Information processing device, information processing system, and inquiry response method

Abstract

To provide an information processing device, an information processing system, and an inquiry answering method that enable an appropriate answer to an inquiry from a user.SOLUTION: An information processing device includes an environmental information acquisition unit configured to acquire predetermined environmental information corresponding to a specific information processing system from a first storage device that stores environmental information about each information processing system when an inquiry about the state of the specific information processing system is received, a past case acquisition unit configured to acquire, in response to reception of the inquiry, a plurality of past cases corresponding to the received inquiry from a second storage device that stores past cases related to the past state of each information processing system, a score calculation unit configured to calculate a score corresponding to each of the acquired plurality of past cases based on the acquired predetermined environmental information, and a result output unit configured to output the acquired plurality of past cases in association with scores corresponding to respective past cases.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing device, an information processing system, and an inquiry response method. [Background technology]

[0002] For example, a business operator that provides services to users (hereinafter, simply referred to as a business operator) constructs and operates an information processing system for supporting the use of the services by the users.

[0003] Specifically, for example, when a business operator receives an inquiry about a service from a user (hereinafter simply referred to as an inquiry), the business operator accesses a storage device that accumulates combinations of inquiries and answers that have occurred in the past (hereinafter also referred to as past cases), and constructs an information processing system that searches for past cases that correspond to the received inquiry (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2012-043290 A [Patent Document 2] JP 2006-318244 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] Here, the search for past cases as described above may be performed without considering, for example, information specific to the user who made the inquiry (such as information on the information processing system owned by the user). For this reason, when an operator receives an inquiry from a user by telephone or email, the operator, for example, refers to information specific to the user who made the inquiry and makes necessary corrections to the search results for past cases by the information processing system before providing an answer. This enables the operator to provide an answer that takes into account information specific to the user who made the inquiry.

[0006] However, for example, if the operator receiving an inquiry from a user has little experience, they may not be able to properly match the search results from the information processing system with the user's specific information, and may not be able to provide an appropriate response to the user.

[0007] Therefore, in one aspect, the present invention has an object to provide an information processing device, an information processing system, and an inquiry answering method that enable an appropriate answer to an inquiry from a user to be given. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] An information processing device in one aspect of an embodiment has an environmental information acquisition unit that, when receiving an inquiry regarding the state of a specific information processing system, acquires specific environmental information corresponding to the specific information processing system from a first storage device that stores environmental information for each information processing system; a past case acquisition unit that, when receiving the inquiry, acquires multiple past cases corresponding to the received inquiry from a second storage device that stores past cases regarding the past states of each information processing system; a score calculation unit that calculates a score corresponding to each of the multiple acquired past cases based on the acquired specific environmental information; and a result output unit that outputs the multiple acquired past cases in association with the score corresponding to each past case. Effect of the Invention

[0009] According to one aspect, it is possible to provide an appropriate response to an inquiry from a user. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of an information processing system 10. As shown in FIG. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the hardware configuration of the information processing device 1. As shown in FIG. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the information processing device 1. [Figure 4]FIG. 4 is a flowchart outlining the inquiry response process in the first embodiment. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the information processing system 10 in detail according to the first embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the hardware configuration of the environment searching device 2. As shown in FIG. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the hardware configuration of the case search device 3. As shown in FIG. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a block diagram of the functions of the environment searching device 2. As shown in FIG. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a block diagram of the functions of the case search device 3. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating details of the inquiry response process in the first embodiment. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating details of the inquiry response process in the first embodiment. [Figure 12] FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating details of the inquiry response process in the first embodiment. [Figure 13] FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating details of the inquiry response process in the first embodiment. [Figure 14] FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating details of the inquiry response process in the first embodiment. [Figure 15] FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating details of the inquiry response process in the first embodiment. [Figure 16] FIG. 16 is a diagram for explaining a specific example of the weight information 131. In FIG. [Figure 17] FIG. 17 illustrates a specific example of the inquiry information 132. [Figure 18] FIG. 18 illustrates a specific example of the environment information 133. [Figure 19] FIG. 19 explains a specific example of the past case 134. [Figure 20]FIG. 20 explains a specific example of the score information 135. [Figure 21] FIG. 21 explains a specific example of the score information 135. [Figure 22] FIG. 22 explains a specific example of the past case 134. [Figure 23] FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of the weight information 131. As shown in FIG. [Figure 24] FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of the weight information 131. In FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] [Information processing system configuration] First, a description will be given of the configuration of the information processing system 10. FIG 1 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of the information processing system 10.

[0012] An information processing system 10 shown in FIG.

[0013] The operation terminal 5 is, for example, a PC (Personal Computer) into which an operator OP inputs necessary information, and is connected to the information processing device 1 via a network NW such as the Internet.

[0014] Specifically, for example, when the operator OP receives an inquiry about the state of the information processing system 20 (hereinafter also referred to as a specific information processing system 20) owned by the user U, the operator OP inputs the received inquiry (contents included in the inquiry) to the operation terminal 5. Then, the operation terminal 5 transmits the input inquiry to the information processing device 1.

[0015] The information processing device 1 is, for example, one or more physical machines, and is a device that performs a process of providing a reply to an inquiry input to an operation terminal 5 (hereinafter, also referred to as an inquiry reply process).

[0016] Specifically, for example, when the information processing device 1 receives an inquiry about the state of the information processing system 20 owned by the user U, the information processing device 1 acquires environmental information (hereinafter also referred to as predetermined environmental information) corresponding to the information processing system 20 from the first storage device STa. In this case, the information processing device 1 also acquires a plurality of past cases corresponding to the received inquiry from the second storage device STb. The first storage device STa and the second storage device STb are, for example, different databases.

[0017] Then, the information processing device 1 calculates a score corresponding to each of the acquired past cases based on the acquired predetermined environment information. After that, the information processing device 1 transmits the acquired past cases to the operation terminal 5 in association with the score corresponding to each past case.

