JP2892816B2 - Control method of collaborative work system - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a control method for a dialogue system or a collaborative work system including a plurality of terminal devices.
A plurality of terminal devices (eg, workstations, personal computers, etc.) are connected by a communication line, and a plurality of users operating each terminal device by linking programs such as material editing executed on each terminal device to each other. The present invention relates to a method of controlling a collaborative work system that allows a user to proceed with a dialogue or a joint work while referring to the same screen information.

(Prior art)

Composed of a plurality of terminal devices connected by a communication line, operations performed on one terminal device are immediately reflected on all other terminal devices, and a common conference environment can be provided to each operator. In a distributed processing type interactive system or a collaborative work support system (hereinafter, this type of system is referred to as an immediate collaborative work system), information shared by a plurality of terminal devices is transmitted before or at any time. Must be distributed to each terminal device (hereinafter, referred to as a station or a workstation).

Conventionally, for example, Maeno et al .: A study on multipoint control device for teleconference, IEICE technical report, Vo
l. 89, No. 190, as shown in the description of FIG.
During immediate joint information processing, a method of distributing usage information to terminals individually by local communication between an information server and each terminal has been known. In the above-mentioned literature, the joint use information was distributed by a method such as e-mail or file transfer before the start of the immediate joint work. However, there was no means for distributing information to all participants at any time during the immediate collaboration without being aware of the individual participants.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

In the instant cooperative work system, a cooperative work control program (interactive system control program) provided in each workstation is connected by a logical communication circuit formed on a communication line, and an input operation is performed by one work station. Then, the control program transmits the input operation information to the application program of the own station and also transmits the input operation information to the cooperative work control program of another station via the logical communication path.

However, when new distribution of the shared use information is required during the execution of the joint work, if the shared use information is sent to another station via the above-described logical communication path, the shared use information occurs during delivery. The transmission of the input operation information and the control information is prevented, and the display screen does not respond to the input operation of the operator.

An object of the present invention is to provide a collaborative work system or a dialogue system capable of distributing shared use information without hindering the collaborative work or interactive operation.

Another object of the present invention is to provide information that enables joint use information to be distributed from any workstation at any time during execution of a joint work without being aware of other workstations participating in the joint work. It is to provide a transmission method or an information transmission system.

[Means for solving the problem]

The input operation information to be transmitted between the cooperative work control programs is frequently generated because the input operation is arbitrarily performed at each workstation. However, since each of these input operation information has a relatively small data amount,
The load on the transmission line is small. On the other hand, the joint use information such as the operation target media occurs less frequently, but has a large amount of information (data).
The load on the transmission path increases.

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an information transmission program for transmitting shared use information to another station is prepared under a shared work control program of each workstation, and When information transmission becomes necessary, a logical communication path for exchanging collective information between the information transmission programs is formed separately from the logical communication path between the cooperative work control programs, and the , The input operation information and the shared use information (collective information) are multiplexed and transmitted.

[Action]

When an operation of transmitting a specific operation target medium to another station as joint use information is performed in one workstation, information indicating the input operation (data transmission request) is transmitted one after another by communication between the joint work control programs. Is transmitted to the adjacent station. When each station receives the request for data transmission of the shared use information, each station starts an information transmission program.

When the information transmission program is executed, a logical communication path for collective information exchange is formed between the information transmission program and the information transmission program of the next station which is known at the time of construction of the cooperative work system. This can be realized by using the inter-program communication control function of each workstation, and by sequentially executing a procedure for forming a logical communication path for collective information exchange with the next station with each station, a total It is formed from a logical communication path connecting the stations in a ring.

At the station that has issued the data transmission request, the information sharing program (or in cooperation with a separately prepared data transmission program) uses the logical communication path for the collective information exchange to share the shared information. At the other station, the other station stores the joint use information received from the logical communication path for collective information exchange as operation target data by the information transmission program, and further relays the information to the next station. Usage information can be distributed to all stations.
In this case, the shared use information is divided into data blocks of an appropriate size so as not to hinder the transmission of the input operation information or other control information by the shared work control program, and the two logical By transmitting the data of the communication channel in a time-division multiplexed form, the shared use information can be distributed without hindering the joint work of each participant.

