JP2006092371A - Apparatus for creating cooperative work space, method for creating cooperative work space, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus for creating a cooperative work space capable of creating the work space most suitable for performing cooperative work using a variety of devices, while achieving flexibility, openness, and even decentralization. <P>SOLUTION: A personal work space pier PW provides users with work spaces. A service pier S discloses a service connection interface and provides various services via a network. The apparatus for creating a cooperative work space creates a collaborative work space by integrating the work spaces recognized to exist in the same time zone and in the same working space, and makes usable the collaborative work space and contents used over the collaborative work space, by coordinating the services recognized to exist in the same time zone and in the same working space. In this way, a shared work space can be created among a plurality of personal work space piers in an ad hoc manner and the services within the work spaces are coordinated so that documents shared within the shared work space become readable. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a collaborative work space forming apparatus, a collaborative work space forming method, and a program.

  Conventionally, the following devices have been proposed as devices for supporting conferences and presentations. Since the collaborative work support system of Patent Document 1 transmits information such as the storage location of the file displayed on the information display device during the conference from the information display device to the terminal device, the conference participants take home their terminal devices after the conference ends. By connecting to a network or referring to the information with an output device connected to the network, it is possible to acquire materials during the meeting and perform operations on the material data. This saves you the trouble of distributing paper and other meeting materials during the meeting and recording the location of the original file, preventing the progress of the meeting from being disturbed, and does not transfer file data directly to the terminal device. Therefore, there is no need to worry about the lack of capacity of the terminal device.

  In the information processing apparatus described in Patent Document 2, during an electronic presentation or an electronic conference, each participant notifies the data requested to the personal computer by operating the participant's mobile terminal. A personal computer selects data specified by time and location from a storage device, and transmits the data to a predetermined transmission destination, so that participants such as electronic presentations and electronic conferences can select from a mobile terminal with a simple operation It is possible to request materials and to obtain materials by means of e-mail or mail.

JP 2002-49595 A JP 2002-369167 A

  However, in an environment where multiple workers (users) work while moving through various work spaces in the office, such as living rooms and conference rooms, multiple workers gather in the same work space for presentations and discussions. In order to efficiently carry out collaborative work such as studying design drawings, each time a worker works, rather than assuming a collaborative work environment where the use is limited to a specific user. Flexibility is required to enable the functions provided by portable computers brought into the space and devices installed in the work space to be operated in a coordinated manner.

  Still further, in the case of collaborative work while communicating in a plurality of work spaces that are located at a distance from each other, a mobile device that uses the work space connected to each other via a network as a single work space and uses it in that work space And flexibility to enable devices installed in each work space to operate in cooperation.

  Furthermore, it is not limited to users who are registered in advance, or it is not possible to link only between services on a predetermined device. Devices that are used in situations where collaborative work is performed need to be open so that they can all be linked without any special restrictions. Furthermore, it is not a method in which a single server or the like centrally manages control, but it requires decentralization of control so that various devices can be connected equally and operate as a whole with high reliability and high efficiency. become.

  In addition, in the joint work support system of Patent Document 1, in order to receive storage location information related to materials used during a meeting, each user has to carry around a terminal device for receiving a general storage location. was there. Further, since the storage location information regarding the received document cannot be collected in units of individual conference events (contexts), it cannot be extracted in the form of a collection of materials used in a certain conference. Furthermore, since only information about documents can be obtained, situation information such as a set of participants at that time cannot be acquired.

  Further, in the information processing apparatus described in Patent Document 2, there is an operational complexity that the user himself / herself has to specify and search for information related to the date and time of the meeting to be acquired. In addition, status information such as information on a set of participants who participated in the conference could not be acquired.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and realizes flexibility, openness, and further non-concentration, and is an optimal work space for performing collaborative work using various devices. It is an object to provide a collaborative work space forming apparatus, a collaborative work space forming method, and a program.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present invention detects a work space provided in a device that becomes a workspace peer or a service peer that performs communication by a pure peer-to-peer network as described in claim 1. Work space detecting means, service searching means for detecting services recognized as existing in the same time zone and in the same work space, and workspace for detecting work spaces recognized as existing in the same time zone and in the same work space The search unit and the workspace detected by the workspace search unit are integrated to form a collaborative workspace, and the service detection is performed on the collaborative workspace and content used on the collaborative workspace. Collaborative work comprising means for forming a collaborative work space that enables the service detected by the means to be used in cooperation A space forming apparatus.

  According to the present invention, a service and a personal workspace that are recognized to exist in the same time zone and in the same work space are detected, and the detected personal workspace is integrated to form a collaborative work space. The detected service can be used in cooperation with the space and the content (document, image, video, etc.) used in the collaborative work space. As a result, in an office environment where a plurality of workers move while moving through a plurality of work spaces in the real world, the work spaces of the respective users recognized as existing in the same time zone and the same work space are combined, and Various services can be used by dynamically associating a service existing in a workspace with a service that can be used in the work space or a service that links a plurality of services. In addition, since the work space can be detected, it is not necessary to provide a sensor on the equipment side and to place an expensive sensor in the work environment. Can do.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the work space detecting unit identifies the work space by identifying an ID transmitted in the work space. According to the present invention, the work space is identified by identifying the ID transmitted in the work space. Since it is not necessary to provide a sensor on the device side and dispose an expensive sensor in the work environment, it is possible to identify a large number of work spaces as compared with a method in which sensors are disposed in the work space.

  The work space detecting unit recognizes the work space by recognizing the presence of another device. According to the present invention, by recognizing the existence of another device, by recognizing the work space, not the work space but authenticating other devices that are to be linked, it is meant as a work space such as outdoors. Even in places that are not attached, personal workspaces provided by other devices can be linked.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a collaborative work space forming apparatus further comprising activity recording means for storing the activities in the collaborative work space in association with time and place. According to the present invention, for example, a group of documents shared in the synthesized workspace is recorded in association with the date and time, the workspace, and the collaborator at that time, and the corresponding correspondence set later is recorded. Can be used to associatively access shared documents, participant profiles, and the like.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the collaborative work space forming apparatus further comprises service providing means for exposing the connection interface of the service and providing the service via the network. ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the connection interface of a service can be disclosed on a network and a service can be provided via a network.

  As described in claim 6, the collaborative work space forming device of the present invention further includes a work space providing means for providing a work space for each user expressed as a document space or a desktop space. According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a personal work space of each user expressed as a document collection or a desktop space via a network.

  The work space providing means operates on a computer that is always operating. It is not a device that is frequently turned on / off, such as a portable device such as a notebook PC or PDA, but it can operate a peer on a computer that operates constantly, so it is resistant to failures and high. Services that require computing power can be provided through portable devices.

  As described in claim 8, the workspace providing means provides a shared desktop environment in which a plurality of users can share operations. According to the present invention, by providing a shared desktop environment in which a plurality of users can share operations, data and operations on the shared area can be shared with other workers in real time.

  The workspace providing means provides a shared file set that allows a plurality of users to share files. According to the present invention, it is possible to share a document group brought by a plurality of users in an actual work environment.

  The service providing unit or the workspace providing unit identifies the service or the workspace by designating the location of the service or the workspace. According to the present invention, since the service or workspace is identified by designating the location of the service or workspace, there is no need to arrange sensors in the workspace. For this reason, an inexpensive configuration is possible and the sensor can be used in a place where it is difficult to install the sensor.

  As described in claim 11, information on peers existing in the work space is shared and propagated between the peers. According to the present invention, when the presence of another device existing in the same location is explicitly specified, information regarding the peer existing in the same workspace is shared and propagated between the peers and exists in the same workspace. Peer groups can be recognized. Thereby, since it is not necessary to arrange | position a sensor in a work space, while being able to comprise an inexpensive structure, it can utilize also in the place where it is difficult to install a sensor.

  According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, the collaborative work space forming apparatus further includes an access key issuing means for issuing an access key according to the context of the work space. According to the present invention, the access key (credential) associated with the context of the workspace is issued to each service and collated when setting the linkage, for example, the setting of the linkage is performed within the same workspace ( It is possible to perform secure cooperation by restricting to services that exist only in remote locations). The context of the work space includes the same work space in the same time zone.

  The collaborative work space forming apparatus of the present invention further includes use reservation means for making a reservation for use of the work space. According to the present invention, by making a reservation for the use of the work space, by pre-reserving the time zone and place to be used, the cooperation with unscheduled services is suppressed, and secure cooperation is achieved. Can be done.

  As described in claim 14, the collaborative work space forming unit cooperates the service according to a password issued in advance. According to the present invention, by linking services according to a password issued in advance, it is possible to suppress cooperation with unscheduled services and perform secure cooperation.

  As described in claim 15, the collaborative work space forming unit cooperates the services based on reliability between the services or between the workspaces calculated based on a past cooperation history. According to the present invention, by linking services according to the reliability between services or between workspaces calculated based on the past cooperation history, excessive authentication processing is not required for the user. Can be.

  As described in claim 16, the collaborative work space forming unit cooperates the service based on an address of a service providing unit that cooperated in the past. According to the present invention, by linking services based on the addresses of service providing means that have been linked in the past, services that are frequently linked in the work space are linked to the network each time they are linked. Because there is no need to search with, it is possible to set up a linkage relationship at high speed.

  As described in claim 17, the cooperative work space forming unit reproduces the cooperative relationship of the services based on the cooperative relationship between services at a registered time. According to the present invention, it is possible to immediately set a cooperative relationship by reproducing the cooperative relationship of services based on a snapshot of the cooperative relationship between services at a registered time.

  As described in claim 18, the collaborative work space forming unit cooperates services based on a past service cooperation relation associated with the context feature of the work space. According to the present invention, the services are frequently set under a certain context by linking the services based on the past service linking relationships associated with the features of the workspace context. Since there is no need to search on the network every time, the linkage relationship can be set at high speed.

  The cooperative work space forming means sets a cooperative relationship between a service provided in the work space and a service provided on a wide area network. According to the present invention, by setting a cooperative relationship between a service provided in a work space and a service provided on a wide area network, the Internet is not limited to a service provided by a device in the work space. It is possible to use a combination of device-independent services provided on a wide area network.

  The collaborative work space forming means includes a service provided on the wide area network according to a context corresponding to a service provided on the wide area network, Set up the linkage with the service provided in. According to the present invention, in accordance with the context corresponding to the service provided on the wide area network, the linkage relationship between the service provided on the wide area network and the service provided in the work space is set. By doing so, it is possible to present a service that can be used in accordance with the work context. This eliminates the need for the user to search for a linked service from a vast number of services.

  According to a twenty-first aspect, the service providing means holds the connection interface of the service in a format specified by an operation target name and an operation name. According to the present invention, since the service connection interface is held in the format specified by the operation target name and the operation name, the contents provided by the individual services are described in a unified format. You can set the linkage relationship between services.

  23. The service providing unit according to claim 22, wherein the connection interface of the service is based on a format specified by an operation target name and an operation name as a basic element, and a relationship with another service is a task / subtask relationship. It is written and held. According to the present invention, since the service connection interface is held in the format specified by the operation target name and the operation name, the contents provided by each service can be described in a unified format. You can set up linkages between services in an open environment. Further, by describing the cooperative relationship with other services as a task / subtask relationship, even if the cooperative relationship is changed, the cooperative relationship with other services is not greatly affected.

  According to a twenty-third aspect of the present invention, the service providing unit defines the operation target name and the operation name in a hierarchical relationship according to the abstraction level of each concept. According to the present invention, by defining the operation target name and the operation name with a hierarchical relationship according to the abstraction level of each concept, cooperation candidates can be selected at various abstract levels when linking services.

  The collaborative work space forming unit collates an output operation target name of the first service with an input operation target name of a second service different from the first service, as described in claim 24. A linkage relationship is set. According to the present invention, by collating the output operation target name of the first service and the input operation target name of the second service and setting the linkage relationship between services, a new service linked with another service can be created. Derivation can be done automatically.

  As described in claim 25, the collaborative work space forming apparatus of the present invention further comprises work space connection means for mediating a connection relationship with a work space existing at a point different from the work space. According to the present invention, a single work space is virtually formed by connecting a plurality of work spaces existing in remote locations by mediating a connection relationship with a work space existing at a different point from the work space. be able to. Thereby, services recognized in the work space can be linked and integrated as if they existed in the same work space.

  The collaborative work space forming apparatus of the present invention further comprises information providing means for holding information on each work space for each area and providing information on each work space upon request as described in claim 26. . According to the present invention, it is possible to virtually form one work space by connecting a plurality of work spaces that exist in remote places by holding information about the work space in the area. Thereby, services recognized in the work space can be linked as if they existed in the same work space.

  The cooperative work space forming means is linked to a predetermined communication system as described in claim 27, and when the communication in the communication system starts, the service or The identification information related to the workspace is exchanged, and the service or the workspace is linked as existing in the same workspace.

  According to the present invention, when a communication with an existing communication system such as a telephone or a TV conference system is started and communication with these systems is started, an identification relating to a service or a personal workspace is established with a connection destination workspace. Exchange information (address or ID) and link those services or personal workspaces as if they were in the same workspace. In other words, when the user calls the other party using the telephone or the video conference system or when the user calls the other party, the access point of the sender and the access point of the destination are linked. Automatically establishes a connection relationship between access points and establishes a collaborative work space that connects multiple work spaces that exist in remote locations according to the procedure for forming a collaborative work space that connects remote locations. Allows formation. With this, when starting a connection with a remote location, the access point function is used to call the connection partner with the telephone or the video conference system without explicitly setting the connection relationship with the remote access point. Alternatively, when called, it becomes possible to form a cooperative work space between the work spaces.

  According to a twenty-eighth aspect of the present invention, the work space connection unit generates information for displaying connection destination candidates based on a past connection destination history. According to the present invention, by displaying connection destination candidates based on the history of past connection destinations, the user can check the frequency of joint work without checking the name and address of the connection point that is the connection destination. A large number of work spaces can be specified immediately.

