Server, file sharing method, and program

Abstract

To improve usability when sharing a plurality of files between terminals.SOLUTION: When a teacher terminal instructs the distribution of a notebook to student terminals, a learning support server stores the target notebook in a class shared data storage area. When the number of notebooks stored as the shared data is one, the window is displayed on the student terminal of the distribution destination, and when the number of notebooks is plural, the window is displayed. When the window is operated, the server opens and displays one target notebook on the student's terminal. When the window is operated, the server makes the student terminal display a list (file list) of notebook icons in which a plurality of target notebook names are respectively described, and opens and displays the notebook corresponding to the selected icon.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a server, a file sharing method, and a program. [Background technology]

[0002] A conventional educational support system is known that consists of a teaching staff terminal and a student terminal connected via a server, in which the server distributes uploaded files from the staff terminal to the student terminal (see, for example, Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2021-009266 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The above-described educational support system has a problem in that it does not anticipate the sharing of multiple assignments at once from a staff terminal or the sharing of multiple assignments on student terminals.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and aims to improve usability when sharing multiple files between terminals. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] A server according to an embodiment of the present invention is equipped with a control unit that executes processing such that, when a file sharing operation is detected on one terminal connected via a network, if the file to be shared is one, the server displays the one file in an open state on the display unit of the other terminal connected via the network, and if the file to be shared is multiple, the server displays a file list consisting of multiple files on the display unit of the other terminal. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] According to the present invention, usability is improved when multiple files are shared between terminals. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a learning support system 1 according to an embodiment of a server, a file sharing method, and a program of the present invention. [Figure 2] 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a learning assistance server 10 in a learning assistance system 1. FIG. [Figure 3] 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a user terminal (teacher terminal 20T / student terminal 20S) in the learning support system 1. FIG. [Figure 4] 1 is a flowchart showing a learning support function, mainly a notebook distribution process (file sharing process), executed by the learning support server 10 of the learning support system 1. [Figure 5A] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the display operation (part 1) of the teacher terminal 20T when the notebook (file) NBt1, which is a digital notebook to be distributed, is displayed on the teacher terminal 20T and distributed to the student terminals 20S (20S1 to 20Sn) in accordance with the notebook distribution process of the learning assistance server 10. [Figure 5B] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a display operation (part 2) of the teacher terminal 20T when the notebook NBt1 to be distributed is displayed on the teacher terminal 20T and distributed to the student terminal 20S. [Figure 5C]FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a display operation (part 3) of the teacher terminal 20T when the notebook NBt1 to be distributed is displayed on the teacher terminal 20T and distributed to the student terminal 20S. [Figure 6A] This figure shows the display operation (part 1) of the teacher terminal 20T when selecting a notebook NBtn to be distributed from a list LNBt (file list) of multiple notebooks NBt1, NBt2 (notebook icons NBt1i, NBt2i), which are digital notebooks, displayed on the teacher terminal 20T in accordance with the notebook distribution process of the learning support server 10, and distributing it to the student terminals 20S (20S1 to 20Sn). [Figure 6B] This figure shows the display operation (part 2) of the teacher terminal 20T when selecting a notebook NBtn to be distributed from a list LNBt (file list) of notebooks NBt1, NBt2 (icons NBt1i, NBt2i) displayed on the teacher terminal 20T and distributing it to the student terminal 20S. [Figure 7] 10 is a flowchart showing a distributed notebook deletion process (shared file deletion process) executed by the learning assistance server 10 of the learning assistance system 1. [Figure 8A] 10 is a diagram showing a display operation (part 1) of the student terminal 20S when checking one notebook NBs2 distributed from the teacher terminal 20T to the student terminal 20S in accordance with the notebook distribution process of the learning assistance server 10. FIG. [Figure 8B] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a display operation (part 2) of the student terminal 20S when checking one notebook NBs2 distributed from the teacher terminal 20T to the student terminal 20S. [Figure 9A] 10 is a diagram showing a display operation (part 1) of the student terminal 20S when checking a plurality of notebooks NBs2 and NBs3 distributed from the teacher terminal 20T to the student terminal 20S in accordance with the notebook distribution process of the learning assistance server 10. FIG. [Figure 9B] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a display operation (part 2) of the student terminal 20S when checking a plurality of notebooks NBs2 and NBs3 distributed from the teacher terminal 20T to the student terminal 20S. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0009] A learning support system 1 according to an embodiment of the server, file sharing method, and program of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the learning support system 1 of the embodiment includes a learning support server 10, which is a web server (server), and a teacher terminal 20T (one terminal) used by a teacher at a school and student terminals 20S (20S1...20Sn) (the other terminal) used by students, each of which has a communication function with the learning support server 10 via a communication network N. The database DB, which is the storage unit of the learning support server 10, may be entirely or partially integrated with or separate from the learning support server 10. Here, we assume an example in which the learning support server 10 is used to group a teacher terminal 20T for a certain lesson in a certain school, grade, or class with multiple student terminals 20S1...20Sn attending the lesson. The teacher terminal 20T and the student terminals 20S may be tablet terminals, personal computers (PCs), or other information processing devices (electronic devices) with similar functions.

