JP7199991B2 - Monitoring system, monitoring method and program - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a watching system, a watching method, and a program using a device having an audio input/output function.

In recent years, devices with voice input/output functions (e.g., interactive robots) have been installed, especially in the homes of elderly people living alone. A monitoring system that fosters

In this system, when a user speaks to a device at home, the content is converted into a string of characters by voice recognition technology and sent as a message to the management center of the service provider. In the management center, an operator who notices the reception of the message inputs a reply to the server device, and the reply is sent back to the user side, thereby making it possible to foster the above-mentioned "feeling of connection" and "feeling of being watched over".

Here, in order to make the operator aware of the reception of the message from the user, the server device not only appropriately displays the message on the screen but also notifies the operator by voice. For example, an operator who hears a voice saying "A new message has been received" can use this as a trigger to input a reply to the server device.

However, as the number of users increases, so will the number of messages sent to the management center. Also, since many users are expected to expect an operator's response to the greeting "good morning" in the morning, many messages will be received in succession in a short period of time. Also, when the same user speaks continuously, more messages are concentrated in the management center.

In that case, if the operator is notified by voice that "a new message has been received" each time a new message is received, the operator has already turned to the server device and entered a reply to another user or the same user. When you have started , you are likely to be distracted because you are trying to enter a reply while being preoccupied with receiving a lot of new messages, and in some cases you may overlook new messages.

Patent Literature 1 discloses a system that reduces the number of reception notifications when multiple messages are continuously received from the same person. According to this technique, it is possible to prevent distraction by reducing the number of notifications.

JP 2015-064689 A

However, with the technique of Patent Document 1, when a message is received from the same person a certain number of times or more, the reception is not notified even if the message is received again after that, so there is a possibility that the message may be overlooked.

In view of the circumstances as described above, an object of the present invention is to provide a monitoring system, a monitoring method, and a program capable of preventing an operator from overlooking a received message and immediately responding to the message.

In order to achieve the above object, a monitoring system according to one aspect of the present invention has a terminal device and a center device.
The terminal device has terminal input means for inputting a message from a user to be watched over and transmission means for transmitting the message to the outside each time the user inputs a message. The center device includes receiving means for receiving the message from the terminal device via the network, notification text generating means for generating a notification text for notifying an operator watching over the user of reception of a new message, and transmission of the notification text to the operator. and a storage means for storing an aggregation time, which is the length of time for aggregating the messages.
If the receiving means receives a new message before the aggregation time elapses after the output means notifies the operator of the notification message, the notification text generating means performs the aggregation of reception of the new message. When a first notification message is generated to collectively notify after the passage of time, and the receiving means does not receive a new message before the aggregation time elapses and a new message is received after the aggregation time elapses, the Generate a second message notifying of the receipt of a new message.

With this configuration, when many messages are received continuously in a short period of time, they are not notified each time, but are aggregated and notified after the aggregation time has elapsed, thereby preventing the operator from overlooking the received messages. It is possible to immediately respond to messages whose aggregation time has passed since the last notification. In addition, the processing load on the server device can be reduced compared to the case where the individual second notification message is always generated and notified. Note that the aggregation time is, for example, 30 seconds, 1 minute, etc., but is not limited to this.

The center device may further have storage means for storing user information including the name of the user. In this case, the notification text generating means may include at least the number of the new messages in the first notification text, and may include the name of the user who has input the new message in the second notification text. .

Thus, the operator can grasp the number of messages to which a reply is required from now on by the first notice, and can grasp the name of the user to whom a reply is required by the second notice and immediately respond. The first notification text may also include the name of each user, and the number of messages may be notified for each user.

When the newly received message contains a specific word, the notification message generating means may generate a specific notification message corresponding to the word even before the aggregation time has elapsed.

As a result, the operator can immediately respond to the important message by notifying the important message with the specific notice without waiting for the aggregation time to elapse. The specific word is, for example, a message about poor physical condition such as "feeling hot", and the specific notification text corresponding to this is, for example, "I have received a message regarding physical condition", which attracts the operator's attention more than other individual notification texts. This is the notice.

