Information processing device, information processing method, and computer program

Abstract

To provide an information processing device capable of reducing a work burden of an agent who creates a tutorial for performing operation guide of a website.SOLUTION: An information processing device for creating tutorial setting data includes a table for associating operation information showing operation contents to multiple elements composing a web page with condition information for determining completion of operation to elements being guided in an operation procedure, acquires operation information showing operation contents to elements as a model of the operation procedure, issues a guide step ID for identifying guide steps for elements, specifies condition information for determining completion of operation to a first element on the basis of acquired operation information and information on a condition information table, and associates the guide step ID showing guide steps to the first element with the guide step ID of a transition destination showing a second element that is operated next and stores them as tutorial setting data.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing device, an information processing method, and a computer program. [Background technology]

[0002] There is a system (hereinafter, operation guide system) that provides operation guidance through tutorials to users (hereinafter, guests) who use a website, and promotes the use of the website. For example, the operation guide system displays a speech bubble (hereinafter, guide) for a specific element on a web page, which contains a message explaining the element or encouraging the guest to operate the element. Necessary guides are repeatedly displayed until the guest completes a series of operations. In the operation guide system, it is necessary to create in advance setting data for the tutorial to be displayed according to the content of the operation guide. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2020-177403 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, in the conventional tutorial creation method, the user who creates the tutorial (hereinafter referred to as the agent) must manually configure a wide range of settings for each guide that constitutes the tutorial, such as the selection of the elements to be covered by the guide, the messages to be displayed in the guide, and the conditions for transitioning to the next guide, which creates a problem that the greater the number of guides that make up the tutorial, the greater the workload of the agent.In addition, there is also a need to verify whether the created tutorial works correctly, which creates another problem of an increased workload for the agent.

[0005] An object of the present disclosure is to provide an information processing method, an information processing device, and a computer program that can reduce the workload of an agent who creates a tutorial to provide operational guidance on a website. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] An information processing device according to one embodiment of the present invention is an information processing device that creates tutorial setting data for guiding users through operation procedures for multiple elements that constitute a webpage, and is equipped with a table that associates operation information indicating the operation content for the elements with condition information for determining whether the operation for the elements has been completed while guiding users through the operation procedure, and a processing unit. The processing unit acquires operation information indicating the operation content for the multiple elements that serves as an example for the operation procedure, issues a guidance step ID that identifies a guidance step for each of the multiple elements, identifies condition information for determining whether the operation for the first element has been completed based on the acquired operation information for a first element and the information in the table, and associates the guidance step ID indicating the guidance step for the first element, the identified condition information, and a guidance step ID of a transition destination that indicates a second element that is next operated after the operation for the first element is completed, and stores the associated information as the tutorial setting data.

[0007] An information processing method according to one embodiment of the present invention is an information processing method for creating tutorial setting data for guiding operation procedures for multiple elements that constitute a webpage, which method acquires operation information indicating operation content for multiple elements that serve as an example of the operation procedures, issues a guidance step ID that identifies a guidance step for each of the multiple elements, identifies condition information for determining completion of the operation for the first element based on information in a table that corresponds the operation information indicating the operation content for the element and condition information for determining completion of the operation for the element during guidance of the operation procedures and the acquired operation information for a first element, and associates the guidance step ID indicating the guidance step for the first element, the identified condition information, and a guidance step ID of a transition destination indicating the second element that is next operated after the operation for the first element is completed, and stores them as the tutorial setting data.

[0008] A computer program according to one embodiment of the present invention is a computer program that causes a computer to execute a process of creating tutorial setting data for guiding operation procedures for multiple elements that constitute a webpage, and causes the computer to execute a process of acquiring operation information indicating operation content for multiple elements that serve as an example of the operation procedures, issuing a guidance step ID that identifies a guidance step for each of the multiple elements, identifying condition information for determining completion of the operation for the first element based on information of a table that corresponds the operation information indicating the operation content for the element and condition information for determining completion of the operation for the element during guidance of the operation procedures and the acquired operation information for a first element, and associating the guidance step ID indicating the guidance step for the first element, the identified condition information, and a guidance step ID of a transition destination indicating the second element that is next operated after the operation for the first element is completed, and storing them as the tutorial setting data. Effect of the Invention

[0009] According to the present disclosure, it is possible to reduce the workload of an agent who creates a tutorial for providing operational guidance on a website. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration example of an operation guidance system according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Diagram 2] 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of an operation guidance system according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Diagram 3] 13 is a flowchart showing a tutorial execution process procedure. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing setting data. [Diagram 5] 10 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for automatic tutorial creation according to the present embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing a tutorial management screen. [Figure 7] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing a tutorial creation screen. [Figure 8] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing the tutorial creation screen after a guide example operation has been performed; [Figure 9] 5 is a flowchart showing a recording process according to the embodiment. [Figure 10] FIG. 13 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the configuration of a condition information table. [Figure 11] FIG. 13 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the configuration of an item determination table. [Figure 12] 13 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for automatically executing a tutorial. [Figure 13A] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing a tutorial creation screen during automatic execution of a tutorial. [Figure 13B] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing a tutorial creation screen during automatic execution of a tutorial. [Figure 14] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing a tutorial creation screen during automatic execution of a tutorial. [Figure 15]FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing a tutorial creation screen during automatic execution of a tutorial. [Figure 16] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing a tutorial creation screen during automatic execution of a tutorial. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] An information processing method, an information processing device, and a computer program according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that the present disclosure is not limited to these examples, but is intended to include all modifications within the scope of the claims and meaning equivalent thereto. In addition, at least some of the embodiments described below may be arbitrarily combined.

[0012] Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram for explaining a configuration example of an operation guidance system according to this embodiment. The operation guidance system according to this embodiment includes a tutorial server 1, an agent terminal 2, a guest terminal 3, and a web server (external server) 4. The various terminals and servers are connected to the tutorial server 1 via a communication network N. In this embodiment, it is mainly the agent terminal 2 that functions as the information processing device according to the present invention.

[0013] A user (hereinafter referred to as an agent) who operates the agent terminal 2 is, for example, a person who provides guidance on how to operate a website to a user (hereinafter referred to as a guest) who operates the guest terminal 3 as necessary, or an administrator of the website. Note that the agent and guest are examples of users of the tutorial server 1 according to this embodiment, and the relationship between them is not particularly limited.

[0014] Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the operation guidance system according to this embodiment. The tutorial server 1 is a server that stores, communicates, and processes data to realize the operation guidance system. The tutorial server 1 is a computer equipped with a processing unit 11, a storage unit 12, and a communication unit 13. The tutorial server 1 may be configured to perform distributed processing by using multiple computers, may be realized by multiple virtual machines provided in one server, may be realized by using a cloud server, or may be partially configured by a quantum computer.

[0015] The storage unit 12 is a storage device such as a hard disk, an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), or a flash memory. The storage unit 12 stores a server program (not shown), an agent program P1, a guest program P2, setting data including tutorial setting data required for executing the tutorial (see FIG. 4), a condition information table 12a used for creating the tutorial setting data, an item determination table 12b, and various other programs and data. The storage unit 12 functions as a program file storage that stores the agent program P1 and guest program P2 required for the operation guidance system, and an account management database that manages the condition information table 12a, the item determination table 12b, and setting data for each account. The condition information table 12a and the item determination table 12b do not necessarily mean structured data in a table format with a fixed record configuration, but may be structured data described in JSON format, etc. As long as the creation of tutorial setting data can be realized, the form of information held by the condition information table 12a and the item determination table 12b is not particularly limited.

[0016] The agent program P1 is a program for executing the main processing on a tutorial management screen 6 (see FIG. 6) for managing tutorials. The tutorial management screen 6 is a screen accessed by the agent.

[0017] The guest program P2 includes a program for executing main processing on a tutorial execution screen for executing a tutorial, and a program for executing main processing on a tutorial creation screen 7 (see Figs. 7, 8, 13A, and 13B to 16) for automatically creating a tutorial. The tutorial execution screen is a screen accessed by a guest. The tutorial creation screen 7 is a screen accessed by an agent. The substance of the tutorial execution screen and the tutorial creation screen 7 is a web page of an external website that is the target of operation guidance.

[0018] The various programs may be recorded in a computer-readable manner on the recording medium 5. The storage unit 12 stores the agent program P1 and the guest program P2 read from the recording medium 5 by a reading device (not shown). The recording medium 5 is a semiconductor memory such as a flash memory, an optical disk, a magnetic disk, a magneto-optical disk, or the like. Alternatively, the various programs according to the present embodiment may be downloaded from an external server (not shown) connected to the communication network N and stored in the storage unit 12.

[0019] The processing unit 11 has one or more arithmetic processing devices such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or an MPU (Micro-Processing Unit), and by reading and executing a server program stored in the memory unit 12, it cooperates with the agent terminal 2 and the guest terminal 3 to perform the tutorial creation process and tutorial execution process related to this embodiment. The processing unit 11 functions as an API processing unit. The API processing unit is a functional unit that creates tutorial setting data for executing a tutorial and stores setting data including the created tutorial setting data in the account management database. The API processing unit is also a functional unit that acquires the setting data stored in the account management database.

