Patent Publication Number: US-2023162105-A1

Title: Information processing system and method for assigning responder to inquiry

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO PRIOR APPLICATION 
     This application relates to and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application number 2021-189409, filed on Nov. 22, 2021 the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     BACKGROUND 
     The present invention relates generally to a technique for assigning a responder. 
     Currently, in a task (service) in which an inquiry is received from a user (e.g., a customer such as a consumer) and an answer is returned, a person having received the inquiry assigns himself/herself as a responder, based on the type of the inquiry (e.g., the person answers the inquiry as the responder), or the person selects, based on an empirical determination of the person, another person as a responder, and assigns the other person to respond to the inquiry. 
     Note that a technique for assigning a responder for a failure message or error information generated from an apparatus is disclosed in each of PTL 1 and PTL 2. 
     PATENT LITERATURE 
     
         
         [PTL 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2013-54425 
         [PTL 2] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2020-129246 
       
    
     SUMMARY 
     In the case where the inquiry is related to a failure of an apparatus, it is conceivable to assign a responder to the inquiry by using the technique disclosed in each of PTL 1 and PTL 2. 
     However, the inquiry made by a customer is not limited to a fixed phrase such as the failure message or the error information generated from the apparatus, and hence, even when the technique disclosed in each of PTL 1 and PTL 2 is used, an appropriate person is not necessarily assigned as a responder first. In the case where the assigned person is not appropriate as the responder, an escalation from the assigned person to another person occurs. Consequently, it takes time before the inquiry is answered. In addition, the other person is not necessarily an appropriate responder and, therefore, reoccurrence of the escalation may be repeated. As a result, it takes more time before the inquiry is answered. Because of the above reasons, it is desired to reduce the number of times of occurrence of the escalation for one inquiry (preferably reduce the number of times thereof to zero), i.e., shorten an escalation path for one inquiry (preferably reduce the length of the escalation path to zero). 
     An information processing system receives an inquiry of a user, and assigns a responder having a skill required for the received inquiry to respond to the inquiry, based on inquiry response history information which is information serving as a history of an inquiry response. The inquiry response history information includes, for each responder, information representing the skill of the responder and a statistic of a response period which is a period required for the inquiry response. In addition, the inquiry response history information includes, for each escalation, information representing the skill required for an escalation-target inquiry response, information representing the responder of each of an escalation source and an escalation destination of the escalation, and a statistic of a response period of the escalation. Further, the inquiry response history information includes, for each escalation path, information representing the skill required for the escalation-target inquiry response, information representing the order of one or more responders constituting the escalation path, and a statistic of a response period of the escalation path. The information processing system determines whether or not an escalation from an assigned responder to another responder is necessary and, in the case where the escalation is necessary, executes the escalation including assigning the responder having the skill required for the received inquiry as the escalation destination based on the inquiry response history information. The information processing system transmits an answer for the received inquiry from the responder to the user. Every time the inquiry of the user is received and then the inquiry is answered to the user, the information processing system updates the inquiry response history information, based on the skill required for the response to the received inquiry, the skill of the responder assigned to the inquiry, the response period required for the inquiry response by the responder, and, in the case where one or more escalations are performed for the inquiry, the response period of each escalation and the response period of the escalation path. 
     According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the number of times of occurrence of an escalation for an inquiry to thereby return an appropriate answer to the inquiry quickly. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG.  1    shows the configuration of an overall system including an information processing system according to an embodiment; 
         FIG.  2    shows the configuration of the information processing system according to the embodiment; 
         FIG.  3    shows the configuration of an inquiry response table; 
         FIG.  4    shows the configuration of a responder table; 
         FIG.  5    shows the configuration of a skill classification table; 
         FIG.  6    shows the configuration of an inquiry type table; 
         FIG.  7    shows the configuration of a word list table; 
         FIG.  8    shows the configuration of an escalation table; 
         FIG.  9    shows the configuration of an escalation path table; 
         FIG.  10    shows a flowchart of inquiry response processing; 
         FIG.  11    shows a flowchart of initial assignment processing; 
         FIG.  12    shows a flowchart of escalation processing; 
         FIG.  13    shows a flowchart of learning processing; 
         FIG.  14    schematically shows an example of a difference between a comparative example and the embodiment; and 
         FIG.  15    shows an example of the outline of the embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
     In the following description, an “interface apparatus” may be one or more interface devices. The one or more interface devices may be at least one of the following.
         One or more I/O (Input/Output) interface devices. The I/O (Input/Output) interface device is an interface device for at least one of an I/O device and a remote display computer. The I/O interface device for the display computer may be a communication interface device. At least one I/O device may also be a user interface device, e.g., any of input devices such as a keyboard and a pointing device, and an output device such as a display device.   One or more communication interface devices. One or more communication interface devices may be one or more communication interface devices of the same type (e.g., one or more network interface cards (NIC)), and may also be two or more communication interface devices of different types (e.g., the NIC and a host bus adapter (HBA)).       

     In addition, in the following description, a “memory” may be one or more memory devices which are examples of one or more storage devices, and may be typically a main storage devices. At least one memory device in the memory may be a volatile memory device and may also be a non-volatile memory device. 
     Further, in the following description, a “persistent storage apparatus” may be one or more persistent storage devices which are examples of one or more storage devices. The persistent storage device may be typically a non-volatile storage device (e.g., an auxiliary storage device) and, specifically, the persistent storage device may be, e.g., a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid state drive (SSD), a non-volatile memory express (NVME) drive, or a storage class memory (SCM). 
