JP2003022363A - Help server for supporting operation of electrical and electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide qualified support information by quickly coping with a variety of situations that occur to a user who operates electrical and electronic equipment. SOLUTION: Help request data from the user are received via a network 3, a retrieving means 31 is used to retrieve an operating method database 36 from information included in the help request data, and an operation method file for the electrical and electronic equipment 2 is extracted. A plurality of operating method files are registered in the operating method database 36, in matching with a user proficiency level, and the proficiency level is set in a user information database 37 by each user.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a help server for providing operation support for electric and electronic equipment.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a user wants support information about operation of an electric / electronic device, handling at the time of failure, maintenance, etc., he / she searches for a corresponding item from an instruction manual of the electric / electronic device, I used the online help function of the device to search for keywords to get the necessary support information. In addition, when a new problem occurs after the sale of electrical and electronic equipment, or when a description omission is found, the information provider such as the manufacturer responds by adding or revising the instruction manual and online help data. . Here, with the recent spread of the Internet technology, the user can obtain the support information as described above via the network. As a conventional example of a method of acquiring support information using this network, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-29200
The support method described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 154181 will be described below.

In the support method described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-154181, a general device is used as a home LAN (Local Ar).
ea Network) and has a configuration that manages the presence or absence of failures of these devices with a mail device. When a device requires breakdown or maintenance, it sends a message classified as urgent, breakdown, or warning to the mail device, and the mail device sends the message to the device information management server at the remote location based on the content of this message. Access and get the address of the maintenance information server that holds the necessary support information. Then, the mail device accesses the maintenance information server, acquires necessary support information, and reproduces it on a television device or a personal computer that functions as a user interface device.

[0004]

However, with such a support method, although it is possible to cope with several kinds of situations classified in advance, a user with a low level of proficiency who does not understand normal operation is supported. It was difficult. Further, even if a wide variety of operations of the equipment are classified, a system for promptly extracting optimum support information from a huge amount of information and providing it to the user is required. Therefore,
It is an object of the present invention to promptly respond to various situations and provide appropriate support information to a user who operates an electric / electronic device.

[0005]

The invention according to claim 1 of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is achieved through a network,
For each user, a communication means for receiving help request data, which is a request for operation support from a user, an operation method database for retrieving an operation method file in which the operation method of an electric / electronic device is converted to data from information included in the help request data, and each user And a user information database in which the skill level set in is registered, and the operation method database is configured to include a plurality of kinds of operation method files according to the skill level, and is used for operation support of electric and electronic devices. It was a help server.

The help server for supporting the operation of the electric / electronic equipment having such a structure has a plurality of operation method files according to the user's proficiency level set in advance. It provides accurate operation support, such as providing easy-to-understand and careful operation support for users with low proficiency levels, and providing accurate support according to the user's proficiency level.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the help server for supporting the operation of the electric / electronic device according to the first aspect, the operation method database is operated for each item for which the user has requested the support. The difficulty level is set, and the learning level is set based on the difficulty level.

The help server for supporting the operation of the electric / electronic device having such a configuration sets the user's skill level by acquiring the difficulty level of the item each time the user requests help. That is, the proficiency level of the user is set based on the past history of the user.

Further, the invention according to claim 3 of the present invention is
In the help server for supporting the operation of the electric / electronic device according to claim 1, the operation method database is configured so that the operation method file can be searched from a search key formed of a keyword related to the item.

The help server for supporting the operation of the electric / electronic equipment having the above-mentioned configuration enables the operation method database to be searched by using the search key, so that a variety of situations, particularly the item specification, can be performed. Even in difficult cases
It becomes possible to respond flexibly and promptly.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of the operation support system, FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a user-side electric / electronic device used in the operation support system, and FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a help center server used in the operation support system.
As shown in FIG. 1, in the operation support system according to the present embodiment, information from an electric / electronic device 2 connected to a user's home network 1 is transmitted to a help center server 4 (help server) via a public network 3. The help information is sent and the necessary support information is returned from the help center server 4 or the manufacturer server 5 to the user.

First, the electric / electronic equipment 2 connected to the user's home network 1 will be described. The electric / electronic device 2 includes an operation unit 11 that receives a user's operation, a display unit 12 that displays help information, and a storage device 13 that stores various data, and these are controlled by the control unit 14. ing. Further, the electric / electronic device 2 includes a network control unit 15 for connecting to the home network 1 or the public network 3. The electric / electronic device 2 is preferably a television, a video, a personal computer, but may be a washing machine or a microwave oven.

