WO2014034279A1

WO2014034279A1 - Terminal device, management server, terminal device control method, and program

Info

Publication number: WO2014034279A1
Application number: PCT/JP2013/068625
Authority: WO
Inventors: 加藤　禎人
Original assignee: 株式会社コナミデジタルエンタテインメント
Priority date: 2012-08-27
Filing date: 2013-07-08
Publication date: 2014-03-06
Also published as: JP2014044541A; JP6014416B2

Abstract

A problem encountered when one person communicates with another by using a plurality of different services is eliminated. A terminal device that provides a message transmitted from each of a plurality of users in such a manner as to be viewable on a display unit is provided with: a setting unit that sets, for the same user, profile information corresponding to each of a plurality of external services according to sender information; a management unit that manages each of a plurality of users as transmission counterparts by associating the user with at least one of an external service or sender information; a transmission unit that transmits, to some or all of the plurality of users, a message attached with the sender information associated with the user; and a display control unit that causes the display unit to display the message.

Description

TERMINAL DEVICE, MANAGEMENT SERVER, TERMINAL DEVICE CONTROL METHOD, AND PROGRAM

The present invention relates to a technique for browsing a message with sender information.

In recent years, services that allow browsing of messages using the Internet have become widespread. In such a service, a technique for selecting a message transmission destination based on link strength, which is a degree of connection between a plurality of users regarding a subject, is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2005-92579 A

By the way, there may be a plurality of services as well as one. In such a case, when one person communicates with another person using a certain service, a problem tends to occur when communicating with the same other person using another service.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and one of its purposes is to provide a technique that solves a problem when a person communicates with a plurality of services different from other persons. is there.

In order to achieve the above object, a terminal device according to one aspect of the present invention is a terminal device that provides a display unit with a message transmitted from each of a plurality of users so that the message can be viewed on the same user. A setting unit that distinguishes and sets profile information corresponding to each of a plurality of external services by sender information, and sets each of a plurality of users as transmission partners to at least the sender of the external service or the sender information. A management unit that manages the information in association with the information, a transmission unit that transmits a message with the sender information associated with the user to some or all of the plurality of users, and the display unit that displays the message And a display control unit to be displayed.

A terminal device control method according to another aspect of the present invention is a terminal device control method for providing a message transmitted from each of a plurality of users so that the message can be viewed on a display unit. Setting each profile information of the external service corresponding to the sender information, and associating each of a plurality of users as transmission partners with at least the sender information of the external service or the sender information Managing, sending a message with sender information associated with the user to some or all of the plurality of users, and displaying the message on the display unit, It is characterized by providing.

A program according to another aspect of the present invention provides a computer that provides a display unit with a message transmitted from each of a plurality of users so that the message can be viewed, and the profile information of each of a plurality of external services to the same user. A setting unit configured to correspond to the sender information, a management unit that manages each of a plurality of users as transmission partners in association with at least the sender information among the external service or the sender information, the plurality of usages A part of or all of the users, functioning as a transmission unit that sends a message with sender information associated with the user, and a display control unit that displays the message on the display unit, To do.

It is a figure which shows the operation | movement outline | summary in the terminal device which concerns on embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structure of the system containing the terminal device. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the management server in the system. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the terminal device in the system. It is a functional block diagram in the system. It is a figure which shows an example of the profile registration table in the terminal device. It is a figure which shows the additional example of sender information in the profile registration table. It is a figure which shows an example of the profile registration screen in the terminal device. It is a figure which shows an example of the profile registration screen in the terminal device. It is a figure which shows an example of the profile registration screen in the terminal device. It is a figure which shows an example of an invitation screen. It is a figure which shows an example of the transmission partner management table in the terminal device. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the terminal device. It is a figure which shows an example of the other party list screen in the terminal device. It is a figure which shows an example of the other party list screen in the terminal device. It is a figure which shows an example of the other party list screen in the terminal device. It is a figure which shows an example of the other party list screen in the terminal device. It is a figure which shows an example of the other party list screen in the terminal device. It is a figure which shows an example of the other party list screen in the terminal device. It is a figure which shows an example of the other party list screen in the terminal device. It is a figure which shows an example of the other party list screen in the terminal device. It is a figure which shows an example of the message input and display screen in the terminal device. It is a figure which shows an example of the message input and display screen in the terminal device. It is a figure which shows an example of the message input and display screen in the terminal device. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen which shows the relationship of sender information. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen which shows the relationship of sender information.

<Outline of Embodiment>
In recent years, SNS (Social Networking Service) has provided various services to users through terminal devices such as mobile phones. This type of service includes, for example, viewing posted short texts, sharing information based on human relations in the real world, online games to play in cooperation with other users, and sending messages to members on a timeline A pseudo-chat or the like that shares and displays the URL is used, but any service is premised on an exchange while communicating with other users.

Here, when a user communicates with another user using a user name (also referred to as a screen name) indicating himself / herself in a certain service, the other user chats with another service. Let's assume that you want to invite and chat. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, a user a uses “a1” as a user name and cooperates with a user b with a user name “b1” in an SNS game operated by an external service server. Suppose that the user b is invited to the chat managed by the management server and the chat is performed.

In this assumption, when the user a chats with the user b, it is desirable to use the user name “a1” subsequent to the game so that the user b does not get confused. In order for the user a to simply execute such setting, the terminal device of the user a requests the user name of the user a from the external service server, and the external service server The name “a1” is returned. The terminal device of the user a registers “a1” of the returned user name, and uses the user name when chatting with the user b.
On the other hand, when the user a is chatting with another user c whose name is “c1” using the real name “a2” because he / she is acquainted with the real world, Should continue to use the real name “a2”. Then, the user a uses the user name “a1” when chatting with the user b, while using the real name “a2” when chatting with the user c. For this reason, in the terminal device of the user a, a plurality of profile information including name information used in the chat is set, and which profile information is used for each chat partner is managed. Yes.

The above is the outline of the embodiment. Therefore, details of the embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings.

<Overall configuration>
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a system including the terminal device according to the embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in this figure, in the system 1, a plurality of terminal devices 20-1, 20-2, 20-3,... Are connected to the management server 10, external service via the mobile communication network Nb, the gateway 15, and the Internet Na. It is configured to be connected to the servers 30, 40, 50, 60. In the following, the terminal devices 20-1, 20-2, 20-3,... Are generally described without specifying the terminal devices, and therefore, the symbols “− (hyphen)” and the following are omitted. It is simply “20”.

The management server 10 provides a chat as a service provided by itself, in addition to a function of transferring a message transmitted from a terminal device 20 of a certain user to the terminal device of the other user, It has a function to manage users and groups.
In the present embodiment, as a chat, when a certain terminal device 20 is taken as a reference, a chat between members composed of the user of the terminal device 20 and one or more other users is assumed. is doing. For this reason, one group includes two or more people including the user of the terminal device 20. In such a chat, a chat performed by two users of the user and the other user is called a one-to-one chat, or a chat performed by three or more people including the user is called a group chat in a narrow sense. There is also a case.
Further, as described later, when chatting, the user himself / herself selects a group to be a chat destination in advance.