[0020] The communication unit 13 includes a processing circuit, a communication circuit, etc. for performing processing related to communication, and transmits and receives information between the agent terminal 2, the guest terminal 3, and the web server 4. The communication unit 13 transmits the guest program P2 and setting data required for executing the tutorial to the guest terminal 3. The communication unit 13 transmits the agent program P1 and guest program P2 required for automatic creation of a tutorial to the agent terminal 2, as well as structured data of the condition information table 12a and structured data of the item determination table 12b, and receives the tutorial setting data created by the agent terminal 2.

[0021] The agent terminal 2 is a computer equipped with a processing unit 21, a storage unit 22, a communication unit 23, an operation unit 24, and a display unit 25. The basic configurations of the processing unit 21, the storage unit 22, and the communication unit 23 are the same as those of the tutorial server 1. The agent terminal 2 may also be configured to be configured with multiple computers for distributed processing, may be realized by multiple virtual machines provided in one server, may be realized using a cloud server, or may be partially configured with a quantum computer. The processing unit 21 displays the tutorial management screen 6 and the tutorial creation screen 7, and executes the agent program P1 and the guest program P2. The storage unit 22 stores at least a program related to the agent browser. In addition, the storage unit 22 stores the agent program P1 and the guest program P2 transmitted from the tutorial server 1, as well as the structured data of the condition information table 12a and the structured data of the item judgment table 12b. The agent browser is equipped with a DOM (Document Object Model), which is a program that refers to and controls elements that constitute a web page, and can execute the agent program P1 and the guest program P2 transmitted from the tutorial server 1. The communication unit 23 communicates with the tutorial server 1 and the web server 4. The operation unit 24 is a keyboard, a mouse, etc., and accepts operation and input of the agent. The display unit 25 is a display device such as a liquid crystal display or an organic EL (Electro Luminescence) display, and renders information provided from the processing unit 21. For example, the display unit 25 displays a tutorial management screen 6 and a tutorial creation screen 7.

[0022] The guest terminal 3 is a computer including a processing unit 31, a storage unit 32, a communication unit 33, an operation unit 34, and a display unit 35. The basic configurations of the processing unit 31, the storage unit 32, and the communication unit 33 are the same as those of the tutorial server 1. The processing unit 31 displays a tutorial execution screen and executes a guest program P2. The storage unit 32 stores at least a program related to a guest browser. The storage unit 32 also stores the guest program P2 transmitted from the tutorial server 1. The guest browser is implemented with a DOM, which is a program that refers to and controls elements that constitute a web page, and can execute the guest program P2 transmitted from the tutorial server 1. The communication unit 33 communicates with the tutorial server 1 and the web server 4. The operation unit 34 is a keyboard, a mouse, etc., and accepts operations and inputs from the guest. The display unit 35 is a display device such as a liquid crystal display or an organic EL display, and draws information provided from the processing unit 31. For example, the display unit 35 displays a tutorial execution screen.

[0023] The web server 4 is a server that transmits files such as document files and asset files that constitute web pages to the agent browser and guest browser that originated the request in response to requests from the agent browser and guest browser. In this embodiment, the agent browser accesses the web server 4 and displays a tutorial creation screen 7. The guest browser accesses the web server 4 and displays a tutorial execution screen.

[0024] Before explaining the automatic tutorial creation process, we will explain the tutorial execution process in the guest terminal 3. As a premise, it is assumed that a script tag in which location information (src) of the guest program P2 is written is placed on the tutorial execution screen delivered by the web server 4, i.e., the HTML of the web page.

[0025] <Running the tutorial on guest device 3> FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the tutorial execution processing procedure, and FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing setting data. The guest terminal 3 accesses the web server 4 to display the tutorial execution screen, and acquires and executes the guest program P2 (step S11). In detail, when the guest terminal 3 accesses the tutorial execution screen, it requests the guest program P2 from the tutorial server 1. The tutorial server 1 accepts the request from the guest terminal 3 and transmits the guest program P2 from the program file storage to the guest terminal 3. Upon receiving the guest program P2, the guest terminal 3 executes the guest program P2 in the processing unit 31 of the guest terminal 3.

[0026] Next, the guest terminal 3 acquires the setting data from the tutorial server 1 (step S12). In detail, the guest terminal 3 executing the guest program P2 requests the setting data from the tutorial server 1. The setting data is data stored in the account management database, including tutorial setting data necessary for executing the operation guidance system on the guest terminal 3, as shown in FIG. 4. The API processing unit of the tutorial server 1 acquires the setting data from the account management database, and transmits the setting data to the guest terminal 3 via the communication unit 13 of the tutorial server 1. The guest terminal 3 starts executing the tutorial based on the tutorial setting data included in the received setting data. The tutorial setting data is data created in advance for each account that uses the operation guidance system, and multiple pieces of data are included in the setting data for the number of necessary tutorials. The tutorial setting data also includes a unique identifier for identifying the tutorial (hereinafter, tutorial ID), a name representing the tutorial (hereinafter, tutorial name), guidance step information, and the like. Details of the guidance step information will be described later.

[0027] The tutorial is a function of the operation guidance system for providing operation guidance to the guest and supporting the use of the website. In this embodiment, an example will be described in which the tutorial is started each time the guest accesses the tutorial execution screen and executes the guest program P2, but the tutorial may be started when the start condition is included in the setting data and the tutorial is started when the start condition is satisfied. Specifically, the tutorial may be started when, for example, a page of a specific URL is transitioned to, or when a specific element on the page, such as a specific button element, is clicked. In addition, when the setting data includes multiple tutorial setting data, a start condition may be set for each tutorial, and the tutorials may be started at different times.

[0028] Next, the guest terminal 3 executes each guide step related to the operation guide of the website based on the acquired tutorial setting data (step S13). In detail, when the guest terminal 3 starts executing the tutorial, it executes the guide step based on the guide step information included in the tutorial setting data. The guide step is each stage constituting the tutorial, and the guide step information is information representing the realization content of each guide step. In addition, the tutorial setting data includes a plurality of pieces of guide step information, and is configured so that the guide steps can be executed consecutively in a specified order. The substance of the guide step is a speech bubble (hereinafter, a guide) for a specific element on the page, and the operation guide for the guest can be appropriately realized by displaying the guide for the corresponding element in succession in each guide step. For example, if you want the guest to perform a user registration procedure on a website, you can prepare a guide step (guide) for each item required for user registration, such as name, email address, and password, and set the content that you want the guest to operate for the item as the wording to be displayed in each guide, thereby appropriately guiding the operation for each item.

[0029] As shown in FIG. 4, the guide step information includes a unique identifier for identifying the guide step (hereinafter, guide step ID), a name representing the guide step (hereinafter, guide step name), guide information, and trigger information. The guide information is information necessary for configuring the guide, and includes message information, position information, highlight information, spotlight information, automatic scrolling information, element overlap order information, and guide target element information. Details of each piece of information will be described later. Moreover, the trigger information is information including a collection of conditions (hereinafter, rules) for transitioning to the next guide step when one guide step ends, and contents related to the timing for checking the rules (hereinafter, trigger), and includes an identifier representing the type of trigger (hereinafter, trigger type) and branch information. Details of each piece of information will be described later.

[0030] When the guest terminal 3 executes the first guide step, it creates a guide based on the contents of the guide information included in the guide step information. Specifically, the guest terminal 3 creates a guide element in the shape of a speech bubble and adds it to the DOM to display the guide. A specific method for creating a guide element will be described later.

[0031] When creating a guide element, the guest terminal 3 identifies the guide target element based on the guide target element information included in the guide information. The guide target element is an element for which a guide is displayed and an operation is to be encouraged, and is realized by displaying the guide in a format that indicates the element. The guide target element information includes location information such as a CSS selector and XPath that indicates the corresponding element, and the guide target element is identified by the location information.

[0032] The guest terminal 3 then determines at which position, above, below, left or right of the guide target element the guide should be displayed based on the position information included in the guide information. The position refers to the position at which the guide element is displayed, and the position information includes character string or identifier information indicating at which position, above, below, left or right of the guide target element the guide element should be displayed. The guest terminal 3 monitors the scroll amount of the webpage, the page size, and the display position and vertical and horizontal dimensions of the guide target element, and when a change is detected, adjusts the display position of the guide element to match the changed display position of the guide target element.

[0033] The guest terminal 3 then applies the value specified in the element overlap order information to the value of the CSS z-index property applied to the guide element based on the element overlap order information included in the guide information. The element overlap order is the order of overlap between the guide target element and other elements on the DOM of the tutorial execution screen, and the larger the value, the closer the element is to the front of the screen. Similarly, when creating a highlight element or spotlight element (described later), the value specified in the element overlap order is applied to the CSS z-index property value.

