JP2007272843A - One-to-many communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve problems of a conventional electronic conference system, in which time is consumed for summering opinions in discussion among a large number of persons or a conference is finished before sufficiently hearing objections, since it has no means automatically summarizing questions and objections. <P>SOLUTION: An electronic conference system is constructed a plurality of terminals capable of inputting and displaying information, a network connecting the terminals mutually, and a server connected to the network for accumulating and processing inputted information from the terminals via the network and offering the processed information to the terminals. The server is provided with a database registering vocabulary and representative words corresponding to the vocabulary, a vocabulary convergence means converting the information inputted from the terminals into the representative words by referring to the database, and a summarization means summarizing the number of representative words converted by the vocabulary convergence means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic conference system using one network and a plurality of terminals connected thereto, and more particularly to an opinion aggregation system that converges organizational consciousness to one opinion.

  Some conventional electronic conferencing systems are provided with a totaling means and totalize participants' intentions in real time. (See Patent Document 1)

Moreover, although it is not an electronic conference system, there exists a technique for converting collected vocabulary into a representative word. (See Patent Document 2)
JP-A-6-046055 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-269938

  As a conventional technique, for example, a representative employee of a company gathers employees in a single meeting place and conducts a dialogue by presentation and question-and-answer session as a means of obtaining consensus of all employees regarding management policies.

  In large-scale cases, one-way communication was performed through in-house broadcasting.

  However, with these methods, the degree of persuasion for each employee is not known, and in practice, it was often a meeting with low consensus.

  In addition, according to the electronic conference system described in Patent Document 1, the participants of the conference vote their opinions, and the results are instantaneously counted by the host computer, and the results are shared by all participants through the terminal. I was able to.

  However, the scope of the aggregation technique described in Patent Document 1 has been limited to the aggregation of numerical values, such as the percentage of approval and disapproval and the average of evaluation values for projects.

  For this reason, it was possible to register and browse the question and the reasons for disagreement as a message, but since there was no means for tabulating, it was impossible to grasp these opinions in real time by a large number of meetings. It was.

  For this reason, the meeting was prolonged for the purpose of collecting opinions, and the meeting was terminated without fully drawing out the negative opinions.

  A plurality of terminals capable of inputting and displaying information, a network connecting the terminals, and storing and processing input information from the terminals connected to the network via the networks and processing for the terminals Prepare a teleconferencing system consisting of a server that provides the information, and store a database in which vocabulary and corresponding representative words are registered in the server, and information input from the terminal with reference to the database. Vocabulary converging means for converting to vocabulary and a totaling means for compiling the number of representative words converted by the vocabulary converging means.

  In the present invention, the participant inputs a word of pros and cons and a reason for disagreement to the terminal in accordance with the instructions of the presenter.

  Participants are also Why (= Why), What (= What), When (= What), Who (= Who), Where (= Where), How (= How), How match (= How many) ), How long (= how long) 8 question choices and auxiliary vocabulary are input to the terminal as needed.

  The input information input from these terminals is temporarily stored in the memory or hard disk in the server, but the input information is read by the vocabulary converging means in the server. By referring to a database in which representative words corresponding thereto are registered, the opposite reason and auxiliary vocabulary in the input information are converted into related representative words, and the result is transferred to the aggregation means as converted information.

  The totaling means obtains the converted information from the vocabulary converging means, totals the number of representative words and the percentage of the total for each pros and cons or for each question option, and the result is stored in the server memory or hard disk as total information. To store.

  Further, the server provides the total information to each terminal.

  Through these actions, it is possible to collect in real time what kind of points the participants of the meeting are opposed to, or what kind of points are questioned.

  This allows the meeting moderator to explain these reasons and questions again, and by repeating the above-mentioned counting work and explanations, the consensus of all the participants will eventually be increased. It is possible to end the conference in the obtained state.

  FIG. 1 shows the best embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, 1a and 1b are terminals for presenters / explainers, 2a, 2b and 2c are terminals for participants, 3 is a network, and 4 is a server.

  In FIG. 1, the moderator / explainer terminals 1 a and 1 b, the participant terminals 2 a, 2 b and 2 c, and the server 4 are electrically connected to the network 3 by wire or wirelessly.

