JP2003030216A - System for supporting knowledge storage and method for displaying and setting message hierarchy in the system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a knowledge storage support system capable of freely setting how to display a hierarchical relationship among messages stored as knowledge to one another. SOLUTION: A community server 122 classifies and stores messages exchanged between users with each other on a virtual community in each topic. The community server 122 is provided with a message hierarchy displaying and setting part 129 and provides each user with a mechanism that selects how to display a message posted to a thread of the virtual community by the each user, i.e., its hierarchy displaying method and also sets a hierarchical level. For that purpose, the message hierarchy displaying and setting part 129 uses a message table 206 of community management information 124 to manage the message hierarchy displaying method in each community and also in each thread and sets the presence/absence of hierarchy display of the message table 206 and a hierarchical level in the case of the presence of the hierarchy display in response to a request of the each user.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a knowledge storage support system used in a knowledge management system and a message hierarchy display setting method in the system, and in particular, knowledge storage using a virtual community in which an unspecified number of users participate. The present invention relates to a knowledge accumulation support system for supporting a system and a message hierarchy display setting method in the system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the introduction of groupware for sharing information among a plurality of users has been promoted mainly in companies. E-mail systems and workflow systems are known as typical groupware,
Recently, a knowledge management system to support sharing of knowledge and information has begun to be developed.

This knowledge management system is based on W
This is for accumulating and managing personal know-how as a knowledge database in addition to eb information and electronic file information. By combining with a search function such as natural language search, efficient use of knowledge and information is possible. Becomes

By the way, in such a knowledge management system, how to collect and accumulate knowledge such as individual know-how is important. This is because personal know-how and other knowledge is so-called tacit knowledge and is not formalized like Web information or electronic file information, so it is difficult to automatically collect and store it. .

Therefore, recently, the development of a knowledge management system having a knowledge accumulation support function is required. Utilizing the knowledge as tacit knowledge in the same way as formalized knowledge such as Web information and electronic file information by realizing a mechanism that automatically collects and accumulates knowledge such as individual know-how. Is possible.

[0006]

However, in the conventional knowledge management system, the user interface for utilizing the collected and accumulated knowledge is uniform, so that some users have their favorite interfaces. Nevertheless, he was forced to utilize the knowledge collected and accumulated in other interfaces.

Further, regarding the display of a plurality of messages that form a thread, which is a collection of knowledge, the heads are aligned and displayed without layering, so that there are a plurality of reply messages to the original message in time series. Even then, there was a problem that it was displayed in a very difficult to see state. Alternatively, some systems are fixed so that they are displayed hierarchically, so that there is a problem that a message that is not displayed on the screen has appeared especially when the hierarchy level is deep.

The present invention has been made in consideration of such circumstances, and it is possible to efficiently collect and accumulate knowledge such as individual know-how, and how to establish a hierarchical relationship between messages accumulated as knowledge. An object of the present invention is to provide a knowledge accumulation support system capable of freely setting whether to display and a message hierarchy display setting method in the system.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is configured to be connectable to a plurality of client terminals via a network, and classifies messages posted from each client terminal to a virtual community. A knowledge accumulating support system for accumulating knowledge by accumulating, and an access control means for performing user authentication to a client terminal of an access request source in order to permit message posting from the client terminal, A plurality of client terminals manage a virtual community in which participation is possible, and a community processing means for classifying and accumulating messages posted to the virtual community from each client terminal permitted to be accessed by the access control means for each topic, The community processing means includes the classification, The display method of hierarchical relationships between the messages to each other in the list display screen of the message product, characterized by including the message hierarchy display setting means for setting in accordance with an instruction from the client terminal.

In this knowledge accumulation support system, messages exchanged between users in a virtual community are classified and accumulated for each topic, and as a result, individual knowledge contained in conversations among a plurality of users is automatically collected. To be done. In particular, by providing the message hierarchy display setting means, the setting of how to display the hierarchical relationship between the messages on the list display screen of the classified and accumulated messages is set according to the instruction from the client terminal. Since this can be done, it becomes possible for each user to utilize the collected and accumulated knowledge with an interface of his or her preference.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a knowledge storage support system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
This knowledge storage support system is used as a knowledge management system having a knowledge storage support function, and classifies and stores knowledge using a virtual community that can be commonly used by a plurality of client terminals 11.
Before explaining a specific configuration, an outline of the knowledge storage support system according to this embodiment will be described first with reference to FIGS. 2 to 5.

