JP3338969B2 - Dialogue control device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a dialogue control device,
In particular, the present invention relates to a control device for electronic dialogues, and more particularly to a dialogue control device for supporting unplanned dialogue between humans located at remote places.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the case of supporting unplanned dialogue between persons separated from each other using a virtual space on a network, conventionally, all persons connected to the network are connected to one space. Exists, and all human beings in the space provide support based on the fact that they can easily and easily interact with all other humans, and restrictions on communication partners are set in advance by permission of communication (hereinafter, permission). It is generally a static thing to set personally.

FIGS. 15 and 16 are conceptual diagrams of a conventional dialogue control device. In both figures, the same parts are denoted by the same reference numerals. In a virtual space 38 provided on the network, there are a processing device 37 connected by a communication path and a person (hereinafter, a user) 36 using the processing device 37. For example, a workstation or a personal computer is used for the processing device.

FIG. 15A shows an image in which four users 36 are present in a virtual space 38, and FIG.
This shows the ease of dialogue in the virtual space. FIG.
Although the easiness of dialogue between users in a virtual space is represented by the thickness of an arrow, the conventional device is based on the principle that all humans perform a dialogue with equal easiness.

FIG. 16A is a diagram showing a setting status of communication acceptance permission individually set by the users 33 to 36, and FIG.
Shows a state in which the users 33 to 36 have issued individual communication requests (hereinafter, requests), and FIG. 3C shows a state in which communication is actually connected to the request in FIG.

[0006] As shown in FIG. 16, whether or not communication can be connected is determined according to permissions preset by the users 33 to 36. That is, connection permission or rejection processing is performed based on always static information called permissions.

In the example shown in FIG. 1C, the processing device 37 of the user 36, the processing device 37 of the user 33, and the processing device 37 of the user 33 can be connected.
7 and the processing unit 37 of the user 33 indicate a connection rejected state.

[0008]

Since the conventional dialogue control device is configured as described above, all users existing in the virtual space, or regardless of the current work / work, or All users who have given or given permission are subject to communication with equal accessibility, and other users bring in topics that are completely unrelated to their current work, or other users In the process of work closely related to the work I am currently doing,
Uses that are self-determined and currently have less relevant work, even though some users may be more comfortable with talking about the topic of the work they are doing at that time There is a problem that it may cause the user to interrupt the work of the user.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and determines the ease of access between each user according to the work currently being performed, and has an effect on the execution of access to other users. An object of the present invention is to provide a dialogue control device that controls the height of a given psychological barrier.

[0010]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the principle of the present invention.

[0011] The present invention provides for easily conducting unplanned conversations with any physically distant party, ie, accidental conversations that are not pre-scheduled, using a processor coupled by a communication path. A virtual space on the network to enable easy unplanned conversations, as if physically close to all the people in that space A virtual space management means for setting and managing a hierarchical and diversified virtual space on a network in a control device based on an organizational structure in a general society;
0, a space limiting means 200 for limiting the space where the person can exist with respect to all the spaces provided by the virtual space management means 100 by social attributes such as the affiliation and status of each person, and a space limiting means A space determining / changing means 300 for determining / changing a space that actually exists at that time according to the present state of each human being, that is, the work or work currently being performed, in the space limited by 200; In a virtual space having a hierarchical and diversified nature set by the means 100, in an environment where each person is allowed to change between several spaces allowed to exist for each individual by the space limiting means 200 in, when the each person in space, which is determined by the spatial decision-change means 300 are present right now, and space human beings are trying to start a dialogue, namely that dialogue initiator is currently exist An organizational distance that indicates an organizational distance from the space where the hand is currently located, and a distance between the dialog initiator itself and the space where the other party is currently determined based on the social attributes of the dialog initiator. A society that expresses the relationship from the depth of the relationship, that is, the related distance indicating the degree to which the dialog initiator is allowed to be involved in the space where the partner currently exists, to the dialog initiator and the partner of the dialog up to that point. A social distance calculating means 400 for calculating the distance , and a dialogue initiator based on the social distance calculated by the social distance calculating means 400.
Methods that can be used to access
Access to the other party from the caller and the dialog initiator.
Initiating the dialogue by differentiating the procedures
Access control that controls the ease of access to the other party
Means 500. Further, the social distance calculating means 400 recognizes the space where the conversation initiator and the partner exist.
Means and the opponent exists from the space where the dialog initiator exists
And means for recognizing the path leading up to the space that, dialogue initiator
And the other party is in the same space,
Means for setting the social distance between the initiator and the other party to 0 and the dialogue start
If the person and the opponent are not in the same space,
And means for calculating the organization distance between the story initiator and the partner, dialogue
Related distance calculation means for finding the related distance between the initiator and the opponent
Taking the sum of the organization distance and the related distance and
A means for social distance between the mating, the relevant rangefinder
Arithmetic means that no dialog initiator is allowed on the route
If the space is 0, the relative distance between the dialog initiator and the other party is
0 means that the dialog initiator is allowed to exist on the route
If the empty space is not 0, start the dialog on the path
Confirms the area where the person is not allowed to exist, and
Means for calculating the relative distance between the dialog initiator and the other party.
I do.

