OPERATION SUPPORTING DEVICE AND METHOD FOR SUPPORTING OPERATION

• US 20100287275A1
• Filed: 02/24/2009
• Published: 11/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Inoue, Tsuyoshi, Ozawa, Jun
• Granted Patent: US 8,145,753 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 Help systems

Abstract

Provided is an operation supporting device that can estimate an apparatus to be supported in operation and support the operation independent of a position relationship between a position of the apparatus to be supported and a position of the user, and of a density of apparatuses. The operation supporting device includes: an operation history collecting unit (103) collecting operation histories from the apparatuses, during a time period preceding by a predetermined time period from a time when the user requests support; a to-be-supported apparatus estimating unit (107) determining, for each of the apparatuses, a degree of matching between an operation history collected by the operation history collecting unit (103) and a confused operation defined by the confusion definition information storage unit (106), and estimating an apparatus that is determined to have the degree of matching that exceeds a predetermined threshold is an apparatus having a higher requirement for support; and a function description output unit (112) outputting a description on the functions of the apparatus estimated as having the higher requirement for support.

Claims

1. An operation supporting device that provides a user with information on an operation for executing a function desired by the user from among functions of each of apparatuses connected to a network, said operation supporting device comprising:

an operation history collecting unit configured to collect, from the apparatuses, operation history information including operation histories that are time-series information of operations that have been performed by the user during a time period preceding by a predetermined time period from a time when the user requests support;

an apparatus information storage unit configured to store function description information including descriptions on the functions of each of the apparatuses;

a confusion definition information storage unit configured to store confusion definition information that defines operations when the user is confused due to an inability to execute the function desired by the user;

a to-be-supported apparatus estimating unit configured to determine, for each of the apparatuses with reference to said confusion definition information storage unit, a degree of matching between an operation history included in the operation history information collected by said operation history collecting unit and a confused operation defined in the confusion definition information, and estimate that an apparatus that is determined to have the degree of matching that exceeds a predetermined threshold is an apparatus having a high requirement for support in order for the user to perform the operations; and

a function description output unit configured to output at least one of the descriptions on the functions of the apparatus estimated as having the high requirement for the support, with reference to the function description information stored by said apparatus information storage unit.

2. The operation supporting device according to claim 1,

wherein the operation history information further includes execution statuses of each of the functions of the apparatuses at the time preceding by the predetermined time period, and

said to-be-supported apparatus estimating unit is further configured to determine whether or not a function of one of the apparatuses of which operation histories are not included in the operation history information is being executed at the time when the user requests the support, based on the execution statuses of the functions included in the operation history information, and to estimate that the one of the apparatuses is an apparatus having a higher requirement for the support when the function is determined as not being executed.

3. The operation supporting device according to claim 1,

wherein the operation history information further includes execution statuses of each of the functions of the apparatuses at the time preceding by the predetermined time period, and

said to-be-supported apparatus estimating unit is further configured to determine whether or not one of the apparatuses of which operation histories are not included in the operation history information is being operated at the time when the user requests the support, based on the execution statuses of the functions included in the operation history information, and to estimate that the one of the apparatuses is an apparatus having a higher requirement for the support when the one of the apparatuses is determined as being operated.

4. The operation supporting device according to claim 1,

wherein said to-be-supported apparatus estimating unit is further configured to specify a time when the user last operated each of apparatuses that are estimated as having the high requirement for the support, with reference to the operation history information, and

estimate that, from among the apparatuses, an apparatus corresponding to a shorter time period from the specified time to the time when the user requests the support is an apparatus having a higher requirement for the support.

5. The operation supporting device according to claim 1,

wherein said operation history collecting unit is further configured to collect a count of times the functions have been executed per day of week or per time period from the apparatuses as usage information, and

when the operation history information does not include operation histories of an apparatus or when there are apparatuses each estimated as having the high requirement for the support, said to-be-supported apparatus estimating unit is further configured to specify a count of times the functions have been executed by each of the apparatuses, during a time period including the time when the user requests the support with reference to the usage information, and to estimate that an apparatus having a smaller count of the times specified is an apparatus having a higher requirement for the support.

6. The operation supporting device according to claim 1,

wherein said apparatus information storage unit is further configured to store interface information including information on complexity of a user interface of each of the apparatuses, and

said to-be-supported apparatus estimating unit is further configured to estimate that an apparatus having the user interface more complex is an apparatus having a higher requirement for the support, when the operation history information does not include operation histories of the apparatus or when there are apparatuses each estimated as having the high requirement for the support.

7. The operation supporting device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a function-estimating definition information storage unit configured to store function-estimating definition information that defines associations between the time-series information of the operations that have been performed by the user and a target function;

a to-be-supported function estimating unit configured to estimate a function that the user desires to execute and that is included in a corresponding one of the apparatuses estimated as having the high requirement for the support, based on the operation history information and the function-estimating definition information; and

a supporting method determining unit configured to determine a supporting method based on the function estimated by said to-be-supported function estimating unit,

wherein said function description output unit is configured to output a corresponding one of the descriptions on the functions, according to the supporting method determined by said supporting method determining unit.

