JP2001175650A - Document management system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a document management system which enables plural persons to smoothly discuss about the contents of a certain document. SOLUTION: An additional data management part 12 manages additional data added to arbitrary areas of a document in a document management part 11 together with information on the creators of the additional data while making them correspond to the document. A control part 14 performs processes such as referring to a document, and registerring deletion of additional data complying with requests from the client computers 2 to 4. At this time, the authority of a user is checked with authority data in an authority data management part 13, and requests are accepted within the range of the given authority. Plural users refer to additional data in the same area of the document and further register comments as additional data to discuss on the basis of the document, so that opinions can be put together intensively.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a document management system which manages a document and allows a plurality of persons to add additional data such as comments to a desired part of the document, for example, to enable discussion. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Some recent document editing apparatuses have been developed which have a function of editing a document and adding additional data to a desired portion of the document. By using such a function of adding additional data, it is possible to attach a simple comment to a document or to add a memorandum at the time of editing a document.

On the other hand, for example, a plurality of people have a conversation or a conference on a computer connected to a network. One form of discussion involves creating a draft on a theme, and then giving a number of people opinions and discussions on the draft. In the case of such a discussion, it is desirable that the opinions and the like described by each person are associated with the original document (draft).

As a correspondence between a document and an opinion corresponding to the document, for example, it is conceivable to add the content of the opinion to the document as additional data as described above. However, in the conventional system, the additional data functions only as a personal memo, and is not a system that can withstand discussion. In addition, as long as the document is made public, anybody can add additional data and modify it. For this reason, there have been many problems in using in discussions, for example, there is a lot of non-responsible remarks, or the opinion of a certain user may be rewritten by another user.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide a document management system capable of smoothly discussing the contents of a document by a plurality of persons. Is what you do.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided a document management system comprising: a document management means for managing a document; and an additional information management means for managing additional data in association with an arbitrary area of the document. The additional information management means can store a plurality of sets of additional data associated with one area of the document in association with a content and information indicating a user who has registered the content. Things. With such a configuration, when a discussion is performed on a certain document, a plurality of persons can register opinions and the like as additional data for a point that is a point of discussion of the document. As a result, opinions on the points of the discussion can be gathered, and the discussion can proceed smoothly. Further, since the registered opinions and the like are held in association with information indicating the registered users, it is possible to clarify the responsibility of each opinion. Further, by maintaining the order of the additional data attached to the same area in the document, it is possible to keep the progress of the discussion as it is.

[0007] When referring to the registered additional data,
The display means can display the document and the additional data on the same display screen. Thus, the document and the additional data attached to the document can be referred to at the same time, so that the contents of the document and the additional data can be easily grasped.

Further, for each user, there is provided authority information management means for holding authority information indicating access rights such as reference, writing, deletion, and editing of the additional data, and additional data managed by the additional information management means. Control means for obtaining the user's access right from the authority information held by the authority information management means when accessing the additional data, and permitting the user to access the additional data within a range permitted by the authority information. Can be provided. As a result, for example, it is possible to narrow down the speakers in a discussion, or to allow a proceeding organizer to summarize the discussion. Further, it is possible to prevent modification of the additional data by a third party who has not been authorized.

When a discussion or the like is started, a speaker, authority information, and the like are set in advance, and a document to be based is managed by a document management unit. At this time, it is possible to automatically notify the speaker or the like that the document from which the discussion is to be performed is stored, notify the existence of the document, and request input of an opinion or the like.

[0010]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a document management system according to the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a database server, 2 to 4 are client computers, 5 is a LAN, 11 is a document management unit, 12 is an additional data management unit, 13 is an authority data management unit, 14 is a control unit, 21
Is an actual document, 22 is a reference document, 23 is additional data, and 24 is authority data. In this example, database server 1
And three client computers 2 to 4 are connected to LAN 5
Shows the configuration connected to the. Of course, various devices may be connected to the LAN 5 or connected to another network via a router or the like.

The client computers 2 to 4 have display means, input means, and the like, and request a reference to the database server 1 such as a document or additional data, register or delete a document or additional data, etc. in accordance with a user's instruction. Request can be made. It also has a display means for displaying the contents of documents and additional data sent from the database server 1. At this time, the document and the additional data can be displayed on the same display screen. Preferably, the contents of the document and the contents of the additional data are displayed in different display areas. As a result, it is possible to prevent a situation in which the contents of the document are hidden by the additional data and cannot be seen, and it is possible to display both of them easily. Further, the position at which the additional data is displayed is preferably displayed at a position on the display screen near the area where the additional data is added in the document.