The storage device 13 is a RAM (Random Access).
Memory), HDD (Hard Disk Drive) and DVD (Digit
The recording / playback medium is a publicly known recording / reproducing medium such as an al Video Disk, and stores data about the user and the electric / electronic device 2, and help information acquired via the network 3.

The help center server 4 is a network 3
A communication means 21 that can be connected to a computer, a storage means 22 for constructing a database, a display means 23 such as a display, an operation means 24 such as a keyboard, an output means 25 such as a printer,
And a processing unit 26 for controlling them.

The processing unit 26 of the help center server 4 is C
PU (Central Processing Unit), ROM (Read Only)
Memory) and a predetermined electric / electronic circuit, and various processes are performed by expanding a predetermined program in these. In the present embodiment, the processing unit 26 includes a search unit 31 that performs a database search based on help request data obtained from a user, a data processing unit 32 that creates data to be transmitted to a user or a maker, and a new information storage unit. It also functions as updating means 33 for recording in 22. The detailed functions of these means 31 to 33 will be described later, and will be omitted here.

The storage means 22 comprises an HDD and the like,
As a database to be constructed, an operation software search database 34 for associating the electric / electronic device 2 with the software to be used, and the software searched by the operation software search database 34 and the operation status of the electric / electronic device 2 are associated with each other. Situation search database 3 for
5 and an operation method database 36 for searching for a corresponding method for each operation status, and a user information database 37 in which user information is registered.
The databases 35 to 37 will be described below.

As shown in FIG. 2, the operation software search database 34 is registered with software (operation software) installed or possibly used for each model of each manufacturer. ing. In the operation software search database 34, the device I
The operation software can be extracted from D or the manufacturer name. A plurality of search keys are set for the case where the help request data does not include information about the operation software. The search key is a keyword for connecting the related item and the name of the operation software, and includes a manufacturer name, a brand name, a name of the electric / electronic device 2, a model number, and the like.

As shown in FIG. 3, in the situation retrieval database 35, the situation of the electric / electronic device 2 at each stage of the operation is classified and registered for each operation software.
In this situation search database 35, software IDs and situation IDs that classify situations from names can be extracted. Further, a plurality of search keys are set in the situation search database 35 as in the above. Examples of the search key here include the name of operation software, the name of operation, and the function name of the electric / electronic device 2.

As shown in FIG. 4, the operation method database 36 is prepared with an operation method file in which a corresponding method is described for each situation of the electric / electronic device 2. This operation method file is prepared in three types of beginner, intermediate, and advanced according to the user's skill level. For example, the situation ID is S0
When it is estimated that the skill level of the user who requested help such as 001-Nst1 is high, the operation method file “Doc005026.xml” is extracted. Also in the operation method database 36, a search key, for example, "power ON" is set. In addition, the item specified by the situation ID, for example, "Power O
"N" corresponds to the items described in the claims.

Here, the operation method file format is XML.
In addition to (eXtensible Markup Language) format, HTML
It is possible to select any format such as (HyperText Markup Language) format or text format. Further, the operation method database 36 is set with the degree of difficulty of operation (operation difficulty degree) in each situation, and the degree of operation difficulty is set by the maker of the electric / electronic device 2 in order to estimate the skill level of the user. Used for. For example, the situation ID is S
In the case of 0001-0001, since it is an operation that can be easily performed by a user of a normal level, the operation difficulty level is assigned “1” indicating the beginner level. On the other hand, the situation ID is S00
In the case of 01-Nst1, the timer recording is a relatively complicated operation, and it is assumed that it is difficult for the user to perform it for the first time. Therefore, the operation difficulty level is assigned “3” indicating advanced. It should be noted that a plurality of search keys are set in the operation method database 36, as in the above databases 34 and 35.

Further, the user information database 37 is
As shown in FIG. 5, the name and EM registered by the user
e-mail address, electric / electronic device 2 owned by the user
Information related to the device ID is registered for each user ID. Further, the proficiency level of the user with respect to the operation of the electric / electronic device 2 is also written by the updating means 33 shown in FIG. 1 for each device ID. This proficiency level is for electrical and electronic equipment 2
It is set based on the average value of the degree of operation difficulty set for each, an integrated value, and the like, and is divided into, for example, three levels of beginner, intermediate, and advanced.

When a user who frequently requests help with a low degree of operation difficulty requests a help with a medium degree of difficulty in operation, the level of proficiency of the registered user changes from beginner to intermediate. Proficiency level, such as being upgraded,
It is updated as appropriate when the user meets certain criteria. In addition to the information shown in FIG. 5, the user information database may store the user's address and other auxiliary information.

