the two or more nodes may be selected, and when the selected node is any one of the candidate nodes, the selected node may be provided as a response to the query.

The response tree includes at least one query elision level, which is a level including only one node, and the device skips the process of selecting any one of the two or more nodes when the query elision level is met during the process and move to the next level.

The response tree is composed of N (N is a natural number) levels, and M (M is a natural number less than N) Q&A elided levels, and the device generates a query for each of the NM levels, and Depending on the answer, any one of the two or more nodes on each level can be selected.

A candidate query and an answer to the candidate query are tagged in each of the at least one leaf nodes of the original tree, and the apparatus provides the user's query and the candidate query tagged to each of the at least one leaf nodes. and at least one of the answers may be used to extract the candidate nodes.

The query includes a user query for a content for which the user wants to obtain an answer, and the device compares the user query with items tagged in each of the at least one leaf node according to a predetermined priority to determine the candidate. Nodes can be extracted.

Each of the at least one leaf nodes of the original tree is further tagged with an entity name related to at least one of the candidate query and the answer in addition to the candidate query and the answer, and the device extracts the extracted query using the candidate query and the answer. When the number of candidate nodes is less than a predetermined first threshold quantity, the candidate nodes may be extracted using the user's query and the entity name.

When the apparatus extracts the candidate nodes, when the number of extracted candidate nodes is less than a predetermined second threshold quantity, the apparatus includes a modification request word related to the request word included in the query by using a pre-built dictionary. A query may be generated and the candidate nodes may be extracted using the modified query.

According to the present invention, in the process of the user obtaining an answer to his/her query, the process of selecting content that does not require selection is omitted, thereby simplifying the process of searching for an answer.

In addition, the efficiency of the question answering process can be improved by roughly specifying the user's query from the user's initial query and determining the approximate range of the response according to the specified content.

In addition, in spite of the above-described simplification and efficiency, it is possible to improve the accuracy of response to a user's query.

1 is a diagram schematically illustrating the configuration of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a diagram schematically illustrating the configuration of an answer providing apparatus 110 provided in the server 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary source tree 510 used in an Internet banking system.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a response tree 610 generated from the original tree 510 of FIG. 3 .
5 is an example of a screen 710 displayed on the user terminal 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a flowchart illustrating a question answer providing method performed by the answer providing apparatus 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Since the present invention can apply various transformations and can have various embodiments, specific embodiments are illustrated in the drawings and described in detail in the detailed description. Effects and features of the present invention, and a method of achieving them, will become apparent with reference to the embodiments described below in detail in conjunction with the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below and may be implemented in various forms.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, and when described with reference to the drawings, the same or corresponding components are given the same reference numerals, and the overlapping description thereof will be omitted. .

In the following embodiments, terms such as first, second, etc. are used for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another, not in a limiting sense. In the following examples, the singular expression includes the plural expression unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In the following embodiments, terms such as include or have means that the features or components described in the specification are present, and the possibility of adding one or more other features or components is not excluded in advance. In the drawings, the size of the components may be exaggerated or reduced for convenience of description. For example, since the size and shape of each configuration shown in the drawings are arbitrarily indicated for convenience of description, the present invention is not necessarily limited to the illustrated bar.

1 is a diagram schematically illustrating the configuration of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1 , a system according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a server 100 , a user terminal 200 , and a communication network 300 .

The system according to an embodiment of the present invention may generate a response tree including only responses related to the user's query based on the original tree, and may provide a response to the user's query based on the generated response tree.

In the present invention, a 'tree' is a means for representing data having a hierarchical structure, and may mean a data structure composed of at least one node. In the present invention, a tree has one root node, and the root node may have zero or more child nodes. In addition, each of the 0 or more child nodes may also have 0 or more child nodes, which may be repeatedly defined for each child node. Nodes included in the tree may be connected by edges, but the tree does not include a cycle (or closed circuit).

In the present invention, a 'root node' may mean an uppermost node without a parent node (or a parent node). Only one such root node can exist in one tree.

In the present invention, a 'leaf node' may mean a node having no child nodes (or child nodes). Such leaf nodes may be plural in one tree. In the present invention, candidate queries, answers, and other tags may be tagged in leaf nodes, and a detailed description thereof will be provided later.

