Apparatus and method for determining information retrieval applicability and generating best case for determination

• US 20070168337A1
• Filed: 04/28/2006
• Published: 07/19/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Namba, Isao, Onodera, Sachiko
• Granted Patent: US 7,849,066 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/00 Speech recognition G10L17/00 takes precedence

Abstract

The apparatus acquires retrieval history data of information retrieval to be determined, and acquires voice data of the conversation heard about information necessary for the information retrieval. A predetermined keyword dictionary is referred to from the voice data, and an expression matching a keyword indicating necessary information for information retrieval is extracted, and defined as a keyword obtained before retrieval. Then, the keyword obtained before retrieval and the retrieval history data (a retrieval key, a selected document, and an order in the retrieval result of the selected document) are compared with the best case data accumulated in the best case data storage unit, the applicability of the keyword obtained before retrieval and the applicability of the retrieval key are determined, and the applicability of the information retrieving process is obtained based on the determination.

Claims

1. An apparatus for determining applicability of an information retrieving process, comprising:

a keyword storage unit for storing a keyword indicating necessary information for an information retrieving process;

a best case storage unit for storing best case data including a keyword indicating information about a best execution example of an information retrieving process and necessary information for the information retrieving process acquired before the information retrieving process, a retrieval key used in the information retrieving process, a selected document indicating a document selected from among retrieval results, and an order of the selected documents in the retrieval results;

a voice data acquisition unit for acquiring voice data in which a conversation including necessary information about an information retrieving process to be determined is recorded;

a retrieval history information acquisition unit for acquiring retrieval history data including a retrieval key used in the information retrieving process to be determined, a selected document indicating a document selected from among retrieval results, and an order of the selected documents in the retrieval results;

a unit for extracting information obtained before retrieval for extracting an expression matching a keyword in the keyword storage unit from the voice data, and defining the extracted expression as the keyword obtained before retrieval; and

a retrieval applicability determination unit for extracting best case data having a keyword matching the keyword obtained before retrieval from the best case storage unit, determining the applicability of the keyword obtained before retrieval in the information retrieving process to be determined based on the extracted best case data and the applicability of the retrieval history data, and obtaining the applicability of the information retrieving process to be determined based on the applicability of the keyword obtained before retrieval and the applicability of the retrieval history data.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the retrieval applicability determination unit acquires best case data having a keyword matching the keyword obtained before retrieval and same selected document from the best case data storage unit, and performs a process of determining applicability of a retrieval key of the retrieval history data based on the retrieval key of the acquired best case data.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the retrieval applicability determination unit acquires best case data having the same selected document when there is no best case data in the best case data storage unit having a keyword matching the keyword obtained before retrieval and the same selected document, and determines the applicability of the keyword obtained before retrieval extracted from the voice data based on the keyword of the obtained best case data.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the retrieval applicability determination unit obtains the applicability of the information retrieval skill of an operator performing the information retrieving process to be determined based on the applicability of the keyword obtained before retrieval and the applicability of the retrieval history data.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, comprising:

a best case generation unit for generating the best case data based on the keyword obtained before retrieval, the retrieval key of the retrieval history data, a selected document indicating the document selected from the retrieval result, and the order in the retrieval results of the selected documents, and registering the data in the best case data storage unit.

6. A method for determining applicability of an information retrieving process, comprising:

acquiring voice data in which a conversation including necessary information about an information retrieving process to be determined is recorded;

acquiring retrieval history data including a retrieval key used in the information retrieving process to be determined, a selected document indicating a document selected by a retrieval result, and an order in a retrieval result of the selected document;

extracting an expression matching a keyword in the keyword storing unit storing a keyword indicating necessary information in the information retrieving process from the voice data, defining the extracted expression as a keyword obtained before retrieval;

extracting best case data having a keyword matching the keyword obtained before retrieval from a best case storage unit for storing best case data including a keyword indicating information about a best execution example of an information retrieving process and necessary information for the information retrieving process acquired before the information retrieving process, a retrieval key used in the information retrieving process, a selected document indicating a document selected from among retrieval results, and an order of the selected documents in the retrieval results; and

determining the applicability of the keyword obtained before retrieval in the information retrieving process to be determined and the applicability of the retrieval history data based on the extracted best case data; and

obtaining the applicability of the information retrieving process to be determined based on the applicability of the keyword obtained before retrieval and the applicability of the retrieval history data.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein

when the retrieval applicability is determined, the best case data having the keyword matching the keyword obtained before retrieval and the same selected document is acquired from the best case data storage unit, and the applicability of the retrieval key of the retrieval history data is determined based on the retrieval key of the acquired best case data.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein

when the retrieval applicability is determined, and when the best case data storage unit does not store the best case data having a keyword matching the keyword obtained before retrieval and the same selected document, the best case data having the same selected document is acquired, and the applicability of the keyword obtained before retrieval extracted from the voice data is determined based on a keyword of the obtained best case data.

9. The method according to claim 6, wherein

when the retrieval applicability is determined, the applicability of the information retrieval skill of an operator who performs the information retrieving process to be determined is obtained based on the applicability of the keyword obtained before retrieval and the applicability of the retrieval history data.

10. An apparatus for supporting an information retrieving process of an operator, comprising:

a keyword storage unit for storing a keyword indicating necessary information for an information retrieving process;

a best case storage unit for storing best case data including a keyword indicating information about a best execution example of an information retrieving process and necessary information for the information retrieving process acquired before the information retrieving process, a retrieval key used in the information retrieving process, a selected document indicating a document selected from among retrieval results, and an order of the selected documents in the retrieval results;

a voice data acquisition unit for acquiring voice data in which a conversation including necessary information about an information retrieving process is recorded;

a unit for extracting information obtained before retrieval for extracting an expression matching a keyword in the keyword storage unit from the voice data, and defining the extracted expression as the keyword obtained before retrieval;

a best case retrieval unit for extracting best case data having a keyword matching the keyword obtained before retrieval from the best case storage unit; and

a best retrieval key candidate presentation unit for acquiring from the extracted best case data a retrieval key of the best case data having the best order of retrieval result of the selected document and presenting the acquired retrieval key as a candidate for the best retrieval key for the selected document.