KR20010028733A - System for Receiving Queries and Providing Answers thereto - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: The query and answer system is provided to reduce a time for communicating with a server by accessing and querying to the server regardless of querying subject and perceiving the answer easily and confirming the contents of the answer easily. CONSTITUTION: A plurality of user's terminals(99a¯99m) have a web browser program and an electronic mail client program. A user who queried to a server confirms the contents of the answer from a plurality of specialist terminals(60a¯60n) through an electronic mail client program. A router (11) renders a host system(10) to be connected to the internet(1). A hub(12) renders an operator terminal(14), a web server(16) and an electronic mail server(20) to be integrated as one network in the host system(10). An application program(30) and a DBMS system(40) are provided in a hardware server having the web server(16). The web server(16) is provided for storing, managing and distributing. The electronic mail server(20) comprises a transmitting mail server as a simple mail transfer server(SMTP) and a receiving mail server as a post office server(POP). The SMTP server transmits querying contents of the user to the specialist terminals(60a¯60n) as a mail form. The POP server receives a response mail from the specialist terminals(60a¯60n) and displays the contents of response on a notice board. The application program(30) is connected to the web server(16) and the electronic mail server(20) by an application program interface.

Description

System for Receiving Queries and Providing Answers

The present invention relates to a question-and-answer system, and more particularly, to a question-and-answer system in which a question is asked through a data communication network and an answer thereto.

As information and communication technology develops and computer dissemination expands, the use of the Internet as a means for obtaining information in homes and offices is becoming common. The Internet is a worldwide computer network that allows anyone and anytime, anywhere to find the information they need, often referred to as the 'sea of information' in light of the vast amount of information it can obtain.

In order to obtain information from the Internet, a user generally uses a client program called a web browser. That is, the user can directly access the corresponding website by browsing the web document by inputting the address of the specific website in the address input box on the web browser. If you do not know the address of the website that contains the information you want to use, access the search engine site and enter a word or phrase that appropriately identifies the information you want to obtain and respond to the list of sites or web pages provided. You can also selectively search each site or page sequentially.

However, such information retrieval through web browsing is useful for acquiring text or image information on a general subject, but it is not possible for each user to acquire information suitable for his specific specificity with respect to a specific question he wants to solve. Often difficult. As a way to solve such personal questions, many websites operate bulletin boards. If you want to solve your own questions through the bulletin board, the user will search the appropriate website, upload the question to the bulletin board page provided by the website, and wait for the answer. In addition, the experts selected by the site administrator or the operator provide answers to the questions of each site visitor. The answers are also made through the bulletin board.

However, such a question and answer method through the bulletin board has a problem that users with questions have to search the website that operates the appropriate bulletin board, because each site deals only with the topics that are appropriate for their site characteristics. In particular, not all sites operate bulletin boards, so even if you visit a specific site related to your question, you may have to search for and visit another site if the site does not have a bulletin board. Accordingly, it may take a long time to access the appropriate bulletin board.

On the other hand, after uploading the question content to the bulletin board, the questioner visits the bulletin board from time to time to check whether the answer to his question was made. Therefore, if the answer to the question is delayed, it can waste considerable time for Internet access and web browsing. In addition, the respondents must continuously check whether new questions are uploaded to the bulletin board, which can be quite cumbersome and time-consuming in some cases.

The present invention has been made in order to solve such a problem, each questioner can access and query regardless of the topic of his or her question content, it is easy to determine whether the answer to the question, and also can easily check the content of the answer, It is a technical task to provide a question-and-answer system that allows an answerer to easily answer each question.

1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a question and answer system according to the present invention.

2A and 2B are flowcharts illustrating a question and answer process in the question answering system according to the present invention.

3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a question and answer page provided by a web server.

4 is a diagram illustrating an example of an expert registration page provided by a web server.

The question-answering system of the present invention for achieving the above technical problem includes a host system that is connected through a communication network by a plurality of expert terminals and a user to receive a first question message from the user. The host system selects at least one of the plurality of expert terminals based on the question contents included in the first question message, and transmits the question contents to the selected expert terminal as a second message in an e-mail format. The selected expert terminal provides a response message corresponding to the first question message to the user through an e-mail.

In a preferred embodiment of the host system, the data storage means stores e-mail addresses and personal details of each of the plurality of experts corresponding to each of the plurality of expert terminals. The web server stores a plurality of web documents including a question submission page having a question content input window, and provides the question submission page to the user in response to the user's request. In response to the user inputting the question content in the question content input window on the question submission page and transmitting the question content, the answering unit selection means includes at least one of a plurality of experts from data stored in the data storage means corresponding to the question content displayed in the question content input window. Select some. The e-mail transmitting and receiving means transmits the second message to the terminal of the selected expert.