[0012]

[Function] In an environment where users are physically separated from each other, a virtual space with hierarchy and variety is set on a network based on social attributes and organizational structure such as each user's affiliation and status. Then, for the set space, the space that can exist for each user based on the social attributes of the person is limited, and the work currently performed by the user within the limited space is limited. The space that actually exists currently is determined and changed based on the schedule, the schedule, or the direct instruction from the user.

In addition to the relationship between the dialog initiator determined in this way and the space where the dialog initiator currently exists, the dialog between the dialog initiator and the space where the dialog partner currently exists is taken into consideration. Calculate the depth of the relationship between the initiator and the conversation partner, that is, the social distance, and control the accessibility of communication based on the social distance to perform systematically close and currently relevant tasks. To facilitate access between those who are. On the other hand, it is relatively difficult to access people who work and work closely related to each other in a systematic manner.・ Increase the possibility of communication of contents related to work, and also consider other users deemed appropriate in terms of content and timing by indicating the current state of other users, that is, the outline of the work being performed and the busyness. It becomes possible to talk to the user.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a dialogue control system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The dialogue control system shown in FIG. 1 includes a virtual space management module 1 for setting a virtual space having a hierarchy and variety according to the situation of a user of the system, and a space where each person can exist among the set virtual spaces. The presence permission space determination module 2 which determines the social attributes of each person
A module for determining a space that actually exists according to the work or work currently performed by each person, a presence space determination module 3, and a social distance calculation module for calculating a social distance representing the depth of the relationship between each person. 4. Social distance calculation module 4
Access ease control module 5, which controls the ease of access between users based on the social distance calculated in
The social distance database 6 stores the social distance calculated by the social distance calculation module 4.

FIG. 3 shows the social attributes of four imaginary persons according to one embodiment of the present invention. First, the four persons 8 to 11 are the users of the processing device connected to the communication path, similarly to the persons 33 to 36 in FIG. Here, the person 8 works in the A-person B research institute C department D group, and the club participates in tennis and golf. Person 9 is at the same place of work as person 8, but the club is participating in skiing. The person 10
They are the same as the above-mentioned persons 8 and 9 in that they work for company A, but they belong to group E, group F, group G, and the club participates in tennis. In addition, the person 11 has a different work place from the person 10 only in the group to which the person belongs, and the club participates in skiing and golf.

FIG. 4 shows a connection image of the dialogue control device of each user according to one embodiment of the present invention. 2, the same components as those in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

The processing devices 14 of the users 8 to 11 have a user information management database 7 and are connected to the virtual space management module 1 for managing a virtual space.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the contents of social attribute data in the user information management database according to one embodiment of the present invention. The example of the data related to the social attribute used in the drawing follows the example of the user in FIG. 3, and the example of the data related to the current job follows the situation used later as a calculation example of the social distance.

