Browsing support system and browsing support method and program

Abstract

To provide a browsing support system capable of gaining a better understanding of a content of electronic information among a plurality of users who browse the electronic information.SOLUTION: An information processing terminal 2 includes: a display unit 11 that displays an electronic book display screen W3 having a tag content display column W3e that displays a list of a tag content of a tag given to an electronic book, a retrieval phrase input column W3d to which a retrieval phrase is input, and an electronic book display area W3b that displays a result retrieved from the electronic book on the basis of the retrieval phrase; and an input unit 12. A browsing support server 5 includes: a tag management unit 52 that displays the content in a browsable manner to another user different from a user who made the tag; and a disclosure management unit 53 that manages a disclosure range of the tag. The display unit 11 of the information processing 10 displays a list of tag contents of a plurality of tags given by different users and displays a page given one tag selected by the input unit from the plurality of tags displayed, in a state given the tag.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a browsing assistance system, a browsing assistance method, and a program. [Background technology]

[0002] In the past, there were times when a reader would find it difficult to understand a book (especially a specialized book) if they were reading it alone. For this reason, multiple readers would share the book, or readers with advanced specialized knowledge would hold seminars to explain unclear parts. However, knowledge sharing was limited to closed environments such as among acquaintances or within study groups.

[0003] The advantage of paper books (specialized books) is that the quality (credibility) of the information is consistently high. On the other hand, the disadvantages of paper books are that the information is static and is not easily updated after publication, so the information quickly loses freshness, difficult content is hard to understand, and the information written in the book cannot be shared with other readers.

[0004] In recent years, SNS has come to be used by various readers to share information about a certain book. The advantage of SNS is that the information is always fresh, and SNS participants can complement and share information with each other. On the other hand, the disadvantage of SNS is that the quality of the information is not uniform, and it is necessary to determine the authenticity of the information explained.

[0005] Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for displaying electronic book data on a terminal. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] JP 2007-156783 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] It is known that notes, sticky notes, and charts that someone adds to a reference book or other document can be added value that helps other readers understand the text. By drawing out knowledge that remained within an individual and sharing it among multiple readers, it is expected that the level of knowledge will be improved. However, until now, there has been no mechanism for multiple readers to share notes added to a reference book by one reader.

[0008] In addition, there are books whose information is revised irregularly every few months (for example, manuals that are referenced when preparing medical insurance claims). Readers of these books must read them together with the partially revised version that contains excerpts of the revised sections distributed by the publisher, and check the revisions as they are read.

[0009] In addition, it is a cumbersome task to judge whether the contents of a book are correct by keeping a list of errata provided by a publisher nearby. Even with the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1, the reader can only attach a sticky note to the page on which the important information is written, and the contents of the sticky note cannot be shared with other readers.

[0010] In addition, the use of electronic information such as electronic books that have been digitized from books is limited to individuals who have acquired the right to use the electronic book. For this reason, even if a reader attaches a sticky note to an electronic book and writes a memo on the sticky note, there is no mechanism provided for other readers to see the sticky note.

[0011] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has an object to deepen understanding of the contents of electronic information among a plurality of users who view the electronic information. [Means for solving the problem]

[0012] A browsing assistance system according to the present invention includes an information processing terminal that displays electronic information and a browsing assistance server that acquires information on sticky notes attached to the electronic information, which are connected via a network. The information processing terminal includes a display unit that displays an electronic information display screen having a sticky note content display unit that displays a list of sticky note contents of the sticky notes attached to the electronic information, a search term input unit into which a search term is input, and a search result display unit that displays results of a search of electronic information based on the search term, and an input unit that attaches sticky notes to pages or phrases of the electronic information displayed on the display unit. The viewing assistance server has a sticky note management unit that manages sticky note information indicating the position of sticky notes attached to electronic information and displays sticky notes created at the sticky note positions specified by the sticky note information so that they can be viewed by other users other than the user who created the sticky note, and a publication management unit that manages the range of publication of the sticky notes, and the display unit displays a list of the sticky note contents of multiple sticky notes attached by the user who created the sticky note or by a different user in the sticky note content display unit, and displays a page with a sticky note selected by the input unit from the multiple sticky notes displayed in the sticky note content display unit in a state with the sticky note attached in the search result display unit. Effect of the Invention

[0013] According to the present invention, a plurality of users viewing electronic information can deepen their understanding of the contents of the electronic information. Problems, configurations and effects other than those described above will become apparent from the following description of the embodiments. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0014] [Figure 1] 1 is a functional configuration diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a browsing support system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] 1 is a functional configuration diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a browsing support system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 3] 2 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration of data and information used in the browsing support system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. [Figure 4] 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of a computer according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 5] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a process from following to sharing a sticky note according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a follow screen according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a follow DB according to the first embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 8] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a sticky note DB according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 9] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example of a function selection screen according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 10] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a display example of an electronic book display screen according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 11] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a sticky note creation screen according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 12] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing how a sticky note is drawn in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 13] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an application (live display) of a sticky note drawing according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 14] FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram of a sticky note sharing function according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 15] 11 is a table showing an example of highly rated comments fed back to a publisher according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 16] FIG. 13 is an image diagram showing an example of processing from registration, acquisition, drawing, and participation of seminar information according to the second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 17] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a process of online seminar delivery in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 18] FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a seminar management DB according to the second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 19] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration of a moving image DB according to a second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 20] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a process of group management according to a third embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 21]FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a group editing screen according to the third embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 22] FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data configuration of a group DB according to a third embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 23] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of an electronic book display screen according to the third embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 24] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a process of group management according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 25] FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a seminar management DB according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 26] FIG. 13 is a functional configuration diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a browsing support system according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0015] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In this specification and the drawings, components having substantially the same functions or configurations are designated by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted.

[0016] [First embodiment] <Overall configuration example of a browsing support system> First, a configuration example and a processing example of a browsing support system according to a first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0017] Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an overall view of an e-book viewing system. The e-book viewing system is a system that enables a user to view e-books in book format, which is an example of electronic information. As electronic information, manuals and advertisements that are not in book format other than e-books are assumed, but in the following embodiments, electronic information will be described as e-books. In the following description, when there is no need to distinguish between dentists, professors, medical students, etc., they will be collectively referred to as "medical personnel".

[0018] The left side of Figure 1 shows the issues with conventional e-books. For example, medical staff at dental clinic A want someone nearby to teach them how to use the e-book. Medical staff at examination room B want to know if there are other ways to perform a certain treatment. Medical staff at dental clinic C are not sure if the treatment they are performing on patients is correct. Medical staff at dental clinic D do not fully understand the contents of the e-book. As such, medical staff at conventional dental clinics, examination rooms, and dental clinics often have difficulty in judging whether the contents of e-books are correct. In addition, medical staff have difficulty in judging whether the contents of the treatment they performed match the information published in the e-book they are currently viewing, because the writing style (notation) of the book is difficult to understand.

[0019] The right side of FIG. 1 shows an overview of the browsing support function of a browsing support system 1 that provides an electronic book platform (PF) according to this embodiment. The e-book platform can be accessed by various users, such as the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and other government agencies in Japan, the National Federation of Health Insurance Organizations, medical professionals, and the like, and can share information.

[0020] The e-book platform manages information on sticky notes that medical professionals and others have added to pages and text of e-books. Sticky note creators, such as medical professionals, create sticky notes to add to e-books. Meanwhile, sticky note readers other than the sticky note creators can share the interpretations and explanations created by the sticky note creators with other medical professionals on the e-book.

[0021] A medical student who is a sticky note reader can also receive guidance from a clinician by viewing the sticky notes. In addition, medical professionals can follow their favorite medical professionals among the sticky note creators to get their interpretations quickly. It is also expected that medical professionals will follow medical students who have excellent grades.

[0022] In addition, the latest information provided by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the National Federation of National Health Insurance Organizations, etc. is displayed as sticky notes in the relevant sections of the e-book. Therefore, medical professionals and others can refer to the sticky notes to check the latest information until a revised version of the e-book is published.

[0023] FIG. 2 is a functional configuration diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of the browsing support system 1 according to the first embodiment. Fig. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration example of data and information used in the browsing assistance system 1. Below, in addition to the description of the configuration example of the browsing assistance system 1, the data and information used in each device and server will also be described with reference to Fig. 3.

[0024] The browsing support system 1 mainly comprises an information processing terminal 10 used in medical institutions such as dental clinics and medical universities, a medical receipt management server 2 operated by a medical receipt management company, an e-book management server 4 operated by a publisher, and a browsing support server 5 operated by a service company. The information processing terminal 10, the medical receipt management server 2, and the browsing support server 5 can safely transmit and receive data using a secure communication method such as encryption or a VPN (Virtual Private Network). In this specification, an alternative module to a book (e.g., a manual book) that allows medical professionals to refer to specific pages and phrases through the information processing terminal 10 is called an "e-book."

[0025] In the browsing assistance system 1 according to the first embodiment, a service company implements a browsing assistance function for an electronic book 57 in a cloud-type browsing assistance server 5. Medical personnel can access the browsing assistance server 5 and browse the electronic book 57 by inputting a user ID, password, etc., into an authentication screen of the browsing assistance server 5 using their own information processing terminal 10. In this form, medical personnel do not need to prepare a server, etc., and initial costs can be reduced. In addition, the service company can obtain the search results of the electronic book 57 searched for by the information processing terminal 10 in real time.

[0026] (Medical Professionals) The information processing terminal 10 is an example of an information processing terminal such as a desktop PC (Personal Computer), a notebook PC, a smartphone, or a tablet. The information processing terminal 10 is connected to the medical receipt management server 2 and the viewing support server 5 via the Internet. The information processing terminal 10 displays various screens provided by the medical receipt management server 2 and the viewing support server 5 through the operation of the medical practitioner, and accepts various information inputs by the medical practitioner. The information processing terminal 10 can display a screen managed by the medical receipt management server 2 and a screen managed by the viewing support server 5 side by side. Therefore, the medical practitioner can search for any questions he or she may have when creating a medical receipt from the electronic book 57 displayed on the screen, and reflect the search results in creating the medical receipt.

