JP2002169818A - Device and system for supporting user - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To actualize user-friendly environment wherein information can speedily be retrieved. SOLUTION: An origin server 20 has a speech specifying block for specifying a user's speech, which is compared with a collection of user's speeches to transfer the processing to an expert server which should reply. On the expert server, an agent replies to the user's speech. The origin server 20 further has a collection of additional speeches triggering the start of information retrieval and when the user's speech is included therein, an information retrieval part performs retrieval processing. The retrieval result is presented in the form of a character-based speech to the user.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to user support technology. This utterance particularly relates to a system that supports user operations, search, and other processes using an agent.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As the use of the Internet advances, its main application, WWW (World Wide W
The number of users of eb) has increased dramatically, and two forms of use of the WWW, that is, transmission and retrieval of information, have widely spread to users. As information transmission increases, most of the information
The situation of being on any page of the website has become a reality. However, as a result of an excessive number of Web sites and pages to be searched, it is becoming common to find that the information to be sought is somewhere, but in reality it is difficult to reach that information.

In search-related portal sites that are sensitive to such situations, efforts have been made to stratify information and refine search methods. That is, a user can efficiently find desired information from a flood of information by making full use of search conditions such as a logical sum and a logical product within a narrowed topic range.

[0004]

However, in the era when the use of the Internet was limited to specialists, and the use of WWW by users unfamiliar with the business of search has increased, the use of advanced search formulas has become more difficult for general users. It is difficult to ask for. In addition, the information hierarchy becomes deeper with the rapid increase of information, and it is often impossible to grasp where the required information is classified. The number of sites that transmit information has been increasing, and today's situation in which a considerable number of users have little experience in using computers has caused a situation in which a flood of information hinders the use of information.

The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to reach desired information in a user-friendly environment or to smoothly execute desired processing on a computer or other device. An object of the present invention is to provide a user support technology that can be executed.

[0006]

One embodiment of the present invention relates to a user support apparatus (hereinafter, also simply referred to as "apparatus" or "this apparatus"). This device has an electronic user utterance collection created assuming a user's utterance, and an utterance specifying block for specifying the content when an utterance is input from the user; Having a collection of electronic agent actions created assuming the action of the agent to be performed, a response block for allowing the agent to respond to the utterance of the user, and a content of information that the user desires to search for in advance. The utterance identification block includes a search content holding unit to be held and an information search unit to search the information, and the utterance identification block further includes an additional utterance collection created assuming an utterance to start the search by the information search unit. When the utterance from the user is included in the additional utterance collection, the content is specified, and the information search unit determines that the user has included the utterance included in the additional utterance collection. Triggered by you made, start searching for the information.

[0007] "Agent" is a general term for a function of searching for information on behalf of a user and supporting the user to reach desired information while interacting with the user. To interact with the user. An agent is not always visible as a character, and may refer to a program or other processing function that supports a user in an invisible place, such as a system back end. The “action” of the agent indicates an utterance, an image, an action, or any other processing element or processing operation related to the processing for support.

In this user support apparatus, the contents to be included in the additional utterance collection may be integrated into the user utterance collection by incorporating them into the user utterance collection. Thereby, when specifying the user's utterance, it is possible to collate both the user's utterance collection and the additional utterance collection at once.

[0009] The information search unit may further include a spontaneous search unit that spontaneously starts searching for the information. Since the information is searched without waiting for the user's utterance, the information can be promptly presented when requested by the user. When presenting the information, the information may be presented spontaneously without waiting for the utterance of the user. The search may be performed periodically at predetermined intervals or may be performed during a time period when the load on the network is small.

The user support apparatus includes a character display unit that associates a personified character with each field to which the information belongs and displays the result of the search to the user as an utterance of a character corresponding to the field to which the information belongs. It may further include. As a result, it is possible to make it appear that the character itself is performing the search independently, and it is possible to provide a more friendly environment.

[0011] The search content holding unit may include a bookmark holding unit that holds a network address of a website as bookmark information, and the information search unit may acquire an update status of the website. When the website belonging to the field associated with the character has been updated, the character display unit may present the update status to the user as an utterance of the character. The network address is a URL (Univer) for accessing information on the Internet.
sal Resource Locator). A plurality of bookmark information may be registered for each character. At this time, the character also functions as a folder for organizing bookmarks. The update status may be presented when the user makes a related utterance, or may be presented spontaneously by the character.