In the present invention, a 'level' of a node may mean a set of nodes having a specific depth in the tree. In this case, the 'depth' may mean the number of edges that the root node must pass through to reach a certain node.

In the present invention, the 'original tree' may refer to a tree including all leaf nodes that can be provided by the question and answer providing system. For example, when the number of Q&A sets available in the Q&A system is 100, the original tree may mean a tree including 100 leaf nodes.

In the present invention, the 'response tree' may mean a tree including only leaf nodes including responses related to a user's query. For example, when the number of query-response sets related to a user's query is 10 among 100 question-response sets that can be provided by the question-and-answer system, the response tree may mean a tree including 10 leaf nodes. Such a response tree may be generated based on a user's query, and a detailed description thereof will be described later.

In the present invention, a 'user's query' may mean a user's request transmitted to the server 100 . For example, a user's query may be a request for an answer to his/her inquiry. However, such a request is exemplary and the spirit of the present invention is not limited thereto.

The user terminal 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention may refer to various types of devices that mediate the user and the server 100 to use the question and answer providing service provided by the server 100 . In other words, the user terminal 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention may refer to various devices that transmit and receive data related to a user's query and an answer thereto with the server 100 . As shown in FIG. 1 , such a user terminal 200 may mean portable terminals 201 , 202 , and 203 , or may mean a computer 204 .

Meanwhile, the user terminal 200 may include a display means for displaying content and the like in order to perform the above-described function, and an input means for obtaining a user's input for the content. In this case, the input means and the display means may be configured in various ways. For example, the input means may include, but is not limited to, a keyboard, a mouse, a trackball, a microphone, a button, a touch panel, and the like.

The communication network 300 according to an embodiment of the present invention may refer to a communication network that mediates data transmission and reception between respective components of the system. For example, the communication network 300 may include wired networks such as LANs (Local Area Networks), WANs (Wide Area Networks), MANs (Metropolitan Area Networks), ISDNs (Integrated Service Digital Networks), wireless LANs, CDMA, Bluetooth, satellite communication, etc. may cover a wireless network, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto.

The server 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention may generate a response tree including only responses related to the user's query based on the original tree, and provide a response to the user's query based on the generated response tree. have.

2 is a diagram schematically illustrating the configuration of an answer providing apparatus 110 provided in the server 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2 , the answer providing apparatus 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a communication unit 111 , a control unit 112 , and a memory 113 . Also, although not shown in the drawings, the answer providing apparatus 110 according to the present embodiment may further include an input/output unit, a program storage unit, and the like.

The communication unit 111 includes hardware necessary for the answer providing device 110 to transmit and receive signals such as control signals or data signals through wired/wireless connection with other network devices such as the user terminal 200 and/or an external device (not shown). and software.

The controller 112 may include all kinds of devices capable of processing data, such as a processor. Here, the 'processor' may refer to, for example, a data processing device embedded in hardware having a physically structured circuit to perform a function expressed as a code or command included in a program. As an example of the data processing device embedded in the hardware as described above, a microprocessor, a central processing unit (CPU), a processor core, a multiprocessor, an application-specific integrated (ASIC) Circuit) and a processing device such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) may be included, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto.

The memory 113 performs a function of temporarily or permanently storing data processed by the answer providing device 110 . The memory may include a magnetic storage medium or a flash storage medium, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the memory 113 may temporarily and/or permanently store data constituting the original tree (eg, data structure, information tagged to each leaf node, etc.) and data constituting the response tree. However, this is an example, and the spirit of the present invention is not limited thereto.

Hereinafter, it is assumed that the answer providing apparatus 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention is provided in the server 100 , and a user transmits a query to the server 100 using the user terminal 200 . The operation of (110) will be described. However, such a configuration is exemplary, and the answer providing apparatus 110 may be provided in the user terminal 200 or may be provided in an external device (not shown).

3 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary source tree 510 used in an Internet banking system.

