WO2002048927A1

WO2002048927A1 - System and method for managing image data and text data

Info

Publication number: WO2002048927A1
Application number: PCT/FR2001/003981
Authority: WO
Inventors: Philippe Genestier; Luc Liauzu; Claude Masurel
Original assignee: France Telecom
Priority date: 2000-12-14
Filing date: 2001-12-13
Publication date: 2002-06-20
Also published as: AU2002219299A1; FR2818410B1; FR2818410A1

Abstract

The invention concerns a system for managing image data and text data, comprising archiving image data, archiving text data, database management means, agenda management means for classifying said data on the basis of a time criterion, directory management means for associating with each image identification data, logger management means for classifying current data, and planning management means for classifying said data on the basis of a temporal forecast.

Description

System and method for managing image data and text data.

The present invention relates to a system and method for managing image data and text data. It also relates to a computer implementing the method.

Management, in particular the archiving and communication of images and text that can be associated, is of great importance in all fields, civil, administrative, industrial, agricultural, or even services.

The invention may be applied advantageously to the field of project management in the field of civil engineering and building. Document FR-A-2 788 654 proposes a system for archiving images in a reduced storage volume.

The present invention aims to automate certain administrative tasks required by the management of a project.

More particularly, the present invention aims to facilitate the circulation of information between the different people involved in a project, these different people being able to be employed by different companies, for example a client, a prime contractor and sub -traitants.

The present invention aims at an automatic and reliable circulation of information between the people who need it.

The invention provides a system for managing image data and data-text, comprising an archiving of image data, an archiving of data-text, a database management means. The system further comprises a calendar management means for classifying said data according to a time criterion, a management means a directory for associating identification data with each image, a journal management means for classifying current data, and a schedule management means for classifying said data according to a time forecast. In one embodiment of the invention, the system comprises an archiving of plans and a means for managing said plans. A means of managing reports may also be provided. Said report management means may be suitable for automatic generation of semi-finished reports by assembling information already stored and used for example by the planning management means, in particular the date of the meeting, the participants, the title or subject of the meeting, etc. A command icon for said automatic generation will be provided in a window generated by the report management means.

Advantageously, the system includes a means of automatically generating a summary document. The summary document takes into account the latest version of the data it incorporates.

In one embodiment of the invention, each management means comprises a distribution list defining the recipients of data, and a modification authorization list defining the persons authorized to modify data according to the nature of said data.

In one embodiment of the invention, the calendar management means is able to classify data to be broadcast to a plurality of recipients, and to control the broadcasting of said data. The dissemination of said data may be done by sending an electronic message or e-mail. Said e-mail can be received on various means such as electronic mail to which a recipient can access by a microcomputer or a mobile phone, a short message for example of the SMS type, a fax machine, or even a text-to-speech server.

Advantageously, the directory management means is able to manage data relating to an individual and data relating to a group.

Advantageously, the system comprises an advertisement management means able to classify the advertisements according to a priority hierarchy. Advantageously, the system comprises a means of managing reports comprising a means of subscribing to predetermined reports.

In one embodiment of the invention, the journal management means comprises means for classifying time sheets.

Advantageously, the planning management means comprises a means for generating alerts.

In one embodiment of the invention, the means for generating alerts is able to send an alert message. In one embodiment of the invention, the system comprises means for sending data from one user to another user.

The invention also provides a method of managing image data and text data, comprising, archiving of image data, archiving data, text, database management means, in which an agenda is created. online to classify said data according to a time criterion, we create an online directory associating each image with identification data, we create an online journal to classify current data, and we create an online schedule to classify said data according to a time forecast. The data can advantageously be stored in compressed form.

The invention also relates to a computer program comprising program code means for implementing the steps of the method, when said program is running on a computer. The invention also relates to a medium capable of being read by a device for reading program code means which are stored therein and which are suitable for implementing the steps of the method, when said program is running on a computer.