The database server 1 has a document management unit 1
1, an additional data management unit 12, an authority data management unit 13, a control unit 14, and the like. The database server 1
Return the document or the additional data to the client computers 2 to 4 in accordance with a request such as a reference request, a registration request, or a deletion request of the document or the additional data transmitted via the LAN 5, or register or delete the document or the additional data. Is performed. In addition, registration and change of authority data in the authority data management unit 13 can be performed. Using this authority data, it is possible to control the acceptance or rejection of the request sent via the LAN 5.

The document management section 11 stores and manages documents. Here, as an example, an example is shown in which, as documents, a real document 21 having actual contents and a virtual reference document 22 having no entity and constituted by reference information to the real document are stored. The information included in the actual document 21 may be any information such as a text and an image, and may be a mixture of them. Also, the format and the like are arbitrary. In the following description, it is assumed that an actual document can be accessed in page units. For example, image data composed of a plurality of pages can be realized in a tiff format or the like.

The reference document 22 includes a page as a document,
It is assumed that the document is composed of a real document 21 corresponding to the page and page information for associating with the page. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an example of the data structure of the reference information. The real document 21 has a real document ID for identifying each real document 21 as shown in FIG.
And various information such as the name of a real document (file name) are included as real document information. This example further includes reference page number information indicating the number associated with the page of the reference document by page information described later. The reference document 22 also includes information such as a reference document ID for identifying each reference document 22 and a name of the reference document as reference document information, as shown in FIG. 2C, for example. Of course, in addition to the actual document information and reference document information, for example, update date and time, creator, document type, etc.
Various information may be included.

In the page information, a record is created for each page of the reference document 22. For example, as shown in FIG. 2B, the page information ID, the reference document ID and the page number in the reference document, the actual document ID and the actual It contains information such as page numbers in the document. Of course, the page information may also include various other information such as an update date. With this page information, the reference document and the actual document can be associated, and the reference document 22 can be virtually configured. This reference document makes it possible to create various documents using the contents of the actual document without copying a large amount of data such as an image.

It is possible to create a reference document 22 having the same page configuration as the actual document 21, and the actual document 21 can be referred to by such a reference document 22. As a result, all documents can be referred to by the reference document 22. Therefore, in the following description, the actual document 21 and the reference document 22 may be treated as documents without distinction in order to simplify the description.

The additional data management unit 12 includes a document management unit 11
Manages additional data such as comments added by one or more users to a desired area of the document managed by. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an example of the data structure of the additional data. The additional data includes a document ID for specifying a document to which the additional data is to be attached, coordinate data indicating a page in the document to which the additional data is to be attached, and an area in the page. The document ID is the reference document ID or the actual document I described above.
D or the like. The coordinate data may be, for example, the coordinates of two vertices of a rectangular area if the document is an image. If the document is a text, for example, information such as the number of lines and the number of characters may be included. Based on this information, the document and position to which the additional data is attached are specified,
It is associated with the document.

Further, information on the order of comments is included. This comment order indicates the context when a plurality of additional data are registered at the same position in the same document, for example. For example, for a discussion,
The context of the remark is important, and in order to maintain such a context, the comment order information is provided.

Further, it has information for specifying the user who has registered the additional data (shown here as a speaker). For example, a user name and a user ID can be stored. This information makes it possible to clarify the responsibility for the content of the additional data.

Of course, various other information such as registration date and time may be included. Note that the data serving as the content of the additional data may be various data such as text data and images.

The authority data management unit 13 provides, for each user,
It holds authority data 24 indicating an access right to the additional data 23 managed by the additional data management unit 12. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an example of the data structure of the authority data. The authority data can be set, for example, for each document from which a discussion is to be performed. Therefore, it has a document ID (reference document ID or actual document ID) for specifying a document for which authority is set. Then, information specifying a user, for example, a user ID and an access right given to the user are paired to form one record, and a plurality of such records can be held. In this example, the access right shows an example in which permission / inhibition can be set for each of four accesses of reference (R), registration (W), deletion (D), and editing (E). In addition to setting access rights for individual users,
For example, it may be configured to be able to be set for each group such as a domain. In addition, a configuration such as “other users” may be possible. For example, it is possible to set such that a predetermined user can be registered, but other users can only refer to it. Although the access right to the additional data is held here as the authority data, the access right to the document may be held as a matter of course.

