Programs, methods, and information processing devices.

Abstract

To provide technology that further encourages questions from users and answers from respondents.SOLUTION: A program is executed by a computer with a processor. The program causes the processor to execute: a step of accepting input of first information, which is a question sentence, based on an input operation from a first user; a step of identifying candidates for respondents to the question sentence of the first information by performing a specific process based on the input first information in response to the input of the first information; and a step of presenting the identified candidates for the respondents to the first user without waiting for the input of the first information to be completed.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 9

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The disclosure in this specification relates to programs, methods, and information processing apparatuses.

Background Art

[0002] In recent years, in question-and-answer services via a network, there is a service that provides an answer by an expert registered in the service to the content of a question asked by a questioner.

[0003] In Patent Document 1, there are a user computer, a WWW server, a search server, and a database server constructed on a network, and in an information exchange mediation method for assisting a user's information search and mediating an answer to a question between a questioner and an answerer, a technique for displaying, to a questioner, answer candidate persons related to the question text, question-and-answer history information, fixed-form information, and a project list is described.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] In a service that provides an answer to a question from a user, a technique for further promoting a question from a user and an answer from an answerer is required.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] According to this disclosure, a program is provided that is executed by a computer equipped with a processor. The program causes the processor to perform the following steps: receive input of first information, which is a question, based on an input operation from a first user; identify candidates for answering the question in the first information by performing specific processing based on the input first information in response to the input of the first information; and present the identified candidate answerers to the first user without waiting for the completion of the input of the first information. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] According to this disclosure, a service that provides answers to user questions can offer technology that further encourages both user questions and responses from respondents. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0008] [Figure 1] This diagram shows the overall configuration of System 1. [Figure 2] This is a block diagram of terminal device 10 that constitutes System 1. [Figure 3] This diagram shows the functional configuration of server 20. [Figure 4] This diagram shows the data structure of the user information database 281 and the data structure of the candidate respondent information database 282. [Figure 5] This diagram shows the data structure of the past question information database 283 and the data structure of the past answer information database 284. [Figure 6] This diagram shows the data structure of the external network information database 285. [Figure 7] This flowchart illustrates a process that responds to a user's input of a question and presents the user with information on potential answerers without waiting for the user to complete the input. [Figure 8]This flowchart illustrates a series of processes: presenting information about the question received from the user to potential respondents; presenting information about the responses from the potential respondents to the user; and identifying the evaluation values ​​of the potential respondents. [Figure 9] This shows an example screen for when a user enters a question. [Figure 10] This shows an example screen where a candidate respondent receives a question and presents their answer. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0009] Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the following description, identical parts are denoted by the same reference numerals. Their names and functions are also the same. Therefore, detailed descriptions of them will not be repeated.

[0010] <1. Composition> Figure 1 shows the overall configuration of System 1.

[0011] As shown in Figure 1, System 1 includes a terminal device 10, a server 20 for providing information to users, and an external network 30 associated with System 1. Here, Terminal device 10 will be used in the following explanation to refer to Terminal device 10 used by users and Terminal device 10 used by candidate respondents. In some cases, this notation may be replaced with other notations (e.g., Terminal device 10A, Terminal device 10B, etc.). Server 20 provides users and candidate respondents with information on the question text, information on answers to the question text, etc. External network 30 is an external network that partners with the services provided by Server 20 and provides various services on this network, such as news distribution and paper distribution.

[0012] The terminal device 10, the server 20, and the external network 30 communicate with each other via the network 80. For example, a user of the terminal device 10 can access a website provided by the server 20 or the external network 30 using a browser or similar device.

[0013] The terminal device 10 is a device operated by each user. The terminal device 10 is realized by, for example, a stationary PC (Personal Computer), a laptop PC, a smartphone corresponding to a mobile communication system, a portable terminal such as a tablet, and the like.

[0014] The terminal device 10 is communicably connected to the server 20 via the network 80. The terminal device 10 is connected to the network 80 by communicating with communication devices such as a radio base station 81 corresponding to a communication standard such as LTE (Long Term Evolution) and a wireless LAN router 82 corresponding to a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) standard such as IEEE802.11.

[0015] The server 20 manages information of each user of the terminal device 10. For example, the server 20 stores login information of each user, settings of each user, etc., and performs processes such as authenticating users of the terminal device 10 that access the server 20.

[0016] As shown in the figure, the server 20 includes a communication IF (Interface) 22, an input / output IF 23, a memory 25, a storage 26, a processor 29, and the like.

[0017] The communication IF 22 is an interface for inputting and outputting signals so that the server 20 can communicate with external devices. The input / output IF 23 functions as an interface between an input device for receiving input operations from the user and an output device for presenting information to the user. The memory 25 is for temporarily storing programs and data processed by programs and the like, and is, for example, a volatile memory such as a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory). The storage 26 is a storage device for storing data, and is, for example, a flash memory or an HDD (Hard Disc Drive). The processor 29 is hardware for executing an instruction set described in a program, and is composed of an arithmetic unit, registers, peripheral circuits, and the like.

[0018] <Configuration of the terminal device 10 at 1.1> FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the terminal device 10 that constitutes the system 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the terminal device 10 includes a plurality of antennas (antenna 111, antenna 112), radio communication units (first radio communication unit 121, second radio communication unit 122) corresponding to each antenna, an operation reception unit 130 (including a touch-sensitive device 131 and a display 132), a voice processing unit 140, a microphone 141, a speaker 142, a position information sensor 150, a camera 160, a storage unit 180, and a control unit 190. The terminal device 10 also has functions and configurations not particularly shown in FIG. 2 (for example, a battery for holding power, a power supply circuit for controlling the supply of power from the battery to each circuit, etc.). Although not shown, the terminal device 10 may also receive an input operation from the user by connecting to a keyboard and a pointing device such as a mouse or a touch pad. As shown in FIG. 2, each block included in the terminal device 10 is electrically connected by a bus or the like.

[0019] The antenna 111 radiates the signal emitted by the terminal device 10 as a radio wave. The antenna 111 also receives a radio wave from space and gives the received signal to the first radio communication unit 121.

[0020] The antenna 112 radiates the signal emitted by the terminal device 10 as a radio wave. The antenna 112 also receives a radio wave from space and gives the received signal to the second radio communication unit 122.

[0021] The first wireless communication unit 121 performs modulation and demodulation processing to enable the terminal device 10 to communicate with other wireless devices by transmitting and receiving signals via the antenna 111. The second wireless communication unit 122 also performs modulation and demodulation processing to enable the terminal device 10 to communicate with other wireless devices by transmitting and receiving signals via the antenna 112. The first wireless communication unit 121 and the second wireless communication unit 122 are a communication module that includes a tuner, an RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) calculation circuit, a CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) calculation circuit, a high-frequency circuit, and the like. The first wireless communication unit 121 and the second wireless communication unit 122 perform modulation, demodulation, and frequency conversion of the wireless signals transmitted and received by the terminal device 10, and provide the received signal to the control unit 190. The first wireless communication unit 121 supports mobile communication systems such as 5G, 4G, 3G, and LTE. The second wireless communication unit 122 supports short-range wireless communication such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (registered trademark).

