JPH10214292A - Contact means opening device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the progress of job from being disturbed by placing data for each user on a server computer for reporting his own location to another user, and watching these data in the form of public destination display panel. SOLUTION: A user 112 registers 120 the plan of his own activity to a server computer 102 by operating a client computer 114. These plan data are transmitted to a wide area communication network 100 and stored in a storage device 104 of the server computer 102. When it is desired to speedily get contact with the user 112, another user 106 watches the activity plan data registered 120 in the server computer 102 by the user 112 on his own client computer 108. The user 106 can know where the user 112 is at present and as a result, a telephone call 124 can be originated to a telephone set 116 at the current position of the user 112 while using a telephone set 110, for example. Sometimes, the positions of users 112 and 106 are exchanged. Further, even when another user is involved, the system operates in similar way as well.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a contact means disclosure device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For many years, offices have used blackboards or whiteboards called destination display boards. This bulletin board is used to inform other colleagues of the current location of those who belong to the office. For example, if the destination of Mr. A is "meeting room", this means that Mr. A is currently in a place called a meeting room, and if he needs to contact him, he can go there.

[0003] As a means which is useful when it is desired to contact another person, an address book or a directory attached to a computer system has recently been used.

There are two types of address books: one for providing an electronic mail address list (e-mail address book) and the other for providing a telephone number list (electronic telephone number book). The e-mail address book is attached to the e-mail system, and is used to search for the address of the person when sending e-mail (Lotus Notes at Work, Sally Blanning D
eJean and David DeJean, published by Brandy, 1991, p
p.62-66,196-198). The electronic telephone directory is available from PIM (Perso
nal Information Manager) and CM (Contact Manager)
It is provided by a system that supports personal information management called “PC MAGAZINE, AUGUST 1995, PP.243-277”. In each of the electronic mail address book and the electronic telephone number book, a telephone number and an electronic mail address can be described in a comment column or the like. Some recent PIMs and CMs can handle group scheduling, and this function allows you to know the schedule of other users.

[0005] The directory is not limited to people, but aims to handle resources on the network in a unified manner, and is organized and large-scale compared with the address book. From the viewpoint of an application program, a directory can be considered as an address book that can be shared by all programs, and the standard procedure for directory access is ISO (International).
nal Standardization Organization) X. It is determined as 500.

[0006]

However, the prior art has the following problems. In other words, as long as you use a blackboard or whiteboard, you cannot see what is written on it unless you go to the place where they are listed. There is difficulty in reusing what is written, such as having to re-enter information to use a computer to find a destination phone number. On the other hand, the address book, directory, and the like are information that can be used by any user connected to the communication network, but they do not indicate where the partner user is now. In the group scheduling, cooperation with a communication medium such as a telephone or an e-mail is insufficient, and for example, it is not possible to activate a contact means directly from a scheduled item. Moreover, the schedule for disclosure and the schedule for individuals cannot be easily separated. An object of the present invention is to solve these problems and provide a suitable communication support means in an office.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the system according to the present invention, each user places data on a server computer for transmitting his / her own location to another user, A user who wants to know the current location of the user can view the data from the client computer in the form of a graphical public destination display board. Further, the system provides a means for directly contacting the destination marked on the public destination display board with a graphical operation.

[0008]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a contact means disclosing apparatus using a wide area communication network.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration and operation of a system according to the present invention. This system includes a server computer 102, client computers 108 and 114, and a wide area communication network 100 connecting them. Although not shown in detail in the drawing, each computer naturally has an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse and an output device such as a display device, if necessary. The user of the system usually accesses the server computer 102 with the client computers 108 and 114. However, there is no need for a one-to-one correspondence between the client computer and the user, and it is usual that any user can access the server computer 102 by an appropriate operation (for example, input of a user ID and a password). Now, user 1
12 operates the client computer 114 to register its own action schedule in the server computer 102 (120). The schedule data instructed by the user 112 to be registered is transmitted through the wide area communication network 100, stored in the storage device 104 of the server computer 102, and can be retrieved by the server computer 102 as needed. In organizations where this system has been introduced, the registration of action plans (12
Execution of 0) is recommended. This is not simply performed for the purpose of personnel management, and in particular, when the user 112 wants to contact her immediately, there is a great advantage for the user 112 as described later. Now, suppose that the other user 106 needs to contact the user 112 immediately. At this time, the user 106 first browses the action schedule data registered (120) in the server computer 102 by the user 112 on his / her client computer 108 (122). The data to be browsed is the server computer 102
To the client computer 108 via the wide area communication network 100. At this point, the user 112 has moved to the location (for business reasons or the like) (11
8) It is assumed that the user is in a different place from when the action schedule is registered (112). Further, it is assumed that the current location is described in the action schedule. The user 106 who has viewed the action schedule can know where the user 112 is currently located, and as a result, for example, the telephone 1 at the current position of the user 112
It is possible to make a telephone call (124) to the telephone number 16 using the telephone 110. In the above, the user 112 registers his / her own action schedule (120), and only the situation where the user 106 browses the action schedule is shown. However, the positions of the user 112 and the user 106 may be switched. That is, this is the case where the user 106 registers his / her own action plan and the user 112 browses this. The same applies when another user is involved. In the following, the users 106 and 112 are considered as representative examples of various situations unless otherwise specified. The ideas on the user interface for making the operation of the present invention described above more efficient and effective will be described with reference to FIG.

