INFERENCE APPARATUS, INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, INFERENCE METHOD, PROGRAM AND RECORDING MEDIUM

This inference apparatus for making an inference with respect to a phenomenon comprises: a question acquisition means for acquiring a question about a phenomenon; a question judging means for judging whether the question is a qualitative question or a quantitative question; a sensor judging means which, when the question is a quantitative question, judges whether it is possible to acquire sensor data; a determining means which, when it is possible to acquire sensor data, determins the sensor data as data to be used for inference, and which, when it is not possible to acquire sensor data, determins data input by a user as data to be used for inference; and an inference means for making an inference in accordance with the phenomenon using the data determined by the determining means. 本发明是一种对现象进行推论的推论装置，具有：问题取得单元，其取得与现象相关的问题；问题判定单元，其判定问题是定性问题还是定量问题；传感器判定单元，其在定量问题的情况下，判定是否能够取得传感器数据；决定单元，其在能够取得传感器数据的情况下，将传感器数据决定为用于推论的数据，在无法取得传感器数据的情况下，将基于用户的输入数据决定为用于推论的数据；以及推论单元，其使用决定单元所决定的数据，进行与现象相应的推论。