Server device, notification method, and notification program

Abstract

To prevent a post that a user wants to respond to from remaining unsupported in a chat system.SOLUTION: A server 100 includes an estimation unit 132 and a notification transmission unit 133. When a message is posted to an unknown person on a chat room where messages are posted by a plurality of users, the estimation unit 132 analyzes the content of the post and estimates a member who is likely to be able to respond to the post from among members participating in the chat room. Then, the notification sending unit 133 sends a notification to the estimated member that the posting has been made.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a server device, a notification method, and a notification program. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, there are chat systems (e.g., Slack (registered trademark) and the like) that allow multiple users to exchange messages. In this chat system, for example, when a message is posted to a chat group, the members of the group can view the message. Furthermore, members of a chat group can post messages addressed to members of the group by, for example, specifying the member with "@" or the like. In this case, for example, a notification that a message addressed to the member has been posted is sent to the terminal or the like of the addressed member. This notification lets the member know that a message addressed to them has been received, and allows them to respond to the message, such as by replying to the message. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 6729232 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In the chat system described above, if a group member wants some kind of response to their post, they will address the post to a member who is likely to respond if they know of a member who is likely to respond. However, if they do not know of a member who is likely to respond, they will post within the group without specifying an addressee. In this case, the group members may not notice the post, and the post may remain unaddressed.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above, and has an object to prevent a post that a user wants addressed from remaining unaddressed in a chat system. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present invention provides a method for analyzing the content of a message posted to a person whose correspondence is unknown in a chat room where messages are posted by multiple users, Using the analyzed content of the post and the files that each member of the chat room has previously downloaded through chat, The chat room is characterized by comprising an estimation unit that estimates members from among the members participating in the chat room who have a predetermined or higher probability of being able to respond to the post, and a notification sending unit that sends a notification to the estimated members that the post has been made. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] According to one aspect of the embodiment, in a chat system, it is possible to prevent a post that a user wants addressed from remaining unaddressed. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an overview of the server. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of attribute information of each user. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the posting history of each user. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a file download history of each user. [Figure 5] FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing procedure executed by the server. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a hardware configuration diagram illustrating an example of a computer that realizes the functions of the server. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0009] Hereinafter, a mode for carrying out a server device according to the present application (hereinafter referred to as an "embodiment") will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that the server device according to the present application is not limited to the following embodiment.

[0010] [Example of processing] An example of processing executed by a server device (server) 100 will be described with reference to Fig. 1. The server 100 provides each user with a chat system. The chat system is a system that, for example, upon receiving messages from multiple users, makes the messages available for other users to view.

[0011] For example, the server 100 has a plurality of chat rooms (groups), and when it receives a posting (message) from a member of a group to a certain group, it makes the posting available for viewing by the members of the group.

[0012] Furthermore, when the server 100 receives a post from a user in which the addressee is specified by, for example, "@", it notifies the addressee that the post has been made. For example, when the server 100 receives a post addressed to user B, it displays a notification that a post has been made addressed to user B in a field (for example, an "@mention & reaction" field) on the chat screen displayed on user B's terminal that indicates that a post has been made addressed to user B. This allows user B to know that a post has been made addressed to him or her.

[0013] In such a chat system, for example, if user A wants someone in the group to respond but does not know who to address the post to, he or she will address the post to an unknown person (e.g., "@who") as shown in Figure 1 (Figure 1(1)).

[0014] When the server 100 detects that a post has been made by the person with unknown correspondence (e.g., "@who"), it analyzes the content of the post by the user A and estimates which users in the group can respond to the post. For example, the server 100 estimates which users in the group (e.g., user B) can respond to the post by user A based on the departments to which each user in the same group as user A belongs, their past posting history in the chat system, the contents of downloaded files, etc. ((2)).

[0015] Then, the server 100 transmits a notification to the estimated user (for example, user B) that a post has been made to that user ((3)). For example, the server 100 displays a notification that a post has been made to user B in the "@mention & reaction" field on the chat screen of user B. This notification lets user B know that a post has been made to him / her in the group, and he / she can respond to the post, such as by replying to the post.

[0016] According to such a server 100, it is possible to prevent a post that a user wants addressed from remaining unaddressed in a chat system.

[0017] [Configuration example] Continuing, an example of the configuration of a system including the server 100 will be described with reference to Fig. 1. As shown in Fig. 1, the system includes a terminal 10 and a server 100. There may be a plurality of terminals 10 and a plurality of servers 100 in the system.

