JP2002366719A - Conference system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a conference system by which so-called paperless is realized by minimizing documents as hard copy. SOLUTION: The system is provided with a head office computer C2 of a director board head office 2, a director board database D2 which can be called and written thereby, a participating section computer C3 capable of preparing a discussion application form, etc., for applying a discussion item in a director board meeting, a director board network system N2 for connecting these computers with each other and a section network system N3 provided at each participating section 3 to be connected to the director board network system. The discussion application form, etc., is transmitted to the head office computer from the participating section computer through the director board network system after passing through final permission at the permission route of the section network system of each participating section.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a conference system for a conference held regularly or as needed in an organization having a certain hierarchical structure, such as a general corporate organization or a government office.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, in an organization having a certain hierarchical organizational structure, such as a general corporate organization or a government office, various organizational hierarchies and vertical divisions have various structures. Meetings or meetings are held on a daily basis, and the content of each meeting is discussed. It should be noted that in this specification, various “places for discussion” or “organizations for discussion”, such as various conferences, meetings or committees, councils or board meetings, which are called by various names according to their roles and characteristics, are referred to. Collectively, it is referred to as "meeting".

[0003] Of these various conferences, there are specific conferences that are held regularly or occasionally (as needed, specially) with at least a certain number of superiors in the organizational hierarchical structure of the organization as subjects of participation in principle. is there. For example, in a general corporate organization, so-called “board meetings” and / or “board meetings” are mentioned as representatives of such a specific meeting. However, it is not limited to the above-mentioned Board of Directors, but is held many times repeatedly, in principle, for example, in order to formulate a long-term plan as a company, with a certain number of superiors in the hierarchical structure of the organization as targets for participation. For example, a committee called by a name such as a long-term planning committee also has similar requirements as such a “specific meeting”.

When the schedule of a specific meeting as described above is determined, the attendees (for example, in the case of a board of directors meeting, the director in charge as the head of a division head that supervises each participating division) In accordance with the schedule of the meeting, the subordinates (subordinates) are instructed to discuss, for example, matters to be discussed at the meeting within the department to which they belong, and proceed with preparations for the meeting.

[0005] In this case, the attendees (directors in charge) of each of the participating departments are usually directly directed to a deputy general manager (for example, a director) who is a senior manager of the department in accordance with the hierarchical structure of the organization within the department. Give consideration instructions. Upon receiving this instruction, the deputy general manager instructs the department head, and the department manager instructs the responsible person (for example, a manager) of the related department to consider the content according to the instruction. Then, the manager who receives the instruction selects an appropriate person in charge according to the content of the instruction, and issues an instruction to perform a practical study.

Conventionally, a person who receives such an instruction uses, for example, a personal computer for the person in charge and summarizes the examination results as a document for the meeting, that is, a discussion application form and its accompanying materials. In general, such documents are created as necessary documents, and the necessary documents are printed out as hard copies, and then posted on the approval route of the own department. That is, the necessary documents as hard copies are sequentially forwarded to approvers (intermediate managers such as managers and department heads and deputy heads of departments) in the reverse order of the above-mentioned instruction system, and the approvals are sequentially obtained. It seeks the approval of the head of your department, the final approver.

[0007] The necessary documents, such as the application form for discussion and the accompanying materials, which have been finally approved in this way, are submitted as hard copy documents to the secretariat who manages the business of the meeting prior to the holding of the meeting. . Also, on the day of the meeting,
It is common practice that a participant in a meeting of the department (usually the director in charge of the headquarters) brings the same thing as a hard copy document in the form of a binder or the like and uses it in the meeting.

[0008] The examination and preparation of the necessary documents as described above is not limited to the person in charge, but an intermediate manager such as a manager or a section manager, and a senior manager such as a deputy director according to the case. There are quite a few cases where they do it themselves.
In addition, applications for discussion items at a meeting are not only based on the above-mentioned instruction from a superior, but also when a lower-level person such as a person in charge or a manager voluntarily proposes and proposes an application to a higher-level person. Not a few.

[0009]

However, in the above-described conventional system, an applicant such as a person in charge prepares the information on, for example, a screen of a computer and stores it in a storage device such as a hard disk or a floppy disk as an external storage medium. It is necessary to print out the necessary documents stored in the department as a hard copy and forward it to an approval route in the department, which requires extra labor and labor.

[0010] In addition, it is usual that necessary documents need to be corrected before final approval. However, when such document correction is performed and the approval procedure is performed again, a hard copy as a hard copy is required. The conventional document-based approval system requires a great deal of labor and effort, and is very troublesome. It should be noted that such necessary documents are often copied by an approver as needed at each approval stage and stored in a personal file. Therefore, a large organization having a complicated hierarchical structure uses a large amount of copies. Also, more storage space is required to store the document thus copied.

Further, as described above, a hard copy document is also required when submitting necessary documents such as a discussion application form and its accompanying materials which have been finally approved to the meeting secretariat. Upon receipt of the meeting, the secretariat must save it and make a copy of the required number of copies so that it can be distributed to all attendees in preparation for the meeting. In addition, the participant to the meeting of the department that submitted the above required documents must bring the same copy as a hard copy document on the day of the meeting in the form of a binder, etc., and use it to explain it to other participants. is there. In particular, if the agenda item requires a long-term review, the documents required for the meeting are not only those for the meeting on the date of the meeting, but also those for the previous and two or more previous meetings. As a result, the amount of documents to be brought to the conference is inevitably increased, and the handling thereof becomes a heavy burden for the conference participants.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and has been used in preparing necessary documents for a meeting and obtaining approval in a department, or in submitting such documents to the secretariat of the meeting. Furthermore, when meeting participants in each department handle documents, they can realize so-called paperless by minimizing documents as hard copies, which can contribute to labor saving, space saving and resource saving. The basic purpose is to provide a system.

[0013]

For this reason, a conference system according to the invention of claim 1 of the present application (hereinafter, referred to as a first invention) provides at least a predetermined conference held periodically or as needed. A secretariat computer provided at a conference secretariat for coordinating attendees, a schedule, an agenda, and managing advance materials; a conference database callable and writable by the secretariat computer; A participant department information terminal device that can be operated by lower-ranking persons and that can create a discussion application form and ancillary materials for applying for discussion items at the meeting, and at least the secretariat computer and each participating department information terminal device A conference network system that can be connected so that transmission and reception can be performed, and information terminals provided in each participating section that are provided for each participating section. A department network system connected receivably and connected to the conference network system, wherein the application form for discussion and / or its supplementary material is provided in a predetermined manner on the department network system of each participating department. After final approval in the approval route,
The information is transmitted from the participating department information terminal device to a secretariat computer via the conference network system.

Further, the invention according to claim 2 of the present application (hereinafter referred to as “the invention”)
According to the first invention, in the first invention, the organizational hierarchy in terms of job authority of each of the participating departments is registered in the participating departmental organization hierarchy list of the conference database by the secretariat computer, and The applicant who applies for the discussion item calls the organizational hierarchy of the own department registered in the list of the organizational hierarchy of the participating department on the display screen of the participating department information terminal device, and the intermediate approver and the final approver in the own department. Is selected from the registered organizational hierarchy, whereby an approval route for the discussion application is configured.

Further, the invention of claim 3 of the present application (hereinafter referred to as third invention)
The conference system according to the present invention is a secretariat provided in a conference secretariat that adjusts at least conference attendees, schedules and agendas, and manages advance materials for a predetermined conference that is held regularly or as needed. A computer, a conference database callable and writable by the secretariat computer, a participant information terminal device provided at a participant's participant's seat corresponding to the conference participant, A conference network system for connecting the secretariat computer and the information terminal devices for each participant so as to be able to transmit and receive each other. The meeting and its supporting materials are transmitted via the above-mentioned conference network system. The discussion items of the above-mentioned discussion application sent to the computer are sorted out as the agenda of the meeting scheduled to be held closest to the desired time in accordance with the desired time for discussion described in the application, and Ancillary materials of each application form are registered in the database for the conference as the discussion materials of the conference, and link mails of the conference database (that is, link to the database in the mail document). An e-mail with an address button attached thereto is transmitted by e-mail to the attendee information terminal devices of all the attendees of the conference together with the conference holding information.