The control unit 14 receives various requests sent from the client computers 2 to 4 via the LAN 5 and accesses the document management unit 11 and the additional data management unit 12 for documents and additional data. Return results accordingly. For example, in response to a document reference request,
The requested document is extracted from the document management unit 11, the additional data associated with the document is searched from the additional data management unit 12, and the search result is returned to the request source together with the content of the document. When a reference request for additional data is made, the additional data management unit 12 is searched by specifying a document, a page, a position, and the like, and the additional data is extracted and returned to the request source. Furthermore, in the case of registering additional data or re-registering additional data after editing, information such as the document, page, and position to which the additional data is attached, the comment order, and the information of the user who has requested the registration. Including additional data management unit 1
Register in 2. Further, in the case of deleting the additional data, the additional data instructed to be deleted is deleted from the additional data management unit 12.

When such additional data is referred to, registered, deleted, re-registered after editing, etc., the control unit 14
Checks the access right based on the authority data managed by the authority data management unit 13 and performs access only when possible. For example, a registration request from a user permitted to register additional data is received, and the additional data is registered. However, it is possible to control to reject a request for registration or deletion of additional data from a user who is permitted to refer only. Of course, access control to the additional data is also possible, and setting items of the authority data 24 may be added to perform more detailed access control.

Further, at the time of a document reference request or additional data reference request, a configuration may be adopted in which a user's designation is received so as to narrow down the users who have registered the additional data. As a result, for example, it is possible to refer to a comment or the like of a specific user and guess the idea of the user.

Next, an example of an operation of the document management system according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the following description, a case will be described in which a plurality of users have a discussion based on a certain document using an embodiment of the document management system of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of an example of the operation at the start of a discussion. Here, a user who operates the client computer 2 (referred to as a user A) registers a document from which a discussion is to be made and raises a problem.
It is shown that the discussion is performed with the users B and C operating the client computers 3 and 4.

The user A creates a document (actual document 21 or reference document 22) which is a source of discussion, and requests the document management unit 11 of the database server 1 to register the document (). At this time, the authority data 24 corresponding to the registered document is created, and registration to the authority data management unit 13 of the database server 1 is similarly requested ().

The database server 1 receives the document registration request and the authority data registration request sent from the client computer 2, and respectively receives the document management unit 1.
1 and the authority data management unit 13 are registered. And
A user who is allowed to register or edit additional data in the registered authority data is notified that a document for discussion has been registered (). In this example, the user B and the user C operating the client computers 3 and 4 are notified. The notification method is arbitrary, and for example, an electronic mail can be used.

The users B and C, which have been notified that the document for discussion has been registered, refer to the document and the additional data, register the additional data, and in some cases, register the additional data by the following processing. It will be deleted and modified (), and the discussion will proceed.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of a discussion operation in the document management system according to the embodiment of the present invention. Here, a description will be given on the assumption that the user B operates the client computer 3 to perform a discussion. Of course, the same applies to other users.

First, in S41, the user B specifies a document and a page to be referred to, and makes a document reference request. The control unit 14 of the database server 1 that has received the document reference request
Extracts the information of the specified page of the specified document from the document management unit 11 in S42. For example, when the specified document is the virtual reference document 22, as described with reference to FIG. 2, the page information is searched for the specified document and page to obtain the actual document and page.
1 will be obtained.

Further, the control unit 14 searches the additional data 23 managed by the additional data management unit 12 based on the specified document and page. As shown in FIG. 3, since the additional data includes information such as a document ID and a page, these pieces of information may be searched. When searching for additional data, the authority data associated with the document for which the reference request has been received is extracted from the authority data management unit 13 and
Confirm that reference to additional data is permitted. If reference to the additional data is not permitted, for example, it can be handled as that the additional data has not been searched.
Further, for example, when the user B who instructed the reference has instructed to refer only to the additional data attached by the specific user, the additional information that can be displayed based on the information of the speaker of the additional data according to the instruction You can also narrow down the data.

In S43, it is determined whether or not the corresponding additional data exists. If the corresponding additional data exists, in S44, the document content acquired in S42 is sent to the client computer 3, and the client computer 3 The specified page of the specified document is displayed on the display screen. At the same time, the display of the area to which the additional data is attached in the document is changed, for example, by adding a frame. If the corresponding additional data does not exist, the document content obtained in S42 is sent to the client computer 3 in S45, and the specified page of the specified document is displayed on the display screen of the client computer 3.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a display mode of a document and additional data displayed on the display device of the client computer when referring to the document. In the figure, 31 is a document display area, 32 is an additional data display area, 33 and 34 are comment areas, 35 is a comment display button, 36 is a comment addition button, and 37 is a comment deletion button.