Next, the maker server 5 shown in FIG. 1 will be described. The manufacturer server 5 is connected to the network,
Further, it is provided with a structure capable of transmitting and receiving necessary data, and is utilized when the user's support is not sufficient with only the data accumulated in the help center server 4.
The data transmitted from the maker server 5 may be transmitted directly to the user or may be transmitted via the help center server 4. In either case, the maker server 5 transmits update data for adding and updating the databases 34 to 36 to the help center server 4.

FIG. 1 shows the processing of each part when the user receives the operation support in such an operation support system.
From FIG. 5 to FIG. 6 and the flowchart of FIG. If the user does not understand the operation method while operating the electric / electronic device 2, the user operates the operation unit 11 of the electric / electronic device 2 shown in FIG. 1 to make a help request. At this time, the control unit 14 creates help request data including the ID information of the user and the electric / electronic device 2, the type of operation software, and the current status of the electric / electronic device 2. A search key for facilitating the search by the help center server 4 is added to the help request data by the electric / electronic device 2 and / or by the user.

Then, the help request data created by the control unit 14 is transmitted from the network control unit 15 to the help center server 4 via the home network 1 and the public network 3 in step S1 of FIG.
Next, in step S2, the help center server 4 searches using the databases 35 to 37 built in the storage means 22 by the search means 31 using various information included in the received help request data as keywords. .

In the database search, first, the operation software search database 34 shown in FIG. 2 is searched to specify the operation software of the electric / electronic device 2 operated by the user. Further, the operation software obtained by the search is searched for in the situation search database 35 of FIG. 3, and the situation considered to be facing the user is determined. As the search result, the situation ID is acquired. Then, the operation method for the obtained situation ID is searched using the operation method database 36 of FIG. At this time, the proficiency level of the user registered in the user information database 37 is considered as described above.

At step S3, if the operation method file in which the operation method corresponding to the situation is converted into data by the above-described database search is included in the operation method files registered in the operation method database 36 (Yes).
In step S4, the data processing means 32 of the help center server 4 extracts the corresponding operation method file and creates a transmission file in which the address of the electric / electronic device 2 of the user who requested the help is added as a header file. Then, the data is transmitted from the communication means 21.

Here, the electric / electronic device 2 operates in step S6.
After receiving the send file, open the operation method file included in the send file. As a result, the operation method is displayed on the display unit 12 in step S7. For example, when the user does not know how to operate the volume control of the remote control device, a screen 41 as shown in FIG. 7 is displayed on the display unit 12 of the electric / electronic device 2. When the operation method file is an XML format file, a browser for the XML file is used to display the operation method file.

Then, the user operates the electric / electronic device 2 based on the instruction displayed on the display unit 12, and when a desired result is obtained (Yes in step S8),
The process ends. However, if the desired result is not obtained even with reference to the instruction (No in step S8), the process returns to step S1 and the above-described processing is repeated. On the other hand, the help center server 4, after transmitting the data in step S5, proceeds to step S9 and sets the learning level of the user. The update means 33 of the help center server 4 is
The user information database 37 is updated only when the learning level accumulated in the user information database 37 shown in FIG. 5 needs to be changed. Further, the help center server 4 returns to step S2 and prepares for a help request from the next user.

Next, a case will be described in which the situation the user is facing cannot be specified from the received help request file in the database search in the help center server in step S2 (No in step S3). In this case, the process proceeds to step S10, and the data processing means 32 of the help center server 4 transmits the fact that there is no matching operation method file in the manufacturer server 5.
Then, in step S11, the search means 31 extracts several operation method files as candidates in the order in which the matching rate of the keyword created by the electric / electronic device 2 or added by the user is high, and then in step S5. Return to and create a send file and send it to the user. In addition,
Step S when receiving such a transmission file
7, a screen 43 including a list 42 of operation method file candidates as shown in FIG. 8 is displayed on the display unit 12 of the electric / electronic device 2. In this case, the user selects the item that seems most appropriate and refers to its contents.

On the other hand, the maker server 5 received in step S10 examines the content of the help request file. When the user uses a keyword other than the one initially assumed by the manufacturer, the keyword is added when performing the similar search. A new operation method file is created when the situation itself confronted by the user is not expected. In either case, the manufacturer server 5 uses the corresponding database 3 of the help center server 4.
Update data is created and transmitted to the help center server 4 in order to update 4-36.