[0034] The guest terminal 3 then creates an element or text representing a message based on the message information included in the guide information, and adds it to the guide element. The substance of the message is a statement to be displayed in the guide. For example, if the message is a guide to prompt input in an email address field, the message is realized by setting a character string such as "Please enter your email address." Also, if the message is a guide to prompt input in the name reading field (full-width katakana), the message is realized by setting a character string such as "Please enter the reading (full-width katakana)." In the above-mentioned message configuration example, only one statement is set for the message, but, for example, the message may be divided into a title and a description, and a statement may be set for each. The message information is structured data written in HTML format or Markdown notation. Specifically, if the size or color of some of the characters included in the message is set in the structured data, the CSS properties for the guide element, such as the font-size (font-size) property and the color (color) property, are applied to the specified values. Also, if some characters are highlighted, the highlighting element, such as an em element, is created and added to surround the characters. Furthermore, if a list is included, this is achieved by creating and adding an element for representing the list, such as an li element, and if an image, video, or link is embedded, this is achieved by creating and adding an element to represent each of them.

[0035] The guest terminal 3 then sets the highlight based on the highlight information included in the guide information. The highlight is a function for highlighting the guide target element, and the highlight information includes a true / false value indicating whether the highlight function is enabled or not. If the highlight function is enabled, the guest terminal 3 creates an element (hereinafter referred to as a highlight element) to surround the guide target element, and adds it to the DOM. Specifically, the guide target element is highlighted by adjusting the display position and vertical and horizontal dimensions of the highlight element to those of the guide target element. The highlight element is, for example, a rectangular element. The guest terminal 3 executing the guest program P2 monitors the scroll amount of the web page, the page size, and the display position and vertical and horizontal dimensions of the guide target element, and when a change is detected, adjusts the display position and vertical and horizontal dimensions of the highlight element to match the display position and vertical and horizontal dimensions of the changed guide target element.

[0036] The guest terminal 3 then sets the spotlight based on the spotlight information included in the guide information. The spotlight is a function that can provide appropriate guidance by controlling operations on elements other than the guide target element on the tutorial execution screen and preventing erroneous operations on other elements, and the spotlight information includes a true / false value indicating whether the spotlight function is enabled. If the spotlight function is enabled, the guest terminal 3 creates an element (hereinafter referred to as a spotlight element) so as to fill the area on the tutorial execution screen other than the guide target element, and adds it to the DOM. Specifically, rectangular elements are created on the top, bottom, left, and right of the guide target element, and the size is set so that the area of ​​the page other than the guide target element is covered. In addition, by specifying the overlap order of each spotlight element to a value larger than the overlap order of each element on the page, even if the guest tries to perform a click operation or input operation on other elements on the web page other than the guide target element, the focus is on the spotlight element, so that the operation cannot be performed. This makes it possible to control not to operate other elements on the page other than the guide target element. The guest terminal 3 monitors the amount of scrolling of the web page, the page size, and the display position and vertical and horizontal dimensions of the guided elements, and if a change is detected, adjusts the display position and vertical and horizontal dimensions of each spotlight element according to the changed page size and the display position and vertical and horizontal dimensions of the guided elements.

[0037] The guest terminal 3 then sets automatic scrolling based on the automatic scrolling information included in the guide information. Automatic scrolling is a function that can adjust the amount of scrolling of a webpage so that the guide target element is located at a specified position in the display area on the screen, and the automatic scrolling information includes a boolean value indicating whether the automatic scrolling function is enabled or not. If the automatic scrolling function is enabled, the guest terminal 3 adjusts the amount of scrolling of the webpage so that the guide target element is located at the center of the display area on the screen. Note that instead of positioning the guide target element at the center, the amount of scrolling of the webpage may be adjusted so that the guide target element is located at any position in the display area on the screen (for example, the top or bottom of the screen).

[0038] After creating the guide, the guest terminal 3 sets and monitors the trigger based on the trigger information included in the guide step information (step S14). The guest terminal 3 judges whether the set trigger is satisfied (step S15). If it is judged that the trigger is not satisfied (step S15: NO), the guest terminal 3 continues the monitoring process. If it is judged that the trigger is satisfied (step S15: YES), the guest terminal 3 judges whether there is a transition destination guide step ID indicating the next guide step (step S16). If it is judged that there is a transition destination guide step ID (step S16: YES), the guest terminal 3 executes a guide step transition process (step S17) and returns the process to step S13. If it is judged that there is no transition destination guide step ID (step S16: NO), the guest terminal 3 executes a tutorial end process that deletes each element constituting the guide and disables monitoring of the set trigger (step S18), and ends the process.

[0039] The details of the process of steps S14 to S18 are as follows. The guest terminal 3 sets and monitors the timing for transitioning to the next guidance step based on the value of the trigger type included in the trigger information of the tutorial setting data. Specifically, for example, if the value of "button" is set in the trigger type, the guest terminal 3 creates a button element in the guide element and sets a character string such as "Next" or "End" in the textContent property of the button element. In addition, a rule for transitioning to the next guidance step is set based on rule information included in the branch information described later. When the guest terminal 3 detects that the rule is satisfied and detects a click operation on the created button element, it transitions to the next guidance step. In addition, for example, if the value of "auto" is set in the trigger type, the guest terminal 3 does not create the button element, but sets a rule for transitioning to the next guidance step based on rule information included in the branch information described later. When it detects that the rule is satisfied, it transitions to the next guidance step.

[0040] The guest terminal 3 executing the guest program P2 then sets a branch (hereinafter, a branch) of the guidance step to be transitioned to next based on the branch information included in the trigger information. A single or multiple branches can be set for a trigger. The purpose of setting multiple branches is to make it possible to separate the guide to be displayed next according to the operation content when it is desired to change the guide line according to the operation content of the guest. For example, when there is a radio button on a page that allows the user to select "Yes" or "No" as an answer to a question, it is possible to change the guide to be displayed next depending on whether "Yes" is selected or "No" is selected. The branch information includes rule information and flow information. The flow indicates the guidance step to be transitioned to when the rule is satisfied, and the flow information includes the guidance step ID of the guidance step to be transitioned to next (hereinafter, a transition destination guidance step ID). As a result, when a rule set based on the rule information included in any branch information is satisfied, it is possible to transition to the guidance step indicated by the transition destination guidance step ID included in the flow information linked to the relevant branch information. The flow information of the tutorial setting data created by the automatic tutorial creation process according to this embodiment includes verification information, which will be described later.

[0041] The guest terminal 3 executing the guest program P2 then sets and monitors the rule based on the rule information if the branch information contains rule information. The rule information contains condition information and operator information. The condition information is information on the judgment condition set for the user's operation, the state of the element, etc., and one or more conditions can be set for the rule. The specific contents of the condition information will be described later. The operator information is information including an identifier indicating a combination of judgments of the condition information, such as whether the entire rule is judged to be true when all of the multiple condition information are satisfied (true) when there is multiple condition information, or whether the entire rule is judged to be true when any one of the condition information is true. Specifically, a value such as "and" or "or" is set. The guest terminal 3 constantly monitors whether the rule is satisfied based on the result of the judgment condition set based on the condition information and the operator information.

[0042] The guest terminal 3 executing the guest program P2 then sets and monitors judgment conditions based on the condition information included in the rule information. The condition information includes information to be checked for conditions (hereinafter, condition target information), information indicating the content to be actually judged for the condition target (hereinafter, condition judgment information), and a numerical value indicating the order in which the condition information is used (hereinafter, condition order). Specifically, the condition target information is information including an identifier indicating a specific type of the condition target, such as "elementSelf (body of a specific element on a web page)", "elementValue (input value of a specific element on a web page)", "locationUrl (URL of the web page)", etc., and when it is necessary to specify a target element such as "elementSelf" or "elementValue", it also includes information such as a CSS selector, XPath, etc. indicating the location information of the element (hereinafter, condition target element information). Specifically, the condition determination information is information including an identifier indicating a specific criterion for the condition determination, such as "equalsTo (the condition target matches exactly)", "matches (the condition target matches a regular expression)", and "isClicked (the condition target is clicked)". When the condition determination information requires a value for a criterion condition (hereinafter, an argument), such as "equalsTo" or "matches", the condition determination information also includes information in which a value indicating the argument is defined (hereinafter, condition determination argument information). For example, if the condition target information is "elementSelf" and the condition determination information is "isClicked", the guest terminal 3 identifies an element based on the condition target element information included in the condition target information, monitors whether a click operation is performed on the identified element body, and determines that the condition is true if a click operation is detected. Also, if the condition target information is "elementValue" and the condition determination information is "equalsTo", the guest terminal 3 identifies an element based on the condition target element information included in the condition target information, monitors whether an input value of the identified element matches exactly with the value of the argument defined in the condition determination argument information, and determines that the condition is true if a complete match is detected.The condition order is a numerical value that is required when multiple pieces of condition information are included in a single rule information, and the corresponding condition information is set and monitored in ascending numerical order (or ascending numerical order is also acceptable), and when the relevant condition information is satisfied, the condition information with the next smallest numerical value (or largest numerical value) is set and monitored, and this is repeated according to the condition order. The purpose of setting the condition order is when it is necessary to check the state of elements contained in a web page only when a certain piece of condition information is not satisfied, for example, when other condition information cannot be judged.

