REQUEST ACQUISITION SUPPORT SYSTEM IN SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT, REQUEST ACQUISITION SUPPORT METHOD AND RECORDING MEDIUM

• US 20130204614A1
• Filed: 09/12/2011
• Published: 08/08/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Hirao, Eiji
• Application Number:
  US13/878,036
• Publication Number:
  US 20130204614A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/205 Parsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/242 Dictionaries

Abstract

A request pick-up assisting system includes: a question information registering unit registering a question item and attributes of a questionee; a basic connection word candidate extracting unit referring to information that includes words of the question, and extracting words that coexist with the words of the question; an attribute connection word candidate extracting unit referring to information including words of the question, and information that includes words constituting attributes of the questionee, and extracting, for each attribute, words in which the words of the question and the attributes coexist; an attribute specificity calculating unit calculating an attribute specificity based on dissimilarity between groups of words; an effective attribute extracting unit comparing attribute specificity for each attribute, and extracting a suitable attribute; a connection word extracting unit extracting a connection word about the effective attribute; and an association chart creating unit generating an association chart, by referencing the extracted connection word.

Claims

1. A request pick-up assisting system, comprising:

a question information registering unit for registering a question item and attributes of a questionee as question information;

a basic connection word candidate extracting unit for referring to information that includes words constituting the question item and that is obtained from a database that collects and accumulates arbitrary text information, and to extract as basic connection word candidates a group of words that coexist with the words of the question item;

an attribute connection word candidate extracting unit for referring to information that includes words constituting the question item and that is obtained from the database, and information that includes words constituting the attributes of the questionee and that is obtained from the database, and to extract for each attribute, as attribute connection word candidates a group of words in which the words of the question item and the words of the attributes coexist;

an attribute specificity calculating unit calculate for each attribute an attribute specificity, based on dissimilarity between a group of words that are the basic connection word candidates and groups of words that are the attribute connection word candidates;

an effective attribute extracting unit to compare the attribute specificity which is calculated for each attribute, and to extract a suitable attribute;

a connection word extracting unit to extract a connection word from attribute connection word candidates about the extracted effective attribute; and

an association chart creating unit to generate an association chart which associates words that help the questionee recall a situation relevant to the question item, by referring to the extracted connection word.

2. A request pick-up assisting system according to claim 1, further comprising:

an episode database for collecting and accumulating text information as episode information, which contains an arbitrary item and a human attribute, and presenting information in response to reference requests;

a basic connection information extracting unit to extract by referring to the episode information in the episode database as basic connection information, a set of pieces of the episode information in each of which one or more arbitrary types of question item keywords registered as question information are present;

an attribute connection information extracting unit to extract by referring to the episode information in the episode database for each attribute as attribute connection information, a set of pieces of the episode information in each of which one or more arbitrary types of question item keywords registered as question information and one or more arbitrary types of attribute keywords registered as question information are present; and

a script outputting unit to embed in a script to be used in a hearing the association chart created for each question item to which an answer is sought, and to output the script so as to enable a questioner who conducts questioning to consult the association chart prior to and during the hearing,

wherein the question information registering unit receives, as question information, question item information about a question item for which the questioner wishes to find an answer, and a plurality of pieces of questionee attribute information about attributes of a questionee who answers questions, and registers the question item information in a form of question item keywords and the plurality of pieces of questionee attribute information in a form of attribute keywords,

wherein the basic connection word candidate extracting unit extracts, from the extracted basic connection information, as basic connection word candidates, a group of words that coexist with one or more question item keywords,

wherein the attribute connection word candidate extracting unit extracts, from each piece of the extracted attribute connection information, as attribute connection word candidates, a group of words that coexist with one or more question item keyword and the attribute keyword that has been used to extract the piece of attribute connection information,

wherein the attribute specificity calculating unit calculates an attribute specificity based on dissimilarity between a group of words that are basic connection word candidates and groups of words that are attribute connection word candidates,

wherein the effective attribute extracting unit compares each attribute specificity calculated for each attribute against an arbitrarily set evaluation condition, and extracts an attribute keyword that has a more suitable specificity,

wherein the connection word extracting unit extracts a connection word from attribute connection word candidates that are derived from the attribute keyword extracted by the effective attribute extracting unit, and wherein the association chart creating unit creates, for each connection word extracted for each question item to which an answer is sought, an association chart which associates the connection word and the question item in a manner that reflects a relation between the connection word and the question item.

3. A request pick-up assisting system according to claim 1, wherein the connection word extracting unit removes a group of words that are included among the basic connection word candidates from groups of words that are included among the attribute connection word candidates, thereby reducing a group of words that have less association with the extracted attribute and extracting remaining words as connection words.

4. A request pick-up assisting system according to claim 1, wherein the attribute specificity calculating unit treats each of a group of words included among the basic connection word candidates and groups of words included among the attribute connection word candidates for respective attributes as a set, and the attribute specificity calculating unit calculates the attribute specificity based on a proportion of union sets to intersection sets, with how few duplicates are contained in two opposed word groups as an index of the attribute specificity.

5. A request pick-up assisting system according to claim 1,

wherein the database comprises a group of texts on the Internet,

wherein the basic connection word candidate extracting unit extracts, as basic connection information, a text information group that is output as a result of a Web search using a keyword about question item information registered as the question information, or an AND Web search using a plurality of question item keywords, and

wherein the attribute connection word candidate extracting unit extracts, as attribute connection information, a text information group that is output as a result of an AND Web search using the question item keywords registered as the question information and the attributes keywords registered as the question information.

6. A request pick-up assisting system according to claim 1, wherein the question information registering unit receives question information in a form of a text, applies morphological analysis to each sentence that constitutes the text to extract a group of words that have a meaning on their own, and registers the extracted group of words as question items or questionee attributes.

