JP2021189916A - Interactive device, information processing method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an interactive device capable of appropriately supporting acquisition and storage of information on a behavior performed about a schedule by a user.SOLUTION: An interactive device includes a question source storage part 101 for storing question source information on one or more questions, a schedule acquisition part 103 for acquiring schedule information from a schedule storage part 102 storing schedule information associated with date information, a question output part 104 for outputting question information being information of a question on a behavior on a date specified by date information corresponding to the schedule information and information acquired by using the question source information, an answer reception part 105 for receiving an answer to the question information from the user, and a storage part 107 for acquiring storage information to be stored by using the answer, and performing storage processing for storing the storage information in association with the date information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to a dialogue device or the like that performs processing related to a user's schedule.

As a conventional technology, it is communicably connected to the outing settlement application server that accepts outing settlement applications, and after logging in to the multifunction device according to the user identification information, the history information read from the IC card is stored and stored in the history information. , It is known that the outing settlement information that does not include the history information corresponding to the regular route that does not generate a fare every time the transportation is used is displayed on the display unit, and the instruction to be sent to the outing settlement application server as an outing settlement application is accepted. (For example, see Patent Document 1).

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2011-118881 (Page 1, Fig. 1, etc.)

However, in the conventional technique, there is a problem that it is not possible to appropriately support the acquisition and accumulation of information on the actions taken by the user regarding the schedule. For example, after performing a sales activity planned by the user, it was not possible to urge the user to submit a report on the sales activity. Further, for example, after a business trip scheduled by the user, it was not possible to urge the user to submit an application for settlement of the transportation expenses.

The dialogue device of the present invention acquires a schedule information from a question source storage unit that stores question source information related to one or more questions and a schedule storage unit that stores schedule information corresponding to date information. The section, the question output section that outputs the question information that is the information of the question related to the behavior of the date specified by the date information corresponding to the schedule information, and the information of the question acquired by using the question source information, and the question information. It is a dialogue device including a response receiving unit that receives an answer from a user and a storage unit that acquires accumulated information accumulated using the answer, associates it with date information, and performs an accumulation process for accumulating the accumulated information.

With such a configuration, it is possible to ask the user about the behavior related to the schedule, and it is possible to appropriately support the acquisition and accumulation of the information about the behavior performed by the user regarding the schedule.

Further, in the dialogue device of the present invention, the schedule information corresponds to the type identifier that identifies the type of the schedule in the dialogue device, and the storage unit performs different storage processes according to the type identifier. May be.

With such a configuration, the response from the user can be appropriately accumulated according to the schedule corresponding to the response.

Further, in the dialogue device of the present invention, in the dialogue device, the question output unit outputs two or more question information, the answer reception unit receives the answer to each of the two or more question information from the user, and the storage unit receives the answer to each of the two or more question information. Different storage processes may be performed according to each of two or more question information.

With such a configuration, the answer from the user can be appropriately accumulated according to the question corresponding to the answer.

Further, in the dialogue device of the present invention, in the dialogue device, different storage processes may be performed so that the storage destination of the storage information is different.

With such a configuration, answers can be accumulated in an appropriate storage destination.

Further, in the dialogue device of the present invention, in the dialogue device, different storage processes may be different processes for acquiring stored information.

With such a configuration, the accumulated information acquired by appropriate processing can be accumulated.

Further, in the dialogue device of the present invention, in the dialogue device, the schedule information may be the information of the schedule of the visit to the customer, and the question information may be the information of the question prompting the input of the business report.

With such a configuration, it is possible to prompt the user to input a sales report for a visit to a customer.

Further, in the dialogue device of the present invention, in the dialogue device, the schedule information is the information of the schedule of the visit to the customer, and the question output unit asks for the traffic information including the nearest station of the visit destination. And the second question information about the sales report is output, the answer reception department receives the first answer to the first question information and the second answer to the second question information, and the storage department uses the first answer. The first storage process, which is information for settlement of transportation expenses, outputs accounting information including arrival station, departure station, and transportation expenses corresponding to the nearest station, and makes the accounting information into an accounting information database, and The second answer may be used to output the business report information related to the business report, and perform the second storage process to make the business report information into the business report database.

With this configuration, accounting information can be output from the information obtained by asking questions about traffic information and stored in the accounting information database for visits to customers, and sales reports can be reported from the information obtained by asking questions about sales reports. Can be output and stored in the sales report database.

Further, in the dialogue device of the present invention, the schedule information corresponds to the user identifier in the dialogue device, the schedule acquisition unit acquires the schedule information for each of two or more user identifiers, and the question output unit displays the schedule information. Question information may be output to the user identified by the user identifier at the timing corresponding to the date information corresponding to the schedule information.

With such a configuration, the question information can be output at an appropriate timing according to the date information corresponding to the schedule information.

According to the dialogue device or the like according to the present invention, it is possible to appropriately support the acquisition and accumulation of information regarding the actions taken by the user regarding the schedule.

Block diagram of the information processing system according to the embodiment of the present invention A flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of the dialogue device. Conceptual diagram of the information processing system A diagram showing a schedule management table of the dialogue device (FIG. 4 (a)) and a diagram showing an acquisition schedule management table (FIG. 4 (b)). The figure which shows the question source management table of the dialogue device The figure which shows the accumulation processing management table of the dialogue apparatus Diagram showing an example of the accounting information database of the dialogue device Diagram showing an example of the sales report database of the dialogue device A diagram showing an example of the appearance of the computer system Diagram showing an example of the configuration of the computer system

Hereinafter, embodiments of the dialogue device and the like will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, since the components with the same reference numerals perform the same operation in the embodiment, the description may be omitted again.

(Embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the information processing system 1000 according to the present embodiment.

The information processing system 1000 includes a dialogue device 1 and one or more user terminals 2. The dialogue device 1 and each user terminal 2 are connected via, for example, a wireless or wired communication line so that information can be communicated. For example, the dialogue device 1 and each user terminal 2 are connected by wire, wirelessly, or the like via a network such as the Internet. Here, an example of the information processing system 1000 including three or more user terminals 2 is shown.

The dialogue device 1 includes a question source storage unit 101, a schedule storage unit 102, a schedule acquisition unit 103, a question output unit 104, an answer reception unit 105, a storage storage unit 106, and a storage unit 107. In addition, one or more storage units of the question source storage unit 101, the schedule storage unit 102, and the storage storage unit 106 may exist in an external device other than the dialogue device 1.

The user terminal 2 includes a terminal receiving unit 201, a terminal output unit 202, a terminal receiving unit 203, and a terminal transmitting unit 204.

The dialogue device 1 is a device that interacts with the user. The dialogue performed by the dialogue device 1 is usually a voice dialogue. However, the dialogue does not have to be by voice, and may be, for example, by text, an image, or the like. In addition, the dialogue may include a voice dialogue and a text dialogue. The dialogue device 1 is, for example, a device that executes a so-called chatbot capable of input / output by voice or text. A chatbot is a program that realizes dialogue with users. A chatbot is, for example, a program that realizes automatic conversation using artificial intelligence. In the present embodiment, the case where the dialogue device 1 is, for example, a server device for executing a chatbot will be described as an example. For example, the dialogue device 1 is a cloud server or an ASP (application server device). The dialogue device 1 is realized by, for example, a computer or the like.

