JPH0452719A - Metaphor environment control mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To ensure the action suited to the fond of an individual by rewriting a working memory by reference to a rule base and controlling the state transition of the metaphor. CONSTITUTION:The state transition rules of each metaphor are described to the rule bases 1-1 - 1-n, and a working memory 4 stores the relationships of metaphors and the information on the transition state and other states. Then a rule base control means 2 refers to the bases 1-1 - 1-n to rewrite the information stored in the memory 4 and to control a function calling means 5. The means 2 also controls the means 3 to carry out the state transition of the metaphor. The action suited to the fond of the individual is ensured.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a metaphor environment control mechanism that presents information by controlling a metaphor environment using a plurality of metaphors.

[Conventional technology]

Some systems use computers to present news, weather forecasts, and other various information, such as by opening windows on the screen and transmitting text information. However, with conventional systems like this, it is necessary to follow menus or input keywords in order to select the desired information, and there is a problem in that it is generally difficult for people who are not familiar with the system to use it.

Therefore, in recent years, in order to make it more familiar to the general public, a desktop metaphor method has been adopted, which uses an image of a desk on the screen to provide desired information.

[Invention or problem to be solved]

However, even with the above-mentioned desktop metaphor, selecting the desired information requires special operations that simulate a desk, and it is still difficult for the general public to understand.

Furthermore, even if all information is automatically presented, for example, it has the advantage that no operations are required, but there is a problem that the information that one wants to know cannot be viewed in the order that one wants to know. On the other hand, even if information can be selected by following a menu or entering a keyword, there is a problem in that the operation becomes cumbersome. Furthermore, even if you are able to select the information you want to know, the information is delivered as text, so you have to read the information in text, which is still difficult for the general public to understand.

Therefore, the present applicant has separately proposed a device in which information is presented in a television metaphor environment with the feeling of watching a television news program.

FIG. 5 shows an outline of its configuration.

The information presentation device in the television metaphor environment is shown in Figure 5 (
As shown in a), the hardware is a computer (for example, NEC personal computer PC9801RX).
li! Child voice generating device 12, mouse 13, modem 14,
It consists of a telephone line 15, and the software therein includes, for example, a script interpreter running on MS-DO3,
It consists of a script description file that provides instructions for this. An environment is realized in which the user can operate the television and watch news programs through the electronic voice production device 12 and the display 16. As data, for example, NIFTY-3erve
Not only data that can be imported from the Mainichi Shimbun Online News Breaking News, Mainichi Shimbun Online Regional News, National City Forecast, and other computer networks, but also general data may be used. An example of the information presentation screen is shown in the same figure (bl).

The overall functions necessary for the information presentation device are broadly divided into a portion constituting the television metaphor environment and a communication function.

The television metaphor consists of four metaphors: a TV set VTR controller, a news program, and a program introduction, and a script corresponding to each metaphor is written.

The TV set script and VTR controller script describe how the state of the television receiver and program changes in response to operations on each metaphor. For example, if the power switch, volume button, channel is pressed, or
It describes what state changes occur when each button on the controller is pressed. News program scripts are used to control the progress of a news program, such as how to process and present input data.
The program introduction script describes the rules for composing and presenting data from a personal computer network such as 3erve into a news program, and the program introduction script describes the rules for configuring the program introduction. Descriptions of these metaphors are written in files called scripts, which are read and operated by a script interpreter.

The communication function is realized by writing the communication method between the communication function of the script interpreter (the function of handling specified data input from R3232C as an event and the function of sending a pig) and a PC network such as NIFTY-8erve as a script. do.

In the information presentation device, a television receiver 21. is displayed on the display as shown in FIG. The VTR controller 22 is always displayed. And, with some exceptions, the power switch 23, channel button 24, volume button 25, and buttons (26 to 31) of the VTR controller 22 of the television receiver 21 can be operated in all situations,
Operations on these are called basic operations. Furthermore, some metaphors displayed on the cathode ray tube 32 can be manipulated depending on the scene.