The exemplary original tree 510 is composed of three levels (Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3) as shown in FIG. 3 , and each level may include one or more nodes. For example, the first level (Level 1) may include a root node (N11), and in the second level (Level 2), three child nodes (N21, N22, N23) of the root node (N11) are may include Of course, in the case of the third level (Leve 3), child nodes N31 to N36 of the nodes N21, N22, and N23 of the second level (Level 2) may be included.

Meanwhile, nodes N31 to N36 included in the third level (Leve 3) may correspond to leaf nodes for the original tree 510, and each node includes candidate queries, answers, and other tags ( T1 to T6) may be tagged. For example, the node N31 is a node including information about OTP registration, and the node N31 includes queries (Q1 to Q3) related to OTP registration, answers A1, and other tags (Tag 1, Tag 2). ) may be tagged.

However, the structure and/or contents of the tree as shown in FIG. 3 are exemplary and the spirit of the present invention is not limited thereto. Accordingly, the tree may be composed of more or fewer levels than shown in FIG. 3 , and leaf nodes may be located at different levels. However, hereinafter, for convenience of explanation, it is assumed that the original tree is as shown in FIG. 3 .

The answer providing apparatus 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention may receive a user's query. As described above, in the present invention, a user's query may mean a user's request transmitted to the answer providing apparatus 110 . For example, the user's query may be a request to obtain an answer to the user's inquiry. Accordingly, in an embodiment of the present invention, the user's query may include the user's query (or query content).

The answer providing apparatus 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention may extract leaf nodes related to the user's query received from the original tree 510 as candidate nodes. In this case, 'candidate nodes' may mean nodes expected to include an answer to be provided as a response to a user's query.

The answer providing apparatus 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention uses information tagged to each of the user's query (or query content) and at least one leaf node N31 to N36 of the original tree 510 as a candidate. Nodes can be extracted.

In an embodiment, the answer providing apparatus 110 may extract candidate nodes by comparing the query included in the user's query with items tagged in each of the leaf nodes N31 to N36. In this case, the answer providing apparatus 110 may extract candidate nodes by comparing the items tagged in each of the leaf nodes N31 to N36 with the query to be included in the query according to a predetermined priority.

For example, the answer providing device 110 includes a query to be included in the user's query and a query tagged to the leaf nodes N31 to N36 (eg, Q1, Q2, Q3 of N31), an answer (eg, A1 of N31), Candidate nodes can be extracted by comparing in order of other tags (eg, Tag 1 and Tag 2 of N31).

In other words, the answer providing apparatus 110 first compares the query received from the user terminal 200 with the query on the leaf nodes N31 to N36, then compares the answers, and then exchanges other tags to be a candidate node. can be extracted. However, such an order is exemplary and the spirit of the present invention is not limited thereto.

For example, if the user's query includes a query "How do I register OTP?", the answer providing apparatus 110 provides a leaf including a query corresponding to the user's query among the leaf nodes N31 to N36. The nodes N31 and N32 may be extracted as candidate nodes.

In an optional embodiment, the answer providing apparatus 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention provides the entity name (or predetermined keyword) identified from the user's query and the entity name (or predetermined keyword) tagged to the leaf nodes. Candidate nodes may be extracted by comparison. To this end, the leaf nodes N31 to N36 may have entity names tagged with other tags. However, this is an example, and the spirit of the present invention is not limited thereto.

In an optional embodiment, the answer providing apparatus 110 uses the entity name only when the number of candidate nodes extracted using the query and answer tagged to the leaf nodes N31 to N36 is less than a predetermined first threshold quantity. Nodes can be extracted. In this case, the first threshold quantity may be appropriately set according to the configuration and/or use of the system.

When the number of candidate nodes extracted by the above-described process is less than the second threshold quantity, the answer providing apparatus 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention relates to a request word included in a received query using a pre-built dictionary. It is also possible to generate a transformation query including a transformation request word with In this case, the 'relationship' between the requested words is synonymous with each other or has a predetermined relationship with each other, and may mean a preset. In addition, the second threshold quantity may be appropriately set according to the configuration and/or use of the system.

