JPH1169328A - Asynchronous communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an asynchronous communication system which can realize effective communication. SOLUTION: A Web browser 15 executing a message input aplet 8 receives the message of a storage object by a camera 16 and a microphone 17, measures reception time and sends it to a discussion management server 1. The message which a message management mechanism 4 receives is stored in a message storage area 3 and the discussion space management mechanism 6 correspondingly stores URL where the message is stored and reception time in a discussion storage area 5. The discussion space management mechanism 6 takes out the messages stored in the message storage area 3 in a management module 2 in a reception time order and they are transmitted to the Web browser 15. The Web browser 15 reproduces the messages. The messages can be reproduced in the reception time order and the user can appropriately grasp the flow of the messages in communication.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to storing a message comprising at least one of audio and video in a storage device and reproducing the stored message, thereby enabling communication between a plurality of users at different times. Related to enabling asynchronous communication systems.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a system for supporting various communications such as meetings, discussions, and dialogues. Examples of such a system include the following. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 02-266785 discloses a “method of controlling storage / reproduction of a conference system”.
This is a system in which a plurality of users hold a conference via a network, and remarks during the conference are accumulated in association with a position of a cursor pointing to a material shared and displayed through a screen. Then, the associated sound can be reproduced from the position indicated by the cursor in the material used during the conference.

[0003] Further, in the "moving image digest automatic generation method" described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 03-90968, priorities are assigned to moving images divided in advance for each scene and stored, and within a specified time. This is a digest generation method in which scenes are selected and reproduced in the order of higher priority so as to fit, and it is possible to generate a digest flexibly according to a designated time. Further, “Recording and searching method and automatic recording device” described in JP-A-04-82357
Is a system that enables a conference via a network, stores remarks input by video and audio in association with the material displayed through the terminal, and stores the video and audio corresponding to the specified material. Can be played.

The "electronic conference system" described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 06-205151 detects that a command input to the electronic blackboard has not been performed for a predetermined time in a face-to-face conference, and triggers this. In this case, index information in which speech during a meeting and display information during a meeting are associated with each other is created and stored, and a search using the index is enabled later. In addition, the “moving image digest generation method and moving image digest generation device” described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 08-163488 discloses a method for moving images that are hierarchically managed in units of scenes, cuts, shots, and frames. ,
According to the level of detail specified by the user, several consecutive frames are selected from a specific layer, and a digest is automatically generated.

[0005] As shown below, various research papers also describe systems for supporting communication. J. Conklin and ML Begeman "gIBIS: A Hype
rtext Tool for Eploratory Policy Discussion "ACM T
ransactions on Office Information Systems 6 (4), pa
ges 303-331, 1989 (hereinafter referred to as Reference 1) describes the structure of multi-user messages input as text based on the communication model of discussion (expression, disagreement, support transition model). Is described, the relationship between messages is displayed as a network-like overview, and the user can add a message while watching this relationship.

[0006] RA Rogers, CC Marshall, FG
Halasz, and WC Janssen Jr. "Aquanet: A Hypertex
t Tolls to Hold Your Knowledge in Place ", Proceedi
ngsof ACM Hypertext'91, pages 261-275, 1991,
Similarly to the system of the above-mentioned document 1, a system is described which supports structuring of messages of a plurality of users input as texts, and a communication model for discussion can be defined by the user.

Further, R. Frederic, P. Curtis, M. Dixon,
and DA Nichols "The Jupiter Audio / Video Architec
ture: Secure Multimedia in Network Places ", Procee
dings of ACM Multimedia'95, pages 79-90, 1995 describes a system that performs synchronous communication using video and audio by multiple users on a virtual discussion space on a network,
In the virtual discussion space, virtual objects (documents, printers, etc.) can be operated.

[0008] Also, J. Han and B. Smith "CU-SeeMe V
R: Immersive Desktop Teleconferencing ", Proceeding
s of ACM Multimedia'96, pages 199-207, 1996,
In a virtual discussion space on the network,
A system capable of performing synchronous communication using video and audio by a plurality of users is described. An image of a user's face is cut out from a background and is synthesized and displayed with a background in a virtual space.

Also, B. Janssen, G. Kurtenbach, T, Mo
ran, I. Smith, B. Melle, S. Minneman, S. Harrison
"A Confederation of Tools for Capturing and Acces
singCollaborative Activity "Proceedings of ACM Mul
timedia'95, pages 523-534,1995 describes a system for recording face-to-face meetings with video and audio by combining a live board (electronic blackboard), laptop computer, camera, microphone, and speaker. In this system, to create an index for retrieving a meeting scene later, a live board screen switch or a keyword in a memo of a secretary is used.

