JP2003157339A - Electronic form processor and electronic form processing program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic form processing system capable of securing the propriety of a procedure by recording and managing the fact that a user has confirmed and agreed, to important documents relevant to the procedure on the system side. SOLUTION: The user operates a user terminal, connects to a user terminal through a network and requests for an electronic form. The electronic form processor sends the requested electronic form to the user terminal. The user carries out input work of the electronic form on the user terminal, and when a predetermine even occurs, an attention attracting output to the user is carried out. When the user performs a response action against the attention attracting output, they are recorded in a log. A log recording means calculates a time difference between a date and hour of carrying out the attention attracting output and a date and hour of the response reaction of the user, and when the time difference is smaller than a predetermined time, the attention attracting output is carried out again by an attention attracting output means. When time until the response action of the user is short, it is determined that confirmation of an important matter by the user is insufficient, and confirmation can be prompted again.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system for processing electronic forms using a network represented by the Internet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various procedures such as application, notification, and application to ministries and corporations have been performed by a user by filling out necessary items in a paper document such as an application form and submitting it.

However, due to recent advances in network technologies such as the Internet, it is expected that such procedures will be performed electronically online in the future. A user inputs necessary information into an electronic form equivalent to a paper form to create an electronic document (electronic application form, notification form, etc.), and sends it online to the application destination using the Internet, etc. It would be convenient if we could carry out the procedure.

[0004]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] When performing various procedures using an electronic form, there are cases where precautions are prepared for items to be filled in the electronic form to be used. For example, electronic forms such as insurance application forms are accompanied by terms and conditions, and the user must confirm the contents and perform the application procedure with consent. In addition, in the case of a series of change notifications such as address changes to financial institutions and credit card companies, it is a condition that the user agrees with the prepared rules.

However, in the conventional electronic form processing system, it is not possible for the system side to confirm whether or not the user is proceeding with the agreement upon such terms and conditions. .

[0006] Further, the presentation of the terms and conditions and the like required at the time of application is only displayed as one of the screens that the user transits when advancing the input work to the electronic form. Without reading and confirming its contents,
In many cases, the procedure will proceed to the next input screen, and in the end, the procedure will often proceed without sufficient confirmation of such important documents.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and the system side records and manages the fact that the user confirms the important documents related to the procedure and that the user agrees.
An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic form processing system capable of ensuring the validity of procedures.

[0008]

According to one aspect of the present invention, in an electronic form processing apparatus connected to a user terminal through a network, a request for an electronic form is received from the user terminal and requested. Transmitting means for transmitting an electronic form to the user terminal, and an alert output for alerting a user operating the user terminal when a predetermined event occurs during input operation for the electronic form. An alerting output means for performing the alerting output, and a log recording means for logging the response action of the user to the alerting output.

According to the above electronic form processing apparatus, the user operates the user terminal and connects to the user terminal through the network to request the electronic form. The electronic form processing device transmits the requested electronic form to the user terminal. The user performs an input operation of an electronic form on the user terminal, and when a predetermined event occurs, a warning is output to the user. When the user takes a response action to the alert output, they are logged.

In one mode of the above electronic form processing apparatus, the predetermined event is that the user has opened the electronic form, and the user positions a cursor in a specific input field in the electronic form. That the user has made an input in a specific input field, that the user has given an instruction or action to the user terminal, or that the electronic form processing device has At least one of sending specific data or instructions thereto. Therefore, the user can obtain the alert output when various events occur.

In another aspect of the electronic form processing apparatus, the alert output is voice data output, or
A change in the display color of a predetermined part in the electronic form, or
The important matter data may be displayed in a window separate from the electronic form.

In still another mode of the above electronic form processing apparatus, the log recording means records a date and time when the alert output means performs the alert output related to an important matter. And second recording means for recording the date and time of the response action of the user. As a result, it is possible to log the date and time of the alert output regarding the important matter and the date and time of the response action by the user.

