JP2008204469A - Information display processing system, client terminal, management server, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a display mode desired by a user to be set in an information display processing system using annotations. <P>SOLUTION: Open attributes are set to annotations and the resultant data are registered in an annotation DB 216. An update information notification part 502 notifies a retrieval condition determination part 544 that the annotations have been added/changed. The update information storage control part 582 of the retrieval condition determination part 544 stores notified annotation information into the annotation DB 216. An update notification information transmission part 584 notifies other users who simultaneously browse and to whom opening is permitted, of this storage. A notified user depresses an update button 120 to indicate annotation retrieval when updating of display is desired. When receiving this indication, the retrieval condition determination part 544 sets a pertinent annotation ID to a retrieval condition and indicates retrieval to a retrieval part 546. The retrieval part 546 retrieves the annotation DB 216 and sends a result to a document viewer 102. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information display processing system having a function of displaying a document on a display device, and a program for realizing the information display processing system using a computer. The present invention also relates to a client terminal and a management server that constitute an information display processing system. More specifically, the present invention relates to a technique for enabling shared viewing of an electronic document and an electronic tag attached to the electronic document.

  When a person reads a document, it is natural to read while adding notes and annotations using a writing instrument such as a pen or marker. It seems that the position where the memo or the annotation is given is a position of interest to the reader.

  The same thing happens when dealing with electronic documents. For example, visualization information (electronic sticky notes) attached to the body of an electronic document, such as a memo, message, or annotation, is attached as additional data on the body of the electronic document so as not to affect the body of the electronic document This technique is widely used.

  For example, in an electronic conference system in which a plurality of users can join a conference via a terminal screen by connecting a plurality of terminal devices via a communication network, documents can be shared among the participants (shared viewing is possible; Various techniques have been proposed (for example, see Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-84905

  Here, adding an electronic sticky note such as an annotation to a document displayed on the terminal screen is also performed in the electronic conference system. For example, electronic sticky notes such as memos and annotations on documents (digitized materials) displayed on a terminal screen by handwriting input using a pen-type pointing device or touching the touch panel directly with a fingertip May be written on the display screen.

  According to the function of this electronic sticky note, participants in the conference can independently add and correct from each terminal, and can easily input additional information without disturbing thinking. This handwritten information can also be displayed on the terminal screens of other participants. Thereby, it is possible to input an opinion and an idea from each terminal device and take a hard copy thereof. That is, annotations (underline, marking, writing of characters, etc.) given to electronically displayed documents can be shared by digitizing the document or using the network.

  Further, the state of an electronic sticky note such as an annotation attached to a part of a document can be used as a query (search condition), and the electronic sticky note of a document already attached to the same position can be reproduced as a search result. It seems that the position where the electronic sticky note is attached is a position of interest to the reader. By reproducing an electronic sticky note previously assigned by another person or oneself, it is possible to know the position of interest given by another person or oneself.

  Annotation of a specific person is meaningful if you know what kind of person has what characteristics, but if an unspecified number of people share a document or annotation, an annotation of an unknown person Is not very meaningful.

  Patent Document 2 proposes a method of managing annotations given to an electronic document for each person who has given an annotation and specifying a specific person to reproduce the annotation given by that person. . When it is desired to know the interest of a specific person, the method described in Patent Document 2 can be used.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-62676

  On the other hand, handwritten annotations and other electronic sticky notes have contents that are desired to be disclosed personally or only within a predetermined group, and may not be disclosed to an unspecified number. However, since the method described in Patent Document 2 is a method of designating a specific person as a search condition, this request cannot be met.

  On the other hand, conventionally, when this structured document is registered for a structured document, it is automatically divided into logical structural units, registered together with structural information in a database, and converted into structural information in individual logical structural units. There is known a mechanism that enables a dependent search (see, for example, Patent Documents 3 and 4). For example, by using the methods described in Patent Documents 3 and 4, search depending on the logical structure and setting of access rights are possible, and the disclosure / non-disclosure is controlled for each document part (component of the document body). be able to.

JP 7-44579 A JP 2002-222185 A

  Here, when the method described in Patent Document 4 handles a document that is originally an unstructured document such as a meeting memo, the unstructured document is converted into a structured document, and the structured document is converted by a plurality of users. This is a mechanism that enables efficient and reliable editing in a shared manner.

  However, the methods described in Patent Documents 3 and 4 can control disclosure / non-disclosure for each document part of a document in a structured document state, but for electronic sticky notes that are different from the document body such as annotations. Public / private cannot be controlled. In addition, the method described in Patent Document 4 is complicated in processing, for example, requiring a character recognition process in order to convert an unstructured document into a structured document.

  On the other hand, Patent Document 5 proposes a technique for searching a document by setting a public attribute (access right) to an annotation and performing a search using the public attribute as a key.

JP-A-11-120191

  However, the method described in Patent Document 5 is used to search for a document including an annotation having a certain public attribute, and each annotation attached to the document displayed on the display device is disclosed / published. It doesn't control non-disclosure.

  On the other hand, in the case where both documents and electronic sticky notes are configured to be shared and viewed, in order to check information on electronic sticky notes that have been added or changed by others, viewers always perform procedures for reading and reproducing electronic sticky notes. There must be. Such an operation is troublesome.

  Even if the reading / reproducing procedure is performed, the operation is useless if a new electronic sticky note is not given or changed between the previous and current procedures.

  As described above, the conventional technique for displaying additional information such as an electronic tag attached to the document main body does not necessarily meet the request for the display mode desired by each individual viewer.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and when displaying additional information added to a document such as an annotation, information that can be flexibly responded to a request for a display form desired by an individual viewer. An object is to provide a display processing system.

  Specifically, when both the document and the electronic sticky note are configured to be shared at the same time, the information display can reduce the complexity of the operation for checking the information of the electronic sticky note that has been added or changed by others. An object is to provide a processing system.

  Another object of the present invention is to provide a management server and a client terminal that constitute an information display processing system. Another object of the present invention is to provide a program for realizing an information display processing system using a computer.

  An information display processing system according to the present invention includes an additional information adding unit that adds additional information to a document displayed on a predetermined display device or changes the state of the displayed additional information, and the additional information is added to the document. Update information notification control for notifying other viewers who are viewing shared documents to which the additional information has been granted or changed, to the effect that it has been granted or the status of the additional information that has already been granted has been changed Part.

  The client terminal and management server according to the present invention constitute the information display processing system according to the present invention. Further, the invention described in the dependent claims defines further advantageous specific examples of the information display processing system, the client terminal, and the management server according to the present invention.

  Furthermore, the program according to the present invention is suitable for realizing the information display processing system according to the present invention by software using an electronic computer (computer). The program may be provided by being stored in a computer-readable storage medium, or may be distributed via wired or wireless communication means.

  In the configuration of the present invention, when the additional information is newly given or changed, the additional information is immediately distributed to other viewers who are browsing the document to which the additional information is given, Automatically notify other viewers that a change has been made.

  As described above, according to the present invention, when additional information added to a document such as an annotation is displayed, it is possible to flexibly respond to a request for a display form desired by each individual viewer.

  For example, when an electronic sticky note is newly added or changed, the electronic sticky note is immediately distributed to other readers who are viewing the document to which the electronic sticky note is attached, or there is an attachment / change. The other user is automatically notified that the information has been added, and the complexity of the operation for confirming the information on the electronic sticky note added or changed by another person has been alleviated.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an electronic conference system to which a display control method and an information display processing system according to the present invention are applied.

  As an example of the electronic conference scene setting in this example, an electronic document-based conference scene such as a development start proposal or an international technical standardization conference is assumed.

  Electronic documents include, for example, specifications related to predecessor models (models prior to the development target model such as the current model), market trouble reports, technical standards documents of the support department, etc. There are many. In the technical standardization meeting, related documents such as similar technical standards and mailing lists related to the same technology exist in the surrounding area.

  As the participants in the electronic conference system, for example, a participant who represents the organization that influences the decision or is influenced by the decision, a chairperson, a record clerk, and the like are assumed.

  In the electronic conference system, for example, a representative person collects proposals and distributes materials in advance. Then, before the meeting, participants and the chair can read the material and add handwritten annotations on the display screen. In addition, during the conference, the organization representative can share the context with the people in the back office using annotations, and can adjust the department opinion in real time while communicating with each other.

Here, for example, the following can be considered as a scene involving sharing of handwritten annotations in the conference flow in the electronic conference system.
* Read the distributed materials before the meeting and write annotations.
* Add annotations while listening to explanations.
* In a question-and-answer session, quickly search for a question based on the annotation and ask or answer a question.
* Search past related documents.
* Ask your colleagues questions during the meeting.
* Discussion session.
* Adoption and opinion gathering sessions.
* A session for confirming the agreement.
* Making minutes.
* Report the meeting to the group members.
* Discover experts through meetings and be aware of diverse perspectives.

<< Overview of system configuration >>
Next, the configuration of the electronic conference system shown in FIG. 1 will be described. The electronic conference system 1 includes a client system 100 used by participants of the electronic conference and electronic data used in the electronic conference system 1 (not only document data but all other electronic information necessary for the conference). Including a server system 200 for processing. Each functional element constituting the client system 100 and the server system 200 is connected by a network (communication network) 9 such as wired or wireless.

  The client system 100 is provided for each participant in the conference. In the illustrated example, two sets are illustrated, but the number is not limited to two. One set may be shared by multiple people.

  The client system 100 includes a document viewer 102 (102a, 102b in the figure) for displaying an electronic document, and an annotation device 170 (for adding an annotation as an example of additional information to the electronic document displayed on the document viewer 102). 170a and 170b in the figure, and a manager unit 180 (180a and 180b in the figure) for storing a history of screen operations and controlling the document viewer 102. The document viewer 102 and the annotation device 170 constitute an additional information adding unit 106 (106a and 106b in the figure) and an annotation detecting unit (annotation adding part information acquiring unit) 107 (107a and 107b in the figure).

  The document viewer 102 can be freely mounted on a main body (cradle / docking station) (not shown). As the document viewer 102, for example, a display such as a CRT or liquid crystal (LCD) used for a personal computer or a device imitating paper (for example, a tablet PC) may be used. The document viewer 102 may be configured as a large tablet about the size of a whiteboard.

  The annotation device 170 is preferably provided with a function capable of handwritten input. For example, an input device such as a device having a pen shape may be used. In the case of a pen-shaped device, both the document viewer 102 and the annotation device 170 have a mechanism for detecting an instruction input, for example, in the case of using an electromagnetic induction type detection mechanism so that the display surface can be directly indicated by the device. . A touch panel method may be adopted. The annotation device 170 is not limited to the pen type, and may be an input / instruction device such as a mouse or a keyboard.

  The manager unit 180 includes a log file storage unit 182 (182a and 182b in the figure) that stores a document browsing history and an annotation history (log file). In addition, the manager unit 180 is provided with a functional unit that realizes a display method (in this example, an emphasis display function) designated by the reader (see FIG. 3 described later).

  The server system 200 is an example of an additional information management unit, an annotation management unit 210 that manages log files and annotations, a document management unit 220 that manages electronic documents, a profile management unit 230 that manages personal profiles, and meetings and participation A conference management unit 235 that manages users and an information search unit 240 that supports the conference by analyzing sentences and extracting important words are included.

  The annotation management unit 210 includes an annotation server 212 that is a server that stores and retrieves annotations attached to a document, an action log DB 214 that is a database (Data Base) that stores log file contents of each client terminal, and an addition An annotation DB 216 is an example of an information storage unit and is a database for storing annotations and attribute information associated therewith.

  The document management unit 220 includes a document server 222 that is a server that stores and retrieves documents, and a document DB 224 that is a database for storing documents and associated attribute information.

  Even in the case where additional corrections to the distributed materials are performed independently by providing the document management unit 220 that manages the document body and the annotation management unit 210 that manages additional information such as annotations attached to the electronic document. It is possible to avoid inconsistencies in the contents when combined with the original at the end.