  The moderator / explainer terminals 1a and 1b are terminals for explaining the details of the agenda and the agenda for managing the conference, and are composed of a personal computer main body, a display, a keyboard, and a pointing device.

  Further, the personal computer bodies of the moderator / explainer terminals 1a and 1b are provided with a drive for reading data files and a microphone.

  The participant terminals 2a and 2b and 2c are terminals for participants other than the presenter and the presenter, and are personal computers or portable terminals equipped with a display, a keyboard or pointing device or selection button, a speaker or an earphone, or It is a mobile phone.

Network 3 is an in-house LAN (Local Area Network), TCP / IP (Transmission
Communicate using Control Protocol / Internet Protocol.

  The server 4 is a computer composed of a server body, a keyboard, and a display.

The server itself has a physical interface and CPU (Central
Processing Unit), memory, hard disk, bus, and bus controller. The hard disk is an electronic conference that runs on the OS (Operating System) and each terminal on the network 3 and performs information processing. Application software is installed.

  FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the electronic conference application software installed in the server 4 of the present invention.

  In FIG. 2, 5 is a communication buffer, 6 is an information reading routine, 7 is an information storage variable group, 8 is a vocabulary convergence routine, 9 is a database, 10 is an aggregation routine, 11 Is an information providing routine.

  The communication buffer 5 temporarily stores the input information received from each terminal via the network 3, notifies the information reading routine 6 of the arrival of the input information, and reads the temporarily stored input information according to the instruction of the information reading routine 6. Hand over to 6.

  The communication buffer 5 temporarily stores the output information provided by the information providing routine 11 and provides the output information to all terminals via the network 3 in cooperation with the OS.

  The information reading routine 6 decomposes and processes the input information received from the communication buffer 5 and writes it as a processed input information in a specific variable in the information storage variable group 7.

  The information reading routine 6 directly provides part of the processed input information to the information providing routine 11.

  The information storage variable group 7 is a set of variables prepared in advance for storing various information, and even if information is read, nonvolatile variables and variables (FIFOs) whose contents are erased by reading the information are stored. It consists of variables in the First-In First-Out format.

  The vocabulary convergence routine 8 monitors a specific variable in the information storage variable group 7, and when the processed input information is written in the variable, takes the processed input information and refers to the information in the database 9. However, a part of the processed input information is converted into a representative word and written into a specific variable in the information storage variable group 7 as converted information.

  The database 9 is a set of tables describing information necessary for converting the processed input information into the converted information, and includes a first deletion table, a second deletion table, and a convergence table.

  The totaling routine 10 monitors a specific variable in the information storage variable group 7, takes in the converted information when the converted information is written in the variable, and further combines the vocabulary and the corresponding count. When a statistical variable in the information storage variable group 7 is read, and the converted information includes a vocabulary included in the statistical variable, a value obtained by adding 1 to the count of the statistical variable corresponding to the vocabulary as new aggregate information When there is a vocabulary that is not included in the statistical variable in the written and converted information, the vocabulary and a count for the vocabulary (the initial value of the count is 1) are added to the statistical variable as new aggregate information.

  Further, when the specific variable in the information storage variable group 7 has a specific value and the converted information includes a vocabulary included in the statistical variable, the totaling routine 10 adds the new variable to the corresponding vocabulary. A value obtained by subtracting 1 from the corresponding statistical variable count is written.

  The information providing routine 11 reads the statistical variables in the information storage variable group 7 based on the processed input information received from the information reading routine 6, classifies the aggregate information stored in the statistical variables by category, and increases the count in descending order. Sort, calculate the percentage corresponding to the count, generate a grab or table image from the aggregate information, HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) containing the vocabulary, the count, the percentage, and the grab or table image Is generated, and the TEXT file is transferred to the communication buffer 5 as processed total information.

  In addition, the information providing routine 11 is based on the processed input information received from the information reading routine 6, and processes the processed input information or specific information in the information storage variable group 7 for all terminals or without processing. The information is delivered to the communication buffer 5 as information for a specific terminal.

  FIG. 3 shows the structure of the first deletion table that is a component of the database 9.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the first deletion table includes two fields, a registered word field and an expression format field. The registered word field stores words to be deleted from the input vocabulary. Stores the format of the deletion condition of the vocabulary.

