Patent ID: 7949959

Claim:
A target estimation device that estimates a function targeted by a user from among functions of an operated apparatus which has a menu including items in a hierarchical structure and which executes the function when the user selects an item corresponding to the function from among the functions, said target estimation device comprising: an item obtaining unit configured to obtain an item selected by the user from among the items in the hierarchical structure, the item consisting of a plurality of words; a function storing unit configured to store function expressions for each of functions of the operated apparatus, each of the function expressions consisting of a plurality of words and representing one of the functions of the operated apparatus; an identical word detecting unit configured to detect a category of a word identical between (i) a category of a word regarding a word included in the function expressions and (ii) a category of a word regarding a word included in the item obtained by said item obtaining unit, for each of the function expressions stored by said function storing unit; an intention calculating unit configured, for each of the function expressions stored by said function storing unit, to calculate a second similarity from a plurality of first similarities which are generated by classifying, to each category of a word, a similarity between (i-1) a word belonging to the category of the word in the function expressions and (i-2) a word belonging to the category of the word included in the item, depending on the category detected by said identical word detecting unit, the second similarity being calculated as a degree of intention of the user who has selected the item for the function represented by a function expression; a support request input unit configured to receive a signal indicating a support request from the user; and an estimation unit configured, for each of the function expressions stored by said function storing unit, to estimate, when the signal indicating the support request is received, a function from among the functions so that the function having a higher degree of an intention is the function targeted by the user, the degree being calculated based on a similarity between (i) the function expressions stored in said function storing unit and (ii) the item obtained by said item obtaining unit before receiving the signal indicating the support request.