JP2004362118A - Server device with electronic bulletin board function - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a server device with an electronic bulletin board function optimum for a system using a digital composite machine or a scanner, capable of dealing with an image similarly to a text without auxiliarily dealing with the image. <P>SOLUTION: When a user clicks a certain title from titles thread-displayed in an electronic bulletin board to refer to it, a control part 31 directs an electronic bulletin board information creating part 37 to create electronic bulletin board information including an image and a body of a comment, and transmits it to a user terminal. When the user returns a new image or an edited image, the transmitted image is added with identification information and is stored in an image storage part 32, and link information linking the image to an original image is transmitted to an image version information management part 35. When the comment is not returned, the control part 31 makes a comment automatic generation part 38 generates a comment of a new image reply or image editing, stores the comment into a comment storage part 34, and transmits comment link information to a comment link information management part 36. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a server device having an electronic bulletin board function in which many users access via a communication network and users exchange information with each other.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Electronic bulletin boards on which a large number of users write and read are widely used for transmitting various kinds of information in a company and for communicating with the general public by companies or local governments.
For example, it is often used as a plaza for various events or for introducing new products. In addition, when used within a company, it is possible to distribute prior materials for meetings and to communicate various tasks using a mechanism called an electronic bulletin board. It is suitable for disclosing the situation and materials.
[0003]
Such a function of the electronic bulletin board is realized by a system including a server device in which information to be posted on the electronic bulletin board is stored.
In this electronic bulletin board system, new electronic bulletin board information registered from a user terminal is transmitted to a server device via a communication network. The new electronic bulletin board information received by the server device is stored in the database, added to the registered electronic bulletin board information, transmitted to the user terminal via the communication network, and displayed on the screen of the user terminal.
[0004]
On the other hand, among electronic bulletin board systems, there is an electronic bulletin board in which not only text information of a comment but also image information such as a photograph can be posted (for example, see Patent Document 1).
In particular, a facsimile server connected to a communication line such as a public switched telephone network and having a facsimile transmission / reception function or a digital multifunction peripheral having a copy function, a facsimile function, a print function, a scanner function, and the like, and a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a personal computer). ), A facsimile system connected to a client device via a LAN (Local Area Network) has an electronic bulletin board function, and an image received by facsimile or an image read by a scanner is posted on the electronic bulletin board. Often.
[0005]
[Patent Document 1]
JP 2001-101114 A
In an electronic bulletin board on which the above images can be posted, the attached image may be more important as information than the content of the comment. For example, when exchanging product drawings via electronic bulletin boards in the product development department or circulating order slips between business departments via electronic bulletin boards, image information is more important information than comments In many cases, users reply only by editing the image, such as writing a marker on the image or attaching a tag image.
[0007]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, conventional electronic bulletin boards mainly use text, and images can only be used for supplementary purposes. Therefore, it was not possible to quickly grasp the presence or absence of an image and perform image processing.
For example, in a conventional electronic bulletin board, a thread of a comment title is displayed on a display screen. However, in this thread display screen, it is not possible to determine whether an image is attached to each comment and refer to each comment. Otherwise, it is not possible to access the image attached to the comment, resulting in a problem that the operation is troublesome.
In addition, as described above, when the user only replies for image editing, the thread display list of the comment title merely displays the title with “RE:” added to the original title. When the next user looks at the image, there is a problem that the user cannot check whether or not the image has been edited and must refer to all documents in the thread from the document that is the source of the thread.
[0008]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has an electronic bulletin board function that is capable of treating an image in the same manner as text without supplementarily treating the image and that is optimal for a system using a digital multifunction peripheral or a scanner. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a server device.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The invention according to claim 1 is a server device having an electronic bulletin board function capable of handling image data and text data as a publication document, and having a reply function for a comment, a reply of an image, and a reply of image editing as a reply function for a comment. The image storage means for storing the image data, the comment storage means for storing the text data, and the fact that when there is a reply only for image editing or only for new image registration, it And a means for creating electronic commentary information including the created comment and edited image, a newly registered image, or shortcut information to those images.
[0010]
According to the first aspect of the invention, when there is a reply of only image editing or new image registration, a comment indicating the reply is automatically created. The user can easily recognize that there is image editing or new image registration. Further, since the edited image, the newly registered image, or the shortcut information to those images is displayed on the electronic bulletin board, the user can easily display the image.