[0043] When the monitored rule (judgment condition) is satisfied and the trigger set based on the trigger type is satisfied, the guest terminal 3 executing the guest program P2 performs a process of transitioning to a guidance step indicated by a transition destination guidance step ID included in the flow information linked to the branch information including the rule information. Specifically, the guest terminal 3 deletes each element (guide element, highlight element, spotlight element) constituting the guide of the current guidance step, and also disables monitoring of the set trigger. Disabling the monitoring of the trigger specifically means disabling monitoring of the state and operation of each condition target set based on the condition information linked to the rule information of each branch information included in the trigger information. In addition, the guest terminal 3 acquires the guidance step information indicated by the transition destination guidance step ID, and performs the above-mentioned processes of steps S13 to S16 again.

[0044] The guest terminal 3 executing the guest program P2 repeats the above-mentioned steps S13 to S17 until the tutorial ends, specifically, until the transition destination guide step ID indicated by the flow information no longer exists. Also, when the trigger of the last guide step is satisfied, since there is no transition destination guide step information, the tutorial ends after deleting each element constituting the guide of the current guide step and invalidating the set trigger.

[0045] The tutorial can be ended even in the middle of a guidance step. That is, the tutorial can be ended in the state of step S14, where the creation of the guide elements is completed and the transition process to the next guidance step is not yet executed. Specifically, the guest terminal 3 executing the guest program P2 creates an additional end button element among the displayed guide elements during the guide element creation process of step S13, and monitors the click operation of the end button element. When the guest clicks the end button element, the guest terminal 3 determines that the tutorial has ended, and executes the same process as when the trigger of the last guidance step is satisfied.

[0046] <Automatic tutorial creation by agent terminal 2> FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure for automatically creating a tutorial according to this embodiment, and FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a tutorial management screen 6. The agent terminal 2 accesses the tutorial management screen 6 to obtain and display files such as document files and asset files constituting the tutorial management screen 6 from the tutorial server 1, and also obtains and executes the agent program P1 (step S31). In detail, when the agent terminal 2 accesses the tutorial management screen 6 for managing a tutorial, it requests the agent program P1 from the tutorial server 1. The tutorial server 1 accepts the request from the agent terminal 2, reads out the agent program P1 from the program file storage, and transmits it to the agent terminal 2. When the agent terminal 2 receives the agent program P1, it executes the agent program P1 in the processing unit 21 of the agent terminal 2, and performs processing such as displaying and transitioning the screen.

[0047] When the agent terminal 2 receives an operation to create a new tutorial by the agent, it creates a new tutorial (step S32). In detail, when creating a new tutorial, the agent performs the operation to create a new tutorial from the tutorial management screen 6 and sets a name that expresses the tutorial (hereinafter, tutorial name). The agent terminal 2 creates a new tutorial in accordance with the agent's operation and issues an ID (hereinafter, tutorial ID) for uniquely identifying the tutorial. Note that the timing for setting the tutorial name is just an example, and the tutorial name may be set when the tutorial creation is completed, or the tutorial name may be changed at any timing. Specifically, the operation to create a new tutorial is performed when a specific button element on the tutorial management screen 6 is clicked, but the method for realizing the new creation operation is not particularly limited.

[0048] In the conventional tutorial creation method, the agent generally manually creates or modifies each of the guidance steps that make up the tutorial. More specifically, when creating one guidance step, the agent must select the guide target element, set the wording to be displayed as a guide message, and consider the conditions for transitioning to the next guidance step, and then perform the work of setting each step individually. Therefore, the more guidance steps that make up the tutorial, the greater the workload becomes, resulting in a problem of a workload on the agent.

[0049] In this embodiment, by using the tutorial automatic creation function, the selection of the guide target element, the setting of the wording to be displayed as the guide message, and the setting of the condition for transitioning to the next guidance step can be realized while reducing the load on the agent. A specific method will be described later.

[0050] Next, the agent terminal 2 executes an automatic tutorial creation start process in order to automatically create tutorial setting data (step S33). The details are as follows.

[0051] When starting automatic creation of a tutorial, the agent first performs an automatic creation start operation from the tutorial management screen 6. Specifically, the automatic creation start operation is an operation in which the agent clicks on the automatic creation start button 61 displayed on the tutorial management screen 6. Furthermore, when the automatic creation start button 61 is clicked, a modal screen (hereinafter referred to as the automatic creation start modal screen) 62 for inputting the URL of the web page from which automatic creation will start is displayed, and the agent inputs the relevant URL. Note that, although this example describes a case in which a new tutorial is created, the same applies when it is desired to add a guidance step midway through a tutorial that has already been created. In that case, it is also possible to add a guidance step by specifying the point in the tutorial in question where the guidance step is to be added and then performing the automatic creation start operation.

[0052] The agent terminal 2 executing the agent program P1 monitors the automatic creation start operation by the agent, and when the operation is detected, executes recording (step S34).

[0053] <Recording from Agent Terminal 2> Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram showing the tutorial creation screen 7, Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram showing the tutorial creation screen 7 after a model operation for guidance has been performed, Fig. 9 is a flowchart showing the recording process according to this embodiment, Fig. 10 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the configuration of the condition information table 12a, and Fig. 11 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the configuration of the item determination table 12b. Recording is a process in which an agent creates each piece of guidance step information included in the tutorial setting data by performing a model operation of the operating procedure that the agent wants to guide the guest through using the tutorial.

[0054] When the agent terminal 2 starts recording, it executes a recording start process (step S51). Specifically, the recording start process includes displaying the tutorial creation screen 7, checking the matching of accounts, and starting regular communication checks. As shown in FIG. 7, the tutorial creation screen 7 is displayed on the agent browser as a tutorial creation screen 7, which is a web page corresponding to the input URL, and transitions to the tutorial creation screen 7. The tutorial creation screen 7 is displayed in a tab different from the tutorial management screen 6 of the agent browser. When transitioning to the tutorial creation screen 7, the guest program P2 is loaded in the same way as when the tutorial execution screen is displayed. The guest program P2 according to this embodiment includes a program for executing the tutorial in the guest terminal 3 and a program for executing the automatic tutorial creation process in the agent terminal 2. When automatic creation is desired on a web page where the guest program P2 is not installed, the guest program P2 may be dynamically added using an extension function of the browser.

[0055] When the guest program P2 is loaded and executed, a match between the accounts is confirmed between the tutorial management screen 6 and the tutorial creation screen 7. Specifically, the guest program P2 running on the tutorial creation screen 7 sends an internally held account ID to the tutorial management screen 6, and the agent program P1 running on the tutorial management screen 6 receives the account ID. The agent terminal 2 also checks whether the account ID of the account to which the agent using the tutorial management screen 6 belongs matches the received account ID, and if they match, continues processing, but if they do not match, ends processing. The purpose of the account match check is to ensure that the tutorial setting data being created is associated with the correct account ID.

[0056] Once the account matching check is complete, the tutorial management screen 6 on which the agent program P1 runs and the tutorial creation screen 7 on which the guest program P2 runs will periodically check whether both screens are active. The communication check is realized, for example, by periodically sending and receiving messages between the window objects of the tutorial management screen 6 and the tutorial creation screen 7, and if a message is received by each window object, the communication is deemed successful. The purpose of the communication check is that if communication is not established between the two screens, there is a possibility that the sending and receiving of data, which will be described later, will fail. If communication is not established for some reason, the automatic tutorial creation will end.

[0057] When the recording start process is completed, the agent terminal 2 starts the main recording process. Specifically, the main recording process includes processes such as monitoring a specific operation of the agent performed on the tutorial creation screen 7, obtaining detected operation information, issuing a guidance step ID, identifying a guide target element, determining items, and creating guidance step information. The details of the main recording process will be described later.

[0058] After the main recording process starts, the agent uses the tutorial to perform all the operations that serve as examples of the operating procedures that the agent wants to guide the guest through, as shown in Fig. 8. Specifically, it repeatedly performs click operations, input operations, selection operations, etc. on elements on the tutorial creation screen 7 in the order that the agent wants to guide the guest through. Specifically, the elements that can be operated on include input items made up of input elements, selection items made up of select elements, check box items made up of input elements whose type attribute is checkbox, and button items made up of button elements. Note that the elements that can be operated on are not limited to those mentioned above.

[0059] As an example, when creating a tutorial that guides guests through a series of operations from inputting information in each field of a form on an inquiry page to sending the information, the guest will perform input operations for input fields such as the email address field required for the inquiry, selection operations for option fields such as the prefecture field, clicking check boxes to confirm consent to the privacy policy, etc., and once all operations for each field have been completed, the guest will click the send button item (button item) to complete the series of operations until the inquiry is sent.