  For example, when someone adds a supplementary explanation to a part of the original, and someone makes a modification that deletes the same part, the edited part is the document body registered in the document DB 224. Separately, by registering it in the annotation DB 216 in association with the document main body, it is possible to manage information without causing any contradiction in the content of the conference material main body and the corrections made to it. In addition, referring to the annotation DB 216, it is easy to later write out the opinions and discussions that were made on the spot.

  The profile management unit 230 includes a profile server 232 that is a server that stores and searches personal profiles such as the name and password of each user or a group belonging to a company, and a profile DB 234 that is a database that stores personal profiles. Have

  The conference management unit 235 includes a conference server 236 that is a server that manages a conference and users who can participate in the conference, and a conference DB 238 that is a database that stores a conference ID and a user ID that can participate in association with each other. .

  The information search unit 240 is a natural language processing server 242 that is a server that analyzes sentences and extracts important words, and a natural language processing DB 244 that is a database that stores analysis dictionaries, synonym dictionaries, and the like referred to by the natural language processing server 242. And have.

  The natural language processing DB 244 stores predetermined data in a data structure suitable for the information search method. For example, a word vector dictionary (dictionary is an example of a database) that stores word semantic vectors on a semantic basis, a co-occurrence database that stores co-occurrence relationships between dependency words, or synonym expansion and association expansion. Extended dictionaries (including synonym dictionaries).

  The information search unit 240 can select and use various search engines by having these various databases (including dictionaries) in the natural language processing DB 244.

  The management units 210, 220, 230, 235, and 240 of the server system 200 shown in the figure may be separate from each other, or may be housed in the same casing in any combination. Also good. For example, each server may be constituted by a common computer, or may use a common hard disk device as each database. The annotation management unit 210, the document management unit 220, and the information search unit 240 are collectively referred to as a document information management unit. As these management units 210, 220, 230, and 240, for example, a workstation may be used.

<Appearance of document viewer>
FIG. 2 is an external view focusing on the display surface side of the document viewer 102 which is an embodiment of the information display processing apparatus. As shown in the figure, the document viewer 102 includes a liquid crystal display panel 103, which is an example of a display device, and an operation button 110 composed of various hardware keys. It is formed into a single plate having a thickness.

  The liquid crystal display panel 103 is configured as a backlit panel, and is used as a document display area 104 for displaying a document. On the document display area 104, handwriting input (digital ink) is possible with the annotation device 170. The manager unit 180 incorporates a memo writing utility (hardware and application software) corresponding to the digital ink.

  As a controller corresponding to digital ink, any controller for recognizing and processing handwritten data as “digital ink (handwritten characters)” can be used. It is not necessary to have a character recognition function. Even in this case, it can be handled as the top-level format of the text, and can be searched with handwritten characters or processed (color change etc.). The digital ink data format may be handled as image data (for example, bitmap data).

  As described above, when reading the paper document, the document viewer 102 can input data using the annotation device 170 in the same manner as adding underline or circle to the document in a desired form or writing a memo. It has become. Further, since it is formed in a single plate having a thickness, it can be easily placed at a position and an angle that are easy to read by, for example, placing on the knee or tilting at the time of writing.

  The written input information (additional information of the document body) is held in a storage unit (not shown) in the document viewer 102 and is sent to the annotation management unit 210 of the server system 200 at a predetermined time, and the annotation DB 216 corresponds to the document body. Attached and stored. When the document is read later, the annotation entered in the past is read together with the document body and displayed in the document display area 104.

  Thereby, it is possible to exert an effect of visually assisting the reader's memory regarding the information description place by writing underline, circle, or memo in a desired shape like paper.

  For example, in the case of a conference using the electronic conference system 1, it can be used to read the distributed material before the conference and write an annotation, or to add an annotation while listening to the explanation.

  A plurality of hardware keys are prepared as the operation buttons 110. For example, as shown in the figure, a document reading button 114 for reading a document stored in the document DB 224, a save button 116 for saving an annotation drawn in the document display area 104, and an annotation saved in the annotation DB 216 are displayed. A search button 118 for searching and displaying in the document display area 104 and an update button 120 for updating the display are provided.

  The operation buttons 110 include a page turning button 122 including a previous page turning button 122a and a next page turning button 122b for turning the page back and forth, a highlight button 124 for displaying an important word, and a document viewer 102. Is provided with a user display button 126 for displaying a list of users who have annotated the open document.

  Instead of the hardware key of the operation button 110, a software key for displaying a key button in the document display area 104 may be used.

  The document viewer 102 displays an image on a liquid crystal display based on data read from an internal storage medium or data acquired from a server system 200 (or a Web server) via a network connection function unit (not shown). It is configured to display on the panel 103.

  In addition, the document viewer 102 is equipped with a function (turning display function) for switching the display in units of pages while reading the book in a flipping manner. It is configured so that desired information can be quickly searched from a large number of information.

  That is, at the time of information retrieval in the document viewer 102, desired page information is performed while performing page turning operation by operating two page turning buttons (page turning buttons 122) such as a previous page turning button 122a and a next page turning button 122b. Can be displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 103. Further, if either one of the previous page feed button 122a and the next page feed button 122b is continuously pressed, page feed can be performed at a high speed, thereby making it desirable to confirm information displayed one after another. Searching for information is possible.

  In addition, in the flip display, the image contrast that is the pixel amplitude for driving the liquid crystal element of the liquid crystal display panel 103 and the display brightness (brightness / background luminance) that is the brightness of the entire image are normally displayed in accordance with the page turning operation. It is configured to facilitate the feature extraction of the entire image by making the display image on the display device different from the time, and making the light and dark state of the display device different from the lightness and darkness of the normal state over a predetermined time. Yes.

<Document Viewer / Manager>
FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the document viewer 102 and the manager unit 180. The document viewer 102 generates a new page image based on a predetermined condition, a liquid crystal display panel 103 that is an example of a display device that displays an image in units of pages, a controller 130 that controls the entire display processing in the document viewer 102, and the like. And a page image generation unit 140. The controller 130 includes a page feed instruction receiving unit 132 that receives a page image switching instruction on the liquid crystal display panel 103 via the operation button 110. The page image generation unit 140 generates a new page image on condition that the page feed instruction reception unit 132 has received a page image switching instruction.

  In addition, the document viewer 102 switches the image on the liquid crystal display panel 103 and switches the brightness state of the display image according to a predetermined order on the condition that the page feed instruction receiving unit 132 receives the page image switching instruction. Part 150.

  When the page feed instruction receiving unit 132 receives a page image switching instruction, the page image generating unit 140 generates a new page image in the instructed direction (either forward / backward), and when generation is completed, Is displayed to the display brightness control unit 150.

  The display luminance control unit 150 includes a contrast control unit 150a that is a functional unit that controls display contrast of a page image on the liquid crystal display panel 103, and a functional unit that controls brightness by controlling the backlight luminance of the liquid crystal display panel 103. And a brightness control unit 150b. Further, the display brightness control unit 150 adjusts the contrast of the page image on the liquid crystal display panel 103 by the contrast control unit 150a, or adjusts the brightness of the page image by the brightness control unit 150b. Controls the display brightness. It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to both the contrast and the brightness, and it is sufficient to adjust at least one of the both.

  When the page turning instruction receiving unit 132 receives a page image switching instruction, the display luminance control unit 150 switches the image on the liquid crystal display panel 103 to a new page image generated by the page image generating unit 140 and sets the display luminance to a predetermined value. It is equipped with a function that changes slightly from normal display (contrast and brightness set by the user at that time) for a certain amount of time. This makes it possible to improve the discrimination ability even when the display is performed while reading the book like a book.

  On the other hand, in addition to the log file storage unit 182, the manager unit 180 takes in the target document that the reader wants to read from the document DB 224, and an emphasized word / sentence specifying unit 184 that specifies characters and sentences to be highlighted, and highlighting. An emphasis word / sentence selection method instructing unit 186 for instructing the emphasis word / sentence specifying unit 184 to select a character or sentence to be selected, and an emphasis instruction control unit 188 for controlling the validity / invalidity (on / off) of the emphasis display function. With.

  The manager 180 first selects an emphasized word / sentence specifying method for realizing the method specified by the reader (in this example, a conference participant) in the emphasized word / sentence selecting method instruction unit 186, and selects the emphasized word / sentence specifying unit. 184 is instructed. The target document to be read by the reader is input to the emphasized word / sentence specifying unit 184. When the highlighting function is on, the highlighted word / sentence specifying unit 184 determines how to display the words (words, sentences, or sentences) to be highlighted, and then the document viewer 102 Image information is sent to the page image generation unit 140 through the controller 130.

  Note that the highlighting method includes changing the density (contrast / bright), changing the font (type and size), changing the character color, and changing the character background color. Display them, or add underline or solid fill. Note that the purpose of “highlighting” is sharply different from other parts, and can be visually differentiated, and the direction of change does not matter. For example, the corresponding part may be emphasized by increasing the density, or conversely, the corresponding part may be emphasized by decreasing the density.

  In addition, by using the highlighting function, the effect can be enhanced even when a “reading function” is provided. For example, when scanning a paper document, the reader gets a general impression of a page or document that is likely to contain important content while browsing through interesting words and phrases that characterize the document. Doing things. Even in the document viewer 102, by providing the “flow-reading mode”, it is possible to display an important phrase that seems to express the meaning of the sentence well. By following the darkly displayed keywords, the contents of the document can be understood in a short time. In addition, the reader can also infer that the periphery of the darkly displayed phrase is an important part. If you want to understand the contents deeper, you can read it.

  In addition, it is possible to display a document linked to automatic generation of a document list using the annotation function. For example, a search is performed on a document held in the server system 200 by using, as a keyword, a phrase with an underline or a circle written by a reader in a document. Documents with frequent keywords are listed as references. The reader can refer to the document title, the sentence (clip) where the keyword appears frequently, and the page number. When displaying a specified reference, for example, change the font type or size, underline, color, or use dark characters for the keywords in the clip (states that indicate the terms that match the search criteria) Emphasize display. By doing so, it becomes possible to quickly understand the contents of the reference document.

  Note that the processing of the emphasis word / sentence specifying unit 184, the emphasis word / sentence selection method instruction unit 186, and the emphasis instruction control unit 188 may be referred to Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-314876 according to the present applicant.

<Document server / Document database>
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the document server 222 and the document DB 224. The document server 222 accepts “registration” and “document reading” according to external instructions. For example, when the client system 100 detects that the document reading button 114 of the document viewer 102 has been operated, the client system 100 notifies the document server 222 of the document management unit 220 configuring the server system 200 to that effect. As a result, the document server 222 reads the document instructed from the document DB 224.

  “Registration” is to be registered indicating an address indicating the storage location of the document in the document DB 224, for example, “http://datacenter.company.co.jp/access.cgi?DocumentID=8gjk3cl3”. It is given by a path such as URL (Uniform Resource Locators) to a document or a path to a directory.

  The document server 222 sequentially assigns document IDs to the document (group) indicated by the given path, and registers the document name and document text in the document DB 224. At this time, the data structure in the document DB 224 is, for example, as shown in FIG. The document name or the document text may be a path to a document such as a URL.

  The document server 222 accepts a “document read” instruction from the document viewer 102. When the document server 222 accepts an instruction “read document”, it creates a list of document names in the document DB 224 and returns it to the document viewer 102. In addition, the document server 222 receives the document name from the document viewer 102 and sends back the corresponding document text to the document viewer 102.

<Annotation server / Annotation database>
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the annotation server 212 and the annotation DB 216.