The center device may further have input means for receiving input of a reply message to the received message from the operator. In this case, if a new message is received while the reply message is being input, the notification message generating means does not generate the second notification message even after the aggregation time has passed, and the reply message is input. When finished, the first notification text may be generated containing a notification regarding the new message.

As a result, the operator can concentrate on the input work by not generating the notification message while the operator is inputting the reply message, and can prevent the operator from being distracted by the notification or overlooking it.

The server device receives from the operator either a setting input for setting a first mode for generating the first notification message or a setting input for setting a second mode for generating the second notification message. may further have In this case, the notification text generating means may execute either the first mode or the second mode according to the setting input.

As a result, even if multiple messages are received within the aggregation time, if the user is able to respond, a second notification message is generated. It is possible to switch between the first mode and the second mode according to the user's situation or the like, such as generating a first notification message when it is impossible to cope with other work.

When the number of new messages received before the aggregation time elapses is less than a predetermined number, the notification message generation means generates the name of each user who has input the new message and the number of messages for each user in the first If the number of new messages is equal to or greater than the predetermined number, the number of new messages may be included in the first notification message.

As a result, when there are too many received messages, the user's name is read aloud poorly, which conversely makes the notification complicated, so by simplifying the notification, the operator can surely grasp the existence of the received message. be able to.

A watching method according to another aspect of the present invention includes:
receiving the message via a network from a terminal device having terminal input means for inputting a message from a user to be watched over and transmission means for transmitting the message to the outside every time the user inputs a message;
If a new message is received before the aggregation time, which is the length of time for aggregating the messages, elapses after the notification text is sent to the operator watching over the user, the reception of the new message is delayed until the aggregation time. After the passage of time, the operator is collectively notified by voice, and if the receiving means does not receive a new message before the aggregation time elapses and a new message is received after the aggregation time elapses, the new message audibly notifying the operator of the receipt of the

A program according to another aspect of the present invention is provided in a center device,
a step of receiving the message via a network from a terminal device having terminal input means for inputting a message from a user to be watched over and transmission means for transmitting the message to the outside every time the user inputs a message; ,
If a new message is received before the aggregation time, which is the length of time for aggregating the messages, elapses after the notification text is sent to the operator watching over the user, the reception of the new message is delayed until the aggregation time. After the passage of time, the operator is collectively notified by voice, and if the receiving means does not receive a new message before the aggregation time elapses and a new message is received after the aggregation time elapses, the new message and a step of generating a second notification sentence for notifying the operator of the reception of the by voice.

A watching system according to another aspect of the present invention has a terminal device and a center device.
The terminal device has terminal input means for inputting a message from a user to be watched over and transmission means for transmitting the message to the outside each time the user inputs a message.
The center device includes receiving means for receiving the message from the terminal device via the network, notification text generating means for generating a notification text for notifying the operator watching over the user of the reception of the new message by voice, and the notification text. to the operator, and storage means for storing an aggregation time, which is a length of time for aggregating the messages.
The notification text generating means repeats the timing of the aggregation time and generates the notification text collectively notifying the messages received within the aggregation time.

Even with this configuration, when many messages are received continuously in a short period of time, the received messages are not notified each time, but are aggregated and notified after the aggregation time has elapsed, so that the operator overlooks the received messages. can prevent

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the operator from overlooking a received message and immediately respond to the message. However, this effect does not limit the invention.

It is a figure showing composition of a watching system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is the figure which showed the hardware constitutions of the server apparatus which the said watching system has. It is the figure which showed the example of the user name list which the said server apparatus memorize|stores. It is the figure which showed the example of the received message list|wrist which the said server apparatus memorize|stores. It is the figure which showed the notification text notified by the said server apparatus at the time of message reception in a time series. It is the flowchart which showed the flow of the notification sentence production|generation process by the said watching system.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[System configuration]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a monitoring system according to this embodiment.

As shown in the figure, the monitoring system includes a server device 100 as a center device installed in a management center, a center side terminal 160 connected to the server device 100, and a plurality of networked terminals communicably connected to the server device 100. and a user terminal 200.

The server device 100 is connected to a storage means 140 and a setting input means 150 including a keyboard, a mouse, and the like. The storage means 140 stores a user name list 141, a notification sentence template 142, and a received message list 143. FIG.

