1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for processing input information or controlling execution of a process in accordance with the environment around the system and/or the attributes of user and a method therefor.
2. Related Background Art
Hitherto, a system has been known which interprets input in a natural language to infer a goal or an intention of a user from the input. To realize a system of the foregoing type, the system must have a natural language parser (analyzer) for converting a natural language, such as English, into a computer expression and a mechanism, which uses a knowledge base formed by making a goal and a plan for achieving the goal to correspond to each other to infer a goal behind input.
Another system is available in which input in a natural language cannot be processed but which performs a predetermined process in accordance with commands, a menu or the like.
In the conventional natural language processing system, input in a natural language is converted into a computer expression and the goal behind that input is inferred using a knowledge base which has the knowledge of goals and plans. However, it has not been applied to predict the results of a possible plan, especially its undesirable effects.
In a system employing an input method which does not use the natural language, a command is interpreted to a limited meaning defined with respect to the command. Therefore, the intention of the command is not considered. Moreover, an erroneous input occurring due to a mistake in the operation by a user is not normally taken into account in the foregoing system.
Hitherto, a system is available in which a user is able to determine the level of the operational environment, such as whether help information, guidance information or the like from the system is provided, is determined by a user in accordance with his expertise with respect to the system or the complexity of the task to be performed in the system.
There has been another system in which a list of previously input commands is stored to which a reference can be made by a user or which enables a user to again execute the stored command.
However, the foregoing conventional systems require a user to determine and change the level of the operational environment by operating buttons or inputting commands. Moreover, simple provision of the help information causes the help information having the same contents to be given to the user regardless of the expertise level of the user. Therefore, a skilled user is given unnecessarily detailed information, while the provided contents are too difficult for a beginner to be understood. Thus, the foregoing systems are unsatisfactory for the both types of users.
The conventional systems require a user to perform a complicated process to make a reference to the command list or again perform a command, thus requiring the user to be skilled in the procedure.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an information processing system capable of executing a process corresponding to input information and suitable to the situation and a method therefor.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an information processing system capable of controlling execution of a process in accordance with the attribute of a user and a method therefor.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an information processing system which makes a plan to meet a requirement from a user and which is capable of predicting a result of execution of the plan and a method therefor.
According to one aspect, the present invention which achieves these objectives relates to an information processing system comprising: inputting means for inputting information; a knowledge base having knowledge of the relationship among situations, requirements corresponding to the situations and responses corresponding to the requirements; inference means which retrieves the knowledge base in accordance with the information input by the inputting means to infer a requirement corresponding to the information and the situation; and outputting means for outputting the requirement inferred by the inference means.
According to another aspect, the present invention which achieves these objectives relates to an information processing system comprising: inputting means for inputting information; a knowledge base having knowledge of the relationship among a situation, a requirement, a response corresponding to the requirement, a plan corresponding to the requirement and a result of execution of a process; requirement inference means which retrieves the knowledge base in accordance with the information input by the inputting means to infer a requirement corresponding to the information; plan construction means for constructing a plan corresponding to the requirement; and predicting means for predicting a result of execution of the plan by performing a simulation of the plan made by the plan construction means.
According to still another aspect, the present invention which achieves these objectives relates to an information processing system comprising: inputting means for inputting a command from a user; history storage means for storing input information performed by the inputting means; a knowledge base having knowledge of commands; inference means which infers the possible next-command to be input next by the inputting means the knowledge base in accordance with the information stored in the history storage means; and outputting means for outputting the possible commands inferred by the inference means.
According to another aspect, the present invention which achieves these objectives relates to an information processing system comprising: inputting means for inputting information from a user; a knowledge base having knowledge of the attributes of each user, on the basis of the knowledge retrieved from requirements corresponding to the attributes of the users and responses corresponding to the requirements; inference means which retrieves the knowledge base in accordance with the information input by the inputting means and the attribute of the user, the information of which has been input, so as to infer a requirement which corresponds to the information and the attribute of the user; and output means for outputting the requirement inferred by the inference means.
According to another aspect, the present invention which achieves these objectives relates to an information processing system comprising: natural language inputting means for inputting information in a natural language; a linguistic knowledge base having knowledge of languages; a global knowledge base having knowledge of common sense; analyzing means for analyzing, by using the linguistic knowledge base, the natural language information input by the natural language inputting means; a situation knowledge base having knowledge of the relationship among situations, requirements corresponding to the situations and responses corresponding to the requirements; requirement inference means which retrieves the situation knowledge base in accordance with the result of analysis performed by the analyzing means to infer a requirement corresponding to the natural language information; and outputting means for outputting the requirement inferred by the requirement inference means.
According to another aspect, the present invention which achieves these objectives relates to an execution control system comprising: operation means which is operated by a user; executing means for executing a process in accordance with the operation performed by the operation means; a knowledge base having knowledge of operations to be performed by the operation means and the relationship among the operations and the attributes of the user; inference means for inferring the attribute of the user in accordance with the knowledge in the knowledge base; and control means for controlling execution to be performed by the executing means in accordance with the attributes of the user inferred by the inference means.