  The annotation server 212 accepts “save” and “search” according to instructions from the outside. For example, when the client system 100 detects that the save button 116 of the document viewer 102 has been operated, the client system 100 notifies the annotation server 212 of the annotation management unit 210 constituting the server system 200 to that effect. If there is no instruction to save the annotation and the document viewer 102 is terminated, first, the annotation is automatically instructed to be saved. As a result, the annotation server 212 associates the annotation information instructed to save (an example of information representing the characteristics of the additional information) with the document to which the annotation has been added, and stores the annotation information in the annotation DB 216 that is an example of the storage unit. Register (store).

  For example, the annotation server 212 receives a “save” instruction from the document viewer 102. At this time, the annotation contents to be saved, the rectangle information and color and shape of the annotation, the document ID to which the annotation is given, and the terminal ID of the document viewer 102 that issued the “save” instruction are given. At this time, similarly, the user name (or user ID) of the conference participant (client) who instructed “save”, the name of the conference in which the participant is participating (or conference ID), and the storage are instructed. The public attribute related to the annotation and the time when the annotation is given (annotation generation time) are also given.

  The annotation server 212 has a table of given terminal ID, document ID, rectangle information, annotation content, color, shape, user ID (or user name), conference ID (or conference name), public attribute, status, and generation time. The data is stored in the annotation DB 216 as data. At this time, the data structure in the annotation DB 216 is, for example, as shown in FIG.

  An annotation ID is assigned a unique ID number for each one-stroke annotation. The terminal ID is an ID number that uniquely identifies the client. In some cases, the hardware of the client terminal used by the user may be directly indicated, or in correspondence with an IP (Internet Protocol) address or a host name. As the document ID, a unique ID is assigned to each document stored in the document DB 224. Even if the document file name is the same, if it has been posted to the document DB 224 multiple times, it is registered with a different document ID.

  The rectangle information of the annotation is the rectangle number of the rectangular area pointed to by the one-stroke annotation. In the case of a straight line extending in the horizontal direction, there may be a continuous integer value, but when a quadrangle or circle is drawn over a plurality of lines, it becomes a discontinuous integer value. Note that the rectangle information of the annotation will be described in detail in “annotation giving process” to be described later.

  The annotation content is trajectory information of a one-stroke annotation, and is data used to reproduce the drawn annotation. For example, it becomes data such as bitmap and vector data. The color shape is the color of the ink used for the annotation or shape information such as a circle or square. The line type indicates the line type such as the thickness of the annotation, a solid line, or a dotted line.

  The user ID (or user name) is information that uniquely identifies the user who is operating the document viewer 102. For example, it corresponds to a login user name. The conference ID is information for collecting users in activity units such as a conference. It is used when total annotations generated during a meeting are aggregated. For example, at the time of login, authentication is performed by specifying a conference name (conference ID) and a user name (user ID).

  The public attribute is, for example, publicly available (no restriction) (= Pub), is made public only within a specific other user or group (for example, a conference member) (= Frd), and the annotation is made private (for personal use). (= Priv), and only when the authentication is obtained, the disclosure is permitted (= Protect). For specific disclosure (= Frd) and authentication disclosure (= Protect), sub-attributes such as a user, a group, or an authentication code (user name and password) can be set. In addition, in the case of specific disclosure (= Frd) and authentication disclosure (= Protect), not only display-only disclosure (read-only), but also a sub-attribute of full access setting that permits editing by others can be set. Needless to say, shared viewing of documents and annotations is usually published as read-only. This is to prevent inconvenience caused by allowing anyone to edit freely. However, there are cases where it is convenient to be able to edit freely in a meeting place. In such a case, it is sufficient to set full access.

  The user can set these public attributes for each annotation to be given. This public attribute can be set every time an annotation is given or every time an annotation save command is issued. Alternatively, any one of the default attributes may be set in advance, and when there is no special change instruction, the default attribute may be set. If there is no instruction to change the public attribute when the annotation is saved, the attribute set at that time (including the default) is accepted.

  For example, when the information is disclosed only to members who participate in a certain conference (Frd), information on the conference to be disclosed (for example, conference ID) is also registered in the annotation DB 216. Further, when the disclosure is permitted only when the authentication is obtained (= Protect), the profile management unit 230 is inquired and the publication is permitted only when the password authentication is obtained.

  When displaying annotations, all annotations, including annotations that are not disclosed, are sent from the annotation server 212 to the client system 100, and the public attributes set in the annotations are checked and displayed on the client system 100 side. (Public) / Hide (non-public) is switched, or only annotations to be published are sent on the annotation server 212 side. A method for switching the display / non-display of the assigned annotation by giving the annotation a public attribute will be described in detail later.

  The status indicates whether an annotation has been newly created (= New), has already existed (= Exist), or has been deleted (= Deleted). If the annotation once given is erased by the user with an eraser (electronic) or the like, this is “Deleted”. In this case, the deletion instruction does not cause the deleted annotation data to disappear from the annotation DB 216, but only changes the status.

  When displaying the annotation, all annotations including the “Deleted” annotation are sent from the annotation server 212 to the client system 100, and the status set in the annotation is checked on the client system 100 side to display / not display the annotation. The display is switched, or only “Exist” is sent to the client system 100 on the annotation management unit 210 side.

  The generation time is a time at which a one-stroke annotation is given (drawn on the viewer screen) in the document viewer 102, and includes a date and a time. This is managed separately from the time (managed by the action log DB 214) of saving one stroke annotation by pressing the save button 116 on the document viewer 102.

  Note that if the annotation has already been given, there is a movement of location (that is, a change in rectangle information), or if there is a change in the annotation attribute (color, shape, line type) or public attribute, the original annotation is effectively As deleted, the status is set to “deleted”, and a new annotation ID is issued for the annotation in the latest state. By doing this, even if the annotation once given is deleted or changed, all annotations including the “Deleted” annotation are sent from the annotation server 212 to the client system 100, and the client system By checking the status on the 100 side and switching the display / non-display for those whose status is “deleted”, it can be reproduced in the original state as necessary.

  When the client system 100 detects that the search button 118 of the document viewer 102 has been operated, the client system 100 notifies the annotation server 212 of the annotation management unit 210 constituting the server system 200 to that effect. Thereby, the annotation server 212 reads the annotation information instructed to be searched from the annotation DB 216.

  For example, the annotation server 212 receives a “search” instruction from the document viewer 102. At this time, the annotation server 212 receives information regarding the document ID, the rectangle information, and the annotation assignment range from the client system 100 (document viewer 102). The annotation server 212 searches the annotation DB 216 based on these pieces of information (search conditions), and returns appropriate annotation content to the document viewer 102. This search process will be described later.

<Profile server / Profile database>
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a basic configuration example of the profile server 232 and the profile DB 234.

  The profile server 232 receives “registration”, “correction”, or “search” according to an instruction from the outside. For example, a user information management window is displayed on the document viewer 102, and an input or correction of each instruction or user information is accepted in the user information management window. The user information management window is not shown.

  Note that when searching for annotations related to a document being browsed, the person attribute registered in the profile server 232 can be set as a search condition. In this case, the “search” of the user information is performed through an annotation search.

  The client system 100 accepts input of user information according to a predetermined format in the user information management window. The user information consists of a user name and password and various attribute information. The attribute information includes, for example, sex, age, job type, job title, affiliation group, address, or nationality. When the client system 100 detects the “registration” instruction, the client system 100 notifies the profile server 232 of the profile management unit 230 of the server system 200 of the input user name, password, and attribute information.

  As a result, the profile server 232 registers (stores) the user information instructed to be registered in the profile DB 234 that is an example of a storage unit. At this time, the data structure in the profile DB 234 is, for example, as shown in FIG. The user ID is newly assigned when the registered user is new.

  When the client system 100 detects the “correction” instruction, the client system 100 reads the registered content of the user who has instructed the “correction” from the profile server 232 of the profile management unit 230 and presents it in the user information management window on the document viewer 102. . While confirming the presented content, the user makes a new input to the item desired to be corrected. That is, a correction item is given to correct user information.

  When the client system 100 detects a “search” instruction, the client system 100 requests the profile server 232 of the profile management unit 230 to search for a user ID having a specific attribute specified in the user information management window. The profile server 232 presents the user information corresponding to the user ID that matches the specified search condition on the document viewer 102 as a search result. Needless to say, the password is not disclosed.

<< Processing related to annotations >>
Next, processing related to annotation assignment will be described using a specific example. First, a specific example of user profile registration will be described.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data structure of the profile DB 234 in this example. The client system 100 sends the profile to the profile server 232 as a text file described in a predetermined format. The profile server 232 stores the given profile in the profile DB 234. At this time, a user ID is assigned. Here, it is assumed that registration is performed as shown in FIG. The profile does not need to be given as a text file, and can be registered on a GUI (Graphical User Interface) using CGI (Common Gateway Interface) or the like.

  Next, registration, reading, annotation assignment, and storage of a document will be described.

<Document registration process>
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the document DB 224 in a specific example described below. Each document in this example is a manual regarding the operation of the copier.

  As described above, registration of a document is given by a URL to a document to be registered or a path to a directory. The document server 222 registers the document ID, document name, and document body of the document indicated by the received path as document registration contents in the document DB 224 as shown in FIG.

<Document reading process>
A participant who wishes to read a document presses the document reading button 114 of the document viewer 102. Upon receiving this instruction, the document viewer 102 sends a document reading request to the document server 222.

  Upon receiving this notification, the document server 222 creates a list of document names in the document DB 224 and returns it to the document viewer 102. Here, it is “manual1.txt, manual2.txt, manual3.txt, manual4.txt”. The document viewer 102 displays a list of document names in a list box or the like, and prompts the user A (user ID is user1) to select.

  It is assumed that the user A selects “manual2.txt”. The document viewer 102 notifies the document server 222 that “manual2.txt” has been selected. The document server 222 searches the document DB 224 for the document ID and the document text assigned to “manual2.txt” and returns them to the document viewer 102. The document viewer 102 displays the received document text in the document display area 104. If the document server 222 is provided with a full-text search function or the like, it is possible to present a search result as a reading target.

<Annotation process>
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a display example in a state where annotations are added to the document displayed in the document display area 104 of the document viewer 102. The reader (user A) reads the document while giving a mark (an electronic tag such as an annotation) such as an underline or a circle to the document displayed in the document display area 104 according to interest or interest. Here, a pen-type device is used as the annotation device 170. In this case, an annotation can be given to write on paper.

  At this time, as shown in FIG. 9A, the document display area 104 is actually invisible but is divided into rectangles including characters in order to specify the part with the annotation. And A blank name part without a character or a part such as a chart is also divided into rectangles of an appropriate size. For example, it may be divided into rectangles of an appropriate size with reference to the font size of the characters before and after. If it is a Japanese character, it is a rectangular area surrounding one character.

  Information for specifying each rectangle is given to each rectangle. For example, consecutive rectangular numbers are assigned sequentially from the upper left to the horizontal direction. In the case of a document extending over a plurality of pages, consecutive numbers are assigned to the previous page after the next page. In other words, the document is managed with continuous rectangle numbers from the beginning to the end of the document. It is possible to specify to which page the annotation is given by the rectangle number. Note that an independent rectangle number may be assigned to each page, and the page assigned to each page may be identified by the page number and the rectangle number of each page.

  For example, in a meeting for proofreading a copier manual, user A gives the annotation a1 shown in FIG. 9A, focusing on “the center of the manuscript ...” in the explanatory text of a page in the manual. To do. Further, it is assumed that the annotation b1 is given by paying attention to the operation for performing the binding margin. Thereafter, it is assumed that annotations are given over three pages as shown in FIG. 9B, such as points that should be read while proceeding to the second and third pages and actually performing the operation.

<Save process>
FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of information sent from the document viewer 102 to the annotation server 212 in this case. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the annotation DB 216 in the present case. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the action log DB 214 in this example.

  User A (user ID is user1) performs personal authentication by using the user ID and password assigned in advance and inquiring to the profile server 232 when using this system. If it matches, the system can be used. In addition, when participating in a conference, when the user A logs in, the user inputs a conference name (conference ID) and a user name (user ID) and inquires of the conference server 236 whether participation in the conference is permitted. Authenticate. If the authentication is successful, participation in the conference is permitted and browsing of documents used in the conference is also permitted.