The external service server 30 provides service A, and similarly, the external service servers 40, 50, and 60 provide services B, C, and D. Each of the services A, B, C, and D provides services related to a community such as SNS (Social Networking Service) that is different from the above chat, and provides services for applications such as games. Acquiring an account is a requirement for providing services.
In practice, other external service servers are connected in addition to the external service servers 30, 40, 50, 60, but are not shown in the figure.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the management server 10. As shown in this figure, the management server 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 101 that controls the entire apparatus, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 102 that functions as the main memory of the CPU 101, and a ROM that stores a boot program and the like. (Read Only Memory) 103, an interface (I / F) 105 for communicating via a network, an RTC (Real Time Clock) 106 for outputting time information, and a storage unit 108 for storing various programs and data And including. In the storage unit 108, a database 118 managed by the CPU 101 is constructed. The database 118 manages a table for registering user and group information, as will be described later.

In addition, the management server 10 is constructed as a single unit in FIG. 2, but may be configured to be distributed to two or more units and viewed as if it is virtually one unit when viewed from the outside. On the other hand, some functions of the management server 10 may be constructed by a server that provides other services. Moreover, you may comprise so that the management server 10 may connect with the terminal device 20 via a relay server.
The external service servers 30, 40, 50, 60,... Have almost the same configuration as the management server 10 except for the database 118.

The terminal device 20 is, for example, a mobile phone operated by a user. The terminal device 20 includes a touch panel 220 superimposed on the display panel 210, and a user can input necessary information and various instructions by touching the screen displayed on the display panel 210. It is a given configuration.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the terminal device 20. As shown in this figure, the terminal device 20 includes a CPU 201, a memory 202, an I / F 204, an RTC 206, a storage unit 208, a display panel 210, and a touch panel 220.

Among these, the CPU 201 controls the entire terminal device 20, and the memory 202 stores a basic program and an application program for executing chat in a nonvolatile manner. This application program creates a message and transmits it to the management server 10 or displays a message received from the management server 10 in a timeline. The application program is downloaded from a specific distribution site and sent to the terminal device 20. Installed.

The I / F 204 communicates with the management server 10 via the mobile communication network Nb or the like. The RTC 206 outputs time information of the current time. In the storage unit 208, a database 218 managed by the CPU 201 is constructed. Details of various tables and the like managed by the database 218 will be described later.

The display panel 210 is a flat display such as a liquid crystal display device or an organic EL (Electro Luminescence) device. Although not described in detail, the touch panel 220 detects an operation position (two-dimensional coordinate value) for the screen displayed by the display panel 210 and supplies the detected position to the CPU 201. The CPU 201 specifies the operation content on the touch panel 220 such as the moving direction, moving speed, and touch operation of the touch position based on the detection information.
Here, the types of touch operations that can be specified include, for example, tap, flick, drag, pinch and the like. Of these, tapping is an operation of tapping the display screen with a finger. Flicking is an operation in which the object displayed on the screen is gently touched with a finger. Dragging is an operation of moving an object displayed on the screen in contact with a finger. Pinch is an operation of expanding or narrowing a display screen with two fingers in contact with each other.

The terminal device 20 is not limited to the mobile communication network Nb, and may be configured to be connected to a wireless LAN (Local Area Network). When connected to a wireless LAN, the terminal device 20 is connected to the management server 10 via a wireless base station (access point) and the Internet Na. The terminal device 20 is not limited to a mobile phone, and may be a tablet computer or a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant).

In the management server 10, the external service servers 30, 40, 50, 60,..., By executing a predetermined application program, and in the terminal device 20, by executing the application program installed in advance, The following functional blocks are constructed. However, the functional blocks constructed in the external service servers 30, 40, 50, 60,... Are constructed not for providing the respective services but for communicating with the terminal device 20.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing functional blocks constructed in the system 1.
In this figure, the management server 10 in the system 1, the terminal device 20 focused on one of the plurality, and the external service among the external service servers 30, 40, 50, 60,. The functional block constructed | assembled with the external service server 60 which provides D is shown.
As shown in this figure, on the terminal device 20 side, in addition to the operation detection unit 231, the setting unit 232, the management unit 233, the display control unit 234, the transmission unit 236, and the cooperation unit 240, the message registration table 235 is stored in the database 218. A profile registration table TB21, a transmission partner management table TB22, and a user information registration table TB23 are constructed. The display area of the display panel 210 includes a partner list display unit 212, a message input unit 214, and a message display unit 216.

The operation detection unit 231 supplies operation information indicating the operation content to the display control unit 234 based on the detection signal of the touch panel 220, and when the message body is input to the message input unit 214 and a predetermined operation is performed, Various information is attached to the message and supplied to the transmission unit 236.
The various information includes a group ID for identifying the group selected as the chat destination and the user ID of the sender.
The setting unit 232 sets a profile for each sender information in the profile registration table TB21, and the management unit 233 manages the transmission partner in which information about the terminal device 20 and a group to be a chat partner is registered. It manages the table TB22 and the user information registration table TB23 in which user profile images are registered.
Details of these tables will be described later.

The display control unit 234 controls the display content of the display panel 210 so that the operation information supplied from the operation detection unit 231 is reflected. Further, the display control unit 234 displays a list of transmission partners on the partner list display unit 212 or stores a message transferred from the management server 10 on the message display unit 216 in the message registration table 235, and then reads out the transmission date and time. The timeline is displayed in the order of. The message registration table 235 stores messages by users and other users in association with each group (group ID) as will be described later. The transmission unit 236 transmits the message supplied from the operation detection unit 231 to the management server 10 together with various attached information.
Note that when a message text is input to the message input unit 214 and a predetermined operation is performed, the message with various information attached is transmitted to the management server 10 by the transmission unit 236 and also via the display control unit 234. And stored in the message registration table 235.
The cooperation unit 240 communicates with the external service servers 30, 40, 50, 60,. Here, in the external service server 60 representing the external service servers 30, 40, 50, 60,..., The cooperation unit 240 is a person who can receive provision of the external service D by the user of the terminal device 20. In some cases, the profile information of the user registered in the external service server 60 is acquired.

On the other hand, on the management server 10 side, the user / group registration table TB11 is constructed in the database 118 in addition to the receiving unit 121, the transfer destination specifying unit 123, and the transfer unit 125. The accepting unit 121 accepts a message to which various information is attached from the terminal device 20.
The user / group registration table TB11 is registered with information about users and groups that can participate in the chat of the service provided by the management server 10, although details are not shown. In other words, this chat can be used only when it is registered in the user / group registration table TB11 through a predetermined procedure such as acquisition of an account.
When the application program for executing this chat is started for the first time on the user terminal device 20, the terminal device 20 communicates with the management server 10, and in the course of this communication, the management server 10 causes the user to communicate with the user. A user ID for uniquely identifying is generated. This user ID is registered in the user / group registration table TB11 and transmitted to the terminal device 20 and stored. Thereby, in the terminal device 20, the account for performing this chat is acquired.

In the user / group registration table TB11, the name information of the user, the user ID, information for accessing the user terminal device, and the like are registered for the user. In this case, name information of the group, a group ID for uniquely identifying the group, user IDs of members constituting the group, and the like are registered.
Here, in the user / group registration table TB11 in the management server 10, information on all users and all groups is master-registered, and the transmission partner management table TB22 in the terminal device 20 includes the terminal device. 20 and information on the group to be a chat partner are transferred from the user / group registration table TB11 and registered. For example, when the number of members (users) of a group increases or decreases and the configuration of the group changes, first, the user / group registration table TB11 in the management server 10 is updated to participate in the group. The terminal device 20 of each user is notified, and the transmission partner management table TB22 of each user is updated.

The transfer destination specifying unit 123 removes the user ID from the group ID and user ID included in the various information attached to the received message, from among the members of the group specified by the group ID (use) Information for accessing the user's terminal device is acquired with reference to the user / group registration table TB11. As a result, the transfer destination of the accepted message is specified.
The transfer unit 125 transfers the message received by the receiving unit 121 to the terminal device 20 whose transfer destination is specified.