Further, the invention according to claim 4 of the present application is further provided.
(Hereinafter, referred to as a fourth invention) is a method according to the third invention, wherein each of the attendee information terminal devices calls a discussion material of an arbitrary conference registered in the conference database by the link mail, and The present invention is characterized in that it is provided with attendee personal material creating means capable of inputting a comment on the material in advance and storing the comment for the individual together with the discussion material.

Further, the invention according to claim 5 of the present application is further provided.
(Hereinafter, referred to as a fifth invention) according to the fourth invention, wherein an information terminal device having the same function as the attendee information terminal device is provided also in a conference room where a conference is held. The two information terminal devices are connected so as to be able to transmit and receive via the network system.

Further, the invention according to claim 6 of the present application is further provided.
(Hereinafter, referred to as a sixth invention) in the third or fourth invention, wherein each of the attendee information terminal devices transmits at least a part of the information transmitted by e-mail to the portable terminal of the conference attendee. A mail transfer means for transferring the information to the apparatus, wherein the conference holding information transmitted by mail when the attendee is absent is transferred to the portable terminal device of the attendee via the Internet. It is what it was.

Furthermore, the invention according to claim 7 of the present application.
(Hereinafter referred to as a seventh invention) is the third or fourth invention, wherein the conference attendee has a personal information terminal device outside the system, and the conference database is periodically copied. An external connection server dedicated to conference attendees is provided which can be connected and receivable from the outside of the system, and each of the attendee information terminal devices transmits at least a part of the information transmitted by mail to the conference. An information transmission means for transmitting the information to the personal information terminal device of the attendee, wherein the conference holding information and the link mail, which have been transmitted by e-mail when the conference attendee is absent, are transmitted via the external connection server. It is characterized in that it can be transmitted to the personal information terminal device of the conference attendee.

Further, the conference system according to the invention of claim 8 of the present application (hereinafter referred to as an eighth invention) provides at least a conference attendee and a schedule for a predetermined conference to be held periodically or as needed. And a secretariat computer provided at a conference secretariat for adjusting agenda and managing prior materials, a conference database callable and writable by the secretariat computer, and the conference attendees corresponding to the conference attendees, respectively. The conference database comprising: an attendee information terminal device provided at the seat of the participant's section; and a conference network system that connects at least the secretariat computer and each attendee information terminal device so as to be able to transmit and receive each other. An external connection server dedicated to meeting attendees who can periodically copy and save the data and connect to the system so that it can be sent and received from outside the system Provided, external connection server is obtained and wherein the usable as a backup server of a main server storing the conference database.

Further, the conference system according to the invention of claim 9 of the present application (hereinafter referred to as a ninth invention) provides at least a conference attendee and a schedule for a predetermined conference to be held regularly or as needed. And a secretariat computer provided at the conference secretariat for adjusting the agenda and managing prior materials, a conference database callable and writable by the secretariat computer, and corresponding to the seating position of the conference room where the above-mentioned conference is held A conference room information terminal device and a conference room network system for connecting at least the secretariat computer and the conference room information terminal devices, and the conference room information terminal devices so as to be able to transmit and receive each other. Each conference room information terminal device is connected to a display control mechanism for controlling display on a display screen so as to be able to send and receive signals. And a presenter identifying means for identifying that an attendee operating the conference room information terminal device is a presenter on the agenda, and the presenter identifying means of any one of the conference room information terminal devices is activated. During this operation, the presenter identification means of all other conference room information terminal devices are set to be inactive.

Further, the invention according to claim 10 of the present application.
(Hereinafter, referred to as a tenth invention) is the ninth invention, wherein each of the conference room information terminal devices can be connected to other databases and / or external information media other than the conference database, The conference room information terminal device on which the presenter identification means is operating accesses the conference database and / or another database other than the conference database and / or an external information medium, and transmits the information to an explanatory image. When displayed on a display screen, the display control mechanism is characterized in that display control is performed so that the same information is displayed as an explanatory image on the display screens of all other conference room information terminal devices. Things.

Further, the invention according to claim 11 of the present application is further provided.
(Hereinafter, referred to as an eleventh invention) In the tenth invention, the display control mechanism is the same as that displayed on the display screen of the conference room information terminal device on which the presenter identification means is operating. Display control is performed so that the information image is also displayed on the display screens of all other conference room information terminal devices, and the information image is displayed on the display screen of each conference room information terminal device as one of the windows. It is characterized in that the image size can be changed and / or other information images can be displayed synchronously or asynchronously in accordance with the will of the operator of the conference room information terminal device.

Further, the conference system according to the invention of claim 12 of the present application (hereinafter referred to as a twelfth invention) provides at least a conference attendee and a schedule for a predetermined conference to be held periodically or as needed. And a secretariat computer provided at a conference secretariat for coordinating agendas and managing prior materials, and a conference database callable and writable by the secretariat computer. According to the input operation, the minutes of the meeting are created and input, and the results of the discussion are input in advance materials of each agenda, and are stored in the conference database.

Further, the conference system according to the invention of claim 13 of the present application (hereinafter referred to as a thirteenth invention) provides at least a conference attendee and a schedule for a predetermined conference to be held periodically or as needed. And a secretariat computer provided at the conference secretariat for adjusting the agenda and managing prior materials, a conference database callable and writable by the secretariat computer, and corresponding to the seating position of the conference room where the above-mentioned conference is held The secretariat computer is provided with a contact mail receiving unit for receiving a contact mail transmitted from the outside to the attendees of the meeting. The contact e-mail received by the e-mail reception unit must be forwarded to the meeting room information terminal of the relevant attendee according to the urgency. It is obtained by the butterfly.

[0026]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, for example, when applied to a so-called "board meeting" such as a board meeting in a general corporate organization. . In addition, the Board of Directors in principle convene the director in charge as the head of the head of each department that composes the company as attendees, and usually it is held regularly, but it can be held as needed. (Extraordinarily).

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing a system configuration of an "executive board system" as a "conference system" according to the present embodiment. As shown in this figure, in the board of directors system according to the present embodiment, a board of directors secretariat 2 is set up as a meeting secretariat that manages the work of a meeting (board of directors). Who will attend
Coordinating the date and agenda of the meeting, and managing prior materials for the Board of Directors.

The board office 2 is preferably provided with a dedicated computer C2 (office computer) in order to perform the above-mentioned adjustment and management. The secretariat computer C2 has a database D that can be called and written by the computer C2.
2 (Database for Board of Directors) is connected. The board database D2 is actually stored in the database server S2 in the machine room 4.

The secretariat computer C2 is connected to a network system N1 (meeting room network system) of a meeting room 1 (office meeting room) in which a board meeting is held. The system configuration of the boardroom 1 and the meeting room network system N1 will be described later.

On the other hand, each participating section 3 participating in this board meeting
Is provided with a so-called personal computer (hereinafter, referred to as a participating department computer) as the participating department information terminal device C3. Such a participant computer C3 is mainly used by the senior and intermediate managers of each participant and persons in charge thereunder, and the members of each participant 3 use the participant computer C3. In this way, documents such as an application for discussion for the matters to be discussed at the board of directors and accompanying materials can be prepared. In addition, each participant 3 also has a computer C4 for attendees, such as the general manager of the relevant department or the deputy general manager who is a senior manager, usually dedicated to the officer in charge of attending the board meeting. Has been established.

The computers (participating department computer C3 and attendee computer C4) provided in the participating department 3 and the above-mentioned secretariat computer C2 are connected to each other via the board network system N2 so as to be able to transmit and receive each other. . Further, for each participating section, a section network system N3 that connects the computers C3 and C4 in the section so as to be able to transmit and receive each other and that is connected to the board meeting network system N2 is constructed. Each of the section network system N3 and boardroom network system N2, and the conference room network system N1 is a so-called LAN (local area network) system or WAN.
(Wide Area Network) system.

In this embodiment, each participating department 3 is required to approve the necessary documents for the Board of Directors, such as the application for discussion at the Board of Directors and the accompanying materials. In the meantime, a predetermined approval route is set in advance on the department network system N3 of the department 3, and after the necessary documents have been finally approved by the approval route,
The data is transmitted from the participating department computer C3 to the secretariat computer C2 via the board meeting network system N2.