FIG. 6 is a diagram (part 1) for explaining a virtual space setting for one embodiment of the present invention.
An example is shown in which only a user logs in and a virtual space is set at that time with reference to the social attributes of the user 8 and the organizational structure of Company A.

The virtual space in FIG. 1 includes a public space 15 of company A, a space 16 of laboratory B, and a space 1 of section C, respectively.
7, D group space 18, club public space 1
9, a tennis club space 20 and a golf club space 21.

FIG. 7 is a diagram (part 2) for explaining the setting of the virtual space according to one embodiment of the present invention. The user 10 of FIG. 3 logs in from the state of FIG. Person 1
An example in which a required virtual space is set with reference to a social attribute of 0 is shown. The virtual space shown in FIG.
There is a space 23 for the department and a space 24 for the G group.

FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram of a hierarchical virtual space based on the assumption of one embodiment of the present invention, and is an example in which a virtual space is set when all users in FIG. 3 log in. . In addition to the spaces 15 to 24 already shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the space 25 of the H group and the space 26 of the skiing section are the public spaces 15 of the person A, the least restrictive to the members of the space. Hereinafter, each virtual space to which a constraint is imposed every time a layer is stacked is shown. The solid lines drawn to connect these virtual spaces indicate arcs indicating the master-slave relationship between the spaces, and the permission of existence of each virtual space determined according to the social attribute of FIG. An example of a tissue distance indicating an organizational distance between the spaces is shown along with an arc indicating a master-slave relationship, and further, spaces connected by an arc when a dialog initiator is present in each space. The relevant distance to is shown overlaid on the arrow next to the arc. For example, the organization distance between the “public space of Company A” and the “club” is 3, and the organization distance when entry is not permitted is 2.

FIG. 9 is a diagram (part 1) for explaining a situation assumption of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 10 is a diagram (part 2) for explaining a situation assumption of one embodiment of the present invention. It is. FIGS. 9 and 10 show examples in which each user is assigned to each virtual space according to the current work. The arrows in FIG. 9 indicate accesses between users, and the numerical values attached thereto are: The value set in accordance with the example of expression (1) described below is actually substituted into the value, and as a result, the value of the social distance between each user is shown. For example, in the example of FIG. 10, the social distance A _ij when the user 11 accesses the user 10 is 7, and the social distance A _ij when the user 11 accesses the user 11 is 5. is there.

FIGS. 11 to 13 show application images of the system according to an embodiment of the present invention. When the social distance with the partner who is going to talk is "very close", "normal" is shown.
Indicates the case of "far". Each user uses a personal computer including a display, audio, and the like. Here, FIG. 11 (“very close”)
In the above, the user 27 (Mr. B) relates to a live video displaying the face of Mr. A, a live video monitoring the screen itself of Mr. A, a live video displaying the desk of Mr. A, and a Mr. A when accessing the Mr. A. It has a display having a function of displaying a message and live audio for outputting voice from Mr. A.

FIG. 12 shows a case where the social relationship is “normal”. If the social relationship between Mr. C and Mr. A is normal, a message about Mr. A and animation showing the situation of Mr. A are displayed on Mr. C's display. At this time, a procedure for calling is input to Mr. A from the videophone initial procedure window.

FIG. 13 shows a case where the social relationship is “far”. On the display of user D,
A message regarding the other party, Mr. A, is displayed on the display 32, and it is determined whether or not a call can be made by referring to the videophone initial procedure window as in the case of FIG.

Hereinafter, a case where the user speaks to the other party will be specifically described.

