JP2011096223A - Apparatus for business consultation and management - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus for business consultation and management that has high operability and can smoothly perform operations related to the development or to the intellectual property right. <P>SOLUTION: The apparatus for business consultation and management includes at least one client and a server. The client has an operation means for inputting and operating a business theme, a business schedule, a business consultation, and the result of the consultation, and a display means for displaying at least one of screens, including a business theme display screen, a business data display screen, a business schedule display screen, and a business consultation display screen. The server has storage means for storing a plurality of business themes, business data corresponding to each of the business themes, the business schedule, and the business consultation, and a control means for generating an image to be displayed on the display means by processing database stored in the storage means based on an operation inputted from the operation means. The business consultation includes information on the intellectual property right. With the configuration, the existing problems are solved. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a business consultation management apparatus that manages business consultations input from a plurality of operators.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to efficiently develop products and the like, there is an apparatus that creates a database on a server that can be accessed from a plurality of clients and shares information. For example, in Patent Document 1, work such as product development having a plurality of work steps is managed through a network in which each terminal is connected to each other via a communication line. With a server that provides a schedule file that describes the schedule of steps, and a collaborative work cooperation software that executes on a terminal, acquires a schedule file, and displays work items to be performed in each work step based on this, The work management system to be realized is described.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a means for accepting idea information indicating an idea proposed by a developer as a system for performing a schedule management from an idea proposal to application, and whether or not to proceed with application preparation for the idea information. A means for setting a time limit for approval, a means for accepting the approval, and a notification for notifying the approver who makes the approval when the approval is not made by the time limit. And an idea management system comprising means.

  In addition, Patent Document 3 extracts processes for which processes have scheduled start and end dates within a certain period, projects whose schedule dates have passed but have not been implemented, from the process management file, e-mail, homepage Warning with. As for costs, there is a process management method that calculates the cost outlook at the end of the project from the cost management file and project system file, extracts projects that do not fall within a certain range with the target cost, and alerts them via e-mail and website Are listed. Further, Patent Document 4 includes an input unit that inputs a plan change of an arbitrary target in a project, a target estimation unit that estimates a target affected by the input of the plan change, and the estimated target Project change management, comprising: a party estimation unit that estimates a related party, and a notification unit that notifies the party estimated by the party estimation unit of information related to the effect of the changed plan content An apparatus is described.

JP 2002-149754 A JP 2001-331621 A JP 2004-326475 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-240486

  By using the apparatus described in Patent Document 1 and sharing information, development can be performed efficiently. However, the apparatus described in Patent Document 1 is not high in operability because the information collected in one apparatus is merely confirmed at each terminal. In addition, although the device described in Patent Literature 1 describes that the development schedule and data related to the development are shared, there is no description about the relationship between the development and the business related to the intellectual property right. .

  Patent Document 2 is an idea management system in which an inventor proposes an idea, obtains approval, and submits an application. However, there is an approval work by the administrator, and the consultation and approval of the invention are performed separately. Wasteful in terms of work and work. Further, since the system described in Patent Document 2 is specialized in patent acquisition work, it is necessary to construct a system separately from the development system such as Patent Document 1. Therefore, it is necessary for the proposer to perform different processes in a plurality of systems, and the trouble of the operator who makes the proposal becomes complicated and it is difficult to promote the use.

  Further, as in Patent Document 3 and Patent Document 4, if a predetermined condition is satisfied, notification of necessary person in charge makes it possible to know expiration date management and whether or not there is an update. However, even in these apparatuses, it is necessary for the proposer to perform separate processes in a plurality of systems, and the trouble of the operator who makes the proposal becomes complicated, and it is difficult to promote the use.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a business consultation management apparatus that has high operability and can smoothly perform business related to development and intellectual property rights.

  In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, the present invention provides a business theme, a business schedule, a business consultation, an operation means for inputting and operating a review result for the business consultation, a business theme display screen, and a business material display. At least one client having display means for displaying at least one of a screen, a business schedule display screen, and a business consultation display screen, a plurality of business themes, business materials corresponding to each business theme, a business schedule, A storage unit that stores business consultation and a server that includes a control unit that processes a database stored in the storage unit and generates an image to be displayed on the display unit based on an operation input to the operation unit. The business consultation includes information related to intellectual property rights.

  Here, it is preferable that the client and the server are connected via a communication line.

  Preferably, the server includes a plurality of clients, and the server is provided integrally with one of the plurality of clients.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the said control means searches the said database based on the search conditions input by the said operation means, extracts applicable business consultation, and displays the extracted business consultation on a display means.

  The search condition is preferably at least one of the business theme, the business material, the business schedule, and the content of the business consultation.

  In addition, when the business consultation is input or updated, the control unit preferably displays a message notifying that the business consultation has been input or updated on a set display unit.

  Further, the control means inputs a design change of a product being developed based on the business theme, or if a design change of the product is updated, the design change of the product is input to a set display means, or the design of the product It is preferable to display a message notifying that has been updated.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the said work schedule contains the schedule regarding at least one of a patent application and a design application.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the said business theme has an item which can input the information regarding an intellectual property as a related item.

  Furthermore, it is preferable to have a search means for extracting a business consultation based on the input search condition.

  The search condition is preferably at least one of a character, a symbol, a figure, and a pattern.

  Further, the control means detects a planned date and time and an end date and time inputted in the work schedule, determines a progress status based on a difference between the detected planned date and time and the end date and time, and determines the determined progress status Depending on the, the color for displaying the business theme is changed, and / or the notation such as early, late, normal, stop, etc., symbol, character (including pictograph), figure, pattern, photo, picture, video, audio In addition, it is preferable that the information is displayed visually and easily. In addition, by notifying the progress status by voice, it is possible to appropriately grasp the status even when a visually impaired person operates.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the said business theme has the item which inputs the rank of importance. Furthermore, it is preferable that at least one of the contents of the meeting and the matters determined at the meeting can be input as the business theme. Note that the conference includes an electronic conference that is performed using a communication line in addition to a normal face-to-face conference.

  In addition, the database stores information on intellectual property rights and information on the target technology of the business theme, and the control means determines the target technology of the business theme based on the information on the intellectual property right. It is preferable to display a map for comparing information related to intellectual property.

  In addition, the database includes at least one of a technical research, application progress information, know-how information, and other person application information, which is information related to the development status of a product that is a target technology of a business theme and intellectual property rights, The control means switches the display position of the information stored in the database between the development progress status and the information related to the intellectual property right, and arranges the display in time series. It is preferable to display on the means.

  In addition, the database includes information on intellectual property rights, information on technologies subject to business themes, progress in the development of products that are subject to business themes, and information on intellectual property rights. , At least one of application progress information, know-how information, and other party application information is stored, and the control means is based on information on the intellectual property rights and information on the subject technology of the business theme and intellectual property The display means switches the display position of the information stored in the database and the information stored in the database by switching the display position between the development progress status and the information related to the intellectual property rights, and displays the images in the time series. It is preferable to display.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the control means further calculates at least one of the number of times of the business consultation and the accumulated time of the business consultation and displays the calculation result.

  Further, the control means may calculate an evaluation of the target technology of the business theme based on at least one of the calculated number of times of the business consultation and the accumulated time of the business consultation and a preset criterion. preferable.

  Further, the control means calculates a high evaluation score when at least one of the number of times of the business consultation and the accumulated time of the business consultation is larger than a reference value, and lowers the evaluation score when it is less than the reference value. It is preferable to calculate.

  Further, the control means compares at least one time transition of the number of times of the business consultation and the accumulated time of the business consultation with a reference value, and determines at least the number of times of the business consultation and the accumulated time of the business consultation. A feature point is detected from one increase / decrease, and at least one display area of the number of times of the business consultation at the time of the feature point and the accumulated time of the business consultation is displayed on the display means in a display format different from the other part. It is preferable to make it.

  The control means compares at least one of the number of times of the business consultation and the accumulated time of the business consultation with a reference value, calculates the difficulty level of the business theme, and displays the calculation result as the display It is preferable to display on the means.

