JP2001256165A - Method for managing memo in electronic conference system and system therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display a memo prepared by a presenter on the screen of a conference participant and to display the memo of the participant only on his/her screen by preserving the memo written by the presenter in a server as storage memo data and locally preserving the memo of the conference participant. SOLUTION: This method is used in a client-server type electronic conference supporting system for sharing electronic data. When the memo is described in conference data displayed on the screen of the client computer 2 of the presenter among the conference participants, the memo is stored in the server 1 in relation to the data and distributed through the server 1 to the other client computers 3-5. The descriptions of the memos on the computer screen by the participants other than the presenter are locally preserved on the computers provided for the respective ones and managed separately from the previously distributed memo of the presenter.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for managing memos in an electronic conference support system and a system suitable for use in a client-server type electronic conference support system for sharing electronic materials.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a part of groupware, an electronic conferencing function is provided for electronically posting an opinion on a specific theme and having the group staff members and other stakeholders widely comment on the opinion. is there. To do this, set a shared window on the display screen and discuss yourself and the other party at the same time, or store the opinions of each person on a shared server and read and write when it is convenient for you There are cases where discussions are so-called asynchronously.

[0003] The above-mentioned electronic conferencing function connects a plurality of computers via a network, and connects one of the computers.
The same content displayed on one computer display can be displayed on all other computers in a synchronized manner and displayed, and a conference can be held. In this case, the screen can be shared on a network. Is done by doing

[0004] However, in the above-mentioned conventional electronic conference system, each computer can refer to the material, but cannot add a memo to the material, or temporarily displays the memo to all participants simultaneously. Can be done, but there is a disadvantage that it disappears when jumping to another page of the material. Also, when you connect to the server later and refer to the materials, you will not be able to see the memos written in the past, or if you end the meeting, the memo information will be lost and you will be able to refer to it again. could not. Furthermore, even if they were added to the material, they could not take their own notes that did not link to them.

[0005]

As described above, a plurality of computers are connected via a network, and the same content displayed on one computer display of the computers is synchronously transmitted to another computer. In conventional electronic conferencing systems that display and display documents at conferences, hold seminars, etc., they can refer to materials in common, but cannot add memos to the materials, Even though you can add notes to the page that you are on, there is a problem that the contents will disappear when you move to another page, or the notes will not be reflected if you refer to the page later, it is very flexible And poor flexibility. Furthermore, each person could not freely write their own notes.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and when a memo is described in a conference material displayed on a computer screen of a presenter among conference participants, the memo is associated with the material. While being stored in the server, it is distributed to other computers via the server, and descriptions of memos on the computer screen by participants other than the presenter are stored locally on their own computers, and are distributed. By managing the memo separately from the presenter's memo, the memo can also be displayed on the computer screen of another participant and the participant can write the memo that is displayed only on his own screen In addition, participants connected to the server halfway can share memo data without missing or duplicating memos. And to provide a management method and a system thereof.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a client-server type conference support system for sharing digitized materials.
When a memo is described in the conference material displayed on the computer screen of the presenter among the meeting participants, the memo is stored in the server in association with the material, and is distributed to another computer via the server. The description of the memo on the computer screen by a participant other than the presenter is stored locally on each computer, and is separately managed from the distributed memo of the presenter. This allows the memos written by the presenter to be stored on the server as stored memo data, and the memos of the meeting participants to be stored on their own personal computers.
The presenter's memo can be displayed on the screen of the conference participant, and the participant's memo can be displayed only on his / her own screen.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a memo management method in the electronic conference system according to the first aspect,
The display of the memo is superimposed on the material via a virtually transparent window, and display or non-display is selected by the participants. This eliminates the need for materials to be hidden in notes and difficult to see,
The operability is improved in addition to the above-mentioned usage having high flexibility and expandability.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a memo management method in the electronic conference system according to the first aspect,
The memo data stored in the server is managed by assigning an identification symbol as an object associated with the page of the material displayed on the presenter's computer screen,
When the page is redisplayed, the memo is displayed in conjunction. This way, if the page of the material is updated and returned again, the memo once written will be reproduced,
It will not disappear.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in a client-server type conference support system for sharing electronic materials, a memo is described in a conference material displayed on a computer screen of a presenter among conference participants. At the same time, the memo is stored in association with the digitized material, and the server that distributes the memo to another computer and the description of the memo on the computer screen by participants other than the presenter are locally stored on the respective computers. A client computer that stores and manages the memo of the presenter separately from the distributed memo is connected via a network. According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the memo management system in the electronic conference system according to the fourth aspect, a client who participates in the conference from the middle thereof is provided.
The client outputs the memo data accumulated until it is connected to the server, and the client preferentially takes in the memo data added as needed by the presenter during the memo data acquisition after being connected to the server. I decided that. With the above configurations, when the presenter writes a memo with a mouse or the like, the memo is displayed in conjunction with another participant's computer screen, or the participant is displayed only on his own screen It is possible to write memos, and participants who connect to the server from the middle can share memo data without missing or duplicating memos. further,
It is also possible to save the entered memo information together with the material, and to refer to the material with the memo later.

[0011]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration of a memo management system in an electronic conference system according to the present invention. Here, an example in which an electronic conference is performed by a client server system via the Internet network 6 is shown.
In the figure, 1 is a server, 2 to 5 are client computers, all connected via the Internet network 6.