On the external service server 60 side, a communication unit 612, a control unit 614, a user registration table TB61, and a friend registration table TB62 are constructed. Among these, the communication unit 612 communicates with the illustrated terminal device 20 and other terminal devices, and the control unit 614 controls each unit inside the server.
In the user registration table TB61, member account information for providing the external service D, profile information used when the member communicates with other members, and the like are registered. In the friend registration table TB62, in the external service D, friendships between one member and another member are registered. Here, for example, when a member invites another member to a community in the external service D, and the other member accepts the invitation, a friendship to another member is established from one member To do.
In FIG. 5, only the external service server 60 is illustrated, and the external service servers 30, 40, and 50 are omitted. However, the external service server that is not illustrated has the same configuration as the external service server 60.

In FIG. 5, for convenience of explanation, attention is paid to one terminal device 20 (one user), and transmission / reception of information and messages between the terminal device 20 and the management server 10 is illustrated. Not too much. In practice, the management server 10 receives a message from the plurality of terminal devices 20, and conversely transfers the message to the plurality of terminal devices 20. In the figure, a large number of arrows toward the reception unit 121 indicate that messages are received from other terminal devices other than the focused terminal device 20, and a large number of arrows from the transfer unit 125 indicate other than the terminal device 20. This indicates that a message is also transmitted to the terminal device.
Further, in the figure, an arrow heading outward from the cooperation unit 240 and heading from the outer direction to the cooperation unit 240 indicates that information is transmitted to and received from an external service server other than the external service server 60.
The Internet Na, the gateway 15, the mobile communication network Nb in FIG. 2, the I / F 105 in FIG. 3, the I / F 204 in FIG. 4, and the like are only transmission paths for information, messages, etc., and are illustrated in FIG. Is omitted.

Next, the profile registration table TB21, the transmission partner management table TB22, and the user information registration table TB23 will be described.

<Profile registration table>
The profile registration table TB21 is a table in which a plurality of profile information about the sender of a message at the time of chatting, that is, the user of the terminal device 20 is registered.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of the profile registration table TB21.
In the example of this figure, profile information about the user of the terminal device 20 is set in the profile registration table TB21 while being distinguished into sender information 1 and sender information 2. The profile information includes user name information that defines a name and user image information used as a profile image.
At this time, in the profile information of the sender information 1, the real name of the user in the terminal device 20 is used as the user name information, and an image showing the actual person image of the user is used as the user image information. It has been. On the other hand, in the profile information of the sender information 2, a pseudonym such as a handle name or a nickname of the user is used as the user name information, and an image filled with white indicating only the appearance of the user as the user image information Is used.
In addition, each of the sender information 1 and the sender information 2 may be defined as to which external service corresponds. In the example of this figure, it is defined that the sender information 1 corresponds to the external service A and the external service B, and the sender information 2 corresponds to the external service C.

In the example of this figure, the profile information includes a search ID and a telephone number. Among these, the search ID is information for identifying a user by sender information, and can be arbitrarily set as long as the user does not overlap with other users, for example. This search ID is used when another user executes the search function. The telephone number is not essential as profile information, but may be used as one piece of information for identifying the user.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a profile registration screen for allowing the user to register and edit profile information. The profile registration screen is displayed when the user performs a predetermined operation on the partner list screen described later on the terminal device 20.
As shown in this figure, on the profile registration screen, an input field 271 for inputting a telephone number is displayed. In addition, an input field 272 for inputting user name information and an input field 273 for inputting a search ID are displayed corresponding to each of the sender information 1 and the sender information 2. Here, the input fields 271, 272, and 273 are blank in the initial state, but if the information has already been registered in the profile registration table TB 21, the registered contents are reflected and displayed. Note that input, correction, and the like in the input fields 271, 272, and 273 are executed, for example, via a software keyboard that is displayed separately.

On the profile registration screen, a selection field 274 for selecting a user image or the like is displayed corresponding to each of the sender information 1 and the sender information 2. The selection field 274 is blank in the initial state, but if information is already registered in the profile registration table TB21, the registered content is reflected and displayed.
When the display portion of the selection field 274 is touched, a screen for registering a user image is separately displayed, for example, input of a file used as user image information, designation, selection, etc., although not particularly shown. The user is prompted to do so. Of course, the image processing to be applied may be selected for the selected user image information. When user image information is selected in this way, the selected user image is displayed in the selection field 274 for confirmation.

In the profile registration screen, an external service selection unit 280 is provided for each of the sender information 1 and the sender information 2.

Buttons

281, 282, 283, and 284 are displayed on the external service selection unit 280. Among these buttons, a button 281 is a software button for instructing acquisition of profile information registered by the user in the external service A. Similarly, buttons 282 to 284 are software buttons for instructing acquisition of profile information registered in the external services B to D.
Note that the external service selection unit 280 is scroll-displayed in the horizontal direction in the figure by an operation such as flicking. By this scroll display, it is possible to display and select buttons corresponding to other external services other than the external services A to D.

On the profile registration screen, buttons 275 and 276 are displayed. Among these buttons, the button 275 is a software button for designating that the information input on the profile registration screen at the present time is reflected in the profile registration table TB21 and the screen returns to the partner list screen. For this reason, in the example of the figure, when the display portion of the button 275 is touched, the operation detection unit 231 supplies the information input on the profile registration screen to the setting unit 232, and the setting unit 232 registers the information in the profile registration. While setting in the table TB21, the display control unit 234 returns to the display of the partner list screen.

Now, the button 276 is a software button for instructing to add sender information at the present time. Here, in the screen example of FIG. 8, when the display portion of the button 276 is touched or the like, as shown in FIG. 9, a blank corresponding to the sender information 3 is further added to the sender information 1 and the sender information 2. Input fields 272 and 273, a selection field 274, and an external service selection unit 280 are additionally displayed.

In the screen example of FIG. 9, when the display portion of the button 284 corresponding to the sender information 3 is touched by the user, the operation detection unit 231 notifies the cooperation unit 240 of the operation. The cooperation unit 240 makes a login request to the external service server 60 that provides the external service D. When the predetermined login procedure is completed, the user's profile information is requested to the external service server 60 again. The control unit 614 that has received the request via the communication unit 612 accesses the user registration table TB61, acquires the user's name information and profile image, and obtains the cooperation unit 240 via the communication unit 612. Reply to
Upon receiving a reply such as name information, the cooperation unit 240 supplies the name information and the like to the operation detection unit 231. The operation detection unit 231 transfers the name information and the like to the display control unit 234, and the display control unit 234 The acquired name information is reflected in the input field 272 corresponding to the sender information 3, and the acquired profile image is reflected in the selection field 274 corresponding to the sender information 3.

FIG. 10 is an example of the display of the profile registration screen at this time. This screen is displayed in the selection field 274 corresponding to the external service D when “Yujiro Takahashi” who is a user of the terminal device 20 is registered in the external service D with the name “Yubo”. This is an example when a profile image different from the sender information 1 and the sender information 2 is registered. Further, in this example, the display part of the button 284 corresponding to the sender information 3 is inverted, and a state in which account information for the external service D is acquired is shown. Here, when the display portion of the button 275 is touch-operated by the user, the content displayed on the current profile registration screen is reflected in the profile registration table TB21.
More specifically, as shown in FIG. 7, items corresponding to the sender information 3 are added as compared with FIG. 6, and name information and profile image information acquired from the external service server 60 are registered. Further, it is specified that the external service D corresponds to the sender information 3.
Thus, in the profile registration table TB21, an external service is associated with each of the plurality of sender information. In other words, even if the name information and the like are different from each other in the plurality of sender information associated with the external service, it is associated with the user of the terminal device 20 by the profile registration table TB21.