  Further, the control means compares at least one of the number of times of the business consultation and the accumulated time of the business consultation with a reference value, determines a progress speed of the business theme with respect to the reference value, and calculates It is preferable to display the speed of the progress on the display means as at least one of a picture, a photograph, and a moving image.

  Further, the business consultation is preferably a request for examination of an application or a business consultation about whether to continue or abandon the right.

  The business consultation management apparatus according to the present invention can share information with a simple operation, and has the effect of being able to smoothly perform business related to development and intellectual property rights. In addition, by making it possible to input business consultations, information can be exchanged for each item, and the exchange results can be left for each business theme.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an example of a business consultation management apparatus. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of a server and a client of the business consultation management apparatus shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between each department having a client and a schedule. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example in which a business theme having the schedule and business consultation shown in FIG. 3 is displayed on the screen. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on the display unit. FIG. 6A is an explanatory diagram of an example of a screen displayed on the display unit. FIG. 6B is an explanatory diagram of an example of a screen displayed on the display unit. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on the display unit. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on the display unit. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on the display unit. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on the display unit. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on the display unit. FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on the display unit. FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on the display unit. FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on the display unit. FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on the display unit. FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on the display unit. FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on the display unit. FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on the display unit. FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on the display unit.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to the following description. In addition, constituent elements in the following description include those that can be easily assumed by those skilled in the art, those that are substantially the same, and those in a so-called equivalent range. In the following, a business consultation management apparatus including a plurality of clients and one server as an example of a business consultation management apparatus will be described as an example. However, an application target of the present invention is that one client of a plurality of clients has a server function. It may be configured. Moreover, it is sufficient if it has a client and a server, and other configurations can be added and removed as necessary.

  Hereinafter, the configuration of the business consultation management apparatus 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. Here, FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an example of the business consultation management apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a server and a client of the business consultation management apparatus illustrated in FIG.

  The business consultation management apparatus 10 includes a plurality of clients 12, a server 14, a WAN (Wide Area Network) 16, a document search system 18, a firewall 20, the Internet 22, an external client 24, and an external document search system 26. And have.

  The client 12 is an information terminal through which a user who uses the business consultation management apparatus 10 inputs information, searches, and browses, and is configured by a personal computer (PC) or the like. The detailed configuration of the client 12 will be described later in detail.

  The server 14 processes information based on a control instruction (request) transmitted from the client 12 and transmits a processing result to the client 12. The configuration of the server 14 will be described in detail later. The client 12 and the server 14 are connected to each other in a closed space such as in the same site or building, and the client 12 and the server 14 are connected by a LAN.

  The WAN 16 is a wide area communication network, and connects LANs (Local Area Networks) located at geographically distant points using a telephone line or a dedicated line. The WAN 16 is a closed communication network and is a communication network that exchanges data between specific information terminals.

  The document search system 18 is a search system connected to the WAN 16. The document retrieval system 18 stores technical documents related to business such as patent documents, design gazettes, papers, etc., and retrieves stored technical documents based on instructions input from the client 12 or the server 14. The search result is sent to the client 12 or the server 14. Specifically, the client 12 and the server 14 input an announcement date (date and time of publication), a keyword, a technical field, a presenter (inventor, a person who created a design) and the like as search conditions, and a document search system. 18 detects a technical document that matches the search condition from the stored technical documents, and sends information of the detected technical document to the client 12 or the server 14. At this time, as technical document information to be sent to the client 12 or the server 14, technical document data may be transmitted. However, technical information such as a technical document number may be transmitted. You may make it send only a part, such as a summary part of literature.

  The firewall 20 is disposed between the WAN 16 and the Internet 22, and is a system that prevents entry from the outside (information terminal disposed in the WAN 16) into the WAN 16 network via the Internet 22.

  The Internet 22 is a communication network that connects information terminals on a computer network. The Internet 22 is connected to an external client 24 and an external document search system 26, and is connected to the client 12, the server 14, and the document search system 18 in the WAN 16 through the firewall 20. The Internet 22 exchanges data between connected information terminals.

  The external client 24 is an information terminal connected to the Internet 22, performs authentication such as password input, and exchanges information with the server 14 and the client 12 connected to the WAN 16 via the firewall 22.

  The external patent search system 26 is a search system connected to the Internet 22, and similarly to the document search system 18, stores patent documents, design gazettes, papers, and other technical literature related to business, and stores the client. Based on the instruction input from the server 12 or the server 14, the stored technical literature is searched, and the search result is sent to the client 12 or the server 14. As the external patent search system 26, for example, there is a patent electronic library of the Patent Office.

  Next, the configuration of the client 12 and the server 14 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the client 12 includes a client main body 30, an operation unit 32, and a display unit 34.

  The client main body 30 is a device having various processing functions, and includes a control unit 40, a storage unit 42, an input detection unit 44, an image generation unit 46, and a communication unit 48. The control unit 40 is a processing device such as a CPU, and exchanges information among the storage unit 42, the input detection unit 44, the image generation unit 46, and the communication unit 48, and controls the operation of each unit.

  The storage unit 42 is a hard disk, ROM (Read Only Memory), or RAM (Random Access Memory), and stores data and various programs driven by the control unit 40. The control unit 40 reads out the data and programs stored in the storage unit 42, thereby processing various data and executing the programs to start the software.

  The input detection unit 44 detects an operation input to the operation unit 32 and sends the detected input operation to the control unit 40. The image generation unit 46 generates image data to be displayed on the display unit 34 based on the data sent from the control unit 40, and sends the generated image data to the display unit 34. The communication unit 48 is connected to other clients 12, the server 14, and the Internet 22 via the LAN and / or WAN 16, and transmits / receives data.

  Next, the operation unit 32 is an input mechanism through which an operator inputs an operation, and includes a keyboard 32a and a mouse 32b. The operation unit 32 detects operations such as pressing of the keyboard 32 a and / or movement and pressing (that is, click) of the mouse 32 b by the operator, and sends the detected operations to the input detection unit 44.

  The display unit 34 is a display mechanism that displays an image based on the image signal generated by the image generation unit 46. As the display unit 34, various display mechanisms such as a liquid crystal display, an organic EL display, and a cathode ray tube monitor can be used.

  The server 14 includes a control unit 50, a storage unit 52, and a communication unit 54. The control unit 50 is a processing device such as a CPU, and exchanges information between the storage unit 52 and the communication unit 54 to control the operation of each unit. The storage unit 52 is a hard disk, ROM (Read Only Memory), or RAM (Random Access Memory), and stores data and various programs driven by the control unit 50. The control unit 50 reads out the data and programs stored in the storage unit 52, thereby processing various data and executing the programs to activate the software. The communication unit 54 is connected to the client 12 and the Internet 22 via the LAN and / or WAN 16 to transmit and receive data. The business consultation management device 10 is configured as described above.

  Here, software for managing business consultation is stored and activated in the control unit 50 and the storage unit 52 of the server 14 of the business consultation management apparatus 10. The business consultation management software will be described below. The business consultation management software has a business theme management function, a business material management function, a schedule management function, a business consultation management function, and the like.

  The control unit 50 starts the business consultation management software to manage the data input from the client 12 by the operator, the data acquired from the patent search system, and the data acquired from the outside. Business schedule) management, business data management, business consultation management.

  Here, the business theme is a business unit set by the operator, and is set for each product, each field, or the like. In addition, various information (items) can be input to the business theme as information on each business theme (information added to the business theme). For example, the person in charge of the business theme, the development process, the release date, the reference number, the product name, the content of the product, the content of the technology, and information on the application. The business theme management function of the control unit 50 manages information (data) for each business theme, and notifies the person in charge of the business theme of various information based on the setting.

  The business material management function is a function for storing information on associated materials for each business theme in the storage unit 52 and managing the relationship between the business theme and the business material. Here, examples of the business materials include texts, drawings, patent documents related to the developed product, papers, and the like that describe the developed product.