[0022] The operation reception unit 130 has a mechanism for receiving user input operations. Specifically, the operation reception unit 130 is configured as a touchscreen and includes a touch-sensitive device 131 and a display 132. The touch-sensitive device 131 receives user input operations of the terminal device 10. The touch-sensitive device 131 detects the user's contact position with the touch panel, for example, by using a capacitive touch panel. The touch-sensitive device 131 outputs a signal indicating the user's contact position detected by the touch panel to the control unit 190 as an input operation.

[0023] The display 132 displays data such as images, videos, and text in accordance with the control unit 190. The display 132 can be implemented, for example, by an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or an organic EL (Electro-Luminescence) display.

[0024] The audio processing unit 140 modulates and demodulates the audio signal. The audio processing unit 140 modulates the signal provided from the microphone 141 and provides the modulated signal to the control unit 190. The audio processing unit 140 also provides the audio signal to the speaker 142. The audio processing unit 140 is implemented, for example, by an audio processing processor. The microphone 141 receives an audio input and provides the audio signal corresponding to that audio input to the audio processing unit 140. The speaker 142 converts the audio signal provided from the audio processing unit 140 into sound and outputs the sound to the outside of the terminal device 10. For example, the terminal device 10 can receive voice input operations from the user by receiving the voice spoken by the user through the microphone 141 and having the control unit 190 perform voice recognition processing.

[0025] The location information sensor 150 is a sensor that detects the position of the terminal device 10, and is, for example, a GPS (Global Positioning System) module. A GPS module is a receiving device used in a satellite positioning system. In a satellite positioning system, signals are received from at least three or four satellites, and the current position of the terminal device 10, which is equipped with a GPS module, is detected based on the received signals.

[0026] Camera 160 is a device that has a shooting function and generates captured images. Terminal device 10 can detect the user's body movements based on the captured images. For example, terminal device 10 detects the user's head movements, facial expressions, and hand movements based on the images captured by camera 160. This allows terminal device 10 to process the user's hand movements in the same way as user operations on a pointing device. For example, terminal device 10 may detect when the user moves their hand and move the pointer. Alternatively, terminal device 10 may detect the movement of the user's fingers and determine that a click (tap) operation has been performed on the pointing device by detecting when the user makes a fist ("rock") or opens their hand ("paper"). This allows the user to perform an operation equivalent to drag and drop, etc., by moving their hand while making a fist.

[0027] Alternatively, the system may determine the user's facial expression (emotions such as joy, anger, sadness, etc.) based on the image captured by the camera 160. In other words, the terminal device 10 can accept the result of the user's facial expression determination as an input operation.

[0028] The storage unit 180 is composed of, for example, flash memory and stores data and programs used by the terminal device 10. The storage unit 180 stores, for example, user information 181. The user information 181 indicates the settings for the user of the terminal device 10 to use the services provided by the server 20. For example, the user information 181 includes the user's profile, the user's past question history saved by the user, etc., in the services provided by the server 20.

[0029] The control unit 190 controls the operation of the terminal device 10 by reading the program stored in the memory unit 180 and executing the instructions contained in the program. The control unit 190 is, for example, an application processor. By operating according to the program, the control unit 190 performs the functions of an input operation receiving unit 191, a transmitting / receiving unit 192, a data processing unit 193, and a display control unit 194.

[0030] The input operation reception unit 191 processes input operations from the user to an input device such as a touch-sensitive device 131. Based on the coordinate information of the touch-sensitive device 131 where the user's finger or the like has made contact, the input operation reception unit 191 determines the type of operation, such as whether the user's operation is a flick operation, a tap operation, or a drag (swipe) operation.

[0031] The transmitting / receiving unit 192 performs processing to enable the terminal device 10 to send and receive data with an external device such as a server 20 in accordance with a communication protocol.

[0032] The data processing unit 193 performs calculations on the data received as input by the terminal device 10 according to the program and outputs the calculation results to memory or the like.

[0033] The display control unit 194 performs processes such as displaying the display image on the display 132.

[0034] <1.2 Functional Configuration of Server 20> Figure 3 shows the functional configuration of server 20. As shown in Figure 3, server 20 functions as a communication unit 201, a storage unit 202, and a control unit 203.

[0035] The communications unit 201 performs processing to enable the server 20 to communicate with external devices.

[0036] The storage unit 202 stores data and programs used by the server 20. The storage unit 202 stores a user information database 281, a candidate respondent information database 282, a past question information database 283, a past answer information database 284, and an external network information database 285.

[0037] User information database 281 displays various information about the user who creates the question and requests answers from candidate respondents. Details will be described later.

[0038] The respondent candidate information database 282 displays various information about potential respondents who will answer the questions submitted by users. Further details will be provided later.

[0039] Database 283 of past questions contains various information about questions received in the past. Further details will be provided later.

[0040] Database 284 of past response information contains various information about responses previously provided to users. Details will be described later.

[0041] The external network information database 285 displays various information about other services that are linked to the services provided by server 20. Further details will be provided later.

[0042] The control unit 203 performs the functions shown as various modules by having the server 20's processor process according to the program.

[0043] The transmit / receive module 2041 performs the process by which the server 20 transmits and receives signals with an external device via the communication unit 201.

[0044] The operation determination module 2042 performs processing to determine the content of the operation performed by the user of the terminal device 10. For example, when the terminal device 10 performs an input operation on an object displayed on a screen such as a browser, the terminal device 10 sends a signal to the server 20 as a process associated with the object. Based on the received signal, the operation determination module 2042 determines the content of the operation performed by the user (such as which object was specified).

[0045] The screen generation module 2043 performs the process of generating a screen that the server 20 will display in the browser or other interface of the terminal device 10.

[0046] The user information database acquisition module 2044 creates a question and retrieves various information about the user to whom it requests answers from potential respondents.

[0047] The respondent candidate information database acquisition module 2045 acquires various information about candidate respondents who will answer the question received from the user.

[0048] The Past Question Information Database Acquisition Module 2046 retrieves various information about questions that have been received in the past.

[0049] The Past Response Information Database Acquisition Module 2047 retrieves various information about responses previously presented to the user.

[0050] The external network information acquisition module 2048 acquires various information about other services that are linked to the services provided by server 20.

