JP7537464B2 - Information processing device, information processing system, information processing method, and program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing device , an information processing system, an information processing method, and a program.

Conventionally, some terminal devices that can be used for studying various subjects such as languages can conduct tests (asking questions and judging whether the answers are correct) to determine the learning level and solidify the learning content. Patent Document 1 discloses a method for presenting hint information that is associated with a question and registered in advance to a user in response to a request from the user for hint information when a test question is presented to the user in such a terminal device. In language learning, the presentation of such hint information can be applied in the form of presenting the meaning of a difficult word included in a question, for example.

JP 2000-98864 A

However, in the field of language learning, there are large individual differences in word proficiency, so presenting uniform hint information as described above can lead to the user receiving inappropriate hint information that is either excessive or insufficient.

An object of the present invention is to provide an information processing device , an information processing system, an information processing method, and a program that are capable of presenting more appropriate hint information to a user.

In order to solve the above problem, an information processing device according to the present invention comprises an acquisition means for acquiring search history information for any one of a plurality of words constituting a question sentence of a question presented to a user by voice , a determination means for determining whether a search history condition is satisfied for the search history information , and a determination means for determining hint information for the question to be presented to the user based on the determination result of the satisfaction state from among item information related to the word , one of the search history conditions being a first search history condition that is satisfied when the search history information includes a history of searching for the word but does not include a history of playing back the voice of the word, and the determination means is characterized in that when the first search history condition is satisfied, the determination means selects the spelling of the word as the hint information .

In order to solve the above problems, the information processing system according to the present invention comprises:
An information processing device and a terminal device are provided,
the terminal device has a question setting means for setting questions to a user by voice ,
The information processing device includes:
An acquisition means for acquiring search history information for any one of a plurality of words constituting a question sentence of a question presented to a user by voice ;
A determination means for determining whether or not the search history information satisfies a search history condition;
a determining means for determining hint information related to the question to be presented to the user from among item information related to the word based on the determination result of the satisfaction state ;
having
one of the search history conditions is a first search history condition that is satisfied when the search history information includes a history of searching for the word and does not include a history of playing back an audio of the word;
the determining means, when the first search history condition is satisfied, selects a spelling of the word as the hint information;
the terminal device has a hint information presenting means for presenting the hint information determined by the determining means to the user.
It is characterized by:

In order to solve the above problems, an information processing method according to the present invention includes:
An information processing method executed by a computer of an information processing system, comprising:
a question setting step of setting a question to a user by voice ;
An acquisition step of acquiring search history information for any one of a plurality of words constituting a question sentence by a voice presented to a user;
a determination step of determining whether the search history information satisfies a search history condition;
a determining step of determining hint information related to the question to be presented to the user from among item information related to the word based on the determination result of the satisfaction state ;
a presentation step of presenting the determined hint information to the user;
having
one of the search history conditions is a first search history condition that is satisfied when the search history information includes a history of searching for the word and does not include a history of playing back an audio of the word;
The determining step selects a spelling of the word as the hint information if the first search history condition is satisfied.
It is characterized by:

In order to solve the above problems, the program according to the present invention comprises:
A computer provided in the information processing device,
An acquisition means for acquiring search history information for any one of a plurality of words constituting a question sentence of a question presented to a user by voice ;
A determination means for determining whether or not the search history information satisfies a search history condition;
a determining means for determining hint information related to the question to be presented to the user from among item information related to the word based on a determination result of the satisfaction state ;
Functioning as a
one of the search history conditions is a first search history condition that is satisfied when the search history information includes a history of searching for the word and does not include a history of playing back an audio of the word;
The determining means selects a spelling of the word as the hint information when the first search history condition is satisfied.
It is characterized by:

The present invention makes it possible to present more appropriate hint information to the user.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a learning support system. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a server. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of a dictionary DB; FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of the contents of a test DB. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of a user management DB. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of a learning history DB. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a terminal device. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a dictionary screen. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a test screen for performing a listening test. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a hint part selection screen. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a test screen on which hint information is displayed. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a test screen on which hint information is displayed. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a test screen for conducting a reading test. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a test screen for conducting a reading test. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing another example of a test screen for conducting a reading test. FIG. 13 illustrates a hint history screen. 13 is a flowchart showing a control procedure for a word search process. 6 is a flowchart showing a control procedure of a test process executed by a CPU of the terminal device. 11 is a flowchart showing a control procedure of a test process executed by a CPU of the server. 13 is a flowchart showing a control procedure of a hint data generating process. 13 is a flowchart showing a control procedure of a hint data generation process in a reading test. 13 is a flowchart showing a control procedure for a hint history display process.

The following describes an embodiment of the present invention with reference to the drawings.

<Learning support system configuration>
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a learning support system 1 according to the present embodiment.
The learning support system 1 (information processing system) includes a server 10 (information processing device) and a terminal device 20 communicably connected to the server 10 via a communication network N. The communication network N is, for example, the Internet, but is not limited thereto and may be another network such as a LAN (Local Area Network). At least a part of the communication path between the server 10 and the terminal device 20 may be a wireless communication path.

The learning support system 1 provides a learning support service that supports language learning to a user who uses a terminal device 20. The terminal device 20 is, for example, a smartphone, but is not limited to this, and may be a tablet terminal, a notebook PC (personal computer), a desktop PC, etc.

A learning application program (hereinafter, referred to as "learning application 231 (see FIG. 7)") is installed in the terminal device 20. By executing the learning application 231, the terminal device 20 can provide various services related to language learning to the user in cooperation with the server 10. For example, when a user inputs a word search instruction while the learning application 231 is being executed, the terminal device 20 acquires item information including the meaning of the word, example sentences, etc. from the server 10 and displays the information. Here, the words to be searched are, for example, dictionary entries and dictionary items. However, the words to be searched are not limited to these, and include any words that are included in data accessible to the terminal device 20 and whose search history can be stored in a database. For example, the words to be searched may be words included in data related to books and documents such as textbooks, resource collections, and reference books, or words included in data provided by various Web services such as news and electronic commerce and that can be acquired via a communication network N. The data relating to the above books and documents may be stored in the storage unit 13 of the server 10 (see FIG. 2) or the storage unit 23 of the terminal device 20 (see FIG. 7), or may be stored in another Web server that can be connected to the communication network N. Furthermore, the words to be searched are not limited to those consisting of a single word, but may be a combination of multiple words. The word search performed on the terminal device 20 is not limited to those performed for the purpose of checking the meaning or pronunciation of the word itself, but also includes those performed for the purpose of obtaining information related to the word (for example, mathematical formulas, chemical formulas of chemical substances, structural formulas, symbols, news articles and commentary articles related to the word, etc.).
Furthermore, the terminal device 20 can execute a test-style language exercise (hereinafter, simply referred to as a "test") while the learning application 231 is running. When executing a test, the terminal device 20 acquires data on questions and correct answers from the server 10, asks the user a question, and when the user inputs an answer to the question, judges whether the answer is correct or not and presents the result to the user. Furthermore, when a question has been asked, the terminal device 20 can present the user with hint information related to the question in response to a request from the user.
The above are examples of services provided by the learning support system 1, and the present invention is not limited to these.

As shown in FIG. 1, the learning support system 1 may include multiple terminal devices 20, in which case learning support services are provided to multiple users who each use the multiple terminal devices 20. The server 10 manages information related to each user's usage of the learning support service, and provides the user with appropriate services according to that information. For example, when presenting hint information in a test, appropriate hint information is presented according to each user's word search history. The method of presenting this hint information will be described in detail later.

<Server configuration>
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the server 10. As shown in FIG.
The server 10 includes a CPU 11 (Central Processing Unit) (reception means, acquisition means, discrimination means, decision means, hint history presentation means), a RAM 12 (Random Access Memory), a storage unit 13, an operation unit 14, a display unit 15, a communication unit 16, a bus 17, etc. The various units of the server 10 are connected to each other via the bus 17.

The CPU 11 is a processor (processing unit) that controls the operation of the server 10 by reading and executing the server control program 131 (program) stored in the storage unit 13 and performing various arithmetic processing. The server 10 may have multiple processors (e.g., multiple CPUs), and the multiple processes performed by the CPU 11 of this embodiment may be executed by the multiple processors. In this case, the processing unit is made up of the multiple processors. In this case, the multiple processors may be involved in a common process, or the multiple processors may independently execute different processes in parallel.