When the schedule of the board meeting is decided, the head of each participating section 3 (the responsible officer) who is to attend the meeting, in the participating section 3 to which he / she belongs, matches the schedule of the meeting.
For example, instruct subordinates to discuss matters to be discussed at the board meeting, and proceed with preparations for the board meeting. That is, as described above, the head of each participating section 3 (the director in charge) usually follows the hierarchical structure of the organization within the section 3 itself.
Directly instructs the deputy general manager (for example, an officer) who is a senior manager of the department 3 concerned, the deputy general manager to the department head, and the department head to the responsible person (for example, a manager) of the related department according to the contents of the instruction. , And instruct the examination in order.

Then, the manager who receives the above-mentioned examination instruction selects an appropriate person in charge according to the contents of the instruction, and issues an instruction to perform a practical examination. In addition, the head of the head issues an examination instruction on the screen of the computer C4 (computer for attendees) at his / her desk, and prepares such an instruction via the department network system N3. The information may be simultaneously transmitted to the computers C4 and C3 of the deputy head, the section head, the appointed manager, and the person in charge of the person in charge.

The person in charge who has received the above-mentioned instructions uses, for example, the computer C3 for the participant's department for the person in charge and summarizes the examination results as a document for the meeting, that is, a discussion application form and its accompanying materials. Created as necessary documents for
The document is stored in a storage device such as a hard disk or a floppy disk as an external storage medium, and these documents are put on the approval route of the department 3 of the own department. The review and creation of such required documents is not limited to the person in charge, but may be performed by an intermediate manager such as a manager or a department manager, or a senior manager such as a deputy general manager, depending on the case. May be done. In addition, application for discussion items at the meeting,
Not only in the case of the above-mentioned examination instruction from the superior, but also a subordinate such as a person in charge or a manager can spontaneously propose and propose an application to the superior.

In the present embodiment, the procedure for approving the necessary documents for the board of directors (discussion application form and accompanying materials, etc.) created in the above manner in each participating section 3 is the same as in the prior art.
Rather than being printed out as a hard copy and forwarded as a document, it is performed on the screens of the computers C3 and C4 using the department network system N3. Hereinafter, an approval route and an approval procedure of necessary documents for the board of directors in each participating section 3 will be described.

FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C are explanatory diagrams showing examples of approval routes within the department 3 participating in the board meeting. All of these approval routes follow the basic hierarchical structure (in terms of authority) of the department 3 concerned, and such an organizational hierarchy in terms of authority is defined for each participating department 3. Are registered in advance in the participating department organization hierarchy list of the board meeting database D2 by the secretariat computer C2. It should be noted that all members of each participating department 3 have their departments and departments defined, and by using this definition, when the applicant himself sets the approval route, for example, he or she may mistakenly set another This prevents the selection of the participant 3 or other final approver (officer).

FIG. 4 shows an example of the data structure of the board database D2. The database D2
Is mainly composed of “master information” for management and “data information” storing the contents of each individual data. Each item such as a department, post or individual registered in the above “master information” Is attached with a communication destination such as a mail address, and authentication data such as a mail ID is registered for an individual.

For example, in the case of the organization hierarchy data of each of the participating departments, it is stored in the “master section” of the “master information” of the board D2 and is set in the “organization table” column of the department. By clicking on the provided link button, an organization table showing the organization hierarchy on the job authority can be called up. Also, in the “applicant master” of the “master information”, the intermediate approver (manager, section manager, officer 1) and the final approver (officer 2) along with the department / department to which each applicant belongs for each participating section As described above, by utilizing such a definition, when the applicant himself sets the approval route,
Incorrect setting is prevented.

Further, in the “secretariat master” of the “master information”, data of the executive committee plan (schedule) is stored together with the secretariat staff (person in charge) list and the executive group. The data is updated when the schedule of the event, such as the date and time and place, is determined. Further, based on the updated data, as described later, the board meeting information is transmitted by mail to the board members who will attend.

The "data information" of the board meeting database D2 stores various individual data such as, for example, minutes data, (discussion) application data, and personal materials. For example, in the case of “minutes data”, the date and time and place of the board meeting, the list of attendees, the theme of discussion, etc. are stored as data along with the registration number. As will be described later, the minutes data is compiled by the staff in charge of the secretariat after the end of the board meeting, and is registered in the board database D2.

In addition, in the “application data” of the above “data information”, the reception number by the secretariat, the meeting (executive committee) number, and the date of the meeting (if not yet held, the scheduled date of the meeting) ,
The name of the applicant and the department to which the applicant belongs are registered. In addition, the presence or absence of supplementary materials and the link button if there are supplementary materials are set. Clicking this button calls up the supplementary materials. Can be.

Further, in the “personal material data” of the “data information”, the reception number by the secretariat, the name of the officer who has applied for the reception of the material, and the number of the meeting (office meeting) using the material.
Is registered, and a link button for the material is set. By clicking this button, the personal material can be called.

The person (applicant) who has created the necessary documents for the board of directors (discussion application form and accompanying materials, etc.) on the screen of his / her own computer C3, The organization hierarchy of the own department 3 registered in the participating department organization hierarchy list of the board database D2 is called, and the intermediate approver and the final approver in the own department 3 are selected from the registered organization hierarchy. This allows
The approval route for the above discussion application is configured.

The example of FIG. 2A shows the most standard case, in which the person in charge is the applicant, and the manager, the section manager,
The approval route is configured in the order of Deputy General Manager (Officer) and General Manager (Officer). FIGS. 2B and 2C show cases where the applicant is a manager and a section manager, respectively. still,
Depending on the size or composition of the participating departments, there are fewer organizational hierarchies than in the standard case described above. For example, there may be no deputy general manager, or the general manager may also serve as the general manager.

In this way, the participating department computer C3
After the approval route is configured on the screen of (1), the applicant puts the discussion application form and supplementary materials created by the applicant on the approval route by the section network system N3. The approval / denial or correction is performed on the screen of the computer C3 or C4 of the superior (approver). When the application is rejected, the result is at least immediately sent to the lower approver (in the present embodiment, preferably, to all lower approvers), as indicated by the broken line in FIG. At the same time, the applicant is notified directly.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a part of the display screen of the participating department computer C3 displaying the approval route of the above-mentioned discussion application, and corresponds to the approval route shown in FIG. 2 (a). . The applicant, the intermediate approver (manager and section manager), etc. can immediately know the current approval status of the discussion application only by looking at the display screen on the screen of the computer C3 of the participating department.

In the example shown in FIG. 3, "approval" has been completed up to the deputy general manager, and "waiting for approval" is at the stage of the general manager. In such a case, the display of “approval / denial” is displayed in a particularly prominent color on the display screen of the computer of the “waiting for approval” person (the head of the headquarters who should make the determination / approval of “approval / denial”). However, it is possible to prompt the person to make an early decision. In other words, the steps up to “approved” by the deputy general manager are displayed in red, and the display of “waiting for approval” and / or “approval / denial” of the general manager are displayed in yellow, or furthermore, blinking to emphasize. It is also possible.

As described above, after obtaining the approval of each approver on the approval route in order, and the approval of the head of the department, which is the final approver, the discussion application and the necessary documents such as the accompanying materials Prior to the meeting, Secretariat Computer C
2 is sent. In the board meeting secretariat 2, the staff in charge of the secretariat determines whether or not the required documents received by the secretariat computer C2 meet predetermined requirements, and if the requirements are satisfied, registers them in the board database D2. I do.
However, if the requirements are not met, the request will be rejected with a comment that the requirements are incomplete. In the case of this rejection, the result is notified to the general manager who is the final approver of the participating section 3 and also to each intermediate approver and further to the applicant himself.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the discussion application form for applying for the items to be discussed at the board meeting from the department 3 participating in the board meeting and the supplementary materials are provided by the section network system N3 of the participating section 3. When the final approval is made by the approval route set above, it is transmitted from the participating department computer C3 to the secretariat computer C2 via the board network system N2. Therefore, the applicant of the participation section 3 who prepares the application form for discussion and the accompanying materials prepares the necessary documents such as the application form for the discussion and the supporting materials using the computer C3 of the participation section at his / her own seat, and compiles the necessary documents. By placing it on the approval route on the network system C3, it is possible to apply for approval of the necessary documents in the own department 3.