  The schedule management function is a function for managing a product development schedule, an intellectual property right procedure schedule, and the like. For example, the date and time when a product development plan was submitted (registered), the date and time when a prototype was planned to be developed, the date and time when a prototype was actually created, the date and time when it was scheduled to be released, etc. Save and manage the date and time when each process was actually completed.

  The business consultation management function is a function for managing comments registered by the operator. For example, when a question comment is input, the control unit 50 notifies other related operators that the comment has been input. When the operator who is notified of the comment inputs the comment of the answer to the notified comment, the comment of the answer is answered to the operator who has input the comment of the question. The comment is input from the client 12. The business consultation management function of the control unit 50 stores and manages the input comments (business consultation).

  The business consultation management software also has a search function for searching information managed by these various functions based on a search condition input by the operator.

  Hereinafter, the operation of the control unit 50 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between each department having a client and the schedule, and FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example in which the business theme having the schedule and the business consultation shown in FIG. 3 is displayed on the screen. is there. In the example shown below, the client 12 is installed in each of the product planning department, the design department, the intellectual property department, the factory, and the experiment department, and operation instructions can be input in each department, and the business consultation management software The screen can be displayed. In addition, it is assumed that each unit performs an operation for one business theme. Further, in the display example of the screen shown in FIG. 4, the business consultation and the schedule are displayed in time series.

  First, in order to develop a product as one business theme, as shown in Fig. 3, the product planning department creates a plan, the design department designs and improves the product, and the intellectual property department leads. A technical survey is conducted, a prototype is produced in the factory, and a primary test is conducted in the experimental department. As described above, the process performed in each unit is set at the start of development, and development is performed according to the schedule. The control unit 50 manages the input schedule so that the schedule of each process can be displayed in time series as shown in FIG. Specifically, when the delivery date of the product design plan is February 10, 2XX9, as shown in FIG. 4, “Design Department Product Design Plan 2XX9.2.10” is displayed on the display screen. In addition, when the information which each process completed is input, you may make it display an end date in each process. Further, both the scheduled date and time and the end date and time may be displayed.

  Further, in each part, when a comment (business consultation) is input from each part in relation to the process, the business consultation and the process are displayed in correspondence with each other. Specifically, when the product planning department inputs a comment A to be notified to other departments at the stage of the planning proposal, the control section 50 displays the comment A on the relevant part of the business theme. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the design department inputs a comment B related to the product design proposal, the intellectual property department inputs a comment C related to the patent search, and the design department relates to the product improvement proposal. The comment D is input, the factory inputs the comment E related to the prototype, the experimental unit inputs the comment F related to the primary test, and the control unit 50 inputs the comment to each process. Is displayed. In the example shown in FIG. 4, since an instruction to display the comment C is input by the client 12, the details of the comment C are “There is other company's prior art. . "Is displayed.

  Here, in the above embodiment, the schedule related to development is mainly described as the schedule. However, in parallel with this development, a schedule for acquiring intellectual property rights, for example, an application meeting schedule and an application schedule can be input. You may do it. In addition, when an application is filed, it is preferable to display the scheduled date when the application is published, the deadline for which priority application is possible, and the like as a schedule.

  As described above, in the business consultation management device 10, in addition to the development status of each unit, information related to intellectual property rights and business consultation (comments) can be input from a client such as the intellectual property unit, It becomes possible to share information on intellectual property rights during development. Here, information on intellectual property rights is information necessary for business consultation, and is generated from information on intellectual property rights, development work, etc. that are subject to judgment on whether work (for example, development) is hindered. Intellectual property information. In other words, it is information on the intellectual property rights of others that can be a hindrance to development, and information on intellectual property rights that have been invented (or devised, created, selected, produced). Therefore, what is simply displayed, for example, a registered trademark included in a product name to indicate an object, a copyrighted work of a photograph published in a product catalog, or a cited newspaper article, etc. Things are not included in the information on intellectual property rights. The information on intellectual property rights includes not only information on patents, designs, trademarks, and copyrighted works, but also information on the Unfair Competition Prevention Law such as trade secrets. As a result, it is possible to develop a product while clearly grasping the intellectual property right and the state of the intellectual property right in the obstacle of product development. In addition, in the department that handles intellectual property such as the Intellectual Property Department, while knowing the progress of product development, the shape and capabilities of the product, Patent avoidance work can be performed. In addition, since it is possible to grasp the announcement date of the developed product, the design change of the developed product, and the like, it is possible to easily plan the schedule for acquiring intellectual property rights such as an application plan. As a result, it is possible to more smoothly develop business related to intellectual property rights and product development.

  Further, since each client 12 can browse information, it is possible to share information without having a meeting or meeting. Thereby, work efficiency can be made higher and work can be advanced smoothly. In addition, a single business consultation management device 10 can simultaneously manage two processes related to development and processes related to intellectual property rights. Thereby, the management of the development process and the management of the intellectual property right can be performed at a time. In addition, since the user only needs to input information to one device, the input effort can be reduced.

  In addition, by making the external client 24 accessible, information can be shared with external companies, universities, research institutions, and patent offices, and joint research and joint development can be performed efficiently. In addition, various contracts and patent documents can be exchanged smoothly.

  Also, as shown in Fig. 4, by displaying the schedule in chronological order, it is easier to grasp the progress of the development process, intellectual property work process, and when and when the person in charge should work. can do. In addition, it can be confirmed whether there is no contradiction in the order of the development process and the intellectual property business process. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the business theme is displayed in time series. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and data may be displayed with various screen configurations as necessary.

  In the example shown in FIG. 4, the image shows only the correspondence between the schedule and the comment. However, the display method of the process registered as the schedule is not limited to this. Here, FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on the display unit. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the horizontal axis may be a time axis, the time scale may be displayed in units of months, and the period of each process may be displayed in accordance with the time axis using arrows. Here, in FIG. 5, “Product design plan creation”, “Product A design plan”, “Product A prototype”, “Product A change”, “Product A design plan prior art survey 1st time”, “Product A”. The period of each process of “design plan prior art search” and “patent application”, and the timing of “product A approval” (the end of the “product A change” process) are shown. Thus, schedule management can be facilitated by displaying each process along the time axis. In addition, when a plurality of business units (persons in charge) are working in parallel (in the embodiment, “Product A design plan” creation and “Product A design plan prior art survey first time”), each business unit Can recognize this and facilitate the exchange of information and the operation of horizontal meetings.

  Moreover, the arrow which shows each process has changed the color displayed according to whether the person in charge who performs a process was updated, or the process was complete | finished. In this way, by switching the color of the arrow, the operator can easily recognize the change point, the process with which the operator is involved, and the progress of the process.

  Further, it is preferable that the business consultation management apparatus 10 displays a business consultation related to the process indicated by the arrow when the various arrow portions shown in FIG. 5 are designated by the operator. In this case, it may be displayed by blowing or may be displayed by switching the screen. Thus, by displaying the business consultation, it is possible to easily grasp the relationship between each process and the business consultation.

  In FIG. 5, an example is shown in which a schedule up to the application is displayed, but the present invention is not limited to this. The business consultation management device 10 may display the progress until the intellectual property right is granted or until the expiration of the lifetime, and also displays the progress until the sale of the product and the progress until the end of the sale. You may do it. This will be described below with reference to FIGS. 6-1 and 6-2. Here, FIGS. 6A and 6B are explanatory diagrams illustrating an example of a screen displayed on the display unit. 6A and 6B, the horizontal axis is the time axis, and the period of each process is indicated by the arrow along the time axis, as in FIG. In addition, FIGS. 6A and 6B are connected to a time axis, and FIG. 6B shows the transition of each process after the time of FIG.

