JP7578301B2 - Bullying prevention system and user terminal and computer program used therein - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a bullying prevention system that prevents bullying using community sites such as SNS, and a user terminal and computer program used therein.

In recent years, smartphones and tablet devices have become familiar devices even for elementary and junior high school students. Furthermore, schools are distributing laptops and tablet devices to students, and classes are beginning to use digital devices. Meanwhile, online bullying using SNS (Social Networking Services) and messaging apps has recently become more serious. While verbal and physical bullying is a one-off, online bullying appeals to the visual sense of printed matter and causes ongoing mental distress, leaving victims with a sense of despair.

As a method for preventing such bullying, for example, Patent Document 1 describes an input support device, input support method, and program that include a word storage means that stores words and their attributes in association with each other, a division means that divides text into morphemes, and a warning display means that determines whether the morphemes that make up the text contain morphemes with specific attributes whose use is inappropriate based on the contents stored in the word storage means, and if it is determined that they do, displays an alert to the effect that the use of the text is inappropriate.

Patent Document 2 also describes a comment posting method including the steps of: accepting an instruction to provisionally post the comment information after the user has completed creating or editing the comment information; prompting the user to reread the comment information after a predetermined time has elapsed or when a set time has arrived after accepting the instruction to provisionally post; accepting an instruction to confirm the posting of the comment information if the user who has reread the comment information judges that there is no problem with the content of the comment information; after accepting the instruction to confirm the posting of the comment information, a server device responsible for posting the comment information posts the comment information so that it can be viewed via the Internet; accepting an instruction to resume editing the comment information if the user who has reread the comment information judges that the content of the comment information needs editing; setting the comment information to an editing mode after accepting the instruction to resume editing the comment information; and accepting an instruction to cancel the posting of the comment information if the user who has reread the comment information judges that the comment information should be deleted.

JP 2016-194864 A JP 2021-043808 A

However, the conventional input support device described in Patent Document 1 converts input characters to complete words and then checks them against a database, so if a message is posted or sent immediately without carefully checking the content, there is a risk that an alert will not be issued in time. In addition, the conventional comment posting method described in Patent Document 2 manages comment posting on the server device side, and cannot prevent inappropriate posting if that function is not implemented on the server side.

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide an anti-bullying system that can realize, with a simple configuration, a function for preventing the posting or transmission of inappropriate words that may lead to bullying.

To solve the above problems, the anti-bullying system of the present invention comprises a user terminal that can be connected to a community site via a communications network, and a management server that can be connected to the user terminal via the communications network, the user terminal including an application program that posts a message to the community site, and an anti-bullying app that monitors the input characters of the message by running in the background independent of the application program, the anti-bullying app issuing an alert when it detects that the message contains an inappropriate word, and transmitting an inappropriate word posting log to the management server when the message is posted despite the alert.

The present invention also relates to a user terminal that can be connected to a community site via a communication network, and includes an application program for posting messages to the community site, and an anti-bullying app that monitors characters entered in the message by running in the background independent of the application program, the anti-bullying app issuing an alert when it detects that the message contains an inappropriate word, and transmitting an inappropriate word posting log to a management server when the message is posted despite the alert.

Furthermore, the present invention is a computer program installed in a user terminal that can connect to a community site via a communication network, which causes the user terminal to sequentially execute the steps of monitoring input characters of the message through background operation independent of an application program that posts messages to the community site, issuing an alert when it is detected that the message contains an inappropriate word, and transmitting an inappropriate word posting log to a management server when the message is posted despite the alert.

According to the present invention, a keystroke monitoring program that utilizes so-called keylogger technology is installed on a user terminal and monitors inappropriate words in the background, making it possible to monitor inappropriate posts on a variety of services, regardless of the type of community site, such as SNS.

In the present invention, the user terminal preferably monitors the Roman alphabet input of the message, and issues the alert when the NG word is detected in the Roman alphabet before character conversion. Since the alert is issued by checking whether the word is an NG word or not when it is entered in Roman alphabet (such as "baka" or "sine"), rather than when the NG word (such as "idiot" or "die") is created, the alert can be issued quickly to prevent inappropriate words from being posted.

It is preferable that the user terminal issues the alert when it detects multiple instances of the NG word within a specified period of time. This makes it possible to avoid excessive issuance of alerts.