In a television metaphor environment such as the one described above, packaged information can be displayed in a newspaper format suitable for browsing, or in a television program format suitable for glazing. At this time, V
The operation of pressing the TR fast-forward button can be understood as triggering an action of turning the page of a newspaper when the user is displaying a newspaper-style display, and when the user is displaying a TV program format. This can be understood as causing the action of fast-forwarding the screen. Furthermore, if the user presses the play button on a VTR under the condition that the user is focusing on a photo in a newspaper article, this corresponds to a request to turn a still photo into a video. It can be understood.

It is also conceivable to fast-forward or rewind a moving image using the metaphor of a clock. In this way, the fast-forward button on a VTR corresponds to multiple meanings, including ``turning a page in a newspaper'' and ``fast-forwarding a screen on a television.'' This is called a ``polysemic metaphor.'' The fast-forwarding of the screen corresponds to multiple metaphors, including the metaphor "fast-forward button on an rVTR" and the metaphor "clock", and these are called "synonymous metaphors". The ambiguity inherent in polysemic and synonymous metaphors must be resolved to suit the user's context, knowledge, intentions, preferences, etc.

The present invention is intended to solve the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a metaphor environment control mechanism that makes it possible to realize actions that suit individual tastes under the same conditions and the same event.

[Means to solve the problem]

To this end, the present invention provides a metaphor environment control mechanism that presents information using a plurality of metaphors, a rule base in which rules for each metaphor are written, a working memory that stores state control information regarding the state of each metaphor, and a rule base. The present invention is characterized in that it includes a rule-based control means that rewrites the working memory and controls the state transition of the metaphor. In addition, the rule base is configured as a separate rule base for each metaphor, and the confidence value and activation value of each rule can be set. Conflicts between rules are resolved by adjusting the confidence value and activation value. The feature is that there are multiple types that fire in response to the same conditions and the same event.

[Effect]

In the metaphor environment control mechanism of the present invention, the rules for each metaphor are written in the rule base, and the state control information regarding the state of each metaphor is stored in the working memory to control the state transition of the metaphor. By introducing confidence values and activation values for each metaphor that can be set according to preferences, it is possible to realize actions that suit individual preferences.

〔Example〕

Examples will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of one embodiment of the metaphor environment control mechanism according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a television metaphor environment, and FIG. 3 is a configuration example of an aggregation hierarchy of the television metaphor environment. FIG.

In FIG. 1, rule bases 1-1 to 1-n write state transition rules for each metaphor, and a working memory 4 stores information regarding relationships, state transitions, and other states of each metaphor. It is something to keep. The input/output control means 3 controls input/output between the display, the mouse, and the voice producing device, and the function calling means 5 calls a certain function of the application. The rule base control means 2 refers to the rule bases 1-1 to 1-n, rewrites the information stored in the working memory 4, controls the function calling means 5, and controls the input/output control means 3 to process the metaphor. It realizes state transition. .

First, to explain the configuration and control of the metaphor environment, one metaphor is configured as one production system with several states, and the rules of the production system have states and events on the left side and actions on the right side. Events include user actions, messages from other metaphors, timeouts, and so on. There are three types of actions: state control, screen control, and function call. State control causes a change in the state of the metaphor itself, screen control causes a change in the display of the metaphor, and function call causes a change in the metaphor's display. Make a call. Each metaphor has an aggregation hierarchy, with the parent of the hierarchy being called the master and the children being slaves.

For example, a television metaphor environment consisting of the screen shown in Figure 2 includes a TV set metaphor, a newspaper metaphor, a VT
Objects that are composed of R controller metaphors, etc., and presented to the user include a television receiver, caster, V
Includes TR control panel, newspaper, clock, etc.

These are composed of an aggregation hierarchy of objects as shown in FIG. Of course, these objects can be rearranged according to the user's preferences,
Operations on objects can be interpreted according to the user's context, and functions can be called flexibly.

Next, examples of information written as common knowledge rules regarding each metaphor are shown.