  As described in claim 29, the work space connection means generates display information for designating the work space of the connection destination based on the user relationship strength obtained from the past collaborative work history. According to the present invention, by generating display information for designating a connection destination workspace based on a user's relationship strength obtained from a past collaborative work history, the user can select a connection point as a connection destination. Without checking the name and address, it is possible to immediately specify the work space to be connected based on the relationship strength.

  The service providing unit acquires a connection interface of a service provided by a device installed in the work space, sets a service cooperation relationship in advance, and registers the service as used The linked service that has been set up is called. According to the present invention, it is possible to acquire a connection interface of a service provided by a device installed in a work space, set a cooperation relationship of the service in advance, and call a cooperation service registered at the time of use. Therefore, it is possible to call up the registered cooperation service at the time of use by setting the cooperation relation of the service used in the planned work space in advance without going to the work space.

  According to a thirty-first aspect, the service providing unit obtains information related to a service provided in the work space from another service providing unit that provides a service. According to the present invention, by acquiring information related to services provided in the work space from other service providing means for providing services, it is planned without going to the work space in advance and confirming the connection relationship. It is possible to confirm in advance the cooperation relationship of services used in a working space. This is effective when checking the linkage relationship with a service provided by a device installed in a remote work space for the first time.

  As described in claim 32, the collaborative work space forming apparatus according to the present invention further includes, for each work space, service holding means for holding services unique to the work space that can be used only in each work space. The collaborative work space forming unit cooperates with the service searched by the service searching unit and the service group registered in advance in the service holding unit as a cooperation target.

  According to the present invention, there is a service specific to a work space that can be used only in the work space (for example, air conditioning in the conference room). Service to control). It is redundant for a user who does not use the work space to install such a service specific to the work space in advance on various portable devices. For this reason, a service unique to a work space can be loaded and executed only when a mobile device exists in the work space, thereby reducing the load on installing the service.

  According to a thirty-third aspect of the present invention, the service providing means propagates and holds information on services newly provided on the network with other service providing means. According to the present invention, information relating to a service newly provided on the network is mutually propagated and held with other service providing means, so that the user can explicitly install the service on the device. Even if it does not, it is possible to use a service to be executed using the device simply by connecting to the network.

  As described in claim 34, the collaborative work space forming apparatus of the present invention further comprises service holding means for holding information related to the service provided by the service providing means, and the service search means is a service on a network. Before searching, information on the service held by the service holding means is referred to. According to the present invention, before searching for a service on the network, by referring to information on the service held by the service holding unit, a service frequently executed on the device is searched and loaded on the network. Without execution, when an execution request is generated, it can be executed immediately. In addition, services that are less frequently used can be automatically deleted from the device and loaded from the network only when used.

  As described in claim 35, the cooperative work space forming means displays the linked services in a form of a cascade menu so as to be selectable. According to the present invention, by displaying a series of linked services so that they can be selected in the form of a cascade menu, when selecting a combination of linked services, the linkage relationship of services is displayed and used as a cascade menu. Let the person choose. Thereby, even if there are many combinations of service cooperation, a service necessary for the user can be selected.

  According to a thirty-sixth aspect of the present invention, the cooperative work space forming means displays the positional relationship of the linked services in a selectable manner on the overhead view of the work space. According to the present invention, when a combination of linked services is selected by displaying the positional relationship of a linked series of services on the overhead view of the workspace so as to be selectable, through the layout of the workspace, You can interactively select services available in the workspace. Accordingly, it is possible to select a cooperative relationship between services provided by a plurality of devices in the work space while intuitively grasping the relationship as a positional relationship in the work space.

  As described in claim 37, the service providing means provides a user interface corresponding to the type of each device. According to the present invention, by providing a user interface corresponding to the type of various devices, the user can receive a uniform service through various types of devices.

  According to a thirty-eighth aspect of the present invention, the service providing unit provides a user interface corresponding to the division of roles of the service. According to the present invention, by providing a user interface corresponding to the division of service roles to the collaborative work space forming means, each device plays a role and provides an integrated service to the user in cooperation. can do.

  The cooperative work space forming means provides an integrated user interface so that the same function can be executed with the same button or menu when executing a plurality of services. According to the present invention, when a plurality of services are executed, the user can be integrated with a plurality of services by providing an integrated user interface so that the same function can be executed with the same button or menu. When using a service, the user interface can be operated through a single user interface that integrates a plurality of service groups without switching the user interface for each service.

  The service providing means comprises an area for storing data handled between the services or between the workspaces. According to the present invention, it is possible to cut and paste data between different services by providing an area for storing data handled between services or between workspaces.

  As described in claim 41, the collaborative work space forming unit holds an address of a work space peer integrated in the past for each work space, and when the work space providing unit authenticates the work space, Before searching on the network, the address of the workspace peer that is held is checked by checking the address of the workspace peer that is held. According to the present invention, when a service is linked, by referring to the information of the workspace peer integrated in the past and searching for a linkage destination, the workspace in which the linkage relationship is frequently set in the workspace Because there is no need to search them on the network every time they are linked, the linkage can be set at high speed.

  As described in claim 42, the collaborative work space forming unit holds an address of a workspace peer related to a service and a workspace linked in the past in association with a feature of the context, and the workspace providing unit When the service or workspace is authenticated, before searching the network, the address of the workspace peer associated with the feature of the context is checked to check the address of the workspace providing means to be linked. According to the present invention, the address of a workspace peer related to a service and a workspace linked in the past in association with the feature of the context is held, and when the service or workspace is authenticated by the workspace providing means, Before searching for a workspace, by checking the address of the workspace peer associated with the context characteristics and checking the address of the workspace providing means to be linked, With regard to spaces, it is not necessary to search them on the network every time they are linked, so it is possible to set a linkage relationship at high speed.

  The workspace providing means, as described in claim 43, describes a workspace connection interface as an attribute related to an input / output channel composed of video input / output, audio input / output, and operation events, and the cooperative workspace The forming unit integrates the workspaces based on the connection interface of the workspaces. According to the present invention, by linking workspaces based on workspace connection interfaces described as attributes related to input / output channels composed of video input / output, audio input / output and operation events, A wide and open collaborative work space can be formed by connecting video and audio communication and operation events on the collaborative work space according to a unified connection format.

  According to a 44th aspect of the present invention, the work space providing unit treats a time zone in which the work space exists in the work space as a start time and an end time of the context of the work space. According to the present invention, by treating the time zone in which the workspace was present in the workspace as the context start / end time for the workspace, only the time during which the workspace was present in the workspace is obtained. Since it can be handled as a context for each, it is possible to manage the cutout of the context individually, and even when members are switched in a long meeting, each user cuts out only the context of the part related to himself / herself Can be managed.

  The work space providing means according to claim 45, wherein a time period from when the first workspace among the plurality of workspaces is recognized in the work space until all the workspaces are not recognized. As the start and end times of the context of the workspace. According to the present invention, the start and end of the context for a workspace is performed from the time when the first workspace among a plurality of workspaces is recognized in the workspace until all workspaces are not recognized. By treating the time as a time, the user can share the context until all other members leave even if the user leaves on the way.

  The collaborative work space forming apparatus of the present invention further comprises use reservation means for making reservations for use of the work space, as claimed in claim 46, wherein the work space providing means is configured such that the work space is the work space. The time registered in the use reservation means is compared with the time zone registered in the use reservation means, and if the scheduled participant and the difference between the detection start time and the detection end time are within a predetermined range, the time registered in the use reservation means 7. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein a band is treated as a start time and an end time of the context of the work space. According to the present invention, the time when the work space is recognized in the work space is collated with the time zone registered in the use reservation means, and there is no significant difference between the prospective participant and the detection start time and the detection end time. If it is within the specified range, the time zone registered in the reservation means will be treated as the start and end time of the context of the workspace, so even if there is a slight difference in the entry / exit time of the user, the schedule table The start and end times of the context can be corrected according to the time registered in.

  The workspace providing means, as described in claim 47, cuts out a time zone at a time point when a change is found in the workspace recognized in the workspace, and starts a context for the workspace and Treat as end time. According to the present invention, the time zone is cut out with the time point when a change is recognized in the workspace recognized in the work space as a boundary, and is handled as the context start / end time for the workspace. Even if some members overlap in a meeting, if a situation is detected in which most of the participants' members are switched, the user can leave the workspace without leaving the workspace. It can be recognized as another context.

  The work space providing means records the work space recognized in the work space and hierarchically displays the start and end of the conference, the start and end of the use of the device, and the event of the participant as described in claim 48. Structured and stored as a context for the workspace. According to the present invention, the workspace recognized in the work space is recorded, and the start and end of the conference, the start and end of the use of the device, and the events of the participants are hierarchically structured, as a context for the workspace. By saving, when searching for a shared document, a participant, or the like based on the history of the context later, it is possible to take out the detected small change in the context as a clue.

  The at least one of the service search unit, the workspace search unit, and the cooperation target detection unit according to claim 49, wherein the number of participants recognized in the work space, the participation The formal degree of the meeting is determined from at least one of the organization to which the person belongs and the post of the participant, and is added as additional information constituting the context information. According to the present invention, the formal degree of the meeting is determined from the number of participants detected in the work space, the organization to which the participant belongs, and the title of the participant, and added as additional information constituting the context information. Thus, when searching for a past context from the context history, it is possible to search using the formal degree of the conference.

  50. As described in claim 50, at least one of the service search unit, the workspace search unit, and the cooperation target detection unit is a date and time detected in the workspace, a venue, and a participant. The conference body is determined from at least one of the number of participants, the organization to which the participant belongs, and the post of the participant, and is added as additional information constituting the context information. According to the present invention, the date and time and location to be detected in the work space, the number of participants, the organization to which the participant belongs and the title of the participant to determine the meeting body (management meeting, management meeting, etc.) By adding as additional information constituting the context information, when searching for a past context from the context history, it is possible to search using the name of the conference body.

  The at least one of the service search unit, the workspace search unit, and the cooperation target detection unit is recognized on the computer and information recognized on the work space. Combine contextual information to extract context about the activity. According to the present invention, a context related to activity contents is extracted by combining information recognized on the work space and information recognized on a computer such as a document or software being used. In this way, when searching for a past context from the context history, a combination of information detected as a real-world event and information detected by operation on a computer detects more detailed activity content, The result can be used for context search.

  53. The activity recording means according to claim 52, wherein at least one of an image written on a whiteboard, a video photographed by a still camera or a video camera, and a voice recorded by a microphone in the work space. Either one is recorded in association with the shared context. According to the present invention, in the work space, by recording an image written on a whiteboard, a video shot by a still camera or a video camera, and a voice recorded by a microphone in association with a shared context, Information newly generated using a device installed in the work space, conversation, and the like are associated with the context, stored as a shared document, and can be reused by searching from the context history.

  As described in claim 53, the activity recording means records an annotation on a document edited on a predetermined information processing apparatus in association with a context. According to the present invention, information newly generated using a device possessed by a user by recording an annotation on a document edited on a predetermined information processing apparatus in association with a personal context, Corresponding conversations and the like can be stored as private documents and reused.

  The activity recording means records a document scanned by a scanner in a work space in association with a context. According to the present invention, a document scanned by a scanner in a work space is recorded in association with a context, and a scan image of a book or document input from the scanner is associated with the context and stored as a private document. Thus, it can be reused by searching from the context history.

  As described in claim 55, the activity recording means stores information disclosed by a predetermined information presentation device in association with a context. According to the present invention, the information displayed on the information bulletin device installed in the work space is stored by associating the information published by the information presentation device installed in the work space with the private context. Can be associated with the context, stored as a private document, and reused by searching from the context history.

  57. The activity recording unit according to claim 56, wherein when a paper document or electronic paper is recognized in the work space, the activity recording unit associates the paper document or the electronic document corresponding to the electronic paper with the context. Record. According to the present invention, when a paper document or electronic paper is recognized in the work space, the paper document or electronic paper is recorded in association with the context by recording the paper document or electronic document corresponding to the electronic paper. Are recognized in the work space, the electronic documents corresponding to them are stored as shared documents under the context, and can be reused by searching from the context history.

  As described in claim 57, the collaborative work space forming means sets mutually fixed links to users or documents existing in the same context. According to the present invention, since a link is automatically set between the document and the user by setting a fixed link to the user or document existing in the same context, , Contacts with other users can be promoted using documents as keys.

  The activity recording unit generates information for displaying a list of thumbnails of documents shared on the workspace for each context as a user interface for searching a context history, according to claim 58. To do. According to the present invention, as a user interface for searching a context history, a list of the thumbnails of documents shared on the workspace at that time is displayed for each context as a list, so that a context to be accessed from the context history can be displayed. When searching, it is possible to assist visually recalling a group of documents used under the same context from the document layout.

  The activity recording means, as described in claim 59, as a user interface for searching a context history, for displaying a list of participant face photographs or seat arrangements in the work space for each context. Generate information. According to the present invention, as a user interface for searching a context history, a list of the participant's face photograph or seat arrangement in the work space is displayed for each context, so that the context to be accessed from the context history is displayed. When searching, it is possible to assist in recalling the target context from the participant's face image.

  The activity recording means, as described in claim 60, as a user interface for searching a context history, for each context, a photograph of a work space in a place where work is performed or a photograph taken during work Generate information to display. According to the present invention, as a user interface for searching the context history, for each context, a photograph of the work space at the place where the work is performed or a photograph taken during the work is displayed. When searching the context to be accessed from inside, it is possible to assist in recalling the target context from the image of the workspace.

  The activity recording means, as described in claim 61, as a user interface for searching a context history, a search function that allows a set of events accumulated during collaborative work to be displayed and viewed as a hierarchical relationship. provide. According to the present invention, as a user interface for searching a context history, a search function that allows a set of events accumulated during collaborative work to be displayed and viewed as a hierarchical relationship is provided. When searching for a context to be accessed from, it is possible to assist in recalling the target context based on various events that occur during the detectable work.

