Discussion support apparatus, discussion support method, and computer-readable medium

• US 8,296,363 B2
• Filed: 11/18/2009
• Issued: 10/23/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujifilm Business Innovation Corp. (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Yamazoe, Nobuyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Chan, Wing
• Assistant Examiner(s): KATSIKIS, KOSTAS J
• Application Number:
  US12/621,182
• Publication Number:
  US 20100235444A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,070 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/261, 709/205, 709/217, 370/260
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management

Abstract

A discussion support apparatus includes a holding unit, an accepting unit and a generating unit. The holding unit holds pieces of discussion state information each indicating a state of a discussion at a corresponding one of points in time included in a period of time during which discussions are performed. The accepting unit accepts a discussion start operation indicating a start of discussion on a topic for which discussion has been started. The generating unit generates, based on one or more of the pieces of discussion state information indicating states of discussions at points in time before a point in time when the accepting unit accepts a discussion start operation for a certain topic, topic-related information indicating at least one piece of discussion state information which is related to the certain topic and which is specified from among the one or more of the pieces of discussion state information.

Claims

1. A discussion support method comprising:

storing, via a processor, plural pieces of discussion state information including first discussion state information and second discussion state information, wherein the first discussion state information includes a first state indicating a first topic in a discussion and a first point in time of the first state in the discussion, and the second discussion state information includes a second state indicating a second topic in the discussion and a second point in time of the second state in the discussion, and when the first topic changes to the second topic in the discussion, the discussion state information changes from the first discussion state information to the second discussion state information;

accepting, via the processor, at an operation point in time a discussion start operation indicating a state on another topic after the first state and the second state in the discussion;

determining, via the processor, whether each of the plural pieces of discussion state information having a point in time occurring prior to the operation point in time is related to said another topic, based on a comparison result between said state on another topic and each of the plural pieces of discussion state information having the point in time occurring prior to the operation point in time; and

generating, via the processor, based on a result of the determining, topic-related information indicating (i) one of the first discussion state information having the first point in time occurring prior to the operation point in time and the second discussion state information having the second point in time occurring prior to the operation point in time and (ii) one of the first topic and the second topic corresponding to the one of the first discussion state information having the first point in time occurring prior to the operation point in time and the second discussion state information having the second point in time occurring prior to the operation point in time.

2. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a program that causes a computer to execute a discussion support process, the discussion support process comprising:

storing plural pieces of discussion state information including first discussion state information and second discussion state information, wherein the first discussion state information includes a first state indicating a first topic in a discussion and a first point in time of the first state in the discussion, and the second discussion state information includes a second state indicating a second topic in the discussion and a second point in time of the second state in the discussion, and when the first topic changes to the second topic in the discussion, the discussion state information changes from the first discussion state information to the second discussion state information;

accepting at an operation point in time a discussion start operation indicating a state on another topic after the first state and the second state in the discussion;

determining whether each of the plural pieces of discussion state information having a point in time occurring prior to the operation point in time is related to said another topic, based on a comparison result between said state on another topic and each of the plural pieces of discussion state information having the point in time occurring prior to the operation point in time; and

generating, based on a result of the determining, topic-related information indicating (i) one of the first discussion state information having the first point in time occurring prior to the operation point in time and the second discussion state information having the second point in time occurring prior to the operation point in time and (ii) one of the first topic and the second topic corresponding to the one of the first discussion state information having the first point in time occurring prior to the operation point in time and the second discussion state information having the second point in time occurring prior to the operation point in time.

3. A discussion support apparatus comprising:

a memory that stores plural pieces of discussion state information including first discussion state information and second discussion state information, wherein the first discussion state information includes a first state indicating a first topic in a discussion and a first point in time of the first state in the discussion, and the second discussion state information includes a second state indicating a second topic in the discussion and a second point in time of the second state in the discussion, and when the first topic changes to the second topic in the discussion, the discussion state information changes from the first discussion state information to the second discussion state information;

a user interface that accepts at an operation point in time a discussion start operation indicating a state on another topic after the first state and the second state in the discussion; and

a processor that determines whether each of the plural pieces of discussion state information having a point in time occurring prior to the operation point in time is related to said another topic, based on a comparison result between said state on another topic and each of the plural pieces of discussion state information having the point in time occurring prior to the operation point in time, and that generates, based on a result of the determining, topic-related information indicating (i) one of the first discussion state information having the first point in time occurring prior to the operation point in time and the second discussion state information having the second point in time occurring prior to the operation point in time and (ii) one of the first topic and the second topic corresponding to the one of the first discussion state information having the first point in time prior to the operation point in time and the second discussion state information having the second point in time prior to the operation point in time.

4. The discussion support apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the processor controls the memory and the user interface.

5. The discussion support apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the processor sequentially determines, in order based on the points in time corresponding to the plural pieces of discussion state information, whether the plural pieces of discussion state information indicate states of discussions on the topic, respectively, and updates the topic-related information when the result of the determining changes.

6. The discussion support apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising:

a related-screen display unit,

wherein the processor updates the topic-related information in response to a request from a user received by the user interface,

wherein after the user interface accepts the discussion start operation, the processor controls the related-screen display unit to display a screen related to any of the plural pieces of discussion state information that are different from the first discussion state information and the second discussion state information indicated by the topic-related information at points in time before the operation point in time when the user interface accepts the discussion start operation, and

wherein the processor updates the topic-related information in response to a request from the user received by the user interface which is accepted after the related-screen display unit displays the screen related to any of the plural pieces of discussion state information, which are different from the first discussion state information and the second discussion state information indicated by the topic-related information at points in time before the operation point in time when the user interface accepts the discussion start operation.

7. The discussion support apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the processor calculates, based on each of the plural pieces of discussion state information, an index for each of the plural pieces of discussion state information, the index indicating a degree of association or a degree of dissociation between each of the plural pieces of discussion state information and the topic, and generates the topic-related information, based on the index for the plural pieces of discussion state information.

8. The discussion support apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the processor updates the topic-related information in response to a request from a user received by the user interface.

9. The discussion support apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising:

a related-screen display unit,

wherein after the user interface accepts the discussion start operation, the processor controls the related-screen display output unit to display a screen related to any of the plural pieces of discussion state information that are different from the first discussion state information and the second discussion state information indicated by the topic-related information at points in time before the operation point in time when the user interface accepts the discussion start operation.

10. The discussion support apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the screen displayed by the related-screen display unit is related to discussion state information at a latest point in time among the plural pieces of discussion state information, which are different from the first discussion state information and the second discussion state information indicated by the topic-related information at the points in time before the operation point in time when the user interface accepts the discussion start operation.

11. The discussion support apparatus according to claim 3, wherein when, before the user interface accepts the discussion start operation, the user interface accepts a second discussion start operation for another second topic different from the another topic, the processor generates second topic-related information indicating at least one of the first discussion state information and the second discussion state information which is related to the second another topic and included in a period of time from a second operation time when the user interface accepts the second discussion start operation to the operation time when the user interface accepts the discussion start operation.

12. The discussion support apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the processor generates the topic-related information indicating pieces of discussion state information that are adjacent to each other in terms of order based on points in time corresponding thereto.