For example, 4 having a social attribute as shown in FIG.
Assume a human user. Now, among these four, user 8
Assuming that only the user has logged in to the processing device, the virtual space management module 1 detects that the user 8 has logged in, and from the user information management database 7 that holds the social attributes of each user who have previously. A virtual space as shown in FIG. 6 is set based on the social attributes of the user 8 referred to. At this time, a virtual space as shown in FIG. 6 is set based on the social attributes of the user 8 referred to. At this time, it is assumed that the contents of the social attributes of the user information management database 7 referred to are the contents as shown in FIG. At this time, with respect to the update of the user information management database 7, the data relating to the social attributes are changed as long as the affiliation and status of each person are changed and the same information is retained unless the data is rewritten by itself. The data on the job content is based on the nature of the current job, that is, the type of the job or the type of job, every time the application used or the file to be accessed changes or the user declares. The system automatically rewrites the contents.

Further, when the user 10 logs in, the login is detected in the same manner as in the case of the user 8, and the information on the user 10 is extracted from the user information management database 7 holding the social attributes, and the information is used as a basis. Set the virtual space to.
At this time, the space overlapping with the user 8 who has already logged in is not set twice, but a virtual space as shown in FIG. 7 is set. Then, when all the users in FIG. 3 log in, a virtual space as shown in FIG. 8 is set. In this case, the virtual space to be set is a sub-organization of Company A, a sub-organization of Company A, a laboratory A of Company A, a laboratory E of Company A, a club A of Company A, a sub-organization of Company A, and a sub-organization of Company A. As a sub-organization of Company B Research Laboratory C Department 17 and Company A E Research Laboratory 17, Company A E Laboratory F Department 23 and Company A B Laboratory C
Company A, Laboratory B, Department C, Group D 1
8. As a sub-organization of Company A's E Laboratory F Department 23, Company A's E Laboratory F Department G Group 13 and Company A's E Laboratory F Department H Group 2
5. As a sub-organization of the A company club 19, the A company tennis club 20, the A company golf club 21, the A company ski club 26
12 species.

Simultaneously with the setting of this virtual space, the permission of each user to exist in each space is determined based on the social attributes of each user stored in the user information management database 7.
The existence permission actually determined in the example of FIG. 3 is the existence permission in each of the virtual spaces 15 to 21 and 22 to 26 in FIG.
It is determined as shown in parentheses of each of the virtual spaces 15 to 26. For example, company A has all users 8 to 11, company A has laboratories B and 8, users A and E have laboratories 10 and 11,
Company A, Laboratory B, Department C: Users 8, 9; Company A, Laboratory E: Department F, users 10, 11; Company A, Laboratory B, Department C: Group 8, Users 8, 9; Company A, Laboratory E F part G group is user 1
0, Company A, Laboratory E, Division F, Group H, User 11, Company A, Club 8-11, Company A, Tennis Club 8,10, Company A, Golf Club 8, 11, Company A ski clubs are users 9 and 11.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart for calculating a social distance between users according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, according to the flowchart of FIG.
The calculation procedure of the social distance between each user is shown.

Now, as shown in FIG.
A job belonging to group D of laboratory C, user 9 is A company B
A job belonging to the laboratory C department, the user 10 is the company A, the laboratory E
Assuming that the job belonging to the department G group and the user 11 have performed the job belonging to the department A of the person A laboratory E, the virtual space management module 1 relates to the job of each user stored in the user information management database 7. Read the data section,
Accordingly, each user determines the space that currently exists. In this case, the user 8 is in the A-person B research institute C section D group space, the user 9 is in the A-person B research institute C section space, the user 10 is in the A company E institute F section G group space, User 11
Is determined to exist in the F space of the A laboratory and the E laboratory.

As described above, the depth of the current relationship with other users, that is, the social distance A _ij, is calculated based on the determined information of the currently existing space and the social attributes of the user. The user j existing in the space X is the user j existing in the space Y
To describe an example in which communication is to be started, first, each user recognizes a space that currently exists. In this case, there are spaces X and Y (step 1).

