Computer program, server device, terminal, and method

Abstract

To provide a computer program, a server device, a terminal, and a method for supporting creation of a contract document.SOLUTION: Storing a template in which each of a plurality of first articles is associated with registered relevant information including at least one of at least one kind of basic relevant information set in advance as relevant information and one or more kinds of additional relevant information received from a terminal as additional information relevant to the first article, and performing, based on relevance between each of a plurality of second articles included in an inspection target document received from a target terminal and each of the plurality of first articles included in the template: For each of the plurality of second articles, one associated first article is selected from among the plurality of first articles included in the template, and for each of the plurality of second articles, the registration-related information associated with the selected one first article is determined as information to be displayed on the target terminal.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The technology disclosed in this application relates to a computer program, a server device, a terminal device, and a method for supporting the creation of a contract. [Background technology]

[0002] A method for supporting document creation is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2020-13524 (Patent Document 1). The information processing device described in this document analyzes clauses included in a contract, and if the clauses do not satisfy predetermined conditions, displays a warning or the like that is prepared in advance in association with the conditions. Note that Patent Document 1 is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2020-13524 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The information processing device disclosed in the above Patent Document 1 displays prepared warnings and the like in association with clauses contained in a contract to be analyzed. However, the matters to be noted in a contract to be analyzed may differ for each user, and may also change over time for the same user. Therefore, in consideration of these and other anticipated issues, the technology disclosed in this application provides a computer program, a server device, a terminal device, and a method that, in a broad sense, improves convenience while supporting the creation of contracts. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] A computer program according to one embodiment can be executed by at least one processor to cause the at least one processor to function as follows: "When executed by at least one processor, the computer program causes the at least one processor to function as follows: storing a template in which, for each of a plurality of first articles, registered related information including at least one of at least one type of basic related information that has been preset as information related to the first article and at least one type of additional related information that has been received from a terminal device as information to be added related to the first article; receiving a document to be inspected from a target terminal device; calculating the degree of relevance between each of a plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected and each of the plurality of first articles included in the template; selecting, for each of the plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected based on the degree of relevance, one related first article from the plurality of first articles included in the template; and determining, for each of the plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected, the registered related information associated with the selected one related first article as information to be displayed on the target terminal device." A server device according to one embodiment may be configured to "include at least one processor, and store a template in which, for each of a plurality of first articles, registered related information including at least one of at least one type of basic related information preset as information related to the first article and at least one type of additional related information received from any terminal device as information to be added related to the first article; receive a document to be inspected from a target terminal device; calculate the degree of relevance between each of a plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected and each of the plurality of first articles included in the template; select, for each of the plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected based on the degree of relevance, one related first article from among the plurality of first articles included in the template; and determine, for each of the plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected, the registered related information associated with the selected one related first article as information to be displayed on the target terminal device." A method according to one aspect is "a method executed by at least one processor, The method can include storing a template in which, for each of a plurality of first articles, registered related information including at least one of at least one type of basic related information preset as information related to the first article and at least one type of additional related information received from any terminal device as information to be added related to the first article is associated; receiving a document to be inspected from a target terminal device; calculating the degree of association between each of a plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected and each of the plurality of first articles included in the template; selecting, for each of the plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected based on the degree of association, one related first article from the plurality of first articles included in the template; and determining, for each of the plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected, the registered related information associated with the selected one related first article as information to be displayed on the target terminal device. A computer program according to another aspect can function as follows: "When executed by at least one processor, the computer program causes the at least one processor to function as follows: send a document to be inspected to a server device that stores a template in which, for each of a plurality of first articles, registered related information including at least one of at least one type of basic related information that has been preset as information related to the first article and at least one type of additional related information that has been received from a terminal device as information to be added related to the first article; calculate a degree of relevance between each of a plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected and each of a plurality of first articles included in the template; select, for each of the plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected based on the degree of relevance, one related first article from the plurality of first articles included in the template; receive from the server device and display the registered related information associated with the selected one related first article for each of the plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected." A terminal device according to one embodiment may be configured to "include at least one processor, and the at least one processor may be configured to send a document to be inspected to a server device that stores a template in which, for each of a plurality of first articles, registration related information including at least one of at least one type of basic related information that has been preset as information related to the first article and at least one type of additional related information that has been received from any terminal device as information to be added related to the first article is associated; calculate the degree of association between each of a plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected and each of a plurality of first articles included in the template; select, for each of the plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected based on the degree of association, one related first article from the plurality of first articles included in the template; and receive and display from the server device the registration related information associated with the selected one related first article for each of the plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected." A method according to another aspect can be described as "a method executed by at least one processor, comprising: transmitting a document to be inspected to a server device that stores a template in which, for each of a plurality of first articles, registered related information including at least one of at least one type of basic related information preset as information related to the first article and at least one type of additional related information received from any terminal device as information to be added related to the first article; calculating a degree of relevance between each of a plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected and each of a plurality of first articles included in the template; selecting, for each of the plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected based on the degree of relevance, one related first article from the plurality of first articles included in the template; and receiving and displaying, from the server device, the registered related information associated with the selected one related first article for each of the plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected." In yet another embodiment, the computer program can be executed by at least one processor to cause the at least one processor to function as follows: "When executed by at least one processor, the computer program causes the at least one processor to function as follows: storing a template in which, for each of a plurality of first articles, registered related information including at least one of at least one type of basic related information preset as information related to the first article and at least one type of additional related information selected by a user as information to be added related to the first article; acquiring a document to be inspected; calculating the degree of relevance between each of a plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected and each of the plurality of first articles included in the template; selecting, for each of the plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected based on the degree of relevance, one related first article from the plurality of first articles included in the template; and determining, for each of the plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected, the registered related information associated with the selected one related first article as information to be displayed." A terminal device according to another aspect may be configured to "include at least one processor, and the at least one processor may be configured to store a template in which, for each of a plurality of first articles, registered related information including at least one of at least one type of basic related information preset as information related to the first article and at least one type of additional related information selected by a user as information to be added related to the first article; acquire a document to be inspected; calculate the degree of relevance between each of a plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected and each of the plurality of first articles included in the template; select, for each of the plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected based on the degree of relevance, one related first article from the plurality of first articles included in the template; and determine, for each of the plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected, the registered related information associated with the selected one related first article as information to be displayed." A method according to yet another aspect can include "a method executed by at least one processor, which includes: storing a template in which, for each of a plurality of first articles, registered related information including at least one of at least one type of basic related information preset as information related to the first article and at least one type of additional related information selected by a user as information to be added related to the first article; acquiring a document to be inspected; calculating the degree of relevance between each of a plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected and each of the plurality of first articles included in the template; selecting, for each of the plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected based on the degree of relevance, one related first article from the plurality of first articles included in the template; and determining, for each of the plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected, the registered related information associated with the selected one related first article as information to be displayed." [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0006] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a document creation system according to an embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the terminal device 20 (or the server device 30) shown in FIG. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation executed in the document creation system shown in FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a screen displayed by the terminal device 20A included in the document creation system shown in FIG. [Figure 5] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing another example of a screen displayed by the terminal device 20A included in the document creation system shown in FIG. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a diagram conceptually illustrating an example of an inspection of a document to be inspected, which is performed in the document creation system shown in FIG. [Figure 7]FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing yet another example of a screen displayed by the terminal device 20A included in the document creation system shown in FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0007] The various systems, methods, and devices described herein should not be construed as limiting in any way. Indeed, the present disclosure is directed to all novel features and aspects of each of the various disclosed embodiments, combinations of these various embodiments with each other, and combinations of portions of these various embodiments with each other. The various systems, methods, and devices described herein are not limited to specific aspects, features, or combinations of such aspects with specific features, nor do the products and methods described herein require that one or more particular advantages be present or problems be solved. Furthermore, various features or aspects of the various embodiments described herein, or portions of such features or aspects, may be used in combination with each other.