     In addition, in the following description, a “storage apparatus” may be, of the memory and the persistent storage apparatus, at least the memory. 
     Further, in the following description, a “processor” may be one or more processor devices. At least one processor device may be typically a microprocessor device such as a central processing unit (CPU), but may also be a processor device of another type such as a graphics processing unit (GPU). At least one processor device may be a single-core or multi-core processor device. At least one processor device may be a processor core. At least one processor device may be a processor device in a broad sense such as a circuit having the set of gate arrays which performs part or the whole of processing and is written in hardware description language (e.g., a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), or an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)). 
     In addition, in the following description, while there are cases where a function is described by using an expression a “yyy section”, the function may be implemented by execution of one or more computer programs by a processor, may be implemented by one or more hardware circuits (e.g., the FPGA or the ASCI), and may also be implemented by a combination thereof. In the case where the function is implemented by execution of the programs by the processor, predetermined processing is performed while a storage apparatus and/or an interface apparatus is appropriately used, and hence the function may be regarded as at least part of the processor. Processing described by using the function as the subject may be regarded as processing performed by a processor or an apparatus having the processor. The program may be installed from a program source. The program source may be, e.g., a program distribution computer or a recording medium which can be read by a computer (e.g., a non-transitory recording medium). The description of each function is an example, and a plurality of functions may be integrated into one function and one function may also be divided into a plurality of functions. 
     Further, in the following description, while there are cases where information in which an output is obtainable for an input is described by using an expression such as an “xxx table”, the information may be data having any structure (may be, e.g., structured data or non-structured data), and the information may also be a neural network which generates an output for an input, a genetic algorithm, or a learning model represented by the random forest. Consequently, the “xxx table” can be said to be “xxx information”. In addition, in the following description, the configuration of each table is an example, and one table may be divided into two or more tables and all or part of two or more tables may be one table. 
     Further, in the following description, an “inquiry” is the set of one or more questions. One or more answers corresponding to one or more questions individually are answers for the “inquiry”. 
     Hereinbelow, an embodiment of the present invention will be described by using the drawings. Note that, in the drawings, the designations of elements are appropriately simplified or shown by using signs due to limited sheet space. 
       FIG.  1    shows the configuration of an overall system including an information processing system according to the embodiment. 
     An information processing system  103  communicates with a user terminal  101  and a responder terminal  105  via a communication network  110  (e.g., the Internet). 
     The information processing system  103  is a physical computer system (one or more physical computers) in the present embodiment, but the information processing system  103  may also be a logical computer system (e.g., a cloud computing system) implemented in a physical computer system (e.g., the structure of cloud computing). The information processing system  103  has a support server  104 . The support server  104  receives an inquiry from a user, assigns the inquiry to a responder, receives an answer from the responder (or the final responder assigned as a result of one or more escalations), and returns the answer received from the responder to the user. In the present embodiment, the “user” denotes a person who makes an inquiry. The “responder” denotes a person who returns the answer for the inquiry assigned to the user, or a person who is involved in an escalation. In addition, the “escalation” denotes that the inquiry assigned to the responder is assigned to another responder from the responder, in other words, an assignment destination (person in charge) of the inquiry is changed from the responder to another responder. The “escalation” may be a pair of an escalation source and an escalation destination. An “escalation path” denotes the order of assignment of responders. Therefore, the escalation path is a path having a directed acyclic graph (DAG) structure, i.e., a path in which a responder is a node and an escalation (the change of the assignment destination from the escalation source to the escalation destination) is a link. In addition, the “assignment” may be an initial assignment or an escalation assignment (an assignment serving as an escalation). 
     The user terminal  101  is an information processing terminal (e.g., a computer such as a personal computer or a smartphone) of a user. In the user terminal  101 , a browser  102  (e.g., a Web browser) is executed. The user can input an inquiry into the support server  104  or receive an answer for the inquiry from the support server  104  via a user interface (UI) displayed by the browser  102 . 
     The responder terminal  105  is an information processing terminal (e.g., a computer such as a personal computer or a smartphone) of a responder. In the responder terminal  105 , a browser  106  (e.g., a Web browser) is executed. The responder can receive the assigned inquiry of the user from the support server  104  or input the answer for the inquiry into the support server  104  via a UI displayed by the browser  106 . 
       FIG.  2    shows the configuration of the information processing system  103 . 
     The information processing system  103  includes an interface apparatus  51 , a storage apparatus  52 , and a processor  53  coupled to the interface apparatus  51  and the storage apparatus  52 . 
     The interface apparatus  51  is coupled to the communication network  110 . 
     The storage apparatus  52  stores information which is input to and output from the processor  53 , and a computer program executed by the processor  53 . Examples of the information stored in the storage apparatus  52  include an inquiry response table  211 , a responder table  212 , a skill classification table  213 , an inquiry type table  214 , a word list table  215 , an escalation table  216 , and an escalation path table  217 . The details of the tables  211  to  217  will be described later. 
     The processor  53  executes the computer program, and the support server  104  is thereby implemented. The support server  104  has a communication section  201 , an initial assignment section  202 , an escalation control section  203 , and a learning section  204 . The details of these functions  201  to  204  will be described later. 
       FIG.  3    shows the configuration of the inquiry response table  211 . 