[0051] <Data structure> Figure 4 shows the data structure of the user information database 281 and the respondent candidate information database 282 stored by the server 20.

[0052] As shown in Figure 4, the user information database 281 includes items such as "User ID," "Affiliated Company," "Industry," "Department," "Language," "Number of Questions," "User Rating," and "Disclosure of User Information to Respondents."

[0053] The "User ID" field is information that identifies each user who creates a question and requests answers from potential respondents.

[0054] The item "Affiliated Company" contains information about the company to which each user belongs. For example, the user with user ID "U001" indicates that their affiliated company is "AA Company". Here, server 20 may obtain this information by accepting registration of information through user input operations. Alternatively, server 20 may also obtain information by referring to the database of an external service that it provides, where users register various types of information. Similarly, for other items described later, server 20 may obtain information by referring to the database of an external service.

[0055] This allows users to access and register various types of information from external services linked to the services provided by server 20, thereby reducing the effort required to register various types of information.

[0056] The "Industry" field contains information about the industry to which each user belongs. For example, user ID "U001" indicates that their industry is "IT". When server 20 receives a question from a user, it may identify potential answerers based on the content of the question and this information.

[0057] This allows users to confidently ask questions, as they can see potential respondents identified based on the information they provide when requesting answers to questions related to their own industry.

[0058] The "Department" field contains information about each user's department within their company. For example, user ID "U001" indicates that they belong to "AA Company" and their department is "Marketing." Similar to the "Industry" field, when server 20 receives a question from a user, it may identify potential respondents based on the content of the question and this information.

[0059] This allows users to confidently ask questions when requesting answers to questions related to the work they do in their department, as they can see potential respondents identified based on the information they provide.

[0060] The "Language" field contains information about the language used by the user. For example, user ID "U001" indicates that the language is "Japanese," and user ID "U002" indicates that the languages ​​are "Japanese" and "English." Based on this information, server 20 may identify candidate respondents who use the same language as the user.

[0061] The item "Number of Questions" is information regarding the number of times a user has requested an answer to a question in the service provided by server 20. For example, it indicates that user ID "U001" has requested an answer to a question "5 times". In a given situation, server 20 may use this information to identify a user as one who should be given priority in answering and present this to the candidate answerer.

[0062] This allows users to receive answers to their questions more quickly the more they use the service, which is expected to encourage them to input more questions. On the other hand, the server 20 may prioritize presenting questions from users who have asked fewer questions as potential answerers. This allows users who have just started using the service provided by the server 20 to enjoy the experience of receiving immediate answers to their questions, which can motivate them to continue using the service.

[0063] The item "User Rating" is information regarding each user's rating. Specifically, Server 20 may identify this information as the user's own rating based on the number of times the user has used the services provided by Server 20, the user's performance on external services (for example, high ratings on posted articles, etc.). For example, the user with user ID "U001" has a user rating of "A". In certain situations, Server 20 may use this information to identify users that potential respondents should prioritize answering and present them to the potential respondents.

[0064] This allows users to receive services based on their own evaluations, which is expected to improve the user experience.

[0065] The item "Disclosure of User Information to Respondents" is information regarding whether or not user information can be disclosed to respondents. Specifically, when a user requests an answer to a question and the respondent provides an answer, the server 20 may accept input from the user regarding how much of their registered information to disclose to the respondent. For example, it may indicate that user ID "U001" is "Not allowed" (i.e., user's registered information will not be disclosed to the respondent), and user ID "U002" is "Partially allowed". At this time, the server 20 may accept input from the user regarding whether or not to disclose each piece of registered information.

[0066] This allows users to choose how much information they want to disclose to respondents, thus protecting their privacy and allowing them to ask questions with confidence.

[0067] In certain situations, the user themselves may take on the role of the respondent. In this case, when registering information about potential respondents, the server 20 may refer to the user information database 281 mentioned above and register information about the potential respondents.

[0068] As shown in Figure 4, the respondent candidate information database 282 includes items such as "Respondent ID," "Affiliated Company," "Specialty Field," "Department," "Career History," "Language," "Evaluation Value," and "Registered Network."

[0069] The "Respondent ID" field identifies each candidate respondent who provides an answer to a question submitted by a user.

[0070] The item "Affiliated Company" contains information about the company to which each candidate respondent belongs. For example, a candidate respondent with respondent ID "A001" indicates that their affiliated company is "Company AB". Here, server 20 may obtain the information by accepting registration of information through input operations from candidate respondents. Alternatively, server 20 may also obtain the information by referring to the database of an external service that it provides, where candidate respondents register various types of information. Similarly, for other items described later, server 20 may obtain the information by referring to the database of an external service. Furthermore, in a certain situation, if a user is registered as a candidate respondent, server 20 may refer to the aforementioned user information database 281 and register the relevant information as candidate respondent information.

[0071] This allows potential respondents to register various information by referencing external services linked to the services provided by server 20, thereby reducing the effort required to register various types of information.

[0072] The "Specialty Field" item contains information about the field of expertise of each candidate respondent. For example, the candidate respondent with respondent ID "A001" indicates that their specialty field is "chemistry". When server 20 receives a question from a user, it may identify candidate respondents who will present the question based on the content of the question and this information.

[0073] This allows potential respondents to efficiently answer questions related to their areas of expertise, increasing their opportunities to earn rewards and other benefits for their responses, which is expected to boost their motivation.

[0074] The "Department" field contains information about the department each candidate respondent belongs to within their company. For example, a user with respondent ID "A001" is affiliated with "Company AB" and their department is "Basic Research." Similar to the "Specialty Field" field, when Server 20 receives a question from a user, it may identify candidate respondents to present the question based on the content of the question and this information.

[0075] This allows potential respondents to answer questions related to the work they are engaged in, thus encouraging more responses.

[0076] The "Career History" item provides information about the candidate respondent's career history. Specifically, it shows information about the companies the candidate respondent has previously worked for. For example, the candidate respondent with respondent ID "A001" has experience working for "Company B" for "2 years" and "Company AB" for "5 years". In certain situations, the server 20 may identify a candidate respondent to present a question based on this information, even if the question is from a questioner whose company is in a different industry than the candidate respondent's current company.

[0077] This allows potential respondents to answer a variety of questions based on their past work experience, increasing their chances of earning rewards and potentially boosting their motivation.

[0078] The "Language" field contains information about the languages ​​used by the candidate respondent. For example, the candidate respondent with respondent ID "A001" indicates that their languages ​​are "Japanese" and "English". Based on this information, Server 20 may present the candidate respondent with questions from users who use the same languages ​​as the candidate respondent.

