Abstract:
The invention relates to an electronic news system of stand-alone type or network type for managing electronic messages and replies to the messages such as an electronic bulletin board system in which data for reply selected by the user from among indicated data for fixed form replies is transmitted as a reply, so that the input operation of the reply is easy and many replies can be obtained from the readers of the message, and also by totaling the number of the respective selections out of data of plural replies, the opinions on the messages can be processed in the form of being easily referred to for example in a bar graph style.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention relates to an electronic news system of stand-alone type and client/server type for managing electronic messages and replies to the messages, and a recording medium on which a program for assisting an input of the reply to the message is recorded.  
         [0002]      FIG. 1  shows a constitution diagram of a conventional client/server type electronic news system. The client apparatus  100  and the server apparatus  200  are connected by the computer network such as a personal computer communication network, the Internet and the like.  
         [0003]     The client apparatus  100  is furnished with an input device  101  such as a keyboard and a mouse for inputting text data, a microphone for inputting speech sound signals, a scanner for scanning and reading still pictures, a video capture for inputting video signals of moving pictures, and the like, and an output device  102  such as a display, a printer, a speaker, etc. for outputting messages, and an output controller  103  controls data output to the output device  102 . The transmission data holding unit  106  holds the message to be transmitted, and converts multimedia data into data with format which is receivable by the server apparatus  200 , and the received data holding unit  107  holds the received messages. A network controller  105  controls communication with the network, and a main controller  104  controls operation of each part of the client apparatus  100  and receipt and delivery of data between the parts.  
         [0004]     The server apparatus  200  is furnished with an electronic news data storage  221  for managing all messages including the messages posted by another server apparatus, replies and the like, a network controller  223  controls communication with the network, and a main controller  222  controls operation of each part of the server apparatus  200  and receipt and delivery of data between the parts.  
         [0005]     The user of the client apparatus  100  can refer to the message posted to the server apparatus  200 , and can transmit to the server apparatus  200  a reply to the referred message.  
         [0006]     Also, the electronic news may be categorized by the topic such as scientific technique, social problem, hobby, etc.  
         [0007]     In the meantime, even in case of transmitting a simple reply such as “I also agree”, “Very interesting, isn&#39;t it ?” to the poster of the message, the user of the client apparatus  100  has been required to use the input device  101  to input text data or to prepare multimedia data.  
         [0008]     Also, due to such complexity of input operation of the reply, there has been a problem that the replies of the number enough to fairly judge the readers&#39; opinions and thoughts on the message cannot be obtained, compared with the number of the message readers.  
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0009]     The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the invention is to provide an electronic news system in which a reply input operation is simple to obtain many replies from the readers of the message by transmitting the data for a reply selected by the user from among the indicated data for a fixed form reply, and a recording medium in which the program to support the input of the reply to the message is recorded.  
         [0010]     Another object of the invention is to provide an electronic news system in which, by totaling the number of the respective selections out of data for the plural replies, the opinions on the message can be processed in the form of being easily referenced for example in a bar graph style, and a recording medium in which a program for supporting the input of a reply to the message is recorded.  
         [0011]     A further object of the invention is to provide an electronic news system which permits reference of a list of free form replies to each message by managing the free from reply to the message in relation to the specifying data of the message and a recording medium in which a program for supporting the input of a reply to the message is recorded.  
         [0012]     The electronic news system and recording medium of the present invention are characterized in that data for a fixed form reply is stored, the data for a reply is outputted, and the selection out of the outputted data for replies is to be received as the reply to the message.  
         [0013]     Accordingly, the user can transmit the reply only by making the selection out of the data for fixed form replies, and therefore many replies can be obtained from the message readers in simple reply input operation.  
         [0014]     The electronic news system and recording medium of the present invention are characterized in that, the contents of data for a plurality of fixed form replies are managed by data for respectively specifying said data for the replies, the number of the selection of each reply as the reply to the message are totaled, and the results of the totalization of the data for each reply to the message are stored in relation to the specifying data of the message.  
         [0015]     Accordingly, the opinions to the message can be processed into the form that is easy to be referred such as a bar chart.  
         [0016]     Also, the electronic news system and recording medium of the present invention are characterized by accepting an input of a free form reply to the message, and managing the input free form reply in relation to data to specify said message.  
         [0017]     Accordingly, the list of the free form replies to the individual messages can be referred.  