The storage unit 13 is a non-transitory recording medium readable by the CPU 11 as a computer, and stores the server control program 131 and various data. The storage unit 13 includes a non-volatile memory such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid state drive (SSD). The server control program 131 is stored in the storage unit 13 in the form of computer-readable program code. Data stored in the storage unit 13 includes a dictionary DB (database) 132 (dictionary information), a test DB 133, a user management DB 134, and a learning history DB 135 (search history information, hint history information), etc.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the dictionary DB 132. As shown in FIG.
Information contained in one data row (record) of the dictionary DB 132 corresponds to item information related to one word (item) of an English-Japanese dictionary or an English-English dictionary. Fig. 3 shows an example of item information of an English-Japanese dictionary. The dictionary DB 132 has data columns of "word ID", "word", "translation", "example sentence", "part of speech", "learning difficulty", and "audio file path".
A "word ID" is a unique code given to a word in that data row.
A "word" is the spelling of a word.
"Translation" is the Japanese translation of a word. In the data of an English-English dictionary, the data row for "Translation" contains an explanation of the word in English.
"Example sentence" is an example sentence corresponding to a word.
"Part of speech" is the part of speech of a word.
"Difficulty of mastery" is a numerical value that indicates the general level of difficulty of mastering the word in that data row. The difficulty of mastery is expressed as a numerical value in multiple stages (seven stages from "1" to "7" in this embodiment), with the higher the numerical value, the higher the difficulty level. Of the numerical values in the multiple stages, words that are equal to or above a predetermined threshold ("4" or above in this embodiment) are considered as candidates for words that present hint information, which will be described later. Words whose difficulty of mastery is equal to or above the threshold correspond to "words whose difficulty of mastery is equal to or above a predetermined lower limit difficulty level."
"Audio file path" is the file path of the audio data file of the word.
The dictionary DB 132 may further store data relating to dictionaries other than the English-Japanese dictionary and the English-English dictionary.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the test DB 133. As shown in FIG.
Test DB 133 stores data related to tests provided in the learning support service. One data row (record) in test DB 133 corresponds to one question. Test DB 133 also has data columns of "question number", "text", "translation", "audio file path", "image file path", and "correct answer". FIG. 4 shows an example of data related to an English listening test.
"Question number" is a number assigned to each question. Instead of a number, a unique code may be used for each question.
"Text" is text data in English that represents the question sentence of the question.
"Translation" is text data of the Japanese translation of the question sentence.
"Audio file path" is the file path of the audio data file for the English question sentence.
"Image file path" is the file path of the image data of the image that is displayed while the question is being asked.
A "correct answer" is the correct answer choice for a question.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the user management DB 134. As shown in FIG.
The user management DB 134 stores data related to multiple users who use the learning support service. One data row (record) in the user management DB 134 corresponds to one user. The user management DB 134 also has data columns for "user ID,""occupation,""number of presented listening hints," and "number of presented reading hints."
A "user ID" is a unique code given to each user.
"Occupation" is the user's occupation.
"Number of listening hints" indicates the number of words to be displayed as hints in the listening test described below. For example, if this data string is a number (e.g., "1", "2", etc.), hint information for the same number of words among the hint target words as the number is displayed. Also, if this data string is "all", hint information for all hint target words is displayed. Here, "hint target words" are words that can be the subject of hint information display, and will be described in detail later.
"Number of reading hints" indicates the number of words to be displayed as hints in the reading test described below. For example, if this data string is a number (e.g., "1", "2", etc.), hint information for the same number of words among the hint target words as the number of the number is displayed. Also, if this data string is "all", hint information for all hint target words is displayed.
The contents of the "number of presented listening hints" and the "number of presented reading hints" are preset and registered according to a setting operation by the user.
The user management DB 134 may further include data strings relating to the user's attributes (gender, age, etc.) and other basic information (login history, language learning level, etc.).

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the learning history DB 135. As shown in FIG.
The learning history DB 135 stores data related to the learning history of each user in the learning support service. The learning history DB 135 has a data block generated for each user. One data row (record) in each data block corresponds to a word searched for by the user or a word displayed as a hint in a test taken by the user. Each data block has data columns of "user ID", "word", "search date", "hint display date", and "audio playback".
The "user ID" is a common symbol with the user ID in the user management DB 134 of FIG.
"Word" is the word (item) that corresponds to that data row.
The "search date" is the date when the word in the data row was last searched for. Note that time information may be registered in addition to the date.
The "hint display date" is the date when the word in the data row was displayed as a hint in the test taken by the user. Note that time information may be registered in addition to the date.
"Audio playback" indicates whether audio data of the pronunciation of the word was played back when the word was searched for. Words for which audio data was played back are marked with "1," and words for which audio data was not played back are marked with "0."
For example, from the learning history DB 135 shown in FIG. 6, it can be determined that a user with user ID "U1234" searched for the word "software" on "August 15, 2021" and did not play audio data, and that the word "software" was displayed as a hint in a test taken on "September 1, 2021". It can also be determined that a user with user ID "1235" in FIG. 6 has never searched for or played audio data for the word "software", and that the word "software" was displayed as a hint in a test taken on "July 15, 2021".

The operation unit 14 shown in FIG. 2 includes a pointing device such as a mouse and a keyboard, and receives position input and key input from the user and outputs the operation information to the CPU 11.

The display unit 15 has a display device such as a liquid crystal display, and performs various displays on the display device according to display control signals from the CPU 11.

The communication unit 16 is configured with a network card, etc., and transmits and receives data to and from a terminal device 20 on the communication network N in accordance with a specified communication standard.

<Configuration of terminal device 20>
FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the terminal device 20. As shown in FIG.
The terminal device 20 includes a CPU 21 (a question setting means, a hint information presenting means), a RAM 22, a storage unit 23, an operation unit 24, a display unit 25, an audio output unit 26, a communication unit 27, a bus 28, etc. The various units of the terminal device 20 are connected to each other via the bus 28.

The CPU 21 is a processor (processing unit) that controls the operation of the terminal device 20 by reading and executing programs such as the learning app 231 stored in the memory unit 23 and performing various arithmetic processing. The terminal device 20 may have multiple processors (e.g., multiple CPUs), and the multiple processes performed by the CPU 21 of this embodiment may be executed by the multiple processors. In this case, the processing unit is made up of the multiple processors. In this case, the multiple processors may be involved in a common process, or the multiple processors may independently execute different processes in parallel.

The storage unit 23 is a non-transitory recording medium that can be read by the CPU 21 as a computer, and stores programs such as the learning app 231 and various data. The storage unit 23 includes a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory. The programs are stored in the storage unit 23 in the form of computer-readable program codes.

The operation unit 24 has a touch panel superimposed on the display screen of the display unit 25, physical buttons, etc., and receives touch operations by the user on the touch panel and pressing operations on the physical buttons, and outputs the operation information to the CPU 21.

The display unit 25 is equipped with a display device such as a liquid crystal display, and performs various displays on the display device according to display control signals from the CPU 21.

The audio output unit 26 has a speaker and outputs audio such as the occurrence of words and test questions in accordance with an audio output control signal from the CPU 21. The audio output unit 26 also outputs an audio signal to an external audio output device (e.g., earphones or headphones) that is connected via a wire or wirelessly, causing the audio output device to output audio.

The communication unit 27 is configured with a communication module including an antenna, and transmits and receives data to and from the server 10 on the communication network N in accordance with a specified communication standard.

<Operation of learning support system 1>
Next, a description will be given of the operation of the learning support system 1. The subject of operation in the operation described below is the CPU 11 of the server 10 and the CPU 21 of the terminal device 20, but for convenience, the server 10 and the terminal device 20 may be described as the subject of operation below.

A user who receives learning support services from the learning support system 1 executes the learning app 231 on the terminal device 20 and logs in to the learning support system 1. Logging in to the learning support system 1 is performed, for example, by an authentication process in which a user ID and password entered by the user and transmitted from the terminal device 20 to the server 10 are compared with a user ID and password preregistered in the server 10. A user who has logged in to the learning support system 1 can execute various functions of the learning support service on the learning app 231.

(Word Search)
One of the basic functions of the learning support service provided by the learning support system 1 is searching for words in an English-Japanese dictionary. The user can perform a predetermined operation on the learning application 231 to display a dictionary screen 40 on the display unit 25 for searching for words in the English-Japanese dictionary.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the dictionary screen 40. As shown in FIG.
The dictionary screen 40 displays a search box 41 for specifying the word to be searched for, an item information display area 42 in which item information of the searched word is displayed, an audio playback button 43 for playing the audio of the word, and a dictionary screen exit button 44 for ending the word search. When a search is executed with the spelling of the word to be searched for entered in the search box 41, the terminal device 20 acquires item information of the word from the server 10 and displays the acquired item information in the item information display area 42. The server 10 also registers the search date on which the word was searched for in a data block in the learning history DB 135 corresponding to the user who performed the search. This records the user's word search history.

