JPH11345185A - Information center, terminal equipment and distribution method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently find out the target question item from among frequently asked questions(FAQ). SOLUTION: A server is provided with a FAQ data base. The FAQ data base stores question items and the number of times referring to the respective question items. When access to the FAQ is generated from a client to the server, based on the number of times of reference, the server arranges the respective question items and transmits them to the client. When the desired question item is selected at the client, an answer to the selected question item is transmitted from the server to the client, and the number of times referring to the relevant question item in the FAQ data base is updated. At the client, the question items are displayed, while being arranged in order from the most number of times of reference on the current stage at all the time, and the retrieval of important items is facilitated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information center, a terminal device, and a distribution method capable of efficiently browsing list texts referred to via a network such as the Internet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, communication networks for performing communication using a computer or the like have been rapidly spreading. For example, a network constructed on a global scale by further connecting a plurality of local networks or a single computer by a network is called the Internet.
Further, a network completely constructed in one company or building is called an intranet.

In the Internet, HTML (Hyper-Tex)
In general, an HTML file described in Markup Language (Tmarkup Language) is placed on a WWW server and made public, and information is searched and obtained by a Web page (homepage). Generally, an application called a WWW browser is used to browse a Web page. The WWW browser, for example, receives the input URL
Reads the HTML file specified in (Uniform Resource Locators) and performs display according to the description of the HTML file.

[0004] In the intranet, information is searched and displayed in a manner similar to that of the Internet. Hereinafter, the description will be given taking the Internet as an example.

[0005] In such a network, various kinds of information are exchanged. The user can search the network by a predetermined method to find information that he / she needs. The user can also make a question to the information provider via the network.

In order to respond to a user's question, a Web page called FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) is provided on the network. This is a list of questions typified by the user and answers to the questions. The person who asks the question can read the FAQ and search for the content corresponding to his / her question, thereby saving the trouble of asking the question. In addition, since the questioned side does not need to answer each frequently asked similar question, the burden is reduced.

[0007]

Conventionally, FAQs are categorized for each item according to the contents of a question, and a list is created and displayed. However, in each item, the questions were not arranged in a particularly meaningful order. For example, the questions were added and displayed at the beginning or end of the list in the order of occurrence.

On the other hand, the frequency at which each question is referred to
There is bias. Frequently referred questions are, in other words, information required by more users and are important. However, heretofore, there has been a problem that, even if a document is frequently referred to, it is buried in many other questions and it takes a very long time to find it.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an information center, a terminal device, and a distribution method capable of efficiently searching for a target question in a FAQ.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there is provided an information center for transmitting a reply to a terminal in response to a request for a request from the terminal, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem. Counting means for counting the number of times of reference for each requirement, storage means for storing the counting result of the counting means in association with the requirement, and an item list in which the requirements are arranged based on the counting result stored in the storage means An information center comprising: an item list creating unit that creates the item list; and a transmitting unit that transmits the item list created by the item list creating unit to the terminal side.

Further, the present invention provides a terminal device which inquires of an information center about a requirement and receives a response to the requirement distributed from the information center in response to the inquiry. Receiving means for receiving the request and the cumulative number of requests corresponding to the request; storage means for storing the request received by the receiving means and the cumulative request; and storing the request stored in the storage means based on the number of requests. A terminal device comprising: display control means for displaying side by side; and transmission means for transmitting inquiry information to the information center when inquiring about requirements displayed by the display control means.

Further, the present invention provides a distribution method for transmitting a response from an information center to a terminal in response to an inquiry about a request made from the terminal to the information center. A counting step for counting for each requirement, a storage step for storing the counting result of the counting step in association with the requirement, and an item list in which the requirements are arranged based on the counting result stored in the storage step And a transmission step of transmitting the item list created by the item list creation means to the terminal side.

As described above, in the information center according to the present invention, the number of times the terminal refers to the requirement is counted for each requirement, and an item list in which the requirements are arranged based on the counting result is transmitted to the terminal. Therefore, the terminal can easily search for requirements based on the item list.

Further, in the terminal device according to the present invention, the requirements and the cumulative number of requests corresponding to the requirements are received from the information center, and the requirements are displayed side by side based on the number of requests. At the same time, since the selected information when the displayed requirement is selected is transmitted to the information center, the required requirement can be easily searched.