〔Example〕

 FIG. 1 shows a system configuration for realizing the present invention.

In this system, each user can use the multi-party communication function provided by telephone exchange to talk on the telephones 390A, 390B, and 390C while operating the same or mutually related collaborative operations at the workstations 100A, 100B, and 100C. Media 120A, 120B, 120C
On the display device 340A, 340B, 340C, and the keyboard 350
A, 350B and 350C operate each other,
, So that collaborative work such as meetings and consultations can be performed even at a remote place by instant information exchange including visual information.

In addition, on the operation media 120A, 120B, and 120C, pointing objects 121A, 121B, and 121C for pointing a part of the information and for indicating the position are displayed. For this reason, the workstations 100A, 100B, and 100C store the operation media 120
Media operation programs 430A, B, and C shown in FIG. 3 for performing display operations of A, 120B, and 120C;
A pointing object operation program 440A, 440B, 440C for operating A, 121B, 121C is executed in conjunction. The control display outputs 130A, 130B and 130C of the immediate collaborative work control program (dialogue control program) for performing this interlocking control are also displayed on the display device 340.
Display on A, 340B, 340C.

To link the media operation programs 430A, B, C,
Immediate collaboration control program 40 for each workstation
0A, 400B, and 400C must be connected by a logical communication path to exchange an interlocking start request and a media operation input. FIG. 1 shows a connection partner workstation list display 140 at that time. The communication network 200 is an integrated services digital network (ISDN).
k) and local area networks (LAN: Local Area Ne
physical communication path such as a combination of twork) and a telephone exchange network, on which an information transmission path between workstations is provided, via which a logical communication between the immediate cooperative work control programs of FIG. Path 411 and collective information exchange logical communication path 412
Is set.

FIG. 2 shows a hardware configuration of a workstation constituting the present system, and shows one of the workstations 100A, 100B, and 100C shown in FIG. Therefore, hereinafter, A, B, and C are omitted for each component.

By the CPU 300, an immediate cooperative work control program 400 for immediate cooperative work stored in the main storage device 310, a media operation program 430, an instruction object operation program 440,
And information transmission program for media exchange
450, the information sending program 460 is executed.

The user's operation input is input from the keyboard 350, the mouse 360, and the like, and is stored in the registers 355, 365. When the input reading is requested from the immediate collaboration control program 400, information is passed from the registers 355 and 365. Output information from each program is stored as video pattern data in the frame memory 320, and the display control device
Displayed on the display 340 under the control of 330.

The auxiliary storage device 380 stores operation target data 520 used by the media operation program 430 described in FIG. 3 and a transmission data file 510 handled by the transmission program 460, and stores the media operation program 430 and the transmission program 460.
Is read into the main memory 310 via the control device 385 in response to a request from The immediate collaborative work control program 400 is a communication control device for user's operation input to each workstation.
370, exchange with the immediate collaboration control program 400 of another workstation via the transmission line composed of the physical communication network 200.

FIG. 3 shows the software configuration of each workstation. The user's operation input is taken into the immediate cooperative work control program 400 via the user input receiving unit (window system) 490, and is transmitted to the immediate cooperative work control program 400 of another workstation by a logical communication path between the immediate cooperative work control programs. Passed via 411. In the immediate collaborative work control program 400, interpret the information received by the operation input and immediate information exchange at the own workstation, start the program such as the media operation program 430, the pointing object operation program 440,
Transfers information to the started program.

In the present invention, as one of the programs started by the immediate collaborative work control program 400, an information transmission program 450 for collectively transmitting and receiving the operation target data 520 between the workstations is provided in each workstation, and the collective information An exchange logical communication path 412 is set to exchange information.

