Abstract:
An electronic discussion system including discussion terminals for writing and managing opinion information and clients for accessing the discussion terminals through a network. The electronic discussion system comprises a discussion apparatus for storing contents of input opinions so as to have correspondence relationships with discussion topics to which the contents pertain, contents of opinions having correspondence relationships with discussion topics in which registered users participate further having correspondence relationships with user divisions corresponding to the registered users; a participated discussion reading (client) terminal responsive to an operation instruction from a registered user, for referring to and displaying contents of opinions stored in the discussion server and having a corresponding relationship with a user division corresponding to the registered user; and a non-participated discussion reading (client) terminal responsive to an operation instruction from a user other than the registered users, for inputting an instruction for selecting a discussion topic, and obtaining and displaying contents of opinions stored in the discussion apparatus and having a correspondence relationship with the selected discussion topic.

Description:
This application is a continuation of Ser. No. 08/904,552 filed Aug. 4, 1997 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,094,675. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to an electronic discussion system, and particularly to an electronic discussion system for exchanging information among a plurality of users through a network. 
     Heretofore, as an electronic discussion system using a network, there is a known electronic discussion system of the electronic bulletin board type, comprising a server machine including a function to accept requests for permission to present opinions (or messages) and a function to give permission to read opinions (or messages), and a client machine for accessing the server machine to perform opinion editing and writing processes. Information exchange in the electronic discussion system as described is achieved by storing information of all opinions in the server machine serving as a bulletin board. 
     As a system for sharing documents on the network, the “Reference System of Documents Scattered in the Network” revealed in JP-A-03-152641 is known by which a plurality of users refer to documents on the network. 
     In the electronic discussion system of the electronic bulletin board type according the prior art mentioned above, the server machine includes both the function to accept opinions (or messages) and the function to give permission to read opinions (or messages), for which reason, when many users participate in a discussion at the same point in time, the server machine is accessed concurrently by a number of client machines. Therefore, the processing load on the server machine is so heavy that the apparent processing performance of the system that is felt by the users trying to access it decreases greatly, which has been a problem. 
     In the prior art, the electronic discussion system is arranged such that, basically, only one server machine is used to record and manage all opinions (or messages) received, so that the load on the storage capacity in the server machine increases or decreases in proportion to the total amount of received opinion information. Another problem with the prior art is that as the total amount of received opinion information increases, the load on the storage capacity in the server machine increases. Accordingly, in a majority of the electronic discussion systems currently in use, this problem is avoided, as a rule, by limiting the kinds of opinion information to be recorded and managed to text data which imposes a relatively lesser load on the storage capacity. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present inventors conducted the study from a standpoint of a user interested in discussions on many kinds of topics. Such a user makes access to the server machine charged with entry and management of opinions in various kinds of discussions at least once during a specific period of time to check to see if there is any opinion deserving attention. However, all unread opinions obtained by accessing the server machine are rarely objects of interest, and if no such opinion has been recorded, a problem is that accesses that have been made end up being wasteful. 
     With the foregoing in mind, the present invention has been made by the present inventors. 
     Therefore, a first object of the present invention is to provide an electronic discussion system in which even if requests to accept opinions (or messages) or grant permission to read opinions (or messages) concurrently come from a number of client machines, the processing load on the server machine will not become too large. 
     A second object of the present invention is to provide an electronic discussion system in which even if the total amount of received opinion information increases, the load on the storage capacity of a specific server machine is prevented from becoming too large. 
     A third object of the present invention is to provide an electronic discussion system which obviates the need to access the server machine only to check the contents of opinions. 
     To achieve the first and second objects mentioned above, the electronic discussion system according to the present invention includes servers for writing and managing opinion information, and clients for accessing the servers through a network, recording the opinion information in said servers, and referring to the opinion information which has already been recorded and which is being managed, wherein the servers comprise at least one storage server for holding detailed contents of various pieces of opinion information; and at least one discussion server for holding opinion indexes showing the storage locations of opinion contents of various pieces of opinion information corresponding to the opinion indexes, and wherein the clients comprise an opinion (or message) writing client for transferring and writing an opinion index made from newly received opinion information and the content of the newly received opinion itself into the discussion server and the storage server, respectively and a reading client for referring to the opinion indexes and the contents of the opinions which were recorded respectively in the discussion server and the storage server and which are being managed. 