[0060] In this embodiment, as described above, a tutorial can be created by the agent simply performing operations that are roughly equivalent to the series of operations that the agent wishes to guide the guest through, thereby reducing the agent's workload compared to conventional methods.

[0061] The agent terminal 2 executing the guest program P2 monitors the agent's operation on each element on the page, and internally creates one guide step information for each operation based on the content of the operation and the information on the element. In the above example, one guide step information is created for the input operation of the email address item, one guide step information for the selection operation of the prefecture item, one guide step information for the click operation of the checkbox item for confirming consent, and one guide step information for the click operation of the send button item.

[0062] The agent terminal 2 executing the guest program P2 ends the recording start process (step S51) and starts monitoring the specific operation of the agent on each element on the tutorial creation screen 7 (step S52). When the agent terminal 2 detects a specific operation, it acquires operation information indicating the operation content on each element of the web page based on the detected operation (step S53). The specific operation is an operation such as a click operation or an input operation on an element.

[0063] If the detected operation is a click operation on the first element after the start of recording, or a click operation on an element different from the element operated immediately before, the agent terminal 2 issues a unique ID (hereinafter, "guide step ID") for identifying the guidance step (step S54). If there is a guidance step before this guidance step, the guidance step ID of this guidance step is set as the transition destination guidance step ID of the flow information of the previous guidance step. Furthermore, if another operation is performed again on the same element after the operation, the processes of steps S53 to S59 described later are executed again, and the guidance step information for the element created during the previous operation is overwritten.

[0064] Next, the agent terminal 2 identifies the guide target element (step S55). The guide target element is an element that is a target of the detected operation.

[0065] When the agent terminal 2 has completed the identification of the guide target element, it refers to the condition information table 12a using the operation information acquired in step S53 and judges whether or not it is necessary to perform item judgment of the guide target element (step S56). Item judgment is to judge which item used in a general form the guide target element belongs to. The purpose of performing item judgment is to be able to set the message displayed in the guide and the condition for proceeding to the next guidance step in more detail by determining which item the guide target element corresponds to. For example, if the guide target element is judged to be an email address item, the message can be set to "Please enter an email address" and the condition information can be set to "When a character string in email address format is entered into the guide target element." The agent terminal 2 judges whether or not it is necessary to perform item judgment based on the condition information table 12a.

[0066] 10 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the configuration of the condition information table 12a. The condition information table 12a is information that defines, as a pattern, information required to create condition information included in the guide step information based on the operation performed by the agent on the guide target element. The condition information table 12a includes a first-order identifier (hereinafter, condition information ID) for identifying the pattern of the condition information, operation information indicating the operation content on the element, item information indicating the item to which the element belongs, and condition information, which are associated with each other. The condition information includes, for example, information such as condition target information, condition determination information, and condition determination argument information.

[0067] The condition target information, the condition judgment information, and the condition judgment argument information are used to create the condition target information, the condition judgment information, and the condition judgment argument information (see FIG. 4) of the condition information included in the guidance step information. The condition information table 12a is necessary to enable the agent to automatically create the condition information simply by operating the element of the web page. The condition information table 12a defines patterns of the condition information according to the operation information and the item information. In the example shown in FIG. 10, when the condition information ID is "1", the condition information used when the operation information is "click", that is, the condition information required to create the guidance step information for performing the operation guidance for clicking the element, is defined. Furthermore, when the condition information ID is "2", the condition information used when the operation information is "input" and the item information is "email address", that is, the condition information required to create the guidance step information for performing the operation guidance for the element for inputting the email address is defined. Furthermore, when the condition information ID is "3", the condition information used when the operation information is "input" and the item information is "phone number", that is, the condition information required to create the guidance step information for performing the operation guidance for the element for inputting the phone number is defined. The item information included in the condition information table 12a is associated only with operation information for which condition information is to be defined according to an item (email address, telephone number, etc.), such as an input operation. On the other hand, for operation information for which the condition information to be set is unique regardless of the item, such as a click operation, it is not necessary to associate the item, and therefore the item information is defined as "NULL". The agent terminal 2 checks the record of the condition information table 12a corresponding to the corresponding operation information as a criterion for determining the item of the guide target element, and checks whether the item information is "NULL". If the item information is "NULL", the corresponding condition information can be uniquely selected, so it is determined that item determination is unnecessary. On the other hand, if a specific value is associated with the item information, the corresponding condition information cannot be uniquely selected unless the item information is specified, so it is determined that item determination is necessary. In the example shown in FIG. 10, a single condition information is defined for each combination of operation information and item information, but it is also possible to define multiple condition information for the same combination of operation information and item information, and in that case, all of the corresponding multiple condition information are used for the guidance step information.

[0068] In step S56, when it is determined that item determination is necessary (step S56: YES), the agent terminal 2 refers to the item determination table 12b and identifies the item of the guidance target element (step S57).

[0069] Fig. 11 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the configuration of the item judgment table 12b. When an agent performs an operation that requires identifying the item of a guide target element, the item judgment table 12b includes information required to identify which item the guide target element corresponds to, based on the properties of the guide target element and the guide target related element. In the example shown in Fig. 10, the operation information is "input". The item judgment table 12b includes a unique identifier (hereinafter, "item judgment ID") for identifying a record of an item judgment, item information, judgment condition information, element type information, tag name, property name, and accuracy, all associated with each other.

[0070] The guide target related element is another element on the DOM of the tutorial creation screen 7 that is related to the guide target element. The properties of the guide target related element may be related to the guide target element, so they can be used to identify the item of the guide target element. The specific contents of the guide target related element will be described later.

[0071] The item information is information indicating the type of item used in a general form screen, etc. The item types indicated by the item information include, for example, an email address, a telephone number, and the like.

[0072] The determination condition information is information required to determine which item a guide target element corresponds to. The determination condition information is, for example, a character string expressed as a regular expression or a specific character string. "Name determination" indicates information used to determine whether the value of the name property of a guide target element or a guide target related element satisfies a predetermined condition. For example, it is information used to determine the name property of an email address item. More specifically, it is information such as the regular expression "mailAddress|mail-address|email|email". "Format judgment" indicates information used to judge whether the format of the value of the placeholder property or value property of the guide target element or guide target related element meets a certain condition. For example, it is information used to judge the placeholder property and value property of an email address item. More specifically, it is information such as a regular expression "^.+@.+[.].+$". "Type determination" indicates information used to determine whether the value of the type property of a guide target element or a guide target related element satisfies a predetermined condition. For example, it is information used to determine the type property of an email address item. More specifically, it is information such as the regular expression "^email$". "Text judgment" indicates information used to judge whether the value of the textContent property of a guide target element or a guide target related element satisfies a predetermined condition. For example, it is information used to judge the textContent property of an email address item. More specifically, it is information such as a regular expression of "email address|mail address|email|mailAddress|mail-address|email|e-mail".

[0073] The element type information is information necessary for distinguishing whether an element to be judged using the judgment condition information is a guide target element or a guide target related element. The element type information includes a guide target element and a guide target related element.

[0074] The tag name and property name are information indicating the type of tag name and the type of property of an element used for item determination.

[0075] The accuracy is a numerical value defined for each item judgment ID, and the higher the numerical value, the more likely it is that the guide target element being judged is the relevant item. Also, by setting a difference in the accuracy numerical value according to the element type information, tag name, and property name, more accurate item judgment can be achieved. In the example shown in Figure 11 where the item judgment ID is "1", item information "email address", judgment condition information "name judgment", element type information "guide target element", tag name "input", property name "name", and accuracy "5" are associated. When the name property of the guide target element and the input element meets the name judgment condition, for example "mailAddress|mail-address|email|email", the accuracy indicates that the guide target element is an email address item with a probability of 5.

[0076] A detailed method of item determination using the item determination table 12b will be described below. When the agent terminal 2 starts item determination, it first identifies guide target related elements. More specifically, the guide target related elements are elements that the guest program P2 has determined to be highly related to the guide target element based on the document structure information and document coordinate information. The guide target related elements determined from the document structure information are elements that are relatively likely to be related to the guide target element based on the structural relationship on the DOM, and specifically, the parent element of the guide target element, the sibling element of the guide target element, and the label element associated with the guide target element. The guide target related elements identified from the document coordinate information are elements that are relatively likely to be related to the guide target element based on the display position relationship on the page, and specifically, the element located to the left of the guide target element, the element located above, the element located to the right, and the element located below. The type of guide target related elements to be acquired is defined in advance as part of the program or data that can be referenced from the program.