[0079] The item "Evaluation Value" is information regarding the evaluation of each candidate respondent. Specifically, Server 20 may identify the evaluation value of a candidate respondent based on any of the following information: (1) the number of times the candidate respondent has answered a question, (2) the time it took the candidate respondent to answer a question, (3) the order in which the candidate respondent answered a question, (4) the user's evaluation of the answer the candidate respondent presented to the user, etc. For example, a candidate respondent with respondent ID "A001" would be indicated as "B+". In some situations, Server 20 may identify candidate respondents to whom questions should be presented preferentially based on this information. In other situations, Server 20 may also present candidates respondent with notifications, such as offers introducing them to external networks that partner with the services provided by Server 20, based on this information.

[0080] This is expected to encourage more responses from potential respondents, as they can expect increased rewards from being presented with more questions based on their own evaluation, as well as increased visibility through referrals to external networks.

[0081] The item "Registered Network" indicates information about the networks to which each candidate respondent is registered. Specifically, it shows information about the networks that the candidate respondent is registered in, which are composed of specific experts, based on their industry, occupation, language used, etc. For example, it indicates that the candidate respondent with respondent ID "A001" is registered in the "Chemist Network" and the "English Network". In a given situation, the server 20 may not only prompt the candidate respondent to answer based on the content of the user's question, but may also suggest to the user that they ask a question on that network. In this case, the server 20 may present the question received from the user to the network, or it may encourage the user to ask a question on the network by providing the user with information such as a URL link to access the network.

[0082] This allows users to not only obtain answers to their questions on the service provided by server 20, but also to obtain answers from a network of specific experts.

[0083] Figure 5 shows the data structure of the past question information database 283 and the past answer information database 284 stored by the server 20.

[0084] As shown in Figure 5, the past question information database 283 includes items such as "Question ID", "Date Received", "Question User", "Question Content", "Field", "Disclosure to Other Questioners", and "Tags".

[0085] The item "Question ID" is information that identifies each question received by server 20.

[0086] The item "Reception Date" indicates the date on which server 20 received the question.

[0087] The "Questioning User" field contains information about the user who entered the question. For example, question ID "Q001" indicates that the question was entered by user ID "U001". In certain situations, server 20 may accept questions from users who are not registered for the services provided by server 20. In such cases, the field may be left blank or stored in the database as "Anonymous" or similar.

[0088] The item "Question Content" contains information about the content of the received question. For example, it indicates that the question content for question ID "Q001" is "About AA". In a given situation, the server 20 may respond to the user's input of a question by referring to this information to identify the content of the question to be entered and present relevant information to the user.

[0089] This allows users not only to request answers from potential respondents, but also to refer to information about similar questions that have been asked in the past.

[0090] The "Field" item indicates information about the field of the received question. Specifically, it indicates information to identify which specialized field the received question belongs to. For example, it indicates that the field of question ID "Q001" is "IT". In a given situation, the server 20 may identify a suitable candidate respondent for the question based on this information and the respondent candidate information database 282. In this case, the field information for a question may be associated with only one field for a single question, or it may be associated with multiple fields for a single question. When the server 20 receives input of a question, it may identify the field of the question by analyzing the question (item "Question Content") (for example, frequently occurring words are associated with each field, and the field of the question may be identified based on the distribution of words included in the question). The server 20 may also accept the specification of the field when it receives input of a question from the user.

[0091] The item "Disclosure to other questioners" indicates whether the content of the user's question and the responses from potential answerers will be made public to other users. For example, question ID "Q001" indicates that disclosure to other questioners is "OK".

[0092] This allows users to ask highly confidential questions without disclosing them to other users, enabling them to ask questions with confidence and potentially encouraging more questions from users.

[0093] The item "Tags" indicates the tags assigned to the question text by the server 20. When the server 20 receives input of a question text from the terminal device 10, it analyzes the content of the question text without waiting for the input to be completed (the question text to be completed), and assigns tags based on the analysis results.

[0094] For example, Server 20 divides the content of the question into words by performing morphological analysis. For each word, Server 20 maintains information about its degree of relevance to fields (technical fields, job fields, etc.), regions, languages, and industries (e.g., construction industry, IT industry, company names, etc.) (that is, the context in which the word appears). (For example, Server 20 may manage company information, industry information, technical information, economic news, etc., and calculate the degree of relevance to companies, industries, fields, etc. for each word.) Based on the words that make up the question and the relevance information shown in the context in which these words appear, Server 20 may assign tags such as field, region, language, and industry to the question that is being accepted as input.

[0095] Furthermore, the server 20 may create a trained model based on a large number of documents, such as economic information, that have been pre-tagged (field, industry, region, language, etc.), and then assign tags to the question sentences based on the order of the words that make up the question sentences and the trained model. Server 20 stores the tags assigned to the question text in the "Tags" field of the past question information database 283.

[0096] As shown in Figure 5, the past response information database 284 includes items such as "Response ID", "Response Date", "Question ID", "Respondent", "Response Content", "Field", "Response Scope", "Time from Submission to Response", and "Evaluation".

[0097] The item "Answer ID" is information that identifies each answer to a question received by server 20.

[0098] The item "Response Date" indicates the date on which server 20 received the response.

[0099] The "Question ID" field indicates the question associated with each received response. For example, a response with response ID "AN001" indicates that it relates to question ID "Q001".

[0100] The item "Respondent" contains information about the respondent to a question received by server 20. For example, it indicates that the respondent to question ID "Q001" associated with response ID "AN001" is "A003," etc.

[0101] The item "Response Content" contains information about the response content of each candidate respondent to the received question. For example, it indicates that the response content of the question "About AA" for question ID "Q001" associated with response ID "AN001" is "It would be good to do AB." In a certain situation, the server 20 may identify an evaluation value for the candidate respondent based on the response content.

[0102] This allows potential respondents to receive feedback on their answers, and since this feedback contributes to increased rewards, it is expected to encourage them to answer the questions.

[0103] The "Field" field indicates information about the field of the answer to the received question. This field may be the same as the field of the question ID associated with the answer ID, or it may be a different field.

[0104] The item "Response Scope" indicates information about the scope of responses provided by the candidate respondent to the received questions. Specifically, the candidate respondent may input all or part of their answers to the questions received from the user into their terminal device 10 and send them to the server 20. For example, for question ID "Q001" associated with response ID "AN001", the response scope is indicated as "all". In a given situation, when the server 20 receives evaluations of the candidate respondent from the user, it may accept evaluations of both the answers to all of the questions and evaluations of only part of the questions.

[0105] This allows potential respondents to provide answers even if they are unable to answer all of the questions, as long as they can answer some of them. Furthermore, since they may be able to provide answers based on their area of ​​expertise if they can answer some of the questions, it is expected that the motivation of potential respondents will be maintained and improved.