     The inquiry response table  211  has a record of each of assignments of one or more questions constituting the inquiry for each inquiry. Each record retains pieces of information such as an ID  301 , a master number  302 , a sub-number  303 , a question  304 , an answer  305 , a responder  306 , a skill classification  307 , an inquiry type  308 , an escalation source  309 , a status  310 , a response start date and time  311 , a response end date and time  312 , and a response period  313 . Hereinbelow, a description will be made by using one assignment as an example (“assignment of concern” in the description of  FIG.  3   ). 
     The ID  301  represents an ID of a record corresponding to the assignment of concern. The master number  302  represents an identification number of an inquiry including a question subjected to the assignment of concern. The sub-number  303  represents an identification number of the assignment of concern. In each inquiry, each of assignments having the sub-numbers  303  of “01” and subsequent to “01” is an initial assignment or an escalation assignment. For each inquiry, a record including the sub-number  303  of “00” will be described later. 
     The question  304  represents a question itself subjected to the assignment of concern (or a link to the question). The answer  305  represents an answer itself for the question subjected to the assignment of concern (or a link to the answer). 
     The responder  306  represents the full name of a responder who has produced (input) an answer for the question subjected to the assignment of concern. The skill classification  307  represents the classification of a skill required for the production of the answer for the question subjected to the assignment of concern (typically a skill required to understand and answer the question). The inquiry type  308  represents the type of an inquiry including the question subjected to the assignment of concern (or the question itself). 
     The escalation source  309  represents a responder name (the full name of the responder) serving as the escalation source of the question subjected to the assignment of concern. The status  310  represents the status of the assignment of concern (e.g., “pending” (during response), “escalation completion” (means that an escalation is completed), and “closed” (means that the final answer for the inquiry is completed)). 
     The response start date and time  311  represents a date and time when a response to the assignment of concern (e.g., the production of the answer for the question subjected to the assignment of concern) is started, typically a date and time when the assignment of concern is performed and the question is received by the responder (e.g., a date and time when the question subjected to the assignment of concern is viewed by the assigned responder). The response end date and time  312  represents a date and time when the response to the assignment of concern is ended, typically a date and time when the answer is input or a date and time when an escalation is performed. 
     The response period  313  represents a period required for an inquiry response, specifically a period from the date and time represented by the response start date and time  311  to the date and time represented by the response end date and time  312 . Specifically, for example, with regard to the question subjected to the assignment of concern, the response period  313  may be any of the following.
         A period from when the response to the question is started by the responder (e.g., S 1006  in  FIG.  10    is started) to when the communication section  201  receives the answer for the question from the responder.   A period from when the response to the question is started by the responder to when the answer for the question is not input and the question is escalated to another responder.       

     The record is added to the inquiry response table  211  (or information is added to the record) in the case where the question from the user is received, in the case where the initial assignment is performed, in the case where the escalation is performed, and in the case where the answer for the question is input. 
     It is possible to identify whether or not the escalation related to an inquiry has occurred, and the escalation path of the inquiry in the case where the escalation has occurred from records having the same value of the master number  302  (note that the record having the sub-number  303  of “00” is excluded). For example, according to records of the inquiry having the master number  302  of “Q1” (records having the IDs “2” to “5”), the escalation path is A→B→D→C. For example, according to the record having the ID “3”, it can be seen that the escalation from the responder “A” to the responder “B” is performed. In addition, in the case where the escalation does not occur, the value of the escalation source  309  is set to “—”. 
     In each inquiry, the record having the sub-number  303  of “00” is a record serving as a counting result of records having the sub-numbers  303  of “01” and subsequent to “01” for the inquiry, i.e., a record representing information on the entire escalation path of the inquiry. For example, in each inquiry, the record having the sub-number  303  of “00” is as follows. The question  304  represents the first question in the inquiry. The answer  305  represents the answer for the last question. The responder  306  represents the full name of the last responder (the responder serving as the terminal end of the escalation path). The escalation source  309  represents the full name of the responder assigned in the initial assignment. The response start date and time  311  is the same as the response start date and time  311  in the record corresponding to the initial assignment. The response end date and time  312  is the same as the response end date and time  312  in the record corresponding to the last escalation assignment. The response period  313  represents a period from the date and time represented by the response start date and time  311  to the date and time represented by the response end date and time  312  (i.e., the total sum of the response periods  313  in the records having the sub-numbers  303  of “01” and subsequent to “01”) for the record having the sub-number  303  of “00”. 
     In addition, according to the inquiry response table  211  in  FIG.  3   , the escalation is performed on a per-question in the inquiry basis. However, the escalation is not limited to the above basis and, for example, the escalation may also be performed on a per-whole inquiry basis. 
     In addition, in the present embodiment, while the inquiry is constituted by one or more questions, inputting of answers for all of the one or more questions may denote inputting of “the answer for the inquiry”, and performing the escalation for at least one question in the inquiry may denote performing the escalation for the inquiry. That is, it follows that the escalation of the inquiry occurs in the case where, even when answers are input for part of the inquiry by the assigned responder, all of the answers are not input. 
     The escalation path table  218  is constructed and updated based on the above-described inquiry response table  211 . 
       FIG.  4    shows the configuration of the responder table  212 . 