     In the present invention, the discussion server holds many kinds of opinion list files classified by a topic, so that any of the opinion indexes can be selected as the object to express one&#39;s opinion about or the reading object. The reading client machine, responding to a specified reading instruction, searches the discussion server for the opinion indexes in the list files, which correspond to a specific topic as the reading object, and displays those opinion indexes. The reading client also and searches the storage server for an opinion content corresponding to a specific opinion index selected from the displayed opinion indexes and displays that opinion. 
     In the method described above, a part of the process related to expressing an opinion to a discussion and reading the contents of a discussion is executed by a client machine making the request to execute the process. Also, even if a number of client machines concurrently send requests for a process to express or read an opinion, the processing load will not become too heavy on a specific server machine. Moreover, a plurality of server machines (at least one discussion server and one storage server) are provided so that one piece of information about an opinion is divided into an opinion index and an opinion content when it is stored, and therefore even if the total amount of received opinion information increases, the load on the storage capacity on a specific server machine will not become too large. 
     To achieve the third object, in the present invention, the reading client machine is either a participating discussion reading client machine, for which at least one of the topics of discussion has been specified as a steady reading object, or a non-participating discussion reading client machine without any specified steady topic for reading. The discussion server machine holds a discussion participants list including information about the discussion topics specified as the steady reading objects by the participating discussion reading client machines, additionally records the opinion indexes sent from the opinion writing client machine onto the related opinion list file, and allots, according to the discussion participants list, the opinion indexes to all of the participated discussion reading client machines, for which topics have been specified as steady reading objects. Further, in the present invention, a user division server holding multiple kinds of list files of allotted opinion indexes sent from the discussion server and classified by the topics is provided for each group of participating discussion reading client machines. Each group includes at least one participating discussion reading client machine. The participating discussion reading client machine, according to a specified reading instruction, searches for the opinion indexes in the allotted opinion list file from the corresponding user division server, and displays the opinion indexes, and searches for an opinion content corresponding to a specific opinion index selected from the displayed opinion indexes, and displays the opinion. 
     Under the above arrangement, when any opinion is presented to a discussion in which a certain user is participating, since the opinion index of the received opinion is automatically allotted to the client machine that user is using or to the user division server to which the user belongs, it is not necessary for the user to check if there is any opinion which is of interest by making access to the discussion servers or the storage servers which are often located in relatively remote places. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic interconnection on a network of the electronic discussion system according to the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a basic configuration of the functions of the electronic discussion system according to the present invention; 
     FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a basic flow of the opinion editing and sending processes in the opinion writing client machine in FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a basic flow of the opinion writing process in the discussion server in FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a basic flow of the opinion storing process in the storage server in FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a basic flow of the allotted opinion list file writing process in the user division server in FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a basic flow of the opinion referring process in the non-participating discussion reading client machine in FIG. 2; and 
     FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a basic flow of the opinion referring process in the participating discussion reading client machine in FIG.  2 . 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The electronic discussion system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic interconnection on a network of the electronic discussion system according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing basic functions of the electronic discussion system according to the present invention. In FIGS. 1 and 2,  110  denotes an opinion writing client,  111  an opinion information editing and contributing means,  112  a discussion server,  121  discussion topics,  122  an opinion information editing and contributing screen file,  123  an opinion list file,  124  a discussion participants list,  130  a storage server,  131  opinion storage areas,  132  opinion content files,  133  an opinion appending file,  140  a user division server,  141  discussion topics for user divisions,  142  allotted opinion list file,  150  a non-participating discussion reading client,  151  an opinion information reproducing means,  160  a participating discussion reading client, and  161  an opinion information reproducing means. 
     Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the general operation of the electronic discussion system according to the present invention will be described briefly. 