In still another aspect of the electronic form processing apparatus, the log recording means calculates a time difference between the date and time when the alert is output and the date and time of the response action of the user, When the time difference is smaller than the predetermined time or larger than the predetermined time, the caution output means again outputs the caution. Therefore, if the time until the user's response action is too short,
The user can determine that the confirmation of the important matter is insufficient, and can prompt the confirmation again. Further, when the time until the user's response action is too long, it is possible to judge that the user cannot grasp the content of the important matter or the presentation method of the important matter is not appropriate, and to prompt the confirmation again.

In still another mode of the above electronic form processing apparatus, the important matter data is a clause to be confirmed by the user, and the response action of the user is an input indicating the user's consent to the clause. Can be This logs the user's consent to the above terms.

In still another mode of the above electronic form processing apparatus, log data attaching means for attaching the log data recorded by the log recording means to the electronic form is further provided. As a result, the alert output and the date and time of the user's response action performed during the input of the electronic form are attached as log data to the electronic form and are submitted to a predetermined destination.

In still another mode of the above electronic form processing apparatus, the log data attaching means attaches an electronic signature to the log data and attaches it to the electronic form. As a result, the content of the log data attached to the electronic form can be guaranteed.

According to another aspect of the present invention, in an electronic form processing program executed in a user terminal connected to an electronic form processing apparatus through a network, the user terminal requests the electronic form to the electronic form. Receiving means for transmitting the requested electronic form to the processing device and receiving the requested electronic form from the electronic form processing device, and paying attention to a user who operates the user terminal when a predetermined event occurs during input work for the electronic form It is made to function as a reminder output means for performing reminder output for urging, the reminder output, and a log recording means for logging the response action of the user to the reminder output.

When the above electronic form processing program is executed on the user terminal, the electronic form requested by the user is transmitted from the electronic form processing apparatus. The user performs an input operation of an electronic form on the user terminal, and when a predetermined event occurs, a warning is output to the user. When the user takes a response action to the alert output, they are logged.

In one aspect of the above electronic form processing program, the log recording means includes first recording means for recording the date and time at which the alert output is made by the alert output means, which relates to an important matter. A second recording means for recording the date and time of the response action of the user. As a result, it is possible to log the date and time of the alert output regarding the important matter and the date and time of the response action by the user.

In another aspect of the electronic form processing program, the log recording means calculates a time difference between the date and time when the alert output is performed and the date and time of the response action of the user, and the time difference is calculated. When is shorter than the predetermined time, the alert output means again outputs the alert. Therefore, when the time until the user's response action is short, the user can determine that the important matters are insufficiently confirmed, and can prompt the confirmation again.

In still another mode of the above electronic form processing program, log data attaching means for attaching the log data recorded by the log recording means to the electronic form is further provided. As a result, the alert output and the date and time of the user's response action performed during the input of the electronic form are attached as log data to the electronic form and are submitted to a predetermined destination.

[0022]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of an electronic form processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown, the electronic form processing server 1
And the user terminal 3 are mutually connected to a communication network typified by the Internet (hereinafter, simply referred to as “network”) 5.

The user terminal 3 is a terminal used by the user when connecting to the electronic form processing server 1. Specifically, the user terminal 3 is a personal computer, PDA, mobile phone or the like installed at home or at work. You can The user terminal 3 has a browser application for requesting / displaying an electronic form. The browser application can be a web browser or a PDF browser for a personal computer, a CHTML browser for a PDA, a WML browser or a CHTML browser for a mobile phone.

In the present invention, the electronic form processing server 1 uses the specified electronic form to prepare electronic documents such as application forms and notification forms, and when necessary, the terms and conditions, etc. One of the features is that the procedure is performed correctly by displaying the important items to call attention to them and recording the consent and approval that the user has given to such important items. . In this specification, the data before the user inputs necessary information is called an electronic form, and the data after the user inputs the necessary information is called an electronic document to distinguish the two. To do.

Specifically, the electronic form processing server 1
Is an electronic form database (DB) 11, a control script DB 12, a customer information DB 13, a log DB 14, a voice data DB 15, a field coloring DB 16,
It is also connected to the pop-up object DB 17.