The user terminal 200 is installed in the home of a user (for example, an elderly person) of this system, and is realized by a transmission means capable of transmitting a message to the server device 100 at least through a network, and a microphone M for inputting the user's voice. means and speech recognition means (not shown) for converting the voice into a character string.

The user terminal 200 may have at least the components described above, but may be an interactive robot that resembles a small doll with an appearance that allows the user to associate with people and feel familiar.

The user terminal 200 has a function of transmitting the voice spoken by the user to the server device 100. Conversely, the notification text transmitted from the server device 100 is converted into voice data using voice synthesis technology, and the user can hear the voice from the speaker S. It also has the ability to communicate.

The server device 100 is a device used by an operator who resides in a management center and exchanges messages with users, and has at least receiving means 110 , timer means 120 and notification message generating means 130 . It also has control means for controlling those means. These are appropriately implemented by well-known hardware (so-called server computer or personal computer) or software stored in storage means.

Receiving means 110 is an I/F for receiving messages transmitted from user terminals.

The clock means 120 is a clock function incorporated in the server device 100 implemented using a computer. You can get the reception time of each message and the notification time of the notification text to the operator.

Based on one of the notification sentence templates from the notification sentence templates 142 stored in the storage means 140, the notification sentence generating means 130 generates messages from the users stored in the received message list 143 by the timer means. 120 refers to the time measured by the center side terminal 160 and generates a notification message to be notified to the operator.

The generated notification message includes an individual notification message for notifying the reception of one received message and an aggregate notification message for collectively notifying a plurality of received messages. Specific processing of the notification message generation means 130 will be described later. In addition, the first notification text in the scope of claims corresponds to the consolidated notification text, and the second notification text corresponds to the individual notification text.

The center-side terminal 160 is installed in the management center of a company that provides services by this monitoring system, and has a function of at least aurally (audibly) informing the operator that there is a newly received message in the server device 100 . At the same time, it may be communicated visually (on a screen).

The center-side terminal 160 also has a function of converting the voice spoken by the operator to the center-side terminal 160 into a character string using voice recognition technology and transmitting the character string to the server device 100 . The spoken voice is transmitted to the user terminal 200 .

The center-side terminal 160 may be shaped like a small humanoid robot like the user terminal 200 .

Note that the center-side terminal 160 may be omitted by providing the server device 100 with sound collecting means, voice recognition means (microphone M), and voice output means (speaker S).

[Hardware Configuration of Server Device]
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of the server device 100. As shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the center server 100 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 12, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 13, an input/output interface 15, and a bus 14 connecting these to each other. Prepare.

The CPU 11 appropriately accesses the RAM 13 or the like as necessary, and performs overall control of each block of the center server 100 while performing various kinds of arithmetic processing. The ROM 12 is a non-volatile memory that permanently stores firmware such as an OS, programs, and various parameters to be executed by the CPU 11 . The RAM 13 is used as a work area for the CPU 11, and temporarily holds the OS, various applications being executed, and various data being processed.

Further, the CPU 11 functions as the clocking means 120 and the notification message generating means 130 .

The input/output interface 15 is connected to a display unit 16, an operation reception unit 17, a storage unit 18, a communication unit 19, and the like.

The display unit 16 is a display device using, for example, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), an OELD (Organic ElectroLuminescence Display), a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), or the like.

The operation reception unit 17 is, for example, a pointing device such as a mouse, a keyboard, a touch panel, or other input device. The operation reception unit 17 functions as the setting input unit 150 described above.

The storage unit 18 is, for example, a non-volatile memory such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), a flash memory (SSD; Solid State Drive), or other solid state memory. In addition to the OS, the storage unit 18 stores schedule information, various flags, parameters, and software for realizing each means of the server device 100 . The storage unit 18 functions as the storage unit 140 described above.

In the present embodiment, as described above, the storage unit 18 is used for exchanging messages with the user terminal 200, including data such as the user name list 141, the notification sentence template 142, and the received message list 143, and for generating notification sentences. applications and other programs and databases.

The communication unit 19 is, for example, a NIC (Network Interface Card) for Ethernet (registered trademark) or various modules for wireless communication such as a wireless LAN, and is responsible for communication processing with the user terminal 200 . The communication unit 19 functions as the receiving means 110 described above.