As shown in FIG. 2, knowledge has "formal knowledge" and "implicit knowledge". Currently, formalized information (form knowledge) such as document management systems and Web servers
A system of arrangement and management for is being completed. However, in reality, they do not cover all of the "knowledge accumulation" points. This is because there is very unclear information such as light conversations that are exchanged only by email and knowledge that is only in each person's head. This is what is called "tacit knowledge". It is important how to handle this tacit knowledge and share it. In the conventional system, it is difficult to support the accumulation of tacit knowledge, and a system for handling tacit knowledge is necessary.

The knowledge accumulation support system of this embodiment is
This is a tool for the purpose of formalizing information called tacit knowledge and promoting the accumulation of knowledge. Discussions in groups are held in a virtual community in the form of an electronic bulletin board, and messages (posted articles) are classified by topic.
accumulate. A summary can also be created for one topic (hereinafter referred to as a thread). A thread means a bundle of related knowledge on a virtual community. The summary is a message that serves as a kind of minutes that summarizes the discussions in the group, and can be created for each thread.

Posting a message can be done by e-mail or W.
The message posted by the input from the eb browser is stored in the server that constitutes the knowledge storage support system. In this knowledge storage support system, it is possible to post messages by e-mail, and it also has the aspect of a mailing list. The tacit knowledge is accumulated unknowingly simply by each user having a conversation by e-mail. This state is shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 shows a "sports community", which is a virtual community related to sports, a "English study group community" which is a virtual community related to English study sessions, and a "○ × development member" which is a virtual community between certain development members. "Community". Post messages from each user are classified and accumulated for each of these virtual communities, and are classified for each thread within each virtual community. In FIG. 3, messages about three types of topics of threads 1, 2, and 3 are currently accumulated in the “sports community”, and two types of topics of threads 1 and 2 are included in the “English study group community”. The message is accumulated, and the case where a message related to one topic of the thread 1 is accumulated is shown in “◯ × development member community”. The messages posted to each of these virtual communities are based on other knowledge (w
Similar to the formal knowledge collected from eb, workflow, filing system, etc., it is stored as knowledge information in a knowledge database (knowledge DB). In particular, by collecting the “summary” created for each thread in the knowledge DB and applying it to other messages as a search target such as full-text search or natural language search, the so-called flow information is obtained. The "message flow" can be efficiently used as static stock information.

<Site> In this specification, the server function of this knowledge accumulation support system is called a “site”. The site has an administrator user (Administrator)
Exists and manages site information. The site information includes the following.

(1) User information Information about users who can use the site. It can be registered, deleted and changed by the site administrator. (2) Community creation authority information Authority information for creating a virtual community. Virtual community (hereinafter simply referred to as community)
Is a kind of electronic bulletin board that can be commonly used by a plurality of users for posting and viewing messages, and indicates a "place" where people gathering for the same purpose communicate. Each user gains necessary knowledge and posts a message (article) by accessing a community having a theme suitable for the purpose.
Each community has an administrator (the community creator is the administrator by default). The authority regarding community creation can be selected from the following two.

All registered users can create a community. -Only users who are approved by the site administrator can create a community.

(3) Category information of community Category information for classifying communities. It can be registered, deleted and changed by the site administrator.

<Community> Next, the community will be described. The community information (community property) for managing each community includes the following.

(1) Name The name of the community. (2) Posting email address An email address for each community. When the user sends an email to this address, the content is automatically registered as a new posting message in the corresponding community.

(3) In the form of participation in the subject information community of the received mail, "subscribe by web" is used to browse and post messages through a web browser.
In addition to browsing and posting of messages through this web browser, there is "subscribe by email" that allows an automatic mail delivery service for newly posted messages. When a new message is posted to the community, the user who has selected “subscribe by mail” is automatically delivered the new posted message by electronic mail. that time,
The Subject information of the delivered e-mail includes the above “Subject information of received mail” (for example, {community name,
Information such as message number) is added.

(4) User name of the creator community. (5) Creation date The date when the community was created. (6) Community introduction A brief introduction sentence of the community. (7) Categories of Communities As described above, the communities can be classified into categories according to their contents, and information regarding the categories of the classification destinations is held for each community. Also, the categories are
Use the one registered by the site administrator.

(8) Community type This means the public level of the community. There are three public levels of the community: "public system" of free participation, "member system" made up of a group of approved participants, and "private system" which is not disclosed to only the approved participants.

