Information processing device

Abstract

To provide an information processing device which can more reliably provide information inputted by a user belonging to a higher hierarchy to an end user.SOLUTION: An information processing device comprises a control unit. The control unit: edits a content of object information, when receiving operation which edits the content of the object information from a first user; associates first editing history information indicating a history of editing of the content of the object information, user identification information on the first user, and hierarchy information on the first user with each other to add them to the object information, on the basis of user information in a storage unit; and forbids the editing of the content on the object information by a second user of the user identification information associated with the hierarchy information indicating a lower hierarchy than the hierarchy indicated by the hierarchy information on the first user, on the basis of the user information in the storage unit, when receiving the operation which forbids the editing of the content of the object information from the first user.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] An embodiment of the present invention relates to an information processing device. [Background technology]

[0002] 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known an information processing apparatus that edits information to be provided to an end user in response to operations received from each of a plurality of users. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2020-044712 ​​A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Here, in the information processing device described in Patent Document 1, input of information, confirmation of information, etc. are performed jointly by multiple users. However, in the information processing device, when multiple users form a hierarchical structure, information input by a user belonging to a higher hierarchy may be rewritten by a user belonging to a lower hierarchy. For this reason, the information processing device may not be able to provide information input by a user belonging to a higher hierarchy to an end user.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide an information processing device that can more reliably provide information input by a user belonging to a higher hierarchy to an end user. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The information processing device of the embodiment has a control unit. The control unit accepts an operation from each of a plurality of users, and edits the contents of the target information related to the target thing. When the control unit accepts a first editing operation for editing the contents of the target information from a first user of the plurality of users, the control unit edits the contents of the target information according to the first editing operation, and adds to the target information first editing history information indicating a history of editing of the contents of the target information, the user identification information of the first user, and the hierarchical information associated with the user identification information of the first user in association with each other, based on user information in a storage unit in which user information including information that associates user identification information identifying each of the plurality of users with hierarchical information indicating a hierarchical level to which each of the plurality of users belongs, in association with each other, and the first editing history information is added to the target information. When the control unit accepts a first editing prohibition operation for prohibiting editing of the contents of the target information from the first user, the control unit prohibits editing of the contents of the target information by a second user of user identification information associated with hierarchical information indicating a hierarchical level lower than the hierarchical level indicated by the hierarchical information associated with the user identification information of the first user, based on the user information in the storage unit. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] 1 illustrates an example of a configuration of an information processing device 1. FIG. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a hierarchical structure formed by N users. [Diagram 3] 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of an information processing device 1. FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a flow of an editing process. [Diagram 5] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration of an information edit image PA. [Figure 6] 13 is a diagram showing an example of an information edit image PA after the state of a target information display region R has been changed to gray out. FIG. [Figure 7] 13 is a diagram showing an example of multiple pieces of target information edited by a user belonging to Region for a user belonging to Country A. FIG. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the state after a user belonging to CountryA has edited the target information shown in FIG. 7 for a user belonging to DealerAB. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of the state of the target information shown in FIG. 8 after it has been edited by a user belonging to DealerAB for an end user. [Figure 10] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a state in which a user belonging to a Region is prohibited from editing a new piece of target information identified by "4" in the plurality of pieces of target information shown in FIG. 7. [Figure 11] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a state in which editing of target information edited by a user belonging to DealerAB is prohibited by a user belonging to Region. [Figure 12] FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a flow of a browsing process. [Figure 13] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of an information edit image PA in which a user is in the middle of editing target information. [Figure 14] 14 is a diagram showing an example of a state after editing of target information is prohibited on information edit image PA shown in FIG. 13. FIG. [Figure 15] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing another example of the configuration of target information. [Figure 16] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of an information edit image PA displaying the contents of target information that is prohibited from being edited by users who belong to the Region. [Figure 17] 17 is a diagram showing an example of a state in which the number indicated by vote count information in the target information shown in FIG. 16 has increased by 1. FIG. [Figure 18] 13 is a diagram showing an example of how the information edit image PA changes after the number indicated by vote count information associated with the target information is increased by 1. FIG. [Figure 19] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of the flow of an editing prohibition lift request voting process. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0008] An information processing device according to an embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. In each drawing, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals. As an example of the information processing device according to the embodiment, an information processing device 1 will be described.

[0009] (Configuration of information processing device) The configuration of the information processing device 1 will be described with reference to Fig. 1. Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the information processing device 1.

[0010] The information processing device 1 is a device capable of editing information to be provided to an end user via a plurality of users.

[0011] The information processing device 1 is, for example, a server. The information processing device 1 may be configured by a single server, or may be configured by multiple servers connected to each other via a network. For example, the information processing device 1 may be a single server shared by multiple users, or may be configured by servers corresponding to each of the multiple users. As an example, a case where the information processing device 1 is a single server as shown in FIG. 1 will be described. Instead of a server, the information processing device 1 may be another information processing device such as a workstation, a desktop PC (Personal Computer), or a notebook PC.

[0012] In the example shown in FIG. 1, the information processing device 1 is communicably connected to N information processing terminals 10. Each of these N information processing terminals 10 is an information processing terminal operated by one of N users belonging to a certain organization. N may be any integer equal to or greater than 2. The organization may be any organization. Each of these N information processing terminals 10 is indicated by the same reference numeral for convenience of explanation. However, some or all of these N information processing terminals 10 may be different types of information processing terminals. Each of these N information processing terminals 10 is, for example, a notebook PC, a desktop PC, a tablet PC, a multi-function mobile phone terminal (smartphone), a mobile phone terminal, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), or the like, but is not limited thereto.

[0013] The information processing device 1 communicates with each of the N information processing terminals 10 wirelessly or via wires. The information processing device 1 may communicate with some or all of the N information processing terminals 10 via different communication networks, or may communicate with each of the N information processing terminals 10 via the same communication network. Through such communication, the information processing device 1 accepts operations from each of the N users via each of the N information processing terminals 10. As an example, a case where these N information processing terminals 10 have already logged in to the information processing device 1 will be described. That is, in this embodiment, a description of the process related to the login to the information processing device 1 by these N information processing terminals 10 will be omitted. As an example, the configuration of the information processing device 1 will be described by taking the process of the information processing device 1 when an operation is accepted from a first user among the N users as an example. For convenience of explanation, the information processing terminal 10 of the first user among the N information processing terminals 10 will be referred to as a first information processing terminal. The process performed by the information processing device 1 in response to an operation received from the first user via the first information processing terminal is similar to the process performed by the information processing device 1 in response to an operation received from any one of the N users other than the first user via the information processing terminal 10. For ease of explanation, the operation received from the first information processing terminal will be simply referred to as a first user operation.

[0014] The information processing device 1 edits the contents of the target information related to the target matter in response to, for example, the first user operation. The number of pieces of target information edited by the information processing device 1 may be one, or two or more.