[0018] That is, the information processing device 1 in this embodiment searches for past cases corresponding to the inquiry received from the user U, for example, by using not only past cases corresponding to the inquiry, but also environmental information of the information processing system 20 that is the subject of the inquiry.

[0019] This enables the information processing device 1 to search for past cases corresponding to an inquiry while also taking into consideration environmental information (user-specific information) of the information processing system 20 that is the subject of the inquiry. Therefore, the operator OP does not need to manually match past cases corresponding to the inquiry with user-specific information, for example, and can provide a more accurate answer in a short time.

[0020] [Hardware configuration of information processing device] Next, a description will be given of the hardware configuration of the information processing device 1. FIG.

[0021] 2, the information processing device 1 includes a CPU 101 which is a processor, a memory 102, a communication device 103, and a storage medium 104. Each unit is connected to each other via a bus 105.

[0022] The storage medium 104 has, for example, a program storage area (not shown) that stores a program 110 for performing the inquiry response processing. The storage medium 104 also has, for example, a storage unit 130 (hereinafter also referred to as information storage area 130) that stores information used when performing the inquiry response processing. The storage medium 104 may be, for example, a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid state drive (SSD).

[0023] The CPU 101 executes the program 110 loaded from the storage medium 104 into the memory 102 to perform the inquiry response process.

[0024] Furthermore, the communication device 103 communicates with the operation terminal 5 via, for example, the network NW.

[0025] [Functions of information processing device] Next, a description will be given of the functions of the information processing device 1. FIG.

[0026] As shown in FIG. 3, the information processing device 1 realizes various functions including an information receiving unit 111, an information management unit 112, an inquiry receiving unit 113, an environmental information acquisition unit 114, a past case acquisition unit 115, a score calculation unit 116, and a result output unit 117, by organic cooperation between hardware such as a CPU 101 and a memory 102 and a program 110.

[0027] Furthermore, the information processing device 1 stores weight information 131 in an information storage area 130, for example, as shown in FIG.

[0028] The information receiving unit 111 receives weight information 131 transmitted by, for example, an administrator of the information processing device 1 (hereinafter also simply referred to as the administrator) via an administrator terminal (not shown). The weight information 131 is information used, for example, when the score calculation unit 116 calculates the score of each past case, as described later. Then, the information management unit 112 stores, for example, the weight information 131 received by the information receiving unit 111 in the information storage area 130.

[0029] The inquiry receiving unit 113 receives an inquiry input by an operator OP via the operation terminal 5, for example.

[0030] For example, when the inquiry receiving unit 113 receives an inquiry, the environmental information acquiring unit 114 accesses the first storage device STa and acquires environmental information about the information processing system 20 that is the target of the received inquiry.

[0031] For example, when the inquiry receiving unit 113 receives an inquiry, the past example acquiring unit 115 accesses the second storage device STb and acquires multiple past examples corresponding to the received inquiry. Specifically, the past example acquiring unit 115 acquires, for example, multiple past examples (for example, a predetermined number of past examples) whose contents have a high degree of match with the inquiry received by the inquiry receiving unit 113 from the second storage device STb. In addition, the past example acquiring unit 115 acquires, for example, multiple past examples whose contents have a degree of match with the inquiry received by the inquiry receiving unit 113 that is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold from the second storage device STb.

[0032] The score calculation unit 116 calculates a score corresponding to each of the multiple past cases acquired by the past case acquisition unit 115, based on the environmental information acquired by the environmental information acquisition unit 114. Specifically, the score calculation unit 116 calculates a score corresponding to each of the multiple past cases acquired by the past case acquisition unit 115, for example, by using the environmental information acquired by the environmental information acquisition unit 114 and the weight information 131 stored in the information storage area 130.

[0033] The result output unit 117 outputs the multiple past cases acquired by the past case acquisition unit 115 in association with the score corresponding to each past case (the score calculated by the score calculation unit 116). Specifically, the result output unit 117 transmits, for example, the multiple past cases acquired by the past case acquisition unit 115 in association with the score corresponding to each past case to the operation terminal 5.

[0034] [Outline of the first embodiment] Next, an outline of the first embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 4, which is a flow chart for explaining an outline of the inquiry response process in the first embodiment.

[0035] As shown in FIG. 4, the inquiry receiving unit 113 waits until it receives an inquiry transmitted from the operation terminal 5 (NO in S11), for example.

[0036] Then, when an inquiry is received (YES in S11), the environmental information acquisition unit 114 acquires environmental information corresponding to the inquiry received in the processing of S11, for example, from a first storage device STa that stores environmental information about a plurality of information processing systems including the information processing system 20 (S12). Specifically, for example, when the target of the inquiry received in the processing of S11 is the information processing system 20, the environmental information acquisition unit 114 acquires environmental information of the information processing system 20.

[0037] In this case, the past case acquisition unit 115 also acquires (S13) multiple past cases corresponding to the inquiry received in the processing of S11 from a second storage device that stores past cases relating to past states of multiple information processing systems including the information processing system 20.

[0038] Next, the score calculation unit 116 calculates a score corresponding to each of the multiple past cases acquired in the process of S13 based on the environmental information acquired in the process of S12 (S14).

[0039] Thereafter, the result output unit 117 outputs the multiple past cases acquired in the process of S13 in association with the scores corresponding to each past case (S15).

[0040] This enables the information processing device 1 to search for past cases corresponding to an inquiry while also taking into consideration environmental information (user-specific information) of the information processing system 20 that is the subject of the inquiry. Therefore, the operator OP does not need to manually match past cases corresponding to the inquiry with user-specific information, for example, and can provide a more accurate answer in a short time.

[0041] [Details of the first embodiment] Next, a description will be given of details of the first embodiment. Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of an information processing system 10 in the first embodiment.