  As shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the business consultation management apparatus 10 can separately display a process relating to development and a process relating to intellectual property rights. Specifically, the business consultation management apparatus 10 performs the steps relating to development as “Product Planning Plan A Diagram”, “Design Planning B Diagram”, “Design Decision”, “Prototype Start”, “Specification Change”, “Mass Production Prototype”. ”,“ Announcement ”, and“ release ”processes are displayed in chronological order. In addition, the business consultation management device 10 performs processes related to intellectual property rights, such as “patent design search”, “patent design search”, “patent design application examination”, “application completion”, “knowledge storage”, “reconsideration of application again” ”,“ Specification creation ”,“ application completion ”,“ request for examination ”, and“ patent registration ”are displayed in time series. In addition, as a process related to intellectual property rights, the business consultation management device 10 is related to products such as “consultation for discovery of information on disability patents for other companies” and “information provision completion watching” in addition to information relating to its own intellectual property rights. Display information related to the intellectual property rights of others. Further, the business consultation management device 10 performs a process related to development, a process related to intellectual property rights, such as “specification change” of “2XX9.10.1” shown in FIG. In relation to related processes, the relation is displayed by arrows.

  As shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the business consultation management apparatus 10 is a process (technical research, application progress information, know-how information, etc.) from the start of development to release or acquisition of intellectual property rights. By recording and managing the applicant application information etc. in one database, the relationship between the product and the intellectual property right can be grasped more clearly. In addition, the business consultation management device 10 manages the process of acquiring its own intellectual property rights related to the product and the process of the rights of others, and displays them on a single image in chronological order. , The relationship between products and intellectual property rights can be understood more clearly.

  Here, in FIG. 5, FIG. 6-1 and FIG. 6-2, each development process (or information) related to one product and each process (or information) related to intellectual property rights are displayed in time series. Although the case has been described, the present invention is not limited to this. The business consultation management apparatus 10 may arrange and display information input by the user as information relating to intellectual property rights. Hereinafter, a description will be given with reference to FIG. Here, FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on the display unit.

  First, the business consultation management device 10 applies to an application (patent application, design application, utility model application) extracted as an application related to the product as information related to the intellectual property right by the user. , Technical level, information indicating the characteristics of the application, and the like are input. In addition, the business consultation management apparatus 10 also receives information at each point of the product being developed by the user. The business consultation management apparatus 10 displays the map shown in FIG. 7 when an instruction to display a map for technology comparison is input in a state where these pieces of information are input. Here, the screen shown in FIG. 7 is a map in which the vertical axis represents the technical level and the horizontal axis represents the filing date. In the map shown in FIG. 7, the characteristic technology of each application is displayed at a position corresponding to the application date and the technology level. Note that the map shown in FIG. 7 is a product characterized by the shape of a specific part, and the shape of the specific part described in each document is displayed on the map. Also, (1), (2), and (3) in the map shown in FIG. 7 are numbers assigned to each applicant. That is, in the map shown in FIG. 7, three (three companies) applicants have applied for applications to be compared.

  Moreover, the mark of the tire displayed on the map of FIG. 7 is the shape of the applicable part of own goods. In the map shown in FIG. 7, the shape of “product A” is developed at “2XX0.1.1,” and the design is changed to “product B” after “2XX0.9.1”.

  In addition, the business consultation management device 10 can input the relationship between each application and the product. For example, it can be entered whether the product infringes the right or is a close technology. Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the business consultation management device 10 can display the relationship between each input application and the product on the map with an arrow or the like. In this manner, the relationship between each application and the product can be input and displayed on the map, thereby making it easy to grasp the relationship between each application and the product. That is, it is possible to grasp the technology to be avoided and the technology in which the closest technology is described in the application. Moreover, the business consultation management apparatus 10 may change the display method according to the relationship between the application and the product. For example, an arrow indicating a product from a document that is input as possibly infringing may be red, and an arrow indicating a product from a document that is input as a close technology may be yellow. This makes it easy to grasp the relationship between the application and the product.

  In this way, by displaying the target application input as information on intellectual property rights and the technology developed by itself on the map in chronological order, the product and the target application, that is, the technology, are displayed. Can be easily compared. Such a simple comparison makes it possible to smoothly carry out development and acquisition of intellectual property rights. Further, by simply displaying the relationship between the time series and the technical level input by the user on a map, comparison with each application is facilitated. Specifically, it becomes easy to determine whether the design change is difficult or easy. As a result, the degree of difficulty can be predicted even when a design change is made, and development can be performed smoothly. Further, even in the case of intellectual property right acquisition work, it becomes easy to grasp the possibility of acquisition and the range of acquisition. In addition, it becomes easy to grasp information necessary for the acquisition, for example, examples described in the specification.

  In addition, by creating a map for each product in this way, it is possible to easily use the map when developing similar products. As a result, it is possible to suppress the same examination from being repeated a plurality of times, and it is possible to smoothly perform operations relating to product development and operations relating to intellectual property rights.

  Here, the technical level is an item that is recognized (determined) and input by the user, and can be used on various standards. For example, a technology that is easy to avoid can be set to a low technology level, and a technology that is difficult to avoid can be set to a high technology level. A technology with high similarity can be set to a high technology level, and a technology with low similarity can be set to a low technology level. In addition, the technical level can be set according to the technical level necessary for realizing the technology. For example, in the map shown in FIG. 7, level 1 is easy to avoid infringement, level 2 is avoidable and can be commercialized, level 3 is possible, but the product value is reduced. By avoiding level 4, the product value is lost. Level 5 can be set as a technology that is difficult to avoid and is so serious that it must be abandoned.

  In the above embodiment, an image (for example, a drawing) of a characteristic part of each application is displayed on the map. However, an identification symbol may be displayed or an application number may be displayed. . Even when only the identification symbol is displayed, it is possible to know at which point in time and which technical level the application has been filed, so that each operation can proceed smoothly.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the business consultation management device 10 displays various information of the application when the application on the map is designated or the cursor is set. By displaying detailed information, each application can be easily grasped.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the business consultation management apparatus 10 displays the right information of each application classified by color. For example, it is preferable that an application whose rights have expired be blue, an application that is ongoing at the JPO is yellow, and an application whose rights are still present is red. This makes it easy to grasp whether the subject application is a problem at the right-granting stage or at the implementation stage.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although it was set as the case where the shape (namely, design) of a certain part was compared, it is not limited to this, A map is shown with respect to various techniques, such as an apparatus, a structure, a chemical substance, and a manufacturing method. Can be created. In the above embodiment, the application for comparison is an application. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and various intellectual property rights such as trademarks, service marks, and copyrights can be compared. For example, if the product forms are similar, the product form of another person can be used as a comparison target from the viewpoint of the Unfair Competition Prevention Law. Moreover, it is preferable that the business consultation management apparatus 10 creates a map for each theme to be compared. In this way, by creating a map for each theme even for one product or business theme, it is possible to easily compare the corresponding technologies. Moreover, it can suppress that there are too many prior arts and it becomes difficult to see when it shows on a chart. The theme may be arbitrarily set by the user, or the theme may be classified in advance by the apparatus.

  Further, the business consultation management apparatus 10 may display a business consultation input as one business theme on a tree. That is, one business consultation and an exchange for the theme may be displayed on the tree. In this case, the title, the input person and the input time may be displayed. Further, the business consultation management device 10 may display a business theme and business consultation related to each product for each product. By displaying business themes related to a product collectively, it is possible to collect and acquire information necessary for the product. Conversely, products corresponding to the business theme may be displayed. Thereby, the user can grasp the product related to the business theme.

  Here, it is preferable that the business consultation management apparatus 10 notifies the related department and the person in charge of the details when the content of the business theme, the schedule, the business material, etc. are updated or newly registered. In this way, by notifying that various information such as business theme, schedule, business consultation, etc. has been updated and newly registered, the corresponding department and person in charge can respond in a shorter time. Specifically, the person in charge can know that the product schedule has been changed, the design has been changed, and the target document has changed, and can respond quickly. For example, when the shipment and announcement of the product are accelerated, it is possible to deal with the intellectual property acquisition business more quickly.