  “*” In FIG. 3 means an arbitrary character string of zero or more characters, and “*? *” Means that the deletion condition is satisfied if “?” Is included in the input vocabulary.

  Further, “_” in FIG. 3 means a half-width space, and “The_ *” means that if the head of the input vocabulary is “The”, the deletion condition of the head “The” is satisfied.

  FIG. 4 shows the structure of the second deletion table that is a component of the database 9.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the second deletion table is composed of two fields, a registered word field and an expression format field. The registered word field stores words to be deleted from the input vocabulary. Stores the format of the deletion condition of the vocabulary.

  “*” In FIG. 4 means an arbitrary character string of zero or more characters, and “* kana” means that if the end of the input vocabulary is “kana”, the deletion condition of “kana” at the end is satisfied. Means.

  Further, “* s” in FIG. 4 means that if the end of the input vocabulary is “s”, the deletion condition of “s” at the end is satisfied.

  FIG. 5 shows the structure of a convergence table that is a component of the database 9.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the convergence table includes one representative word field and a plurality of similar word fields. The representative word is stored in the representative word field, and the similar word field is associated with the representative word. Similar words are stored.

  FIG. 5 shows that “slow” stored in the representative word field is the representative words “slow” and “slow” stored in the similar word field.

  FIG. 5 shows that “risk” stored in the representative word field is a representative word of “risky” and “riskiness” stored in the similar word field.

  FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of the vocabulary convergence routine 8.

  The first deletion table process in FIG. 6 reads processed input information from a specific variable in the information storage variable group 7, extracts input vocabulary from the processed input information, and first deletes it from the database 9. Read the table, compare the deletion condition format of the first deletion table with the input vocabulary format, and if the deletion condition format of the first deletion table matches the input vocabulary format, input the corresponding vocabulary Delete from the vocabulary, perform the above-described deletion processing for all records in the first deletion table, and set the input vocabulary after the deletion processing as a first deleted input vocabulary to a specific variable in the information storage variable group 7 Store.

  The second deletion table process in FIG. 6 reads the first deleted input vocabulary from a specific variable in the information storage variable group 7, while reading the second deletion table from the database 9, and the deletion condition of the second deletion table. Is compared with the format of the first deleted input vocabulary. If the format of the deletion condition in the second deletion table matches the format of the first deleted input vocabulary, the corresponding vocabulary is input to the first deleted input vocabulary. Delete from the vocabulary, perform the above-described deletion processing for all records in the second deletion table, and use the first deleted input vocabulary after the deletion processing as the second deleted input vocabulary in the information storage variable group 7 Store in a specific variable.

  The convergence table process in FIG. 6 reads the first deleted input vocabulary or the second deleted input vocabulary stored in a specific variable in the information storage variable group 7, while reading the convergence table from the database 9 and the convergence table. The representative word stored in the representative word field in the table or the similar word stored in the similar word field in the convergence table is compared with the first deleted input vocabulary or the second deleted input vocabulary, and they match. In this case, the representative word is stored in a specific variable in the information storage variable group 7 as a representative word, and “1” is written to the hit variable in the information storage variable group 7, and the above comparison processing is performed in the convergence table. If the results of all the records do not match, “0” is written to the hit variable in the information storage variable group 7.

  In the representative word output process in FIG. 6, the representative word stored in a specific variable in the information storage variable group 7 is written into a variable storing the converted information in the information storage variable group 7.

  In the input word output process in FIG. 6, the first deleted input vocabulary stored in a specific variable in the information storage variable group 7 is written into a variable storing the converted information in the information storage variable group 7.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the vocabulary convergence routine 8 calls the first deletion table process after the start, deletes the vocabulary registered in the first deletion table from the input vocabulary, and then executes the first convergence table process, As a result, if the hit variable in the information storage variable group 7 is “1”, the representative word output process is called, and the representative word detected in the convergence table process is written into a specific variable in the information storage variable group 7 as converted information.

  If the hit variable in the information storage variable group 7 is “0”, the second deletion table process is called to delete the vocabulary registered in the second deletion table from the first deleted input vocabulary, and then the second time Convergence table processing is executed. As a result, if the hit variable in the information storage variable group 7 is “1”, the representative word output processing is called, and the representative word stored in a specific variable in the information storage variable group 7 is The converted information in the information storage variable group 7 is written into a variable for storing.