The method, implemented on one or more computers or workstations, will be able to offer a high-quality graphical interface to different users with a succession of windows whose complexity can be adapted to the ease and computer knowledge of different categories of users.

The invention makes it possible to avoid loss of information between different participants in a project, to avoid the dissemination of information which are useless to certain participants and to guarantee, conversely, that information useful to certain participants is made available to them or that essential information is sent to them. One also avoids a multiplication of transmissions of copies, faxes and electronic messages which clutters the communication networks, are expensive and which is detrimental to the efficiency and the taking into account of the content of the information. At the end of the project, you can execute the predefined documents and this automatically, for example an executed work document, also called "DOE", which can take into account the latest version of certain documents.

The present invention will be better understood on studying the detailed description of an embodiment taken by way of nonlimiting example and illustrated by the appended drawings, in which:

- Figure 1 is a diagram of the system architecture; - Figure 2 is a view of a home window;

- Figure 3 is a view of a calendar window;

- Figure 4 is a view of a calendar window;

- Figure 5 is a view of planning window presented by diagram; - Figure 6 is a view of batch planning window;

- Figure 7 is a view of a log window;

- Figure 8 is a view of a pointing log window;

- Figure 9 is a document window view;

- Figure 10 is a detailed document window view; - Figure 11 is an announcement window view;

- Figure 12 is a directory window view; and

- Figure 13 is a view of the outbox window. As can be seen in FIG. 1, a server 1 is connected to one or more computers 2, only one of which has been shown for clarity of the drawings, via the Internet network 3. The computers 2 can be of the type fixed or portable. Likewise, the server 1 is connected to one or more mobile telephones 4 of which only one has been shown, by means of one or more base stations 5.

The server 1 comprises a database 6 containing the background information relating to a project, such as a building site, for example the contact details of the subcontracting companies, the contact details of the people involved, the different stages of the project, etc. The server 1 also includes a support software platform 7 comprising different modules capable of calling upon information stored in the database 6, in particular an activity or planning module 8, a calendar module 9, a scheduling module message 10 and an event or log module 11.

The server 1 also includes a processor 12 capable of processing the data in XML or XSL format, in communication with the support software platform 7, as well as with a database 13 also forming part of the server 1 and containing a plurality of sheets XSL style tags referenced 14. The front end processor 12 assembles the style sheets 14 coming from the database 13 and the data coming from the different modules of the support software platform 7. The server 1 includes a communication interface 15 with the Internet network 3, comprising in particular an ad module 16 capable of sending HTTP type requests to the front-end processor 12 and of receiving data in HTML format from said front-end processor 12. The interface 15 may also include a document module 19 and also capable of sending HTTP requests to the front-end processor 12 and of receiving data therefrom in HTML format.

An interface 17 is also provided, capable of communicating with a mobile telephone network and also, preferably, capable of communicating with a fixed telephone network, not shown. The interface 17 includes an announcements module 18 which can also be provided with a document module 19.

More specifically, the agenda module 9 allows you to group appointments related to project activities. An appointment can be defined by a date, a place, a list of participants, companies and / or people, and a list of subjects to be covered. Newly entered events or appointments in the calendar can be notified to those concerned by email, fax, short message service or others.

The ad modules 16 and 18 form a project display panel which differs from messaging in that their content is common to all project participants, while messaging is personal. The members of the project must connect to a shared space to read new announcements. For urgent or important announcements, it is possible to send an email notification to personal or other messaging systems, alerting said members of the presence of an important announcement. There are three types of announcements. For example, in the case of a building site, we can provide announcements relating to the life of the site with information relating to safety, installation of the site, interventions by each, etc. We can also provide classified ads, such as recruitment, purchase, sale or rental of equipment, etc. It is also possible to provide means for ordering materials which may be in the form of a pre-order slip in which the various participants can indicate their order needs and the works manager can make group orders. The announcements relating to the life of the site can be classified into announcements of general information, of interventions by companies, of site security, or of other types. The classified ads can be classified into purchase of equipment, rental of equipment, sale of equipment, job applications and job offers.