The question source storage unit 101 stores one or more question source information. Question source information is information about one or more questions. The question source information is information used to acquire the question information. The question information is, for example, information on a question to be asked to the user. The question information is, for example, character string information indicating the question or voice information of the question. For example, the question information is a question sentence or its text data. The question source information may be the question information itself, or may be template information of the question information (for example, a template sentence). As the template information, for example, one or more character strings having predetermined attributes obtained from the schedule information described later can be inserted into a desired position in a sentence, or a character string such as a desired tag can be inserted. It is information such as a character string in which a question sentence is generated by replacing with. For example, the question source information, which is the template information, includes information such as "The transportation expenses for <date information> will be settled. What station is the departure station? How many stations are the arrival stations?" And "<Date information>. Information> Please make a business report. " Question information (for example, question text) is acquired by replacing the "<date information>" part of the question source information with date information or the like indicating the date of the schedule associated with the schedule information or the like described later. be able to. Further, the question source information may be information of a so-called dialogue model for acquiring the question information. For example, the question source information may be information on a dialogue model for creating question information corresponding to the schedule information described later (for example, question information according to the purpose of the schedule indicated by the schedule information). Since the dialogue model is a known technique, detailed description thereof will be omitted here.

The question source information may be stored in the question source storage unit 101 in association with the type identifier, for example. The type identifier will be described later.

The question source storage unit 101 is preferably a non-volatile recording medium, but can also be realized by a volatile recording medium. The same applies to other storage units.

The schedule storage unit 102 stores one or more schedule information. The schedule information is the information of the user's schedule. One or more of the schedule information stored in the schedule storage unit 102 is, for example, information on the schedule of the visit to the customer by the user. The schedule information is, for example, information having information indicating the contents of the schedule of the user. The information indicating the contents of the schedule is, for example, information having a character string, a code, or the like indicating the user's behavior (for example, visit, sales, internal meeting, business trip, etc.) performed in the schedule. In addition, the information indicating the contents of the schedule includes information such as the company name and organization of the user's visit, personal name such as the name of the person in charge in the corporation where the user meets, and a code corresponding to these. You may do it. In addition, the information indicating the contents of the schedule may have a place name (for example, a region name or an address) of a destination. The schedule information may be information indicating that there is a schedule.

Schedule information is stored in the schedule storage unit 102 in association with date information. Date information is date information. The date information is the date on which the schedule indicated by the schedule information is implemented. The date information here may further include information on the scheduled start time and end time indicated by the scheduled information, and the scheduled time such as the scheduled time zone.

Schedule information may be stored in the schedule storage unit 102 in association with the type identifier. The type identifier is information that identifies the corresponding planned type. The type identifier may be, for example, a character string indicating the name of the schedule type, a unique code assigned to the schedule type, or the like. For example, the type identifier is a character string indicating the name of an appointment type such as "visit", "sales", "internal meeting", and "business trip". The type identifier may be information indicating the purpose of the schedule indicated by the corresponding schedule information. The type identifier associated with the schedule information may be automatically determined by performing natural language processing or the like from the wording of the schedule information possessed by the schedule information, or may be manually input by the user.

Schedule information may be stored in the schedule storage unit 102 in association with the user identifier. For example, the schedule storage unit 102 may store one or more schedule information in association with any one of the two or more user identifiers. The schedule information stored in association with one user identifier is usually schedule information indicating a user's schedule indicated by this one user identifier. The user identifier is information that can identify the user. The user identifier is, for example, a unique code assigned to the user, a user employee number, a user account, a user credit card number, a user name, a user telephone number, a user email address, or the like. If only the schedule information of one user is stored in the schedule storage unit 102, the user identifier may not be associated with the schedule storage unit 102.

In the present embodiment, the case where the dialogue device 1 has the schedule storage unit 102 will be described, but the schedule storage unit 102 may be a storage unit of an external device accessible to the dialogue device 1. good. In this case, the schedule acquisition unit 103 or the like, which will be described later, may have a transmission unit, a reception unit, or the like, and may access the external device to acquire the schedule information.

The schedule acquisition unit 103 acquires schedule information from the schedule storage unit 102 in which the schedule information corresponding to the date information is stored. The timing at which the schedule acquisition unit 103 acquires the schedule information does not matter. For example, the schedule acquisition unit 103 acquires schedule information at a predetermined date or at a predetermined period. The predetermined period may be, for example, an hour unit or a date unit. For example, the schedule acquisition unit 103 may acquire the schedule information on a daily basis, the schedule information on a weekly basis, or the schedule information on a monthly basis. For example, the schedule acquisition unit 103 acquires schedule information at a predetermined time every day, a predetermined date and time, a predetermined time on a working day, at a fixed time, or at a random timing. May be good. For example, the schedule acquisition unit 103 may acquire schedule information associated with date information indicating a date within the next period for each predetermined period. For example, the schedule acquisition unit 103 may acquire schedule information associated with date information indicating the date of the day before the start time of each day.

Further, the schedule acquisition unit 103 sets the schedule information of this one at the end of the date, date and time, time zone, etc. indicated by the date information corresponding to the schedule information stored in the schedule storage unit 102. May be obtained. The schedule acquisition unit 103 acquires, for example, the schedule information that is determined to have not started or ended from the information related to the date and time indicated by the date information associated with the schedule information. You may. Further, the schedule acquisition unit 103 acquires, for example, the schedule information on which the schedule indicated by the schedule information is determined to be completed from the information on the date and time indicated by the date information associated with the schedule information. May be good. The schedule information for which the schedule has been completed here may be considered as the schedule information for which the date and time indicated by the date information and the time zone have passed. For example, since the schedule information is usually information about a schedule to be performed during working hours, the schedule acquisition unit 103 is scheduled to correspond to the date information of the day after the end of the user's daily working time. The information may be acquired as schedule information for which the schedule has been completed. Further, the schedule acquisition unit 103 sets the schedule information at the end or immediately after the end of the date, date / time, or time zone indicated by the date information corresponding to the schedule information stored in the schedule storage unit 102. May be obtained. In addition, it is usually preferable that the schedule acquisition unit 103 does not acquire the schedule information that has been acquired in the past again.

The schedule acquisition unit 103 acquires schedule information for each of two or more user identifiers, for example. For example, when the schedule storage unit 102 stores schedule information associated with two or more user identifiers, the schedule acquisition unit 103 is associated with the user identifier for each user identifier, for example. Get information. For example, the schedule acquisition unit 103 acquires one or more schedule information associated with the user identifier and the user identifier for each user identifier.

The schedule acquisition unit 103 may acquire, for example, the schedule information and the type identifier corresponding to the schedule information from the schedule storage unit 102. For example, the schedule acquisition unit 103 acquires a user identifier, one or more schedule information associated with the user identifier, and a type identifier associated with each schedule information for each user identifier.

The question output unit 104 outputs question information regarding the action corresponding to the schedule information. The question output unit 104 outputs one or more question information which is the information of the question about the behavior of the date specified by the date information corresponding to the schedule information and the information of the question acquired by using the question source information. .. The date information corresponding to the schedule information is the question information regarding the behavior of the specified date, and the question information acquired by using the question source information may be hereinafter referred to as the question information acquired for the schedule information. The question output unit 104 outputs, for example, one or two or more question information for each of one or more schedule information acquired by the schedule acquisition unit 103, preferably schedule information about a completed schedule. The question information output by the question output unit 104 is, for example, the information of the question about the schedule corresponding to the schedule information, and the information of the question about the action about the completed schedule.

The question output unit 104 is, for example, one or more of the question source information stored in the question source storage unit 101 in association with the type identifier, which is associated with the type identifier associated with the schedule information. One or two or more question information is acquired by using the question source information of, and the acquired question information is output as the question information corresponding to this schedule information.

It does not matter how the question output unit 104 acquires the question information by using the question source information associated with the type identifier associated with the schedule information. For example, when the question source information is the question information, the question output unit 104 may acquire the question information which is the question source information. Further, when the question source information is the information of the template of the question information (for example, the sentence of the template), the question information may be acquired by using the information of the template. For example, when the question source information is the template information of the question information, the question output unit 104 corresponds to the schedule information corresponding to the question source information, the type identifier corresponding to the schedule information, and the schedule information. Using date information, user identifiers corresponding to schedule information, etc., information such as one or more character strings having predetermined attributes, etc. is acquired, and the acquired information is predetermined in the information of this template. Question information is acquired by arranging it at a predetermined position or by replacing it with a predetermined character string or variable such as a desired tag in the information of this template. It is preferable that the attributes of the information such as the character string acquired for arrangement or replacement are associated with the arrangement position, the character string to be replaced, the variable, or the like in advance.