For example, in the TV set metaphor, slave metaphors include metaphors such as a channel, a volume button, a power switch, and a program. The possible states of the TV set metaphor are the icon state and the oven state. When the TV set metaphor is in the oven state, it is in the on state and the off state, and when it is in the on state, it is in the multi-state state represented by the program being displayed, the channel number, and the volume level. It has a dimensional state. The rules that are written are that when a report is received from a channel (slave) that a user has pressed a certain channel button, the master is asked about the program, and when a request to display a certain program is received from the master, a request is made to the program (slave) to display it. do,
When the power supply (slave) reports that the user has turned on the power, requests the channel (slave) to set the default channel number.When the power supply (slave) reports that the user has turned on the power, it requests the default program. etc.

Next, an example of working memory and rules will be explained.

The working memory has a hierarchical structure of masters and slaves for each metaphor, as shown in FIGS. 4(a) to 4(e), for example.

A user's operations on a metaphor environment can often be interpreted in a number of ways. For example, in a television metaphor environment such as the above example, if a user is trying to open an iconized newspaper metaphor with the mouse cursor, the task intent of what the user is trying to do by opening the newspaper metaphor is There are several possibilities:

(a) If you are trying to search for news in newspapers independently of the TV set metaphor. (b) If you are trying to use the newspaper's TV shelf to switch programs on the TV set metaphor. When trying to review the currently displayed news program on a set metaphor in the form of a newspaper metaphor, these ambiguities must be resolved based on the context of the user's task performance and the user's personal preferences. Below, an example will be shown in which this ambiguity is resolved by conflict resolution based on variable CF values and activation values of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the state of working memory.

The area in the 5 status slot of each metaphor in working memory contains an activation value, T, in the television metaphor environment.
The activation value, iconization, and channel are set in the V set metaphor, the activation value, display/non-display, and news name are set in the display metaphor, and the activation value, iconization, and display surface information are set in the newspaper metaphor. On the other hand, the rules for the newspaper metaphor are: ■ Iconization: close, mouse-bu
tton: on->read (activation value, $a
cLval).

rewrite (activation value, $acLval +0.5
) rewrite (iconize, open) CF=
0.8 ■ Iconization: open, display screen: none->
rewrite (display surface, politics).

call-function (news-db (politics)) CF = 0.2 ■ Iconization: open, display surface: none>r
ewrite (display surface, home).

calLfunction(news-db (home)
) CF=0.2 ■ Iconization: open, display screen: none>r
ewrite (display surface, economy).

calLfunction(news-db (economy)
) CF=0.9 ■ Iconization: open, display screen: none->
rewrite (display surface 9 society).

call-function (news-db (economic)) CF = 0.2 ■ Iconization: open, display surface: none>r
ewrite (display surface, television).

calLfunction (news-db (TV)) CF= 0.2 ■ Iconization/open, display surface: none>re
ad (TV set metaphor.

activation value, $acLval) rewrite (display surface, TV).

call-function (newsJb (TV)) CF= $act-val ■ Iconization: open, display surface: none>r
ead (display metaphor.

activation value, $act-val).

read (display metaphor.

News name, $news-name).

rewrite (display surface, $news-name)c
alLfunction(news-db($news
-name)) CF= $acLval According to the above rules, rule ■ adds 0.5 to the current activation value when the newspaper metaphor is turned into an icon and the mouse button is pressed. .

From Rule ■ to Rule ■, when the newspaper metaphor is open and the display surface has not been determined, political
A function to call up a news database to display any of the household, economic, social, or television aspects (news
-db).

Therefore, for example, as in the working memory state shown in Figure 4(a), if the activation value of another metaphor is O, then among rules ■ to rule ■, rule ■ with a CF value of 0.9 fires. be done. The working memory newspaper metaphor has an activation value of 0.5 and an iconization of clo.
From se to open, the display screen is rewritten to economic, and the economic side is displayed. This is in charge of task intent (a) above.