[0012] The user support device includes a character management unit that manages the attribute value of the character, changes the attribute value according to the handling of the character by the user, and changes the behavior of the character according to the attribute value. It may further include. The character management unit may change a frequency of acquiring an update status of the website belonging to a field associated with the character based on the attribute value. This allows the user to feel more familiar with the character and obtain information while having fun.

[0013] Another embodiment of the present invention relates to a user support system. In this user support system, a plurality of the above-mentioned user support devices are provided according to their specialty fields, these are connected to a network as different nodes, and the user utterance collection, the agent action collection and the additional utterance of those user support devices are provided. The collections are formed around the specialty of the device. In that case, the user is the client,
The user support device becomes a server, and a server client system is constructed. The user support device may be provided for each service content for the user, and may be provided for each topic such as news, fortune-telling, travel, cooking, business, and health. In this case, since each user support device has a clear theme, the refinement of the agent is relatively easy. Further, since processing can be performed by different nodes for each topic, the load can be reduced by distributed processing.

[0014] In this user support system, the user support device may hold the response block in its own node while sharing the utterance identification block in one node of the network. In this configuration, the shared utterance specifying block may include a collection of user utterances corresponding to all other response blocks. At this time, the user support device including the utterance specifying block is an entrance or portal-like server that can specify all utterances that can be processed in the user support system. According to the content of the specified utterance, a plurality of user support devices are provided. An appropriate device may be selected from the devices. Thus, the content of the utterance and the response of the agent can be processed by different nodes, so that the load can be reduced by the distributed processing.

In this user support system, the utterance identification block includes an utterance search unit that searches for the utterance of the user in the utterance collection of the user, and the utterance of the user is not found in the utterance collection of the user. At this time, a notification unit for notifying the system administrator of this fact may be included.
In that case, the administrator can separately deal with the user or revise the user utterance collection and the agent action collection.

The utterance specifying block has an index storage unit for holding an index for the contents of the user utterance collection, and the search unit stores the index in the index storage unit when the utterance of the user is input. Search may be performed. In this case, when the utterance of the user is input, the search unit can perform an initial search, that is, a search for narrowing down, on the index storage unit, and the search can be speeded up. Realize.

The user support system may further include a library providing unit for providing the utterance collection to a person who wants to use the utterance collection, offline or online. Offline provision includes, for example, a method of providing a collection of user utterances as a package. Examples of the online provision include a method of providing a server on which a collection of user utterances is placed and providing the right to use the library site. Among the user utterance collections, a general utterance library in which general utterances of the user are recorded as a library of natural language may be provided.
With this configuration, a third party can collect user utterances, additional utterances,
In addition, a new user support device can be provided by independently developing the agent action collection and the user support system can be further enhanced.

The system may further include a recording unit for acquiring a record of access to the system by the user. In this case, the response block may select an utterance of the agent for the response from a plurality of candidates according to a situation of access by the user. For example, when a user such as "Hello" to the agent A, if the initial visits by the user, I agent A may If you answer "Hello", but if a second time, "Hey, I met again And so on. In this case, the most suitable one is selected based on the access history of the user, and a more natural or more friendly conversation is realized.

It is to be noted that any combination of the above-described components and any conversion of the expression of the present invention between a method, an apparatus, a system, a recording medium, a computer program, and the like are also effective as embodiments of the present invention.

[0020]

FIG. 1 shows a network system 10 including a user support system 16 according to a first embodiment.
1 shows the entire configuration. Here, the user terminal 12 and the user support system 16 are connected via the Internet 14. The user terminal 12 is a PC (personal computer), a PDA, a mobile phone connectable to the Internet 14, or any other hardware.

The user support system 16 includes the origin server 2
0, a talking server 24 and a gourmet server 26, which are connected to the Internet 14, respectively. The origin server 20 has an electronic user utterance collection created assuming the user's utterance, and holds an utterance specifying block for specifying the content when the utterance is input from the user. This utterance identification block is stored in another server in the user support system, that is, the talking server 24.
And the gourmet server 26. The chatting server 24 and the gourmet server 26 each have an electronic agent action book created assuming the action of the agent for the purpose of responding to the utterance, and automatically generate a response block that causes the agent to respond to the utterance of the user. Keep in node.