The document modules forming part of the interfaces 15 and 17 allow the rapid and secure exchange of documents between the different participants. We can distinguish four types of documents:

1 ° / the minutes of meetings, which may include site meetings, coordination meetings, meetings at the start and end of works, and other types of meetings;

2 ° / plans, which may include architect's plans, execution plans, sectional plans, summary plans and other types of plans; 3 ° / technical documents, which may include technical-regulatory documentation, quality sheets, technical specifications, and other technical documents; and 4 ° / other types of documents. The sharing of documents between the different participants allows everyone, according to their profile, to create a document, to attach it in pieces attached or read an up-to-date document, comment on it or modify it quickly, without any particular waiting period or risk of version error. Different windows allow you to vary the views of project documents. A user entering the project document module has the choice between viewing all of the project documents or a first selection by type of document. Then, different windows are proposed, a default window corresponds to the chronological sorting, the most recent documents being indicated first. The user can also choose to sort the documents by company, by author, by state (in preparation, for approval, approved, archived).

The exchange of documents may also be done by fax with persons not connected to an Internet network or with participants who do not have permanent access to the Internet. When reading a document, a participant can easily add a comment attached to this document and which will be archived with the document so that it is always linked to it.

The agenda module 9 groups together the appointments related to project activities, while the schedule manages the interventions of each lot or part over the duration of the project. For each event created in the agenda module 9, certain fields are compulsory, others optional and others are filled in automatically with the possibility of modifying the information by default or not. Some of this information will appear directly in the agenda, others will only be visible in the detailed event file. You will then have to click on an icon associated with the event to access it. This simplifies the viewing of the calendar window, while containing the information essential to each event.

For example, the title is a mandatory field present on the agenda and on the detailed sheet. The description is an optional field found on the detailed card. The schedule is a mandatory field present on the agenda and on the detailed sheet. Duration is an optional field present on the agenda and detailed sheet. The designation of the creator of the event is an autofillable field, not modifiable and is present on the detailed file. The list of people affected by the event is an editable automatic filling field, by otherwise all the people in the project are listed. The list is displayed on the detailed sheet. The place is an optional field present on the detailed card. The time zone is an automatic field found on the detailed card. The choice of alert and alert medium is an editable auto-fill field and is present on the detailed record.

A normal alert mode is provided with the possibility of a particular choice. The calendar window will display a calendar for a fortnight by default. It will also be possible to duplicate an event, because often important meetings are scheduled even before the start of a project and are generally regular, every week at the same time on the same day. Created in the project agenda, the tasks concerning each participant can be synchronized with their personal calendars, this possibility being configurable from their personal calendars. The ad modules 16 and 18 will also present fields with mandatory, automatic or optional characters. The title is a mandatory field and is visible on the list of announcements and on the detailed sheet of the said announcement. The recipient is an automatic field that cannot be modified and is present on the detailed file. The date is an automatic field present on the list of announcements and on the detailed card. The priority of the announcement is a modifiable automatic filling field, by default in normal mode and is present on the detailed file. The content of the advertisement is an optional field and is present on the detailed card. The presence of attached documents is an optional field and attachments may be attached. Each participant is authorized to create an advertisement. It will be provided that only the administrator can delete one.

We will also provide in the support software platform 7 a directory module grouping the contact details of the project participants and including the contact details of each: conventional contact details, email addresses, fax numbers, etc. The coordinates of the companies of the participants and a photograph of each speaker allowing a quick and effective location of the people working on a project and a site, this will facilitate the control of the pointing of the hours worked by distinguishing at a glance the people who wear the same name, case likely to occur relatively frequently. In other words, the directory includes information not only on people with access to the system, but also on people participating in the project, but not having access to the system. The directory may also group together the contact details of suppliers who are not physically present or of security organizations which may be necessary, administrative bodies, etc.

