Information processing system which understands information and acts accordingly and method therefor

• US 6,578,019 B1
• Filed: 11/07/1995
• Issued: 06/10/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Jeyachandran, Suresh, Suda, Aruna Rohra
• Primary Examiner(s): Davis, George B.
• Application Number:
  US08/551,850
• Time in Patent Office: 2,772 Days
• Field of Search: 395/10, 395/12, 395/51, 706/15, 706/11, 706/46
• US Class Current: 706/15
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/02 Knowledge representation; Symbolic representation

Abstract

An information processing system which understands the input information as a situation, infers the requirements that situation merits and the preferred responses to those requirements using a knowledge base which has knowledge about the situations, requirements and their responses and the relations among them, and by generating these inferences further understands the input and the situation, which enables it to perform efficiently and effectively, given small amount of input information. If input information is in natural language, the linguistic knowledge base is used to analyze the input natural language information. Further, a knowledge of the user, the operations performed by the user and knowledge of the relationship between the operations of the user and the attribute of the user may also be used by the system to appropriately operate for each user.

Claims

1. An information processing system for processing information, wherein a user has a goal, said information processing system is used in a present environment, and said information processing system is for processing information about an object the user uses, for detecting the user'"'"'s goal in using the object by sensing how the user manually uses the object without a separate input by the user about the user'"'"'s goal, and for inferring requirements to achieve the user'"'"'s goal, said system comprising:

inputting means for inputting information;

a sensor for sensing an environmental condition of the present environment around the information processing system and for sensing how the user manually uses the object; and

safely controlling means for safely controlling the object without assistance from the user and in accordance with the user'"'"'s goal without a separate input by the user about the user'"'"'s goal by detecting with detecting means the user'"'"'s goal in using the object by sensing with the sensor how the user manually uses the object without requiring a separate input by the user about the user'"'"'s goal, wherein said safely controlling means comprises;

a knowledge base having knowledge of environmental conditions and user goals and their requirements;

inference means for retrieving data stored in said knowledge base in accordance with the inputted information and the sensed environmental condition of the present environment to infer a requirement to achieve the user'"'"'s detected goal, wherein said inference means infers the requirement also in accordance with the detected user'"'"'s goal; and

outputting means for outputting the inferred requirement.

2. An information processing system according to claim 1, wherein said inference means further infers a requirement whose corresponding response is the preceding inferred requirement.

3. An information processing system according to claim 1, wherein said inputting means includes selection means for selecting one of a plurality of candidates.

4. An information processing system according to claim 1, wherein said inputting means includes operation means for operating a predetermined mechanism.

5. An information processing system according to claim 1, further comprising processing means for performing a process which corresponds to the outputted requirement.

6. An information processing system according to claim 1, further comprising history storage means for storing the history of inputted information and wherein said inference means makes reference to the stored history.

7. An information processing system for processing information, wherein a user has a goal, wherein said information processing system is used in a present environment, and is for processing information about an object the user uses, for detecting the user'"'"'s goal in using the object by sensing how the user manually uses the object without a separate input by the user about the user'"'"'s goal, and for inferring requirements to achieve the user'"'"'s goal, said system comprising:

inputting means for inputting information;

a sensor for sensing an environmental condition of the present environment around the information processing system and for sensing how the user manually uses the object; and

safely controlling means for safely controlling the object without assistance from the user and in accordance with the user'"'"'s goal without a separate input by the user about the user'"'"'s goal by detecting the user'"'"'s goal in using the object by sensing with the sensor how the user manually uses the object without requiring a separate input by the user about the user'"'"'s goal, wherein said safely controlling means comprises;

a knowledge base having knowledge of environmental conditions, user goals and their requirements, responses corresponding to the requirements, plans corresponding to the requirements and results of execution of processes;

requirement inference means for retrieving data stored in said knowledge base in accordance with the inputted information and the sensed environmental condition of the present environment to infer a requirement to achieve the user'"'"'s detected goal corresponding to the inputted information and the present environment, wherein said inference means infers the requirement also in accordance with the detection of the how the user uses the object;

plan construction means for constructing a plan corresponding to the inferred requirement; and

predicting means for predicting a result of execution of the plan by performing a simulation of the constructed plan.

8. An information processing system according to claim 7, further comprising determining means for determining a process to be performed to prevent an undesirable result if said predicting means predicts the undesirable result.

9. An information processing system according to claim 8, further comprising executing means for executing the determined process.

10. An information processing system according to claim 7, further comprising notifying means for notifying the user of the predicted result of execution of the plan.

11. An information processing system according to claim 7, wherein said inputting means includes selection means for selecting one of a plurality of candidates.

12. An information processing system according to claim 7, wherein said inputting means includes operation means for operating a predetermined mechanism.

13. An information processing system according to claim 7, further comprising history storage means for storing the history of inputted information and wherein said inference means makes reference to the stored history.

14. An information processing method for processing information, wherein a user has a goal, said information processing method is used in a present environment, and said information processing method is for processing information about an object a user uses, for detecting the user'"'"'s goal in using the object by sensing how the user manually uses the object without a separate input by the user about the user'"'"'s goal, and for inferring requirements to achieve the user'"'"'s goal, said method comprising the steps of:

inputting information into an information processing system;

sensing an environmental condition of the present environment around the information processing system with a sensor and for sensing how the user manually uses the object; and

safely controlling the object without assistance from the user and in accordance with the user'"'"'s goal without a separate input by the user about the user'"'"'s goal by detecting the user'"'"'s goal in using the object by sensing with said sensing step how the user manually uses the object without requiring a separate input by the user about the user'"'"'s goal, wherein said controlling step comprises the steps of;

inferring a requirement for achieving the user'"'"'s detected goal by retrieving data stored in a knowledge base having knowledge of requirements for user goals in accordance with the inputted information and the sensed environmental condition, wherein said inferring step infers the requirement also in accordance with the detection of the how the user uses the object; and

outputting the inferred requirement.