Note that if the user is not satisfied with the display of economic aspects based on the CF value, a room is prepared in which the user can select another display surface from the menu, and the rule-based control means rewrites the CF value based on the selection.

Rule ■ is that when the newspaper metaphor is open and the display surface has not been determined, the activation value of the TV set metaphor is 1, as shown in the working memory state shown in the same figure (bl). When this happens, the TV screen will be displayed. This corresponds to task intention (a) above.

Rule ■ is that when the newspaper metaphor is open and the display surface has not been determined, the activation value of the display metaphor is 1, as in the working memory state shown in (C) of the same figure. At this point, the content being displayed on the news program (in this case politics) will be displayed. This corresponds to (1) of the task intent above.

As described above, the present invention allows multiple common knowledge rules written in one metaphor of rule bases 1-1 to 1-n to fire in response to the same conditions and the same event. It is intended to do so. For example, in the case of the above-mentioned newspaper metaphor, in the page that is displayed when the newspaper metaphor is opened, the political column, economic column, life column, and television column that the newspaper metaphor has as slaves can all be candidates. At this time, by setting a CF value for each rule and introducing a mechanism that changes it by applying it to an individual, the operation of each metaphor can be adapted to the individual's preference. Such individual adaptations are either individual adaptations in the priority of the rules that fire within a metaphor, or the user, when performing a task on the metaphor environment, actively adjusts the semantic relationships that exist between the metaphor edges. It is thought that it will be used for For example, the page that should appear in the oven of a newspaper metaphor is influenced by the state of the TV set metaphor that is in the same metaphor environment.

The influence that occurs in the relationship between these meta-edges is
This can be achieved by introducing an activation value to each metaphor and making it so that the activation value of one metaphor affects the conflict resolution of the rules of other metaphors. For example, to open a newspaper metaphor when the power of the TV set metaphor has just been turned on, the activation value of the TV set metaphor is increased, and the information on the activation value is used to select rules related to the display of the TV column. All you have to do is encourage them.

At this time, the influence of the user's operation on the activation value of a certain metaphor may differ depending on the individual, and by adapting the degree, the effect of individual adaptation can be obtained.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications are possible. For example, in the above embodiment, a television metaphor environment has been described, but it goes without saying that the present invention can be similarly applied to other metaphor environments.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the above explanation, according to the present invention, confidence values and activation values for each metaphor, which can be set according to individual preferences, are introduced into the rules and working memory, and the rules for each metaphor and the activation value for each metaphor are introduced into the rules and working memory. Since the state side image information related to the state is written and the state transition of the metaphor is divided, it is possible to realize actions that suit individual tastes. Therefore, in the past, the user had to use complicated customization methods, but automation of customization (individual adaptation) can be achieved by adjusting confidence values and activation values to achieve actions that suit individual tastes. It becomes possible.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of one embodiment of the metaphor environment control mechanism according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a television metaphor environment, and FIG. 3 is a configuration example of an aggregation hierarchy of the television metaphor environment. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the state of working memory, and FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining an information presentation apparatus in a television metaphor environment. 1-1 to 1-n: rule base, 2: rule base control means, 3: input/output control means, 4: working memory, 5: function calling means. Figure 1 Applicant Personal Information Environment Association Agent Patent Attorney Ryukichi Abe (7 others) Figure 2 Figure (b) Figure (a) Figure (c)

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In a metaphor environment control mechanism that controls a metaphor environment using multiple metaphors and presents information, a rule base in which rules for each metaphor are written, a working memory that stores state control information regarding the state of each metaphor;
A metaphor environment control mechanism comprising a rule base control means for controlling metaphor state transition by rewriting a working memory with reference to a rule base. (2) The metaphor environment control mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the rule base is composed of an individual rule base for each metaphor, and there are a plurality of rule bases that fire in response to the same conditions and the same event. (3) The rule base is configured such that a confidence value and an activation value of each rule can be set, and conflicts between rules are resolved by adjusting the confidence value and activation value. metaphor environmental control mechanism.