[0008] Although the operations of some of the various methods disclosed herein are described in a particular order for convenience, it should be understood that description in this manner encompasses rearranging the order of the operations unless a particular order is required by specific text below. For example, operations described in a sequence may, in some cases, be rearranged or performed simultaneously. Moreover, for purposes of simplicity, the accompanying drawings do not show the various ways in which the various items and methods described herein can be used in conjunction with other items and methods.

[0009] Any theories of operation, scientific principles, or other theoretical descriptions presented herein in connection with the devices or methods of the present disclosure are provided for the purpose of better understanding and are not intended to limit the scope of the technology, and the devices and methods in the appended claims are not limited to devices and methods that operate in a manner described by such theories of operation.

[0010] Any of the various methods disclosed herein may be implemented using computer-executable instructions stored on one or more computer-readable media and executed on a computer. The one or more media may be non-transitory computer-readable storage media, such as at least one optical media disk, volatile memory components, or non-volatile memory components. Here, the volatile memory components may include, for example, DRAM or SRAM. Also, the non-volatile memory components may include, for example, hard drives and solid-state drives (SSDs). Furthermore, the computer may include any computer available on the market, including, for example, smartphones and other mobile devices with computing hardware.

[0011] Any such computer-executable instructions for implementing the techniques disclosed herein, along with any data generated or used during the implementation of various embodiments disclosed herein, may be stored on one or more computer-readable media (e.g., non-transitory computer-readable storage media). Such computer-executable instructions may, for example, be part of a separate software application, or may be part of a software application accessed or downloaded via a web browser or other software application (such as a remote computing application). Such software may, for example, be executed on a single local computer (e.g., as a process running on any suitable commercially available computer) or in a networked environment (e.g., the Internet, a wide area network, a local area network, a client-server network (such as a cloud computing network), or other such network) using one or more networked computers.

[0012] For clarity, only certain selected aspects of various software-based implementations are described. Other details that are well known in the art are omitted. For example, the techniques disclosed herein are not limited to a particular computer language or program. For example, the techniques disclosed herein may be implemented by software written in C, C++, Java, or any other suitable programming language. Similarly, the techniques disclosed herein are not limited to a particular computer or type of hardware. Specific details of suitable computers and hardware are well known and need not be described in detail herein.

[0013] Moreover, any of the various software-based embodiments (e.g., including computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to perform any of the various methods disclosed herein) may be uploaded, downloaded, or remotely accessed by suitable communications means, including, for example, the Internet, the World Wide Web, an intranet, a software application, cable (including fiber optic cable), magnetic communication, electromagnetic communication (including RF, microwave, and infrared communication), electronic communication, or other such communications means.