(9) Statistical information For each community, it includes the number of users who belong to it and the ranking of the number of messages by participant. (10) Administrator Name of the administrator who manages this community. (11) Member A user (accessible) who belongs to this community. (12) Message deletion authority A user who is allowed to delete posted messages. You can select one of the following.・ Only for community managers. -Community managers and contributors.

<Message and Thread> Next, the message and thread will be described. A message is an individual statement (posting an article) exchanged in a conversation in a community. It is possible to attach multiple files to the message. A message can be posted by inputting from a web browser or sending an email to an email address owned by the community.

On the other hand, a thread is a bundle of messages relating to a certain topic as described above. Conversation is advanced by various opinions (messages) on one topic, and a conclusion is drawn. This conclusion is the "summary."
This knowledge accumulation support system also has a creation support function for “summary”. By using this creation support function, it is possible to easily create a “summary” as a conclusion of a topic while incorporating a message or an attached file in a corresponding thread.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a hierarchical structure of messages forming a thread. In FIG. 4, the thread 1 includes five messages 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. The structure of this thread 1 is that a message 1 is posted first and a reply (response) to the message 1 is sent.
This corresponds to the case where messages 2 and 3 are posted as messages, message 4 is posted as a reply (response) message to message 3, and message 5 is posted as a reply (response) message to message 1.

Thread 2 also has five messages 1,
It is composed of 2, 3, 4, and 5, which are messages (2, 3) posted as a reply (response) message to the first posted message 1, and further as a reply (response) message for message 3. It corresponds to the case where 4, 5 are posted.

When a message different from the reply to each message of threads 1 and 2 is newly posted to the same community as threads 1 and 2, thread 3 is assigned to the newly posted message. It will be.

<Summary> “Summary” is a “conclusion” for a conversation (thread) as described above. It corresponds to the "minutes" at a meeting such as a workplace, and corresponds to the "specification" for a review in the case of development, for example. As shown in FIG. 5, one "summary" corresponds to one thread. That is, the user or administrator creates a “summary” for each thread, and manages it as a special form of the message forming the thread. Multiple files can be attached to the "summary" as well as other ordinary messages.

The "summary" can be revised,
It is possible to create a new “summary” by updating the already-created “summary” and register it as the latest “summary”.

<Posting a Message by Email> The messages posted to each community by email are:
It is processed by the following procedure. (1) The user posts a message by email to the email address assigned to the posting destination community. (2) The server of the knowledge accumulation support system collectively acquires from the mail server the mails that have reached all the communities.

(3) The server of the knowledge accumulation support system
Determine which community the message is addressed to based on the postal email address and sort it. (4) The server of the knowledge storage support system determines which thread of which thread in the corresponding community is to be registered in which layer based on the header information (or title) of the acquired mail, and the message body of the acquired mail is written there. Register as.

The message posted to the community by mail is automatically stored in the corresponding place by the above processing. The user only has to post the message, much like he or she would post to a mailing list.

<Message Subscription Type> A user who uses the knowledge accumulation support system can select the following two types of message subscription types as described above.

Subscribe by web browser (access URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of knowledge accumulation support system) Subscribe by email Regardless of which subscription type is selected by the user, the subscription (including posts) from the web browser is It is possible. In other words, when a new message is posted, it is automatically selected whether or not the message is delivered by mail. When a new message is posted, the message is mailed to the users who have selected the mail subscription. Moreover, the user can post a reply message only by replying the delivered mail. The subscription type can be selected for each community to which the user belongs.

<System Configuration> Next, referring to FIG.
The system configuration of the knowledge storage support system according to this embodiment will be described.

The knowledge storage support system of this embodiment is
It is realized by a server computer 12 that can connect to a plurality of client terminals 11 via a computer network 13 such as a LAN. Although not shown, the server computer 12 and the client terminal 11 each have an input / output device having a CPU, a main memory, a magnetic disk device as a storage device, and an input unit such as a keyboard and a mouse and a display unit such as a display. It is provided.

At the client terminal 11, one or both of the Web browser 111 and the mail client 112 are operating. URL indicating a resource for supporting knowledge accumulation constructed on the server computer 12
(Uniform Resource Locato
The knowledge accumulation support process is used from each client terminal 11 by designating r) from the Web browser 111 or by sending an email from the email client 12 to the email address of each community managed by the community server 122. be able to.