         [0018]     The above and further objects and features of the invention will more fully be apparent from the following detailed description with accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0019]      FIG. 1  is a constitution view of a conventional electronic news system;  
         [0020]      FIG. 2  is a constitution view of the system of Embodiment 1;  
         [0021]      FIG. 3  is a constitution view of the system of Embodiment 2;  
         [0022]      FIG. 4  is a flow chart of the procedures in Embodiment 2;  
         [0023]      FIG. 5  is a view showing an example of screen display in Embodiments 1 and 2;  
         [0024]      FIG. 6  is a flow chart showing an example of the procedures for referring replies in Embodiment 2;  
         [0025]      FIG. 7  is a constitution view of the system of Embodiment 3;  
         [0026]      FIG. 8  is a constitution view of the system of Embodiment 4;  
         [0027]      FIG. 9  is a flow chart of the procedures in Embodiment  4 ;  
         [0028]      FIG. 10  is a flow chart showing an example of the procedures for referring replies in Embodiment 4;  
         [0029]      FIG. 11  is a conceptual view of the stored condition of the total list of the reply data;  
         [0030]      FIG. 12  is a view showing an example of display of the results of the totalization of the reply data;  
         [0031]      FIG. 13  is a constitution view of the system of Embodiment 5;  
         [0032]      FIG. 14  is a constitution view of the system of Embodiment 6;  
         [0033]      FIG. 15  is a conceptual view showing the stored condition of a brief reply;  
         [0034]      FIG. 16  is a view of display of a brief reply;  
         [0035]      FIG. 17  is a constitution view of the system of Embodiment 7; and  
         [0036]      FIG. 18  is a constitution view of the system of Embodiment 8. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
     Embodiment 1  
       [0037]      FIG. 2  is a constitution view of an example of the stand-alone type electronic news system of the present invention. With respect to the utilization style of the stand-alone type electronic news system, there can be conceived such a style that a single computer is utilized by a large number of students in a school.  
         [0038]     The system comprises an input device  101 , such as a keyboard and a mouse for inputting the text data, a microphone for inputting a speech sound signal, a scanner for scanning and reading still images, and a video capture for inputting video signals of still image or moving image, and the like, and an output device  102  such as a display for outputting a message, a printer, a speaker, etc. An output controller  103  controls the data output to the output device  102 . A transmission data holding unit  106  holds the message to be transmitted, and a received data holding unit  107  holds the received message.  
         [0039]     An electronic news data storage  121  manages all the messages including the posted message, reply, etc.  
         [0040]     A reply data manager unit  108  manages data for a fixed form reply such as “yes, it is”, “I agree”, “no, it isn&#39;t”, “I disagree” and the like, by the reply numbers R- 1 , R- 2 , R- 3 , . . . respectively. As the data for a fixed form reply, there are stored text data in a text storage  109 , still picture data in a still picture storage  110 , speech sound data in the speech sound storage  111 , and moving picture data in a moving picture storage  112 , respectively.  
         [0041]     A main controller  104  controls the operation of each part of the client apparatus  100  and the receipt and delivery of the data between the parts.  
       Embodiment 2  
       [0042]      FIG. 3  is a constitution view of an example of the client/server type electronic news system of the present invention. The same parts as those of Embodiment 1 are indicated with the same numerals and their explanations omitted.  
         [0043]     The client apparatus  100  and the server apparatus  200  are connected by the computer network such as a personal computer communication network, the Internet, and the like, and the client apparatus  100  and the server apparatus  200  are connected to the network through network controllers  105 ,  223 , respectively, for controlling the communication with the network.  
         [0044]     In this embodiment, a reply data manager unit  108  is disposed in the client apparatus  100 , and an electronic news data storage  221  for managing the messages posted from the client apparatus  100  and other server apparatus and fixed form reply data are disposed in the server apparatus  200 .  
         [0045]     The transmission data holding unit  106  of the client apparatus  100  holds the message to be transmitted, and converts multimedia data into data with format receivable by the server apparatus  200 .  
         [0046]     Next, the procedures in Embodiment 2 are explained on the basis of the flow chart of  FIG. 4  and the example of screen display in  FIG. 5 . The procedures in Embodiment 1 are basically the same, except that the operations applied to the server apparatus  200  in Embodiment 2 are applied to the own system.  
         [0047]     On the display of the output device  102 , an electronic news message selection screen is displayed (Step S 1 ). When the user selects a message (in this embodiment, Message M- 1 ) (Step S 2 ), the event that the message has been selected is transferred from the network controller  105  to the server apparatus  200 .  