It does not matter what kind of attribute information is the information having the predetermined attributes acquired by using the schedule information, the type identifier, the date information, the user identifier, and the like. For example, it may be the title of the schedule information, a character string indicating the purpose of the schedule indicated by the schedule information, the place name of the destination indicated by the schedule information, the customer name that the user meets, or the type identifier itself. , The type indicated by the type identifier, the date information itself or a part of the date information, the user identifier itself, the name of the user indicated by the user identifier, or the like.

It does not matter how the question output unit 104 acquires information having predetermined attributes from information such as schedule information. For example, the question output unit 104 may acquire a character string arranged at a predetermined position from the schedule information or the like by using a format of the schedule information or the like. Further, information such as a predetermined attribute character string may be acquired from the schedule information or the like by combining morphological analysis, syntax analysis, pattern matching and the like. Further, information such as a character string to which a tag corresponding to a predetermined attribute is attached may be acquired from the schedule information or the like. Further, the question output unit 104 may acquire a type identifier, date information, or a user identifier itself, and a character string indicating a type stored in association with the type identifier in a storage unit (not shown) or a user. A character string or the like indicating a user such as a user's name stored in association with an identifier may be acquired by searching using a type identifier or a user identifier.

For example, when the one schedule information acquired by the schedule acquisition unit 103 is the information of the schedule of the visit to the customer, the question output unit 104 uses the question source information to input the question information for prompting the input of the sales report. Get and output.

Further, the question output unit 104 uses the question source information to determine the nearest station of the visit destination, for example, when the one schedule information acquired by the schedule acquisition unit 103 is the information of the schedule of the visit to the customer. The first question information regarding the traffic information including the traffic information and the second question information regarding the business report may be acquired and output. The second question information is, for example, information for asking the user the information to be entered in the business report. The second question information is, for example, information for asking a visit destination, the name of the person in charge of the visit destination, the purpose of the visit, the visit time, the result of the visit, special notes, and the like.

The question output unit 104 outputs, for example, the question information acquired for one schedule information to the user identified by the user identifier associated with the schedule information. For example, the question output unit 104 outputs the question information to the user identified by the user identifier at the timing corresponding to the date information corresponding to the schedule information.

Outputting the question information to the user may mean transmitting the question information to the user terminal 2 used by the user. The question output unit 104 may, for example, have information in which a user identifier stored in advance in a storage unit (not shown) and address information such as an IP address and a MAC address of the user terminal 2 are associated with each other, or a user identifier and a user's mail. From the address, the SMS account, the information associated with the SNS account, etc., the address information of the user terminal 2 corresponding to the user identifier corresponding to the schedule information, the user's email address, the user's SMS, etc. And SNS accounts, etc., and use these to send question information to the user.

The timing according to the date information corresponding to the schedule information is, for example, information that the date information can specify the end time or the end time of the schedule (for example, a set of the start time of the schedule and the duration of the schedule). If so, the time corresponding to the scheduled end time (for example, the scheduled end time or 5 minutes after the scheduled end) or the time corresponding to the end time of the date indicated by the date information (for example, after the scheduled end time or the closing time). 5 minutes later), etc., or a predetermined time on the day following the date indicated by the date information.

The question output unit 104 may output the question information at the timing corresponding to the date information corresponding to the schedule information. For example, in the question output unit 104, the current date and time acquired by using a clock or the like (not shown) corresponds to the date information associated with each schedule information acquired by the schedule acquisition unit 103, as described above (for example). , The end time of the schedule indicated by the date information, the end time of the scheduled date indicated by the date information 5 minutes after the end of the schedule, and the day after the scheduled date) The question information acquired about this schedule information is output to the user indicated by the user identifier corresponding to the schedule information corresponding to the date information at the appropriate timing. Further, the schedule acquisition unit 103 has the above-mentioned timing (for example, the schedule indicated by the date information) according to the date information corresponding to the schedule information from the schedule information stored in the schedule storage unit 102. The end time, 5 minutes after the end of the schedule, the end time of the scheduled date indicated by the date information, and the day after the scheduled date) will be the current date and time acquired using a clock (not shown). The information may be acquired, and the question output unit 104 may acquire the question information about the schedule information acquired by the schedule acquisition unit 103 immediately after the schedule information is acquired.

The output of the question information here is usually a voice output, but is not limited to the voice output. For example, the output of the question information may be to transmit the question information used for the voice output to a terminal device such as the user terminal 2. The question information used for the voice output may be, for example, information composed of a character string of the question, or voice information of the question. In addition, the output of the question information is the display of image information such as text information, an image showing the characters of the question, the handwriting image of the question, and the question information composed of the text information and the image information used for displaying the question. It may be a transmission. The question output unit 104 may or may not have an output device such as a speaker, a monitor, or a communication means for outputting question information. The question output unit 104 can be realized by a driver of the output device or a combination of the output device and the driver of the output device.

The answer receiving unit 105 receives from the user an answer to the question information output by the question output unit 104. Accepting an answer means, for example, accepting the information of the answer. Accepting an answer from a user usually means accepting an answer by voice from the user, but it may also mean receiving an answer composed of text or the like from a user terminal 2 used by the user. For example, accepting an answer from a user means that the user terminal 2 used by the user performs voice recognition or the like using the voice answer received from the user, and the information of the answer composed of a text or the like acquired and transmitted. May be received.

The answer reception unit 105 receives answers from the user for each of two or more question information. The answer receiving unit 105 may receive, for example, a first answer to the above-mentioned first question information and a second answer to the second question information.

The reception here is, for example, reception from an input means, reception of an input signal or information transmitted from another device or the like, reading of information from a recording medium or the like, and the like. The input means of the answer here may be any voice input device such as a microphone, a keyboard, a touch panel, a mouse, or the like. The answer reception unit 105 may or may not have an input means. The answer receiving unit 105 can be realized by a device driver of an input means, control software of a menu screen, or the like.

The storage storage unit 106 stores one or more storage information in association with the date information. The stored information is stored in the storage storage unit 106 by the storage unit 107. The accumulated information will be described later.

The storage unit 107 acquires the accumulated information to be accumulated by using the answer, associates it with the date information, and performs the accumulation process for accumulating the accumulated information. For example, the storage unit 107 acquires the storage information using the answer received by the answer reception unit 105 for the question information acquired and output by the question output unit 104, and associates the acquired storage information with the date information. Perform the accumulation process to accumulate. The acquisition of the accumulated information here may be considered as the composition of the accumulated information using the answers. This date information is usually date information corresponding to the reservation information corresponding to the question information, but may be date information or the like acquired by using the answer. Hereinafter, the answer received by the answer reception unit 105 for the question information acquired and output by the question output unit 104 may be referred to as an answer for the question information corresponding to the reservation information for convenience of explanation.

The storage destination where the storage unit 107 stores the storage information does not matter. The storage destination may be in the dialogue device 1 or an external device (not shown). For example, the storage unit 107 may store the storage information in the storage storage unit 106 in association with the date information. Further, the storage unit 107 may store the stored information in a storage unit such as a server device (not shown) in association with the date information. When storing stored information in a storage unit such as a server device (not shown), the storage unit 107 may have a transmission means (not shown) for transmitting the stored information. Further, in this case, the storage storage unit 106 may be omitted.