[0015] The target thing may be any thing. For example, the target thing is a thing related to an organization to which N users belong. For example, if the organization is a company, the target thing is a product sold by the company, a service provided by the company, etc., but is not limited to these. For example, if the organization is a club in a university, etc., the target thing is the activity content of the club, the people belonging to the club, etc., but is not limited to these. As an example, a case where the organization is a company that sells a certain application program will be described. As an example, a case where the target thing is the application program will be described. For convenience of explanation, the application program will be simply referred to as an app.

[0016] As an example, a case will be described in which each of N users belongs to one of three hierarchies arranged in the order of Region, Country, and Dealer from top to bottom as shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a hierarchical structure formed by N users. In the example shown in FIG. 2, N is 11. Region is a hierarchical level to which users who manage the sale of apps in a wide area such as Asia, North America, and Europe belong. Country is a hierarchical level to which users who manage the sale of apps in each country such as Japan, the United States, and the Federal Republic of Germany belong. In the example shown in FIG. 2, Countries are classified into two. For convenience of explanation, one of the two Countries is referred to as Country A and the other of the two Countries is referred to as Country B as shown in FIG. 2. Dealer is a hierarchical level to which users who sell apps to customers in each country belong. Dealers are classified into two in each of the two Countries. For convenience of explanation, one of the two Dealers belonging to CountryA is referred to as DealerAA, and the other of the two Dealers is referred to as DealerAB. For convenience of explanation, one of the two Dealers belonging to CountryB is referred to as DealerBA, and the other of the two Dealers is referred to as DealerBB. In the example shown in FIG. 2, there is one user belonging to Region. This one user is a user who manages the sale of apps in a wide area including two countries. In this example, there is also one user belonging to each of CountryA and CountryB. The user belonging to CountryA and the user belonging to CountryB are users who manage the sale of apps in different countries. In this example, there is also one user belonging to each of DealerAA, DealerAB, DealerBA, and DealerBB. The users belonging to DealerAA and DealerAB are users who sell apps to end users in the countries where the user belonging to CountryA manages the sale of apps.Users belonging to DealerBA and DealerBB are users who sell apps to end users in a country where a user belonging to CountryB manages the sale of apps. For convenience of explanation, Region, CountryA, CountryB, DealerAA, DealerAB, DealerBA, and DealerBB will be collectively referred to as an entity unless there is a need to distinguish between them. That is, in this embodiment, an entity is synonymous with a hierarchy. For convenience of explanation, a hierarchy will be referred to as an entity when the description is easier to understand if the entity is used, and an entity will be referred to as a hierarchy when the description is easier to understand if the entity is used.

[0017] The hierarchy to which each of the N users belongs may be a hierarchy included in another hierarchical structure in which the hierarchical relationships are determined by pre-assigned job titles, ranks, positions, etc. in business, as in the example shown in Fig. 2. The hierarchy to which each of the N users belongs may be a hierarchy included in another hierarchical structure in which the hierarchical relationships are determined by other job titles, ranks, positions, etc. unrelated to business, unlike the example shown in Fig. 2. Examples of other hierarchical structures in which the hierarchical relationships are determined by other job titles, ranks, positions, etc. unrelated to business include, but are not limited to, positions in club activities and positions in circle activities.

[0018] The contents of the target information are contents indicated by the target information, and may be any contents as long as they are contents related to the target thing. For example, when the target thing is an app as in this example, the contents of the target information may be a description of the app, specifications of the app, etc., but are not limited thereto. Such target information is edited by the information processing device 1 in a manner as described in this embodiment. For this reason, the target information is associated with editing history information indicating the history of editing the contents of the target information. The editing history information may be the contents of the target information itself after editing, or may be information indicating the difference between the contents of the target information before and after editing. The data structure of the target information may be any structure. For example, the data structure may be composed of a single table, or may be composed of a plurality of tables associated with each other by various IDs (Identifiers). For convenience of explanation, editing the contents of the target information will be described as editing the target information. For convenience of explanation, editing the contents of the target information will be described as editing the target information.

[0019] An edit prohibition flag indicating whether editing of the target information is prohibited is associated with the target information. Editing of target information associated with an edit prohibition flag indicating that editing is prohibited is prohibited. Editing of target information associated with an edit prohibition flag indicating that editing is not prohibited is permitted. The edit prohibition flag indicates that editing is not prohibited, for example, in the initial stage when the target information is generated.

[0020] When editing of the target information is prohibited, hierarchical information indicating a hierarchical level to which a user who has prohibited editing of the target information belongs is associated with the target information. The hierarchical information is null information, for example, in an initial stage when the target information is generated.

[0021] When the target information has not been generated, the information processing device 1 generates the target information in response to a first user operation. The target information may be null information at the initial stage of generation, or may be information indicating a predetermined content by default. In this embodiment, null information means information indicating that there is nothing. The target information is not associated with editing history information at the initial stage of generation. This is because the target information has not been edited at the initial stage of generation.

[0022] After generating the target information, the information processing device 1 can edit the generated target information in response to a first user operation. When editing the target information, the information processing device 1 displays an information editing image PA on the first information processing terminal. The information editing image PA is an image that displays the contents of the target information. The information editing image PA is also an image that accepts a first user operation to edit the target information displayed on the information editing image PA. The information processing device 1 accepts the first user operation from the first information processing terminal via the information editing image PA displayed on the first information processing terminal. When the information processing device 1 accepts the first user operation, it stores editing history information indicating a history of editing according to the first user operation in association with the target information. That is, in this case, the information processing device 1 adds the editing history information to the target information. Editing of the target information is, for example, adding the contents of the target information, deleting part or all of the contents, changing part or all of the contents, etc., but is not limited thereto.

[0023] Edit history information indicating the history of a certain edit is associated with, for example, user identification information identifying the user who performed the edit, a timestamp indicating the date and time when the edit history information was stored, hierarchical information indicating the hierarchy within the organization to which the user belongs, destination entity information indicating the entity to which the target information after the user is provided, etc. As an example, a case will be described where the user identification information, the timestamp, the hierarchical information, and the destination entity information are included in the edit history information.

[0024] When the information processing device 1 displays the contents of the target information on the information edit image PA displayed on the first information processing terminal, the information processing device 1 displays the contents of the target information on the information edit image PA by the following process. In this case, the information processing device 1 identifies all of the edit history information including hierarchical information indicating a hierarchical level or higher than the hierarchical level to which the first user belongs, among the edit history information associated with the target information. A method for identifying the hierarchical level to which the first user belongs will be described later. The information processing device 1 identifies all of the edit history information including the destination entity information indicating the entity to which the first user belongs, among all of the identified edit history information. The information processing device 1 identifies the edit history information including the latest time stamp, among all of the identified edit history information. The information processing device 1 displays the contents of the target information after editing of the history indicated by the identified edit history information, on the information edit image PA. This allows the information processing device 1 to display the contents of the target information after editing of the latest history among the history of edits directed to the entity, on the information edit image PA. As a result, the first user can edit the target information after editing by a user belonging to a hierarchical level or higher than the hierarchical level to which the first user belongs, via the first information processing terminal. In other words, the information processing device 1 prohibits the first user from viewing the contents of the target information after editing by a user belonging to a lower hierarchy than the hierarchy to which the first user belongs. As a result, the first user cannot edit the target information after it has been edited by the user. This is useful because it leads to preventing the judgment of a lower user from being overturned excessively by a higher user. For convenience of explanation, among the N users, users belonging to a hierarchy lower than the hierarchy to which the first user belongs will be collectively referred to as the second user. The information processing device 1 can display the contents of the target information after editing in the latest history of editing history for the entity on the information editing image PA, so that different editing can be performed on the target information for each entity.