The knowledge accumulation support function of the server computer 12 mainly includes the control unit 121 and the community server 12.
2, software such as the Web server 127 and the mail server 128, and management information and actual data used for posting and browsing messages by these software. The management information includes login management information 123 for performing user authentication for each client terminal 11 and community management information 124 for performing management for each community, and as actual data, Message data 125
And the attached file 126 exist.

The control unit 121 is for controlling the entire operation relating to knowledge accumulation support, and is the core program of this knowledge accumulation support system, namely, the community server 122, the Web server 127, and the mail server 128.
Web server 127 including the intermediary function between each
Also, it has a user authentication function when each client terminal 11 logs in to the community server 122 through the mail server 128. For this user authentication, the control unit 121 manages the login management information 123. The login management information 123 stores the user ID and password of each user who participates in the knowledge storage support system. By this user authentication, the permission / prohibition of access to the community server 122 for posting messages from each client terminal 11 is controlled.

The community server 122 is for managing and operating a community in which a plurality of client terminals 11 can participate, and messages posted from each client terminal 11 are collected for each community and for each topic (thread). Classify and accumulate. Management and operation of each community by the community server 122 is performed using the community management information 124, the message data 125, and the attached file 126. That is, these community management information 124 and message data 12
5 and the attached file 126 are used as a database for storing and managing messages for each community.

Further, the community server 122 includes
A message hierarchy display setting unit 129 is provided. The message hierarchy display setting unit 129 uses a message hierarchy display method that indicates in what hierarchy display mode the relationship between these messages is displayed on the list display screen of the message groups that make up the thread.
Set according to the instruction from 1. As a result, it is possible to select whether or not to display the hierarchy, and to specify the hierarchy level up to which the hierarchy is displayed when using the hierarchy display. The administrator basically sets / changes the message hierarchy display method, but the thread creator (first message contributor) may be given that authority.

Next, each table constituting the community management information 124 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 1, the community management information 124 comprises a user table 201, a community table 202, a subscription type table 203, a member table 204, a thread table 205, a message table 206, a summary table 207 and the like. Has been done. Each of these tables will be described below.

<User Table> FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the user table 201 for managing users. The user table 201 stores a user ID, a user name, and a mail address for each user who participates in the knowledge accumulation support system. In FIG. 6, the user with the user ID “U00001”, the user name “Ichiro Tanaka”, and the email address “ichiro.tanaka@xxxx.co.jp”, the user ID “U00002”, the user name “Taro Yamada”, and the email address "Taro.yamada@xxxx.co.jp"
User, user ID “U00003”, user name “Jiro Saito”, email address “jiro.saito@xxxx.co.j
An example in which the user "p" is registered is shown.

<Community Table> FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the community table 202 for managing the community. The community table 202 is a table for managing each community created on the knowledge accumulation support system and users participating in each community. Here, the community table 202 is a community created on the knowledge accumulation support system. The community ID, community name, and community type for each, and the administrator ID list that is a list of member IDs of each member who is the administrator of the community (because the administrator is also a member), and participation in the community. The member ID list of each member is stored. The member type that can be the administrator here is limited to "participants". Details of the member type will be described later.

In FIG. 7, the community ID "C0
01 ”and the community name“ community A ”, the community type is“ public ”, the administrator is the user whose member ID is“ M000001 ”registered in the administrator ID list, and the member ID is "M000001", "M000004", "M0
The users to which "00005", ... Are assigned are participating. Further, the community with the community ID “C002” and the community name “community B” has the community type “member system”, and the administrator has the member ID “M0000” registered in the administrator ID list.
20 ”,“ M000030 ”, ..., And users with member IDs“ M000002 ”,“ M000003 ”, ... The member ID is unique across all communities, and each user is assigned the same number of member IDs as the number of participating communities.

<Subscription Type Table> FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the subscription type table 203 for managing subscription types. The subscription type table 203 includes user IDs, user names, community IDs of participating communities, subscription types for the communities, and user types when the subscription type is mail, for each user participating in the knowledge accumulation support system. E-mail address is stored. When managing the mail address in the user table 201, it is not always necessary to register the mail address in the subscription type table 203, and conversely, the user table 201 does not manage the mail address and the subscription type is In the case of email, only the email address of the user may be managed in the subscription type table 203.

