IP Library Granted Patent US 12,339,883
Granted Patent B2
US 12,339,883 · App. 18/256,392 · Granted Jun 24, 2025

Information processing device, information processing method, and program

Inventor: Toshiyuki Masui (Kyoto, JP)
Assignee: HELPFEEL INC.
G06F16/3334G06F16/3329G06F40/242
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,339,883
App. No.
18/256,392
Granted
Jun 24, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

An information processing device, method and program enabling a user to easily arrive at a desired goal sentence or similar is described. An FAQ answer or product explanation page is treated as a goal sentence, said goal sentence being presented to a user to achieve a user goal with regard to an FAQ answer or a product explanation, and keywords, guidance sentence candidates, and goal sentences are associated and stored in a guidance sentence dictionary, such that when a keyword that, more than being related to a goal sentence or similar, is common and easy to think of has been input, a guidance sentence candidate intended to have the user arrive at the goal sentence is extracted, said guidance sentence candidate including said keyword or a similar keyword.

Claims (39)

1. An information processing device comprising:

a dictionary generation unit configured to use, as a goal sentence or similar, a predetermined word, phrase, or sentence presented to a user in order to achieve a predetermined purpose of the user, and stores a word, a guidance sentence candidate, and the goal sentence or similar in a guidance sentence dictionary in association with each other such that the guidance sentence candidate intended by the user to reach the goal sentence or similar and containing the word related to the goal sentence or similar is extracted when the word is input; and

a guidance sentence candidate presentation unit configured to present the guidance sentence candidate extracted on a same screen with the word entered by the user so that the user can select the guidance sentence candidate,

wherein the guidance sentence candidate is one of a plurality of guidance sentence candidates consisting of a plurality of types of intention expressions obtained by expanding the intention expression from the goal sentence or similar, each of the intention expressions being related to an assumed intention of the user,

the word is associated with one or more of the plurality of guidance sentence candidates based on the assumed intention of the user, and

the plurality of guidance sentence candidates having different intention expressions are provided to guide the user to the goal sentence or similar.

2. The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the word included in includes a word with degree of generality as a condition that is related to the goal sentence or similar, and includes one of words with a higher or lower degree of generality, or words similar thereto as keywords entered by the user.

3. The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the guidance sentence candidate is used interchangeably as a question sentence candidate, the guidance sentence dictionary is used interchangeably as a question sentence dictionary, and the guidance sentence candidate presentation unit is used interchangeably as a question sentence candidate presentation unit.

4. The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of guidance sentence candidates is generated through an expansion process in accordance with the assumed intention of the user based on the word, wherein the expansion process involves at least one of supplementing a subject, replacing words or phrases with synonyms or the like, and changing combinations of word endings, auxiliary verbs or the like to form synonymous sentences.

5. The information processing device according to claim 4 , wherein the expansion process utilizes, as a database, definitions, explanations, synonyms, and paraphrases of terms, in association with each other.

6. The information processing device according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a history management unit for managing history information when the user reaches the goal sentence or similar, and extracting the word when the user does not reach the goal sentence or similar when the word is input; and

a dictionary improvement unit for modifying an association relationship between the word extracted and the guidance sentence candidate in the guidance sentence dictionary to improve the guidance sentence dictionary.

7. An information processing method executed by an information processing device, the information processing method comprising:

a dictionary generation step of using, as a goal sentence or similar, a predetermined word, phrase, or sentence presented to a user in order to achieve a predetermined purpose of the user and storing a word, a guidance sentence candidate, and the goal sentence or similar in a guidance sentence dictionary in association with each other, such that the guidance sentence candidate intended by the user to reach the goal sentence or similar and containing the word related to the goal sentence or similar is extracted when the word is input; and

a guidance sentence candidate presentation step of presenting the guidance sentence candidate extracted on a same screen as the word entered by the user so that the user can select the guidance sentence candidate,

wherein the guidance sentence candidate is one of a plurality of guidance sentence candidates consisting of a plurality of types of intention expressions obtained by expanding the intention expression from the goal sentence or similar, each of the intention expressions being related to an assumed intention of the user,

the word is associated with one or more of the plurality of guidance sentence candidates based on the assumed intention of the user, and

the plurality of guidance sentence candidates having different intention expressions are provided to guide the user to the goal sentence or similar.