[0025] The target information edited by a user belonging to the highest Region may be edited by a user belonging to CountryA, DealerBA, etc., for example. In the information processing device 1, the user belonging to a Region cannot know that the target information edited by the user has been edited by a user belonging to CountryA, DealerBA, etc. However, there are cases where the user belonging to a Region wants to provide the target information edited by the user to an end user as is, without being edited in between. This is the case, for example, when it is considered that the organization to which the user belongs would be disadvantaged if some of the target information edited by the user is lost due to editing in between.

[0026] Therefore, the information processing device 1 performs an edit prohibition process to prohibit the second user from editing the target information in response to the first user operation. This enables the information processing device 1 to more reliably provide information input by a user belonging to a higher hierarchy to an end user. The information processing device 1 updates the edit prohibition flag of the target information after performing such an edit prohibition process to an edit prohibition flag indicating that editing is prohibited.

[0027] (Functional configuration of information processing device) A description will be given of the functional configuration of the information processing device 1. FIG 3 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the information processing device 1.

[0028] The information processing device 1 includes, for example, a control unit 11, a storage unit 12, and a communication unit 13. These components are connected to each other via a bus so that they can communicate with each other. The information processing device 1 also communicates with each information processing terminal 10 and the like via the communication unit 13. The information processing device 1 may be configured to include an input device such as a keyboard, a mouse, a touch panel, or the like. The information processing device 1 may be configured to include a display device such as a liquid crystal display.

[0029] The control unit 11 controls the entire information processing device 1. The control unit 11 includes a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). The control unit 11 executes various programs stored in the storage unit 12 to realize various functions of the information processing device 1. The control unit 11 accepts operations on the information processing device 1 from each information processing terminal 10 via the communication unit 13. The control unit 11 performs processing according to the accepted operation. For example, the control unit 11 performs processing to edit the target information, processing to prohibit editing, etc., according to the accepted operation.

[0030] The storage unit 12 is a storage device including, for example, a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid state drive (SSD), an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), etc. The storage unit 12 may be an external storage device connected via a digital input / output port such as a universal serial bus (USB) instead of being built into the information processing device 1. The storage unit 12 stores various information, various programs, various images, etc. that are processed by the information processing device 1.

[0031] The communication unit 13 includes, for example, a digital input / output port such as a USB, an Ethernet (registered trademark) port, an antenna for wireless communication, and the like.

[0032] (Editing process to edit target information) Among the processes performed by the information processing device 1, an editing process for editing target information will be described. The editing process is a process in which a first user edits target information as information to be provided to a second user. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a flow of the editing process. As an example, a case will be described in which the information processing device 1 accepts an editing process start operation for starting the editing process from the first information processing terminal at a timing before the process of ACT110 shown in FIG. 4 is performed. As an example, a case will be described in which the target information has already been generated. In this case, the target information is stored in, for example, the storage unit 12. As an example, a case will be described in which there are multiple pieces of target information to be edited. For example, when there are multiple types of apps sold by a company to which N users belong, the information processing device 1 accepts operations from the N users and edits the target information for each of the multiple types of apps.

[0033] After receiving an operation to start editing processing, the control unit 11 generates a first selection image, outputs the generated first selection image to the first information processing terminal, and causes the first information processing terminal to display the first selection image (ACT110). The first selection image is an image that receives an entity selection operation for selecting, from among a plurality of entities, an entity to which a second user to whom the first user wishes to provide the target information after editing belongs. The first selection image may be any image that can receive an entity selection operation.

[0034] Next, the control unit 11 waits until an entity selection operation via the first selection image is received from the first information processing terminal (ACT120). In Fig. 4, the process of ACT120 is indicated by "Select?".

[0035] When the control unit 11 determines that an entity selection operation via the first selection image has been received from the first information processing terminal (ACT120-YES), the control unit 11 generates a second selection image. Then, the control unit 11 outputs the generated second selection image to the first information processing terminal, and causes the first information processing terminal to display the second selection image (ACT130). The second selection image is an image that receives a target information selection operation for selecting, from among a plurality of pieces of target information, desired target information that the first user wishes to provide to the second user who belongs to the entity selected by the entity selection operation. The second selection image may be any image as long as it is an image that can receive a target information selection operation for selecting desired target information from among a plurality of pieces of target information. For example, when each of a plurality of pieces of target information is target information for one of a plurality of apps, the second selection image may be an image that receives an operation for selecting a desired app from among the plurality of apps as a target information selection operation.

[0036] Next, the control unit 11 waits until a target information selection operation via the second selection image is received from the first information processing terminal (ACT 140). In Fig. 4, the process of ACT 140 is indicated by "Select?".

[0037] When the control unit 11 determines that a target information selection operation via the second selection image has been accepted from the first information processing terminal (ACT140-YES), the control unit 11 generates an information edit image PA. Specifically, in this case, the control unit 11 generates an information edit image PA that accepts an operation to edit the target information based on the target information selected by the target information selection operation. Then, the control unit 11 outputs the generated information edit image PA to the first information processing terminal and causes the first information processing terminal to display the information edit image PA (ACT150). For ease of explanation, the target information selected by the target information selection operation in ACT140 will be referred to as first target information.

[0038] The configuration of the information edit image PA will be described below. Fig. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the information edit image PA.

[0039] 5, the information editing image PA includes target information identifying information DA, a target information display area R, an edit prohibition operation receiving section LK, and a button CA. The information editing image PA may include other GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces) in addition to the target information identifying information DA, the target information display area R, the edit prohibition operation receiving section LK, and the button CA. The information editing image PA may not include the button CA.

[0040] The target information identification information DA is information for identifying the target information displayed in the target information display area R among a plurality of pieces of target information. In the example shown in FIG. 5, the target information identification information DA is "serial number 2." This is an example of the target information identification information DA when the target information is identified by a serial number. The target information identification information DA may be, for example, an ID, an app name, an app model number, or other identification information.