Data of various electronic forms are stored in the electronic form DB 11 in association with identification information of each electronic form.

The customer information DB 13 stores the personal information of the user who has already registered with the electronic form processing server 1 in advance. Specifically, in the customer information DB 13, the user I issued for each user
For each D, for example, the name, address, age, other personal information of the user, and history data of the procedure performed by the user through the electronic form processing server 1 in the past are stored.

The control script DB 12 stores scripts (programs) for alerting the user in various forms when presenting the user with important matters attached to the electronic form. The data in the control script DB 12 is stored in the form illustrated in FIG. In the example of FIG. 2A, for each form ID given to each electronic form, an object (for example, corresponding to an input field) included in the electronic form is associated with a corresponding control script. Is remembered.

Various types of control scripts themselves are provided for calling the user's attention. For example, when an important matter is presented to the user, a voice alert can be prompted. Further, a method such as displaying a window or the like (displaying a popup object) separately from the electronic form itself that has been displayed until then, or changing the color on the display can be used.

The voice data DB 15 stores the voice data to be played when the above-mentioned control script for alerting calls the alert by playing the voice. An example of the data structure in the voice data DB 15 is shown in FIG.
It shows in (b). As shown in the figure, various warning sounds and voice messages are stored in the voice data DB 15 in the form of voice files. When voice data is used for calling attention, the control script designates a voice data file and plays it, so that a warning sound or a voice message is played.

The same voice message (for example,
"Please read the terms and conditions,""Do you agree?", Etc.), by providing multiple audio data with different playback speeds, you can effectively call attention to users. It becomes possible to do. For example, it is possible to reproduce an audio data file whose reproduction speed is slow for the elderly.

The field coloring DB 16 stores data for changing the color of each field included in the electronic form, an example of which is shown in FIG. 2 (c). As shown, field coloring table 1
Data of a plurality of colors is prepared for each object of the electronic form. Therefore, it is possible to call the user's attention by displaying a specific field or an important item field in the electronic form, which is normally displayed in black, in a conspicuous color. When the attention is given by the field coloring, the control script determines the display color by referring to the field coloring DB 16 and controls the color display of the target field in the electronic form.

In the pop-up object DB 17, the electronic form itself includes the articles of incorporation, rules, contract contents, etc. (hereinafter collectively referred to as "important items") that require confirmation and consent from the user during creation of the electronic form. Is an object that opens and displays in a separate window. Figure 2 (d)
As shown in, the pop-up object DB 17 is provided with a description file of important items displayed by various display methods. When the alert is issued by the pop-up object, the control script refers to the pop-up object DB 17 to identify the necessary file and displays it on the electronic form.

When the control script calls attention by the various methods as described above, the items that the user has entered in the electronic form up to that point and the user in the customer information DB 13 Alerts will be given in an appropriate manner based on information already registered in.
For example, as described above, when the user is an elderly person, the volume of the voice message may be increased, the playback speed of the voice message may be slowed, or the display size (especially the character size) of the popup object may be increased. Control is performed. If the user filling in the electronic form is determined to be a foreigner residing in Japan based on the data entered in the nationality field of the electronic form, a pop-up display of important items will be displayed in the native language of the country. It is also possible to display with and ask for consent.

Further, the server device 10 executes the above-mentioned alerting process regarding the important matters attached to the electronic form to call the user's attention, and also confirms and consents to the important matters by the user. Request and log it
Record in 14. An example of log data saved in the log DB 14 is shown in FIG. In Figure 3, the user ID is "USR000.
This is the log data when the user who is “01” inputs the electronic form of “AAA00001”, and the object “AAA000
It is shown that consent has been given upon presentation (for example, by pop-up display) of important items related to the input field corresponding to “01_001”.

An example of a pop-up display related to important matters is shown in FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b). FIG. 4 (a) is an example of an electronic form of procedures for changing addresses, accounts, etc. relating to a certain bank account, etc. First of all, it is necessary to confirm "other terms" prepared as important items on the pop-up screen 31. I'm asking the user. The user is shown in Figure 4 (a).
When the button 32 of "other rules" in
As shown in (b), a pop-up screen 34 of "other rules" is displayed. The user confirms the content, and if he / she agrees, presses the "approve" button 35.