That is, as compared with a case where a document dedicated to a meeting is created and printed out as a hard copy, and this is sequentially forwarded to each approver on the approval route to obtain final approval, This eliminates the need for labor and effort to create a hard copy for approval within the department, and allows easy and quick response to the need to correct documents. Further, when submitting the finally approved application form for discussion and its supporting materials to the Secretariat of the Board of Directors 2, there is no need to use any hard copy documents, thus achieving labor savings and saving by the so-called paperless system. It can also contribute to space and resource savings.

The approval route of the application form for discussion in each participant section 3 to the board of directors is constituted by each applicant on the display screen of the computer C3 of the participant section. If the attendees of the board of directors, the interim approver, or the department to which the applicant belongs, are changed, the applicant himself / herself is required to comply with the authority rules within the department 3 on the display screen of the participating department computer C3. By performing the change input operation, the approval route can be easily reset. In other words, even when a change factor such as a personnel change occurs, it is not necessary to perform a large-scale change work such as resetting an approval route all over the participating departments (that is, almost the entire organization) at the same time, and the minimum effort is required. Can be used to change and reset the approval route.

In this case, the organizational hierarchies of the departments and departments to which all employees belong and the functional authority of each of the participating departments 3 are registered in advance in the database D2 for the board of directors, and the applicant is required to register the registered organizational hierarchy list. Since the approver is selected from the list, it is possible to prevent the applicant from making mistakes in the setting of the approval route as much as possible. Failures can be prevented.

When the board of directors office 2 receives the application for discussion and its accompanying materials sent from each participating section 3 to the office computer C2 as described above, the office 2
The person in charge of the discussion application of the above-mentioned discussion application form, which has been transmitted, is sorted as the agenda item of the meeting at the scheduled time closest to the desired time, according to the desired time for discussion described in the application form, After being given a reception number, it is registered in the board meeting database D2. In addition, accompanying materials of each discussion application form are registered and stored in the board database D2 as the discussion materials of the meeting.

In this case, the application form for discussion from each participating section 3 to the board of directors and / or its accompanying materials are based on the network system N3 of the participating section and the network system N of the board of directors.
2 to the secretariat computer C2, so that the discussion items described in each application form can be distributed to each board of directors, and the results of the allocation and the accompanying materials can be registered in the board database D2. Work can be performed easily and quickly.

When the date and time of the board meeting are officially determined, the board meeting information is sent from the secretariat computer C2 via the board network system N2 and the participating section network system N3 to all attendances of the board. The mail is transmitted to the attendee computer C4. At this time, along with the board meeting information, a link mail of the board database D2 (that is, a mail with an address button linked to the database in a mail document) is sent to the attendees of all the attendees. Mail is transmitted to the computer C4.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation on the screen of the secretariat computer C2 when this mail transmission is performed. The person in charge of the secretariat 2 opens the screen of the secretariat computer C2, and clicks a "mail start" button set on the screen (not shown), whereby the mail database is started (step # 11). . Next, it is confirmed whether or not the mail transmission program has been installed (step # 12). If this is NO, click the "mail transmission program" button set on the screen and click the mail transmission program. Is introduced (step # 13). If the result of the check in step # 12 is NO, a setting may be made so that the mail transmission program is automatically introduced.

After confirming the introduction of the mail transmission program in step # 12, clicking the "YES" button causes
Next, a display requesting confirmation of whether or not the mail transmission setting is completed is performed (step # 14). If the e-mail transmission setting is not completed (step # 14: NO), the e-mail transmission setting is selected by clicking a "e-mail transmission setting" button (not shown) from the menu set on the screen. (Step # 15), and set the e-mail address of the attending officer (step # 16).
Then, a “mail transmission system” button (not shown) is selected and clicked from a menu set on the screen.

After confirming that the mail transmission setting is completed in step # 14, the mail transmission mode setting is established by clicking the "YES" button. Next, at step # 18, a display requesting confirmation of whether or not to start mail transmission (that is, whether or not to actually perform mail transmission) is displayed. When the mail transmission is stopped for some reason, the message is displayed on the screen. By selecting and clicking the "stop" button from the set menu, the mail transmission is stopped (step # 19). On the other hand, when the e-mail is to be transmitted as scheduled, the e-mail is transmitted to each set e-mail address by clicking the "start" button in step # 20.

As described above, the link mail of the board meeting database D2 in which the discussion materials are registered is sent together with the meeting holding information to the attendee computers C of all the attendees of the board meeting.
4, the information about the conference can be easily and promptly transmitted to all the attendees, and each prospective attendee can use his / her own computer for attendees by the link mail. Necessary discussion materials can be known in advance on the screen of C4, and convenience is greatly improved.

The person who is expected to attend the board meeting (the officer in charge of each participating section 3 etc.) can use his / her own computer C4 for attendees.
And use the link mail above to send the board database D
2. It is possible to call up any board discussion material registered in 2, and to input a comment on the discussion material in advance, and save the comment together with the discussion material for personal use.

That is, each attendee computer C4
Is provided with a call function for calling an arbitrary board discussion material registered in the board database D2 via the board network system N2 by clicking an address button attached to the link mail on the screen. A comment document can be created and input for the called discussion material by a normal document creation function, and the comment document can be stored for personal use together with the discussion material by a normal document storage function. The calling function, the document creation function, and the document storage function constitute the “attendant personal material creation means” of the attendee computer C4.

As described above, each attendee of the board of directors accesses the board database D2 in advance by link mail transmitted to his / her attendee computer C4, and discusses any meeting. Materials can be called, and comments can be input in advance to the discussion material by the attendee personal material creation means.

FIG. 10 shows, for example, an attendee computer C
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing a basic menu screen Y1 of the “executive board system”. The basic menu screen Y1 and the top screen (not shown) of the “executive board system” are composed of computers constituting the board system, such as the secretariat computer C2, the participating department computer C3, and the board computer C5 described later. Are common. On the basic menu screen Y1, three basic menus of an officer menu, a section menu, and a secretariat menu are displayed.

Each of these menus can be opened, for example, after authentication by a login password. In the case of the executive menu, anyone other than the executive cannot open the menu. Can only open. Furthermore, in the case of the department menu, a list of each participating department is opened by selection in this basic menu,
When an individual department is selected from among them, it is set such that persons belonging to different departments cannot select the participating department.

Forming on the screen the approval route for the board of directors' discussion application and its accompanying materials in each of the participating departments 3 described above;
The operation on the screen for placing these documents on the approval route is performed by clicking the "Department menu" button on the basic menu screen Y1 to open a department menu screen (not shown), and clicking the necessary buttons on this department menu screen. Is clicked, and required operations are performed on the sequentially obtained screens according to the required instructions in the obtained screens.

When the "executive menu" button is clicked, for example, among the three basic menus, an executive menu screen Y2 as shown in FIG. 11 is displayed.
The “Today” button in the “Board of Directors” column is a button that opens a list of information about the Board of Directors to be held on that day. “All Board of Directors” is a button for all past and planned future Board of Directors meetings. Button to open list information. The “personal” button is a button for opening a list of documents such as personal materials about the board. Further, the “all documents” button in the “documents” column is a button for opening a list of all documents that have been accepted and registered as documents related to the board of directors by the secretariat.

Further, the "Waiting for Officer Approval" button in the "Application Document" column is a button for opening a list of documents that are waiting for approval of officers in the participating department of the self (the officer concerned). For a document, the user can double-click the document to open the details, and perform an approval or rejection processing (settlement) procedure on the screen. The “by application status” button is a button for opening a screen showing a list of the status of all application documents received and registered by the secretariat (e.g., adopted or rejected or under consideration as an agenda item). Also,
The “Affiliation / Department” button is a button for opening a list showing application documents by affiliation / department.