The hardware configuration of the center side terminal 160 and the user terminal 200 is basically the same as the hardware configuration of the server device 100, but the center side terminal 160 and the user terminal 200 have the microphone M and the It has a speaker S.

[Database configuration]
Next, the details of the data stored in the storage means 140 (storage unit 18) will be described.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the user name list 141. As shown in FIG.

As shown in the figure, the user name list 141 is list information in which a terminal ID, which is ID information uniquely assigned to the user terminal 200, and the name of the user of each user terminal 200 are in one-to-one correspondence.

The terminal ID is transmitted from the user terminal 200 at the same time when the content of the user's speech to the user terminal 200 is transmitted to the server device 100 as a message. This enables the server device 100 side to identify from which user terminal 200 the received message was sent.

Since the sender of the message can also be identified from the terminal ID, it is also used to include the user's name in the voice to the operator, as will be described later.

The user name list 141 is additionally updated each time a new user is added and a user terminal 200 is additionally connected.

The notification sentence template 142 is a notification sentence template for notifying the operator when there is a new received message in the server device 100 . Notification sentence templates include normal sentence templates, shortened sentence templates, and specific sentence templates.

The normal sentence template is composed of a character string of "I got a message from [person's name]". The normal sentence template is used when new messages are received sparsely without concentration and the message reception interval is longer than the aggregation time (for example, 30 seconds), and serves as the basis for individual notification sentences. "[person's name]" is a portion to be replaced with the name of the user identified by referring to the user name list 141 based on the terminal ID included in the received message.

For example, if the terminal ID included in the received message is "A01", the individual message will be "A message has arrived from Mr. A".

The abbreviated sentence template is used when new messages are received intensively and the message reception interval is within the aggregation time, and serves as the basis for the aggregation notification sentence.

The abbreviated sentence template is divided into the first half and the second half. .

"[person name]" in the first half of the abbreviated sentence template is replaced with the user name specified from the terminal ID, as in the normal sentence template.

“[Number of received messages]” is the result of counting the number of received messages from “[Person name]”. The counting procedure will be described later together with the flowchart of FIG.

The first half of the abbreviated sentence template is used multiple times for one notification to the operator, but the second half of the abbreviated sentence template is used only once and is fixed.

The specific sentence template is composed of a character string "A message about [specific phrase] has arrived from [person name]", and is the basis of the specific notification sentence. The specific sentence template is used when a specific phrase is included in the words uttered by the person of "[person name]", and the part of "[specific phrase]" is replaced according to the specific phrase. . A specific example will be described later.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the received message list 143. As shown in FIG.

As shown in the figure, the received message list 143 consists of terminal IDs and message contents, and is initialized to blank each time the operator is notified of the aggregated message or the time threshold elapses. Details will be described with reference to the flow chart of FIG.

FIG. 4A shows the result of receiving 6 messages, and FIG. 4B shows the result of receiving 3 messages. However, since the first message is deleted after notifying the operator, five messages are shown in FIG. 10(a) and two messages are shown in FIG.

The terminal ID indicates from which user terminal 200 each message was received, and by referring to the user name list 143, the speaker name of the message can be specified. User names may be stored instead of terminal IDs.

In the figure (a), the first "Good morning, today is the day for regular garbage" is Mr. B, the second "The weather looks good today" is Mr. A, and the third is "Good morning, today." "I'm going shopping" is Mr. C, the fourth "I'll do my best to clean up" is Mr. B, and the fifth "my grandchild is coming in the afternoon" is Mr. A's utterance. .

Similarly, in FIG. 4(b), both of the first "I feel feverish" and the second "Let's go see a doctor" are the results of Mr. D's utterance.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing, in chronological order, notification texts notified when a message is received, corresponding to FIG. 4 above.

In FIG. 4(a), the operator is notified of an individual notification message using a normal message template, which is generated each time a new received message is received, as in the conventional case, for the six received messages corresponding to FIG. 4(a). The situation is shown in chronological order.