[0041] The target information display area R is an area in which the contents of the target information are displayed. When the target information identified by the target information identification information DA is the first target information, the contents of the first target information are displayed in the target information display area R. When displaying the contents of the target information in the target information display area R, the control unit 11 identifies the hierarchical level to which the first user belongs based on the user information previously stored in the storage unit 12. The user information is information including information in which user identification information for identifying each of the N users and hierarchical information indicating the hierarchical level to which each of the N users belongs are associated with each user. The control unit 11 can identify the user identification information of the first user, for example, by a process related to login, the description of which is omitted in this embodiment. Therefore, the control unit 11 can identify the hierarchical level information indicating the hierarchical level to which the first user belongs based on the user information stored in the storage unit 12 and the user identification information previously identified. The control unit 11 identifies all the editing history information including hierarchical information indicating a level higher than the level indicated by the identified hierarchical information among the editing history information associated with the target information. The control unit 11 identifies all of the edit history information including destination entity information indicating an entity to which the first user belongs from among all of the identified edit history information. The control unit 11 identifies all of the edit history information including destination entity information indicating an entity to which the first user belongs from among all of the identified edit history information. The control unit 11 identifies edit history information including the latest timestamp from among all of the identified edit history information. The control unit 11 displays the content of the target information after editing of the history indicated by the identified edit history information in the target information display area R.

[0042] The target information display area R is also an area that accepts an operation from the first user to edit the target information. The control unit 11 accepts the operation on the target information display area R as an operation to edit the target information displayed in the target information display area R. When the control unit 11 accepts the operation, it generates editing history information indicating a history of editing of the target information according to the accepted operation. The editing history information includes destination entity information indicating the entity selected by the entity selection operation. The control unit 11 associates the generated editing history information with the target information. In this case, the control unit 11 further causes the target information display area R to display the contents of the target information after editing according to the accepted operation.

[0043] When the information edited image PA includes a plurality of display areas such as the target information display area R, the control unit 11 performs such processing for each of the plurality of display areas.

[0044] The edit prohibition operation receiving unit LK is a GUI that receives an operation to prohibit editing of the target information of the contents displayed in the target information display area R. The edit prohibition operation receiving unit LK is a GUI whose display mode changes depending on whether or not editing of the target information is prohibited. In other words, the edit prohibition operation receiving unit LK is a GUI whose display mode changes depending on an edit prohibition flag associated with the target information. When editing of the target information is not prohibited, the control unit 11 displays the edit prohibition operation receiving unit LK on the information editing image PA in a display mode indicating that the editing is not prohibited. On the other hand, when editing of the target information is prohibited, the control unit 11 displays the edit prohibition operation receiving unit LK on the information editing image PA in a display mode indicating that the editing is prohibited. When the control unit 11 receives an operation to prohibit editing of the target information via the edit prohibition operation receiving unit LK, it prohibits editing of the target information. Then, the control unit 11 updates the edit prohibition flag of the target information to an edit prohibition flag indicating that editing is prohibited. When the control unit 11 receives an operation to release the inhibition of editing of the target information via the editing inhibition operation receiving unit LK, the control unit 11 releases the inhibition of editing of the target information. Then, the control unit 11 updates the editing inhibition flag of the target information to an editing inhibition flag indicating that editing is not inhibited.

[0045] The button CA is a GUI that accepts an operation to end the editing of the target information of the content displayed in the target information display area R. When the control unit 11 accepts the operation via the button CA, the control unit 11 ends the editing of the target information of the content displayed in the target information display area R. After the editing is ended, the control unit 11 associates the editing history information indicating the history of the editing of the target information of the content displayed in the target information display area R with the target information. At this time, based on the user information stored in the storage unit 12 and the user identification information of the first user specified in advance, the control unit 11 includes the user identification information, hierarchical information indicating the hierarchy to which the first user belongs, and a timestamp indicating the date and time when the editing history information was stored in the storage unit 12 in the editing history information. In this way, the editing history information is associated with the user identification information, the hierarchical information, and the timestamp, together with the destination entity information indicating the entity selected by the entity selection operation.

[0046] In ACT150, the control unit 11 outputs such an information edited image PA to the first information processing terminal, and causes the first information processing terminal to display the information edited image PA.

[0047] Next, the control unit 11 determines whether or not editing of the first target information is prohibited (ACT160). The control unit 11 makes the determination in ACT160 based on an editing prohibition flag of the first target information. When an editing prohibition flag indicating that editing is prohibited is associated with the first target information, the control unit 11 determines that editing of the first target information is prohibited. On the other hand, when an editing prohibition flag indicating that editing is not prohibited is associated with the first target information, the control unit 11 determines that editing of the first target information is not prohibited.

[0048] When it is determined in ACT160 that editing is not prohibited (ACT160-NO), the control unit 11 identifies all of the editing history information corresponding to the first target information, including hierarchical information indicating a hierarchy level equal to or higher than the hierarchy level to which the first user belongs. The control unit 11 identifies all of the editing history information identified, including all of the editing history information including destination entity information indicating the entity to which the first user belongs. The control unit 11 identifies the editing history information including the latest time stamp, among all of the editing history information identified. The control unit 11 displays the contents of the target information after editing of the history indicated by the identified editing history information in the target information display area R of the information editing image PA displayed on the first information processing terminal (ACT170). In FIG. 4, the process of ACT170 is indicated by "content display".

[0049] On the other hand, when the control unit 11 determines that editing is prohibited in ACT160 (ACT160-YES), it changes the state of the target information display area R of the information editing image PA displayed on the first information processing terminal to gray out (ACT210). This prohibits editing of the target information via the information editing image PA. In FIG. 4, the process of ACT210 is indicated by "editing prohibited". After the process of ACT210 is performed, the control unit 11 transitions to ACT170, and displays the contents of the target information in the target information display area R, which is in a grayed out state. The method of displaying the contents of the target information in the target information display area R is the same as the display method described in ACT170. For this reason, the description of the method of displaying the contents of the target information in the target information display area R is omitted here.

[0050] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the information editing image PA after the state of the target information display area R is changed to gray out. In FIG. 6, the state of the target information display area R is grayed out, which is represented by hatching. In the example shown in FIG. 6, "BBB" is displayed in the target information display area R as an example of the contents of the target information. Since the state of the target information display area R is grayed out, "BBB", which is the contents of the target information displayed in the target information display area R, cannot be edited in the target information display area R shown in FIG. 6. In this example, the display mode of the edit prohibition operation receiving unit LK is changed to a display mode indicating that editing of the first target information is prohibited. Such a change in the display mode is also performed by the control unit 11 in ACT210. In this example, further, a hierarchical information DB indicating the hierarchy to which the user who has prohibited editing of the target information of the contents displayed in the target information display area R belongs is displayed on the information editing image PA. Display of such a hierarchical information DB is also performed by the control unit 11 in ACT210.

[0051] After the process of ACT170 is performed, the control unit 11 waits until an operation is received via the information edit image PA displayed on the first information processing terminal (ACT180).

[0052] When the control unit 11 determines that an operation via the information edit image PA displayed on the first information processing terminal has been accepted (ACT180-YES), it determines whether the accepted operation is an operation to end the editing of the first target information (ACT190). In FIG. 4, the process of ACT190 is indicated by "End editing?". The operation may be any operation that can end the editing of the first target information.

[0053] When the control unit 11 determines that the operation received in ACT180 is an operation to end the editing of the first target information (ACT190-YES), the control unit 11 causes the first information processing terminal to end the display of the information edit image PA. After causing the first information processing terminal to end the display, the control unit 11 ends the process of the flowchart shown in FIG.