7. A request pick-up assisting system according to claim 2, wherein, when there is a connection word common to the association chart for one question item and the association chart for another question item, the script outputting unit displays a graph that links only the question items and the common connection word and, when a particular question item is selected, presents the association chart for the selected particular question item.

8. A request pick-up assisting system according to claim 2, wherein, when the question item information is given in a form of a text, the script outputting unit presents a text in which one of words of each question item in the given text is replaced with a connection word that is associated with a word of a corresponding question item.

9. A request pick-up assisting system according to claim 1, wherein the basic connection word candidate extracting unit and the attribute connection word candidate extracting unit obtain information by varying a type of the database depending on the registered questionee attribute.

10. A request pick-up assisting system according to claim 1, wherein the basic connection word candidate extracting unit and the attribute connection word candidate extracting unit obtain information by varying how the database is searched depending on the registered questionee attribute.

11. A request pick-up assisting method, comprising:

registering a question item and attributes of a questionee as question information;

referring to information that includes words constituting the question item and that is obtained from a database that collects and accumulates arbitrary text information, and extracting, as basic connection word candidates, a group of words that coexist with the words of the question item;

referring to information that includes words constituting the question item and that is obtained from the database, and information that includes words constituting the attributes of the questionee and that is obtained from the database, and extracting, for each attribute, as attribute connection word candidates, a group of words in which the words of the question item and the words of the attributes coexist;

calculating, for each attribute, an attribute specificity based on dissimilarity between a group of words that are the basic connection word candidates and groups of words that are the attribute connection word candidates;

comparing the attribute specificity which is calculated for each attribute, and extracting a suitable attribute;

extracting a connection word from attribute connection word candidates about the extracted effective attribute;

referring to the extracted connection word and generating an association chart which associates words that help the questionee recall a situation relevant to the question item; and

presenting the generated association chart to a questioner in a recognizable manner.

12. A request pick-up assisting method according to claim 11, further comprising removing a group of words that are included among the basic connection word candidates from groups of words that are included among the attribute connection word candidates, thereby reducing a group of words that have less association with the extracted attribute and extracting remaining words as connection words.

13. A request pick-up assisting method according to claim 11,

wherein the database comprises a group of texts on the Internet,

wherein the extracting of the basic connection word candidates comprises extracting, as basic connection information, a text information group that is output as a result of a Web search using a keyword about question item information registered as the question information, or an AND Web search using a plurality of question item keywords, and

wherein the extracting of the attribute connection word candidates comprises extracting, as attribute connection information, a text information group that is output as a result of an AND Web search using the question item keywords registered as the question information and the attributes keywords registered as the question information.

14. A request pick-up assisting method according to claim 11, further comprising displaying, when there is a connection word common to the association chart for one question item and the association chart for another question item, a graph that links only the question items and the common connection word and, when a particular question item is selected, presenting the association chart for the selected particular question item.

15. A request pick-up assisting method according to claim 11, further comprising presenting, when the question item information is given in a form of a text, a text in which one of words of each question item in the given text is replaced with a connection word that is associated with a word of a corresponding question item.

16. A recording medium having recorded thereon a request pick-up assisting program for causing a control unit of an information processing device to function as:

question information registering means for registering a question item and attributes of a questionee as question information;

basic connection word candidate extracting means for referring to information that includes words constituting the question item and that is obtained from a database that collects and accumulates arbitrary text information, and extracting, as basic connection word candidates, a group of words that coexist with the words of the question item;

attribute connection word candidate extracting means for referring to information that includes words constituting the question item and that is obtained from the database, and information that includes words constituting the attributes of the questionee and that is obtained from the database, and extracting, for each attribute, as attribute connection word candidates, a group of words in which the words of the question item and the words of the attributes coexist;

attribute specificity calculating means for calculating for each attribute an attribute specificity, based on dissimilarity between a group of words that are the basic connection word candidates and groups of words that are the attribute connection word candidates;

effective attribute extracting means for comparing the attribute specificity which is calculated for each attribute, and extracting a suitable attribute;

connection word extracting means for extracting a connection word from attribute connection word candidates about the extracted effective attribute;

association chart creating means for generating an association chart which associates words that help the questionee recall a situation relevant to the question item, by referring to the extracted connection word; and

outputting means for presenting the generated association chart to a questioner in a recognizable manner.

17. A recording medium according to claim 16, wherein the request pick-up assisting program causes the attribute specificity calculating means to operate so as to treat each of a group of words included among the basic connection word candidates and groups of words included among the attribute connection word candidates for respective attributes as a set, and to calculate the attribute specificity based on a proportion of union sets to intersection sets, with how few duplicates are contained in two opposed word groups as an index of the attribute specificity.

18. A recording medium according to claim 16,

wherein the database comprises a group of texts on the Internet,

wherein the request pick-up assisting program causes the basic connection word candidate extracting means to operate so as to extract, as basic connection information, a text information group that is output as a result of a Web search using a keyword about question item information registered as the question information, or an AND Web search using a plurality of question item keywords, and

wherein the request pick-up assisting program causes the attribute connection word candidate extracting means to operate so as to extract, as attribute connection information, a text information group that is output as a result of an AND Web search using the question item keywords registered as the question information and the attributes keywords registered as the question information.

19. A recording medium according to claim 16, wherein, when there is a connection word common to the association chart for one question item and the association chart for another question item, the request pick-up assisting program causes the outputting means to operate so as to display a graph that links only the question items and the common connection word and, when a particular question item is selected, to present the association chart for the selected particular question item.

20. A recording medium according to claim 16, wherein, when the question item information is given in a form of a text, the request pick-up assisting program causes the outputting means to operate so as to present a text in which one of words of each question item in the given text is replaced with a connection word that is associated with a word of a corresponding question item.