On the other hand, when the cooperation unit 240 requests the user's profile information from the external service server 60, the cooperation unit 240 receives another member (here, X) having a friendship relationship with the member in the external service D. The external service server 60 is instructed to be invited to the chat in the embodiment. The control unit 614 that has received the request via the communication unit 612 accesses the friend registration table TB62, specifies a member who has a friend relationship with the requested member, and obtains the request source acquired from the user registration table TB61. A standard invitation notification is created using the member's name, and the control unit 614 notifies the detailed notification to the My Page or timeline of the member X operated by the external service D, or the communication unit 612 performs the details. The notification is transmitted to the terminal device of the member X who has specified the notification.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a display example on the terminal device of the member X that has received this invitation notification.
In the invitation notification screen shown in the figure, the name of the requesting member is inserted in the portion of “”. Other parts are standard. In addition, on this invitation notification screen, a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) to which an application program for executing chat is distributed is displayed.
When the URL is tapped by a member X, if the application program is not installed on the terminal device, the URL is transferred to the distribution site indicated by the URL, whereas if the application program is installed on the terminal device, the URL , The application program associated with is started, the screen is shifted to the chat partner editing screen described later, and the member X is added as a member of a group established by the requesting member, for example.

In addition, when the display portion of the button 276 is touched again in the screen example of FIG. 10, the sender information 4 is added and the profile information can be registered. However, in order to avoid complication of the description, in this embodiment, the profile registration table TB21 is described as being registered in the state shown in FIG.
In addition, in the example of FIG. 6, the sender information 1 and the sender information 2 are further added with the sender information 3 in the example of FIG. 7, and the external service corresponds to each. However, the external service does not necessarily correspond. Also good. When the external service does not correspond to the sender information, the profile information of the sender information indicates only application to the chat that is the own service, and means that it is not related to the external service.

<Destination management table>
Next, the transmission partner management table TB22 will be described. The transmission partner management table TB22 is a table for managing chat partners on the terminal device 20 side in units of groups.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of the transmission partner management table TB22. As shown in this figure, in the transmission partner management table TB22, name (name) information, applicable sender information, external service information, and group are identified for each group ID for identifying a group that can chat with the terminal device 20. Are registered in association with the user IDs of the members constituting the.
In the name information, the group name is registered if there are three or more members who constitute the group including the person who is the user of the terminal device 20, and the other party uses if the member is two persons including the person. The person's name is registered. However, when there are two people, the name of the other user may be changed afterwards to the name of the group. In addition, when there are two members and three or more members are added, the registered content is changed to the name of the input group.
The applied sender information is information that defines sender information to be applied to the group. Specifically, if “1”, the sender information 1 is used, and if “2”, the sender information 2 is used. "Is specified to use the sender information 3.

The external service information is information that defines the external service associated with the group. Specifically, if “A”, the external service A is associated, and if “B”, the external service B is associated. "C" specifies that the external service C is associated, and "D" specifies that the external service D is associated.

In the example of this figure, the case where the maximum value of the number of members constituting one group is “5” is shown. For example, five user IDs A to E can be registered as members. Member A is registered in the order of participation from the person who opened the group.
Further, since the transmission partner management table TB22 manages group members as viewed from the terminal device 20, members of each group always include the user of the terminal device 20. In the example of the figure, the person whose user ID is “xx31” is the user himself / herself of the terminal device 20.
In the example shown in the figure, <null> indicates an unset empty state.

In the example shown in the figure, the group whose group ID is “ay27” includes the user whose user ID is “xx31”, and the other user whose user ID is “xx37” and whose name is “Toyototsu Tsukan”. It is defined that the sender information 3 is used as sender information of the user when the user himself / herself chats with the partner user in association with the external service D. Has been.
In addition, the user who has the user ID “xx31” and the name of the sender information 3 is “Yubo” is already in a friendship relationship with the user whose name is “Toyomi Tsukan” in the external service D. In some cases, when the user himself / herself operates the display part of the button 284 (see FIG. 9) corresponding to the sender information 3 and requests the profile information registered in the external service D, the name is “Toyotomi Tsukan”. Is notified of an invitation to chat with “Yubo” (see FIG. 11). When this invitation is accepted, the other user whose name is “Toyotomi Tsukan” is associated with the external service D in the group established by the user himself / herself.

Further, the group with the group ID “ay03” has the name “team 246”, the user ID “xx31” (user himself), “xx33”, “xx34”, and “xx39” 4 When chatting with a member of the group in association with the external service B, the sender information 1 is defined as the sender information of the user himself / herself.
Note that a group may not be associated with an external service as indicated by “-” in the figure. In this case, the corresponding group indicates that it has been registered regardless of the external service.

In this embodiment, since any one sender information is commonly associated with one group, chatting using different sender information for one group, that is, the same as that performed on an electronic bulletin board. It is possible to prevent different names from being used by a person and writing them as different senders. In other words, a group participating in a chat with any sender information can be prohibited from participating in sender information other than the participating sender information.
In addition, here, for convenience of explanation, the maximum value of the number of members constituting the group is set to “5”. However, the purpose is not limited to this. Needless to say, there is no need to set an upper limit for the number of persons or the number of persons.

<User information registration table>
The user information registration table TB23 is not particularly shown, but for each user ID, name information and profile image information are registered as essential, and age, gender, date of birth, e-mail address, address, etc. are arbitrarily registered. It is a thing. In the present embodiment, the user information registration table TB23 and the transmission partner management table TB22 are associated with each other by a user ID to form separate tables, but it is needless to say that one table may be used.

<System operation>
Next, the operation of the system 1 will be described.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the chat operation by the application program on the terminal device 20.
First, in the terminal device 20, when the user himself / herself performs a predetermined operation for chatting, for example, when an icon corresponding to the chat is tapped on the main menu screen (not shown), the operation detecting unit 231 Instruct the setting unit 232 and the management unit 233 as follows. Specifically, the operation detection unit 231 instructs the setting unit 232 to acquire and acquire the user name information of the terminal device 20 based on the sender information, while the management unit 233 Instruct to get information on groups that can chat.

The setting unit 232 accesses the profile registration table TB21 and reads the user name information registered for the user of the terminal device 20 for each of the sender information 1, the sender information 2, and the sender information 3.
The management unit 233 accesses the transmission partner management table TB22 for the group capable of chatting, and acquires the name information and the user IDs of the constituent members together with the applicable sender information.

Each of the setting unit 232 and the management unit 233 supplies the acquired information to the operation detection unit 231, and the operation detection unit 231 transfers the information to the display control unit 234. Based on the transferred information, the display control unit 234 creates a partner list screen that allows chatting, and displays it on the display panel 210. Thereby, the partner list screen is displayed on the display panel 210 (step Sa11).

Each of FIG. 14 to FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an example of a partner list screen. In these drawings, a partner list display unit 212 provided in the display area of the display panel 210 is a region for displaying a list of partner names that can chat with the terminal device 20.
In addition to the external service selection unit 280 similar to the profile registration screen, a sender information selection unit 290 is provided below the partner list display unit 212. In the sender information selection unit 290,

buttons

291, 292, and 293 are displayed. Among these, the button 291 is a software button for instructing a list of partner names to which the sender information 1 is applied among the partners that can chat with the terminal device 20. Similarly, the

buttons

292 and 293 are software buttons for instructing a list of opponent names to which the sender information 2 and the sender information 3 are applied among the chatting counterparts.