  If the hit variable in the information storage variable group 7 is “0” as a result of the second convergence table process, the input word output process is called, and the first deleted data stored in the specific variable in the information storage variable group 7 The input vocabulary is written into the variable storing the converted information in the information storage variable group 7.

  The operation of the vocabulary convergence routine 8 will be described using an example. First, when the input vocabulary is “Isn't it?”, The last “??” is deleted by the first deletion table processing executed first, and “ Convergence table processing is executed with “loose” as the first deleted input vocabulary, and it is searched whether the same vocabulary as “loose” is registered in the converged table.

  When the same vocabulary as “Okay” is not found in the convergence table as a result of the search, the second deletion table process is started, “Kana” at the end of “Okay” is deleted, and “Okay” is set as the second deleted input vocabulary. As a result, the convergence table process is executed to search whether the same vocabulary as “slow” is registered in the convergence table.

  As shown in FIG. 5, since “slow” exists in the similar word field in the convergence table and the representative word for the vocabulary is “slow”, the vocabulary convergence routine 8 uses the representative word “slow” as converted information. Write to a specific variable in the information storage variable group 7.

  Whether the input vocabulary is “slow” or “slow”, the representative word “slow” is written to a specific variable in the information storage variable group 7 as converted information by the same operation.

  If the input vocabulary is “The risks”, the first “deleted table” executed first deletes the leading “The”, and executes the convergence table process using “risks” as the first deleted input vocabulary. Searches whether the same vocabulary as “risks” is registered in the convergence table.

  When the same vocabulary as “risks” is not found in the convergence table as a result of the search, the second deletion table processing is started, “s” at the end of “risks” is deleted, and “risk” is converged as the second deleted input vocabulary. Table processing is executed to search whether the same vocabulary as “risk” is registered in the convergence table.

  Since the vocabulary “risk” exists as a representative word in the convergence table, the vocabulary convergence routine 8 writes the vocabulary “risk” as converted information to a specific variable in the information storage variable group 7.

  Whether the input vocabulary is “risky” or “riskiness”, the vocabulary “risk” is written to a specific variable in the information storage variable group 7 as converted information by the same operation.

  If the input vocabulary is “riskines”, the first deletion table process is executed first, but since there is no corresponding vocabulary, nothing is deleted and the convergence table process is executed with “riskines” as the first deleted input vocabulary. , Search the convergence table for the same vocabulary as “riskines”.

  If the same vocabulary as “riskines” is not in the convergence table as a result of the search, the second deletion table process is started, “s” at the end of “riskines” is deleted, and “riskine” is converged as the second deleted input vocabulary. Execute table processing and search whether the same vocabulary as “riskine” is registered in the convergence table.

  Since the vocabulary “riskine” does not exist in the convergence table, the vocabulary convergence routine 8 writes the first deleted input vocabulary “riskines” as converted information to a specific variable in the information storage variable group 7.

  The actual state of the electronic conference according to the present invention will be described below.

  First, the screens on the displays of the moderator / explainer terminals 1a and 1b are a file folder screen for copying data files from the electronic medium to the hard disk in the server 4, and a message for writing messages addressed to the participants. It consists of a writing screen and a counting result display screen that displays the result of counting the opinions of each participant.

  The screens on the display of the participant terminals 2a and 2b and 2c are a message display screen for displaying a message from the presenter or the explainer, a voting screen for uploading one word of the pros and cons, and a reason for disagreement, and Why (= Why), What (= What), When (= What), Who (= Who), Where 8 and a question screen for uploading one word of auxiliary vocabulary, and a totaling result display screen for displaying the result of totalizing the opinions of each participant.

  Also, the voting screens of the terminals 2a, 2b and 2c for the participants include an approval / disapproval selection button for exclusively selecting approval / disapproval, an opposite reason input field for entering one word of the opposite reason, and the entry information on the server 4 Consists of voting buttons for uploading.

  Also, the question screens of the participant terminals 2a, 2b and 2c are Why (= Why), What (= What), When (= What time), Who (= Who), Where (= Where), How (= How ), How match (= how many), How long (= how long) question selection button to select 8 questions exclusively, and auxiliary vocabulary input to enter one word of auxiliary vocabulary to supplement the question contents Column, a question button for uploading these entries to the server 4 as new question contents, a question selection menu for selectively displaying the previous question contents, and for canceling the previous question by convincing Consists of buttons.