         [0048]     The server apparatus  200  fetches the message data selected by the user from the electronic news data storage  221 , and transmits the message to the selecting client apparatus  100  through the network controller  223 . When the network controller  105  of the client apparatus  100  receives the message (Step S 3 ), the received data are transferred to the received data holding unit  107 .  
         [0049]     Next, the contents of the message are transferred to the output controller  103 , where the message M- 1  is displayed on the display of the output device  102 . With the display of the message M- 1 , the reply data manager unit  108  reads out the text data for a fixed form reply which is previously stored in the text storage  109  or the selected text data which fits said message out of the text data for plural fixed form replies and deliver it to the output controller  103 . The output controller  103  displays the list of the text data for a fixed form reply on the display of the output device  102  (Step S 4 ) (ref.  FIG. 5 ).  
         [0050]     When the user selects the reply data out of the displayed text data for a fixed form reply by using the input device  101  such as the keyboard, mouse, etc. (Step S 5 ), the transmission data holding unit  106  buries data which is indicative of the reply to the original message M- 1  in the header of the selected reply data to prepare message data for transmitting to the server apparatus  200 , and said message data is transferred to the server apparatus  200  through the network controller  105  (Step S 6 ). The server apparatus  200  analyzes the header of the message data received by the network controller  223 , and enters it in the electronic news data storage  221  as the reply to the original message M- 1  in relation to the message (Step S 7 ).  
         [0051]     In case of referring to the reply data, the same processing as in the steps S 1 -S 3  may be made, by which the reply entered in relation to the message M- 1  selected by the user, along with said message M- 1 , is displayed on the output device  102  of the client apparatus  100 . In this case, only the reply may be displayed without displaying the original message M- 1 .  
         [0052]     The procedures in the above case are explained on the basis of the flow chart of  FIG. 6 .  
         [0053]     An electronic news message selection screen is displayed on the display of the output device  102  (Step S 31 ). The message selection screen is provided with a button for displaying the message in relation to the message name and a button for displaying the reply. When the user selects a reply button for the message calling for the reference to the reply (in this embodiment, the message M- 1 ) (Step S 32 ), the event that the reply of the message M- 1  has been selected is transmitted to the server apparatus  200  through the network controller  105 .  
         [0054]     The server apparatus  200  obtains the reply data entered in relation to the message data selected by the user from the electronic news data storage  221  (Step S 33 ), and transfers it to the client apparatus  100  which required the reference of the reply, through the network controller  223 . When the network controller  105  of the client apparatus  100  receives the reply data (Step S 34 ), the received reply data is transferred to the received data storage  107 . Next, the contents of the reply data are transferred to the output controller  103 , and the reply data of the message M- 1  is displayed on the display of the output device  102  (Step S 35 ).  
         [0055]     In this embodiment, explanation has been given on the case of the text data having been selected as the data for a reply, but any of the still picture, speech sound, or moving picture may be adopted as the data for a reply, or any of them may be combined to make the data for a reply.  
         [0056]     In this embodiment, explanation has been given on the case where the message data of the selected reply data is prepared on the side of the client apparatus  100  and transmitted to the server apparatus  200 . However, in case the plural client apparatus  100  respectively store the same data for a reply, only the reply numbers (R- 1 , R- 2 , R- 3 , . . . ) assigned individually to the data for a reply may be transmitted to the server apparatus  200  and entered in the electronic news data storage  221  in relation to the original message M- 1 .  
       Embodiment 3  
       [0057]      FIG. 7  shows a constitution view of another embodiment of the stand-alone type electronic news system of the present invention. The same parts as those of Embodiment 1 are indicated with the same numerals and their explanations omitted.  
         [0058]     In this embodiment, in addition to Embodiment 1, there is provided a reply totaling unit  124  for counting up the number each time the reply data is selected as the reply to the message and totaling the number of the selection by utilizing the reply number assigned to data for a fixed form reply. A reply data interpretation unit  113  stores the results of the totalization by the reply number in the table style (ref.  FIG. 11 ).  
       Embodiment 4  
       [0059]      FIG. 8  shows a constitution view of another embodiment of the client/server type electronic news system of the present invention. The same parts as those of Embodiments 1 and 2 are indicated with the same numerals and their explanations omitted.  
         [0060]     In this embodiment, plural client apparatus  100  respectively store the same data for a reply, the client apparatus  100  is provided with a reply data interpretation unit  113 , and the server apparatus  200  with a reply totaling unit  224 .  