  Thereafter, the user A can instruct to save the annotation by pressing the save button 116 of the document viewer 102. When the document viewer 102 receives an annotation save instruction, the document ID, terminal ID, document ID, rectangle number of the rectangle with the annotation, annotation content, color / shape, line type, user, and the like The ID, public attribute, status, and generation time are sent to the annotation server 212. Information to be sent to the annotation server 212 is as shown in FIG. Here, it is assumed that the terminal ID of the document viewer 102 is “3”.

Here, several methods can be adopted as a method of sending annotation data from the document viewer 102 (client system 100) to the annotation management unit 210 of the server system 200. For example,
1) A case where all annotation data in a document is sent when the save button is pressed,
2) When the save button is pressed, only the amount added and changed from the previous update is sent,
3) A case where annotation data is transmitted to the annotation management unit 210 every time one stroke is drawn or the location or attribute of an existing annotation is changed (hereinafter collectively referred to as one stroke).
Etc.

  In the case of 3), it is assumed that one operation (one stroke including change) is confirmed by the annotation device 170 being separated from the document viewer 102. In this case, the annotation management unit 210 does not store the annotation data in the annotation DB 216 even if it receives notification of one-stroke annotation data. Instead, this notification is notified (transferred) to the client system 100 of another user who is browsing the document at that time. This function (automatic update notification function) will be described in detail later.

  The annotation ID may be issued on the client system 100 side or may be issued on the annotation management unit 210 side. However, at the very least, it needs to be unique when viewed as a combination of annotation ID, user ID, and document ID. When issuing on the client system 100 side, the notification of the final number of the annotation ID managed on the annotation management unit 210 side is received, and the subsequent number is issued to the newly assigned annotation. In addition, when there is a change in location or attribute (color / shape / line type) or public attribute for an annotation that has already been assigned, the original annotation status is set to “deleted” and a new annotation ID is issued. .

  In a meeting place, etc., when multiple users can view the same document at the same time and can add annotations at the same time, unique (unique) to each annotation assigned by each user A mechanism for assigning a unique ID number must be considered. When an annotation ID is issued on the annotation management unit 210 side, unified management is possible, and when an annotation data is received and saved in the annotation DB 216, a unique ID number can be assigned to each annotation. There is no problem.

  On the other hand, when an annotation ID is issued on the client system 100 side, if an ID number is assigned on the client system 100 side, duplication may occur. In order to avoid this, for example, when there are simultaneous viewers, it is preferable to inquire about an ID number that can be assigned to the annotation management unit 210 each time. Alternatively, when the document is opened, notifications of a predetermined number (for example, 10) of ID numbers that can be issued on each client system 100 side are obtained from the annotation management unit 210 and may be sequentially issued within the range. . When the number of newly assigned annotations is large and there are not enough ID numbers, a notification of a predetermined number of ID numbers may be obtained again.

  In the example shown in FIG. 10, the annotation ID is issued on the client system 100 side, and all annotation data in the document is sent when the save button is pressed (1 above). In the case of sending every stroke (3 above), data for one ID shown in FIG. 10 is transmitted. The client system 100 reads an annotation already assigned to a document being browsed by the user and displays it on the document viewer 102.

  Focusing on the status items in FIG. 10, it can be seen that the annotation IDs 2 and 3 are those already read and displayed on the document viewer 102. It can also be seen that the annotation ID 2 is in a state where it is erased by the user with the eraser. It can also be seen that the annotation IDs 28 and 29 are annotations newly added by the user.

  The annotation server 212 receives the information shown in FIG. 10 from the client system 100 and stores it in the annotation DB 216. At this time, if there is already a combination of the same annotation ID, user ID, and document ID, the received information is basically overwritten there. There is virtually no change for annotations that were simply viewed.

  The annotation server 212 changes the status of the record that matches with the annotation ID, user ID, and document ID registered in the annotation DB 216 to “deleted” for the status with “deleted” (updates data). ). Further, the annotation server 212 sets the status of the annotation data received from the client system 100 to “Exist” when the status is “New”, and adds the data to the annotation DB 216 while receiving the remaining items. .

  FIG. 11 shows a state in which the information in the annotation DB 216 is updated based on the information shown in FIG. 10 with respect to the data in the state shown in FIG. In FIG. 11, the shaded items are added or changed. From the information shown in FIG. 10, the annotation ID to be added / changed is ID 2 indicating that the status is “deleted” and deleted, and ID 28 indicating that the status is “New” and added. , 29.

  When the document viewer 102 receives a save instruction from the user A (user ID is user1), the document viewer 102 also sends the contents of the log file stored in the log file storage unit 182 to the annotation server 212. The annotation server 212 stores the log file received from the document viewer 102 in the action log DB 214 as shown in FIG. The action log DB 214 also records the time when the page of the document being viewed is changed (PAGE_OPEN), the time when the document is opened (DOC_OPEN), and the time when the document is closed (DOC_CLOSE). Also, the time (ANT_SAVE) when the annotation was saved is recorded.

  This completes the storage of the operation history regarding annotations, documents, and pages in a predetermined database.

  FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating another configuration example of the annotation DB 216 in the present case. In the case of this configuration example, the annotations are previously collected into one annotation by arbitrary collection. For example, it is assumed that annotations written within a certain time are collected into one vector data. Here, the “vector data” is data collected in the order of time when a plurality of coordinate points having a certain color and thickness are written.

<< Information search and display processing using electronic sticky notes >>
Next, a technique for realizing efficient information retrieval by attaching an electronic tag such as an annotation to a document displayed in the document display area 104 of the document viewer 102 and using information indicated by the annotation or the like. This will be described in detail. Hereinafter, the system related to the information retrieval display process of the electronic conference system 1 having such an information retrieval function is particularly referred to as an information display processing system.

  A viewer user (user; a participant in the conference in this example) uses the annotation device 170 while reading the document displayed in the document display area 104 of the document viewer 102 while the conference is in progress. Write marks (annotations) such as underlines and circles to interesting words and phrases that characterize the document. Or you may attach a note. The memo writing is not limited to freehand writing, but may be a text annotation for inputting text into the specified frame.

  Information relating to additional information for the document body, such as annotations assigned to these documents, is transmitted to the server system 200 via the network 9 when the save button is pressed (see FIG. 10). The document body is managed by the document management unit 220 (see FIGS. 4 and 8).

  Additional information such as annotations corresponding to the document body is managed (saved) in association with the document body in the annotation DB 216 of the annotation management unit 210 (see FIGS. 11 and 13).

  When a search is instructed by the reader as necessary, additional information (for example, annotation) that conforms to the search condition specified by the reader is searched (searched) using the annotation management unit 210 and matches the search condition. Present information to the user.

  For example, in the configuration of the electronic conference system 1 shown in FIG. 1, during the electronic conference, the user can display an electronic document on the display surface of the document viewer 102 and give an annotation on the display surface. . Here, the case where intellectual activities are performed using a document display device that can annotate various documents, meetings that use a large amount of documents, or activities that use documents for a long period of time. Think.

  You may start with one document at first, then need to know more about one part of the document and display another document. There is a portion where the information of another document is required even in the other document, and there may be a case where another document is opened. In this way, consider a scene where annotations are added to important points one after another.

  In this system, annotations (underline, marking, writing of characters, etc.) given to electronically displayed documents can be shared. It is also possible to reproduce the annotation of a document already assigned to the same position as a search result using the annotation state assigned to a part of a document as a query. The position where the annotation is given seems to be a position of interest to the reader.

  In addition, by reproducing the annotation previously given by another person or himself, it is possible to know the position of interest given by the other person or himself. Also, it is managed by the person who gave the annotation or the time when it was given, and by specifying a specific person, the annotation given by that person can be reproduced, or the annotation given at a specific time can be reproduced Can do. That is, only a desired annotation can be reproduced by designating a specific person or a specific time.

  However, some annotations may be disclosed personally or only within a predetermined group and may not be disclosed to an unspecified number. In order to solve such a problem, the electronic conference system 1 (information display processing system 7) according to the present embodiment has a public restriction function that gives a public attribute to an annotation and restricts the publicity of the annotation.

  Also, when a plurality of people give annotations to the same document at the same time and share the annotations at a meeting or the like, a problem occurs in the conventional method. In other words, if the user does not always read and reproduce the annotation, the location of the “new” or existing annotation assigned by other users or the change of attributes (color, shape, line type) (collective annotations) The “annotation” (changed) cannot be reproduced on the document viewer 102. However, such an operation is troublesome.

  Even if the reading / reproducing procedure is performed, the operation becomes useless if a new annotation is not added between the previous procedure and the current procedure or the annotation is not changed. In addition, although an annotation has been given or changed after the previous update, there may be a case where viewing of the user who performed the operation is prohibited due to the setting of the public attribute. In this case as well, the reading / reproducing procedure is a wasteful operation as described above.

  In order to solve such a problem, the electronic conference system 1 (information display processing system 7) of the present embodiment, when an annotation is newly added or when there is a change in the annotation, indicates that at that time. A function for realizing efficient information sharing (hereinafter referred to as an automatic update notification function) is provided by automatically notifying a predetermined user who is referencing the target document.

  Hereinafter, the annotation disclosure restriction function and the automatic update notification function, which are features of the present embodiment, will be described in detail.

  FIG. 14 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the information display processing system 7 focusing on an information search function using annotations. Here, FIG. 14A shows an outline of the overall configuration, and FIG. 14B shows details of functional elements specialized for the information display processing function. This figure specifically shows a mechanism for performing the annotation disclosure restriction function and the automatic update notification function.

  As shown in FIG. 14A, the information display processing system 7 having these functions is an example of an additional information display processing unit, and manages a mechanism for executing an efficient search process and an annotation information providing process. An annotation processing device 218 that is a dedicated device (an example of a server) is provided. The information display processing system 7 also displays a search request designation unit 500, which is an example of a search request unit for receiving search processing and information display instructions from a reader, and a search result and other information sent from the annotation processing device 218. A display processing unit 101 for displaying. In addition, the information display processing system 7 includes a public attribute setting unit 600 on the client system 100 side that receives a public attribute setting indicating whether or not to permit display of additional information.

  The annotation processing device 218 searches the annotation DB 216 of the annotation management unit 210 and the document DB 224 of the document management unit 220 for whether or not the corresponding document requested for search or other related information has been registered. Sends relevant information related to the search result and annotation to the client system 100 side. In addition, when the annotation is added or changed, the annotation processing device 218 is permitted to be published (public attribute = Protect). Allow public (that is, display) those annotations.

  Note that the annotation server 212 and the document server 222 may be responsible for the function of the annotation processing device 218. In this case, as indicated by a dotted line in the figure, the annotation server 212 and the document server 222 exchange annotation information related to the annotation search processing directly (or via the network 9).

  The display processing unit 101 is composed of portions related to display processing in the document viewer 102 and the manager unit 180. As the related information related to the annotation sent to the client system 100 side, for example, the information of the annotation itself, the list information that summarizes the search result generated by the annotation processing device 218, an annotation is added, or an existing annotation Update notification information for notifying other users that the status (attributes such as location, color, and line type) has been changed.

  The search request designating unit 500 provided in the client system 100 has a mechanism for efficiently performing an automatic annotation update notification function. For example, every time an annotation is added or changed, an update information notification unit 502 that notifies the annotation processing device 218 of update information (annotation data in FIG. 10) indicating that, and the annotation processing device 218 receives an instruction to save the annotation. And a save button 116 as means for notifying the user.