In FIG. 8, the user ID is "U000.
01 ”and the user name“ Ichiro Tanaka ”participates in two communities of community IDs“ C001 ”and“ C002 ”, and the community ID“ C001 ”
, The subscription type for the community is web, the subscription type for the community with community ID "C001" is email, and the user ID is "U0000".
2 ”, the user whose user name is“ Taro Yamada ”is participating in the community whose community ID is“ C005 ”,
The subscription type for that community is web,
Also, it is shown that the user with the user ID “U00003” and the user name “Jiro Saito” participates in the community with the community ID “C001” and the subscription type for the community is web.

<Member Table> FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the member table 204 for managing members. The member table 204 stores, for each member ID, a member type indicating a participation attribute regarding a community in which the member ID participates, and a user name of a user participating as a member. Member types include
"Participants" who are approved for participation, "Temporary registrants" who are provisionally registered as participants, "Persons who wish to participate but are not approved", who have not completed the procedures for participation There is "anonymous" to participate as a guest of.

In FIG. 9, the user with the user name "Ichiro Tanaka" has the member type "participant" and the member ID "M000003" for the community participating as the member ID "M000001". The member type of the participating community is "Wishing Participant", and the user with the user name "Taro Yamada" has the member type of the participating community with the member ID "M000002". Is a "temporary registrant", and for a community participating as a member ID "M000004", the member type is "anonymous", and a user with the user name "Jiro Saito" participates as a member ID "M000005" The case where the member type is "participant" is shown for the community that is doing.

<Thread Table> FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the thread table 205 for managing threads. The thread table 205 stores a community ID for each community and a thread ID list including the thread ID of each thread generated in the community. As the thread ID, a unique value is used for all communities.

In FIG. 10, the community ID "C
For the community of "001", the thread ID "T0100
1 ”,“ T01002 ”, ... Threads are included, and the community with the community ID“ C002 ”includes thread IDs“ T02001 ”,.

<Message Table> FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the message table 206 for managing messages. In the message table 206, the presence or absence (“Y” or “N”) of the message hierarchy display for each thread ID, the message hierarchy level when the message hierarchy is “Y” (present), and the message is the thread concerned. The layer number indicating the number of layers in the message and the message ID of each message that constitutes the thread
And the member ID of the poster who posted the message,
The URL indicating the location of the actual data of the corresponding message stored as the message data 125 is stored. The URL may be uniquely identified by the thread ID and the message ID, and in this case, the URL field is unnecessary.
It is also possible to eliminate the presence or absence of the hierarchical display and instead use the hierarchical level “0” as a setting without the hierarchical display.

<Summary Table> FIG. 12 is a summary table 20 for managing “summary” created for each thread.
It is a figure which shows the structural example of 7. In the summary table 207, a message ID of a message posted as a “summary” of the thread for each thread ID, a member ID of a poster who posted the “summary” message, and a plurality of “summary” are created and registered. In this case, the version number of each message and the URL indicating the location of the actual data of the message regarding the corresponding “summary” stored as the message data 125 are stored.

As in the case of the message table 206, the URL of the summary table 207 may be uniquely specified by the corresponding thread ID and message ID. In this case, the URL field is unnecessary. Become.

The message hierarchy display processing in this knowledge accumulation support system, which is executed by the message hierarchy display setting unit 129 of the community server 122, will now be described.

First, an example of the state transition of the message list screen provided to the Web browser 111 of the client terminal 11 in this knowledge accumulation support system will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the state transition of the Web browser screen when setting the message hierarchy display.
In FIG. 13A, a message list of the thread N in the community in which the user “Ichiro Tanaka” is participating is displayed. The messages are displayed in the order of "speaking order", and the "message title", "speaker", and "speaking date" are also displayed together. Further, an item of "hierarchy" is also provided, and a numerical value (hierarchy level value = hierarchy number) indicating a hierarchical relationship between messages is displayed here. In this example, a message in the comment order 2 is posted as a reply message to the first posted message (comment order 1), and a message in the comment order 3 is posted as a reply message to the message in the comment order 2 The message with the comment order 4 is posted as the reply message to the message, the message with the comment order 5 is posted as the reply message to the message with the comment order 4, and finally the message with the comment order 6 is posted as the reply message to the message with the comment order 2 It is supposed to be done. In this case, the hierarchy level value displayed in the item of “hierarchy” is “1” for a message in the speech order 1, “2” for a message in the speech order 2, and “3” for a message in the speech order 3 as illustrated. , The message in the speech order 4 is “4”, the message in the speech order 5 is “5”, and the message in the speech order 6 is “3”.