By clicking each button displayed on the menu screen Y2, a list of the items is displayed. If you click the "Close" button,
The display returns to the basic menu screen Y1. Officer menu screen Y
In FIG. 2, for example, when a button of the board of directors “today” is clicked, a screen Y3 of a list of board of directors “today” is opened as shown in FIG. In addition, this “for today” list screen Y3
Click the "Close" button to return to the officer menu screen.

As described above, when the date and time of the meeting of the board of directors are officially determined, the secretariat computer C2 sends the link mail of the database D2 for the board of directors together with the information on the holding of the board of directors (the mail to the database D2 in the mail document). A mail to which an address button for linking is attached) is transmitted to the attendee computers C4 of all the attendees, respectively. When the address button attached to the link mail is clicked, for example, as shown in FIG. The screen Y3 of the board meeting "for today" is opened.

When it is desired to display the details of a specific document on the "Today's" list screen Y3, by double-clicking the document, a detailed screen Y4 as shown in FIG. 13 is displayed. On this detail screen Y4, comments can be entered and attachments can be edited for personal use, and when using the board document for personal use, the button labeled "Click here" can be clicked. When the "close" button is clicked on the detail screen Y4, the screen returns to the "today's" list screen Y3. The "Click here" button is also set on the detail screen (not shown) obtained by double-clicking a document in the list of "All executive committees". Meeting documents can also be used for personal use.

FIG. 14 shows a “personal” document list screen Y5 obtained by, for example, clicking the “personal” button on the board of directors on the officer menu screen Y2.
When the "close" button is clicked on the "personal" document list screen Y5, the screen returns to the officer menu screen. Further, in the “personal” document list screen Y5,
When it is desired to display the details of a specific document, by double-clicking the document, a details screen Y6 as shown in FIG. 15 is displayed. The detail screen Y6
When the "close" button is clicked, the screen returns to the "personal" document list screen Y5.

By clicking the "start" button on the detail screen Y6, the attached file registered in the secretariat is called, and editing such as correction, addition or deletion is performed on the screen of the called file document. Can be performed freely. Further, a comment can be freely entered in the comment entry field of the detail screen Y6.

A personal computer (executor's seat computer C5: see FIG. 1) having the same functions as the attendee computer C4 is also provided in the boardroom 1 where the board meeting is held. The client computer C4 and the board computer C5 are connected via each network system N1, N2, N3 so as to be able to transmit and receive. The specific functions of the board computer C5 and the arrangement status in the board room 1 will be described later.

Therefore, each attendee of the board meeting can use the comment previously stored for the individual together with the discussion material by calling the board member computer C5 and using the comment. In addition, even during the meeting, a comment can be input to the discussion material of the board of directors, and the comment can be stored together with the discussion material for personal use, which greatly improves the convenience.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the board meeting system according to the present embodiment, the board meeting network system N
2 is provided with a machine room 4 in which various servers S1, S2, S3 connected to each other are stored. A proxy server S1 (Proxy Server: so-called proxy server) in the machine room 4 is a server interposed between the board of directors network system N2 and the Internet N4, which is an external open network, and is an illegal device from the outside. It has at least security features to prevent intrusion.

In the machine room 4, a database server S2 is provided. The above-mentioned board database D2 is actually a database server S
2 is stored. Further, in the machine room 4, there is an external connection server S3 which can be connected to a specific information terminal device (for example, a personal computer) outside the system via a RAS (Remote Access Service) so as to be able to transmit and receive. It is arranged.

Then, a personal computer C for exclusive use of an individual (for example, owned at home or carried by the outside) of the system by a person who intends to attend the board meeting (officer).
6 (personal computer) is connected to the external connection server S
3, it is possible to transmit and receive to and from the board network system N2.

The external connection server S3 has a copy / save function for periodically copying and storing the board meeting database D2.
2 can serve as a backup server (backup server). This external connection server S3,
Various definitions such as the hardware configuration, software, and IP address are all the same as those of the main server (database server S2).

In the present embodiment, each of the attendee computers C4 transmits at least a part of the information transmitted by mail to the portable terminal device T6 (for example,
(E.g., mobile phone), and the board meeting information sent by e-mail when the attendee is absent is transferred to the mobile phone T6 of the prospective attendee via the Internet N4. It has become so. Therefore, even when the person scheduled to attend the board meeting is not present at his / her seat, the meeting holding information can be transmitted to the person without delay.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart for explaining the operation on the screen of the attendee computer C4 when setting the mail transfer. For example, when a person who intends to attend the board meeting (officer) leaves his / her seat for a certain period of time due to a business trip or the like, the user opens the screen of the computer C4 for his / her own seat and displays the screen (not shown) on the screen. The mail database is started by clicking the set “start mail” button (step # 2)
1). Next, it is confirmed whether or not the mail transfer program is installed (step # 22).
In the case of (1), the mail transfer program is installed by clicking the "mail transmission program" button set on the screen (step # 23). If the result of the check in step # 22 is NO, a setting can be made so that the mail transfer program is automatically introduced.

After confirming the introduction of the mail transfer program in step # 22, when the "YES" button is clicked,
Next, a display requesting confirmation of whether or not the mail transfer setting is completed is performed (step # 24). If the mail transfer setting is not completed (step # 24: NO), the mail transfer setting is selected by clicking a "mail transfer setting" button (not shown) from the menu set on the screen. Then, the e-mail address (mobile phone) of the attendee is set (step # 26). Then, a "mail transfer system" button (not shown) is selected and clicked from a menu set on the screen.

Then, after confirming the completion of the mail transfer setting in step # 24, by clicking the "YES" button, the mail transfer mode setting is established. next,
In step # 28, whether to activate mail transfer (that is,
When an e-mail is sent to the attendee computer C4, a message asking for confirmation of whether or not to actually perform the e-mail transfer is displayed. When the e-mail transfer is stopped for some reason, the message is set on the screen. Select the "Stop" button from the menu that was clicked and click it to stop forwarding mail. That is, the mail transfer mode is canceled (step # 29). On the other hand, if the mail is to be forwarded as scheduled, the "start" button is clicked (step # 30), and if the mail is sent to the attendee computer C4, the set mail address (the The mail is forwarded to the attendee's mobile phone).

Further, each of the attendee computers C4
Has an information transmission function of transmitting at least a part of the information transmitted by e-mail to the personal computer C6 of the attendee at the board meeting, and the information is transmitted when the prospective attendee is not present at his / her seat. The conference holding information and the link mail can be transmitted to the personal computer C6 of the attendee via the external connection server S3.

Therefore, a person who intends to attend the board meeting can access the board database D2 copied by the external connection server 3 from outside the system (that is, without being present). You can access necessary information about the board from your home, etc.
Convenience is dramatically improved. In this case, it is preferable that the personal computer C6 of the officer's home or the like be checked by personal authentication, a password, a caller ID, etc., and then be copied by the external connection server 3 into the board database D2. Is configured to allow access to

Further, since the external connection server S3 periodically copies and stores the board database D2 stored in the database server S2, the main server (database server) that stores the board database D2. It can be used as a backup server in S2). For example, when a failure occurs in the main server during the board meeting, the server connected to the board computer C5 is clicked by clicking a server switching button displayed on the screen of each board computer C5 described below. The server can be switched from the main server to the backup server and can respond instantly. Therefore, there is no need to separately provide a dedicated backup server, and it is possible to contribute to the suppression of system equipment costs and running costs.

As shown in FIG. 1, an executive meeting room 1 where an executive meeting is held has an executive seat computer C as a meeting room information terminal device corresponding to the seating position of the meeting room 1.
5 are provided, and the executive computer C5, the secretariat computer C2, and the executive computer C are provided.
5. Each other is a multi-scan switching hub H
s are connected so as to be able to transmit and receive each other by a conference room network system N1 provided with a s.

The above-mentioned officer's seat computer C5 includes all the functions of the above-mentioned attendee's computer C4 provided for the responsible officer in each participating section 3. Also, each board computer C5 is preferably
It comprises a personal computer main body having a liquid crystal monitor display unit provided with an elevating mechanism, a wireless keyboard and mouse, a directional microphone, and the like.

Further, a personal computer C1 for control and a server S4 for screen transfer are additionally provided in the boardroom 1 and these are all connected to the switching hub Hs. The screen transfer server S4 is provided with a spare server S5 for backing up the screen. Further, the boardroom 1 has electric wiring, television and its wiring for driving and controlling the elevating mechanism of the liquid crystal monitor display section of each board computer C5.
A video device, a document device, and the like are provided.