[0014] Various embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that common components in the drawings are designated by the same reference numerals. It should also be noted that components depicted in one drawing may be omitted in another drawing for the sake of clarity. It should also be noted that the accompanying drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale.

[0015] 1. Example of a document creation system Briefly, the document creation system according to one embodiment is a system that provides a service that supports document creation (hereinafter referred to as a "document creation service") to a user via at least one information processing device. The document creation system can store templates corresponding to multiple contracts in advance and allow a user's information processing device (e.g., a terminal device) to edit these templates. For example, a user can use the terminal device to select at least one template from multiple templates prepared in advance and register at least one type of related information related to at least one clause included in the selected template (e.g., typically, one type of related information is "comments" and another type of related information is "other example clauses"). The related information registered by the user in this way can constitute the user's so-called review policy. The document creation system can inspect the document to be inspected by comparing the template that reflects the user's review policy with the document to be inspected selected by the user.

[0016] 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a document creation system according to an embodiment. As shown in Fig. 1, the document creation system 1 includes one or more terminal devices (information processing devices) 20 that can be connected to a communication network (communication line) 10, and one or more document creation server devices (information processing devices) 30 that can be connected to the communication network 10.

[0017] 1 illustrates three terminal devices 20A to 20C as examples of the one or more terminal devices 20, and two server devices 30A and 30B as examples of the one or more document creation server devices 30. However, one or more terminal devices 20 other than those described above may be connected to the communication network 10 as the one or more terminal devices 20, and one or more server devices 30 other than those described above may be connected to the communication network 10 as the one or more document creation server devices 30.

[0018] The communication network 10 may include, but is not limited to, a cellular network, a wireless network, a landline network, the Internet, an intranet, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), and / or an Ethernet network. The wireless network may include, but is not limited to, RF connections via Bluetooth, WiFi (such as IEEE 802.11a / b / n), WiMax, cellular, satellite, laser, infrared, etc.

[0019] The terminal device 20 can receive the "document creation service" by executing at least one specific application and communicating with the document creation server device 30. The specific application can include, but is not limited to, a web browser, an operating system, and / or a dedicated application prepared for the service.

[0020] The terminal device 20 is any terminal device (information processing device), and can include, but is not limited to, a smartphone, a tablet, a mobile phone (feature phone), a personal computer, and / or a workstation.

[0021] The document creation server device 30 executes a specific application installed thereon and functions as a web server or an application server, thereby providing a document creation service to the terminal device 20. The specific application may include, but is not limited to, an operating system and / or a dedicated application specially prepared for the service.

[0022] The document creation server device 30 may be any information processing device, including, but not limited to, a personal computer, a workstation, a mainframe, and / or a supercomputer.

[0023] 2. Hardware configuration of each device An example of the hardware configuration of each of the terminal device 20 and the document creation server device 30 will be described. (1) Hardware Configuration of Terminal Device 20 An example of the hardware configuration of the terminal device 20 will be described with reference to Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a block diagram that schematically shows an example of the hardware configuration of the terminal device 20 (or the server device 30) shown in Fig. 1 (note that in Fig. 2, reference numerals in parentheses are written in relation to the server device 30, as will be described later).

[0024] 2, the terminal device 20 can include a central processing unit 21, a main memory device 22, an input / output interface device 23, an input device 24, an auxiliary memory device 25, and an output device 26. These devices are connected to each other by a data bus and / or a control bus.

[0025] The central processing unit 21, which is a processor, is called a "CPU (Central Processing Unit)" and can perform operations on instructions and data stored in the main memory 22 and store the results of these operations in the main memory 22. Furthermore, the central processing unit 21 can control an input device 24, an auxiliary memory device 25, an output device 26, etc. via an input / output interface device 23. The terminal device 20 can include one or more such central processing units 21.

[0026] The main memory device 22 is referred to as "memory" and can store instructions and data received from the input device 24, the auxiliary memory device 25, and the communication network 10 (such as the server device 30) via the input / output interface device 23, as well as the results of calculations by the central processing unit 21. The main memory device 22 can include, but is not limited to, computer-readable media such as volatile memory (e.g., registers, cache, random access memory (RAM)), non-volatile memory (e.g., read-only memory (ROM), EEPROM, flash memory), and storage (e.g., hard disk drive (HDD), solid-state drive (SSD), magnetic tape, optical media). As will be readily understood, the term "computer-readable recording medium" can include media for data storage such as memory and storage, as well as transmission media such as modulated data signals, i.e., transitory signals.

[0027] The auxiliary storage device 25 is a storage device having a larger capacity than the main storage device 22. The auxiliary storage device 25 stores instructions and data (computer programs) that constitute the specific applications, etc., and is controlled by the central processing unit 21 to transmit these instructions and data (computer programs) to the main storage device 22 via the input / output interface device 23. The auxiliary storage device 25 may include, but is not limited to, a magnetic disk device and / or an optical disk device, etc.

[0028] The input device 24 is a device that inputs data from the outside, and can include, but is not limited to, a keyboard, a touch panel, a button, a mouse, and / or a sensor (microphone, camera), etc.

[0029] The output device 26 may include, but is not limited to, a display device, a touch panel, and / or a printer device.

[0030] In such a hardware configuration, the central processing unit 21 can sequentially load instructions and data (computer programs) constituting the specific application stored in the auxiliary storage device 25 into the main storage device 22 and perform operations on the loaded instructions and data. This allows the central processing unit 21 to control the output device 26 via the input / output interface device 23, and also to transmit and receive various information (data) to and from other devices (such as the server device 30) via the input / output interface device 23 and the communication network 10.