[0027] For example, at a dental clinic, a dentist performs dental treatment for a patient and inputs the details of the treatment and the medical fee into the information processing terminal 10. At a dental clinic, a dental hygienist may operate the information processing terminal 10 to issue a medical receipt. At a medical university, a professor or a medical student may operate the information processing terminal 10 to obtain necessary information.

[0028] When the information processing terminal 10 accesses the receipt management server 2, it displays a receipt input screen on the web browser of the display unit 11 based on the functions provided by the receipt management server 2. The information processing terminal 10 can also access a medical record management server (not shown) and display a medical record input screen on the web browser of the display unit 11. A medical professional operates the input unit 12 to input words and phrases into various screens displayed on the display unit 11, and creates a medical record and a medical receipt. The words and phrases input by the input unit 12 are transmitted to the receipt management server 2 together with information in the input field for the words and phrases.

[0029] Furthermore, when the information processing terminal 10 accesses the browsing support server 5, the display screen of the electronic book 57 is displayed on the Web browser of the display unit 11 based on the function provided by the browsing support server 5. The electronic book 57 can be displayed in a fixed format that matches the layout of an actual book, allowing words in the page to be copied and pasted by the Web browser or a dedicated application, and can also be switched to a reflow type display that allows medical personnel to change the font size to any size, a horizontal or vertical display, etc. Medical personnel can highlight important points in the displayed electronic book 57, create indexes for indexing the pages, and attach sticky notes to pages that the medical personnel frequently refer to. The electronic book 57 can also be displayed by flipping through multiple pages in addition to being displayed by flipping through one page at a time.

[0030] The questions that medical personnel use to search using the electronic book 57 include, for example, "name of disease," "name of procedure (or name of treatment)," "patient's chief complaint," and "dentist's findings." The electronic book 57 stores these questions and their answers. For example, keywords such as the patient's chief complaint (e.g., there is a tingling pain in a part) and the medical personnel's findings (e.g., bleeding occurs when pressing the affected area with a finger) are written in the chart as tendencies of the disease name. Such keywords of the patient's chief complaint, etc., were information that could not be included in a conventional manual book. However, the electronic book 57 according to the present embodiment allows the publisher to expand the contents as desired, and can include a vast amount of information compared to conventional manual books. For this reason, keywords of the patient's chief complaint, etc., and explanations, items, etc. related to the keywords are added to the electronic book 57.

[0031] The search results include at least one of an input phrase search result obtained by searching the electronic book 57 for a phrase or sentence entered in an input field on the screen from the input unit 12, an index search result obtained by searching the electronic book 57 from its index, and a full-text search result obtained by searching the full text of the electronic book 57 when no index search result is obtained. The medical professional can copy the answer displayed on the screen of the information processing terminal 10 and paste the answer in the corresponding location in the medical record. The information entered by the medical professional in the receipt input field through the information processing terminal 10 is transmitted to the receipt management server 2 as medical care data d1 shown in FIG. 3.

[0032] (Receipt management server) The receipt management server 2 includes a receipt management section 21 and a receipt DB 22. The medical receipt management unit 21 manages data related to medical treatment input from the information processing terminal 10 and data related to the issuance of medical receipts. The medical receipt management unit 21 outputs information (html files, xml files, image files, etc.) to the information processing terminal 10 to display a screen on which data related to medical treatment can be inputted on the information processing terminal 10. The web browser of the information processing terminal 10 displays the medical receipt input screen. The medical receipt management unit 21 uses a program that manages the issuance of medical receipts to display a screen on the display unit 11 of the information processing terminal 10 on which data related to medical treatment can be inputted, in addition to the medical record input screen.

[0033] The medical receipt management unit 21 receives data entered in the medical chart and medical care data d1, which is data for creating medical receipts, from the information processing terminal 10. After importing the medical care data d1 from the information processing terminal 10, the medical receipt management unit 21 stores registered data d2 including the medical care data d1 in the medical receipt DB 22.

[0034] The medical receipt DB 22 stores medical treatment log data and basic medical institution information shown in FIG. 3, which will be described later. The medical receipt management unit 21 creates medical receipts based on the data acquired from the medical receipt DB 22. For example, the medical receipt DB 22 stores medical treatment log data and medical receipt data created for each patient and for each medical content. Medical personnel periodically operate the information processing terminal 10 to print medical receipts. For example, when the medical receipt data read from the medical receipt management server 2 is displayed, the medical personnel presses a print button displayed on the screen of the information processing terminal 10, and a paper-printed medical receipt is output. The printed medical receipt is submitted to the review processing agency.

[0035] As shown in FIG. 3, the medical data d1 stores date and time, user ID, user name, question item, and answer (reference, description). The date and time item stores the date and time when a medical professional inputs the medical receipt using the information processing terminal 10. In the item of user ID, a user ID that uniquely identifies a medical professional as a user of the information processing terminal 10 is stored. The user name field stores the name of the user, i.e., the medical professional, linked to the user ID. The question item field stores question items such as words, phrases, and sentences entered by medical personnel when searching the electronic book 57. In the answer (reference, description) section, the search results of the medical professional's search of the electronic book 57 are stored as answers.

[0036] In addition to each item of the medical data d1, the registered data d2 stores questions, answers, and opinions on the answers. The question item and answer items store the question item input from the information processing terminal 10 and the content of the answer extracted from the electronic book 57. If there is no answer, "no answer" is stored. In the item of "opinion on answer", opinions inputted from the information processing terminal 10 by medical personnel in response to the content of the answer confirmed by the medical personnel are stored.

[0037] (Service company) The service company manages the entire viewing assistance system 1, and also uses the viewing assistance server 5 to provide a service that enables multiple medical professionals to view the contents of sticky notes created on the electronic book 57. A person in charge at the service company can connect a PC (not shown) to the viewing assistance server 5 to check the creation status and contents of the sticky notes added to the electronic book 57. The viewing assistance server 5 also provides a service of providing a publisher with information indicating which sticky notes were highly rated by medical professionals.

[0038] The viewing support server 5 displays the electronic book 57 read from the electronic book DB 56 on the display unit 11 by the medical professional operating the information processing terminal 10. The medical professional can open the electronic book 57 at any page by operating the information processing terminal 10 connected to the viewing support server 5, and create a medical record for the patient or a medical receipt while referring to a page corresponding to the treatment content. The medical professional can also copy and paste a phrase selected from the electronic book 57 into a medical receipt input field, or write a comment in the input field. The viewing support server 5 also manages sticky notes created in the electronic book 57 by the medical professional. The viewing support server 5 has a function of making the sticky notes in the electronic book 57 available to other medical professionals.

[0039] The viewing assistance server 5 includes a follow management section 51 , a sticky note management section 52 , a publication management section 53 , a seminar management section 54 , a reference management section 55 , an electronic book DB 56 , a follow DB 58 , a sticky note DB 59 , and a reference log DB 60 .

[0040] The follow management unit 51 manages follow information of other medical professionals (examples of other users) followed by a medical professional (example of a user) who uses the electronic book 57, based on the follow DB 58. The sticky note management unit 52 manages sticky note information indicating the positions of sticky notes attached to the electronic book 57 based on the sticky note DB 59. The sticky note management unit 52 also displays the sticky note created at the position specified by the sticky note information so that it can be viewed by medical professionals other than the medical professional who created the sticky note.

[0041] The disclosure management unit 53 manages the disclosure range of the sticky note based on the disclosure range set on the sticky note created by the sticky note creator, the medical professional, and discloses the contents of the sticky note to the medical professional (an example of another user) who is the sticky note viewer. Also, the disclosure management unit 53 discloses the contents of the sticky note to other medical professionals who follow the medical professional, according to the disclosure range set on the sticky note created by the medical professional.

[0042] The seminar management unit 54 manages seminars held by the medical professional who created the sticky note, based on a seminar management DB 61 shown in FIG. 18, which will be described later. The seminar management unit 54 also manages followers (an example of other users) who follow the user who is the seminar organizer and participate in the seminar through the sticky note. The contents of the online seminar by the seminar management unit 54 will be described later in the second embodiment. However, even medical professionals who do not follow the user who is the seminar organizer may participate in the seminar.

[0043] The reference management unit 55 collects reference log data d3 from the reference log DB 60, and gathers information on sticky notes created by medical personnel and the like. The reference management unit 55 searches the electronic book 57 for the search target (words, sentences, etc.) input from the input unit 12 of the information processing terminal 10, and displays the search results on the screen. The reference management unit 55 collects data such as the reference log data d3 in accordance with commands received from the information processing terminal 10, and accumulates it in the receipt DB 22. The receipt DB 22 then manages data for each dental clinic and for each medical personnel.

[0044] When a medical professional inputs a question into an input field on the screen displayed on the information processing terminal 10, the reference management unit 55 searches the electronic book 57 for the phrase or sentence input into the question. At this time, the reference management unit 55 searches the electronic book 57 for the question input from the information processing terminal 10. The question is assumed to be input by text input from a keyboard provided on the information processing terminal 10, but the question may also be input by providing a microphone on the information processing terminal 10 and having the medical professional input by voice into the microphone.

[0045] The reference management unit 55 interprets a sentence written in a natural language, for example, using AI (Artificial Intelligence). The reference management unit 55 searches the electronic book 57 using the result of the interpreted phrase or sentence, and acquires a phrase or sentence that is an answer matching the content of the sentence from the electronic book 57. In this way, even if the phrase entered by the medical professional is inconsistent, the reference management unit 55 can correctly search the electronic book 57 for a page or the like that describes the content corresponding to the phrase. When keywords such as the patient's main complaint are entered from the information processing terminal 10 as a trend of the disease name, the reference management unit 55 searches the electronic book 57 using these keywords.