8. The operation supporting device according to claim 7,

wherein the time-series information of the operations that have been performed by the user and the target function are associated with each other in the function-estimating definition information, and the function-estimating definition information further includes a target probability indicating a probability of being the function desired by the user,

said to-be-supported function estimating unit is configured to estimate that a target function having a higher target probability is a function having a higher requirement for the support, from among target functions in which the time-series information and the operation histories included in the operation history information match, the time-series information being of the operations that have been performed by the user and being included in the function-estimating definition information, and

said supporting method determining unit is configured to determine the supporting method indicating whether said function description output unit outputs each of the descriptions on the functions per apparatus or per function, based on (i) a level of the requirement for the support to operate the function estimated by said to-be-supported function estimating unit and (ii) an amount of information that can be outputted by said function description output unit.

9. The operation supporting device according to claim 1,

wherein said to-be-supported apparatus estimating unit is further configured to extract, from among the apparatuses, apparatuses each of which receives an input operation at the time when the user requests the support, with reference to the operation history information, and

said function description output unit is configured to output the at least one of the descriptions so that the user can identify the apparatus estimated by said to-be-supported apparatus estimating unit as having the high requirement for the support, from among the apparatuses extracted by said to-be-supported apparatus estimating unit.

10. The operation supporting device according to claim 1,

wherein the confusion definition information is information in which an operation pattern of an operation button to be operated by the user who is confused and the predetermined threshold are associated with each other, and

said to-be-supported apparatus estimating unit is configured to determine a degree of matching between the operation history included in the operation history information and the operation pattern included in the confusion definition information, and estimate that an apparatus that is determined to have the degree of matching that exceeds the predetermined threshold corresponding to the operation pattern is an apparatus having a higher requirement for the support.

11. An operation supporting method in which an operation supporting device provides a user with information on an operation for executing a function desired by the user from among functions of each of apparatuses connected to a network,

the operation supporting device including:

an apparatus information storage unit configured to store function description information including descriptions on the functions of each of the apparatuses; and

a confusion definition information storage unit configured to store confusion definition information that defines operations when the user is confused due to an inability to execute the function desired by the user,

said operation supporting method comprising;

collecting, from the apparatuses, operation history information including operation histories that are time-series information of operations that have been performed by the user during a time period preceding by a predetermined time period from a time when the user requests support, said collecting being performed by the operation supporting device;

determining, for each of the apparatuses with reference to the confusion definition information storage unit, a degree of matching between an operation history included in the operation history information collected in said collecting and a confused operation defined in the confusion definition information, and estimating that an apparatus that is determined to have the degree of matching that exceeds a predetermined threshold is an apparatus having a high requirement for support in order for the user to perform the operations, using an operation supporting device, said determining and estimating being performed by the operation supporting device; and

outputting at least one of the descriptions on the functions of the apparatus estimated as having the high requirement for the support, with reference to the function description information stored by the apparatus information storage unit, said outputting being performed by the operation supporting device.

12. A program executable on a computer for providing a user with information on an operation for executing a function desired by the user from among functions of each of apparatuses connected to a network,

the computer including:

an apparatus information storage unit configured to store function description information including descriptions on the functions of each of the apparatuses; and

a confusion definition information storage unit configured to store confusion definition information that defines operations when the user is confused due to an inability to execute the function desired by the user,

said program causing the computer to execute;

collecting, from the apparatuses, operation history information including operation histories that are time-series information of operations that have been performed by the user during a time period preceding by a predetermined time period from a time when the user requests support;

determining, for each of the apparatuses with reference to the confusion definition information storage unit, a degree of matching between an operation history included in the operation history information collected in the collecting and a confused operation defined in the confusion definition information, and estimating that an apparatus that is determined to have the degree of matching that exceeds a predetermined threshold is an apparatus having a high requirement for support in order for the user to perform the operations; and

outputting at least one of the descriptions on the functions of the apparatus estimated as having the high requirement for the support, with reference to the function description information stored by the apparatus information storage unit.

13. An operation-supported-apparatus estimating device that estimates an apparatus having a high requirement for support in order for a user to perform an operation from among apparatuses connected to a network, said operation-supported-apparatus estimating device comprising:

an operation history collecting unit configured to collect, from the apparatuses, operation history information including operation histories that are time-series information of operations that have been performed by the user during a time period preceding by a predetermined time period from a time when the user requests support; and

a to-be-supported apparatus estimating unit configured to determine, for each of the apparatuses with reference to confusion definition information, a degree of matching between an operation history included in the operation history information collected by said operation history collecting unit and a confused operation defined in the confusion definition information, and estimate that an apparatus that is determined to have the degree of matching that exceeds a predetermined threshold is the apparatus having the high requirement for support in order for the user to perform the operation, the confusion definition information defining operations when the user is confused due to an inability to execute a function desired by the user.