Patent ID: 8260727

Claim:
A factor estimation apparatus which estimates a factor affecting a phenomenon based on data for a characteristic quantity associated with the phenomenon, the factor estimation apparatus comprising: a characteristic quantity determination unit configured to determine the characteristic quantity; a user input unit configured to accept an input from a user as data for the characteristic quantity determined by the characteristic quantity determination unit; an apparatus-data input unit to which data is inputted from a data obtaining device as the data for the characteristic quantity determined by the characteristic quantity determination unit; an input source defining unit configured to determine that the data for the characteristic quantity is inputted from the user input unit or the apparatus-data input unit; and an estimation unit configured to estimate the factor using the data inputted from the input unit determined by the input source defining unit; wherein a plurality of characteristic quantities exist, the estimation unit is configured to estimate the factor based on the plurality of characteristic quantities, and the input source defining unit includes a priority determination unit configured to determine a priority assigned to the data inputted from the user input unit or the apparatus-data input unit for the plurality of characteristic quantities; and wherein the priority determination unit includes a reliability determination unit configured to determined reliability of the input data of each of the user input unit and the apparatus-data input unit, and the priority determination unit is configured to determined the priority assigned to the data inputted from the user input unit or the apparatus-data input unit according to the determination result of the reliability determination unit.