The bullying prevention system according to the present invention further includes an administrator terminal used by an administrator associated with the user who uses the user terminal, and the administrator terminal is preferably configured to be able to view the NG word posting log of the user recorded in the management server. With this configuration, it is possible to grasp the actual state of bullying and take preventive measures.

The present invention provides an anti-bullying system that can implement a function to prevent the posting or transmission of inappropriate words that may lead to bullying with a simple configuration.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a bullying prevention system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a user terminal. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the management server. FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the bullying prevention application. FIG. 5 is a schematic explanatory diagram of the operation of the anti-bullying app. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of use of the bullying prevention system according to this embodiment.

The following describes in detail a preferred embodiment of the present invention with reference to the attached drawings.

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of an anti-bullying system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the bullying prevention system 1 according to this embodiment includes a user terminal 10, such as a tablet terminal, assigned to a general user, such as a school student, a management server 20 that records and manages the NG word posting log sent from the user terminal 10, and an administrator terminal 30, such as a laptop PC, assigned to an administrator user, such as a school teacher. The user terminal 10, management server 20, and administrator terminal 30 are connectable to the Internet 40, and the user terminal 10 and administrator terminal 30 are configured to be able to access the management server 20 via the Internet 40. The user terminal 10 and administrator terminal 30 are also configured to be able to access community sites 50, such as SNS, blogs, electronic bulletin boards, and chats, via the Internet 40.

The user terminal 10 and the administrator terminal 30 are not limited to those provided to students at the educational site, but may be personal terminals. In other words, the user terminal 10 may be a smartphone or a personal computer used by a student at home. The device form of the user terminal 10 and the administrator terminal 30 is not particularly limited, and may be a smartphone, a notebook PC, a desktop PC, etc. The management server 20 is a so-called database server, and is composed of one or more computers with server functions.

Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the user terminal 10.

As shown in FIG. 2, the user terminal 10 has a hardware configuration including a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 101, a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) 102, a storage unit 103 such as ROM or RAM, a display 104, a character input unit 105 such as a keyboard, a speaker 106, a microphone 107, and a GPS unit 108. In the case of a smartphone or tablet terminal, the display 104 and the character input unit 105 are configured by a touch panel display.

In addition to basic programs such as an OS (Operating System) 111 and device drivers 112, various application programs 113 are installed on the user terminal 10. Examples of the application programs 113 include standard programs such as a web browser 11 and email software 12, as well as an SNS application 13, which is a client program provided by an SNS service, an educational support application 14 used in school classes, and groupware 15 that notifies students of various announcements. Examples of SNS services include LINE (registered trademark), Facebook (registered trademark), and Twitter (registered trademark). Examples of the email software 12 include Outlook (registered trademark), Gmail (registered trademark), and the like. Groupware 15 such as Classroom (Google Workspace for Education) used in educational settings can also be included.

In addition to the various application programs 113 described above, the user terminal 10 is installed with an anti-bullying app 16 that monitors messages sent and posts on SNS containing inappropriate words (NG words) that may lead to bullying. This anti-bullying app 16 is a resident program that operates in the background as a so-called key input monitoring function, and constantly monitors whether or not key input contains specific NG words, and if NG words are included, displays a pop-up alert dialog to alert the user. The anti-bullying app 16 according to this embodiment takes the form of a key input monitoring program, and therefore can monitor the input and posting of NG words regardless of whether the SNS is used via a dedicated app or via the web, i.e., regardless of the form of the SNS service.

When checking for inappropriate words posted on SNS, it is necessary to monitor the characters entered into the message input field on the SNS application 13 or the message input field on the SNS website. In this case, the anti-bullying application 16 may be linked to the SNS application 13 using an API (Application Programming Interface) provided by the company that provides the SNS application 13. In addition, when entering words from a website, the SNS site may be controlled using an add-on program for the web browser 11.

To constantly monitor forbidden words, the anti-bullying app 16 has a forbidden word list 16a. The forbidden word list 16a is synchronously managed by the management server 20, and can be updated from the management server 20. By allowing the administrator to add and restrict forbidden words to the database at any time, it is possible to accommodate unique dialects and terminology. Forbidden words include characters after character conversion (e.g., "baka," "baka," "idiot," etc.), as well as forbidden words in the romaji input state before character conversion (e.g., "uzai," "UZAI," etc.).

