Information processing method and apparatus

1. An information processing apparatus comprising:

an input unit configured to input, by a user, an annotation of at least one of an underline, a box, a character, a character string, a symbol, and a symbol string in a position on a document to be annotated by the user that identifies coverage of a certain portion of the document;

a display configured to display both the document and the user inputted annotation concurrently on the document;

a first memory to store a plurality of patterns each expressed in at least one of a character, a character string and a symbol, and for each a semantic class representing a type or meaning of information matching;

a second memory to store intention estimation knowledge information for estimating an intention of the user organized by type of annotation and related semantic class of information;

an annotation recognition unit configured to recognize a type of annotation input by the user and a coverage of the annotation in the displayed document;

a semantic class analyzer to provide a semantic class for information matching a pattern in the coverage of the displayed document identified by the user-inputted annotation;

an intention estimation unit configured to estimate an intention of the user based on the intention estimation knowledge information determined by the semantic class provided by the semantic class analyzer and the type of recognized annotation, wherein the intention of the user corresponds to an action the user intends to perform;

an action selection unit configured to select the action intended by the user based on the intention estimated by the intention estimation unit;

an execution unit configured to execute the action selected by the action selection unit by extracting at least one information item from the displayed document and creating an output including the one information item; and

a display unit configured to display a view of the output created by the execution unit.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , further including a character recognition unit configured to subject the input annotation to character recognition.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the input unit is configured to input an annotation for creating a schedule table, the intention estimation unit is configured to estimate the intention of the user that creates the schedule table based on the type of the annotation, and the action selection unit is configured to select an action for creating the schedule table from the storage unit based on the estimated intention, and the execution unit is configured to extract information items required for creation of the schedule from the document and arrange the information items on a schedule table.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the input unit is configured to input an annotation for creating an address book, the intention estimation unit is configured to estimate the intention of the user that creates the address book based on the type of the annotation, and the action selection unit is configured to select an action for creating the address book from the storage unit based on the estimated intention, and the execution unit is configured to extract information items required for creation of the address book from the document and arrange the information items on an address book.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the intention of the user is to search.

6. An information processing method comprising:

storing, to a first memory, a plurality of patterns each expressed in at least one of a character, a character string and a symbol, and for each a semantic class representing a type or meaning of information matching;

storing, to a second memory, intention estimation knowledge information for estimating an intention of a user organized by type of annotation and related semantic class of information;

displaying a document;

receiving, from the user, an annotation of at least one of an underline, a box, a character, a character string, a symbol, and a symbol string in a position on the displayed document that identifies coverage of a certain portion of the displayed document and concurrently displaying said document and said user-inputted annotation concurrently on said displayed document;

recognizing a type of the annotation and a coverage of the annotation in the displayed document;

providing a semantic class for information matching a pattern in the coverage of the displayed document identified by the user-inputted annotation;

estimating an intention of the user based on the intention estimation knowledge information determined by the semantic class and the type of recognized annotation, wherein the intention of the user corresponds to an action the user intends to perform;

selecting the action intended by the user based on the estimated intention;

executing the action selected by extracting at least one information item from the displayed document and creating an output including the one information item; and

displaying a view of the output created by the execution unit.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein recognizing the type of the annotation includes recognizing the type of the annotation by a character recognition.

8. The method according to claim 6 , wherein inputting the annotation includes inputting an annotation for creating a schedule table, estimating the intention includes estimating the intention of the user that creates the schedule table based on the type of the annotation, and selecting the action includes selecting an action for creating the schedule table from the storage unit based on the estimated intention, and executing the action includes extracting information items required for creation of the schedule table from the document and arranging the information items on the schedule table.

9. The method according to claim 6 , wherein inputting the annotation includes inputting an annotation for creating an address book, estimating the intention includes estimating the intention of the user that creates the address book based on the type of the annotation, and selecting the action includes selecting an action for creating the address book from the storage unit based on the estimated intention, and executing the action includes extracting information items required for creation of the address book from the document and arranging the information items on the address book.

10. A computer readable storage medium storing instructions executable by a processor that performs a method, the method comprising:

storing to a first memory a plurality of patterns each expressed in at least one of a character, a character string and a symbol, and for each a semantic class representing a type or meaning of information matching;

storing, to a second memory, intention estimation knowledge information for estimating an intention of a user organized by type of annotation and related semantic class of information;

displaying a document;

received from a user input device an annotation of at least one of an underline, a box, a character, a character string, a symbol, and a symbol string in a position on the displayed document that identifies coverage of a certain portion of the displayed document and concurrently displaying said document and said user-inputted annotation on said displayed document;

recognizing a type of the annotation and a coverage of the annotation in the displayed document;

providing a semantic class for information matching a pattern in the coverage of the displayed document identified by the user-inputted annotation;

estimating an intention of the user based on the intention estimation knowledge information determined by the semantic class and the type of recognized annotation, wherein the intention of the user corresponds to an action the user intends to perform;

selecting the action intended by the user based on the estimated intention;

executing the action selected by extracting at least one information item from the displayed document and creating an output including the one information item; and

displaying a view of the output created by the execution unit.