         [0061]     The transmission data holding unit  106  of the client apparatus  100  holds the message to be transmitted, and converts multimedia data into the receivable format data by the server apparatus  200 . In case of the transmission message selected from the data for a fixed form reply, the transmission message having only the reply number information is prepared.  
         [0062]     The reply totaling unit  224  of the server apparatus  200  has a table by the reply number to the original message. When the main controller  222  judges that the received message is the one having only the reply number information, the main controller  222  counts up the number of replies of the reply numbers of the corresponding messages in the reply totaling unit  224 .  
         [0063]     The reply data interpretation unit  113  of the client apparatus  100  manages the reply data of table form, to which the contents of the table in the reply totaling unit  224  in the server apparatus  200  are transferred through the network controller  105  of the client apparatus  100 . Also, if there is a requirement for display from the user, the main controller  104  causes the output device  102  to display the totalized table form reply data managed by the reply data interpretation unit  113  on the display. At that time, the main controller  104  displays, besides the numbers of the replies, the data by processing into the form easy to refer such as a bar graph, line graph, etc., according to the user&#39;s requirements (ref.  FIG. 12 ).  
         [0064]     In the above manner, according to Embodiment 4, since only the reply numbers are transmitted between the client apparatus  100  and the server apparatus  200 , there is no necessity to transmit the large amount of the data per se such as the multimedia data, thereby to alleviate the network load.  
         [0065]     Next, the procedures in Embodiment 4 are explained on the basis of the flow chart of  FIG. 9 . The procedures in Embodiment 3 are basically same as those of Embodiment 4 except that the operations to the server apparatus  200  made in Embodiment 4 are applied to the own system.  
         [0066]     On the display of the output device  102 , an electronic news message selection screen is displayed (Step S 11 ). When the user selects a message (in this embodiment, M- 1 ) (Step S 12 ), the event that the message has been selected is transmitted from the network controller  105  to the server apparatus  200 .  
         [0067]     The server apparatus  200  obtains the message data selected by the user from the electronic news data storage  221 , and transfer the message from the network controller  223  to the client apparatus  100  which has selected the message. When the network controller  105  of the client apparatus  100  receives the message (Step S 13 ), the received data is transferred to the received data holding unit  107 .  
         [0068]     Next, the contents of the message are transferred to the output controller  103 , and the message M- 1  is displayed on the display of the output device  102 . With the display of the message M- 1 , the reply data manager unit  108  reads out the selecting text data relating to the message from text data for a fixed form reply stored in advance in the text storage  109  or from text data of plural fixed form replies and delivers it to the output controller  103 . The output controller  103  displays the list of the text data for a fixed form reply on the display of the output device  102  (Step S 14 ).  
         [0069]     When the user, using the input device  101  such as a keyboard or mouse, selects reply data out of the displayed text data for a fixed form reply (Step S 15 ), the transmission data holding unit  106  prepares message data having only the reply number information of the selected reply data, and this message data is transferred from the network controller  105  to the server apparatus  200  (Step S 16 ). When the main controller  222  of the server apparatus  200  recognizes that the message data received by the network controller  223  is the reply having only the reply number information, the main controller  222  counts up the numerical values corresponding to the reply number on the table by reply number of each message stored in the reply totaling unit  224  (ref.  FIG. 11 ) (Step S 17 ).  
         [0070]     In case of referring to the message of reply, the processing as in the steps S 11 -S 13  may be made, by which the message M- 1  selected by the user is displayed on the display of the output device  102  of the client apparatus  100 . Next, the contents of the table stored in the reply totaling unit  224  of the server apparatus  200  are transferred to the reply data interpretation unit  113  through the network controller  105  of the client apparatus  100 . The reply data interpretation unit  113  manages the reply data of table form, wherein the main controller  104  transfers the reply data in the table form to the output controller  103  responsive to the display requirement, and the totalized reply data of table form is displayed on the display of the output device  102 , for example, in a bar graph style, as shown in  FIG. 12 .  
         [0071]     In this case, only the reply may be displayed without displaying the original message M- 1 .  
         [0072]     The procedures in the above case are explained on the basis of the flow chart of  FIG. 10 .  
         [0073]     An electronic news message selection screen is displayed on the display of the output device  102  (Step S 41 ). The message selection screen is provided with a button for displaying the message in relation to the message name and a button for displaying the reply. When the user selects a reply button for the message calling for the reference to the reply (in this embodiment, the message M- 1 ) (Step S 42 ), the event that the reply of the message M- 1  has been selected is transmitted to the server apparatus  200  from the network controller  105 .  