[0077] Next, the agent terminal 2 sequentially checks the multiple records (hereinafter referred to as item judgment information) included in the item judgment table 12b for each guide target element and the identified guide target related element against the corresponding tag name and property name of the guide target element or the guide target related element, and judges whether the condition of the judgment condition information is met. More specifically, the element type information in the item judgment table 12b is used to check whether it matches the element type of the element. If it does not match, the agent terminal 2 transitions to the next item judgment information. If it matches, the tag name of the item judgment information is used to check whether it matches the tag name of the element. If it does not match, the agent terminal 2 transitions to the next item judgment information. If it matches, the agent terminal 2 acquires a property corresponding to the property name of the item judgment information from the element, and judges whether the acquired value matches the judgment value indicated by the judgment condition information of the item judgment information. If it does not match, the agent terminal 2 transitions to the next item judgment information. If it matches, it is judged that there is a high possibility that it is the item information indicated by the item judgment information, and the accuracy of the item judgment information is held in a format linked to the item information. In addition, if a numerical accuracy value is held in association with the corresponding item information based on the item judgment information that has already been matched, the numerical value obtained this time is added to it.

[0078] The above-mentioned process repeatedly checks against all item judgment information for each guide target element and identified guide target-related elements, but if the target element has already been checked against the same item information, element type information and property name and it has been determined whether it matches the judgment value indicated by the judgment condition information, there is a possibility of duplicate calculations, so item judgment information that contains the same item information, element type information and property name after matching is skipped and processing is resumed from the valid item judgment information.

[0079] In the example shown in FIG. 11, the item judgment information is matched in ascending order of item judgment ID (from "1" to "12"), and if the matching element is a guide target element and an input element, the item judgment IDs "1" to "4", "10" and "11" are valid item judgment information. In that case, for example, if the name property of the guide target element is set to "mailAddress", the placeholder property is set to "example@withdeskguest.com", the type property is set to "email", and the value property is set to "", the judgment values ​​indicated by the judgment condition information of the item judgment IDs "1" to "3" are matched, and the total accuracy value of the email address item is "25". Furthermore, if one of the guide target related elements identified from the guide target element is a dt element, the item judgment IDs "5" and "9" are valid item judgment information. In that case, for example, if "email address" is set as the value in the textContent property of the relevant guide target element, it will match the judgment values ​​indicated by the judgment condition information for both item judgment IDs "5" and "9". However, since the same item information, element type information and property name have already been matched at the point when item judgment ID is "5", matching for item judgment ID "9" is skipped and the accuracy value becomes "5". As a result, the total accuracy value for the email address item becomes "30" ("25" + "5"). Note that the "*" defined in the tag name for item judgment ID "9" means that it matches both tag names.

[0080] If the matching elements are the aforementioned guide target element (input element) and guide target related element (dt element), when calculated in the same way, none of them match the judgment value indicated by the judgment condition information of the telephone number item, and the total accuracy value of the telephone number item will be "0".

[0081] Furthermore, the accuracy is merely an example, and may be calculated using different values ​​and methods, or additional calculations may be performed. For example, the numerical value of the accuracy may be changed depending on the relevance of the guide target related element, the page size, etc. Specifically, in the case of a guide target related element identified by the document structure information, it may be determined that the element is more likely to hold information indicating an item accurately when it is a parent element than when it is a sibling element, and the agent terminal 2 may change the numerical value obtained from the item determination information and calculate a higher accuracy for the parent element than for the sibling element. Also, in the case of a guide target related element identified by the document coordinate information, it may be determined that an element located to the left of the guide target element or an element close to the guide target element in distance is more likely to hold information indicating an item accurately, and the agent terminal 2 may change the numerical value obtained from the item determination information and calculate a higher accuracy for an element located to the left or an element close to the guide target element in distance. Furthermore, when the page size of the tutorial creation screen 7 is for a PC terminal, the agent terminal 2 may modify the numerical values ​​obtained from the item judgment information and perform calculations to increase the accuracy due to the guide target related elements located on the left side, and when the page size is for a smartphone terminal, the agent terminal 2 may modify the numerical values ​​obtained from the item judgment information and perform calculations to increase the accuracy due to the guide target related elements located on the upper side.

[0082] Next, the agent terminal 2 compares the total value of the accuracy for each item information, and identifies the item indicated by the item information with the largest value as the item to which the guide target element belongs.

[0083] For convenience, the above-mentioned item determination process has been described as being executed on the agent terminal 2 (client terminal), but it may be executed on a server such as the tutorial server 1.

[0084] When the item identification of the guide target element in step S57 is completed, or when it is determined in step S56 that item determination is not required (step S56: NO), the agent terminal 2 creates guide step information (step S58).

[0085] First, the agent terminal 2 creates text indicating the guide target element. Specifically, for a guide target element for which item determination has not been performed, the text indicating the guide target element is set to a character string set in the textContent property of the guide target element, and for a guide target element for which item determination has been performed, the text is set to a character string set in the textContent property of the guide target related element with the largest numerical value of accuracy. Note that the content of the character string to be set is merely an example, and for a guide target element for which item determination has been performed, for example, a predefined item name associated with the relevant item information may be set.

[0086] Next, the agent terminal 2 executing the guest program P2 creates message information for the guide step name and guide information (see FIG. 4) using the operation information and the text indicating the guide target element, and sets it in the guide step information.

[0087] For example, when the operation information indicates a click operation and the text indicating the element to be guided is "Send," the guidance step name is set to a wording such as "Click Send." When the operation information indicates an input operation and the text indicating the element to be guided is "Email address," the guidance step name is set to a wording such as "Enter email address." When the operation information indicates a click operation and the text indicating the element to be guided is "Send," the message information is set to a wording such as "Click Send." When the operation information indicates an input operation and the text indicating the element to be guided is "Email address," the message information is set to a wording such as "Enter your email address."

[0088] Furthermore, the agent terminal 2 sets location information such as the CSS selector and XPath of the guide target element as guide target element information (see FIG. 4) of the guide information.

[0089] Furthermore, the agent terminal 2 reads out the condition information by referring to the condition information table 12a using the operation information and the item information of the guide target element, and sets the read out condition information as the condition information of the guide information. For example, if the condition information ID of the read out condition information is "1", "elementSelf" is set as the condition target information, information such as the CSS selector and XPath of the guide target element is set as the condition target element information, and "isClicked" is set as the condition judgment information. If the condition information ID of the read out condition information is "2", "elementValue" is set as the condition target information, information such as the CSS selector and XPath of the guide target element is set as the condition target element information, "matches" is set as the condition judgment information, and "^.+@.+[.].+$" is set as the condition judgment argument information.

[0090] As an example, a guide step for instructing the guest on the input operation of the email address item and the click operation of the send button item on the inquiry page will be used. In the case of an input operation in the email address field, in step S52, it is detected that the agent has performed an input operation, in step S53, the operation information is acquired, in step S54, a guidance step ID is issued, and in step S55, the corresponding input element is identified as the element to be guided. In addition, in step S56, it is determined that item judgment is necessary, and in the process of step S57, it is identified as the email address item. In the process of step S58, guidance step information is created, and "Enter email address" is set as the guidance step name, "Please enter your email address" as the message information, "elementValue" as the condition target information, information such as the CSS selector and XPath of the guide target element as the condition target element information, "matches" as the condition judgment information, and "^.+@.+[.].+$" as the condition judgment argument information. In the case of a click operation on the send button item, in step S52, it is detected that the agent has performed a click operation, in step S53, operation information is acquired, in step S54, a guidance step ID is issued, and in step S55, the corresponding button element is specified as the element to be guided. Also, in step S56, it is determined that item determination is unnecessary, and the processing of step S57 is skipped. In the processing of step S58, guidance step information is created, and "Click Send" is set as the guidance step name, "Please click Send" as the message information, "elementSelf" as the condition target information, information such as the CSS selector and XPath of the guide target element as the condition target element information, and "isClicked" as the condition determination information.

[0091] After completing the process of step S58, the agent terminal 2 creates verification information based on the operation information and the information related to the guide target element that is the operation target (step S59), and ends the recording process related to one piece of guidance step information. The verification information may be stored by being included in the guidance step information of the tutorial setting data, or may be stored as separate data. Specifically, the verification information is setting information necessary for automatic execution of the tutorial described later, and is information for automatically executing an operation that satisfies the condition information created in step S58. The verification information includes information to be verified (hereinafter, verification target information), information indicating the operation content to be executed during verification on the verification target (hereinafter, verification execution information), and a numerical value indicating the order of use of the verification information (hereinafter, verification order). Specifically, the verification target information is information including an identifier indicating a specific type of the verification target, such as "elementSelf", "elementValue", and "locationUrl", and when it is necessary to specify the target element, such as "elementSelf" or "elementValue", it also includes information indicating the location information of the element, such as a CSS selector and XPath (hereinafter, verification target element information). Specifically, the verification execution information is information that includes the specific operation content to be reproduced during verification, such as "input" or "click," and when the verification execution information requires a value to be used during execution (hereinafter, an argument), such as "input," it also includes information that defines the value indicating the argument (hereinafter, verification execution argument information). The verification order is a numerical value that is required when multiple pieces of verification information are included in a single flow information, and the verification is executed based on the relevant verification information in ascending numerical order (or ascending numerical order is also acceptable), and when the execution based on the relevant verification information is completed, the verification is executed based on the verification information with the next smallest (or largest) numerical value, and this is repeated according to the verification order.