A user can play (output) the audio of a word displayed in the item information display area 42 by selecting the audio playback button 43 on the dictionary screen 40. That is, when the audio playback button 43 is selected, the terminal device 20 acquires audio data of the word from the server 10, and uses the audio data to output the audio of the word from the audio output unit 26. The server 10 also registers that audio playback of the word has been performed in a data block in the learning history DB 135 that corresponds to the user who performed the audio playback of the word. This records the user's audio playback history of the word.
As described above, in the learning support system 1, in addition to searching for words in various dictionaries, it is also possible to search for words contained in data related to books and documents, or to search for words contained in data provided by web services, etc. When these searches are performed, the word search history and audio playback history are also recorded.

(test)
In the learning support service by the learning support system 1, a language test can be conducted. By taking this test, the user can have his/her learning level judged and can solidify what he/she has learned. In this embodiment, a listening test and a reading test are taken as examples for explanation. In the listening test, for example, a question is presented by voice from the audio output unit 26, and the user is to answer by selecting an appropriate answer from among a plurality of options contained in the question. In the reading test, for example, a question is presented by displaying a sentence on the display unit 25, and the user is to answer by selecting an appropriate answer from among a plurality of options contained in the question. However, the content of the test is not limited to these.
The user can perform a predetermined operation on the learning application 231 to cause the display unit 25 to display a test screen 50 for taking a test.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a test screen 50 for carrying out a listening test.
The test screen 50 displays a question playback button 51 for playing back the audio of the question, an answer button 52 for answering the question, a hint request button 53 for requesting hint information, a hint display area 54 for displaying hint information, and a test end button 55 for ending the test. When the test screen 50 is displayed and the listening test is started, the terminal device 20 receives question data from the server 10. The question data includes audio data of the question and correct answer data. If the question includes an image, the question data further includes image data of the image, and the image is displayed on the test screen 50 after the question data is acquired.

After the question data has been received, when the question playback button 51 is selected, audio of the question is played (output from the audio output unit 26). In the example shown in FIG. 9, audio of four sentences corresponding to options A to D shown in the lower part of FIG. 9 is played as the question. The user can answer the question by selecting the answer button 52 of the option that is deemed to be correct (matches the content of the image) from among the multiple answer buttons 52 based on the content of the question. When any of the answer buttons 52 is selected, the correct/incorrect judgment result is displayed on the display unit 25. Alternatively, after multiple questions have been answered, the correct/incorrect judgment results for the multiple questions may be displayed together.

After the audio of the question has been played, the player can request the presentation of hint information related to the question by selecting the hint request button 53 before selecting the answer button 52. When the hint request button 53 is selected, a hint point selection screen 60 is first displayed for selecting an option for displaying hint information (hereinafter also referred to as a "hint point").

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a hint point selection screen 60. As shown in FIG.
The hint location selection screen 60 displays a selection button 61 for specifying a hint location, a hint display button 62 for displaying hint information, and the like. When an operation of selecting the hint display button 62 is performed in a state where one of the options A to D is specified by selecting one of the selection buttons 61, the option (hint location) for which hint information is presented is confirmed, and a transmission request for hint data including hint information H (first hint information H1 or second hint information H2 described later; hereinafter, "hint information H" refers to any one of the first hint information H1 and the second hint information H2) related to the option is sent from the terminal device 20 to the server 10. When the terminal device 20 receives the hint data from the server 10, it displays (presents) the hint information H on the test screen 50 (hint information presentation process).

11A and 11B are diagrams showing a test screen 50 on which hint information H is displayed.
Here, an example will be described in which hint information H for option B is requested and displayed. In each test screen 50 of FIG. 11A and FIG. 11B, hint information H related to the word "software", which is one of the multiple words constituting the question sentence of option B, is displayed in the hint display area 54. The displayed hint information H is selected by the server 10 and transmitted to the terminal device 20. The hint information H is selected from the item information of the item "software" contained in the dictionary DB 132. Also, hint information H with different contents is selected according to the search history of the word "software" by the user. In the listening test of this embodiment, according to the word search history, there are cases where first hint information H1 including only the spelling of the word is displayed as shown in FIG. 11A, and cases where second hint information H2 including the spelling and translation of the word is displayed as shown in FIG. 11B.
The operation of the server 10 in selecting the hint information H will now be described.

In response to the hint information presentation request, the server 10 executes a hint information selection process for selecting hint information H to be presented to the user for each of the hint target words from among the multiple words constituting the hint portion specified in the question sentence. Here, the hint target words are words obtained by excluding words that are not appropriate as words for presenting the hint information H from the multiple words constituting the hint portion. Specifically, the hint target words are words obtained by excluding words with low mastery difficulty that are learned in the lower grades such as elementary school (in this embodiment, words with a "mastery difficulty" of less than "4" in the dictionary DB 132), numerals (such as "one", "two", etc.), pronouns (such as "you", "me", etc.), and proper nouns (such as "Mt. Fuji").
In addition, the hint target word may be a word related to the word, such as a derivative, instead of the word itself included in the question sentence. For example, when the question sentence contains the word "inventor", the hint target word may be "invention", which is a derivative of the word. When the word included in the question sentence is an inflected form of a certain word, the original form of the word may be the hint target word. When the word included in the question sentence is an original form of a certain word, the inflected form of the word may be the hint target word. For example, when the question sentence contains the past tense or past participle form of a verb, the original form of the word may be the hint target word. In addition, the hint target word is not limited to these, and may be any word that can be a hint for the user to answer the question. For example, the hint target word may be selected from words other than the words included in the question sentence (including derivatives and inflected forms).

In the hint information selection process performed for each word that is a hint target word, the server 10 selects hint information H to be presented to the user from the item information of the word in the dictionary DB 132. In more detail, based on the user's search history for the word in the learning history DB 135, the server 10 determines whether multiple different search history conditions are satisfied, and varies the content of the hint information H to be selected for the word depending on the determination result of the satisfaction state.

Specifically, the first search history condition among the above multiple search history conditions is a non-audio playback condition that is satisfied when the learning history DB 135 contains a history of searching for the above word and does not contain a history of playing the audio of the word (corresponding to the "first situation"). The satisfaction status of the non-search condition is determined based on the data strings of "search date" and "audio playback" in the learning history DB 135. For example, in the case of a test taken by a user with user ID "U1234" on September 1, 2021, in the data block of user ID "U1234" in the learning history DB 135 shown in FIG. 6, the "search date" is registered for the word "software" and "audio playback" is "0" (not played), so it is determined that the audio non-play condition is satisfied.

When the audio not-played condition is met, it can be assumed that the user taking the test has already searched for the word and can grasp the meaning from the spelling of the word. On the other hand, it can be assumed that the user cannot hear the word from the sound of the question sentence because the sound of the word has not been played. Therefore, when the audio not-played condition is met, the server 10 selects the spelling of the word as the hint information H (first hint information H1) of the word. In response to this, for example, in the above test taken by user ID "U1234", the spelling of the word "software" is displayed as the first hint information H1 in the hint display area 54 as shown in FIG. 11A. If the spelling of the word is presented as the first hint information H1, the user can identify the word that he or she could not hear and link it to the meaning of the learned word.

The second search history condition among the above multiple search history conditions is an unsearched condition that is satisfied when the learning history DB 135 does not contain a history of searching for the above word (corresponding to the "second situation"). The satisfaction status of the unsearched condition is determined based on the data strings of "search date" and "audio playback" in the learning history DB 135. For example, in the case of a test taken by a user with user ID "U1235" on July 15, 2021, in the data block of user ID "U1235" in the learning history DB 135 shown in FIG. 6, the "search date" is not registered for the word "software" and "audio playback" is "0" (unplayed), so it is determined that the unsearched condition is satisfied.