Origin server 20, talking server 24,
The gourmet server 26 is configured as a different network node, and can distribute the user's utterance specifying process and the agent's response process. Agents can also be different nodes depending on their area of responsibility,
Easy maintenance for each agent. The names of the chat server 24 and the gourmet server 26 are also given according to their field of specialization or specialty. Less than,
The talking server 24, the gourmet server 26, and the like are collectively referred to as "specialized servers", and the agents placed on those servers are referred to as "specialized agents". The user support system 16 may be integrally configured, for example, may be configured in one portal site. However, in the following description, the user support system 16 is configured as another node, and the origin server 20 is connected to the user terminal 12.
Consider an example of acting as a portal server for.

The user's utterance is first sent to the origin server 20, and the content is specified in light of the user's utterance collection. Then, an agent to respond to is specified according to the content, and response processing is executed by a response block. For example, for a general greeting such as "Hello", the agent that has been implemented in the chat server 24 (hereinafter also referred to as "chat agent") is a response, such as "tell me a delicious store of dumplings" cuisine,
For an utterance related to a meal or the like, an agent mounted on the gourmet server 26 (hereinafter, “gourmet agent”)
Responds). Each specialized agent accurately listens to information desired by the user while interacting with the user, and provides support for finding desired information from a vast amount of information.

In the user support system of the present embodiment, the contents of information that the user is interested in and frequently searches for are registered and stored in advance. Thus, the search can be started immediately when the user makes an utterance related to the information. Also, by performing a search in advance,
Search results can be presented immediately. By properly adjusting the user utterance that triggers a search or the trigger that displays search results,
Information can be presented to the user with good timing, and usability can be improved.

Further, when presenting information to the user, the information is presented in the form of an anthropomorphic utterance of the character, so that the character appears to be independently searching. As a result, it is possible to provide an environment that is very familiar and easy to use even for beginners. Since the character is associated with each specialized field to which the information belongs, it is possible to know what field information is being presented just by looking at the character. In particular, a character in a field that the user frequently searches for appears frequently and interacts with the user, and the user feels attachment to the character.

Such a character may be registered as a "favorite character" so that the user can immediately call it. The favorite character can register the URL of the website that the user likes, and the character presents the update status of the website. Since each character holds the URL of a website belonging to its own specialty, the bookmark information can be organized for each specialty. That is, the character functions as a folder for organizing bookmarks. Also, a plurality of URLs can be registered in the character, and the character notifies the update status of the website, so the user needs to access the websites one by one and check the update status. There is no. The timing of confirming and notifying the update status may be when the user makes a relevant utterance, or may be spontaneous at regular intervals, for example.

The user may be able to keep favorite characters. For example, "Character house" may be displayed on the screen to make it appear as if the character is living in it. At this time, the attribute value may change depending on the handling of the character by the user. Then, the behavior of the character may be changed according to the magnitude of the attribute value. For example, an attribute value of “good-luck” is provided, and when the user treats the character gently, the value of the “good-luck” attribute increases, and when the user handles the character roughly, the “good-luck” attribute The value may be reduced. As a result, the search frequency of characters with a large “goodness” attribute value is increased,
A character with a small “good-luck” attribute value may not be searched until the mood is corrected. Thus, the user becomes more familiar with the character.

Although details will be described later, the outline of the processing in FIG. 1 is as follows. When the user activates the user terminal 12, a local agent mounted inside the user terminal 12 appears. The local agent waits for the user's first utterance (hereinafter, this utterance is referred to as “processing start utterance”). The processing start utterance is transmitted to the origin server 20 via the Internet 14. At this time, the user terminal 12 is displaying the page of the origin server 20 by the WWW browser.

The origin server 20 is provided with a collection of user utterances, that is, a collection of utterances expected to be made by the user. The user utterance collection incorporates additional utterance collections, which are supposed collections of utterances that trigger the search by the specialized agent, and these are integrated. The processing start utterance is collated with the user utterance collection, and the utterance content is specified. As a result, a specialized agent to respond to the processing start utterance is specified, and the URL of the specialized server (URLa, UR in FIG.
Lb) is sent to the browser of the user terminal 12.
The page of the specialized server is displayed on the screen of the user terminal 12 that has acquired the URL, and the specialized agent appears.
Each specialized server has a collection of agent actions for specialized agents, and responds to the processing start utterance and subsequent user utterances (hereinafter referred to as “normal utterances”). In the following, utterance is mainly used as an example of the agent's action, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the agent's gestures and other actions, changes in colors and textures on images,
The agent may respond to the user through a search operation or other program processing.