When the display part of the button 281 corresponding to the external service A in the external service selection unit 280 is touch-operated by the user, the display control unit 234 displays the name information read from the transmission partner management table TB22. Among them, those whose external service information is “A”, that is, those associated with the external service A are displayed in a list on the partner list display unit 212 as shown in FIG. 14, for example.
The name information displayed in the list is the name of the group if there are 3 or more members in the group including the user, and if there are 2 members who have not been changed afterwards, the name of the other user Name. At this time, if the name information is the partner user on the partner list screen, the display control unit 234 displays the profile image associated with the partner user in the vicinity of the name display portion, while the user himself / herself is displayed. If the group includes three or more people, the group is displayed near the name display portion, and a member confirmation button 255 is displayed. However, in the example of FIG. 14, the name information displayed in a list is an individual partner, so the button 255 is not displayed.
In this example, the display portion of the button 281 is inverted to indicate that the name information associated with the external service A is being displayed. At this time, the display control unit 234 displays the user name of the sender information 1 read from the profile registration table TB21 on the tab portion of the partner list screen, and chats with the partner user displayed in the list. The name of the self displayed as the sender is confirmed.
Further, when the display part of the button 281 is operated, the display part of the sender information 1 button 291 corresponding to the external service A is also inverted. As described above, the non-operated button 291 is displayed in reverse after the operated button 281 to indicate to the user that the external service A corresponds to the sender information 1.

On the other hand, when the display portion of the button 282 corresponding to the external service B in the external service selection unit 280 is touch-operated, the display control unit 234 includes the external information among the name information read from the transmission partner management table TB22. For example, as shown in FIG. 15, the partner list display unit 212 displays a list of items associated with the service B.
In this list display, “Team 246” is a group of three or more persons including the user himself (see FIG. 12), and therefore a button 255 is displayed near the name display portion. A display example when the display portion of the button 255 is operated is as shown in FIG. 16, for example, and the operation will be described later.
Further, when the display part of the button 282 is operated, the display part is also inverted for the button 291 of the sender information 1 corresponding to the external service B. In this way, the user is shown that the external service B corresponds to the sender information 1.

When the display portion of the button 283 corresponding to the external service C in the external service selection unit 280 is touch-operated, the display control unit 234 displays name information associated with the external service C, for example, as shown in FIG. As a result, a list is displayed on the partner list display unit 212. At this time, the display control unit 234 displays the user name of the sender information 2 associated with the external service C on the tab portion of the partner list screen. At this time, the button 292 of the sender information 2 corresponding to the external service C is highlighted to indicate to the user that the external service C corresponds to the sender information 2.
Similarly, when the display portion of the button 284 corresponding to the external service D is touch-operated, the display control unit 234 displays name information associated with the external service D, for example, as shown in FIG. A list is displayed on the unit 212. At this time, the display control unit 234 displays the user name of the sender information 3 associated with the external service D on the tab portion of the partner list screen. At this time, the button 293 of the sender information 3 corresponding to the external service D is highlighted to indicate to the user that the external service D corresponds to the sender information 3.

As described above, in the partner list display unit 212, a partner user who can chat or a group of three or more people including the user himself / herself is externally displayed as shown in FIG. 14, FIG. 15, FIG. Since each service is displayed separately, it is possible for the user himself / herself to select a chat partner while being conscious of communication with an external service.
In addition, the user is also shown which sender information corresponds to the operated external service.

On the other hand, when the display portion of the button 291 in the sender information selection unit 290 is touch-operated by the user, the display control unit 234 displays the applicable sender information in the name information read from the transmission partner management table TB22. For example, as shown in FIG. 19, a list of “1” is displayed on the partner list display unit 212.
As in this example, when there are a large number of partner names that can be chatted and cannot be displayed completely on the partner list display unit 212 at one time, the partner list screen is scrolled up and down by an operation such as flicking. In addition, the display control unit 234 displays the user name of the sender information 1 on the tab portion of the partner list screen.
When the display portion of the button 291 is operated, the external service A button 281 and the external service B button 282 corresponding to the sender information 1 are highlighted. Thus, the user is shown that the sender information 1 corresponds to each of the external services A and B.

When the display portion of the button 292 in the sender information selection unit 290 is touch-operated, the display control unit 234 displays the application sender information “2” as shown in FIG. A list is displayed on the list display unit 212. At this time, the display control unit 234 displays the user name of the sender information 2 on the tab portion of the partner list screen. When the display part of the button 292 is operated, the button 283 of the external service C corresponding to the sender information 2 is highlighted. Thereby, the user is shown that the sender information 2 corresponds to the external service C.
Similarly, when the display portion of the button 293 is touched, the display control unit 234 displays a list of items whose application sender information is “3” on the partner list display unit 212 as shown in FIG. 21, for example. Let At this time, the display control unit 234 displays the user name of the sender information 3 on the tab portion of the partner list screen. When the display portion of the button 293 is operated, the button 284 of the external service D corresponding to the sender information 3 is highlighted. Thereby, the user is shown that the sender information 3 corresponds to the external service D.
In this example, the

buttons

291, 292, and 293 are displayed on the sender information selection unit 290. However, when the sender information is added by the operation on the display part of the button 276 on the profile registration screen, the sender information is displayed. In response, a button is added to the sender information selection unit 290. At this time, when the

buttons

291, 292, 293,... Cannot be displayed all at once on the sender information selection unit 290, they are scroll-displayed by operations such as flicking in the horizontal direction in the figure.

As described above, in the partner list display unit 212, a partner user who can chat or a group of three or more people including the user himself / herself is shown for each sender information as shown in FIG. 19, FIG. 20, and FIG. Since they are displayed separately, it is possible for the user himself / herself to select a chat partner while being aware of his / her name displayed as a sender when chatting.

In this example, the other users who can chat and a group of three or more people are displayed in a list, but the other user and a group of three or more people are displayed separately. Also good.
In such a list display, the chat partner is selected, for example, when the user touches the display portion of the name of the partner user or the name of the group.

In addition, on the partner list screen,

buttons

249, 251, and 253 are displayed in common in the lower part of the figure. Among these, the button 249 is a software button that instructs to shift to the above-described profile registration screen. The button 251 is a software button for instructing editing (new registration, deletion, etc.) of the chat partner, and the button 253 is a software button for instructing termination of the application program.

Returning to FIG. 13, on the partner list screen, the operation detection unit 231 determines whether or not an appropriate operation has been performed on the touch panel 220 (step Sa12). Here, the appropriate operation is an operation within a range assumed in advance, for example, an operation on a button display portion, a name name display portion, or the like, or an operation such as the flick described above.
If there is no operation, or if the operation is an invalid operation that is not expected even if there is an operation (if the determination result in step Sa12 is “No”), the processing procedure returns to step Sa11. For this reason, the display of the partner list screen continues until some appropriate operation is performed.
When an appropriate operation is performed (when the determination result in step Sa12 is “Yes”), the operation detection unit 231 first determines whether or not the operation is an operation on the display portion of the button 253 ( Step Sa13).

If it is an instruction to end (if the determination result in step Sa13 is “Yes”), the operation detection unit 231 notifies the display control unit 234 to that effect and ends the application program.
If it is not an instruction to end (if the determination result in step Sa13 is “No”), the operation detection unit 231 next selects the chat partner, that is, the name of the partner user or the name of the group. It is determined whether or not the operation is a touch on the display portion (step Sa21).

