Patent Document ID: 9904670
Application ID: 14013404

Base Claim:
1. An apparatus for helping in a reading of an electronic message exchanged between multiple users within a chat room or instant message utility, the apparatus comprising: a plurality of computing units in communication with one another, each of the plurality of computing units configured to perform a portion of a process including: extracting a word from the electronic message sent to a particular user; acquiring history information on a viewing of the word by the particular user, the word being extracted by an extraction unit of the plurality of computing units; and determining whether a meaning of the word extracted by the extraction unit needs to be presented to the particular user, according to the history information acquired by an acquisition unit of the plurality of computing units, wherein the determining is based on a criteria related to the viewing of the word by the particular user, and wherein the determining is performed by a determination unit of the plurality of computing units.

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Claim 2:
2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the acquisition unit acquires the history information on the viewing of the word, and if the history information on the viewing of the word meets a criterion that is related to the viewing of the word and predetermined as a criterion for presuming that the particular user knows the meaning of the word, the determination unit determines that the meaning of the word need not be presented to the particular user.