[0010]

As a conventional communication system using video and audio, there is the above-mentioned system. In these systems, however, a synchronization is performed by a plurality of users sharing the same time. It supported communication for type communication. Therefore, in order to receive support, a plurality of communicating users had to share the same time.

On the other hand, there are systems such as voice mail and video mail which enable asynchronous communication in which users do not share the same time, and these systems are used to enable communication between a plurality of users. It is difficult to implement discussions and conferences. Also, the individual messages exchanged are
Because they were treated as independent, they couldn't be aware of the flow of communication.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional circumstances, and provides an asynchronous communication system capable of performing effective communication in voice or video communication between a plurality of users at different times. It is intended to provide.

[0013]

In order to achieve the above object, an asynchronous communication system according to a first aspect of the present invention stores a message comprising at least one of audio and video in a storage device and stores the message in a storage device. An asynchronous communication system that enables communication between a plurality of users at different times by playing back a message, wherein the message input unit receives a message to be stored, and the message is received by the message input unit. Timer means for measuring the time taken, message storage means for storing the received time in the storage device in association with the received message, and message reproduction means for playing back the messages stored in the storage device in the order of the time received. Characterized by having

[0014] In the above asynchronous communication system, the message input means receives the message to be stored, the timing means measures the time at which the message was received by the message input means, and the time at which the message was received by the message storage means. Are stored in the storage device in association with each other. Then, the message reproducing means reproduces the messages stored in the storage device in the order of the time of reception. Therefore, the messages can be played back in the order in which they were received, and the user can appropriately grasp the flow of the messages in the communication.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the asynchronous communication system according to the first aspect, when the message input means receives a message input, the message input means stores the message as a basis of the message. Accepting designation of a message stored in the device, wherein the message storage means comprises:
Storing, in a storage device, association information for associating the received message with the received message;
For each message stored in the storage device, a counting unit that counts the number of messages input based on the message based on the association information, and a selection unit that selects a message whose number of messages is equal to or greater than a set number, Wherein the message reproducing means reproduces the messages selected by the selecting means in the order in which the messages are received.

In the above-mentioned asynchronous communication system, when the message input means receives a message input, the message input means accepts designation of a message already stored in the storage device, and the message storage means accepts the specified message. Is stored in the storage device. Then, for each message stored in the storage device, the counting means counts the number of messages input based on the message based on the association information, and the selecting means selects a message equal to or more than the set number of messages. Then, the message reproducing means reproduces the messages selected by the selecting means in the order of the times received. Therefore, it is possible to play back messages which are considered to be noticed in communication, which are frequently used as the basis of other messages, in the order of received time, and allow the user to grasp the outline of communication.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the asynchronous communication system according to the first or second aspect, further comprising:
Message visualization means is provided which outputs a chart showing a relationship between messages stored in the storage device based on at least one of the time stored in the storage device and the association information.

In the above-mentioned asynchronous communication system, the message visualizing means displays a chart showing the relationship between messages stored in the storage device based on at least one of the time stored in the storage device and the associated information. Output. Therefore, the user can easily grasp the relationship between messages in communication visually.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an asynchronous communication system according to any one of the first to third aspects, comprising a plurality of computers connected via a network. A plurality of computers are provided with the message input means.
In the asynchronous communication system described above, a plurality of computers connected via a network accept input of a message. Therefore, even a remote user can effectively communicate without any trouble.

[0020]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An asynchronous communication system according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. This asynchronous communication system includes a discussion management server 1 and an applet management server 7.
And a plurality of clients 12, each of which is connected via a network 19 (Internet).

The discussion management server 1 includes a management module 2, a message storage area 3, a message management mechanism 4, a discussion space storage area 5, and a discussion space management mechanism 6. The management module 2 transmits the U
The data corresponding to the RL (uniform resource locator) is returned to the request source.

The message storage area 3 stores audio and video message data and also stores a user index table for managing a directory for each user that stores the message. In this embodiment,
As shown in FIG. 2, the user index table has a user name for identifying a user, a password for access, and a directory name indicating a directory for storing a message. The message management mechanism 4 performs a process of managing the user index table and a process of storing a message based on the user index table. The detailed function of the process will be described later in the description of the operation.