A logical communication path 411 between the immediate cooperative work control programs and a collective information exchange logical communication path 412 between the information transmission programs 450
Are integrated into one inter-workstation logical communication path 421 via the inter-program communication management program 410, and are further integrated into the inter-workstation communication control program 42.
0 connects to the communication control device 370. Communication control circuit 37
The connections between 0 are connected by the physical communication network 200.

Since the operation target data 520 is sequentially transferred between the information transmission programs 450 of the stations adjacent to each other, the information transmission program 450 transmits the received information to the auxiliary storage device 380.
And then send it to another station. After the completion of the setting of the one-time information exchange logical communication channel 412, the information transmission program 450 is in a state of waiting for information reception and information reception from the transmission program 460 described below. Reference numeral 510 denotes a transmission data file storing a plurality of transmission candidate information. The transmission data file 510 determines the transmission information in accordance with the input content from the user operation input reception unit 490, and transfers the transmission information to the information transmission program 450 in the information reception waiting state.

FIG. 4 is a diagram relating to connection of a logical communication path between workstations, and a physical communication path 371 connects communication control units 370. The communication control program 420 drives the communication control device 370 to secure a transmission path by connecting with a partner and to control transmission. The inter-program communication control program 410 transmits information by bundling logical communication paths between various programs such as the immediate collaborative work control program 400 and the information transmission program 450, as well as the bundled logical communication paths.
The information received from 421 is distributed to the required immediate collaborative work control program 400, information transmission program 450, and the like.

In the present invention, these inter-program logical communication paths 411 and 4
By using a plurality of 12 and the like, it is possible to perform parallel processing of immediate collaborative work between workstations and batch exchange of operation target information.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an inter-program communication path connection management table 550 used by the inter-program communication control program 410.

When setting up the inter-program logical communication path, such as the immediate co-operation control inter-program logical communication path 411 and the information transmission program inter-communication path 412, it is necessary to determine which program sets which logical communication path from which program to which workstation. Information shown in the program-to-program communication path connection management table 550A, 5
Store in 50B.

Here, the program name of the logical communication channel setting destination is the same as the program name issuing the setting request, but a different name may be used by providing a correspondence table or the like. The connection partner workstation identification information is used by the user at the time of starting collaborative work to display the connection partner workstation list 140.
Is determined from the participant's address specified in the above, but the identification information of the partner workstation viewed from the specified workstation is determined by the workstation that has performed the communication path connection procedure to the workstation and sends its own identification information. .

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the start control of the media operation program 430 when a plurality of users perform the immediate collaborative work.

Immediate collaborative work control program The logical communication path between programs 411, a plurality of workstations immediate collaborative work control program
Between 400, a ring is set via the communication control program 420 and the inter-program communication control program 410, and the input of the user is exchanged using the queue 471 managed by the immediate collaborative work control program 400.

The exchange information includes, for example, a start command of the own or another media operation program 430, a media operation input to be passed to the started media operation program 430, or the like.
The start command is composed of a set of a media operation program name and a data name in order to enable the cooperative work using a plurality of media, and the set is exchanged between the interconnected immediate cooperative work control programs 400. By doing so, the same program is started in each station. In this figure, a start request of the media operation program 430 from the user of the workstation A is transmitted to the immediate collaborative work control programs 400A, 400B,.
A, 430B, ... are activated.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a control method for displaying an instruction object in conjunction with each station.

In order to display the pointing object 121 on the display output of the media operation program 430, the communication between the immediate collaborative work control programs 400 causes the pointing object operation program 440 to be displayed in the same manner as the linked operation of the media operation program 430 in FIG. Start However, in this case, the activation request is input in a form in which information indicating the display area of the media operation program 430 to display the instruction object 121 is added. For example, the operator may operate the mouse 360 of the workstation, position the mouse cursor on the display area 120 of the media operation program 430, and perform an operation for requesting the display of the indicated object.