  As described in claim 62, the activity recording means stores the position of the participant in the work space or the position of the screen on which the material is presented as a user interface for searching the context history. According to the present invention, as a user interface for searching a context history, a context to be accessed is searched from the context history by storing the position of the participant in the work space or the position of the screen presenting the material. In doing so, it is possible to assist in recalling a target context based on information on the spatial relationship of the participants such as the location of the participants' seats during collaborative work and the presentation position of the material.

  As described in claim 63, the activity recording means generates information for displaying a list of context history in the form of a schedule table as a user interface for searching the context history. According to the present invention, as a user interface for searching the context history, the context history is displayed in a list in the form of a schedule table, so that the context history is displayed in time series as a calendar, and the user's time Based on memory, we can support recalling the target context.

  The activity recording means, as described in claim 64, outputs the fragment of the context on the Web server in the HTML format, and outputs the output as a schedule item corresponding to the date and time of the context to the use reservation means. It is possible to register the URL of the HTML document. According to the present invention, a context fragment is output on the Web server in the HTML format, and the URL of the output HTML document is registered as a schedule item corresponding to the date and time of the context in the use reservation unit. Because it is possible to access information related to the context in the existing workspace from the existing schedule management system, the user can use the schedule management system used so far without switching to another system. it can.

  The activity recording unit corresponds to the date, time, and place where the document, user, and work space existed for each target that includes at least one of the document, user, and work space, as described in claim 65. Information to display a list of contexts related to the selected object in a selectable manner is generated. According to the present invention, for each object including a document, a user, and a work space, the context corresponding to the date and place where the document, the user, and the work space existed is maintained, and the object is related to the selected object. Since the list of contexts to be displayed is selectably displayed, the context history given to the object can be taken out, and related past information can be taken out associatively.

  The activity recording means is used on the basis of the frequency of collaborative work between users on the workspace, the frequency of document exchange, and the direction of document provision / provided relationship, as described in claim 66. The relationship strength between the users is calculated, and information for displaying the relationship strength between the users as a human network view is generated. According to the present invention, the relationship strength between users is calculated based on the frequency of collaborative work between users on the workspace, the frequency of document exchange, and the direction of document provision / provided relationship. By displaying the strength of the relationship between users as a human network view, it is possible to grasp the activity status in the organization based on the relationship between users, and to reuse information resources as a memory maintained and managed by the entire organization. Can be promoted.

  68. The activity recording means, as set forth in claim 67, generates information for obtaining a bird's eye view of a distance between similarities based on a keyword set included in a group of documents handled in each context. . According to the present invention, a similarity distance between contexts is obtained based on a keyword set included in a document group handled in each context, and is displayed in a bird's-eye view. As a result, it is possible to grasp the situation related to the activities that are being performed, and to promote the reuse of information resources as a memory that the entire organization holds and manages.

  According to a 68th aspect of the present invention, the activity recording means outputs the fragment of the context on the Web server in the HTML format, and records a predetermined context as a set of bookmarks. According to the present invention, the context fragments are output on the Web server in the HTML format, and important contexts are recorded as a set of bookmarks, so that they are frequently referred to in the context recorded and saved in the context history. It is possible to call a context to be performed by a simple operation and to access information related to the context.

  The activity recording unit outputs the context fragment in an HTML format on a Web server as described in claim 69, and for the ID of an electronic paper or paper document having a writable ID. The context fragment address output on the Web server is associated. According to the present invention, a context fragment is output on the Web server in the HTML format, and the context fragment output on the server for the ID of the electronic paper or paper document having a writable ID is output. By associating addresses with each other, contexts that are frequently referred to in the context recorded and stored in the context history can be carried around in the form of printed materials that do not require power consumption, or immediately using the readability of paper documents. In addition to making it possible to identify the target context, information on the context can be immediately accessed.

  70. The activity recording unit according to claim 70, wherein at least one of a set of users in a current context in which a user is placed, a feature amount extracted from a shared document, a work location, and a date and time. Based on this, information for displaying a list of contexts is generated. According to the present invention, at least one of a set of users in a current context (time and place) in which a user is placed, a feature amount (keyword or the like) extracted from a shared document, a work place, and a date and time. By displaying a list of contexts based on this, it is possible to easily access past contexts in the same situation as the current situation, so in the case of meetings that are regularly held by similar members at the same time, The context related to the meeting can be retrieved immediately without searching.

  The activity recording means outputs the context fragment to the Web server in the HTML format as described in claim 71, and exchanges the address of the context fragment as an e-mail of the e-mail system. To. According to the present invention, the context fragment is output on the Web server in the HTML format, and the address of the context fragment can be exchanged by transmitting / receiving as the email of the email system. Information regarding the context can be exchanged and accessed among many users, including users who have not participated in this work.

  As described in claim 72, the activity recording means generates a discussion thread of a bulletin board system or an asynchronous discussion system in association with the context stored in the context history. According to the present invention, a discussion thread of a bulletin board system or an asynchronous discussion system is generated in association with the context stored in the context history, and then the discussion is performed asynchronously after the discussion performed in real time. To follow up and add minutes and related materials.

  As described in claim 73, the activity recording means associates a participating user with a means for communicating with the participating user with respect to any past context stored on the context history. According to the present invention, regarding a past arbitrary context stored on the context history, an email is automatically specified by specifying a participating user by associating the participating user with a communication means for the participating user. The system's mail sheet can be opened, allowing you to send e-mails or automatically call and have a conversation.

  The activity recording means, as set forth in claim 74, information for displaying information on a current context in which a user is placed with respect to a set of registered users or a set of highly related users. Is generated. According to the present invention, regarding a set of users registered in advance or a set of highly related users, information on the current context in which the user is placed is always or when there is a change in the context. By displaying, it is possible to obtain awareness regarding the current work situation regarding the member to which the user is related.

  As described in claim 75, the activity recording means generates information for changing the setting of the answering machine mode of the mobile phone possessed by the user according to the context. According to the present invention, by automatically setting or canceling the cellular phone held by the user to the answering machine mode according to the context, the conference can be interrupted by telephone in the case of a conference. Can be prevented.

  The activity recording means generates information for warning an alarm when there is a discrepancy between a member of the same group and the current activity pattern. According to the present invention, the activity recording means warns an alarm when there is a discrepancy between a member of the same group and the current activity pattern, for example, forgetting a meeting to join, etc. Users can be alerted.

  The activity recording means, as described in claim 77, extracts feature values by keywords from a group of documents shared in each context, forms a transition vector of a time-series keyword set, and between a plurality of contexts Compare. According to the present invention, by extracting feature values by keywords from a group of documents shared in each context, forming a transition vector of a time-series keyword set, and comparing among a plurality of contexts, the same contents can be obtained. You can get an awareness of the existence of other members you are dealing with.

  The service providing unit or the workspace providing unit designates a disclosure range when the service or the workspace is published on a network as a set of users in advance, Restrict use only to the users who have According to the present invention, the range of disclosure when the previous service or workspace is disclosed on the network is specified in advance as a set of users, and the use is limited to only the specified users, so that individual users can Information on location and activities can be prevented from being accessed by an unspecified number of users or unexpected users, and privacy infringement.

  According to a 79th aspect, the service providing unit or the workspace providing unit generates information for displaying information of a user who has accessed the service or the workspace. According to the present invention, information on a user who has accessed a service or a workspace is stored as a history, and an access record can be viewed or displayed in real time when the user requires it. It is possible to know whether the information provided / disclosed is not accessed by an unexpected user. In addition, the disclosure range can be grasped to some extent.

  According to the present invention, the workspace peer or the service peer communicating in a pure peer-to-peer network detects the workspace, and exists in the same time zone and in the same workspace, as described in claim 80. The service search step for detecting a recognized service, the workspace search step for detecting a workspace recognized as existing in the same time zone and in the same workspace, and the workspace detected by the workspace search step are integrated. To form a collaborative work space and link the service detected by the service detection step to the collaborative work space and contents (documents, images, videos, etc.) used in the collaborative work space. And making it available for use.

  The present invention provides the step of obtaining information on a workspace detected by a workspace peer or a service peer communicating in a pure peer-to-peer network, in the same time zone and in the same workspace, according to claim 81 A service search step for detecting a service recognized as existing in the workspace, a workspace search step for detecting a workspace recognized as existing in the same time zone and in the same workspace, and a workspace detected by the workspace search step. The service is integrated to form a collaborative work space, and the service detected by the service detection step is applied to the collaborative work space and content (documents, images, videos, etc.) used on the collaborative work space. Let the computer execute the steps to make it available in collaboration Is a program.

  According to the present invention, a collaborative work space forming apparatus capable of forming an optimum work space for performing collaborative work using various devices by realizing flexibility, openness, and decentralization. A collaborative work space forming method and program can be provided.

  Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an outline of forming a joint work space according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, PW is a personal workspace peer, S is a service peer, AP is an access point, and α and β are workspaces. The personal workspace peer PW provides the user with a workspace. The service peer S discloses a service connection interface and provides various services via the network. The access point peer AP connects the work space α and the work space β.

  A collaborative work space forming apparatus described later forms a collaborative work space by integrating work spaces recognized as existing in the same time zone and in the same work space, and for documents used in the collaborative work space. The services that are recognized to exist in the same time zone and the same work space are linked. As a result, a shared workspace can be formed in an ad hoc manner among a plurality of personal workspace peers PW, and the services in the workspaces α and β are linked and read for documents shared in the shared workspace. It becomes possible. In this way, when working in a certain work space, calculation resources such as documents and application components that can be used in the work space can be linked. For example, in a situation where multiple workers are moving together in various office workspaces to promote collaborative work, the environment is optimized for collaborative work using various computational resources in the work space. A system architecture for a ubiquitous computing environment can be provided to help set up the system.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a pure peer-to-peer network. The communication network used in the work space of the collaborative work space forming apparatus of the present invention is a peer-to-peer (P2P) network. This P2P network has two network forms: a “Pure P2P network” and a “Hybrid P2P network”.

  The hybrid P2P network is a network configuration in which a control server for facilitating interaction between peer devices such as PCs and mobile communication terminals as components of the network system is arranged. That is, a peer device such as a PC having a content transmission / reception function can communicate with each other via a network, and has a network configuration in which an index server as a lookup server having content storage information for content search is placed. is there. As a typical service using this configuration, for example, there is Napster.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the pure P2P network is a configuration in which control messages and contents are directly transmitted and received between peer devices A to E as each component of the network system without using an index server. The devices A to E have the same functions and roles, and are network forms that perform equal communication. A typical service using this is Gnutella. In this embodiment, a pure P2P network is used.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a detection method in the work space. The devices that become the personal workspace peers PWA to PWE include sensors SS1 to SS5, respectively. The devices that become the personal workspace peers PWA to PWE receive infrared rays generated from the infrared generators 6 arranged in the work spaces α and β via the sensors SS1 to SS5, The work space is recognized by identifying the stretched ID or by measuring with a position sensor. Thereby, since it is not necessary to provide a sensor on the device side and dispose an expensive sensor in the work environment, it is possible to identify a large number of work spaces as compared with a method in which sensors are disposed in the work space. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the personal workspace peers PWA to PWC recognize the workspace α via the sensors SS1 to SS3, and the personal workspace peer PWD or PWE uses the sensors SS4 to SS5 to define the workspace β. recognize. It should be noted that a sensor may be provided in a device that serves as a service peer to recognize the work space.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a system according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the system 1 includes a workspace peer management server 2, a document management server 3, a portable device 4, a wireless LAN base station 5, an infrared generator 6, an RFID antenna built-in table 8, a camera 9, and a microphone 10. , Speaker 11, projector 12, projection screen 13, RFID-tagged paper document 14, presentation service server 15, meeting capture server 16, access point server 17, MFP (MFP) 18, scheduler server 19, and access key issuing server 20 Including.
Reference numeral 30 denotes a network.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the collaborative work space forming apparatus. The collaborative workspace forming apparatus 50 includes a service peer S, a workspace peer management server 2, a personal workspace peer PW, an access point server 17, a scheduler server 19, and an access key issuing server 20.

  The workspace peer management server 2 controls personal workspace peers. As shown in FIG. 5, the workspace peer management server 2 includes a service search unit 21, a personal workspace providing unit 22, a personal workspace search unit 23, a collaborative work space forming unit 24, and an activity recording unit 25. The service search means 21 detects a service recognized as existing in the same time zone and the same work space. The personal workspace providing means 22 provides a workspace for each user expressed as a document collection or a desktop space. The personal workspace providing means 22 is preferably operated on a computer that is always operating.

  The personal workspace search means 23 detects a personal workspace that is recognized to exist in the same time zone and in the same work space. The collaborative work space forming unit 24 integrates the work spaces detected by the work space search unit 23 to form a collaborative work space, and also uses the collaborative work space and contents (document, The service detected by the service search means 21 is linked to the image, video, etc. The activity recording means 25 records the activity in the collaborative work space in association with time and place.

    When the sensing means recognizes that each user's workspace exists in the same time zone and in the same workspace, the mechanisms that manage each user's workspace or document space will be referred to as “peers” in equal positions. A “P2P network” is formed. Workspace peers recognized as being in the same time zone and in the same workspace search the network for other users' workspace peers that exist in the same workspace, and exchange information about each other's workspace with each other. By exchanging, each user's workspace is integrated and made available as a shared work space. In addition, a service that exists in the work space or a service that links a plurality of services is associated with a document on the workspace and dynamically associated and called, and various services provided in the work space are combined, You can receive a variety of services. This makes it possible to connect the work spaces of individual users in an equal relationship without placing a central server. Since it is not limited to workspaces stored in a central server, open integration can be performed.