In this case, if it takes 25 seconds to receive the final message from Mr. A after the individual notification is sent based on the first message received from Mr. A, the individual notification will be sent six times in total. The operator is notified that "A message has arrived from Mr. A (Mr. B, Mr. C)."

Here, when the operator first hears "A message has arrived from Mr. A", he turns his attention to the server device 100 and starts operations such as entering a reply. You don't need to hear "I got a message from Mr. B, Mr. C)". Rather, since the work of inputting a reply to the first message has already started, if there are repeated notifications, the user's attention may be distracted and the user may not notice (oversight) that another message has been received.

Therefore, the server device 100 receives the message (not shown) from Mr. A, "Good morning, I had a good night's sleep." The operator is not intentionally notified until the time has passed, and the terminal ID contained in each message and the character string of the voice uttered by the user are stored in the received message list 143 of the storage means 140 in the field of message contents. memorize to Then, it is stored in the storage means 140 as a received message list 143 together with the time when the individual notification message was notified based on the first message of Mr. A (hereinafter referred to as "previous notification time").

Then, after the aggregation time has passed, the notification message generating means 130 refers to the received message list 143, counts the number of messages received during the aggregation time for each terminal ID, that is, for each user, and calculates the first half of the abbreviated sentence template. Replace with "[Number of received]". At the same time, each user's name is replaced with "[person name]".

FIG. 5(b) schematically shows, in chronological order, timings and contents of notification to the operator for six received messages similarly corresponding to FIG. 4(a).

First, assuming that there is a new message from Mr. A after the aggregation time or more has passed since the notification corresponding to the reception of the previous message, or at the time of system startup, the notification text generation means 130 creates a normal sentence template. The used individual notification text "A message has arrived from Mr. A" is generated. The individual notification message is notified to the operator from the speaker S of the center terminal 160 . Then, the notification message generating means 130 stores the time of the previous notification as the previous notification time, and deletes the message from the received message list 143 .

After the operator is notified of the individual notification text "A message has arrived from Mr. A", even if there are five newly received messages, the notification text generating means 130 does not generate one each time.

Then, after the aggregation time has passed, the notification text generation means 130 refers to the received message list 143 for the five messages excluding the first message, and finds two from Mr. A and two from Mr. B as shown in FIG. 4(a). Since it is found that there is one message from Mr. C, the notification message generating means 130 uses the shortened sentence template to generate "2 messages from Mr. A, 2 messages from Mr. B, and 1 message from Mr. C. I'm here." The aggregation notification text is notified to the operator from the speaker S of the center-side terminal 160 .

The aggregation time is a predetermined value, which is 30 seconds in this embodiment. If it is too short, it will be difficult to prevent the operator from being distracted and overlooked. It will be difficult, so make a decision after comparative consideration. The aggregation time may be described in advance in a program for interaction with the user terminal 200 installed in the server device 100 and stored in the storage means 140, or may be input by the operator using the setting input means 150 and stored in the storage means. 140 may be stored.

FIG. 5(c) will be described later.

[Monitoring system operation]
Next, the operation of the watching system configured as described above will be described. The operation is executed by cooperation between hardware such as the CPU 11 and the communication unit 19 of the server device 100 and software stored in the storage unit 18 . In the following description, for the sake of convenience, the CPU 11 of the server device 100 is assumed to be the operating body.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the flow of message reception notification processing in the monitoring system.

As shown in the figure, first, the CPU 11 of the server device 100 determines whether or not a message has been received from the user terminal 200 (step 61). When the user speaks to the user terminal 200 , the user terminal 200 side converts the terminal ID of the user terminal 200 and the content of the speech into a character string, puts them together into a message, and transmits the message to the server device 100 .

When determining that a message has been received from the user terminal 200 (Yes), the CPU 11 adds the message (terminal ID and message content) to the message reception list 143 (step 62).

Subsequently, the CPU 11 determines whether or not the difference between the current time and the notification time of the previous notification text exceeds the aggregation time (30 seconds) (step 63). Note that when the program according to the present embodiment is started in the server device 100, the notification time of the previous notification text is treated as being earlier than the current time by the aggregation time (30 seconds) or more.

If it is determined that the difference is within the aggregation time (No), the CPU 11 returns to step 61 to confirm the newly arrived message.