[0031] In this way, the terminal device 20 can execute various operations related to the document creation service (including various operations described later with reference to FIG. 3, etc.) by, for example, executing an installed web browser to receive and display a web page from the server device 30 (and further, to execute a computer program embedded in the web page). Alternatively, the terminal device 20 can execute the same operations by executing the installed dedicated application.

[0032] In addition, the terminal device 20 may include one or more microprocessors (which are processors) and / or one or more graphics processing units (GPUs) (which are processors) instead of or in addition to the central processing unit 21.

[0033] (2) Hardware Configuration of the Document Creation Server Device 30 An example of the hardware configuration of the document creation server device 30 will be described with reference to Fig. 2. The hardware configuration of the document creation server device 30 may be, for example, the same as the hardware configuration of the above-mentioned terminal device 20. Therefore, reference numerals for the components of the document creation server device 30 are shown in parentheses in Fig. 2.

[0034] 2, the document creation server device 30 can include a central processing unit 31, which is a processor, a main memory device 32, an input / output interface device 33, an input device 34, an auxiliary memory device 35, and an output device 36. These devices are connected to each other by a data bus and / or a control bus.

[0035] The central processing unit 31, main memory 32, input / output interface unit 33, input device 34, auxiliary memory 35, and output device 36 may be substantially the same as the central processing unit 21, main memory 22, input / output interface unit 23, input device 24, auxiliary memory 25, and output device 26 included in the above-mentioned terminal device 20, respectively.

[0036] In such a hardware configuration, the central processing unit 31 can sequentially load instructions and data (computer programs) constituting the specific application stored in the auxiliary storage device 35 into the main storage device 32 and perform operations on the loaded instructions and data. This allows the central processing unit 31 to control the output device 36 via the input / output interface device 33, and also to transmit and receive various information (data) to and from other devices (such as the terminal device 20) via the input / output interface device 33 and the communication network 10.

[0037] This allows the document creation server device 30 to function as a web server by executing the installed specific application. This allows the document creation server device 30 to perform various operations related to the document creation service (including operations described below with reference to FIG. 3 etc.) via web pages transmitted to each terminal device 20 (and further, computer programs embedded in the web pages and executed by the terminal devices 20). Alternatively, the document creation server device 30 can function as an application server by executing the installed specific application. This allows the document creation server device 30 to perform similar operations.

[0038] In addition, the document creation server device 30 may include one or more microprocessors (which are processors) and / or one or more graphics processing units (GPUs) (which are processors) instead of or in addition to the central processing unit 31.

[0039] 3. Example of document creation system operation Next, a specific example of the operation of the document creation system 1 will be described with reference to Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a flow diagram showing an example of the operation executed in the document creation system shown in Fig. 1.

[0040] First, in step (hereinafter referred to as "ST") 300, a terminal device 20A of a certain user (here, "User A") can launch and run the installed web browser in accordance with the operation of User A. The terminal device 20A can access the server device 30 by specifying a URL unique to the document creation service.

[0041] Furthermore, based on the operation of user A, terminal device 20A accepts input of user identification information (user ID) and password already assigned to the user or the company to which the user belongs. By transmitting the thus input identification information and password to server device 30, terminal device 20A can be authenticated by server device 30. As a result, server device 30 transmits a web page constituting a menu screen to terminal device 20A, allowing terminal device 20A to display a menu screen (not shown).

[0042] For the sake of convenience, details will not be mentioned below, but the terminal device 20A can acquire information corresponding to an operation performed by user A via the input device 24 (such as a keyboard, mouse, and / or touch panel). The terminal device 20A can display a screen corresponding to the operation by transmitting information corresponding to the operation to the server device 30 and receiving a web page constituting a screen corresponding to the information from the server device 30. Alternatively, the terminal device 20A can display a screen corresponding to the operation by processing the information corresponding to the operation performed by user A in accordance with a program embedded in the web page and / or another program installed in the terminal device 20A. As a result, the terminal device 20A can display a screen corresponding to the operation each time user A performs an operation.

[0043] In ST302, terminal device 20A can select a menu for editing or registering a template from the menu screen based on an operation by user A. Here, a template refers to a pre-prepared contract (for example, a "non-disclosure agreement," a "basic transaction contract," a "service outsourcing contract," a "sales contract," a "lease contract," etc.).

[0044] Here, as an example, a case will be described in which user A edits a template corresponding to a non-disclosure agreement. Based on an operation by user A, terminal device 20A can read out a template corresponding to the non-disclosure agreement from among multiple templates stored in server device 30.

[0045] Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a screen displayed by terminal device 20A included in the document creation system shown in Fig. 1. As illustrated in Fig. 4, terminal device 20A can display screen 400 including a template corresponding to a non-disclosure agreement. For example, left section 402 of screen 400 may display each clause included in the template, and for example, right section 404 may display registration-related information included in the template.

[0046] The left section 402 shows an example in which only Articles 1 and 2 are displayed, but the terminal device 20A can display any article included in this template in the left section 402 in accordance with operations performed by user A.

[0047] As illustrated in right section 404, the registration-related information included in this template can include at least one type of basic related information (here, "template example") 410A that is preset as information related to Article 1. Although not shown in FIG. 4, the registration-related information included in this template can also include another type of basic related information that is preset as information related to Article 1. The other type of basic related information can include, for example, but is not limited to, information that provides an explanation of Article 1 (which also corresponds to one type of basic related information) and / or information that indicates points to note regarding Article 1 (which also corresponds to one type of basic related information).