The activation request enters the queue 471 of each workstation. In this example, an interface file 473 is provided to start the program in order to transmit and receive information in a manner that distinguishes the information to the media operation program and the information to the instruction object operation program. In this case, the interface file 472 is also prepared when the media operation program 430 is started.

After the interlocking program is started under the cooperative work control program in the above manner, when the coordinate value of the first pointing object enters this interface file 473, the pointing object 121 is transmitted to the media being linked on each workstation. It is displayed in conjunction with the display of the operation program 430. Then, on any workstation,
When a request to change the position of the pointing object 121 is input as a coordinate value by operating the mouse 360, the information is immediately transmitted to each workstation via the inter-work control program logical communication path 411, and the display position of the pointing object 121 is changed. It changes in conjunction with each workstation.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an outline of the processing of the immediate cooperative work control program 400.

The immediate collaborative work control program 400, in step 401,
The operation input of the user is received from the user operation input reception unit 490 of the own workstation. In addition, the operation input of the user of another workstation is also received via the immediate collaboration control program 400 and the inter-program communication control program 410 of the other workstation. In steps 4021 to 403, it is determined whether or not these inputs should be passed to the next workstation. That is, when the immediate cooperative work control program is connected to the immediate cooperative work control program of another workstation, the information generated at the own workstation is obtained by setting the own workstation identification information in the transmission message transmission source field. Step 402 to communicate to the next workstation
1,4022,403). On the other hand, for a message received from another workstation, the source of the message is checked. If the source is the workstation located next to the user, the message is not transmitted to the next station. Otherwise, the message is transmitted to the station. (Steps 4021, 4023, 403).

Next, the content of the information is examined in step 404, and if it is a start request of the information transmission program 450 for collective information exchange such as operation target media, or a start request of the media operation program 430 or the instruction object operation program 440, In steps 4051 and 4052, the interface file is secured and the corresponding program is started. If the received information is determined to be a connection partner inquiry from the information transmission program (step 4061), the connection partner workstation identification information of the immediate collaborative work control program is passed to the information transmission program for response to the inquiry (step 4062). Also,
If the information is for the running program, the information is passed to the corresponding program in step 407.

The user's input to the running program is performed at the inputting workstation, for example, the input receiving unit 490 of 100A.
Is used to determine which program the input is to. Immediate collaborative work control program, for example 400A, in the form of adding the program name and display area information determined here, other workstations that are connected to the input information via the immediate collaborative work control program logical communication path 411, for example, Hand over to the 100B or 100C instant collaboration program 400B, 400C. Each of the immediate collaboration control programs 400A, 400B, 400C passes the received information to the corresponding program 430A, 430B or 430C based on the program name given to the received message. Further, for a program using a plurality of information display areas, such as windows, the display areas are distinguished, and the input is passed to the linked program together with the division information.

FIG. 9 shows one of the programs started by the above-mentioned immediate cooperative work control program 400, and is a data transmission program executed when a user inputs a data transmission request.
460 is a flowchart showing the operation of 460. The main function of the transmission program 460 is to read data specified by the user for transmission from the transmission data file 510 and pass it to the information transmission program 450.

When the sending program 460 is started, the first step 4
In step 61, the information transmission program 450 is started. Next, in step 462, it is determined whether or not the transmission request source is the own station. If it is a transmission request from another station, this routine is terminated only by activating the information transmission program. If the transmission request is from the own station, the operation target data specified by the user for transmission is
It is determined which of the transmission data files 510 is present (step 463). Next, the operation target data is read from the transmission data file 510, and the information transmission program 45 is read.
Send to 0. The reading and transmission of the data are performed by dividing the data into a plurality of blocks with a predetermined data length as one block (steps 464 and 465).

