Information processing apparatus, information processing method, content management system, and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium

An information processing apparatus manages a plurality of content items, keywords associated with the plurality of content items respectively, and authorities set to associations between the keywords and the content items, obtains a keyword and identification information of a user, input by an operation of the user, searches for a content item associated with the input keyword among the managed plurality of content items, and decides whether the searched content item should be provided to the user or whether provision should be restricted, based on identification information of the user and an authority set for an association between the input keyword and the searched content item.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a technique for managing authorities to access a plurality of content items.

Description of the Related Art

In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-344245, a method is proposed in which an index that manages authority information for respective files is generated, and a display of search results is controlled based on an authority of a search user. Also, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-83961, a method is recited in which authority information is added to keywords, and display of keyword search results and content masking is controlled based on an authority of a search user.

However, in the method recited in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-344245, it was only possible to take a form of access control in which access is either permitted or not permitted uniformly for an authority of a user irrespective of the input keyword. Also, in the method recited in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-83961, by adding authority information to keywords, not only is access to a file uniformly prohibited, but display is masked from a sentence for only an access prohibited keyword to present to a user. Because of this, access control which presents a sentence in which a prohibited keyword is made to be invisible to a user is realized. However, it was impossible to handle cases in which it is desired that different access authorities be set with respective content items for keywords added to the content.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a flexible method of managing content by keyword for solving the problem described above.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing apparatus comprising: a management unit configured to manage a plurality of content items, keywords associated with the plurality of content items respectively, and authorities of users set to associations between the keywords and the content items; an obtainment unit configured to obtain a keyword and identification information of a user, input by an operation of the user; a search unit configured to search for a content item associated with the input keyword among the plurality of content items managed by the management unit; and a decision unit configured to decide whether the content item searched for by the search unit should be provided to the user or whether provision should be restricted, based on identification information of the user and an authority set for an association between the input keyword and the searched content item.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Below, with reference to the attached drawings, a detailed explanation is given for the present invention based on preferred embodiments. Note that configurations illustrated in the following embodiments are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited to the illustrated configurations.

First Embodiment

A first embodiment of the present invention will be described hereinafter, using the drawings.FIG. 1is a view illustrating a configuration of a content management system in the present embodiment. A content management system in the present embodiment is a system for managing content items using keywords. The content management system is configured from a server10and a plurality of client terminals11. The server10is configured from a user authority management unit101, a keyword management unit102, a content management unit103, a keyword-content association registration unit104, a keyword-content association management unit105, a search unit106, and a content filter unit107. Meanwhile, the client terminal11is configured from a search keyword input unit111and a content display unit112. Hereinafter, details of each configuration element will be illustrated below.

In the server10, the user authority management unit101manages authority information of each user. In the authority information, “administrators” which indicate the administrators of the system, “general users” which indicates not having special authority, “system division” which indicates users of a division that operate the system, and the like exist. The keyword management unit102manages keywords used in content management. The content management unit103adds identifiers to content items to manage an index. The keyword-content association registration unit104forms and registers associations between keywords managed in the keyword management unit102and content items managed in the content management unit103. The keyword-content association management unit105manages associations between keywords and content items registered in the keyword-content association registration unit104. The search unit106searches the keyword management unit102for keywords that match based on keywords input in the search keyword input unit111. Additionally, the search unit106searches the keyword-content association management unit105for associations of content items associated with searched keywords, and the access authority thereof. In the access authority, “no restriction” which permits access to all users, “administrator only permission” which permits access to only the system administrator, “specific division only permission” which access is permitted only for a specific division such as a system division, and the like exists. The content filter unit107compares the access authority as output from the search unit106of the server10to the authority information of a search user, and in a case when content items with no access authority are included in the search results, the content filter unit107excludes them.

Meanwhile, in the client terminal11, the search keyword input unit111accepts keywords used in the search of the content items from the user. The content display unit112performs a control for displaying on a display screen a list of content items of the search result from which content items with no access authority were excluded by the content filter unit107.