[0042] An information processing system 10 shown in FIG. 5 differs from the case described with reference to FIG. 1 in that, for example, in addition to the information processing device 1 and the operation terminal 5, an environment searching device 2 and a case searching device 3 are included.

[0043] The environment search device 2 is, for example, one or more physical machines, and is a device that accesses the first storage device STa. The case search device 3 is, for example, one or more physical machines, and is a device that accesses the second storage device STb.

[0044] That is, in the information processing system 10 shown in FIG. 5, the information processing device 1, the environment searching device 2, and the case searching device 3 cooperate with each other to perform the inquiry response process.

[0045] [Hardware configuration of the environmental search device] Next, a description will be given of the hardware configuration of the environment search device 2. FIG.

[0046] 6, the environment search device 2 includes a CPU 201 which is a processor, a memory 202, a communication device 203, and a storage medium 204. Each unit is connected to one another via a bus 205.

[0047] The storage medium 204 has, for example, a program storage area (not shown) that stores a program 210 for performing the inquiry response processing. The storage medium 204 also has, for example, a storage unit 230 (hereinafter also referred to as information storage area 230) that stores information used when performing the inquiry response processing. The storage medium 204 may be, for example, an HDD or SSD.

[0048] The CPU 201 executes the program 210 loaded from the storage medium 204 into the memory 202 to perform the inquiry response process.

[0049] Moreover, the communication device 203 communicates with, for example, the first storage device STa and the information processing device 1.

[0050] [Hardware configuration of the case search device] Next, a description will be given of the hardware configuration of the case search device 3. FIG.

[0051] 7, the case search device 3 includes a CPU 301 which is a processor, a memory 302, a communication device 303, and a storage medium 304. Each unit is connected to one another via a bus 305.

[0052] The storage medium 304 has, for example, a program storage area (not shown) that stores a program 310 for performing the inquiry response processing. The storage medium 304 also has, for example, a storage unit 330 (hereinafter also referred to as information storage area 330) that stores information used when performing the inquiry response processing. The storage medium 304 may be, for example, an HDD or SSD.

[0053] The CPU 301 executes a program 310 loaded from the storage medium 304 into the memory 302 to perform inquiry response processing.

[0054] Moreover, the communication device 303 communicates with, for example, the second storage device STb and the information processing device 1.

[0055] [Functions of the environmental search device] Next, a description will be given of the functions of the environment search device 2. FIG.

[0056] As shown in FIG. 8, the environment search device 2 realizes various functions including a search condition receiving unit 211, an environment information search unit 212, and a search result transmitting unit 213, by organic cooperation between hardware such as a CPU 201 and a memory 202 and a program 210.

[0057] The search condition receiving unit 211 receives search conditions (hereinafter also referred to as first search conditions) transmitted from the information processing device 1. Specifically, unlike the case described in FIG. 3, when the inquiry receiving unit 113 receives an inquiry about the information processing system 20, for example, the environment information acquiring unit 114 of the information processing device 1 transmits search conditions for searching for environment information about the information processing system 20 to the environment search device 2. Then, the search condition receiving unit 211 receives the search conditions transmitted by the environment information acquiring unit 114.

[0058] The environmental information search unit 212 accesses the first storage device STa and performs a search according to the search conditions received by the search condition receiving unit 211 .

[0059] The search result sending unit 213 sends the search result (environmental information) obtained by the search performed by the environmental information searching unit 212 to the information processing device 1.

[0060] [Functions of the case search device] Next, a description will be given of the functions of the case search device 3. FIG.

[0061] As shown in FIG. 9, the case search device 3 realizes various functions including a search condition receiving unit 311, a past case search unit 312, and a search result sending unit 313, by organic cooperation between hardware such as a CPU 301 and a memory 302 and a program 310.

[0062] The search condition receiving unit 311 receives search conditions (hereinafter also referred to as second search conditions) transmitted from the information processing device 1. Specifically, unlike the case described in FIG. 3, when the inquiry receiving unit 113 receives an inquiry, for example, the past case acquisition unit 115 of the information processing device 1 transmits search conditions for searching for past cases corresponding to the received inquiry to the case search device 3. Then, the search condition receiving unit 311 receives the search conditions transmitted by the past case acquisition unit 115.

[0063] The past example search section 312 accesses the second storage device STb and performs a search according to the search conditions received by the search condition receiving section 311 .

[0064] The search result sending unit 313 sends the search results (past cases) searched by the past case search unit 312 to the information processing device 1.

[0065] [Flowchart for details of the first embodiment] Next, a flowchart for the details of the first embodiment will be described. Figures 10 to 15 are flowcharts for explaining the details of the inquiry response process in the first embodiment. Figures 16 to 24 are diagrams for explaining the details of the inquiry response process in the first embodiment.

[0066] [Information management processing] First, a process for managing the weight information 131 (hereinafter also referred to as information management process) in the inquiry response process will be described. Fig. 10 is a flow chart for explaining the information management process.

[0067] As shown in FIG. 10, the information receiving unit 111 of the information processing device 1 waits until it receives weight information 131 transmitted by an administrator via an administrator terminal (not shown) (NO in S21).

[0068] Then, when weighting information 131 is received (YES in S21), the information management unit 112 stores the weighting information 131 received in the processing of S21 in the information storage area 130 (S22). Specifically, the information management unit 112 stores, for example, multiple pieces of weighting information 131 that differ for each user in the information storage area 130.

[0069] More specifically, the administrator generates weight information 131 corresponding to each user (each information processing system) so that the weight corresponding to an item that each user judges to be important is greater than the weight corresponding to other items. Then, the information management unit 112 stores the weight information 131 for each user generated by the administrator in the information storage area 130. A specific example of the weight information 131 will be described below.