If the unsearched condition is met, it can be assumed that the user has not studied the meaning of the word because the user has not searched for the word. In addition, it can be assumed that the user cannot hear the word from the audio of the question sentence because the audio of the word has not been played. Therefore, if the unsearched condition is met, the server 10 selects the notation and translation of the word as hint information H (second hint information H2) for the word. In response to this, for example, in the above test taken by user ID "U1235", the notation and translation of the word "software" are displayed as the second hint information H2 in the hint display area 54 as shown in FIG. 11B. The user can identify the word that he or she could not hear by being presented with the notation of the word as the second hint information H2, and can also understand the meaning of the word from the translation of the hint information H.

In the listening test of this embodiment, for words for which the learning history DB135 contains a search history and for which the learning history DB135 contains a history of playing the audio of the word, the word is considered to be one for which the user has a high level of proficiency, and no hint information is displayed.

When the server 10 selects hint information H by performing a hint information selection process for each word (hint target word) included in the hint section, it selects a predetermined number of words for which hint information H is to be displayed on the test screen 50. The number of words selected here is determined according to the "number of listening hints" in the user management DB 134. The method of selecting words for which hint information H is to be displayed is not particularly limited, but may be, for example, a method of selecting words in order of difficulty. That is, when the "number of listening hints" is "1", the word with the highest difficulty level is selected from the multiple hint target words included in the hint section, and the hint information H of the word is transmitted to the terminal device 20 and displayed on the test screen 50. When the "number of listening hints" is "2" or more, the hint information H of the number of words selected in order of difficulty level is transmitted to the terminal device 20 and displayed in a list or order on the test screen 50. When the "number of listening hints" is "all", the hint information H of all hint target words included in the hint section is transmitted to the terminal device 20 and displayed in a list or order on the test screen 50.

Next, the operation of presenting the hint information H in the reading test will be described.
FIG. 12A shows a test screen 80 for taking a reading test.
The test screen 80 displays a question display area 81 in which the question is displayed, an answer button 82 for answering the question, a hint request button 83 for requesting hint information H, a hint display area 84 in which the hint information H is displayed, and an end test button 85 for ending the test. The functions of the answer button 82, the hint request button 83, the hint display area 84, and the end test button 85 are the same as those of the answer button 52, the hint request button 53, the hint display area 54, and the end test button 55 described above.

When the test screen 80 is displayed and the reading test is started, the terminal device 20 receives question sentence data from the server 10. The question sentence data includes text data of the question sentence and correct answer data. If the question includes an image, the question sentence data further includes image data of the image, and the image is displayed on the test screen 80 after the question sentence data is acquired.

When reception of the question data is complete, the text of the question is displayed in the question display area 81 of the test screen 80. Here, a question is displayed in which the user must select an appropriate word from options A to D to fill in the blank in the question. Based on the content of the question, the user can answer the question by selecting the answer button 82 of the option that the user believes to be correct from among multiple answer buttons 82. When any answer button 82 is selected, the result of the correct/incorrect judgment is displayed on the display unit 25. Alternatively, after the user has finished answering multiple questions, the correct/incorrect judgment results for the multiple questions may be displayed together.

After the question is displayed, before selecting the answer button 82, the user can request the presentation of hint information related to the question by selecting the hint request button 83. When the hint request button 83 is selected, a request to send hint data including hint information H is sent from the terminal device 20 to the server 10. When the terminal device 20 receives the hint data from the server 10, it displays (presents) the hint information H in the hint display area 84 of the test screen 80. In FIG. 12A, from among the multiple words constituting the question excluding options A to D, "unnecessarily" is selected as the word for which hint information H is to be presented, and second hint information H2 for that word is displayed.

In the reading test, different hint information H is selected depending on the user's search history for the word ("unnecessarily") for which hint information H is presented. In the reading test of this embodiment, depending on the search history, second hint information H2 containing the spelling and item information (here, translation) of the word "unnecessarily" in an English-Japanese dictionary is displayed in some cases as shown in FIG. 12A, and first hint information H1 containing the spelling and item information of the word "unnecessarily" in an English-English dictionary is displayed in other cases as shown in FIG. 12B. The operation of the server 10 in selecting hint information H is described below.

In the reading test, the first search history condition among the above-mentioned multiple search history conditions is a first search time condition that is satisfied when the last time the word to be displayed in the hint information H was searched for is after the reference time (corresponding to the "first situation"). The second search history condition among the multiple search history conditions is a second search time condition that is satisfied when the last time the word to be displayed in the hint information H was searched for is before the above-mentioned reference time (corresponding to the "second situation") and when there is no search history for the word (corresponding to the "second situation"). The above-mentioned reference time can be set so that the length of the period from the reference time to the current time is within the range of the length of the period during which memory of the learning content of the searched word is usually maintained, and may be, for example, about one month. The satisfaction status of these first search time condition and second search time condition is determined based on the data string of "search date" in the learning history DB 135.

When the first search time condition is satisfied, the user is considered to have memorized the meaning of the word learned by searching for the word after the reference time point, and to have a certain level of proficiency with respect to the word. Therefore, when the first search time condition is satisfied, the server 10 selects, as hint information H (first hint information H1), item information from an English-English dictionary that is difficult to read (low ease of reading), as shown in FIG. 12B.

On the other hand, if the second search time condition is met, the user may have forgotten the meaning of a word learned by searching for the word before the reference time, or the user is deemed not to have learned the meaning of the word because the user has not searched for the word. Therefore, if the second search time condition is met, the server 10 selects, as hint information H (second hint information H2), entry information from an English-Japanese dictionary that is low in readability (high in readability), as shown in FIG. 12A.

The English-Japanese dictionary and English-English dictionary mentioned above are examples in which the native language of the user performing the test is Japanese. If the user's native language is something other than Japanese, a dictionary in which item information is written in the user's native language can be used instead of the English-Japanese dictionary, and a dictionary in which item information is written in a language other than the user's native language can be used instead of the English-English dictionary.

In addition, in the reading test, as in the listening test described above, the user may be allowed to specify the hint location. For example, as shown in FIG. 13, in a question in which the appropriate answer to the question "What is the software?" is to be selected from among options A to D, when the hint request button 83 is selected, the option for which hint information H is to be presented may be specified as the hint location. FIG. 13 illustrates an example in which the user selects option B by a tapping operation or the like. In this state, by selecting the hint display button 86, a word for which hint information H is to be displayed is selected from among the multiple words constituting the text of option B, and the hint information H related to that word is displayed by the above method.

The first search history condition and the second search history condition are not limited to the above. When the first search history condition is satisfied when the search history status of the word to be displayed in the hint information H is a first status, the second search history condition can be any condition that is satisfied when the search history status of the word is a second status indicating a lower level of proficiency in the item than the first status. In addition, the second hint information H2 selected when the second search history condition is satisfied can be arbitrarily selected from the item information of the word so as to have a larger amount of information or be easier to read than the first hint information H1 selected when the first search history condition is satisfied.

(View hint history)
In the learning support service provided by the learning support system 1, a user can perform a specified operation on the learning application 231 to display a list of words corresponding to hint information H that has been previously presented to the user on the hint history screen 70.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the hint history screen 70. As shown in FIG.
The hint history screen 70 displays a list of hint history words 71, which are words corresponding to hint information H presented in the past, a hint history screen close button 72 for closing the hint history screen 70, and the like. For each hint history word 71, the date on which the hint information H related to that hint history word 71 was displayed is displayed. The hint history words 71 and dates displayed on the hint history screen 70 are specified based on the "hint display date" in the learning history DB 135. By performing an operation to select a hint history word 71, it is possible to transition to the dictionary screen 40 (FIG. 8) which includes item information for that word.

(Control procedure for word search processing)
Next, a control procedure for a word search process for displaying the dictionary screen 40 in FIG. 8 will be described.
FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a control procedure for the word search process.
In FIG. 15, the word search process executed by the CPU 21 of the terminal device 20 and the word search process executed by the CPU 11 of the server 10 are shown side by side.

When the word search process is started, the CPU 21 of the terminal device 20 displays the dictionary screen 40 on the display unit 25 (step S101). At this stage, the item information display area 42 may be blank.

The CPU 21 determines whether or not a word search operation has been performed by the user, i.e., whether or not the spelling of a word has been entered into the search box 41 and an instruction to execute a search has been received (step S102). If it is determined that a word search operation has been performed ("YES" in step S102), the CPU 21 requests word data of the specified word (data including item information of the word) from the server 10 (step S103). Here, the CPU 21 transmits a word data request signal to the server 10.

When the CPU 11 of the server 10 receives a word data request signal, it refers to the dictionary DB 132 and transmits word data including the item information of the specified word to the terminal device 20 (step S201). The CPU 11 also updates the word search history in the learning history DB 135 (step S202). Here, the CPU 11 registers the search date of the word to be searched for in the data block of the learning history DB 135 that corresponds to the logged-in user.