Further, a path from the space X to the space Y, that is, a row of the space which must pass or enter the space X to the Y is recognized (step 2). At this time, if there is no space in which the spaces X and Y must pass through or enter the space from the space X to the space Y (step 3), the social distance _Aij between the two becomes 0 (step 3). 4), otherwise, organization distance C
Calculate _k (step 5). After that, the user i recognizes a column in the space where the user i is not allowed to be present on the route from the space X to the space Y, and calculates the related distance S _e between them. At this time, the space where the user i is not allowed to exist is 0
In the case of (step 6), the associated distance _Se becomes 0 (step 7). Then, the existence non-permission area on the route is confirmed (step 8), and the sum of the calculated organization and the related distance is calculated (step 9) to obtain a social distance A _ij from the user i to the user j. (Step 10). An example of an equation for calculating the social distance A _ij defined in the present invention is shown below in (1).

[0037]

(Equation 1) The first part of equation (1) represents the magnitude of the organizational gap between the dialog initiator and the space in which the dialog is currently located, and the second part is the current dialogue between the dialog initiator and the user who is interacting with the dialogue. It represents the size of the gap between existing spaces. Of the parameters used in the equations, C _k is the sequence of the space that appears on the path from space X to space Y,
Tissue distance representative depth of the relationship between one space and then emerges space that sequence, S _e is in the sequence of spaces that appear on a path from the space X into a space Y, the presence user i is in a certain space D _ij is the distance between space X and space Y, that is, space X, which represents the depth of the relationship between user i and the next space in the sequence, assuming that
Indicates the number of spaces that pass or invade from to the space Y.

As can be seen from the equation (1), the social distance A _ij from the user i to the user j is dynamically changed according to the current work / work between the users. The tissue distance C _k between each space and the associated distance S _e between each user and each space
Is previously determined by the virtual space management module 1 as data or a rule as a virtual space management module, and the user logs in and sets the virtual space. Further, the tissue distance C _k becomes smaller as the relationship between the spaces becomes deeper, and takes a larger value as the space becomes shallower. The tissue distance C _k in the same space having the closest relationship is set to the smallest value 0, and the related distance S _e is set. It is considered that the degree of association allowed for the space where the dialog initiator is allowed to exist is considered to be extremely large regardless of the work currently being performed, that is, regardless of the space where it is currently present, so in that case, Set to 0. Therefore, the latter half of the social distance A _ij may be calculated only for a space whose existence is not permitted, and the upper expression of Expression (1) is rewritten as follows.

[0039]

(Equation 2) Here, N _ij is the length of a region between the space X and the space Y, which is not directly related to the user i, that is, from the space X to the space Y
Represents the number of spaces that are not allowed to exist in the space that passes through or invades.

Next, an example of calculating the social distance in the situation of FIG. 9 will be described.
This will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

Here, as an example, the relation distance Se is a uniform value 2 and the tissue distance Ck is a numerical value attached to an arc connecting each space in FIG. 8, for example, from the user 9 to the user 8
According to FIG. 14 , first, the user information management database 7 recognizes a space where each user involved in the dialogue currently exists. In this case, the user 8
It is confirmed that the user 9 exists in the space of the A company B laboratory C section C in the space of the A company B laboratory C section D group. Thereafter, a route between the two, that is, a row of spaces that pass or invade before reaching the other party is stored in the user information management database 7.
Check more. In this case, company A where user 9 is currently located
Laboratory C section line A's B Institute C section D Group space using the spatial user 8 is currently present Kuniwa, there is one only A company B Institute C unit D group space on the path I do. Since one or more spaces exist on the route, it can be seen that they are not in the same space.

Therefore, the tissue distance C _k between the user 8 and the user 9 must be calculated. As the number D ₉₈ of the space existing between the user 9 and the user 8 was confirmed by the recognition of the previous path, a D ₉₈ = 1, tissue distance C _k is, A Company B Institute C unit and A It is only necessary to consider the organization distance C _k between the C group and the D group of the company B research institute, and C ₁ = 1 as shown in FIG.