When the processing start utterance is included in the additional utterance collection, a search is executed and the process jumps to a page for displaying the result. On that page, a search process is performed based on the content registered by the user in advance, and the result is presented as the utterance of the character. Alternatively, the update status of the website registered by the user in advance is obtained, and the result is presented as the utterance of the character. Then, the user waits for the next utterance. Instead of transiting to the page for executing the search, the start of the search may be notified to the specialized agent, and the search process may be executed behind the scenes. At this time, the dialogue between the character and the user may be continued on the screen.

When the user makes a new utterance to the specialized agent, that is, a normal utterance, this is acquired and sent to the origin server 20. The origin server 20 again specifies the specialized agent that should respond to the utterance, and transmits the URL of the specialized server to the user terminal 12 again. Hereinafter, similarly, 1. 1. Identification of user utterance by origin server 20 2. Identification of a specialized server responsible for the identified utterance 3. Response to the user by the specialized agent placed on the specialized server. 4. Execution of search processing and presentation of search results A series of processing of requesting or promoting the user's normal utterance is repeated. Since the processing always returns to the origin server 20 and is newly started from there,
There is a name of the origin server 20.

FIG. 2 shows the internal configuration of the origin server 20.
In the figure, "H" is utterance data, "I" is an index search of utterance, "F" is the name of a file holding the URL of the page of the specialized server to respond to the specified user utterance, and "X" is Each utterance that could not be identified (hereinafter also referred to as an unknown utterance) is shown. 2 can be realized by a CPU, a memory, or other LSI of an arbitrary computer in terms of hardware, and is realized by a program loaded in the memory in terms of software. Draws functional blocks realized by. Therefore, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that these functional blocks can be realized in various forms by hardware only, software only, or a combination thereof. Hereinafter, similar considerations are valid throughout the present specification.

The communication unit 30 communicates with the specialized server and the user terminal 12 via the Internet 14. The utterance acquisition unit 32 acquires the utterance of the user from the user terminal 12 and sends the utterance to the utterance search unit 34. The utterance acquisition unit 3
2 acquires the utterance of the specialized agent from the specialized server and sends it to the utterance search unit 34. The utterance search unit 34 checks the first character of the utterance against the index file 36, first narrows down by index, and then
Identify the content of the utterance. At this time, a phrase search is performed for the entire utterance. The phrase search is a process of finding a match including the order of words. If no corresponding phrase is found by the phrase search, as described later, the utterance is divided into morphemes, and a keyword or word is searched for.

The index file 36 is generated by arranging the user's supposed utterances stored in the user utterance collection 38 in the order of the Japanese syllabary.
Even if is large, the user's utterance can be searched very quickly. As will be described later, since the user utterance collection can be easily enhanced in this embodiment, the capacity of the user utterance collection 38 is expected to be very large in a short period of time, and the merit of speeding up by index search is great.

The additional index file 37 stores 5 supposed utterances of other agents stored in the additional utterance collection 39.
It is generated by arranging it in the order of the zero note. In FIG. 2, for convenience,
Although the additional index file 37 and the index file 36 are shown separately, actually, the contents of the additional index file 37 are incorporated into the index file 36 and are unified.

When an utterance is specified in the index file 36, a file in which information such as the URL of a specialized server to respond to the utterance is described is stored in the index file 36.
User utterance collection 38 or additional utterance collection 39
The file body contained in the file is opened, and the U
The RL is found.

In the user utterance collection 38, one file is formed for one utterance. The file describes the URL of a page for responding to the utterance of the user. In FIG. 2, for convenience, additional utterance collection 3
9 and the user utterance collection 38 are shown separately, but in fact, the contents of the additional utterance collection 39 are incorporated into the user utterance collection 38 and are unified.

The URL found by the user utterance collection 38 or the additional utterance collection 39 is transmitted via the communication unit 30 to the user terminal 12.
And the access destination of the user terminal 12 becomes the specialized server. Strictly speaking, the URL does not refer to the homepage of the specialized server, but to a separate page for responding to the user's utterance, and one or, in some cases, multiple pages for each utterance. Have been assigned. Multiple cases will be described later.