  The electronic conference according to the present invention proceeds in a form in which the presenter or the presenter interacts with the participant through the terminal.

  First, the moderator explains the purpose of the meeting to each participant through voice, and explains the details according to the agenda.

  At this time, if necessary, a data file registered in advance in the server 4 is used for explanation, and a supplementary message is written on the message writing screen and distributed to the participants.

  If there is a question about the contents of the explanation, the participant selects the question selection button on the question screen, enters the auxiliary vocabulary in the one-word auxiliary vocabulary input field if necessary, and presses the question button.

  The contents of the questions uploaded from each participant are aggregated by the electronic conference application software in the server 4, and the aggregated result is immediately displayed on the aggregated result display screen of each terminal.

  The moderator can grasp the current question point of each participant in real time by looking at the total result of the question on the total result display screen. Ask the explainer for a supplementary explanation.

  In this way, the moderator tries to answer each participant's question while giving explanations, but if he wants to know the details of the question, he or she will vote for more detailed questions for participants with specific questions. Please fill in the reason input field on the screen and upload it.

  The uploaded detailed questions are counted as opposite reasons by the electronic conference application software in the server 4, and the count results are immediately displayed on the count result display screen of each terminal.

  By repeating this, the presenter can know the details of the question.

  When the participant hears the supplementary explanation of the presenter or the explainer and the question is solved, the participant selects the previous question content from the question selection menu on the question screen, and presses the consent button.

  By pressing the satisfaction button, a specific flag indicating the contents of the question and the satisfaction uploaded from the participant terminal 2a, 2b, or 2c is uploaded to the server 4.

  When the electronic conference application software in the server 4 receives the specific flag indicating the satisfaction, it reads the statistical variable in the information storage variable group 7 and subtracts 1 from the vocabulary count value corresponding to the previously uploaded question. The information is immediately displayed on the total result display screen of each terminal as new total information.

  Once all these questions have been resolved, the moderator calls on the participants to vote.

  In response to this call, the participant selects the approval / disapproval selection button on the voting screen.

  The uploaded approval and disapproval reasons are aggregated by the electronic conference application software in the server 4, and the aggregated result is immediately displayed on the aggregated result display screen of each terminal.

  If there are opponents, the presenter will give additional explanations with reference to the aggregate results of the reasons for opposition.

  If the moderator wants to know the details of the reasons for opposition, he / she requests that participants who have specific reasons for opposition enter more detailed reasons for opposition in the opposite reason input field on the voting screen and upload them.

  The reasons why the uploaded details are opposite are aggregated by the electronic conference application software in the server 4, and the aggregated result is immediately displayed on the aggregated result display screen of each terminal.

  By repeating this, the presenter can know the details of the reasons for disagreement, and can make further detailed explanations and corrections of opinions.

  Through these dialogues, the number of dissenters will gradually decrease, and it will eventually be possible to reach a high consensus conclusion.

  The present invention is effective for collecting opinions at a large-scale meeting, but since the anonymity is increased by collecting the opinions of participants, the present invention is also effective at a small-scale meeting that seeks exchange of opinions without frustration.

It is the figure which showed the structure of the best embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the structure of the application software for electronic conferences of this invention. It is the figure which showed the structure of the 1st deletion table of this invention. It is the figure which showed the structure of the 2nd deletion table of this invention. It is the figure which showed the structure of the convergence table of this invention. It is the figure which showed the flowchart of the vocabulary convergence routine 8 of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1a, 1b Moderator / explainer terminal 2a, 2b, 2c Participant terminal 3 Network 4 Server 5 Communication buffer 6 Information reading routine 7 Information storage variable group 8 Vocabulary convergence routine 9 Database 10 Aggregation routine 11 Information provision routine

Claims (1)

  A plurality of terminals capable of inputting and displaying information, a network connecting the terminals, and storing and processing input information from the terminals connected to the network via the networks and processing for the terminals In a teleconference system composed of a server that provides the information, a database in which vocabulary and corresponding representative words are registered, and vocabulary converging means for converting information input from the terminal into representative words with reference to the database And an electronic conferencing system comprising a totaling unit that totalizes the number of representative words converted by the vocabulary converging unit.

Images