The discussion space storage area 5 stores a message log for managing discussion messages for each discussion, and provides an HTML (HyperText Mark-), which will be described later, that provides a place and function for each discussion (a so-called discussion space). up
Language) document. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the message log for each discussion includes an input message URL indicating a URL in which a message is stored, a message reception time indicating a time when the corresponding message is received, and A referenced message URL representing a list to a referenced message URL representing a URL set of messages entered on a message basis
And a list. The discussion space management mechanism 6 performs a management process on the discussion space. The detailed function of the process will be described later in the description of the operation.

The applet management server 7 stores a program (Java applet) described in the Java language, and transmits a Java applet corresponding to the request received via the network 19 to the request source. The Java applet includes a message input applet 8 that defines processing when registering a message, a message playback applet 9 that defines processing when playing a message, and a digest that defines processing when playing a digest in a discussion. There is a reproduction applet 10 and a message reference relation visualization applet 11 that defines a process of creating a chart representing a relation between messages in a discussion. It should be noted that a specific description of the processing performed by executing the applet will be given later in the description of the operation.

The client 12 includes a display device 13 such as a display and an input device 14 such as a mouse and a keyboard.
And a general Web browser 15, a camera 16 for capturing video as a message, and a microphone 17 for capturing audio as a message.
And a speaker 18 for outputting the voice of the message. The Web browser 15 performs a function of receiving a user's input from the input device 13, a function of displaying information on the display device 14, and a transmission request of information corresponding to a URL specified by the user, and receives the corresponding information. It has a function of displaying and outputting, and a function of executing a Java applet.

Here, the storage device described in the claims mainly comprises a message storage area 3 and a discussion space storage area 5, and the message input means mainly includes a camera 16, a microphone 17, a message input applet. The timekeeping means is mainly constituted by the Web browser 15 executing the message input applet 8, and the message storage means mainly operates the message input applet 8 by operating the message input applet 8. Web browser 15 to execute, message management mechanism 4, and discussion space management mechanism 6
Are operated.

The message playback means described in the claims is mainly operated by a web browser 15 for executing the message playback applet 9 or the digest playback applet 10, the management module 2, and the discussion space management mechanism 6. The counting means and the selection means are mainly configured by the discussion space management mechanism 6, and the message visualization means
It is mainly configured by the operation of the discussion space management mechanism 6 and the Web browser 15 that executes the message reference relation visualization applet 11.

Next, the operation of the above asynchronous communication system will be described. In the system of the present embodiment, a directory for storing a message is allocated and managed for each user. First, an operation of allocating an area for storing a message for each user will be described.

This operation is performed when the user operates the Web browser 15
In response to this, the user registration interface shown in FIG. 4 is displayed, an input is made in each area of the interface, and the input is determined. The user registration interface shown in FIG. 4 has a new user name input area 21 for receiving a user name, a password setting area 22 for receiving a password, and a directory name input area 23 for receiving a name for a directory. Is determined, is an interface having a function of transmitting the contents of the area input to the Web browser 15 to the discussion management server 1 as a request for new user registration. For example, a URL set in advance is It can be displayed by inputting it to the Web browser 15 or the like.

First, when a user inputs data into each area of the interface and the input is determined, the Web browser 15 transmits the contents of the input area to the discussion management server 1 as a new user registration request. When the message management mechanism 4 of the discussion management server 1 receives the new user registration request, it creates a new directory in the message storage area 3 and adds an entry corresponding to the new user registration request to the user index table. The audio and video messages input by the user are stored under the directory assigned in this way.

Next, an operation for creating a discussion space for a new discussion will be described. This operation is performed when the user operates the Web browser 15 as shown in FIG.
Is started by displaying the discussion space registration interface shown in (1), making an input in each area of the interface, and determining the input.

Here, the discussion space registration interface shown in FIG. 5 includes a topic name input area 24 for receiving a topic name in a discussion,
It has a discussion content input area 25 for receiving the content of the discussion in the discussion, and a notification member input area 26 for receiving the e-mail address of the user who participates in the discussion. Is an interface having a function of transmitting the contents of the set area to the discussion management server 1 as a discussion space creation request.
It can be displayed by inputting it into the browser 15 or the like.

