JPH04242338A - Electronic conference processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize the system to replace a conventional oral conference sufficiently and to attain the efficient operation of the conference with respect to the electronic conference processing system adopting the configuration that a server edits utterance information noticed from a terminal equipment and notifies the result as conference display information to each terminal equipment. CONSTITUTION:A server is provided with an input analysis section 11 analyzing order of utterance given in noticed utterance information and a name of a speaking party of the utterance and a name of an original speaking party relating to the utterance, a relation decision section 12 deciding the logical relation between utterance information sets corresponding to time series information according to the result of analysis of the input analysis section 11, and a display decision section 13 deciding the display mode of conference display information to be noticed in a way that the logic relation decided by the relation decision section 12 is displayed distinctly, and the relation of significance of the utterance information talked at an oral conference is grasped by displaying the conference display information of the display mode decided by the display decision section 13 onto a terminal equipment.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an electronic conference processing method in which a server providing an electronic conference service edits speech information notified from terminals and notifies each terminal as conference display information. The present invention relates to an electronic conference processing method that provides a sufficient substitute for oral conferences and enables efficient conference operations.

[0002] In recent years, electronic conferences have become popular, in which the speech information issued by multiple terminals is collected, and the collected speech information is edited and displayed on each terminal, thereby substituting a meeting format based on oral conversation. It is becoming popular. This electronic conference is expected to become increasingly popular in the future as it frees users from constraints of location and time. From now on, we need to build this electronic conference so that it resembles an oral conference more closely.

0003

[Prior Art] Conventionally, when a server providing an electronic conference service receives comment information from a terminal via a network, it edits the received comment information in chronological order to display conference display information. The electronic conference was operated by generating and transmitting the edited conference display information to each terminal. FIG. 10 illustrates an example of conference display information that will be displayed on each terminal according to this prior art.

0004

However, the conference display information displayed by such prior art does not indicate the implicit semantic relationships created between each participant in an oral conversation. Therefore, in conventional electronic conference processing, there has been a problem in that misunderstandings occur about the causal relationship of voice information and correct understanding cannot be reached. Therefore, in traditional electronic conferencing,
The problem was that it could not be said to be a sufficient substitute for an oral conference that progresses through oral conversation. Also, because the system was configured to display comment information in chronological order, earlier comment information would disappear from the screen.
There was also the problem that there was a possibility that the meeting would end without any opinions being expressed regarding the statement.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and realizes a sufficient substitute for oral conferences, and
The purpose is to provide a new electronic conference processing method that enables efficient conference operations.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] FIG. 1 illustrates the basic configuration of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a server that provides an electronic conference service, and 2 is a plurality of terminals that are connected to the server 1 via a network and participate in the electronic conference. This server 1 includes a memory 10, an input analysis section 11, a relationship determination section 12, a display determination section 13, a summary creation section 14, a terminal restriction section 15, a comment extraction section 16, and a comment restriction section 17. On the other hand, this terminal 2 includes a display section 20 and an input section 21, and may also include a display determining section 22 and a display specifying section 23.

[0007] When the input analysis unit 11 receives the statement information notified from the terminal 2, it specifies the chronological order of statements in the statement information and also identifies which terminal 2 the statement information is from. A speaker identifier indicating the statement and a statement source identifier indicating which statement the statement information was made for are specified. The identified information is then stored in the memory 10 together with specific statement information. This speaker identifier identification process is executed using the identification number of the terminal 2. In addition, this process of identifying the source identifier is as follows:
When forcing the terminal 2 to input an identifier for the source utterance, it is executed by specifying the identifier; when not forcing such input obligation, it is executed by semantically analyzing the utterance information. That will happen.

[0008] The relationship determination unit 12 receives the analysis results from the input analysis unit 11, determines logical relationships between statement information in association with the time series information, and stores the determined logical relationships in the memory 10. The display determining unit 13 determines the display mode of the conference display information to be notified to the terminal 2 and stores it in the memory 10 so that the logical relationship determined by the relationship determining unit 12 is clearly displayed. The summary creation unit 14 creates a summary by, for example, deleting useless comment information included in the comment information that is developed in the display determining unit 13 and notified from the terminal 2. The summary created in this manner is stored in the memory 10 while maintaining a correspondence relationship with speech information that is not summarized. Then, the display determining unit 13 may determine the display mode of the meeting display information using the summary created by the summary creating unit 14.

[0009] In response to the moderator's action, the terminal restriction unit 15 instructs the input analysis unit 11 to accept only comments from a specific terminal 2, and notifies the terminal 2 to that effect. The comment extraction unit 16 receives the action of the moderator, extracts comment information related to a specific topic, and stores it in the memory 10. The utterance restriction section 17 urges the input analysis section 11 to make valid only the utterance information for the utterance information extracted by the utterance extraction section 16, and notifies the terminal 2 to that effect. In this way, the moderator is given the authority to handle the terminal restriction section 15, comment extraction section 16, and speech restriction section 17, and the moderator's instructions given verbally in an oral conference can be physically executed. are doing.