     The responder table  212  has a record for each responder. Each record retains pieces of information such as an ID  401 , a responder number  402 , a responder  403 , an organization  404 , a skill classification  405 , an inquiry type  406 , an unoccupied period  407 , an average response period  408 , a cumulative response period  409 , and the cumulative number of cases  410 . Hereinbelow, a description will be made by using one responder as an example (“responder of concern” in the description of  FIG.  4   ). 
     The ID  401  represents an ID of a record corresponding to the responder of concern. The responder number  402  represents an identification number of the responder of concern. The responder  403  represents the full name of the responder of concern. The organization  404  represents an organization of the responder of concern. 
     The skill classification  405  represents the classification of a skill of the responder of concern. The inquiry type  406  represents the type of an inquiry (or a question) to which the responder of concern can respond. 
     The unoccupied period  407  represents an unoccupied period of the responder of concern before a predetermined date and time (e.g.,  24 : 00 ). The period represented by the unoccupied period  407  is shortened by, e.g., the learning section  204  as time elapses (as a period before the predetermined date and time is shortened). 
     The average response period  408  represents an average of the response periods  313  in all records in which the full name of the responder of concern is recorded as the responder  306  (records in the inquiry response table  211  (note that the record having the sub-number  303  of “00” is excluded)). The cumulative response period  409  represents a cumulative value of the response periods  313  in all records in which the full name of the responder of concern is recorded as the responder  306  (records in the inquiry response table  211  (note that the record having the sub-number  303  of “00” is excluded)). The cumulative number of cases  410  represents the number of records in which the full name of the responder of concern is recorded as the responder  306  (records in the inquiry response table  211  (note that the record having the sub-number  303  of “00” is excluded)). 
       FIG.  5    shows the configuration of the skill classification table  213 . 
     The skill classification table  213  has a record for each skill classification. Each record retains pieces of information such as a skill classification number  501  and a skill classification  502 . Hereinbelow, a description will be made by using one skill classification as an example (“skill classification of concern” in the description of  FIG.  5   ). 
     The skill classification number  501  represents an identification number of the skill classification of concern. The skill classification  502  represents the skill classification of concern. 
       FIG.  6    shows the configuration of the inquiry type table  214 . 
     The inquiry type table  214  has a record for each inquiry type. Each record retains pieces of information such as an inquiry type number  601  and an inquiry type  602 . Hereinbelow, a description will be made by using one inquiry type as an example (“inquiry type of concern” in the description of  FIG.  6   ). 
     The inquiry type number  601  represents an identification number of the inquiry type of concern. The inquiry type  602  represents the inquiry type of concern. 
       FIG.  7    shows the configuration of the word list table  215 . 
     The word list table  215  has a record for each word. Each record retains pieces of information such as an ID  701 , a classification number  703 , and a type number  704 . 
     Hereinbelow, a description will be made by using one word as an example (“word of concern” in the description of  FIG.  7   ). 
     The ID  701  represents an ID of a record of the word of concern. A word  702  represents the word of concern. The classification number  703  represents an identification number of the classification of a skill required to produce an answer for an inquiry including the word of concern. The type number  704  represents an identification number of the type of the inquiry including the word of concern. 
       FIG.  8    shows the configuration of the escalation table  216 . 
     The escalation table  216  has a record for each escalation. Each record retains pieces of information such as an ID  801 , an escalation source  802 , an escalation destination  803 , a skill classification  804 , an inquiry type  805 , an average response period  806 , a cumulative response period  807 , and the cumulative number of cases  808 . Hereinbelow, a description will be made by using one escalation as an example (“escalation of concern” in the description of  FIG.  8   ). 
     The ID  801  represents an ID of a record of the escalation of concern. The escalation source  802  represents the full name of the responder serving as the escalation source of the escalation of concern. The escalation destination  803  represents the full name of the responder serving as the escalation destination of the escalation of concern. The skill classification  804  has the same value as that of the skill classification  405  of the responder serving as the escalation destination of the escalation of concern. The inquiry type  805  has the same value as that of the inquiry type  406  of the responder serving as the escalation destination of the escalation of concern. 
     The average response period  806  represents an average of the response periods  313  in all records corresponding to the escalation of concern (records in the inquiry response table  211  (note that the record having the sub-number  303  of “00” is excluded)). The cumulative response period  807  represents a cumulative value of the response periods  313  in all records corresponding to the escalation of concern (records in the inquiry response table  211  (note that the record having the sub-number  303  of “00” is excluded)). The cumulative number of cases  808  represents the number of records corresponding to the escalation of concern (records in the inquiry response table  211  (note that the record having the sub-number  303  of “00” is excluded)). Note that, with regard to one escalation, “the response period” denotes a period required until an escalation is performed from the escalation source to the escalation destination and an answer is input by the responder serving as the escalation destination or an escalation to another responder is performed. 
       FIG.  9    shows the configuration of the escalation path table  217 . 
     The escalation path table  217  has a record for each escalation path. Each record retains pieces of information such as an ID  901 , an escalation source  902 , an escalation destination  903 , a simultaneous escalation  904 , a skill classification  905 , an inquiry type  906 , an average response period  907 , a cumulative response period  908 , and the cumulative number of cases  909 . Hereinbelow, a description will be made by using one escalation path as an example (“escalation path of concern” in the description of  FIG.  9   ). 
     The ID  901  represents an ID of a record of the escalation path of concern. The escalation source  902  represents the full name of the first responder of the escalation path of concern. The escalation destination  903  represents the full name of the responder for each responder other than the first responder in the escalation path of concern. The order of the escalation destinations  903  is the same as the order of the responders in the escalation path of concern. 