First, when the user makes an input to each area of the interface and the input is determined, the Web browser 15 uses the contents of the input area as a discussion space creation request and sets the discussion management server 1
Send to When the discussion space management mechanism 6 of the discussion management server 1 receives the discussion space creation request, the HT that provides a discussion space having a view as shown in FIG. 6 based on the request.
An ML document is created and stored in the discussion storage area 5, and an URL including the URL of the created HTML document and information on the discussion as shown in FIG. 7 is created, and the email is sent to a discussion space creation request. Is delivered to the "notification members" included in Therefore, the URL of the HTML document providing the discussion space is notified to the user designated as the “notification member”, and each user causes the Web browser 15 to display the HTML document providing the discussion space. Asynchronous discussion described later can be performed.

Here, the HTML document providing the discussion space shown in FIG. 6 includes a content display area 27, a message input button 28, a discussion playback button 29, a mark setting button 30, and a mark release button 3
1, a mark playback button 32, a digest playback button 33, an overview display button 34, and a message display screen 35.

The content display area 27 is an area for displaying the content related to the discussion provided by the HTML document. The message input button 28 has a function of, when pressed, causing the web browser 15 to retrieve the message input applet 8 from the applet management server 7 and execute the applet.

When the discussion reproduction button 29 is pressed, the applet management server 7 is displayed on the Web browser 15.
Has a function of extracting the message playback applet 9 from the server and executing the applet. The mark setting button 30 has a function of, when pressed, causing the Web browser 15 to store the URL of the message being reproduced in the marking message storage area. Note that the marking message storage area is stored in the client 3 when the web browser 15 executes the message playback applet 9.
Is allocated on the memory of
It has a queue structure as shown in FIG.

When the mark release button 31 is pressed, W
It has a function of causing the web browser 15 to clear the URL stored in the marking message storage area. FIG. 8B shows a marking message storage area in which the URL has been cleared. The mark reproduction button 32 has a function of, when pressed, causing the Web browser 15 to reproduce corresponding messages in order from the top of the URL stored in the marking message storage area.

The digest playback button 33 has a function of, when pressed, causing the web browser 15 to retrieve the digest playback applet 10 from the applet management server 7 and to execute the applet. The overview display button 34 has a function of, when pressed, causing the web browser 15 to retrieve the message reference relation visualization applet 11 from the applet management server 7 and to execute the applet. The message display screen 35 is a screen that displays a video of a message.

Next, H for providing a discussion space
The operation of the system in an asynchronous discussion performed by displaying a TML document on the Web browser 15 will be described. First, an operation for registering a message in the discussion space will be described. This operation is performed by the discussion input button 28 of the HTML document providing the discussion space displayed on the Web browser 15.
Is started by being pressed by the user.

When the discussion input button 28 is pressed, the web browser 15 receives the message input applet 8 from the applet management server 7 via the network 19 and starts execution. When the execution of the message input applet 8 is started, the Web browser 15 displays the message input applet interface shown in FIG. 9 and receives an input from the user, and performs a message registration process shown in FIG.

In this message registration process, when the user presses a new message input button 36 or a reference message input button 37, the Web browser 15
Receives a message composed of video and audio from the camera 16 and the microphone 17 as digital data and stores it in the memory of the client 3 (step S1). Here, the new message input button 36 is a button that is pressed only when a message is input, and the reference message input button 37 is a button that is pressed when a message is input based on another message.

When the message test playback button 38 is pressed, the Web browser 15 displays the image of the message held in the memory of the client 3 on the test playback screen 3.
9 and output the voice of the message from the speaker 18. As a result, the user can confirm the input message, and the user presses the new message input button 36 or the reference message input button 37 to re-enter the message until a satisfactory message can be input. Can be.

When the message registration button 40 is pressed by the user, it means that the user wants to register a message in the memory of the client 3 in the discussion space.
Receives the current time from a timer (not shown) of the client 3 and stores it in a memory as a message reception time. The reception time and the name of the user who made the registration request (that is, the name of the user who called the HTML document) )When,
Is transmitted to the discussion management server 1.

Next, the message management mechanism 4 of the discussion management server 1 receives the user name, specifies a directory for storing the user's message from the user index table in the message storage area 3, and stores the received message in the corresponding directory. I do. Note that the file name given to the stored message is a file name in a format as shown in FIG. Then, the message management mechanism 4 sets the file path name of the stored message as the URL of the message to We.
b Transmit to the browser 15 (step S2).

When receiving the URL of the message to be registered, the Web browser 15 transmits the URL and the reception time held in the memory of the client 3 to the discussion management mechanism 6, and the discussion management mechanism 6 registers the URL. The URL of the target message and the reception time are received and registered as a new entry in the message log of the discussion space storage area 5.