In the present invention, the answer providing apparatus 110 may compare two items in various ways. For example, when the answer providing apparatus 110 compares the query included in the user's query with the queries tagged in the leaf nodes N31 to N36, the distance between the feature vectors for each item is calculated. can be compared with However, such a method is exemplary and the spirit of the present invention is not limited thereto.

The answer providing apparatus 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention may generate a response tree including branch nodes on a path from the root node N11 of the original tree 510 to each of the extracted candidate nodes. have.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a response tree 610 generated from the original tree 510 of FIG. 3 .

For convenience of explanation, the original tree 510 is as shown in FIG. 3 , and the user's query includes a query "How do I register OTP?" It is assumed that leaf nodes N31 and N32 including registration-related information are extracted as candidate nodes.

Under the above-mentioned assumption, the answer providing apparatus 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention is located on a path from the root node N11 of the original tree 510 to each of the candidate nodes N31 and N32. A response tree 610 including branch nodes N21 may be generated. At this time, the response tree 610 is nodes N'11, N'21, N'31, N'32 corresponding to each of the nodes N11, N21, N31, and N32 selected as nodes on the original tree 510. It may be configured to include

The answer providing apparatus 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention may provide a response to the user's query by using the generated response tree 610 . To this end, the answer providing apparatus 110 proceeds from the root node N'11 of the response tree 610 in the direction P of the leaf nodes N'31 and N'32 of the response tree 610, Finally, any one of the leaf nodes N'31 and N'32 may be selected as a response. In this case, the direction P may mean a direction moving from a low level to a high level of the response tree 610 or a direction moving from a root node to a leaf node.

In more detail, the answer providing apparatus 110 generates a query for selecting any one of the two or more nodes when meeting a level in which two or more nodes exist during the process in the above-described direction P, and the user terminal (200) can be provided. Also, the answer providing apparatus 110 may receive a user's answer to the provided query and select any one of the two or more nodes.

Meanwhile, when the answer providing apparatus 110 meets the query elision level, which is a level including only one node, the process of selecting any one node from among two or more nodes may be omitted and move to the next level. For example, when the answer providing device 110 meets the query omission level (Level 2) including only the node N'21 in the response tree 610, the process of selecting any one node from among two or more nodes is omitted. You can move to (Level 3).

The answer providing apparatus 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention generates a query for the leaf nodes N'31 and N'32 of the response tree 610 and operates the above-described operation until an answer is received. can be performed repeatedly. In other words, when the node selected according to the user's answer is any one of the leaf nodes N'31 and N'32, the answer providing apparatus 110 provides the selected node to the user terminal as a response to the user's query. can

As described above, the present invention generates a response tree including only the contents related to the user's query from the original tree including all contents using information specified according to the user's query, and uses the generated response tree to respond to the user's query. A response search procedure can be simplified by searching for a response to the answer, but omitting a query for an omissible level.

According to the prior art, the user had to go through a total of two selection processes in order to obtain the desired information from the original tree 510 shown in FIG. 3 . That is, the user must go through the first selection process of selecting which node his query relates to among the nodes belonging to Level 2, and the second selection process of selecting which node among the nodes belonging to Level 3 to finally request his/her request. I was able to get a response to the question.

However, the present invention generates a response tree 610 shown in FIG. 4 according to a user's query and provides a response using it, but searches for a response by omitting the selection process for a level (Level 2) that does not require the user's selection. process can be simplified.

In the examples shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, there is only one difference between the prior art and the selection process according to the present invention, but this is due to the exemplary tree structure. The quantity difference can be further increased. For example, if the response tree is composed of N (N is a natural number) level and includes M (M is a natural number less than N) Q&A omitting levels, the answer providing apparatus 110 may provide a query for each of the NM levels. , and depending on the answer, it is possible to select any one node among two or more nodes on each level. Accordingly, M selection processes may be omitted.

5 is an example of a screen 710 displayed on the user terminal 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention. For convenience of description, it is assumed that the response tree 610 is generated according to the process described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4 .