  Returning to FIG. 4, the document management server 3 is a repository that stores the substance of documents handled on various devices. A document on the document management server 3 can be specified and extracted by a URL. The portable device 4 is, for example, a notebook PC or PDA. The portable device 4 is connected to the network 30 via a wireless LAN base station 5 or a wired network (not shown). The portable device 4 is a “personal workspace peer PW” as an element constituting the work space. A P2P browser is installed in the portable device 4. A user who has installed a P2P browser becomes a P2P node on the network.

  The portable device 4 includes an infrared light receiving unit and a wireless LAN antenna. The wireless LAN base station 5 is a wireless LAN base station in the work space. The infrared ray generators 6 arranged in the work areas α and β transmit IDs unique to the work space. The portable device 4 receives the transmission ID via the infrared light receiving unit, thereby recognizing the work spaces α and β and recognizing the existence of a personal workspace set associated with the device. This eliminates the need to provide a sensor (work space detection means 4a) on the portable device 4 side and to dispose an expensive sensor in the work environment. Can be identified. Further, the portable device 4 may recognize the presence of other devices via the infrared ray generating device 6, and the devices and each other may recognize each other to recognize services and workspaces. . Furthermore, information regarding other devices existing in the same work space can be exchanged between the devices, and the information can be complementarily shared.

  In the work spaces α and β, RFID antennas 8a (sensors) for recognizing non-contact type IC cards (RFID cards) are arranged on the tables 8 in the work spaces α and β. The RFID antenna 8a is connected to an access point server 17 disposed in each work space. An RFID tag is affixed to the portable device 4 carried by the user, the user's ID card, and the paper document. These are recognized by the RFID antenna 8a disposed in the work spaces α and β.

  In each of the work spaces α and β, materials and the like can be projected onto the projection screen 13 from the projector 12 connected to the presentation service server 15 that is a stationary computer. The presentation service server 15 is installed with a service for performing a slide show. For this reason, it is possible to start the slide show service via the network and project from the projector 12.

  The meeting capture server 16 controls the camera 9, the microphone 10, the speaker 11, and the like, and acquires video and audio information in the work space.

  The presentation service server 15 and the meeting capture server 16 serve as a service peer S. As shown in FIG. 5, the service peer S includes a service providing unit 31 and a temporary service holding unit 32. The service providing means 31 publishes the service connection interface and provides the service to the personal workspace peer PW via the network 30. The temporary service holding unit 32 holds information related to the service provided by the service providing unit 31. When service cooperation is started, the service search means 21 checks whether there is a corresponding service among the services stored in the temporary service holding means 32 before starting to search for a service on the network. If it exists, use that service. As described above, a frequently used service is held in a local cache area on each device, and if the cache area is checked before searching for a service on the network, the corresponding service is executed. As a result, a service that is frequently executed on the device can be immediately executed when an execution request is generated without searching and loading on the network. In addition, services that are less frequently used can be automatically deleted from the device and loaded from the network only when used.

  The access point server 17 transmits information related to devices existing in the work spaces α and β to other computers existing in the work spaces α and β via the network 30. As shown in FIG. 5, the access point server 17 includes multipoint work space connection means 71 and area-specific work space information provision means 72. The multipoint work space connection means 71 mediates a connection relationship with a work space β existing at a point different from the work space α. The work space information providing unit 72 for each area holds information on each work space for each area and provides information on each work space upon request.

  A multifunction machine (MFP) 18 prints a paper document 14 in response to a request from a personal workspace peer PW or the like. The scheduler server 19 can make a reservation for use of the work space. The scheduler server 19 manages the schedule table, and the user logs in to the schedule management mechanism in advance and registers in advance, for example, in a conference to participate. At this time, information on the venue and time zone is registered in the schedule item of the conference. When the service search unit 21 recognizes the service or the personal workspace search unit 22 recognizes the personal workspace, the collaborative work space formation unit 24 queries the scheduler server 19 to recognize the recognized service. Alternatively, it is confirmed whether the owner of the personal workspace has reserved the use of the time zone and the work space, and only when the reservation is made, the service is linked or the personal workspace is integrated.

  The access key issuing server 20 issues an access key corresponding to the context of the work space. When the service is recognized by the workspace peer management server 2 or the personal workspace is recognized, the access key issuing server 20 issues a unique access key corresponding to each context, and the workspace peer management server 2 In response, send the issued access key. The workspace peer management server 2 collates these access keys and sets the service cooperation relationship. Thereby, the setting of the linkage relationship is limited to only services that exist in the same work space, and secure linkage can be performed. The functions provided by the access point server 17, the portable device 4, and the document management server 3 are realized on JavaServlet (Java: registered trademark).

  Communication between these servers is realized by exchanging messages in XML (Extensible Markup Language) format. Note that the access point server 17, the portable device 4, and the document management server 3 are independent, and messages can be exchanged between arbitrary servers. In various devices, a peer-to-peer framework represented by JXTA or the like is executed. This makes it possible to form a peer-to-peer network between various devices. Further, by communicating with each other between the peers, the information held by each peer can be synchronously shared between the peers. In other words, peer-to-peer file sharing can be performed.

  Next, the structure of data processed by the software of this embodiment will be described. First, the data structure in the personal workspace peer will be described. 6 and 7 are diagrams showing a data structure in the personal workspace peer. The software operating on the personal workspace peer holds the “personal workspace 131” data having the structure shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, and performs processing of a procedure described later. The personal workspace 131 includes a peer ID, a current location ID, an owner, and a current access point.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a data structure in the service peer. The software operating on the service peer S holds “service 151” data having the structure shown in FIG. 8, and performs processing of a procedure described later. The service 151 includes a peer ID, a service address, a current location ID, a connection interface, and a WSDL file.

  FIG. 9 shows a data structure at the access point. The software operating on the access point peer AP holds the “access point 161” data having the structure shown in FIG. 9, and performs the processing of the procedure described later. The access point 161 includes a peer ID, an address, a current position ID, an access point name, and a connection destination designation UI address.

  Next, a message flow for detecting a peer in the same work space will be described. FIG. 10 is a flow for detecting peers in the same work space. The RFID antenna 8a installed in the form embedded in the table 8 of each work space α, β is in a state of waiting for recognition of the RFID tag attached to the notebook PC, ID card, or paper document carried by the user. When an RFID tag is detected by the RFID antenna 8a, or when a tag that has existed until then is not detected, the personal workspace peer PWA has a message ID (messageid) in the format shown in FIG. ”,“ Transmission date / time (datetime) ”,“ source access point peer ID (originated) ”,“ detection / non-detection flag (status) ”, and“ object ID (objectid) ”detected A detection message 181 "is generated. The “detected / non-detected flag (status)” is set to “detected” when a new object is detected, and “undetected” when no new object is detected.

  The personal workspace peer PWA sends an object detection message 181 to the personal workspace peer PWB, and the personal workspace peer PWB forwards the object detection message 181 to the personal workspace peer PWC, and the personal workspace peer PWB and personal workspace. The peer PWC sends a cooperative peer response message to the personal workspace peer PWA. Also, when the personal workspace peer PWA sends the object detection message 181 to the service peer S1 in the workspace α, the service peer S1 transfers the object detection message 181 to the service peer S2 in the workspace α, and the service peer S2 Sends a cooperative peer response message to the personal workspace peer PWA.

  Next, a message flow relating to connection with a remote location will be described. FIG. 12 shows a message flow regarding connection with a remote location. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an object detection transfer request message. The RFID antenna 8a installed in the form embedded in the table 8 of each work space α, β is in a state of waiting for recognition of the RFID tag attached to the notebook PC, ID card, or paper document carried by the user. When an RFID tag is detected by the RFID antenna 8a, or when a tag that has existed until then is not detected, the access point peer AP1 generates an “object detection message 181” having a format as shown in FIG. To do.

  “State” of “remote access point peer reference” held in the “remote access point peer reference set” held by the access point peer AP1 when the “object detection message 181” is transmitted by the access point peer AP1. An “object detection transfer request message 182” having the format shown in FIG. 13 is generated for the access point peer AP2 for which “true” is set. Here, the “object detection transfer request message 182” includes “message ID (messageid)”, “transmission date / time (datetime)”, “source access point peer ID (originated)”, “detection / non-detection flag (status)”. ”,“ Object ID (objectid) ”related to the object detected by the source access point peer.

  The access point peer AP1 sends an object detection message 181 to the personal workspace peer PWA and the personal workspace peer PWB, and sends a workspace peer detection transfer request message 182 to the access point peer AP2 in the workspace β. Upon receiving the “object detection transfer request message 182” from the access point peer AP1, the access point peer AP2 generates an “object detection message 181” including the object ID included in the message, and the remote access point The generated “object detection message 181” is transmitted to all personal workspace peers PWD and PWE that represent devices that are recognized as having peers in the same workspace.

[Discover peers to be linked]
FIG. 14 is a processing flowchart of discovery of a peer to be linked. Each room is provided with an infrared ray generator 6 for transmitting the ID of the current position by infrared rays. The infrared light receiving unit incorporated in the portable device 4 serving as the service peer S or the personal workspace peer PW has its current position. The ID is received (step S101), and the current position is recognized. In each user's personal workspace peer PW or service peer S, the ID of the detected current position is registered in the “current position ID” of the peer.

  At the same time, in the personal workspace, a new “shared document history 136” is generated in the “shared document history set”, the date and time at that time is registered in “start date and time”, and the ID of the current position is registered in “position ID”. (Step S102). The personal workspace peer PW searches for a personal workspace peer PW and a service peer S that exist on the network and have the same current location ID (step S103).

  At this time, if it is a personal workspace peer PW, the peer ID of the corresponding personal workspace peer is registered in the “collaborative personal workspace set” of the personal workspace, and if it is a service peer S, “ It registers with the peer ID of the corresponding service peer in the “cooperative service set” (step S104). The search is a P2P type search. That is, first, all peers on the subnet are searched, other subnets connected by the gateway peer are searched, and those found are reported to the search request source.

[Workspace creation and document sharing]
FIG. 15 is a process flowchart in document sharing. FIG. 26 shows a personal workspace user interface 201. The personal workspace UI 201 is shared between the “personal document file list 203” for displaying a list of files personally owned by the user and other personal workspace peers PW existing in the same place. The “shared document file list 204” is a list of documents to be processed. Here, the file group listed in the “personal document file list 203” is stored on the document management server 103.

  When a file displayed on the “personal document file list 203” is selected on the personal workspace UI 201 and dragged and dropped on the “shared document file list 204”, the document is shared as a shared document. The address of the document is registered in the space. As a result, new shared document 137 data is generated and registered in the “shared document set” of the current shared document history 136. At this time, the address (URL) of the shared document and the document type of the shared document are registered.

  Simultaneously with the above processing, information on the shared document is shared in real time with the personal workspace peer PW held by the personal workspace peer PW in the “collaborative personal workspace set” (peer-to-peer In the personal workspace peer PW that has received the shared document information, information related to the shared document is stored in the “shared document set” of the current shared document history 136. The data of the new shared document 137 is generated and registered.

  The personal workspace peer PW associates the cooperation service 134 registered in the “cooperation service set” according to the document type of the shared document. Specifically, the service flows registered in the “cooperative service set” and “cooperative service set” of each user's personal workspace PW are extracted. The document type included in the service interface of the service or service flow is collated with the document type of the shared document. The first service flow element of the corresponding service or service flow is associated and registered in the “linked service set” of the “shared document 137”.

  When an RFID tag attached to a paper document or electronic paper is recognized by the RFID antenna 8a placed in the work spaces α and β, it is stored in advance on the document management server 3 corresponding to the ID tag. Take out the electronic document and register it as a shared document. This correspondence relationship is that the document to be printed is automatically saved in the storage in the multi-function device 18 when copying or a print is instructed via the network, and the same ID as the output document is assigned. It is realized by doing. The assigned ID includes the stored address of the multi-function device 18, and an electronic document is acquired using the address.

[Service integration]
FIG. 16 is a process flowchart for service cooperation. FIG. 17 is a diagram showing the service connection interface 171. As shown in FIG. 17, the service connection interface 171 includes an operation type (Operation-Type), an input target document type (inputs doc-type), an output target document type (Outputs doc-type), and a service name (service-name). , Service address (service-address) and method (WSDL file, wsdl-filepath).

  For each service group held in the “cooperative service set” of the personal workspace peer PW of each user, service cooperation processing is performed in each personal workspace PW. The input target document type and the output target document type of the service connection interface in the XML format represented by the path name of “service connection interface 171” of each service are collated (step S301), and a cooperative service (service flow) is configured (step S301). S302) As a linked service, it is registered in the “linked service set” of each user's personal workspace. Here, the service flow is configured by setting a context between a plurality of “service flow elements”. When a new service is found in the workspace (step S303), the discovery of the service triggers the service for the shared document through the same process as the above-described workspace creation and document sharing. They are linked (step S304). Some services, such as the meeting capture service and the whiteboard capture service, generate a new shared document instead of associating with a shared document. These services are held in a “collaboration service set” in each user's personal workspace.

  18 and 19 show a state in which a plurality of services recognized in the work space are linked. 18 and 19 are examples in which the projector 12, the notebook PC 4, the white boat camera 9, and the MFD 18 cooperate with each other. Here, each service provided by various devices is defined as a connection interface including “input target name”, “operation name”, and “output target name”. For example, the slide show service can be defined as a service of “display” with “electronic document” as an input target and “projected image” as an output target, and the annotation service can input “electronic document” as an input target. In addition, “annotation” as a handwritten image can be added to an “electronic document” as an output target and defined as an “annotating” service. The input target and output target of the connection interface of each service defined in this way are collated, and if the output target name of a certain service A is the same as the input target name of another certain service B, those service A and service A cooperative relationship with B is set. As a result, a service cooperation relationship as shown in FIG. 19 is derived.