The display section 20 displays conference display information sent from the server 1. The input unit 21 executes a process of receiving statement information from a speaker using the terminal 2 . The display determining unit 22 is provided in place of the display determining unit 13 included in the server 1, and displays meeting display information on the display unit 20 so that the logical relationship determined by the relationship determining unit 12 of the server 1 is clearly displayed. Determine the display mode. The display specifying section 23 specifies the statement information that will be the main display of the conference display information displayed on the display section 20 . The display specifying unit 23 receives an action of a speaker who operates the terminal 2, and specifies statement information on a specific topic as the center of display, or designates statement information of a specific speaker as the center of display. , the message information to be displayed will be specified.

[0011]

[Operation] In the present invention, the relationship determination unit 12
Based on the analysis result of step 1, the logical relationship between the statement information is determined in association with the time series information. According to the processing of the relationship determination unit 12, the logical relationship of the comment information as shown in FIG. 2 is determined. When the logical relationship of the statement information is determined in this way, the display determining unit 13 determines the display mode of the meeting display information, which is a collection of statement information, so that this logical relationship is made clear. . At this time,
The display determining unit 13 uses the summary created by the summary creating unit 14 as the comment information if the comment information is long.

[0012] In response to the process of determining the display mode of the conference display information, the display section 20 displays the conference display information in the determined display mode. According to the display process of the conference display information, the user operating the terminal 2 can logically understand the content of each user's statement, so there is no possibility of misunderstanding the causal relationship of the statement information.
You will be able to participate in electronic conferences in a format similar to oral conferences. At this time, if each terminal 2 is configured to include a display determining section 22 and a display specifying section 23, the user operating each terminal 2 can select the part of the conference display information that he or she desires, such as a specific topic. Since the information can be displayed on the display unit 20, it becomes possible to efficiently participate in this electronic conference.

[0013] In this process, the moderator who operates the terminal 2 to moderate the moderator activates the terminal restriction section 15 to allow only a specific terminal 2 to speak, or to control the speech extraction section 16 and the moderator. By activating the speech restriction section 17, the electronic conference can proceed smoothly by allowing speech only on specific topics.

[0014]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be explained in detail below according to examples. 3 shows an example of the processing flow executed by the input analysis section 11 explained in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 shows an example of the processing flow executed by the relationship determination section 12, and FIG. An example of the processing flow to be executed is shown in FIG.
FIG. 7 shows an example of the processing flow executed by the comment extraction unit 16 and the comment restriction unit 17.

Next, the electronic conference processing system of the present invention will be explained in detail according to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 3 to 8.

As explained with reference to FIG. 1, the input analysis unit 11 specifies the chronological order of utterances of the utterance information notified from the terminal 2, and also identifies which terminal 2 the utterance information is from. A process is executed to identify and store in the memory 10 the information about which statement the statement information was made and the information about which statement the statement information was made for. That is, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3, first, step 1
Then, in step 2, the name of the speaker is identified and recorded according to the identification number of the terminal 2 that made the statement, and then, in step 3, the specifics of the statement are recorded. Then, in step 4, it is determined whether the statement has a causal relationship or not, and if the statement has a causal relationship, in the following step 5, the statement is recorded. Identify the name of the speaker who made the original statement (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the original statement), and then in step 6,
It executes a process of recording the chronological number of the original utterance. Here, the process of specifying the original utterance executed in step 5 is performed by specifying the identifier when forcing the speaker to input an identifier for the original utterance, If not, it is executed by semantically analyzing the utterance information.

As explained with reference to FIG. 1, the relationship determination unit 12 receives the analysis result of the input analysis unit 11, determines the logical relationship between the statement information in association with the time series information, and stores it in the memory 1.
Execute the process of storing the data as 0. That is, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 4, first, in step 10,
Determine and record the hierarchy to which the notified new comment belongs. To explain this specifically using the example in Figure 2, if the utterance is based on the utterance of "speaker a" located at the top, then the utterance from the second layer located next to this top tier is It specifies the hierarchy. Next, in step 13, the determined priorities of comments within the same hierarchy are specifically changed and recorded. To explain specifically using the example of FIG. 2, if the utterance of "speaker e" in the third layer ("..., so it's still strange.") is a new utterance, then this utterance becomes Speech by “speaker c” in the second layer (“・
・Isn't that different? '') is the original utterance, so it is given the second priority in the third layer (the left end that specifies the display start has the highest priority), and the second and subsequent priorities in the third layer are given the second priority. The priorities of the statements that have the same priority are shifted one by one accordingly. Subsequently, in step 17, in accordance with the priority change process of step 13, the priorities of comments in the hierarchy below the new comment are specifically changed and recorded. This step 13
The process of specifying and changing the priority order in step 17 prioritizes comments with a higher priority than the original comment, and prioritizes comments with lower chronological numbers for comments in the same hierarchy. Furthermore, if there are multiple original utterances, the priority order is determined by evaluating the original utterances in descending order of priority. According to the processing of the relationship determination unit 12, the logical relationship of the statement information is determined, as shown in FIG. Note that "N1" in the figure represents the number of comments in the same hierarchy, and "N2" represents the total number of comments.