FIG. 2is a view illustrating one example of a hardware configuration of the client terminal11and the server10as an information processing apparatus in the present embodiment. A control unit21is a Central Processing Unit (CPU) for example, and it controls actions of each configuration element. Read Only Memory (ROM)22saves control commands, specifically programs. Random Access Memory (RAM)23is used for work memory, a temporary storage for data, or the like when the programs are executed. A communication unit24performs a control for communication with another apparatus through a network. A display unit25performs various displays on a display screen. The display unit25is configured in a display panel which displays images for example. The display panel may be configured by LCD, plasma, CRT, or organic EL types, or the like, and may also be a projection type display device such as one that projects on a wall surface. A user I/F (interface)26accepts operations of a user. Also, a secondary storage device27consists of a storage medium such as a hard disk, and is capable of saving a plurality of content items in the server10. In the control unit21that is configured by a CPU or the like in the server10and the client terminal11, a flowchart described below is executed based on a program that is read out of the ROM22into the RAM23.

An operation example of the content management system will be described hereinafter usingFIGS. 3 through 14in the present embodiment. Firstly, display screen configurations of the client terminal11will be described usingFIGS. 3A to 3Cin the present embodiment.FIGS. 3A to 3Care views illustrating examples of display screens (operation screens) of the client terminal11respectively in the present embodiment. Such display screens are realized using the display unit25. Note that in the present screen examples, although an embodiment which primarily handles images as content items is explained, the present embodiment is capable of being adapted to other content items such as audio.

InFIG. 3A, a content management screen301includes an image selection area302, a keyword selection area303, a keyword input region304, a keyword input finalization button305, and a keyword deletion button306. InFIG. 3B, the content management screen301includes a search button307, a search condition setting screen308, a search keyword input area309, and a search keyword finalization button310. InFIG. 3C, the content management screen301includes a search result display area311.

The content management screen301shows an entire user interface which saves the image selection area302through the search result display area311. The image selection area302accepts a selection of images by user input from a list of displayed images. The keyword selection area303accepts a selection of keywords by user input from a list of displayed keywords. The keyword input region304accepts input of keywords relating to a particular image which is selected in the image selection area302. The keyword input finalization button305accepts requests for finalizing keywords accepted by the keyword input region304, and adding them to an image. The keyword deletion button306accepts requests for deleting keywords selected in the keyword selection area303from an image to which the keywords were added.

InFIG. 3B, the search button307accepts a display request based on the search condition setting screen308. The search condition setting screen308shows an entire user interface for setting conditions which perform a search relating to an image. The search keyword input area309accepts an input of keywords which are used in the image search. The search keyword finalization button310accepts a request for executing an image search according to the keywords input in the search keyword input area309.

InFIG. 3C, the search result display area311displays a list of images as the result of the image search.

FIG. 4is a data structure that the content management system uses to provide a function in the present embodiment. The data structure is configured from a user management table401, a content management table402, a keyword management table403, a keyword-content association management table404. In the user management table401, user IDs which are uniquely assigned to users, and user names passwords, and user roles which indicate the roles of the users are managed linked to the IDs. In the content management table402, content IDs which are uniquely assigned to content items, content names which indicate file names of content items, and content paths which indicate locations of content items on the OS are managed. In the keyword management table403, keyword IDs which are to be uniquely assigned to keywords and keywords are managed. In the keyword-content association management table404, keyword-content association IDs which are uniquely assigned to keyword and content ID associations, keyword IDs, content IDs, and access authorities relating to the associations are managed. These tables are managed in the server10.

Next, an action for an addition of keywords to content items in the user interface described above will be described usingFIGS. 5 through 6.FIG. 5is a flowchart of a keyword addition, andFIGS. 6A through 6Bare views for describing a keyword addition operation on the user interface.

When a keyword addition operation is initiated (step S501), firstly, the content management unit103of the server10accepts a user selection of a particular image601on the image selection area302in the client terminal11(step S502and FIG. &A). A content ID in content management table (“c10011” here) is assigned to the image601in the image selection area302. The content management unit103obtains the content ID (“c10011” here) in the content management table402(step S503) that is assigned to the image in the image selection area302. Next, the user inputs one or more particular keyword602(“cat”, “brownish-white”, “Enoshima” here) in the keyword input region304(FIG. 6B), and when the keyword input finalization button305is pressed, the keyword management unit102accepts input of the keywords (step S504).