15. An information processing method according to claim 14, wherein said inference step further infers a requirement whose corresponding response is the preceding requirement obtained from the inference.

16. An information processing method according to claim 14, wherein said inputting step includes a selection step for selecting one of a plurality of candidates.

17. An information processing method according to claim 14, wherein said inputting step includes an operation step for operating a predetermined mechanism.

18. An information processing method according to claim 14, further comprising a processing step for executing a process which corresponds to a requirement output from said outputting step.

19. An information processing method for processing information, wherein a user has a goal, said information processing method is used in a present environment, and said information processing method is for processing information about an object the user uses, for detecting the user'"'"'s goal in using the object by sensing how the user manually uses the object without a separate input by the user about the user'"'"'s goal, and for inferring requirements to achieve the user'"'"'s goal, said method comprising the steps of:

inputting information into an information processing system;

sensing an environmental condition of the present environment around the information processing system with a sensor and for sensing how the user manually uses the object; and

safely controlling the object without assistance from the user and in accordance with the user'"'"'s goal without a separate input by the user about the user'"'"'s goal by detecting the user'"'"'s goal in using the object by sensing with said sensing step how the user manually uses the object without requiring a separate input by the user about the user'"'"'s goal, said controlling step comprising the steps of;

inferring a requirement for achieving the user'"'"'s goal by retrieving, in accordance with the inputted information and the environmental condition of the present environment sensed in said sensing step with the sensor, data stored in a knowledge base having knowledge of requirements of user goals, responses corresponding to the requirements, and plans corresponding to the requirements so as to infer a requirement for achieving the user'"'"'s goal corresponding to the information and the present environment, wherein said requirement inference step infers the requirement also in accordance with the detection of the how the user uses the object;

constructing a plan corresponding to the requirement; and

predicting a result of execution of the plan by performing a simulation of the constructed plan.

20. An information processing method according to claim 19, further comprising a determining step for determining a process to be performed to prevent an undesirable result if the undesirable result has been predicted in said predicting step.

21. An information processing method according to claim 20, further comprising an executing step for executing the process determined in said determining step.

22. An information processing method according to claim 19, further comprising a notifying step for notifying the user of the predicted result of execution of the plan.

23. An information processing method according to claim 19, wherein said inputting step includes a selection step for selecting one of a plurality of candidates.

24. An information processing method according to claim 19, wherein said inputting step includes an operating step for operating a predetermined mechanism.

25. An information processing method according to claim 19, further comprising a history storage step for storing the history of inputted information and wherein said inference step makes reference to the history stored in said history storage step.

26. A computer readable storage medium storing a program for instructing a computer to perform an information processing method, wherein a user has a goal, said information processing method is used in a present environment for processing information about an object the user uses, for detecting the user'"'"'s goal in using the object by sensing how the user manually uses the object without a separate input by the user about the user'"'"'s goal, and for inferring requirements to achieve the user'"'"'s goal, said program instructing the computer to perform the following steps:

receiving information input into the computer;

sensing an environmental condition of the present environment around the computer with a sensor and sensing how the user manually uses the object; and

safely controlling the object without assistance from the user and in accordance with the user'"'"'s goal without a separate input by the user about the user'"'"'s goal by detecting the user'"'"'s goal in using the object by sensing with said sensing step how the user manually uses the object without requiring a separate input by the user about the user'"'"'s goal, said controlling step comprising the steps of;

inferring requirements to achieve the user'"'"'s detected goal by retrieving data stored in a knowledge base having knowledge of user goals, requirements corresponding to the goals in accordance with the received information and the sensed environmental condition, wherein said inferring step infers the requirements also in accordance with the detection of the how the user uses the object; and

an outputting step for outputting the inferred requirements.

27. A computer readable storage medium storing a program for instructing a computer to perform an information processing method for processing information, wherein a user has a goal, wherein said information processing method is used in a present environment for processing information about an object the user uses, for detecting the user'"'"'s goal in using the object by sensing how the user manually uses the object without a separate input by the user about the user'"'"'s goals, and for inferring requirements to achieve the user'"'"'s goal, said program instructing the computer to perform the following steps:

receiving information into the computer;

sensing an environmental condition of the present environment around the computer with a sensor and sensing how the user manually uses the object; and

safely controlling the object without assistance from the user and in accordance with the user'"'"'s goal without a separate input by the user about the user'"'"'s goal by detecting the user'"'"'s goal in using the object by sensing with said sensing step how the user manually uses the object without requiring a separate input by the user about the user'"'"'s goal, said controlling step comprising the steps of;

inferring a requirement to achieve the user'"'"'s goal by retrieving data in accordance with the received information and the sensed environmental condition, the data being stored in a knowledge base having knowledge of user goals, requirements of the goals, responses corresponding to the requirements, and plans corresponding to the requirements, so as to infer a requirement for achieving the user'"'"'s goal corresponding to the received information and the present environment, wherein said requirement inference step infers the requirement also in accordance with the detection of the how the user uses the object;

constructing a plan corresponding to the requirement; and

predicting a result of execution of the constructed plan by performing a simulation of the constructed plan.