It does not matter how the storage unit 107 acquires the storage information using the answer. For example, when the answer received by the answer receiving unit 105 is voice information, the storage unit 107 first acquires the answer, which is a character string obtained by voice recognition of the voice information. Then, the accumulated information is acquired using the answer which is this character string. For example, it is an attribute value of one or more attributes required for accumulated information by performing natural language processing such as morphological analysis and parsing, pattern matching, and a combination thereof for an answer that is a character string. The character string is acquired, and the accumulated information having the acquired character string is acquired. When the answer receiving unit 105 receives an answer which is a character string, or when the answer which is the received voice information is voice-recognized and the answer which is a character string is acquired, the storage unit 107 as described above. The voice recognition process by is not necessary, and the accumulated information is acquired by using this answer. A known technique such as a so-called chatbot can be used as a process or configuration in which the storage unit 107 acquires desired storage information using the answer.

For example, if the answer, which is the voice information received by the answer reception unit 105, is the answer to the question information output for the transportation expense settlement, the storage unit 107 voice-recognizes this voice information and character strings. To get. Then, the storage unit 107 uses this character string to detect information having attributes such as a user identifier, date information, departure station, arrival station, and round-trip transportation cost, and acquires storage information including these information. ..

Further, for example, if the answer, which is the voice information received by the answer reception unit 105, is a reply indicating the content of the sales report for the question information prompting the submission of the sales report, the storage unit 107 recognizes this voice information by voice. Then, a character string is acquired, and information having attributes such as a user identifier, date information, and a business report is detected using this character string, and accumulated information including these information is acquired.

In addition, the storage unit 107 may acquire the information necessary for the storage information by using the information included in the character string of the answer, and may acquire the storage information including the acquired information. For example, the storage unit 107 acquires information having a specific attribute or the like from the information included in the answer, and uses this information to use a server device (not shown) or the like that provides a search service. Accumulated information including the information acquired by performing a search or the like may be acquired. For example, the storage unit 107 may acquire the station names of the departure station and the arrival station from the character string included in the answer, and may acquire the fare between the stations indicated by these station names as transportation expenses. For example, these station names and the like may be transmitted to an external device (not shown) such as a server device that provides a service for acquiring transportation expenses, and the transportation expenses may be received. Further, the same processing may be performed internally by the dialogue device 1. In addition, the accommodation fee information may be obtained from the website of the accommodation facility or the like by using the accommodation facility name included in the character string of the answer.

The stored information acquired by the storage unit 107 using the response is, for example, information related to the scheduled information corresponding to the response. The accumulated information is, for example, information for reporting the content of the action corresponding to the schedule indicated by the schedule information, a business trip application form that needs to be submitted in connection with the action corresponding to the schedule, transportation expenses, and accommodation expenses. It is the information of the application form for requesting. Further, the stored information acquired by the storage unit 107 using the answer may be, for example, information having one or more attribute values.

The storage unit 107 may perform different storage processes depending on, for example, the type identifier. For example, the storage unit 107 may perform different storage processing by using the answer to the question information corresponding to the reservation information according to the type identifier corresponding to the reservation information.

The different storage processes are, for example, different processes for acquiring the stored information. The fact that the processing for acquiring the accumulated information is different may mean that, for example, the accumulated information acquired from the answer is different. Acquiring different accumulated information means, for example, acquiring accumulated information having attribute values of one or more different attributes. In order to acquire different accumulated information from the answer, for example, different processes are performed on the answer. For example, the fact that the processing for acquiring the accumulated information is different means that when the accumulated information is acquired from the answer, after performing the parsing, which syntax in the answer is used to acquire the accumulated information is different. There may be. Further, the algorithm of morphological analysis used when acquiring the accumulated information and the pattern of pattern matching may be different. For example, when the type identifier is "sales" and the type identifier is "business trip", different patterns of pattern matching may be performed to acquire the accumulated information when acquiring the accumulated information. ..

Further, the different storage processes may be, for example, different storage destinations of the acquired stored information. The difference in the storage destination here may mean, for example, that the storage medium for storing the stored information is different, or that the directory or folder for storing the stored information is different. Further, the fact that the storage destination is different may mean that the database for storing the stored information is different, or the table of the database for storing the stored information may be different. Further, the fact that the storage destination is different means that when the stored information is stored in an external server device (not shown) or the like, the stored information may be stored in a different server device. For example, if the type identifier is "sales", the stored information is stored as a new record in the sales report database, and if the type identifier is "business trip", the stored information is used as a new record in the business trip expense application database. It may be accumulated.

The different storage treatments may be a combination of two or more of the above storage treatments.

Further, the storage unit 107 may perform different storage processes according to each of the two or more question information. For example, the storage unit 107 may perform different storage processes by using the answers to the question information acquired by using different question source information. For example, information (for example, a question processing management table) having two or more question source information associated with information for designating different storage processes in advance is stored in advance in a storage unit (not shown), a question source storage unit 101, or the like. When the answer reception unit 105 accepts the answer to the question information acquired by using each question source information by making it stored, the received answer is added to each question source information. The storage process indicated by the information specifying the associated storage process may be performed. The information that specifies the storage process may be, for example, an identifier of the storage process, an instruction for executing the storage process, a method name of the storage process, or an executable file name of the storage process. There may be. However, the information that specifies the storage process may be any information as long as the storage process can be specified, and is not limited to such information. Since the different storage processes are the same as above, detailed description thereof will be omitted here.

For example, the storage unit 107 is information for reimbursement of transportation expenses by using the first answer corresponding to the first question information as described above, and is the arrival station, departure station, and transportation expenses corresponding to the nearest station. The business report information related to the business report is output using the first accumulation process that acquires the accounting information including and and makes the accounting information into the accounting information database, and the second answer corresponding to the second question information as described above. , The second storage process may be performed to convert the sales report information into a sales report database. In this case, the accounting information may be considered as the first accumulated information, and the business report information may be considered as the second accumulated information.

The user terminal 2 is an information processing terminal used by the user. The user terminal 2 is, for example, a device that interacts with a user by voice, a character string, or the like. The user terminal 2 is, for example, an information processing terminal used as an input interface for a so-called chatbot capable of inputting / outputting voices, character strings, and the like. The user terminal 2 is realized by, for example, a so-called smart speaker. A smart speaker is a speaker that supports interactive voice operations, and is a speaker that recognizes voice with a built-in microphone, searches for information according to the voice, and operates linked home appliances. The user terminal 2 can also be realized by, for example, a computer, a multifunctional mobile phone such as a so-called smartphone, a tablet terminal, a mobile phone, or the like.

The terminal receiving unit 201 receives the question information from the dialogue device 1. The terminal receiving unit 201 can be realized by a wired or wireless communication means.

The terminal output unit 202 outputs the question information received by the terminal reception unit 201. The output here is usually audio output using an audio output device such as a speaker, but display of text or images on a monitor, projection using a projector, transmission to an external device, or recording medium. This is a concept that includes the accumulation of speakers and the delivery of processing results to other processing devices and other programs. The output unit may be realized by the driver software of the output device, the driver software of the output device, the output device, or the like.

The terminal reception unit 203 receives input from the user. The terminal reception unit 203 receives, for example, an input of an answer from the user. The answer here is, for example, an answer to the question information output by the terminal output unit 202. The terminal reception unit 203 may, for example, receive input of the user's schedule or input other than these from the user. The input reception here is usually a voice input reception via a voice input device such as a microphone, but may be a reception of a character string or an image via an input device such as a keyboard or a touch panel. The terminal reception unit 203 can be realized by the driver software of the input device, the driver software of the input device, the input device, and the like.

The terminal transmission unit 204 transmits information according to the input received by the terminal reception unit 203 to the dialogue device 1. For example, the terminal transmission unit 204 transmits information such as an answer and a schedule received by the terminal reception unit 203 to the dialogue device 1. For example, the terminal transmission unit 204 may transmit voice information such as an answer or a schedule received by the terminal reception unit 203 by voice input to the dialogue device 1, and the characters acquired by voice recognition of these voice information. The column information may be transmitted to the dialogue device 1. The terminal transmitter 204 can be realized by a wired or wireless communication means.