When the CPU 21 of the terminal device 20 receives the word data, it displays the item information of the word in the item information display area 42 of the dictionary screen 40 (step S104).

The CPU 21 determines whether or not an operation to select the audio playback button 43 has been performed (step S105), and if it is determined that such an operation has been performed ("YES" in step S105), it requests the server 10 for audio data of the word (step S106). Here, the CPU 21 transmits a request signal for audio data to the server 10.

When the CPU 11 of the server 10 receives the request signal for audio data, it refers to the "audio file path" in the dictionary DB 132, acquires the audio data of the specified word, and transmits it to the terminal device 20 (step S203). The CPU 11 also updates the audio playback history of the word in the learning history DB 135 (step S204). Here, the CPU 11 changes the "audio playback" item of the search target word to "1" in the data block in the learning history DB 135 that corresponds to the logged-in user.

When the CPU 21 of the terminal device 20 receives the voice data of the word, it plays back the voice of the word (step S107). Here, the CPU 11 supplies the voice data to the voice output unit 26, and causes the voice output unit 26 to output the voice of the word.

When step S107 is completed, when it is determined in step S102 that the word search operation has not been performed ("NO" in step S102), or when it is determined in step S105 that the voice playback button 43 has not been selected ("NO" in step S105), the CPU 21 determines whether or not the dictionary screen end button 44 has been selected (step S108). When it is determined that the dictionary screen end button 44 has not been selected ("NO" in step S108), the CPU 21 returns the process to step S102. When it is determined that the dictionary screen end button 44 has been selected ("YES" in step S108), the CPU 21 closes the dictionary screen 40 (step S109) and ends the word search process.
Furthermore, when the process of step S204 ends, the CPU 11 of the server 10 ends the word search process.

(Test process control procedure)
Next, a control procedure for the test process for carrying out the above-mentioned test operation will be described, taking as an example the test process for carrying out a listening test.
FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a control procedure of the test process executed by the CPU 21 of the terminal device 20.

When the test process is started, the CPU 21 of the terminal device 20 displays the test screen 50 on the display unit 25 (step S301). The CPU 21 also requests question sentence data from the server 10 and receives the question sentence data (step S302).

The CPU 21 determines whether or not an operation to select the question playback button 51 has been performed (step S303). If it is determined that such an operation has been performed ("YES" in step S303), the CPU 21 (question setting means) plays back audio data of the question and sets the question (step S304). Here, the CPU 21 supplies the audio data to the audio output unit 26, and causes the audio output unit 26 to output the audio of the question.

The CPU 21 determines whether an operation to select the hint request button 53 has been performed (step S305), and if it is determined that such an operation has been performed ("YES" in step S305), displays the hint location selection screen 60 (step S306). The CPU 21 determines whether an operation to select a hint location has been performed using the selection button 61 and the hint display button 62 (step S307), and if it is determined that such an operation has not been performed ("NO" in step S307), executes step S307 again.

If it is determined that an operation to select a hint location has been performed ("YES" in step S307), the CPU 21 requests hint data including hint information H for the selected hint location from the server 10 and receives the hint data (step S308). Upon receiving the hint data, the CPU 21 (hint information presenting means) displays the hint information H in the hint display area 54 of the test screen 50 (step S309). The CPU 21 also requests the server 10 to register the hint display history for the word for which the hint information H is displayed (step S310).

When the processing of step S310 is completed, or when it is determined in step S305 that the operation of selecting the hint request button has not been performed ("NO" in step S305), the CPU 21 determines whether or not the operation of selecting the answer button 52 has been performed (step S311). When it is determined that the operation of selecting the answer button 52 has not been performed ("NO" in step S311), the CPU 21 returns the processing to step S305. When it is determined that the operation of selecting the answer button 52 has been performed ("YES" in step S311), the CPU 21 determines whether the answer is correct by referring to the correct answer data included in the question sentence data, and displays the correctness determination result (step S312).

When the process of step S312 is completed, or when it is determined in step S303 that the operation to select the question sentence playback button 51 has not been performed ("NO" in step S303), the CPU 21 determines whether or not the operation to select the end test button 55 has been performed (step S313). When it is determined that the operation to select the end test button 55 has not been performed ("NO" in step S313), the CPU 21 returns the process to step S303, and when it is determined that the operation has been performed ("YES" in step S313), the test screen 50 is closed (step S314) and the test process is terminated.
Steps S308 and S309 in the test process in FIG. 16 correspond to the "hint information presentation process."

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing a control procedure of the test process executed by the CPU 11 of the server 10.
The test process on the server 10 side in FIG. 17 is executed in parallel with the test process on the terminal device 20 side in FIG.

When the test process is started, the CPU 11 of the server 10 determines whether or not a request to send question sentence data has been received from the terminal device 20 (step S401). If it is determined that a request to send question sentence data has not been received (step S401: NO), the CPU 11 executes step S401 again. If it is determined that a request to send question sentence data has been received (step S401: YES), the CPU 11 refers to the data strings of "audio file path", "image file path", and "correct answer" in the test DB 133, and sends the question sentence data including the audio data of the question sentence, image data, and correct answer data to the terminal device 20 (step S402).

The CPU 11 (accepting means) determines whether or not a request to send hint data has been received from the terminal device 20, i.e., whether or not a request to present hint information related to the question posed to the user has been received (step S403). If the CPU 11 determines that a request to send hint data has not been received ("NO" in step S403), it executes step S403 again, and if it determines that a request to send hint data has been received ("YES" in step S403), it executes a hint data generation process (step S404).

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing a control procedure of the hint data generation process.
When the hint data generation process is called, the CPU 11 refers to the data string of "text" in the test DB 133, and generates a list of a plurality of words constituting the hint portion from the text list of the question sentence (step S501).

The CPU 11 assigns "0" to the variable N (step S502), and determines whether the value of the variable N is less than the number of words in the word list generated in step S501 (step S503). If it is determined that the value of the variable N is less than the number of words in the word list ("YES" in step S503), the CPU 11 determines whether the Nth word in the word list corresponds to the above-mentioned hint target word (step S504). Here, the CPU 11 refers to the data columns of "part of speech" and "learning difficulty" in the dictionary DB 132, and determines that if the word corresponds to the above-mentioned excluded word, such as numerals, proper nouns, or words with a learning difficulty below a threshold, it does not correspond to a hint target word.

If it is determined that the Nth word is a hint target word ("YES" in step S504), the CPU 11 determines whether the Nth word is a searched word (step S505). Here, the CPU 11 refers to a data block in the learning history DB 135 that corresponds to the user taking the test, and determines that the word is a searched word if a search date has been registered for the word.

If it is determined that the Nth word is not a searched word ("NO" in step S505), the CPU 11 determines that the unsearched condition (second search history condition) is satisfied, and selects the spelling and translation of the Nth word as hint information H (second hint information H2) (step S506). Here, the CPU 11 refers to the item information of the Nth word in the dictionary DB 132, and obtains the spelling and translation data of the word from the item information.

The CPU 11 determines whether the Nth word is a word with multiple meanings (step S509). For example, the word "bear" has two meanings, "bear" and "endure." Such words are registered in two separate entries in the dictionary DB 132, so the CPU 11 determines that a word registered in two or more separate entries in the dictionary DB 132 is a word with multiple meanings. If it is determined that the word is a word with multiple meanings ("YES" in step S509), the CPU 11 selects an appropriate translation of the word according to the translation of the question sentence based on the translation of the question sentence registered in the "translation" data column in the test DB 133 (step S510).

When step S510 is completed, or when it is determined in step S509 that the word is not one with multiple meanings ("NO" in step S509), the CPU 11 adds the selected hint information H to the hint data (step S511).

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S505 that the Nth word is a word that has been searched for ("YES" in step S505), CPU 11 determines whether the Nth word is a word that has been audibly played back (step S507). Here, CPU 11 refers to the data block in learning history DB 135 that corresponds to the user taking the test, and determines that the word is a word that has been audibly played back if the data string for "audio playback" for that word is "1".

If it is determined that the Nth word is not a word that has been played back ("NO" in step S507), the CPU 11 determines that the non-playback condition (first search history condition) is met, and selects only the spelling of the Nth word as hint information H (first hint information H1) (step S508). Here, the CPU 11 refers to the item information of the Nth word in the dictionary DB 132, and obtains data on the spelling of the word from the item information. The CPU 11 then transitions to step S511, and adds the selected hint information H to the hint data.