[0011]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the server apparatus having the electronic bulletin board function according to the first aspect, further comprising means for performing version management of the image stored in the image storage means. According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to perform version management of each image attached to a publication document. For example, since information on image editing contents may be sequentially stored, the storage capacity of the image is reduced. The required image can be displayed immediately by combining the original image and the image editing information based on the version information.
[0012]
Further, according to a third aspect of the present invention, in a server device having an electronic bulletin board function capable of handling image data and text data as a publication document, an image storage means for storing image data and a comment storage for storing text data Means for creating electronic bulletin board information, wherein the means for creating electronic bulletin board information displays a thread display of a comment, a list of images included in a selected thread, and the list display. The electronic bulletin board information is created by focusing on the image on which the selected thread is based, among the images of (1) and (2). According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the images in the thread are displayed in a list by thumbnails or the like, the images can be easily recognized, and the image that is the source of the thread can be focused on. Can be easily recognized.
[0013]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment in which a server device having an electronic bulletin board function of the present invention is implemented using a facsimile server will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a network configuration of a system including a facsimile server according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the facsimile server, and FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing the facsimile server by functions. is there.
[0014]
1 is a facsimile server, 23, 4,... Are client personal computers, 5 is a LAN, 6 is a public switched telephone network (PSTN), and 7 is an Internet network.
The facsimile server 1 is connected to the PSTN 6 and, as a communication network, to a LAN 5 which is one of the communication networks, and a plurality of client personal computers 2, 3, 4,. And is also connected to the Internet network 7.
[0015]
The facsimile server 1 can transfer the image data received by facsimile through the PSTN 6 to a transfer destination client personal computer or another facsimile apparatus connected to the Internet in accordance with a corresponding protocol. Data can be received from 2, 3, 4,... And transmitted to a destination specified by the client.
Further, the facsimile server 1 includes an image received by facsimile, an image transmitted from the client personal computers 2, 3, 4,..., An image received by an Internet facsimile using e-mail, or an image read by a reading unit. Electronic bulletin board information is created using a document as information.
[0016]
The hardware configuration of the facsimile server 1 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the facsimile server 1 includes a CPU 11, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 12, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 13, a hard disk drive (HDD) 14, a display unit 15, an operation unit 16, a reading unit 17, It comprises a memory 18, a recording unit 19, a modem 20, a network control unit (NCU) 21, and a LAN interface 22, and each unit is connected via a bus 23.
[0017]
The CPU 11 controls various hardware components of the facsimile server 1 via the bus 23, and executes various programs based on the programs stored in the ROM 12. The RAM 13 is composed of an SRAM or the like, and stores temporary data generated when a program is executed. Note that a configuration using a flash memory as the RAM 13 is also possible. In this case, even if a power failure occurs or the power of the facsimile server 1 is cut off, the stored contents are not lost. In addition, the HDD 14 stores text data and image data of comments registered in the electronic bulletin board, and also stores created electronic bulletin board information.
[0018]
The display unit 15 is a display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a CRT display, and displays an operation state of the facsimile server 1 and displays operation screens of various functions. The operation unit 16 includes various function keys required for operating the facsimile server 1, such as a character key, a numeric keypad, a speed dial key, and a help key. It should be noted that some or all of the various keys of the operation unit 16 can be substituted by using the display unit 15 of a touch panel type.
[0019]
The reading unit 17 reads an original with a scanner using a CCD or the like, and outputs dot image data converted to binary black and white. The image memory 18 is configured using a DRAM or the like, and stores image data to be transmitted or received image data. The recording unit 19 includes a printer device of an electrophotographic system or the like, and prints out the received data as a hard copy.
[0020]
The modem 20 is connected to the bus 23 and has a function as a facsimile modem capable of performing facsimile communication. The modem 20 is also connected to the NCU 21 similarly connected to the bus 23. The NCU 21 is hardware for closing and opening the analog line, and connects the modem 20 to the PSTN 6 as necessary. The LAN interface 22 is connected to the LAN 5, receives signals and data from the LAN 5, and transmits signals and data to the LAN 5, and performs interface processing such as signal conversion and protocol conversion.
[0021]
The facsimile server 1 has the above-described configuration. At the time of facsimile transmission, image data of a document is read by the reading unit 17 and stored in the image memory 18, modulated by the modem 20, and communicated from the NCU 21 through the PSTN 6. Sent to the destination. Further, at the time of facsimile reception, the received image data is demodulated by the modem 20 and stored in the image memory 18 and then printed by the recording unit 19.