  Further, it is preferable that the business consultation management device 10 notifies a related department or person in charge when a change in the design of the product is input or when the design of the product is updated. In this way, when a design change is detected, notification is made so that if an operator forgets to enter a business consultation or if there is an omission of communication, the parties concerned can make a design change quickly. In accordance with the change, it is possible to change the production plan, change the plan of the intellectual property acquisition business, for example, increase the number of patent applications, and more quickly. Specifically, by notifying the person in charge, the person in charge can notice the design change, compare the product with the design change with the prior art, and the product with the design change made. It is possible to quickly determine whether the product infringes on the patent rights of others. Thereby, it can suppress that the delay of a response | compatibility generate | occur | produces. In addition, by notifying the design change, the person in charge of the intellectual property right can examine patent applications and design applications regarding the technology related to the design change. Thereby, even if the developer forgets to apply, work related to the application work and business consultation can be performed from the person in charge of the intellectual property right, and forgetting to apply can be suppressed.

  In addition, when a business consultation is input to a specific department (person in charge), the business consultation management apparatus 10 notifies the client 12 of the department corresponding to the business consultation that the business consultation has been input. Is preferred. In addition, as a notification method, you may display that there was notification on a screen, and you may make it output and notify from the client 12. FIG. Hereinafter, an example of business consultation will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. Here, FIGS. 8 and 9 are explanatory diagrams illustrating examples of screens displayed on the display unit, respectively. The screens of FIGS. 8 and 9 are screens that display only items related to business consultation without displaying information related to the schedule.

  FIG. 8 shows an example in which the technical department A inputs a business consultation to the intellectual property department. In the example shown in Fig. 8, first, the engineering department A made a business consultation as follows: "A product proposal has been changed so as not to conflict with the prior design and the prior patent. The invention is also attached. I want to do it, "and attach two technical documents (drawings and texts) to the business consultation. This technical material is managed by the business material management function, and is stored in association with the business theme, registration date and time, business consultation, and the like. In this state, the response content shown in FIG. 8 is blank.

  As described above, when the business consultation is input by the A technical department, the control unit 50 notifies the intellectual property department that the consultation has been input. The intellectual property department recognizes that the consultation has been input by the notification, examines the content of the consultation, and inputs the examination result as an answer. In the example shown in FIG. 8, “Request a patent search to supplier A. Design requests supplier B. The delivery date is scheduled to be 2XX9.2.20” is entered. When the business consultation (in this case, an answer to the request) is input by the intellectual property department as described above, the control unit 50 notifies the A technical department that the business consultation has been input. Thereby, the A technical department can know the answer to the request.

  Next, FIG. 9 shows an example in which the intellectual property department inputs a business consultation to the A technical department. First of all, the Intellectual Property Department consulted as “Business Attached Patent. (Publication 0000-00000) Patentable. There are no similar designs. Please attach a draft claim. Please consider. ”And attach two technical documents (prior patent and claim proposal) to the business consultation. In this state, the response content shown in FIG. 9 is blank.

  As described above, when the business consultation is input by the intellectual property unit, the control unit 50 notifies the A technical unit that the consultation has been input. The technical department A recognizes that the consultation has been inputted by the notification, examines the content of the consultation, and inputs the examination result as an answer. In the example shown in FIG. 9, the user inputs “Correct a complaint and added an example. Submit it to the meeting. When the business consultation (in this case, an answer to the request) is input by the A technical department in this way, the control unit 50 notifies the intellectual property department that the business consultation has been input. As a result, the intellectual property department can know the response to the request.

  In this way, by using the business consultation request device 10, the business can be advanced without actually meeting and having a meeting. In addition, the notification allows the relevant person to know that the business consultation has been input without always checking the contents. In addition, by making it possible to attach business materials, it is possible to save time and labor for searching for other materials. In addition, by managing the business consultation, the control unit 50 can know the exchange of information other than the relevant person, systematically know the information related to the business theme, and share necessary information. Can do.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, it was set as the example which described the comment about the relationship (search results, such as a prior art in the above example) between a prior art document and development products as business consultation (comment) related to intellectual property rights. However, for business consultations related to intellectual property rights, whether it is necessary to apply (for example, whether to apply for a patent or know-how), whether there is a patentability, documents and information that are assumed to be an obstacle at that time Information such as the presence, necessity, early publication, preferential examination procedure, secret design application, timing, license information, invention evaluation information, comments from the person in charge, information on other companies' applications that rejected the application, etc. You can also enter it. In addition, it is also possible to input information such as a patent document of the company (self) that provided information for the corresponding prior art. Note that the information of this document may be automatically extracted and attached by the control unit. In addition, it is preferable to input and manage a procedure that is disclosed after a certain period of time, such as a patent application, a design application, early publication, and a secret design, as well as a business consultation. In addition, time information may be extracted from the business consultation input and managed as a schedule by the control unit 50. Thereby, for example, when applying for the same design with a patent and a design, both application schedules can be adjusted, and schedule management can be executed appropriately and easily. Further, the application status and information on various documents may be input as the contents of the business theme. Note that business consultation related to intellectual property rights is not limited to patents, utility models, and designs, but may be business consultation related to the Unfair Competition Prevention Law concerning trademarks, service marks, copyrighted works, and product forms.

  Here, the configuration of the screen displayed on the display unit 34 is not particularly limited, and may be displayed in various configurations. Here, FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on the display unit. For example, when displaying a business theme as an item, for each business theme, the scheduled schedule and the completion schedule are compared, the progress of the business theme is calculated, and as shown in FIG. May be displayed. In this case, if the end of the schedule is entered at a date and time that is more than a certain period ago, “Progress is fast” is displayed, and the schedule is within a certain period (for example, one week) If the end is entered at a date and time that is less than or equal to a certain period of time, it will be displayed as “Progress Normal”. If the end is not input even after elapses, “Slow progress” is displayed. Thus, by displaying the progress status for each business theme, it is possible to grasp the progress status of each business theme. Further, the color to be displayed may be changed according to the progress status. In other words, a business theme with fast progress may be displayed in blue, a business theme with normal progress in yellow, and a business theme with slow progress in red. By color-coding in this way, the operator can clearly grasp the state of each business theme. In addition to or instead of color coding, depending on the progress of the business theme, in parallel with the display of the business theme, ◎ for the fast progress business theme, ○ for the normal business theme, ○, progress A slow work theme may be displayed as △. In this way, displaying the symbols can also make it easier to understand visually. Also, the present invention is not limited to symbols, and characters such as “early”, “normal”, and “slow” may be displayed, or patterns, figures, and the like may be displayed. Moreover, you may use a photograph, a picture, and a moving image. For example, if the progress is fast, display an image of a car with a fast running speed such as a racing car. If the progress is normal, display an image of a normal passenger car. If the person's image is displayed and the job is stopped or frozen, an image of the accident vehicle or an image of an animal or a person sleeping may be displayed. Moreover, you may display a moving image, for example, the moving image of the car which is drive | moving as an image. Thus, by changing the display according to the progress status, the progress status can be easily grasped visually. Further, the progress status may be output by voice or sound. By outputting the progress status by voice or sound, the progress status can be appropriately transmitted even when a visually impaired person performs an operation. Note that the schedule management function of the control unit 50 allows the client 12 of the person in charge (department in charge) if the scheduled information is not registered at the registered scheduled date and time, or when the scheduled date and time approaches a certain period. It is preferable to send a notification or warning message to The notification may be displayed on the operation screen of the operator of the client 12, or an email may be sent to a preset destination.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the business consultation management apparatus 10 can extract business themes and business consultations based on various search conditions. Search conditions include the person in charge, the type of business theme, the type of business consultation, the update date and time, the schedule date and time, and the like. Thus, necessary information can be acquired by making it searchable. For example, it is possible to know work that is about to expire. It is also possible to selectively extract the same type of business consultation. Hereinafter, it will be described with specific examples using FIGS. 11 to 13. Here, FIGS. 11 to 13 are explanatory diagrams illustrating examples of screens displayed on the display unit.