  In addition, the search request specifying unit 500 receives update update notification information from other users from the annotation processing device 218 and notifies the user of the update message, and the update message notification unit 504 notifies the user of the update message notification unit 504. A report mode setting unit 506 for setting a mode for reporting an update message, and an update button 120 that is a means for receiving an instruction for updating the display of the document display area 104 from the user are provided. The function of the update button 120 operates on condition that the update message notification unit 504 has received update notification information. The report mode setting unit 506 includes both functions of a report target person setting unit and a display timing setting unit.

  When a user updates an annotation (new assignment or change) by another person, what kind of update the other person wants to receive the information, that is, a notification target for which an update message is desired The user is set in the report mode setting unit 506 (report target person setting unit). The report mode setting unit 506 makes an inquiry to the profile management unit 230 and the conference management unit 235, acquires the user ID set by the user, or the user ID of the report target user corresponding to the group or conference, and registers it in a memory (not shown). Keep it.

  For example, all members, only members who participate in the conference, only specific departments and groups, only specific individuals, and so on. Any combination other than “Everyone” can be registered. In addition, departments, groups, and individuals can make multiple registrations.

  For example, since the same document can be used in different scenes, a new annotation may be given by a user who does not participate in the conference during the conference. In such a case, it is sufficient that the conference participant can immediately know only the annotation update by the participant in the same conference. In addition, in the case of writing conversations with only members of the same department or with attendees, it is sufficient to immediately know only the updates made by those members. On the other hand, it is preferable to always know the latest information during normal document browsing in scenes other than meetings and the like, and it is desirable to be able to immediately know everyone's annotation update.

  Also, the user updates the annotation display on condition that the update button 120 is pressed (manual display update mode), or automatically updates the annotation display if there is an annotation update by the report target user set as described above. (Automatic display update mode) is registered in the notification mode setting unit 506 (display timing setting unit).

  If the automatic display update mode is set, the annotation display on the document viewer 102 is automatically updated every time the desired report target user updates the annotation. The viewer is completely free from the operations of the annotation reading / reproducing procedure.

  On the other hand, in the case where the automatic display update mode is set, in the case where the annotation update by the report target user is frequently performed, the display update is also frequently performed, which may be troublesome. In such a case, the manual display update mode may be set. The user receives a notification that the annotation has been updated each time, but can update the display at a timing desired by the user. For example, it is convenient to initially set the automatic display update mode and switch to the manual display update mode when automatic display update becomes troublesome.

  In addition, it may be inconvenient if the screen is automatically updated during annotation writing or editing. In this case, it is preferable to be in the manual display update mode. Normally, when the automatic display update mode is set, the user may consider setting the manual display update mode each time for new entry or editing work, but it is not convenient. In such a case, when the additional information adding unit 106 detects that the annotation device 170 has been touched on the screen, it automatically shifts to the manual display update mode, and after the annotation device 170 leaves the screen and a predetermined time has elapsed. It is preferable to automatically return to the automatic display update mode.

  In addition, when a free and open discussion is held at a meeting place, there may be a case where a plurality of members add information at almost the same position or edit the same annotation at almost the same time. In such cases, it is preferable to update the display in real time, so even if you are in the process of writing or editing annotation, you can automatically update the screen to reflect the status of other people adding or editing. It is desirable to maintain the display update mode.

  Therefore, the notification mode setting unit 506 may be configured to automatically switch between the manual display update mode and the automatic display update mode according to the timing at which the additional information adding unit 106 detects the addition or change of the annotation. . The notification mode setting unit 506 may be provided with a mechanism for receiving mode settings to meet the needs of various display update modes as described above.

  Even in the manual display update mode, an operation for reading and reproducing an annotation (pressing the update button 120 in this example) may be performed after receiving a notification that the annotation has been updated. Compared with the conventional example that always requires an annotation reading / reproducing procedure, the complexity of the operation is greatly reduced.

  The update message notification unit 504 receives the update notification information indicating the document ID, the user ID (user name), and the added / changed annotation ID with the added / changed annotation, and the sent user ID is illustrated in advance. The user ID of the report target user registered in the memory not to be compared is compared. Further, the update message notification unit 504 compares the sent document ID with the document ID displayed on the document viewer 102.

  If it matches the registered report target user and the document IDs are the same, the user indicated by the user ID (user name) included in the update notification information can add annotations to the displayed document. The fact that there has been a change (annotation has been updated) is reported to the user who is viewing the document by means of display information such as predetermined characters, symbols, and messages, and voice messages (collectively referred to as update messages). When detecting that the update button 120 is pressed, the search request designating unit 500 transmits the annotation ID included in the update notification information to the annotation processing device 218.

  An example of the configuration of the annotation processing device 218 is shown in FIG. As illustrated, the annotation processing device 218 includes a search condition determination unit 544 that determines a search condition, a search unit 546 that searches for annotation information that matches the search condition determined by the search condition determination unit 544, and a search unit 546. And an annotation presentation control unit 550 that is an example of an information presentation control unit that presents annotation information that matches the retrieved search condition to the user as related information. The search unit 546 and the annotation presentation control unit 550 constitute a search display processing unit 545 that is an example of a display control unit. Determination of the search condition by the search condition determination unit 544 is realized by presenting a screen for setting conditions on the document viewer 102 and receiving an instruction input from the user.

  The search condition determination unit 544 first receives a document browsing request from the user. At this time, the client system 100 (document viewer 102) notifies the annotation processing device 218 of the document name (for example, “manual2.txt”) of the document that the user desires to view on the document viewer 102. In response to this, the search condition determination unit 544 searches the document DB 224 via the document server 222 for the document ID and the document text assigned to the document name “manual2.txt”, and the document name “manual2.txt”. Is returned to the document viewer 102. The document viewer 102 displays the received document text in the document display area 104. At this time, as in the case of adding the annotation, the searched annotation is displayed so as to be superimposed on the document being viewed displayed in the document display area 104 of the document viewer 102.

  In addition, the search condition determination unit 544 receives a search processing request using an annotation from the user. At this time, the client system 100 (document viewer 102) notifies the annotation processing device 218 of a document ID that identifies the document that the user is browsing on the document viewer 102. In response to this, the search condition determination unit 544 sets the received document ID as a search condition, and instructs the search unit 546 to perform a search. The search unit 546 searches the annotation DB 216 in which annotation information is registered via the annotation server 212, and searches for all annotations attached to the document instructed to be searched (document being viewed). The result (annotation entity) is passed to the annotation presentation control unit 550.

  In addition, the search condition determination unit 544 has a mechanism for efficiently performing an automatic update notification function for an annotation for each stroke. For example, update information storage that receives update information (data corresponding to one ID shown in FIG. 10) indicating that an annotation has been added or changed from the client system 100 (update information notification unit 502) and stores it in the annotation DB 216. A control unit 582 is included. The storage area is not a normal storage area used when the save button 116 is pressed on the document viewer 102 side, but a dedicated storage area for the automatic update notification function. The data structure may be the same structure (such as FIG. 11 and FIG. 13) as when a normal save command is received.

  The update information storage control unit 582 determines the size of the storage area in advance, and when it exceeds the specified capacity, it sequentially updates (overwrites) the old data and repeatedly uses it. This is because the latest annotation information is always stored within a certain range while considering the capacity balance.

  In addition, the search condition determination unit 544 sends document IDs and user IDs (user names) that have annotated addition / change to the update message notification unit 504 of all client systems 100 that are other terminals and that currently have a session. And an update notification information transmission unit 584 for transmitting update notification information indicating the added / changed annotation ID.

  The search request specifying unit 500 (particularly the update information notification unit 502 and the update message notification unit 504) and the search condition determination unit 544 (particularly the update information storage control unit 582 and the update notification information transmission unit 584) Composed.

  The update notification information transmission unit 584 refers to the public attribute set in the added / changed annotation instead of “all client systems 100 in which the current session exists”, or is permitted to be publicized or It is preferable to send update notification information only to the client system 100 that the user may be using (public attribute = Protect).

  At this time, the update notification information transmission unit 584 sets a flag for receiving a notification of the annotation ID included in the update notification information from the terminal that has transmitted the update notification information. Further, when the update notification information is transmitted to all the client systems 100 in which the current session exists without considering the public attribute, this is also stored in association therewith. If the notification of the annotation ID is not within the predetermined time, the annotation update request is rejected.

  In some cases, an annotation ID is assigned on the client system 100 side, and in this case, the annotation ID notified when the annotation is notified for each stroke or the save button 116 is pressed. This is to distinguish the annotation ID notified for the automatic update notification function. This is also because the determination of the public attribute can be done only once. When an annotation ID is received from the client system 100, only the ID number is used, and other data (annotation entity) such as rectangular information, annotation attributes, or annotation content as shown in FIG. 10 is not attached. Alternatively, it may be determined that the notification is for the automatic update notification function.

  When the search condition determination unit 544 receives an annotation ID for the automatic update notification function from the client system 100, the search condition determination unit 544 sets the annotation ID as a search condition and instructs the search unit 546 to perform a search. The search unit 546 searches the dedicated storage area of the annotation DB 216 in which the annotation information for automatic update notification is registered using the annotation ID as a key via the annotation server 212 and passes it to the annotation presentation control unit 550.

  The annotation presentation control unit 550 may present an annotation content to the requesting user upon receiving the annotation content from the search unit 546 when the search button 118 is pressed (during a normal search processing function) or during an automatic update notification function. The public annotation is specified by determining whether or not there is (appropriate public attribute) by referring to the public attribute.

  Here, appropriate public attributes are annotations with no restrictions (= Pub), annotations with the same conference ID as the user who is viewing the document in specific public (= Frd), and annotations with authentication public (= Protect). is there. For example, for the items that can be disclosed as they are (public attributes = Pub and Frd corresponding users), the annotation content received from the search unit 546 is immediately passed to the manager unit 180 and sent to the document viewer 102. Of course, even if the public attribute is “individual”, an annotation provided by the same user as the document viewer is searched.

  In addition, as a public attribute, another user ID (user name) or group can be designated. When the user ID is designated, the annotation for which the user designates the unlimited attribute is reproduced. Also, when a group name is specified, an annotation with that group attribute is reproduced. For example, in the normal annotation search processing function, appropriate disclosure such as unrestricted (= Pub) or specific disclosure (= set another user ID with Frd) for the annotation attribute assigned by the user indicated by the user ID If the attribute is set, the annotation is reproduced for the user who requested the search. If an appropriate public attribute such as no limit (= Pub) or specific public (= Set group ID with Frd) is set, the annotation is reproduced for the user with the group ID set with Frd. Is done.

  For an annotation with “Protect” set as the public attribute, first, the browsing user is notified that there is such an annotation, and a password input is requested. When a password is input within a predetermined time and authentication is obtained in the authentication process with the profile management unit 230, the annotation content is passed to the manager unit 180 and sent to the document viewer 102. For example, while setting a specific disclosure (= Frd) only to the members participating in the conference, an authentication disclosure (= Protect) that designates a specific individual or a specific department / section or a smaller group name (collectively referred to as a specific department) is set. can do.

  In the case of an actual meeting, all participating members browse a common document, write notes on the document, and talk with neighboring members, or only in the same department sitting in a nearby seat. This is effective when realizing a case where the user does the electronic conference. It is also effective when the logged-in user and the user browsing at that time are different.

  As a result, regardless of whether it is a normal search processing function or an automatic update notification function, the user who is browsing among the documents that the user wants to browse and all annotations already assigned at that time Only documents that are permitted to be published are presented on the document viewer 102. That is, by using the public attribute provided as the annotation attribute, the annotation public restriction function can be reliably realized.

  Note that the search unit 546 may search only for annotations having document IDs that match the search conditions and appropriate public attributes. That is, the search unit 546 also functions as a function part of the public annotation specifying process in the annotation presentation control unit 550. In either case, on the server side, only the annotation to be published is sent to the client system 100 side.