Call service
FIG. 20 is a process flowchart for calling a service. A linked service associated with each shared document can be called through the personal workspace UI 201 in FIG. Invocation of linked services can be selected in the form of a cascade menu. That is, the cascade menu is displayed by following the service subsequent to the service flow (step S401).

  When a service is selected on the cascade menu (step S402), a service provided in the form of a web service is called together with the address (URL) of the selected shared document (step S403). At the time of this call, the WSDL file held in the path indicated by the “WSDL file” held by each service peer is used, and the remote call by exchanging messages in XML format using SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) is performed. It is carried out.

  When the meeting capture service or the whiteboard capture service held in the “collaboration service set” is called (step S404), the file obtained as a result of the recording is automatically saved in the storage and corresponds to the context as a shared document. Attached and stored (step S405).

[Connection with remote location]
FIG. 21 is a processing flowchart when connecting to a remote location. When the access point server in the work space is recognized in the work space, it is registered in the “current access point” of the personal work space 131 of each user (step S501). A user interface (Java applet) for specifying a connection destination provided by the current access point is called (step S502). A connection destination is selected from the past connection destination list held in the personal workspace 131 of the user (step S503). When a connection destination is specified, the result is added to the local connection list history of the personal workspaces of all users existing in the work space.

  When the user selects a connection destination or inputs a new connection destination URI, the access point server 17 corresponding to the connection destination is searched on the network 30 (step S504). The access point server 17 searches the network 30 at regular intervals, and holds peers (personal workspaces and services currently existing in the work space covered by the access point) found under the same context. .

  In the personal workspace peer PW, when document sharing and service cooperation are performed, information on shared documents and services is shared with peers held by other access points connected to the current access point as peers under the same context. (Step S505). Specifically, change information is propagated between access points.

[Access to documents based on context]
FIG. 22 is a processing flowchart when accessing a document based on a context. The user can associatively retrieve a document through the personal workspace UI 201 shown in FIG. In the personal workspace UI 201, past contexts stored in the shared document history set stored in the personal workspace peer PW are listed in the “context list 206” in time series (step S601). When an arbitrary context is selected from these (step S602), information on the corresponding context is displayed (step S603). Here, the information related to the context includes the date and time, the place, the document set related to the selected context, the participant set at that time, and the like.

  On the other hand, when a document shared in the past context is accessed on the personal workspace UI 201 through the above procedure, the date and time of accessing the document and the email address of the accessing user are registered as an access history. (Step S604). Thereby, privacy is maintained. The access history for each document can be displayed by calling up the access history list view.

[Human Network View Display]
FIG. 23 is a flowchart of a human network view display process. FIG. 28 shows a service activation user interface 220. FIG. 29 shows a human network display user interface 301. When “personal network diagram 212” is selected from the pop-up menu of the context history list of the personal workspace UI 201 shown in FIG. 28 (step S701), based on the user set stored in the shared document history, The frequency of joint work is measured, and the strength between users is calculated based on the frequency (step S702). The result is displayed as a human network view 302 in which the face photograph icons as shown in FIG. FIG. 29 shows that the stronger the strength, the shorter the link length.

  When an icon of an arbitrary user is designated on the overhead view, a conference context list view 303 in which the user has participated is displayed (step S704). The information regarding the designated context is displayed (step S705).

[Display Group Awareness]
FIG. 24 is a flowchart of group awareness display processing. FIG. 30 shows a group awareness user interface 401. When the “member activity status list 207” button of the personal workspace UI 201 shown in FIG. 27 is selected (step S801), the member registered in “group member 135” held by the personal workspace peer PW becomes the owner. An overhead view as shown in FIG. 30 is displayed from the “current position” of the existing personal workspace (step S802). This makes it possible to grasp the work status of other users.

[Context exchange by e-mail]
FIG. 25 is a flowchart of context exchange processing by electronic mail. FIG. 31 shows an e-mail transmission user interface. When the shared document history 136 is generated, a Web page corresponding to the shared document history 136 is automatically generated (step S901) and can be accessed via a Web browser.

  When a context is designated from the context list 206 on the personal workspace UI 201 shown in FIG. 28 and “E-mail 211” is selected from the pop-up menu, the address of the generated Web page is changed to the text as shown in FIG. An e-mail message window 501 included therein is displayed, and the user sends this mail sheet (step S902). The recipient can access the corresponding Web page by displaying the URL included in the received mail sheet (step S903).

[End of collaborative work]
FIG. 26 is a flowchart of a collaborative work end process. When the work space recognized by the sensor incorporated in the portable device 4 changes, it is recognized as the end of the context (step S1001). Context fragments are generated as Web pages and output on the Web server (step S1002). Login to the scheduler, and the address of the Web page output to the Web server in the corresponding time zone on the scheduler is registered (step S1003). If there is already a reservation, add it to the comment field. If there is no reservation, create a new entry and add it.

  FIG. 32 shows a user interface 701 on the calendar system. When “Calendar 210” is selected on the “context history menu” on the service activation user interface 220 shown in FIG. 28, a calendar view 701 as shown in FIG. 32 is displayed. On the calendar view 701, past contexts are displayed on the calendar based on the “date and time” field and the “location” field in the “context” data. The left half of the calendar view 701 is a “monthly view 702” displayed in units of months, and the right half is a “daily view 703” displayed in units of days. When the user selects a context displayed on the daily view 703, information on the date / time, shared document, participant, venue, and captured video regarding the context of the selected date / time is in a format as shown in FIG. By selecting a participant or a shared document, detailed information about them can be obtained.

  When “e-mail 211” is selected on the “context history menu” on the service activation user interface 220 shown in FIG. 28, an e-mail message window 501 as shown in FIG. 31 is displayed. In the body part of this message, the URL of the context snapshot (stored in the “snapshot” field of “context”) that was previously output in HTML format on the Web server is automatically written in the message body. The user inputs the destination and the title of the message and presses the send button to send the message to the destination.

  On the other hand, on the receiving side of the message, by clicking on the URL of the context fragment written in the message main pair, information related to the context can be viewed and the shared document can be taken out.

[Workspace sharing process that connects remote workspaces]
The access point peer AP installed in the work space α has a “remote connection” having an appearance as shown in FIG. 33 for setting the work space sharing with a work space existing in a remote place such as the work space β. A destination setting screen 801 "is provided. In this screen, a set of remote access point peer APs as connection candidates held in the “remote access point peer reference set” of the “access point peer” having the data structure shown in FIG. 6 is displayed on the screen. It is displayed in the “Location selection list” and “On the connection destination list”, and the user specifies the connection destination that shares the work space from this, and when the “Connect button” is pressed, the specified “Remote access” True is set in the “connection state” of “referencing point peer” and stored as a connection destination.

  Further, when the connection target is not displayed on the list, when “add” is selected on the pop-up menu on the “connection destination list”, a “remote connection destination registration window 901” as shown in FIG. 33 is displayed. Through the window, the “location”, “workspace name”, and “connection destination” of the access point peer that is a connection candidate are registered.

  Next, the collaborative work space forming device 50 shown in FIG. 5 has the following functions other than those described above.

[Diversity of workspaces]
The workspace providing means 22 provides the personal workspace peer PW with a shared desktop environment in which a plurality of users can share operations and a shared file set in which a plurality of users can share files. Here, the desktop environment is divided into an area operated by an individual user and an area shared among a plurality of other users existing in the same time zone and in the same work space α, β. Data on the shared area And operations are shared in real time with other workers, so that a collaborative work environment can be formed by synthesizing a desktop environment brought by a plurality of users in an actual work environment. The document set is composed of a document file group owned by each user and a shared document group shared among a plurality of other users existing in the same time zone and in the same work space α and β. Information is shared with other users in real time. Therefore, it is possible to form a space for sharing a document group brought by a plurality of users in an actual work environment.

[Personal workspace recognition in the workspace]
The location of the service provided by the service providing means 31 and the location of the personal workspace provided by the personal workspace providing means 22 are explicitly indicated by the user to the service searching means 21 and the personal workspace searching means 23. Identified by specifying. In this way, without using a sensor, in each device, the service, the set of services, the work spaces α and β, and the position of the document space are determined by the location of the work spaces α and β where the user exists. Can be identified by specifying.

  The service provided by the service providing unit 31 and the location of the personal workspace provided by the personal workspace providing unit 21 are associated with the location of the device. The user explicitly specifies the presence of other devices existing at the same location to the service search means 21 and the personal workspace search means 23. Information regarding peers existing in the same workspace α, β is shared and propagated between the peers. Thereby, the peer group which exists in the same work space (alpha) and (beta) can be recognized. The device is associated with a service, a set of services, a work space, and a document space. A user designates a device for which a linkage relationship is to be set, for example, by selecting a device to be linked from a list. For this reason, since it is not necessary to arrange | position a sensor in work space (alpha) and (beta), while being able to comprise an inexpensive structure, it becomes possible to utilize in the place where it is difficult to install a sensor.

[Security-safe services or workspace collaboration / synthesis]
The collaborative work space forming means 24 issues and distributes passwords associated with time and place to prospective participants. This password is a password related to the use of the work spaces α and β in the time zone scheduled in advance by the user. This password may be a one-time password. The device owned by each user holds a password. When the device actually enters the work spaces α and β and the service is recognized by the service search means 21 or the personal workspace search means 22, the collaborative work space formation means 24 holds the recognized service. Authentication is performed based on the password that has been issued in advance, and if there is no problem, the service is linked.

  The collaborative work space forming unit 24 calculates and holds the strength of the trust relationship between services or personal work spaces based on the past collaborative work history or service cooperation history. The collaborative work space forming unit 24 does not perform authentication processing between services having a reliability equal to or higher than a threshold value or between personal workspaces, and does not perform the authentication process. In some cases, authentication processing is performed. In other words, the collaborative work space forming unit 24 allows the service between users having a strong trust relationship to be permitted without explicitly performing the authentication process, but the service between the users having a weak trust relationship is allowed. Authentication processing is performed for linkage. For this reason, based on the trust relationship established based on the results of past collaborative work, authentication is omitted for cooperation with services with strong trust relationships, and cooperation with services with weak trust relationships is performed. Can authenticate the user so that excessive authentication processing is not required for the user.

[Effective search for service and workspace connection interfaces]
The collaborative work space forming unit 24 holds, in the cache, the ID and address of a service providing mechanism related to a service or work space that has been linked in the past for each work space α and β. When the service search unit 21 authenticates the service, the collaborative work space forming unit 24 uses the address held in the cache to search for the service providing unit 31 to be linked before searching the network. Search for an address. This eliminates the need for searching the network for each service for which the cooperative relationship is frequently set in the work spaces α and β, and thus enables the cooperative relationship to be set at high speed.

  The collaborative work space forming unit 24 registers a snapshot of the cooperative relationship between services at a certain point in time, and stores a situation in which the service groups are linked. The collaborative work space forming unit 24 is called again to continue the work according to the user's instruction, and reproduces the cooperation relation of the registered service to reconstruct the same environment. As a result, when the members of the devices and users brought into the work space, such as regular meetings, are the same every time, the cooperative relationship with the devices installed in the work environment is fixedly determined. It is possible to set a linkage relationship immediately. It should be noted that the connection state may be abstracted even in different environments, and an equivalent work environment may be reproduced.

  The collaborative work space forming means 24 is characterized by the features (member structure, date and time) of the use contexts when the work spaces α and β are connected daily or when the user frequently uses the work spaces α and β. , Location), and the service history of the service providing mechanism related to the service and workspace linked in the past, and the cooperation history between the services linked in the past is stored. When the service search unit 21 authenticates the service or the workspace, the collaborative work space forming unit 24 checks the address held in association with the context before searching the network, and provides the service to be linked. The address of the means 31 is checked. The collaborative work space forming unit 24 calculates the strength of the service of the cooperation partner based on the cooperation history, and when the services are linked under the same context, the services are preferentially connected. . As a result, with respect to services in which a cooperative relationship is frequently set under a certain context, it is not necessary to search for them on the network every time the cooperative relationship is established, so that the cooperative relationship can be set at high speed.

[Cooperation with various services]
The collaborative work space forming means 24 holds an index of a service that does not depend on devices provided on the wide area network, and provides the service existing in the work spaces α and β and the wide area network at the time of service cooperation. Set up the linkage with the service that is being used. In addition to services provided by various devices in the work spaces α and β, a general-purpose service provided on the Internet can be used as a cooperation target. For this reason, it is possible to use a combination of devices independent services provided on a wide area network such as the Internet without being limited to services provided by devices in the work spaces α and β. For example, a translation service, a summary service, a file conversion service, a FAX service, a printing service, etc. provided on the Internet can be used.

  The collaborative work space forming unit 24 holds an index of a service that does not depend on devices provided on the wide area network in association with the context, and corresponds to the context detected by the service search unit 21 at the time of service cooperation. Thus, the cooperative relationship between the service provided on the wide area network and the service existing in the work spaces α and β is set. As a result, a usable service is presented according to the work context, so that the user does not have to search for a cooperative service from among a vast number of services. For example, in the case of a remote conference with overseas, a slide translation service can be made available.

[Service connection interface format]
The service providing unit 31 holds the service connection interface in a format specified by the operation target name and the operation name. Here, a predetermined document type (Word document, PowerPoint document, PDF document, etc.) is designated as the operation target name, and a service name that can be activated for each document is designated as the operation name. Based on the document type of each document that can be used in the work spaces α and β, the collaborative work space forming unit 24 searches for service connection interfaces related to services that can be used in the work spaces α and β. Link services based on the service connection interface. For this reason, since the contents provided by each service are described in a unified format, it is possible to set a cooperative relationship between services in a wide area and open environment.