         [0074]     The server apparatus  200  fetched the contents of the table of the totalization results stored in relating to the message data selected by the user from the reply totaling unit  224 , and transfers them to the reply data interpretation unit  113  through the network controller  105  of the client apparatus  100  (Steps S 43 , S 44 ). When the contents of the table from the server apparatus  200  are received, the main controller  104  transfers the table form reply data from the reply data interpretation unit  113  which manages the table form reply data to the output controller  103  responsive to the display requirement, where the totalized reply data is displayed on the display of the output device  102 , for example, in a bar graph style as shown in  FIG. 12  (Step  45 ).  
         [0075]     In this embodiment, explanation has been given on the case of the text data having been selected as the data for a reply, but any of the still picture, speech sound or moving picture may be adopted as the data for a reply, or any of them may be combined to make the data for a reply.  
       Embodiment 5  
       [0076]      FIG. 13  shows a constitution view of another embodiment of the stand-alone type electronic news system of the present invention. The same parts as those of Embodiments 1 and 3 are indicated with the same numerals and their explanations omitted.  
         [0077]     In this embodiment, in consideration of the occurrence of the case where the desired message cannot be sufficiently conveyed with the previously prepared data for a fixed form reply, free form replies can be made. Accordingly, in addition to Embodiment 3, there is provided a brief reply manager unit  125  for totally managing brief replies of free forms to the message.  
         [0078]     The brief reply manager unit  125  enters the contents of the brief reply message of a free form in the table for managing the original message.  
       Embodiment 6  
       [0079]      FIG. 14  shows a constitution view of another embodiment of the client/server type electronic news system of the present invention. The same parts as those of Embodiments 1, 3 and 5 are indicated with the same numerals and their explanations omitted.  
         [0080]     In this embodiment, the server apparatus  200  is provided with a brief reply manager unit  225 , so that the contents of the brief reply message of a free form are entered in the table for managing the original message.  
         [0081]     Next, the procedures in Embodiment 6 are explained. The procedures in Embodiment 3 are basically the same, except that the operations applied to the server apparatus  200  in Embodiment 6 are applied to the own system.  
         [0082]     Since the procedures up to the display of the message on the display of the output device  102 , are same as those of Embodiments 2 and 4, explanation thereof is omitted.  
         [0083]     When the user inputs a text to the message displayed on the display by using the input device  101  such as the keyboard or mouse, the transmission data holding unit  106  prepares a reply message. This message data is transferred to the server apparatus  200  from the network controller  105 . The main controller  222  of the server apparatus  200  transfers the reply message received by the network controller  223  to the brief reply manager unit  225 . The brief reply manager unit  225  enters the contents of the reply message of a free form in the table for managing the reply of the original message (ref.  FIG. 15 ).  
         [0084]     In case of referring to the brief reply message, when the message selected by the user is displayed on the display of the output device  102  of the client apparatus  100 , the contents of the table stored in the brief reply manager unit  225  of the server apparatus  200  are transferred to the reply data interpretation unit  113  through the network controller  105  of the client apparatus  100 . The reply data interpretation unit  113  manages also the brief reply data of a free form in a table form, wherein the main controller  104  transfers the brief reply data in the table form from the unit  113  to the output controller  103  responsive to the display requirement, and the brief reply data is displayed in a table form on the display of the output device  102 , as shown, for example, in  FIG. 16 .  
         [0085]     In this case, only the reply may be displayed without displaying the original message.  
         [0086]     In this embodiment, explanation has been given on the case of the text data having been selected as the data for a reply, but any of the still picture, speech sound, or moving picture may be adopted as the data for a reply, or any of them may be combined to make the data for a reply.  
       Embodiment 7  
       [0087]      FIG. 17  shows a constitution view of another embodiment of the client/server type electronic news system of the present invention. The same parts as those of Embodiments 2, 4 and 6 are indicated with the same numerals and their explanations omitted.  
         [0088]     In this embodiment, there are provided a text storage  209  for storing data for a fixed form reply, still picture storage  210 , speech sound storage  211  and moving picture storage  212 , and reply data manager unit  208  for managing the data for a reply in the server apparatus  200 . Due to the holding of the data for a fixed form reply by the server apparatus  200 , changes of the number, pattern, etc. thereof are facilitated.  