If it is determined that the Nth word is a word that has already been played back ("YES" in step S507), the CPU 11 considers the word to be highly familiar and proceeds to processing step S512 without selecting hint information H for that word. Also, when step S511 is completed, or when it is determined in step S504 that the Nth word is not a hint target word ("NO" in step S504), step S512 is executed. In step S512, the CPU 11 assigns "N+1" to the variable N and proceeds to processing step S503.

In step S503, if it is determined that the value of the variable N is equal to or greater than the number of words in the word list (NO in step S503), the CPU 11 selects words the number of which corresponds to the "number of presented listening hints" in the user management DB 134, and generates hint data including hint information H for the selected words (step S513). In other words, the CPU 11 adjusts the number of words included in the hint data (the number of pieces of hint information H) in accordance with the "number of presented listening hints" in the user management DB 134.
When step S513 ends, the CPU 11 ends the hint data generation process and returns the process to the test process.
18, steps S504, S505, and S507 are executed by the CPU 11 as an acquisition unit and a determination unit, while steps S506, and S508 to S511 are executed by the CPU 11 as a determination unit.

When the hint data generation process (step S404) in FIG. 17 is completed, the CPU 11 transmits the generated hint data to the terminal device 20 (step S405).

In response to a hint display history registration request from the terminal device 20 (step S310 in FIG. 16), the CPU 11 registers the word for which the hint information H is displayed in the learning history DB 135 (step S406). Here, the CPU 11 registers the date on which the hint was displayed in the "hint display date" in the learning history DB 135.
When step S406 ends, the CPU 11 ends the test process.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing a control procedure for the hint data generation process in the reading test.
When the reading test is being performed, the hint data generation process of Fig. 19 is executed instead of the hint data generation process of Fig. 18. Steps S601 to S605 and S609 to S613 in the hint data generation process of Fig. 19 are the same as steps S501 to S505 and S509 to S513 in the hint data generation process of Fig. 18, respectively, and therefore will not be described.

In the hint data generation process of FIG. 19, if the CPU 11 determines in step S605 that the Nth word is a searched word ("YES" in step S605), it determines whether the date and time when the word was last searched is after the reference time point (step S606). If it determines that the search date and time is after the reference time point ("YES" in step S606), the CPU 11 determines that the first search time condition (first search history condition) is satisfied, and selects the notation and item information of the Nth word in the English-English dictionary as hint information H (first hint information H1) (step S607). Here, the CPU 11 refers to the item information of the Nth word in the English-English dictionary in the dictionary DB 132, and acquires data of the notation and item information of the word.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S605 that the Nth word has not been searched for ("NO" in step S605), or if it is determined in step S606 that the date and time when the word was last searched for is before the reference time point ("NO" in step S606), the CPU 11 determines that the second search time condition (second search history condition) is satisfied, and selects the spelling and translation of the Nth word in the English-Japanese dictionary as hint information H (second hint information H2) (step S608). Here, the CPU 11 refers to the item information of the Nth word in the English-Japanese dictionary in the dictionary DB 132, and obtains the spelling and translation data of the word from the item information.
The subsequent processing is similar to the hint data generation processing in FIG.
19, steps S604 to S606 are executed by the CPU 11 as an acquisition unit and a determination unit, and steps S507 to S611 are executed by the CPU 11 as a determination unit.

(Control procedure for hint history display process)
Next, a control procedure for a hint history display process for performing a hint history display operation using the hint history screen 70 in FIG. 14 will be described.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing a control procedure for the hint history display process.
The hint history display process is executed by the CPU 11 as a hint history presenting means. When the hint history display process is started, the CPU 21 of the terminal device 20 causes the display unit 25 to display the hint history screen 70 (step S701).

The CPU 21 acquires hint history data relating to hint information H that has been displayed in the past from the server 10 (step S702). Here, the server 10 transmits hint history data including data on words for which the "hint display date" is registered in the learning history DB 135 to the terminal device 20. Upon receiving the hint history data, the CPU 21 displays the hint history words 71 on the hint history screen 70 (step S703).

The CPU 21 determines whether an operation to select a hint history word 71 has been performed (step S704). If it is determined that the operation has been performed ("YES" in step S704), the CPU 21 transitions the display on the display unit 25 to the dictionary screen 40 (step S705), acquires item information of the selected word from the dictionary DB 132 from the server 10 (step S706), and displays the item information of the selected word on the dictionary screen 40 (step S707).

The CPU 21 determines whether or not an operation to select the dictionary screen exit button 44 has been performed (step S708), and if it is determined that the operation has not been performed ("NO" in step S708), executes step S708 again. If it is determined that the operation has been performed ("YES" in step S708), the CPU 21 closes the dictionary screen 40 (step S709) and ends the hint history display process.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S704 that no operation has been performed to select the hint history word 71 ("NO" in step S704), the CPU 21 determines whether or not an operation has been performed to select the hint history screen end button 72 (step S710). If the CPU 21 determines that no such operation has been performed ("NO" in step S710), the process returns to step S704, and if it determines that such operation has been performed ("YES" in step S710), the CPU 21 closes the hint history screen 70 (step S711) and ends the hint history display process.

＜Effects＞
As described above, the server 10 as an information processing device according to the present embodiment has a CPU 11, and the CPU 11 acquires search history information from the learning history DB 135 for words related to a question given to the user (acquisition means), judges whether the search history information satisfies the search history conditions (judgment means), and determines hint information H related to the question to be presented to the user based on the judgment result of the satisfaction state (determination means). This makes it possible to select and determine hint information H with appropriate content according to the state of the user's search history of the word. Therefore, it is possible to present to the user appropriate hint information H according to the user's proficiency with the word. In addition, the user can check the information he or she needs (word notation and translation) at the appropriate time, so that he or she can study efficiently.

The CPU 11 also determines whether or not different search history conditions are satisfied for the search history information (determination means), and one of the search history conditions is a first search history condition that is satisfied when the search history status of the word is a first status, and another of the search history conditions is a second search history condition that is satisfied when the search history status of the word is a second status that indicates a lower proficiency level for the word than the first status. When the first search history condition is satisfied, the CPU 11 as a determination means selects the first hint information H1 from among the item information related to the word as the hint information H to be presented to the user, and when the second search history condition is satisfied, selects the second hint information H2, which has a larger amount of information or is easier to read than the first hint information H1, from among the item information related to the word as the hint information H to be presented to the user. This makes it possible to present to the user hint information H with an appropriate amount of information or hint information H with appropriate readability according to the user's proficiency with the word.

In addition, the word to be displayed in the hint information H is any one of multiple words that make up the question sentence, the question is presented by audio of the question sentence, the first search history condition is an audio non-playback condition that is satisfied when the learning history DB 135 contains a history of searching for the word but does not contain a history of playing the audio of the word, and the second search history condition is an unsearched condition that is satisfied when the learning history DB 135 does not contain a history of searching for the word, and the CPU 11, as a determination means, selects the spelling of the word as the first hint information H1 when the audio non-playback condition is satisfied, and selects the spelling and translation of the word as the second hint information H2 when the unsearched condition is satisfied.
When the audio non-playback condition is met, it can be presumed that the user taking the test has already searched for the word and can grasp the meaning from the spelling of the word. On the other hand, since the audio of the word has not been played, it can be presumed that the user cannot hear the word from the audio of the question sentence. Therefore, when the audio non-playback condition is met in the listening test, by selecting the spelling of the word as hint information H, the user can identify the word that he or she could not hear and link it to the meaning of the learned word. Therefore, it is possible to present appropriate hint information H according to the user's level of proficiency with the word.
On the other hand, when the unsearched condition is satisfied, it can be assumed that the user has not learned the meaning of the word. In addition, since the audio of the word is not played, it can be assumed that the user cannot hear the word from the audio of the question sentence. Therefore, when the unsearched condition is satisfied in the listening test, by selecting the notation and translation of the word as the hint information H, the user can identify the word that he or she could not hear from the notation of the word in the hint information H, and can also understand the meaning of the word from the translation of the word in the hint information H. Therefore, it is possible to present appropriate hint information H according to the user's level of proficiency in the word.
Furthermore, by presenting the spelling of words as hint information H, even if the user does not recognize the word in the question sentence in the listening test and is unable to identify the spelling to search the dictionary, the user can be provided with the information (spelling) necessary to continue learning, thereby improving the user's learning efficiency.

