Information processing system, information processing method and program

Abstract

To assist answers to questions.SOLUTION: An information processing system comprises: a question acceptance unit which accepts a question from a questioner; an answer acceptance unit which accepts an answer from an answerer with respect to the question; an answer storage unit which stores the answer in association with the question; a similar answer identification unit which identifies a similar answer which is an answer corresponding to a question similar to the accepted question; and a presentation unit which presents the similar answer to the answerer.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

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

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses presenting answers from other companies to questions. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2024-033409 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] There are multiple types of sustainability reports, and there is a risk that companies will give different answers when asked similar questions.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above background, and aims to provide a technique that can assist in answering questions. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The main invention of the present invention for solving the above problem is an information processing system comprising a question receiving unit that receives questions from questioners, an answer receiving unit that receives answers to the questions from answerers, an answer storage unit that stores the answers in association with the questions, a similar answer identification unit that identifies similar answers that correspond to questions similar to the received question, and a presentation unit that presents the similar answers to the answerers.

[0007] Other problems and solutions disclosed in this application will be made clear in the section on preferred embodiments of the invention and the drawings. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to the present invention, it is possible to assist in answering questions. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the overall configuration of an information processing system. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a hardware configuration of a management server 2. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of the software configuration of a management server 2. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the management server 2. [Figure 5] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of an input screen 40. [Figure 6] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing how an alert is displayed. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] <System Overview> An information processing system according to one embodiment of the present invention will now be described. The information processing system of this embodiment aims to assist users in inputting answers to questions, and in particular to enable users to provide consistent answers even when multiple questioners ask the same question.

[0011] 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of an information processing system. The information processing system of this embodiment is configured to include a management server 2. The management server 2 is communicably connected to a questioner terminal 1 and an answerer terminal 3 via a communication network. The communication network is, for example, the Internet, and is constructed using a public telephone line network, a mobile phone line network, a wireless communication path, Ethernet (registered trademark), etc.

[0012] The questioner terminal 1 is a computer operated by a user (questioner) who asks a question of an external organization, etc. The questioner terminal 1 can be, for example, a smartphone, a tablet computer, a personal computer, or the like.

[0013] The management server 2 may be a general-purpose computer such as a workstation or a personal computer, or may be logically realized by cloud computing.

[0014] The respondent terminal 3 is a computer operated by a user (respondent) who creates an answer to a question. The respondent terminal 3 can be, for example, a smartphone, a tablet computer, or a personal computer.

[0015] <Administration Server> FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the hardware configuration of the management server 2. Note that the illustrated configuration is an example, and other configurations may also be used. The management server 2 includes a CPU 201, a memory 202, a storage device 203, a communication interface 204, an input device 205, and an output device 206. The storage device 203 stores various data and programs, and is, for example, a hard disk drive, a solid state drive, or a flash memory. The communication interface 204 is an interface for connecting to a communication network, and is, for example, an adapter for connecting to Ethernet (registered trademark), a modem for connecting to a public telephone network, a wireless communication device for wireless communication, or a USB (Universal Serial Bus) connector or an RS232C connector for serial communication. The input device 205 is used to input data, and is, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, a touch panel, a button, a microphone, or the like. The output device 206 is used to output data, and is, for example, a display, a printer, a speaker, or the like. Each functional unit of the management server 2 described below is realized by the CPU 201 reading a program stored in the storage device 203 into the memory 202 and executing it, and each storage unit of the management server 2 is realized as part of the storage area provided by the memory 202 and the storage device 203.

[0016] 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the software configuration of the management server 2. The management server 2 includes a question storage unit 231, an answer storage unit 232, a question receiving unit 211, an answer receiving unit 212, a similar answer identification unit 213, a presentation unit 214, a consistency determination unit 215, and an alert display unit 216.

[0017] <Storage section> The question storage unit 231 stores questions. The question storage unit 231 stores information related to questions (hereinafter, question information). The question information may include, for example, a report ID that identifies a report, a questioner ID that identifies the questioner, the date and time of the question, the question content, and a question vector, all associated with a question ID that identifies the question. The question information may be created for each question, for example. The report ID may be information that identifies a report created in a specific period, such as "2024 ESRS." The question ID may be, for example, the number of an item that should be disclosed in the report. The question content may be text data or may include audio, images, etc. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the question content includes text data. The question vector may be a vector value obtained by vectorizing (embedding) the text data of the question content. Vectorization may be performed, for example, using Word2Vec or various embedding processes.