         [0089]     This embodiment can be utilized for the case of selecting the data for a reply which fits the contents of the news out of numbers of data for a reply and presenting the selected data to the user. As the means for selecting the data for a reply, there may be a method of making selection based on the category of the news categorized by topics, for example, or providing the news in advance with the reply number of the data for a fixed form reply.  
         [0090]     Next, the procedures in Embodiment 7 are explained.  
         [0091]     On the display of the output device  102 , an electronic news message selection screen is displayed. When the user selects a message, the event that the message has been selected is transferred from the network controller  105  to the server apparatus  200 .  
         [0092]     The server apparatus  200  fetches the message data selected by the user from the electronic news data storage  221 , and causes the reply data controller  208  to fetch the data for a fixed form reply which fits to category of the selected message from the text storage  209 , for example, and then transfers the message data and the data for a fixed form reply from the network controller  223  to the client apparatus  100  which has selected the message.  
         [0093]     When the network controller  105  of the client apparatus  100  receives the message and the data for a reply, the received data is transferred to the received data holding unit  107 .  
         [0094]     Next, the message and the data for a reply is delivered to the output controller  103 , and the output controller  103  displays the list of the text data for fixed form replies along with the message on the display of the output device  102 .  
         [0095]     Since the procedures up to the stage of entering the selected data for a reply in the electronic news data storage  221  of the server apparatus  200  are same as those of Embodiment 2, explanation thereof is omitted.  
         [0096]     In this embodiment, explanation has been given on the case of the text data having been selected as the data for a reply, but any of the still picture, speech sound, or moving picture may be adopted as the data for a reply, or any of them may be combined to make the data for a reply.  
       Embodiment 8  
       [0097]      FIG. 18  shows a constitution view of another embodiment of the client/server type electronic news system of the present invention. The same parts as those of Embodiments 2 and 7 are indicated with the same numerals and their explanations omitted.  
         [0098]     In this embodiment, the standard data for a fixed form reply common to the news of various categories are stored in the client apparatus  100 , and other non-standard data for a fixed form reply peculiar to the individual categories are stored in the server apparatus  200 . According to the category of the news, the data per se of the non-standard data for a fixed form reply peculiar to the category is transmitted to the client apparatus  100 , but the standard data for a fixed form reply common to many categories need not be transmitted to the client apparatus  100 .  
         [0099]     Next, the procedures in Embodiment 8 are explained.  
         [0100]     On the display of the output device  102 , an electronic news message selection screen is displayed. When the user selects a message, the event that the message has been selected is transferred from the network controller  105  to the server apparatus  200 .  
         [0101]     The server apparatus  200  fetches the message data selected by the user from the electronic news data storage  221 , and causes the reply data manager unit  208  to fetch the non-standard data for a fixed form reply peculiar to the category of the selected message from the text storage  209 , for example and then transfers the message data and the non-standard data for a fixed form reply from the network controller  223  to the client apparatus  100  which has selected the message.  
         [0102]     When the network controller  105  of the client apparatus  100  receives the message and the data for a reply, the received data is transferred to the received data holding unit  107 .  
         [0103]     Next, the message, non-standard data for a reply, and standard data for a reply fetched from the text storage  109  of the client apparatus  100  is delivered to the output controller  103 , and the output controller  103  displays the list of the standard and non-standard text data for a fixed form reply along with the message on the display of the output device  102 .  
         [0104]     When the user, using the input device  101  such as a keyboard or mouse, selects the reply data out of the displayed standard/non-standard text data for fixed form replies, the transmission data holding unit  106  prepares of message data having only the reply number information of the selected reply data, and this message data is transferred from the network controller  105  to the server apparatus  200 . When the main controller  222  of the server apparatus  200  recognizes that the message data received by the network controller  223  is the reply having only the reply number information, the main controller  222  counts up the numerical values corresponding to the reply number on the table by reply number of each message stored in the reply totaling unit  224 .  
         [0105]     Since the procedures up to the stage of entering the selected data for a reply in the electronic news data storage  221  of the server apparatus  200  are same as those of Embodiments 2 and 4, explanation thereof is omitted.  
         [0106]     In this embodiment, explanation has been given on the case of the text data having been selected as the data for a reply, but any of the still picture, speech sound or moving picture may be adopted as the data for a reply, or any of them may be combined to make the data for a reply.  
         [0107]     As this invention may be embodied in several forms without departing from the spirit of essential characteristics thereof, the present embodiment is therefore illustrative and not restrictive, since the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims rather than by the description preceding them.