When such a series of procedures is performed, the log data in the log DB 14 shown in FIG.
The date and time when the popup screen 31 of (a) is displayed is shown in FIG.
Is recorded as the time of the browsing log, and the time when the user presses the "other rules" button 32 in FIG. 4A is recorded as the time of the confirmation log. Similarly, FIG.
The date and time when the pop-up screen 34 shown in is displayed is recorded as the time of the browsing log, and the user approves the button 3
The date and time when 5 is pressed is recorded as the time of the confirmation log.

In this way, the date and time when the important matters are presented to the user, the date and time when the user approves the intention and the intention of consent is displayed, and the like is stored in the log DB 14.

Further, in the log DB 14, the legitimacy of the approval and consent given by the user is evaluated and recorded based on the browsing log and the confirmation log. The date and time recorded in the browsing log is the date and time when important matters were presented to the user by a popup screen, etc., and the user was alerted.The date and time recorded in the confirmation log was approved by the user for the important matters. , Is the date and time when the intention display of consent was input.
Therefore, by considering the time required for the user to see an important matter and perform an action of consent (pressing the "approve" button, etc.), does the user really read the important matter and then agree? Whether or not it can be judged to some extent. The contents presented to the user as important matters are various, but even though it is a relatively long sentence such as a clause and it takes about 2 minutes to read normally, it is important. When the action of consent is performed within a few seconds from the presentation of the matter, it can be inferred that the user consented without reading the important matter. Therefore, the server device 10 calculates the time from when the important matter is presented to the user until the consent action is taken, based on the date and time shown in the browsing log and the confirmation log, and the length of the sentence of each important matter is calculated. If it is obviously shorter than the standard required time depending on the situation, it is assumed that you have agreed without reading the important matters, and a message prompting you to read it again and then agree is displayed. You can reconfirm such as doing.

On the other hand, when the time from the presentation of the important matter to the action of the user's consent is longer than the predetermined time set in advance, the user cannot or cannot easily understand the contents of the important matter (for example, It is presumed that there is some problem such as the description of the important matters being too difficult to understand, the displayed characters are small and difficult to read, etc., and the same important matters are presented again, or the important matters are presented by a different method (for example, , Initially it was a pop-up display, but you can change it to a voice message).

By such processing, the user can correctly understand the important matters and proceed with the procedure. It should be noted that the reconfirmation at this time is not limited to the presentation method performed before that, and it is also possible to use one of the other presentation methods of the above-mentioned caution method or to use a combination of these multiple methods it can.

It should be noted that such legitimacy evaluation processing can be carried out even when an important item is displayed as a pop-up display. For example, in the case of an electronic form in which the input work of the electronic form can be performed by sequentially switching a plurality of pages, the important item may be displayed as one of the pages. In such a case, in the log DB 14 in FIG. 4, the browsing log records the date and time when the page of the important matter is displayed, and the confirmation log records the date and time when the user displays the next page. By doing so, it is possible to calculate the time during which the user was watching the important matter in the same manner as in the above example.

Next, an electronic form creating process by the electronic form processing system of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the electronic form creation process according to the present invention. In the following processing, the server device 10 in the electronic form processing server 1 executes a control program prepared in advance and transmits / receives data to / from a user who operates the user terminal 3 via a network. Done by.

In FIG. 5, a user who performs a procedure using an electronic form first operates the user terminal 3 to connect to the electronic form processing server 1 and selects a desired electronic form to select the user terminal 3. Display on top (step S
1). Next, necessary items are input to the displayed electronic form (step S2).

The server device 10 detects whether or not an instruction to finish the input is input by the user (step S
3) If not input, it is determined whether or not an event for which the above-described alerting process should be executed has occurred (step S4). Here, the event for which the alert processing should be executed is, for example, that the user opens the electronic form, positions the cursor on a specific input field in the electronic form, or inputs to a specific input field. The user has performed some instruction or action on the user terminal, such as an instruction to give a digital signature or an instruction to print an electronic form, or specific data or instruction from the electronic form processing server 1 side. Is sent to the user terminal.