Further, in FIG. 13A, since the hierarchical display of the message is set to "N" (none), the message titles of the respective messages are displayed in a state where the heads are aligned without being nested. Has been done. However, since the layer number of the message table 206 is displayed in the layer column of the screen, the terminal operator can easily know the layer number of each message. Here, when the hierarchical display of the message of the thread N is changed from “N” (absent) to “Y” (present), the hierarchical number shown in FIG.
As in (B), a column for setting the hierarchy level is displayed on the screen. If, for example, "4" is entered in this hierarchy level field, message titles that were not nested in FIG. 13A are displayed hierarchically up to 4 levels.
This allows you to see the message hierarchy at a glance.

More specifically, the order of statements is 2, 3, 4,
The message title of is displayed in a layered manner with each character indented, but the message title with a speech order of 5 is a hierarchical level that indicates the maximum hierarchical level displayed by shifting the top display position of the message title. Since the set value is 4, the message titles are displayed at the same level as the message titles in the speaking order 4. That is, the hierarchy level and the hierarchy number are compared for each message, and when the hierarchy number exceeds the hierarchy level, the hierarchy level is prioritized and displayed.
That is, when the hierarchy level and the hierarchy number are the same or the hierarchy number is larger, all the messages are fixed to the designated hierarchy level and displayed hierarchically on the client terminal. When it is desired to stop the hierarchical display in FIG. 13B, if the hierarchical display is set to “N” (none), the screen returns to the screen in FIG. 13A. This setting or change operation is transmitted from the client terminal 11 to the community server 122, and the message hierarchy display setting unit 12
Since it is reflected in the community management information 124 by 9, the message list will be displayed based on the latest hierarchical display setting from the next time. That is, for example, the administrator of the community can set the hierarchical display form of the relationship between the messages for each thread in the community, and thereafter, the setting is set for each member. A message list screen will be provided in a hierarchical display form.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the flow of processing for setting the message hierarchy display. In this example, the message hierarchy display is changed from "N" (absent) to "Y" (present), and the hierarchy level is changed. Shows an example of setting to "4".

First, when the Web browser 111 specifies the URL of the community and makes a message hierarchy display setting request from the displayed screen (1), the community server 1
The message hierarchy display setting unit 129 of 22 searches the message table 206 of the community management information 124 (2) and corresponds to the current hierarchy display setting information (presence / absence of hierarchy display, hierarchy level, hierarchy number) of FIG. ) Or a message list screen as shown in FIG. 13B is returned to the Web browser 111 (3). Then, the client terminal 11 sets the hierarchical display of the desired message on the message list screen from "N" (absent) to "Y" (present), and sets the hierarchical level to "4" (4).

After that, when the Web browser 111 transmits the layer display setting data to the message layer display setting unit 129 of the community server 122 (5), the message layer display setting unit 129 which has received the layer display setting data of the thread of the message table 206 The hierarchy display is set to "Y" and the hierarchy level is set to "4" (6). After that, the message list is displayed hierarchically on the Web browser 111 based on the set hierarchical level.

FIG. 15 is a flow chart showing the procedure of the message hierarchy display setting process shown in FIG.

The user “Ichiro Tanaka” uses the Web browser 11
1 requests the control unit 121 of the server computer 12 to log in (step A1), the control unit 121 checks the login management information 12 in order to check whether the user ID and password input by the user are registered.
3 is accessed (step A2), and user authentication for determining whether to permit this login is performed (step A3). If the user ID and the password are not registered in the login management information 123 and the login fails (NO in step A3), the control unit 121 notifies the login failure via the web server 127 to the web browser 1
The processing is returned to step 11 to end this processing (step A4). Further, in the user authentication, administrator authentication as to whether or not the user is currently set as the administrator is also executed using the community table 202.

If the user ID and password are registered in the login management information 123 and the login is successful (YES in step A3), the user "Ichiro Tanaka".
Is the administrator of Community A, so
Community A upon request from user "Ichiro Tanaka"
Hierarchical display setting processing for the designated thread in is executed.

First, the message hierarchy display setting unit 129 of the community server 122 searches the presence / absence of hierarchy display of the thread, the hierarchy level, and the hierarchy number stored in the message table 206 of the designated community management information 124, It is returned to the web browser 111 (step A5). When the Web browser 111 displays the message list screen shown in FIG. 13 based on the data returned from the community server 122 (step A
6) The user "Ichiro Tanaka" changes the hierarchical display of the displayed message list screen from "N" to "Y" (step A7). After that, if you set "4" to the hierarchy level displayed on the screen, that information will be returned to the community server 1.
22 is transmitted (step A8).