  The service providing unit 31 describes and holds the service connection interface as a task / subtask relationship with the operation target name and the format specified by the operation as basic elements. Here, a predetermined document type (Word document, PowerPoint document, PDF document, etc.) is designated as the operation target name, and a service name that can be activated for each document is designated as the operation name. In each service connection interface, an operation is designated as a predetermined operation name, and a connection relationship between a service specified by the operation target name and the operation name and another service is defined by a task / subtask relationship. . The collaborative work space forming unit 24 sets the collaborative relationship by collating the operation target and the operation name at the time of service cooperation. For this reason, the content provided by each service is described in a unified format, enabling the setting of linkage between services in a wide-area and open environment, as well as the linkage with other services. , It can be described as a task / subtask relationship (a format that refines the ToDo list), and even if the cooperation relationship is changed, the cooperation relationship with other services need not be greatly affected.

The service providing unit 31 defines the operation target name and the operation name in a hierarchical relationship according to the abstraction level of the concept. The collaborative work space forming unit 24 collates the operation target name and the operation name in the service connection interface by collating the service cooperation relationship using the inclusion relationship on the abstract hierarchy. For this reason, the contents provided by each service are described in a unified format, and it is possible to set a linkage relationship between services in a wide area and open environment. Can be selected at various levels of abstraction. For example, a service called “print on paper” is regarded as “print” from the upper level, and cooperation with alternative services such as “print on electronic paper” and “print on CD-ROM”, which are lower-level services, is possible. It becomes possible.
The service providing unit 31 describes and holds the service connection interface as a basic element in the format specified by the operation target name and the operation name.

  The collaborative work space forming means 24 is designated with an “operation object name” that is an operation input and an “operation object name” that is an operation output, and an “output operation object name” of a certain service and an “input operation object” of another service. By collating the “operation target name”, the linkage relationship between these services is set. For example, a service called “Capture content written on whiteboard and output to PDF document” and a service called “Print PDF document” work together to “capture and print content written on whiteboard”. It becomes possible to provide the service. For this reason, the contents provided by each service are described in a unified format, so that it is possible to set up a linkage relationship between services in a wide area and open environment, as well as linkage with other services. Relationships can be described as input / output relationships, and new services linked with other services can be automatically derived.

[Formation of a collaborative workspace by connecting multiple different workspaces]
The multipoint work space connection means 71 mediates a connection relationship with a work space β existing at a point different from the work space α. The collaborative work space forming means 24 uses the multipoint work space connecting means 71 to identify identification information (addresses or personal workspaces) recognized in the work space α with other work spaces β having a connection relationship. ID) are exchanged, and these services or personal workspaces are linked as if they existed in the same workspace. By arranging access points corresponding to each work space and connecting them, the separated work spaces α and β can be handled as one virtually connected work space. Specifically, when a device that exists in each of the workspaces α and β is connected to the access point server 17 in each of the workspaces, the service that exists in the workspaces α and β is connected via the access point server 17. Information is shared in real time, and service connection interfaces are shared to link services. As a result, a plurality of work spaces α and β existing in remote locations are connected to form a virtual work space that can be recognized as if it existed in the same work space. Services can be linked and integrated.

  The collaborative work space forming means 24 is linked with an existing communication system such as a telephone or a TV conference system, and when communication in the communication system is started, a service or personal work space is established with the work space to which it is connected. The identification information (address or ID) is exchanged, and those services or personal workspaces are linked as if they existed in the same workspace.

  That is, when the user calls the other party using the telephone or the TV conference system, or when the user calls the other party, the access point of the transmission source and the access point of the transmission destination are linked. Automatically establishes a connection relationship between access points and establishes a collaborative work space that connects multiple work spaces that exist in remote locations according to the procedure for forming a collaborative work space that connects remote locations. Allows formation. Thus, at the start of connection with a remote location, using the function of the access point, even if the connection relationship with the remote access point is not explicitly set, the connection partner is called with a telephone or a TV conference system. Alternatively, when called, it becomes possible to form a cooperative work space between the work spaces.

  The area-specific work space information providing means 72 holds information on each work space for each area and provides information on each work space upon request. The collaborative work space forming means 24 makes an inquiry to the work space information providing means 72 for each area based on the work space name of the connection destination specified as a hierarchically structured name, and other work spaces that are connection destinations. By identifying the collaborative workspace forming means, exchanging identification information (address or ID) regarding the service or personal workspace recognized in the remote workspace, and forming a peer group, Integrate services with. As a result, multiple work spaces that exist in remote locations are connected to form a virtual work space that can be recognized as if it were in the same work space. Can be linked. The workspace name is managed with a hierarchical name corresponding to the location range, and there is a peer (a function similar to a name server) that caches information related to the peer group in each location range. Sometimes peers that exist in remote locations are identified by querying those peers.

  The multipoint work space connection means 71 holds a history of other multipoint work space connection means that have been connected in the past, and when connecting to a remote place and performing collaborative work, the partner that becomes the connection destination In order to select a connection point corresponding to the work space on the side, information for displaying a list of connection destination candidates based on the past connection history is generated. The portable device 4 displays a list of connection destination candidates based on the information generated by the multipoint work space connection means 71 and allows the user to select a connection destination. As a result, the user can immediately specify a work space with a high frequency of joint work without checking the name or address of the connection point as the connection destination.

  The multipoint work space connection means 71 is a user who has a strong relationship among the other users obtained from the past work history (from the set of users recognized in the work space). If the current location of a user with a high number of times) is searched on the network and found, a list of multipoint workspace connection means corresponding to the workspace in which the user exists can be presented and specified as the connection destination To. That is, when the multipoint work space connection means 71 performs joint work by connecting to a remote place, the number of times the joint work has been performed in order to select a connection point corresponding to the work space of the other party that is the connection destination. The location of a user with a large number of users is searched on the network, and connection points existing in the work space where the worker is present can be selected as connection destination candidates. As a result, the user can immediately specify the work space as the connection destination without checking the name or address of the connection point as the connection destination.

[Preliminary setup for linkage]
The service providing means 31 acquires a connection interface of a service provided by a device installed in the work space via the network, and establishes a service linkage relationship with the user's portable device before using the service. Set it. When using it, you can call the registered linked service. Thereby, the cooperation relationship of the service used in the planned work space can be set in advance without going to the work space in advance.

  The service providing unit 31 acquires a connection interface of a service provided by a device installed in the work space. Without having to go to the work space in advance and check the connection relationship, the connection relationship of the services used in the planned work space should be confirmed in advance through a virtual work space view. Can do. This is effective when checking the linkage relationship with a service provided by a device installed in a remote work space for the first time.

[Maintenance and provision of services]
For a device that is fixedly installed in the work space, service providing means 31 corresponding to a service that operates on the device in advance, and a service that operates on a mobile device in cooperation with a service that operates on the device The service providing means 31 corresponding to is held. When the service search means 31 recognizes a portable device capable of executing a service that operates cooperatively on the portable device in the work space, it loads the service that operates cooperatively on the portable device on the portable device. Execute. There are devices that are fixedly installed in the work space and portable devices that users bring in. A device that is fixedly installed in the work space holds a service that is executed in cooperation on a portable device that the user has brought in. A portable device brought into the work space dynamically loads a service to be executed on the portable device when operating in cooperation with a service provided by a device fixedly installed in the work space. As a result, when using a service that can be used only within the work space, the user does not need to keep the software on the portable device even in a situation where the software cannot be used.

  When a service group is disclosed on the network, the service providing unit 31 automatically exchanges and propagates information on the service between peers corresponding to the service existing on the network. As a result, even if the user does not explicitly install the service on the device, the service to be executed using the device can be used only by connecting to the network.

[Providing an integrated user interface for operating a workspace composed of multiple devices]
The collaborative work space forming means 24 displays the linked services so that they can be selected in the form of a cascade menu. When selecting a combination of linked services, the linkage relationship of the services is displayed as a cascade menu to allow the user to select. Thereby, even if there are many combinations of service cooperation, a service necessary for the user can be selected.

  The collaborative work space forming unit 24 displays the positional relationship of the linked services on the overhead view of the work space in a selectable manner. When selecting a combination of linked services, it is possible to interactively select services available in the work space through the work space layout. Accordingly, it is possible to select a cooperative relationship between services provided by a plurality of devices in the work space while intuitively grasping the relationship as a positional relationship in the work space.

  The service providing unit 31 provides a user interface corresponding to various types of devices such as a mobile phone, a PDA, and a notebook PC with respect to services that operate on various devices in the work space. As a result, the user can receive a uniform service through various types of devices.

  The service providing means 31 provides a user interface corresponding to the service role assignment. User interfaces that operate on various devices in the work space and provide services are divided into, for example, “views” and “controllers”. The collaborative work space forming unit 24 determines the role assignment of each service based on the type of device on which the individual service for which the cooperation relationship is set is executed, and transmits information on the role assignment to the service providing unit 31. The service providing means 31 executes and provides a user interface corresponding to the division of service roles on the device. Each user interface program is assigned to a device and executed according to the device configuration in the work space. Thereby, it is possible to provide an integrated service to the user in cooperation while each device plays a role. For example, a user interface for controlling a presentation on a PDA is provided, and a service using a plurality of devices such as displaying a slide on a projector can be executed.

  The collaborative work space forming unit 24 collates the function list on the user interface of each service when executing a plurality of services simultaneously on a single device, and executes the same function with the same button or menu. It automatically customizes the integrated user interface so that it can be executed on the device. For this reason, the functions provided by the buttons and menus on the user interface for operating individual services executed on various devices in the work space are common names representing the functions executed by the buttons and menus. It is expressed as a set of “function names” specified by. As a result, when using an integrated service composed of a plurality of services, a user operates through a single user interface that integrates a plurality of service groups without switching the user interface for each service. It becomes possible.

  The service providing unit 31 includes a clip area for storing data when the data is cut or pasted between services or workspaces. When an instruction to cut or copy data is given between services, the service providing unit 31 stores the event ID and data in the clip area, and the address and event ID of the device are pasted into the destination service or work. Sent to space. The paste destination service or workspace takes out and pastes the data copied or cut based on the acquired address and event ID of the device. This makes it possible to cut and paste data between different services.

[Efficient linkage setting]
The collaborative work space forming means 24 holds the work space peer address of the work space peer integrated in the past for each work space, and when the work space is authenticated by the personal work space providing means 22, it searches the network. Before starting, the address of the workspace peer that is held is checked to check the address of the workspace providing means to be linked. When the peer of the portable device caches the ID and address of the peer provided by the device installed in the work space to be connected for each work space, and cooperates the service in the work space Use the information on the cache to search for the link destination. Thereby, since it is not necessary to search for personal workspaces in which a cooperative relationship is frequently set in the work space on the network every time they are linked, the cooperative relationship can be set at high speed.

  The collaborative work space forming unit 24 uses the features (member structure, date, place, etc.) of the use context in the case of daily connection between a plurality of work spaces or when the user frequently uses the work space. Corresponding history of past services and workspaces is stored. The collaboration history of the workspace includes the address of the personal workspace providing mechanism. When the service or workspace is authenticated by the personal workspace providing unit 22, the collaborative workspace forming unit 24 checks the address held in association with the context before searching the network, The address of the personal workspace providing means 22 is checked. Each personal workspace calculates the strength of the cooperation partner's personal workspace based on the cooperation history. When personal workspaces are integrated under the same context, those personal workspaces are searched preferentially. Thereby, since it is not necessary to search for the personal workspaces in which the cooperative relationship is frequently set under a certain context on the network every time the cooperative relationship is set, the cooperative relationship can be set at high speed.

[Workspace connection interface format]
The personal workspace providing means 22 describes the workspace connection interface as an attribute relating to an input / output channel composed of video input / output, audio input / output, and operation events. The collaborative work space forming means 24 cooperates the work space based on the work space connection interface. Attributes relating to input / output such as video, audio, and operation events are standardized as a connection interface, and connection is performed by appropriately performing protocol conversion and format conversion based on the data at the time of connection. For this reason, it is possible to form a wide and open collaborative work space by connecting video and audio communication on the personal work space and operation events on the joint work space according to a unified connection format.

[Context segmentation]
The personal workspace providing means 22 treats the time zone in which the individual personal workspace exists in the work space as the context start / end time for the personal workspace. That is, the personal work space providing means 22 treats each work space from the time when it enters the work space and is recognized to the exit time as a context. For this reason, since only the time when the workspace existed in the workspace can be treated as the context for each, the context cutout can be managed individually, and the members can be switched in a long meeting. However, each user can extract and manage only the context of the part related to him. The activity recording unit 25 records a context history for each user, with the context detected in this way as a unit.

  The personal workspace providing means 22 determines the time period from the time when one of the personal workspaces is first recognized in the workspace until all the personal workspaces are no longer recognized. Treat as start / end time. That is, the personal workspace providing means 22 treats the time from the time when the detection target (personal workspace) first enters the room to the time when the user finally leaves as one context. For this reason, even if a user leaves in the middle, he can share the context until all other members leave. The activity recording means 25 records the history of the context with the context detected in this way as a unit.

  The personal workspace providing means 22 collates the time when the personal workspace is recognized in the work space with the time zone registered in the scheduler server 19, and there is a large difference between the scheduled participant and the detection start time and the detection end time. If not, the time zone registered in the scheduler server 19 is treated as the context start / end time for the personal workspace. The start time and end time related to the work space registered in the schedule item in the schedule table registered in advance are used when extracting the context. For this reason, even if there is a slight difference in the entry / exit time of the user, the context start time and end time can be corrected by the time registered in the schedule table. The activity recording means 25 records the history of the context with the context detected in this way as a unit.

  The personal workspace providing means 22 cuts out a time zone at the time when a large change is seen in the workspace recognized in the workspace, and handles it as the context start / end time for the workspace. That is, the personal workspace providing means 22 specifies the context start time and end time based on changes in the user set and component device set. Here, when a certain change or more occurs, it is recognized that it is a context switching point. For this reason, even if some members overlap in a continuous meeting, if a situation in which the majority of participants' members are replaced is detected, the user can It can be recognized as another context without leaving. The activity recording means 25 records the history of the context with the context detected in this way as a unit.

