Patent Application
20080013130
The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description made with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings:
Embodiments of the invention will be described below in conjunction with the drawings.
The application providing system of the embodiment has a user terminal 1 and a central system 3. The user terminal 1 has a profile generator 10 for generating a profile P in which various information of a designated agent is described in accordance with an instruction from the user. The terminal 1 transmits the generated profile P via a communication network (not shown). The central system 3 has a profile processor 30 for executing various applications on the basis of the profile P received via the communication network.
The profile P includes a static description and a dynamic description. The static description is a description of static information which does not normally change such as identification information for identifying each agent and peculiar information indicative of the characteristic of an agent (particularly, when the agent is the user, preference information). The dynamic description is a description of dynamic information which changes from moment to moment such as environment, situation, and phase of an agent; and the situation, demand, and action of the agent.
The dynamic description includes a destination description as a description of the various information, and an additional description as a description of additional information that is useful at the time of using information described as the destination description. In the profile P, the destination description is essential and the additional description is optional. Multiple destination descriptions and multiple additional descriptions may exist.
Examples of the additional information described as an additional description are an agent type (such as “user,” “mobile body,” “object,” and “information”) and an application type (such as “schedule,” “information retrieval,” and “information distribution”) to which information described in the profile P is to be applied.
The various information described as a destination description is classified into a plurality of description categories. One of them is “destination” as an inherent description category of the destination description. The other information includes “purpose,” “state,” and “information environment” as description categories which are set in expanded concept of the destination (they will be also generically called “expanded destination”).
The “destination” can be defined as a “desired space/time point” of the user (agent). The “desired space/time point” in the definition of the “destination” is expanded from just the meaning of “place” to meaning of “a desired state” and “a desired action” of the user (agent). Objects of the state and the action are defined here as “expanded destination.”
As the destination description, basically, information of specifying a time/space point P and the meaning of the time/space point P is described in a lump. Specifically, the destination description is constructed by the following four description attributes.
The description attributes are: time information indicative of time T when the agent exists in the time/space point P; position information indicative of space coordinates of the position (destination) X indicated by the time/space point P, type information indicative of the type of the position X specified by the time/space point P (that is, the details of the destination), and name information indicative of the specific name of the position X specified by the time/space point P.
The profile P is described by using XML, and the data structure (description attribute of each piece of data) of the destination description is identified by an XML tag (refer to
The time information is described by using numerical data indicative of Greenwich mean time. The position information is described by using numerical data indicative of latitude and longitude. The type information is described by using character data indicative of a pre-defined term (vocabulary). The name information is described by using arbitrary character data. Alternatively, the time information and position information can be also described by using a reserved word (character data) preliminarily associated with numerical data in place of the numerical data. A reserved word such as “waking time,” “tomorrow morning,” “the morning of today,” or the like can be used as the time information. A reserved word such as “home,” “office,” or the like can be used as the position information. The reserved word is not limited to indicate a specific time or position but may have a time width or space width.
In the case where the time T described in the time information indicates time in the future in the destination description, the position X indicated by position information or name information is interpreted as a destination (place at which the user is to arrive). In the case where the time T is present time, the position X is interpreted as the present position. In the case where the time T is time in the past, the position X is interpreted as the destination in the past (travel history).
That is, the destination description can be a description of an arbitrary time/space point in the past, at present, or in the future. By combining a plurality of destination descriptions, a travel schedule of an agent as a main body of the destination description, a desired state locus (refer to
Next, in the user terminal 1, the profile generator 10 has a description information collector 11 and a description generator 12. The description information collector 11 collects information to be described in the profile P on the basis of information collected by using a communication function, an input function, and the like of the user terminal 1 and various operations (such as an input operation) applied on the user terminal 1. The description generator 12 generates a description of the profile P on the basis of the information collected by the description information collector 11 and the like.
Information provided from the description information collector 11 to the description generator 12 is classified into an information group Ga for an additional description and an information group Go for a destination description. The information group Ga for an additional description includes information for specifying a user type and an application type. The information group Go for a destination description includes one or more information sets S each corresponding to one destination description. Each information set S includes the time information, the position information, the type information, the name information and, in addition, category information for specifying a description category that specifies the details of the information.