As shown in detail in FIG. 5, each executive computer C5 is electrically connected to the control computer C1, and by operating the control computer C1, the liquid crystal monitor of each executive computer C5 is operated. The drive of the elevating mechanism of the display unit is controlled. Computer C for each officer seat
5 is fitted into a recess formed on the surface of the conference desk 11, and each liquid crystal monitor display is folded down during normal times when a conference is not held, and is substantially flush with the surface of the desk 11. It is kept in condition.

When the board meeting starts and each board member is seated (or in advance), the person in charge of the board board secretariat 2 operates the control computer C1 to drive the elevating mechanism of each liquid crystal monitor display unit. Then, each liquid crystal monitor display section is raised to be used. Since the lifting mechanism itself is the same as a conventionally known mechanism, a detailed description and illustration of its configuration are omitted.

The software used in the conference room network system N1 is, for example, Windows NT (registered trademark) and screen transfer server software (View Master 32 Supp.) For each of the servers S1 to S3 in the executive conference room 1.
er) and moving image transfer server software (Movie Master). For each of the officers' seat computers C5, for example, Windows 95, Windows 98, screen transfer client software, moving image transfer client software, Notes client, software using multiple users Notes, etc. are used.

The spare server S5 has the same hardware configuration, software, and various definitions as the IP address, all of which are the same as the main server (screen transfer server S4). The same function can be ensured only by activating the spare server S5 after the person in charge of the board meeting office 2 replaces the wiring.

Prior to the start of the board meeting (or when the board meeting starts), each attendee gets to an arbitrary seat in the board meeting room 1 and heads to the board computer 5 corresponding to the seat. At this time, each liquid crystal monitor display unit is in an upright state, and each attendee selects his / her name from a list of officers displayed on the screen and performs authentication by inputting a login password. As a result, the screen of the officer himself is displayed. The database D2 for the board of directors has selection buttons for "all board material", "material for the day", "personal material", and daily board application approval operations. Only necessary materials for the day are displayed in "Materials".

Each attending officer is in the board meeting database D2.
In the case of displaying the discussion materials of your own department from among the pre-distributed materials displayed in the “Materials for the day”, and displaying the personal board material from the “Personal materials” or adding a prior comment In this case, the content can be confirmed during the meeting.

As described above, each officer seat computer C5
Is connected to a multi-scan type switching hub Hs so as to be able to send and receive signals, and the display screen displays, as shown in FIG. 16, an attendee operating the board computer C5 as a presenter on the agenda. "Explanation start" button Bs as a presenter specifying means for specifying that there is
Is displayed. Further, an "end" button Be is displayed immediately beside the "start explanation" button Bs. The "start explanation" button Bs is the "start explanation" button B of any one of the officer seat computers C5.
While “s” is operating, the “start explanation” button Bs of all other officer seat computers C5 is set to be inactive.

The attendee giving an explanation at the board meeting clicks the "start explanation" button Bs on the display screen in front of himself / herself,
After checking the content of the display screen and clicking again, the monitor display screen of the officer's seat computer C5 of other attendees also appears.
An image with the same content as the screen of the presenter is displayed. That is,
The same information image displayed on the display screen of the officer seat computer C5 on which the "start explanation" button Bs as the presenter identification means is activated is also displayed on the display screens of all other officer seat computers C5. The display is controlled so as to be displayed.

That is, when the presenter clicks the "start explanation" button Bs on the display screen of his own board computer C5, the display control system for controlling the display on the display screen of each board computer C5 operates. Due to the operation of the screen transfer server S4, the display image of the presenter's board computer C5 is transferred to the display screens of all other board computers C5 via the switching hub Hs and displayed. It is supposed to be. The screen transfer server S4 and the switching hub Hs constitute a main part of the display control mechanism described in the claims of the present application.

During this announcement, the exclusive control
On the screen of the computer C5 other than the presenter,
The “start explanation” button Bs is hidden, and the seat number of the presenter is displayed instead. And
When the explainer finishes the explanation and clicks the "end" button Be, the mode returns to the initial setting mode, and the "start explanation" button Bs is displayed on the display screens of all the officer seat computers C5. During the presentation, the "marker" button B
s is displayed, and by dragging the screen, the dragged trajectory can be displayed in various colors on a screen other than the explainer.

Each of the above officers' seat computers C5 is:
It is also possible to connect to databases other than the board meeting database D2 via the network systems N1 to N3 and the internet N4 and the like.
It can also be connected to external information media such as televisions and video devices.

Then, the board computer C5 on which the "start explanation" button Bs is activated is connected to the board database D2 and / or the board database D2.
When a database other than the above and / or an external information medium is accessed and the information is displayed on the display screen as an explanatory image, the same information is displayed on the display screens of all other officer seat computers C5. The display is controlled to be displayed as an image.

FIGS. 8 and 9 are flowcharts showing the operation of the officer seat computer C5 when the attendee makes a presentation at the board meeting. Attendees trying to make a presentation
First, an explanatory material is displayed on the screen of the officer's seat computer C5 located in front of the own seat (step # 31). Next, it is confirmed whether or not the "start explanation" button Bs is displayed (step # 32). If this is NО,
Since the other attendees are explaining, the user will wait for the explanation of the presenter to end (step # 33). When the above step # 32 is YES, the "start explanation" button Bs
Is displayed, the "start explanation" button Bs is clicked (step # 34), and the "start explanation" button Bs is clicked.
By clicking s again (step # 35),
A confirmation as to whether or not to really start the explanation is displayed on the screen (step # 36).

Then, when the explanation is stopped, or
Click (and click again) on the "Start Explanation" button Bs
Is wrong, by clicking the "No" button (not shown) displayed on the screen (step # 37), the "presentation" process ends. On the other hand, when the user really wants to start the explanation, the user clicks the "Yes" button (not shown) to start the explanation (step # 3).
8 and # 39). Next, in step # 40, a "marking start" button (not shown) is displayed on the screen as a confirmation as to whether or not to use the marking.

When Marking is Used (Step # 4)
0: YES), the user clicks the "Start Marking" button to perform a marking operation (steps # 41 and # 41).
42). Thereafter, a "marking end" button (not shown) is displayed on the screen as a confirmation of whether or not to end the marking (step # 43). When the marking is to be ended, the "marking end" button is double-clicked (step # 43). Step # 44).

Then, it is confirmed whether or not the explanation is to be ended (step # 45).
5: YES) By clicking the "end" button Be displayed on the screen (step # 46), "presentation"
The process ends. As long as the "end" button Be is not clicked, steps # 39 to # 45 are repeated, and the description using the officer seat computer C5 can be continued.

As described above, each of the officer seat computers C5 disposed on the seats of all the attendees of the board meeting has the "start explanation" button Bs as a presenter identification means, and has exclusive display control. As a result, while the "start explanation" button Bs of any one of the officer seat computers C5 is operating, the "start explanation" buttons Bs of all the other officer seat computers C5 are controlled to be inactive. . Accordingly, each attendee of the board of directors can use his or her own board computer C5 to present a given agenda without having to move to a particular seat with a particular (presentation) computer. Can be announced. As a result, the convenience is greatly improved, and the conference can be smoothly performed.

When the attendees of the board meeting present a predetermined agenda, the "start explanation" button Bs, which is the presenter identification means of the board computer C5 at their seat, is clicked, and the board meeting database D2 is clicked. And / or accessing another database and / or an external information medium and displaying the information on the display screen as an explanatory image, so that the same information is displayed on the display screens of all other officer seat computers C5. Can be displayed as an explanation image, so that the other attendees of the explanation can easily see the explanation image at their own seat, which is very convenient.

As described above, each officer seat computer C
The information image displayed on the display screen of No. 5 is
One of them is displayed on the display screen of each officer's seat computer C5, and the image size is changed, or the image is moved, or another image is moved according to the intention of the operator of the officer's seat computer C5. Information images can be displayed synchronously or asynchronously. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 17, for example, the information image and any other image reduced and displayed can be displayed on the same screen, or a memo can be attached to the information image. is there.