If it is determined that the difference exceeds the aggregation time (Yes), the CPU 11 refers to the message reception list 143 and confirms the number of received messages received from the previous notification to the present (step 64).

If it is determined that the number of received messages is 0, the CPU 11 returns to step 61 to confirm new messages.

When determining that the number of received messages is one, the CPU 11 generates an individual notification message for the one message using the normal message template (step 65), and sends the generated individual notification message to the server-side terminal 160. is output (step 67). The server-side terminal 160 notifies the operator of the received individual notification message. For example, the speaker S utters a notification saying, "A message has arrived from Mr. A."

When it is determined that the number of received messages is two or more, the CPU 11 generates an aggregate notification sentence using the shortened sentence template for those multiple messages at 0 o'clock (step 66), and generates it in the server-side terminal 160. A summary notice is output (step 67). The server-side terminal 160 notifies the operator of the received aggregation notice. For example, in the case of FIG. 5(a), the speaker S utters a notification text saying "I received two messages from Mr. A, two messages from Mr. B, and one message from Mr. C."

After outputting the notification text, the CPU 11 clears the message reception list 143 and sets the current time as the notification time of the previous notification text by the timer means 120 (step 68).

The CPU 11 repeatedly executes the above processing each time it receives a message from the user terminal 200 .

Next, specific sentence notification processing as exception processing of the processing described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 4(b) and 5(c).

For notification of the specific sentence, the specific sentence template stored as the notification sentence template 142 is used instead of the normal sentence template and the abbreviated sentence template.

The specific sentence template is used when the words uttered by the user to the user terminal 200 include specific words stored in advance in the storage means 140 . For example, as shown in FIG. 4B, if the words "feverish" and "doctor" are included, it is considered that the user is speaking of some kind of poor physical condition. Therefore, the notification message generation means 130 replaces "[specific word]" with "physical condition" according to such a specific word, and generates "Mr. D sent you a message about your physical condition" as the specific notification sentence. .

As shown in FIG. 5(c), the server device 100 refers to the message reception list 143 after the aggregation time elapses, and includes a specific word in the received messages received from the time of notification of the previous notification text to the present. If there is a message, generate a specific message and notify the operator.

As a result, the operator immediately notices the user's poor physical condition, etc., so that it is possible to further foster a "feeling of connection" and a "feeling of being watched over".

[summary]
As described above, according to this embodiment, when a large number of messages are received continuously in a short period of time, the server apparatus 100 does not notify the operator each time, but collects them after the aggregation time has elapsed. By notifying the operator, it is possible to prevent the operator from overlooking the received message and to respond to the message immediately. In addition, the processing load on the server device 100 can be reduced compared to the case where an individual notification message is always generated and notified.

[Modification]
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be modified in various ways without departing from the gist of the present invention.

In the above-described embodiment, the server device 100 generates an individual notification text and an aggregated notification text depending on whether or not the reception time of a new message is within the aggregation time from the notification time of the previous notification text. However, instead of this, the server apparatus 100 provides an individual mode for generating an individual notification message and an aggregate mode for generating an aggregate notification message, and allows the operator to set one of the modes using the setting input means 150. Either mode may be executed depending on the setting by operator input.

As a result, even if a plurality of messages are received within the aggregation time, for example, if the number of messages is about one in 10 seconds, the operator can dare to use the individual mode to avoid distraction and to check the presence of new messages in sequence. can be recognized by voice, the operator can also set the individual mode. Conversely, even if the message is not received after the aggregation time has passed, the aggregation mode can be maintained without switching to the individual mode if the operator is busy with other work and is unable to respond. In this manner, the individual mode and the aggregate mode can be switched and executed according to the operator's situation or the like.

In this case, instead of fixing the aggregation time (30 seconds), the operator may freely set it.

The server device 100 also monitors whether or not the operator is inputting a reply message to the received message via the setting input means 150 (operation reception unit 17). When such a message is received, an individual notification message may not be generated even after the aggregation time has elapsed, and an aggregated notification message including a notification regarding the new message may be generated when the above input is completed. Whether or not a reply message is being entered can be determined by, for example, whether or not there is an entry in the reply message entry field on the user interface of the application used for communication with the user.