  Also, the annotation presentation control unit 550 is provided on the client system 100 side, and all annotations assigned to the same document ID from the server system 200 (annotation processing device 218 or annotation management unit 210) are sent to the client system 100 side. The annotation presentation control unit 550 on the 100 side may control display (public) / non-display (non-public) according to the public attribute assigned to each annotation.

  In addition, when an annotation is displayed when the automatic update notification function is realized, a new or changed annotation may be highlighted for a certain period (for example, about several seconds). This is for differentiation from existing annotations. In this case, the purpose of “highlighting” is sharply different from other parts and may be anything that can be visually differentiated, and the direction of change does not matter. For example, a new part or a part that exists even after a change may be highlighted for a certain period by increasing the density. Conversely, the erased part or the original part that has been moved may be highlighted for a certain period by reducing the density. As the functional portion that executes the highlighting, the display luminance control unit 150, the emphasized word / sentence specifying unit 184, the emphasized word / sentence selection method instruction unit 186, and the emphasis instruction control unit 188 may be used.

  FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing an outline of a processing procedure for realizing the disclosure restriction function. The user adds an annotation to the document being viewed on the document viewer 102 and presses the save button 116 at a predetermined timing (S100). At this time, the user has no restriction (= Pub), specific publication (= Frd), non-public (= Priv), and authentication public (= Priv) as public attributes of the annotations to be added / saved to the additional information adding unit 106. (Protect) is set (S102).

  When the document viewer 102 of the client system 100 detects that the save button 116 is pressed, the annotation processing device 218 generates annotation data (data shown in FIG. 10) including the user ID, document ID, annotation content, public attribute, and the like. (S104).

  The annotation processing device 218 registers the annotation data in the annotation DB 216 via the annotation server 212 (S106). This completes the annotation storage process for realizing the disclosure restriction function. The annotation DB 216 has the contents as shown in FIG. 13 by performing the above storage process by a large number of users.

  Next, a certain user reads and browses a document. Therefore, first, the user performs a login operation on the document viewer 102 (S120). The document viewer 102 that has accepted the login makes an inquiry to the profile management unit 230 and acquires the ID number of the group to which the user belongs from the profile server 232 (S122). Thereafter, the system presents a document desired to be viewed to the document viewer 102.

  If the user wants to display the annotation attached to the document, the user presses the search button 118 to instruct annotation search (S124). Here, it is assumed that there is no search condition setting (for example, a specific user or time) by the user. When the document viewer 102 detects that the save button 116 has been pressed, the document viewer 102 notifies the search request specifying unit 500. The search request designating unit 500 sends the document ID of the document displayed on the document viewer 102, the user ID being browsed (logged in), and the group ID to which the user belongs to the annotation processing device 218.

  The search condition determination unit 544 of the annotation processing device 218 sets the document ID as a search condition, and the search unit 546 searches the annotation DB 216 for all annotations attached to the document with the designated document ID (S130). The annotation presentation control unit 550 determines whether or not the public attribute of the annotation entity searched by the search unit 546 is appropriate (S142).

  If the annotation is suitable for publication (S142—YES), the annotation entity is presented to the document viewer 102 (S144). On the other hand, if the annotation is not suitable for publication (S142-NO), the publication of the annotation is prohibited (S146). The annotation presentation control unit 550 repeats the public annotation specifying process in steps S142 to S146 for all annotations searched by the search unit 546 (S148).

  In this way, by giving the annotation a public attribute, the annotation given by itself can be disclosed only to a specific viewer. Further, even for handwritten characters, the public attribute can be set for each stroke, and there is no need to create a structured file as in the invention described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-222185, and complicated characters such as character recognition are required. Processing is unnecessary and processing is extremely simple.

  In the configuration of the above-described embodiment, when realizing the annotation disclosure restriction function, the public attribute is registered by designation of the user when the annotation is assigned and saved. However, when there are many annotations to be added / changed, this public attribute registration operation becomes troublesome.

  In such a case, the public attribute setting unit 600 is configured so that the public attribute is automatically set according to the attribute of the document viewer when additional information is given, changed or stored. Good. For example, when logging in, public attributes to be assigned to annotations may be assigned in advance. Specifically, in the case of login as a conference member, it is preferable to make a setting so that it is specified public (= Frd) and can be fully accessed. Of course, other public attributes may be automatically set according to the viewer's attributes.

  Further, the public attribute setting unit 600 is configured so that a transparent or semi-transparent sheet medium associated with a public attribute can be arranged on the display surface of the liquid crystal display panel 103, and an annotation is given or received via the sheet medium. The public attribute may be automatically set based on the change. Hereinafter, a method for simplifying the public attribute designation operation by using the public attribute setting unit 600 having such a configuration will be described.

  FIG. 16 is a diagram for explaining a configuration example that makes it easier to register public attributes by using a sheet medium. This example is characterized in that an access restriction process is performed by a public attribute setting unit 600 using a sheet GUI (Graphical User Interface).

  As shown in FIG. 16, a mechanism for covering the document viewer 102 with a plurality of (semi) transparent sheets is expressed as a sheet GUI 601. One public attribute is assigned to each sheet 602 (two sheets in FIG. 16; a and b respectively) constituting the sheet GUI 601. A mechanism for automatically detecting which sheet 602 is covered is provided. At this time, the public attribute is automatically set according to the stacking order of the plurality of sheet media.

  The user covers the display surface of the document viewer 102 with the sheet 602 and gives an annotation. Accordingly, the public attribute of the sheet 602 that is automatically covered is assigned. In addition, it is not limited to use when registering a public attribute, and when an annotation is displayed (annotation search), by pressing the search button 118 with the sheet covered, the annotation of another person with that attribute is reproduced. You can also.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 16, a personal attribute is assigned to the document viewer 102 itself, a group attribute in the first sheet 602a is assigned, and an unlimited attribute is assigned to the second (first) sheet 602b. give. By setting the public attribute in this way, it is possible to add an annotation that gradually reduces the public restrictions every time the sheets 602a and 602b are covered. When giving personal annotations directly to the document viewer 102, when sharing with a group, the first sheet 602a is put on the annotation, and the annotation that can be seen by anyone is the second one. The sheet 602b is applied over the sheet.

  When the sheet 602 is made translucent, the screen (document viewer 102) is gradually displayed in a dark color due to an increase in the number of sheets 602a and 602b to be overlaid. Therefore, it is obvious which attribute view is being written to. . In this case, since the sheet 602 is translucent, the annotation given by the user can always be seen.

  In the example shown in FIG. 16, the physical sheets 602 are sequentially stacked. However, the sheets 602 may be configured to be replaceable. In addition, not only the physical sheet 602 but also a sheet medium (pure GUI sheet) provided as an image image on the display surface of the liquid crystal display panel 103 constituting the document viewer 102 may be used. In this case, it is preferable to prepare a large number of sheet GUIs (sheet images) to which different public attributes are assigned.

  The user can select and exchange a desired one from among sheet GUIs (sheet images) as menu images (exchange). Further, by superimposing sheet images, the same usage as the configuration example shown in FIG. 16 can be performed. In the case of image images, the combination and number of sheet images to be used or the order of superimposition can be freely specified, which increases the degree of freedom in associating with public attributes and improves usability.

  As described above, a public attribute is associated with a transparent or translucent sheet medium (including a software image based on GUI of an image image), and the sheet medium is placed on the display surface of the document viewer 102 to add / save an annotation. By designating or issuing a search instruction, it is possible to easily specify public attributes.

  FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing an outline (first example) of a processing procedure for realizing the automatic annotation update notification function. Here, it is assumed that the manual display update mode is registered in the notification mode setting unit 506.

  The user gives an annotation to the document being viewed on the document viewer 102 (S200). At this time, the user has no restriction (= Pub), specific public (= Frd), non-public (= Priv), and authentication public (= Protect) as public attributes of annotations to be added to the additional information adding unit 106. Are set (S202).

  When the update information notification unit 502 of the client system 100 detects that a one-stroke annotation has been newly added or a change has been made to an existing annotation (one stroke), update information (annotation data of the annotation data) indicating the change is detected. The annotation processing device 218 is notified of (one ID may be sufficient) (S204).

  In the search condition determination unit 544 of the annotation processing device 218, the update information storage control unit 582 updates information indicating that an annotation has been added or changed from the client system 100 (update information notification unit 502) (shown in FIG. 10). Data for one ID) is received and stored in the dedicated storage area for the automatic update notification function of the annotation DB 216 (S206).

  The update notification information transmission unit 584 inquires the action log DB 214 to identify the client system 100 that is another terminal and currently has a session (for example, a document is being viewed at a meeting or the like). Then, update notification information indicating the document ID, user ID (user name), and added / changed annotation ID with the added / changed annotation are sent to the update message reporting unit 504 of all client systems 100 in the session. Transmit (S210).

  In each client system 100 that has received the update notification information, the update message notification unit 504 compares the user ID sent from the search condition determination unit 544 with the user ID of the notification target user registered in advance. It is determined whether or not the notification target user has updated the annotation (S220). The reason why the notification target user is determined on the client system 100 side is that the condition setting for notification is different depending on the viewer user (viewer). If it is not an annotation update by the report target user, there is no need to notify the viewer, so the system waits for the next update notification (S220-NO).

  On the other hand, in the case of annotation update by a user corresponding to the notification target user, the update message notification unit 504 compares the document ID sent from the search condition determination unit 544 with the document ID displayed on the document viewer 102. (S220-YES, S222). If the document IDs are different from each other, the annotation is not given to the document being browsed by the user, and the process waits until the next update notification is received (S222-NO).

  When the document IDs are the same (S222-YES), the user indicated by the user ID (user name) included in the update notification information has added or changed annotations on the displayed document. Is notified to the user who is browsing the document by an update message such as a predetermined display or voice (S230). Document ID determination processing on the client system 100 side does not necessarily mean that all users participating in the conference (during the session) are viewing the same document with an annotation change at that time. Because. In this example, whether or not the document IDs are the same is used as a determination criterion. Therefore, even when the same document is opened but a different page is opened, an update message is issued.

  A user who does not desire to update the annotation display even if there is an update message or the like may be left as it is (S232-NO). In this case, the client system 100 may be on standby until the next update notification information is received. When the next update notification information is received before the update button 120 is pressed, the update message notification unit 504 holds the annotation ID information for the previous notification in a memory (not shown).

  A user who wishes to update the annotation display after confirming the update notification message (for example, who has updated the annotation) presses the update button 120 (YES in S232). When detecting that the update button 120 is pressed, the search request designating unit 500 issues a display update instruction by transmitting the annotation ID included in the update notification information to the annotation processing device 218 (S234).

  At this time, the annotation ID for the previous notification (the one held since the update button 120 was not pressed) is also transmitted to the annotation processing device 218. As a result, the amount not updated at the time of the previous notification is also displayed on the document viewer 102. When the display is updated, the previous annotation ID information held in the memory is cleared. Thereby, it is possible to prevent subsequent useless update requests.

  When the search condition determination unit 544 of the annotation processing device 218 receives an annotation ID for the automatic update notification function from the client system 100, the search condition determination unit 544 sets the annotation ID (including the previous one) as the search condition and searches the search unit 546 for the search. Instruct. The search unit 546 searches the dedicated storage area for the automatic update notification function of the annotation DB 216 using the annotation ID as a key, reads out the corresponding one, and passes it to the annotation presentation control unit 550 (S240).

  The annotation presentation control unit 550 determines whether or not the public attribute is appropriate for the annotation entity retrieved by the retrieval unit 546 (S242). If the annotation is appropriate for publication (S242—YES), the entity of the annotation is presented to the document viewer 102 (S244). On the other hand, if the annotation is not suitable for publication (S242-NO), the publication of the annotation is prohibited (S246). After this, it waits for the next update notification.

  When the automatic display update mode is registered in the notification mode setting unit 506, the processing in steps S230 and S232 is passed, and the annotation ID included in the update notification information is transmitted to the annotation processing device 218. . The update message notification unit 504 notifies the annotation presentation control unit 550 of the user ID. In response to this, the annotation presentation control unit 550 may notify the viewer of the annotation update by the user ID with reference to the user ID.