  The personal workspace providing means 22 segments the context hierarchically based on the event that occurs. The personal workspace providing means 22 records the personal workspace recognized in the work space in detail, and hierarchically structures the start / end of the conference, the start / end of the use of the device, and the event of the participant. Save as a context for the workspace. Contexts are organized hierarchically based on switching of presenters, switching of materials, entry / exit of participants, and the like. Detailed work history is extracted based on these hierarchical contexts. For this reason, when searching for a shared document, a participant, or the like based on the history of the context later, it is possible to take out a change in the detected small context as a clue. The activity recording means 25 records the history of the context with the context detected in this way as a unit.

[Extract abstract context]
The service search means 21 determines the formal degree of the meeting from the number of participants detected in the workspaces α and β, the organization to which the participant belongs, and the title of the participant, and adds it as additional information constituting the context information. . By using this information, a past context can be searched from the context history. For this reason, when searching for a past context from the context history, it is possible to search using the formal degree of the conference. This may be performed by the personal workspace search means 23 or the access point server 17.

  In addition, the service search means 21 discriminates the meeting body (management meeting, management meeting, etc.) from the date and time and the place to be detected in the work space, the number of participants, the organization to which the participant belongs, and the position of the participant. And added as additional information constituting the context information. By using this information, past contexts can be searched from the context history. For this reason, when searching for a past context from the context history, it is possible to search using the name of the conference body. This may be performed by the personal workspace search means 23 or the access point server 17.

  The service search means 21 combines the information recognized in the work space (participants, places, etc.) and the information recognized in the digital world (documents, software, etc.) in more detail. Extract the context. Using this information, a past context is searched from the context history. For this reason, when searching for a past context from the context history, a combination of information detected as a real-world event and information detected by operation on a computer detects more detailed activity content, The result can be used for context retrieval. For example, a keyword vector is extracted from the content in the electronic document being used to grasp the content of the meeting, the participants are associated with the keywords, and a link is set between similar contexts. The personal workspace search means 23 or the access point server 17 may be used.

[Recording of information captured in the real environment in association with the context]
In the work space, the activity recording means 25 associates an image written on a whiteboard, a video taken by a still camera or a video camera, and a voice recorded by a microphone with a shared context (date and time and location). Record. This makes it accessible later from the context history. For this reason, information newly generated using a device installed in the work space, conversation, or the like can be associated with the context, stored as a shared document, and reused by searching from the context history.

  The activity recording means 25 records an annotation for a document edited on an information processing apparatus including a portable device such as a PDA or a notebook PC in the work space in association with a personal context, so that the context history can be used later. Can be accessed. Information newly generated using a device owned by the user, conversation, and the like can be associated with the context, stored as a private document, and reused.

  Since the activity recording unit 25 records the document scanned by the scanner in the work space in association with the personal context, it can be accessed later from the history of the context. As a result, the scan image of the book or document input from the scanner is associated with the context and saved as a private document, and can be reused by searching from the context history.

  The activity recording means 25 is installed in the work space, and stores information disclosed by an information presentation device such as a bulletin board or destination reception in association with a private context. The information presentation device transmits an ID related to the information being presented, acquires the ID, and associates the ID with the date and time at that time in the workspace including the personal workspace and the shared workspace. It can be saved and later accessed by the user based on the memory of date and place. Thereby, the information displayed on the information bulletin apparatus installed in the work space is associated with the context, stored as a private document, and can be reused by searching from the context history.

  When the paper document or the electronic paper is recognized in the work space, the activity recording unit 25 records the paper document or the electronic document corresponding to the electronic paper in association with the context. Paper documents and electronic paper hold readable IDs. The ID or address of the electronic document associated with the paper document or electronic paper is assigned to the ID at the time of printing. When the ID is recognized in the work space, the activity recording unit 35 records the electronic document corresponding to the ID in association with the context at that time. Thereby, it can access later from the history of a context. In this way, paper documents or electronic paper are recognized in the work space, and electronic documents corresponding to them are saved as shared documents under the relevant context, and can be reused by searching from the context history. can do.

  The collaborative work space forming means 24 sets mutually fixed links to users and documents existing in the same context (same time zone and same work space). Users can access information on documents and users associatively by following these links. Thus, since a link is automatically set between the document and the user, it is possible to promote contact with other users later using the document as a key.

[Promoting access to and reuse of activity-based activities]
The activity recording unit 25 displays, as a user interface for searching the context history, a list of thumbnails of documents shared on the workspace at that time for each context. Thereby, when searching for a context to be accessed from the context history, it is possible to assist visually recalling a group of documents used under the context from the layout of the document.

  The activity recording means 25 displays, as a user interface for searching the context history, a list of participant face photographs or seat arrangements in the work space for each context. As a result, when searching for a context to be accessed from the context history, it assists to recall the target context from the face image of the participant.

  The activity recording unit 25 displays, as a user interface for searching the context history, a photograph of the work space at the place where the work is performed or a photograph taken during the work for each context. This assists in recalling the target context from the image in the workspace when searching for a context to be accessed from the context history.

  The activity recording unit 25 provides a search function that allows a set of events accumulated during collaborative work to be displayed and viewed as a hierarchical relationship as a user interface for searching the context history. A search is performed based on a set of events accumulated in a hierarchical manner, and a target material is specified. For example, if presenters and speakers at the podium are recorded in detail, it is possible to search based on those events. As a result, when searching for a context to be accessed from the context history, it is supported to recall a target context based on various events that occur during the detectable work.

  The activity recording means 25, as a user interface for searching the context history, corresponds the position of the participant (sitting position, podium position, etc.) in the workspace and the position of the screen on which the material is presented to the diagram of the workspace. Add and record. Later, when a user searches for a context, it is associated with a diagram in the workspace, and their relationship is displayed with time, allowing memory to be recalled. As a result, when searching for a context to be accessed from the context history, the purpose is based on information on the spatial position of the participant, such as the position of the participant's seat at the time of collaborative work, and the presentation position of the material. Assist in recalling the context.

  The activity recording means 25 displays a list of context history in the form of a schedule table as a user interface for searching the context history. The user can select a context displayed in the schedule table and access various information related to the context. As a result, the context history is displayed in time series as a calendar, and it is supported to recall the target context based on the user's temporal memory.

  The activity recording unit 25 outputs the fragment of the context on the Web server in the HTML format, and automatically registers the URL of the output HTML document as a schedule item corresponding to the date and time of the context in the schedule management system. To do. Information related to the context can be accessed from the schedule management system. As a result, the information related to the context in the actual work space can be accessed from the existing schedule management system, so that the user does not switch the schedule management system used so far to another system, Can be used.

  For each target (document, user, work space, etc.), the activity recording means 25 holds a context corresponding to the date and place where the target existed, and displays a list of contexts related to the selected target. indicate. By selecting a context from the list, it is possible to access various information related to the context. As a result, it is possible to associatively extract related past information by extracting the context history given to the object.

  The activity recording means 25 calculates the strength of the relationship between users based on the frequency of collaborative work between users on the workspace, the frequency of document exchange, the direction of document provision / provided relationship, etc. Display it as a human network view. Furthermore, when a user is designated on the overhead view display, a history of past contexts related to the selected user is displayed, and various information related to the contexts can be accessed. As a result, the activity status in the organization can be grasped based on the relationship between users, and the reuse of information resources can be promoted as a memory held and managed by the entire organization.

  The activity recording unit 25 obtains a distance of similarities between contexts based on a keyword set included in a group of documents handled in each context, displays it in a bird's-eye view, and makes it possible to access contexts with high relevance. As a result, it is possible to grasp the situation related to activities in which the same activity is performed in the organization based on the similarity between documents, and to promote the reuse of information resources as a memory held and managed by the entire organization.

  The activity recording means 25 outputs context fragments in the HTML format on the Web server and records important contexts as a set of bookmarks, so that the activity recording means 25 can be called immediately when necessary. Thereby, it is possible to call a frequently referred context in the context recorded / stored in the context history by a simple operation and to access information related to the context.

  The activity recording means 25 outputs the context fragment to the Web server in the HTML format, and the context fragment output on the server for the ID of the electronic paper or paper document having a writable ID. Associate the address of. By recognizing it, it is possible to access information about the past context in which the document was used. As a result, among the contexts recorded and stored in the context history, the frequently referred contexts can be carried around in the form of printed materials that do not require power consumption, or can be instantly targeted using the readability of paper documents. In addition to being able to identify the context to be performed, it is possible to immediately access information related to the context.

  The activity recording means 25 is a set of users in the current context (time and place) where the user is placed, or a feature amount (keyword set etc.) extracted from a shared document, work place, date and time (day of the week or time) List similar contexts based on band, etc.). Various information about these contexts can be accessed. As a result, past contexts in the same situation as the current one can be easily accessed, so in the case of a meeting that is held by the same member at the same time in a regular case, the context related to the previous meeting is immediately searched without searching. It can be taken out.

[Awareness of activities beyond the organizational framework]
The activity recording means 25 outputs the context fragment in the HTML format on the Web server, and allows the address (for example, URL) of the context fragment to be exchanged by exchanging as an email of the email system. As a result, information related to the context can be exchanged and accessed among many users, including users who have not participated in the work under the context.

  The activity recording means 25 generates a discussion thread for a bulletin board system or an asynchronous discussion system in association with the context stored on the context history. Asynchronous conversations related to the context can be performed and materials can be registered. As a result, after the discussion conducted in real time, the discussion can be performed asynchronously and follow-up, or the minutes and related materials can be added.

  The activity recording unit 25 associates a participating user with a communication unit for the participating user regarding an arbitrary past context stored on the context history. When the user clicks, the communication means can be automatically called. Thus, by designating a participating user, a mail sheet of the e-mail system is automatically opened, and an e-mail can be transmitted or a telephone conversation can be automatically performed.

  The activity recording means 25 is always or when there is a change in the context regarding the current context in which the user is placed, regarding a set of registered users or a highly related set of users. indicate. As a result, it is possible to obtain awareness regarding the current work situation regarding the member to which the user is related.

  The activity recording means 25 automatically sets or cancels the cellular phone possessed by the user to the answering machine mode according to the context. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the conference from being interrupted by telephone when the conference is in progress.

  The activity recording means 25 warns an alarm when there is a discrepancy between the members of the same group and the current activity pattern. Thereby, for example, when a meeting to be attended has been forgotten, it is possible to call attention to the user.

  The activity recording means 25 extracts feature values by keywords from a group of documents shared in each context, forms a transition vector of a time-series keyword set, and compares them among a plurality of contexts, so that the interest will be increased in the future. Make each group aware of each other that seems to be common. As a result, it is possible to obtain an awareness of the existence of other members handling similar contents.

[Privacy Management]
The service providing means 31 or the personal workspace providing means 22 designates the disclosure range when publishing the service or the personal workspace on the network in advance as a set of users, and is used only by the designated users. Restrict. For each user, it is possible to individually set a range for publicizing his / her presence. Furthermore, it can be set in association with each context. As a result, it is possible to prevent privacy related infringement by accessing information on the location and activities of individual users by an unspecified number of users or unexpected users.

  The service providing means 31 or the personal workspace providing means 22 stores information on the user who has accessed the service or the personal workspace as a history, and browses an access record when the user requires, or Display in real time. A history of access by other users to the location of the user or the document provided by the user is maintained, and the user can check the access history at any time. When accessed, the fact is fed back to the user in real time. Thereby, it is possible to know whether the information provided / disclosed by the user is not accessed by an unexpected user. In addition, the disclosure range can be grasped to some extent.

  The joint work space forming method according to the present invention is realized by the joint work space forming apparatus 50. Each step is realized by installing the program from a hard disk device, a portable storage medium such as a CD-ROM, DVD or flexible disk, or downloading from a communication circuit, and the CPU executes the program, for example. The

  This program obtains information about workspaces detected by workspace peers or service peers that communicate via a pure peer-to-peer network, detects services that are recognized to exist in the same time zone and in the same workspace A service search step, a workspace search step for detecting a workspace recognized as existing in the same time zone and the same workspace, and a workspace detected by the workspace search step are integrated to form a collaborative workspace. At the same time, the computer is caused to execute a step of making the service detected by the service detection step available in cooperation with the collaborative work space and the content used on the collaborative work space.

  The work space use reservation means corresponds to the use reservation means, the multipoint work space connection means 71 corresponds to the work space connection means, and the area-specific space information provision means 72 corresponds to the information provision means.

  Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments, and various modifications, within the scope of the gist of the present invention described in the claims, It can be changed.

It is a figure for demonstrating the outline | summary of joint work space formation by this embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating the network by a pure peer to peer. It is a figure for demonstrating the detection method of a work space. It is a block diagram of the system by this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structure of the collaborative work space formation apparatus by this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the data structure in a personal workspace peer. It is a figure which shows the data structure in a personal workspace peer. It is a figure which shows the data structure in a service peer. It is a figure which shows the data structure in an access point. It is a figure which shows the detection flow of the peer in the same work space. It is a figure which shows an object detection message. It is a figure which shows the message flow regarding a connection with a remote place. It is a figure which shows an object detection transfer request message. It is a processing flowchart of cooperation target peer discovery. It is a processing flowchart in document sharing. It is a processing flowchart at the time of service cooperation. It is a figure which shows a service connection interface. It is a figure explaining service cooperation. It is a figure explaining service cooperation. It is a process flowchart at the time of a service call. It is a processing flowchart at the time of connection with a remote place. It is a processing flowchart at the time of access to the document based on a context. It is a display processing flowchart of a human network view. It is a display process flowchart of group awareness. It is a context exchange process flowchart by electronic mail. It is an end processing flow chart of cooperation work. It is a figure which shows a personal workspace user interface. It is a figure which shows a service starting user interface. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a human network display user interface. It is a figure which shows a group awareness user interface. It is a figure which shows an electronic mail transmission user interface. It is a figure which shows the user interface on a calendar system. It is a figure which shows a remote connection destination designation | designated user interface.