[0018] The answer storage unit 232 stores answers in association with questions. The answer storage unit 232 stores information related to answers (hereinafter, answer information). The answer information can include, for example, a report ID that identifies a report, an answerer ID that identifies the answerer, the answer date and time, the answer content, and an answer vector, all associated with a question ID that identifies the question and an answer ID that identifies the answer. The answer vector can be a vector value obtained by vectorizing (embedding) the text data of the answer content.

[0019] <Functional section> The question receiving unit 211 receives questions from questioners. The question receiving unit 211 can, for example, transmit form data to the questioner terminal 1. The question receiving unit 211 can receive questions transmitted from the questioner terminal 1. The question receiving unit 211 can receive questions entered in form data. The question receiving unit 211 can acquire questions entered in or attached to messages via email services or chat services. The question receiving unit 211 can register the received questions in the question storage unit 231.

[0020] The answer receiving unit 212 receives answers to questions from answerers. For example, for each report, the answer receiving unit 212 reads out question information corresponding to the report from the question storage unit 231, transmits screen data (which can be filled in using HTML, for example) including form data inquiring about the question content included in the read out question information to the answerer terminal 3, and receives input into the form data.

[0021] The similar answer identification unit 213 identifies answers given by answerers to questions similar to a question to be asked of an answerer (hereinafter, similar answers). The similar answer identification unit 213 can identify similar answers given by answerers to questions related to other reports that are similar to a question to be asked of an answerer about a certain report. For example, for each piece of question information corresponding to the content of each question transmitted by the answer receiving unit 212 to the answerer terminal 3, the similar answer identification unit 213 identifies question information similar to the question information (hereinafter, similar question information) according to the distance between the vector value included in the question information and the vector value included in the other piece of question information (for example, whether the cosine distance is equal to or greater than a predetermined value), acquires answer information (hereinafter, similar answer information) corresponding to the question ID of the identified question information and the answerer ID of the answerer from the answer storage unit 232, and can identify the answer content included in the similar answer information as a similar answer.

[0022] The presenting unit 214 presents the similar answers to the answerer. The presenting unit 214 can enter the answer content included in the similar answer information into the screen data that the answer receiving unit 212 transmits to the answerer terminal 3 so that the similar answers are displayed together with the questions on the screen of the answerer terminal 3. This allows the answerer to create an answer while referring to answers that they have given to similar questions in the past.

[0023] When there is an answer (similar answer) to a question similar to the question content, the consistency determination unit 215 determines the consistency between the received answer and the similar answer. The consistency determination unit 215 can determine whether the received answer is consistent with the content of a previous answer (similar answer) based on the vector value of the similar answer vectorized (the vector value included in the similar answer information) and the vector value of the received answer vectorized (for example, whether the cosine distance is equal to or greater than a predetermined value). The consistency determination unit 215 may cause the large-scale language model to determine the consistency by providing the large-scale language model with a prompt including the received answer content, the similar answer, and an instruction to respond as to whether they are consistent.

[0024] The alert display unit 216 displays an alert when it is determined that there is no consistency. The alert display unit 216 can notify the respondent terminal 3 of the alert and cause the respondent terminal 3 to display the alert. The alert can include similar answers, summaries of similar answers, or information that identifies similar answers. A summary of a similar answer can be created, for example, by providing a prompt to a large-scale language model that includes instructions to summarize the similar answers along with the similar answers. The alert display unit 216 can notify the alert in association with the question ID, for example, and cause the respondent terminal 3 to display the alert linked to the question.

[0025] <Operation> FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the management server 2.

[0026] The management server 2 reads out a question corresponding to the report to be answered from the question memory unit 231 (S301), obtains a similar answer corresponding to the read question (S302), and sends the similar answer along with the question to the answerer terminal 3, displaying the similar answer while prompting the answerer to input the answer to the question (S303).