Next, an example of the operation of the information processing system 1000 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

(Step S101) The schedule acquisition unit 103 determines whether or not it is time to acquire one or more schedule information. For example, the schedule acquisition unit 103 may determine that it is the timing to acquire one or more schedule information associated with the date information of the current day at a predetermined time every day. Further, the schedule acquisition unit 103 has a schedule start time, end time, start time (or) of each schedule information stored in the schedule storage unit 102, which is specified by the date information corresponding to each schedule information. It is determined whether the time elapsed from the end time) is within the specified time, which is the current time acquired from a clock (not shown), etc., and the schedule information associated with the date information at the current time is acquired. It may be determined that it is time to do so. If it is the timing to acquire, the process proceeds to step S102, and if it is not the timing to acquire, the process proceeds to step S103.

(Step S102) The schedule acquisition unit 103 acquires schedule information at the timing of acquisition. The acquired schedule information may be temporarily stored in a storage unit (not shown) or the like. Then, the process returns to step S101.

(Step S103) The question output unit 104 determines whether or not one or more of the schedule information acquired in step S102 is the timing to output the question information. For example, when it is a general closing time (for example, 17:00, 18:00, etc.), it is determined that it is the timing to acquire question information for each acquired schedule information. Further, for example, when the end time of the user indicated by the user identifier associated with the acquired schedule information is reached, it may be determined that it is the timing to output the question information for this schedule information. Further, for example, the current time acquired from a clock (not shown) or the like is scheduled to be specified by the date information associated with the acquired question information, or the elapsed time from the end time is within a predetermined time. When the time is reached, it may be determined that it is the timing to output the question information about this schedule information. If it is determined that it is time to output the question information, the process proceeds to step S104, and if it is determined that it is not the timing, the process returns to step S101.

(Step S104) The question output unit 104 substitutes 1 as the value of the counter N.

(Step S105) The question output unit 104 determines whether or not there is the Nth scheduled information at the timing of outputting the question information. If there is, the process proceeds to step S106, and if not, the process returns to step S101.

(Step S106) The question output unit 104 acquires question information about the Nth schedule information by using the question source information stored in the question source storage unit 101. For example, the question output unit 104 acquires question information by using the question source information associated with the type identifier associated with the Nth schedule information.

(Step S107) The question output unit 104 outputs the acquired question information to the user. For example, the question output unit 104 transmits the question information to the user terminal 2 of the user indicated by the user identifier associated with the Nth schedule information. When there are a plurality of question information acquired by using the type identifier or the like for the Nth reservation information, the question information having the earliest output order among the unoutput question information is output.

(Step S108) The answer receiving unit 105 determines whether or not the answer has been received from the user who sent the question information in the immediately preceding step S107. If accepted, the process proceeds to step S109, and if not accepted, the process proceeds to step S113.

(Step S109) The storage unit 107 acquires the storage information using the answer received in step S108. For example, the storage unit 107 may acquire the storage information according to the type identifier associated with the Nth schedule information, and the storage unit 107 may acquire the storage information according to the question source information used when acquiring the question information in step S106. Information may be obtained.

(Step S110) The storage unit 107 stores the storage information acquired in step S109 in association with the date information. For example, the storage unit 107 stores the storage information in the storage storage unit 106. For example, the storage unit 107 may store the storage information in the storage destination corresponding to the type identifier associated with the Nth schedule information, and may use the question source information used when acquiring the question information in step S106. The stored information may be stored in the corresponding storage destination.

(Step S111) The question output unit 104 determines whether or not there is the next question information with respect to the Nth reservation information. For example, when there are a plurality of question information acquired by using the type identifier or the like for the Nth reservation information in step S106, it is determined whether there is question information for which the corresponding question information has not yet been acquired and transmitted. If there is question information that has not been asked, it is determined that there is the next question information. If there is the next question information, the process returns to step S107, and if there is no next question information, the process proceeds to step S112.

(Step S112) The question output unit 104 increments the value of the counter N by 1. Then, the process returns to step S105.

(Step S113) The response receiving unit 105 determines whether a predetermined time has elapsed since the question information is transmitted, that is, whether a time-out has occurred. If the predetermined time has elapsed, the process returns to step S112, and if not, the process returns to step S108.

In the flowchart of FIG. 2, when it is determined in step S103 that it is time to output question information for a plurality of schedule information, the processes from step S105 to step S110 for each of the determined schedule information are performed in parallel. It may be processed.

Further, in the dialogue device 1, a reception unit (not shown) may receive schedule information from the user and store the received schedule information in the schedule storage unit 102.

In the flowchart of FIG. 2, the process ends when the power is turned off or an interrupt for the end of the process occurs.

Next, the operation of the user terminal 2 will be briefly described. When the terminal receiving unit 201 receives the question information from the dialogue device 1, the terminal output unit 202 outputs the question information (for example, voice output). When the terminal reception unit 203 receives the user's answer to this question, the terminal transmission unit 204 transmits the received answer to the dialogue device 1. Further, the terminal reception unit 203 may receive a schedule input (for example, voice input) from the user, and the terminal transmission unit 204 may transmit the received schedule to the dialogue device 1. The schedule here is, for example, an utterance about the schedule, voice information corresponding to this utterance, a character string that voice-recognizes the utterance, and the like.

Hereinafter, a specific operation of the information processing system 1000 according to the present embodiment will be described with an example. The conceptual diagram of the information processing system 1000 here is shown in FIG. Here, a case where the dialogue device 1 is a server device and the user terminal 2 is a so-called smart speaker capable of transmitting and receiving information to and from the dialogue device 1 will be described as an example. Here, it is assumed that each user terminal 2 includes a speaker 21 and a microphone 22. Here, the user terminal 2 used by the user A is referred to as the user terminal 2a. Further, here, a case where the number of user terminals 2 is 3 or more will be described as an example.

First, it is assumed that the user A speaks an arbitrary schedule in words to the user terminal 2a. For example, suppose that the schedule you spoke to was a voice saying, "We will have a meeting at ABC from 1:00 pm on October 3rd." The terminal reception unit 203 of the user terminal 2a receives the above schedule issued by the user A via the microphone 22 as voice input. Then, the schedule, which is the input voice information, is transmitted to the dialogue device 1 in association with the user identifier stored in advance in a storage unit (not shown) in the user terminal 2. Here, for convenience of explanation, it is assumed that the user name "Aro Yamada" of the user A is used as the user identifier. The user identifier here may be the terminal identifier of the user terminal 2 (for example, the code assigned to the device of the user terminal 2, the IP address, the MAC address, etc.), and the terminal identifier is the same. It may be associated with a different user identifier of the user (for example, a user name, a code assigned to the user, etc.).

When the receiving unit (not shown) of the dialogue device 1 receives the schedule which is voice information from the user terminal 2a, the processing unit (not shown) recognizes the schedule by voice, acquires the schedule composed of character strings, and acquires the schedule. Get date information and schedule information from. In addition, information indicating the purpose of the schedule is acquired as a schedule identifier from the acquired schedule. From the utterance information, obtain one or more desired character strings (here, date information, desired character strings related to the schedule used as the schedule information, etc.) and information indicating the purpose of the utterance used as the schedule identifier. Since the technology to be used is a known technology as a chatbot or a natural language processing technology, detailed description thereof will be omitted here. Here, it is assumed that the processing unit (not shown) has acquired the date information "October 3, 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm", the schedule information "meeting at ABC company", and the schedule identifier "visit". It is assumed that the date information acquired here is information having a scheduled date, a scheduled start time, and a scheduled end time. Here, if the scheduled end time is not included in the scheduled character string, the date information having the time obtained by adding 1 hour to the scheduled start time of the schedule as the scheduled end time shall be automatically acquired. .. The processing unit (not shown) stores the acquired schedule information in the schedule storage unit 102 in association with the acquired date information and the user identifier “Yamada Aro” associated with the received schedule.

