Information processing system, information processing method and program

Abstract

To make it possible to manage vouchers relating to calculation of greenhouse gas emissions.SOLUTION: An information processing system includes: a voucher acquisition part for acquiring voucher data in which basic data for calculating greenhouse gas emissions is displayed; a basic data acquisition part for reading out the basic data from the voucher data; a voucher data storage part for storing the voucher data; an emission calculation part for calculating emissions based on the basic data; a correspondence database for storing information specifying the emissions and information specifying the voucher data in association with each other; and a voucher output part accepting specification of information for specifying the emissions, specifying voucher data corresponding to the specified emissions from the correspondence database, and reading out and outputting the specified voucher data from the voucher data storage part.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing system, an information processing method, and a program. [Background technology]

[0002] Emissions of carbon dioxide and other substances have been calculated (see Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2007-164754 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] It is required to maintain evidence to verify the data on which emissions are calculated.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above background, and aims to provide a technique capable of managing evidence related to the calculation of greenhouse gas emissions. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The main invention of the present invention for solving the above problem is an information processing system comprising: a voucher acquisition unit that acquires supporting data displaying basic data for calculating greenhouse gas emissions; a basic data acquisition unit that reads out the basic data from the supporting data; a supporting data storage unit that stores the supporting data; an emission amount calculation unit that calculates the emissions based on the basic data; a correspondence database that links and stores information identifying the emissions and information identifying the supporting data; and a voucher output unit that accepts designation of information identifying the emissions, identifies the supporting data corresponding to the specified emissions from the correspondence database, and reads out and outputs the identified supporting data from the supporting data storage unit.

[0007] Other problems and solutions disclosed in this application will be made clear in the section on preferred embodiments of the invention and the drawings. Effect of the Invention

[0008] According to the present invention, evidence relating to the calculation of greenhouse gas emissions can be managed. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the overall configuration of an information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a server device 2. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a software configuration of the server device 2. [Figure 4] 4 is a diagram illustrating the flow of a process for calculating an emission amount in the information processing system according to the present embodiment. FIG. [Diagram 5] 11 is a diagram illustrating the flow of output processing of evidential data in the information processing system of this embodiment. FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] <System Overview> An information processing system according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described below. The information processing system of this embodiment is intended to manage evidence data that certifies data used to calculate emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of the information processing system according to this embodiment. The information processing system of this embodiment is configured to include a server device 2. The server device 2 is communicably connected to a user terminal 1 via a communication network. The communication network is, for example, the Internet, and is constructed using a public telephone line network, a mobile phone line network, a wireless communication path, Ethernet (registered trademark), or the like.

[0011] The server device 2 is a computer that calculates greenhouse gas emissions. The server device 2 may be a general-purpose computer such as a workstation or a personal computer, or may be logically realized by cloud computing.

[0012] The user terminal 1 is a computer used by a user, such as a smartphone, a tablet computer, a personal computer, etc. The user operates the user terminal 1 to access the server device 2 and calculate the amount of greenhouse gas emissions.

[0013] <Server device 2> FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the server device 2. Note that the illustrated configuration is an example, and other configurations may be used. The server device 2 includes a CPU 201, a memory 202, a storage device 203, a communication interface 204, an input device 205, and an output device 206. The storage device 203 is, for example, a hard disk drive, a solid state drive, or a flash memory that stores various data and programs. The communication interface 204 is an interface for connecting to the communication network 3, and is, for example, an adapter for connecting to Ethernet (registered trademark), a modem for connecting to a public telephone line network, a wireless communication device for wireless communication, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) connector or an RS232C connector for serial communication, etc. The input device 205 is, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, a touch panel, a button, a microphone, etc. that input data. The output device 206 is, for example, a display, a printer, a speaker, etc. that output data. Each functional unit of the server device 2 described below is realized by the CPU 201 reading a program stored in the storage device 203 into the memory 202 and executing it, and each storage unit of the server device 2 is realized as part of the storage area provided by the memory 202 and the storage device 203.

[0014] 3 is a diagram showing an example of the software configuration of the server device 2. The server device 2 includes a voucher data storage unit 231, a corresponding database 232, a voucher acquisition unit 211, a basic data acquisition unit 212, an emission amount calculation unit 213, and a voucher output unit 214.

[0015] The voucher acquisition unit 211 acquires voucher data in which basic data for calculating the amount of greenhouse gas emissions is displayed. The basic data can be, for example, at least one of the amount of activity and the emission coefficient.

[0016] Evidence data related to activity amounts is data that represents evidence, such as invoices, receipts, and contracts. Evidence related to Scope 1 (direct emissions) of the GHG (Green House Gas) Protocol could include, for example, receipts for filling up at a gas station, invoices for gas or coal, etc. Evidence related to Scope 2 (indirect emissions) could include, for example, electricity receipts and contracts. Evidence related to Scope 3 (emissions by related companies) for Category 1 (purchased goods and services) could include, for example, purchase orders, invoices, contracts, and receipts related to the procurement of raw materials and parts, or procurement system data and bills of materials.