In an embodiment of the present invention, the answer providing apparatus 110 and the user terminal 200 may transmit and receive a query and a response thereto in the form of a chatting window as shown in FIG. 5 . For example, the user may send a query in the form of a message on the user terminal 200 such as "Hello. I'm curious about how to register OTP", and the answer providing device 110 says "Hello. You can send a query in the form of a message, such as "What are you curious about during re-registration?" Also, the answer providing apparatus 110 may provide an interface for obtaining a user's input for a query together with the query message.

In this case, the query sent by the answer providing device 110 is transmitted from the root node of the response tree to the leaf node corresponding to the response to the query by the answer providing device 110 according to the process described in FIG. When an existing level is met, it may be created to select any one node among two or more nodes.

In addition, according to a user's input according to the query, the answer providing apparatus 110 selects any one node on a level where two or more nodes exist, moves to the next level including the child nodes of the corresponding node, and repeats the above-described process. can be done by

Of course, when the selected node is any one of the candidate nodes (or leaf nodes), the answer providing apparatus 110 may transmit information tagged to the corresponding node to the user terminal 200 to be displayed in the chat window.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a question answer providing method performed by the answer providing apparatus 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, a description of the content overlapping with FIGS. 1 to 5 will be omitted, but will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5 together.

The answer providing apparatus 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention may generate an original tree ( S610 ). For example, the answer providing apparatus 110 may generate an original tree from layered data. In this case, the original tree may be a tree including all responses to be provided by the system as described above.

The answer providing apparatus 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention may receive a user's query ( S620 ). As described above, in the present invention, the user's query is a user's request transmitted to the answer providing apparatus 110 . can mean For example, the user's query may be a request to obtain an answer to the user's inquiry. Accordingly, in an embodiment of the present invention, the user's query may include the user's query (or query content).

The answer providing apparatus 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention may extract leaf nodes related to the user's query received from the original tree 510 as candidate nodes (S630). In this case, 'candidate nodes' are It may mean nodes expected to include an answer to be provided as a response to a user's query.

The answer providing apparatus 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention uses information tagged to each of the user's query (or query content) and at least one leaf node N31 to N36 of the original tree 510 as a candidate. Nodes can be extracted.

In an embodiment, the answer providing apparatus 110 may extract candidate nodes by comparing the query included in the user's query with items tagged in each of the leaf nodes N31 to N36. In this case, the answer providing apparatus 110 may extract candidate nodes by comparing the items tagged in each of the leaf nodes N31 to N36 with the query to be included in the query according to a predetermined priority.

For example, the answer providing device 110 includes a query to be included in the user's query and a query tagged to the leaf nodes N31 to N36 (eg, Q1, Q2, Q3 of N31), an answer (eg, A1 of N31), Candidate nodes can be extracted by comparing in order of other tags (eg, Tag 1 and Tag 2 of N31).

In other words, the answer providing apparatus 110 first compares the query received from the user terminal 200 with the query on the leaf nodes N31 to N36, then compares the answers, and then exchanges other tags to be a candidate node. can be extracted. However, such an order is exemplary and the spirit of the present invention is not limited thereto.

For example, if the user's query includes a query "How do I register OTP?", the answer providing apparatus 110 provides a leaf including a query corresponding to the user's query among the leaf nodes N31 to N36. The nodes N31 and N32 may be extracted as candidate nodes.

In an optional embodiment, the answer providing apparatus 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention provides the entity name (or predetermined keyword) identified from the user's query and the entity name (or predetermined keyword) tagged to the leaf nodes. Candidate nodes may be extracted by comparison. To this end, the leaf nodes N31 to N36 may have entity names tagged with other tags. However, this is an example, and the spirit of the present invention is not limited thereto.

In an optional embodiment, the answer providing apparatus 110 uses the entity name only when the number of candidate nodes extracted using the query and answer tagged to the leaf nodes N31 to N36 is less than a predetermined first threshold quantity. Nodes can be extracted. In this case, the first threshold quantity may be appropriately set according to the configuration and/or use of the system.

When the number of candidate nodes extracted by the above-described process is less than the second threshold quantity, the answer providing apparatus 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention relates to a request word included in a received query using a pre-built dictionary. It is also possible to generate a transformation query including a transformation request word with In this case, the 'relationship' between the requested words is synonymous with each other or has a predetermined relationship with each other, and may mean a preset. In addition, the second threshold quantity may be appropriately set according to the configuration and/or use of the system.