If the operation is not an operation for selecting a chat partner (if the determination result in step Sa21 is “No”), a process corresponding to the operation is executed (step Sa27).
Examples of such processing include the following in this embodiment. That is, an operation to the

buttons

249, 251, 255, 281 to 284, 291 to 293 (an operation to buttons other than the button 253), a flick of the partner list screen, and the like.

Among these operations, when the operation is to the button 249, the display control unit 234 displays the above-described profile registration screen. In the case of an operation on the button 251, although not particularly illustrated, the display control unit 234 separately displays an editing screen of the chat partner so that the user can newly register a group, change a name, add a member, Deletion is instructed. When the chat partner is edited, the edited content is reflected in the transmission partner management table TB22 in the terminal device 20 of the user himself / herself, and is also transmitted to the management server 10 and stored in the user / group registration table TB11. In addition to being reflected, it is transferred to the terminal device 20 of another member via the management server and also reflected in the transmission partner management table TB22.

In the case of an operation on the button 255, the operation detection unit 231 instructs the management unit 233 to acquire information on the constituent members of the group corresponding to the button 255. The management unit 233 first accesses the transmission partner management table TB22 to acquire the user IDs of the members of the group, and secondly accesses the user information registration table TB23 to correspond to the user IDs. Get name information and profile image. The management unit 233 supplies the acquired information to the operation detection unit 231, and the operation detection unit 231 transfers the information to the display control unit 234. Based on the transferred information, the display control unit 234 creates and displays a screen for confirming the constituent members of the group corresponding to the button 255.

FIG. 16 is an example of a group member list screen. FIG. 16 shows a case where the button 255 (see FIG. 15) corresponding to the group having the group ID “ay03” and the name “team 246” is operated in the transmission partner management table TB22 shown in FIG. In this example, the names and profile images of the four members constituting the group, that is, the members whose user IDs are “xx31”, “xx33”, “xx34”, and “xx39” are displayed.

The operations on the buttons 281 to 284 and 291 to 293 and the flick of the partner list screen are as described above.
After step Sa27, the processing procedure returns to the display of the partner list screen in step Sa11.

If the operation performed on the partner list screen is an operation for selecting a chat partner (if the determination result in step Sa21 is “Yes”), the operation detection unit 231 notifies the display control unit 234 of the fact, Upon receiving this notification, the display control unit 234 executes reception processing for receiving a message from the management server 10 (step Sa22).
In addition, when a chat partner is selected, it is good also as a premise of a reception process that self profile information is set to profile registration table TB21 about the applicable sender information with respect to the said chat partner. If not set, the user may be prompted to move to the profile registration screen, for example, to operate the button 249, and the reception process may be executed after the sender information is registered.

Here, the reception process in step Sa22 is a process in which the display control unit 234 receives the message transmitted from the terminal device 20 of the member constituting the selected chat partner group via the management server 10, respectively. It is.

The display control unit 234 stores the received message in the message registration table 235 in association with the selected group.
Here, in the message received via the management server 10, in addition to the character information that is the message body, the accompanying information includes a group ID, the sender user ID, the sender name information, and the transmission date and time. Information and profile image information are attached.
As will be described later, when the user himself / herself selects a chat partner, even when a message is transmitted from the terminal device of the user, the message is stored in the message registration table in association with the selected group together with the accompanying information. Stored in H.235. For this reason, in the message registration table 235, messages from the other users are stored one by one in association with each group, so that a kind of message history is formed.
Note that the display control unit 234 may manage messages stored in the message registration table 235 so that messages older than the current date and time by a certain period or longer are sequentially deleted.

After the reception process, the display control unit 234 displays a message input / display screen in the display area of the display panel 210 (step Sa23).

FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating an example of a message input / display screen, and the screen includes a message display unit 216. The display control unit 234 reads the message associated with the selected chat partner group from the message registration table 235 together with the accompanying information, and causes the message display unit 216 to display the timeline.
Specifically, the display control unit 234 sorts the read messages in the order of the time indicated by the transmission date and time information of the incidental information, and arranges and displays the newer messages, for example, on the upper side of the message display unit 216. Let For this reason, in the figure, the timeline display in the areas (1) to (5) is the latest in the area (1) and the oldest in the order of the areas (2), (3), (4), and (5). .
In each of the areas (1), (2), (3),..., A profile image indicating the sender is displayed at the right end of the screen, for example, and the message body is surrounded by a balloon as if it were emitted from the profile image. It is expressed. Further, the message transmission time and the sender name information are also displayed in the vicinity of the member profile image. For this reason, a place as if the user himself / herself and the other members of the terminal device 20 are chatting in one timeline is shared.

Here, the timeline display of the message display unit 216 in FIG. 22 shows that the user whose group ID is “ay27” and whose user ID is “xx37” in the transmission partner management table TB22 of FIG. This is an example when selected. That is, in the partner list screen shown in FIG. 18 or FIG.
Since “3” is set in the applicable sender information for the user as shown in FIG. 7, in the display of the message by the user of the terminal device 20, that is, the areas (2), (4 In the message display, the sender information 3 is applied to each of the profile image and the name information.

Further, an external service D is associated with the user who is the chat partner in the transmission partner management table TB22. As described above, the profile information of the sender information 3 is information acquired from the external service server 60 and is used by the user of the terminal device 20 to identify himself / herself when communicating with others in the external service D. Information. Therefore, if the user whose name is “Toyotsu Tsukan” and whose user ID is “xx37” has communicated with the user himself / herself whose name is “Yubo” in the external service D, the management server Since the same “Yubo” is used as the name for identifying the user himself / herself in the chat operated by the user 10, the possibility of misunderstanding the user himself / herself as another person can be kept low.

On the other hand, when the display part named “Team 246” is touched on the opponent list screen of FIG. 15, the timeline display of the message display unit 216 is as shown in FIG. As can be seen by referring to the transmission partner management table TB22 of FIG. 12, since “1” is set in the applicable sender information for the group “team 246”, the message by the user of the terminal device 20 In other words, in the message display in the areas (2) and (5), the sender information 1 is applied to each of the profile image and the name information.
In addition, when the real name of the user is used as the name information as in the sender information 1, it is considered that the members of the group are acquainted in the real world.

In addition, if “2” is set in the applicable sender information of the group “Team 246”, the sender information 2 is applied to each of the profile image and the name information. For example, the message display in the area (2) is as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. For this reason, when “2” is set in the applicable sender information, the member of the group can be identified by the handle name without exposing the real name of the user of the terminal device 20.
Here, when the applicable sender information is rewritten, in the message input / display screen displayed by the selection of the chat partner, in the display of the message transmitted by the user, each of the profile image and the name information is The sender information after the change is displayed retroactively to the previously sent message.

Of the messages displayed in the message display unit 216, the message by itself may be displayed in a manner that can be distinguished from the messages by other members. For example, the profile image may be omitted, the balloon shape of the message may be different from the others, or the display color or font of the message body may be different.

Incidentally, the message input / display screen includes a message input unit 214 in addition to the message display unit 216 and

buttons

255 and 257 as shown in FIG. 22 or FIG. The message input unit 214 is an area for inputting a message to be transmitted using a software keyboard or the like, and the button 255 is a software button for confirming the content of the message input to the message input unit 214 and instructing transmission. . The button 257 is a software button for instructing to return to the previous partner list screen.