  Regardless of whether the automatic display update mode or the manual display update mode is set, the timing of the annotation display by the annotation presentation control unit 550 is managed by the setting state of the notification mode setting unit 506. That is, the annotation presentation control unit 550 receives a display update instruction issued in response to the update notification information transmitted by the update notification information transmission unit 584, and starts an annotation entity transmission process (search process). In this way, in order to adjust timing according to the setting conditions on the client terminal side, the annotation DB 216 that stores annotation entities is used even in the case of automatic update notification for each stroke.

  When the annotation processing device 218 (that is, the server side) receives the annotation entity from one client terminal that has updated the annotation, the annotation processing device 218 immediately converts the received annotation entity (this is also an example of a predetermined timing). It may be distributed to the other client terminal used by other shared viewers. This is a so-called push-type data distribution function. In this case, there is no need to send update notification information to the other client terminal. In addition, a storage unit for storing an annotation entity may be provided on the client terminal side to adjust timing as necessary.

  In the processing procedure of the first example, when the manual display update mode is registered in the notification mode setting unit 506, the annotation ID is transmitted to the annotation processing device 218 on condition that the user presses the update button 120. An annotation search process, that is, an annotation entity acquisition process (S240) is performed. For this reason, when the display is not updated, the transmission process of the annotation entity can be omitted, and the communication load due to the wasteful transmission of the annotation entity can be prevented.

  On the other hand, in the processing procedure of the first example, the determination criterion is whether or not the document IDs are the same in step S222. Therefore, even when the same document is opened but a different page is opened, an update message is notified to the viewer. The At this time, even if the viewer presses the update button 120, if the annotation update target page is not the page currently being browsed, the notification process of the update message and the transmission process of the annotation entity are wasted. Naturally, pressing the update button 120 by the user is also a useless operation.

  In order to avoid such waste, it is desirable to add the rectangle number of the annotation to the update information notified from the update notification information transmission unit 584 of the search condition determination unit 544 to the update message notification unit 504. Alternatively, the update notification information transmission unit 584 refers to the rectangular number stored in the dedicated storage area for the automatic update notification function by the update information storage control unit 582, identifies the page number where the annotation has been updated, The page number may also be notified to the update message notification unit 504.

  When the update message notification unit 504 receives the notification of the rectangular number, the update message notification unit 504 specifies the page number with reference to the rectangular number. Then, when the update message notification unit 504 notifies the viewer of the update message, the update message notification unit 504 also notifies the page number where the annotation has been updated. It is convenient for the viewer to omit pressing the update button 120 when he / she feels that the display update is not necessary, not the annotation update for the page being browsed.

  If the user feels that the user wants to check other pages, the update button 120 may be pressed. At this time, the update button 120 may be pressed after switching the browsing page to the update target page in advance, or the update button 120 may be pressed as it is to display and update the display page. In addition, when the user hits the page appropriately, if it corresponds to the page to be updated, it will first report that there is an update, and when the page is requested to be updated (when the update button 120 is pressed) ), The display may be immediately updated using already acquired data. In any case, it is preferable to highlight the new or changed annotation for a certain period (for example, about several seconds) in the initial display.

  FIG. 18 is a flowchart of a second example of a processing procedure for realizing the annotation automatic update notification function. In the processing procedure of the first example, update notification information is transmitted to all client systems 100 in the session (S210), and whether or not the public attribute is appropriate is determined after the update button 120 is pressed. (S242). For this reason, in cases where the annotation has been added or changed since the previous display update, but the viewing of the user who pressed the update button 120 is prohibited due to the public attribute setting, the annotation is not displayed and the update button Pressing 120 is wasted.

  In order to avoid this waste, as shown in FIG. 18, the update message notification unit 504 identifies the client system 100 in the session and then stores the annotation entity stored in the storage area for each client system 100 ( It is determined whether or not it is appropriate for the viewer who uses the document viewer 102) to open (S208). If the annotation is suitable for publishing, update notification information indicating the document ID, user ID (user name), and added / changed annotation ID with the added / changed annotation in the target update message notification unit 504 Is transmitted (S208-YES, S210). On the other hand, if the annotation is not suitable for publishing, it waits for the next update notification (S208-NO).

  As described above, according to the processing procedure of the second example, a viewer whose publication is restricted by the setting of the public attribute is not notified even if there is an annotation update. Button operation can be prevented.

  FIG. 19 is a flowchart of a third example of a processing procedure for realizing the annotation automatic update notification function. In the processing procedure of the first example and the second example, update notification is performed for each annotation of one stroke. In contrast, the processing procedure of the third example is characterized in that an update notification is made each time the save button 116 is pressed. The example of FIG. 19 shows a modified example with respect to the first example, and the basic processing procedure is the same as the processing procedure of the first example.

  The user adds annotations to the document being viewed on the document viewer 102 and presses the save button 116 at a predetermined timing (S300). At this time, the user has no restriction (= Pub), specific publication (= Frd), non-public (= Priv), and authentication public (= Priv) as public attributes of the annotations to be added / saved to the additional information adding unit 106. (Protect) is set (S302).

  When the update information notification unit 502 of the client system 100 detects that the save button 116 has been pressed, the update information notification unit 502 notifies the annotation processing device 218 of update information indicating that (can be the annotation data itself in FIG. 10) (S304).

  In the search condition determination unit 544 of the annotation processing device 218, the update information storage control unit 582 receives an annotation storage instruction and update information (annotation data in FIG. 10) from the client system 100 (update information notification unit 502), and receives the annotation data. The data is saved in a normal storage area of the annotation DB 216 (S306).

  The update notification information transmission unit 584 inquires the action log DB 214 to identify the client system 100 that is another terminal and currently has a session (for example, a document is being viewed at a meeting or the like). Then, update notification information indicating the document ID, user ID (user name), and added / changed annotation ID with the added / changed annotation are sent to the update message reporting unit 504 of all client systems 100 in the session. Transmit (S310). In the third example, since the process is performed after receiving the save command, there are cases in which a plurality of annotations are included. In this case, update notification information for a plurality of annotations is transmitted.

  In each client system 100 that has received the update notification information, the update message notification unit 504 compares the user ID sent from the search condition determination unit 544 with the user ID of the notification target user registered in advance. It is determined whether or not the notification target user has updated the annotation (S320). If update notification information for a plurality of annotations has been received, the process of step S320 is performed for each annotation. Of course, the same applies to the processing in step S322 described later.

  If the annotation to be processed is not an annotation update by the user to be notified, there is no need to notify the viewer, so if there are remaining annotations, the processing in step S320 is repeated for the remaining annotations (S320-NO, S324). -NO). On the other hand, in the case of annotation update by a user corresponding to the notification target user, the update message notification unit 504 compares the document ID sent from the search condition determination unit 544 with the document ID displayed on the document viewer 102. (S320-YES, S322). If the document IDs are different, it is not an annotation given to the document being browsed by the user, so if there is a remaining annotation, the process of step S320 is repeated for the remaining annotation (S322-NO, S324-NO). .

  When the processing of steps S320 and S322 is completed for a plurality of annotations (S324-YES), there is one document ID that is the same as the document ID (that is, there is a notification target) that is an annotation update by the user corresponding to the notification target user. If not, it waits until the next update notification is received (S226-NO). On the other hand, if there is a notification target (S226-YES), the document being displayed by the user indicated by the user ID (user name) included in the update notification information (annotation data in FIG. 10) for the notification target. On the other hand, the user who is adding or changing the annotation is notified to the user who is viewing the document for each annotation by an update message such as a predetermined display or voice (S330). When the update notification information for a plurality of annotations is received, the report target is different for each viewer, and the contents to be reported, for example, the updated user name is different.

  A user who does not desire to update the annotation display even if there is an update message or the like may be left as it is (S332-NO). When detecting that the update button 120 is pressed (S332-YES), the search request designating unit 500 issues a display update instruction by transmitting the annotation ID included in the update notification information to the annotation processing device 218 (S334). At this time, the annotation ID for the previous notification (the one held since the update button 120 was not pressed) is also transmitted to the annotation processing device 218.

  When the search condition determination unit 544 of the annotation processing device 218 receives the annotation ID for the automatic update notification function from the client system 100, the annotation ID (may be plural or may include the previous one). Is set as a search condition, and the search unit 546 is instructed to search. The search unit 546 searches the annotation DB 216 using the annotation ID as a key, reads out the corresponding one, and passes it to the annotation presentation control unit 550 (S340).

  The annotation presentation control unit 550 determines whether or not the public attribute is appropriate for the annotation entity searched by the search unit 546 (S342). If the annotation is suitable for publication (S342—YES), the annotation entity is presented to the document viewer 102 (S344). On the other hand, if the annotation is not suitable for publication (S342-NO), the publication of the annotation is prohibited (S346). When updating a plurality of annotations, if there are remaining annotations, the processes in steps S342 to S346 are repeated for the remaining annotations (S348-NO). After this, it waits for the next update notification.

  In the processing procedure of the third example, when the update button 120 is pressed and all the target portions are subjected to annotation search, a configuration in which display update targets can be individually specified may be possible. For example, when an update message is displayed, a check box may be provided for the user name or annotation ID, and only those that have received a mark in the check box may be searched. In the case of a user name check box, the search request specifying unit 500 notifies the search condition determining unit 544 of information on all annotation IDs corresponding to the user and requests a search.

  In addition, an appropriate cycle is used as an intermediate automatic update notification process every time an annotation for one stroke is added or changed (first example and second example) and every time there is a save command (third example). (4th example) can be taken automatically. FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the fourth example.

  Basically, the processing is a combination of the first example and the third example. For example, the process until the annotation data is stored in the annotation DB 216 is the same as that in the first example (S300 to S306). Even if the update notification information transmission unit 584 acquires annotation data for each stroke from the update information notification unit 502 of the client system 100, the update notification information transmission unit 584 suspends transmission of update notification information to the client during the session until a predetermined notification timing is reached. (S308-NO). At the notification timing, the same processing as in the third example is performed (S310 to S348). However, the annotation data is not a normal storage area of the annotation DB 216 but a dedicated storage area for the automatic update notification function. This is because the storage is not based on a storage instruction from the user.

  As described above, each time an annotation for one stroke is added or changed, or each time an annotation save command is issued, this is notified to other viewers (only when the public attribute is set) Since the notification is made, the user is freed from the necessity of frequently performing annotation reading and reproduction procedures, and can reduce the troublesomeness of the operation.

  In addition, if the display update is automatically executed without waiting for the display update instruction, the user always checks the latest annotation status without having to read the annotation or perform any reproduction procedure. can do. In addition, by considering the public attribute and adopting the procedure of the second example for notifying that an annotation has been updated, useless data transmission processing and button operations can be prevented.

  The series of processing of the above-described disclosure restriction function and automatic update notification function using annotations can be executed by hardware, but can also be executed by software. When a series of processing is executed by software, the programs that make up the software can be used for various functions by installing a computer (such as an embedded microcomputer) built into dedicated hardware or installing various programs. It is installed from a recording medium in a general-purpose personal computer that can be executed.

  The recording medium is distributed to provide a program to the user separately from the computer, and includes a magnetic disk (including a flexible disk) on which the program is recorded, an optical disk (CD-ROM (Compact Disc-Read Only Memory)). , DVD (Digital Versatile Disc)), magneto-optical disc (MD (Mini Disc)), or a package medium consisting of a semiconductor memory, etc. It may be provided, or may be constituted by a ROM, a hard disk or the like in which a program is recorded. Or the program which comprises software may be provided via a communication network.

  FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an outline of a system configuration when the above-described information display processing system 7 is configured by a computer. The basic configuration of such a computer system includes four layers: a hardware layer 910, an OS (Operating Systems) layer 920, a document information management layer 930, and a user interface layer 940. Each layer maintains independence, and it is easy to expand the function or exchange it for another layer.

