JP2007058801A - Updating notification apparatus and updating notification method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an updating notification apparatus and an updating notification method capable of notifying the updating of data in a suitable form without requiring a user to set updating notification in detail. <P>SOLUTION: The updating notification apparatus is provided with: an access history management part 102 for storing the history of user's accesses to optional data; an updating notification aim determination part 103 for determining an aim of updating notification; an updating notification part 104 for notifying the user of the updating of the data in accordance with the updating notification policy determined by the updating notification policy determination part 103; a user management part 101 for managing user's information; and a data storage part 105 for storing data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an update notification apparatus and an update notification method that improve operability.

  In recent years, with the widespread use of computers, many documents have been digitized and paperless has been progressing. In such an electronic document, in order to confirm the update of data due to the change or the like, the user has to display the document and visually check the difference from the previous use. Further, since the update operation is performed at the convenience of the electronic document provider, it is necessary to access the document many times in order to confirm the update.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a data update notification method for notifying all users who are reading the same data that the update has been performed when the database is updated and written.

JP-A-4-188343

  By the way, preferred update notification timings and the like differ depending on the user. This is because even if an electronic document update notification that is not required by the user is made, it may be troublesome.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and provides an update notification apparatus and an update notification method that can notify data update in a preferable manner without the user having to perform update notification settings one by one. The purpose is to do.

  In order to achieve the above-described object, an update notification device according to the present invention is an update notification device for notifying a user of data update, and an access history management means for holding a history of access to arbitrary data by the user. And an update notification policy determination unit that determines an update notification policy according to an analysis result of the access history held by the access history management unit, and the update notification policy determined by the update notification policy determination unit And an update notification means for notifying the user of the update of the data.

  An update notification system according to the present invention includes the update notification device and a data holding unit that holds the one or more data.

  An update notification method according to the present invention is an update notification method for notifying a user of data update, wherein an analysis step of analyzing an access history of access to arbitrary data by the user, and an analysis result in the analysis step And an update notification policy determining step for determining an update notification policy, and an update notification step for notifying the user of the update of the data in accordance with the update notification policy determined in the update notification policy determination step. It is characterized by that.

  As for the timing of update notification, not only immediately when an update is detected, it also monitors the update for a certain period and notifies the update at the start of update (or at the time of the previous browsing) and the current difference, or monitors the update for a certain period There are several things such as notification of update history. However, as described above, these setting operations including selection / setting of update target data tend to be complicated. On the other hand, in this invention, since an update notification policy is determined and notification is performed based on this determination, update notification is performed in a preferable manner without performing complicated operations.

  According to the present invention, the update notification target and the appropriate notification policy are automatically determined from the data access history without setting by the user himself / herself. Notification) can be easily obtained.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(First embodiment)
First, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a functional configuration diagram showing a functional configuration of an update notification apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration of the update notification apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 2, in the update notification device according to the first embodiment, an input device 201, an output device 202, a ROM 203, a RAM 204, a CPU 205, a recording disk 206, and a network I / F 208 are connected to each other via a bus 207. ing. The input device 201 is, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone, or the like, from which a user can access data. The output device 202 is, for example, a display or a speaker, and outputs data contents and update notification contents to the user. The ROM 203 stores a program for each process (including an update notification process) executed by the CPU 205. For example, when the CPU 205 executes a program stored in the ROM 203, the RAM 204 is used as a work area for executing the program. The CPU 205 executes the program stored in the ROM 203 as described above. The recording disk 206 is a recording medium such as a hard disk, and can add and delete data such as an electronic document. The network I / F 208 periodically receives update information of data stored in the recording disk 206 or a recording medium of an external server device. The network I / F 208 notifies an external device of an update of data stored in the recording disk 206 via a network such as a LAN. The bus 207 connects these devices to each other and is used for data transmission / reception between them.

  The functional configuration of the update notification apparatus according to the first embodiment is as shown in FIG. That is, a user management unit 101, an access history management unit 102, an update notification policy determination unit 103, an update notification unit 104, and a data holding unit 105 are provided.