In such a question and answer system, each user, or questioner, connects to a web server and registers his or her own question. In this case, the questioner may designate a category to which the subject of the question content belongs. If the questioner does not specify a category, the search engine of the host system selects the category from the question. One or more of the predetermined experts are selected according to the category of the question content, and the question content is sent by e-mail to the selected experts. Each expert who receives a question writes an answer to the question and sends it to the interrogator and the host system by e-mail. Accordingly, the questioner checks whether an answer is reached from his e-mail inbox and checks the content of the answer. On the other hand, the response content sent to the host system may be listed on the bulletin board provided by the web server.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

1 shows a configuration of an embodiment of a question-answering system according to the present invention. The question and answer system is built on the Internet 1, and includes a host system 10 and a plurality of expert terminals 60a to 60n. Meanwhile, FIG. 1 shows a plurality of user terminals 99a to 99m together.

Each of the user terminals 99a-99m is a web browser program such as, for example, Netscape Navigator (which may be a trademark) or Internet Explorer (which may be a trademark) and, for example, Netscape Messenger (which may be a trademark) or Outlook. It is loading an e-mail client program such as Express (which may be a trademark). A user of each terminal 99a-99m can access the host system 10 via the Internet 1 and upload his or her question contents through a web page for questions provided by the host system 10. The user who made a question checks the contents of the answers from one or more expert terminals 60a-60n through an e-mail client program.

On the other hand, the host system 10 includes a router 11 and a hub 12, an operator terminal 14, a web server 16, an e-mail server 20, an application program 30, and database management. A system (DBMS) 40 and a database 50. The router 11 physically and logically allows the host system 10 to be connected to the Internet 1, and the hub 12 is an operator terminal 14, web server 16 within the host system 10. And e-mail server 20 can be integrated into one network. In a preferred embodiment, web server 16 and email server 20 are programs implemented in separate hardware. In addition, the application program 30 and the DBMS 40 are installed together in a hardware server on which the web server 16 is loaded. However, in another embodiment of the present invention, the web server 16 and the e-mail server 20 may be implemented in one hardware server. In addition, the hardware implementation method may be variously modified according to the size of the system. On the other hand, the operator terminal 14, which can optionally be used, is used to manage the host system 10 as a whole.

The web server 16 is a program for the host system 10 operator to store, manage, control, and distribute materials in order to provide information services through the Internet 1, in particular, the World Wide Web (WWW). In the hardware on which the web server 16 is loaded, a plurality of web documents 18 written in hypertext markup language (HTML) are loaded together, so that the web server 16 uses these web documents 18 for the user. It is possible to provide in response to the requirements of. Among the web documents 18 includes a 'question submission page' for allowing a user to upload his or her query. In addition, in the preferred embodiment, the web documents 18 also include bulletin boards or FAQ pages that collectively view existing questions and answers. Meanwhile, many of the web documents 18 provided to users by the web server 16 may be dynamically changed by the application program 30.

The e-mail server 20 includes an outgoing mail server such as a Simple Mail Transfer Server (SMTP) server and an incoming mail server such as a Post Office Server (POP) server. In addition, a plurality of electronic mails 22 can be stored in the hardware on which the electronic mail server 20 is loaded. The SMTP server sends the user's inquiries in the form of a mail to the e-mail server with which the expert terminals 60a-60n have an account, so that the expert terminals 60a-60n can receive them. Meanwhile, the POP server receives the reply mails from the expert terminals 60a-60n and delivers the reply mail to the application program 30 so that the answer contents can be displayed on the bulletin board.

Application program 30 is associated with web server 16 and email server 20 by an application program interface (API). The application 30 receives data from the web server 16 or the e-mail server 20 or reads data from the database 50 through the DBMS 40 to perform necessary tasks. The application program 30 transmits the data generated or acquired as a result of the operation to the web server 16 or the e-mail server 20 or stores the data in the database 50. In detail, the application program 30 includes a main control unit 31, a category determination unit 32, an answerer selection unit 34, a file format conversion unit 36, and a reward determination unit 38, The function will be described later.

The DBMS 40 is a relational database management system (RDBMS) and is implemented using Oracle, Informix, or MS SQLserver. The database 50 includes an expert DB and a category search DB, which store data or output stored data under management of the DBMS 40. In the preferred embodiment, DBMS 40 is linked to application 28 by ODBC. However, in another embodiment of the present invention, the DBMS 40 may be linked to the application program 30 by other interworking means such as ASP or JDBC.