[0048] Similarly, the registration-related information included in this template can include at least one type of basic related information (herein, "template example") 420A that is preset as information related to Article 2. Although not shown in Fig. 4, the registration-related information included in this template can also include another type of basic related information that is preset as information related to Article 2. The other type of basic related information can include, for example, but is not limited to, information that provides an explanation of Article 2 (which also corresponds to one type of basic related information) and / or information that indicates points to note regarding Article 2 (which also corresponds to one type of basic related information).

[0049] In this way, this template can store at least one type of basic related information that is preset as information related to each of a plurality of provisions in association with the provision.

[0050] 4 is displayed, user A can register one type of additional related information related to Article 1 in the template by, for example, clicking on object 410B called "+Comment" displayed corresponding to Article 1. Specifically, user A can click on object 410B and input characters using a keyboard into a window (not shown) displayed on screen 400, causing terminal device 20A to register information related to Article 1 (such as information to be noted about Article 1) as one type of additional related information. Note that the information registered by clicking on object 410B called "+Comment" can be information indicating a revision policy, such as from what perspective the relevant article (here, Article 1) should be reviewed.

[0051] In addition to or instead of this, when the screen 400 illustrated in FIG. 4 is displayed, the user A can click, for example, on an object 410C labeled "+Enter other example clauses" that is displayed corresponding to Article 1, causing the terminal device 20A to register one type of additional related information related to Article 1 in the template. Specifically, the user A can click, for example, on the object 410C and input characters using a keyboard into a window (not shown) displayed on the screen 400, causing the terminal device 20A to register information related to Article 1 (such as information indicating other example clauses related to Article 1) as one type of additional related information. Note that the information registered by clicking, for example, on the object 410C labeled "+Enter other example clauses" may be information indicating an alternative clause when the template clause (410A) cannot be used.

[0052] As with Article 1, for Article 2, when user A clicks on object 420B called "+Comment" and / or object 420C called "Enter other example clauses" that are displayed in response to Article 2, terminal device 20A can register information related to Article 2 (information to be noted about Article 2, etc., and / or information showing other example clauses related to Article 2, etc.) as at least one type of additional related information.

[0053] In this way, this template can store, for each of a plurality of articles, at least one type of basic related information that has been preset as information related to that article and at least one type of additional related information that has been input by the terminal device 20A of user A as information to be added related to that article, in association with each other. In another embodiment, this template can store, for each of a plurality of articles, at least one type of basic related information that has been preset as information related to that article and / or at least one type of additional related information that has been input by the terminal device 20A of user A as information to be added related to that article, in association with each other.

[0054] Each additional related information input by user A using terminal device 20A is transmitted to server device 30 by terminal device 20A and stored by server device 30. This allows server device 30 to store the edited template (e.g., in association with user A's user identification information). The edited template can be stored in such a manner that, for each of a plurality of articles, at least one type of basic related information preset as information related to that article and at least one type of additional related information input by user A's terminal device 20A as information to be added related to that article (e.g., at any timing including ST302 and ST314) are associated with each of the plurality of articles. Note that, in another embodiment, the template can be stored in such a manner that, for each of a plurality of articles, at least one type of basic related information preset as information related to that article and / or at least one type of additional related information input by user A's terminal device 20A as information to be added related to that article (e.g., at any timing including ST302 and ST314) are associated with each of the plurality of articles.

[0055] Furthermore, in one embodiment, as illustrated in Figure 5, user A (terminal device 20A operating based on user A's operation) can also register at least one type of basic related information and / or at least one type of additional related information for a clause that does not exist in the template.

[0056] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing another example of a screen displayed by the terminal device 20A included in the document creation system shown in FIG. If a specific provision is missing from screen 400 illustrated in FIG. 4, user A can use terminal device 20A to move to screen 500 shown in FIG. 5 and register the specific provision, at least one type of basic related information related to the specific provision, and / or at least one type of additional related information related to the specific provision.

[0057] In the screen 500, for example, the left section 402 displays each clause included in the template, and for example, the right section 502 may display registration-related information included in this template. The left section 402 may display the same information as in Fig. 4. Note that the left section 402 itself may not be displayed.

[0058] As illustrated in the right part 502, when the user A clicks on the object 510A, for example, "+Article Title," while the screen 500 is displayed, the terminal device 20A can register one type of basic related information related to this specific article in a template. Specifically, when the user A clicks on the object 510A and inputs characters using a keyboard into a window (not shown) displayed on the screen 500, the terminal device 20A can register information related to this specific article (information indicating the title or the like corresponding to this specific article) as one type of basic related information.

[0059] In addition, when user A clicks on object 510B called "+Comment," terminal device 20A can register one type of additional related information related to this specific provision in the template. Specifically, when user A clicks on object 510B and inputs characters using a keyboard into a window (not shown) displayed on screen 500, terminal device 20 can register information related to this specific provision (such as information that should be noted about this specific provision) as one type of additional related information.

[0060] Additionally or alternatively, when user A clicks on object 510C labeled "+Example Article," terminal device 20A can register one type of basic related information related to this specific article in a template. Specifically, when user A clicks on object 510C and inputs characters using a keyboard into a window (not shown) displayed on screen 500, terminal device 20A can register information related to this specific article (such as information showing an example of this specific article) as one type of basic related information.