  First, FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a search result obtained by searching for a business theme using the product name “ABC” as a search condition. Further, in FIG. 11, the business theme and the process of which department each business theme is in are displayed. Specifically, in the example shown in FIG. 1 to No. Up to 4 were extracted. In addition, business theme No. 1 is the product planning department, business theme No. 2 is the design department, business theme No. 2; 3 is the material department, business theme No. 4 indicates that processing is being performed in the factory department.

  As described above, when a search is performed using a product name, a business theme related to the product can be extracted, and further, in this example, it is possible to grasp the stage of development.

  Next, FIG. 12 is a diagram showing search results obtained by searching for business themes using the document “Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 0000-000000” as a search condition. Further, in FIG. 12, a business theme and a business consultation in which a search condition is input are displayed. Specifically, in the example shown in FIG. 1, 11, 101 were extracted. In addition, business theme No. 1 is comment 4, business theme no. 11 is a comment 20, business theme No. 101 indicates that the search condition is input and attached to the comment 300.

  In this way, when searching by literature name, it is possible to extract the business theme related to the literature name, and in this example, to grasp which business consultation is input and attached in this example Can do. As a search condition, in addition to keywords related to business themes and products, what kind of patents are implemented for the developed products by making it possible to search related products, business, and consultation items from the intellectual property bulletin numbers, etc. You can understand, you can prepare for infringement of other companies, and can prevent infringement of other companies' patents.

  Next, FIG. 13 shows “period 2XX9 / 2/1 to 2XX9 / 4/1 * product name A” as a search condition, that is, 2XX9 / 2/1 to 2XX9 / 4 / in the business theme related to product name A. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a search result of searching for a business theme using a business theme in which a business consultation is input as a search condition; In FIG. 13, the business theme and the date and time when the business consultation was input are displayed. Specifically, in the example shown in FIG. 1,5,18 were extracted. In addition, it is displayed that the date and time when the business consultation is input is 2XX9 / 2/10 and 2XX9 / 3/10. Thus, when a search is performed under a plurality of conditions, only business themes that match the conditions can be extracted.

  In the above embodiment, various types of information are input by the operation of the operator. However, the control unit searches and processes based on the input business consultation, and displays and stores the result together. It may be. For example, when the business consultation is a prior document search or the like, a keyword or the like is extracted from the information stored in relation to the business theme, and a search is performed by the document search system 18 using the keyword. You may make it memorize | store and display.

  Further, it is preferable that the business consultation management apparatus 10 can input a department code as information on a business theme and can use the department code as a search condition. Thereby, it is possible to search for business themes and business consultations in units of departments.

  Further, the business consultation management device 10 is not limited to using a term, symbol, number, etc. as a search condition, and information that can be input by converting characters entered with the keyboard, and images such as figures, patterns, etc. It is preferable to be able to search based on data. Here, the image as the search condition may be drawn by the operator with the mouse 32b, or may be an image captured by a scanner or an image acquired from another information terminal. By using the image as a search condition in this way, it is possible to extract business consultations, business theme products, and the like that have similar shapes. As a result, infringement can be found during intellectual property operations, and literature that becomes an obstacle when obtaining patent rights and design rights can be found.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the business consultation management apparatus 10 can input the importance as the business theme information. That is, it is preferable to provide an item indicating the importance level in one of various types of information that can be input to the business theme. In this way, by making it possible to input the importance for each business theme, for example, by making it possible to input A rank, B rank, and C rank in descending order of importance, the operator can determine the importance of the business theme. Can be easily recognized. Further, it is more preferable that the business consultation management device 10 can search for the importance of the business theme as a search condition. By making it possible to search in this way, it is possible to extract only important business themes or only unimportant business themes.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the business consultation management apparatus 10 can input the content determined at the meeting and the content of the meeting as business theme information and / or business consultation. Here, the conference includes various conferences such as a planning conference, a design decision conference, a prototype mass production conference, a design conference, and an application strategy conference. Also included are meetings held only within the department. By inputting the contents of the conference as business theme information and / or business consultation, information related to the business theme and product can be concentrated, and information stored in the business consultation management apparatus 10 is browsed. Thus, it is possible to acquire more information on the business theme and product. As a result, it is not necessary to attend all meetings or to hear the contents of the meetings from related parties, and work efficiency can be increased.

  Further, in the above embodiments, as a business consultation, consultation items are sent to a specific target person, and the specific target person responds to the consultation items. However, each business theme is not specified without specifying the target person. It is preferable that comments other than the consultation items can be entered. For example, as shown in FIG. 14, matters to be determined, work contents, etc. may be input as business consultations and comments. Here, FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on the display unit. FIG. 14 is a screen that displays a business consultation related to business theme No. 1. The technical department A approves the design proposal “Featuring the design proposal” on February 22, 2XX, and the intellectual property department , “The person in charge of this case is Mr. XX and the prior art search must be completed by 3.31”, and the comment entered on March 11, 2XX 9 is displayed. As described above, by allowing not only consultation items for a specific target person but also various information to be input as business consultation, the operator can know not only the consultation items but also various determination items. In addition, information about products can be collected, and the current state can be easily grasped.

  In addition, a comment that does not specify the target person as described above may be simply input as a comment to the business theme without performing business consultation. Thus, by making it possible to input a comment separately from the business consultation, it is possible to search only the consultation items when searching for the business consultation.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the business consultation management apparatus 10 has a watching function for periodically confirming whether information on the document with the specified number is updated by the document search system 18 and the external document search system 26. In addition, patent documents and design applications are exemplified as the documents with the specified numbers, and the update of information is exemplified such as whether patent rights and design rights have been registered, notice of reasons for refusal, notice of decision of refusal was issued, etc. Is done. In addition, when the business consultation management apparatus 10 detects an update of a document, the information stored in itself may be updated and / or a registered person in charge may be notified of the update. preferable. Thus, by updating information and / or notifying the person in charge, more appropriate work can be performed, and the person in charge can quickly detect a change in the target document.

  Further, the business consultation management device 10 is a document that owns or has applied for an intellectual property right among documents registered as a result of prior art search on products and technologies related to a business theme, and other It is preferable to provide means for extracting a document that is the basis for the rejection of the applicant's patent application. Here, the information of the applicant is attached to the literature regarding the patent right and the design right. Owner information can be obtained. Further, since examination stage information can also be acquired, by detecting this information, it is possible to determine whether or not it has become the basis for refusal of another patent application. In this way, by acquiring information on one's rights that has become the basis for the rejection of the other person, it is possible to detect the material for negotiation with the other person. It should be noted that the work load on the operator can be reduced by automatically detecting this information by the business consultation management apparatus 10. Moreover, it is preferable that the business consultation management apparatus 10 registers the above-described rights in the content of the business theme as a license candidate with another person. As a result, the intellectual property business can be promoted smoothly and advantageously.

  In addition, the business consultation management device 10 can register business materials for providing information on applications of other people who may be an obstacle to products and technologies related to the business theme. It is preferable to provide an item for inputting information on the progress of the application. It is more preferable to have a function of automatically acquiring and updating the progress information. Thereby, while confirming the development status, it is possible to acquire the progress information of another person's application that may be an obstacle, and the work can proceed smoothly. Furthermore, it is possible to reduce the burden on the operator by automatically acquiring and updating the progress information.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the business consultation management apparatus 10 has a security function for setting and determining whether or not browsing is possible for each business theme, business material, schedule (that is, business schedule), and business consultation. That is, it is preferable to set a viewable range for each client 12 and external client 24. In this way, by setting a viewable range, it is possible to prevent a person in an unrelated department or an outside person from browsing various information, and to prevent secret leakage.

  Further, the business consultation management device 10 is preferably provided with items for inputting a person in charge name, an employee number, etc., in the business consultation and business theme. By providing items in this way, for example, it is possible to easily search for business consultations and business themes related to oneself from their employee numbers, and to remember consultation items, developed products, and the like.