2 to 3, the operation of the system of FIG. 1 will be described in more detail.

2A and 2B are flowcharts illustrating a question and answer process in the question answering system according to the present invention. The question-and-answer process shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B is generally divided into query steps (steps 100 to 104), answerer selection and forwarding steps (steps 106 and 112), and answer steps (steps 114 to 114). Step 118) and compensation steps 120 and 122;

First, a user who wants to make a query accesses the host system 10 through the Internet 1 (step 100). Internet access can be through a dial-up modem or cable modem, through a digital subscriber line (DSL) modem such as an ADSL or HDSL modem, or over a dedicated line. On the other hand, the user's terminal (one of 99a to 99m) to be queried has an account with the host system 10 and may be directly connected, or may be connected to the host system 10 via another Internet network provider. It may be.

In the state of being connected to the host system 10, the user may select a question and answer page in the initial screen, i.e., the home page or while browsing another page (step 102). An example of a question and answer page is shown in FIG. 3. The Q & A page displays fields for entering the name and e-mail address of the query, a category selection box, and a question content input window. The inquirer enters his name and e-mail address and then enters a question. In this case, categories of questions can be entered together. Examples of these categories are 'literature', 'literature', 'foreign language', 'history', 'philosophy', 'politics',' diplomacy ',' Psychology, archeology, law, patents, economics / management, physics, electronics / products, and computers. It may be broken down. When the input is completed, the queryer may click the 'register' button displayed at the bottom of the question and answer page to transmit the content of the question to the web server 16.

When the question is received, the host system 10 selects an answerer from among a plurality of experts registered for the question, and forwards the question content to the selected answerer. To this end, first, the web server 16 is sent to the application program 30 at the same time the received questions are registered on the bulletin board. In the application program 30, the main control unit 31 determines whether the questioner has designated a category for the question (step 106). If a category is not specified, the main controller 31 causes the category determiner 32 to determine the category for the question. The category determination unit 32 includes a natural language search engine, and in response to the determination request, the category determination unit 32 drives the natural language search engine to determine a category with reference to the category search DB based on the question contents (step 108).

When the category is determined, the answerer selecting unit 34 of the application 30 selects the answerer by referring to the expert DB (step 110). In the system of the present invention, the expert DB stores pool data of a plurality of experts contracted with the system operator, and the answerer is selected from the expert pool. Here, at least one expert is appointed for each question category, and this expert pool is determined during system construction and can be continuously reinforced. In addition, each expert has a unit price for answering the question, which can also be adjusted based on the evaluation of each respondent's response in the system operation process.

In a preferred embodiment, the appointment of an expert is made by the system operator in direct contact with the appropriate person, or by granting the candidates the opportunity to apply for a senior registration and reviewing the applicants. 4 shows an example of an expert registration page. The expert registration page displays fields for entering the name and e-mail address of the applicant, a category selection box, and a question content input window. If you want to apply for an expert, enter your name and e-mail address, and then enter the category you wish to be in charge of. At this point, you can enter additional comments about your introduction. When the input is completed, the expert support applicant may click the 'register' button displayed at the bottom of the expert registration page to transmit the question content to the web server 16. When the door is opened to those who wish to be selected as experts, it is possible to appropriately select experts in areas where it is difficult to select experts only by objective literature such as common sense of life or travel destinations.

Referring back to FIG. 2, in the system selecting an answerer for each question, if a plurality of experts are selected within a category, an answerer for each question is selected from a plurality of experts. However, in another embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of answerers may be selected for a question. In addition, when a question is not answered within a certain time for each question, another answerer may be newly selected for the question.

When the answeree selection is completed, the file format conversion unit 36 converts the file format to the e-mail format for the question message. The e-mail server 20 transmits the format converted question message to the answerer by e-mail (step 112). At this time, the e-mail address of the selected answerer is called by the expert DB. On the other hand, when the file format conversion unit 36 converts the file format into the e-mail format, a predetermined account in the e-mail server 20 is added to the recipient, so that the contents of the reply can be answered by the questioner and the e-mail server 20. It can also be sent.

Subsequently, the respondent who receives the e-mail containing the question content will write an answer to the question using his e-mail client program (step 114), and send the completed answer via e-mail (see Step 116). As described above, the reply message is simultaneously sent to the questioner and the answer account of the e-mail server 20. The reply message received in the reply account of the e-mail server 20 is transmitted to the file format converter 36 of the application program 30. The file format conversion unit 36 removes the e-mail header from the response message and transmits the e-mail header to the web server 16 so that the response content is posted on the bulletin board provided by the web server 16 (step 118). In this case, in order to increase information utility to third parties, the question and answer content may be posted for each category.