In the present invention, the answer providing apparatus 110 may compare two items in various ways. For example, when the answer providing apparatus 110 compares the query included in the user's query with the queries tagged in the leaf nodes N31 to N36, the distance between the feature vectors for each item is calculated. can be compared with However, such a method is exemplary and the spirit of the present invention is not limited thereto.

The answer providing apparatus 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention may generate a response tree including branch nodes on a path from the root node N11 of the original tree 510 to each of the extracted candidate nodes. There is (S640)

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a response tree 610 generated from the original tree 510 of FIG. 3 .

For convenience of explanation, the original tree 510 is as shown in FIG. 3 , and the user's query includes a query "How do I register OTP?" It is assumed that leaf nodes N31 and N32 including registration-related information are extracted as candidate nodes.

Under the above-mentioned assumption, the answer providing apparatus 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention is located on a path from the root node N11 of the original tree 510 to each of the candidate nodes N31 and N32. A response tree 610 including branch nodes N21 may be generated. At this time, the response tree 610 is nodes N'11, N'21, N'31, N'32 corresponding to each of the nodes N11, N21, N31, and N32 selected as nodes on the original tree 510. It may be configured to include

The answer providing apparatus 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention may provide a response to the user's query by using the generated response tree 610 .

To this end, the answer providing apparatus 110 proceeds from the root node N'11 of the response tree 610 in the direction P of the leaf nodes N'31 and N'32 of the response tree 610, Finally, any one of the leaf nodes N'31 and N'32 may be selected as a response. In this case, the direction P may mean a direction moving from a low level to a high level of the response tree 610 or a direction moving from a root node to a leaf node.

More specifically, the answer providing apparatus 110 generates a query for selecting any one of the two or more nodes when meeting a level in which two or more nodes exist during the process in the direction P described above (S650). ), the generated query may be provided to the user terminal 200 (S660).

In addition, the answer providing apparatus 110 may receive a user's answer to the provided query (S670) and select any one of the two or more nodes (S680).

Meanwhile, when the answer providing apparatus 110 meets the query elision level, which is a level including only one node, the process of selecting any one node from among two or more nodes may be omitted and move to the next level. For example, when the answer providing device 110 meets the query omission level (Level 2) including only the node N'21 in the response tree 610, the process of selecting any one node from among two or more nodes is omitted. You can move to (Level 3).

The answer providing apparatus 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention generates a query for the leaf nodes N'31 and N'32 of the response tree 610 and operates the above-described operation until an answer is received. can be performed repeatedly.

In other words, the answer providing apparatus 110 determines whether the selected node is one of the leaf nodes N'31 and N'32 according to the user's answer (S690), and the selected node is the leaf node N' 31, N'32), the operation according to steps S650 to S680 may be repeatedly performed while moving to the next level.

On the other hand, when the selected node is any one of the leaf nodes N'31 and N'32, the answer providing apparatus 110 provides the selected node (that is, information tagged to the node) to the user terminal as a response to the user's query. It can be provided. (S700)

As described above, the present invention generates a response tree including only the contents related to the user's query from the original tree including all contents using information specified according to the user's query, and uses the generated response tree to respond to the user's query. A response search procedure can be simplified by searching for a response to the answer, but omitting a query for an omissible level.

According to the prior art, the user had to go through a total of two selection processes in order to obtain the desired information from the original tree 510 shown in FIG. 3 . That is, the user must go through the first selection process of selecting which node his query relates to among the nodes belonging to Level 2, and the second selection process of selecting which node among the nodes belonging to Level 3 to finally request his/her request. I was able to get a response to the matter.

However, the present invention generates a response tree 610 shown in FIG. 4 according to a user's query and provides a response using it, but searches for a response by omitting the selection process for a level (Level 2) that does not require the user's selection. process can be simplified.