As a result, the operator can concentrate on the input work by not generating the notification message while the operator is inputting the reply message, and can prevent the operator from being distracted by the notification or overlooking it.

In addition, not only the reply message, but also the setting input means 150 (operation reception unit 17), when a key input that continues for a certain period (for example, 10 seconds, 20 seconds, etc.) is detected, the server device 100 Alternatively, an aggregate notification message may be generated at the end of input without generating an individual notification message even after the aggregation time has elapsed.

Moreover, the server device 100 may make the aggregation notification text even shorter. This is because when the number of users increases, if all the names of the users who sent messages are included in the aggregate notification message, the aggregate notification message itself becomes long, which makes it impossible to prevent the operator from being distracted. Because it is possible. Therefore, the name of the user may be omitted, and the aggregate notification message may be, for example, "10 messages have arrived in total".

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the specific notification sentence is notified after the aggregation time elapses in the same way as the aggregation notification sentence. , it is considered that notification to the operator requires urgency, so as exceptional processing, the operator may be notified of a specific notification sentence using a specific sentence template regardless of the passage of the aggregation time.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the server apparatus 100 sets the aggregation time (30 seconds) as a fixed value, but it may be variable according to the situation. For example, by referring to the frequency of past message transmissions for each user, it is possible to estimate how long this state will continue when messages from multiple users or the same user concentrate, and then set the aggregation time. may

The server device 100 may also notify the operator of an individual notification message as exception processing when receiving a message from a user whose frequency of transmission is low. This is because such a user may have some intention to bother sending a message, and is worthy of attention from the operator.

Alternatively, the server device 100 grasps the tendency of the message transmission time period of a certain user, and even if the user has sent a message during a time period during which the message has hardly been sent, the individual notification message is sent to the operator as exception processing. may be notified to The reason is the same as above.

In addition, in the received message list shown in FIG. 4, the content uttered by the user is converted into character strings and stored as message content. , the content of which may be displayed as a character string. In that case, when a message is received from the user, it may be displayed together with the user name in real time, or may be displayed according to the display instruction input from the operator. Furthermore, the center-side terminal 160 may be provided with speech synthesizing means, and the content of the message received from the user may be notified to the operator by speech.

In the above-described embodiment, the notification sentence template stored in the storage means 140 is a character string from the viewpoint of storage capacity, and is converted into voice data that can be output from the speaker S using a voice synthesis technique as appropriate. If there is sufficient capacity, the audio data may be stored as is.

In the above-described embodiment, the aggregated notification is generated based on the time at which the operator is notified of the first message among messages received in succession, and other messages are received within the aggregated time. The reference time may be used as the reception time of the first message.

In this case, if the difference between the reception time of the first message and the reception time of the second and subsequent messages is stored as the reception interval in the received message list shown in FIG. ) can be easily determined.

In the above-described embodiment, the aggregate notification message uniformly includes the name of each user who has input the message and the number of received messages. Alternatively, if the number of new messages received within the aggregation time is less than a predetermined number (eg, 3, 5, etc.), the server device 100 includes the person's name and the number of received messages in the aggregation notification text. However, if the number of new messages is equal to or greater than a predetermined number, the aggregate notification message may include only the number of received messages without including the person's name.

As a result, when there are too many received messages, the user's name is read aloud poorly, which conversely makes the notification complicated, so by simplifying the notification, the operator can surely grasp the existence of the received message. be able to.

In the above-described embodiment, the generation of the aggregate notification sentence was based on the time when the operator was notified of the first message among messages received in succession. By referring to the output of , a notification message may be generated and notified simply each time the aggregation time elapses.

In this case, for example, if there are multiple messages received during the aggregation time, an aggregate notification message may be generated and notified in the same manner as in the above-described embodiment, and if there is only one message, an individual notification message may be used. . Alternatively, regardless of the number of cases, assuming that the format of the aggregation notification message in the above-described embodiment is followed, if the number of messages received during the aggregation time is one, for example, "I received one message from Mr. A." may notify you.

As a result, the operator can notice the reception of the message each time the collection time elapses, so that it is possible to respond to the input of the reply message while preventing the operator from overlooking the message.

