Patent US 7,143,045

The object of the present invention is to enable an apparatus to perform a status analysis indicated by sensor data of a device, etc. based on an expression in a natural language, and to enable an apparatus to operate a device, etc. by an instruction based on a natural language, using a data process technology for handling data with a word.Data groups, which are obtained by directly classifying the input from sensor 1 or obtained after processing this input, are stored in a database 6, in which a word is attached to each of the data groups. On receiving a sensor input, a characteristic is extracted from the sensor input by a characteristic extractor unit 2, and then the sensor input is classified by a characteristic comparison/classification unit 3 using the database 6. If the sensor input does not belong to any of the data groups in the database 6, the sensor input is temporarily stored in a database 7 with no word. After that, a word is attached to each of the classified data groups in the database 7 by a word provision unit 5, and the data groups are stored in the database 6 with words.