As explained with reference to FIG. 1, the display determining unit 13 receives the logical relationship of the statement information determined by the relationship determining unit 12, and displays the terminal 2 in order to make this logical relationship explicit.
Determine the display format of conference display information to be notified to memory 1.
Execute the process of storing the data as 0. That is, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5, first, in step 20,
Determine whether there is an instruction for the display format. For example, it is determined whether or not there is a display format instruction such as a request to display mainly comment information on a specific topic or a request to display mainly comment information by a specific speaker. If the judgment in step 20 indicates that there is an instruction for a specific display format, in step 21, part of the priority is assigned to that instruction in order to center the display on the message information specified by that instruction. A process of correspondingly changing is executed, and then, in step 24, the display locations of the statement contents are determined and recorded in descending order of priority. At this time, in this determination process, when it is determined in step 25 that the content of the statement is larger than the reference size, step 26
A summary sentence of the content of the statement is created, and the decision process is executed using this created summary sentence. Here, the process of creating a summary sentence executed in step 26 is performed by a mechanical method such as omitting meaningless sentences at the end or summarizing using keywords, or by a moderator. This will be realized by a method such as being executed according to the dialogue with. Furthermore, the summary sentence will be structured to be linked to the original statement content.

The function of the display determining section 13 may be configured to be deployed as the display determining section 22 in each terminal 2, as explained with reference to FIG. If such a configuration is adopted, each terminal 2 will be able to specify a unique display format, and this will allow the user to display conference display information on the display unit 20 centering on the speech information that the user desires. It becomes possible to continue.

As explained in FIG. 1, the terminal restriction unit 15 receives the action of the moderator who operates the terminal 2, and instructs the input analysis unit 11 to only accept comments from a specific terminal 2. The terminal 2 is notified of this fact. That is, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 6, first, in step 30, a specific user (terminal 2) who is allowed to speak is identified by interacting with the moderator, and then, in step 31, this user is allowed to speak. Enter permitted user information analysis unit 11
Then, in step 32, the restriction information is displayed on the display unit 20 of the terminal 2. This user restriction process may be performed by a mechanical method such as the input analysis unit 11 ignoring speech information sent from an unauthorized terminal 2, or by a mechanical method such as the input analysis unit 11 ignoring speech information sent from an unauthorized terminal 2, or by Accordingly, this is realized by displaying a message on the display section 20 indicating the users who are permitted to speak.

As explained with reference to FIG. 1, the comment extraction unit 16 receives the action of the moderator who operates the terminal 2, and executes the process of extracting comment information related to a specific topic.
As explained in FIG. 1, the comment restriction section 17 urges the input analysis section 11 to make valid only the comment information for the comment information extracted by the comment extraction section 16, and sends a message to that effect to the terminal 2. Execute the process to notify the. That is, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 7, the comment extraction unit 16 first receives, in step 40, the time series number or keyword information (content, user name, etc.) of comment information that is a branching point, and then In step 41, the statement information at this branching point is used as a source statement to identify a set of subsequent statements, thereby executing extraction processing of statement information related to a specific topic.

On the other hand, the comment restriction section 17 receives the comment information extracted by the comment extraction section 16, and as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 7, first, in step 42,
The input analysis unit 11 is notified of the extracted comment information, and then, in step 43, the restriction information is displayed on the display unit 20 of the terminal 2. The process of validating only the statement information is executed.

FIGS. 8 and 9 show how the terminal is configured according to the processes executed by the input analysis section 11, the relationship determination section 12, the display determination section 13, the terminal restriction section 15, the comment extraction section 16, and the comment restriction section 17 described above. 2 illustrates an example of conference display information to be displayed on the display unit 20 of No. 2.