[0054] On the other hand, when the control unit 11 determines that the operation received in ACT180 is not an operation for ending the editing of the first target information (ACT190-NO), the control unit 11 performs processing according to the received operation (ACT200).

[0055] For example, when the operation accepted in ACT180 is an operation to edit the first target information, the control unit 11 associates the editing history information indicating the history of editing of the first target information according to the operation with the first target information. Then, in this case, the control unit 11 updates the content of the first target information displayed in the target information display area R to the content of the first target information after the editing of the history.

[0056] For example, when the operation accepted in ACT180 is an operation to prohibit editing of the first target information, the control unit 11 prohibits editing of the first target information in response to the operation. In this case, the control unit 11 changes the state of the target information display area R to gray out, changes the display mode of the edit prohibition operation accepting unit LK, and displays hierarchical information indicating the hierarchical level to which the first user belongs on the information editing image PA.

[0057] In this way, in ACT200, the control unit 11 performs processing according to the operation accepted in ACT180. After the processing of ACT200 is performed, the control unit 11 transitions to ACT180 and waits again until an operation is accepted via the information editing image PA displayed on the first information processing terminal.

[0058] As described above, the information processing device 1 performs an editing process for editing the target information. In this editing process, the information processing device 1 performs the above-mentioned editing prohibition process in response to the accepted operation. This allows the information processing device 1 to more reliably provide the information input by a user belonging to a higher hierarchy to the end user.

[0059] (Specific examples of target information edited by information processing device and editing thereof) 7 to 12, a specific example of the target information edited by the information processing device 1 and the editing will be described. The information processing device 1 edits and prohibits the editing of the target information shown in each of Figs. 7 to 12 by the processing of ACT200 in the flowchart shown in Fig. 4. That is, the processing related to the editing of the target information and the prohibition of editing of the target information shown in Figs. 7 to 12 is a specific example of the processing performed by the control unit 11 of the information processing device 1 in ACT200.

[0060] FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a plurality of pieces of target information edited by a user belonging to Region for a user belonging to CountryA. A plurality of pieces of target information edited by the information processing device 1 are stored in the storage unit 12 as in the table shown in FIG. 7. Each record of the table includes target information identification information, editing history information, and an editing prohibition flag. However, in each record of the table, in order to clearly show information associated with the target information, hierarchical information included in the editing history information is depicted as information associated with the editing history information. The target information identification information is information for identifying the target information. Each record of the table shows the target information identified by the target information identification information included in the record. In FIG. 7, in order to simplify the figure, in each record, the content of the target information after editing of the history indicated by the editing history information is shown as the editing history information. Each actual record includes editing history information for each date and time indicated by the time stamp. For example, when a user belonging to CountryA operates the information processing device 1 to display the target information identified by "1" in the target information display area R, the user visually recognizes "AAAA" as the content of the target information. For example, when a user belonging to Country A operates the information processing device 1 to display the target information identified by "3" in the target information display area R, the user visually recognizes "CCCCCCCC" as the content of the target information.

[0061] 7, the target information identified by "2" is prohibited from being edited by users belonging to the Region. Therefore, the record indicating the target information includes an edit prohibition flag indicating that editing is prohibited, and hierarchical information indicating the Region.

[0062] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the state after a user belonging to CountryA edits the target information shown in FIG. 7 for a user belonging to DealerAB. The user belonging to CountryA can edit the target information shown in FIG. 7 that is not prohibited from being edited. Therefore, in the example shown in FIG. 8, the target information identified by "1" and "3" is edited by the user. Specifically, the content of the target information identified by "1" in FIG. 7 is "AAAA", whereas the content of the target information identified by "1" in FIG. 8 is "aaaaaa". That is, the user edits the content of the target information identified by "1" from "AAAA" to "aaaaaa". On the other hand, the content of the target information identified by "3" in FIG. 7 is "CCCCCCCC", whereas the content of the target information identified by "3" in FIG. 8 is "cc". That is, the user edits the content of the target information identified by "3" from "CCCCCCCC" to "cc".

[0063] 8, the target information identified by "3" is information that has been newly prohibited from being edited by a user belonging to Country A. Therefore, the record indicating the target information identified by "3" includes an edit prohibition flag indicating that editing is prohibited, and hierarchical information indicating Country A.

[0064] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of the state after a user belonging to DealerAB has edited the target information shown in FIG. 8 for an end user. A user belonging to DealerAB can edit the target information shown in FIG. 8 that is not prohibited from being edited. Therefore, in the example shown in FIG. 9, the target information identified by each of the "4"s has been edited by the user. Specifically, the content of the target information identified by "4" in FIG. 8 was "DDDDD", whereas the content of the target information identified by "4" in FIG. 9 is "d". That is, the user has edited the content of the target information identified by "4" from "DDDDD" to "d".

[0065] As shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, even if the target information is edited by users belonging to CountryA and DealerAB, the information processing device 1 does not allow users belonging to Region to see the contents of the edits. This is because, as described above, the information processing device 1 does not display the contents of the target information after being edited by users belonging to an entity lower than the entity to which the first user belongs on the first information processing terminal. Therefore, even if the target information is edited by users belonging to CountryA and DealerAB, the user belonging to Region sees the contents of the multiple target information shown in FIG. 7. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a state in which a user belonging to Region has newly prohibited editing of the target information identified by "4" in the multiple target information shown in FIG. 7. As shown in FIG. 10, editing of the target information identified by "3" is not prohibited for users belonging to Region. This is because CountryA is a lower entity than Region. That is, in the information processing device 1, the target information prohibited from being edited by the first user can be edited by a user belonging to an entity higher than the entity to which the first user belongs. In the example shown in FIG. 10, as described above, a user belonging to Region is prohibited from editing the target information identified by "4". In this case, in the information processing device 1, the target information already edited by DealerAB in FIG. 9 returns to the state before the editing, as shown in FIG. 11. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a state in which editing of the target information after editing by a user belonging to DealerAB is prohibited by a user belonging to Region. As shown in FIG. 11, the target information identified by "4" is returned to the target information before the editing, even though it was edited by a user belonging to DealerAB in FIG. 9. Similarly, the target information identified by "4" is returned to the target information before the editing, even though it was edited by a user belonging to CountryA in FIG. 8. The state of the target information in this case is the same as that shown in FIG. 11.In this way, even if the second user has already edited certain target information, if the first user prohibits the editing of the target information, the state of the target information returns to the state before the editing by the second user. The control unit 11 realizes such a state rewind by deleting the editing history information. For example, in this case, the control unit 11 identifies the latest editing history information among the editing history information indicating the history of the editing of the target information by the first user. The control unit 11 identifies all editing history information including a timestamp indicating a date and time later than the date and time indicated by the timestamp included in the identified latest editing history information. The control unit 11 deletes all the identified editing history information from the editing history information associated with the target information. This allows the information processing device 1 to rewind the state of the target information as described above. Instead of deleting all the identified editing history information, the control unit 11 may be configured to rewind the state of the target information as described above by another method.