[0022]
On the other hand, FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing each unit for executing the electronic bulletin board function of the facsimile server 1. The control unit 31, the image storage unit 32, the difference image information storage unit 33, the comment storage unit 34, the image version information management A comment link information management unit 36, an electronic bulletin board information creation unit 37, and an automatic comment creation unit 38. When the comment and the image are registered, the control unit 31 assigns identification information to the registered image and the comment, and stores the new image with the identification information in the image storage unit 32, and stores only the edited portion of the edited image. In the difference image information storage unit 33, the comment is stored in the comment storage unit 34, and the new image stored in the image storage unit 32, the difference image information storage unit 33, the link information of the difference image, and the link information of each comment are generated. Then, they are transmitted to the image version information management unit 35 and the comment link information management unit 36, respectively. When a new comment or image is registered, a comment is replied or an image is edited, the control unit 31 instructs the electronic bulletin board information creating unit 37 to create new electronic bulletin board information. The electronic bulletin board information created by the bulletin board information creating section 37 is transmitted to the client personal computer. Further, if only a reply of a new image or a reply of an edited image is made as a reply and no comment is returned, the control unit 31 sends a comment indicating the reply of the new image or the reply of the edited image to the automatic comment creating unit 38. Is created.
[0023]
Further, the image storage unit 32 stores image data of a new image registered on the electronic bulletin board, and the difference image information storage unit 33 stores, when an image posted on the electronic bulletin board is edited, an image before editing and an image after editing. Save the difference information of the image. The comment storage unit 34 stores text data including the title and the text of newly registered comments and reply comments. Further, the image version information management unit 35 creates and stores an image link, that is, version information, based on the image link information generated by the control unit 31, and the comment link information management unit 36 generates the image link information by the control unit 31. Create and save a comment link based on the comment link information provided.
[0024]
The electronic bulletin board information creation unit 37 is provided for each thread based on the link information from the comment link information management unit 36 and the image version information management unit 35 and the information from the image storage unit 32, the difference image information storage unit 33, and the comment storage unit 34. The title of the comment, the image icon, the title of the currently selected comment, the body, and if an image is attached to the comment, the information of the image is provided, and all the information included in the selected thread is included. Electronic bulletin board information including information on a thumbnail list of images is created.
Further, when there is an image edit or a reply of a new image, and there is no comment, the comment automatic creation unit 38 stores a comment indicating that the image edit or the reply of the new image is stored. Choose from and create automatically.
These units are configured by the CPU 11, the ROM 12, the RAM 13, and the HDD 14 shown in FIG. 2, and the functions of the units are executed by software programs.
[0025]
Next, the operation of the facsimile server 1 when a comment on an electronic bulletin board, image registration, reply, or image editing is performed will be described with reference to the functional block diagram of FIG. 3 and the flowchart of FIG.
When the user accesses the electronic bulletin board using the client personal computer 2, the control unit 31 determines that the access has been made (step 101), and sends the registered electronic bulletin board information including the comment and the image information to the client personal computer 2. Transmit (step 102). Then, when the user clicks and refers to a certain title from among the titles displayed in the thread on the electronic bulletin board, the control unit 31 determines that the reference has been made (step 103), and instructs the electronic bulletin board information creating unit 37. Then, electronic bulletin board information including the text and image of the comment is newly created, and the created electronic bulletin board information is sent to the client personal computer 2 (step 104). As a result, an electronic bulletin board as shown in FIG. 5 is displayed on the display screen of the client personal computer 2.
[0026]
As shown in FIG. 5, at the top of the electronic bulletin board, a thread display title list arranged in thread order is displayed, and when a new image is attached to each comment or when there is an edited image, An image icon is displayed next to the title of the comment. This thread display expresses the parent-child relationship of each comment, and when someone replies to a comment, the reply comment is a child derived from the original comment. As shown in the figure, the title of a reply to the comment is displayed one step lower than the title of a certain comment, and similarly, the title of the reply to the comment is displayed one step lower than that. . The whole comment group derived from one comment by such a relationship as a reply is a thread, and in the example of FIG. 5, two threads are displayed.
[0027]
Further, at the bottom of the title list screen of the thread display, the title and text of the currently selected comment and, if an image is attached, the image are displayed. Further, on the right side of the electronic bulletin board screen, a list of all images included in the selected thread is displayed as a thumbnail, and the image that is the source of the displayed comment (image 3 in the illustrated example) Is in focus. By clicking one of the thumbnail-displayed lists, it is possible to refer to the image and the comment corresponding to the thumbnail display.