Next, the keyword management unit102determines whether the input keywords already exist in the keyword management table403(step S505). In a case when an unregistered keyword is input (Yes for step S505), a unique ID for the unregistered keyword is issued by the keyword management unit102and is registered to the keyword management table403(step S506), and in a case when the input keyword is already registered (No for step S505), processing of step S506is unnecessary. Here, “0000004” which relates to the unregistered, input keyword “Enoshima” is registered. After this, an association which links the keyword ID corresponding to an input keyword with a content ID corresponding to the image601is registered to the keyword-content association management table404by the keyword-content association registration unit104. Then, a unique keyword-content association ID is issued in relation to this registration by the keyword-content association registration unit104(step S507). Here, in relation to an image which is managed as a content ID “c10011”, associations with the keywords “cat”, “brownish-white”, and “Enoshima” which are managed as keyword IDs “0000001”, “0000002”, and “0000004” respectively are formed. Then, keyword-content IDs “r00010002”, “r00010003”, and “r00010001” are registered.

Thereby, an addition of keywords relating to an image is performed, and keywords603that were added to the keyword selection area303are displayed (step S508,FIG. 6B). At this time, “no restriction” which allows anyone access is set as an initial value regarding the access authority of the keyword-content association.

In a case that a user selects a keyword in the keyword selection area303, and the selects the keyword deletion button306, the association of the keyword and the content item is deleted from the keyword-content association management table404by the keyword-content association management unit105. For example, consider a case in which the user selects an image corresponding to the content ID “c10112”, selects the keyword “Kamakura” (keyword ID “0000003”) that is an association, and presses the keyword deletion button306. In such a case, a keyword-content association ID “r0001005” which is the association of the keyword ID “0000003” and the content ID “10112” is deleted from the keyword-content association management table404.

Next, the action for setting access authorities for keyword and content item relationships will be described usingFIGS. 7though8.FIG. 7is a flowchart of an access authority setting, andFIG. 8is a view for describing an access authority setting operation on the user interface.

When an access authority setting operation is initiated (step S701), a selection of a particular keyword (“Enoshima” here) that is associated with a selected image (content ID “c10011” here) by a user is received in the keyword selection area303on the client terminal11(step S702). The keyword displayed in the keyword selection area303is linked to a keyword ID which is managed in the keyword management table403by the keyword management unit102. When information relating to the keyword selection is received, the keyword-content association management unit105obtains from the keyword-content association management table404the keyword-content association ID corresponding to the content item relating to the selected keywords (step S703). Along with this, the keyword-content association management unit105causes an authority setting dialogue screen801to be displayed on the display screen on the client terminal11. Here, the keyword-content association management unit105obtains a keyword-content ID “r00010001” which is an association of an image which is managed with the content ID “c10011”, and the keyword “Enoshima” managed with the keyword ID “0000004” (step S703).

The authority setting dialogue screen801is configured from a keyword display area802, a content path display area803, an access restriction selection drop box804, and an OK button805. After step S702, the keyword selected in step S702(“Enoshima” here) is displayed in the keyword display area802on the authority setting dialogue screen801displayed on the display screen of the client terminal11. Also, the path of the content item (“141120/a0006.jpg” here) which is associated with the selected keyword is displayed in the content path display area803. The user selects a particular access permission restriction (“administrator only permission” here) from the access restriction selection drop box804, and selects the OK button805to finalize. In accordance with this, a change of access authority is accepted in relation to the association between the content item displayed in the content path display area803and the keyword displayed in the keyword display area802(step S704). In accordance with a modification instruction from the user, the keyword-content association management unit105updates the access authority of the corresponding the keyword-association ID in the keyword-content association management table404to the access permission restriction designated in step S704(step S705).

Next, a restriction action of a display of results and a content search based on an association of a keyword and a content item will be described usingFIGS. 9 through 11B.FIG. 9is a view for describing a flowchart of a content search,FIG. 10is a view for describing a user login operation on a user interface, andFIGS. 11A through 11Bare views for describing a content search operation on the user interface.