The description generator 12 has a static description generator 13, an additional description generator 14, a destination description generator 15, and a dictionary group 16 for a destination description. The static description generator 13 generates a static description on the basis of peculiar information (preset static information) Gs of an agent such as identification information of the agent and characteristic (preference) information of the agent. The additional description generator 14 generates an additional description on the basis of the information group Ga for an additional description, which is supplied from the description information collector 11. The destination description generator 15 generates a destination description on the basis of a dictionary group for an additional description (not shown) used when the additional description generator 14 generates an additional description and the information group Go for a destination description supplied from the description information collector 11. The dictionary group 16 for a destination description is used when the destination description generator 15 generates a destination description.
Each of the dictionaries constructing the dictionary group for an additional description is set in correspondence with each of the types of the additional information (agent type and application type). The additional description generator 14 generates an additional description by using a vocabulary described in the dictionary.
Each of the dictionaries constructing the dictionary group 16 for a destination description is set in correspondence with each of description categories (in this case, “destination,” “purpose,” “state,” and “information environment”). Like the additional description generator 14, the destination description generator 15 generates a destination description, particularly, a description of the type information by using a vocabulary described in the dictionary. The type information includes a fixed class using a vocabulary in a basic dictionary related to “a destination” (refer to
The description category “destination” is used in the case of describing a place to which the agent travels (destination), and a specific name of the destination is described as name information.
The description category “purpose” is used in the case of describing the purpose of an action of the agent, and a specific subject matter of the purpose is described as name information.
The description category “state” is used in the case of describing various states of the agent. As the name information, a specific state is described. For example, as a physical state, “healthy,” “headache,” “comfortable,” “uncomfortable,” or the like is described. As a feeling, “calm,” “high-spirited,” “refreshing,” “happy,” or the like is described. As an action, “to watch,” “to know,” “to send,” “to obtain,” or the like is described.
The description category “information environment” is used in the case of describing information that exerts an influence on the action of the agent. As the name information, specific information (for example, “typhoon is approaching the central districts”) is described.
A configuration example (outline) of each of the dictionaries will be described below.
Dictionary for Additional Description
Dictionary for Destination Description
For a dictionary for the agent type as one of dictionaries for additional description, a vocabulary in superordinate concept such as “user,” “mobile body,” “object,” and “information” and a vocabulary in subordinate concept such as “office worker,” “car,” “food,” and “video” are prepared. Any of the vocabularies may be used.
The description generator 12 with such a configuration generates a description of a profile P by sequentially activating the static description generator 13, additional description generator 14, and destination description generator 15 on the basis of the information groups Ga and Go provided from the description information collector 11 and the preset static information group Gs. The profile P generated by the description generator 12 is transmitted to the central system 3 via the communication network by using the communication function of the user terminal 1.
The details of process executed by the destination description generator 15 as a main part of the invention will now be described with the flowchart shown in
As shown in
Whether time information is included in the information group Go or not is determined (S130). When time information is included, the time information is read and a description of the time information is generated (S140). When time information is not included, the destination description generator 15 advances to the next step without executing S140. Specifically, a description is generated by generating a tag for a time information description and describing the time information in a position specified by the tag (this will be similarly applied below).
After completion of the process on time information, whether position information is included in the information group Go or not is determined (S150). When position information is included, the position information is read and a description of the position information is generated (S160). When position information is not included, the destination description generator 15 advances to the next step without executing S160.
After completion of the process on the position information, a vocabulary corresponding to the type information read from the information group Go is extracted from the dictionary selected in S120 (S170). Whether the selected dictionary is a dictionary of the fixed class (that is, a dictionary for a destination) or not is determined (S180). When the selected dictionary is a dictionary of the fixed class, a description (fixed description) of type information is generated by using a tag indicating that the dictionary is of the fixed class and the vocabulary extracted from the selected dictionary (S190). When the selected dictionary is not a dictionary of the fixed class, a description (free description) of type information is generated by using a tag indicating that the dictionary is of the free class and the vocabulary extracted from the selected dictionary (S200).
After completion of the process on type information, whether name information is included in the information group Go or not is determined (S210). When name information is included, the name information is read and a description of the name information is generated (S220). After that, the process is finished. When name information is not included, the process is finished without executing S220.
By repeating the process only by the number of information sets S constructing the information group Go for destination description, destination descriptions of the same number are generated as part of the profile P.
As understood from the process, all of the description attributes of a destination description do not have to be always described. The time information, position information, and name information may not be described.
In the central system 3, the profile processor 30 includes: a description interpreter 32 for interpreting the description of the profile P obtained by using the communication function of the center system 3; and an application executing unit 31 for executing various applications in accordance with a result of interpretation of the description interpreter 32.