For such a message input / display screen, the operation detection unit 231 determines whether or not an appropriate operation has been performed (step Sa24). If there is no operation, or if the operation is an invalid operation that is not expected even if there is an operation (if the determination result in step Sa24 is “No”), the processing procedure returns to step Sa22.
For this reason, the processing procedure circulates in steps Sa22 → Sa23 → Sa24 → (Sa22) until any appropriate operation is performed, so that the message input / display screen continues and a new message is sent via the management server 10. Etc., the message is additionally displayed in the timeline.

In this embodiment, the following operations are assumed as appropriate operations for the message input / display screen. That is, firstly, an operation to the display part of the button 255, a second operation to the display part of the button 257, and a third operation are assumed. Other operations include a flick for scrolling a message, a pinch for enlarged display, an input operation on the message input unit 214, and the like.

When an appropriate operation is performed (when the determination result in step Sa24 is “Yes”), the operation detection unit 231 first performs an operation to transmit a message, that is, an operation on the display portion of the button 255. It is determined whether or not there has been (step Sa25).
When the operation is performed on the button 255 (when the determination result in Step Sa25 is “Yes”), the operation detection unit 231 displays the message input to the message input unit 214 at the time of the operation as an instruction for the transmission. Of the time information (transmission date and time) acquired from the RTC 206, the group ID of the chat partner selected in the previous step Sa21, the own user ID, and the applicable sender information set for the group ID. The user name information and the profile image information are attached as supplementary information and supplied to the display control unit 234 and the transmission unit 236. The display control unit 234 stores the supplied message together with the accompanying information in the message registration table 235 in association with the selected group ID.
On the other hand, the transmission unit 236 transmits the supplied message to the management server 10 together with the accompanying information (step Sa26). Thereafter, the processing procedure returns to Step Sa22.

In the management server 10, the reception unit 121 receives a message or the like, and the transfer destination specifying unit 123 specifies the transfer destination of the received message from the group ID and the user ID of the sender included in the incidental information. Specifically, as described above, the transfer destination specifying unit 123 specifies, as a transfer destination of the message, the user's terminal device excluding the sender's user ID among the members of the group indicated by the group ID. To do. Here, the reason why the sender of the message is excluded as the forwarding destination is that the message is stored in the message registration table 235 in the terminal device 20 of the sender and does not need to be forwarded.
Then, the transfer unit 125 transfers the received message to the specified transfer destination terminal device 20. As a result, if the application program is being executed, the transfer destination terminal device 20 stores the application program in the message registration table 235 in the reception process (step Sa22), and displays the next message input / display screen (step Sa23). The message will be additionally displayed in the timeline.
As a result, the transmitted message is shared among the members of the group.

When the operation performed on the message input / display screen is not an instruction to send a message (when the determination result in step Sa25 is “No”), the operation detection unit 231 next determines that the operation is the other party. It is determined whether or not the operation is to designate returning to the list screen, that is, an operation such as a tap on the display portion of the button 257 (step Sa28).
When the operation is performed on the button 257 (when the determination result in Step Sa28 is “Yes”), the processing procedure returns to the display of the partner list screen in Step Sa11.

If it is not a return operation (if the determination result in step Sa28 is “No”), the processing procedure proceeds to step Sa29, and the processing corresponding to the performed operation, specifically, the other mentioned above as the third Processing according to the operation is executed (step Sa29). Thereafter, the processing procedure returns to Step Sa22.

In this embodiment, when a touch operation is performed on the display part of the other party's name or group name on the other party list screen, the message input / display screen is immediately moved. You can leave it. For example, when a touch operation is performed on the name / name display part on the partner list screen, a message input / display screen is displayed for the selected partner user / group, and the selected partner user / group is displayed. When the message input / display screen is selected, the screen is shifted to the screen. When the notification processing is selected, the selected partner user or group member is displayed. On the other hand, the sender information used by the user of the terminal device 20 may be notified in an external service other than chat.

Specifically, firstly, the operation detection unit 231 notifies the setting unit 232 of the operation, and secondly, the setting unit 232 that has received the notification accesses the profile registration table TB21, and the terminal The relationship between the external service associated with the user of the device 20 and the sender information is acquired, and the relationship is supplied to the transmission unit 236 via the operation detection unit 231. Third, the transmission unit 236 The relationship is transmitted to the management server 10. Fourthly, the management server 10 identifies the partner user selected on the partner list screen or the terminal device of the member of the group, transfers the relationship to the terminal device 20, and fifthly, the relationship. The received display control unit 234 of the terminal device 20 displays the relationship on the display area of the display panel 210, for example, the message display unit 216.

FIG. 25 is an example of a screen showing the relationship.
This example is a display example on the terminal device of the partner user whose name in FIG. 18 or FIG. Since this partner user is associated with the external service D in the terminal device 20 of the user himself (see FIG. 12), he recognizes that the user himself is “Yubo” in the name information of the sender information 3. ing. Therefore, “Yubo” is displayed as “Yujiro Takahashi” in the external services A and B other than the external service D and “Yusuke” in the external service C.
Displaying the relationship of the sender information of the user himself / herself not only shows the name of the other user who is trying to communicate with the external service, It is possible to give an opportunity to want to participate in a service other than the external service D in which the user (the other user) participates.

Here, since the name information of the sender information 1 associated with the external services A and B is the real name of the user himself / herself, there may be a case where he / she does not want to be actively disclosed. Even if it is not a real name, a certain name (pen name, handle name) may not be known by anyone other than a specific user. In these cases, the sender information may be restricted by the user himself / herself.
FIG. 26 is an example of the screen in this case, and more specifically, is an example in which notification of the sender information 1 is limited in FIG. By limiting the sender information to be notified in this way, it is possible to prevent a name that is not desired to be known from being inadvertently known to a chat partner.

As described above, the terminal device 20 that provides a message transmitted from each of a plurality of users to a display unit, for example, the message display unit 216, in a viewable manner, provides the same user with each of a plurality of external services. A setting unit 232 for distinguishing and setting corresponding profile information by sender information, and a management unit 233 for managing each of a plurality of users as transmission partners in association with at least sender information among external services or sender information; A transmission unit 236 that transmits a message with sender information associated with the user to some or all of the plurality of users, and a display control unit 234 that displays the message on the message display unit 216. . Thereby, in the terminal device 20 of the user, a plurality of profile information including name information is set, and it is possible to manage which profile information is used for each partner.
Here, the profile information is information for specifying the sender of the message, and is, for example, the name of the sender, an image related to the person image, or the like. The part or all of a plurality of users may be a part of a plurality of users selected from among a plurality of users corresponding to the sender information, or a plurality of users. The idea is that all of them may be.
The message is typically composed of a plurality of characters, but is not limited to this, and may be a still image, a moving image, or a voice. Therefore, the browsing of the message includes reproduction of moving images and sounds.
Further, the message transmitted from the user means a message transmitted (posted or transmitted) from a terminal device operated by the user based on the operation of the user.
The terminal device 20 includes a cooperation unit 240 that cooperates with the external service servers 30, 40, 50, and 60 that provide an external service. When the user set by the setting unit 232 is a user of an external service, The unit 240 acquires profile information of the external service of the user, and the setting unit 232 sets the sender information of the user as sender information reflecting the profile information acquired by the cooperation unit 240. Also good. According to this configuration, it is not necessary for the user to input profile information corresponding to the external service.
The display control unit 234 may have a configuration in which each of the plurality of users managed by the management unit 233 is displayed on the message display unit 216 after being classified for each sender information. According to this configuration, a plurality of users as transmission partners are displayed in a list for each sender information.
The management unit 233 manages each of the plurality of users in association with the external service, and the display control unit 234 classifies each of the plurality of users managed by the management unit 233 for each external service. Then, the display unit, for example, the partner list display unit 212 may be displayed. According to this configuration, a plurality of users as transmission partners are displayed in a list for each external service.
In this configuration, operators 281 to 284 that allow the user to select one of a plurality of external services are provided, and the display control unit 234 displays a list of users associated with the external service corresponding to the selected operator as a partner list. You may display on the display part 212. FIG.
In the terminal device 20, the transmission partner is not limited to a person corresponding to the external service. For this reason, the setting unit 232 may be able to set sender information corresponding to the own service different from each of the plurality of external services.
Here, the cooperation unit 240 may instruct the external service servers 30, 40, 50, 60 to notify the user to invite another user of the external service to the own service. Here, the invitation means urging to participate in viewing the message.
At this time, the setting unit 232 associates the sender information associated with different external services, or the sender information associated with the own service and the external service as the same user, and the display control unit 234 associates them. The relationship between the plurality of pieces of sender information may be displayed on the display unit so as to be visually recognized by another user's terminal device.