Each data block is transmitted to the information transmission program 450 in a form attached with information indicating the generation source, and when the reading process for all of the specified data is completed, the transmission of data to the information transmission program 450 is terminated. This routine is notified (step 466), and this routine ends.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of the information transmission program 450 started by the data transmission program 460.

The information transmission program 450 instructs the inter-program communication control program 410 to wait for a communication path setting (step 451), and then sets the logical communication path 412 for collective information exchange with the information transmission program of the next station. Is issued (step 452). At one station, when the information transmission program 450 issues a request for setting the logical communication path 412 to the inter-program communication control program 410, the information transmission program 450 is already activated at the next station, and the result of the execution of step 451 is executed. , The state of waiting for communication path setting has been established. Therefore, when a control signal for establishing the logical communication path 412 is transmitted from one station, the information transmission program of the next station is ready to accept this, and the operation of transmitting the control signal to the next station is performed. A ring-shaped logical communication path is formed on the network 371 by the propagation of the signal and the receiving operation from the upstream adjacent station.

After the setting procedure of the logical communication path 412, the information transmission program 450 starts the information transmission program 4 of its own workstation.
60, or a state of waiting for data reception from an information transmission program of another workstation performed via the logical communication path 412. When the data is received (step 453), the source is determined (step 454). If the data is the data of the own station, the data is edited into a predetermined data frame including the source ID (step 455), and the logic is determined. Communication 4
Send to the next workstation from 12 (Step 45
8). If the received data is not that of the own station, after storing the received data (step 456), it is determined whether the source is the next work station (step 45).
7) If the source is other than the next station, send the received data to the next station, and if the source is the next station, skip the data transmission. As a result, it is possible to prevent data already processed by the next station from being input to the source station in duplicate after making one round of the loop logical communication path.

The above data reception / transmission operation is repeated for a plurality of data blocks, and upon receipt of the transmission data processing end notification, this routine ends (step 459).

In the present invention, the inter-program communication control program 41
0 is an operation input or control information from the existing joint work control program 400 via the logical communication path 411,
From the information transmission program 450, transmission data is received via the logical communication path 412, and these pieces of information are transferred to the communication control program 420 in the reception order. Even if the amount of transmission data is large, the transmission data is divided into blocks of appropriate size and the program
By supplying to 410, the input from the immediate collaborative work control program 400 can be interrupted between the transmission data blocks, and the data can be transmitted without interrupting the transmission of the operation input and the control information. it can.

In the above-described embodiment, the information transmission program 450 and the data transmission program 460 are configured as separate routines. However, the function of the data transmission program is integrated into the information transmission program, and the function of the transmission request is generated. The station may read out and transmit the transmission data file 510 by executing 450 in the information transmission program.

FIG. 11 is a diagram relating to information exchange between software when the transfer program 450 for collective information exchange is operated while the media operation program 430 and the instruction object operation program 440 are operated under the control of the immediate collaborative work control program 400. It is. As shown in this figure, the inter-immediate work control program logical communication path provided between the immediate co-work control programs exchanges interlock information of the media operation program 430 and the instruction object operation program 440, and program activation request information. Information transfer program
The collective information exchange logical communication path 412 between the 450s is used for exchanging the operation target data 520 between the information transmission programs 450. A logical communication path 411 provided between the immediate collaboration control program 400,
The collective information exchange logical communication path 412 provided between the information transfer programs 450 is multiplexed on the same inter-workstation communication path 371 via the inter-program communication control 410 and the inter-workstation communication control 420.

Figure 12 shows how to pass information to the information transmission program 450,
6 is a schematic diagram of a system configuration showing a method of transmitting information from an information transmission program 450. The information from the sending program 460 is transferred to the information transfer program 45 waiting for collective information reception on the workstation where the sending program is operating.
0, and then passed to yet another workstation information transfer program 450. The processing of the information transmission program 450 is repeated while checking whether or not the station has returned to the station that first transmitted the data. If the processing returns, the storage and transmission to the next station are terminated.