The description interpreter 32 has a static description interpreter 33, an additional description interpreter 34, a dictionary group (not shown) for additional description used at the time of interpreting a description by the additional description interpreter 34, a destination description interpreter 35, a dictionary group 36 for destination description, and a demand determining unit 37. The static description interpreter 33 carries out interpretation (syntactic analysis) of a static description in the profile P. The additional description interpreter 34 interprets an additional description in the profile P and extracts additional information. The destination description interpreter 35 interprets a destination description in the profile P and extracts various information. The dictionary group 36 for destination description is used at the time of interpreting a description (particularly, type information) in the destination description interpreter 35. The demand determining unit 37 determines a demand of the user who has sent the profile P on the basis of the information groups Gs, Ga, and Go extracted by the description interpreters 33, 34, and 35, respectively, and provides recommendation information of an application adapted to be used for information described in the profile P to the application executing unit 31.
The dictionary group for additional description and the dictionary group 36 for destination description are the same as those of the description generator 12. The demand determining unit 37 has a time/space memory for storing information extracted from the profile P by the interpreters 33 to 35 as a time/space point on time/space coordinates defined by the time information and the position information for each agent.
In the description interpreter 32 with such a configuration, when the profile P is received via a communication network by using the communication function of the central system 3, information described in the profile P is extracted by sequentially starting the static description interpreter 33, additional description interpreter 34, and destination description interpreter 35. After completion of extraction of information by the interpreters 32 to 35, by activating the demand determining unit 37, dropped information is compensated, and application recommendation information is generated. The resultant is supplied together with the information Gs, Ga, and Go extracted from the profile P to the application executing unit 31.
The application executing unit 31 selects an application on the basis of the recommendation information provided from the demand determining unit 37 and the information groups Gs, Ga, and Go, and executes the selected application.
The details of the destination description interpreting process executed by the destination description interpreter 35 and the demand determining process executed by the demand determining unit 37 as a main part of the invention will now be described.
First, the destination description interpreting process will be described with the flowchart of
As shown in
Next, whether a description of position information exists in the destination description read in S210 or not is determined (S240). When a description of position information exists, the described position information is extracted (S250).
Whether a description of type information exists in the destination description read in S210 or not is determined (S260). When a description of type information exists, the described type information is extracted (S270). Further, a dictionary to which a term used in the extracted type information belongs is specified by searching the dictionary group 36 for destination description, thereby specifying a description category (S280).
Whether a description of name information exists in the destination description read in S210 or not is determined (S290). When a description of name information exists, the described name information is extracted (S300), and the process is finished.
Each time the process is performed, an information set S of the category information, time information, position information, type information, and name information is obtained. By repeating the process only by the number of destination descriptions existing in the profile P, the information group Go constructed by the information sets S of the number that is the same as the number of destination descriptions existing in the profile P is obtained.
The demand determining process will now be described with the flowchart of
As shown in
In the description clarifying process, for example, when time information and position information is described in not numerical data but a reserved word, the reserved word is converted to numerical data preliminarily associated with the reserved word. In the case where a description of the name information is vague, the vague description is clarified on the basis of time periodicity and spatial similarity of time/space points in the past which are stored in the time/space memory.
Specifically, when there is a vague description such as “valley I visited in spring last year” as name information in the information set S (refer to the following Description 1), the position and name of the “valley I visited in spring last year” are specified by searching the time/space memory, and compensation of the position information and rewriting of the name information are performed (refer to the following Description 1a).
Description 1
Description 1a
Next, whether necessary information is missing in any of the read information groups Gs, Ga, and Go or not is determined (S440). When some of the necessary information is missing, an information compensating process of compensating the missing information is executed (S450).
In the case where a time/space point in the past whose position information and type information match is stored in the time/space memory, the information compensating process is performed to compensate the missing information by using the information related to the time/space point.
Next, a recommended application determining process is performed (S460). An application adapted to use the information indicated in the information groups Go is determined on the basis of the information groups Gs, Ga, and Go (the description contents in the profile P and compensation information) subjected to the clarification and compensation of information. The result of determination is provided together with the information groups Gs, Ga, and Go to the application executing unit 31 (S460), and the process is finished.