[0043]

(Equation 3) The space where the user 9 is not allowed to exist in the space where the user 9 is located, that is, the space where the user 8 is located, that is, the space where the user 8 is located, that is, the group A where the user 8 is located, is located at 1 Since the number of non-existent spaces _N98 is _N98 = 0, that is, the related distance = 0, the respective values are substituted into the expression under the expression (2) to calculate the user N9 and the user N98. The social distance A ₉₈ between 8 is: A ₉₈ = organizational distance + related distance = 1 + 0 = 1 (5)

Similarly, in the calculation of the social distance from the user 11 to the user 8, the route between the two is determined by the company A's E laboratory and the company A's B
It is a column of the space of the laboratory, the company A, the laboratory B, the department C, and the company A, the laboratory B, the department C.
₁₁₈ is D ₁₁₈ = 5. As shown in FIG. 8, the organizational distance C _k between the spaces of the A group of the E laboratory, the A company, the A company B laboratory, the A company B laboratory C section, and the A company B laboratory C section D group is as shown in FIG. 2, 3, 3, 2,
And the total organization distance C _k between the two is

[0045]

(Equation 4) Becomes In addition, the number N ₁₁₈ of the non-existent spaces is 5
Company A, Laboratory B, Company A, Laboratory B, C, A
N ₁₁₈ = 3, the related distance S _e is 2 uniformly for one existence non-permission space
So that

[0046]

(Equation 5) Becomes Substituting all of the above expressions in Expression (2) gives the social distance A _{118 as} follows: A ₁₁₈ = organizational distance + related distance = 11 + 6 = 17 (8)

From the expressions (5) and (6), A ₉₈ <A ₁₁₈ , and the social distance to the user 8 is more than the user 1 to the user 1
It turns out that 1 is farther. When this is used, user 8
The user 9 has a higher level of accessibility to the user.

As described above, by controlling the accessibility of each user based on the social attribute of each user and the social distance calculated from the current job, the user can perform Users who are in a space that is considered to be engaged in work closely related to the work they are doing are allowed easier access, and communications that are not irrelevant to the work they are currently performing are easily received and performed. Users who are in a space that is considered to have little to do with the work they are doing are more difficult to access and less likely to receive communications that are irrelevant to their current work, Protect from work interruptions due to unrelated topics.

In the example, the ease of access to the user 8 from the users 10 and 11 irrelevant to the A company B laboratory C department D group is reduced, and the user 8 is This protects the user 11 from interruption of work due to an unrelated topic, and also makes it possible to easily receive a related useful topic from the user 9 who is a member of the C group D group of the A company B laboratory.

FIG. 10 shows another example. Now, user 8 belongs to company A, laboratory B, department C, group D, user 9 belongs to person A, skiing, user 10 belongs to company A, tennis, and user 11 belongs to company A. Suppose you were taking a break in space.

In this case, similarly to the above, when the user 9 accesses the user 8, the number D ₉₈ of the spaces existing between the users is determined by the club, the company A, the company A, the laboratory B, 5 groups of A group B laboratory C section, A company B laboratory C section D group, that is, D ₉₈ = 5 clubs, A company, A company B laboratory, A company B laboratory C section, A company B research The organization distances C _k between the spaces of each of the sections C and D groups are 2, 3, 3, 2, 1 respectively,

[0052]

(Equation 6) The number N ₉₈ of the presence unauthorized space user 9 is not allowed to exist, since there is no in five spaces above, hence N ₉₈ = 0, associated distance = 0 (10) Equation (2 ), The social distance A ₉₈ is as follows: A ₉₈ = organizational distance + related distance = 11 + 0 = 11 (11)

As can be seen by comparing Equations (5) and (11), the social distance from oneself to another person and the social distance from one another to oneself depend on the situation of each user at that time. The distance is dynamically changed, and the accessibility is controlled accordingly so as not to disturb the current work.