In this embodiment, the wide area communication network 100
(1) The user 112 registers his / her own action schedule regardless of inside or outside the office (120).
(2) On the other hand, the user 106 is also the user 1 who wants to contact anywhere regardless of whether inside or outside the office.
12 registered (120) action schedules can be browsed (12
2). The wide area communication network 100 is a LAN (Local
Area Network), a dedicated line that interconnects multiple LANs,
And telephone lines and ISDN (Integrated Services Di
It can be built independently using a gateway or the like for accessing a LAN via a digital network, or there is an option to use the Internet for an organization's communication network using the system according to the present invention. In the latter case, you can find out where your colleagues are from all over the world. Furthermore, if the server computer 102 is a WWW (World Wide Web) server and the client computers 108 and 114 are WWW browsers, the browsing procedure (122) becomes standard, and the system construction cost can be reduced. . WW
When W is adopted, the communication protocol between the server computer 102 and the client computer 108 for browsing (122) is HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) proposed in RFC (Request For Comment) 1945,
The data format sent from the server computer 102 to the client computer 108 is HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) defined by RFC1866. By the way, since the Internet is a public communication network system, security problems may be an obstacle depending on the organization. In such a case, W
It is also possible to adopt only the WW mechanism and make the communication network closed instead of opening it. As described above, while the communication protocol adopts the Internet standard, the communication network cut off from the outside uses the Intran
Called et. Although the physical construction of the communication network has the same burden as the above-described original system, it is not necessary to develop various communication protocols.

FIG. 2 shows action schedule data of the user 112 which the user 106 browses (122). In the present invention,
A graphical representation used when displaying the data registered (120) by the user 112 as his / her own action plan on the display device of the client computer 108 is called a public destination display board. That is, FIG. 2 is an example of a public destination display board indicating a scheduled action of the user 112. The public destination display board 200 is composed of three main parts. The first part shows the title of the public destination display board 200, the date 202 when the public destination display board 200 was browsed, and the target user 11
2. Button design 206 to be clicked with the mouse when acquiring the name 204, affiliation and title 204, and a general method of contacting the target user 112 and other detailed information.
(Hereinafter, this type of design is simply called a button) is displayed. The second part shows today's schedule, and displays information 210 about the destination of the day and a button 214 for acquiring detailed information about the destination schedule. The third part shows a simple schedule, in which a schedule table 218 and a button 232 for obtaining detailed information on the schedule are displayed.

Further, details of the public destination display panel 200 will be described. In the column of information 210 on the destination on the day, a button 212 indicating a means of contacting the destination is added.
For example, on the first line, a schedule of “development meeting” can be seen. In the schedule, "telephone" and "mail" are designated as communication means. This is because the target user 11
If you want to contact 2, "phone" or "mail" means that it is convenient. "Telephone" may be addressed to the telephone of the meeting site. "Email" may be addressed to the email address of the secretary of the meeting organizer. In this embodiment, a desired communication medium can be activated by clicking these buttons with a mouse. When the above "telephone" is clicked, a telephone call can be made from the telephone 110 connected to the client computer 108 to the meeting place. On the other hand, the "Telephone" button visible in the second row will likely point to the telephone at the target user 112's desk, or it may lead to another user who will receive the call addressed to him. The media designation button 212 is a method of contacting the corresponding destination on the public destination display board 200 in terms of format, but more precisely means a method of contacting the user at a time corresponding to the schedule. Therefore, the user does not always receive directly at the destination. These detailed information can be acquired using the destination information acquisition button 214, but may be set so that the details are not known. The schedule table 218 has various components. In the schedule table 218 of the embodiment, the horizontal axis corresponds to the date, and the vertical axis corresponds to the time. The date and time of the displayed schedule are displayed in the date scroll bar 230 and the time scroll bar 2.
28 can be changed freely by operating. That is, the user 106 who is browsing the public destination display board 200 operates the date scroll bar 230 to
Can be newly displayed on the schedule that is not currently displayed. Similarly, the time scroll bar 22
By operating 8, the user 112 can see the schedule of the time not currently displayed. In the schedule table 218, the schedule data 220, 222,
224 and 226 are displayed. A simple title indicating the content of the schedule is given to each schedule data.