[0046] Furthermore, the reference management unit 55 displays the search results, obtained by searching the electronic book 57 for the phrase or sentence input by the input unit 12 as the search target, on the display unit 11 as the answer to the question item. This answer includes reference information such as the page number in the electronic book 57 where the phrase or sentence corresponding to the question item is written, and the page contents, etc. In this way, the reference management unit 55 displays on the information processing terminal 10 the page that includes the phrase input by the medical professional, and extracts sentences from the electronic book 57 that have a meaning similar to the input sentence and displays them on the information processing terminal 10.

[0047] If the electronic book 57 contains an item corresponding to the question item, the reference management unit 55 obtains the content extracted from the electronic book 57 as the answer. On the other hand, if the electronic book 57 does not contain an item corresponding to the question item, the reference management unit 55 obtains as a response that the answer is not included in the electronic book 57. In this way, the question item command input by the reference management unit 55 to the electronic book 57 and a log of whether or not there is an answer are recorded in the reference log DB 60 as reference log data d3.

[0048] The e-book DB 56 stores e-books 57. The e-book 57 is updated each time a revision is made by the e-book editorial department 41 of the publisher. The e-book DB 56 stores the e-book 57 for each revised version. For example, information processing terminals used by not only medical personnel but also instructors of a medical receipt management company (manufacturer of medical receipt computers) can connect to the e-book DB 56 and refer to any version of the e-book 57 from the information processing terminal.

[0049] Every time medical treatment fees are revised, a revised version of the electronic book 57 is distributed from the electronic book management server 4. Therefore, when the contents of the electronic book 57 referred to in relation to medical treatment are revised, the electronic book DB 56 stores the electronic book 57 distributed from the electronic book management server 4 for each revised version.

[0050] The follow DB 58 stores information on followers who follow medical professionals. The sticky note DB 59 stores information on sticky notes that medical personnel have created on the electronic book 57 .

[0051] The reference log data d3 shown in FIG. 3 includes information on the history of the electronic book 57 that the medical professional referred to when creating a medical record or inputting a medical receipt by operating the information processing terminal 10, and is stored in the reference log DB 60 of the browsing support server 5. The reference log data d3 is data that stores the type of electronic book 57 that the medical professional referred to, the version of the electronic book 57, the time spent on the electronic book 57, and the like. The reference management unit 55 reads out the version of the electronic book 57 specified by the input unit 12 from the electronic book DB 56 and displays it on the display unit 11. Therefore, the medical professional can display the desired version of the electronic book 57 from the revision history of the electronic book 57 displayed on the medical receipt input screen of the information processing terminal 10. In addition, the operation that the medical professional performed while referring to the electronic book 57 when inputting a medical receipt (for example, copying and pasting a specific item) is also stored in the reference log DB 60 as the reference log data d3.

[0052] (Publisher) For example, the publisher edits the e-book 57 and creates a revised version of the e-book 57 every time the medical fee is revised. The publisher's e-book management server 4 stores the revised version of the e-book 57 in the e-book DB 56 of the reading support server 5. Note that the publisher may also publish a revised version of a book as before. The publisher also obtains the results of the statistical processing according to this embodiment. The publisher can improve the e-book 57 by obtaining information on the sticky notes of the e-book 57 from the service company.

[0053] The e-book management server 4 manages the revision contents of the e-book 57 using the e-book DB 56. Information such as the contents of the sticky notes is provided to the e-book management server 4 from the reading assistance server 5. This information includes, for example, information on sticky notes that frequently explain difficult-to-understand contents. This information is used, for example, to grasp the market in the dental industry or publishing industry and to improve the e-book 57.

[0054] An editor at the publisher can add sticky notes to pages containing revisions and add corrections to typos to the cover of the e-book 57 through the e-book editing department 41. It is also possible to set an external URL (Uniform Resource Locator) link to the e-book 57. The e-book 57 to which the publisher has added sticky notes can be viewed by medical professionals via the viewing support server 5.

[0055] The electronic book management server 4 includes an electronic book editing unit 41 . The e-book editing unit 41 edits the e-book 57 in accordance with the timing when medical treatment fees are significantly revised every two years. At this time, an employee of the publishing company can connect an information processing terminal (not shown) to the e-book management server 4 and edit the e-book 57 while referring to the information of the sticky notes of the e-book 57 acquired from the browsing support server 5. The employee of the publishing company also performs editing such as adding or deleting documents or images to the e-book 57 using document editing commands or image editing commands inputted from the information processing terminal (not shown).

[0056] The electronic book editing unit 41 stores the edited electronic book 57 in the electronic book DB 56 . Even if the medical fee is irregularly revised, the e-book editing department 41 promptly edits the partially revised e-book 57 that reflects the revisions, and stores the partially revised e-book 57 in the e-book DB 56. Therefore, medical personnel can view the latest revised e-book 57 on the information processing terminal 10.

[0057] (See Log Data Configuration) The reference log DB 60 stores the reference log data d3 shown in FIG. The reference log data d3 stores the e-book ID, the e-book name, the version, the index, page information, and the reference page. In the item of electronic book ID, an electronic book ID that uniquely identifies the electronic book 57 being viewed on the information processing terminal 10 is stored. The e-book name field stores the name of the e-book linked to the e-book ID. The version item stores the version (edition) of the electronic book 57 . In the item of index, an index set in electronic book 57 is stored. In the item of page information, page information such as the page number of the electronic book 57 is stored.

[0058] In the item of the reference page, a page that has been open by a medical professional for a predetermined period of time or more is stored as the reference page. That is, in the item of the reference page, subfields for the dwell time and the operation content are provided. The subfield of the stay time stores the time during which the reference page is kept open as the stay time. The subfield for operation contents stores the contents of the operation performed by the medical professional on the reference page, including, for example, the copy and paste locations on the reference page.

[0059] The reference log data d3 may also be configured to store search keywords, whether or not the search results can be cited, the final registered information, the medical receipt ID, and return information, which are indicated by dashed lines. These items will be briefly explained here, and will be described in detail later. In the search keyword field, a word or phrase inputted via the input unit 12 by a medical professional to search the electronic book 57 for a specific word or phrase is stored as a search keyword. The item regarding whether or not search results can be cited stores information (e.g., a citation flag) indicating whether or not a medical professional has selected (cited) the search results obtained by searching e-book 57 based on the input search keywords. The item of finally registered information stores information that the medical professional finally registers in the medical record system or the medical receipt system through the input unit 12. The finally registered information includes at least either the search result selected by the medical professional or the information manually input by the medical professional.

[0060] The Receipt ID field stores the receipt ID for identifying the receipt submitted to the review and processing organization. The receipt ID is a unique identification given to each receipt when it is created by a medical professional. The return information item stores return information including a return flag indicating whether the prescription submitted to the review processing agency has been returned, and words and parts that were suggested to be corrected by the review processing agency at the time of return.

[0061] (Composition of medical log data) The medical receipt DB 22 stores medical care log data shown in Fig. 3. Each item of the medical care log data stores a date and time, a medical staff ID, a patient name, a question item, an answer, and an event recorded in the medical record. The date and time item stores the date and time when the medical staff wrote the medical record. The medical staff ID field stores a medical staff ID that is assigned to identify a medical professional. The patient name field stores the patient's name. The question items and answers described in the medical data d1 are stored in the question item and answer items.

[0062] The item of the event recorded in the medical record stores the information of the event that the medical professional recorded in the medical record. The event recorded in the medical record includes the quoted content (disease name, treatment name, summary, etc.) when the medical professional cites the page or phrase information that he / she referred to in the electronic book 57 in the medical record, the citation date and time, the citation person (medical professional ID), the number of citations, etc.

[0063] (Basic information on medical institutions) The medical institution basic information shown in Fig. 3 is registered in the receipt DB 22. The medical institution basic information is information that is also known by the service company. Each item of the medical institution basic information stores the name of the clinic, address, telephone number, HP (Home Page) URL, and medical staff information. The clinic name field stores the name of the dental clinic or hospital. The address item stores the address of the dental clinic or hospital. The telephone number field stores the telephone number of the dental clinic or hospital. The item "Website URL" stores the URL of the website managed by the dental clinic or hospital. The medical staff information item stores information about medical staff (for example, medical personnel) working at a dental clinic or hospital, such as the university from which the medical staff graduated.

[0064] A medical professional using the information processing terminal 10 can perform the following operations by using the electronic book 57. (1) Medical professionals prepare prescriptions while referring to e-book 57. (2) When the contents of E-Book 57 change, medical professionals can modify the contents of the prescription (errors, changes to insurance points) at their discretion to match the revised contents of E-Book 57. (3) Medical professionals can refer to the revision history of the revised e-book 57 and can also update the revision history of prescriptions. (4) Medical professionals add sticky notes to any unclear areas and write an explanation of the unclear areas on the sticky notes. (5) Medical professionals can follow other dentists and view the contents of the sticky notes added by those medical professionals.

[0065] (6) The service company staff can check the contents of the sticky notes added by the medical professional by referring to the reference log data d3, which stores the points where the medical professional referred to the e-book 57, including the date and time when the medical professional wrote in the medical record, the person who wrote in the medical record, the patient's illness and details of treatment, etc. (7) The publisher will use the contents of the sticky notes provided by the service company to improve the content of the e-book57.

[0066] <Examples of Hardware Configurations of the Information Processing Terminal 10, the Electronic Book Management Server 4, and the Reading Support Server 5> Next, a description will be given of the hardware configuration of the computer 100 which constitutes the information processing terminal 10, the electronic book management server 4, and the reading assistance server 5 of the reading assistance system 1. FIG.

[0067] The calculator 100 is an example of hardware used as a computer capable of operating as the information processing terminal 10, the receipt management server 2, the electronic book management server 4, and the browsing support server 5 according to the present embodiment.

[0068] The computer 100 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 101, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 102, and a RAM (Random Access Memory) 103, each of which is connected to a bus 104. The computer 100 further includes a display device 105, an input device 106, a non-volatile storage 107, and a network interface 108.

[0069] The CPU 101 reads out program code of software for implementing each function of this embodiment from the ROM 102, loads it into the RAM 103, and executes it. Variables and parameters generated during the calculation processing of the CPU 101 are temporarily written to the RAM 103, and these variables and parameters are read out by the CPU 101 as appropriate. However, an MPU (Micro Processing Unit) may be used instead of the CPU 101. Each function of the receipt management server 2, each function of the viewing assistance server 5, and the function of the e-book editing unit 41 of the e-book management server 4 are implemented by the operation of the CPU 101.