In accordance with a user operation, when a content search according to a keyword is initiated (step S901), firstly, a process for login to the system is executed from a login screen1001displayed on the display screen of the client terminal11. Note, it is assumed that a subsequent user is a second user for which an action for an addition (FIG. 5) of a keyword in relation to a content item and an action for setting an access authority in relation to a relationship of a keyword and a content item (FIG. 7) are different. The login screen1001is composed of a user ID input area1002, a password input area1003, and an OK button1004. The user inputs his user ID (user information) into the user ID input area1002(the user ID is “a10010” here), inputs his password into the password input area, and then selects an OK button904to finalize. In a case when the user ID and password which exist in the user management table401match what was input, the user authority management unit101of the server10which accepted the information of the password input, determines that the user succeeded in logging in (step S902). When the user has succeeded in logging in, the user authority management unit101closes the login screen1001and causes the content management screen301to be displayed on the display screen of the client terminal11.

When the user selects the search button307on the content management screen301, the client terminal11displays the search condition setting screen308on the display screen. When the user inputs a keyword1101(“Enoshima” here) into the search keyword input area309on the search condition setting screen308in the client terminal11, the search keyword input unit111accepts the keyword input (step S903). Additionally, when a user selects the search keyword finalization button310in the client terminal11, the search unit106of the server10executes a content search which targets the keyword1101based on the input keyword (step S904).

As an example, as illustrated inFIG. 11A, “Enoshima” is input as the input keyword1101by the user. The search unit106receives this keyword and performs the content extraction processing. More specifically, the search unit106extracts a content item which is associated with the input keyword from the keyword-content association management table404(i.e. a hit) where the key is the keyword ID “0000004” in the keyword management table403which corresponds to that keyword. Here, two content search results associated with the keyword ID “0000004” are extracted: the content ID “c10012” and keyword-content association ID “r00010001”; and the content ID “c10011” and keyword-content association ID r00010004. In such a case, because more than one search result exists (step S905), display restriction processing of a next content item is performed.

If there is a search hit keyword-content association ID (Yes for step S905), content item display restriction processing is performed. In the content item display restriction processing, firstly, the keyword-content association management unit105obtains the access restriction information from the keyword-content association management table404based on the keyword-content association ID that hit in the search (step S906). Here, “administrator only permission” is obtained as an access authority corresponding to the keyword-content association ID “r00010001” and “no restriction” is obtained as an access authority corresponding to the keyword-content association ID “r00010004”.

When obtainment of the access authority has been performed, next, the content filter unit107performs display restrictions of the content search results based on the user authority (step S907). At a time of content search result display restriction processing, firstly, the user authority management unit101obtains the authority information from the user management table401of the user who performed the login in step S902. Here, the user role “general user” corresponding to the user ID “a10011” is obtained. In contrast to the “general user” user role, content items corresponding to content IDs which have the authority “administrator only within the access authority relating to the two keyword-content association IDs obtained in step S906are decided as targets of the display restriction (access restriction). Meanwhile, no restriction” is decided as displayable without becoming a target of the display restriction.

When the client terminal11receives information relating to the display restriction of the content search results, the content display unit112displays a list of search results based on the display restriction results into a search result display area1102(step S908,FIG. 11B). In the present embodiment, the keyword1101“Enoshima” which was input into the display screen of the client terminal11is displayed as a search condition (FIG. 11A). Also, the client terminal11provides from the content management table402a content path of the content ID “c10012” corresponding to the keyword-content association ID “r00010004” which is the search result and displays an obtained image1103(FIG. 11B). In the present example, the content path is “141220/0111.jpg.

In the present embodiment, although it is described regarding a case in which there is one input keyword at a time of a search, there may be a plurality of input keywords. If there are a plurality of input keywords, two examples—cases in which the input keywords are combined with an AND condition and cases in which they are combined with an OR condition—can be considered. In the case in which the input keywords are combined with the AND condition, if there is even one keyword within the plurality of keywords which corresponds to a keyword-content association that does not have an access authority, the content item corresponding to that keyword is excluded from the search results. Also, in the case in which the input keywords are combined with the OR condition, if all of the keywords are keywords which correspond to a keyword-content associations that do not have an access authority, the content item corresponding to that keyword is excluded from the search results.