The calculation results of the social distance between users other than the example calculated above are shown with arrows in FIGS.

Next, a method for controlling the ease of access in unplanned conversation based on the calculated social distance will be described.

Now, consider a case where four people having different social distances from each other have a conversation. If the social distance of Mr. B, Mr. C and Mr. D to one of Mr. A out of four is "very close", "ordinary", and "far", these three will be Mr. A Differentiate the media that can be used to access this, thereby controlling the accessibility of each person to Mr. A.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the case of Mr. B who is in a "very close" relationship with Mr. A. B is a live video related to Mr. A, that is, the face of Mr. A, and the use of Mr. A on the desk. B is allowed to see real-time moving images on the display of the processing device he is using, and Mr. B is physically close to what Mr. A is doing, whether he is busy now, and whether he is willing to talk. Know the other person's situation as if you were in Therefore,
When Mr. B actually talks to Mr. A, the A
Just call on him and the other person's access will be realized.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the case of Mr. C who is in a “normal” relationship not particularly near or far from Mr. A. Mr. C shows the major classification of the work that Mr. A performs and its busyness. Can be known by animation. In FIG. 12, the major categories of work are represented by labels on the platform on which the animated character is riding, and the busyness of the work is represented by the face of the animated character. A gentle face. Although not as accurate as the live video, he obtains his general state from animations and messages, guesses and judge the current state of his opponent, and when he decides to have a conversation, he decides the purpose of the conversation, In the case of, a procedure must be performed to inform Mr. A before the conversation, and the conversation is realized only when Mr. A permits the conversation after the procedure is completed.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the case of Mr. D who is "far" from Mr. A. In this case, it is considered that there is almost no connection with the work performed by Mr. A. In addition to notifying the contents of the work being performed as in the case of Mr. C, the general classification of the work is not taught as in Mr. C, but only the rough state is taught by the message. Then, when a conversation is to be made, a procedure for informing the other party of a lot of information such as the purpose and urgency of the conversation must be performed and the user must wait for the conversation to be permitted.

As described above, as the social distance is shorter, it is determined that the relationship between the users is deeper, so that much information on the other party is obtained and the access method is simplified. As the social distance is longer, the relationship is considered to be shallower, the information about the other party is less, and the access method is formal and time-consuming.

[0061]

As described above, according to the present invention, the height of the psychological barrier to access to other users is controlled in accordance with the work / work performed by each user, whereby the other The efficiency of the current work and work by the user can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a principle configuration diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a dialog control system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing social attributes of four imaginary persons according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a connection image of a processing device and a dialogue control device of each user according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of social attribute data in a user information management database according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram (part 1) for explaining virtual space setting according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a diagram (part 2) for describing virtual space setting according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram of a hierarchical virtual space based on the assumption of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram (part 1) for explaining a situation assumption according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a diagram (part 2) for explaining a situation assumption according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a diagram (part 1) illustrating an application image of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a diagram (part 2) illustrating an application image of the system according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a diagram (part 3) illustrating an application image of the system according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart for calculating a social distance between users according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a conceptual diagram of a virtual space in a conventional device.

FIG. 16 is a conceptual diagram of permission to accept communication in a conventional device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Virtual space management module 2 Existence permission space determination module 3 Existence space determination module 4 Social distance calculation module 5 Ease of access control module 6 Social distance database 7 User information management database 8, 9, 10, 11 User 14 Processing unit 15 Public space of Company A 16 B research institute 17 C club 18 D group 19 Club 20 Tennis 21 Golf 22 E research laboratory 23 F club 24 G group 25 H group 26 Ski 27 User B 28 Display 29 User C 30 Display 31 Mr. D 32 Display 33, 34, 35, 36 User 37 Processing unit 38 Virtual space