[0070] The display device 105 is, for example, a liquid crystal display monitor, and displays the results of processing performed by the computer 100 to medical personnel. The input device 106 is, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, etc., and allows medical personnel to input predetermined operations and give instructions. The functions of the display unit 11 and input unit 12 of the information processing terminal 10 are realized by the display device 105 and the input device 106. In addition, the functions of the display unit and input unit of a PC (not shown) connected to the browsing assistance server 5 and the e-book management server 4 are also realized by the display device 105 and the input device 106.

[0071] The non-volatile storage 107 may be, for example, a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid state drive (SSD), a flexible disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a magnetic tape, or a non-volatile memory. In addition to an operating system (OS) and various parameters, a program for making the computer 100 function is recorded in the non-volatile storage 107. The ROM 102 and the non-volatile storage 107 record programs and data necessary for the CPU 101 to operate, and are used as an example of a computer-readable non-transient storage medium that stores a program executed by the computer 100. The functions of the receipt DB 22 of the receipt management server 2, the e-book DB 56, the follow DB 58, the sticky note DB 59, and the reference log DB 60 of the viewing assistance server 5 are realized by the non-volatile storage 107.

[0072] For example, a network interface card (NIC) is used as the network interface 108, and various data can be transmitted and received between devices via a LAN, a dedicated line, or the like connected to a terminal of the NIC.

[0073] <Example of the process from following to sharing a sticky note> 5 is a diagram showing the process from following to sharing a sticky note. The diagram shows how the follow DB 58 or sticky note DB 59 of the viewing assistance server 5 is accessed in a predetermined processing step. In the following explanation, medical personnel who use the viewing assistance system 1 are called users, and the explanation will be divided into sticky note creators and sticky note readers.

[0074] First, the sticky note creator operates the information processing terminal 10 to follow any user (S1). After that, the sticky note creator ends the following process. Following a user is a process of specifying a user from whom the sticky note creator wants to continue obtaining information. Information that the sticky note creator follows is recorded in the follow DB 58.

[0075] Next, the sticky note creator operates the information processing terminal 10 to input sticky note information (S2). At this time, the sticky note creator operates the information processing terminal 10 to select the visibility range of the sticky note and save it (S3). Sticky note information is information that is individually attached to a page, phrase, or sentence of the electronic book 57. The sticky note creator operates the information processing terminal 10 to specify the sticky note information inputted into the electronic book 57, thereby being able to open the page to which the sticky note information has been added and check the sticky note information. The visibility range of the sticky note selected by the sticky note creator is recorded in the sticky note DB 59.

[0076] The sticky note viewer operates the information processing terminal 10 to obtain follow data from the follow DB 58 (S11). The follow data is data on users whom the sticky note viewer is following. However, from the viewpoint of protecting personal information, the user data that the sticky note viewer can obtain from the follow data is limited to some data such as user names.

[0077] Next, the information processing terminal 10 used by the sticky note reader acquires the following sticky note data from the sticky note DB 59 (S12). (1) Stickies that the creator of a stickie that the viewer is following has set "Public to Followers" "Follower disclosure" is a function that allows the contents of a sticky note to be shared with followers who are viewing the electronic book 57. Therefore, followers can know what sticky notes the sticky note creators they follow have added to the electronic book 57 and what they have written on those sticky notes. (2) "Public Disclosure" This function allows the contents of sticky notes to be shared with all users viewing the same e-book57. Anything that the user particularly needs to pay attention to, any revisions, etc., are made public. (3) Announcement This is a function that allows publishers to allow all users to view sticky notes. Only users with ownership rights to the e-book57 (mainly publishers) can make announcements public. (4) Private (your own sticky notes) These are notes created for the creator to check alone, and the contents of the note are not made public to other users.

[0078] Thereafter, the information processing terminal 10 draws the sticky note over the electronic book 57 displayed on the screen (S13), and the sticky note drawing process ends.

[0079] 6 is a diagram showing an example of a follow list screen W1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The follow list screen W1 is a screen that can be displayed individually by the user. The function of the follow list screen W1 is realized by the follow management unit 51.

[0080] The follow list screen W1 has a name search field. For example, when "SATO" is entered in the name search field, search results of users whose names include "SATO" are displayed. In FIG. 6, three users are shown to be matched.

[0081] A follow button (labeled "Follow") will be displayed for users who are not being followed. When the follow button is pressed, the unfollowed user will become followed. An unfollow button will be displayed for users you are following. When you press the unfollow button, you will be unfollowed.

[0082] FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the follow DB 58 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The follow DB 58 has fields for the follow source user ID and the follow destination user ID. The followed user ID field stores the user ID of the user who is being followed. The followed user ID field stores the user ID of the user who is being followed.

[0083] When one user follows multiple users, multiple followee user IDs are associated with one follow source user ID and stored in the follow DB 58.

[0084] 8 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the sticky note DB 59 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The sticky note DB 59 has the following items: book ID, creator ID, sticky note ID, title, text, color, page, coordinates, width and height, creation date and time, likes, and public range.

[0085] The book ID item stores the book ID of the electronic book 57. The creator ID field stores a creator ID that indicates the user who created the sticky note. The sticky note ID item stores a sticky note ID that uniquely identifies a sticky note within the electronic book 57. Since it is sufficient that a sticky note added in a certain electronic book 57 is uniquely identified, the same sticky note ID may be stored in one electronic book 57 and another electronic book 57.

[0086] The title item stores the title of the sticky note. The body item stores the body of the sticky note. The color item stores the color of the sticky note.

[0087] The page item stores the page number on which the sticky note was created. The coordinate field stores the coordinates within the page on which the sticky note was created. If the sticky note is attached to the page itself, the coordinates of the top of the page are stored in the coordinate field. If the sticky note is attached to a word or sentence, the coordinates of the start position of the word or sentence are stored in the coordinate field.

[0088] The width and height items store the width and height of the sticky note. The creation date and time field stores the creation date and time of the sticky note. The Likes item stores the number of "Likes" given to the sticky note by other followers. The visibility range item stores the visibility range of the sticky note. For example, for each sticky note ID, either public or follower visibility registered by the sticky note creator is registered in the visibility range item as the visibility range.

[0089] <Examples of using e-books> Here, an example of how the electronic book 57 is used will be described. (1) When a medical professional enters a medical record, or when reviewing the entered medical record information after treating a patient, he or she refers to the electronic book 57 displayed on the information processing terminal 10 to check insurance points and verify the name of the disease and treatment, etc. (2) An instructor who teaches medical personnel how to fill out medical receipts has a task of answering inquiries from dental clinics. The instructor refers to an electronic book 57 downloaded from the browsing support server 5 using a system similar to that of the information processing terminal 10. By both the medical personnel and the instructor referring to the same electronic book 57, the instructor can immediately answer inquiries. (3) By having the same version of the electronic book 57 on hand and for reference at both the instructor and the dental clinic, the same pages and topics can be referenced by simultaneously specifying the index set in the electronic book 57, thereby speeding up responses to inquiries.

[0090] (4) If a medical professional cannot find the search term in the index, a full-text search can be performed on the entire text of the electronic book 57, making it possible to highlight the relevant part of the search term in the electronic book 57 or to display the relevant part on the screen of the information processing terminal 10. (5) Medical professionals can add notes to any parts of the e-book 57 that they do not understand, and can then add their interpretations and explanations of the parts to the notes. (6) Medical professionals who follow up on medical professionals can share their knowledge by checking the contents of the sticky notes created by the medical professionals.

[0091] <Screen display example> Next, examples of screens displayed on the information processing terminal 10 will be described with reference to Fig. 9 to Fig. 13. The following screens are all displayed on a general-purpose web browser installed on the information processing terminal 10.

[0092] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a display example of the function selection screen W2. When the medical professional inputs a specified login ID, password, etc. through the information processing terminal 10, the function selection screen W2 shown in FIG. 9 is initially displayed. On the left side of the function selection screen W2, version information of the medical record system, information of the medical institution logged into the medical record system, information of the medical professional, etc. are displayed. On the right side of the function selection screen W2, selection icons for selecting various functions related to dental treatment are displayed. Here, it is assumed that the medical professional selects the e-book icon W2a displayed at the bottom of the screen. When the e-book icon W2a is selected, the information processing terminal 10 accesses the browsing assistance server 5 and displays the e-book 57.

[0093] 10 is a diagram showing a display example of the electronic book display screen W3. The display function of the electronic book display screen W3 is realized by the sticky note management unit 52. The electronic book display screen W3 has a page indication unit W3a, an electronic book display area W3b, a search term input field W3d, and a sticky note content display field W3e.

[0094] The page designation section W3a displays a page input field for the medical professional to designate the display page of the electronic book 57, a magnification input field for designating the display magnification of the electronic book 57, etc. The medical professional can use the page designation section W3a to display an arbitrary page W3c of the electronic book 57 and change the display magnification of the displayed page W3c.

[0095] When the e-book icon W2a shown in Fig. 9 is selected, the latest version of the e-book 57 is displayed in a double-page spread in the e-book display area W3b. However, the medical professional may be able to select the version of the e-book 57 so that an older version of the e-book 57 is displayed. When the medical professional designates an edge of the displayed e-book 57 with a pointer or touch operation, the e-book 57 is forwarded or reversed and displayed in a double-page spread in the e-book display area W3b. The medical professional may also display a single page of the e-book 57 in the e-book display area W3b.

[0096] When a medical professional inputs a search term into the search term input field W3d, the search results for the input search term in the electronic book 57 and the page W3c containing the input term are displayed in a double-page spread. At this time, the term in the page W3c that matches the input term is highlighted, for example, in a specific color. For example, when a medical professional inputs "impacted wisdom tooth" as the search term into the search term input field W3d, the page W3c containing "impacted wisdom tooth" is displayed in the electronic book display area W3b.