In the recommended application determining process, a determination according to the user type and the application type as additional information, the category information in a destination description, and the like is made. Basically, in the case where an application type is included in the information group Ga, an application to be recommended is determined in accordance with the application type. In the case where the description category in the category information is “destination” and any of the time information, position information, type information, and name information is imperfectly described, it is interpreted that a search request for compensating the imperfect description is made, and a search application is recommended.
When type information is described but there is no description specifying a specific place (position information and name information) or a description is vague (refer to the following Description 2), it is interpreted that a search request for specifying a specific position is made. The description is obtained as a result of analysis of the description information collector 11 on the utterance of the user terminal 1 of, for example, “a restaurant around here.”
Description 2
When time information is not described but time in future is described as time information (refer to the following Description 3), it is interpreted as a search request whose object to be searched is a place the user can reach by the time or a place available (shop that is open) at the time. The description is obtained as a result of analysis of the description information collector 11 on the utterance of the user of the user terminal 1 of, for example, “a pub around Shinjuku at 7 PM tonight.”
Description 3
When there is a description of information (position information, type information, and name information) related to the position of a specific destination but there is no description of time information (refer to the following Description 4), the request is interpreted as a search request of time of arrival at the specifically indicated position (or required time).
Description 4
When there is a description of time information but there is no description of information related to the position of a specific destination (position information, name information) (refer to the following Description 5), the request is interpreted as a search request of schedule (destination) of the user (agent). The description is obtained as a result of analysis of the description information collector 11 on utterance of “plan to work at 9 AM tomorrow” of the user of the user terminal 1.
Description 5
In this case, specific time is described as the time information. In the case where vague time such as “tomorrow morning” is described, the request may be interpreted as a search request whose search range is a preset morning time zone (for example, from 7:00 am to 11:00 am).
When a plurality of information sets having a description equivalent to Description 3 exist (refer to the following Descriptions 6 to 8), the request is interpreted as a series of requests for drawing up a schedule satisfying described conditions. The description is obtained as a result of analysis of the description information collector 11 on utterance of, for example, “library in the morning of Sunday, shopping center at noon, and park at 3 pm” of the user of the user terminal 1.
Description 6
Description 7
Description 8
In Descriptions 6 to 8, descriptions of time information are different from each other. When the descriptions of time information are the same (refer to the following Descriptions 9 to 11), as shown in
Description 9
Description 10
Description 11
As described above, in the application providing system of the embodiment, the description generator 12 of the user terminal 1 has a dictionary for describing a destination for each description category constructed by a destination and an extended destination obtained by extending the concept of the destination. The type information is described by using a vocabulary described in the dictionary for describing a destination.
Therefore, in the description interpreter 32 in the central system 3 for interpreting a destination description generated by the user terminal 1, by checking a dictionary for describing a destination to which the vocabulary used for describing type information belongs, a description category (either a destination or an expanded destination) can be specified.
According to the embodiment, it is unnecessary to add a description part dedicated to identify a description category to a data structure (schema) for describing a destination. Only by adding a dictionary adapted to the description category to the dictionary groups 16 and 36 for describing destination, information of various description categories can be described in the same data structure.
As a result, at the time of analyzing a destination description, the same procedure can be used irrespective of a description category of the destination description. Consequently, a simple parser as a program for executing a process in the destination description interpreter 35, that is, a program for analyzing document can be used.
A destination description which can have the same data structure in various description categories can be applied to various applications, media, and terminals. By employing the destination description as a data specification common to them, data interoperability can be increased.
In the embodiment, a dropout in a description in the profile P and a vague description are allowed and, moreover, a demand of the user who has generated the profile P is determined by positively using a dropout in a description. Thus, a very flexible system can be constructed.
In the embodiment, a destination and an expanded destination to be described is stored as a time/space point having significant description for each agent. Consequently, a set of time/space points of an agent can be regarded as a travel path or a state locus of the agent. As a result, they can be suitably used for an application accompanying various predictions and analogy on the basis of time periodicity and spatial similarity of the travel path and state locus.
An application example of the application providing system is an information providing system (refer to
In the information providing system, the user terminal 1 registers the profile P in which history of travel and action in the past of an agent and a schedule of travel and action in future are described in a destination description into the center (central system) 3, and properly notifies the central system 3 of the profile P in which the present position (time/space point) and the present state of the agent are described.
When the profile P in which the present position and the present state of the agent are described is received, the central system 3 retrieves registered information of a corresponding position (time/space point) and a corresponding state and starts an application of providing the following information to the user terminal 1.