FIG. 4A is a schedule management table for managing schedule information stored in the schedule storage unit 102. In the schedule management table, the date information "date", the user identifier "user ID", the type identifier "type", the schedule information "plan", and the schedule information have been acquired. It has an attribute called "acquisition" which is information indicating whether or not it is. In "acquisition", the value "0" indicates that the corresponding schedule information has not been acquired, and the value "1" indicates that the corresponding schedule information has been acquired. Each record (row) of the schedule management table shows one schedule information, date information associated with the schedule information, and the like. Here, the above schedule information shows the accumulated state.

The schedule acquisition unit 103 acquires the current date and the current time from a clock or the like (not shown) at predetermined time intervals (for example, every 5 minutes), and acquires the schedule information stored in the schedule storage unit 102. In the schedule management table to be managed, the process of detecting the record whose date indicated by the value of "date" matches the current date and the value of "acquisition" is "0" is performed, and the record is detected. In this case, information other than "acquisition" included in this record is acquired (for example, read from the schedule storage unit 102).

Here, for example, when the schedule information managed by the schedule management table as shown in FIG. 4A is stored in the schedule storage unit 102, the schedule acquisition unit 103 manages the record as described above. It is assumed that it is time to detect in the table.

The schedule acquisition unit 103 acquires the current date "September 20" from a clock or the like (not shown), and the value of "acquisition" is "0" in the schedule management table shown in FIG. 4 (a). From the records, the process of detecting the record whose date indicated by the value of "date" matches the acquired current date "September 20" is performed. Here, the "date" is "September 20, 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm", the "user ID" is "Aro Yamada", the "type" is "visit", and the "plan" is "meeting at BCD". It is assumed that two records (rows) including the record "" are detected. The schedule acquisition unit 103 reads, that is, acquires, a value other than "acquisition" of the detected record. Then, the acquired information such as schedule information is associated with each other and temporarily stored in a storage unit (not shown) such as a memory (not shown). In addition, the value of "acquisition" of these records is updated to the value "1" indicating that the records have been acquired.

FIG. 4B is an acquisition schedule management table that is acquired by the schedule acquisition unit 103 and manages information such as schedule information temporarily stored in a storage unit (not shown). It is assumed that the acquisition schedule management table has the same attributes as the schedule management table shown in FIG. 4A, except that there is no “acquisition” attribute. Here, the state in which information such as the schedule information acquired above is accumulated is shown.

As described above, the schedule acquisition unit 103 repeatedly performs the process for acquiring the schedule information.

The question output unit 104 acquires the current date and the current time from a clock or the like (not shown) at predetermined time intervals (for example, every 5 minutes), and is scheduled to acquire as shown in FIG. 4 (b). Detects records (rows) in the management table where the date indicated by the "date" value matches the current date and the scheduled end time indicated by the "date" value is later than the current time. When a record is detected, it is determined that it is time to acquire question information about the reservation information contained in this record.

Here, for example, assuming that the question output unit 104 acquires the current date "September 20" and the current time "4:02 pm" from a clock (not shown), FIG. 4 (b). ), The date indicated by the value of "Date" matches the current date "September 20", and the scheduled end time indicated by the value of "Date" is the acquired current date. It is assumed that a process for detecting a record whose time is before the time "4:02 pm" is performed. Here, in the second row from the top of the acquisition schedule management table shown in Fig. 4 (b), the "date" is "September 20, 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm", and the "user ID" is "Yamada A". It is assumed that one record is detected in which "ro", "type" is "visit", and "plan" is "meeting at BCD".

The question output unit 104 performs a process of acquiring question information regarding the reservation information of one record detected above.

FIG. 5 is a question source management table that manages the question source information stored in the question source storage unit 101. The question source management table has a "question ID" indicating the question source identifier which is an identifier of the question source information, a "type" which is a type identifier associated with the question source information, and a "question order" which indicates the question order. , Has an attribute of "question source" which is question source information. The "question order" is information indicating the order in which the question information acquired by using each question source information is output when there are a plurality of question source information associated with the same type identifier, and here, the value. The smaller the value, the earlier the output order. The character string enclosed in "<>" (square brackets) in the character string of "question source" indicates the part to be replaced by the character string obtained from the answer, and the character string in "<>" is , Indicates the attribute of the string to be replaced. Here, for convenience of explanation, the character string enclosed in "<>" is referred to as a tag, and the attribute thereof is referred to as a tag attribute. Here, each record (row) shows one question source information and information such as a type identifier associated with the question information. The question source identifier is usually a unique value for each record, but when the question source identifier is used to determine the storage process for acquiring the stored information from the answer to the question information obtained using the question source information. The same question source identifier may be assigned to the records of the question source information that are considered to obtain the same question source information or answers in the same format so that the same storage process can be performed. ..

The question output unit 104 first acquires the type identifier "visit" which is the value of the "type" of the detected record, and in the question source management table shown in FIG. 5, the "type" is the acquired type identifier. Find a record that matches a "visit". Here, it is assumed that two records whose "question ID" is "Q001" and "Q002" are detected. Since a plurality of records are detected, the question output unit 104 reads out the question source information which is the value of the "question source" which is the smaller value of the "question order" among the detected records. Here, the transportation cost of "<date information>", which is the value of the "question source" of the record whose "question order" value is "1", is settled. What station is the departure station? How many stations are there? " Since the acquired information includes the tag "<date information>", the date information that is the attribute of this tag is acquired, and the date information that is the value of "date" is acquired from the record detected above. do. In addition, here, it is assumed that it is preset to acquire only the date excluding the scheduled start time among the values of "date" as the date information, and only "September 20" is acquired as the date information. Suppose you did. Then, replace the tag "<date information>" of the question source information acquired above with the acquired date information "September 20", and "Settle the transportation expenses on September 20. The departure station is Get the question information of the character string "How many stations? What station is the nearest station to visit?". The process for acquiring the question information using the question source information is, for example, information, a method name, an executable file, or the like that specifies the process for acquiring the question information stored in advance in association with the question source information. Should be read and performed accordingly.

Then, the question output unit 104 outputs the acquired question information to the user whose user name indicated by the value of the "user ID" of the record detected above is "Aro Yamada", and transmits it here. For example, by searching from the information having the user name of the user stored in advance in the storage unit (not shown) and the information such as the IP address of the user terminal 2 used by the user, the user name is "Aro Yamada". The information such as the IP address of the user terminal 2a used by the user A is acquired, and the question information is transmitted to the user A using the acquired information. Here, the question information, which is a character string, is converted into voice information and transmitted to the user terminal 2a. The question information transmitted here corresponds to, for example, the above-mentioned first question information.

When the terminal receiving unit 201 receives the question information which is the voice information from the dialogue device 1, the terminal output unit 202 outputs the received question information by voice. As a result, the voice question "The transportation expenses will be settled on September 20. What station is the departure station? What station is the nearest station to visit?" Is output from the speaker 21 of the user terminal 2a. Will be done.

It is assumed that the user who hears this question answers the question to the user terminal 2a, saying, "The departure station is F station and the nearest station is G station." The terminal reception unit 203 of the user terminal 2a receives the above-mentioned answer issued by the user A via the microphone 22 as a voice input. Then, it is assumed that the answer, which is the input voice information, is transmitted to the dialogue device 1 in association with the user identifier "Aro Yamada" of the user A, as in the case of the above schedule.

When the answer receiving unit 105 of the dialogue device 1 receives the answer which is voice information and the user identifier from the user terminal 2a, the storage unit 107 voice-recognizes the answer and acquires the answer composed of the character string. .. Here, the answer received by the answer receiving unit 105 corresponds to, for example, the above-mentioned first answer.