  The business material may be stored in the storage unit 52, but the data of the material is stored in the literature search system 18, and the storage unit 52 stores only the data indicating the correspondence relationship, such as tag information, You may make it memorize | store in connection with business consultation. In this way, by storing in the document search system 18, the burden on the storage unit 52 can be reduced. In addition, materials common to other business themes and business consultations can be stored together, and can be used as a search target material when searching for documents.

  Further, when the business consultation management apparatus 10 detects that a consultation having a preset content (standard consultation) is input as the business consultation, the business consultation management apparatus 10 answers the preset content corresponding to the consultation. It is preferable to send it to the person who entered the consultation. As a result, it is possible to suppress the same answer from being input many times for a typical question, and to reduce the work load on the operator.

  In addition, when the business consultation management device 10 detects that the business consultation is a legal consultation and a predetermined keyword is input in the content, the business consultation management apparatus 10 inputs information related to the keyword as a business document attachment or as an answer. Is preferred. For example, if the keyword is a patent requirement of the invention, a related clause is displayed and an explanatory text is described. In addition to legal provisions, explanations of legal terms, administrative guidelines for administrative agencies, and judicial precedents may be attached and entered. As a result, necessary knowledge can be notified to the person in charge, and knowledge about the intellectual property of the person in charge can be further deepened.

  In addition, the business consultation management apparatus 10 includes, as the contents of the business theme (items that can be input in relation to the business theme), the patent number, the publication number, the name of the invention, the inventor, the department in charge, the product name, the license It is preferable to provide the destination, license source, presence / absence of purchase, presence / absence of license, license contract content, period, license fee, and the like. Thus, by making it possible to input information relating to the license, it is possible to more appropriately manage information relating to intellectual property. In addition, it is preferable to provide an item for inputting information regarding the implementation status of the patent invention related to the license information in order to examine an answer to an application from another company.

  In addition, the business consultation management device 10 can enter a budget or a cost actually used for each business theme or each process of the business theme. Further, a budget or a cost combining a plurality of business themes can be provided for each business theme. When the predetermined ratio and / or amount is reached, it is preferable to notify the cost information. For example, when it is detected that the used cost has reached 80% of the budget, an email for alerting may be automatically distributed to the related parties. In this way, the budget and expense can be managed more appropriately by detecting and notifying the use state of the budget or the state of the budget plan.

  Further, the business consultation management apparatus 10 has a means for calculating the elapsed time for each business theme and for each process of the business theme, that is, a means for calculating the time taken or required for each process from the information of each schedule. It is preferable to have. By detecting the time taken for each business theme and each process in this way, it is possible to grasp whether work is fast or slow for each person in charge, department, etc., and more appropriate planning and staff assignment Can be determined.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the business consultation management apparatus 10 includes means for calculating the number of personnel for each business theme and each business theme process from the information of the person in charge. Thus, it is possible to more appropriately determine the contract and the arrangement of the person in charge by grasping the number of personnel.

  Furthermore, the business consultation management device 10 is preferably provided with means for inputting working hours, and is provided with means for calculating the total of the total working hours of personnel for each business theme and each business theme process. By making it possible to detect the total working hours, it is possible to grasp the load of each business theme and each business theme process.

  Further, the business consultation management device 10 is preferably provided with means for calculating the number of business consultations for each business theme and each process of the business theme. By calculating the number of consultations in this way, it is possible to calculate the average number of consultations, and it is possible to grasp whether the number of consultations is large or small relative to the average. Further, the business consultation management device 10 may notify the person in charge when the number of consultations is more than a certain value or less than a certain value with respect to the average number of consultations.

  Further, the business consultation management device 10 performs statistical processing on the basis of the product and time for the number of business consultations for each input product, that is, for each business theme, and displays the statistical results in a table or graph. You may make it make it. Hereinafter, description will be made with reference to FIGS. 15 to 19. Here, FIGS. 15 to 19 are explanatory diagrams illustrating examples of screens displayed on the display unit.

  As shown in FIG. 15, the business consultation management apparatus 10 may display a table in which the number of consultations for each product is summarized for each month. Thus, by displaying the transition of the number of consultations for each product, it is possible to easily grasp the development flow, the activity level of the work, the month in which the problem occurred, and the like. Further, as shown in FIG. 16, the business consultation management apparatus 10 may display a graph summarizing the number of consultations for each product for each month. In the graph of the image shown in FIG. 16, the vertical axis represents the number of consultations, and the horizontal axis represents the month (time). Thus, the display for each product can be facilitated by displaying the graph.

  In this way, it is possible to make it easier to grasp the development flow, activity level, month when the problem occurred, etc., so at what stage the problem was recognized and measures taken so that it can be avoided, etc. This can be used as a criterion for determination.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 17, the business consultation management apparatus 10 may display a graph in which the number of consultations for one product is summarized for each month. In this way, by allowing even one product to be displayed, the user can grasp the transition according to the purpose.

  Further, the business consultation management device 10 classifies the types of business consultations, and as shown in FIG. 18, displays a table summarizing the number of consultations on intellectual property (number of IP consultations) for each product by month. Also good. In FIG. 18, the month in which the application related to the product is completed is displayed in a different color from other months. In this way, it is possible to classify the types of business consultations, extract specific types of business consultations, especially those related to intellectual property business, and display the transition of the number of consultations. The activity level can be grasped. As a method of classifying the types of business consultation, the business consultation management apparatus 10 may determine whether a comment is included in a comment included in the business consultation, but the user can select the type of business consultation. And may be classified based on the selection result. Further, as shown in FIG. 19, the business consultation management apparatus 10 may display a graph summarizing the number of IP consultations for each product for each month as shown in FIG. In the graph of the image shown in FIG. 19, the vertical axis represents the number of consultations and the horizontal axis represents the month (time). Thus, the display for each product can be facilitated by displaying the graph.

  In this way, the number of consultations can be used as an index of the degree of work difficulty by grasping the transition of the number of consultations. For example, in the IP consultation, if it is invention consultation (that is, business consultation prior to filing), if the number of consultations is high until the application, use it as a high-quality evaluation of the invention, and determine whether or not to request examination Can be used. In addition, after the application is registered, the number of consultations will increase if there is infringement by another company or a license agreement. For this reason, whether or not there is a business consultation more than a certain number of times after registration of an application can be used for judging whether to maintain the right or for evaluating the patent value.

  In addition, since it can be compared with the progress of development based on the number of consultations, it can be seen that consultations were made at the design stage but not at the production stage. As a result, even if the developer's work is busy and the application work is not reluctant, the person in charge of the application can follow up.

  It is also possible to obtain the standard number of times from the statistical results and grasp the work progress status when the number of consultations is larger or smaller than the standard number of times. In addition, it is preferable that the business consultation management apparatus 10 includes a function that allows the progress, the number of consultations, and the content of the business consultation to be entered. As a result, it is possible to grasp the situation such as whether it is delayed due to the time required for internal work, whether it is delayed due to an external factor, or whether the number of consultations increases due to continuous troubles.

  In the above embodiment, the statistical processing is performed on the number of business consultations. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and it is possible to input the business consultation time and perform the statistical processing on the business consultation time. Good.

  Further, it is preferable that the business consultation management apparatus 10 can select a type of business consultation from preset items when inputting the business consultation. For example, it is possible to select whether business consultation corresponds to application, infringement, patentability, product development, product improvement, or the like. As described above, by enabling selection of the type of consultation, it is possible to determine the destination and set the importance according to the selected type of consultation. It can also be used as a search condition for the search. In addition, since it can select from the preset item when setting it as search conditions, it can suppress that the situation which cannot be extracted by the wording set as search conditions arises.