Here, if the message to be registered is a message input by pressing the reference message input button 37, it means that it is a message input based on another message.
The Web browser 15 further transmits the URL stored in the marking message storage area to the discussion management mechanism 6, and the discussion space management mechanism 6
Further, the URL of the message to be registered is added to the item of the referenced message URL of the corresponding entry of the message log.
Is added (steps S3, S4, S5). As a result, the message can be registered in the discussion space, and when the message is input based on another message, the message is registered in association with the message on which the message is based. be able to.

Next, an operation for reproducing a message registered in the discussion space will be described. This operation is started when the user presses the discussion reproduction button 29 of the HTML document providing the discussion space displayed on the Web browser 15. When the discussion playback button 29 is pressed, the web browser 15 sends the message playback applet 9 from the applet management server 7 via the network 19.
And start execution.

When the execution of the message reproduction applet 9 is started, the Web browser 15 displays an interface shown in FIG. 12 and accepts a designation of a message to be reproduced in the discussion from the user.
In this embodiment, the specification of the time for reproducing the discussion message or the number of messages to be reproduced is received.

When the Web browser 15 receives the specification from the user, the Web browser 15 transmits the specification to the discussion space management mechanism 6, and the discussion space management mechanism 6 that has received the specification changes the URL of the message corresponding to the specification from the message log. The message is selected and sorted in the order of the reception time, and the message corresponding to the URL according to the order is taken out by the management module 2 and transmitted to the Web browser 15. When receiving the message, the Web browser 15 displays the image of the message on the message display screen 35.
And the voice of the message is output from the speaker 18. Therefore, the messages registered in the message space can be sequentially reproduced in the order of the reception time.

When the above-mentioned message is being reproduced, the designation of the message which is the basis of the message to be input later by the user is accepted, and when the mark setting button 30 is pressed by the user, the Web browser 15
Stores the URL of the message being reproduced in the marking message storage area. Note that designation can be made for a plurality of messages.

Next, an operation for reproducing a message which is a digest of the discussion registered in the discussion space will be described with reference to FIG. This operation is started when the digest playback button 33 of the HTML document providing the discussion space displayed on the Web browser 15 is pressed by the user. When the digest playback button 23 is pressed, the Web
The b browser 15 receives the digest reproduction applet 10 from the applet management server 7 via the network 19 and starts execution.

Then, the digest reproduction applet 10
Starts, the Web browser 15 transmits a digest reproduction request to the discussion space management mechanism 6. When the digest space management mechanism 6 receives the digest reproduction request, the discussion space management mechanism 6 extracts the entries of the messages stored in the message log in order of reception time (step S6), and retrieves the message registered in the referenced message list of the entry. Is counted (steps S7, S8).

Then, the discussion management mechanism 6
If the counted number is equal to or more than a predetermined number (for example, set by the user at the time of system startup), the management module 2 transmits a message of the corresponding URL to the Web browser 15, and the Web browser 15 that has received the message,
Play the video of the message on the message display screen 35,
The voice of the message is output from the speaker 18 (step S9).

On the other hand, if the counted number is less than the predetermined number, nothing is performed. Then, the processing described above (steps S6 to S9) is performed for all entries stored in the message log. As a result, a message that is frequently used as the basis of the message, that is, a message that is particularly noticed in the discussion can be reproduced, and the user can grasp the outline of the discussion.

Next, an operation for visualizing the relationship between the messages of the discussion registered in the discussion space will be described. This operation is performed by the Web browser 15
HT that provides the discussion space displayed in
This is started when the user presses the ML document overview display button 34. When the overview display button 34 is pressed, the web browser 15 receives the message reference relation visualization applet 11 from the applet management server 7 via the network 19 and starts execution.

When the execution of the message reference relation visualization applet 11 is started, the Web browser 15
A reference relation visualization request is transmitted to the discussion management mechanism 6, and the discussion space management mechanism 6 receives the request.
Extracts, based on all the entries stored in the message log, the reception time of each message and the information on the reference relation linking the messages, and retrieves the information
Send to 5.

Then, the Web receiving the above information
Based on this information, the browser 15 displays a rectangle 41 representing the message in accordance with the reception time of the message, as shown in FIG. 14, and connects the rectangles 41 of the reference-related message by a line 42. Displays a format overview. It should be noted that, in the figure, the length of the rectangle 41 in the time axis direction is displayed based on the time of the message. As a result, the relationship between messages in the discussion space can be easily grasped visually. It is also possible to receive an instruction for the rectangle 41 of the displayed overview message and reproduce the corresponding message.