  The user management unit 101 manages users who have accessed data. Based on this management information, the timing for notifying each user of an update of certain data is determined. For example, the user management unit 101 holds at least information (identifiers such as a user name) for distinguishing each user and notification destination information (notification destination address) for each user. As the notification destination information of the user, for example, when notification is made via email, an email address is used as the notification destination information.

  The access history management unit 102 manages the history of access to user data. For example, FIG. 6 is a table in which access history information of one user is recorded, and information specifying access data and access date / time information are recorded as access history information. As information for specifying data, for example, a general-purpose description method such as URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) may be used. Although the recording format and format of the history data may be arbitrary, it is necessary to be able to acquire at least the frequency and date of browsing or acquisition for the same data.

  The access history information is not managed for each user. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, the access history information is managed by a table in which identifier (ID) information for identifying the user is further recorded in the data managed by the access history management unit 102. May be. In FIG. 7, it is possible to specify which user's history each history is based on an identifier, and thus it is possible to manage a plurality of users' access histories in a mixed manner.

  The update notification policy determination unit 103 acquires an access history from the access history management unit 102 at regular intervals. The acquired access history information is analyzed for each user, and an update notification method according to the access history to the data to be updated is determined.

  The information to be analyzed here is data access frequency, time information such as day, hour and day of the week. For example, if data to be notified is frequently accessed, the user may want to obtain the information immediately after the update. In that case, a method is set to notify immediately when an update is detected. At that time, not only the detection of the update may be notified, but also the correction from the content at the previous notification may be notified in more detail. In addition, an update history from the previous browsing to the next morning is acquired and regularly notified to the accessing user at a predetermined time every morning for certain data.

  In the present embodiment, the access history is acquired at regular time intervals and the automatic setting process is started. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, processing may be started when the amount of accumulated history exceeds a specified size, or processing is started when either a certain time has elapsed or the history size has been exceeded. You may make it do.

  The update notification unit 104 notifies the user of information such as data update using an e-mail or the like using the notification method for the data determined by the update notification policy determination unit 103. In this notification, it is not always necessary to use an e-mail, and any information medium may be used as long as it is possible to notify the user of update information.

  The configuration of each unit illustrated in FIG. 1 is realized by the CPU 205 executing an update notification processing program stored in the ROM 203, for example.

  The data holding unit 105 holds data viewed by the user, that is, data to be notified to the user. The data holding unit 105 is composed of a recording disk 206, for example.

  Next, the operation of the update notification apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. FIG. 3 shows a processing procedure for determining a data update notification method for a certain user. FIG. 4 shows the procedure of a process for notifying the user of the update notification device of data update. 3 and 4, here, it is assumed that history information as shown in FIG. 6 has already been created by the access history management unit 102.

  First, the update notification policy determination process will be described. First, as illustrated in FIG. 3, in step S <b> 301, the update notification policy determination unit 103 acquires user access history information managed by the access history management unit 102. As described above, this process is started when the update notification policy determination unit 103 detects that a certain time has elapsed from the previous automatic acquisition process or that the history exceeds a certain size. Is.

  In step S302, the update notification policy determination unit 103 analyzes the history information acquired in step S301. As a result of this analysis processing, when the target user performs access exceeding a threshold number of times within a predetermined period to certain data, the process proceeds to step S303. On the other hand, if the user does not exist, the process proceeds to step S304.

  In step S303, the update notification policy determination unit 103 sets the data that has been accessed more than the threshold times in step S302 as a target to be notified to the target user. In this process, when it is determined that the user attaches importance to the data subject to the update notification and an update is detected, a setting is made so that an immediate notification is made every time an update is detected.

  In step S304, the update notification policy determination unit 103 analyzes the history information acquired in step S301. In the process of this step, it is checked whether or not there is data accessing the target user with a cycle shorter than the threshold cycle. If the corresponding data exists, the process proceeds to step S305. If it does not exist, the process ends.