     The simultaneous escalation  904  represents the column name of each of a plurality of the escalation destinations having the same escalation source in the escalation of concern. 
     The skill classification  905  has the same value as that of the skill classification  405  of the last responder of the escalation path of concern. The inquiry type  906  has the same value as that of the inquiry type  406  of the last responder of the escalation path of concern. 
     The average response period  907  represents an average of a period from the start of response of the first responder of the escalation path of concern to the end of response of the final responder thereof. The cumulative response period  908  represents a cumulative value of periods from the start of response of the first responder of the escalation path of concern to the end of response of the final responder thereof. The cumulative number of cases  909  represents the number of inquiries which have caused the escalation path of concern. Specifically, for example, the learning section  204  acquires a record having the sub-number  303  of “00” from the inquiry response table  211  correspondingly to the escalation path of concern. The learning section  204  sets the number of acquired records as the cumulative number of cases  909 , sets the total value of the response periods  313  in the acquired records as the cumulative response period  908 , and sets a value obtained by dividing the cumulative response period  908  by the cumulative number of cases  909  as the average response period  907 . When it is assumed that the escalation path of concern is the escalation path having the ID  901  of “2” (A→B→C→D), two records (a record having the ID  301  of “6” and a record having the ID  301  of “11”) are acquired from the inquiry response table  211 , and hence the cumulative number of cases  909  is “2”. In addition, each of the two records has the response period  313  of “8”, and hence the cumulative response period  908  is “16” (=8+8). Accordingly, the average response period  907  is “8” (=16/2). 
     According to the example shown in  FIG.  9   , for example, the following can be seen.
         According to the escalation path corresponding to the record having the ID  901  of “3”, the escalation has been performed from a responder “A” to a responder “B” and to a responder   According to the escalation path corresponding to record and having the ID  901  of “4”, the escalation does not occur, and the responder “B” assigned in initial assignment processing has answered the inquiry.   According to the escalation path corresponding to the record having the ID  901  of “5”, the escalation has occurred only once.       

     Hereinbelow, an example of processing performed in the present embodiment will be described. 
       FIG.  10    shows a flowchart of inquiry response processing. 
     The inquiry response processing includes reception of an inquiry, an initial assignment of the inquiry, the escalation of the inquiry performed on an as-needed basis, and learning based on the result of processing in the inquiry response processing. In the inquiry response processing, an inquiry response history (among the above-described tables  211  to  217 , at least part of the tables  211 ,  212 ,  216 , and  217 ) is appropriately updated. 
     The communication section  201  receives the inquiry (e.g., among one or more questions constituting the inquiry, at least the first question) via the browser  102  of the user terminal  101  from the user (S 1001 ). In this case, the communication section  201  adds the record corresponding to the received inquiry to the inquiry response table  211 . 
     Specifically, the record having the master number  302  corresponding to the inquiry is added. The record includes the record having the sub-number  303  of “00” and the record in which the sub-number  303  is assigned to each question included in the inquiry. 
     The initial assignment section  202  executes initial assignment processing (S 1002 ). In the initial assignment processing, one previous escalation path is selected and the responder is assigned. A response-target inquiry (a question in an inquiry) is sent to the assigned responder (responder terminal  105 ) by the communication section  201 . Hereinbelow, the responder assigned in the initial assignment processing is referred to as “an initial responder”, and the previous escalation path selected in the initial assignment processing is referred to as “an initial previous escalation path”. Note that “the previous escalation path” denotes an escalation path which is identified from the escalation path table  217 , i.e., an escalation path which has been constructed in the previous inquiry response processing. The communication section  201  becomes able to communicate with the initial responder via the responder terminal  105  of the initial responder and the browser  106 . In addition, in the initial assignment processing, the initial assignment section  202  updates the record corresponding to the initial assignment in the inquiry response table  211  (e.g., in a record having the sub-number  303  of “01”, the full name of the initial responder is recorded as the responder  306 ). 
     The initial responder determines whether or not a further question is made about the inquiry (S 1003 ). For example, in the case where it is determined that questions constituting the inquiry are adequate, the determination result in S 1003  is false (S 1003 :NO). 
     On the other hand, in the case where it is determined that questions constituting the inquiry are inadequate, the determination result in S 1003  is true (S 1003 :YES). In this case, the communication section  201  receives a request for a question to a user from the initial responder and transmits the request to the user (S 1004 ), and receives an additional question from the user in response to the request (S 1005 ). Thereafter, the processing returns to S 1003 . 
     In the case of S 1003 :NO, or after S 1008  described later, the assigned responder (the initial responder or the responder serving as the escalation destination) starts a response to the question in the inquiry (the first question or an escalation-target question) (S 1006 ). The start of the response is input to the communication section  201 . The communication section  201  may count an elapsed period from the start of the response. The communication section  201  may record the status  310  and the response start date and time  311  in the record corresponding to the response-target question in the inquiry response table  211 . In addition, in the case where the communication section  201  receives the answer for the response-target question from the responder, the communication section  201  may record the answer  305  in the record corresponding to the question, and the response-target question may be the next question for the responder. 
     The escalation control section  203  determines whether or not the escalation is necessary (S 1007 ). The determination of whether or not the escalation is necessary may be, e.g., any of the following. 