[0066] (A process for viewing the contents of target information edited by a user belonging to a higher-level entity) Among the processes performed by the information processing device 1, a browsing process for browsing the contents of target information edited by a user belonging to a higher-level entity will be described. The browsing process is a process for browsing the contents of target information edited by a user designated by the first user among users belonging to an entity higher than the entity to which the first user belongs. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of the flow of the browsing process. As an example, a case will be described in which the information processing device 1 receives a browsing process start operation for starting the browsing process from the first information processing terminal at a timing before the process of ACT310 shown in FIG. 12 is performed. As an example, a case will be described in which there are multiple pieces of target information to be browsed.

[0067] After accepting the browsing process start operation, the control unit 11 generates a third selection image, outputs the generated third selection image to the first information processing terminal, and causes the first information processing terminal to display the third selection image (ACT310). The third selection image is an image that accepts a higher entity selection operation for selecting an entity desired by the first user from among entities higher than the entity to which the first user belongs. The third selection image may be any image as long as it is an image that can accept a higher entity selection operation.

[0068] Next, the control unit 11 waits until a higher-level entity selection operation via the third selection image is received from the first information processing terminal (ACT320). In Fig. 12, the process of ACT320 is indicated by "Select?".

[0069] When the control unit 11 determines that the higher entity selection operation via the third selection image has been received from the first information processing terminal (ACT320-YES), the control unit 11 generates a fourth selection image. Then, the control unit 11 outputs the generated fourth selection image to the first information processing terminal, and causes the first information processing terminal to display the fourth selection image (ACT330). The fourth selection image is an image that receives a second target information selection operation for selecting, from among a plurality of target information, target information edited by a user belonging to the entity selected by the higher entity selection operation. The fourth selection image may be any image as long as it is an image that can receive a second target information selection operation for selecting, from among a plurality of target information, target information edited by a user belonging to the entity selected by the higher entity selection operation. For example, when each of a plurality of target information is target information for any of a plurality of apps, the fourth selection image may be an image that receives an operation for selecting a desired app from among the plurality of apps as the second target information selection operation.

[0070] Next, the control unit 11 waits until a second target information selection operation via the fourth selection image is received from the first information processing terminal (ACT340). In Fig. 12, the process of ACT340 is indicated by "Select?".

[0071] When the control unit 11 determines that the second target information selection operation via the fourth selection image has been received from the first information processing terminal (ACT340-YES), the control unit 11 generates an information display image PB. Specifically, in this case, the control unit 11 generates an information display image PB that displays the target information based on the target information selected by the second target information selection operation. The information display image PB may be any image that can display the target information selected by the second target information selection operation. As an example, a case will be described in which the information display image PB is an information editing image PA that excludes a function for accepting an operation to edit the target information. In this case, the information display image PB does not include the editing prohibition operation acceptance section LK and the button CA, and includes a target information display area R in which editing of the target information cannot be performed. The control unit 11 outputs the generated information display image PB to the first information processing terminal and causes the information display image PB to be displayed on the first information processing terminal (ACT350). For convenience of explanation, the target information selected by the second target information selection operation in ACT340 will be referred to as second target information.

[0072] Next, the control unit 11 judges whether or not editing of the second target information is prohibited (ACT360). The control unit 11 makes the judgment in ACT360 based on the editing prohibition flag associated with the second target information. The process of ACT360 is the same as the process of ACT160. Therefore, a detailed description of the process of ACT360 will be omitted.

[0073] When it is determined in ACT360 that editing is not prohibited (ACT360-NO), the control unit 11 identifies all of the editing history information corresponding to the second target information that indicates the history of editing by users belonging to the entity selected by the upper entity selection operation. The control unit 11 identifies the editing history information including the latest timestamp from all of the identified editing history information. The control unit 11 displays the contents of the target information after editing of the history indicated by the identified editing history information in the target information display area R of the information display image PB displayed on the first information processing terminal (ACT370). In FIG. 12, the process of ACT370 is indicated by "content display".

[0074] On the other hand, when the control unit 11 determines that editing is prohibited in ACT360 (ACT360-YES), it changes the state of the target information display area R of the information display image PB displayed on the first information processing terminal to gray out (ACT390). This prohibits editing of the second target information via the information display image PB. In FIG. 12, the process of ACT390 is indicated by "editing prohibited". After the process of ACT390 is performed, the control unit 11 transitions to ACT370, and displays the contents of the second target information in the target information display area R, which is in a grayed out state. The method of displaying the contents of the second target information in the target information display area R is the same as the display method described in ACT370. For this reason, the description of the method of displaying the contents of the second target information in the target information display area R is omitted here.

[0075] After the process of ACT370 is performed, the control unit 11 waits until it receives an operation to end the display of the second target information (ACT380). The operation may be any operation that can end the display of the second target information. In FIG. 12, the process of ACT380 is indicated by "End of viewing?"

[0076] When the control unit 11 determines that the operation to end the display of the second target information has been received (ACT380-YES), the control unit 11 causes the first information processing terminal to end the display of the information display image PB. After causing the first information processing terminal to end the display, the control unit 11 ends the process of the flowchart shown in FIG.

[0077] As described above, the information processing device 1 allows the first user to view the contents of the target information edited by a user who belongs to an entity higher than the entity to which the first user belongs, in response to the first user operation. The information processing device 1 may be configured to accept an operation to edit the second target information in the viewing process. In this case, the information processing device 1 accepts an operation to edit the second target information displayed on the information display image PB by the process of ACT370.

[0078] (Voting process for requesting lifting of prohibition on editing of information that is prohibited from editing) The information processing device 1 may be configured to perform an edit prohibition lift request voting process for requesting lifting of the prohibition on editing of target information whose editing has been prohibited.

[0079] The information processing device 1 performs the following process as an editing prohibition release request voting process. For example, the information processing device 1 accepts a vote requesting the release of the prohibition on editing of the target information in response to an operation from the second user. When the number of accepted votes exceeds a predetermined threshold, the information processing device 1 performs a predetermined process as a process requesting the release of the prohibition on editing of the target information. The predetermined process is, for example, a process requesting the release of the prohibition on editing of the target information, a process lifting the prohibition on editing of the target information, and the like, but is not limited thereto. This allows the information processing device 1 to suppress information input by a user belonging to a higher hierarchy from being unnecessarily provided to end users. This is also useful because it leads to picking up the voices of users who sell apps directly to end users. When the information processing device 1 performs a process to release the prohibition on editing of the target information in response to the predetermined process, it updates the editing prohibition flag of the target information for which the process has been performed to an editing prohibition flag indicating that editing is not prohibited. The information processing device 1 performs the above process as an editing prohibition release request voting process.