When an event for executing the alerting process occurs (step S4: Yes), the server device 10 sends the control script corresponding to the event to the control script D.
It is taken out from B12 (step S5), and the control script is executed to perform the alerting process (step S6). At this time, it is preferable that the control script refer to the items that the user has input in the electronic form and the personal information stored in the customer information DB 13 for the user, if necessary. Decide how to call attention and give attention (for example, display important items in large letters to old people).

Next, in the server device 10, was the attention process executed in step S6 presented important matters (including various methods such as display on the screen, display color change of display contents, voice output, etc.)? It is determined whether or not (step S7), and if it is the presentation of the important matter, the presentation date and time is recorded in the log DB
It records in the browsing log in 14 (step S8).

Next, the server device 10 detects the user's consent action for the presentation of the important matter (step S
9; Yes), log D when the consent action was detected
It is recorded in the confirmation log in B14 (step S10).

Next, the server device 10 calculates the time required for the user's consent action based on the date and time of the browsing log and the date and time of the confirmation log recorded in the log DB 14, and if it is smaller than the predetermined reference time. , It is determined that the user has not read important matters sufficiently, "NG" is recorded in the validity evaluation in the log DB 14, and a reconfirmation request is made (step S12). This request for reconfirmation may be, for example, one that re-executes the alerting process performed in step S6, may prompt confirmation using a different alerting method than that performed in step S6, or may call for multiple alerts. The method may be used in combination to prompt reconfirmation.

If it is determined in step S11 that the consent action by the user is valid, "OK" is recorded in the validity evaluation of the log DB 14, and the process returns to step S2 to wait for the user's input. .

Thus, when the user's input work is performed and the user inputs that the input work is finished (step S
3; Yes), the server device 10 extracts the log data that has been stored in the log DB 14 until then, and attaches and saves the log data to the electronic document created by the user (step S13). In addition,
At this time, the server device 10 may extract all the data out of the log data recorded in the log DB 14 and attach it to the electronic document, or only the log data whose legitimacy is OK. May be extracted and attached to the electronic document.

Thus, the electronic form creating process is completed. When important items are presented while the user is filling in the electronic form, the date and time and the date and time when the user performed the consent action are acquired as log data,
Since it is attached to the created electronic document, the company etc. who received the electronic document together with the attached log data confirmed that the user did the consent action for the important matter by referring to the log data. Can be confirmed. Further, when the time required for the consent action is short, reconfirmation is required, so that the certainty of the consent by the user increases.

In the above example, the case where the program for executing the electronic form creating process shown in FIG. 5 is on the server device 10 side and the process is executed while communicating with the user terminal 3 has been described. However, if the same program and the data stored in each database are introduced to the user terminal side through a storage medium or by downloading through a network, the same processing can be performed on the user terminal 3. In that case, finally, the data to which the necessary log data is attached to the completed electronic document is transmitted to the electronic form processing server 1. In this case, if the user selects an electronic form in step S1, a series of data such as control scripts, voice data, and pop-up objects related to the electronic form may be downloaded to the user terminal together with the electronic form. However, it is not necessary to carry unnecessary data in the user terminal, and the same processing can be efficiently executed on the user terminal side.

Further, in the above-mentioned electronic form creating process, an electronic signature may be added as necessary. For example, when the server device 10 extracts log data from the log DB and attaches it to an electronic document in step S13, the electronic form processing server 1 processes the log data.
The content of the log data can be guaranteed by adding a digital signature on the side. Further, the program can be configured such that each time the user takes a consent action for an important matter, the electronic signature of the user is attached to the important matter. As a result, it is possible to reliably record that the user has consented to each consent action by the electronic signature. The electronic signature processing for important items by the user may be configured such that the electronic form processing server that has kept the user's signature key data is added on behalf of the user.

Further, when the above-mentioned electronic document to which the log data is attached is printed out, an electronic document such that a visible or invisible mark indicating that such log data is attached is printed. The electronic document data can be configured such that the data is configured or the content itself of the log data is also printed.