The word to be displayed in the hint information H is any one of a plurality of words constituting the question sentence, and the question is set by displaying the question sentence. The first search history condition is a first search time condition that is satisfied when the last time the word was searched is after the reference time, and the second search history condition is a second search time condition that is satisfied when the last time the word was searched is before the reference time and when the search history information does not include a history of searching the word. In this way, it is possible to present to the user hint information H with an appropriate amount of information according to the length of time that has elapsed since the last time the word was searched (learned) (and the presence or absence of a search history), or hint information H with appropriate readability. In other words, if the last time the word was searched is before the reference time (or there is no search history), it is assumed that the learning contents of the word may be forgotten (or not learned), and hint information H with a large amount of information or hint information H with high readability can be presented.

In addition, the CPU 11 as the determining means selects the first hint information H1 from the item information of the English-English dictionary (item information written in a language other than the user's native language) in the dictionary DB 132 when the first search time condition is satisfied in the reading test, and selects the second hint information H2 from the item information of the English-Japanese dictionary (item information written in the user's native language) in the dictionary DB 132 when the second search time condition is satisfied. In this way, when the time elapsed since the last time a word was searched (learned) is short, the item information of the English-English dictionary with low legibility is presented as the hint information H, so that the first hint information H1 at a level suitable for a user with high proficiency can be presented, and the user can be encouraged to learn additional English related to the contents of the English-English dictionary. In addition, when the time elapsed since the last time a word was searched (learned) is long, and when the word has not been searched, the item information of the English-Japanese dictionary with high legibility is presented as the hint information H, so that the second hint information H2 at a level suitable for a user with low proficiency can be presented.

The CPU 11, which serves as a determination means, selects words for which hint information H is to be displayed from among a plurality of words whose mastery difficulty is equal to or higher than a predetermined lower limit of mastery difficulty (in the above embodiment, words whose mastery difficulty is equal to or higher than a threshold). This makes it possible to avoid displaying hint information H that is unnecessary for many users.

The CPU 11, which serves as a hint history presentation means, presents to the user words corresponding to hint information H that has been presented to the user in the past, based on the learning history DB 135, which contains hint history information relating to the presentation history of hint information H to the user. This allows the user to effectively review words.

The CPU 11, acting as a determination means, may also select multiple pieces of hint information H corresponding to multiple words related to the question. This allows an appropriate amount of hint information H to be provided to the user.

The terminal device 20 according to this embodiment has a CPU 21, and the CPU 11 asks a question to the user (question setting means) and presents hint information H to the user in response to a request for presentation of hint information H related to the question asked to the user (hint information presenting means). The hint information H presented by the CPU 21 as hint information presenting means is determined based on the determination result of the satisfaction status of the search history conditions for the search history information of the word related to the question. This makes it possible to present the user with appropriate hint information H according to the user's proficiency with the word. Furthermore, the user can check the information he or she needs (word spelling and translation) in a timely manner, allowing him or her to study efficiently.

The learning support system 1 as an information processing system according to this embodiment includes a server 10 and a terminal device 20 as information processing devices, and the CPU 21 of the terminal device 20 asks a question to the user (question setting means), the CPU 11 of the server 10 acquires search history information from the learning history DB 135 for words related to the question asked to the user (acquisition means), determines whether the search history conditions are satisfied for the search history information (determination means), and determines hint information H related to the question to be presented to the user based on the determination result of the satisfaction state (determination means), and the CPU 21 of the terminal device 20 presents the hint information H determined by the CPU 11 as the determination means of the server 10 to the user (hint information presentation means). This makes it possible to present the user with appropriate hint information H according to the user's proficiency with the word. Furthermore, the user can check the information he or she needs (word notation and translation) in a timely manner, and therefore can study efficiently.

The information processing method according to this embodiment is an information processing method executed by the computer (CPU 11 and CPU 21) of the learning support system 1 as an information processing system, which asks a question to a user, acquires search history information from learning history DB 135 for words related to the question asked to the user, determines whether the search history information satisfies search history conditions, and determines hint information H related to the question to be presented to the user based on the determination result of the satisfaction state, and presents the determined hint information H to the user. This makes it possible to present the user with appropriate hint information H according to the user's level of proficiency with the word. Furthermore, the user can check the information he or she needs (word spelling and translation) in a timely manner, allowing him or her to study efficiently.

The server control program 131 according to this embodiment also causes the CPU 11, a computer provided in the server 10 as an information processing device, to function as an acquisition means for acquiring search history information from the learning history DB 135 for words related to a question posed to the user, a determination means for determining whether the search history information satisfies search history conditions, and a determination means for determining hint information H related to the question to be presented to the user based on the determination result of the satisfaction state. This makes it possible to present to the user appropriate hint information H according to the user's level of proficiency with the words.

＜Other＞
The description in the above embodiment is merely an example of the information processing device, the terminal device, the information processing system, the information processing method, and the program according to the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to this.
For example, a part or all of the processes executed by the server 10 in the above embodiment may be executed by the terminal device 20. When the hint information selection process is executed by the CPU 21 of the terminal device 20, the terminal device 20 corresponds to the "information processing device".

In addition, although an example has been given of hint information being displayed on the test screen 50, the present invention is not limited to this, and the hint information may be presented by audio output instead of or in addition to display. For example, in the test screen 50 of FIG. 11A, in addition to the display of the word "software," the audio of the word may be output from the audio output unit 26.

In addition, in the listening test, the hint information H may be changed based on whether the first search time condition and the second search time condition are satisfied. For example, if the last time the word was searched for is after the reference time (if the first search time condition is satisfied), only the spelling of the word may be selected as the hint information H, and if the last time the word was searched for is before the reference time and there is no search history for the word (if the second search time condition is satisfied), the spelling and translation of the word may be selected as the hint information H.

Furthermore, the first hint information H1 and the second hint information H2 are not limited to those exemplified in the above embodiment. The first hint information H1 and the second hint information H2 may be any information selected so that the second hint information H2 contains more information or is easier to read than the first hint information H1.

The multiple search history conditions may include three or more search history conditions. For example, the number of times a word was searched or the time when the word was last searched may be divided into three or more categories, and the contents of the hint information may be varied using the results of determining which of the three or more search history conditions are satisfied when the category corresponds to each category.

In addition, if the multiple search history conditions to be determined include three or more search history conditions, the hint information H may be determined according to the number of search history conditions that are satisfied.

In addition, the search history conditions are not limited to those exemplified in the above embodiment, but can be conditions for determining whether a search has been performed or not, the number of searches, the frequency of searches (search interval), and the time of the search, based on any parameter related to the search.

In the above embodiment, the satisfaction status of multiple different search history conditions is determined, and the hint information to be presented is determined based on the result of the determination. Alternatively, the hint information to be presented may be determined based on the result of the determination of the satisfaction status of one search history condition. For example, it may be determined only whether or not the "unsearched condition" is satisfied for the hint target word, and if it is determined that the "unsearched condition" is satisfied, the spelling and translation of the word may be displayed as hint information, and if it is determined that the "unsearched condition" is not satisfied, the hint information may not be displayed.

In the above explanation, an example has been disclosed in which the HDD or SSD of the storage unit 13 is used as a computer-readable medium for the program according to the present invention, but this is not limiting. As other computer-readable media, information recording media such as flash memory and CD-ROM can be applied. Furthermore, carrier waves can also be applied to the present invention as a medium for providing data for the program according to the present invention via a communication line.