     In FIGS. 1 and 2, a plurality of clients  110 ,  150 ,  160  and a plurality of servers  120 ,  130 ,  140  are connected with one another through a network, such as the Internet. The clients  110 ,  150  and  160  are divided according to the roles into two kinds: the opinion writing client  110  chiefly devoted to the opinion writing process, and the reading clients  150  and  160  chiefly devoted to the reading process. The reading clients  150  and  160  are further divided into the non-participating discussion reading client  150  and the participating discussion reading client  160 , but this will be explained later on. The opinion writing client  110  is provided with an opinion information editing and contributing means  111  for smoothly pushing ahead with the user&#39;s editing and contributing work related to the opinion writing process, while on the other hand the reading clients  150  and  160  are provided respectively with opinion information reproducing means  151  and  161  to supply the user with opinion information referred to in the reading process. It ought to be noted that the opinion information editing and contributing means  111  and the opinion information reproducing means  151  and  161  according to this embodiment include a browser function often used to access the WWW (World Wide Web) sites on the Internet, for example. In this specification, the expression “to reproduce” means both “to display” static data such as texts and still images, and “to play” dynamic data such as speech sounds and animations. 
     Opinion information given by the user is divided into a opinion index decided uniquely by the speaker name, the title of opinion, time of presentation, etc., and the content of opinion. The opinion index and the opinion content are sent to different server machines (flows  102  and  103 ). The electronic discussion system according to this embodiment allots opinion indexes related to the topic of the discussion to the users participating in the discussion, in other words, to the users who have specified a specific topic  121  as a steady reading object. In order for the users to receive the allotted opinion indexes, a discussion system specific to an individual user which has similar functions to those of the general discussion system is prepared for each of the predetermined discussion topics for user divisions  141 . To be more specific, the general discussion system receives the opinion indexes through the opinion writing client  110  (flow  102 ). In contrast, the discussion system specific to an individual user receives the opinion indexes allotted from the general discussion system (flow  104 ). Meanwhile, this embodiment assumes that multiple kinds of topics are handled concurrently, so that the above-mentioned discussion system specific to an individual user receives the opinion indexes for multiple kinds of topics. 
     The electronic discussion system according to this embodiment manages by classifying server machines into three types of the discussion server  120 , the storage server  130 , and the user division server  140  separately to have them execute the various processes mentioned above. The storage server  130  is a server machine to store the contents of opinions received, and includes an opinion storage area  131  for each client machine from which the opinions were transferred. The discussion server  120  prepares and stores opinion list files  123  containing opinion indexes and their corresponding opinion contents&#39; storage locations with regard to each discussion topics  121 . The discussion server  120 , when an opinion has been recorded according to an opinion index newly transferred from the opinion writing client machine  110 , checks the user participating in discussion on the relevant topic  121  by the discussion participants list  124 , and allots the newly recorded opinion index to a user division server  140  to which the user belongs (flow  104 ). The user division server  140 , on receiving the opinion index, prepares and stores an opinion list file  142  containing opinion indexes arranged for the respective discussion topics for user divisions of the participating users. 
     When a user, who does not specify what is his/her reading object, is going to refer to recorded opinion information, the user refers to the opinion list file  123  of the relevant topic held by the discussion server  120  from the non-participating discussion reading client  150  (flow  105 ). On the other hand, if the user specified a specific topic  121  as the steady reading object, he/she refers to an allotted opinion list file  142  of the relevant discussion topics for discussion topics for user divisions held by the user division server  140  from the participated discussion reading client  160 . By so doing, the user knows the presence or absence of opinions related to the specified discussion topic. From the opinion index obtained from the discussion server  120  or the user division server  140 , it is possible to know information about the storage server  130  containing the corresponding opinion content. Therefore, by changing over the reference object of the opinion information reproducing means  151  or  161  to the storage server  130 , any desired opinion information can be obtained. 
     In the electronic discussion system according to this embodiment, the opinion information editing and contributing screen file  122 , the opinion list file  123 , and the opinion content files  132  are created in the hypertext form which defines various functions (“Text input area”, “Software button”, “Embed multimedia data”, “Refer to another file”, etc.) by writing with inherent control characters in the text. For example, in the opinion information editing and contributing screen file  122 , “Text input area” in which the user writes the speaker&#39;s name, the title of opinion, opinion content, appending file name, etc., and “Software button” for transferring the written opinion content to the server are written using specified control characters. Also, in the opinion list file  123 , an opinion index representing a piece of opinion information and the storage location of the corresponding opinion content added with control characters for “Refer to another file” are written on each line. When multimedia data, such as images or sounds, is attached for clear presentation of an opinion, control characters for “Embed multimedia data” are written in the opinion content file  132  to specify a file name of multimedia data. 