[0018] The terminal 10 is, for example, an information processing device used by a user of a chat system. For example, the terminal 10 is a desktop personal computer (PC), a notebook PC, a tablet terminal, a mobile phone such as a smartphone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), etc.

[0019] In the following, the terminal 10 may be referred to as a user. That is, in the following, the user may be read as the terminal 10. In the following, when it is not necessary to distinguish between the terminals 10 used by each user, the terminal 10 may be referred to as the terminal 10.

[0020] The terminal 10 and the server 100 are connected to each other via a network such as the Internet in a wired or wireless manner so as to be able to communicate with each other.

[0021] The server 100 is, for example, a computer that provides various information to the terminal 10 of each user of the chat system. For example, when the server 100 receives a message from the terminal 10 of a user of the chat system, the server 100 displays the message on the chat screen of the terminal 10 of another user, making it viewable by each user of the chat system. The server 100 includes a communication unit 110, a storage unit 120, and a control unit 130.

[0022] (About the Communications Department) The communication unit 110 is realized by, for example, a network interface card (NIC), etc. The communication unit 110 is connected to a network such as the Internet via a wired or wireless connection, and transmits and receives various data to and from the terminal 10.

[0023] (Regarding the memory unit) The storage unit 120 is realized by, for example, a semiconductor memory element such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) or a flash memory, or a storage device such as a hard disk or an optical disk. The storage unit 120 stores various information that the control unit 130 references when providing the chat system. For example, the storage unit 120 stores attribute information of each user of the chat system, a history of messages that each user has posted in chat in the past (each user's posting history), each user's file download history, etc.

[0024] The attribute information of each user is information indicating the attributes of each user of the chat system. FIG. 2 shows an example of the attribute information of each user. The attribute information of each user is, for example, information indicating, for each user ID of a user of the chat system, the user's department, job title, skills, years of experience in each skill, chat group to which the user belongs, etc. In addition to the above, the attribute information of each user may also include the user's gender, age, user location information, etc. The user's location information uses, for example, the location information of the user's terminal 10, etc.

[0025] The posting history of each user is information showing the posting history of each user in the chat system (see Figure 3). This posting history may include not only posts to groups to which the user currently belongs, but also posts to groups to which the user belonged in the past.

[0026] The file download history of each user is information showing the file download history of each user in the chat system. For example, as shown in Figure 4, the file download history of each user is information showing when and which files the user downloaded via the chat system.

[0027] (Regarding the control section) The control unit 130 is a controller, and is realized by, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or an MPU (Micro Processing Unit) executing various programs (corresponding to an example of a chat control program) stored in a storage device inside the server 100 using RAM as a work area. The control unit 130 is also a controller, and is realized by, for example, an integrated circuit such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array).

[0028] The control unit 130 has a chat processing unit 131, an estimation unit 132, and a notification sending unit 133, and realizes or executes the functions and actions of information processing described below.

[0029] 1, the internal configuration of the control unit 130 may be other configurations as long as they perform the information processing described below. For example, the chat processing unit 131, the estimation unit 132, and the notification sending unit 133 may each be provided in a device separate from the server 100.

[0030] More specifically, the functions performed by the control unit 130 may be realized by a server performing the functions of the chat processing unit 131, a server performing the functions of the estimation unit 132, and a server performing the functions of the notification sending unit 133 working together to execute processing.

[0031] (About the chat processing section) When the chat processing unit 131 receives a message from a terminal 10 of a user of the chat system, it displays the message on the chat screen of the terminal 10 of the other user, making it viewable by each user.

[0032] For example, the server 100 has a plurality of chat rooms (groups), and when it receives a post (message) to a certain group from the terminal 10 of a member of the group, it displays the post on the chat screen of the terminal 10 of the member of the group so that each member can view it. This chat processing unit 131 may use publicly known technology.

[0033] (About the estimation part) The estimation unit 132 analyzes the content of the post and estimates members who are likely to be able to respond to the post. For example, when the chat processing unit 131 receives a post addressed to a person whose response is unknown (for example, a post with "@who" attached), the estimation unit 132 estimates users who are likely to be able to respond to the post based on the analysis result of the content of the post and information of each user in the storage unit 120 (attribute information, posting history, file download history, etc.). For example, the estimation unit 132 calculates a value indicating the possibility of each user being able to respond to the post based on the information of each user, and identifies users whose value is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.

