Patent ID: 8271485

Claim:
A reply generating apparatus, comprising: a storage unit of a computer in which a plurality of text aggregates of previous replies to queries have been stored, wherein a text aggregate of said text aggregates represents a text that is divided into text segments, each of which has a coherent meaning and each of which comprises a text having a time-wise relevancy logical flow, each of the text segments being classified under at least one of a plurality of category items; a search unit for searching said storage unit in accordance with an applied query; a deciding unit for deciding a core category item that has a highest frequency of appearance among the category items, wherein the core category item is decided from the plurality of category items that correspond to the text segments that constitute each of the text aggregates that are found by the search unit in accordance with the applied query; a counter to calculate an adjacent-category count numbers for each category item of the plurality of category items, a number of other category items adjacent to each category item including the core category item, based on the text aggregates that are found by the search unit in accordance with the applied query, wherein the adjacent-category count is calculated with regard to each of the category items that correspond to the text segments that constitute said each of the text aggregates that are found by the search unit in accordance with the applied query; a related category item deciding unit for deciding related category items to be adjacent to the core category item from the plurality of category items other than the core category item, based upon the adjacent-category count numbers calculated by said counter; and a logical framework of a reply generating unit for generating a new logical framework of a reply to the applied query, wherein the new logical framework of the reply adopts the core category item as a core and places the related category items adjacent to the core category item to express a reply along lines of the new logical framework of a reply to an end user, wherein the category items include a fixed-format category item under which a text segment having a stereotypical meaning is classified, and wherein said deciding unit decides the core category item from category items other than the fixed-format category item.