8. The information processing method according to claim 7 , wherein the word included in includes a word with degree of generality as a condition that is related to the goal sentence or similar, and includes one of words with a higher or lower degree of generality, or words similar thereto as keywords entered by the user.

9. The information processing method according to claim 7 , wherein the guidance sentence candidate is used interchangeably as a question sentence candidate, the guidance sentence dictionary is used interchangeably as a question sentence dictionary, and the guidance sentence candidate presentation step is used interchangeably as a question sentence candidate presentation step.

10. The information processing method according to claim 7 , wherein each of the plurality of guidance sentence candidates is generated through an expansion process in accordance with the assumed intention of the user based on the word, wherein the expansion process involves at least one of supplementing a subject, replacing words or phrases with synonyms or the like, and changing combinations of word endings, auxiliary verbs or the like to form synonymous sentences.

11. The information processing method according to claim 10 , wherein the expansion process utilizes, as a database, definitions, explanations, synonyms, and paraphrases of terms, in association with each other.

12. The information processing method according to claim 7 , further comprising:

a history management step for managing history information when the user reaches the goal sentence or similar, and extracting the word when the user does not reach the goal sentence or similar when the word is input; and

a dictionary improvement step for modifying an association relationship between the word extracted and the guidance sentence candidate in the guidance sentence dictionary to improve the guidance sentence dictionary.

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program causing a computer to execute control processing comprising:

a dictionary generation step of using, as a goal sentence or similar, a predetermined word, phrase, or sentence presented to a user in order to achieve a predetermined purpose of the user and storing a word, a guidance sentence candidate, and the goal sentence or similar in a guidance sentence dictionary in association with each other, such that the guidance sentence candidate intended by the user to reach the goal sentence or similar and containing the word related to the goal sentence or similar is extracted when the word is input; and

a guidance sentence candidate presentation step of presenting the guidance sentence candidate extracted on a same screen as the word entered by the user so that the user can select the guidance sentence candidate,

wherein the guidance sentence candidate is one of a plurality of guidance sentence candidates consisting of a plurality of types of intention expressions obtained by expanding the intention expression from the goal sentence or similar, each of the intention expressions being related to an assumed intention of the user,

the word is associated with one or more of the plurality of guidance sentence candidates based on the assumed intention of the user, and

the plurality of guidance sentence candidates having different intention expressions are provided to guide the user to the goal sentence or similar.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium storing the program according to claim 13 , wherein the word included in the guidance sentence candidate includes a word with degree of generality as a condition that is related to the goal sentence or similar, and includes one of words with a higher or lower degree of generality, or words similar thereto as keywords entered by the user.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium storing the program according to claim 13 , wherein the guidance sentence candidate is used interchangeably as a question sentence candidate, the guidance sentence dictionary is used interchangeably as a question sentence dictionary, and the guidance sentence candidate presentation step is used interchangeably as a question sentence candidate presentation step.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 13 , wherein each of the plurality of guidance sentence candidates is generated through an expansion process in accordance with the assumed intention of the user based on the word, wherein the expansion process involves at least one of supplementing a subject, replacing words or phrases with synonyms or the like, and changing combinations of word endings, auxiliary verbs or the like to form synonymous sentences.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 16 , wherein the expansion process utilizes, as a database, definitions, explanations, synonyms, and paraphrases of terms, in association with each other.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 13 , the control processing further comprising:

a history management step for managing history information when the user reaches the goal sentence or similar, and extracting the word when the user does not reach the goal sentence or similar when the word is input; and

a dictionary improvement step for modifying an association relationship between the word extracted and the guidance sentence candidate in the guidance sentence dictionary to improve the guidance sentence dictionary.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jun 7, 2023
From: MASUI, TOSHIYUKI
To: HELPFEEL INC.
Reel/Frame 063887/0773 →
Priority Claims (2)
JP 2020-203632 · Dec 8, 2020 · national
JP 2020-203633 · Dec 8, 2020 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20240020326A1 · Jan 18, 2024
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