On the other hand, the management server 10 can communicate with the terminal device 20, and receives the message from the transmission unit 236 of the terminal device 20 and the transfer unit that transfers the message to the display control unit 234 of the terminal device 20. 125.
In addition, the program provides a computer that provides a message transmitted from each of a plurality of users to a display unit, for example, the message display unit 216, so that the profile information of each of a plurality of external services can be transmitted to the same user. A setting unit 232 configured to correspond to the sender information, a management unit 233 that manages each of a plurality of users as transmission partners in association with at least the sender information of the external service or the sender information, and one of the plurality of users. The transmission part 236 that attaches sender information associated with the user and transmits a message and the display control part 234 that causes the message display part 216 to display the message are made to function.
The program may be stored in a recording medium. If this recording medium is used, the program can be installed in the computer, for example. Here, the recording medium storing the program may be a non-transitory recording medium such as a CD-ROM.
The program also includes a recording medium provided inside or outside that can be accessed from the distribution server in order to distribute the program. The code of the program stored in the recording medium of the distribution server may be different from the code of the program that can be executed by the terminal device 20. That is, the format stored in the distribution server is not limited as long as it can be downloaded from the distribution server and installed in a form that can be executed by the terminal device 20. Note that the program may be divided into a plurality of parts and downloaded at different timings and then combined in the terminal device 20 or the distribution server that distributes each of the divided programs may be different.

<Application and modification>
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various applications and modifications as described below are possible, for example. Note that one or a plurality of arbitrarily selected aspects of application / deformation described below can be appropriately combined.

<Setting section, management section and table>
In the embodiment, the setting unit 232 and the profile registration table TB21 are described as separate blocks. However, an integrated unit may be considered as the setting unit. Similarly, the management unit 233, the transmission partner management table TB22, and the user information registration table TB23 may be considered as a management unit.

Further, in the transmission partner management table TB22, the external service is associated with the chat partner group, but it is sufficient that at least the applicable sender information is associated. This is because the external service has already been associated with the sender information of the profile registration table TB21, and for example, the profile registration table TB21 may be referred to as to which external service a certain chat partner is associated with. However, when displaying a list by distinguishing transmission partners by external service (see FIGS. 13, 14, 16, and 17), it takes time in a terminal device that does not have high processing capacity to refer to the two tables. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 12, when the sender information table and the external service are both associated with each other in the transmission partner management table TB22, A configuration in which it is sufficient to refer only to the transmission partner management table TB22 is also preferable when displaying a list by distinguishing by sender information.

<Chat etc.>
In the embodiment, the case of chatting between group members has been described as an example, but it is of course applicable to a case where a user simply sends a message to another user as an email and browses the message. It is.

<Message format>
The message may be not only characters but also an audio signal, a still image, a moving image, or a combination of these as appropriate. When a voice signal or a moving image is included in the message, the message is viewed by reproducing them.

<Operation other than touch panel>
Although the terminal device 20 has been described as a configuration having the touch panel 220, it may be configured to have operation elements such as hardware keys and switches and perform various input operations via these operation elements.

<Cloud>
In various embodiments, the management server 10 includes and manages the database 118, but may be managed by a server other than the management server 10, that is, managed by cloud computing. Similarly, in the various embodiments, the terminal device 20 is configured to include and manage the database 218, but may be managed by cloud computing using another server.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... System, 10 ... Management server, 20 ... Terminal device, 30, 40, 50, 60 ... External service server, 101, 201 ... CPU, 118, 218 ... Database, 212 ... Partner list display part, 214 ... Message input part 216 ... Message display part, 231 ... Operation detection part, 234 ... Display control part, 236 ... Transmission part, 240 ... Cooperation part.

Claims

A terminal device that provides a display unit with a message transmitted from each of a plurality of users so as to be viewable,
A setting unit that sets profile information corresponding to each of a plurality of external services to the same user while distinguishing them by sender information;
A management unit that manages each of a plurality of users as transmission partners in association with at least the sender information of the external service or the sender information;
A transmission unit that sends a message with sender information associated with the user to some or all of the plurality of users;
A display control unit for displaying a message on the display unit;
A terminal device comprising:
A linkage unit that cooperates with an external service server that provides the external service;
When the user set by the setting unit is a user of the external service, the cooperation unit acquires profile information of the external service in the user,
The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the setting unit sets the sender information of the user to sender information that reflects the profile information acquired by the cooperation unit.
3. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the display control unit displays each of the plurality of users managed by the management unit on the display unit by dividing each user information by sender information. 4. .
The management unit manages each of the plurality of users in association with the external service,
The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the display control unit displays each of the plurality of users managed by the management unit on the display unit by dividing each of the plurality of users for each external service. .
An operator for allowing a user to select one of the plurality of external services;
The terminal device according to claim 4, wherein the display control unit displays a user associated with an external service corresponding to the selected operator on the display unit.
The terminal device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the setting unit can set sender information corresponding to a self service different from each of the plurality of external services.
The cooperation unit
The terminal device according to claim 6, wherein the terminal device is instructed to notify the external service server to invite another user of the external service to the self-service.
The setting unit associates sender information associated with different external services, or sender information associated with the own service and the external service as the same user,
The terminal according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the display control unit displays a relationship between a plurality of pieces of sender information associated with the display unit so that the other user can visually recognize the relationship. apparatus.
A management server capable of communicating with the terminal device according to claim 1,
A reception unit that receives a message from the transmission unit of the terminal device;
A transfer unit that transfers a message to the display control unit of the terminal device;
A management server comprising:
A control method of a terminal device that provides a message transmitted from each of a plurality of users so as to be viewable on a display unit,
Setting the profile information of each of a plurality of external services to the same user according to the sender information;
Managing each of a plurality of users as transmission partners in association with at least the sender information of the external service or the sender information;
Sending a message with sender information associated with the user to some or all of the plurality of users; and
Displaying a message on the display unit;
A control method for a terminal device, comprising:
A computer that provides a display unit with a message sent from each of a plurality of users so that it can be viewed.
A setting unit that sets each profile information of a plurality of external services corresponding to the sender information for the same user,
A management unit that manages each of a plurality of users as transmission partners in association with at least the sender information of the external service or the sender information;
A transmission unit that sends a message with sender information associated with the user to some or all of the plurality of users; and
A display control unit for displaying a message on the display unit;
A program characterized by functioning as