[0027] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of an input screen 40. The input screen 40 has a display field 401 for the disclosure item number (question) of the sustainability report, an input field 402 for an answer, and a display field 403 for a suggestion. The management server 2 transmits screen data (e.g., HTML data) for displaying the input screen 40 to the respondent terminal 3, and the respondent terminal 3 can display the input screen 40. The display field 401 may display the question content instead of the disclosure item number. The display field 403 displays similar answers as suggested answers to the question. The respondent can input an answer in the input field 402 by referring to the suggestions shown in the display field 403. The respondent terminal 3 transmits the answer content entered in the input field 402 to the management server 2.

[0028] The management server 2 receives an answer from the respondent terminal 3 (S304), determines whether the received answer is consistent with the similar answer (S305), and if there is no consistency (S306: NO), notifies the respondent terminal 3 of an alert (S307).

[0029] Fig. 6 is a diagram showing how an alert is displayed. As shown in Fig. 6, if the answer entered in the input field 402 does not match the similar answers, the management server 2 notifies the answerer terminal 3, and an alert is displayed in the display field 404. The alert enables the answerer to recognize that the answer does not (may not) match the past answer.

[0030] As described above, the information processing system of this embodiment can provide support for ensuring that responses to questions from external organizations regarding multiple types of sustainability reports are consistent, for example.

[0031] Although the present embodiment has been described above, the above embodiment is intended to facilitate understanding of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention. The present invention may be modified or improved without departing from the spirit thereof, and equivalents thereof are also included in the present invention.

[0032] For example, the processing by each of the functional units of the management server 2 described above may be performed by any of the functional units. Also, a different functional unit that performs part of the processing by each of the functional units described above may be added. Also, the functional units of the management server 2 may be distributed across multiple computers.

[0033] Furthermore, the information stored in each storage unit of the management server may be stored in any of the storage units. That is, the information stored in the above-mentioned multiple storage units may be stored in one storage unit, or part of the information stored in one of the above-mentioned storage units may be stored in another storage unit.

[0034] In addition, although the present embodiment assumes questions related to sustainability reports, the present invention is not limited to this. When similar questions may be asked, the present invention can provide support for ensuring consistency in response to any of the questions.

[0035] <Disclosures> The present disclosure also includes the following configurations. [Item 1] a question receiving unit that receives questions from questioners; an answer receiving unit that receives answers from respondents to the questions; an answer storage unit that stores the answer in association with the question; a similar answer identification unit that identifies a similar answer that is an answer corresponding to a question similar to the received question; a presentation unit that presents the similar answers to the answerer; An information processing system comprising: [Item 2] Item 1, an information processing system according to item 1, a consistency determination unit that determines consistency between the received answer and the similar answer when the similar answer is found; An information processing system characterized by: [Item 3] Item 2. The information processing system according to item 2, an alert display unit that displays an alert when it is determined that there is no consistency; An information processing system characterized by: [Item 4] accepting a question from a questioner; receiving an answer from a respondent to the question; storing the answer in association with the question; Identifying similar answers, which are answers corresponding to questions similar to the received question; presenting the similar answers to the answerer; An information processing method characterized by being executed by a computer. [Item 5] accepting a question from a questioner; receiving an answer from a respondent to the question; storing the answer in association with the question; Identifying similar answers, which are answers corresponding to questions similar to the received question; presenting the similar answers to the answerer; A program that causes a computer to execute the following. [Explanation of symbols]

[0036] 1 Questioner terminal 2 Management Server 3 Respondent device

Claims

1. a question receiving unit that receives questions from questioners; an answer receiving unit that receives answers from respondents to the questions; an answer storage unit that stores the answer in association with the question; a similar answer identification unit that identifies a similar answer that is an answer corresponding to a question similar to the received question; a presentation unit that presents the similar answers to the answerer; An information processing system comprising:

2. 2. The information processing system according to claim 1, a consistency determination unit that determines consistency between the received answer and the similar answer when the similar answer is found; An information processing system characterized by:

3. 3. The information processing system according to claim 2, an alert display unit that displays an alert when it is determined that there is no consistency; An information processing system characterized by:

4. accepting a question from a questioner; receiving an answer from a respondent to the question; storing the answer in association with the question; Identifying similar answers, which are answers corresponding to questions similar to the received question; presenting the similar answers to the answerer; An information processing method characterized by being executed by a computer.

5. accepting a question from a questioner; receiving an answer from a respondent to the question; storing the answer in association with the question; Identifying similar answers, which are answers corresponding to questions similar to the received question; presenting the similar answers to the answerer; A program that causes a computer to execute the following.

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