[0092] For each piece of guidance step information other than the information created in steps S58 and S59, the default contents defined in the operation guidance system may be used, or the fixed contents previously set by the agent may be used. Note that the created guidance step information can also be individually modified during automatic tutorial execution, which will be described later.

[0093] When the creation of the guidance step information is completed, the agent terminal 2 executes the process of creating the next guidance step information. Specifically, the process from step S53 to step S59 described above is repeatedly executed until the recording is completed.

[0094] As shown in FIG. 9, while recording is being performed, the agent terminal 2 monitors the agent's operation to end recording, and determines whether or not the operation to end recording has been performed (step S60). During recording, the tutorial creation screen 7 has a recording end button 71. If the agent wishes to end recording, the agent can perform the recording end operation. Specifically, the recording end operation is realized by the agent clicking the recording end button 71 displayed on the tutorial creation screen 7. If it is determined that the recording end operation has not been performed (step S60: NO), the agent terminal 2 continues the recording process. If it is determined that the recording end operation has been performed (step S60: YES), the agent terminal 2 ends recording, and starts automatic execution of the tutorial as shown in FIG. 5 (step S35).

[0095] <Reproduction of operations by agent terminal 2 and automatic execution of tutorial> FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure relating to automatic tutorial execution, and FIGS. 13A and 13B to 16 are schematic diagrams showing the tutorial creation screen 7 during automatic tutorial execution. When the agent terminal 2 starts automatic execution of the tutorial, it executes a tutorial automatic execution start process (step S71). Specifically, the automatic execution start process involves redisplaying the tutorial creation screen 7, checking whether the accounts match, and starting regular communication checks. Specifically, the agent terminal 2 transitions again to the web page of the URL entered by the agent in step S33, and redisplays the tutorial creation screen 7. The purpose of transitioning again to the web page where automatic creation was started is to deal with the case where a page transition or the like occurs during the aforementioned recording execution, and transitions to a different web page, making it impossible to execute the created guidance step from the beginning.

[0096] When the guest program P2 is loaded and executed on the tutorial creation screen 7, similar to the recording start process in step S51, a match check is performed between the accounts on the tutorial management screen 6 and the tutorial creation screen 7. After the match check is completed, a regular communication check is started.

[0097] When the automatic execution start process ends, the agent terminal 2 executes a tutorial based on each guide step information created in step S58, and reproduces operations on the web page based on each verification information created in step S59.

[0098] Specifically, the agent terminal 2 executes the guide step based on the first guide step information and displays the guide (step S72).

[0099] Furthermore, the agent terminal 2 automatically reproduces the operation performed by the agent when creating the tutorial based on the verification information included in the flow information of the guidance step information (step S73). More specifically, based on the verification target information included in the verification information, the agent terminal 2 specifies the target to be automatically operated. Furthermore, based on the verification execution information included in the verification information, the agent terminal 2 automatically executes the operation.

[0100] For example, if the guide target element is an input item such as an email address item, the verification target information is "elementValue", the verification target element information is set to the CSS selector of the input element constituting the input item, the verification execution information is set to "input", and the verification execution argument information is set to "example@withdeskguest.com", the agent terminal 2 executes an operation to input "example@withdeskguest.com" into the input element as shown in Fig. 13A. Note that for the input operation automatically executed by the guest program P2, characters are input one by one so that the criteria condition (input constraint) set in the condition judgment argument information can be confirmed.

[0101] In addition, if the element to be guided is a selection item such as the prefecture item, and the validation target information is set to "elementOptions (options for a specific element on a page)", the validation target element information is set to the CSS selector of the select element that constitutes the selection item, the validation execution information is set to "select", and the validation execution argument information is set to "Tokyo", the agent terminal 2 will perform an operation to select "Tokyo" for the select element, as shown in Figure 14.

[0102] Furthermore, if the element to be guided is a checkbox item such as a confirmation of consent to a privacy policy, the verification target information is set to "elementSelf", the verification target element information is set to the CSS selector of the input element that constitutes the checkbox item, and the verification execution information is set to "click", the agent terminal 2 will perform a click operation on the input element, as shown in Figure 15.

[0103] Furthermore, if the element to be guided is a button item such as a send button, the verification target information is set to "elementSelf", the verification target element information is set to the CSS selector of the button element that constitutes the button item, and the verification execution information is set to "click", the agent terminal 2 will perform a click operation on the button element, as shown in Figure 16.

[0104] As described above, the verification information is created based on the information used when creating the condition information, so when the guest program P2 automatically executes an operation, the condition information of the guidance step is satisfied. That is, the rule information including the condition information is satisfied, and the flow automatically transitions to the guidance step corresponding to the transition destination guidance step ID of the flow information linked to the branch information including the rule information.

[0105] The tutorial creation screen 7 during automatic execution of the tutorial has an automatic creation stop button 72 ("Stop automatic creation" button) as shown in FIG. 13A and FIG. 14 to FIG. 16. The agent terminal 2 monitors the operation by the agent, and accepts the pausing of the automatic execution of the tutorial and the correction of the guide step information (step S74). When the agent wants to correct the created guide step information during automatic execution of the tutorial, for example, when the agent wants to correct the wording of the message displayed in the guide, the agent performs an operation to pause the automatic execution of the tutorial. Specifically, when the corresponding guide step (guide) to be corrected is displayed as shown in FIG. 13A, the agent clicks the automatic creation stop button 72 displayed on the tutorial creation screen 7. When the automatic creation stop button 72 is clicked, the corresponding guide step becomes editable, and the agent can directly correct the wording of the message on the tutorial creation screen 7 as shown in FIG. 13B. FIG. 13B shows a state in which the automatic execution of the tutorial is paused. The tutorial creation screen 7 during the pause has an automatic creation resume button 73 ("Resume automatic creation" button). In the example shown in Figures 13A and 13B, the wording "Please enter your email address" for the email address item can be changed to "Please enter your work email address", for example. When the agent has completed the corrections and wishes to return to automatic execution, the agent clicks on the automatic creation resume button 73 displayed on the tutorial creation screen 7. When the automatic creation resume button 73 is clicked, the agent terminal 2 updates the guidance step information with the corrected content and resumes the automatic execution process of the tutorial.

[0106] Next, the agent terminal 2 judges whether the executed guidance step is the last guidance step (step S75). Specifically, it judges whether a transition destination guidance step ID indicated by the flow information of the corresponding guidance step exists. If it is judged that the executed guidance step is not the last guidance step, that is, if a transition destination guidance step ID indicated by the flow information of the corresponding guidance step exists (step S75: NO), the agent terminal 2 returns the process to step S72 and continues the automatic execution process of the tutorial based on the next guidance step information indicated by the corresponding transition destination guidance step ID.

[0107] This allows the agent to visually check whether the tutorial is working properly without manually performing operations required to start the tutorial or move to the next guidance step, i.e., clicking on elements, input operations, selection operations, etc. In other words, the agent's workload for verifying the tutorial can be reduced.

[0108] When the tutorial executed based on a series of guidance step information has ended, that is, when it is determined that there is no transition destination guidance step ID indicated by the flow information of the executed guidance step (step S75: YES), the agent terminal 2 performs processing to end the automatic execution of the tutorial (step S76). Specifically, the agent terminal 2 transmits each piece of guidance step information that has been created and edited at the time when the automatic execution of the tutorial has ended to the tutorial management screen 6, and performs processing to transition to the tutorial management screen 6.

[0109] <Tutorial management screen 6 (Saving tutorial setting data)> Upon transitioning to the tutorial management screen 6, the agent terminal 2 executing the agent program P1 transmits the tutorial setting data including each guide step information created in step S35 to the tutorial server 1 and saves it (step S36). Specifically, the agent terminal 2 displays a modal screen for confirming whether to save each guide step information transmitted after the tutorial is automatically executed. When the agent clicks the save button on the modal screen, the agent terminal 2 adds each guide step information created in step S35 to the corresponding tutorial setting data, and transmits it to the tutorial server 1 as the tutorial setting data.

[0110] The tutorial server 1 stores the received tutorial setting data in the account management database in a form including the received tutorial setting data in the setting data of the account associated with the account ID to which the agent belongs.

[0111] After completing the storage in the account management database, the agent terminal 2 ends the process relating to the automatic generation of tutorial setting data.

[0112] <Tutorial management screen 6 / Tutorial creation screen 7 (tutorial batch verification)> In the method described above, we have explained the case where only the guidance steps created by performing recording are automatically executed, but if recording is performed multiple times for one tutorial, it may be necessary to verify all the guidance steps from the first guidance step to the last guidance step of the tutorial (hereafter referred to as "batch verification"). In anticipation of such a case, the agent can also perform batch verification of the tutorial.