The message hierarchy display setting unit 129 of the community server 122 sets the value of the hierarchy level of the message table 206 to "4" and compares the hierarchy number of each message with the hierarchy level "4" to determine the hierarchy number. If it is smaller, the display format is changed to that hierarchy number level. If the hierarchy number and the hierarchy level are equal or the hierarchy number is larger, the display format is changed to the same level as the hierarchy level. It is transmitted to the terminal 11. As a result, the display form of the message list regarding the thread is changed to the hierarchical display on the client terminal 11 (step A9).

As described above, the knowledge storage support system displays the message at the specified hierarchical level on the screen by the hierarchical display of the message, or stops the hierarchical display of the message when the hierarchical display is canceled. As a result, it is possible to realize the message display according to the user's preference.

Since the numerical display of the hierarchical level is not necessary when the hierarchical display of the messages is performed, whether the hierarchical relation between the messages is displayed only by the numerical display,
It may be possible to select whether to display only the hierarchical display of the message title.

In this embodiment, the message hierarchy display method is set for each thread. However, the message hierarchy display method is set for each community instead of for each thread, and the same applies to all threads in the same community. A message hierarchy display method may be used. Further, not only the community administrator etc. but also each user may be allowed to set the message hierarchy display method. In this case, the setting information of the message hierarchy display method is managed for each user individually. It is preferable to keep.

Further, since all the functions of the knowledge accumulation support system of this embodiment are realized by a computer program, the computer program is stored in a computer-readable storage medium, and the computer program is stored through the storage medium. The effect similar to that of the present embodiment can be obtained by simply introducing the computer into an ordinary computer that can be connected to a computer network.

Further, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be variously modified at the stage of implementation without departing from the spirit of the invention. Furthermore, the embodiments include inventions at various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by appropriately combining a plurality of disclosed constituent elements. For example, even if some constituent elements are deleted from all the constituent elements shown in the embodiment, the problem described in the section of the problem to be solved by the invention can be solved, and the effect described in the section of the effect of the invention can be solved. When the above is obtained, the configuration in which this constituent element is deleted can be extracted as the invention.

[0077]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the method of displaying the message posted to the thread of the virtual community is selected, the hierarchical display method is selected, and the hierarchical level is set. With this mechanism, it is possible for each user to utilize the knowledge that has been collected and accumulated with their favorite interface.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of a knowledge storage support system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary view for explaining knowledge handled by the knowledge storage support system of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a view for explaining the principle of knowledge accumulation processing in the knowledge accumulation support system of the same embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary view for explaining the relationship between messages and threads managed by the knowledge storage support system of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary view for explaining a relationship between a message managed by the knowledge accumulation support system of the embodiment and “summary”.

FIG. 6 is an exemplary view showing an example of a user table used in the knowledge storage support system of the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary view showing an example of a community table used in the knowledge accumulation support system of the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an exemplary view showing an example of a subscription type table used in the knowledge storage support system of the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is an exemplary view showing an example of a member table used in the knowledge storage support system of the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an exemplary view showing an example of a thread table used in the knowledge storage support system of the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is an exemplary view showing an example of a message table used in the knowledge accumulation support system of the embodiment.

FIG. 12 is an exemplary view showing an example of a summary table used in the knowledge accumulation support system of the embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a state transition of a Web browser screen when displaying a message hierarchy in the knowledge storage support system of the embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a processing flow of message hierarchy display setting in the knowledge accumulation support system of the embodiment.

FIG. 15 is an exemplary flowchart showing a procedure of message hierarchy display setting processing in the knowledge accumulation support system of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 ... Client terminal 12 ... Server computer 111 ... Web browser 112 ... Email client 121 ... Control unit 122 ... Community server 123 ... Login management information 124 ... Community management information 125 ... Message data 126 ... Attachment 127 ... Web server 128 ... mail server 129 ... Message hierarchy display setting section 201 ... User table 202 ... Community table 203 ... Subscription type table 204 ... Member table 205 ... Thread table 206 ... Message table 207 ... Summary table

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Masaaki Iwata             2-9 Suehiro-cho, Ome City, Tokyo Stock Market             Company Toshiba Ome Factory (72) Inventor Kazunori Shimakawa             2-9 Suehiro-cho, Ome City, Tokyo Stock Market             Company Toshiba Ome Factory F-term (reference) 5B075 ND35 NK43 NR03 NR12 QT10                       UU40                 5B082 EA01 GC02