Among the inventions claimed in the scope of claims of the present application, the invention described as a "monitoring method" automatically performs each step by at least one device such as a computer through information processing by software. , It is not performed by a human using a device such as a computer. That is, the "monitoring method" is an information processing method using computer software, and is not a method of manipulating a computing tool called a computer.

11 CPU
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 18... Storage part 19... Communication part 100... Server apparatus 110... Receiving means 120... Timing means 130... Notification text generation means 140... Storage means 150... Setting input means 160... Center side terminal 200... User terminal

Claims (9)

a terminal device having terminal input means for inputting a message from a user to be watched over and transmitting means for transmitting the message to the outside each time the user inputs a message;
receiving means for receiving the message from the terminal device via a network;
Notification text generation means for generating a notification text for notifying the reception of a new message to an operator watching over the user by voice;
A monitoring system comprising: output means for notifying the operator of the notification text; and storage means for storing an aggregation time, which is a length of time for aggregating the messages.
When the receiving means receives a new message before the aggregation time elapses after the output means notifies the operator of the notification text, the notification message generation means determines whether or not the new message has been received. When a first notification message is generated to be collectively notified after the aggregation time has elapsed, and the receiving means does not receive a new message before the aggregation time elapses and a new message is received after the aggregation time has elapsed, A watching system that generates a second notification text that notifies reception of the new message. The center device further has storage means for storing user information including the name of the user,
2. The notification message generating means according to claim 1, wherein the first notification message includes at least the number of the new messages, and the second notification message includes the name of the user who entered the new message. The monitoring system described. 2. When said newly received message includes a specific word, said notification message generating means generates a specific notification message corresponding to said word even before said aggregation time elapses. Or the watching system according to 2. The center device further has input means for receiving input of a reply message to the received message from the operator,
When a new message is received while the reply message is being input, the notification message generating means does not generate the second notification message even after the aggregation time has elapsed, and the input of the reply message is completed. 4. The watching system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the first notification message including notification regarding the new message is sometimes generated. The center device receives from the operator either a setting input for setting a first mode for generating the first notification message or a setting input for setting a second mode for generating the second notification message. further having
The watching system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein said notification message generating means executes either said first mode or said second mode according to said setting input. When the number of new messages received before the aggregation time elapses is less than a predetermined number, the notification text generating means stores the name of each user who has input the new message and the number of messages for each user in the first 6. The watching according to any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein the number of new messages is included in the notification text and the number of the new messages is included in the first notification text when the number of the new messages is equal to or greater than the predetermined number system. receiving the message via a network from a terminal device having terminal input means for inputting a message from a user to be watched over and transmission means for transmitting the message to the outside each time the user inputs a message;
If a new message is received before the aggregation time, which is the length of time for aggregating the messages, elapses after the operator watching the user is notified of the reception of the message, the reception of the new message is delayed until the aggregation time. After the elapse of the aggregation time, the operator is collectively notified by voice, and if a new message is received after the aggregation time elapses without receiving a new message before the aggregation time elapses, the new message will be received. Notify Monitoring method. to the center device,
a step of receiving the message via a network from a terminal device having terminal input means for inputting a message from a user to be watched over and transmission means for transmitting the message to the outside each time the user inputs a message; ,
If a new message is received before the aggregation time, which is the length of time for aggregating the messages, elapses after the operator watching the user is notified of the reception of the message, the reception of the new message is delayed until the aggregation time. After the elapse of the aggregation time, the operator is collectively notified by voice, and if a new message is received after the aggregation time elapses without receiving a new message before the aggregation time elapses, the new message will be received. A program causing the steps of notifying said operator and a terminal device having terminal input means for inputting a message from a user to be watched over and transmitting means for transmitting the message to the outside each time the user inputs a message;
receiving means for receiving the message from the terminal device via a network;
Notification text generation means for generating a notification text for notifying the reception of a new message to an operator watching over the user by voice;
A monitoring system comprising: output means for notifying the operator of the notification text; and storage means for storing an aggregation time, which is a length of time for aggregating the messages.
The monitoring system, wherein the notification message generating means repeatedly counts the aggregation time and generates the notification message collectively notifying the messages received within the aggregation time.

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