[0034] For example, based on the analysis results of the content of the post and the attribute information of each member of the group to which the post is posted (see Figure 2), the estimation unit 132 estimates members who belong to a department that is likely to be able to handle the post or members who have the skills that are likely to be able to handle the content of the post.

[0035] Furthermore, the estimation unit 132 may determine the technical difficulty or difficulty of judgment of the content of the post, estimate the ease of replying to the post from the difficulty, and estimate members who can respond to the post.

[0036] For example, if the estimation unit 132 determines that the content of the post is relatively difficult to judge, it estimates that a managerial member of the group is a member who can handle the post, based on the attribute information of each user. On the other hand, if the estimation unit 132 determines that the content of the post is a relatively simple technical content, it estimates that a relatively inexperienced member of the group is a member who can handle the post, based on the attribute information of each user. This allows the server 100 to have each member efficiently handle the post.

[0037] Furthermore, the estimation unit 132 may estimate members who can handle the post based on the analysis result of the content of the post and the posting history of each member of the group to which the post is posted (see FIG. 3). For example, based on past posts of each member in other groups, the estimation unit 132 estimates members who have posted content related to the post in question or members who have replied to posts with content similar to the post in question as members who can handle the post in question.

[0038] Furthermore, the estimation unit 132 may estimate members who can handle the post based on the analysis result of the content of the post and the file download history of each member of the group to which the post is posted (see FIG. 4).

[0039] For example, if there is a member in the group to which a post is made who has downloaded a file highly relevant to the post, the estimation unit 132 estimates that member as a member who can handle the post. In this way, the estimation unit 132 can estimate, for example, a member who has a file highly relevant to the post as a member who can handle the post.

[0040] Furthermore, the estimation unit 132 may estimate members who can respond to the post based on user location information included in the attribute information of each user. For example, when the estimation unit 132 determines, as a result of analyzing the content of the post, that a member who is in the company should respond to the post, the estimation unit 132 estimates, based on the location information of each user, members of the group who are in the company as members who can respond to the post.

[0041] Furthermore, the estimation unit 132 may estimate members who can respond to the post using schedule information of each user. For example, the estimation unit 132 may estimate members who have relatively free time in their schedules as members who can respond to the post based on schedule information of members in a group. In this way, the estimation unit 132 can estimate members who are likely to be able to reliably respond to the post as members who can respond to the post.

[0042] The estimation unit 132 may estimate members who can respond to a post using any of the member estimation methods described above, or may estimate members who can respond to a post by combining the member estimation methods described above.

[0043] (Regarding the notification sending section) When a post is made with a designated destination, the notification sending unit 133 sends a notification that the post has been made to the user, to the terminal 10 of the user of the destination. For example, when the chat processing unit 131 receives a post with "@who" (responder undecided) as the destination, the notification sending unit 133 sends a notification that the post has been made to the member estimated by the estimation unit 132.

[0044] 1, the notification sending unit 133 displays a notification that a post has been made to the member (e.g., user B) estimated by the estimation unit 132 by using a notification badge or the like in the "@mention & reaction" field on the chat screen of the terminal 10. This allows the user to know from the chat screen of the terminal 10 that a post has been made to the user.

[0045] [Example of processing procedure] Next, an example of the procedure of the process executed by the server 100 will be described with reference to FIG. 5. Although not described here, the server 100, like a normal chat system, when it receives a post from another user, makes the post available for viewing by users in the group. Furthermore, when the server 100 receives a post from a user specifying a destination, it notifies the destination user that the post has been made. Here, an example will be described in which a post addressed to an unknown person is a post with "@who" attached.

[0046] When the chat processing unit 131 of the server 100 receives a post with @who attached (Yes in S1), the estimation unit 132 analyzes the content of the post and estimates members who can respond to the post from among the members of the chat group to which the post was made (S2). For example, the estimation unit 132 estimates members who belong to a department who can respond to the post or members who have skills related to the content of the post based on the analysis result of the content of the post and attribute information of each member of the group to which the post was made (see FIG. 2).

[0047] After S2, the notification sending unit 133 notifies the member estimated in S2 that the post has been made (S3). For example, as shown in Fig. 1, the notification sending unit 133 displays a notification that the post has been made to the member estimated by the estimation unit 132 in the "@mention & reaction" field on the chat screen of the terminal 10 of the member estimated by the estimation unit 132.