[0080] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of an information editing image PA when a user is editing target information. In FIG. 13, the user is editing the target information so that the content of the target information becomes "BBB". When the information processing device 1 performs an editing prohibition lift request voting process, if the editing of the target information is not prohibited as shown in FIG. 13, the hierarchical information DB is not displayed on the information editing image PA, and the vote number display information CT indicating the number of votes requesting lifting of the prohibition of editing is displayed. In the example shown in FIG. 13, since the editing of the target information displayed in the target information display area R is not prohibited, "Request to lift:-" is displayed on the information editing image PA as the vote number display information CT indicating that the voting is not being performed.

[0081] Fig. 14 is a diagram showing an example of the state after editing of the target information is prohibited on the information editing image PA shown in Fig. 13. In the example shown in Fig. 14, editing of the target information that was not prohibited from being edited in Fig. 13 is prohibited. For this reason, in this example, the state of the target information display area R is grayed out. In this example, since the target information immediately after editing is prohibited is displayed in the target information display area R, vote count display information CT indicating that the number of votes requesting lifting of the prohibition on editing of the target information is 0 is displayed on the information editing image PA.

[0082] In this way, the information processing device 1 displays the vote number display information CT on the information edit image PA, so that the target information is associated with vote number information indicating the number of votes requesting the lifting of the prohibition on editing the target information, as shown in FIG. 15. FIG. 15 is a diagram showing another example of the configuration of the target information. In the table shown in FIG. 15, each record indicating the target information includes edit history information, an edit prohibition flag, hierarchical information, and vote number information. However, in each record, in order to clearly indicate the information associated with the target information, the hierarchical information included in the edit history information is depicted as information associated with the edit history information. The vote number information included in a record indicating a certain target information indicates the number of votes requesting the prohibition on editing the target information. In FIG. 15, the target information identified by "2" is the target information shown in FIG. 13 and FIG. 14. The record indicating the target information identified by "2" includes vote number information indicating "0". Therefore, the state of the target information identified by "2" in FIG. 15 is the state immediately after the editing of the target information is prohibited, as shown in FIG. 14. As an example, a case will be described in which the target information shown in FIG. 13 and FIG. 14 is edited by a user belonging to Region for a user belonging to CountryA. In this case, when a user belonging to CountryA attempts to edit the target information identified by "2", a button CB is displayed on the information edit image PA together with the hierarchical information DB as shown in FIG. 16. The button CB is a GUI that accepts an operation to make a vote to request the lifting of the prohibition on editing the target information. FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of the information edit image PA in which the contents of the target information prohibited from being edited by a user belonging to Region are displayed. When the target information to be displayed on the information edit image PA is prohibited from being edited by a user belonging to an entity higher than the entity to which the user who displayed the target information belongs, the information processing device 1 displays the button CB on the information edit image PA. When an operation to make a vote to request the lifting of the prohibition on editing a certain target information is accepted via the button CB, the information processing device 1 increases the number indicated by the vote number information associated with the target information by one.For example, when the operation is performed on the button CB shown in FIG. 16, the information processing device 1 increases the number indicated by the vote count information associated with the target information displayed in the target information display area R by 1, as shown in FIG. 17. FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example of the state in which the number indicated by the vote count information in the target information shown in FIG. 16 is increased by 1. As shown in FIG. 17, when an operation to cast a vote requesting the lifting of the prohibition on editing via the button CB shown in FIG. 16 is received, the information processing device 1 increases the number indicated by the vote count information associated with the target information identified by "2" by 1. This allows the information processing device 1 to manage the number of votes requesting the lifting of the prohibition on editing of the target information whose editing is prohibited. The information processing device 1 receives the operation on the button CB by, for example, the control unit 11 in ACT200 shown in FIG. 4.

[0083] FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of how the information editing image PA changes after the number indicated by the vote count information associated with the target information is increased by 1. The content of the target information displayed in the information editing image PA shown in FIG. 18 is the same as the content of the target information displayed in the information editing image PA shown in FIG. 14. However, in the example shown in FIG. 18, the number indicated by the vote count information associated with the target information is increased by 1 after the button CB shown in FIG. 16 is operated. Therefore, the vote count display information CT in FIG. 18 indicates "1" instead of "0". In this way, the information processing device 1 can update the vote count display information displayed in the information editing image PA based on the vote count information associated with the target information.

[0084] When the number indicated by certain vote count information exceeds a predetermined threshold, the information processing device 1 performs a predetermined process on the target information associated with the vote count information, as described above. This allows the information processing device 1 to prompt the removal of the prohibition on editing the target information, or to perform the removal itself.

[0085] 19 is a diagram showing an example of the flow of an editing prohibition release request voting process. When an operation is performed on a button CB displayed on an information edit image PA, the information processing device 1 starts the process of the flowchart shown in FIG.

[0086] After an operation is performed on a button CB displayed on a certain information edit image PA, the control unit 11 identifies the target information displayed on the information edit image PA (ACT410). The method of identifying the target information may be any method.

[0087] Next, the control unit 11 increments the number indicated by the vote count information associated with the target information identified in ACT 410 by 1 (ACT 420). In Fig. 19, the process of ACT 420 is indicated by "vote count addition".

[0088] Next, the control unit 11 judges whether the number indicated by the vote count information after the process of ACT 420 has exceeded a threshold value (ACT 430). The threshold value is, for example, 10, but may be a number less than 10 or a number greater than 10.

[0089] When the control unit 11 determines that the number indicated by the vote count information after the process of ACT420 has been performed does not exceed the threshold value (ACT430-NO), the control unit 11 ends the process of the flowchart in FIG.

[0090] On the other hand, when the control unit 11 determines that the number indicated by the vote count information after the processing of ACT420 has exceeded the threshold (ACT430-YES), it performs the above-mentioned predetermined processing (ACT440). When the predetermined processing is processing to request lifting of the prohibition on editing of the target information, the control unit 11 transmits, for example, edit prohibition lift request information requesting lifting of the prohibition on editing of the contents of the target information to the information processing terminal of the user who performed the prohibition. When the user is the first user, the control unit 11 transmits the edit prohibition lift request information to the first information processing device. If the edit prohibition lift request information is information that makes it possible to request lifting of the prohibition on editing of the contents of the target information, Any information may be used. If the predetermined process is a process for lifting the prohibition on editing the target information, the control unit 11 lifts the prohibition on editing the target information. In this case, the control unit 11 notifies the user of information indicating that the prohibition has been lifted. In this case, the control unit 11 resets the number indicated by the vote count information associated with the target information identified in ACT410 to 0. This allows the information processing device 1 to prevent information input by a user belonging to a higher hierarchy from being unnecessarily provided to an end user.

[0091] As described above, when the information processing device 1 receives an operation to edit the contents of the target information from the first user, the information processing device 1 edits the contents of the target information according to the operation, and adds to the target information, in association with editing history information indicating the history of editing the contents of the target information, the user identification information of the first user, and the hierarchical information associated with the user identification information, based on the user information in the storage unit 12. When the information processing device 1 receives an operation to prohibit editing of the contents of the target information from the first user, the information processing device 1 prohibits editing of the contents of the target information by the second user based on the user information in the storage unit 12. This allows the information processing device 1 to more reliably provide information input by a user belonging to a higher hierarchy to the end user.