[0028]
When the user clicks "Reply", "New" or "End" at the center of the screen, this information is transmitted to the facsimile server 1, and the control unit 31 of the facsimile server 1 determines whether or not "End". Then, in the case of “end”, the control unit 31 ends the program (step 105).
On the other hand, if it is not "end", it is determined whether it is "reply" or "new" (step 106). If it is "new", a new registration screen (not shown) is transmitted to the client personal computer 2 (step 106). Step 107). When the user inputs an image and a comment on the new registration screen and transmits the image and the comment, the control unit 31 assigns identification information to the transmitted image and comment, and identifies the image with the identification information to the image storage unit 32. The commented information is stored in the comment storage unit 34, and image link information and comment link information are newly generated and transmitted to the image version information management unit 35 and the comment link information management unit 36 (step 108). . Thereafter, the control unit 31 instructs the electronic bulletin board information creating unit 37 to create new electronic bulletin board information, and the electronic bulletin board creating unit 37 transmits the link information and image information from the comment link information managing unit 36 and the image version information managing unit 35. Electronic bulletin board information is created based on information from the storage unit 32, the difference image information storage unit 33, and the comment storage unit 34, and the control unit 31 transmits the newly created electronic bulletin board information to the client personal computer 2 (step 104). ).
[0029]
On the other hand, if the user clicks "reply", the control section 31 causes the electronic bulletin board information creation section 37 to create a reply screen shown in FIG. 6 and sends it to the client personal computer (step 109). As shown in FIG. 6, the image of the selected comment is displayed on the left side of the reply screen, and on the right side of the screen, a title entry field, a text entry field, a registrant name entry field of the reply comment, And a column for entering an attached file such as a new image.
[0030]
On this reply screen, when the user fills in the reply comment and clicks "Execute", the reply comment is sent to the facsimile server 1, and a file list is displayed by clicking "Browse" in the attached file field. When an image is selected by selecting a corresponding file from among them, and then "execute" is clicked, the selected file is sent to the facsimile server 1 as a new image. Also, when the user clicks "Edit Image", the image on the left becomes editable, and after the user performs image editing such as writing a marker on the image or attaching a sticky image, clicking "Execute" The editing information is transmitted to the facsimile server 1.
[0031]
Then, the control unit 31 of the facsimile server 1 determines whether or not there is a new image from the transmitted information (step 110), and if there is a new image, adds identification information to the transmitted image. In addition, the image with the identification information is stored in the image storage unit 32, and link information for linking the image to the original image is transmitted to the image version information management unit 35, and the image version information management unit 35 Version information is generated and stored (step 111).
[0032]
Next, the control unit 31 determines whether or not the comment has been transmitted (step 112). If there is a comment, identification information is added to the comment, and the comment with the identification information is stored in the comment storage unit 34. At the same time, the link information for linking the comment to the original comment is transmitted to the comment link information management unit 36, and the comment link information management unit 36 generates and stores a new comment link. On the other hand, if there is no comment, the control unit 31 instructs the comment automatic creation unit 38 to create a comment for returning a new image (step 113). The comment automatic creation unit 38 selects the title “additional information” and the text “image added.” From the registered comment information and sends them to the control unit 31. The control unit 31 adds identification information to the comment. Is added to the comment storage unit 34, and the comment link information is transmitted to the comment link information management unit 36 (step 118). Then, as in the case of the new registration, the control unit 31 instructs the electronic bulletin board information creating unit 37 to create new electronic bulletin board information, and the control unit 31 transmits the newly created electronic bulletin board information to the client personal computer 2. (Step 104).
[0033]
On the other hand, if it is determined in step 110 that there is no new image, the control unit 31 determines whether or not image editing has been performed (step 114). Therefore, the control unit 31 assigns identification information to the comment, stores the comment to which the identification information has been assigned in the comment storage unit 34, and links information that links the comment to the original comment by the comment link information management unit 36. (Step 118), instructs the electronic bulletin board information creating section 37 to create new electronic bulletin board information, and transmits the newly created electronic bulletin board information to the client personal computer 2 (step 104). ).
[0034]
If it is determined in step 114 that the image has been edited, identification information is added to the edited image such as the tag image or the entered marker, and the image with the identification information is stored in the difference image information storage unit 33. At the same time, link information for linking the difference image to the original image is transmitted to the image version information management unit 35, and the image version information management unit 35 generates and stores new version information of the image.