[0097] (Index search results) When a medical professional specifies a particular item from the index set in the electronic book 57, a page W3c including the specified item is displayed in the electronic book display area W3b as an index search result. For example, a page W3c on which the specified item is written from the index is displayed.

[0098] A sticky note content display field W3e is displayed on the left side of the electronic book display screen W3. In the sticky note content display field W3e, the title and content of one or more sticky notes attached to the electronic book 57 are displayed as a list of sticky note content W3f for each sticky note. If the text of the sticky note is long, part of the text of the sticky note is displayed in the sticky note content W3f. When the medical professional individually selects the sticky note content displayed in the sticky note content display field W3e, the page W3c to which the selected sticky note is attached is displayed on the electronic book display screen W3. Stickies may be created by the medical professional viewing the electronic book 57 himself or herself, or by other medical professionals. As described above, a publisher may also create sticky notes to indicate the revisions to the electronic book 57.

[0099] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a display example of the sticky note creation screen W4. When a medical professional creates a new sticky note, a sticky note creation screen W4 is displayed on the information processing terminal 10. The sticky note creation screen W4 is displayed superimposed on the front of the electronic book 57. The sticky note creation screen W4 is realized by the sticky note management unit 52.

[0100] The sticky note creation screen W4 includes a title input field, a text input field, and a disclosure range setting field W4a, which are necessary for a sticky note creator to create a sticky note. The title of the sticky note is entered in the title entry field. The text of the sticky note is entered in the text entry field. The visibility setting field W4a displays check items for setting the visibility of the sticky note. There are four visibility options: private, visible to followers only, visible to announcements, and visible to everyone. Visibility options include only other users who follow the user (sticky note creator) (sticky note viewers who are followers), all other users who use electronic information (all sticky note viewers), or only the user (private). A check mark is placed next to the visibility option that has been set.

[0101] FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a tag W3g drawn on the electronic book display screen W3. A page W3c of the electronic book 57 is displayed on the right side of the electronic book display screen W3. A sticky note W3g is displayed on the page W3c. In Fig. 12, the sticky note W3g is displayed in two places, the upper left and the right side of the main text page.

[0102] The contents of the sticky notes W3g added to the page W3c are displayed for each sticky note on the left side of the e-book display screen W3. Follower sticky notes, public sticky notes, and notification sticky notes can only be edited by the creator of the sticky note W3g.

[0103] The sticky note W3g is displayed in different colors depending on the type. For example, a sticky note W3g that is only visible to followers or public is displayed in green to viewers. A sticky note W3g that is public for announcements is displayed in white to viewers. A viewer of the sticky note can check the contents of the sticky note W3g and the color of the sticky note W3g to obtain the necessary information. The sticky note W3g may be displayed transparently at any transparency level. By displaying the text or figure written behind the sticky note W3g transparently, medical personnel can easily check the text written at the location where the sticky note W3g is attached.

[0104] Fig. 13 is a diagram showing an application (live display) of sticky note drawing according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Page W3c shown in Fig. 13 is included in the electronic book display screen W3 shown in Fig. 10, but to avoid complicating the drawing, only page W3c and sticky notes W3g1 to W3g4 are shown.

[0105] The live display is a function that prioritizes the display of sticky notes according to the publication date, importance, etc. of the sticky notes so that the reader does not miss important sticky notes when many sticky notes are attached to the electronic book 57, and is realized by the sticky note management unit 52. Fig. 13 illustrates an example in which sticky notes W3g are displayed on the left and right of a page W3c of the electronic book 57. In the following description, sticky notes W3g1 to W3g4 are added in the figure to distinguish between the sticky notes W3g.

[0106] In the live display function, for example, when a viewer opens a page, among the publicly available sticky notes, only new sticky notes created within a specified number of days, such as within the last three days, are displayed on the left and right of the page by "bubbling from bottom to top" and "displaying for a moment and then disappearing." For example, the sticky notes W3g1 and W3g2 on the left side of the page W3c were created within the last three days. Therefore, after the page W3c is displayed, the sticky notes W3g1 and W3g2 are displayed by moving from the bottom to the top of the electronic book display screen W3 at a constant speed. If the sticky notes W3g1 and W3g2 were created more than three days ago, they may be hidden or displayed in a dark color. In addition, medical personnel can change the specified number of days for live display. For example, the specified number of days may be one month.

[0107] Furthermore, the more "Likes" a post-it has, the brighter and clearer it is displayed, while the fewer "Likes" a post-it has, the dimmer it is displayed. For example, post-it W3g4 displayed on the right side of page W3c has more "Likes" than post-it W3g3, so it is displayed brighter. This makes it easier for viewers to focus on and view post-it W3g4, which is displayed brightly and clearly and is likely to have been favorably rated by multiple viewers.

[0108] 14 is an image diagram of the sticky note sharing function provided by the browsing assistance system 1. The sticky note sharing function is realized by the sticky note management unit 52.

[0109] First, an example on the sticky note creator's side will be described. The sticky note creator, for example, operates the information processing terminal 10 shown in Fig. 2 to display the electronic book display screen W3 and create a sticky note W3g. The left side of Fig. 14 shows an image diagram of Mr. C (sticky note creator) of C Dental Clinic displaying the electronic book display screen W3 and adding a sticky note to a page. Assume that Mr. C has difficulty interpreting a particular part of the page, and so he thinks of creating a sticky note W3g for other viewers to leave an explanation for interpretation.

[0110] Using the above-mentioned sticky note creation function, Mr. C can create a sticky note W3g on which he writes an explanation by selecting a page or area for a specific part in the electronic book 57. The created sticky note W3g is recorded in the sticky note DB 59 of the viewing support server 5. The sticky note W3g is set to be visible to followers. Since this sticky note W3g is an explanation that explains an item or passage that is difficult to interpret, it is expected that other medical professionals will view the sticky note W3g as a reference for interpretation.

[0111] In the location where C created the sticky note W3g, other people A and B have also created sticky notes W3g. Therefore, the sticky note W3g displayed shows an image icon representing the creator, the creator's name, and part of the content of the sticky note W3g for each creator of the sticky note W3g, making it possible to distinguish the sticky note creators. Therefore, sticky note viewers can check explanations written from different perspectives for the sticky notes W3g attached to the electronic book 57.

[0112] Next, an example on the sticky note viewer side will be described. On the right side of FIG. 14, an image diagram of an electronic book 57 displayed by Mr. B (sticky note viewer) of Dental Clinic B is shown. Mr. B uses, for example, an information processing terminal 10 such as a smartphone to access the viewing assistance server 5 and view a page including a sticky note W3g attached to the electronic book 57. Mr. B can display, on the information processing terminal 10, a sticky note W3g created by a medical professional whom he follows. The sticky note W3g displayed by Mr. B on the information processing terminal 10 reflects the content (called "explanation") of the sticky note W3g created by Mr. C. For this reason, Mr. B knows that Mr. C has shared the sticky note W3g. Part of the explanation of the sticky note W3g created by Mr. A and Mr. B is also displayed.

[0113] If person B does not follow person C, then person B will not be able to view the explanations created by person C. If person B thinks that person C's explanations are easy to understand, then person B will follow person C. As a result of person B following person C, person B will be able to view the explanations created by person C. However, person B may display sticky notes W3g created by medical professionals whom person B does not follow.

[0114] <Feedback on evaluation results> 15 is a table showing an example of the explanation ranking table 59T. The explanation ranking table 59T is created by the sticky note management unit 52 of the viewing support server 5 based on the sticky note DB 59.

[0115] The service company feeds back to the publisher the highly rated commentaries from the sticky notes W3g written in the electronic book 57. In this feedback process, the service company's viewing support server 5 shown in FIG. 2 provides the commentary ranking table 59T to the publisher's electronic book management server 4. For this reason, the sticky note management unit 52 creates the commentary ranking table 59T based on the sticky note DB 59. The commentary ranking table 59T includes information on the keywords used in the search and the number of ratings for the commentary. For example, a commentary that has been referenced more frequently will be ranked higher. Furthermore, when a sticky note reader registers an evaluation (not shown) for the commentary written in the sticky note W3g, the number of ratings is added. A commentary with a larger number of ratings will be ranked higher. The commentary ranking table 59T may store the date and time when the sticky note W3g was referenced, the page viewed by the sticky note reader, and the user ID of the sticky note creator.

[0116] The publisher obtains commentary ranking table 59T from the service company. When the publisher next revises e-book 57, it adds a more detailed explanation based on the contents of the commentary with the highest ranking obtained from commentary ranking table 59T. The publisher can also request proofreading from the sticky note creator (for example, user ID U-0001 in the figure) who wrote the commentary with the highest rating in commentary ranking table 59T. In this way, the publisher can increase the value of e-book 57.

[0117] In the browsing support system 1 according to the first embodiment described above, medical personnel can use the medical receipt management function and the browsing support function by simply preparing the information processing terminal 10 without having to prepare a dedicated server. This makes it possible to reduce the introduction costs of the server and other components required for introducing the system, as well as ongoing costs. In addition, the information processing terminal 10 does not need to be installed in a specific location. For example, medical personnel can access the medical receipt management server 2 and the browsing support server 5 using the information processing terminal 10 that they have taken outside. This makes it easy for the administrator to check the input status of medical records and medical receipts, and also makes it easy to check the contents of the electronic book 57.

[0118] Furthermore, medical personnel using the information processing terminal 10 can create a sticky note W3g at any location in the electronic book 57. The sticky note creator can set the visibility range of the sticky note W3g. The sticky note viewer can check the sticky note W3g registered in the electronic book 57 and share the information in the sticky note W3g.

[0119] Furthermore, when a medical professional creates a medical record and a medical receipt, the information processing terminal 10 can display the electronic book display screen W3 alongside the input fields on each input screen. At this time, pages related to the contents of the medical record and medical receipt that the medical professional is inputting are displayed, so the medical professional can create the medical record and medical receipt while referring to the pages of the electronic book 57. This improves input efficiency and reduces input errors.