On each file corresponding to a person, will appear a personal part and a part relating to the company. The personal part will include the surname, the first name, the function, a photograph, the postal address, the fixed telephone number, the mobile telephone number, the fax number, the electronic address and the means of distribution of the documents by default. The part relating to the company will include the name of the company, its logo, an identification of the part of the project in which the company is involved, for example a lot in a tender, the designation of the person in charge of the project such a work supervisor or a project engineer, the designation of a secretarial contact, the postal address, the telephone number, the fax number, the electronic address and the website. To facilitate the circulation of information, the directory offers the possibility of establishing distribution links, for example a distribution list of reports of construction site meetings may group together all the participants in these meetings.

Only a coordinator and / or an administrator will have the right to modify this address book which is in principle established at the start of the work and therefore when the system is started up. If this directory undergoes modifications, such as the replacement of one company by another, the use of an additional subcontractor, it is sufficient that only the coordinator or the supervisor makes these modifications. In addition, this will prevent unintended people from being introduced unwanted by project participants.

The message module 10, also called “outbox”, makes it possible to send a text, message or document, on any medium, which makes it possible to remove long and boring actions such as writing an order form, its printing, its sending by a fax machine. Each participant will have personalized and secure access to the history of shipments he has made with a trace of these shipments via acknowledgments of receipt. When a message is sent, the sender's email address is given to the recipient, so that if the recipient chooses to reply to the message, their response will be sent to the sender's personal mailbox. A message will include an optional title field, an uneditable autofill author field, a mandatory fill recipient field, an uneditable autofill date field, an optional attachment field, a Modifiable auto-fill message priority field, optional message content field and auto-fill media choice field, depending on recipient. In the outbox, the user can choose to send a message to one or more project members and can attach one or more project documents or save to the hard drive of his computer. They can also send their message by other channels, by fax or by SMS short message service, depending on the equipment available to the recipient.

Document sharing, an essential function of a cooperative workspace, allows each participant, according to their profile and permissions, to create a document, attach it as an attachment or even read an up-to-date document, comment or modify it quickly, without waiting time or risk of version error. Different views allow you to vary the display of project documents. When entering the "project documents" module, the user has the choice between viewing all the project documents or making a first selection by type of document, such as reports, plans, technical documents, etc. Then, different views are proposed: the default view corresponds to sorting by date, the user can also choose to sort the documents by company, by author or by report.

A document will include a title field with mandatory completion and present on the list of documents as well as on the detailed sheet of each document, an author field with filling automatic modifiable present on the list and on the detailed card, a creation date field with automatic filling present on the list and on the card - detailed, a last modification date field with automatic filling present on the list and on the card detailed, a keyword field with optional filling present on the detailed file, a right field in connection with the directory, with modifiable automatic filling present on the detailed file, a version field with optional filling present on the list and on the detailed file, an optional fill-in comment field attached to the detailed file, a status field for the auto-fill document present in the list and on the detailed sheet, a status field for the auto-fill document that can be changed or not , present on the list and on the detailed file, a field of history of modifications with automatic filling present on the detailed file, a content field with optional filling present on the detailed card and an attached file field with optional filling and present in attachments.

In addition; the system will be provided with a search tool on all available documents, including in the attachments. All participants in the project will be able to add a document. This action will be subject to the approval of the administrator. When creating a document, participants other than the administrator will have the choice between the status "in preparation" or "for approval". The administrator, after having read it, can approve or not the document which will be put online with the indication "approved" in the field of states or deleted.

The support software platform 7 will also include a work site log offering a simpler presentation than the document modules 16 and 18 and which are primarily intended for people who are not used to IT tools, particularly in the building sector. Access rights will be very limited. For example, only the site foreman, author of the newspaper, and his supervisor, can consult and / or create and / or modify it. Each company participating in the project will be able to create its own site log, invisible to other companies. The site log allows each company to automatically manage its staff thanks to the time sheets and, possibly, using the photographs of the staff, to facilitate the management of the material, to archive the meteorological data and to add all types of comments on the past day.