[0017] Furthermore, examples of supporting data relating to emissions include primary data on the emission intensity of raw materials obtained from suppliers (which may be calculated independently by the supplier or may be verified by a third party).

[0018] The evidence data may be, for example, image data. The image data may be, for example, data captured by a camera (not shown) included in the user terminal 1. The evidence data may be, for example, a document such as a PDF file, or a structured file such as XML.

[0019] For example, the evidence acquisition unit 211 may accept upload of evidence data from the user terminal 1, or may acquire evidence data attached to a message such as an email or a chat message sent from the user terminal 1. In addition, when the user can directly operate the server device 2, the server device 2 may be provided with a camera and a scanner, and the evidence may be photographed using the camera and the scanner of the server device 2. The evidence acquisition unit 211 can register the acquired evidence data in the evidence data storage unit 231.

[0020] The evidence data storage unit 231 stores evidence data. For example, the evidence data storage unit 231 can store evidence data in association with an evidence ID that identifies the evidence and a user ID that indicates the user who registered the evidence. The evidence data storage unit 231 can be implemented as a relational database or an object database, or can be implemented as a file system (in this case, the evidence ID can be a path and a file name).

[0021] The basic data acquisition unit 212 reads out the basic data from the evidence data. The basic data acquisition unit 212 can read the basic data from the image data by, for example, OCR processing. The basic data acquisition unit 212 can also extract the basic data from, for example, text included in the document.

[0022] The emission calculation unit 213 calculates the emission amount based on the basic data. For example, when the basic data is information indicating the activity amount of a company, the server device 2 is provided with an emission coefficient storage unit that stores an emission coefficient related to the activity of the company, and the emission amount can be calculated by multiplying the read activity amount by the emission coefficient. When the basic data is an emission coefficient of a company, the activity amount of the company (for example, in the case of emissions related to Scope 1, it may be the amount of fuel burned by the user, and in the case of emissions related to Scope 2, it may be the amount of electricity used by the user, and in the case of emissions related to Scope 3, it may be the amount of goods purchased by the user from the company, the amount of goods sold by the user, or the delivery ton-kilometers of the goods sold by the user) can be obtained by, for example, accessing an accounting system or accepting an input from the user, and the emission amount can be calculated by multiplying the obtained activity amount by the read emission coefficient. When the basic data includes both an emission coefficient and an activity amount, the emission amount can be calculated by multiplying the read emission coefficient and activity amount. When the basic data is an emission amount, the emission amount read from the supporting data can be used as is.

[0023] The correspondence database 232 stores information specifying the emission amount and information specifying the supporting data in association with each other. The correspondence database 232 can also store information specifying basic data in association with each other. In this embodiment, the correspondence database 232 stores emission amount specifying information, a basic data ID specifying the basic data, and a supporting document ID indicating the supporting document in association with each other. The emission amount specifying information can include time information such as the year, month, and day. The emission amount specifying information can also include information (such as a user ID) specifying the greenhouse gas output entity (such as a company) related to the emission. The emission amount specifying information can also include the product or service to be calculated.

[0024] The evidence output unit 214 outputs evidence data. The evidence output unit 214 can accept designation of emission amount identifying information. For example, the evidence output unit 214 can accept designation of time information such as a year, a month, or a day. The evidence output unit 214 can also accept designation of a subject of emission in addition to or instead of the time information. The evidence output unit 214 can also accept information identifying a product or service to be calculated in addition to or instead of the time information and / or the subject of emission. The evidence output unit 214 can identify a evidence ID corresponding to the accepted emission identifying information from a corresponding database, and read out and output evidence data corresponding to the identified evidence ID from the evidence data storage unit 231.

[0025] The evidence output unit 214 can output evidence data in response to a request from a third-party certification body (audit body), for example. Also, in response to a request from a user who calculates emissions related to the GHG Protocol, it can specify evidence data related to basic data that is the basis for calculating the emissions from the corresponding database 232, and transmit the specified evidence data together with the emissions to (the information processing device of) the third-party certification body.

[0026] The evidence output unit 214 can also accept the designation of basic data in addition to the emission amount specifying information. In this case, the evidence output unit 214 can specify, from the corresponding database, a evidence ID corresponding to the emission amount specifying information and the basic data ID indicating the specified basic data, and read out the evidence data corresponding to the specified evidence ID from the evidence data storage unit 231 and output it.

[0027] <Operation> FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the flow of the emission amount calculation process in the information processing system of this embodiment.

[0028] The server device 2 receives the evidence data from the user terminal 1 (S301), reads basic data from the evidence data by OCR processing or the like (S302), and calculates the greenhouse gas emissions using the basic data (S303).