[0035]
Next, the control unit 31 determines whether or not the comment has been transmitted (step 116). If there is a comment, the control unit 31 adds identification information to the comment, and stores the comment with the identification information in the comment storage unit 34. The link information is stored and transmitted to the comment link information management unit 36 to link the comment to the original comment (step 118). On the other hand, if there is no comment, the control unit 31 instructs the comment automatic creation unit 38 to create a comment for image editing (step 117). The comment automatic creation unit 38 selects the title “correction information” and the text “image has been edited.” From the registered comment information and sends them to the control unit 31. The control unit 31 adds identification information to the comment. And the comment added identification information is stored in the comment storage unit 34, and link information for linking the comment to the original comment is transmitted to the comment link information management unit 36 (step 118). Then, similarly to the above, the control unit 31 instructs the electronic bulletin board information creating unit 37 to create new electronic bulletin board information, and transmits the newly created electronic bulletin board information to the client personal computer 2 (step 104).
As described above, if there is a reply only for image editing or new image registration and there is no reply for a comment, a comment consisting of the title and body indicating that there is image editing or new image registration is automatically created After that, the user who sees the electronic bulletin board can easily recognize that there is image editing or new image registration. Furthermore, the name of the image editor and the editing location can be described in the body of the comment that is automatically created, so that more effective information can be provided to the user. .
[0036]
In the above-described embodiment, an example has been described in which the server device having the electronic bulletin board function of the present invention is realized by a facsimile server. It can also be implemented by a server device or a personal computer.
Further, in the above embodiment, when a reply of only image editing or registration of a new image is received, a comment including a title and a body indicating the reply is created. Since it is possible to recognize that only a reply has been received, the text need not necessarily be created.
Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the difference image information storage unit is provided, and when the image is edited, the difference information between the edited image and the original image is stored in the difference image information storage unit. It is also possible to store the entire image obtained in the same image storage unit as the image storage unit for the new image.
[0037]
【The invention's effect】
As described in detail above, in the server device having the electronic bulletin board function of the present invention, when a reply of only image editing or registration of a new image is received, a comment indicating the reply is automatically created. Thereafter, the user who has viewed the electronic bulletin board can easily recognize that there is image editing or new image registration. If there is an edited image or a newly registered image, an image or an image icon as shortcut information is displayed on the electronic bulletin board, so that the user can easily display the image.
[0038]
In addition, if means for managing the version of an image attached to a comment is provided, for example, when an image is edited, only the image of the edited content may be stored, and the storage capacity of the image is reduced. The required image can be displayed immediately by combining the original image and the edited image based on the version information.
Furthermore, a thumbnail list of all images included in the thread selected in the electronic bulletin board is displayed in a list, and among the images displayed in the list, if the image that is the source of the selected thread is focused, the image is displayed. Can be easily recognized, and the image on which the thread is based can be easily recognized.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a network configuration example of a system in which a server device having an electronic bulletin board function according to the present invention is implemented using a facsimile server.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the facsimile server.
FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing an electronic bulletin board function executed by the facsimile server.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation when the electronic bulletin board function is executed.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display screen of an electronic bulletin board.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a reply screen on the electronic bulletin board.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 Facsimile server 2, 3, 4 Client PC 5 LAN
6 PSTN
7 Internet network 11 CPU
12 ROM
13 RAM
14 HDD
15 display unit 16 operation unit 17 reading unit 18 image memory 19 recording unit 20 modem 21 network control unit 22 LAN interface 23 bus 31 control unit 32 image storage unit 33 difference image information storage unit 34 comment storage unit 35 image version information management unit 36 Comment link information management unit 37 Electronic bulletin board creation unit 38 Automatic comment creation unit

Claims (3)

An image storing image data in a server device having an electronic bulletin board function capable of handling image data and text data as a posted document, and having a reply function of a comment, a reply of an image, and a reply of image editing as a reply function for a comment. Storage means, comment storage means for storing text data, and means for creating a comment indicating that there is a reply of image editing or new image registration when there is a reply of only image editing or new image registration, Means for creating electronic bulletin board information including the created comment and edited image, a newly registered image, or shortcut information to those images, a server apparatus having an electronic bulletin board function. 2. The server device having an electronic bulletin board function according to claim 1, further comprising means for performing version management of the image stored in the image storage means. An image storage unit for storing image data, a comment storage unit for storing text data, and a unit for creating electronic bulletin board information, in a server device having an electronic bulletin board function capable of handling image data and text data as posted documents. Means for creating the electronic bulletin board information displays a thread display of a comment, a list of images included in the selected thread, and a thread selected from among the images displayed in the list. A server device having an electronic bulletin board function, wherein electronic bulletin board information is created by focusing on an image on which an image is based.

Images