The anti-bullying app 16 can be downloaded from a specified download site and installed on the user terminal 10. After installing the anti-bullying app 16, the user can start using it by registering as a user. When registering as a user, the user is linked to the group (administrator) by registering a group ID previously set by the administrator. After starting to use the app, if the input of an inappropriate word is detected in any character input mode on the user terminal 10, an alert screen will pop up, drawing attention to the posting of inappropriate words.

Figure 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the management server 20.

As shown in FIG. 3, the management server 20 has a database for recording and managing the bad word posting log sent from the bullying prevention app 16 of the user terminal 10. The database includes a user database 21 and a bad word log database 22.

The user database 21 includes a user ID 211, a password 212, a user name 213, a user type 214 that distinguishes between a general user and an administrator user, and a group ID 215 that indicates the group to which the user belongs. The bad word log database 22 includes a user ID 221, a date and time when the bad word was sent 222, a destination of the bad word 223, a bad word text 224, GPS location information 225 of the user terminal 10 when the bad word was sent, etc. The bad word log database 22 also includes a bad word master table 226 synchronized with the client-side bad word list 16a. The bad word log database 22 may hold statistical information of the analysis results of the bad word logs of all users or each individual user.

When the management server 20 receives a posting log of NG words from the user terminal 10, it can notify the administrator terminal 30 associated with that user of a report to that effect. This report may be made in real time each time an NG word occurs, or it may be made periodically by batch processing. When made periodically, it may be, for example, once a day, once a week, or once a month.

As described above, the administrator terminal 30 receives a report of the NG word posting log sent from the management server 20. The administrator terminal 30 can also access the management server 20 at any time to view the NG word posting log of a specific user. When the administrator terminal 30 logs into the management server 20, a management screen (dashboard) is displayed on the display, and the NG word posting log can be easily viewed on the management screen. The NG word posting log can be viewed within the scope of the viewing authority assigned to the administrator user of the administrator terminal 30. Therefore, for example, if the user of the administrator terminal 30 is a school teacher, he or she can view the NG word posting logs of all of the students in his or her care. Also, if the user of the administrator terminal 30 is, for example, the parent of a certain student, he or she can view only the NG word posting log of a specific student who is his or her child.

Figure 4 is a flowchart explaining the operation of the anti-bullying app 16. Also, Figure 5 is a schematic diagram explaining the operation of the anti-bullying app 16.

4 and 5, the anti-bullying app 16 in the user terminal 10 constantly scans the key input of the user terminal 10, and monitors whether or not an NG word has been input by comparing the input characters with the NG word list 16a in the database (steps S1, S2N). In particular, the anti-bullying app 16 monitors whether or not an NG word has been input by comparing the input characters with the NG word list 16a at the roman alphabet stage during keyboard input.

Each time a character (i.e., a character code) is input from the character input unit 105, the anti-bullying app 16 compares the most recent n-character input string with NG words of the same number of characters (n characters). NG words can have a variety of numbers of characters, and comparison is performed for each number of characters. For example, when the number of input characters reaches three, comparison is performed with a group of NG words consisting of three characters, and when the fourth character is input, comparison is performed with a group of NG words consisting of three and four characters. When the fifth character is input, comparison is performed with a group of NG words consisting of three, four, and five characters.

In order to quickly issue an alert and prevent the posting of bad words on SNS etc., in this embodiment, rather than checking whether a word is a bad word when it is created, when the word is entered into the keyboard in romaji, the word predicted after character conversion from romaji to Japanese is checked to see whether it is a bad word or not, and an alert is issued. Since users visually recognize the words when they are converted into Japanese, if the converted characters are predicted at the romaji stage and an alert is issued as a bad word, the alert can be displayed at the same time as the converted characters are seen. This is because many users who post bad words tend to post immediately after inputting without carefully checking the text, and if an alert is issued after the bad word is recognized as a word, the alert would not be issued in time.

When the character input method of the user terminal 10 is romaji input, NG words are checked when romaji characters are input as described above, but when kana characters are directly input, such as with a flick input method, NG words are checked and an alert is issued when kana characters are input instead of romaji, that is, before they are converted into kanji. In either case, by detecting NG words as early as possible and issuing an alert, it is possible to prevent NG words from being posted on SNS etc.

When a key input monitoring type monitoring program is used to monitor for prohibited words, it operates independently of application programs, eliminating the need for a process to individually accommodate SNS applications and making it compatible with a variety of application programs. However, if a system is used that recognizes prohibited words as words and then issues an alert, there is a possibility that the message will be posted before the alert is issued if the user presses the post button immediately after entering characters. However, in this embodiment, prohibited words are recognized at the time of romaji input, so prohibited words can be detected early and the user can be alerted, preventing the posting or sending of prohibited words.