There is no problem when an utterance completely coincident with the user's utterance is stored in the user's utterance collection 38, but in the process of enriching the user's utterance collection 38, this often does not occur. In this case, the utterance search unit 34 decomposes the utterance of the user into morphemes by a known method, and performs a search again by taking the logical product of the nouns among them, thereby obtaining the most likely utterance from the user utterance collection 38. Find out. The utterance targeted for the re-search and the utterance not found through the re-search are both recorded as unknown utterances in the unknown utterance file 40, and this is sent to the administrator of the origin server 20 via the notification unit 42 by e-mail or the like. Notified by The administrator newly registers the utterance and the URL of the page of the specialized server to be responded to in the user utterance collection 38, and stores the index of the utterance in the index file 3.
6 and a process including the utterance of the specialized agent on the page is designed. According to this maintenance, the unknown utterances can be added to the user utterance collection 38 without any difficult process, so that the user utterance collection 38 is very easily enriched.

The access recording unit 44 records the status of access to the specialized server in the access information file 46 for each user. This makes it possible to make different responses to the same user utterance. For example, a user for the first time visited the chat server 24 is "Hello"
In such a case, the specialized agent of the chat server 24 (hereinafter, also referred to as the chat agent) is referred to as "Hello!" On the other hand, when revisit to the chat server 24 by the user, chat agent can be referred to as "Hello. What about from there.", Fine-grained corresponding to realize. The access recording unit 44 informs the utterance search unit 34 of the access status. When a plurality of pages of the specialized server for responding to the user's utterance are described in the user utterance collection 38 as in the present example, the utterance search unit 34 finds an appropriate one based on the access situation. Select and set the URL in the browser of the user terminal 12.

FIG. 3 shows the internal structure of the index file 36, and FIG. 4 shows the internal structure of the user utterance collection 38. The index file 36 has a Japanese syllabary column 100, a user utterance column 102, and a file name column 104. The utterances of the user are arranged in the order of the Japanese syllabary. If the first character is "A", the utterances are classified under "A" in the Japanese syllabary column 100, and so on.

The user utterance collection 38 includes a file name column 104,
It has a user's utterance field 102 and a page field 120 for a specialized server to respond to. For example, the page of the specialized server responding to the user utterance “Haya” is “URLa43”,
The combination of the utterance “Haya” and “URLa43” constitutes the file f044. The utterances of the users are grouped for each specialized server, and, for example, a user utterance 110 to be in charge of the talking server 24 and a user utterance 112 to be in charge of the gourmet server 26 are collectively described. The index file 36 and the user utterance collection 38 are linked by the file name, for example, "Hello"
In the utterance, the file f045 is described in the index file 36, and this file points to the file f045 of the user utterance collection 38.

[0043] As shown in FIG. 4, page of the response to the "Hello" There are two URLa1 and URLa2.
Here, it is assumed that URLLa1 is transmitted to the user who first comes to the chatting server 24, and URLa2 is transmitted in the case of returning.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the internal description of the access information file 46. In the figure, a user “user1” has visited specialized servers “talking”, “gourmet”, and “auction” in the past. On the other hand, the user "user2"
Is visiting a specialized server called "Travel" and "PC". Therefore, when user2 visits the chatting server 24, as described above, the chatting agent speaks for the first visitor, and when user1 visits the chatting server 24, a greeting for the returning visitor is spoken.

FIG. 6 shows the internal structure of the additional index file 37, and FIG. 7 shows the internal structure of the additional utterance collection 39. As described above, these are actually incorporated in the index file 36 and the user utterance collection 38, but are described here as separate files for easy understanding. The additional index file 37 is
It has a Japanese syllabary column 200, a user utterance column 202, and a file name column 204. The utterances of the user are arranged in the order of the Japanese syllabary as in the case of the index file 36.

The additional utterance collection 39 includes a file name column 204,
It has a user utterance column 202 and a page column 220 of a specialized server to respond to. For example, the page of the specialized server responding to the user utterance "update" is "URLa203",
A combination of the utterance “update” and “URLa203” constitutes the file f804. Additional index file 37
The additional utterance collection 39 is linked by a file name. For example, in the utterance “new arrival information”, a file f805 is described in the additional index file 37, which indicates the file f805 of the additional utterance collection 39.