[0120] In addition, the contents of the books reflected in e-books 57 become the basis for communication between multiple medical professionals, and on top of that, the advantage of SNS is that fresh information flows, making it possible for multiple users to help each other understand the contents. Therefore, by combining e-books 57 and SNS, the disadvantages of both can be offset by their advantages.

[0121] In addition, pages related to terms such as disease names, treatment names (treatment names) or drugs, which differ for each patient, are searched for in the electronic book 57, and the search results are displayed on the screen. If a term is written on multiple pages, an index of the multiple pages is displayed on the screen, so that medical personnel can easily search for a page on which the desired information is written. This allows efficient creation of medical records and medical receipts.

[0122] Furthermore, the service company can check to what extent the sticky notes W3g created by medical professionals have been accepted by medical professionals. This allows the service company to grasp which parts of the e-book 57 were difficult for the sticky note readers to understand and required more detailed explanation. The service company can then provide the contents of the sticky notes W3g to the publisher and suggest modifications to the e-book 57 to the publisher. This allows the service company to receive remuneration from the publisher for the services it has provided to the user.

[0123] In addition, when an instructor at a medical receipt management company (a medical receipt computer manufacturer) responds to an inquiry from a medical professional, the instructor and the medical professional can refer to the same type and version of electronic book 57 and can refer to the same page. This allows the instructor to immediately respond to inquiries with high accuracy, which can significantly improve work efficiency.

[0124] Furthermore, the publisher can distribute a new version of the e-book 57 to the information processing terminal 10 of the medical professional every time a revision is made. In addition, the publisher can grasp the words and phrases in the e-book 57 that are frequently referred to by medical professionals, based on the contents of the sticky notes W3g provided by the service company. Furthermore, by receiving suggestions for revisions to the e-book 57 from the service company, the publisher can edit the e-book 57 to make it easier to use and improve the contents of the e-book 57.

[0125] [Second embodiment] Next, functions of the browsing support system 1 according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. Here, we will explain the online seminar distribution function of the viewing assistance system 1. The online seminar distribution function is a function that enables followers or all users viewing the same e-book 57 to seamlessly host or attend a seminar. The online seminar distribution function is realized by the seminar management unit 54.

[0126] Fig. 16 is an image diagram showing an example of the process of registering seminar information, acquiring, drawing, and participating in the seminar. A seminar reservation screen W5 on the left side of Fig. 16 shows how a sticky note creator makes a reservation to hold a seminar.

[0127] A viewing assistance server 5A according to the second embodiment is shown at the top of Fig. 16. The viewing assistance server 5A has a configuration in which a seminar management DB 61 and a video DB 62 are added to the viewing assistance server 5 shown in Fig. 2. The data stored in the seminar management DB 61 and the video DB 62 are both managed by the seminar management unit 54. An example of the data configuration of the seminar management DB 61 will be described later in Fig. 18, and an example of the data configuration of the video DB 62 will be described later in Fig. 19.

[0128] Suppose that Mr. C of Dental Clinic C, who is the seminar organizer, thinks that the explanation he previously wrote on a sticky note W3g has been well received and is thinking of holding a seminar this time. When Mr. C selects a specific area of ​​the e-book 57 (for example, the part where he created the sticky note W3g), a seminar reservation screen W5 is displayed on the e-book display screen W3. The seminar reservation screen W5 displays a reservation calendar, a seminar title registration field, a password registration field, and a reservation button. Mr. C can make a reservation for holding an online seminar by registering the date and time of the seminar, the seminar title, and a password through the seminar reservation screen W5.

[0129] The information on the reservation is registered in a seminar management DB 61 shown in Fig. 18. The seminar information can be displayed on the electronic book display screen W3. When an online seminar is held, a video of the seminar is recorded in a video DB 62 shown in FIG. 19, which will be described later.

[0130] Sticky note readers, such as medical student D and dental clinic B, operate their own information processing terminals 10 to display the electronic book display screen W3. When the sticky note readers notice that a sticky note W3g informing them of the holding of a seminar has been added to the electronic book 57, they open the sticky note W3g. The sticky note W3g contains written information that A, who the sticky note reader is not following, is planning to hold a seminar, and that C, who the sticky note reader is following, is planning to hold a seminar.

[0131] In seminars held by users who the sticky note viewer does not follow, the sticky note viewer can only watch the seminar videos. In this case, the sticky note viewer cannot post questions in the seminar in progress. On the other hand, in seminars held by users who the sticky note viewer follows, the sticky note viewer can participate in the seminar and post questions.

[0132] The sticky note viewer operates the information processing terminal 10 to display the electronic book 57, and if seminar holding information is displayed in the location where the sticky note W3g has been attached, clicks on the sticky note W3g. When the sticky note W3g is clicked, the seminar participation screen W6 is displayed. The seminar participation screen W6 displays information on seminars that have already been held and information on seminars that are scheduled to be held in the future.

[0133] The seminar information W6a for seminars held by A shows past dates of holding the seminars. Therefore, sticky note viewers can press the watch button (indicated as "Watch Video") to watch the seminar video. If the content of the seminar is good, sticky note viewers can press the follow button to follow A, the seminar host.

[0134] The seminar information W6b for the seminar that C is planning to hold shows the scheduled dates for future seminars. Sticky note viewers can press the seminar participation button (indicated as "Participate in seminar") to register for participation in the seminar and attend the seminar on the day it is held. Since the sticky note viewers are already following C, they can also ask C questions when they attend the seminar. In addition, B can unfollow C by pressing the unfollow button.

[0135] In this way, when D, a medical student who is a reader of sticky note W3g, or B of dental clinic B, who is following C, learns that he or she is holding a seminar, they will apply to participate in the seminar in the hope of hearing additional information on the explanation written by C. Also, sticky note readers can efficiently obtain only the information they want by viewing a seminar that provides a pinpoint explanation of the contents of sticky note W3g created in e-book 57.

[0136] Fig. 17 is a diagram showing the process of online seminar distribution according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In the explanation of Fig. 17, a sticky note creator who hosts a seminar is called a "seminar host", and sticky note viewers who attend the seminar are called "seminar attendees".

[0137] (Seminar organizer) First, the seminar organizer operates the information processing terminal 10 shown in Fig. 2 to select any text from the electronic book 57 (S21), and opens the seminar reservation screen W5 shown in Fig. 16. Next, the seminar organizer operates the information processing terminal 10 to input seminar information into the seminar reservation screen W5 (S22). Next, the seminar organizer operates the information processing terminal 10 to set the scope of disclosure of the seminar on the seminar reservation screen W5, and completes the registration of the seminar. The seminar information is saved in the seminar management DB 61 (S23).

[0138] On the day of the seminar, the seminar organizer operates the information processing terminal 10 to start the seminar (S24). The seminar is encoded in real time and stored in the video DB 62.

[0139] (Seminar participants) The seminar attendee operates the information processing terminal 10 to obtain follow data from the follow DB 58 (S31).

[0140] Next, the seminar attendee operates the information processing terminal 10 to obtain the seminar information registered by the seminar organizer from the seminar management DB 61, and obtains the video of the seminar from the video DB 62 (S32). The videos of the seminar include those currently being distributed in real time, as well as videos of seminars held in the past. The video distribution of the seminar may be realized, for example, by using WebRTC (Real-Time Communication), or may be realized in cooperation with an online seminar tool.

[0141] The seminar participants can obtain the following two types of seminar information from the seminar management DB 61. (1) Seminars that are open to followers A seminar participant cannot attend a seminar unless the seminar is hosted by a seminar organizer that the seminar participant follows. (2) Seminars open to the public The seminar participant can attend this seminar regardless of whether the seminar participant is following the seminar participant or not.

[0142] The seminar participation screen W6 shown on the right side of FIG. 16 is displayed on the information processing terminal 10 of the seminar participant, and the seminar participant can check the seminar information (S33). Next, the seminar participant operates the information processing terminal 10 to play the seminar video read from the video DB 62 and participate in the seminar (S34). When the seminar ends, the seminar participant registers their impressions of the seminar, etc., and closes the seminar participation screen W6. Their impressions of the seminar, etc., and their evaluation (for example, registration of "Like!") are recorded in the seminar management DB 61.

[0143] FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the seminar management DB 61 according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

[0144] The seminar management DB 61 has the following items: book ID, lecturer ID, seminar ID, title, password, page, coordinates, width and height, creation date and time, distribution date and time, likes, public range, and URL.

[0145] The book ID item stores the book ID of the electronic book 57. The Instructor ID item stores the ID of the seminar instructor. Typically, the instructor ID is a user ID. The seminar instructor is often the same as the seminar organizer mentioned above, but the seminar organizer and the seminar instructor may be different. For example, if multiple seminar instructors participate in one seminar, multiple instructor IDs may be stored for one seminar ID. The seminar ID item stores the seminar ID of a seminar held by the seminar organizer.

[0146] The title item stores the title of the seminar. The password item stores a password that allows only users (followers) who know the password to participate in the seminar. Users can unilaterally follow the seminar organizer, but the seminar organizer may not be able to allow all followers to participate in the seminar unconditionally. Therefore, when limiting the participants in the seminar, the seminar organizer will communicate the password in advance to specific users who are following the seminar organizer, by communication means such as email. Therefore, only followers who follow the seminar organizer and have been notified of the password in advance by the seminar organizer can participate in the limited seminar.

[0147] The page item stores the page number in electronic book 57 on which the seminar information was created. The coordinates in the page on which the seminar information is created are stored in the coordinate item. The width and height items store the width and height of the seminar information. The creation date and time field stores the creation date and time of the seminar information. The delivery date and time field stores the delivery date and time of the seminar. The Likes item stores the number of "Likes" given to the seminar information by followers of the seminar organizer or seminar participants. "Likes" can be registered by followers or seminar participants both before and after the seminar is held. The disclosure range item stores the disclosure range of the seminar information. The URL field stores the URL for linking with an external tool.

[0148] 19 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration of the moving image DB 62 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The moving image DB 62 has items such as a book ID, a seminar ID, a moving image ID, and a moving image path.