[0070] [Examples of weight information] Fig. 16, Fig. 23, and Fig. 24 are diagrams for explaining specific examples of the weight information 131. Specifically, Fig. 16 and the like are diagrams for explaining specific examples of the weight information 131 for the information processing system 20 described in Fig. 1 and the like.

[0071] Weight information 131 shown in FIG. 16 etc. has as items an "item" that identifies each item included in the environmental information, a "weight (positive)" that sets the weight used when the content of each item matches past cases, and a "weight (negative)" that sets the weight used when the content of each item does not match past cases.

[0072] 16 and the like, for example, "OS" and "version" are set, in which the type of OS (Operating System) and the version of the application running in the information processing system 20 are set. In addition, for example, "server name" and "server use" are set, in which the identification information and use of the server constituting the information processing system 20 are set. In addition, for example, "network" and "storage" are set, in which the identification information of the network and the identification information of the storage constituting the information processing system 20 are set. In addition, for example, "setting value / parameter" is set, in which the setting value and parameter (e.g., timeout value) set in the information processing system 20 are set.

[0073] Specifically, in the weight information 131 shown in FIG. 16, the information in the first row has “OS” set as the “item”, “weight (positive)” set as “3”, and “weight (negative)” set as “-2”.

[0074] In addition, in the weight information 131 shown in FIG. 16, in the information on the second line, “version” is set as the “item”, “weight (positive)” is set as “3”, and “weight (negative)” is set as “-2”.

[0075] Furthermore, in the weight information 131 shown in Fig. 16, in the information on the third line, "server name" is set as the "item", "weight (positive)" is set as "2", and "weight (negative)" is set as "-1". Explanation of other information included in Fig. 16 will be omitted.

[0076] For example, if the versions of the OS and applications that constitute the information processing system 20 have not been sufficiently updated, the administrator generates weight information 131 corresponding to the information processing system 20 by increasing the "weight (positive)" value (and decreasing the "weight (negative)" value) of information whose "item" is "OS" or information whose "item" is "application."

[0077] [Main process of inquiry response processing] Next, the main process of the inquiry response process will be described with reference to Fig. 11 to Fig. 15, which are flow charts illustrating the main process of the inquiry response process.

[0078] [Processing in information processing device] First, the process in the information processing device 1 will be described.

[0079] As shown in FIG. 11, the inquiry receiving unit 113 waits until it receives, for example, inquiry information 132 transmitted from the operation terminal 5 (NO in S31).

[0080] Specifically, when the operator OP receives an inquiry from the user U, the operator OP generates inquiry information 132 including, for example, a character string indicating the content of the received inquiry and identification information of the user U, and inputs the inquiry information 132 to the operation terminal 5. Then, the operation terminal 5 transmits the inquiry information 132 generated (input) by the operator OP to the information processing device 1. After that, the inquiry receiving unit 113 of the information processing device 1 receives the inquiry information 132 transmitted by the operation terminal 5. A specific example of the inquiry information 132 will be described below.

[0081] [Specific examples of inquiry information] Fig. 17 explains a specific example of the inquiry information 132. Specifically, Fig. 17 is a diagram explaining a specific example of the inquiry information 132 that is generated when an inquiry is received from a user U.

[0082] The inquiry information 132 shown in FIG. 17 has, as items, a “user ID” in which identification information of the user U is set, and an “inquiry content” in which the content (character string) of the inquiry accepted by the operator OP from the user U is set.

[0083] Specifically, in the inquiry information 132 shown in FIG. 17, "USER08" is set as the "User ID," and "Inquiry content" is set as "When the AAA command was executed, "BBB" was output, and CCC could not be stopped."

[0084] When the operator OP receives an inquiry from the user U, the operator OP may generate inquiry information 132 including, for example, identification information of the user U and one or more keywords corresponding to the content of the inquiry. In this case, the operator OP may include, for example, identification information of a server or an application constituting the information processing system 20 that is the target of the inquiry in the inquiry information 132.

[0085] Returning to FIG. 11, when the inquiry information 132 is received (YES in S31), the environment information acquisition unit 114 transmits search conditions corresponding to the received inquiry information 132 to the environment search device 2 (S32).

[0086] Specifically, the environment information acquisition unit 114 transmits, for example, the identification information of the user U, the identification information of the server, and the identification information of the application to the environment search device 2 as search conditions.

[0087] Thereafter, the environment information acquisition unit 114 waits until it receives the environment information 133 (search result) transmitted from the environment search device 2 (NO in S33). A specific example of the environment information 133 will be described below.

[0088] [Examples of environmental information] 18 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of the environment information 133. Specifically, FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of the environment information 133 for the information processing system 20.

[0089] The environmental information 133 shown in FIG. 18 has items such as “OS”, “version”, “server name”, “server use”, “network”, “storage”, and “setting value / parameter”, which are information set in the “items” of the weight information 131 described in FIG. 16.

[0090] Specifically, in the environment information 133 shown in Fig. 18, "OS-A" is set as the "OS", "version" is set to "V.2.0", "server name" is set to "Server04", and "server use" is set to "operation management". Also, in the environment information 133 shown in Fig. 18, "NW-A03" is set as the "network", "ST-14" is set as the "storage", and "10 (seconds)" is set as the "setting value / parameter".

[0091] Returning to FIG. 11, if the environmental information 133 has been received (YES in S33), the past case acquisition unit 115 transmits search conditions corresponding to the inquiry information 132 received in the process of S31 to the case search device 3 (S34).

[0092] Specifically, the past case acquisition unit 115 transmits, for example, the content (character string) of an inquiry from the user U to the case search device 3 as a search condition.

[0093] Thereafter, the past case acquisition unit 115 waits until it receives one or more past cases 134 (search results) and score information 135 corresponding to each past case 134 transmitted from the case search device 3 (NO in S35). The score information 135 is information including, for example, the degree of match (hereinafter also referred to as score) between the search conditions transmitted to the case search device 3 in the processing of S34 and the contents of each past case 134. Specific examples of the past cases 134 and the score information 135 will be described below.