The embodiment shown in FIG. 8 is a display example in which the logical relationships of the statement information shown in FIG. In this display example, the display determining unit 13:
By displaying summarized statements, the display space can be used effectively. In this display example, the display determining unit 13 displays the statement of the speaker "b" in the upper left.
(2) In response to a request from the user, a process is executed to open a window that displays the original statement linked to the summary sentence.Then,
In this display example, the terminal restriction unit 15 displays “About (9) on the display unit 20 in accordance with the interaction process with the moderator.
What do you think about d? " message is displayed, allowing only "d" to speak, and
The input analysis unit 1 should be able to implement this input restriction.
It is processed so as to work on 1. At this time, the comment extraction unit 16 extracts comments (9), (12), and (13) as a related comment group, and the comment restriction unit 17 validates only comments for this extracted related comment group. In order to achieve this, a process is executed to blink the box around the utterances of this extracted group of related utterances, and at the same time, the input analysis section 11 is operated on.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 9, when each terminal 2 is equipped with a display determining unit 22, the logical relationship of the comment information shown in FIG.
This is an example of a display displayed at 0. The display determining unit 22 included in the terminal 2 is capable of determining the display mode of meeting display information according to the display format desired by the user operating the own terminal 2. “
When there is a display request centered on the discussion following "b",
The display mode is determined and displayed on the display unit 20 as shown in FIG. As shown in (b), the process of determining the display mode and displaying it on the display unit 20 is executed.

[0026]

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention,
Users participating in an electronic conference will be able to understand logically what each user is saying, so there will be no misunderstanding of the causal relationship of the information being said, and they will be able to participate in the electronic conference in a format similar to an oral conference. I will be able to go. Then, each user can efficiently participate in this electronic conference according to the display process of the part of the conference display information that he/she desires. Moreover, according to the present invention, the moderator who facilitates the electronic conference may allow only specific users to speak,
By allowing people to speak only about specific topics, it becomes possible to conduct an electronic conference smoothly, allowing the electronic conference to proceed in a format similar to an oral conference.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the principle configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the logical relationship of comment information.

FIG. 3 is an example of a processing flow executed by an input analysis unit.

FIG. 4 is an example of a processing flow executed by a relationship determination unit.

FIG. 5 is an example of a processing flow executed by a display determining unit.

FIG. 6 is an example of a processing flow executed by a terminal restriction unit.

FIG. 7 is an example of a processing flow executed by a comment extraction unit and a comment restriction unit.

FIG. 8 is an example of conference display information displayed according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an example of conference display information displayed according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a prior art.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Server 2 Terminal 10 Memory 11 Input analysis section 12 Relationship determination section 13 Display determination section 14 Summary creation section 15 Terminal restriction section 16 utterance extraction part 17 Speech restriction section 20 Display section 21 Input section 22 Display determination section 23 Display specification section

Claims (5)

[Claims] [Claim 1] A server that provides an electronic conference service (
1) and a plurality of terminals (2) connected to the server (1) via a network, the terminals (2)
notifies the server (1) of speech information, and the server (1) edits the speech information notified from each terminal (2) and notifies each terminal (2) as meeting display information. In an electronic conference processing system that adopts
The server (1) identifies the logical relationship between the statement information notified from the terminals (2) and edits the conference display information, and each terminal (2) edits some or all of the edited conference display information. An electronic conference processing method characterized by processing to display . [Claim 2] A server that provides an electronic conference service (
1) and a plurality of terminals (2) connected to the server (1) via a network, the terminals (2)
notifies the server (1) of speech information, and the server (1) edits the speech information notified from each terminal (2) and notifies each terminal (2) as meeting display information. In an electronic conference processing system that adopts
The server (1) includes an input analysis unit (11) that analyzes the order of utterances of the utterance information notified from the terminal (2), the speaker identifier and the utterance source identifier of the utterance information, and the input analysis unit (11). ) according to the analysis results, a relationship determining unit (12) determines logical relationships between statement information in association with the time-series information, and the logical relationships determined by the relationship determining unit (12) are made explicit. A display determining unit (13) determines the display mode of conference display information to be notified to the terminal (2).
), and the server (1) comprises the display determining unit (13
) to each terminal (
2) An electronic conference processing method characterized by processing to notify. 3. The electronic conference processing method according to claim 2, wherein the server (1) comprises a summary creation unit (14) that creates a summary of the statement information notified from the terminal (2),
An electronic conference processing method characterized in that a display determining unit (13) performs processing to determine a display mode of conference display information using the summary created by the summary creating unit (14). 4. The electronic conference processing method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the server (1) includes a terminal restriction unit (1) that restricts terminals that issue speech information to one or more specific terminals.
15), a comment extraction unit (16) that extracts comment information related to a specific topic from the collected comment information, and comment information only for the comment information extracted by the comment extraction unit (16). and a speech restriction section (17) that enables
An electronic conference processing method characterized in that the server (1) processes the electronic conference to proceed according to restriction processing executed by the terminal restriction section (15) and the speech restriction section (17). 5. In the electronic conference processing method according to claim 2, 3 or 4, each terminal (2) is configured to include a display determining unit (22) in place of the server (1), and the Display specification section (
23), and the terminal (2) has the display specification section (23).
), the electronic conference processing method is characterized in that processing is performed to display conference display information in a display mode determined by the display determining unit (22), with the message information specified by the user as the display center.