Explanation of symbols

PW personal workspace peer 22 personal workspace providing means S service peer 23 personal workspace search means 2 workspace peer management server 24 collaborative work space forming means 17 access point server 25 activity recording means 19 scheduler server 31 service providing means 20 access key Issuing server 32 Temporary service holding means 21 Service search means 50 Collaborative work space forming device

Claims (81)

A workspace detection means for detecting a workspace provided in a device that is a workspace peer or a service peer that performs communication by a pure peer-to-peer network;
A service search means for detecting a service recognized to exist in the same time zone and in the same work space;
A workspace search means for detecting a workspace recognized to exist in the same time zone and in the same workspace;
The workspace detected by the workspace search means is integrated to form a collaborative workspace, and the collaborative workspace and content used on the collaborative workspace are detected by the service detector. And a collaborative work space forming device for coordinating services. 2. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the work space detecting unit identifies the work space by identifying an ID transmitted in the work space. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the work space detecting unit recognizes the work space by recognizing the presence of another device. The said collaborative work space formation apparatus is further provided with the activity recording means which matches and preserve | saves the activity in the said collaborative work space according to time and a place. A collaborative work space forming device according to claim 1. The said collaborative work space formation apparatus is further provided with the service provision means which discloses the connection interface of the said service, and provides a service via a network, The Claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned. Joint work space forming device. The said collaborative work space formation apparatus is further provided with the work space provision means which provides each user's work space expressed as a document collection or a desktop space. The collaborative work space forming device described. 7. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the work space providing means is operated on a computer that is always operated. 7. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the work space providing means provides a shared desktop environment in which a plurality of users can share operations. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the work space providing unit provides a shared file set in which a plurality of users can share files. 7. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the service providing unit or the workspace providing unit identifies the service or the workspace by designating a location of the service or the workspace. . 11. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein information related to peers existing in the work space is shared and propagated between the peers. The collaborative work according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the collaborative work space forming device further includes an access key issuing unit that issues an access key according to a context of the work space. Space forming device. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 12, further comprising usage reservation means for making a reservation for use of the work space. The collaborative work space forming device according to claim 1, wherein the collaborative work space forming unit cooperates with the service according to a password issued in advance. The collaborative work according to claim 1, wherein the collaborative work space forming means cooperates the services based on reliability between the services or between the workspaces calculated based on a past cooperation history. Space forming device. 2. The collaborative work space forming device according to claim 1, wherein the collaborative work space forming unit cooperates the service based on an address of a service providing unit cooperated in the past. 2. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the collaborative work space forming unit reproduces the link relation of the service based on the link relation between services at a registered time. 2. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the collaborative work space forming unit cooperates with a service based on a past service cooperation relationship associated with a context characteristic of the work space. 2. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the collaborative work space forming unit sets a cooperative relationship between a service provided in the work space and a service provided on a wide area network. The collaborative work space forming unit is configured to link a service provided on the wide area network and a service provided on the work space according to a context corresponding to the service provided on the wide area network. 2. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a relationship is set. 6. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the service providing means holds the connection interface of the service in a format specified by an operation target name and an operation name. The service providing means describes and holds a connection interface of the service by describing a relationship with another service as a task / subtask relationship with a format specified by an operation target name and an operation name as a basic element. The collaborative work space forming device according to claim 5. 23. The collaborative work space forming device according to claim 21, wherein the service providing unit defines the operation target name and the operation name in a hierarchical relationship according to the abstraction level of each concept. The cooperative work space forming means collates the output operation target name of the first service with the input operation target name of a second service different from the first service, and sets the cooperation relation of the service. The collaborative work space forming device according to claim 1. 25. The collaborative work space forming device further includes work space connection means for mediating a connection relationship with a work space existing at a different point from the work space. The collaborative work space forming device according to the item. 26. The collaborative work space forming device further comprises information providing means for holding information on each work space for each area and providing information on each work space upon request. The collaborative work space forming device according to claim 1. The collaborative work space forming means exchanges identification information related to the service or the work space with a connection work space when communication in the communication system starts in conjunction with a predetermined communication system. 27. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 25, wherein the service or the work space is linked as existing in the same work space. 26. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 25, wherein the work space connection means generates information for displaying connection destination candidates based on a past connection destination history. 26. The collaboration according to claim 25, wherein the workspace connection means generates display information for designating a connection destination workspace based on a user relationship strength obtained from a past collaboration work history. Work space forming device. The service providing unit obtains a connection interface of a service provided by a device installed in the work space, presets a service cooperation relationship, and calls a cooperation service registered at the time of use. The collaborative work space forming device according to claim 5. 6. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the service providing unit acquires information on a service provided in the work space from another service providing unit that provides a service. The collaborative work space forming apparatus further includes service holding means for holding a work space specific service that can be used only in each work space for each work space,
2. The collaborative work according to claim 1, wherein the collaborative work space forming unit cooperates with a service searched by the service search unit and a service group registered in advance in the service holding unit as a cooperation target. Space forming device. 6. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said service providing means propagates and holds information on services newly provided on the network with other service providing means. The collaborative work space forming device further includes service holding means for holding information about the service provided by the service providing means,
6. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the service search unit refers to information on a service held by the service holding unit before searching for a service on a network. 2. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the collaborative work space forming means displays the linked services in a form of a cascade menu so as to be selectable. 2. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the collaborative work space forming means displays the positional relationship of the linked services in a selectable manner on an overhead view of the work space. 6. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the service providing means provides a user interface corresponding to various types of equipment. 6. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the service providing means provides a user interface corresponding to the division of roles of the service. 2. The collaborative work space according to claim 1, wherein the collaborative work space forming unit provides an integrated user interface so that the same function can be executed with the same button or menu when executing a plurality of services. Forming equipment. 6. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the service providing means includes an area for storing data handled between the services or between the workspaces. The collaborative work space forming means holds the address of the workspace peer integrated in the past for each work space, and when the workspace is authenticated by the work space providing means, it is held before searching on the network. 2. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the address of the work space providing means to be linked is checked by checking the address of the work space peer. The collaborative work space forming means holds the address of a workspace peer related to services and workspaces that have been linked in the past in association with the features of the context, and when the service or workspace is authenticated by the workspace providing means 2. The collaborative work according to claim 1, wherein before searching on the network, the address of the workspace providing means to be linked is checked by checking the address of the workspace peer associated with the feature of the context. Space forming device. The workspace providing means describes a workspace connection interface as an attribute related to an input / output channel composed of video input / output, audio input / output, and operation events,
7. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the cooperative work space forming unit integrates the work spaces based on a connection interface of the work spaces. 7. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the work space providing means treats a time zone in which the work space exists in the work space as a start time and an end time of the context of the work space. . The workspace providing means is configured to start a context of the workspace from a time when the first workspace among a plurality of workspaces is recognized in the workspace until all workspaces are not recognized. The collaborative work space forming device according to claim 6, wherein the collaborative work space forming device is treated as an end time. The collaborative work space forming device further includes use reservation means for making a reservation for use of the work space,
The work space providing means collates the time when the work space is recognized in the work space with the time zone registered in the use reservation means, and the expected participation time and the difference between the detection start time and the detection end time are predetermined. 7. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the time zone registered in the use reservation means is treated as the start and end time of the context of the workspace. The work space providing means cuts out a time zone with a time point when a change is found in the work space recognized in the work space as a boundary, and handles the time as a context start and end time for the work space. The collaborative work space forming device according to claim 6. The work space providing means records the work space recognized in the work space, and hierarchically structures the start and end of the conference, the start and end of the use of the device, and the event of the participant. 7. The collaborative work space forming device according to claim 6, wherein the collaborative work space forming device is stored as a context. At least one of the service search unit, the workspace search unit, and the cooperation target detection unit includes the number of participants recognized in the work space, the organization to which the participant belongs, The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the formal degree of the meeting is determined from at least one of the positions and added as additional information constituting the context information. At least one of the service search unit, the workspace search unit, and the cooperation target detection unit is a date and place to be detected in the workspace, the number of participants, the organization to which the participant belongs 2. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a meeting body is discriminated from at least one of the positions of the participants and added as additional information constituting the context information. At least one of the service search means, the workspace search means, and the cooperation target detection means relates to activity contents by combining information recognized on the work space and information recognized on a computer. 2. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a context is extracted. In the work space, the activity recording means is configured to share at least one of an image written on a whiteboard, video captured by a still camera or video camera, and audio recorded by a microphone in a shared context. 5. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the collaborative work space forming apparatus records the information in association with each other. 5. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the activity recording means records an annotation for a document edited on a predetermined information processing apparatus in association with a context. 5. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the activity recording means records a document scanned by a scanner in the work space in association with a context. 5. The collaborative work space forming device according to claim 4, wherein the activity recording unit stores information disclosed by a predetermined information presentation device in association with a context. The activity recording means, when a paper document or electronic paper is recognized in the work space, records the paper document or electronic document corresponding to the electronic paper in association with the context. 4. The collaborative work space forming device according to 4. 2. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the collaborative work space forming means sets a fixed link to users or documents existing in the same context. 5. The activity recording means generates information for displaying a list of thumbnails of documents shared on the workspace for each context as a user interface for searching a context history. The collaborative work space forming device described. The activity recording means generates, as a user interface for searching a context history, information for displaying a list of participant face photographs or seat arrangements in a work space for each context. The collaborative work space forming device according to claim 4. The activity recording means generates, as a user interface for searching a context history, information for displaying a photograph of a work space at a place where work is performed or a photograph taken during work for each context. The collaborative work space forming device according to claim 4. The activity recording means, as a user interface for searching a context history, provides a search function that allows a set of events accumulated during collaborative work to be displayed and viewed as a hierarchical relationship. 4. The collaborative work space forming device according to 4. 5. The collaborative work space according to claim 4, wherein the activity recording means stores a position of a participant in the work space or a position of a screen on which a document is presented as a user interface for searching a context history. Forming equipment. 5. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said activity recording means generates information for displaying a list of context history in the form of a schedule table as a user interface for searching for context history. The activity recording means outputs the fragment of the context on the Web server in the HTML format, and registers the URL of the outputted HTML document as a schedule item corresponding to the date and time of the context in the use reservation means. The collaborative work space forming device according to claim 13, wherein The activity recording means holds a context corresponding to the date and place where the document, user, and workspace existed for each target including at least one of the document, user, and workspace, and is selected 5. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein information for displaying a list of contexts related to the selected object is selectably displayed. The activity recording means calculates the strength of the relationship between users based on the frequency of collaboration between users on the workspace, the frequency of document exchange, and the direction of document provision / provided relationship, 5. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the information for displaying the relationship strength between the users as a human network view is generated. 5. The activity recording unit generates information for obtaining a distance of similarity between contexts based on a keyword set included in a group of documents handled in each context and displaying the overhead view. Joint work space forming device. 5. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the activity recording unit outputs the context fragment in an HTML format on a Web server and records a predetermined context as a set of bookmarks. The activity recording means outputs the fragment of the context in the HTML format on the Web server, and for the ID of the electronic paper or paper document having a writable ID, the context of the context output on the Web server. 5. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein addresses of fragments are associated with each other. The activity recording means performs a context based on at least one of a set of users in a current context in which a user is placed, or a feature amount extracted from a shared document, a work place, and a date and time. 5. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein information for displaying a list is generated. The activity recording means outputs the context fragment to the Web server in the HTML format, and allows the address of the context fragment to be exchanged by transmitting / receiving as an email of an electronic mail system. 4. The collaborative work space forming device according to 4. 5. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the activity recording unit generates a discussion thread of a bulletin board system or an asynchronous discussion system in association with a context stored on the context history. 5. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the activity recording unit associates a participating user with a communication unit for the participating user with respect to an arbitrary past context stored in the context history. The activity recording means generates information for displaying information on a current context in which a user is placed with respect to a set of registered users or a set of highly related users. Item 5. A collaborative work space forming apparatus according to Item 4. 5. The collaborative work space formation according to claim 4, wherein the activity recording means generates information for changing the setting of the answering machine mode of the mobile phone possessed by the user according to the context. apparatus. 5. The collaborative work space forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said activity recording means generates information for warning an alarm when a mismatch occurs between a member of the same group and a current activity pattern of the same group. . The activity recording means extracts a feature amount by a keyword from a document group shared by each context, forms a transition vector of a time-series keyword set, and compares between a plurality of contexts. 4. The collaborative work space forming device according to 4. The service providing unit or the workspace providing unit designates a disclosure range when the service or the workspace is published on the network in advance as a set of users, and restricts use only to the designated users. The collaborative work space forming device according to claim 6. 7. The collaborative work space formation according to claim 6, wherein the service providing unit or the workspace providing unit generates information for displaying information on a user who has accessed the service or the workspace. apparatus. A workspace peer or service peer communicating in a pure peer-to-peer network detects the workspace;
A service search step for detecting a service recognized to exist in the same time zone and in the same work space;
A workspace search step for detecting a workspace recognized as existing in the same time zone and in the same workspace;
The workspace detected by the workspace search step is integrated to form a collaborative workspace, and the collaborative workspace and contents used on the collaborative workspace are detected by the service detection step. A collaborative work space forming step of making a service available in cooperation with each other. Obtaining information about a workspace detected by a workspace peer or service peer communicating in a pure peer-to-peer network;
A service search step for detecting a service recognized to exist in the same time zone and in the same work space;
A workspace search step for detecting a workspace recognized to exist in the same time zone and in the same workspace;
The workspace detected by the workspace search step is integrated to form a collaborative workspace, and the collaborative workspace and contents used on the collaborative workspace are detected by the service detection step. A program that causes a computer to execute the steps to enable use of linked services.

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