[0048] With this server 100, when a user posts a message in a chat system that the user wants someone to respond to but does not know who to address, the server 100 can estimate a member who can respond to the message and notify that the message has been posted. This allows a member who is suitable to respond to the message to notice the message and more easily respond to it. As a result, the server 100 can prevent messages that users want addressed from remaining unaddressed in the chat system.

[0049] [Other embodiments] Note that the server 100 is configured to send a notification that a post has been made to members who are more likely than a predetermined threshold to be able to respond to a post tagged with @who, but the threshold may also be optimized based on past responses to posts tagged with @who.

[0050] For example, the server 100 records what threshold value was used in the past to indicate the possibility of responding to a post with @who, and whether or not the post was responded to.The server 100 then adjusts the threshold value of the value indicating the possibility of responding to a post with @who, based on the above records.

[0051] For example, if there is recorded information that a notification was sent to a member whose value indicating the possibility of responding to a post with @who is 0.7 or more in the past, but no one responded to the post, the server 100 adjusts the threshold based on the information. For example, the server 100 lowers the threshold to 0.6. Then, the estimation unit 132 of the server 100 estimates that members whose value indicating the possibility of responding to a post with @who is 0.6 or more are members who can respond to the post.

[0052] In this way, the server 100 can adjust the threshold to an appropriate value based on the response results for past posts with @who attached, and as a result, the server 100 can reduce the possibility that a post that a user wants a response to will remain unaddressed in the chat system.

[0053] [Hardware configuration] The server 100 according to the embodiment described above is realized, for example, by a computer 1000 configured as shown in Fig. 6. The following description will be given taking the server 100 as an example. Fig. 6 is a hardware configuration diagram showing an example of a computer 1000 that realizes the functions of the server 100. The computer 1000 has a CPU 1100, a RAM 1200, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 1300, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 1400, a communication interface (I / F) 1500, an input / output interface (I / F) 1600, and a media interface (I / F) 1700.

[0054] The CPU 1100 operates and controls each unit based on programs stored in the ROM 1300 or the HDD 1400. The ROM 1300 stores a boot program executed by the CPU 1100 when the computer 1000 starts up, programs that depend on the hardware of the computer 1000, and the like.

[0055] The HDD 1400 stores programs executed by the CPU 1100, data used by such programs, etc. The communication interface 1500 receives data from other devices via the network N and sends it to the CPU 1100, and transmits data generated by the CPU 1100 to other devices via the network N.

[0056] The CPU 1100 controls output devices such as a display and a printer, and input devices such as a keyboard and a mouse, via the input / output interface 1600. The CPU 1100 acquires data from the input devices via the input / output interface 1600. The CPU 1100 also outputs generated data to the output devices via the input / output interface 1600.

[0057] Media interface 1700 reads a program or data stored in recording medium 1800 and provides it to CPU 1100 via RAM 1200. CPU 1100 loads the program or data from recording medium 1800 onto RAM 1200 via media interface 1700 and executes the loaded program. Recording medium 1800 is, for example, an optical recording medium such as a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) or a PD (Phase Change Rewritable Disc), a magneto-optical recording medium such as an MO (Magneto-Optical disk), a tape medium, a magnetic recording medium, or a semiconductor memory.

[0058] For example, when the computer 1000 functions as the server 100 according to the embodiment, the CPU 1100 of the computer 1000 executes programs loaded onto the RAM 1200 to realize the functions of the control unit 130. The HDD 1400 also stores data in the storage unit 120. The CPU 1100 of the computer 1000 reads and executes these programs from the recording medium 1800, but as another example, the CPU 1100 may obtain these programs from another device via the network N.

[0059] [others] Furthermore, among the processes described in the above embodiments, all or part of the processes described as being performed automatically can be performed manually, or all or part of the processes described as being performed manually can be performed automatically using known methods. In addition, the information including the processing procedures, specific names, various data, and parameters shown in the above documents and drawings can be changed as desired unless otherwise specified. For example, the various information shown in each drawing is not limited to the information shown in the drawings.

[0060] Furthermore, the components of each device shown in the figure are conceptual functional components and do not necessarily have to be physically configured as shown in the figure. In other words, the specific form of distribution and integration of each device is not limited to that shown in the figure, and all or part of them can be functionally or physically distributed and integrated in any unit depending on various loads, usage conditions, etc.

[0061] Furthermore, the above-described embodiments and modifications can be combined as appropriate within the scope of not causing any contradiction in the processing content.

[0062] Furthermore, the above-mentioned "section, module, unit" can be read as "means" or "circuit," etc. For example, an estimation unit can be read as an estimation means or an estimation circuit.