[0061] Additionally or alternatively, when user A clicks on object 510D, "+Enter other example clause," terminal device 20A can register one type of additional related information related to this specific clause in the template. Specifically, when user A clicks on object 510D and inputs characters using a keyboard into a window (not shown) displayed on screen 500, terminal device 20A can register information related to this specific clause (such as information indicating other example clauses of this specific clause) as one type of additional related information.

[0062] Each piece of basic related information and / or each piece of additional related information input by user A using terminal device 20A is transmitted by terminal device 20A to server device 30, and is stored by server device 30. This allows server device 30 to store the edited template (for example, in association with user A's user identification information). The edited template can store, for each of a plurality of provisions, at least one type of basic related information previously set as information related to that provision (and further at least one type of basic related information input by user A's terminal device 20A as information related to that provision) in association with at least one type of additional related information input by user A's terminal device 20A as information to be added related to that provision (for example, at any timing including ST302 and ST314, etc.). In another embodiment, this template can store, for each of a plurality of articles, at least one type of basic related information that has been preset as information related to this article (and further at least one type of basic related information that has been input by user A's terminal device 20A as information related to this article) "and / or" at least one type of additional related information that has been input by user A's terminal device 20A (at any timing including, for example, ST302 and ST314) as information to be added related to this article.

[0063] 3, in ST304, based on an operation by user A, terminal device 20A can upload (transmit) the contract to be inspected (the document to be inspected) to server device 30. Server device 30 can store the document to be inspected received from terminal device 20A.

[0064] The server device 30 can store in advance a plurality of templates that can be used to inspect the document to be inspected. These multiple templates may include templates that the server device 30 registered and / or edited in ST302.

[0065] In ST306, server device 30 can transmit to terminal device 20A a web page including a screen (not shown) (for example, in a pull-down format) for allowing user A to select which template to use from a plurality of pre-stored templates. Terminal device 20A can select a template to be used for inspecting the contract from the plurality of transmitted templates based on an operation by user A. In response to this, terminal device 20A can transmit information indicating the template selected by user A to server device 30. This allows server device 30 to recognize the template selected by user A.

[0066] In another embodiment, the server device 30 can automatically select one of a plurality of templates stored in advance. For example, the server device 30 can identify and select one of the plurality of templates related to the document to be inspected received from the terminal device 20A in ST304 (for example, if the type to which the document to be inspected belongs is a first type, then any template belonging to the first type, or any template belonging to another type similar to or related to the first type). To achieve this, the server device 30 can store information identifying the type to which each of the plurality of templates belongs, and can also store information identifying the type to which the document to be inspected belongs. The server device 30 can also generate information identifying the type to which the plurality of templates and / or the document to be inspected belong based on information received from one of the users' terminal devices 20.

[0067] In ST308, the server device 30 can inspect the contract (the document to be inspected) using the template selected by the user A (or the template selected by the server device 30). Hereinafter, for the sake of convenience of explanation (including in the scope of the claims initially attached to the application), in order to distinguish between the multiple clauses contained in the template and the multiple clauses contained in the document to be inspected, the multiple clauses contained in the template will be referred to as "multiple first clauses," and the multiple clauses contained in the document to be inspected will be referred to as "multiple second clauses."

[0068] Briefly, in a first step, the server device 30 can first calculate the degree of association between each of the plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected and each of the plurality of first articles included in the template. Next, in a second step, the server device 30 can select, for each of the plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected, one related first article from among the plurality of first articles included in the template based on the degree of association. Furthermore, in a third step, the server device 30 can determine, for each of the plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected, the registered related information (basic related information and / or additional related information) associated with the selected related first article as information to be displayed on the terminal device 20A as the target terminal device.

[0069] First, attention is focused on the first step. Fig. 6 is a diagram conceptually illustrating an example of inspection of a document to be inspected, which is performed in the document creation system shown in Fig. 1. For the purpose of simplifying the explanation, Fig. 6 shows an example in which the template includes articles 610 to 615 as multiple first articles, and the document to be inspected includes articles 620 to 625 as multiple second articles.

[0070] 6, the server device 30 can calculate the degree of association between an article 620 included in the document to be inspected and each of articles 610 to 615 included in the template. For example, with regard to the degree of association between article 620 and article 610, the edit distance between these articles (or a value obtained by multiplying this edit distance by a predetermined coefficient) can be used as the degree of association between article 620 and article 610. Alternatively, article 620 and article 610 can each be converted into a vector, and the cosine similarity between these two vectors (or a value obtained by multiplying this cosine similarity by a predetermined coefficient) can be used as the degree of association between article 620 and article 610. The degree of association between article 620 and articles 611 to 615 can be calculated in a similar manner.

[0071] Using a similar method, the server device 30 can calculate the degree of association between each of the articles 621 to 625 included in the document to be inspected and each of the articles 610 to 615 included in the template.

[0072] An example of the relevance calculated by the server device 30 in this manner is shown in Fig. 6. Note that Fig. 6 shows an example in which the relevance falls within the range of 0 to 1.0. The larger (or smaller) the numerical value of the relevance between two articles, the greater (or smaller) the relevance between these two articles.

[0073] Next, we turn our attention to the second step. Based on the relevance calculated in the first step, the server device 30 can select, for each of the plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected, one related first article from the plurality of first articles included in the template.