Further, in the distribution method according to the present invention, the number of times a terminal refers to a requirement is counted for each requirement,
An item list in which requirements are arranged based on the counting result is created, and this item list is transmitted to the terminal in the transmission step, so that the terminal can easily search for requirements based on the item list.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a configuration of an example of a system to which the present invention can be applied. Server 2 and a plurality of client computers (hereinafter abbreviated as “client”) for network 1
5, 5, ... are connected. The server 2 is, roughly,
It comprises a host computer 3 and a storage device 4, for example a hard disk.

In this example, the network 1 is the Internet, and the server 2 is a WWW server. The network 1 is not limited to this, and may be, for example, an intranet. In that case, a corresponding server 2 is used. Also, the client 5 and the network 1
May be connected by a dedicated line, or may be connected by a public telephone line via a modem (not shown).

The server 2 has an FAQ database in the storage device 4. FAQ database contains FAQ,
That is, a question item frequently asked by the user and an answer to the question are stored. In addition, the number of times of reference for each question, which is obtained by accumulating the number of times each question is referred to by the user, is stored in the FAQ database.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of the server 2 and the client 5 in more detail. The client 5 is a plurality of clients 5 connected in FIG.
5 are shown as representatives.

The server 2 has a CPU 10, a memory 11, and a hard disk 12. Hard disk 12
Then, the above-mentioned FAQ database is constructed. Further, the transmission device 13 can transmit data to the client 5 via the network 1. At the same time, the data transmitted from the client 5 via the network 1 can be received by the receiving device 14.

The memory 11 has two areas 11A and 11B. In the area 11A, the question items read from the FAQ database are stored as an item list. On the other hand, the area 11B stores the number of times of reference corresponding to the question read out from the FAQ database.
The questions forming the item list stored in the area 11A and the number of references stored in the area 11B are associated with each other.

On the other hand, the client 5 has a CPU 20 and a memory 24. Although not shown, a hard disk or the like may be further provided. A display 21 such as a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) or a liquid crystal panel is connected to the CPU 20. A predetermined input device, for example, a mouse 22
An instruction can be given to the CPU 20 using the keyboard or the keyboard 23. Further, the transmission device 26 can transmit data to the server 2 via the network 1. At the same time, the data transmitted from the server 2 via the network 1 can be received by the receiving device 25.

The client 5 is equipped with a WWW browser. The client 5 can transmit various requests to the server 2 via the network 1 using a WWW browser or the like. At the same time, the client 5 reads the HTML file transmitted from the server 2 using a WWW browser, and reads the HTML file.
Can be displayed based on the description of the HTML file.

In the server 2, the hard disk 12 stores a Web page for displaying a list of FAQs. When this Web page is accessed from the client 5 using a WWW browser, the client 5
FAQ item list 27 for display 21
Is displayed. At this time, the FAQ item list 27
In the FAQ database, they are arranged and displayed based on the number of times of reference to each question stored with the question and its answer.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an example of a process for displaying the FAQ item list 27. In the first step S10, access from the client 5 to the server 2 occurs. For example, the WWW browser of the client 5 specifies a Web page stored on the hard disk 12 of the server 2 and described to instruct the display of the FAQ list. This Web page is transmitted from the server 2 to the client 5. This W
With the transmission of the eb page, FAQ data 31 is transmitted.

In the next step S11, the transmitted FAQ
Display 2 of client 5 based on data 31
For 1, the FAQ item list 27 is displayed. FIG. 4 shows an example of the display of the FAQ item list 27. The numerical value shown at the left end of each item is the number of times of reference at the present time. In this example, the questions are arranged and displayed in order of frequency based on the number of times of reference.

The display of the list 27 is not limited to this example. For example, the list 27 may be displayed in ascending order of reference. Further, the number of times of reference may be normalized based on the number of days of posting the question item, and may be displayed side by side based on the normalized value. Further, the question item added most recently may be preferentially displayed at a higher position. Furthermore, it is also possible to display the questions in the order in which they are registered, regardless of the number of references, or in a random order. It is more preferable that these display methods can be switched on the client 5 side.

The item list 27 is configured so that the user selects a question to be inquired and transmits the inquiry information to the server 2 as a request, so that an answer to the question is displayed. . For example,
In HTML, a tag <A HREF="xxx"> YYY </A> called an anchor for indicating a link can be used. The question item is described in the YYY part. "xx
“x” is a file name in which an answer to the question is described.

In step S12, in the client 5, necessary items are selected based on the display of the item list 27, and an inquiry to a question is made. The inquiry information 32 is transmitted from the client 5 to the server 2. The inquiry information 32 is, for example, a file name in which an answer to the question item specified by selection at the client 5 is described. Thereby, the server 2 can know which question item is selected. The server 2 counts the number of times of reference to the selected question item, and based on the counting result, in the next step S13, the memory 1
The reference count of the relevant question item stored in the first area 11B is updated.