In the above configuration, first, the presenter uses the client computer 2 and uses an input device (not shown) such as a mouse or a keyboard mounted on the client computer 2 to display the displayed electronic material. When you add a note, the data will be transferred to the Internet network 6,
The data is distributed to the client computers 3 to 5 of the other participants via the server 1 and displayed (hereinafter, the distributed data is referred to as memo data at any time). At this time, the memo data is stored on the server 1 together with the electronic materials, and the described memo is managed by attaching an ID (identification symbol) to each object as an object such as a continuous line or a character string. Hereinafter, this data is referred to as accumulated memo data.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of a memo data management table managed by the present invention. Here, it is called an object list table and is stored and managed in the server 1. Each entry of the object list table 20 includes an object ID (201) and a pointer 202 to an object attribute. Object attribute 20
Numeral 2 includes a color, a size, and a character string in the case of a character, and a color, a minimum inclusion rectangle (coordinates), and a pointer to a point sequence list in the case of freehand. The point list includes XY coordinate values.

When the displayed electronic material moves to another page, the object is stored in association with the material page, and the memo is displayed when the page is displayed again. A participant who has connected to the server 1 halfway, for example, the operator of the client computer 3 retrieves the stored memo data up to the connection from the server 1 and also receives the memo data newly added during data acquisition. This is shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 shows a presenter terminal (client computer 2), a server 1, a participant terminal 1 (client computer 3) participating from the beginning of the conference, and a participant terminal (client computer 4) participating during the conference. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the transmission / reception timing of memo data in the vertical direction in chronological order. In the figure, the numbers in the boxes indicate the object IDs of the memo data. As can be seen from the figure, the participant who participated in the middle of the meeting can eliminate the omission of the data by receiving the stored memo data stored in the server 1 after the time when the memo data can be received at any time. I have. The possibility of duplication is determined by checking the object ID and eliminated. Here, an example is shown in which the second object ID 2 is excluded.

The memos written by the participants other than the presenter are not transferred to the server 1 but are stored on the respective client computers 3 (4, 5) and managed separately from the memo data of the presenter. It can be left in your own memory locally as your own memo. By storing both memos together with the electronic materials, it is possible to refer to the electronic materials with the memos whenever the electronic materials can be referred to.

The display of the memo is displayed by superimposing a virtually transparent window on the electronic material, and the participant can freely select display / non-display. As a result, the electronic material is not hidden by the memo and is not difficult to see.

As described above, according to the present invention, by using a system for sharing a screen, a conference is held between remote locations, and a presenter makes a memo while explaining and supplements the material. Can be used, and can be used with the same feeling as OHP in the previous announcement. Participants can also write down notes on the materials they are referring to and bring them home, so that they can hold paperless meetings without having to distribute paper materials.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, digitized materials are interlockedly displayed on a plurality of computer screens, and the presenter adds a memo while explaining the materials, and the memo is added. Can be shown to other participants. As a result, it is possible to add supplementary information and notes to the materials and deepen the understanding of the participants. In addition, the participant can freely take notes on the material, and can add supplementary explanations that the material does not have or points he noticed to the material for himself. Further, since the memo written with the material is also stored, it is possible to refer to the material containing the memo at any time. As a result, it is possible to deepen the understanding of the materials used on the computer, and it is possible to hold a paperless conference or seminar.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration of a memo management system in an electronic conference system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the structure of a memo data management table used in the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the transmission / reception timing of memo data in each of the computers shown in FIG. 1 in chronological order in the vertical direction.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Server, 2 (3, 4, 5) ... Client computer, 6 ... Internet network, 20 ... Object list table, 201 ... Object ID, 202 ... Pointer to object attribute

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Yasuhiro Maki 3-19-2 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo F-term within Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation 5B009 VC03 5K030 HA05 JT04 JT06 KA01 KA06 LD17 LE12 LE13 9A001 JJ27 JJ32 JJ33 JJ72

Claims (5)

[Claims] When a memo is described in a conference material displayed on a computer screen of a presenter among conference participants, the memo is used. In addition to accumulating on the server in association with the material, distributed to other computers via the server, the description of the memo on the computer screen by participants other than the presenter is stored locally on each computer, A memo management method in an electronic conference system, wherein the memo is managed separately from the delivered presenter's memo. 2. The display of the memo according to claim 1, wherein the display of the memo is superimposed on the material via a virtually transparent window, and display or non-display is selected by a participant. Memo management method in the electronic conference system of Japan. 3. The memo data stored in the server is managed by assigning an identification symbol as an object associated with a page of the digitized material displayed on the computer screen of the presenter. 2. The memo management method according to claim 1, wherein the memo is displayed in conjunction with the memo when the memo is displayed. 4. In a client-server type conference support system for sharing electronic materials, when a memo is described in an electronic conference material displayed on a computer screen of a presenter among conference participants, the memo is written to A server that stores the information in association with the digitized material and distributes it to other computers, and the memo description on the computer screen by participants other than the presenter is stored locally on each computer, and the distributed A memo management system in an electronic conference support system in which a client computer separately managed from a presenter's memo is connected via a network. 5. A server that outputs memo data accumulated until it is connected to the server to a client who has participated in the conference from halfway, and the client obtains the memo data after being connected to the server. 5. The memo management system in the electronic conference support system according to claim 4, wherein memo data added by the presenter as needed is taken in preferentially.