     (A) Whether or not the response period (the elapsed period from the response start) in S 1006  exceeds a period identified from the inquiry response history (e.g., the table  212  or  216 ).
 
(B) Whether or not it is determined in the initial assignment processing (S 1002 ) that an inquiry having a priority higher than that of the inquiry during the response in S 1006  is received in S 1001  and the responder in S 1006  is assigned to the inquiry having the higher priority.
 
     In addition, with regard to (A) described above, e.g., at least one of the following may be adopted. 
     (a1) In the case where the responder is the initial responder, the escalation control section  203  determines whether or not the response period in S 1006  exceeds the average response period  416  (the average response period  416  identified from the responder table  212 ) of the initial responder. In the case where the determination result is true, the escalation is necessary.
 
(a2) In the case where the responder is the responder serving as the escalation destination, the escalation control section  203  determines whether or not the response period in S 1006  after the escalation exceeds the average response period  806  (the average response period  806  identified from the escalation table  216 ) corresponding to the escalation between the escalation destination and the escalation source of the escalation destination. In the case where the determination result is true, the escalation is necessary.
 
(a3) In the case where the responder is the responder serving as the escalation destination, the escalation control section  203  determines whether or not the response period in S 1006  after the escalation exceeds the average response period  416  of the responder. In the case where the determination result is true, the escalation is necessary.
 
     In the case where the determination result in S 1007  is true (S 1007 :YES), the escalation control section  203  executes escalation processing (S 1008 ). In the escalation processing, the escalation control section  203  may record the status  310  and the response end date and time  312  in the record in which the responder  306  (the full name of the escalation source) and the escalation-target question  304  are recorded. In addition, in the escalation processing, the escalation control section  203  may record the full name of the responder serving as the escalation destination as the responder  306  and may record the full name of the responder serving as the escalation source as the escalation source  309  in the record corresponding to the escalation in the inquiry response table  211 . After S 1008 , S 1006  is performed by the responder serving as the escalation destination. The start of the response in S 1006  is input to the communication section  201  by the responder serving as the escalation destination. The communication section  201  may count the elapsed period from the start of the response. The communication section  201  may record the status  310  and the response start date and time  311  in the record corresponding to the escalation in the inquiry response table  211 . 
     In the case where the determination result in S 1007  is false (S 1007 :NO), the communication section  201  receives the answer from the responder, and returns the answer to the user (S 1009 ). With this, the response to the inquiry received in S 1001  is completed (closed). The communication section  201  may record the status and the response end date and time  312  in the last record corresponding to the inquiry in the inquiry response table  211 . 
     The learning section  204  executes learning processing (S 1010 ). 
     According to the inquiry response processing described above, in the case where it is determined that the escalation is not necessary for the initial responder, the response to the inquiry is completed without executing the escalation processing (S 1008 ). 
       FIG.  11    shows a flowchart of the initial assignment processing. 
     The initial assignment section  202  identifies a word which corresponds with a word  702  in the word list table  215  from the inquiry (S 1101 ). The initial assignment section  202  determines the skill classification and the inquiry type (e.g., the skill classification and the inquiry type corresponding to the word  702  having the largest number of words which correspond with the word  702 ) of the inquiry by referring to the skill classification table  213  and the inquiry type table  214  by using the classification number  703  and the type number  704  corresponding to the word having the identified corresponding word as keys (S 1102 ). 
     The initial assignment section  202  refers to the escalation path table  218 , and identifies a candidate for the escalation path having a short solution period from among the escalation paths (the escalation paths corresponding to the skill classification  905  and the inquiry type  906  which correspond with the skill classification and the inquiry type determined in S 1102 ) (S 1103 ). In the description of the initial assignment processing, “the solution period” may be a period represented by the average response period  907  or the cumulative response period  908 , and may also be the shortest response period (e.g., the total sum of the shortest response periods  313  (the response periods  313  identified from the inquiry response table  211 ) of the individual escalations constituting the escalation path). “The candidate for the escalation path having the short solution period” may be an escalation path which satisfies a condition related to the shortness of the solution period. “The condition related to the shortness of the solution period” may be any of the following. As a result, one or more (typically, a plurality of) escalation path candidates are identified.
         The shortness of the solution period corresponds to the top N cases (N is a natural number).   The solution period is in a range of not less than the shortest solution period and not more than an adjusted solution period. “The shortest solution period” is the shortest solution period among the solution periods of the escalation paths. “The adjusted solution period” is a solution period which is longer than the shortest solution period and is obtained by adding a predetermined value to the shortest solution period or multiplying the shortest solution period by a predetermined value.   The solution period is shorter than an average of the solution periods of the escalation paths.       

     The initial assignment section  202  identifies the responder serving as the escalation source  902  from the escalation path table  218  for each escalation path candidate identified in S 1103  (S 1104 ). 
     The initial assignment section  202  identifies the unoccupied period (the period represented by the unoccupied period  407 ) of the responder identified in S 1104  for the escalation path candidate from the responder table  212  in ascending order of the solution period (the solution period mentioned in this paragraph is, e.g., the average response period  907 ) (S 1105 ). In the case where the identified unoccupied period satisfies a predetermined condition (e.g., the unoccupied period is longer than 0 or the unoccupied period is not less than the solution period of the escalation path candidate), the initial assignment section  202  assigns the responder having the unoccupied period to the inquiry (S 1106 ). 
       FIG.  12    shows a flowchart of the escalation processing. 