[0074] Focusing on article 620 included in the document to be inspected, for example, server device 30 can select article 612, which has the highest relevance level (0.8) and is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold (0.2, for example), from among articles 610 to 615 included in the template, as a first related article. Similarly, for article 621 included in the document to be inspected, server device 30 can select article 611, which has the highest relevance level (0.8) and is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold (0.2), from among articles 610 to 615 included in the template, as a first related article. Using a similar method, server device 30 can select articles 613, 610, and 614 included in the template, respectively, as first related articles for articles 622 to 624 included in the document to be inspected.

[0075] On the other hand, with regard to article 625 included in the document to be inspected, the server device 30 can detect that there is no related first article, since articles 610 to 615 included in the template do not have a first article with a relevance level equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold (0.2), i.e., it can detect that article 625 included in the document to be inspected is not related to any of the articles included in the template.

[0076] On the other hand, as described above, the server device 30 can detect that articles 623, 621, 620, 622, and 624 included in the document to be inspected are related to articles 610 to 614 included in the template, respectively, while it can detect that there is no related article (there is an unrelated article) for article 615 included in the template, since there is no article in the document to be inspected that has a relevance equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold (0.2).In this way, the server device 30 can detect, from among the multiple first articles included in the template, the first article (article 615) that is not related to any of the second articles included in the document to be inspected, as a "article that was missing from the document to be inspected," based on the relevance calculated in the first step.

[0077] Finally, attention is focused on the third step. The server device 30 can determine, for each of the plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected, the registered related information (basic related information and / or additional related information) associated with the selected related first article, as information to be displayed on the terminal device 20A as the target terminal device.

[0078] Specifically, for article 620 included in the document to be inspected, the server device 30 can determine, as the information to be displayed, the registered related information (basic related information and / or additional related information) associated with article 612 selected as a related article. Similarly, for articles 621 to 624 included in the document to be inspected, the server device 30 can determine, as the information to be displayed, the registered related information (basic related information and / or additional related information) associated with articles 611, 613, 610, and 614 selected as related articles, respectively.

[0079] Furthermore, the server device 30 can determine, from among the multiple first articles included in the template, the first article (article 615) that is not related to any of the second articles included in the document to be inspected, as the information to be displayed (information regarding the ``article that was missing from the document to be inspected'').

[0080] Returning to FIG. 3 again, next, in ST310, server device 30 can generate a web page including a screen showing the results of the test executed in ST308 and transmit it to terminal device 20A.

[0081] Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram showing yet another example of a screen displayed by the terminal device 20A included in the document creation system shown in Fig. 1. As illustrated in Fig. 7, in the screen 700 displayed by the terminal device 20A, for example, a left portion 702 may display at least a part of the document to be inspected, and for example, a right portion 704 may display registered related information (basic related information and / or additional related information) included in the template.

[0082] In the left section 702, multiple second article sentences included in the document to be inspected can be displayed in order, starting from article 1. Although Fig. 7 shows an example in which only articles 1 and 2 are displayed, the terminal device 20A can display any article included in the document to be inspected in the left section 702 in accordance with an operation performed by user A.

[0083] In the right section 704, registration-related information associated with each of the plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected and the first article included in the template that has been selected as a single related first article for the second article may be displayed. For example, registration-related information associated with the second article "Article 1" included in the document to be inspected and the first article "Article 1" included in the template that has been selected as a single related first article for the second article may be displayed in field 710. Similarly, registration-related information associated with the second article "Article 2" included in the document to be inspected and the first article "Article 2" included in the template that has been selected as a single related first article for the second article may be displayed in field 720. Such correspondences between each of the plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected and each of the plurality of first articles included in the template are detected as a result of the inspection performed by server device 30 in step 308.

[0084] This allows User A to easily review each of the multiple Article 2 clauses contained in the document to be inspected (such as recognizing which parts of each of the multiple Article 2 clauses should be corrected and correcting them) while looking at the Article 1 clause contained in the template that is related to this Article 2 clause and the registration-related information related to this Article 1 clause.

[0085] As specific examples of registered related information, field 710 may display at least one additional related information (here, for example, one additional related information 710A) registered or edited by user A in ST302 or the like, and / or one basic related information (here, for example, one basic related information 710B) that has been preset.

[0086] For field 720, when user A clicks on the object "View full text," at least one additional related information and / or at least one basic related information can be displayed, similar to field 710.

[0087] Furthermore, in field 730, at least one first article (here, an article relating to compensation for damages) from among the multiple first articles included in the template that is not related to any of the multiple second articles included in the document to be inspected may be displayed as a "article missing from the document to be inspected," together with, for example, at least one piece of registration-related information related to this first article. Such a "article missing from the document to be inspected" is detected as a result of the inspection performed by server device 30 in step 308 (see article 615 illustrated in FIG. 6).

[0088] In this way, the terminal device 20A can display the screen 700 as shown in FIG.

[0089] 7 is displayed, user A may click on any part of field 710 (field specific to Article 1) displayed in the right section 704, which will link to the corresponding article (Article 1) in the document to be inspected displayed in the left section 702, and highlight the article number and / or article title (definition of confidential information) of the corresponding article (Article 1) in the left section 702. This also applies to field 720 displayed in the right section 704 and fields specific to other articles not shown in FIG.