This update data is received by the help center server 4 in step S12. Then, as step S13, the updating unit 33 causes the databases 34 to 3
Necessary update is performed on the data of 6. Even in this case, the process returns to step S2 to prepare for the next user's help request.

If the user's request cannot be dealt with only by the operation method file held by the help center server 4, a request from the help center server 4 is received,
The manufacturer server 5 directly presents the operating method to the user. Also in this case, in order to enhance the databases 34 to 36 of the help center server 4, the manufacturer server 5 uploads the update data and updates the databases 34 to 36.

In this way, the help center server 4 collectively manages the operation method files of the electric / electronic device 2, so that reliable support can be provided to the user.
In particular, the help center server 4 can also provide fine-grained support because it also uses a keyword search for support and extracts a plurality of candidates. further,
User-friendly support can be realized by setting the learning level for each user and matching the amount and quality of support information with the learning level of the user. In addition, by providing such a help center server 4, it is not necessary for each manufacturer to independently create a large-scale support center.
This has the effect of reducing the burden on the manufacturer. On the other hand, the electric / electronic device 2 does not always need to hold a large amount of help information, and thus the function can be simplified.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment but can be widely applied. For example, instead of transmitting the operation method file to the user's electric / electronic device 2 via the public network 3, the operation method file is broadcast as a terrestrial wave from the radio tower 52 via the broadcasting center 51 as shown in FIG. It is also possible to use an operation support system. For example, like data broadcasting of BS digital broadcasting, the broadcasting center 51 repeatedly transmits data, and the electric / electronic device 2 receives only desired data from the transmitted data by the home antenna 53. By doing so, the help center server 4 can provide the operation support to the user without using the network line for transmitting the operation support file. It is also possible to have a configuration in which a list of operation method files related to the user is displayed on the display unit 12 of the electric / electronic device 2 (TV device in FIG. 9) from the received data. It is desirable that the operation method file is scrambled and the like so that a predetermined user can browse the specific operation method file.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the processing when the user does not know how to operate the electric / electronic device 2 has been described, but the operation support system can also be applied to a failure or maintenance of the electric / electronic device 2. Furthermore, in step S8 of FIG. 4, when the operation method cannot be understood only by the operation method file received by the user (N in step S8).
In o), the help center server 4 can also send an operation method file with a reduced learning level. That is, when the help center server 4 continuously receives the same help request data from the same user, the processing unit 26 searches the operation method database 36, and the tentative learning level is lowered. It is configured to search using. The user's proficiency level is not limited to three levels and can be divided into any level. Further, the number of divisions of the learning level may be changed for each electric / electronic device.

[0037]

According to the invention of claim 1 of the present invention,
Since a plurality of operation method files corresponding to the proficiency level set for each user who requests help is prepared, the user can receive appropriate support corresponding to the proficiency level. Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, the proficiency level is set based on the degree of difficulty of each item set in the operation method database. Therefore, the proficiency level of the user is based on the past history of the user. Is set. Therefore, it is possible to reliably set the user's learning level. Further, according to the invention of claim 3 of the present invention, since the operation method database can be searched with a plurality of search keys, it is possible to flexibly and swiftly cope with various situations. It will be possible. Therefore, the user can receive reliable support.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an operation support system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of an operation software search database.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a situation search database.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of an operation method database.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a user information database.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing processing of each unit when a user receives operation support.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of operation support received by a user.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a case where a list of operation support is displayed.

FIG. 9 is an overall configuration diagram of an operation support system in the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 home network 2 Electric and electronic equipment 3 network 4 Help Center Server (Help Server) 5 Manufacturer side server 21 Communication means 22 storage means 26 Processor 31 Search method 32 data processing means 33 Update means 34 Operation software search database 35 Situation Search Database 36 Operation Method Database 37 User Information Database

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) G09B 5/02 G09B 5/02

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A communication means for receiving help request data, which is a request for operation support from a user, via a network, and an operation in which an operation method of the electric / electronic device is converted into data from information included in the help request data. An operation method database for searching a method file, and a user information database in which a proficiency level set for each user is registered, wherein the operation method database is
A help server for supporting the operation of an electric / electronic device, comprising a plurality of types of the operation method files according to the proficiency level. 2. The operation method database is set with a difficulty level of operation for each item requested by the user for assistance, and the proficiency level is set based on the difficulty level. The help server for supporting the operation of the electric / electronic device according to claim 1. 3. The operation support of an electric / electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the operation method database is configured so that the operation method file can be searched from a search key including a keyword related to the item. Help server for.