Specifically, when the agent is the user, by registering acquisition of desired information (refer to the following Description 12) as one of schedules of the user, it can be set so that desired information is automatically distributed from the central system 3 at desired time. Description 12 is obtained as a result of analysis of the description information collector 11 on, for example, utterance of “Let me know the result of a soccer game at 8 PM tonight” of the user of the user terminal 1.
Description 12
As information distributed from the central system 3, information in a destination description is used. For example, in the case of distributing weather information that “typhoon is approaching the central districts,” the following description may be used.
Description 13
A system can be also constructed as follows. Once the purpose of a travel is described as drive by a destination description and the destination description is registered in the central system 3, each time the profile P indicative of the present position is received from the user terminal 1, the central system 3 automatically distributes and reproduces information that is necessary and optimum for a travel in future (for example, “recommendation information (drive route, restaurant, and the like”) and music and video images adapted to the preference and the state of the driver (agent) described in the profile P and the time/space (for example, “the beach”) during a travel.
For example, in the case where the user is driving a vehicle having a DSRC communication system, when the vehicle passes an infrastructure of the DSRC, information necessary for the user can be distributed at the right timing.
As another application example of the application providing system, a probe system (refer to
In the probe system, the user terminal 1 mounted on a vehicle (agent) captures a video image and sound at the present position by using input devices such as a camera and a microphone. The user terminal 1 describes, as a destination description, meta data (including at least information of the present position) of information of the captured video image and sound or information obtained by extracting or summarizing the characteristics of the captured video image and sound, thereby generating the profile P. The user terminal 1 transmits the profile P together with sensing information to the central system 3. The information descried in the profile P is accumulated in the database in the central system 3 as drive support information of the position indicated by the position information (that is, the present position of the user terminal 1).
The drive support information accumulated in the database in the central system 3 is provided in response to a request from an arbitrary user terminal.
The central system 3 that has received the profile P may execute an application of grasping a concentration state of agents (vehicles) in the same time/space on the basis of the sensing information and the information described in the profile P, generating drive support information which makes the agents properly spread, and notifying the users of the agents (vehicles) of the drive support information via the user terminals 1. The central system 3 may execute an application of dynamically controlling a traffic control post on the basis of the drive support information.
By transmitting the sensing information together with the profile P (that is, meta data described in a destination description) to a network in place of accumulating the sensing information in the database in the central system 3, an autonomously information flow of flowing information by driving of the meta data may be realized.
For example, a destination description having a name of “traffic jam information and disaster information at the intersection in front of Shibuya XXX” is generated (refer to the following Description 14) and transmitted to a network. The destination description is automatically distributed to vehicles which seem to pass the Shibuya area within predetermined time (for example, 30 minutes). Consequently, it can urge the drivers of the vehicles to retrieve the information related to the name. In this case, by using an Ad-Hoc network to automatically distribute the information to vehicles, concentration on the center is avoided, and a line trouble can be avoided.
Description 14
When the probe system is used together with the information providing system of application example 1, to obtain information of an intersection R desired by the driver of a vehicle A, a request (preset) can be made so that a vehicle B which is to pass the intersection R before the vehicle A (specifically, a travel schedule in the destination description includes the intersection R) captures an image at the intersection R.
Another application example of the application providing system relates to a device remote control system for controlling a device in a remote place.
For example, in the case of controlling a recorder at home by using the user terminal 1 mounted on a vehicle, the user inputs a demand “for programming to record NHK news at 7 pm tonight” to the user terminal 1 via a user interface (remote control touch panel, sound interaction, or the like). In response to the input, the user terminal 1 generates a profile P including a destination description (refer to the following Description 15) regarding the destination of recording programming information of “the recorder at home” and a destination description (refer to the following Description 16) regarding contents desired to be recorded of “NHK news at 7 pm tonight.” The user terminal 1 transmits the generated profile P to the central system 3 mounted at home.
Description 15
Description 16
By a destination description, a camera in a remote place or during travel can be also controlled to capture an image in a certain place at a certain time. Similarly, a target set state of a camera can be also described.
Further, by setting a target value in a state space by a destination description in a travel control system of a vehicle, a travel state programmed according to the time/space can be also scheduled.
Further another application example of the application providing system relates to an information retrieval system for retrieving various information including contents of a video image and music.
In this case, it is sufficient to describe time/space desired to be retrieved as a destination of the destination description. For example, when the user wishes to know “a state of damage by typhoon in Guam in last year,” the following description may be used.