FIG. 3 shows the user 112 viewing his / her own public destination display board 200. Most parts are the same as those described with reference to FIG. A characteristic of the public destination display panel 200 when the user himself / herself views the action schedule is that the contents can be changed. The general information update button 30 enables the content change operation.
0, a destination information update button 302, and a schedule information update button 304. General information update button 30
When 0 is clicked, the result obtained by clicking the general information acquisition button 206, that is, the public destination display board 200
Is obtained for changing the registered contents of the general communication means regarding the target user 112 indicating the action schedule. When the destination information update button 302 is clicked, a means for updating the display contents of the destination 210 on the current day is obtained. Clicking the schedule information update button 304 provides a means for updating the display contents of the schedule table 218.

Although the public destination display board corresponding to each user has been described so far, FIG. 4 shows an example of the public destination display board for displaying a group's scheduled action. The difference from the public destination display board 200 in FIG. 2 is that the user name 204 is a group name (for example, the name of a section), and the destination 400 on the day is displayed for each member (unless the member is specified). The schedule table 218 includes an individual schedule (for example, schedule data 404, 4).
06), a group schedule (for example, schedule data 408) is also displayed. By operating the member scroll bar 402, the destination 400 on the day can see the action schedule of the member that is not currently displayed.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a user interface provided to the user when the user clicks the media designation button 212. Here, a case where a telephone is designated by the media designation button 212 will be described. Now, when the user clicks the media designation button 212, a telephone media activation dialog 500 is displayed. In the media activation dialog 500, a message 502 for confirming use of the telephone to the user is displayed. In addition, information on the other party to which the telephone is connected can be viewed. As the destination information, the name 504 of the destination, the organization 506 of the destination, and the telephone number 508 of the destination to be connected are given. If call button 510 is clicked, a call is automatically made with the above contents. If the user clicks the stop instruction button 512, the telephone call can be stopped. The telephone has been described as an example, but the same applies to other types of media.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a user interface provided to the user when the destination information update button 302 is clicked. When the destination information update button 302 is clicked, a dialog 600 for supporting the destination registration work appears. The user can change the contents of his / her own public destination display board 200 using the destination registration dialog 600. The destination registration dialog 600 displays a message 602 for confirming execution of the destination registration work to the user. The name 604 and affiliation 606 of the user who performs the destination registration are also shown, but these are grayed out because they do not need to be changed and cannot be actually corrected. Destination 608
And the date and time 610 can be changed. Phone number 612, FAX number 614, E-mail address 616 are destination 608 and date and time 6
10 represents a means of contacting the destination indicated by 10. In this drawing, only typical communication media are illustrated, and other communication media may be added. For example, an address for a desktop conference, an address for an Internet telephone, a telephone number for a telex, and the like can be considered. Each communication means item is not limited to one. For example, as the office telephone number, a representative telephone number and a personal telephone number may be designated. In this case, a plurality of numbers may be input from the beginning, or an input location of the next number may be additionally displayed by a certain operation. Of course, not all communication media need be specified. Destination search button 61
A button 8 is clicked to activate a function of searching for necessary information this time from destination information registered as a destination in the past or destination information registered by another user. If the destination information to be registered this time has already been accumulated, it may be sufficient to correct only the date and time 610 this time by calling it. If the registration instruction button 620 is clicked, destination registration is executed with the above contents. By clicking the stop instruction button 622, destination registration can be stopped.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a user interface provided to the user when the general information acquisition button 206 is clicked. When the general information acquisition button 206 is clicked, a dialog 700 for supporting the general information acquisition operation appears. The user can use the general information acquisition dialog 700 to acquire information on the target user 112 of the public destination display panel 200. General information acquisition dialog 70
0 is composed of the following information. User name 702
Represents the name of the user who is the target of general information. Similar general information such as office telephone numbers can be defined for the group shown in FIG. Affiliation 704 is a description of the organization or department to which the user belongs and the duties therein. The address 706 typically represents the location of the user's professional office. The telephone number 708 generally comprises a plurality of numbers. In the figure, a telephone number for an office where the company normally works and a telephone number for another office (Shinagawa office) that may be visited from time to time are shown. It can be seen that telephone numbers include external lines and internal lines, and representative telephones and direct telephones. FAX number 710 indicates a telephone number related to FAX. The e-mail address 712 collects the e-mail addresses of the user. If the user uses a plurality of e-mail systems, a plurality of addresses are displayed as shown in the figure. If the save instruction button 714 is clicked, the contents of the general information acquisition dialog 700 can be saved as a file in an appropriate location. When the end instruction button 716 is clicked, the general information acquisition dialog 700 is closed without saving the contents.