The support software platform 7 also includes a planning module. The visualization of the schedule will be different depending on the type of operator who connects and the rights he has. The project manager and / or the project coordinator will be able to view the general schedule of the project with all the interventions planned on all parts or lots and all meetings. They will also be able to modify this schedule.

The other participants in the project, such as site managers, works managers, subcontractors, etc., will be able to view the part of the planning concerning them with the dates of their own intervention. They will nevertheless be able to view the schedule of other participants by choosing the lot that interests them on a selection page. The partial visualization of the planning allows a better readability than the visualization of the general planning which is often very busy. The schedule can be presented in the form of a Gantt chart over different durations, fortnight, one month, three months, six months, or even more if necessary. Planning delays or any other modification will be specified with alerts, to the participants of the lots concerned and this automatically by electronic message. The modification of the schedule will be reserved for the coordinator or the administrator. The schedule will be set up when the project is created. The coordinator will create a file for each lot or part and will specify a start date and an end date for intervention which will be automatically indexed in the schedule. He can also indicate the situation of this intervention: to launch, in progress, postpone, settle, cancel. We can also establish a hierarchy of lots with lots of rows 1, 2, 3, etc. In the building sector, the list of lots can be established using the classification of building activities from the official Qualibat directory.

From this list, the coordinator can choose the lots that correspond to the site and change the rank of the different lots.

In the case of a building project, oh will distinguish different functions of the participants. The project manager will most often be the system administrator and responsible for bringing it online. The architects and engineers of the technical design offices will mainly be the authors of the plans. The client may possibly follow certain elements of the project in read-only mode. The site coordinator publishes the planning and minutes of meetings. The works managers may have to correct the plans. They will control the keeping of the site log. The site managers will be the authors of the site journal. The subcontractors will have access in read mode to the different information. Those without Internet access can receive information by fax. Suppliers, not members of the project, will be able to intervene to help with inventory management by indicating their delivery times and conditions, by transmitting their quotes and invoices online and the delivery of equipment. The following table summarizes the access rights of the various parties involved.

In Figure 2, an example of the system welcome window is illustrated. The upper space 20 relates to the markings useful to the participants for web browsing. The space on the left 21 brings together the elements of the project and icons for direct access to them. The central space 22 is dedicated to the projects in which the participant intervenes.

In FIG. 3, the example of a welcome window displayed later than that illustrated in FIG. 2 is illustrated. A participant enters his user name and a password and can then access all these projects by a drop-down menu 23. The participant can also access the agenda by clicking on the icon 24, the announcements by clicking on the drop-down menu 25, the directory by clicking on the drop-down menu 26, the project documents by clicking on the drop-down menu 27, in the site log by clicking on the drop-down menu 28, in the mailbox by clicking on the icon 29 and in the batch schedule by clicking on the drop-down menu 30. In the area 31 are displayed the date and the title of new documents.

In zone 32, the date, the sender and the title of new messages or new documents are displayed, namely all the documents entered in the system since the last connection of the user, or even the most recent documents. In the central area 33 is displayed the project agenda, and in area 34 the announcements.

In zone 33, the agenda is presented indicating the date, start time, end time and the nature of the event or meeting.

In FIG. 4, the calendar window in full version is illustrated as it is viewed when the icon 24 illustrated in FIG. 2 is clicked. The zone 35 makes it possible to select the temporal extent of the display. per day, per week, fortnight, per month, two months, or even six months. In zone 36, the day, time and nature of the meetings are displayed. In area 37, tasks to be executed are displayed.