[0058]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The user who performs the input work of the electronic form will be alerted by various methods at the time of a predetermined event such as the presentation of important matters, so that the correct navigation for the input work is performed for the user. be able to.

Further, since the date and time at which such an important matter is presented and the date and time at which the user has performed the consent action are acquired as log data and attached to the created electronic document, the attached log data By referring to, the recipient of the electronic document, etc. can confirm that the consent of the user has been correctly made.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electronic form processing system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows an example of information stored in various databases.

FIG. 3 shows an example of information stored in a log database.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a display screen during processing of an electronic form.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an electronic form creation process according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Electronic form processing server 3 user terminals 5 network 11 Electronic Form DB 12 Control script DB 13 Customer information DB 14 log DB 15 Voice data DB 16 field coloring DB 17 Pop-up object DB

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Toshio Ariyoshi             1-1-1, Ichigaya-Kagacho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo             Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 5B085 AA08 AC14

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. An electronic form processing apparatus connected to a user terminal through a network, a transmission means for receiving a request for an electronic form from the user terminal and transmitting the requested electronic form to the user terminal. At the occurrence of a predetermined event during the input operation to the electronic form, a reminder output means for performing a reminder output for reminder to the user operating the user terminal, the reminder output, and, An electronic form processing apparatus, comprising: a log recording unit that logs the response action of the user to the alert output. 2. The predetermined event includes the user opening the electronic form, the user positioning a cursor in a specific input field in the electronic form, and the user having a specific event. An input has been made in the input field, the user has given an instruction or action to the user terminal, or the electronic form processing device has sent specific data or instructions to the user terminal. The electronic form processing apparatus according to claim 1, comprising at least one of the above. 3. The electronic form processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the alert output is output of voice data. 4. The electronic form processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the alerting output is a change in display color of a predetermined portion in the electronic form. 5. The electronic form processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the alert output is to display important item data in a window separate from the electronic form. 6. The log recording means records a date and time of the user's response action, and a first recording means for recording the date and time when the alert output means outputs the alert related to important matters. The electronic form processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising a second recording unit. 7. The log recording means calculates a time difference between the date and time when the alert is output and the date and time of the response action of the user, and when the time difference is smaller than a predetermined time, the caution is given. 7. The electronic form processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the alert output is performed again by the alert output means. 8. The log recording means calculates a time difference between the date and time when the alert is output and the date and time of the response action of the user, and when the time difference is larger than a predetermined time, the caution is given. 7. The electronic form processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the alert output is performed again by the alert output means. 9. The method according to claim 5, wherein the important item data is a clause to be confirmed by the user, and the response action of the user is an input indicating the user's consent to the clause. The electronic form processing apparatus according to any one of 1. 10. The log data attaching means for attaching the log data recorded by the log recording means to the electronic form, further comprising:
The electronic form processing apparatus according to any one of 1. 11. The electronic form processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the log data attaching means attaches an electronic signature to the log data and attaches it to the electronic form. 12. An electronic form processing program executed in a user terminal connected to an electronic form processing apparatus through a network, wherein the user terminal sends an electronic form request to the electronic form processing apparatus and makes a request. Receiving means for receiving an electronic form from the electronic form processing device, and an alerting output for alerting a user who operates the user terminal when a predetermined event occurs during input operation for the electronic form. An electronic form processing program that functions as an alerting output unit for performing, an alerting output, and a log recording unit that logs the response action of the user to the alerting output. 13. The log recording means records first date and time when the attention output means outputs the attention output related to the important matter, and date and time of the response action of the user. The electronic form processing program according to claim 12, further comprising: 14. The log recording means calculates a time difference between the date and time when the alert is output and the date and time of the response action of the user, and when the time difference is smaller than a predetermined time, the caution is given. 13. The electronic form processing program according to claim 12, wherein the alert output is performed again by the alert output means. 15. The electronic form according to claim 12, further comprising: a log data attaching unit that attaches the log data recorded by the log recording unit to the electronic form. Processing program.