[0063] [effect] As described above, the server device 100 includes the estimation unit 132 and the notification sending unit 133. When a message is posted to a chat room where messages are posted by multiple users and addressed to a person whose response is unknown, the estimation unit 132 analyzes the content of the post and estimates, from among the members participating in the chat room, members who have a predetermined value or more of a possibility of being able to respond to the post. Furthermore, the notification sending unit 133 sends a notification that the post has been posted to the member estimated by the estimation unit 132.

[0064] As a result, if a chat room user posts a message to a chat room that they want someone to respond to but don't know who to address, with the message addressed to an unknown person, the server device 100 estimates a member who is likely to be able to respond to the message and sends that member a notification that the message has been posted. This increases the likelihood that a member who is likely to be able to respond to the message will notice the message and respond. As a result, it is possible to prevent messages that users want addressed from remaining unaddressed.

[0065] As described above, the estimation unit 132 estimates members who are more likely than a predetermined value to be able to respond to the post, based on the content of the post and the attribute information of each member participating in the chat room.

[0066] This allows the estimation unit 132 to estimate members who are likely to be able to respond to a post, taking into consideration the attributes of each member.

[0067] As described above, the estimation unit 132 further estimates members who are more likely than a predetermined value to be able to handle the post, using the estimation result of the technical difficulty of the content of the post.

[0068] This allows the estimation unit 132 to estimate members who are more likely to be able to handle the post, taking into account the technical difficulty of the content of the post.

[0069] Furthermore, as described above, the estimation unit 132 estimates members who are more likely than a predetermined value to be able to respond to the post, based on the content of the post and past posts of each member participating in the chat room.

[0070] This allows the estimation unit 132 to estimate, from the past posts of each member, which members are likely to be able to respond to the post.

[0071] Furthermore, as described above, the estimation unit 132 estimates members who have a predetermined or higher probability of being able to respond to the post based on the content of the post and data that each member participating in the chat room has received in the past via chat.

[0072] This allows the estimation unit 132 to estimate members who are likely to be able to respond to a post from data that each member has previously received through chat. For example, the estimation unit 132 can estimate a user who has data related to the content of the post as a member who is likely to be able to respond to the post.

[0073] Although some of the embodiments of the present application have been described in detail above with reference to the drawings, these are merely examples, and the present invention can be implemented in other forms that include the embodiments described in the Disclosure of the Invention section and that have undergone various modifications and improvements based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art. [Explanation of symbols]

[0074] 100 servers 110 Communications Department 120 Storage section 130 Control Unit 131 Chat processing unit 132 Estimation Department 133 Notification sending unit

Claims

1. an estimation unit that, when a message is posted to a chat room in which a plurality of users post messages and the message is addressed to a person whose ability to respond is unknown, analyzes the content of the post and estimates, from among the members participating in the chat room, a member who has a predetermined or higher probability of being able to respond to the post, using the analyzed content of the post and files previously downloaded by each member participating in the chat room through chat; a notification sending unit that sends a notification to the estimated member that the posting has been made; A server device comprising:

2. The estimation unit further Using attribute information of each member participating in the chat room, members who are more likely than a predetermined value to be able to respond to the post are estimated.

2. The server device according to claim 1.

3. The estimation unit further Using the estimated result of the technical difficulty of the content of the post, members who have a predetermined value or more of a possibility of being able to handle the post are estimated.

3. The server device according to claim 2.

4. The estimation unit further Using past posts of each member participating in the chat room, members who are more likely than a predetermined value to be able to respond to the post are estimated.

2. The server device according to claim 1.

5. A notification method executed by a server device, a step of analyzing the content of a message posted to a chat room where messages are posted by a plurality of users, when the message is posted to a person whose ability to respond is unknown, and using the analyzed content of the message and files previously downloaded by each member participating in the chat room through chat, estimating from among the members participating in the chat room which members have a predetermined value or more of possibility of being able to respond to the message; sending a notification to the estimated member that the posting has been made; A notification method comprising:

6. a step of analyzing the content of a message posted to a chat room where messages are posted by a plurality of users, when the message is posted to a person whose ability to respond is unknown, and using the analyzed content of the message and files previously downloaded by each member participating in the chat room through chat, estimating from among the members participating in the chat room which members have a predetermined value or more of possibility of being able to respond to the message; sending a notification to the estimated member that the posting has been made; A notification program that causes your computer to run.

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