In Figure 5, the schedule is displayed in the form of a bar chart with possibly color codes. Each stick of length proportional to the duration of execution of the part or the lot, is positioned in relation to a time abscissa. By clicking on the icon titled "select one / more other batch (es)", the window of FIG. 6 is displayed. In FIG. 6, a display window and selection of lots. In area 38, several lots or parts of different ranks are displayed which the user can then select.

Sure. Figure 7, is displayed a site log window. In zone 39, a menu is displayed with, offering for each day, a file relating to meteorology, a file relating to equipment, a file relating to pointing or a file relating to comments.

In FIG. 8, a window of the scorecard of the construction site log is shown. The scorecard includes a column mentioning the presence or not of the person, a column carrying the name and the first name of the person, a column of date, a column informing the number of hours worked and a column informing the work carried out.

In Figure 9, a window of the project documents is illustrated, divided into four categories: meeting minutes, site meetings, coordination meetings and other types of meetings, with the number of documents present for each type. for the project and the number of new documents, that is to say added since the user's last connection. A more detailed window is illustrated in Figure 10. It includes the type of document, the title, the author, the date of update and the size of the document in kilobytes. A document is generated automatically from pre-existing images in the system or manually by entering new information.

In FIG. 11, a window for viewing advertisements is illustrated, divided into four categories: construction site life, safety, interventions, other types of advertisements with, as for the window illustrated in FIG. 9, the number of advertisements. for the project and the number of new announcements.

In FIG. 12, a directory window is illustrated. In zone 40, there is a list of people, for example by company or even in alphabetical order and include their names, first names, companies of belonging and e-mail addresses or fax numbers. In zone 41, there are icons for quick access to the detailed sheet relating to a participant, and in zone 42 is displayed the said detailed sheet with the name of the company, the batch for which it operates, the name and the participant's first name, qualification, phone number, cell phone number, email address and fax number.

You can also perform quick access by selecting a letter of the alphabet from which the names will be displayed in alphabetical order.

In Figure 13, a messaging window with outbox and inbox is displayed. In the outbox, an alphabetical list of project members allows you to check the people to whom you want to send the message or a copy. Each participant defined his favorite reception mode at the start of the project when setting up the directory. This choice appears by default in the right-hand part of zone 43. On the tab entitled "content of the message", the participant fills in the text field, possibly attaches a document and then sends his message. A second tab titled "shipment history" shows the latest shipments made as well as the history of the corresponding acknowledgments. For sending. attachments, you can bring up an independent window, not shown, with a document attachment command.

Claims

1. Image-data and text-data management system, comprising, image-data archiving, data-text archiving, database management means, characterized by the fact that it comprises: - calendar management means (9) for classifying said data according to a time criterion,

a directory management means for associating identification data with each image,

- a journal management means (11) for classifying current data, and.

- a planning management means (8) for classifying said data according to a time forecast.

2. System according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises an archiving of plans and a means for managing said plans.

3. System according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it comprises an automatic generation means (19) of a summary document.

4. System according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that each management means comprises a distribution list defining the recipients of data, and a modification authorization list defining the persons authorized to modify data as a function the nature of said data.

5. System according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the calendar management means (9) is able to classify data to be broadcast to a plurality of recipients, and to control the broadcasting of said data.

6. System according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the directory management means is capable of managing data relating to an individual and data relating to a group.

7. System according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises a management means of advertisements (16, 18) capable of classifying the advertisements according to a priority hierarchy.

8. System according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises means for managing reports comprising means for subscribing to predetermined reports.

9. System according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the journal management means comprises means for classifying time sheets.

10. System according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the planning management means comprises means for generating alerts.

11. System according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises means for sending (10) data from one user to another user.

12. Image data and text data management method, comprising, image data archiving, data-text archiving, database management means, in which:

- an online agenda is created to classify said data according to a time criterion,

- an online directory is created associating identification data with each image,

- an online log is created to classify current data, and - an online schedule is created to classify said data according to a time forecast.

13. Computer program comprising program code means capable of implementing the method according to claim 12, when said program is running on a computer.