[0094] [Specific examples of past cases] First, a specific example of the past case 134 will be described. Specific examples of the past case 134 will be described with reference to Figs.

[0095] 19 and the like have as items "case ID" in which identification information of each past case 134 is set, "inquiry content" in which search conditions received by the case search device 3 from the information processing device 1 or other information processing devices (not shown) in the past are set, and "answer content" in which an answer searched for in the past by the search conditions set in the "inquiry content" is set. Furthermore, the past case 134 shown in Fig. 19 and the like has as items "OS" and "version" which are information set in the "item" of the weight information 131 described in Fig. 16, similar to the environment information 133 described in Fig. 18.

[0096] Specifically, in past case example 134 shown in Figure 19, the information on the first line is set to, for example, "1" as the "Case ID," "When I tried to start the server with the AAA command, CCC did not start. Please tell me the cause and how to deal with it," as the "Inquiry," "CCC failed to start because the FFF process went down during startup. Please collect data when reproducing the problem so that we can determine the cause," as the "Response," "OS-A" as the "OS," and "Version" as "V.2.1."

[0097] In addition, in the past case 134 shown in Figure 19, for example, the information on the second line is set to "2" as the "Case ID", "Inquiry" is set to "After installing and initializing, restarting the OS and executing the DDD command, CCC stopped", "Response" is set to "This is because the CCC service is set to the default manual setting. I changed it to automatic setting and confirmed that it started normally", "OS" is set to "OS-C", and "Version" is set to "V.5.2". Explanation of other information included in Figure 19 will be omitted.

[0098] [Examples of score information] Next, a description will be given of a specific example of the score information 135. A specific example of the score information 135 will be described with reference to Fig. 20 and Fig. 21.

[0099] 20 and the like has items of a "case ID" in which identification information of each past case 134 is set, and a "score" in which a score corresponding to each past case 134 is set. In the "score," for example, the ratio of words included in each past case 134 to the words included in the search criteria transmitted in the process of S34 is set as the score.

[0100] Specifically, in the score information 135 shown in Fig. 20, for example, "1" is set as the "case ID" in the information of the first line, and "72.4(%)" is set as the "score". Also, in the score information 135 shown in Fig. 20, for example, "2" is set as the "case ID" in the information of the first line, and "67.1(%)" is set as the "score". Description of other information included in Fig. 20 will be omitted.

[0101] Returning to FIG. 11, when the past case 134 and the score information 135 are received (YES in S35), the score calculation unit 116 identifies one past case 134 received in the process of S35 (S41), as shown in FIG.

[0102] Specifically, the score calculation unit 116 identifies, for example, the information in the first line included in the past example 134 described with reference to FIG.

[0103] Then, the score calculation unit 116 identifies one item included in the environmental information 133 received in the process of S33 (S42).

[0104] Specifically, the score calculation unit 116 identifies, for example, information corresponding to "OS" in the environment information 133 described with reference to FIG.

[0105] Next, the score calculation unit 116 determines whether or not the contents of the past example 134 identified in the process of S41 match with the contents of the item identified in the process of S42 (S43).

[0106] Then, the score calculation section 116 specifies a weight corresponding to the item specified in the process of S42 based on the weight information 131 stored in the information storage area 130 and the determination result in the process of S43 (S44).

[0107] Specifically, "OS-A" is set as the "OS" in the information in the first line in the past case 134 described in Fig. 19. Also, "OS-A" is set as the "OS" in the environmental information 133 described in Fig. 18. Therefore, for example, when the past case 134 identified in the process of S41 is the information in the first line included in the past case 134 described in Fig. 19, and the item identified in the process of S42 is "OS" in the environmental information 133 described in Fig. 18, the score calculation unit 116 determines that the contents of the past case 134 identified in the process of S41 and the item identified in the process of S42 match.

[0108] 16, "3" is set as the "weight (positive)" corresponding to "OS". Therefore, in this case, the score calculation unit 116 specifies "3" as the weight corresponding to the item specified in the process of S42.

[0109] On the other hand, "OS-C" is set as the "OS" in the information on the second line in the past case 134 described in Fig. 19. Also, "OS-A" is set as the "OS" in the environmental information 133 described in Fig. 18. Therefore, for example, if the past case 134 identified in the process of S41 is the information on the second line included in the past case 134 described in Fig. 19, and the item identified in the process of S42 is "OS" in the environmental information 133 described in Fig. 18, the score calculation unit 116 determines that the contents of the past case 134 identified in the process of S41 and the item identified in the process of S42 do not match.

[0110] Furthermore, in the information in the first row of the weight information 131 described in Fig. 16, "-2" is set as the "weight (negative)" corresponding to "OS". Therefore, in this case, the score calculation unit 116 specifies "-2" as the weight corresponding to the item specified in the process of S42.

[0111] Returning to FIG. 12, the score calculation unit 116 corrects the score information 135 received in the process of S35 by using the weight specified in the process of S44 (S45).

[0112] Specifically, the score calculation unit 116 corrects the score included in the score information 135 by using the following formula (1).

[0113]

number

[0114] In the above formula (1), "score (before correction)" indicates the score included in the score information 135 received in the process of S35, and "weight" indicates the weight identified in the process of S44.

[0115] Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 13, the score calculation unit 116 determines whether or not all items have been identified in the process of S42 (S51).

[0116] As a result, when it is determined that all items have not been specified in the process of S42 (NO in S51), the score calculation section 116 performs the processes from S42 onwards again.

[0117] On the other hand, if it is determined in the process of S42 that all items have been identified (YES in S51), the score calculation section 116 identifies the occurrence date and time of the past case 134 identified in the process of S41 (S52).

[0118] Specifically, the score calculation unit 116 identifies the occurrence date and time of the past case 134 identified in the process of S41 from, for example, information included in the past case 134 identified in the process of S41.