FIG. 7 shows a dialog related to the general information acquisition button 206. Similar dialogs are provided for the destination information acquisition button 214 and the schedule information acquisition button 232. For a specified destination item in the destination 210 of the day or for a specified schedule item in the schedule table 218,
Detailed information can be obtained.

FIG. 8 shows the configuration of software for realizing this embodiment. This system includes software 800 installed on a server computer and software 820 installed on a client computer. Each of them operates on an operating system (OS) 816, 830 of each computer, and further has respective communication control modules 810, 832
Communication network control modules 818, 8 used by
The connection is made via the communication function provided by the. The server-side control module 802 interprets the data received from the communication control module 810, and requests the appropriate modules 804, 806, and 808 for processing if necessary. The access authority check module 804 is a server program 800
Is checked with reference to the access authority data file 812. Public destination display board data read module 8
06 sends data to be displayed as a public destination display board to the client program 820 with reference to the public destination display board data file 814. The public destination display board data modification module 808 is a client program 82
0, the destination display board data file 814
Change the contents of the appropriate public destination display board data stored in. The client side control module 822 interprets the data received from the communication control module 830,
If necessary, the processing is requested to an appropriate module 820, 826, 828. User interface module 82
4 is called when the client program 820 needs to perform some kind of interaction with the user of the client computer. For example, a start operation and an end operation of the present system are performed. The public destination display board display module 826 displays the public destination display board on the display device of the client computer based on the public destination display board data sent by the server program 800. The user dialog module 828 supports the interaction between the public destination display board and the user of the client computer. For example,
Media Dialog 500, Destination Registration Dialog 60
0, dialogs such as the general information acquisition dialog 700 are displayed by the user dialog module 828.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining the processing of the server program 800. Server program 800
Receives the data sent by the client program 820 from the communication control module 810 (900). If the data is a request to read the public destination display board data (9
01), the user ID and password input by the client user are checked with reference to the access authority data file 812 (902), and the access authority is determined (90).
4) The read information ID for identifying data for managing the public destination display board data required by the read request and the data associated therewith such as access authority is determined (906). Then, the public destination display board data file 8
14, when the access right is only for browsing (90
In step 8), the read information ID and the public destination display board data for viewing are sent to the client program 820 (912). Alternatively, if the access right also permits modification of the public destination display board data (910), the read information ID and the public destination display board data for modification are sent to the client program 820 (914). If the access authority does not correspond to any of them, the read information ID and the data secured corresponding thereto are destroyed (91
5). If the data from the client program 820 is an information acquisition request (916), the transmitted read information ID is checked, the public destination display board data file 814 is referenced, and information corresponding to the requested item is created. And returns it to the client program 820 (91
8). If the data from the client program 820 is a media transmission request (920), the transmitted read information ID is checked, the public destination display board data file 814 is referenced, and the requested item such as the media type is corresponded. Address information is created and returned to the client program 820 (922). If the data from the client program 820 is an information modification request (924), the access right is checked based on the read information ID sent (926), and the public destination display board data file 814 is referred to, Information modification dialog information for instructing the client user to modify the requested information modification item is created and returned to the client program 820 (928). If the data from the client program 820 is an information modification notice (9)
30), the received read information ID is checked, the contents of the items of the public destination display board data corresponding to the modification result are changed by referring to the public destination display board data file 814, and the contents are changed to the client program 820. The public destination display board data is returned (932). If the data from the client program 820 is a browsing end notification (934), the transmitted read information ID and the data secured corresponding thereto are discarded (936).