In the above-described embodiment, the time at which the user makes a registration request is used as the message reception time. For example, when a message is transmitted from the client to the server immediately after receiving the registration request, The transmission time of the message may be used as the reception time. In short, any time may be used as long as a plurality of messages can be managed in the order in which they are received by the system. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the asynchronous communication system for the discussion in the communication is mainly described. However, the present invention can be applied to not only the discussion but also various kinds of communication such as conversation.

In the above-described embodiment, the relationship between messages is displayed based on the information on the reception time and the reference relationship. However, the relationship between messages may be displayed based only on the reception time. Alternatively, the relationship between the messages may be displayed based only on the information on the reference relationship, and in any case, the user can effectively grasp the relationship between the messages. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the asynchronous communication system is configured by a plurality of computers connected by a network. However, the asynchronous communication system according to the present invention may be configured by a single computer.
Further, in the above-described embodiment, a message composed of audio and video is used as a message. However, a message composed of only audio or a message composed of only video may be used as a message.

Each of the above-mentioned functional units is constituted by a processor executing a control program (prestored in a ROM, a RAM or the like). In the present invention, these functional units are constituted as independent hardware circuits. May be. In addition, the present invention allows the control program to be grasped as a computer-readable storage medium such as a floppy disk or a CD-ROM, and reads the control program from the storage medium and causes a processor to execute the control program. Such processing can also be executed.

[0061]

As described above, the asynchronous communication system according to the present invention receives a message to be stored, measures the time at which the message was received, and associates the received message with the received time. Since the stored messages are played back in the order in which they are received, the user can appropriately grasp the flow of messages in communication, such as synchronous communication.

Further, since the communication is asynchronous, it is possible to eliminate the time restriction as in the case of the synchronous communication. For this reason, the response time to a message from another user is less likely to be limited as in synchronous communication, so that a response message can be considered for a relatively long time. Therefore, a more appropriate message can be answered, and the quality of communication can be improved. Furthermore, the asynchronous communication system according to the present invention is constituted by a plurality of computers connected via a network, and receives messages from the plurality of computers. Effective communication can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an asynchronous communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a user index table according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a discussion log according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a user registration interface according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a discussion space registration interface according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a display screen on a Web browser of an HTML document providing a discussion space according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an e-mail regarding a new discussion space according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a marking message storage area according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a message input applet interface according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a message registration process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a file name format of a message according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a discussion playback applet interface according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of a digest reproduction process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is an overview of a message according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1. Discussion management server 2. Management module 3. Message storage area 4.
Message management mechanism, 5. Discussion space storage area, 6. Discussion space management mechanism, 7. Applet management server, 8. Message input applet, 9. Message playback applet, 10.
-Digest playback applet, 11-Message reference relationship visualization applet, 12-Client,
13. Display device, 14. Input device,
15. Web browser, 16 camera, 17 microphone, 18 speaker, 19 network.

Claims (4)

[Claims] An asynchronous communication that stores a message composed of at least one of audio and video in a storage device and reproduces the stored message to enable communication at different times between a plurality of users. A message input means for receiving a message to be stored, a clock means for measuring a time at which the message was received by the message input means, and a message for storing the received message in a storage device in association with the received time. An asynchronous communication system comprising: a storage unit; and a message playback unit that plays back messages stored in a storage device in the order in which they are received. 2. The asynchronous communication system according to claim 1, wherein said message input means, when accepting an input of a message, accepts designation of a message already stored in a storage device as a basis of said message. The message storage means includes: a received message;
A storage device stores association information for associating the specified message with the storage device, and further counts, for each message stored in the storage device, the number of messages input based on the message based on the association information. Means, and selecting means for selecting a message whose number of messages is equal to or greater than a set number, wherein the message reproducing means reproduces the messages selected by the selecting means in the order in which they are received. Type communication system. 3. The asynchronous communication system according to claim 1, further comprising a storage device that stores the time in the storage device based on at least one of the time and the associated information stored in the storage device. An asynchronous communication system, comprising: a message visualizing unit that outputs a chart representing a relationship between messages. 4. The asynchronous communication system according to claim 1, comprising a plurality of computers connected via a network, said plurality of computers including said message input means. An asynchronous communication system characterized by being performed.