  In addition, the business consultation management device 10 is an economic index, economic forecast, commodity market conditions, exchange rate fluctuations, administrative dispositions, budget formation of national and local governments, tax rate fluctuations, social phenomena, weather forecasts, domestic and overseas legal revisions, domestic Information that affects merchandise sales such as external political changes may be acquired and displayed on the display unit 34. Here, the economic index includes Nikkei average stock price, long-term interest rate, consumer price index, industrial index, GDP, unemployment rate, effective job offer ratio, increase / decrease in production volume, increase / decrease in sales volume at department stores, housing start rate, etc. Economic forecasts are Bank of Japan forecasts and economist forecasts based on economic indices. Commodity prices are prices of materials that affect developed products, such as crude oil futures, natural resource futures, and material futures. Foreign exchange fluctuations are the exchange rates that affect imports and exports, such as the dollar-yen exchange rate. Also, administrative dispositions are profit dispositions and disadvantageous dispositions made by the government, for example, when a product is approved or rejected.

  Thus, by displaying various types of information, it is possible to predict consumption trends, cost rates, etc., and make various judgments while grasping information that affects product development and effects on imports and exports. In addition, by grasping customs duties, tax rates, exchange rates, and the situation in each country, it is possible to more accurately determine the necessity of import / export and whether to acquire intellectual property rights overseas.

  Further, it is preferable that the business consultation management device 10 analyzes information affecting product sales, estimates the direction of the business theme, and notifies a change in the business schedule or a change in the product design as necessary. . For example, when the raw material is higher than a certain value, it is notified that there is a possibility of changing the material used, or when the exchange rate fluctuates, it is notified that foreign application is possible. As a result, it is possible to quickly determine whether development work is frozen, development work is accelerated, patent applications are frozen, and early filing is necessary. Can do. For example, it is possible to quickly conduct a re-examination of another application at the time of specification change.

  Further, the business consultation management device 10 may analyze information that affects merchandise sales and display a set message when a preset condition is satisfied. For example, if the yen depreciates above a certain level at the yen-dollar exchange rate, a message that recommends foreign applications may be displayed.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the business consultation management apparatus 10 can input a summary of at least one of product development, production management, sales performance, and intellectual property management of the business manager after the business theme is completed. As a result, if the product has high customer satisfaction, the fact is described, and the related person can know that the project has been successful. The summary may be a document, but may be a picture or a photograph expressing success or failure. For example, if the business is successful, the photograph winning the car race may be displayed, and if the business fails, the photograph falling in the pit may be displayed. Further, as an overall summary, 100 may be input and displayed with an index of success.

  Further, the business consultation management device 10 may enable a conference on a communication line such as an electronic conference. In other words, it is possible to input both in chat format and leave the result as business consultation.

  As described above, the business consultation management apparatus according to the present invention is useful for information management, and is particularly suitable for managing information related to intellectual property rights based on information related to technology development.

10 Business Consultation Management Device 12 Client 14 Server 16 WAN
18 Document Search System 20 Firewall 22 Internet 24 External Client 26 External Document Search System 30 Client Main Body 32 Operation Unit 32a Keyboard 32b Mouse 34 Display Unit 40 Control Unit 42 Storage Unit 44 Input Detection Unit 46 Image Generation Unit 48 Communication Unit 50 Control Unit 52 Storage unit 54 Communication unit

Claims (24)

Display of at least one of a business theme, a business schedule, a business consultation, an operation means for inputting and operating a review result for the business consultation, a business theme display screen, a business material display screen, a business schedule display screen, and a business consultation display screen At least one client comprising display means for causing
A storage means for storing a plurality of business themes, business materials corresponding to each business theme, a business schedule, and a business consultation, and a database stored in the storage means based on an operation input to the operation means. A server comprising a control means for processing and generating an image to be displayed on the display means;
The business consultation management apparatus characterized in that the business consultation includes information on intellectual property rights.   The business consultation management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the client and the server are connected via a communication line. A plurality of the clients;
The business consultation management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the server is provided integrally with one of the plurality of clients.   The said control means searches the said database based on the search conditions input by the said operation means, extracts applicable business consultation, and displays the extracted business consultation on a display means. Or the business consultation management device described in 2.   The business consultation management apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the search condition is at least one of the business theme, the business material, the business schedule, and the content of the business consultation.   6. The control unit according to claim 1, wherein when the business consultation is input or updated, the control unit displays a message notifying that the business consultation has been input or updated on a set display unit. The business consultation management device according to item 1.   The control means inputs a design change of the product being developed according to the business theme, or if the design of the product is updated, the design change of the product is input to the set display means, or the design of the product is updated. The business consultation management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a message notifying that the operation has been performed is displayed.   8. The business consultation management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the business schedule includes a schedule relating to at least one of a patent application and a design application.   9. The business consultation management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the business theme includes an item in which information related to intellectual property can be input as a related item. 10.   10. The business consultation management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising search means for extracting a business consultation based on an input search condition.   The business consultation management apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the search condition is at least one of a character, a symbol, a figure, and a pattern.   The control means detects a planned date and time and an end date and time input to the business schedule, determines a progress status based on a difference between the detected planned date and time and the end date and time, and according to the determined progress status 12. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of a color, a character, a symbol, a figure, a pattern, a photograph, a picture, a moving image, a sound, and a sound for displaying the business theme is changed. The business consultation management device described.   13. The business consultation management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the business theme includes an item for inputting a rank of importance.   The business consultation management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one of a content of a conference and a matter determined at the conference can be input as the business theme. The database stores information on intellectual property rights and information on the subject technology of the business theme,
The said control means displays the map which compares the target technology of a business theme with the information regarding an intellectual property based on the information regarding the said intellectual property right, The any one of Claim 1 to 14 characterized by the above-mentioned. The business consultation management device described. The database stores the progress of the development of the product that is the target technology of the business theme, and at least one of technical search, application progress information, know-how information, and other party application information, which is information relating to intellectual property rights. Has been
The control means switches the display position of the information stored in the database between the development progress status and information related to intellectual property rights, and displays the information on the display means in a time series. The business consultation management device according to claim 1, wherein the business consultation management device is characterized in that: The database includes information on intellectual property rights, information on the subject technology of the business theme,
The progress of the development of the product that is the subject technology of the business theme, and at least one of technical search, application history information, know-how information, and other party application information, which is information related to intellectual property rights, are stored.
The control means includes a map for comparing a target technology of a business theme with information on intellectual property based on information on the intellectual property right, information stored in the database, development progress status, knowledge The business consultation management according to any one of claims 1 to 16, wherein a display position is switched according to information related to an intellectual property right, and images arranged in time series are displayed on the display means. apparatus.   18. The control unit according to claim 1, wherein the control unit further calculates at least one of the number of times of the business consultation and the accumulated time of the business consultation, and displays the calculation result. Business consultation management device.   The control means calculates the evaluation of the target technology of the business theme based on at least one of the calculated number of times of the business consultation and the accumulated time of the business consultation and a preset criterion. The business consultation management device according to claim 18.   The control means calculates a high evaluation score when at least one of the number of times of the business consultation and the accumulated time of the business consultation is greater than a reference value, and calculates a low evaluation score when the number is less than the reference value. The business consultation management device according to claim 19, wherein:   The control means compares the time transition of at least one of the number of business consultations and the cumulative time of business consultations with a reference value, and compares at least one of the number of business consultations and the cumulative time of business consultations. Feature points are detected from the increase and decrease, and the display means displays the display area of at least one of the number of the business consultations and the accumulated time of the business consultations at the time of the feature points in a display format different from the other parts. 21. The business consultation management device according to any one of claims 18 to 20, wherein:   The control means compares at least one of the number of times of the business consultation and the accumulated time of the business consultation with a reference value, calculates the difficulty level of the business theme, and outputs the calculation result to the display means. The business consultation management device according to any one of claims 18 to 21, wherein the business consultation management device is displayed.   The control means compares at least one time transition of the number of times of the business consultation and the cumulative time of the business consultation with a reference value, determines the progress speed of the business theme with respect to the reference value, and calculates the progress The business consultation management apparatus according to any one of claims 18 to 22, wherein the display means displays at least one of a speed of a picture, a photograph, and a moving image on the display means.   The business consultation management apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 23, wherein the business consultation is a request for examination of an application or a business consultation about whether to retain or abandon a right.

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