     The opinion information editing and contributing screen file  122 , the opinion list file  123 , and the opinion content file  132  created in the hypertext form mentioned above are analyzed by the opinion information editing and contributing means  111  prepared in the opinion client  110  or the opinion information reproducing means  151  or  161  prepared in the reading client  150  or  160 , and then information is reproduced as designed by the creators of those files. For example, when the opinion editing and contributing means  111  reproduces the opinion information editing and contributing screen file  122 , the text input area is displayed on the browser according to the control characters for “Text input area”, so that the user is prompted to enter his/her opinion (flow  101 ). When the opinion information reproducing means  151  or  161  reproduce the opinion list file  123  or  142 , the opinion indexes of selectable multiple kinds are shown on the browser, and the selector buttons are displayed in response to the control characters for “Software Button”, so that the user is prompted to select opinion indexes (flows  105  and  107 ). When the user performs the above selecting operation, the opinion information reproducing means  151  or  161  switches over the display to the corresponding opinion content file  132  in response to the control characters for “Refer to another file.” If there are the control characters for “Embed multimedia data” in the opinion content file  132 , the opinion information reproducing means  151  or  161  also reads the related opinion-appending file  133 , displays the opinion content file  132 , and plays multimedia data, such as images or sounds. 
     The component parts of the electronic discussion system according to this embodiment will be described in greater detail. 
     In the opinion writing process for the user to contribute his/her opinion to the server machine, four kinds of machines, the opinion writing client  110 , the discussion server  120 , the storage server  130 , and the user division server  140 , are used to execute their respective processes. 
     FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a basic flow of the opinion editing and sending process in the opinion writing client in FIG.  2 . In FIG. 3, the opinion writing client  110 , by its opinion information editing and contributing means  111 , accesses the discussion server  120  containing a discussion topic on which a user wants to express his/her opinion, reads the opinion information editing and contributing screen file  122  in the related discussion topic  121 , and displays opinion presenting screens on the browser (Step  31 ). During this step, the titles of topic as the reading objects are to be obtained. As described above, when the text input area is displayed on the opinion presenting screen displayed on the browser, the user inputs various text data, such as the speaker name, the title of opinion, the opinion content, by using the input device, such as a keyboard provided in the opinion writing client  110 . At this time, if the user also contributes multimedia data, such as images or sounds, he/she inputs the file name of multimedia data in the text input area of the appending file name, and includes in the opinion content the control characters for “Embed Multimedia Data” specifying that file name as the appending file name. Then, the user expresses his/her opinion as follows. After having entered various items of data mentioned above, the user depresses the opinion enter button provided as a software button on the opinion presenting screen (Step  32 ). The opinion writing client  110 , on detecting that the opinion enter button has been depressed, obtains the time of button depression, creates an opinion index from the speaker name, title of opinion, and time of opinion entry, and at the same time, creates an opinion content file from the opinion content, and decides the storage location (storage destination name) specified on the network according to information about the transfer of opinion content that the user designates (such as a storage server name, opinion writing client name, opinion content file name) (Step  33 ). Finally, those items of information which include the discussion topic to talk about, the opinion index, and the location of storage, etc. are sent to the discussion server  120 , while the opinion content file and the opinion appending file including multimedia data, etc. which corresponds to the specified appending file name are sent to the storage server  130  (Step  34 ). 
     FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a basic flow of the opinion writing process in the discussion server in FIG.  2 . In FIG. 4, the discussion server  120  receives a message that an opinion writing process has been done, and also obtains various items of information, such as an opinion index, the storage destination of an opinion content file, and a topic for discussion, sent from the opinion writing client  110  (Step  41 ). The discussion server  120  executes an opinion writing process in which the discussion server searches for the discussion topics  121  as the object of opinion writing according to the obtained topic, and opens the opinion list file  123  in the discussion topics  121 , combines the opinion index with the opinion storage destination by using control characters for “Refer to another file”, and adds the combined information as a new line in the opinion list file (Step  42 ). After this opinion writing process is finished, the discussion server  120  reads the discussion participants list  124  showing the participating users, that is, the users who specified this discussion topic  121  as the steady reading object (Step  43 ), and allots writing information, such as the opinion index, discussion topic, storage destination of the opinion content file to the discussion system specific to an individual user participating in the discussion (Step  44 ). Until this allotment is finished for all the participating users, the allotting process of Step  44  is repeated (Step  45 ). 
     FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a basic flow of the opinion storing process in the storage server in FIG.  2 . In FIG. 2, the discussion server  120  receives a message that an opinion writing process has been done, and also obtains information about the opinion writing client name, the opinion content file  132 , and an appending file  133  if necessary (Step  51 ). The storage server  130  stores the opinion content file  132  and the appending file  133  in the dedicated opinion content storage area  131  allocated in advance to the obtained opinion writing client machine name (Step  52 ). 
     FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a basic flow of the allotted opinion list file in the user division server in FIG.  2 . In FIG. 6, the user division server  140 , which is a component part of the discussion system specific to each individual user, receives a message that an allotting process has been done, and also obtains information about the opinion index, the storage destination of the opinion content file, the participating user, transferred from the discussion server  120  (Step  61 ). In FIG. 6, the user division server  140  performs the allotting process, in which the user division server, according to the obtained participating user name, searches for the discussion topic for a user division  141 , opinions on which are to be allotted, opens the opinion list file  142  that the discussion topic for the user division  141  include, then combines the opinion index with the opinion storage destination by using the control characters for “Refer to another file”, and adds the combined information as a new line to the opinion list file (Step  62 ). 
     FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a basic flow of the opinion referring process in the non-participating discussion reading client in FIG.  2 . In FIG. 2, when the user specifies a discussion topic  121  as his/her object of interest (Step  71 =Yes), the non-participating reading client  150  accesses the discussion server  120  managing the discussion topics  121 , and by using the opinion information reproducing means  151 , such as a browser, reads and displays the opinion list file  123  of the specified discussion topic  121  (Step  72 ). If there is any opinion of interest to the user in the displayed opinion list (Step  73 : Yes), he/she selects the opinion index of that opinion (Step  74 ). Accordingly, the opinion information reproducing means  151  switches over the referring process to the opinion content file  132  at the storage destination corresponding to the selected opinion index and the appending file  133 , including multimedia data, etc., (Step  75 ), and the user reads the opinion content. 
     FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a basic flow of the opinion referring process in the participating discussion reading client in FIG.  2 . In FIG. 2, the participated discussion reading client  160  accesses the user division server  140  controlling the related discussion topics for user divisions  141 , and reads and displays the opinion list file  142  of the discussion topics for user divisions  141  through the opinion information reproducing means  161 , such as a browser (Step  81 ). If there is any opinion of interest to the user in the displayed opinion list (Step  82 : Yes), he/she selects the opinion index of the opinion (Step  83 ). Accordingly, the opinion information reproducing means  161  switches over the referring process to the opinion content file  132  at the storage destination corresponding to the selected opinion index and the appending file  133 , including multimedia data, etc. (Step  84 ), and thus the user reads the opinion content. 
     As has been described in great detail, in the electronic discussion system according to claims of the present invention, a part of processing related to writing the user&#39;s opinion to a discussion and reading the contents of a discussion is executed by the client machine requesting that processing should be done. Therefore, even if requests for input/output processing of opinions are made concurrently from a number of client machines, the processing load will not become too heavy on a specific server machine. In this electronic discussion system, a plurality of server machines (at least one discussion server and one storage server) are provided, so that a piece of opinion information is divided into an opinion index and the content of opinion when it is stored. Therefore, even if the total amount of opinion information increases, the load on the storage capacity in a specific server machine will not become too heavy. 
     In the electronic discussion system according to other claims of the present invention, if any opinion arises in the discussion in which a number of users are participating, the index of that opinion is automatically allotted to client machines utilized by users who are participating or the server machine to which they belong. Therefore, this invention obviates the need to access the discussion servers and storage servers often located in relatively distant places only to check the contents of opinions.