     The escalation control section  203  identifies all previous escalation paths corresponding to the skill classification and the inquiry type of the inquiry (S 1201 ). 
     The escalation control section  203  identifies the previous escalation paths each having a corresponding path from the previous escalation paths identified in S 1201 , and identifies the candidate for the escalation path having the short solution period from the identified previous escalation paths (S 1202 ). “The corresponding path” denotes an escalation path or a path portion which corresponds with a temporary escalation path (an escalation path having been constructed in the inquiry response processing), and the escalation path or the path portion from the first responder. In the escalation processing, the identification of “the candidate for the escalation path having the short solution period” may be similar to that in S 1103  in the initial assignment processing. In addition, the escalation path candidate identified herein is “the previous escalation path having the path or the path portion (the path or the path portion from the first responder) which corresponds with the temporary escalation path”, and hence the last responder of the previous escalation path or the path portion and the last responder of the temporary escalation path correspond with each other. 
     The escalation control section  203  identifies the responder (escalation destination) next to the last responder (escalation source) in the corresponding path for each escalation path candidate identified in S 1202 , and identifies the average response period  408  of the next responder from the responder table  212  (S 1203 ). The identified average response period  408  corresponds to the skill classification and the inquiry type of the inquiry. In addition, “the next responder” identified for each escalation path candidate is the responder who can be determined to be the escalation destination in this escalation processing, i.e., “a candidate”. Note that there can be cases where “the next responder” is not present, and such cases will be described later. 
     The escalation control section  203  uses ascending order of the average response periods  806  identified in S 1203  as the order of the escalation path candidates, and uses the order as ranking of the candidates identified from the escalation path candidates (S 1204 ). 
     The escalation control section  203  identifies the unoccupied period (the period represented by the unoccupied period  407 ) of the candidate in descending order of the ranking of the candidate from the responder table  212  (S 1205 ). In the case where the identified unoccupied period satisfies the predetermined condition (e.g., the unoccupied period is longer than 0), the escalation control section  203  assigns the candidate having the unoccupied period (among the candidates having unoccupied periods, the candidate having the highest ranking) as the escalation destination (S 1206 ). The candidate assigned in S 1206  is the next responder. 
     Note that, in the case where the previous escalation path is not present in S 1201 , in the case where the previous escalation path having the corresponding path is not present in S 1202 , and in the case where the entire previous escalation path is the corresponding path (i.e., in the case where the next responder is not present) in S 1203 , it follows that a new escalation path which has not been constructed before (not recorded in the escalation path table  217 ) is constructed. In this case, the escalation control section  203  may assign, among all of the responders corresponding to the skill classification and the inquiry type of the inquiry, the responder who has a relatively short average response period  408  (or a relatively short cumulative response period  409 ) (and has the unoccupied period  407  which satisfies the predetermined condition) as the escalation destination. 
       FIG.  13    shows a flowchart of the learning processing. 
     The learning section  204  identifies the record of the final answerer (the last responder of the escalation path corresponding to the inquiry) from the inquiry response table  211  (S 1301 ). 
     The learning section  204  calculates the response period  313  from the response start date and time  311  and the response end date and time  312  for each record (the record having the sub-number  303  of “00” is excluded) corresponding to the inquiry in the inquiry response table  211 , and records the response start date and time  311 , the response end date and time  312 , and the response period  313  in the record having the sub-number  303  of “00”. 
     The learning section  204  updates, for each responder  306  of the record corresponding to the inquiry in the inquiry response table  211 , the average response period  408  (and the cumulative response period  409  and the cumulative number of cases  410 ) (i.e., applicable parts in the responder table  212 ) corresponding to the responder  403  who corresponds with the responder  306  based on the response period  313  of the responder  306  (S 1303 ). 
     The learning section  204  refers to the inquiry response table  211  and determines whether or not the escalation on which processing in S 1305  and S 1306  is not performed is present (S 1304 ). In the case where the determination result in S 1304  is false (S 1304 :NO), the learning processing is ended. 
     In the case where the determination result in S 1304  is true (S 1304 :YES), the learning section  204  selects the first escalation from the escalations on which the processing in S 1305  and S 1306  is not performed. The learning section  204  updates the average response period  907  (and the cumulative response period  908 ) (i.e., applicable parts in the escalation path table  217 ) corresponding to the escalation path of the inquiry based on the response period  313  corresponding to the escalation (the response period  313  corresponding to the escalation source  309  and the escalation destination (the responder  306 ) of the escalation)(S 1305 ), and updates the average response period  806  (and the cumulative response period  807 ) (i.e., applicable parts in the escalation table  216 ) corresponding to the escalation (S 1306 ). Thereafter, the processing returns to S 1304 . 
     Thus, based on the response period  313  of the responder, the average response period  408  (and the cumulative response period  409 ) of the responder (see  FIG.  4   ) is learned. Based on the response period  313  of the escalation, the average response period  806  (and the cumulative response period  807 ) of the escalation (see  FIG.  8   ) and the average response period  907  (and the cumulative response period  908 ) of the escalation path including the escalation (see  FIG.  9   ) are learned. 
       FIG.  14    schematically shows an example of a difference between a comparative example and the embodiment. 