According to another aspect, the present invention which achieves these objectives relates to an execution control system comprising: operation means to be operated by a user; executing means for executing a process in accordance with the operation performed by the operation means; history storage means for storing history of operations performed by the operation means; and control means for controlling execution of the process by the execution means in accordance with the history of the operations stored in the history storage means.
According to another aspect, the present invention which achieves these objectives relates to an execution control system comprising: operation means to be operated by a user; executing means for executing a process in accordance with the operation performed by the operation means; history storage means for storing history of operations performed by the operation means; a knowledge base having knowledge of the operations of the operation means and the relationship between the operations and the attributes of the user; inference means for inferring the attribute of the use in accordance with the history of the operations stored in the history storage means and the knowledge in the knowledge base; and control means for controlling execution of the process by the executing means in accordance with the attributes of the user inferred by the inference means.
According to another aspect, the present invention which achieves these objectives relates to an information processing method comprising the steps of: an inputting step for inputting information; an inference step which retrieves a knowledge base having knowledge of situations, requirements corresponding to the situations and the relationship between the requirements and responses in accordance with the information input in the inputting step to infer a requirement corresponding to the information and the situation; and an outputting step for outputting a requirement inferred in the inference step.
According to another aspect, the present invention which achieves these objectives relates to an information processing method comprising the steps of: an inputting step for inputting information; a requirement inference step for retrieving, in accordance with the information input in the inputting step, a knowledge base having knowledge of the relationship among situations, requirements, responses corresponding to the requirements, plans corresponding to the requirements so as to infer a requirement corresponding to the information; a making means for making a plan corresponding to the requirement; and a predicting step for predicting a result of execution of the plan by performing a simulation of the plan made in the making step.
According to another aspect, the present invention which achieves these objectives relates to an information processing method comprising the steps of: an inputting step for inputting a command from a user; a history storage step for storing information of history of inputs performed in the inputting step; an inference step in which a reference is made to a knowledge base having knowledge of commands in accordance with the information of history stored in the history storage step to infer possible commands to be next input in the inputting step; and an outputting step for outputting the possible commands inferred in the inference step.
According to another aspect, the present invention which achieves these objectives relates to an information processing method comprising the steps of: an inputting step for inputting information from a user; an inference step for retrieving a knowledge base having knowledge of the relationship among the attribute of each user, requirements corresponding to the attributes of the users and responses corresponding to the requirements in accordance with the input information in the inputting step and the attribute of the user, who has input the information so as to infer a requirement which corresponds to the information and the attribute of the user; and an outputting step for outputting a requirement inferred in the inference step.
According to another aspect, the present invention which achieves these objectives relates to an information processing method comprising the steps of: a natural language inputting step for inputting information in a natural language; an analyzing step for analyzing the natural language information input in the natural language inputting step by using a linguistic knowledge base having knowledge of languages and a global knowledge base having knowledge of common sense; a requirement inference step for retrieving the situation knowledge base having knowledge of the relationship among situations, requirements corresponding to the situations and responses corresponding to the requirements to infer a requirement corresponding to the natural language information; and an outputting step for outputting the requirement inferred in the requirement inference step.
According to another aspect, the present invention which achieves these objectives relates to an execution control method comprising the steps of: an executing step for executing a process in accordance with the operation of an operation portion performed by a user; a knowledge base having knowledge of operations of the operation portion and knowledge of the relationship between the operations and the attributes of users; an inference step for inferring the attributes of the user in accordance with the knowledge of the knowledge base; and a control step for controlling execution of a process to be performed by the executing step in accordance with the attributes of the user inferred in the inference step.
According to another aspect, the present invention which achieves these objectives relates to an execution control method comprising the steps of: an operation step in which an operation is performed by a user; an executing step for executing a process in accordance with the operation performed in the operating step; a history storage step for storing history of the operations performed in the operating step; and a control step for controlling execution of the process in accordance with the history of the operations stored in the history storage step.
According to another aspect, the present invention which achieves these objectives relates to an execution control method comprising the steps of: an operation step in which an operation is performed by a user; an executing step for executing a process in accordance with the operation performed in the operating step; a history storage step for storing history of the operations performed in the operating step; a knowledge base having knowledge of the operations to be performed in the operation step and knowledge of the relationship between the operations and the attributes of the user; an inference step for inferring the attributes of the user in accordance with the history stored in the history storage step and the knowledge of the knowledge base; and a control step for controlling execution in the executing step in accordance with the attribute of the user inferred in the inference step.
Other objectives and advantages besides those discussed above shall be apparent to those skilled in the art from the description of a preferred embodiment of the invention which follows. In the-description, reference is made to accompanying drawings, which form a part thereof, and which illustrate an example of the invention. Such example, however, is not exhaustive of the various embodiments of the invention, and therefore reference is made to the claims which follow the description for determining the scope of the invention.