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining the processing of the client program 820. The client program 820 receives data input by the client user via the user interface module 824 (1000). If the data is a request to read the public destination display board data (1001), the user ID and password input by the client user are sent to the server program 800 (1002), and the server program 80
The public destination display board data returned from 0 is received (10
44) The public destination display board is displayed on the display device of the client computer based on the public destination display board data (1046). If the data input by the client user is an information acquisition request (1004), the read information ID corresponding to the public destination display board and the information item to be acquired are sent to the server program 800 (1006) and returned from the server program 800. Receive the item data
(1032) The acquired information display dialog is displayed on the display device of the client computer based on the item data (1034). If the data input by the client user is a communication media transmission request (1008),
The read information ID corresponding to the public destination display board and the communication media item to be used are sent to the server program 800 (1010), and the address data corresponding to the communication media item returned from the server program 800 is received (1036). The communication medium is started by setting the data as the destination (1038). If the data input by the client user is an information modification request (101
2) Send the read information ID corresponding to the public destination display board and the information item to be modified to the server program 800.
(1014), an information modification dialog is created based on the information returned from the server program 800 (1016) (1018), the input data by the client user is received through the dialog (1020), the read information ID and the modification item setting by the user The value is sent to the server program 800 as an information modification notice (102
2) receiving the public destination display board data in which the item data returned from the server program 800 is modified (104)
0), the public destination display board is displayed on the display device of the client computer based on the public destination display board data (1042). If the data input by the client user is a browsing end request (1024), the public destination display board displayed on the display device of the client computer is closed (1026), and the read information ID corresponding to the public destination display board is transmitted to the server. It is sent to the program 800 as a browsing end notification (1028).

When the system uses the above-described WWW mechanism, the data exchange between the server program 800 and the client program 820 can use a procedure based on CGI (Common Gateway Interface) proposed in RFC1945. .

[0023]

By using the system according to the present invention, the user can not only know the current location of the user who wants to contact from anywhere inside or outside the office,
The user at the place can be contacted directly from the computer by an appropriate means. As a result, the progress of the business is not hindered due to an unknown location or miscommunication.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the configuration and operation of a system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a public destination display board indicating a scheduled action of a user.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a user's own public destination display board viewed by a user.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a public destination display board that displays an action schedule of a group.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a user interface for specifying a medium.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a user interface for updating destination information.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user interface for acquiring general information.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a configuration of software that implements the present embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating processing of a server program.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating processing of a client program.

[Explanation of symbols]

100: wide area communication network, 102: server computer, 108: client computer, 114: client computer

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Tohru Hoshi 1099 Ozenji Temple, Aso-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Hitachi, Ltd.System Development Laboratory (72) Inventor Sadao Oki 5030 Totsukacho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Company, Limited Hitachi, Ltd. Software Development Division

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A wide area communication network system in which one or a plurality of server computers for centrally managing specific information are arranged, and a user can access the information stored in the server computer using a client computer. A step in which the server computer manages contact information for each user to contact another user; a step in which each user browses the contact information using the client computer; A step of performing a modification operation such as addition, deletion, change, update or the like on the contact information by using the client information, and a step of contacting the other party from the client computer in use based on the contact information viewed by each user. Contact means characterized by having Apparatus. 2. The contact means publishing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said wide area communication network is the Internet, and said server computer and said client computer communicate with each other by an http protocol. 3. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said wide area communication network is an intranet. 4. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said server computer manages said contact information on a user basis. 5. The contact means publishing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said server computer manages said contact information in a specific group unit. 6. The contact means publishing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a step in which the server computer mixes management of a user and management of a specific group in the management of the contact information. 7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the server computer manages contact information browsing authority for each user to browse the contact information, and the server computer controls browsing according to the contact information browsing authority. A contact means publishing device having the step of: 8. The server according to claim 1, wherein said server computer manages a contact information modification right for each user to modify said contact information, and said server computer controls each user in accordance with said contact information modification right. A contact means disclosure device having a step of controlling a modification operation. 9. The contact means publishing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said server computer has a step of limiting said contact information which can be modified by each user to the contact information of the user. 10. The contact means publishing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a step of a user acquiring contact information stored in said server computer from said client computer as data. 11. A contact means disclosing apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising a step of targeting permanent information of said user or group as said contact information. 12. A contact means publishing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a step of dividing said contact information displayed on a display device of said client computer into information relating to a destination of the current day and information relating to a schedule of a specific period before and after the present day as a display area. . 13. A contact means publishing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said client computer selectively displays a communication means available for a contact with respect to the information on the destination of the day. 14. The method according to claim 12, wherein the step of extracting constant information of the user or the group from the client computer, the step of extracting destination information of the day from the client computer, and extracting the schedule information from the client computer. And a contact means disclosing device.