As a method of presenting or explaining at the board meeting, in addition to the above-described method of display control using screen transfer, the presenter indicates the data code of the explanatory material and other attendance. Of course, a method in which a person inquires and displays this on the screen of each officer seat computer C5 is also applicable. In the present embodiment, each of the officer seat computers C5 does not fixedly correspond to a specific officer, and each officer happens to operate the computer C5 in front of an arbitrary seat so that the individual himself / herself can be operated. Personal data for the attendees, and the data obtained at the meeting can be stored or corrected and stored in the attendee's computer C4 as it is.
Very high convenience is obtained.

The secretariat computer C2 has a contact mail receiving function for receiving a contact mail transmitted from the outside of the board meeting room 1 to the attendees of the board meeting. At the discretion of the person in charge of the board meeting secretariat 2, it is possible to transfer to the board computer C5 of the relevant attendee according to the degree of urgency. In other words, when the transmitted contact mail has a high degree of urgency, the contact mail can be transmitted to the attendee without delay even during the meeting.

When the board meeting ends, the person in charge of the board meeting secretariat 2 prepares the minutes of the board meeting using the secretariat computer C2, and writes the results of the discussion in the preliminary material for each agenda item. And store it in the board database D2. Therefore, at a later date, the board database D
By accessing 2, the results of discussions at the board meeting can be easily checked. As described above, according to the present embodiment, when realizing paperlessness using a computer, various databases can be searched and displayed, and the amount of information that can be obtained can be dramatically increased. become able to.

Although the above description has been made with respect to the system of the "executive board" in a corporate organization, the present invention is not limited to such an executive board, but to a certain degree such as a general corporate organization or a government office. In an organization with a basic organizational structure, various "meetings" to be held, in particular, at least a certain number of superiors in the hierarchical structure,
The present invention can be effectively applied to various “meetings” that are held regularly or as needed. As described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it goes without saying that various improvements or design changes can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0113]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a discussion application form for applying for a discussion item at a conference from a department participating in the conference and its accompanying materials are set on the department network system of the participating department. When the final approval is made along the approved approval route, the information is transmitted from the participating department information terminal device to the secretariat computer via the conference network system. Therefore,
The applicant of the participating department who prepares the discussion application and its accompanying materials prepares the necessary documents such as the above discussion application and its supporting materials on the participating department information terminal device at his / her desk, and places it on the department network system of his / her department. By putting it on the approval route with
You can apply for approval of the above required documents in your department. In other words, compared to the conventional case where a dedicated document was created for a meeting and issued as a hard copy, and this was sequentially forwarded to each approver on the approval route to obtain final approval, This eliminates the need for any labor or effort to create a hard copy for approval, and can easily and quickly respond to the need to correct documents. Furthermore, no hard copy documents are required when submitting the final approval of the application form for discussion and its supporting materials to the meeting secretariat, which saves labor and achieves so-called paperless space saving. It can also contribute to resource saving.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the approval route of the discussion application form in each of the participating departments in the conference is constituted by each applicant on the display screen of the participating department information terminal device, If the attendees, the intermediate approvers, or the department to which the applicant belongs as a final approver are changed due to a personnel change, etc., the applicant himself / herself will be able to use the internal department on the display screen of the participating department information terminal device. By performing the change input operation in accordance with the authority rule of the above, the approval route can be easily reset. In other words, even when a change factor such as a personnel change occurs, it is not necessary to perform a large-scale change work such as resetting an approval route all over the participating departments (that is, almost the entire organization) at the same time, and the minimum effort is required. Can be used to change and reset the approval route. In this case, the organizational hierarchies of the duties of each participating department are registered in the conference database in advance, and the applicant selects an approver from the registered organizational hierarchy list. An error can be prevented as much as possible in the work of setting the approval route, and even if there is an error, it is possible to prevent problems such as an inadvertent flow of the application contents to other than the own department.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the application form for discussion and / or its accompanying materials from each department participating in the conference is transmitted to the computer of the secretariat via the conference network system, The task of allocating the discussion items described in the application form to each meeting, and the task of registering the result of sorting and each supplementary material in the meeting database can be performed easily and quickly. Further, a link mail of the conference database in which the discussion materials are registered in this way (that is, a mail to which an address button linking the database is attached in the mail document) is sent together with the conference holding information to all attendees of the conference. The e-mail is sent to the attendee information terminal device, so that the conference holding information can be easily and quickly transmitted to all the attendees. It is possible to know important discussion materials in advance.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, each attendee of the conference accesses the conference database in advance by link mail sent to his / her attendee information terminal device, and freely accesses the conference database. Can be called, and a comment can be input in advance with respect to the discussion material by means of the attendee personal material creating means.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, an information terminal device having the same functions as the above-mentioned attendee information terminal device is provided in the conference room, and both are connected via the conference network system. Therefore, each attendee at the conference can call and utilize the comment previously stored for the individual together with the discussion material in the conference. In addition, even during a meeting, a comment can be input to the discussion material of the meeting, and the comment can be stored together with the discussion material for personal use.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the conference holding information sent by e-mail when the conference attendee is absent is transferred to the portable terminal device of the conference attendee via the Internet. Even when attendees are absent, conference holding information can be transmitted to the person without delay.

According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, each of the conference attendees has a personal information terminal device outside the system and an external connection server dedicated to the conference attendees. The copied conference database can be accessed from outside the system (that is, even if the user is not at his / her desk), and necessary information regarding the conference can be accessed from, for example, a home, thereby improving convenience. .

According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, since the external connection server dedicated to the conference attendees is provided, each conference attendee can copy the above-mentioned externally copied system from outside the system (that is, even if he / she is not present). The conference database can be accessed, and necessary information on the conference can be accessed from, for example, a home, thereby improving convenience. In addition, since the external connection server can be used as a backup server for the main server that stores the conference database, it is not necessary to separately provide a dedicated backup server, which contributes to a reduction in system equipment costs and running costs. You can also.

According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, each of the conference room information terminal devices provided on the seats of all the conference attendees in the conference room has the presenter identification means, and is controlled by the display control mechanism. While the presenter specifying means of one conference room information terminal device is operating, the presenter specifying means of all other conference room information terminal devices are controlled to be inactive. Therefore, each attendee of the conference can make an announcement using his / her own conference room information terminal device without having to move to a seat equipped with a specific information terminal device when announcing a predetermined agenda item. Thus, the convenience is improved, and the conference can be smoothly performed.

According to the tenth aspect of the present invention, when a participant of a conference presents a predetermined agenda, the presenter identification means of the conference room information terminal device at his / her seat is activated to allow the conference database and the conference database to be presented. By accessing a database other than the conference database and / or an external information medium and displaying the information on the display screen as an explanatory image, the display screen of all other conference room information terminal devices can be displayed. The same information can be displayed as an explanation image, and the explanation image can be easily visually recognized by another conference attendee who receives the explanation at his or her own seat, and the convenience is further improved.

According to the eleventh aspect of the present invention, the information image displayed on the display screen of each conference room information terminal device is displayed as one of the windows, and the information of the conference room information terminal device is determined by the operator. Accordingly, since the image size can be changed and / or other information images can be displayed synchronously or asynchronously, the information image and any other image can be displayed on the same screen, or the information information can be displayed on the same screen. A note can be attached to the image, and the convenience is further improved.

According to the twelfth aspect of the present invention, after the end of the meeting, the minutes of the meeting are created and input by the input operation of the secretariat computer, and the result of the discussion is added to the preliminary data of each agenda. Since the information is input and stored in the conference database, by accessing the conference database, it is possible to easily check the result of discussion at the conference.

According to the thirteenth aspect of the present invention, when a contact mail is transmitted from the outside to the attendees of the meeting during the holding of the meeting, the contact mail receiving unit accepts the contact mail. According to the degree of urgency, the information can be transferred to the conference room information terminal device arranged in the seat of the conference attendee. The contact mail can be transmitted to the meeting attendees.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram schematically showing an overall configuration of a board meeting system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an approval route in a department participating in a discussion application at a board meeting.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a part of a display screen of a participating department computer displaying an approval route of the discussion application.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a data structure of a board database;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory plan view showing the layout and electrical wiring of a board computer in a board room;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating mail transmission of board meeting information to an attendee computer.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating the setting of mail transfer of board meeting information to a mobile phone of an attendee.