[0149] The book ID item stores the book ID of the electronic book 57. The seminar ID item stores the seminar ID of the seminar. Detailed information on the video managed by the video DB 62 is obtained from the seminar management DB 61 using the seminar ID as a key.

[0150] The video ID field stores a video ID for identifying video data recorded during the seminar. A random character string such as a universally unique identifier (UUID) may be used for the video ID so that it is difficult for a third party to guess. The video path item stores the path of video data stored in the video DB 62.

[0151] The browsing support system 1 according to the second embodiment described above is provided with a browsing support server 5A having a seminar management DB 61 and a video DB 62. A seminar host can seamlessly hold an online seminar from the electronic book 57 at a date and time specified by the host. The seminar host can select the target audience for the seminar by setting the scope of access to the seminar. Meanwhile, seminar attendees such as medical personnel can participate in the online seminar via sticky notes attached to the electronic book 57 and obtain the latest medical information.

[0152] Viewers, such as followers of the seminar organizer, can determine whether or not to attend the seminar based on the seminar information specified in the electronic book 57. Furthermore, when a viewer wants to attend a seminar, they only need to press the button for participating in the seminar shown in Fig. 16, so the barrier to participating in the seminar is low. Therefore, viewers who attend the seminar can easily obtain information.

[0153] In addition, a seminar participant does not have to be a follower of the seminar organizer. The seminar organizer does not have to include following as a requirement for attending the seminar.

[0154] [Third embodiment] Next, a configuration example of a browsing support system according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Fig. 20 to Fig. 23. In the browsing support system according to the third embodiment, a sticky note creator groups any users and controls the sticky note content to be made public to the group. The function of grouping multiple users is realized by a publication management unit 53.

[0155] Fig. 20 is a diagram showing a group management process according to the third embodiment of the present invention. The process shown in Fig. 20 is configured with similar processes to those according to the first embodiment shown in Fig. 5, so different processes will be described.

[0156] A browsing assistance system according to the third embodiment uses a browsing assistance server 5B. The browsing assistance server 5B has a configuration in which a group DB 63 is added to the browsing assistance server 5 (see FIG. 2) according to the first embodiment. The group DB 63 is managed by a follow management unit 51 of the browsing assistance server 5B. An example of the data configuration of the group DB 63 will be described later with reference to FIG. 22.

[0157] In the viewing assistance server 5B according to the third embodiment, the scope of sticky note disclosure managed by the disclosure management unit 53 includes group disclosure in which the sticky note creator user and specific other users who are sticky note viewers are grouped together. Therefore, the disclosure management unit 53 can disclose the contents of a sticky note for which group disclosure is set only to the specific other users who are grouped together, in addition to the sticky note creator user himself. Note that the specific other users who are grouped together may or may not already be following the sticky note creator user, but the following explanation will be given assuming that the sticky note creator follows a user of his choice.

[0158] After the sticky note creator follows a user in step S1, the sticky note creator creates a group including the user and the creator (S4). Information about this group is stored in the group DB 63 of the browsing assistance server 5B. The subsequent processing in steps S2 and S3 is the same as the processing described with reference to FIG. 5.

[0159] The information processing terminal 10 used by the sticky note reader acquires follow data from the follow DB 58 (S11), and then acquires group data from the group DB 63 (S14).

[0160] Next, the information processing terminal 10 used by the sticky note reader acquires any one of the following sticky note data (1) to (5) from the sticky note DB 59 (S12A). However, the sticky note data (1) to (4) are as described with reference to FIG. (5) Stickies that group members have set to "Group Public" "Group Public" is a function that allows sticky note creators to create groups with any users and share their sticky notes with group members. Sticky note viewers who do not belong to the same group as the sticky note creator cannot view the sticky note created by the sticky note creator when "Group Public" is set.

[0161] Thereafter, the information processing terminal 10 draws the sticky note over the electronic book 57 displayed on the screen (S13), and the sticky note drawing process ends.

[0162] 21 is a diagram showing an example of a group creation screen W7. The group creation screen W7 is a screen on which a user can create a group. A user who creates a new group is called a sticky note creator, and this sticky note creator is also called an "owner."

[0163] When the sticky note creator described with reference to FIG. 20 opens the group creation screen W7, information on the currently created group shown in the upper part of FIG. 21 is displayed. In FIG. 21, the group creation screen W7 for the group with the group name "Group1" entered in the group name input field is displayed. Note that by pressing the group edit button (indicated as "Edit Group") on the group creation screen W7, the group invitation screen W7a is displayed superimposed on the group creation screen W7. For this reason, the group creation screen W7 shown in the upper part of FIG. 21 does not include the member "Aki" to be added this time, among the members shown in the lower part of FIG. 21.

[0164] The group invitation screen W7a displays a group name input field and a member search field. The group name to be created is input in the group name input field. If the sticky note creator has the owner authority of the group, the group name can be changed as desired. In the member search field, characters are input so that the sticky note creator can search for members to add to the group. User names that match the characters entered in the member search field are displayed in a list in the search result display field. For example, when the character "a" is entered, user names that start with "a" are automatically searched and displayed. A user ID and an invitation button (indicated as "Invite") are displayed next to each user name. The user in the row where the sticky note creator pressed the invitation button is invited to the group "Group1". Information on users invited by the sticky note creator is saved in the group DB63. When the sticky note creator wants to delete the group "Group1", an operation of pressing the delete button (indicated as "Delete Group") below the group invitation screen W7a is performed.

[0165] The bottom of Figure 21 displays a group creation screen W7 with "Aki" added to the group "Group1". If the sticky note creator wants to create a new group, they can press the create new group button (labeled "Create a new group"). The group invitation screen W7a is then displayed, allowing the user to enter a group name for the new group and select users to invite. Users that the owner invites to the group can be anyone, regardless of whether they are following the owner. Therefore, even users who are not following the owner can be invited to the group.

[0166] FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an example of the data configuration of the group DB 63. As shown in FIG. The group DB 63 has items such as group ID, user IDs of group members, group names, and permissions.

[0167] The group ID item stores a unique group ID for each group. The group member user ID item stores the user IDs of users who participate in a group (called "group members"). The group name item stores the group name. The authority item stores the authority of the group. The user who created the group has owner authority, and the user who was added to the group has member authority. A user with owner authority can edit the group name and add or delete members, but a user with member authority cannot perform these operations.

[0168] 23 is a diagram showing an example of an electronic book display screen W3 according to the third embodiment of the present invention. Here, an operation for setting a sticky note W3g to be public to a group will be described. Note that detailed description of parts common to the electronic book display screen W3 shown in FIG. 11 will be omitted.

[0169] The sticky note creation screen W4 displays a visibility setting field W4a. The visibility setting field W4a includes visibility options such as private, followers only, announcements, and public, as well as group visibility. Group visibility limits the contents of the sticky note W3g to a specific group.

[0170] When the sticky note creator selects group publishing in the publishing range setting field W4a, a group selection screen W4b pops up. The group selection screen W4b is used by the sticky note creator to select members with whom the contents of the sticky note W3g will be shared. The group selection screen W4b displays the groups the sticky note creator currently participates in, so if the sticky note creator checks the name of the group with which they want to share the sticky note W3g, the contents of the sticky note W3g can be shared with the group members of that group name. For example, if the sticky note creator checks the group "Group1" and presses the OK button, the contents of the sticky note W3g will be shared with the group members of "Group1".

[0171] In the viewing assistance system 1 according to the third embodiment described above, a viewing assistance server 5B having a group DB 63 is provided, and the range of disclosure of a sticky note W3g can be set to group disclosure. Since necessary information is shared only with a group consisting of specific users, there is no risk of information leaking to other users. In addition, since multiple groups can be created, it is possible to increase or decrease the number of members in a group as appropriate according to the organization to which the sticky note creator belongs.

[0172] [Fourth embodiment] Next, a configuration example of a viewing support system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Figs. 24 and 25. In the viewing support system according to the fourth embodiment, a control is added to the viewing support system according to the second embodiment, which enables a sticky note creator to group any users and make the contents of the sticky note W3g public to the group. As described above, the function of grouping any users and making the contents of the sticky note W3g public to the group is realized by the publication management unit 53.

[0173] Fig. 24 is a diagram showing a group management process according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. The process shown in Fig. 24 is configured with similar processes to those according to the second embodiment shown in Fig. 17, so only different processes will be described.

[0174] When a seminar managed by the publication management unit 53 is set to be published to a group, the seminar management unit 54 of the browsing support system according to the fourth embodiment allows only specific other users who are group members to participate in the seminar. For this reason, the seminar management unit 54 follows the user who is the seminar host, and manages the specific other users who are grouped and participate in the seminar through sticky notes.

[0175] (Seminar organizer) The processing of steps S21 to S24 by the seminar organizer is the same as the processing of each step shown in FIG. 17, so a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

[0176] (Seminar participants) The seminar attendee operates the information processing terminal 10 to acquire follow data from the follow DB 58 (S31). Next, the seminar attendee operates the information processing terminal 10 to acquire group data from the group DB 63 (S35). The seminar attendee operates the information processing terminal 10 to acquire only group data of groups in which his / her own user ID is registered as a group member.

[0177] Next, the seminar participant operates information processing terminal 10 to obtain the seminar information registered by the seminar organizer from seminar management DB 61, and obtains the video of the seminar from video DB 62 (S32A).

[0178] There are three types of seminar information that a seminar participant can obtain from the seminar management DB 61: (1) Seminars that are open to followers (2) Seminars open to the public (3) Seminars that group members have made public A seminar participant belongs to a group member and can attend a seminar that is open to the group. Note that a seminar participant does not need to follow the seminar organizer.

[0179] The processes in steps S33 and S34 are the same as those in the steps shown in FIG.

[0180] Fig. 25 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the seminar management DB 61. Each item of the seminar management DB 61 shown in Fig. 25 is the same as each item of the seminar management DB 61 shown in Fig. 18, but a group ID is registered in the disclosure range item.