FIG. 8 shows the internal configuration of the gourmet server 26 as an example of a specialized server. The communication unit 60 communicates with the user terminal 12, the origin server 20, and the like via the Internet 14. When the URL specified by the utterance search unit 34 of the originating server 20, that is, the user's utterance as in Figure 4 of the "Hello" URLa1 or URLa2
Is given to the agent action book 62 via the communication unit 60. The agent action collection 62 includes, in addition to the utterances of the specialized agents, agent data 72 describing images and actions thereof. In addition, a page is provided one-to-one with the URL specified by the utterance search unit 34. Specifically, the page 64 of the URLa1 and the page 6 of the URLa2 are provided.
6. It is configured as a URL 68 page. Each page is a so-called Web page, and executes not only utterance by the gourmet agent, but also display of images and actions thereof, and services to be performed by the agent, for example, retrieval of information. In other words, one Web page is provided for each utterance of the user, and the flexibility and enhancement of the response are intended.

Since each page has substantially the same configuration, only the page 64 of URLa1 is described in detail in FIG. UR
The La1 page 64 has an agent output unit 70, a user utterance acquisition unit 74, and a specific process execution unit 76. These are those that retain the main processing functions on the server side, such as CGI (Common Gateway Interface), Java (trademark)
APIs such as applets and ActiveX (trademark) whose main function is moved to the client side, API (Ap
It can be realized in various forms, such as a replication program interface type in which a Java application or the like, which is a main function of processing, is provided to both the server and the client. The agent output unit 70 responds to the user's utterance by the gourmet agent based on the agent data 72. The specific process execution unit 76, as described above,
Processing other than the response by utterance, for example, arbitrary processing such as information retrieval and execution of various programs is performed. As an example, if the utterance of the user who has reached this page is “I want to know the restaurant information of Shinjuku”, the gourmet agent searches the restaurant information through the Internet 14 and shows it to the user. The user utterance acquisition unit 74 acquires the subsequent normal utterance by the user and notifies the origin server 20 of this. As a result, a new specialized server is specified by the origin server 20.

The favorite registration unit 80 receives a request from the user to register a gourmet agent as a favorite character, and registers it in the favorite data 82. The favorite registration unit 80 acquires the contents of the information that the user wants to search and the URL of the website, and similarly registers them in the favorite data 82. The character management unit 84 manages the attribute value of the character, and changes the attribute value depending on how the user handles the character. The attribute value of the character is held in the favorite data 82.

FIG. 9 shows the internal structure of the favorite data. The favorite data 82 includes a user name column 300, a search content column 302, a character attribute value column 304, and bookmark columns 312 and 318. The search content column 302 stores the content of information registered by the user in advance that the user desires to search. That is, the favorite data 82
Has a function as a search content holding unit. The character attribute value column 304 includes an age column 306 and a degree of difficulty column 30
8. It has an intellect column 310 and is managed by the character management unit 84. This attribute value is referred to when the character display unit displays a character. In addition to the attribute values, gender, personality, hunger, and the like can be considered. A plurality of bookmark fields are provided as necessary, and bookmark information registered by the user is stored. Each of the bookmark fields is a URL field 31 for storing a URL of a website.
4, and a last browse date column 316 for storing the date and time when the website was last browsed. For example, "us
In the information of “er1”, the contents of the information desired to be searched are “gyoza” and “weather”, and the age of the character is “1”.
Year and eight months ", the degree of comfort is" 180 ", and the degree of intelligence is" 9 ".
5 ”, and the first registered bookmark is“ http: // xx.
com "and its last browse date is" November 19, 2000
Date ”and the second bookmark is“ http://xx.co.jp ”
The last viewing date is “October 25, 2000”.

FIG. 10 shows an example of a page for which a search process is to be performed, among pages stored in the agent action book 62. The specific process execution unit 76 of the page 66 of URLa2
An information search unit 77 that searches for information desired by the user via the Internet 14 and a spontaneous search unit 78 that starts searching spontaneously are included. Information search unit 77 and spontaneous search unit 7
8 obtains the search content and URL information stored in the favorite data 82 and performs a search. Spontaneous search unit 78
May determine the timing for performing the search by referring to the attribute value of the character stored in the favorite data 82. The search result is presented to the user by the character display unit 71 of the agent output unit 70 in the form of an utterance of the character.

FIG. 11 shows the internal configuration of the user terminal 12. The communication unit 130 communicates with the origin server 20, the talking server 24, the gourmet server 26, and the like via the Internet 14. The user interface 138 is a general term for a general configuration for prompting and inputting a user's decision and includes a keyboard, a mouse, a display device, and various data interfaces. Local agent output unit 132
Reads the local agent data 134 and provides it to the user through the user interface 138. The user's processing start utterance and normal utterance are acquired by the user utterance input unit 136 via the user interface 138, and transmitted to the origin server 20 via the communication unit 130 and the Internet 14. The general configuration of the embodiment has been described above, and the processing will be described below with a specific example.