Description 17
In the information retrieval system, not only an existing place but also destinations and states as shown by the following (1) to (3) can be also described as a destination, so that a retrieval of video contents by using a destination description can be realized.
(1) Destination or state in a world captured by contents, that is, a narrative world
Agent on a computer
Characters in contents (such as movie and drama),
Destination in a theme park or an amusement park
(2) Destination or state estimated to exist in future
(3) Destination or state close to desired destination or state, whose existence is unknown
Further another application example of the application providing system relates to a physical distribution management system of managing travel and distribution of agents by setting physical objects (such as mobile units, cars, and general objects) as agents.
In this case, a destination description is, for example, destination information (address) described in a tag of an object to be managed. By giving a plurality of destination descriptions to each object, a distribution path of the object, a travel path of a part (object) in an assembly process in a factory, and the like can be described.
An agent as a main body in a destination description is not limited to the user and object but may be an object (device or program) inputting/outputting data in place of the user and communicating with the user, an object on a computer, an object in media (such as a character in a movie or animation), resources such as a terminal and a network, contents, digital item or the like.
In the embodiment, S140 corresponds to time description generating means. S160 corresponds to position description generating means. S170 to S200 correspond to type description generating means. S220 corresponds to name description generating means. The additional description generator 14 corresponds to additional description generating means. S430 corresponds to numerical value converting means. S230, S250, S270, and S300 correspond to information extracting means. S280 corresponds to description category specifying means. The time/space memory corresponds to path storing means. S460 corresponds to demand determining means and retrieval request determining means. S450 corresponds to information compensating means.
A second embodiment will now be described.
The second embodiment is different from the first embodiment with respect to the profile P transmitted/received between the user terminal 1 and the central system 3; and part of the configuration of the description generator 12 in the user terminal 1 and the description interpreter 32 in the central system 3. The different points will be mainly described.
As shown in
The description generator 12 in the user terminal 1 does not include the additional description generator 14. The additional information group Ga from the description information collector 11 is supplied to the destination description generator 15a. Further, the destination description generator 15a is constructed in a manner similar to that in the first embodiment except that the additional information group Ga supplied is described so as to be added to a description of type information or name information. The additional information added to the description of type information and name information is described so as to be identified from the type information or name information and so that the presence or absence of a description can be determined by using a preset sign (parenthesis, colon, or the like).
The description interpreter 32 in the central system 3 does not include the additional description interpreter 34. Instead, the description interpreter 32 has an additional information extractor 38 for extracting the additional information added to the description of the type information or name information from the information set S extracted from the destination description interpreter 35. The demand determining unit 37 is constructed in a manner similar to that of the first embodiment except that it executes a demand determining process with reference to the additional information extracted by the additional information extractor 38.
An example of description of the type information or name information to which the additional information is added is described as follows. Information in parentheses is additional information (an application type and an agent type).
As described above, in the embodiment, the additional information is added to the type information or name information of the destination description. Consequently, the configuration of the profile P can be simplified. In addition, the additional description generator 14 in the user terminal 1 and the additional description interpreter 34 in the central system 3 can be omitted, so that the system configuration can be simplified.
In the embodiment, the additional information is added to a description of type information or name information. Alternatively, by expanding the destination description schema, additional information may be described as one of description attributes such as time information, position information, type information, and name information.
In the second embodiment, the additional information extractor 38 corresponds to additional information extracting means.
A third embodiment will now be described.
The third embodiment is constructed in a manner similar to the first embodiment except that the destination description generator 15 has a pattern knowledge database (not shown) for storing a pre-designated name and pattern knowledge associated with the designated name.
The pattern knowledge is a series of destination descriptions patterned having the relation between an effect and its cause or the sequence relation with respect to matters specified from the designated name.
Specifically, a destination (hereinbelow, which includes an expanded destination) is expressed as a point on time/space coordinates (time/space point) as described above. Particularly, in the case where time information or position information of a destination is described by character data (reserved word) not by numerical data, the time range and the space range are widened.
For example, there is a situation such that the user living in the Nagoya area in Japan leaves his/her house for Hawaii for a business trip “to participate in an international conference held in a hotel in Hawaii and make a proposition of standardization” and comes back to his/her house. When the situation is analyzed and arranged on the time base, as shown in
When a destination SD is analyzed (in the diagram, “airplane”), in some cases, the destination SD is constructed by a collection of smaller-scale destinations SDi (“entrance,” “reception,” “passport control,” “lounge,” and “departure gate”). The relation between an effect and its cause or the sequence relation like a pattern from the viewpoint of space exists among the smaller-scale purposes/destinations SDi. A series of destination descriptions on the destinations SDi having such a relation is called pattern knowledge.