[0106] The item "Time from Reception to Response" is information regarding the time taken from the time a question is received from the user until each candidate respondent presents an answer to the user. Specifically, the server 20 may obtain information regarding the time taken for each candidate respondent to provide answers to some or all of the question. For example, for question ID "Q001" and question content "About AA", respondent "A003" took "10 hours" to answer the answer range "All". In some cases, the server 20 may identify an evaluation value for the candidate respondent based on this information regarding the time taken. In other cases, the server 20 may also identify evaluation values ​​for the candidate respondent, specifically an evaluation value for the time taken to answer all questions and an evaluation value for the time taken to answer some questions (for example, answers on some subjects).

[0107] This allows potential respondents to improve their ratings the faster they answer questions, and users can quickly obtain answers to their questions. Therefore, it is expected to encourage both the acceptance of questions from users and the provision of answers from potential respondents. Furthermore, by providing respondents with evaluation scores for all questions and evaluation scores for some areas, the server 20 can enable them to receive evaluations according to the area.

[0108] The "Evaluation" item indicates information regarding the evaluation of the response submitted by the candidate respondent. Specifically, the server 20 may receive evaluations from the user regarding the answers to the questions submitted by the candidate respondent and store them as this item. For example, for question ID "Q001" associated with response ID "AN001", the evaluation of the response by respondent "A001" to the answer range "all" is "B". In a given situation, the server 20 may use this evaluation to determine the priority of presenting questions to candidate respondents. In addition, the server 20 may use this evaluation to identify the expertise of the candidate respondent and introduce the candidate respondent to relevant external networks, etc.

[0109] This means that the more questions a candidate answers, the more information they accumulate about their own evaluation, which can lead to higher rewards and career development through referrals to external networks.

[0110] Figure 6 shows the data structure of the external network information database 285 stored by the server 20.

[0111] As shown in Figure 6, the external network information database 285 includes items such as "External NWID", "Field", "Service Details", "Referral Conditions", "Region", and "Remuneration".

[0112] The item "External NWID" is information that identifies each external network that Server 20 uses to query information on potential respondents, as it is linked to the services provided by Server 20. Here, specific examples of external networks may include networks that distribute news, networks that publish academic papers, etc., which are of a different type from the services provided by Server 20, but where experts in a particular field provide information.

[0113] The "Field" field refers to information about the field that the external network primarily deals with. Specifically, for example, an external network with the external NWID "N001" indicates that its field is "IT".

[0114] The item "Service Details" refers to information about the services that an external network primarily provides to users of that network. Specifically, this item may indicate information about networks that primarily handle the latest news, networks that primarily handle specialized papers, etc. For example, an external network with external NWID "N001" would indicate that its services include "news distribution" and "column distribution."

[0115] This means that potential respondents may be introduced to various networks that Server 20 partners with, which can help them increase their visibility, build their careers, and potentially encourage them to answer more questions.

[0116] The item "Referral Conditions" is information regarding the conditions for referring candidate respondents to external networks. Specifically, the server 20 may refer to the "Evaluation Value" in the candidate respondent information database 282 and identify information about external networks to which candidate respondents should be referred based on that evaluation value. For example, an external network with external NWID "N001" indicates that the inquiry condition is "Evaluation B+ or higher". In a given situation, the server 20 may refer information about candidate respondents that meet the inquiry conditions to external networks without obtaining approval from the candidate respondents, or it may accept input operations regarding approval from candidate respondents before referring them to external networks.

[0117] This encourages more respondents to answer, as they can improve their evaluation score by answering more questions and increase their visibility through referrals to external networks. Furthermore, by approving the referral of their information depending on the type of external network, respondents can prevent their information from being shared on external networks they did not intend.

[0118] The "Region" field provides information about the region in which the external network is primarily based. Specifically, it indicates which countries the services deployed on the external network are mainly provided in. For example, an external network with the external NWID "N001" indicates that its region is "Japan-based."

[0119] This allows potential respondents to understand the geographical focus of external networks where their information may be shared. Therefore, they can aim to be introduced to external networks primarily focused on their target regions for career development, which is expected to increase their motivation.

[0120] The item "Reward" refers to information about rewards for services on external networks. Specifically, it may indicate information about the rewards paid to candidate respondents when they post articles or other content on the service. For example, an external network with external NWID "N001" would indicate that the reward is "*** yen per column."

[0121] This allows potential respondents to decide whether or not to share their information with an external network after learning about the rewards offered there in advance.

[0122] <Operation> (Receiving user-submitted questions and providing information on potential respondents) Figure 7 is a flowchart illustrating the process of responding to a user's input of a question and presenting the user with information on potential answerers without waiting for the user to complete the input of the question. For example, the user's terminal device 10 accesses a service provided by the server 20 via a browser or the like.

[0123] The following example shows how the server 20 identifies the content of the input question based on the answers of respondents to past questions, and then presents candidate respondents to the user of the terminal device 10. Alternatively, the server 20 may, as described above, assign tags to the question input on the terminal device 10 without waiting for the question input to be completed, and then identify candidate respondents for the question based on the tags assigned to the question and the candidate respondent information database 282. The server 20 may also display the identified candidate respondents to the user of the terminal device 10 without waiting for the question input to be completed (by assigning tags to the question as needed in response to the input and identifying candidate respondents).

[0124] In step S701, the control unit 190 of the user's terminal device 10 accesses the server 20 and transmits the information to the server 20 in response to the user's input operation for a question. For example, the terminal device 10 accesses the server 20 via a browser or the like. The server 20 generates information to display on the terminal device 10 and transmits the generated information to the terminal device 10. The terminal device 10 receives an operation from the user to input a question in a predetermined area of ​​the screen displayed on the browser or the like. In a certain situation, the control unit 190 of the user's terminal device 10 may transmit the information to the server 20 without waiting for the user to complete inputting the question. That is, each time the control unit 190 of the terminal device 10 receives input from the user regarding the question (for example, input of words that make up the question), it transmits the received information (for example, the question being entered) to the server 20.

[0125] In step S751, the server 20 identifies the content of the question that the user is trying to input based on the information about the content of the acquired question and the information about past question sentences and the answers to those questions stored in the past question information database 233. At a certain point, the server 20 receives the question sentence that the terminal device 10 is accepting input for (the question sentence that the user is in the process of inputting) sequentially from the terminal device 10 (for example, each time the terminal device 10 accepts input of a word that makes up the question sentence). Based on the information received from the terminal device 10, the server 20 extracts information that represents the characteristics of the question sentence. For example, the server 20 extracts the words that make up the question sentence based on dictionary data, etc., as information that represents the characteristics of the question sentence. Also, for example, the server 20 calculates a sentence vector related to the question sentence. Based on the extracted information that represents the characteristics of the question sentence, the server 20 identifies the content of the question that the user is trying to input by referring to past question content stored in the past question information database 233. For example, the server 20 may identify the content of a question being received from a user by comparing the words contained in the question with the words contained in past questions. In a given scenario, the server 20 may identify information such as the region where experts in that field are located, based on keywords and other information contained in the acquired question.