FIG. 12 shows a screen 150 displayed when the user activates the user terminal 12. Here the local agent 152 appears and says, "Welcome! Let's chat with me." User input area 1
Type "Hello" to 54, press the send button. The input area 154 may be configured to appear when the user clicks on the local agent 152, and the local agent 152 may continue to speak random words while no click is made, or may ask the user a question and prompt the user to speak. You may. In any case, it was entered "Hello" is sent to the origin server 20 as the start of processing speech, chat server 2 from its contents as a specialized server
4 is specified, and the access destination of the user terminal 12 shifts to the page.

FIG. 13 shows a screen 150 displayed at that time. Here, the talking agent 156 is displayed. In this embodiment, the local agent 1 is displayed.
By using the same agent image as 52,
Looks like a seamless conversation continues. The chat agent 156 speaks "Hello! I am Pico of chat agent. ...". When the user inputs “Tell me a delicious gyoza restaurant” in the input area 154 and transmits this, the origin server 20 obtains it and a new page of the gourmet server 26 is newly specified. The URL of the specified page is sent to the user terminal 12, and the access destination of the user terminal 12 moves to the page.

FIG. 14 shows a screen 150 appearing at that time. Here, a gourmet agent 160 newly appears, saying "Ryokai! Leave it to me as a gourmet agent.", And the information search unit 77 searches a web page using, for example, "Gyoza" as a keyword. During the search, the user is told that the search is being carried out by saying, "Please wait a moment now to find it now" so that the user is not bored. When the search is completed, jump to the page for displaying the results.

FIG. 15 shows a screen 150 showing the page to which the user has moved. The title 170 of the web page acquired by the information search unit 77 is displayed. Each title 170 has a link, and is configured to be able to access the page. When the user clicks a registration button 180 on this screen, the favorite registration unit 80 registers the gourmet agent as a favorite character.

FIG. 16 shows a screen 150 in which the favorite registration unit 80 accepts bookmark registration from the user. When the user enters the URL of the favorite website in the URL entry field 192 and clicks the registration button 190, the bookmark information is registered in the favorite data 82. The bookmark information may be registered by a bookmark registration button or the like (not shown) while browsing the website.

FIG. 17 shows a screen 150 displayed when a favorite character is registered. On the screen is a character house 194 where your favorite character lives.
Is newly displayed. Here, when the user utters “What's new information?”, The user utterance is included in the additional utterance collection, and the search process is executed.

FIG. 18 shows an example of a screen on which the gourmet agent 160 presents search results. The gourmet agent 160 has notified that two of the websites registered by the user have been updated. At this time, referring to the last browse date recorded in the favorite data 82,
Only the information of the site updated after the last browse date may be presented. When the user makes a relevant utterance,
It may be configured to check the update status of the registered website and notify if it has been updated, or to periodically monitor the update status and notify the user when the update is made or when the user speaks. You may be notified.

The present invention has been described based on several embodiments. These embodiments are exemplifications, and it is understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made to the combination of each component and each processing process, and such modifications are also within the scope of the present invention. By the way. Here are some examples.

In the present embodiment, the utterance specifying block is shared by the origin server 20. However, both the utterance specifying block and the response block may be provided in each specialized server. This configuration allows you to
Since both the user utterance collection and the agent action collection can be independently managed, agent management and maintenance are easy. In this case, a server that plays a core role that can process all utterances may be provided.

In FIG. 12 and the like, the user's utterance is performed on a text basis, but this may be performed by voice recognition.
In that case, the user is in a form that is more interacting with the specialized agent. Specialized agents may also speak by voice.

The unknown utterance was considered to be an utterance that could not be specified in the user utterance collection 38, but could be specified in the user utterance collection 38, but the response by the specialized agent was actually incomplete or could not be realized at all. In that case, the utterance may be called an unknown utterance. For example, when the specific process execution unit 76 performs a search based on the user's utterance “I want to know the recipe”, if the number of candidates is too large to satisfy the user's wishes, the utterance to the administrator is also unknown. Notifications may be made to improve the response by specialized agents.

In the embodiment, the utterance by the specialized agent is appropriately selected in consideration of the access situation of the user to the specialized server. Alternatively, the utterance may be selected based on the attribute information of the user. For example, if the user is a woman, the professional agent may select a relatively soft expression, and if the user is an elderly user, a more precise expression may be selected.