When an inappropriate word is detected, an alert dialog is displayed on the display of the user terminal 10, interrupting the currently active application program (steps S2Y and S3). Here, the alert dialog displays a warning message such as "This message contains problematic keywords that may hurt the other person. Do you still want to send it?" to draw attention to inappropriate posts.

An alert may be issued when two or more bad words are detected instead of just one. When insulting someone, it is rare to use just one word, but rather multiple bad words. It is also not uncommon for bad words to be used in casual conversations between close friends. Taking these circumstances into consideration, an alert is only issued if a predetermined number of bad words are detected again within a certain period of time after the first bad word was detected. This operation makes it possible to avoid excessive alerts being issued.

If the user subsequently changes his mind and chooses not to send the message containing the NG word, the display of the alert dialog will cease, the system will return to the operating state of the original application program, and the user will be able to redo the input (steps S4Y and S6).

On the other hand, if the user selects to "send" the NG word, the display of the alert dialog ends, the operation returns to the original application program, and the sending of the message is executed (permitted) (steps S4Y, S5, S6). At this time, the anti-bullying app 16 sends a NG word posting log indicating that the NG word has been sent to the management server 20 (step S5). The NG word posting log includes data such as the user ID 221, sending date and time 222, destination 223, NG word text 224, and GPS location information 225.

If the user selects to "send" the NG word, a similar alert may be issued again (steps S3 to S5). The alert dialogue may contain the same text or a different text. Furthermore, the number of re-alerts is not limited to one, but may be multiple times. This can increase the effectiveness of deterring the posting of NG words.

The number of alerts and the wording of the alerts may be changed for each user based on the NG word posting log for each user recorded in the management server 20. That is, for users who post NG words many times (total number) or post frequently (number of times within a certain period of time), the number of re-alerts may be increased or the wording may be stronger. Conversely, for users who have never posted NG words, the alert may be sent only once and the wording of the alert dialogue may be less strong. In this way, efficient warnings can be implemented by making use of the accumulated data in the management server 20.

The management server 20, which receives the NG word posting log, records the NG word posting log in a database. It then notifies a specific user associated with the user with a flag indicating that an NG word has been sent. This flag notification can be sent in various ways. For example, it can be sent by email to the email address of a guardian or administrator that has been registered in advance. It can also be notified directly to a management app installed on the administrator terminal 30. That is, the notification can be sent using the message function of the management app.

An administrator user or a parent user using the administrator terminal 30 can access the management server 20 and view the NG word posting log. The method for viewing the NG word posting log is not particularly limited, and the NG word posting log may be viewed by logging in with a user ID and password from a website, or the NG word posting log may be viewed by accessing the management server 20 in administrator mode or parent mode via a management app.

As described above, the anti-bullying app 16, which serves as a program for monitoring unwanted words, operates in the background independently of the operation of other application programs, and interrupts and pauses the operation of other application programs only when an unwanted word is detected. Therefore, if an unwanted word is not detected and an alert is not issued within a short time after characters are input, there is a risk that a message or post containing the unwanted word will be sent through the application program. However, in this embodiment, the unwanted word after conversion is predicted when roman characters are input, and an alert is issued after a short determination is made as to whether the input characters are unwanted words, thereby avoiding a situation in which an alert is not issued in time.

In addition, the anti-bullying app 16 according to this embodiment is not software that is incorporated into the systems of companies that provide services that accept user posts, such as SNS sites and blog sites, but rather is a mechanism for preventing inappropriate posts on the client side, making it possible to realize a highly versatile client program that is not dependent on the type or format of the community site 50.

Figure 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of how the anti-bullying system 1 according to this embodiment is used.

As shown in FIG. 6, for example, in the private life of a certain student user, an anti-bullying app 16 is installed on a user terminal 10, such as a PC, tablet terminal, or smartphone used by the user at home, and inappropriate posts are managed. If an inappropriate word is entered into the user terminal 10, an alert dialog is displayed to warn the user, and if an inappropriate post is still made on the SNS, a log of inappropriate word posts is uploaded to the management server 20. The inappropriate word post log is also notified to an administrator terminal 30, such as a smartphone, of the user's guardian (father or mother). Furthermore, the user's guardian can access the management server 20 from the administrator terminal 30 to check the log of inappropriate word posts.