[0092] The target thing described above may be a thing other than an application, may be intangible like an application, or may be tangible like a book, etc. For example, the target thing may be a book, a service, an advertisement, an internal company document, etc., or may be a thing unrelated to business.

[0093] The items described above may be combined in any manner.

[0094] (Additional Note) [1] an information processing device comprising: a control unit that receives operations from each of a plurality of users and edits content of target information related to a target thing, when the control unit receives a first editing operation to edit the content of the target information from a first user of the plurality of users, edits the content of the target information in accordance with the first editing operation, and adds first editing history information indicating a history of editing of the content of the target information, the user identification information of the first user, and the hierarchical information associated with the user identification information of the first user to the target information based on the user information stored in a storage unit in which user information including information corresponding to user identification information identifying each of the plurality of users and hierarchical information indicating a hierarchical level to which each of the plurality of users belongs, and when the control unit receives a first editing prohibition operation to prohibit editing of the content of the target information from the first user, prohibits editing of the content of the target information by a second user of the user identification information associated with the hierarchical information indicating a hierarchical level lower than the hierarchical level indicated by the hierarchical information associated with the user identification information of the first user, based on the user information of the storage unit. [2] 2. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein, when the control unit receives a second editing operation from the second user to edit the content of the target information when editing of the content of the target information is not prohibited, the control unit edits the content of the target information in accordance with the second editing operation, and adds to the target information second editing history information indicating a history of editing of the content of the target information, the user identification information of the second user, and the hierarchical information associated with the user identification information of the second user, in association with each other based on the user information of the storage unit; and when the control unit receives the first editing prohibition operation from the first user after the second editing history information has been associated with the target information, the control unit reverts the content of the target information from the content after editing of the history indicated by the second editing history information to the content after editing of the history indicated by the first editing history information, and prohibits the second user from editing the content of the target information. [3] The information processing device described in [1] or [2], wherein the control unit, when editing of the content of the target information is prohibited, accepts a vote from the second user requesting that the prohibition on editing of the content of the target information be lifted, and when the number of the accepted votes exceeds a threshold, sends editing prohibition lift request information to the information processing terminal of the first user requesting that the prohibition on editing of the content of the target information be lifted. [4] The information processing device described in [1] or [2], wherein the control unit, when editing of the content of the target information is prohibited, accepts a vote from the second user requesting that the prohibition on editing of the content of the target information be lifted, and when the number of the accepted votes exceeds a threshold, lifts the prohibition on editing of the content of the target information. [5] The information processing device of any one of [1] to [4], wherein when the control unit receives a third editing operation from the second user to edit the content of the target information, it edits the content of the target information in accordance with the third editing operation, and based on the user information of the storage unit, it associates third editing history information indicating a history of editing of the content of the target information with the user identification information of the second user and the hierarchical information associated with the user identification information of the second user and adds them to the target information, and prohibits the first user from viewing the content of the target information after the editing history indicated by the third editing history information.

[0095] Although some embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. These embodiments and their modifications are included in the scope of the invention and its equivalents described in the claims, as well as in the scope and spirit of the invention.

[0096] A program for implementing the functions of any of the components in the above-described devices (for example, the information processing device 1, the information processing terminal 10) may be recorded in a computer-readable recording medium, and the program may be read into a computer system and executed. The term "computer system" as used herein includes hardware such as an OS (Operating System) and peripheral devices. The term "computer-readable recording medium" refers to portable media such as flexible disks, optical magnetic disks, ROMs, and CD (Compact Disk)-ROMs, and storage devices such as hard disks built into a computer system. The term "computer-readable recording medium" also includes those that hold a program for a certain period of time, such as volatile memory (RAM) inside a computer system that serves as a server or client when a program is transmitted via a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line.

[0097] The above program may be transmitted from a computer system in which the program is stored in a storage device or the like to another computer system via a transmission medium, or by transmission waves in the transmission medium. A "transmission medium" that transmits a program refers to a medium that has the function of transmitting information, such as a network (communication network) such as the Internet or a communication line (communication line) such as a telephone line. The above program may be for implementing some of the above functions. The above program may be a so-called differential file (differential program) that can implement the above functions in combination with a program already recorded in the computer system. [Explanation of symbols]

[0098] 1...information processing device, 10...information processing terminal, 11...control unit, 12...storage unit, 13...communication unit

Claims

1. a control unit that accepts operations from each of a plurality of users and edits the contents of target information related to a target thing; The control unit is when a first editing operation for editing the content of the target information is received from a first user of the multiple users, the content of the target information is edited in accordance with the first editing operation, and based on user information in a storage unit in which user information including information correlating user identification information identifying each of the multiple users with hierarchical information indicating a hierarchical level to which each of the multiple users belongs is stored, first editing history information indicating a history of editing of the content of the target information, the user identification information of the first user, and the hierarchical information associated with the user identification information of the first user are added to the target information in association with each other; when a first editing prohibition operation for prohibiting editing of the content of the target information is received from the first user, editing of the content of the target information by a second user, the second user having the user identification information associated with the hierarchical information indicating a lower hierarchy than the hierarchy indicated by the hierarchical information associated with the user identification information of the first user, is prohibited based on the user information of the storage unit; Information processing device.

2. The control unit is when a second editing operation for editing the content of the target information is received from the second user in a case where editing of the content of the target information is not prohibited, editing the content of the target information in accordance with the second editing operation is performed, and second editing history information indicating a history of editing of the content of the target information, the user identification information of the second user, and the hierarchical information associated with the user identification information of the second user are associated with each other and added to the target information based on the user information of the storage unit; when the first editing prohibition operation is received from the first user after the second editing history information is associated with the target information, the content of the target information is restored from the content after editing of the history indicated by the second editing history information to the content after editing of the history indicated by the first editing history information, and editing of the content of the target information by the second user is prohibited. The information processing device according to claim 1 .

3. the control unit, when editing of the content of the target information is prohibited, accepts a vote from the second user requesting lifting of the prohibition on editing of the content of the target information, and when the number of the accepted votes exceeds a threshold, transmits editing prohibition lift request information requesting lifting of the prohibition on editing of the content of the target information to the information processing terminal of the first user. The information processing device according to claim 1 .

4. When editing of the content of the target information is prohibited, the control unit accepts a vote from the second user requesting lifting of the prohibition on editing the content of the target information, and when the number of the accepted votes exceeds a threshold, lifts the prohibition on editing the content of the target information. The information processing device according to claim 1 .

5. The control unit is when a third editing operation for editing the content of the target information is received from the second user, the content of the target information is edited in accordance with the third editing operation, and third editing history information indicating a history of editing of the content of the target information, the user identification information of the second user, and the hierarchical information associated with the user identification information of the second user are associated with each other and added to the target information based on the user information of the storage unit, and the first user is prohibited from viewing the content of the target information after the editing of the history indicated by the third editing history information. The information processing device according to claim 1 .

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