In the embodiment, the local agent 1
Although the image of the chat agent 52 and the image of the chat agent 156 are matched, it is not necessary to limit to this. Further, the local agent 152 may not be mounted on the user terminal 12, but may be mounted on the origin server 20 such as a “processing start agent” appearing at the time of startup.

In the embodiment, the favorite registration unit 80,
Although the favorite data 82 and the character management unit 84 are placed on the specialized server, they may be collectively managed by the origin server 20. The favorite data 82 may be stored in the user terminal 12. At this time, the favorite character may function as a local agent.

[0067]

According to the present invention, a system capable of promptly presenting information desired by a user is realized. Also, an information search environment that is easy for the user to realize is realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a network system including a user support system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an origin server included in the user support system.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of an index file included in an origin server.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a user utterance collection included in an origin server.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of an access information file included in an origin server.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of an additional index file included in the origin server.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of an additional utterance collection included in the origin server.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of a gourmet server included in the user support system.

FIG. 9 is an internal configuration diagram of favorite data.

FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram of a page including an information search unit.

FIG. 11 is a configuration diagram of a user terminal using the user support system.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a local agent appearing when a user terminal is started.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing chatting agents that appear when the user speaks.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a gourmet agent that appears when a user asks for information on a gyoza shop.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a manner in which a gourmet agent presents search results to a user.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a screen on which a favorite registration unit accepts registration.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a screen on which a character house is displayed.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a screen on which a gourmet agent presents an update status.

[Explanation of symbols]

12 user terminals, 16 user support systems, 2
0 Origin server, 24 Talking server, 26
Gourmet server, 32 utterance acquisition unit, 34 utterance search unit, 36 index file, 37 additional index file, 38 user utterance collection, 39 additional utterance collection, 42 notification unit, 44 access recording unit,
62 Agent action book, 71 Character display section, 77 Information search section, 78 Spontaneous search section, 80
Favorite registration section, 82 Favorite data, 8
4 Character Management Department, 156 Talking Agent, 160 Gourmet Agent.

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (Reference) G06F 3/16 340 G06F 3/16 340Z (72) Inventor Tsugufumi Matsuoka 2-5-5 Keihanhondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka F-term (reference) in Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. 5B075 PP07 PQ02 QS05 5E501 AA02 AB15 AC15 AC33 BA05 CA06 CB15 DA01 EA21 FA14 FA32 FA43

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. An utterance specifying block that has an electronic user utterance collection created assuming a user's utterance and specifies the content of the utterance when the user inputs the utterance, and a response to the utterance. A response block that has an electronic agent action book created assuming the action of the agent to be made and responds to the utterance of the user by the agent, and the content of information that the user wants to search is obtained in advance. A search content holding unit for holding the information, and an information search unit for searching for the information, wherein the utterance identification block further includes an additional utterance created on the assumption that the information search unit starts the search. When the utterance from the user is included in the additional utterance collection, the content is specified, and the information search unit determines that the user included in the additional utterance collection. That utterance as a trigger that was done, the user support apparatus, characterized in that to start the search of the information. 2. The user support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information search unit further includes a spontaneous search unit that spontaneously starts searching for the information. 3. A character display unit for associating a personified character with each field to which the information belongs, and further comprising a character display unit for presenting the search result to the user as an utterance of a character corresponding to the field to which the information belongs. The user support device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: 4. The search content holding unit includes a bookmark holding unit that holds a network address of a website as bookmark information, and the information search unit acquires an update status of the website. Item 4. The user support device according to item 3. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the character display unit presents the update status to the user as an utterance of the character when the website belonging to the field associated with the character has been updated. The user support device according to claim 4. 6. A character management unit that manages attribute values of the character, changes the attribute value by handling the character by the user, and changes an action of the character according to the attribute value. The user support device according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein: 7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the character management unit changes a frequency of acquiring an update status of the website belonging to a field associated with the character based on the attribute value. A user support device according to claim 1. 8. A user support device according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the user support devices are provided according to a specialty field, the plurality of user support devices are connected to a network as different nodes, and the user utterance collection, the additional utterance collection, And a user support system in which the agent action book is formed mainly on a special field of the device. 9. The user support apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the user support apparatus holds the response block in its own node while sharing the utterance identification block in one node of the network. system.