In the examples shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, there is only one difference between the prior art and the selection process according to the present invention, but this is due to the exemplary tree structure. The quantity difference can be further increased. For example, if the response tree is composed of N (N is a natural number) level and includes M (M is a natural number less than N) Q&A omitting levels, the answer providing apparatus 110 may provide a query for each of the NM levels. , and according to the answer, it is possible to select any one node among two or more nodes on each level. Accordingly, M selection processes may be omitted.

The embodiment according to the present invention described above may be implemented in the form of a computer program that can be executed through various components on a computer, and such a computer program may be recorded in a computer-readable medium. In this case, the medium may be to store a program executable by a computer. Examples of the medium include a hard disk, a magnetic medium such as a floppy disk and a magnetic tape, an optical recording medium such as CD-ROM and DVD, a magneto-optical medium such as a floppy disk, and those configured to store program instructions, including ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like.

Meanwhile, the computer program may be specially designed and configured for the present invention, or may be known and used by those skilled in the computer software field. Examples of the computer program may include not only machine language codes such as those generated by a compiler, but also high-level language codes that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter or the like.

The specific implementations described in the present invention are only examples, and do not limit the scope of the present invention in any way. For brevity of the specification, descriptions of conventional electronic components, control systems, software, and other functional aspects of the systems may be omitted. In addition, the connection or connection members of the lines between the components shown in the drawings exemplarily represent functional connections and/or physical or circuit connections, and in an actual device, various functional connections, physical connections that are replaceable or additional may be referred to as connections, or circuit connections. In addition, unless there is a specific reference such as "essential", "importantly", etc., it may not be a necessary component for the application of the present invention.

Therefore, the spirit of the present invention should not be limited to the above-described embodiments, and the scope of the spirit of the present invention is not limited to the scope of the scope of the present invention. will be said to belong to

100: server
110: answer providing device
111: communication department
112: control unit
113: memory
200: user terminal
300: communication network

Claims (7)

An answer providing device for generating a response tree including only responses related to a user's query and providing a response to the query based on the response tree, the device comprising:
Extracting leaf nodes related to the query as candidate nodes from the original tree, the original tree is a tree including all leaf nodes that can be provided by the answer providing device,
generate a response tree including branch nodes on a path from the root node of the original tree to each of the candidate nodes, wherein the response tree is a tree including only leaf nodes containing a response related to the query as leaf nodes, ,
In the process of moving from the root node of the response tree to a leaf node corresponding to the response to the query, when a level in which two or more nodes exist is met, a query is generated for selecting any one node from among the two or more nodes, and , select any one of the two or more nodes according to the answer to the query,
If the selected node is any one of the candidate nodes, providing the selected node as a response to the query. The method according to claim 1
The response tree is
It includes at least one query elision level, which is a level that includes only one node,
the device is
If the query skipping level is met during the process, the process of selecting any one node among the two or more nodes is omitted, and the answer providing apparatus moves to the next level. 3. The method according to claim 2
The response tree is composed of N (N is a natural number) level, and M (M is a natural number less than N) Q&A omission levels,
the device is
An answer providing apparatus for generating a query for each of the NM levels, and selecting any one node among two or more nodes on each level according to an answer thereto. The method according to claim 1
Each of the at least one leaf node of the original tree has
Candidate queries and answers to the candidate queries are tagged,
the device is
and extracting the candidate nodes by using at least one of the user's query, a candidate query tagged to each of the at least one leaf node, and the answer. 5. The method according to claim 4
The query includes a user query about the content for which the user wants to obtain an answer,
the device is
and extracting the candidate nodes by comparing the user query with items tagged in each of the one or more leaf nodes according to a predetermined priority. 5. The method according to claim 4
Each of the at least one leaf node of the original tree has
In addition to the above candidate questions and above answers
An entity name related to at least one of the candidate query and the answer is further tagged,
the device is
When the number of candidate nodes extracted using a candidate query and the answer is less than a predetermined first threshold quantity, the answer providing apparatus extracts the candidate nodes by using the user's query and the entity name. The method according to claim 1
the device is
In extracting the candidate nodes, when the number of extracted candidate nodes is less than a predetermined second threshold quantity,
generating a variant query including a variant request word related to a request word included in the query using a pre-built dictionary;
and extracting the candidate nodes by using the variant query.

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