Whenever the answer by the answerer is made or for a certain period of time, the compensation determining unit 38 of the application 30 determines the compensation for the answerer (step 120). In addition, a cumulative amount of compensation is periodically transmitted to each answerer (step 122). For system administrators, these rewards can come from advertising revenues or other sources of revenue realized during web server operations.

The above description illustrates a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited thereto and may be variously modified. For example, in another embodiment of the present invention, an item “Private Application” may be added to the question and answer page so that the question and answer content may not be listed on the bulletin board. In addition, in another embodiment of the present invention, a question message sent by the host system to the answerer or an answer message sent by the answerer may be transmitted through webmail instead of the normal e-mail. In addition, a voice or an image as well as text may be added to the question of the questioner or the answer of the answerer.

Meanwhile, in another embodiment, the answerer's answer may not be directly transmitted to the questioner, but may be transmitted only to the host system, and then the host system may cause the host system to retransmit the answer to the questioner. In this case, the host system may add content for replying to the questioner satisfaction with respect to the answer content in the reply message resent to the questioner. Of course, even in the case where the answerer directly sends the answer to the questioner, the host system may separately send each questioner an e-mail for checking the satisfaction of the answer content or operate a webpage for checking the satisfaction. Collected satisfaction data can be used to adjust the price of each respondent's answer.

According to the present invention, a number of questioners have the advantage of being able to solve their own questions on one website regardless of the subject matter or the field of their question. In addition, the questioner does not need to browse the bulletin board of the web server to check the answer to his question, it is possible to confirm the answer by checking only the inbox in their e-mail client program.

In addition, from the responder's point of view, each answerer does not need to browse the bulletin board to see if the question he or she needs to answer is uploaded to the host. You will be able to answer. In particular, the answerer can save the communication cost in the case of the answerer who connects to the Internet through the dial-up modem because the answerer can write the answer in the offline state and go online only when transmitting.

On the other hand, the host system operator can reduce the traffic burden of the server because it can reduce the traffic to access the answer to the question and to confirm the content of the answer. In addition, the system operator can increase the degree of awareness of the system, as well as conduct a comprehensive consulting business. In addition, by limiting the qualifications of the interrogators to members, it is also possible to increase the number of members and increase the economic value of the system.

Claims (7)

Multiple expert terminals; And A host system connected by a user via a communication network to receive a first question message from the user; A question and answer system for providing a response message corresponding to the first question message to the user, comprising: The host system selects at least one of the plurality of expert terminals based on the question contents included in the first question message, and the selected expert terminal transmits the response message to the user through an e-mail. system. The question-and-answer system according to claim 1, wherein the host system transmits the question content to the selected expert terminal as a second message in an e-mail format, and notifies the selected expert terminal. The system of claim 2, wherein the host system is Data storage means for storing personal information and an e-mail address of each of a plurality of experts corresponding to each of the plurality of expert terminals; A web server for storing a plurality of web documents including a question submission page having a question content input window and providing the question submission page to the user in response to a request of the user; When the user inputs and transmits the question content in the question content input window on the question submission page, at least one of the experts from the data stored in the data storage means corresponding to the question content displayed in the question content input window. Means for selecting respondents for selecting a portion; E-mail transmission and reception means for transmitting the second message to the terminal of the selected expert. The question and answer system according to claim 3, wherein the first question message includes category data indicating a category of the question content, and the answering machine selecting means selects at least one of the plurality of expert terminals based on the category data. . 4. The system of claim 3, wherein the host system Category determining means for extracting category data indicating a category of the question content from a first question message, And the answering machine determining means selects at least one of the plurality of expert terminals based on the category data. The method of claim 3, The host system further comprises file format converting means for converting the file format of the second message from an e-mail form to a web document form, The plurality of web documents include bulletin board pages, The selected expert terminal transmits the response message to the e-mail transmitting and receiving means together with the user, and the file format converting means converts the format of the response message into a web document form so that the web server converts the response message. Question and answer system to provide through the bulletin board page. The method according to claim 3 or 6, wherein The host system further comprises compensation data storage means for calculating a compensation amount for each of the plurality of experts, The compensation data storing means may update the compensation amount for the selected expert terminal whenever the selected expert terminal transmits the response message, so that the operator of the host system may pay the updated compensation money to the selected expert. Q & A system to enable.