[0126] Furthermore, in certain situations, the server 20 may, each time it receives input from the user of words that make up a question, identify information related to the question the user is trying to input based on the information of the words that make up the question. That is, it may identify information such as industry and field from the information of the words that make up the question the user is trying to input, and then identify candidate respondents based on the identified information.

[0127] In step S752, the server 20 identifies candidates for answering the question based on the content of the identified question and the information of past questions and answers stored in the past question information database 233, and transmits the identified information to the user's terminal device 10.

[0128] In a certain phase, the server 20 may, in step S752, identify information about the network to which a candidate respondent belongs, rather than the candidate respondent themselves, and transmit the identified information to the user's terminal device 10. At this time, the server 20 may also provide the user with a link or the like to access that network.

[0129] This allows users to ask questions to a network of experts who share the same expertise as the potential respondents, thus increasing the likelihood of receiving more expert answers.

[0130] In step S702, the control unit 190 of the user's terminal device 10 presents the candidate respondents to the user's question, obtained from the server 20, to the user by displaying them on the display 132 of the terminal device 10, without waiting for the user to finish inputting the question.

[0131] This allows users to see what kind of respondents might provide answers to their question without having to wait for them to finish typing the question. Therefore, if the information provided about potential respondents does not match the user's intended candidate, the user can check the following: (1) whether they have entered a question that will yield an accurate answer, (2) whether they are using accurate technical terms, etc. Therefore, users can use this information to enter a question that will yield a more accurate answer.

[0132] In step S703, the control unit 190 of the user's terminal device 10 receives an input request for a response from the respondent to the question text upon completion of the user's input operation, and transmits the received result to the server 20.

[0133] In step S753, the server 20 transmits information about the question text obtained from the user to the candidate respondent's terminal device 10. In some cases, the server 20 may refer to the user information database 281, determine the priority for answering the question based on the user evaluation value, and transmit this information, along with the determined priority information, to the candidate respondent's terminal device 10.

[0134] This allows users to expect to receive quick responses based on their own evaluations.

[0135] (Presentation of answers from candidate respondents and evaluation of candidate respondents)

[0136] Figure 8 is a flowchart illustrating a series of processes that involve presenting information about the question received from the user to potential respondents, presenting information about the responses from the potential respondents to the user, and identifying the evaluation value of the potential respondents.

[0137] In step S851, the server 20 obtains information about the question from the user.

[0138] In step S852, the server 20 identifies the target respondent candidate and the period during which that respondent candidate can preferentially answer, based on the content of the acquired question and the evaluation value of the respondent candidate obtained by referring to the respondent candidate information database 282. Subsequently, the server 20 transmits information regarding the content of the question to the respondent candidate's terminal device 10. In some situations, the server 20 may transmit information regarding the content of the question to the respondent candidate's terminal device 10 without identifying the period during which the respondent candidate can preferentially answer.

[0139] This allows potential respondents to prioritize answering questions based on their own evaluation scores, which is expected to encourage more active responses from potential respondents.

[0140] In step S801, the control unit 190 of the candidate respondent terminal device 10 particularly highlights unanswered questions, questions with few respondents, etc., and displays them on the candidate respondent terminal device 10. At this time, the control unit 190 may present the information of the question to the candidate respondent by displaying it as a pop-up on the display 132 of the candidate respondent terminal device 10, or by changing the appearance of the question (for example, making it bold, making it red, highlighting it with a shape, etc.).

[0141] This allows potential respondents to review and answer questions that are more likely to offer higher rewards.

[0142] In step S802, the control unit 190 of the candidate respondent terminal device 10 receives the response to the acquired question from the respondent and sends the received result to the server.

[0143] In step S853, the server 20 presents the acquired answers to the user and obtains information regarding one or more of the following: the time taken for the candidate respondents to provide answers to the question, the order in which they did so, etc.

[0144] In step S854, the server 20 identifies information regarding compensation to be paid to the candidate respondent based on the acquired information, and transmits the identified results to the candidate respondent's terminal device 10. At this time, the compensation may include not only monetary compensation such as ** yen per response, but also referrals to external networks, etc., as compensation information.

[0145] In step S803, the control unit 190 of the candidate respondent's terminal device 10 presents the acquired information to the candidate respondent by displaying it on the display 132 or by other means.

[0146] <Screen example> (Example of a screen where a user enters a question) Figure 9 shows an example screen for when a user enters a question in a service provided by server 20.

[0147] As shown in Figure 9, the example screen may be displayed on the operation reception unit 130 (display 132). The user performs the input operation of the question text by entering text on the screen. The question input URL 901 indicates the URL for the user to access the screen for performing the input operation of the question text. At some point, the date and time the user accessed the screen may be displayed.

[0148] The question input field 902 indicates a field for the user to enter a question. Specifically, the user's terminal device 10 presents the user with information on candidate respondents identified by the server 20 when the user enters a question in this field. Here, the user's terminal device 10 may display this information below the field in which the user is entering the question, without waiting for the user to finish entering the question. Also, in certain situations, the user's terminal device 10 may present the user with information on candidate respondents in a separate respondent candidate field 804, which will be described later. Also, in certain situations, the user's terminal device 10 may display suggestions for modifying the question the user is about to enter to a question that is more likely to yield an accurate answer.

[0149] For example, when the user enters "Influenza treatment" in the field, the user's terminal device 10 may display information such as "A001" as a candidate for the respondent.

[0150] This allows users to review suggested respondents' information even while typing a question, and to consider whether the question they are about to ask will yield an accurate answer.

[0151] Furthermore, in certain situations, the user's terminal device 10 may display information about tags (for example, industry, field, technology, region, language, etc.) related to the content of the question the user is about to input. At this time, the user's terminal device 10 may also accept input from the user for selecting tags and send the received result to the server 20.

[0152] This allows users to verify whether they are entering an accurate question related to their intended field by checking the tag information for the content of the question they are about to enter. Therefore, users can enter questions that will elicit more accurate answers based on the tag information. In addition, by accepting the user's selection of tags, server 20 can identify potential respondents based on the information of the tags selected by the user. Therefore, it can be expected that potential respondents that are more suitable to the intent of the user's question will be presented.