[0113] Specifically, when an agent wishes to perform a batch verification of tutorials, the agent clicks (hereinafter referred to as a batch verification start operation) on the batch verification start button displayed on the tutorial management screen 6. When the batch verification start button is clicked, a modal screen for inputting the URL of the page where the agent wishes to start the batch verification is displayed, and the agent inputs the relevant URL.

[0114] The agent terminal 2 executing the agent program P1 monitors the agent's operation to start a batch verification, and when it detects the operation, it displays the web page corresponding to the input URL (hereinafter, tutorial creation screen 7) on the agent browser and transitions. The tutorial creation screen 7 is displayed in a tab separate from the tutorial management screen 6 of the agent browser. When transitioning to the tutorial creation screen 7, the guest program P2 is loaded. Note that if you want to perform a batch verification of tutorials on a web page where the guest program P2 is not installed, you may configure it so that the guest program P2 is dynamically added using a browser extension function, etc.

[0115] When the guest program P2 is loaded and executed on the tutorial creation screen 7, a match between the accounts is confirmed between the tutorial management screen 6 and the tutorial creation screen 7, similar to step S71. Furthermore, once the account match confirmation is complete, periodic communication checks are performed. Once the account match confirmation and periodic communication checks have started, the agent terminal 2 on the tutorial management screen 6, i.e., the agent program P1, sends the target tutorial setting data to the tutorial creation screen 7.

[0116] The agent terminal 2 on the tutorial creation screen 7, i.e., the guest program P2, starts executing the tutorial based on the received tutorial setting data. Thereafter, the tutorial is automatically executed and the tutorial setting data is saved in the same manner as in steps S72 to S76 and step S36. Specifically, the agent verifies the automatically executed tutorial and, if necessary, modifies each guide step information included in the tutorial setting data before saving it.

[0117] <Action and effect> As described above, according to this embodiment, an agent creating a tutorial for providing website operation guidance can create the tutorial without manually creating and checking individual settings for each guide, thereby reducing the workload of the agent creating the tutorial. Specifically, according to the tutorial creation method of this aspect, the agent only needs to perform operations that are substantially the same as those actually performed by a guest on a specific page of a website, and the operation guidance system can automatically determine and set the selection of elements to be guided, the messages to be displayed in the guide, and the conditions for transitioning to the next guide, and create the guide. In addition, the created tutorial can be automatically executed and verified before being saved as data.

[0118] Means for solving the problems of the present disclosure are described below. (Appendix 1) An information processing device that creates tutorial setting data for guiding operation procedures for a plurality of elements that constitute a web page, comprising: a table in which operation information indicating the operation content for the element is associated with condition information for determining completion of the operation for the element during guidance of the operation procedure; Processing section and Equipped with The processing unit includes: acquiring operation information indicating operation contents for the plurality of elements, which serves as an example of an operation procedure; issuing a guidance step ID for identifying a guidance step for each of the plurality of elements; Identifying condition information for determining completion of the operation on the first element based on the acquired operation information on the first element and the information on the table; A guidance step ID indicating a guidance step for the first element, the specified condition information, and a transition destination guidance step ID indicating a second element operated next after the operation for the first element is completed are associated with each other and stored as the tutorial setting data. Information processing device. (Appendix 2) The table includes: operation information indicating the operation content for the element, item information indicating the operation item for the element, and condition information for determining completion of the operation for the element are stored in association with each other; The processing unit includes: Identifying the item information of the first element based on operation information indicating the operation content on the first element and information related to the first element; Identifying condition information for determining completion of the operation on the first element based on the acquired operation information indicating the operation content on the first element, the item information of the first element, and information on the table. 2. An information processing device according to claim 1. (Appendix 3) The processing unit includes: creating a character string that provides guidance on an operation for the first element based on the item information of the first element or information related to the first element; The created character string is associated with a guidance step ID indicating the first element, and stored as the tutorial setting data. 3. An information processing device according to claim 2. (Appendix 4) The processing unit includes: storing operation reproduction information including operation information acquired for creating the tutorial setting data and reproducing an operation procedure of the web page; executing a tutorial that guides users through an operation procedure while reproducing operations performed on the plurality of elements that constitute a web page based on the stored operation reproduction information and the tutorial setting data; Accepts modifications to the tutorial setting data 4. An information processing device according to claim 2 or 3. (Appendix 5) an item determination table that associates, for each of the plurality of pieces of item information indicating operation items of the elements, a determination condition for determining whether the element corresponds to the item information, and a degree of certainty that the element that satisfies the determination condition corresponds to the item information; The processing unit includes: Based on the information related to the first element and the information in the item determination table, the likelihood that the first element corresponds to each item of information is calculated, and the item of information with the highest likelihood is identified. 5. An information processing device according to any one of claims 2 to 4. [Explanation of symbols]

[0119] 1: Tutorial server 2: Agent terminal 3: Guest terminal 4: Web server 5: Recording media 6: Tutorial management screen 7: Tutorial creation screen 11: Processing section 12: Storage section 12a: Condition information table 12b: Item Judgment Table 13: Communications Department 21: Processing section 22: Storage section 23: Communications Department 24:Operation unit 25:Display section 31: Processing section 32: Storage section 33: Communications Department 34:Operation unit 35:Display section 61: Automatic creation start button 62: Auto-create start modal screen 71: Stop recording button 72: Automatic creation stop button 73: Auto-create resume button N: Communication network P1: Agent program P2: Guest Program

Claims

1. An information processing device that creates tutorial setting data for guiding operation procedures for a plurality of elements that constitute a web page, comprising: a table in which operation information indicating the operation content for the element is associated with condition information for determining completion of the operation for the element during guidance of the operation procedure; Processing section and Equipped with The processing unit includes: acquiring operation information indicating operation contents for the plurality of elements, which serves as an example of an operation procedure; issuing a guidance step ID for identifying a guidance step for each of the plurality of elements; Identifying condition information for determining completion of an operation on the first element based on the acquired operation information on the first element and information on the table; A guidance step ID indicating a guidance step for the first element, the specified condition information, and a transition destination guidance step ID indicating a second element operated next after the operation for the first element is completed are associated with each other and stored as the tutorial setting data. Information processing device.

2. The table includes: operation information indicating the operation content for the element, item information indicating the operation item for the element, and condition information for determining completion of the operation for the element are stored in association with each other; The processing unit includes: Identifying the item information of the first element based on operation information indicating the operation content for the acquired first element and information related to the first element; Identifying condition information for determining completion of the operation on the first element based on the acquired operation information indicating the operation content on the first element, the item information of the first element, and information on the table. The information processing device according to claim 1 .

3. The processing unit includes: creating a character string for guiding an operation on the first element based on the item information of the first element or information related to the first element; The created character string is associated with a guide step ID indicating the first element, and stored as the tutorial setting data. The information processing device according to claim 2 .

4. The processing unit includes: storing operation reproduction information including operation information acquired for creating the tutorial setting data and reproducing an operation procedure of the web page; executing a tutorial that guides users through an operation procedure while reproducing operations performed on the plurality of elements that constitute a web page based on the stored operation reproduction information and the tutorial setting data; Accepts modifications to the tutorial setting data The information processing device according to claim 3 .

5. an item determination table that associates, for each of the plurality of pieces of item information indicating operation items of the elements, a determination condition for determining whether the element corresponds to the item information, and a degree of certainty that the element that satisfies the determination condition corresponds to the item information; The processing unit includes: Based on information related to the first element and information in the item determination table, a probability that the first element corresponds to each item of information is calculated, and the item of information having the highest probability is identified. The information processing device according to claim 2 .

6. An information processing method for creating tutorial setting data for guiding operation procedures for a plurality of elements constituting a web page, comprising: acquiring operation information indicating operation contents for the plurality of elements, which serves as an example of an operation procedure; issuing a guidance step ID for identifying a guidance step for each of the plurality of elements; Identifying condition information for determining completion of an operation on the first element based on information of a table in which operation information indicating the operation content on the element and condition information for determining completion of the operation on the element during guidance of an operation procedure are associated with each other, and based on the acquired operation information on the first element; A guidance step ID indicating a guidance step for the first element, the specified condition information, and a transition destination guidance step ID indicating a second element operated next after the operation for the first element is completed are associated with each other and stored as the tutorial setting data. Information processing methods.

7. A computer program for causing a computer to execute a process of creating tutorial setting data for guiding an operation procedure for a plurality of elements constituting a web page, comprising: The computer includes: acquiring operation information indicating operation contents for the plurality of elements, which serves as an example of an operation procedure; issuing a guidance step ID for identifying a guidance step for each of the plurality of elements; Identifying condition information for determining completion of an operation on the first element based on information of a table in which operation information indicating the operation content on the element and condition information for determining completion of the operation on the element during guidance of an operation procedure are associated with each other, and based on the acquired operation information on the first element; A guidance step ID indicating a guidance step for the first element, the specified condition information, and a transition destination guidance step ID indicating a second element operated next after the operation for the first element is completed are associated with each other and stored as the tutorial setting data. A computer program that executes a process.

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