With such a configuration, in the present embodiment, in the system which comprises the server10and the client terminal11, by adding authorities to associations of content items and keywords, restrictions can be changed in accordance with the context of the content items to which they are added. Hence, controlling permission/prohibition of access for each content item even when searching with the same keywords can be easily realized.

Second Embodiment

A second embodiment of the present invention will be described hereinafter, using the drawings.FIG. 12is a configuration diagram of a content management system in the present embodiment. A content management system in the present embodiment is a system for managing content items using keywords. Compared toFIG. 1described in the first embodiment, the server10is different in that it has an additional keyword filter unit1201, and the client terminal11is different in that it has an additional keyword display unit1202. Because of this, the keyword filter unit1201and the keyword display unit1202will be explained below.

The keyword filter unit1201compares the authority information of the search user with an access authority which is output of the search unit106, to restrict the keywords that are displayed. The keyword display unit1202displays a list of keywords for which a display restriction was performed by the keyword filter unit1201.

Next, in the present embodiment, a keyword display action, which performs a display restriction based on associations between keywords and content items, will be described usingFIGS. 13 through 14.FIG. 13is a flowchart of a keyword display, andFIG. 14is a view for describing a keyword display on the user interface. In the content search sequence recited inFIG. 9of the first embodiment, the following are established as the pre-conditions of the present embodiment. Specifically, a user which is managed as the user ID “a10011” (“general user”) inputs the keyword “cat” (keyword ID “0000001”) on the client terminal11to execute a search based on the data recited inFIG. 4. As a result, a list of search results which include the content ID “c10011” which associates with the keyword-content association ID “r00010002” which the user can access is returned from the server10to the client terminal11. Then, this along with a search keyword1401becomes displayed on the user interface (1402) on the display screen of the client terminal11.

When a keyword display sequence (step S1301) is initiated in the client terminal11, the content management unit103receives information relating to a selection of a particular content item from the list of search results via the network (step S1302). At this time, the user selects a particular image from a search result display area1402which is displayed on the image selection area302on the user interface. Here, the user selects an image1403corresponding to the content ID “c10011”. When the information relating to the selection of the content item is received, the keyword-content association management unit105obtains an ID of a content item-keyword association from the keyword-content association management table404with the ID of the selected content item as the key (step S1303). Here, the keyword-content association IDs “r00010001”, “r00010002”, and “r00010003” associated with the content ID “c10011” are obtained.

Next, the keyword-content association management unit105obtains access authorities based on the keyword-content ID that associates the selected content item from the keyword-content association management table404(step S1304). Here, “administrator only is obtained as an access authority corresponding to “r00010001” and no restriction” is obtained as an access authority corresponding to “r00010002” and “r00010003”. Next, the keyword filter unit1201performs a display restriction of displayed keywords based on the access authorities of the obtained keyword-content associations and the authority of the user who is logged onto the system (step S1305).

In the present example, the keyword-content association ID “r00010001” which holds the access authority of “administrator only” becomes a target of the display restriction because the authority of the user ID “a10011” who is logged on is “general user”. Thus, only the keyword “cat” (keyword ID “0000002”) which associates with “r00010002” and the keyword “brownish-white” (keyword ID “0000003”) which associates “r00010003” are displayable. Finally, the keyword display unit1202of the client terminal11display a list of keywords which are associated with the selected content item based on the display restriction results (step S1306). In the present example, among the keywords which are associated with the selected image1403(content ID “c10011”), “brownish-white” (keyword ID “0000003”) and “cat” (the keyword ID “0000002”), which are the association keywords to which user “a10011” has access authority, are displayed in a keyword selection area1404(1404).

With such a configuration, in the system comprising the server10and the client terminal11in the present embodiment, a flexible keyword display control in which a restriction can be changed in accordance with context of a content item to which the same keyword is added becomes possible.

Note, in the foregoing embodiment, configuration of the client terminal and server are described usingFIG. 1andFIG. 12, but configuration is not limited to what is illustrated. In other words, if the form is such that the above described embodiments can be realized, in the content management system which is configured from a server and a plurality of client terminals, each configuration element illustrated inFIG. 1andFIG. 12may also be comprised of any server or plurality of client terminals.

Other Embodiments

This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2015-182224, filed Sep. 15, 2015 which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.