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a connection destination inquiry from the information transmission program 450 to the immediate collaborative work control program 400. When the immediate cooperative work control program 400 is connected, the immediate cooperative work control program 400 stores information on the partner workstation in the interprogram communication path connection management table 550 shown in FIG. The inquiry from the information transmission program 450 is passed to the immediate collaborative work control program in the same manner as the input from the user of the own workstation accepted by the user input section 490. When the immediate collaborative work control program 400 detects this inquiry in step 4061 in FIG. 8, the inter-program communication path connection management table
Check 550 and pass the information to information transfer program 450.
At the same time, the communication path setting information between the information transmission programs is also entered in the inter-program communication path management table 550.

FIG. 14 is a setting block diagram of the collective information exchange logical communication channel 412 based on the inquiry information of FIG. After the collective information exchange logical communication channel 412 is set, the information transmission program 450 transmits and receives the operation target data 520 using this communication channel. At this time, by transmitting the workstation identification information of the program that sends the information first, the information transmission process can be stopped when the information has been distributed to all the members.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, there is no need for the user to specify the other party with respect to the setting of the collective information exchange logical communication path during the immediate collaborative work. In addition, it is possible to specify the operation target data by distributing the operation target data to all the members without being conscious of the participating individuals.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration for realizing the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a hardware configuration diagram of a workstation constituting the present system, FIG. 3 is a software configuration diagram of a workstation constituting the present system, FIG. 4 is a diagram relating to a logical communication path connection between the workstations, and FIG. Schematic diagram of the inter-program communication path connection management table, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the start control of the media operation program, FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing the display control of linked objects, and FIG. 8 shows the operation of the immediate collaborative work control program. Flowchart, FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the processing operation of the transmission program, FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the processing operation of the transmission program, FIG. 11 is an immediate collaborative work control program, a media operation program, an instruction object operation program, an information transmission program FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining information transfer between the devices, and FIG. 12 illustrates transmission of media operation information. FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining an inquiry about a connection destination from an information transmission program to an immediate collaborative work control program, and FIG. 14 is a diagram for setting a collective information exchange logical communication path based on information. It is a block diagram for performing. 400: immediate collaborative work control program, 430: media operation program, 440: pointing object operation program, 4
50… information transmission program, 460… information transmission program, 4
11… Immediate co-operation control program inter-logical communication channel, 412…
A collective information exchange communication path, 420 ... is a communication control program between workstations, 371 ... a physical communication path, 370 ... a communication control device, 200 ... a physical communication network.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Ishi ▲ Saki ▼ Kenji 1099 Ozenji Temple, Aso-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Hitachi, Ltd.System Development Laboratory Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Shiro Nakamura 1099 Ozenji Temple, Aso-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture Address System Development Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Inventor Tadashi Yamamitsu 5030 Totsuka-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Software Factory of Hitachi, Ltd. (56) References JP-A-2-186737 (JP, A) JP-A-1-123349 (JP, A) JP-A-2-240748 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G06F 13/00 351-357 H04L 12 / 00

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] A plurality of terminal devices are connected via a communication line, and input operation information for a joint work generated in any one of the terminal devices is converted into a logical first information formed on the communication line.
A communication method is transmitted to another terminal device using the ring communication path, and the received terminal device is a control method of the collaborative work system configured to perform data processing according to the input operation information, In response to the terminal device receiving the communication request for the joint use information of the joint work, a logical second ring communication path is formed on the communication line, and via the second ring communication path, A method of controlling a collaborative work system, wherein the joint use information is transmitted to another terminal device. 2. In each terminal device, identification information of a next terminal device adjacent in the first ring communication path is stored, and in forming the second ring communication path, each terminal device is connected to the second ring communication path. The method according to claim 1, wherein the control information for forming a communication path is sequentially transmitted to the next adjacent terminal device using the stored identification information. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the shared use information is divided into a plurality of blocks, and each block is sequentially transmitted to another terminal device.