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A knowledge storage support system configured to be connectable to a plurality of client terminals via a network and supporting knowledge storage by classifying and storing messages posted from each client terminal to a virtual community. In order to permit message posting from the client terminal, access control means for performing user authentication to the client terminal of the access request source, and a virtual community in which a plurality of client terminals can participate are managed, and the access control is performed. And a community processing means for classifying and accumulating messages posted to the virtual community from each client terminal permitted by the means on a topic display screen of the classified and accumulated messages. The message in Collaborative knowledge system characterized by a display method for hierarchical relationships between each other, comprising a message hierarchical display setting means for setting in accordance with an instruction from the client terminal. 2. The message hierarchy display setting means individually sets a display method regarding a hierarchical relationship between the messages for each topic in the virtual community in response to an instruction from the client terminal. The knowledge accumulation support system according to claim 1. 3. The message hierarchy display setting means determines to which hierarchy level the hierarchy relationship between the classified and accumulated messages is hierarchically displayed on the list display screen in accordance with an instruction from the client terminal. The knowledge storage support system according to claim 1, further comprising a setting unit. 4. A first mode in which the message hierarchy display setting means displays a list by shifting the top display positions of the message titles of the messages according to the hierarchical relationship between the messages, and a message title of each of the messages. And a second mode for displaying a list with the top display positions aligned, and changing the display method relating to the hierarchical relationship between the messages to the first or second mode in response to an instruction from the client terminal. 2. The knowledge accumulation support according to claim 1, wherein, in addition to the setting, in the first mode, the maximum display level of the message title is shifted and displayed, and the maximum hierarchical level is variably set according to an instruction from the client terminal. system. 5. The community processing means has a message table that stores at least a hierarchical level of the topic, a hierarchical number for each message in the topic, and a message ID, and the message hierarchical display setting means includes the client terminal. When a hierarchical level is set from, the value is set to the hierarchical level of the message table, and the set hierarchical level and the hierarchical number of each message are compared,
The knowledge storage support system according to claim 1, wherein a hierarchical display is performed on the client terminal based on the comparison result. 6. The message hierarchy display setting means, when the hierarchy level is equal to the hierarchy number or the hierarchy number is larger, all the messages are fixed to the hierarchy level and are sent to the client terminal. The knowledge accumulation support system according to claim 5, wherein hierarchical display is performed. 7. A message in a knowledge accumulation support system configured to be connectable to a plurality of client terminals via a network and supporting accumulation of knowledge by classifying and accumulating messages posted from each client terminal to a virtual community. A hierarchical display setting method, comprising: an access control step of authenticating a user with respect to an access request source client terminal in order to permit message posting from the client terminal; A community processing step of managing and classifying and accumulating messages posted to the virtual community from each client terminal permitted to be accessed by the access control step for each topic; and the classification and accumulated messages on the list display screen. A message hierarchy display setting method in a knowledge accumulation support system, comprising: a message hierarchy display setting step for setting a display method regarding a hierarchical relationship between messages in accordance with an instruction from the client terminal. 8. The message hierarchy display setting step individually sets a display method regarding a hierarchical relationship between the messages for each topic in the virtual community in response to an instruction from the client terminal. The method for setting a message hierarchy display in the knowledge accumulation support system according to claim 7. 9. The message hierarchy display setting step, up to which hierarchy level on the list display screen the hierarchical relationship between the classified and accumulated messages is hierarchically displayed according to an instruction from the client terminal. 8. The message hierarchy display setting method in the knowledge accumulation support system according to claim 7, further comprising the step of setting. 10. The message hierarchy display setting step is a message table storing at least a hierarchy level of the topic, a hierarchy number for each message in the topic, and a message ID when a hierarchy level is set from the client terminal. The method further comprises the step of setting a value for the hierarchical level, comparing the set hierarchical level with the hierarchical number of each message, and performing hierarchical display on the client terminal based on the comparison result. Item 8. A message hierarchy display setting method in the knowledge accumulation support system according to Item 7. 11. In the message hierarchy display setting step, if the hierarchy level is equal to the hierarchy number or the hierarchy number is larger, all the messages are fixed to the hierarchy level and are sent to the client terminal. 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of performing hierarchical display.
A message hierarchy display setting method in the knowledge accumulation support system described in 0.