Continued on the front page (56) References Kenichi Okada Nobuhiko Matsuura Tsuyoshi Fujino Atsushi Matsushita, Necessity of Dialogue Environment in Information Space-Concepts and Experimental Systems, Information Processing Society of Japan Research Report, Japan, Information Processing Society of Japan, 1992. March 23, Vol. 92 No. 6, pp. 1-8 Yasuyuki Terauchi, Close Encounter Communication, Information Processing Society of Japan Research Report, Japan, Information Processing Society of Japan, January 28, 1994, Vol. 94 No. 12, pp. 41-48 Arikawa Tomohiko Shinto Masato Hiramatsu, A Study on Realization of Audio Window System Considering Visual Window, IEICE Technical Report, Japan, The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, September 19, 1991, Vol. 91 No. 219, pp. 41-46 Nonogaki, Network Proxics, Information Processing Society of Japan Research Report, Japan, Information Processing Society of Japan, July 26, 1993, Vol. 93 No. 97, pp. 25-36 Nobuhiko Matsuura Kenichi Okada Atsushi Matsushita, Proposal of an Informal Communication Support Interface Realizing Virtual Encounter, IEICE Transactions on Information, Japan, The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, February 25, 1994 , Vol. J77-G-2 No. 2, pp. 388-396 (58) Fields surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04L 12/18

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. It is possible to easily carry out an unplanned conversation, that is, an unscheduled conversation that is not scheduled in advance, with a processing partner connected by a communication channel, with any physically separated party. Dialogue control device that enables a simple unplanned conversation, as in the case where a virtual space is set up on the network to physically close all the people in the space. in the virtual space management means for setting and managing a virtual space with a hierarchy-wide properties on the network based on the organizational structure of the general public, to all space provided by the virtual space management means, respectively and human affiliation and spatial limitation means is that human by social attributes such as to limit the space that can exist position, said among the limited spatial by the spatial limitation means, currently each human conditions i.e. the current In fact the space determining and changing means for the determination and change the space existing at that time, the virtual space with a hierarchy-wide properties set in the virtual space managing unit in accordance with the work or work are I, the space between several space allowed to exist for each individual by limiting means in an environment such as that allowed to transitory each person, it said in a space determined by the space determining and changing means each person right now When present, the person trying to start the dialogue , i.e., the organizational distance that represents the systematic separation between the space where the dialog initiator is currently located and the space where the other party is currently located, and the dialog initiator. The depth of the relationship between the dialog initiator itself and the space in which the opponent is currently determined, based on the social attributes of the dialogue, that is, the dialog initiator is allowed to engage in the opponent's existing space. related distance that indicates the degree to which the Interactive initiator and the social distance calculating means for calculating a social distance representing a relationship to that point with the other of the conversation, based on the social distance calculated by the social distance calculation means, from the conversation initiator and a Access to the other party
Media that are allowed to use the
The procedure for accessing the other party
In this way, access from the dialog initiator to the partner can be prevented.
And an access control means for controlling easiness . (2)The social distance calculation means, Means for recognizing the space where the dialog initiator and the partner exist
When, The other party exists from the space where the dialog initiator exists
Means for recognizing the route to the space, The dialog initiator and the partner exist in the same space
In this case, the social distance between the dialog initiator and the partner is set to 0.
Means, The dialog initiator and the partner do not exist in the same space
If this is not the case, calculate the organization distance between the dialog initiator and the partner.
Means to A related distance for obtaining a related distance between the dialog initiator and the partner
Separation calculation means; Calculating the sum of the organization distance and the related distance
And means for social distance with the other party, The related distance calculating means, Empty where the dialog initiator is not allowed to exist on the route
If the interval is 0, the relative distance of the other party to the dialog initiator is
Means for setting to 0, Empty where the dialog initiator is not allowed to exist on the route
If the interval is not 0, the dialog initiator on the route exists
Confirm the area that is not allowed, and start the dialogue from the area
Means for calculating an associated distance between a person and the other party
The dialogue control device according to claim 1.