  In step S305, the update notification policy determination unit 103 sets the data accessed by the target user detected in step S304 in a cycle shorter than the threshold cycle as the update notification target of the target user. In this step, the update notification process is set to be performed at intervals similar to the cycle detected in step S304.

  Note that the data extracted in step S302 and the data extracted in step S304 may be the same. In such a case, only one of the update notification policies set in step S303 or S305 may be preferentially applied, or notification may be made using both update notification policies.

  The processing from step S301 to step S305 relates to an arbitrary user. When there are a plurality of users who use the update notification device according to the present embodiment, the above-described processing is performed for the number of target users.

  Next, the update notification process will be described. As illustrated in FIG. 4, in step S <b> 401, the update notification unit 104 periodically monitors the update of data set as the update notification target by the update notification policy determination unit 103. If an update is detected, the process proceeds to step S402. If not detected, data monitoring is continuously repeated.

  In step S <b> 402, the update notification unit 104 acquires, from the update notification policy determination unit 103, user setting information set with the data detected to be updated in step S <b> 401 as an update notification target.

  In step S403, the update notification unit 104 notifies the set user that data update has been detected, based on the user setting information acquired in step S402. At this time, if the setting information is automatically set in step S303, the user is immediately notified that the update has been detected. On the other hand, if the setting information is automatically set in step S305, the notification is not made immediately, but is notified at the notification time included in the setting information. This notification time is the time when one cycle has elapsed from the previous notification time previously stored in the RAM 204.

  According to the present embodiment as described above, the update notification target data is automatically extracted from the data access history, and an appropriate notification policy is set according to the access history. Therefore, it is possible to obtain update information useful for the user without setting the update notification target and the update notification policy one by one.

  In the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the update notification unit 104 performs an update notification every time an update of one data is detected. However, the present invention is not limited to this. In the case of notification, update information of a plurality of data may be transmitted collectively.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the present embodiment, when access is not performed despite an update notification being made, the update notification processing is changed such as canceling the update notification setting or extending the notification interval. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a procedure of update notification policy determination processing by the update notification device when canceling the update notification setting according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  First, in step S501, as in step S301, the update notification policy determination unit 103 acquires an access history.

  In step S <b> 502, the update notification policy determination unit 103 acquires update notification history information from the update notification unit 104. The notification history is a history of update notification processing performed by the update notification unit 104 for the user. In the present embodiment, the update notification unit 104 manages the history of update notification processing.

  In step S503, the update notification policy determination unit 103 analyzes the access history and the notification history. In this analysis, it is investigated whether there is data that has not been accessed by the notified user for a threshold period or more from the previous notification. And when such data exists, it transfers to step S504. On the other hand, if it does not exist, the process ends. Note that it is possible to determine whether or not access is made for a notification that is not a period but a threshold number of times or more, and if access is not made, the process may move to step S504.

  In step S504, the data that has not been accessed for the threshold period or longer is removed from the notification setting for the target user by the update notification policy determination unit 103. In addition, in addition to removing, for example, when it is set to notify periodically, the setting may be changed to extend the notification interval. In addition, when it is set to notify update of a plurality of data collectively, the setting may be changed so that the order of posting at the time of creating the notification content is lowered in the plurality of data.

  In the flow shown in FIG. 5, the process of removing from the update notification target is performed alone. However, in combination with the flowchart shown in FIG. 3, the process from step S502 is performed after step S301. Thus, the notification history may be acquired in the process of automatically setting the notification target, and the data to be removed may be extracted.

  According to such a 2nd embodiment, it becomes possible to perform an update notice according to a user's use situation more.

  In these embodiments, the data to be notified exists in the recording disk 206 of the update notification device used by the user, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, as shown in FIG. 8, a network I / F 801 may be provided in the update notification device, and update of data managed by a server device on the network to which the network interface 801 is connected may be notified. In addition, a client device that can be accessed by the user may be provided on the network. The network I / F 801 periodically receives update information of data stored in the recording disk 206 or a recording medium of an external server device. The network I / F 208 notifies the external device of the update of data stored in the recording disk 206 or an external server device via a network such as a LAN.

