Patent Document ID: 8200523
Application ID: 12273727

Base Claim:
1. A procedure generation apparatus for generating a work flow which is a procedure sequentially representing a relation between a name of a work to be conducted, a name of an input information required for conducting the work, and a name of an output information generated as a result of conducting the work, comprising: a storage unit having a database which stores therein the input information name and the output information name, associated with the work name; and a control unit for generating the work flow sequentially, the control unit being configured to perform operations including: retrieving, upon setting an input information name as a start point of the work flow, one or more work names associated with the set input information name, from the database, displaying the one or more retrieved work names, each as a name of a candidate work to be conducted, based on the set input information, on a display unit, receiving a selection of a work name from among the one or more displayed work names, via an input unit, retrieving one or more output information names associated with the selected work name, from the database, displaying the one or more retrieved output information names, each as a name of candidate output information generated as a result of conducting the work, on the display unit, receiving a selection of an output information name from among the one or more displayed output information names, via the input unit, breaking down the selected output information name into one or more constituent words and obtaining a word having a character string or a meaning same as or similar to the constituent word, as a synonym from a synonym dictionary, and creating a first term vector of each combination made up of the synonyms of the constituent words, breaking down all of the selected output information names into one or more constituent words, and creating a second term vector of each broken down output information name, calculating an inner product of the first term vector and the second term vector, and obtaining a prescribed number of the input information names subjected to the calculation of inner products, in descending order placing the procedure name having the largest inner product first, displaying the one or more obtained input information names, each as a name of candidate input information required for conducting the work, on the display unit, receiving a selection of an input information name from among the one or more displayed input information names, via the input unit, and retrieving a work name associated with the selected input information name, from the database; wherein the storage unit and the control unit are constructed at least in part, of hardware.

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Claim 7:
7. The procedure generation apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the retrieved one or more input information names are displayed on the display unit, in descending order of similarity to the output information name having been used for retrieving the one or more input information names.