[0181] The disclosure range of the sticky note W3g is stored in the disclosure range item of the seminar management DB 61 shown in Fig. 25. In addition to the above-mentioned public and follower disclosure, the group ID of the group that is the subject of group disclosure is stored as the disclosure range in the disclosure range item. When multiple groups are registered in the disclosure range item, the group IDs of the groups are stored separated by commas.

[0182] In the browsing support system 1 according to the fourth embodiment described above, the scope of disclosure of a seminar can be set to group disclosure. Therefore, information about the seminar can be shared only within a group in which a limited number of members are registered, and there is no risk of the information about the seminar being leaked to users outside the group.

[0183] The seminar management unit 54 may manage the seminar so that the specific other users can participate in the seminar through a sticky note if they are grouped together, even if they do not follow the user who is the seminar organizer. In this case, if the seminar managed by the disclosure management unit 53 is set to be public to the group, the seminar management unit 54 allows only the specific other users to participate in the seminar.

[0184] Furthermore, the seminar management unit 54 may manage other users to participate in the seminar through sticky notes even if they do not follow the user who is the seminar organizer and are not grouped.

[0185] [Fifth embodiment] Next, a configuration example of a browsing support system according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Fig. 26 is a functional configuration diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a browsing support system 1A according to the fifth embodiment. The browsing support system 1A has all of the sticky note function according to the first embodiment, the seminar function according to the second embodiment, and the group function according to the third and fourth embodiments. However, to prevent the drawing from becoming too complicated, Fig. 26 will explain the browsing support system 1A having the sticky note function according to the first embodiment.

[0186] The browsing support system 1A includes an information processing terminal 10 and a medical record computer 7 for each dental clinic. The medical record computer 7 includes a medical record DB 71, a medical receipt DB 72, an electronic book DB 73, a follow-up DB 75, a sticky note DB 76, and a reference log DB 77.

[0187] The medical record DB 71 stores information of the medical record created by the medical record computer 7. The medical record information includes personal information of the patient, and therefore remains within the medical record computer 7. However, if the medical record computer 7 is configured as a cloud server, the information of the medical record DB 71 is transmitted to the cloud server.

[0188] The medical record computer 7 transmits medical treatment data d1 to the receipt management server 2, and registration data d2 is registered in the receipt DB 22. In addition, the medical record computer 7 transmits reference log data d3 to the viewing support server 5, and the reference log data d3 is registered in the reference log DB 60.

[0189] The data configurations of the medical receipt DB 72, the e-book DB 73, the follow-up DB 75, the sticky note DB 76, and the reference log DB 77 are similar to the data configurations of the medical receipt DB 22, the e-book DB 56, the follow-up DB 58, the sticky note DB 59, and the reference log DB 60 shown in Fig. 2. In the e-book DB 73, the e-book 57 distributed from the browsing support server 5 is saved as the e-book 74.

[0190] However, the data in each DB constructed in the medical record computer 7 is limited to information that can be referenced by medical personnel. Furthermore, of the information written in each DB of the medical record computer 7, information other than the medical record DB 71 is periodically synchronized with each DB provided in the receipt management server 2 and the viewing support server 5. Therefore, even if the medical record computer 7 is offline, medical personnel can operate the information processing terminal 10 to view the information recorded in each DB in the medical record computer 7.

[0191] In the viewing support system 1A according to the fifth embodiment described above, the information in each DB of the medical record computer 7 is synchronized with the information in each DB of the medical receipt management server 2 and the viewing support server 5. Therefore, even if the medical record computer 7 goes offline, medical personnel can check the information recorded in each DB of the medical record computer 7.

[0192] The sticky note creator of each dental clinic can create a sticky note W3g in the electronic book 57 and share the information in the sticky note W3g with other medical professionals. At this time, the sticky note creator can also add, for example, group publication as the scope of publication of the sticky note W3g. Also, the sticky note viewer of each dental clinic can check the sticky note W3g registered in the electronic book 57 and check the information in the sticky note W3g.

[0193] In addition, seminar organizers at each dental clinic can add seminar information about the seminars they organize to the sticky note W3g. Seminar attendees can attend the online seminar based on the seminar information recorded in the sticky note W3g.

[0194] [Variations] Furthermore, among the items that medical personnel input through the information processing terminal 10, frequently input words and phrases for a certain item may be displayed on the screen of the information processing terminal 10. By referring to the words and phrases displayed on the screen as a guide, medical personnel can refer to them when inputting information into the item.

[0195] In addition, in each of the above-mentioned embodiments, the creation of medical receipts in dental treatment has been described, but the present invention can also be applied to the creation of medical records (charts) and medical receipts for treatment by doctors, nurses, physical therapists, judo therapists, etc. For example, not only dentistry but also medical, pharmaceutical, and veterinary medicine departments can have a service company compile electronic books 57 that digitize books required for creating medical records and medical receipts, and provide them to clinics and the like that require the books. Therefore, the functions of the medical treatment processing unit provided by the service company can be used in various medical departments, and the electronic books 57 can be referred to when necessary.

[0196] Furthermore, the electronic book DB 56 used in each of the above-mentioned embodiments may incorporate papers and research results published by medical professionals, etc. The publisher may then create an electronic book 57 that lists the location information (such as URLs) of the papers and research results on the Web for each item included in the electronic book 57. A medical professional using the information processing terminal 10 can easily access the latest papers and research results by selecting the location information on the Web that is listed alongside a particular phrase.

[0197] Furthermore, the sticky note W3g used in each of the above-described embodiments may contain not only text but also diagrams. Adding diagrams to the sticky note W3g can deepen the sticky note reader's understanding. Furthermore, the sticky note W3g may contain the URL of a site for reference. By accessing the site via the URL, the sticky note reader can obtain detailed information that cannot be fully understood from the sticky note W3g alone.

[0198] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and it goes without saying that various other applications and modifications are possible without departing from the gist of the present invention as set forth in the claims. For example, the above-mentioned embodiments have described the configuration of the device and system in detail and specifically in order to explain the present invention in an easily understandable manner, and are not necessarily limited to those including all of the configurations described. In addition, it is possible to replace part of the configuration of the embodiments described here with the configuration of another embodiment, and it is also possible to add the configuration of another embodiment to the configuration of one embodiment. In addition, it is also possible to add, delete, or replace part of the configuration of each embodiment with other configurations. In addition, the control lines and information lines shown are those that are considered necessary for the explanation, and not all control lines and information lines in the product are necessarily shown. In reality, it can be considered that almost all components are connected to each other. [Explanation of symbols]

[0199] 1, 1A...viewing support system, 2...receipt management server, 4...electronic book management server, 5, 5A, 5B...viewing support server, 7...medical record computer, 10...information processing terminal, 11...display unit, 12...input unit, 21...receipt management unit, 51...follow-up management unit, 52...sticky note management unit, 53...publication management unit, 54...seminar management unit, 55...reference management unit, 57...electronic book, 22...receipt DB, 56...electronic book DB, 58...follow-up DB, 59...sticky note DB, 60...reference log DB, 61...seminar management DB, 62...video DB, 63...group DB

Claims

1. A browsing support system in which an information processing terminal that displays electronic information and a browsing support server are connected via a network, The aforementioned information processing terminal is A display unit that displays the aforementioned electronic information, The display unit has an input unit that receives operation input for the electronic information displayed on the display unit, The aforementioned browsing support server is The reference management unit interprets the operation input for the electronic information received from the input unit, uses the interpretation result of the operation input to obtain the result of searching for the electronic information shared by multiple information processing terminals, and displays the result of searching for the electronic information on the display unit. A browsing assistance system.

2. The display unit displays the results retrieved from the electronic information based on the search target input from the input unit as the operation input. The browsing support system according to claim 1.

3. The operation input includes modifications to the electronic information, and the content of the modifications to the electronic information is proposed to the provider of the electronic information. The electronic information modified by the aforementioned provider is made available for viewing from the information processing terminal as a new version of the electronic information. The browsing support system according to claim 2.

4. The browsing support server is The follow management unit manages the follow data of other users who follow the user, The seminar management department manages the seminars held by the aforementioned user, The system includes a seminar management database which includes a seminar ID for identifying the seminar, the date and time of distribution of the seminar, and an electronic information ID for identifying the electronic information. The follow management unit provides the follow data to other users who follow the user. The seminar management unit manages the seminars identified by the seminar ID and electronic information ID, and distributed at the specified distribution date and time, based on the seminar management database. It identifies other users who will participate in the seminar by selecting the seminar information, based on the follow data held by those other users, and allows those other users to participate in the seminar based on the seminar management database. The browsing support system according to claim 3.

5. The browsing support server is The system includes a sticky note management unit that manages sticky note information indicating the location of sticky notes attached to the electronic information, and displays sticky notes created at the location of the sticky note specified by the sticky note information on the display unit so that they can be viewed by users other than the user who created the sticky note. A browsing support system according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

6. The display unit displays the electronic information to which the sticky note selected by the input unit is attached from the plurality of displayed sticky notes, with the sticky note attached. The browsing support system according to claim 5.

7. The browsing support server is It has a public access management unit that manages the scope of public access for the aforementioned sticky notes, The display unit displays the sticky note in different display formats depending on the scope of public access for the sticky note. The browsing support system according to claim 5.

8. A browsing support method performed in a browsing support system in which an information processing terminal having a display unit for displaying electronic information and an input unit for receiving operation input for the electronic information displayed on the display unit, and a browsing support server are connected via a network, The steps include: the browsing support server interpreting the operation input for the electronic information received from the input unit; The steps include obtaining the result of searching for the electronic information shared by multiple information processing terminals using the result of interpreting the operation input, The step of displaying the results of the search for the electronic information on the display unit. Methods for assisting with browsing.

9. A procedure for interpreting an operation input for electronic information received from the input unit of an information processing terminal having a display unit for displaying electronic information and an input unit for receiving operation input for the electronic information displayed on the display unit, A procedure for obtaining the results of searching for the electronic information shared by multiple information processing terminals using the interpretation results of the operation input, A procedure for displaying the results of searching the aforementioned electronic information on the display unit. A program to be executed by a computer.

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