Furthermore, the detailed configurations and detailed operations of the components of the learning support system 1, the server 10, and the terminal device 20 in the above embodiment may of course be modified as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but includes the scope of the invention described in the claims and its equivalents.
The invention as described in the claims originally attached to this application is set forth below. The claim numbers in the appended claims are the same as those in the claims originally attached to this application.
[Additional Notes]
<Claim 1>
An acquisition means for acquiring search history information regarding words related to a question given to a user;
A determination means for determining whether or not the search history information satisfies a search history condition;
a determination means for determining hint information related to the problem to be presented to the user based on a result of the determination of the satisfaction state;
An information processing device comprising:
<Claim 2>
The determining means determines whether the search history information satisfies a plurality of different search history conditions,
one of the plurality of search history conditions is a first search history condition that is satisfied when a search history status of the word is a first status;
Another one of the plurality of search history conditions is a second search history condition that is satisfied when a search history status of the word is a second status indicating a lower proficiency level of the word than the first status,
The determining means is
If the first search history condition is satisfied, first hint information is selected from item information related to the word as the hint information to be presented to the user;
2. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein, when the second search history condition is satisfied, second hint information that has a larger amount of information or is easier to read than the first hint information is selected from the item information related to the word as the hint information to be presented to the user.
<Claim 3>
The word is any one of a plurality of words constituting a question sentence of the question,
The question is presented by audio of the question sentence,
the first search history condition is a non-audio playback condition that is satisfied when the search history information includes a history of searching for the word and does not include a history of playing an audio of the word,
the second search history condition is a non-search condition that is satisfied when the search history information does not include a history of searching for the word,
The determining means is
If the audio non-playback condition is satisfied, selecting a spelling of the word as the first hint information;
3 . The information processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein, when the non-search condition is satisfied, a spelling and a translation of the word are selected as the second hint information.
<Claim 4>
The word is any one of a plurality of words constituting a question sentence of the question,
The question is presented by displaying or speaking the question text,
the first search history condition is a first search time condition that is satisfied when the last time the word was searched for is after a reference time point;
The information processing device according to claim 2, characterized in that the second search history condition is a second search time condition that is satisfied when the last time the word was searched for is before the reference time and when the search history information does not include a history of searching for the word.
<Claim 5>
The determining means is
If the first search time condition is satisfied, the first hint information is selected from the item information written in a language other than the user's native language;
5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein, when the second search time condition is satisfied, the second hint information is selected from the item information written in the user's native language.
<Claim 6>
The information processing device according to any one of claims 3 to 5, characterized in that the determination means selects the word from among the plurality of words whose mastery difficulty level is equal to or higher than a predetermined lower limit difficulty level.
<Claim 7>
The information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising a hint history presenting means for presenting to the user the word corresponding to the hint information previously presented to the user, based on hint history information relating to a presentation history of the hint information to the user.
<Claim 8>
6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determining means determines a plurality of pieces of hint information corresponding to a plurality of the words related to the question.
<Claim 9>
A question setting means for setting questions to a user;
a hint information presenting means for presenting the hint information to the user in response to a request for presenting the hint information related to the question given to the user;
Equipped with
the hint information presented by the hint information presenting means is determined based on a determination result of a satisfaction state of a search history condition for search history information of a word related to the question;
A terminal device comprising:
<Claim 10>
An information processing device and a terminal device are provided,
the terminal device has a question setting means for setting questions to a user,
The information processing device includes:
An acquisition means for acquiring search history information regarding words related to a question given to a user;
A determination means for determining whether or not the search history information satisfies a search history condition;
a determination means for determining hint information related to the problem to be presented to the user based on a result of the determination of the satisfaction state;
having
the terminal device has a hint information presenting means for presenting the hint information determined by the determining means to the user.
An information processing system comprising:
<Claim 11>
An information processing method executed by a computer of an information processing system, comprising:
Ask questions to users,
Acquire search history information for words related to the questions posed to the user;
determining whether the search history information satisfies a search history condition;
determining hint information related to the problem to be presented to the user based on the determination result of the satisfaction state;
presenting the determined hint information to the user;
23. An information processing method comprising:
<Claim 12>
A computer provided in the information processing device,
An acquisition means for acquiring search history information regarding words related to a question given to a user;
A determination means for determining whether or not the search history information satisfies a search history condition;
a determination means for determining hint information related to the problem to be presented to the user based on a result of the determination of the satisfaction state;
A program characterized by causing the program to function as a

1. Learning support system (information processing system)
10 Server (information processing device)
11 CPU (accepting means, acquiring means, determining means, deciding means, hint history presenting means)
13 Storage unit 131 Server control program (program)
132 Dictionary DB
133 Test DB
134 User management DB
135 Learning history DB (search history information, hint history information)
20 Terminal device 21 CPU (question setting means, hint information presenting means)
23 Storage unit 231 Learning application 40 Dictionary screen 50 Test screen 60 Hint part selection screen 70 Hint history screen 80 Test screen H Hint information H1 First hint information H2 Second hint information N Communication network

Claims (11)

An acquisition means for acquiring search history information for any one of a plurality of words constituting a question sentence of a question presented to a user by voice;
A determination means for determining whether or not the search history information satisfies a search history condition;
a determining means for determining hint information related to the question to be presented to the user from among item information related to the word based on the determination result of the satisfaction state;
Equipped with
one of the search history conditions is a first search history condition that is satisfied when the search history information includes a history of searching for the word and does not include a history of playing back an audio of the word;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determining means selects a spelling of the word as the hint information when the first search history condition is satisfied. The determining means determines whether the search history information satisfies a plurality of different search history conditions,
one of the plurality of search history conditions is the first search history condition,
another of the plurality of search history conditions is a second search history condition that is satisfied when a search history status of the word indicates a lower proficiency level for the word than when the first search history condition is satisfied;
The determining means is
If the first search history condition is satisfied, first hint information is selected from item information related to the word as the hint information to be presented to the user;
2. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein, when the second search history condition is satisfied, second hint information that has a larger amount of information or is easier to read than the first hint information is selected from the item information related to the word as the hint information to be presented to the user. the first search history condition is a non-audio playback condition that is satisfied when the search history information includes a history of searching for the word and does not include a history of playing an audio of the word,
the second search history condition is a non-search condition that is satisfied when the search history information does not include a history of searching for the word,
The determining means is
If the audio non-playback condition is satisfied, selecting a spelling of the word as the first hint information;
3 . The information processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein, when the non-search condition is satisfied, a spelling and a translation of the word are selected as the second hint information. the first search history condition is a first search time condition that is satisfied when the last time the word was searched for is after a reference time point and when no history of playing back a voice of the word is included ;
The information processing device according to claim 2, characterized in that the second search history condition is a second search time condition that is satisfied when the last time the word was searched for is before the reference time and when the search history information does not include a history of searching for the word. The determining means is
If the first search time condition is satisfied, the first hint information is selected from the item information written in a language other than the user's native language;
5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein, when the second search time condition is satisfied, the second hint information is selected from the item information written in the user's native language. The information processing device according to any one of claims 3 to 5, characterized in that the determination means determines the hint information from item information relating to words of the plurality of words whose mastery difficulty is equal to or higher than a predetermined lower limit difficulty. The information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising a hint history presenting means for presenting to the user the words corresponding to the hint information previously presented to the user, based on hint history information relating to a presentation history of the hint information to the user. The information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the determination means determines a plurality of pieces of hint information corresponding to a plurality of words related to the problem. An information processing device and a terminal device are provided,
the terminal device has a question setting means for setting questions to a user by voice,
The information processing device includes:
An acquisition means for acquiring search history information for any one of a plurality of words constituting a question sentence of a question presented to a user by voice;
A determination means for determining whether or not the search history information satisfies a search history condition;
a determining means for determining hint information related to the question to be presented to the user from among item information related to the word based on the determination result of the satisfaction state;
having
one of the search history conditions is a first search history condition that is satisfied when the search history information includes a history of searching for the word and does not include a history of playing back an audio of the word;
the determining means, when the first search history condition is satisfied, selects a spelling of the word as the hint information;
the terminal device has a hint information presenting means for presenting the hint information determined by the determining means to the user.
An information processing system comprising: An information processing method executed by a computer of an information processing system, comprising:
a question setting step of setting a question to a user by voice;
An acquisition step of acquiring search history information for any one of a plurality of words constituting a question sentence by a voice presented to a user;
a determination step of determining whether the search history information satisfies a search history condition;
a determining step of determining hint information related to the question to be presented to the user from among item information related to the word based on the determination result of the satisfaction state;
a presentation step of presenting the determined hint information to the user;
having
one of the search history conditions is a first search history condition that is satisfied when the search history information includes a history of searching for the word and does not include a history of playing back an audio of the word;
The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the determining step selects a spelling of the word as the hint information if the first search history condition is satisfied. A computer provided in the information processing device,
An acquisition means for acquiring search history information for any one of a plurality of words constituting a question sentence of a question presented to a user by voice;
A determination means for determining whether or not the search history information satisfies a search history condition;
a determining means for determining hint information related to the question to be presented to the user from among item information related to the word based on a determination result of the satisfaction state;
Function as a
one of the search history conditions is a first search history condition that is satisfied when the search history information includes a history of searching for the word and does not include a history of playing back an audio of the word;
The program, wherein the determining means selects a spelling of the word as the hint information when the first search history condition is satisfied.

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