FIG. 6 is a storage process management table for managing the storage process stored in advance in the storage unit (not shown). The storage management table is, for example, a management table that manages what kind of storage processing is performed by using the answer to the question information acquired by using the question source information. The storage management table has a "question ID" which is a question source identifier, a "storage destination" which indicates the storage destination of the storage information, and "accumulation processing" which is information indicating the storage processing performed by the storage unit 107 using the answer information. It has the attribute. Here, it is assumed that the storage destination is a database name for storing and managing information in the storage storage unit 106. Here, for convenience of explanation, the "accumulation process" indicates the process performed by the accumulation unit 107 in natural language, but the "accumulation process" includes, for example, one or more functions corresponding to these natural languages. It may be composed of a method name, a control syntax indicated by "if", "then", or the like, or may be an algorithm for performing judgment processing or the like corresponding to these natural languages.

When the storage unit 107 acquires an answer, immediately before the answer, the question output unit 104 uses the question source identifier of the question source information used to acquire the question information transmitted to the user whose user identifier is "Aro Yamada". "Q001" is received from, for example, the question output unit 104, and a record (row) in which the "question ID" is "Q001" is detected from the storage processing management table shown in FIG. Then, the processing indicated by the value of "accumulation processing" of this record is performed to acquire the accounting information which is the accumulation information, and as a new record of the database called "accounting information DB" indicated by the value of "accumulation destination" of this record. , Add the acquired accounting information. For example, "date information, user identifier, departure station, arrival station, and accounting information with round-trip transportation expenses, which are the values of" accumulation processing "of this record, are acquired and accumulated. The date information is only the date. Acquire. Acquire the nearest station as the arrival station. The round-trip transportation cost is acquired by inputting the departure station and the arrival station into the API of the site W. " The date "September 20" of the date information corresponding to the reservation information corresponding to the question information asked is acquired as the date information. Similarly, the user identifier "Aro Yamada" corresponding to the reservation information is acquired. In addition, the storage unit 107 performs natural language processing, etc. from the character string "The departure station is F station and the nearest station is G station", which is the answer obtained above, and selects "F station" as the departure station. Also, as the arrival station, acquire the nearest station "G station". In addition, the acquired "F station" and "G station" are added to the API (application program interface) for route search provided by site W, which is a website that guides train transfers operated by an external server device. It is assumed that the round-trip transportation fee "1500 yen" is obtained from the site W by inputting "" as the departure station and the arrival station, respectively. Then, a new record having the acquired information as the attribute value of the attribute name of the corresponding attribute is added to the database named "accounting information DB" of the storage storage unit 106.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of an accounting information database. The accounting information database includes "date" which is date information, "user ID" which is a user identifier, "departure station" which is a departure station, "arrival station" which is an arrival station, and "transportation" which is a transportation expense. It has the attribute of "expense". Here, the state in which the above record is added is shown.

As a result, the accumulation process for the received answers is completed. This accumulation process may be considered to correspond to the above-mentioned first accumulation process.

The question output unit 104 is "question order" among the two records whose "question ID" is "Q001" and "Q002" in the question source management table whose "type" is "visit" detected above. For the record whose "question ID" is "Q001" is "1", the question information is acquired and output, and the accumulation process for the corresponding answer is completed. Therefore, the question output unit 104 subsequently detects the above "question ID". Of the two records in the question source management table whose "type" is "visit", the record whose "question order" is "2" is processed to acquire and output question information.

Specifically, please make a business report of the question source information "<date information>" which is the value of the "question source" of the record whose "question ID" in the question management table shown in FIG. 5 is "Q001". , And in the same way as above, replace the tag "<date information>" of the question source information acquired above with the date information "September 20", and replace the question information "September 20" which is a character string. Please make a business report for the day. ”, Convert this question information into voice information and send it to the user terminal 2a of user A in the same manner as above. The question information transmitted here corresponds to, for example, the above-mentioned second question information.

When the terminal receiving unit 201 receives the question information which is the voice information from the dialogue device 1, the terminal output unit 202 outputs the received question information by voice. As a result, the voice question "Please make a business report on September 20" is output from the speaker 21 of the user terminal 2a.

The user who heard this question responded to the question by saying, "I explained the new product A with Mr. Tanaka, who is in charge of ABC, etc. For the time being, I am planning to purchase 30 units. It is assumed that the answer is made to the user terminal 2a. The terminal reception unit 203 of the user terminal 2a receives the above-mentioned answer issued by the user A via the microphone 22 as a voice input. Then, the answer, which is the input voice information, is transmitted to the dialogue device 1 in association with the user identifier of the user A, as in the case of the above schedule.

When the answer receiving unit 105 of the dialogue device 1 receives the answer which is voice information and the user identifier from the user terminal 2a, the storage unit 107 voice-recognizes the answer and acquires the answer composed of the character string. .. Here, the answer received by the answer receiving unit 105 corresponds to, for example, the above-mentioned second answer.

When the storage unit 107 acquires an answer, immediately before the answer, the question output unit 104 uses the question source identifier of the question source information used to acquire the question information transmitted to the user whose user identifier is "Aro Yamada". "Q002" is received from, for example, the question output unit 104, and a record (row) in which the "question ID" is "Q002" is detected from the storage processing management table shown in FIG. Then, the accounting information that is the accumulated information is acquired by performing the processing indicated by the value of the "accumulation process" of this record, and as a new record of the database called "sales report DB" indicated by the value of the "accumulation destination" of this record. , Add the acquired accounting information. For example, the value of "accumulation processing" of this record, "date information, user identifier, sales destination, sales destination person in charge, sales content, and sales report having sales contents and results are acquired and accumulated. Date information is stored. In response to "Getting the date, start time, and end time.", The storage unit 107 responds to the date information "September 20, 1:00 pm" corresponding to the reservation information corresponding to the question information sent immediately before the answer. From 4:00 pm ”is acquired as it is as date information. Similarly, the user identifier "Aro Yamada" corresponding to the reservation information is acquired. In addition, the storage unit 107 performs natural language processing, etc. from the character string of the answer obtained above, and uses "ABC" as the sales destination, "Tanaka" as the sales representative, and "new product" as the sales content. It is assumed that "Explanation of A" and "Planned to purchase 30 units" have been acquired as a result.

Then, a new record having the acquired information as the attribute value of the attribute name of the corresponding attribute is added to the database named "sales report DB" of the storage storage unit 106.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a sales report database. The sales report database includes "date" which is date information, "user ID" which is a user identifier, "sales destination" which is a sales destination, "sales destination person" who is a sales person in charge, and sales contents. It has the attributes of "business content", which is the result, and "result", which is the result. Here, the state in which the above record is added is shown.

As a result, the accumulation process for the received answers is completed. This accumulation process may be considered to correspond to the above-mentioned second accumulation process.

The question output unit 104 acquires question information for all of the two records whose "question ID" is "Q001" and "Q002" in the question source management table whose "type" is "visit" detected above. Since the output is made, the process of acquiring and outputting the question information is completed for one of the schedule information acquired by the schedule acquisition unit 103, which is the timing for outputting the question information. Therefore, the record corresponding to this schedule information in the acquisition schedule management table shown in FIG. 4 (b) is deleted.

In addition to this schedule information, if there is one or more other schedule information that is the timing to output the question information, the process of acquiring and transmitting the question information for each of the other schedule information in the same manner as above. And so on.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the user can appropriately support the acquisition and accumulation of information regarding the actions taken for the schedule.

In the above embodiment, the example in which the dialogue device 1 is mainly a server device has been described, but the dialogue device 1 does not have to be a server device as long as it is a device that has a voice dialogue with the user. For example, it may be a stand-alone information processing device or an information processing terminal. Further, the dialogue device 1 may be, for example, an information processing device that has a dialogue with the user by voice or the like without going through another device or the like. For example, the dialogue device 1 may be a device that directly receives an answer by voice or character string from the user, or outputs question information to the user by voice or character string. Such a dialogue device 1 is realized by, for example, a computer that executes a chatbot, a so-called smartphone, a tablet terminal, or a so-called smart speaker. For example, if the dialogue device is a smart speaker, it is possible to directly receive a voice answer from the user and output question information to the user by voice.