[0153] The question text candidate field 903 is a field for displaying the content of the question entered by the user and candidate answers to that question. Specifically, when the user is entering a question in the question text input field 802, the terminal device 10 displays the content of the question text identified by the server 20 as a candidate in this field without waiting for the user to finish entering the question. At this time, if an answer has already been provided by a candidate respondent for the identified question text candidate, the user's terminal device 10 may present the user with information about the answer. For questions for which an answer has already been provided by a candidate respondent, the user may refer to the answer by performing an operation to refer to the details of the answer (such as accessing a link associated with the answer information or opening a tab), or the user may request a new answer from a candidate respondent. In a certain situation, when requesting an answer to a question entered by the user, the user's terminal device 10 may accept an input operation from the user to select whether or not to disclose the question text and answer to other users.

[0154] For example, when the user enters "influenza treatment" in the question input field 902, the user's terminal device 10 may identify candidate questions such as "influenza treatment drugs" in that field and display information about the answers to those questions.

[0155] This allows users to quickly find answers to their questions, as they can refer to existing answers if they exist. Furthermore, when requesting answers from potential respondents, users can choose whether or not to disclose the question and answer to other users, allowing them to ask questions with confidence, even if they concern confidential information.

[0156] The respondent candidate field 904 is a field for displaying information about candidate respondents for the question the user is trying to input. Specifically, the user's terminal device 10 may display information about candidate respondents identified by the server 20 in this field while the user is inputting a question in the question text input field 902, without waiting for the user to finish inputting the question. In some situations, the user's terminal device 10 may display details of the candidate respondent (for example, information such as their area of ​​expertise and evaluation score) in this field.

[0157] This allows users to review potential respondents before entering their questions. Therefore, even while typing their questions, users can refer to the information of potential respondents to confirm whether their questions are correct, that is, whether they are likely to receive answers from potential respondents in the intended field.

[0158] The "Optional External Networks for Consultation" field 905 indicates a field for displaying information about external networks to which the user can consult regarding the question they are about to enter. Specifically, the user's terminal device 10 may display in this field information about external networks to which candidate respondents belong, as identified by the server 20 based on the content of the user's question. In some cases, the user may access the URL of the external network displayed in this field and enter their question at the destination. In other cases, the server 20 may present the information about the user's question that it has obtained to the network. In other cases, the user's terminal device 10 may receive an input operation from the user regarding the presentation of the question to the network and send the received information to the server 20.

[0159] This allows users to expect not only responses from specific candidate respondents, but also responses from the expert network in the specific field to which those candidate respondents belong.

[0160] (Example screen showing a candidate respondent receiving a question and providing an answer) Figure 10 shows an example screen where a candidate respondent checks the information in the question text received from the user and presents an answer in the service provided by Server 20.

[0161] The response input URL 1001 indicates a URL that allows a candidate respondent to access a screen where they can enter their answer to a question. In some cases, the date and time the candidate respondent accessed the screen may be displayed on that screen.

[0162] The question search field 1002 indicates a field for each candidate respondent to search for questions awaiting an answer. In a given situation, a candidate respondent may search for questions awaiting an answer themselves and answer them, even if they are not identified by the server 20 as a candidate respondent for a question based on the content of the question obtained from the user. Also, in a given situation, the server 20 may update the information in the candidate respondent information database 282 based on the content of questions that the candidate respondent has searched for and answered themselves. (For example, when a candidate responds to a question outside of their memorized area of ​​expertise, that area may be added to the candidate respondent's information.)

[0163] This allows potential respondents to answer questions outside of their area of ​​expertise, thereby updating their knowledge and expertise. This increases the likelihood of potential respondents earning higher rewards, which is expected to encourage more responses from them.

[0164] The "Questions Awaiting Answer" display area 1003 is a field for displaying information about questions awaiting an answer that have been presented to the candidate answerer. Specifically, the answerer's terminal device 10 may display in this field information about the questions that the candidate answerer should answer, which have been identified by the server 20 based on the questions received from the user. In some cases, the candidate answerer's terminal device 10 may simultaneously display and present in this field information such as the date the question was received, the deadline for answering, and the answer status by other candidate answerers. In other cases, the candidate answerer's terminal device 10 may encourage priority answers from the candidate answerer by displaying priority information identified by the server 20 based on user evaluation.

[0165] This allows potential respondents to answer questions while checking various pieces of information related to each question (such as the deadline for responses and the status of responses from other potential respondents). As a result, potential respondents can prioritize answering questions that are more likely to yield higher rewards.

[0166] Recommendation display 1004 is a screen that displays questions that are awaiting answers and have noteworthy features among the questions presented to potential respondents. Specifically, it shows information such as unanswered questions, questions with a small number of respondents who have answered them, and questions that should be answered with priority. In certain situations, when a potential respondent answers a question for which recommendation display 1004 is displayed, the server 20 may change the value of the reward, evaluation value, etc., given to the potential respondent compared to answers to other questions.

[0167] This increases the likelihood of potential respondents receiving rewards, which is expected to encourage more responses from potential respondents.

[0168] The latest answer history section 1005 is a section for displaying information about the most recent question answered by the candidate respondent. Specifically, it may display various information such as the content of the question answered by the respondent, the date the question was received, the date the answer was given, and the rank at which the answer was presented. In addition, in certain situations, if the candidate respondent's terminal device 10 is evaluated by the user as the best answer (for example, an evaluation referred to as "Best Answer"), it may display a specific indicator (for example, a graphic indicator such as ★) next to the rank on that screen.

[0169] This allows potential respondents to see their ranking in the most recent questions, the evaluations they received, and other information, which is expected to help maintain and improve their motivation.

[0170] The registration information field 1006 is a field for displaying information that the candidate respondent has registered in the service provided by the server 20. Specifically, the candidate respondent's terminal device 10 may display information in this field such as the candidate respondent's information obtained by referring to the candidate respondent information database 282, past response history, and referral status to external networks.

[0171] The offer request status confirmation section 1007 is a section for displaying the status of the respondent candidate's introduction to an external network. Specifically, the respondent's terminal device 10 may display information in this section such as how many more questions the respondent needs to answer to improve their evaluation and be introduced to a specific external network. In a given situation, the respondent's terminal device 10 may display information regarding the conditions under which the respondent candidate is introduced to an external network, and if the respondent candidate is not satisfied with those conditions, a separate section may be displayed for them to negotiate the conditions.

[0172] This allows potential respondents to not only present answers and other information within the service provided by server 20, but also to increase their visibility on external networks, which is expected to encourage more responses from potential respondents.

[0173] <Note> The details described in each of the above embodiments are noted below.

[0174] <Note 1> A program executed by a computer equipped with a processor 29, the program causing the processor 29 to perform the following steps: receiving input of first information, which is a question, based on an input operation from a first user (S751); identifying candidates for answering the question in the first information by performing specific processing based on the input first information in response to the input of the first information; and presenting the identified candidates for answering to the first user without waiting for the completion of input of the first information (S752).