[0090] 7 may also display a link 740 labeled "Edit Template" for editing and / or registering the template used in the inspection of the target document, which is displayed in the left section 702. When user A clicks on this link 740, terminal device 20A can display a screen for editing and / or registering the template (e.g., the screen exemplified in FIG. 4 and / or FIG. 5) by receiving a new web page from server device 30, or by using information contained in an already received web page or by executing a program. This allows user A to edit and / or register the template used in the inspection or another template while viewing the inspection results for the target document.

[0091] By editing and / or registering such a template, user A can register additional related information and / or basic related information for the template using terminal device 20A. The method for doing so is as described above with reference to Figures 4 and 5, etc.

[0092] Referring again to FIG. 3, this allows terminal device 20A to transmit related information to be added to the template (at least one additional related information and / or at least one basic related information) to server device 30 in ST312.

[0093] In response to this, in ST314, server device 30 can register the related information to be added (at least one additional related information and / or at least one basic related information) received from terminal device 20A to the corresponding template.

[0094] 4. Variations In the various embodiments described above, the operation of the server device 30 to calculate the degree of association between each of the plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected and each of the plurality of first articles included in the template has been described. The "multiple Articles 2" referred to here do not necessarily have to be "all" of the Articles 2 contained in the document to be inspected. In other words, the "multiple Articles 2" may be some or all of the Articles 2 contained in the document to be inspected. Similarly, the "multiple Articles 1" do not necessarily have to be "all" of the Articles 1 contained in the template. In other words, the "multiple Articles 1" may be some or all of the Articles 1 contained in the template.

[0095] In addition, in the various embodiments described above, the case has been described in which the terminal device 20A of user A uses the related information edited and / or registered by the terminal device 20A of user A (and a template in which this related information is registered) to inspect the document to be inspected. However, each user's terminal device 20 can also use the related information edited and / or registered by any of the terminal devices 20 of at least one other user, including itself (preferably sharing a user identification number and password), to inspect the document to be inspected.

[0096] Furthermore, in the various embodiments described above, the registered related information registered in the template may include at least one basic related information and at least one additional related information for each provision. However, the registered related information registered in the template may include at least one basic related information and / or at least one additional related information for at least one provision.

[0097] Furthermore, the server device 30 can prepare multiple templates that can be used for testing for each user. These multiple templates may each associate registration-related information that is at least partially different from one another with each of multiple first articles.

[0098] Furthermore, in the various embodiments described above, a case has been described in which a user edits and / or registers related information for a template by communicating with the server device 30 using the terminal device 20 running a web browser, and then uses the template to inspect a document to be inspected. However, in another embodiment, the terminal device 20 (the CPU 21 thereof) can also perform all of the operations performed by the server device 30 (the CPU 31 thereof) described above (i.e., the operation of storing multiple templates, the operation of editing and / or registering at least one piece of related information for at least one of the multiple templates, the operation of inspecting a document to be inspected using one of the multiple templates, the operation of generating and displaying a screen showing the inspection results, etc.) without communicating with the server device 30.

[0099] In yet another embodiment, the terminal device 20 may execute some of the operations executed by the server device 30 illustrated in FIG.

[0100] In addition, in the various embodiments described above, in order to distribute the load on the server device 30, some of the operations performed by this server device 30 may be performed by at least one other server device 30.

[0101] As would be easily understood by a person skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure, the various examples described above can be appropriately combined with one another in various patterns as long as no contradiction occurs.

[0102] As described above, the technology disclosed in the present application makes it possible to add, for each template, not only pre-set related information related to at least one article, but also new related information related to that article (various information including comments, example articles, etc.). Furthermore, a template with such registered related information can be used to inspect a document to be inspected. Furthermore, for each of a plurality of second articles included in a document to be inspected, the first article related to that second article among a plurality of first articles included in the template and the registered related information for that first article (including the new related information if such new related information exists) can be associated and presented to the user.

[0103] This allows a user to centrally manage the pre-defined basic related information and the additional related information added by any user in the template. Furthermore, by using this template to inspect a target document, the user can quickly and easily confirm the first article related to each of the multiple second articles contained in the target document and the related information registered for that first article (including the new related information, if any). Therefore, for example, a user can quickly and easily confirm the additional related information registered within the company to which the user belongs (which can be considered the related information that constitutes the company's review policy) for multiple articles contained in the target document, while reducing the risk of overlooking it. As a result, the user can reduce the amount of time spent worrying and / or the risk of overlooking the review policy when reviewing the target document.

[0104] As described above, the technology disclosed in this application makes it possible to provide a computer program, a server device, a terminal device, and a method that support the creation of contracts while improving convenience. [Explanation of symbols]

[0105] 1. Document Creation System 10 Communication network (communication line) 20, 20A, 20B, 20C terminal equipment 30, 30A, 30B Server device

Claims

[Claim 1] When executed by at least one processor, The at least one processor storing a template in which, for each of a plurality of first articles, registration related information including at least one of at least one kind of basic related information preset as information related to the first article and at least one kind of additional related information received from any one of terminal devices as information to be added related to the first article is associated; receiving a document to be inspected from a target terminal device; calculating a degree of association between each of a plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected and each of the plurality of first articles included in the template; selecting one related first article from the plurality of first articles included in the template for each of the plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected based on the degree of relevance; determining, for each of the plurality of second articles included in the document to be inspected, the registration-related information associated with the selected related first article as information to be displayed on the target terminal device; A computer program that makes things work like this.

Images