When a student user is at school, a laptop PC or tablet provided by the school becomes the user terminal 10, and an anti-bullying app 16 in the user terminal 10 monitors for inappropriate posts. If an unwanted word is entered into the user terminal 10, an alert dialog is displayed to warn the user, and if an inappropriate post is still made on groupware or SNS, a log of unwanted word posts is uploaded to the management server 20. The log of unwanted word posts is also notified to an administrator terminal 30 such as a laptop PC of the user's administrator (teacher). Furthermore, the user's administrator can access the management server 20 from the administrator terminal 30 to check the log of unwanted word posts.

Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications are possible without departing from the spirit of the present invention, and it goes without saying that these are also included within the scope of the present invention.

For example, in the above embodiment, a configuration was given in which the user terminal 10, management server 20, and administrator terminal 30 were interconnected via the Internet 40, but the present invention is not limited to such a configuration, and may be configured in which they are interconnected via a limited communications network such as a LAN or WAN.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the application in schools and homes for underage students was given as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this, and it can also be used in corporate sales activities and support responses via email and chat.

Reference Signs List 1: Bullying prevention system 10: User terminal 11: Web browser 12: Email software 13: SNS application 14: Educational support application 15: Groupware 16: Bullying prevention application 16a: Bad word list 20: Management server 21: User database 22: Bad word log database 30: Administrator terminal 40: Internet (communication network)
50 Community Site 101 CPU
102 GPUs
103 Memory unit 104 Display 105 Character input unit 106 Speaker 107 Microphone 108 GPS unit 111 OS
112 Device driver 113 Application program 211 User ID
212 Password 213 User name 214 User type 215 Group ID
221 User ID
222 Transmission date and time 223 Transmission destination 224 Inappropriate word text 225 GPS location information 226 Inappropriate word master table

Claims (11)

a user terminal that can be connected to a community site via a communication network;
a management server connectable to the user terminal via the communication network;
The user terminal,
an application program for posting a message to the community site;
a bullying prevention application that monitors input characters of the message by running in a background independent of the application program;
The anti-bullying system is characterized in that the anti-bullying app monitors the roman alphabet or kana character input of the message, issues an alert when it detects that the message contains an inappropriate word in the roman alphabet or kana character state before character conversion, and sends an inappropriate word posting log to the management server if the message is posted despite the alert. The bullying prevention system according to claim 1, wherein the bullying prevention app changes the number of times or the text of the alert based on the inappropriate word posting log of the user using the user terminal, which is recorded in the management server. The bullying prevention system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the bullying prevention app issues the alert when multiple of the NG words are detected within a predetermined period of time. An administrator terminal used by an administrator associated with a user who uses the user terminal,
The bullying prevention system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the administrator terminal is configured to be able to view the inappropriate word posting log of the user recorded in the management server. The bullying prevention system according to claim 4 , wherein the administrator terminal permits viewing of the NG word posting log within a range of viewing authority assigned to the administrator. A user terminal connectable to a community site via a communication network,
an application program for posting a message to the community site;
a bullying prevention application that monitors input characters of the message by running in a background independent of the application program;
The anti-bullying app is a user terminal that monitors the roman alphabet or kana character input of the message, issues an alert when it detects that the message contains an inappropriate word in the roman alphabet or kana character state before character conversion, and sends an inappropriate word posting log to an administrative server if the message is posted despite the alert. The user terminal of claim 6, wherein the anti-bullying app changes the number of times or the text of the alert based on the inappropriate word posting log of the user who uses the user terminal. The user terminal according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the anti-bullying app issues the alert when multiple of the NG words are detected within a predetermined period of time. The software is installed in a user terminal that can connect to the community site via a communication network, and the user terminal is
monitoring input of romaji or kana characters of the message by a background operation independent of an application program that posts messages to the community site;
issuing an alert when detecting that the message contains an inappropriate word in the romanized or kana characters before character conversion;
A computer program product comprising: a step of transmitting an inappropriate word posting log to a management server when the message is posted in violation of the alert. The computer program according to claim 9, wherein the step of issuing the alert changes the number of times or the text of the alert based on the inappropriate word posting log of the user who uses the user terminal. The computer program according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the step of issuing the alert issues the alert when multiple instances of the NG word are detected within a predetermined period of time.