[0175] <Note 2> The program described in Appendix 1, which, in the step of identification, identifies candidates for the respondent to the question in the first information as a specific process, based on the first information that is input and the second information stored in the memory unit, which indicates the question and the content of the answer to the question.

[0176] <Note 3> The program described in Appendix 2, which, in the identification step, as a specific process, in response to the input of first information, without waiting for the completion of the input of first information, identifies the content of the question sentence of first information based on first information and second information, and identifies candidate respondents based on the identified content of the question sentence and third information which is information related to candidate respondents.

[0177] <Note 4> The program described in Appendix 1 identifies candidates for the question in the first information, as a specific process in the identification step, by attaching at least one first tag to the input first information, and then identifying candidates for the question in the first information based on the first tag information attached to the first information and third information which is information related to the candidate respondent. (Past Question Information Database 283)

[0178] <Note 5> As third-party information, second-party tag information is associated with candidate respondents, relating to at least one of the following: field, region, language, industry, or the company to which the candidate respondent belongs. In the identification step, first-party tag information is added to the input first-party information, relating to at least one of the following: field, region, language, or industry. The program identifies candidate respondents based on the first-party information and the third-party information, as described in Appendix 4. (Candidate Respondent Information Database 282)

[0179] <Note 6> The program, as described in Appendix 5, further causes the processor 29 to perform the step of associating information related to the answered question as second tag information to the candidate respondent if the candidate responds to a question concerning second tag information that is not associated with the candidate respondent.

[0180] <Note 7> In the third piece of information, information about candidate respondents and information about the network to which the candidate respondents belong are associated, and the program causes the processor 29 to perform a step in the presentation step in which it identifies the candidate respondents or network information based on the first piece of information and the network information, and presents the identified results to the first user, as described in any of the appendices 3 to 6. (Candidate Respondent Information Database 282)

[0181] <Note 8> The program is one of the programs described in any of Appendix 1 to 7, wherein the program causes the processor 29 to identify and present a specific evaluation value based on the response record of the respondent candidates to the first information, to identify the order of the respondent candidates to be presented to the first user based on the evaluation value, and to present the respondent candidates to the first user based on the identified order.

[0182] <Note 9> The program is one of the programs described in any of Appendix 1 to 8, which causes the processor 29 to perform the following steps in the receiving step: presenting options for disclosing a question statement and the content of the answer to the question statement; and in the presenting step, identifying candidate respondents based on the information of the options selected by the first user, and presenting the identified results to the first user. (Past Question Information Database 283)

[0183] <Note 10> The program, as described in Appendix 8 or 9, further causes the processor 29 to identify, based on evaluation values, candidate respondents to whom the first information should be presented and a specific period during which the candidate respondents are preferentially able to answer the first information, and then, based on the identified results, to perform the step of presenting the first information to the candidate respondents. (Candidate Respondent Information Database 282)

[0184] <Note 11> The program is one of the programs described in Appendix 1 to 10, which causes the processor 29 to perform the following steps: to obtain information on one or more of the time taken and the order in which the candidate respondent presented their answer to the first piece of information; to identify information on the reward to be paid to the candidate respondent based on the information obtained; and to present the identified information on the reward to the candidate respondent. (Past response information database 284)

[0185] <Note 12> The program is associated with an external network 30, and the program causes the processor 29 to perform a step of presenting third information to the user of the external network 30 based on an evaluation value, as described in Appendix 3 or 4. (External network information database 285) [Explanation of Symbols]

[0186] 10 Terminal device, 20 Server, 30 External network, 281 User information database, 282 Respondent candidate information database, 283 Past question information database, 284 Past answer information database, 285 External network information database, 2041 Send / receive module, 2042 Operation detection module, 2043 Screen generation module, 2044 User information database acquisition module, 2045 Respondent candidate information database acquisition module, 2046 Past question information database acquisition module, 2047 External network information acquisition module.

Claims

1. A program for operating a computer that includes a processor and memory, The program is provided to the processor: The first user, who is the questioner, inputs a question requesting an answer from the respondent, A step of identifying candidates among the multiple second users who will answer the received question, based on information related to each of the multiple second users, The steps include presenting the question to the identified second user and receiving an answer to the question from the identified second user, The steps include presenting the results of the second user's response to the first user, The question to be entered by the first user is assigned multiple tag information related to the question, and the multiple tag information is displayed. A program that identifies candidate respondents based on the tag information selected by the first user from among the multiple tag information assigned to the aforementioned question, and information related to each of the second users.

2. The program according to claim 1, in the step of identifying candidates for the respondent, the program identifies candidates for the respondent who will answer the question, in accordance with at least one of the industry information or company information of the second user, as information related to each of the plurality of second users.

3. By adding the tag information to the above question, The program according to claim 1, which identifies candidates for the respondent in accordance with the tag information assigned to the question and information related to each of the second users.

4. The aforementioned tag information will be added to the aforementioned question, The words included in the aforementioned question are analyzed, and tag information is assigned based on the degree of relevance of each word to its tag. The program according to claim 3, which performs at least one of the following: assigning tag information based on information on the application frequency of the word in each field.

5. In the step of identifying candidates for the aforementioned respondent, The program according to claim 1, which identifies candidates for the respondent in accordance with information relating to the first user and information relating to a plurality of second users.

6. The program according to claim 5, in the step of identifying candidates for the respondent, the program identifies candidates for the respondent according to at least one of the following as information relating to the first user: information about the industry of the first user who is the questioner, and information about the language used by the first user to ask the question.

7. A method for operating a computer comprising a processor and memory, The above method involves the processor, The first user, who is the questioner, inputs a question requesting an answer from the respondent, A step of identifying candidates among the multiple second users who will answer the received question, based on information related to each of the multiple second users, The steps include presenting the question to the identified second user and receiving an answer to the question from the identified second user, The process involves the steps of presenting the results of the second user's response to the first user, and then executing the following steps: The question to be entered by the first user is assigned multiple tag information related to the question, and the multiple tag information is displayed. A method for identifying candidate respondents based on the tag information selected by the first user from among the multiple tag information assigned to the question, and information related to each of the second users.

8. An information processing apparatus comprising a control unit and a storage unit, wherein the control unit is The first user, who is the questioner, inputs a question requesting an answer from the respondent, A step of identifying candidates among the multiple second users who will answer the received question, based on information related to each of the multiple second users, The steps include presenting the question to the identified second user and receiving an answer to the question from the identified second user, The process involves the steps of presenting the results of the second user's response to the first user, and then executing the following steps: The question to be entered by the first user is assigned multiple tag information related to the question, and the multiple tag information is displayed. An information processing device that identifies candidate respondents according to the tag information selected by the first user from among the multiple tag information assigned to the aforementioned question, and information related to each of the second users.

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