[0119] Then, the score calculation unit 116 further corrects the score corrected in the process of S45 based on the occurrence date and time identified in the process of S52 (S53).

[0120] Specifically, the score calculation unit 116 further corrects the score included in the score information 135 by using the following formula (2).

[0121]

number

[0122] In the above formula (2), "score (before correction)" indicates the score corrected in the process of S45, and "years passed" indicates the number of years that have passed since the occurrence date and time identified in the process of S52.

[0123] In other words, the information processing device 1 calculates the score by taking into consideration not only the environmental information 133 of the information processing system 20 that is the subject of the inquiry information 132 received in the processing of S31, but also the occurrence date and time of the past case 134 corresponding to the inquiry information 132 received in the processing of S31 (how old the past case 134 is).

[0124] This enables the information processing device 1 to output each past case 134 so that the past case 134 that is more appropriate as the past case 134 corresponding to the inquiry information 132 received in the processing of S31 is output higher in the output order, as described below.

[0125] Thereafter, the score calculation unit 116 determines whether or not all of the past cases 134 have been identified in the process of S41 (S54).

[0126] As a result, when it is determined that all of the past cases 134 have not been identified in the process of S41 (NO in S54), the score calculation unit 116 performs the processes from S41 onwards again.

[0127] On the other hand, if it is determined in the processing of S41 that all past cases 134 have been identified (YES in S54), the result output unit 117 outputs the past cases 134 received in the processing of S35, for example, by sorting them in descending order of score (score corrected in the processing of S53) (S55).

[0128] Specifically, for example, as shown in the underlined portion of Figure 21, when the "score" corresponding to the past case 134 with the "case ID" of "3" in the score information 135 described in Figure 20 is corrected to "79.2 (%)", the result output unit 117 rearranges the multiple past cases 134 received in the processing of S35 so that the past case 134 with the "case ID" of "3" is at the top, and then outputs them, as shown in Figure 22.

[0129] In addition, the result output unit 117 may output, for example, the reason for the correction performed in the process of S45 or the process of S53 in the process of S55. This enables the operator OP to give a more detailed reply to the user who made the inquiry, for example.

[0130] [Processing in the environmental search device] Next, the processing in the environment search device 2 will be described.

[0131] 14, the search condition receiving unit 211 waits until it receives the search condition transmitted from the information processing device 1 (NO in S61). That is, the search condition receiving unit 211 waits until the environmental information acquiring unit 114 of the information processing device 1 transmits the search condition.

[0132] Then, when the search condition is received (YES in S61), the environmental information search unit 212 searches the environmental information 133 stored in the first storage device STa for environmental information 133 corresponding to the search condition received in the process of S61 (S62).

[0133] Specifically, the environmental information search unit 212 acquires, for example, environmental information 133 about the information processing system 20 that is the subject of the inquiry received by the information processing device 1 in the processing of S31 from the environmental information 133 stored in the first storage device STa.

[0134] Thereafter, the search result transmission unit 213 transmits the environmental information 133 searched for in the process of S62 to the information processing device 1 (S63).

[0135] [Processing in the case search device] Next, the processing in the case retrieval device 3 will be described.

[0136] 15, the search condition receiving unit 311 waits until it receives search conditions transmitted from the information processing device 1 (NO in S71). That is, the search condition receiving unit 311 waits until the past example acquisition unit 115 of the information processing device 1 transmits search conditions.

[0137] Then, when search conditions are received (YES in S71), the past case search unit 312 calculates the degree of match (score) between the search conditions received in the processing of S71 and each past case 134 stored in the second storage device STb (S72).

[0138] Specifically, for example, the past case search section 312 calculates, as a score, the ratio of words contained in each past case 134 to words contained in the search conditions for each past case 134 stored in the second storage device STb.

[0139] Next, the past case search section 312 searches for past cases 134 corresponding to the search criteria received in the process of S71 from the past cases 134 stored in the second storage device STb based on the score calculated in the process of S72 (S73).

[0140] Specifically, the past case search section 312 acquires, for example, a predetermined number of past cases 134 having high scores calculated in the process of S72 from among the past cases 134 stored in the second storage device STb.

[0141] In addition, the past case search unit 312 may, for example, acquire one or more past cases 134 from among the past cases 134 stored in the second storage device STb, the score calculated in the processing of S72 being equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value.

[0142] Thereafter, the search result transmission unit 313 transmits the past examples 134 searched in the process of S73 and the score information 135 including the score calculated in the process of S72 to the information processing device 1 (S74).

[0143] In this way, when the information processing device 1 in this embodiment receives, for example, inquiry information 132 about the state of the information processing system 20 owned by the user U, it acquires environmental information 133 corresponding to the information processing system 20 from the first storage device STa. In this case, the information processing device 1 also acquires one or more past cases 134 corresponding to the received inquiry information 132 from the second storage device STb.

[0144] Then, the information processing device 1 calculates a score corresponding to each of the one or more acquired past cases 134 based on the acquired environment information 133. After that, the information processing device 1 transmits the one or more acquired past cases 134 to the operation terminal 5 in association with the score corresponding to each past case 134.

[0145] That is, the information processing device 1 in this embodiment searches for past cases 134 corresponding to the inquiry information 132, for example, by using not only past cases 134 corresponding to the inquiry received from the user U, but also environmental information 133 of the information processing system 20 that is the subject of the inquiry information 132.

[0146] This allows the information processing device 1 in this embodiment to search for past cases 134 corresponding to the inquiry information 132 while also taking into consideration the environmental information 133 of the information processing system 20 that is the target of the inquiry information 132. Therefore, the operator OP does not need to manually match the past cases 134 corresponding to the inquiry information 132 with the environmental information 133 of the information processing system 20 that is the target of the inquiry information 132, for example, and can provide a more accurate answer in a short time.