Further, in the dialogue device 1 described above, a part of the processing unit and the storage unit are provided by an information processing device (not shown) accessible to the dialogue device 1 other than the dialogue device 1, and the dialogue device 1 is provided with the dialogue device 1. , These processing units and storage units may be appropriately used to perform the same processing as that of the dialogue device 1 of the first embodiment.

In the above embodiment, each process (each function) may be realized by centralized processing by a single device (system), or may be realized by distributed processing by a plurality of devices. You may.

Further, it goes without saying that in each of the above embodiments, the two or more communication means existing in one device may be physically realized by one medium.

Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the dialogue device is stand-alone has been described, but the dialogue device may be a stand-alone device or a server device in a server / client system. In the latter case, the output unit and the reception unit receive input via the communication line and output the screen.

Further, in the above embodiment, each component may be configured by dedicated hardware, or a component that can be realized by software may be realized by executing a program. For example, each component can be realized by a program execution unit such as a CPU reading and executing a software program recorded on a recording medium such as a hard disk or a semiconductor memory. At the time of execution, the program execution unit may execute the program while accessing the storage unit (for example, a recording medium such as a hard disk or a memory).

The software that realizes the dialogue device in the above embodiment is the following program. That is, this program uses a computer that can access the question source storage unit that stores the question source information related to one or more questions, and schedule information from the schedule storage unit that stores the schedule information corresponding to the date information. The schedule acquisition unit to be acquired, and the question output unit that outputs the question information that is the information of the question related to the behavior of the date specified by the date information corresponding to the schedule information and is the information of the question acquired using the question source information. , A program to function as an answer reception unit that accepts answers to question information from users, and a storage unit that acquires stored information to be accumulated using the answers, associates it with date information, and performs storage processing to store the stored information. Is.

In the above program, the functions realized by the above program do not include the functions that can be realized only by hardware. For example, a function that can be realized only by hardware such as a modem or an interface card in an acquisition unit that acquires information or an output unit that outputs information is not included in the functions realized by the above program.

Further, the number of computers that execute this program may be singular or plural. That is, centralized processing may be performed, or distributed processing may be performed.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the appearance of a computer that executes the above program and realizes a dialogue device or the like according to the above embodiment. The above embodiment can be realized by computer hardware and a computer program executed on the computer hardware.

In FIG. 9, the computer system 900 includes a computer 901 including a CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory) drive 905, a keyboard 902, a mouse 903, and a monitor 904.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an internal configuration of the computer system 900. In FIG. 10, the computer 901 is connected to the MPU (Micro Processing Unit) 911, the ROM 912 for storing a program such as a boot-up program, and the MPU 911 in addition to the CD-ROM drive 905, and issues an instruction of the application program. A RAM (Random Access Memory) 913 that temporarily stores and provides a temporary storage space, a hard disk 914 that stores application programs, system programs, and data, and a bus 915 that connects the MPU 911, ROM 912, and the like to each other. Be prepared. Note that the computer 901 may include a network card (not shown) that provides a connection to the LAN.

The program for causing the computer system 900 to execute the functions such as the dialogue device according to the above embodiment may be stored in the CD-ROM 921, inserted into the CD-ROM drive 905, and transferred to the hard disk 914. Alternatively, the program may be transmitted to the computer 901 over a network (not shown) and stored on the hard disk 914. The program is loaded into RAM 913 at run time. The program may be loaded directly from the CD-ROM921 or the network.

The program does not necessarily have to include an operating system (OS), a third-party program, or the like that causes the computer 901 to execute a function such as an interactive device according to the above embodiment. The program may contain only a portion of instructions that call the appropriate function (module) in a controlled manner to obtain the desired result. It is well known how the computer system 900 works, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made, and these are also included in the scope of the present invention.

As described above, the dialogue device or the like according to the present invention is suitable as a device or the like for interacting with a user, and is particularly useful as a device or the like for processing a user's schedule.

1 Dialogue device 2, 2a User terminal 101 Question source storage unit 102 Schedule storage unit 103 Schedule acquisition unit 104 Question output unit 105 Answer reception unit 106 Storage storage unit 107 Storage unit 201 Terminal reception unit 202 Terminal output unit 203 Terminal reception unit 204 Terminal Transmitter 1000 Information processing system

Claims (10)

A question source storage unit that stores question source information related to one or more questions,
The schedule acquisition unit that acquires schedule information from the schedule storage unit that stores the schedule information that corresponds to the date information, and the schedule acquisition unit.
A question output unit that outputs question information that is information on a question related to an action on a specified date in the date information corresponding to the schedule information and is information on a question acquired by using the question source information.
An answer reception unit that accepts answers to the question information from users,
A dialogue device including a storage unit that acquires stored information to be stored using the answer, associates it with the date information, and performs a storage process for storing the stored information. The schedule information corresponds to a type identifier that identifies the type of schedule.
The accumulation part is
The dialogue device according to claim 1, wherein different storage processes are performed according to the type identifier. The question output unit is
Output two or more question information,
The answer reception department
Accepting answers from users for each of two or more question information,
The accumulation part is
The dialogue device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein different storage processes are performed according to each of two or more question information. The dialogue device according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the different storage processes have different storage destinations for the stored information. The dialogue device according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the different storage processes are different processes for acquiring stored information. The above-mentioned schedule information is information on the schedule of a visit to a customer, and is
The dialogue device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the question information is information of a question prompting input of a business report. The above-mentioned schedule information is information on the schedule of a visit to a customer, and is
The question output unit is
Outputs the first question information that asks for traffic information including the nearest station to be visited and the second question information about business reports.
The answer reception department
Accepting the first answer to the first question information and the second answer to the second question information,
The accumulation part is
Using the first answer, it is information for settlement of transportation expenses, and outputs accounting information including arrival station, departure station and transportation expenses corresponding to the nearest station, and the accounting information is stored in the accounting information database. The dialogue device according to claim 3, wherein the second storage process of outputting the business report information related to the business report and using the business report information as the business report database is performed by using the first storage process and the second answer. The schedule information corresponds to the user identifier and corresponds to the user identifier.
The schedule acquisition unit
Acquire schedule information for each of two or more user identifiers,
The question output unit is
The dialogue device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, which outputs the question information to the user identified by the user identifier at the timing corresponding to the date information corresponding to the schedule information. It is an information processing method performed by using a question source storage unit for storing question source information related to one or more questions, a schedule acquisition unit, a question output unit, an answer reception unit, and a storage unit.
A schedule acquisition step in which the schedule acquisition unit acquires schedule information from a schedule storage unit in which schedule information corresponding to date information is stored.
The question output unit outputs the question information which is the information of the question regarding the behavior of the date specified by the date information corresponding to the schedule information and the information of the question acquired by using the question source information. When,
An answer reception step in which the answer reception unit receives an answer to the question information from the user,
An information processing method comprising a storage step in which the storage unit acquires storage information to be stored using the answer, associates it with the date information, and performs a storage process for storing the storage information. A computer that can access the question source storage unit that stores question source information related to one or more questions.
The schedule acquisition unit that acquires schedule information from the schedule storage unit that stores the schedule information that corresponds to the date information, and the schedule acquisition unit.
A question output unit that outputs question information that is information on a question related to an action on a specified date in the date information corresponding to the schedule information and is information on a question acquired by using the question source information.
An answer reception unit that accepts answers to the question information from users,
A program for acquiring accumulated information using the answer, associating it with the date information, and functioning as a storage unit that performs an accumulation process for accumulating the accumulated information.

Images