[0029] The server device 2 stores the supporting evidence data in the supporting evidence data storage unit 231 (S304), and registers in the correspondence database 232 the emission identification information that identifies the emission amount, the basic data ID that indicates the basic data, and the supporting evidence ID that indicates the supporting evidence data in association with each other (S305).

[0030] When multiple types of basic data are received to calculate the emission amount, there may be cases where the basic data is received without receiving the supporting data.

[0031] FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the flow of output processing of evidence data in the information processing system of this embodiment.

[0032] The server device 2 receives the emission amount identification information and the basic data ID from the user terminal 1 (S321). The basic data ID may be omitted. The server device 2 identifies the evidence ID corresponding to the received emission amount identification information and basic data ID from the corresponding database 232, reads out the evidence data corresponding to the identified evidence ID from the evidence data storage unit 231 (S322), and outputs (sends to the user terminal 1) the read evidence data (S323).

[0033] As described above, the information processing system of this embodiment can manage supporting data related to basic data used to calculate greenhouse gas emissions in association with the emissions and basic data. Therefore, in the case of an audit or third-party certification, the supporting data corresponding to the emissions and the basic data used to calculate the emissions can be easily presented.

[0034] Although the present embodiment has been described above, the above embodiment is intended to facilitate understanding of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention. The present invention may be modified or improved without departing from the spirit of the present invention, and equivalents thereof are also included in the present invention.

[0035] For example, in the present embodiment, the system is a client-server system. However, the user terminal 1 may also have the functions of the server device 2.

[0036] In addition, in this embodiment, the basic data is read from the evidence data by processing such as OCR, but for example, when the basic data is corrected by the user terminal 1, the input of the basic data may be accepted from the user terminal 1 and learned. For example, the range of the basic data described in the evidence data and the contents of the basic data may be received from the user terminal 1, and the learning model for performing OCR may be updated by machine learning using the evidence data, the range, and the contents as training data. This can improve the reading accuracy by so-called AIOCR.

[0037] In addition, in this embodiment, the basic data is read from the supporting data, but for example, the basic data may be received from the user terminal 1, the amount of emissions may be calculated using the basic data received from the user terminal 1, and the supporting data related to the basic data may be received from the user terminal 1, and the server device 2 may associate the basic data with the supporting data. In this case, the server device 2 may include a learning model storage unit that stores a learning model that has been subjected to machine learning using the basic data and the supporting data as training data, and the type of basic data (basic data ID) may be inferred from the supporting data received from the user terminal 1 using the learning model, and the supporting data may be associated with the basic data. The server device 2 may link the basic data ID indicating the inferred basic data with the supporting data ID indicating the supporting data in the correspondence database 232.

[0038] In addition, in this embodiment, the correspondence database 232 corresponds the emission amount, basic data, and supporting evidence, but it may also correspond between the emission amount (emission amount identification information) and supporting evidence (support ID), or between the basic data (basic data ID) and supporting evidence (support ID). [Explanation of symbols]

[0039] 1 User terminal 2. Server equipment

Claims

1. a document acquisition unit that acquires document data that displays basic data for calculating greenhouse gas emissions; a data storage unit that stores the evidence data; a basic data acquisition unit that reads out the basic data from the evidence data; an emission calculation unit that calculates the emission amount based on the basic data; a correspondence database that stores information specifying the emission amount and information specifying the evidence data in association with each other; a voucher output unit that receives designation of information that identifies the emission amount, identifies the voucher data that corresponds to the designated information that identifies the emission amount, and outputs the identified voucher data; An information processing system comprising:

2. 2. The information processing system according to claim 1, The evidence data is image data, the basic data acquisition unit reads the basic data from the image data by OCR processing; An information processing system characterized by:

3. 2. The information processing system according to claim 1, the correspondence database stores information specifying the emission amount, information specifying the evidence data, and information specifying the basic data in association with each other; the evidence output unit accepts designation of the information specifying the emission amount and the information specifying the basic data, identifies the evidence data corresponding to the information specifying the emission amount and the information specifying the basic data, and outputs the identified evidence data; An information processing system characterized by:

4. obtaining supporting data showing basic data for calculating greenhouse gas emissions; storing the evidence data in a data storage unit; reading the basic data from the evidence data; calculating the emission amount based on the basic data; storing the information specifying the emission amount and the information specifying the evidence data in a correspondence database in association with each other; receiving designation of information specifying the emission amount; Identifying the evidence data corresponding to information identifying the designated emission amount; outputting the identified evidence data; An information processing method characterized by being executed by a computer.

5. obtaining supporting data showing basic data for calculating greenhouse gas emissions; storing the evidence data in a data storage unit; reading the basic data from the evidence data; calculating the emission amount based on the basic data; storing the information specifying the emission amount and the information specifying the evidence data in a correspondence database in association with each other; receiving designation of information specifying the emission amount; Identifying the evidence data corresponding to information identifying the designated emission amount; outputting the identified evidence data; A program that causes a computer to execute the following.

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