  Further, each unit constituting the update notification apparatus does not need to be provided in the same computer or processing apparatus, and may be configured across a plurality of computers or processing apparatuses connected to each other via a network.

  In the above embodiment, the program is stored in the ROM. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be realized using any storage medium. Further, it may be realized by a circuit that performs the same operation.

  Furthermore, the present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single device. A recording medium recording software program codes for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus, and a computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus stores program codes stored in the recording medium. Needless to say, this can also be achieved by executing read. In this case, the program code itself read from the recording medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the recording medium on which the program code is recorded constitutes the present invention.

  As a recording medium for supplying the program code, for example, a flexible disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a DVD-ROM, a DVD-RAM, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, A ROM or the like can be used.

  Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS running on the computer performs actual processing based on an instruction of the program code. A case where the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized by performing part or all of the processing is also included.

  Further, after the program code read from the recording medium is written in a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion is performed based on the instruction of the program code. This includes a case where the CPU or the like provided in the board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

  That is, the embodiment of the present invention can be realized by, for example, a computer executing a program. Also, means for supplying a program to a computer, for example, a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM recording such a program, or a transmission medium such as the Internet for transmitting such a program is also applied as an embodiment of the present invention. Can do. The above program can also be applied as an embodiment of the present invention. The above program, recording medium, transmission medium, and program product are included in the scope of the present invention.

It is a functional block diagram which shows the functional structure of the update notification apparatus which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of the update notification apparatus which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the process which determines the method of a data update notification with respect to a certain user. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the process which performs the update notification of the data with respect to the user of an update notification apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the update notification policy determination process in the case of canceling | releaseing the update notification setting in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the history information of data access. It is a figure which shows another example of the history information of data access. It is a figure which shows the usage condition of an update notification apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

101: User management unit 102: Access history management unit 103: Update notification policy determination unit 104: Update notification unit 105: Data holding unit 201: Input device 202: Output device 203: ROM
204: RAM
205: CPU
206: Recording disk 207: Bus 801: Network interface

Claims (9)

An update notification device for notifying a user of data update,
Access history management means for holding a history of access to arbitrary data by the user;
An update notification policy determining means for determining an update notification policy in accordance with an analysis result of the access history held by the access history management means;
Update notification means for notifying the user of the update of the data in accordance with the update notification policy determined by the update notification policy determination means;
An update notification device comprising:   The update notification apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a user management unit that manages the user information.   The update notification policy determination means acquires the number of times the user has accessed each data from the access history, determines data that has been accessed exceeding the threshold number of times within a certain period as an update notification target, and detects an update. The update notification device according to claim 1, wherein a policy is set so as to be notified each time it is performed.   The update notification policy determining means obtains information about when the user accesses each data from the access history, determines data that is regularly accessed over a certain threshold period as an update notification target, 4. The update notification apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a policy is set so as to periodically notify an update based on the access cycle.   The update notification policy determination means is configured to notify the update of the data determined as the update notification target for a predetermined number of times or periodically for a predetermined period, but the user subsequently accesses the data. 5. The update notification device according to claim 1, wherein the policy is changed so that the data is not notified to the user when the data is not received. The update notification device according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
Data holding means for holding the one or more data;
An update notification system characterized by comprising: An update notification method for notifying a user of data update,
An analysis step of analyzing an access history in which the user accessed arbitrary data;
An update notification policy determination step for determining an update notification policy according to the analysis result in the analysis step;
An update notification step of notifying the user of an update of the data in accordance with the update notification policy determined in the update notification policy determination step;
An update notification method characterized by comprising: A program for causing a user to notify a computer of data update,
In the computer,
An analysis procedure for analyzing an access history in which the user accessed arbitrary data;
An update notification policy determination procedure for determining an update notification policy according to the analysis result in the analysis procedure;
An update notification procedure for notifying the user of the update of the data in accordance with the update notification policy determined in the update notification policy determination procedure;
A program characterized by having executed.   9. A computer-readable recording medium on which the program according to claim 8 is recorded.

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