As shown in
In the third embodiment, when the type information of the information set S provided from the description information collector 11 is pattern knowledge, the destination description generator 15 in the user terminal 1 searches a pattern knowledge database by using the name information of the same information set S, calls pattern knowledge corresponding to a designated name matching the name information, and generates a series of destination descriptions.
The user terminal 1 is constructed so as to develop the pattern knowledge to a series of destination descriptions at the time of generating the profile P from the information set S.
In the application providing system of the embodiment constructed in such a manner, in the user terminal 1, the description information collector 11 can simply describe the information set S by using the pattern knowledge. Consequently, an effort and the like of the user at the time of inputting information for generating the profile P to the description information collector 11 can be lessened.
By using such pattern knowledge, the system can perform request estimation and information provision (including adaptation of a communication function) more finely and, moreover, can obtain higher compatibility with a natural language description and sound interaction.
Although the pattern knowledge database is provided in the destination description generator 15 in the user terminal 1 in the embodiment, the pattern knowledge database may be provided in the destination description interpreter 35 in the central system 3.
In this case, when the type information extracted from a destination description in the profile P is pattern knowledge, the destination description interpreter 35 searches the pattern knowledge database by using the name information of the same destination description, and calls the pattern knowledge corresponding to the designated name matching the name information. That is, the central system 3 develops the pattern knowledge to a series of destination descriptions at the time of extracting the information set S from the destination description.
As described above, the application providing system of developing the pattern knowledge by the destination description interpreter 35 can describe a series of destination descriptions formed in pattern into a single destination description. Consequently, the scale of the profile P can be suppressed, and efficiency of information transmission from the user terminal 1 to the central system 3 can be improved.
In the embodiment, a process executed by using the pattern information database by the destination description generator 15 and the destination description interpreter 35 corresponds to pattern knowledge calling means.
Although some embodiments of the invention have been described above, the invention is not limited to the foregoing embodiments but can be carried out in various modes.
For example, in the foregoing embodiments, the profile generator 10 and the profile processor 30 are constructed as separate devices in the user terminal 1 and the central system 3, respectively. Alternatively, a single apparatus having both of the profile generator 10 and the profile processor 30 may be constructed.
Communication between the user terminal 1 and the central system 3 can be performed by data transfer in a circuit or software by wire or by wireless. Further, the user terminal 1 and the central system 3 do not always have to perform direct communication. For example, the profile P may be input/output via a portable memory which can be inserted to both of the user terminal 1 and the central system 3.
In the foregoing embodiments, the profile P includes a static description describing static information peculiar to each agent. Otherwise, the static description for specifying the agent may be omitted. For example, in the case where the user terminal 1 is a cellular phone, the central system 3 can specify the agent as a main body of the obtained profile P by information (telephone number or the like) transmitted/received at the time of establishing communication with the central system 3. When all of the static information is registered on the central system 3, the whole static description may be omitted.
In the foregoing embodiments, the additional information is described explicitly in the profile P as an additional description or as an addition to the type information or name information. By classifying the description categories in consideration of the additional information (agent type or application type), the additional information may be transmitted implicitly.
In this case, the number of kinds of the dictionary for destination description increases but the additional description generator 14 and the additional description interpreter 34 are omitted, so that the system can be simplified.
In the foregoing embodiments, a plurality of kinds of description categories of destination descriptions are set and the profile P includes a plurality of destination descriptions described in arbitrary description categories. Alternatively, in the profile P, as shown in
That is, even a single destination can be a dominant factor at the time of performing adaptation of information provision. By also employing the situation, more accurate adaptation becomes possible.
In the foregoing embodiments, by employing an external dictionary describing an expanded destination in addition to a basic dictionary describing a destination, a description category is expanded. Alternatively, only necessary part in the basic dictionary may be dynamically expanded as shown in
At the time of searching a dictionary, nodes may be searched not in order of addresses but in accordance with the preference of the user, day of the week, time zone, or use frequency. In this case, search time can be shortened.
It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the above-described embodiments of the present invention. However, the scope of the present invention should be determined by the following claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004-99517 | Mar 2004 | JP | national |