     According to the comparative example, an assigned responder is not appropriate, and hence many escalations occur and a response to an inquiry needs a long period. For example, an initial responder “A” does not conform to the skill classification and the inquiry type of the inquiry, and hence a response period is increased, and an escalation occurs. A responder “B” serving as the escalation destination is busy, and hence the response period is increased, and an escalation occurs. A responder “C” serving as the escalation destination is responding to another inquiry having a high priority, and hence an escalation occurs. 
     According to the present embodiment, the inquiry response history is updated every time the inquiry response processing is performed, and the initial assignment processing (and the escalation processing) is executed in the subsequent inquiry response processing based on the updated inquiry response history. Accordingly, as the number of times of execution of the inquiry response processing is increased, a possibility that the responder assigned in the subsequent inquiry response processing is appropriate is increased and, therefore, the escalation path tends to be shortened (as shown in  FIG.  14    as an example, the shortest escalation path is constituted only by the initial responder). 
     The above description can be summarized, e.g., in the following manner. Note that the following summarization may include a supplement to the above description or a description of a modification. 
     As shown in  FIG.  15   , the inquiry response history information is provided. The inquiry response history information is information serving as the history of the inquiry response, and is at least part of, e.g., the tables  211 ,  212 ,  216 , and  217 . The inquiry response history information corresponds to information representing correlation among the responder, the skill, and the escalation. The inquiry response history information includes, for each responder, information representing the skill of the responder (e.g., the skill classification  405 ), and a statistic of the response period which is a period required for the inquiry response (e.g., the average response period  408  (or the cumulative response period  409 )). In addition, the inquiry response history information includes, for each escalation, information representing the skill required for the escalation-target inquiry response (e.g., the skill classification  804 ), information representing the responder of each of the escalation source and the escalation destination of the escalation (e.g., the escalation source  802  and the escalation destination  803 ), and a statistic of the response period of the escalation (e.g., the average response period  806  (or the cumulative response period  807 )). Further, the inquiry response history information includes, for each escalation path, information representing the skill required for the escalation-target inquiry response (e.g., the skill classification  905 ), information representing the order of one or more responders constituting the escalation path (e.g., the escalation source  902 , the escalation destination  903 , and the simultaneous escalation  904 ), and a statistic of the response period of the escalation path (e.g., the average response period  907  (or the cumulative response period  908 )). Instead of the average or the cumulative value, the statistic of the response period may be statistics of other types such as, e.g., a median value, a maximum value, and a minimum value. 
     In the case where the communication section  201  receives the inquiry from the user, the initial assignment section  202  assigns the responder having the skill required for the inquiry to the inquiry based on the inquiry response history information. In the case where answering is performed by the responder, the statistic of the response period of the responder is updated by the learning section  204  based on the response period required by the responder. 
     The escalation control section  203  determines whether or not the escalation from the assigned responder to another responder is necessary and, in the case where the escalation is necessary, executes the escalation including assigning the responder having the skill required for the received inquiry as the escalation destination based on the inquiry response history information. In the case where answering is performed by the responder serving as the escalation destination, based on the response period required for the escalation (a period required for the response by the responder serving as the escalation destination when the escalation occurs), the statistic of the response period of the responder, the statistic of the response period of the escalation, and the statistic of the response period of the escalation path including the escalation are updated by the learning section  204 . 
     Thus, every time answering to the inquiry (e.g., S 1009  in  FIG.  10   ) is executed, the inquiry response history information is updated according to a history from the reception of the inquiry (S 1001 ) to answering (S 1009 ) and, based on the updated inquiry response history information, the assignment of the responder to the next inquiry is performed. With this, the statistics of the response periods of each responder, each escalation, and each escalation path are refined on a skill-by-skill basis, and hence the assignment of the optimum responder is expected to be performed even in the initial assignment or the escalation, and the number of times of occurrence of the escalation related to the inquiry is thereby expected to be reduced. 
     The initial assignment section  202  may assign any of the first responders of the escalation paths each having the relatively small statistic of the response period to the received inquiry. Thus, the responder is assigned based on the statistic of the response period of the escalation path, and hence the assignment which is unlikely to cause the escalation is expected to be performed. Note that the initial assignment section  202  may assign, among the first responders of the escalation paths each having the relatively small statistic of the response period, the responder having the unoccupied period  407  which satisfies a predetermined condition to the received inquiry. With this, the assignment which is further unlikely to cause the escalation is expected to be performed. 
     In the case where a period in which the assigned responder responds to the above received inquiry exceeds the statistic of the response period of the responder, or in the case where a period in which the responder serving as the escalation destination responds to the above received inquiry exceeds the statistic of the response period of the escalation, the escalation control section  203  may determine that the escalation is necessary. Thus, it may be automatically determined whether or not the escalation is necessary, and the escalation may be automatically performed on an as-needed basis. 
     The escalation control section  203  may identify, from among the escalation paths which conform to the skill required for the received inquiry and have the corresponding paths, the escalation paths each having the relatively small statistic of the response period, and may set the next responder of the corresponding path in any of the identified escalation paths as the escalation destination. With this, the assignment in which a possibility that the escalation occurs thereafter is reduced is expected to be performed. Note that the escalation control section  203  may set, among the escalation paths each having the relatively small statistic of the response period, the next responder of the corresponding path who has the unoccupied period  407  which satisfies a predetermined condition as the escalation destination. With this, the assignment which is further unlikely to cause the escalation is expected to be performed. 
     While the embodiment has been described thus far, the embodiment is only an example for explaining the present invention, and it is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention only to the embodiment. The present invention can be carried out in other various forms.