FIG. 8 is a part of a flowchart showing the operation of the board computer when attendees make a presentation at the board meeting.

FIG. 9 is a part of a flowchart showing the operation of the board computer when attendees make a presentation at the board meeting.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing a basic menu screen of the board meeting system.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing an officer menu screen obtained from the basic menu screen.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory view schematically showing a list screen of today's documents obtained from the officer menu screen.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing a detailed screen obtained from the list screen of documents for today.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing a personal document list screen obtained from the officer menu screen.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing a detailed screen obtained from the personal document list screen.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a display screen of a presenter's board computer.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a display screen of an officer seat computer other than the presenter.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Description of Reference Numerals 1: Board meeting room 2: Board meeting secretariat 3: Participating section Bs: Explanation start button C2: Secretariat computer C3: Participating section computer C4: Attendant computer C5: Board member computer C6: Personal computer D2: Board of directors Database Hs: Switching hub N1: Meeting room network system N2: Board meeting network system N3: Department network system N4: Internet S2: Database server S3: External connection server S4: Screen transfer server Т6: Mobile phone

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A secretariat computer provided in a conference secretariat for adjusting at least conference attendees, schedule, and agenda, and managing advance materials for a predetermined conference to be held regularly or as needed, and A conference database that can be called and written by the office computer, and a participant department that can be operated by the conference attendees and / or their subordinates and that can prepare a discussion application form and ancillary materials for applying for discussion items at the conference. An information terminal device, a conference network system that connects at least the secretariat computer and each of the participating department information terminals so as to be able to transmit and receive each other, and a participating department information terminal device provided for each participating department and within the participating department A department network system that connects each other so that they can transmit and receive each other, and that is connected to the conference network system. After the final approval by a predetermined approval route set in advance on the department network system of each participating department, the discussion application form and / or its supplementary materials are provided, and then, via the conference network system, A conference system transmitted from the participating department information terminal device to a secretariat computer. 2. The organizational hierarchy of each participant's job authority is registered in the participant's organization hierarchy list of the conference database by the secretariat computer, and the applicant who applies for the items to be discussed in the conference is On the display screen of the participating department information terminal device, call the organization hierarchy of the own department registered in the list of participating department organization hierarchies, select the intermediate approver and the final approver in the own department from the registered organization hierarchy. 2. The conference system according to claim 1, wherein an approval route of the discussion application form is configured by this. 3. A secretariat computer provided at a conference secretariat for adjusting at least conference attendees, schedule, and agenda, and managing advance materials for a predetermined conference to be held regularly or as needed, and the secretariat computer. A conference database callable and writable by an office computer, an attendee information terminal device provided at the seat of a participant's participant corresponding to the conference attendee, and at least the secretariat computer and A conference network system for connecting the information terminal device for attendees to each other so as to be able to transmit and receive each other. The material is transmitted via the conference network system, and is transmitted to the secretariat computer at the conference secretariat. Items to be discussed in the above-mentioned discussion application form are sorted as the agenda of the meeting scheduled to be held closest to the desired time in accordance with the desired time for discussion described in the application form and registered in the meeting database, In addition, the accompanying materials of each discussion application form are registered in the above-mentioned conference database as the discussion materials of the relevant conference, and the link mail of the conference database is provided together with the conference holding information for the attendees of all the conference attendees of the conference. A conference system wherein each of the conference terminals sends a mail to an information terminal device. 4. The attendee information terminal device calls a discussion material of an arbitrary conference registered in the conference database by the link mail, inputs a comment on the discussion material in advance, and enters the comment 4. The conference system according to claim 3, further comprising means for creating attendee personal data that can be stored individually with the discussion material. 5. An information terminal device having the same function as the attendee information terminal device is also provided in a conference room where a conference is held, and both of these information terminal devices can transmit and receive via the network system. 5. The conference system according to claim 4, wherein the conference system is connected to the conference system. 6. Each of the attendee information terminal devices includes mail transfer means for transferring at least a part of information transmitted by e-mail to the portable terminal device of the conference attendee. 5. The conference system according to claim 3, wherein the conference holding information transmitted by e-mail when the user is absent is transferred to the portable terminal device of the conference attendee via the Internet. 7. The conference attendee, wherein the conference attendee has a personal information terminal device outside the system, periodically copies and stores the conference database, and can be connected to be able to transmit and receive from outside the system. An external connection server dedicated to the conference attendee, and each of the information terminal devices for attendees includes information transmission means for transmitting at least a part of the information transmitted by e-mail to the personal information terminal device for the conference attendee. The conference holding information and the link mail, which are sent by e-mail when the conference attendee is absent, can be transmitted to the personal attendant's personal information terminal device via the external connection server. The conference system according to claim 3 or 4. 8. A secretariat computer provided at a conference secretariat for adjusting at least conference attendees, a schedule, an agenda, and managing advance materials for a predetermined conference to be held regularly or as needed, and the secretariat computer. A conference database callable and writable by an office computer, an attendee information terminal device provided at the seat of a participant's participant corresponding to the conference attendee, and at least the secretariat computer and A conference network system for connecting the information terminal device for attendees to each other so as to be able to transmit and receive each other, and to periodically copy and store the above conference database and to be exclusively used for conference attendees who can be connected to be able to send and receive from outside the system The external connection server is provided, and the external connection server is a main server that stores the conference database. Conference system, characterized in that as a backup server is available. 9. A secretariat computer provided at a conference secretariat for adjusting at least conference attendees, schedule, and agenda, and managing advance materials for a predetermined conference to be held regularly or as needed, and the secretariat computer. A conference database callable and writable by an office computer; a conference room information terminal device arranged corresponding to a seating position of the conference room where the conference is held; at least the secretariat computer and the conference rooms An information terminal device, and a conference room network system for connecting these conference room information terminal devices to each other so as to be able to transmit and receive each other. Each of the conference room information terminal devices sends and receives signals to and from a display control mechanism that controls display on a display screen. A participant who is connected as possible and operates the conference room information terminal device is a presenter on the subject. While the presenter specifying means of any one of the conference room information terminal devices is operating, the presenter specifying means of all other conference room information terminal devices are provided. A conference system that is set to be inactive. 10. The conference room information terminal device can be connected to a database other than the conference database and / or an external information medium, and the conference room information on which the presenter specifying means operates. When the terminal device accesses the conference database and / or a database other than the conference database and / or an external information medium and displays the information on the display screen as an explanatory image, the display control is performed. 10. The conference system according to claim 9, wherein display control is performed by a mechanism so that the same information is displayed as an explanatory image on the display screens of all other conference room information terminal devices. 11. The display control mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the same information image as that displayed on the display screen of the conference room information terminal device on which the presenter specifying means is operating is displayed on all other conference room information terminal devices. The information image is displayed on the display screen of each conference room information terminal device as one of the windows, and according to the will of the operator of the conference room information terminal device. 11. The conferencing system according to claim 10, wherein image sizes can be changed and / or other information images can be displayed synchronously or asynchronously. 12. A secretariat computer provided at a conference secretariat for adjusting at least conference attendees, schedule, and agenda, and managing advance materials for a predetermined conference to be held regularly or as needed, and the secretariat computer. A meeting database that can be called and written by the office computer, and after the meeting is completed, the minutes of the meeting are created and input by the input operation of the secretariat computer,
A conference system, wherein the results of discussion are input in advance materials of each agenda and stored in a conference database. 13. A secretariat computer provided at a conference secretariat for coordinating at least conference attendees, a schedule, an agenda, and managing advance materials for a predetermined conference to be held regularly or as needed, and A conference database callable and writable by the office computer, and conference room information terminals respectively arranged corresponding to the seat positions of the conference rooms where the conference is held. A contact mail receiving unit is provided for receiving a contact mail transmitted to the attendees of the conference from the contact mail, and the contact mail received by the contact mail receiving unit receives the contact mail of the corresponding meeting attendee in accordance with the degree of urgency. A conference system which is transferred to a conference room information terminal device.