On the screen of the display device of the client computer, for example, a display as shown in FIG. 7 is made. The display screen has a document display area 31 and an additional data display area 3
2, the contents of the document sent from the database server 1 are displayed in the document display area 31 in S44 or S45 described above. In this way, by assigning different display areas to the document display area 31 and the additional data display area 32, the contents of the document and the additional data can be referred to without overlapping, thereby making it easier to see. Further, in FIG. 7, additional data is added to two areas with respect to the page of the displayed document. In this example, the area to which the additional data is added is displayed as a comment area 33, 34, which is surrounded by a frame. Of course, the display mode is not limited to the display mode surrounded by a frame, and any display mode can be used. In addition, some display modes may be configured to be switchable by a user's instruction.

Note that, if only a document is to be displayed, the processing in FIG. 6 may be ended here. of course,
A function for referring to a document, such as sequentially sending pages of the document, may be used.

The display example shown in FIG. 7 shows an example in which reference has been made to additional data described below, and the description will be continued in the following description using the display screen shown in FIG. 7 as a specific example.

With the document displayed in this manner,
It is possible to perform processing such as reference to additional data, addition, and deletion. Returning to FIG. 6, in S46, the user B
Indicates the area in the document where you want to refer to the additional data,
Indicate the area in the document where you want to add additional data. For example, a comment area 33 or a comment area 34 shown in FIG. 7 can be selected, or an arbitrary area can be designated by using a pointing device such as a mouse. FIG.
Shows a case where the comment area 33 is selected.
The frame of the comment area 33 is shown thick. When referring to the additional data added to the existing area, after selecting the area, for example, the comment display button 35 may be operated. Alternatively, it may be configured such that additional data can be referred to only by selecting an area.

In S47, it is determined whether the area designated in S46 is an existing area. If it is determined that the area specified in S46 is not an existing area, it is determined that the additional registration of new additional data is performed. In this case, the user B inputs or edits the contents as the additional data in the client computer 3 and requests the database server 1 to add the additional data. In S52, the database server 1 that has received the additional data addition request performs additional data addition processing. At this time, the control unit 14 reads the authority data corresponding to the document to which the additional data is added from the authority data management unit 13 and determines whether the user B who has requested the addition of the additional data has the registration authority. To check. If the user B has the registration authority, the data requested to be added is registered in the additional data management unit 12 as the additional data 23 including various data as shown in FIG. Further, in response to the completion of the registration of the additional data, the client computer 3 updates the display screen such as displaying the content of the added additional data in the additional data display area 32 in S53. Then, the process proceeds to S50, and waits for a processing instruction as described later. If the user B does not have the authority to register, the client computer 3 is notified that the addition request has been rejected, and a message to that effect is displayed on the display screen.

If the area designated in S46 is an existing area, a request for referring to additional data is passed from the client computer 3 to the database server 1.
The control unit 14 of the database server 1 checks that the user B has the authority to refer to the additional data by using the authority data in the authority data management unit 13. User B
If the user has the authority to refer to, the requested additional data is acquired from the additional data management unit 12 and sent to the client computer 3 in S48. In the client computer 3, the additional data sent from the database server 1 is displayed in an area for displaying the additional data on the display device, for example, the additional data display area 32 in FIG.
To be displayed.

The example of the display screen in FIG. 7 shows this state. In the additional data display area 32, the speaker is displayed together with the content of the comment (comment), and it is possible to refer to who made what comment. FIG.
In the additional data display area 32, the underlined portion indicates the speaker. The display order of the additional data can be displayed in accordance with the comment order shown in FIG. 3, such as the order in which the additional data is registered. In this way, it is possible to know the progress of the discussion.

In this state, it is possible to add the additional data to the area in the same document displaying the additional data or to delete the displayed additional data. In the case of performing the processing, for example, in the example of the display screen shown in FIG. 7, the addition of additional data can be instructed by the comment addition button 36, and the deletion of the additional data being displayed can be instructed by the comment deletion button 37.

In step S51, the type of processing is determined, and if addition of additional data is instructed, in step S52,
The additional processing is performed as described above. First, the user B uses the client computer 3 to input or edit the contents as additional data. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of an example of an input screen for additional data. For example, by operating the comment addition button 36 shown in FIG.
Can be displayed as shown in FIG. What is necessary is just to input the content used as additional data on this screen. When the input and editing of the content of the additional data is completed, the database server 1 is requested to add the additional data. For example, in FIG. 8, an OK button or the like may be operated.