At the same time, the server 2 to the client 5
, An answer file to the inquiry about the question item is transmitted based on the inquiry information. The response file is received by the client 5, and is displayed in place of the item list 27 as a response 27 'as shown in an example in FIG. This is not limited to this example, and the item list 27 and the answer 27 ′ may be displayed separately.

There are various methods for arranging the questions in the order of frequency at the present stage in step S11 described above.
The method can be broadly divided into a method performed on the server 2 side and a method performed on the client 5 side. In each case, an example of the process will be briefly described.

First, a case where the server 2 arranges data in order of frequency will be described. In the server 2, a Web page (referred to as an instruction page) for instructing creation of an HTML file for displaying the item list 27 is created in advance, and is stored in, for example, the hard disk 12. This instruction page contains C
A predetermined program is described in advance using a language executable in the server 2, such as a GI (Common Gateway Interface).

When the client 5 accesses this instruction page, the corresponding question and the reference count corresponding to each question are all read from the FAQ database. The read question items and the number of times of reference are stored in corresponding areas of the memory 11, respectively. Then, the question items are arranged based on the number of times of reference, and an HTML file in which link information to the answer file corresponding to each question item is described is created. This H
The TML file is transmitted to the client 5 as an HTML file for displaying the FAQ item list 27.

Next, a case where the client 5 arranges data in order of frequency will be described. In this case, in the instruction page, for example, a program for rearranging in order of frequency in a language executable on the client 5 side is described in advance.
The description may be such that a predetermined program of the client 5 is called. As described above, when the client 5 accesses this instruction page, the corresponding question item and the reference count corresponding to each of the question items are all read from the FAQ database. The read data is transmitted to the client 5 and stored in the memory 24 of the client 5.

In the client 5, the data stored in the memory 24 is read, and the questions are rearranged based on the number of references according to the description of the instruction page. At the same time, link information to an answer file corresponding to each question item is described, and an item list 27 is created. The item list 27 is displayed on the display 21. The rearrangement process is performed by a WWW browser, for example, according to a program described on the instruction page. It may be performed by another program installed in the client 5.

In the above description, the present invention has been described as being applied to the Internet, but the present invention is not limited to this example. For example, the present invention can be applied to an intranet that is completed within a company or a single building. Further, the present invention can be applied to a smaller network system. Further, the present invention can be applied to a system such as a personal computer communication service.

In the above description, the present invention has been described as being applied to browsing FAQs, but the present invention is not limited to this example. The present invention is suitable for use in other examples in which the rank is changed by client access, for example, a popularity voting system on a network, a hit chart, and the like.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention, in browsing FAQs, a list of questions is displayed in the order of the number of times of reference. Therefore, the list of question items is necessarily arranged in the order of important items. That is, there is an effect that a user who refers to the FAQ can quickly search for necessary information.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of an example of a system to which the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary configuration of a server and a client in more detail;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process of displaying an FAQ item list.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of display of an FAQ item list.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of display of an answer according to selection of an item list.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... network, 2 ... WWW server, 3 ...
.. Host computer, 4... Storage device, 5... Client computer, 11.
・ Hard disk, 21 ・ ・ ・ Display, 27 ・ ・
・ Item list

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An information center for transmitting a reply to an inquiry about a request from a terminal to the terminal, wherein the counting means counts the number of times the request is referred to from the terminal for each requirement. Storage means for storing counting results of the means in association with the requirements; item list creating means for creating an item list in which requirements are arranged based on the counting results stored in the storage means; An information center comprising: a transmitting unit that transmits the item list created by the creating unit to the terminal. 2. A terminal device which inquires of an information center about a requirement and receives a response to the requirement distributed from the information center in response to the inquiry. Receiving means for receiving the cumulative request count corresponding to the requirement, storage means for storing the requirement and the cumulative requirement received by the receiving means, and storing the requirement stored in the storage means. Display control means for displaying side by side based on the number of requests, and transmission means for transmitting inquiry information to the information center when inquiring about the requirements displayed by the display control means, Terminal device to do. 3. A distribution method for transmitting a response from the information center to the terminal in response to a request from the terminal to the information center. A counting step of counting each time, a storing step of storing the counting result of the counting step in association with the requirement, and the requirements based on the counting result stored in the storing step. A distribution method comprising: an item list creation step of creating an item list; and a transmission step of sending the item list created by the item list creation means to the terminal.