[0147] Furthermore, the information processing device 1 in this embodiment determines, for example, the output order of past cases 134 (search results) corresponding to an inquiry from a user U by also taking into consideration the occurrence date and time of each past case 134 (how old the past case 134 is). Therefore, by referring to the output order of each past case 134 output from the information processing device 1, the operator OP can provide an answer that also takes into consideration the occurrence date and time of each past case 134.

[0148] Furthermore, the information processing device 1 in this embodiment determines, for example, the output order of past cases 134 (search results) corresponding to an inquiry from the user U by using the weight information 131 corresponding to the user U (information processing system 20). Therefore, the operator OP can provide a reply based on the past cases 134 including problems specific to the information processing system 20 by referring to the output order of the past cases 134 output from the information processing device 1, for example.

[0149] 16 has information on the configuration of the information processing system 20 (such as "OS" and "version") as "items". In contrast, the weight information 131 may have information on the performance and processing of the information processing system 20 as "items", in addition to the information on the configuration of the information processing system 20. Furthermore, the weight information 131 may have information on the operation of the information processing system 20 as "items".

[0150] Specifically, the weight information 131 may have, as items, for example, a "resource usage rate" in which the maximum usage rate of the CPU or memory or the average usage rate within a unit time is set, and a "timing of increase in processing volume" in which a time period in which processing in which the processing volume temporarily increases (periodic processing such as daily or monthly) is executed is set, as shown in Fig. 23. Also, the weight information 131 may have, as items, for example, a "process schedule" in which a process schedule of the information processing system 20 (periods during testing or operation, etc.) is set, "immediately after the maintenance date" in which information indicating whether or not the timing is immediately after maintenance of the information processing system 20 is set, and an "execution command" in which a command executed according to various work procedure manuals, etc. is set, as shown in Fig. 23.

[0151] That is, in the process of S43, the score calculation unit 116 of the information processing device 1 may also determine whether or not the information on resource usage included in the past cases 134 received in the process of S35 matches the information on resource usage included in the environmental information 133 received in the process of S33. Then, in the process of S45, the score calculation unit 116 may correct the score by using, for example, the weight corresponding to the determination result among the weights included in the weight information 131.

[0152] For example, when the information processing system 20 is an information processing system that requires high processing power, the administrator may generate weight information 131 corresponding to the information processing system 20, for example, by increasing the value of the "weight (positive)" (and decreasing the value of the "weight (negative)") for information whose "item" is "resource usage rate."

[0153] Furthermore, the weight information 131 may have, for example, information on the hardware (servers, storage, etc.) and software (OS and applications) that configure the information processing system 20 as "items."

[0154] Specifically, the weight information 131 may have, as "items", for example, "unique information" in which unique information of each piece of hardware or software is set, and "version difference" in which information on differences between versions of each piece of software (for example, information on hardware compatible with each version) is set, as shown in Fig. 24. Also, the weight information 134 may have, as "items", for example, "compatibility" in which information on compatibility between different versions of each piece of software is set, "compatible hardware" in which information on hardware compatible with each piece of software is set, and "bundled information" in which information on other software etc. bundled with each piece of software is set, as shown in Fig. 24.

[0155] Furthermore, the weight information 131 may have, for example, an item such as "Stock Price" in which information indicating whether or not the movement of stock prices has satisfied a predetermined condition is set. Also, the weight information 131 may have, for example, an item such as "Legal Amendment" in which information indicating whether or not the timing is immediately after a legal amendment is set.

[0156] The above embodiment can be summarized as follows:

[0157] (Appendix 1) an environmental information acquiring unit that, when receiving an inquiry about a state of a specific information processing system, acquires predetermined environmental information corresponding to the specific information processing system from a first storage device that stores environmental information about each information processing system; a past case acquisition unit that, when receiving the inquiry, acquires a plurality of past cases corresponding to the received inquiry from a second storage device that stores past cases related to past states of each information processing system; a score calculation unit that calculates a score corresponding to each of the plurality of acquired past cases based on the acquired predetermined environmental information; a result output unit that outputs the acquired multiple past cases in association with the scores corresponding to each past case, 23. An information processing apparatus comprising:

[0158] (Appendix 2) In Appendix 1: the past example acquisition unit acquires from the second storage device a predetermined number of past examples having a high degree of match with the query as the plurality of past examples; the score calculation unit calculates the score corresponding to each of the plurality of past cases from the predetermined environmental information and the degree of agreement corresponding to each of the plurality of past cases; 23. An information processing apparatus comprising:

[0159] (Appendix 3) In Appendix 1: the past example acquisition unit acquires from the second storage device the plurality of past examples whose content matches the query at a degree equal to or greater than a threshold; the score calculation unit calculates the score corresponding to each of the plurality of past cases from the predetermined environmental information and the degree of agreement corresponding to each of the plurality of past cases; 23. An information processing apparatus comprising:

[0160] (Appendix 4) In Appendix 2 or 3, The score calculation unit is referring to a storage unit that stores weight information in which information corresponding to each item is associated with a weight, and specifying, for each of the plurality of past cases, the weight corresponding to each of one or more items included in each past case; calculating the score for each of the plurality of past cases based on the weights corresponding to each past case and the degree of agreement corresponding to each past case; 23. An information processing apparatus comprising:

[0161] (Appendix 5) In Appendix 4: the score calculation unit calculates the score for each of the plurality of past cases by multiplying the degree of agreement corresponding to each past case by the weight corresponding to each past case; 23. An information processing apparatus comprising:

[0162] (Appendix 6) In Appendix 1: the score calculation unit calculates the scores corresponding to the plurality of past cases such that the score of a first past case is higher than the score of a second past case corresponding to a time period earlier than the first past case; 23. An information processing apparatus comprising:

[0163] (Appendix 7) In Appendix 1: the result output unit outputs each of the plurality of past cases in descending order of the score; 23. An information processing apparatus comprising:

[0164] (Appendix 8) An information processing system including an information processing device, an environment search device accessible to the information processing device, and a case search device accessible to the information processing device, The information processing device includes: when receiving an inquiry regarding a state of a specific information processing system, transmitting a first search condition and a second search condition corresponding to the received inquiry to the environment search device and the case search device, respectively; The environment search device includes: When the first search condition is received, predetermined environmental information corresponding to the received first search condition is acquired from a first storage device that stores environmental information for each information processing system; Transmitting the acquired predetermined environmental information to the information processing device; The case search device includes: When the second search condition is received, a plurality of past cases corresponding to the received second search condition is obtained from a second storage device that stores past cases related to past states of each information processing system; Transmitting the acquired multiple past cases to the information processing device; The information processing device further calculates a score corresponding to each of the plurality of received past cases based on the received predetermined environmental information; outputting the received plurality of past cases in association with the scores corresponding to each past case; An information processing system comprising:

[0165] (Appendix 9) 1. A method for answering an inquiry in an information processing system having an information processing device, an environment search device accessible to the information processing device, and a case search device accessible to the information processing device, comprising: The information processing device includes: when receiving an inquiry regarding a state of a specific information processing system, transmitting a first search condition and a second search condition corresponding to the received inquiry to the environment search device and the case search device, respectively; The environment search device includes: When the first search condition is received, predetermined environmental information corresponding to the received first search condition is acquired from a first storage device that stores environmental information for each information processing system; Transmitting the acquired predetermined environmental information to the information processing device; The case search device includes: When the second search condition is received, a plurality of past cases corresponding to the received second search condition is obtained from a second storage device that stores past cases related to past states of each information processing system; Transmitting the acquired multiple past cases to the information processing device; The information processing device further calculates a score corresponding to each of the plurality of received past cases based on the received predetermined environmental information; outputting the received plurality of past cases in association with the scores corresponding to each past case; A method for answering an inquiry, comprising: [Explanation of symbols]

[0166] 1: Information processing device 2: Environmental search device 3: Case search device 5: Operation terminal NW: Network STa: First storage device STb: 2nd storage device

Claims

1. an environmental information acquiring unit that, when receiving an inquiry about a state of a specific information processing system, acquires predetermined environmental information corresponding to the specific information processing system from a first storage device that stores environmental information about each information processing system; a past case acquisition unit that, when receiving the inquiry, acquires, from a second storage device that stores past cases relating to past states of each information processing system, a predetermined number of past cases whose contents match the received inquiry as multiple past cases; a score calculation unit that calculates a score corresponding to each of the plurality of acquired past cases based on the acquired predetermined environmental information and the degree of agreement corresponding to each of the plurality of past cases; a result output unit that outputs the acquired multiple past cases in association with the scores corresponding to each past case, 23. An information processing apparatus comprising:

2. In claim 1, The score calculation unit is referring to a storage unit that stores weight information in which information corresponding to each item is associated with a weight, and specifying, for each of the plurality of past cases, the weight corresponding to each of one or more items included in each past case; calculating the score for each of the plurality of past cases based on the weights corresponding to each past case and the degree of agreement corresponding to each past case; 23. An information processing apparatus comprising:

3. In claim 2, the score calculation unit calculates the score for each of the plurality of past cases by multiplying the degree of agreement corresponding to each past case by the weight corresponding to each past case; 23. An information processing apparatus comprising:

4. In claim 1, the score calculation unit calculates the scores corresponding to the plurality of past cases such that the score of a first past case is higher than the score of a second past case corresponding to a time period earlier than the first past case; 23. An information processing apparatus comprising:

5. In claim 1, the result output unit outputs each of the plurality of past cases in descending order of the score; 23. An information processing apparatus comprising:

6. An information processing system including an information processing device, an environment search device accessible to the information processing device, and a case search device accessible to the information processing device, The information processing device includes: when receiving an inquiry regarding a state of a specific information processing system, transmitting a first search condition and a second search condition corresponding to the received inquiry to the environment search device and the case search device, respectively; The environment search device includes: When the first search condition is received, predetermined environmental information corresponding to the received first search condition is acquired from a first storage device that stores environmental information for each information processing system; Transmitting the acquired predetermined environmental information to the information processing device; The case search device includes: When the second search condition is received, a predetermined number of past cases having a high degree of match with the received second search condition are obtained as multiple past cases from a second storage device that stores past cases related to past states of each information processing system; Transmitting the acquired multiple past cases to the information processing device; The information processing device further calculates a score corresponding to each of the plurality of received past cases from the received predetermined environmental information and the degree of match corresponding to each of the plurality of past cases; outputting the received plurality of past cases in association with the scores corresponding to each past case; An information processing system comprising:

7. 1. A method for answering an inquiry in an information processing system having an information processing device, an environment search device accessible to the information processing device, and a case search device accessible to the information processing device, comprising: The information processing device includes: when receiving an inquiry regarding a state of a specific information processing system, transmitting a first search condition and a second search condition corresponding to the received inquiry to the environment search device and the case search device, respectively; The environment search device includes: When the first search condition is received, predetermined environmental information corresponding to the received first search condition is acquired from a first storage device that stores environmental information for each information processing system; Transmitting the acquired predetermined environmental information to the information processing device; The case search device includes: When the second search condition is received, a predetermined number of past cases having a high degree of match with the received second search condition are obtained as multiple past cases from a second storage device that stores past cases related to past states of each information processing system; Transmitting the acquired multiple past cases to the information processing device; The information processing device further calculates a score corresponding to each of the plurality of received past cases from the received predetermined environmental information and the degree of match corresponding to each of the plurality of past cases; outputting the received plurality of past cases in association with the scores corresponding to each past case; A method for answering an inquiry, comprising:

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