  The hardware layer 910 corresponds to the system configuration shown in FIG. 1. For example, the tablet 911 corresponding to the document viewer 102, the pen input device 912 corresponding to the annotation device 170, the button 913 corresponding to the operation button 110, And a communication network 914 corresponding to the network 9. Note that other mechanisms such as a voice input / output interface 915 may be provided.

  The document information management layer 930 corresponds to the document management unit 220 and is a document layer 932 that is responsible for managing the document body, and corresponds to the annotation management unit 210 and is a workspace that is responsible for management of additional information added to the document body such as annotations. 934 and an information search layer 936 that performs information search using annotations and the like.

  The user interface layer 940 corresponds to the document viewer 102 and the annotation device 170, manages the user input management layer 942, manages the input from the user, the screen layer 944 related to information display in the document display area 104, and the manager unit 180. The screen manager 946 manages the display operation of the display area 104.

  In such a system configuration, for example, a storage medium recording software program codes for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to the system, and the computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system is stored in the storage medium. By reading and executing the program code, the effects described in the above embodiments are achieved.

  In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment. In addition, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also the operating system OS running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code is actually It may be a case where part or all of the processing is performed and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

  Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written in a memory provided in a function expansion card inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion card is based on the instruction of the program code. The CPU of the function expansion unit may perform part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments may be realized by the processing.

  The program is provided as a file describing the program code that realizes the processing described in the above embodiment. In this case, the program is not limited to being provided as a batch program file, but depending on the hardware configuration of the system. May be provided as individual program modules.

  For example, in the system configuration shown in FIG. 1, since the client system 100 and the server system 200 are connected via the network 9, a display processing program (for example, for highlighting function reflecting page turning or search results) Is preferably provided as a client system module toward the apparatus on the client system 100 side.

  On the other hand, a processing program related to annotation management and search is preferably provided as a server system module to the apparatus on the server system 200 side. Further, the server system module may be provided as a batch file or a sub-module file according to the configuration of each management unit configuring the server system 200.

  In the system configuration shown in FIG. 1, the client system 100 and the server system 200 are connected via the network 9, but they may be arranged in close proximity. In this case, the manager unit 180 of the client system 100 may be integrated with the server system 200 (all or a part thereof).

  In the above description, the document viewer 102 is described as a separate body from the main body (cradle / docking station) that houses the manager unit 180. However, the functional part in the manager unit 180 described in the above embodiment is a document. It may be integrated with the viewer 102.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated using embodiment, the technical scope of this invention is not limited to the range as described in the said embodiment. Various changes or improvements can be added to the above-described embodiment without departing from the gist of the invention, and embodiments to which such changes or improvements are added are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

  Further, the above embodiments do not limit the invention according to the claims (claims), and all combinations of features described in the embodiments are not necessarily essential to the solution means of the invention. Absent. The embodiments described above include inventions at various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by appropriately combining a plurality of disclosed constituent elements. Even if some constituent requirements are deleted from all the constituent requirements shown in the embodiment, as long as an effect is obtained, a configuration from which these some constituent requirements are deleted can be extracted as an invention.

  For example, in the configuration of the above-described embodiment, the update message is notified to the viewer after the update message is notified, and the corresponding annotation is searched to update the display, but the menu corresponding to the update button 120 is displayed. The button may be presented as a pop-up image together with the update message. In this case, in response to the click operation of the menu button, the annotation is searched and the display is updated.

  In the above embodiment, additional information such as annotations searched by the search unit is displayed so as to be superimposed on the document being viewed displayed in the document display area 104 of the display device (document viewer 102). However, the method of presenting search result information is not necessarily limited to this. For example, a palette display area may be provided on the document viewer 102 separately from the document display area 104 for displaying the document text, and search results may be displayed in a list (list display) in this palette display area.

  In this case, it is also possible to display a list of text parts with annotations added, and to provide a link function that allows the user to refer to the location where the annotations are given in the text of the document from this list display. In addition, this list display may be presented as an image obtained by cutting out the portion (which may include the periphery thereof) in a state where an annotation is added to the document body. In this case, only the part with the annotation can be read quickly only by displaying the list.

  A dedicated presentation device for presenting search results may be prepared separately from the document viewer 102 displaying the document text. For example, only a part with an annotation is displayed in a list on a dedicated display device, or only a part with an annotation is printed and output in a list format by a printer.

  Further, in constructing the system, the parts into which the functional elements are divided and distributed to the client system 100 and the server system 200 are not limited to those in the above-described embodiment. Needless to say, the system can be divided into convenient parts. Conversely, a system configuration in which the client system 100 and the server system 200 are integrated may be employed. For example, when used in an electronic conference system, this integrated device is used as a terminal used by a person who manages the conference progress (for example, chairperson), and a terminal used by other conference participants is as described above. A system configuration using the client system 100 having the configuration may be used.

It is a figure which shows the structural example of the electronic conference system to which the information display processing method and information display processing system which concern on this invention are applied. It is the external view which paid its attention to the display surface side of the document viewer which is one Embodiment of an information display processing apparatus. It is a functional block diagram of a document viewer and a manager part. It is a figure which shows the structural example of a document server and a document database. It is a figure which shows the example of a structure of an annotation server and an annotation database. It is a figure which shows the basic structural example of a profile server and a profile database. It is a figure which shows the specific structural example of a profile database. It is a figure which shows the specific structural example of a document database. It is a figure which shows the example of a display in the state which provided the annotation to the document. It is the figure which showed an example of the information which a document viewer sends to an annotation server. It is a figure which shows the structural example of an annotation database. It is a figure which shows the structural example of an action log database. It is a figure which shows the other structural example of an annotation database. It is a block diagram which paid its attention to the function which enables the search process using an annotation. It is the flowchart which showed the outline | summary of the process sequence for implement | achieving a public restriction | limiting function. It is a figure explaining the example of composition which makes registration operation of a public attribute simpler. It is a flowchart (1st example) of the process sequence for implement | achieving the automatic update notification function of an annotation. It is a flowchart (2nd example) of the process sequence for implement | achieving the automatic update notification function of an annotation. It is a flowchart (3rd example) of the process sequence for implement | achieving the automatic update notification function of an annotation. It is a flowchart (4th example) of the process sequence for implement | achieving the automatic update notification function of an annotation. It is the figure which showed the outline of the system configuration in the case of comprising a system with a computer.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Electronic conference system, 7 ... Information display processing system, 9 ... Network, 100 ... Client system, 101 ... Display processing part, 102 ... Document viewer, 103 ... Liquid crystal display panel, 104 ... Document display area, 106 ... Addition information addition 107: Annotation detection unit (additional information addition partial information acquisition unit) 109 ... Housing, 110 ... Operation button, 114 ... Document reading button, 116 ... Save button, 118 ... Search button, 120 ... Update button, 122 ... Page turning button, 122a ... Previous page advance button, 122b ... Next page advance button, 124 ... Highlight display button, 126 ... User display button, 130 ... Controller, 132 ... Page feed instruction acceptance unit, 140 ... Page image generation unit, 150 ... Display brightness controller, 150a ... Contrast controller, 150b Brightness control unit, 170 ... annotation device, 180 ... manager unit, 182 ... log file storage unit, 184 ... emphasis word / sentence identification unit, 186 ... emphasis word / sentence selection method instruction unit, 188 ... emphasis instruction control unit, 200 ... Server system 210 ... Annotation management unit 212 ... Annotation server 216 ... Annotation DB 220 ... Document management unit 222 ... Document server 224 ... Document DB 230 ... Profile management unit 232 ... Profile server 234 ... Profile DB , 500 ... Search request designation unit, 502 ... Update information notification unit, 504 ... Update message notification unit, 544 ... Search condition determination unit, 545 ... Search display processing unit, 546 ... Search unit, 550 ... Annotation presentation control unit, 582 ... Update information storage control unit, 584... The new notification information transmission unit, 600 ... public attribute setting section, 601 ... sheet GUI, 602 ... transparent sheet

Claims (14)

An information display processing system having a function of giving additional information that can be managed separately from a document displayed on a predetermined display device,
An additional information adding unit that adds the additional information to a document displayed on the predetermined display device or changes a state of the displayed additional information;
The shared information is added to the document with the additional information added or changed, indicating that the additional information has been assigned to the document, or that the status of the additional information already assigned has been changed. An information display processing system comprising: an update information report control unit for reporting to a viewer. The update information notification control unit controls whether or not to perform the notification with reference to a public attribute indicating whether or not to permit display of the additional information set in the additional information. The information display processing system according to claim 2. A client terminal used in an information display processing system having a function of adding additional information that can be managed separately from the document to a document displayed on a predetermined display device,
An additional information adding unit that adds the additional information to a document displayed on the predetermined display device;
An additional information addition part detection unit that acquires information of an additional information addition part to which the additional information is provided by the additional information addition part in the document;
Update information that transmits to the server that manages the additional information, together with the additional information, information indicating that the additional information has been added to the document or that the status of the additional information that has already been added has been changed A notification unit;
An update message notifying unit that receives update notification information indicating that the additional information has been given or changed by another viewer from the server and reports a predetermined update message to the viewer using the client terminal; and A client terminal characterized by comprising. 4. The client terminal according to claim 3, further comprising: a report target person setting unit that sets a report target person who is the other viewer and desires to report the update message. 5. The client terminal according to claim 3, further comprising: an information presentation control unit that receives the additional information that has been given or changed by the other viewer and controls display of the additional information. The client terminal according to claim 3, further comprising: a display timing setting unit that sets a display timing of the additional information by the information presentation control unit. The display timing setting unit receives a manual display update mode for controlling the display of the additional information after receiving a display update instruction, and immediately adds the additional information that has been given or changed by the other viewer. The client terminal according to claim 6, wherein the client terminal is configured to be switchable between an automatic display update mode for controlling display of information. The display timing setting unit is configured to automatically switch between the manual display update mode and the automatic display update mode according to the timing at which the additional information adding unit detects the additional information. The client terminal according to claim 7. The information presentation control unit receives all the additional information that has been given or changed by the other viewers, and indicates whether or not to permit display of the additional information set in the additional information The client terminal according to any one of claims 3 to 8, wherein the display of the additional information is controlled with reference to. A management server used in an information display processing system having a function of giving additional information that can be managed separately from a document to a document displayed on a predetermined display device,
Receiving the additional information newly added or the additional information changed with respect to an existing one from one client terminal;
Presenting the document with the additional information received from the one client terminal to the other client terminal used by another viewer who is browsing the document at a predetermined timing. A management server comprising an information presentation control unit. The information presentation control unit refers to a public attribute indicating whether or not to permit display of the additional information set in the additional information, and controls whether or not to perform the presentation of the additional information. The management server according to claim 10. A storage unit for holding the additional information received from the one client terminal;
An update notification information transmitting unit that transmits update notification information indicating that the additional information has been received from the one client terminal to the other client terminal, and
The information presentation control unit receives a display update instruction issued in response to the update notification information transmitted by the update notification information transmission unit, reads the additional information from the storage unit, and presents the additional information to the other client terminal The management server according to claim 10 or 11, wherein: The update notification information transmission unit controls whether or not to transmit the update notification information with reference to a public attribute indicating whether or not display of the additional information set in the additional information is permitted. The management server according to claim 12. In an information display processing system having a function of adding additional information that can be managed separately from a document to a document displayed on a predetermined display device, the additional information is disclosed on the display device using a computer. / A program for controlling non-disclosure,
Receiving the additional information from one client terminal;
Update notification information indicating that the additional information has been received by the other client terminal that is being used by another viewer who is sharing the document with the additional information received from the one client terminal. A program for causing the computer to execute any one of a procedure for transmitting a message and a procedure for immediately distributing the additional information received from the one client terminal to the other client terminal.

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