After receiving the request for adding the additional data, the database server 1 checks the registration authority of the user B, and if the registration is permitted, the data requested to be added is added to the additional data management unit 12 as the additional data 23. register.
Further, in response to the completion of the registration of the additional data, the client computer 3 updates the display screen such as displaying the content of the added additional data in the additional data display area 32 in S53. Then, the process proceeds to S50 and waits for an instruction for the next process. If the user B does not have the authority to register, the client computer 3 is notified that the addition request has been rejected, and a message to that effect is displayed on the display screen.

If the processing determined in S51 is a deletion, a deletion request is sent to the database server 1 in S54 for all or some of the displayed additional data. The control unit 14 of the database server 1 reads the authority data corresponding to the document from which the additional data is to be deleted from the authority data management unit 13 and determines whether the user B who has requested the deletion of the additional data has the authority to delete. To check. If the user B has the right to delete, the additional data requested to be deleted is stored in the additional data management unit 1.
Delete from 2. Further, in response to the completion of the registration of the additional data, the client computer 3 proceeds to step S55.
The display screen is updated, for example, displayed on the additional data display area 32. If all the additional data attached to the same area of the document has been deleted, the process returns to S46 so as to select another additional data area. If only a part of the displayed additional data has been deleted, the process proceeds to S50,
Wait for the next processing instruction. If the user B does not have the authority to delete, the client computer 3 is notified that the request for deletion has been rejected, and a message to that effect is displayed on the display screen. Also in this case, S5
It is sufficient to return to 0 and select another process.

When another additional data is referred to without performing the processing, the process returns from step S51 to step S46.
It is sufficient to select a region in the document to which the additional data is to be referred. When the end is instructed, this process may be ended.

As described above, the additional data is added to an arbitrary area of the document, the contents of the added additional data are referred to, and the additional data is added or added to the same area. Can be deleted. Such processing is performed not only by the user B but also by another user, for example, the user C in parallel.
Each user can make a discussion by adding a comment to the document using such a function.

In the above-described processing example, addition and deletion of additional data are described. However, other various editing processes may be configured. For example, it can be used to sort out issues or make conclusions when a certain amount of comments are made. Furthermore, after some discussion has been conducted, the user A, who is in charge of the document, can edit the document and raise a discussion again. The document in this case is distinguished as a document different from the original document.

In the operation example shown in FIG. 6, only the process for the specified page of the document specified in S41 is shown. However, for example, when the displayed page is changed or the document is changed, the process shown in FIG. The above process may be executed from the beginning.

In the operation example shown in FIG. 6, a case where a document and additional data are displayed for reference and processing such as addition and deletion is performed. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and various processes can be performed by accessing the additional data or the document from software, such as performing statistical processing on the additional data.

Further, the layout of the display screen shown in FIG. 7 is an example, and is not limited to this, and can be arbitrarily laid out.

[0052]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, one or more users can attach additional data to an arbitrary area of a document, which is an important point of a certain document discussion. By registering opinions and the like as additional data for a part, opinions and the like of arbitrary documents can be collected. In addition, by referring to each other's opinions, discussions can be further deepened and discussions can be held. In this way,
The additional data attached to the document can be used as a foothold for accumulating knowledge on an arbitrary theme in the document and for a new idea, thereby encouraging activation of knowledge creation. Also, since the registered opinions and the like are held in association with information indicating the registered users, there is an effect that the responsibility of each opinion can be clarified.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a document management system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a data structure of reference information.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of additional data.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a data structure of authority data.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of an example of an operation at the start of a discussion.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation at the time of discussion in the embodiment of the document management system of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a display mode of a document and additional data displayed on a display device of a client computer when referring to the document.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of an example of an input screen for additional data.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Database server, 2-4 ... Client computer, 5 ... LAN, 11 ... Document management part, 12 ... Additional data management part, 13 ... Authority data management part, 14 ... Control part,
21 actual document, 22 reference document, 23 additional data, 2
4 Authority data, 31 Document display area, 32 Additional data display area, 33, 34 Comment area, 35 Comment display button, 36 Comment add button, 37 Comment delete button

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A document management means for managing a document, and additional information management means for managing additional data in association with an arbitrary area of the document, wherein the additional information management means includes one area of the document. A document management system capable of holding a plurality of sets of content and information indicating a user who has registered the content as additional data associated with the document. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising display means for displaying the document and the additional data, wherein the display means can display the document and the additional data on the same display screen. 2. The document management system according to 1. 3. An authority information managing means for holding authority information indicating an access right to the additional data for each user, and a user access when accessing the additional data managed by the additional information managing means. A control unit for acquiring a right from the right information held by the right information management unit and permitting a user to access the additional data within a range permitted by the right information. The document management system according to claim 1 or 2.