[0010] The teacher terminal 20T and student terminal 20S that have registered their use of the learning support server 10 can perform at least the following using the learning support function (X) of the learning support server 10. They can create, store, and display notebooks NB (see, for example, Figure 5A), which are digital note files with any title (notebook name) that can be displayed and edited on a web browser. They can also create, edit, store, and display electronic sticky notes TG, which can be entered with any information using various tools (text, camera, link, file, dictionary, and math tools) within the created notebook NB. Electronic sticky notes TG are the smallest units of digital learning materials (data items). Individual electronic sticky notes TG can be enlarged and edited or updated by entering text, pasting a link URL (Uniform Resource Locator), entering mathematical formulas, or importing files. They can also create a lesson screen that creates, stores, and displays (manages) notebooks NB using the lesson (subject) name of the school, grade, and class as an index. Electronic sticky notes TG can be placed and moved to any position within the notebook NB. See, for example, the website "ClassPad.net" < https: / / classpad.net / note / guide / contents / > (accessed July 12, 2024).

[0011] The learning assistance server 10 of the embodiment further has the following learning assistance functions (A) to (F): (A) A function to store data of one or more notebooks NB to be distributed in a shared storage area in response to an instruction (request) from the teacher terminal 20T to distribute (share information with) one or more notebooks NB to student terminals 20S taking a class; (B) A function to notify the student terminal 20S that one notebook NB has been distributed if there is only one notebook NB to be distributed (see FIG. 8A), and to notify the student terminal 20S that multiple notebooks NB have been distributed if there are multiple notebooks NB to be distributed (see FIG. 9A); (C) A function to open one of the distributed notebooks NB and display its contents on the student terminal 20S if a [Confirm] operation is detected on the student terminal 20S in response to the notification to the student terminal 20S that one notebook NB has been distributed (see FIG. 8B). (D) A function to display a list (file list) of at least the notebook names of the distributed notebooks NB on the student terminal 20S when a [Confirm] operation is detected on the student terminal 20S in response to a notification to the student terminal 20S that multiple notebooks NB have been distributed (see Figure 9B). (E) A function to open the selected notebook NB and display its contents on the student terminal 20S when it is detected that any notebook NB has been selected from the multiple notebooks NB listed on the student terminal 20S. (F) A function to highlight and identify the names of notebooks NB that have not been opened (unread / undisplayed) when multiple notebooks NB are displayed in a list (see Figure 9B).

[0012] 1 shows a state in which a distribution instruction window Wt1 is displayed on a screen (touch panel display 27) displaying one notebook to be distributed, "October 2nd English Review" NBt1, in accordance with the operation of the teacher menu icon MN, by the user (teacher) to instruct (request) the distribution of the notebook NBt1. Also, in FIG. 1, a state in which a window Ws1 is displayed on a screen (touch panel display 27) of the notebook "Class Notes" NBs1 in which the user (student) is working, in order to notify the user that one notebook has been distributed from the teacher terminal 20T, is shown.

[0013] 2, the learning assistance server 10 includes a control unit (CPU: central processing unit) 11, which is a computer, a storage unit 12 configured with a non-volatile memory device, a recording medium reading unit 14, a communication unit 15, an input unit 16, and a display unit 17. The control unit 11 controls the operation of each circuit unit in accordance with a server control program (including a learning assistance program) 12a stored in the storage unit 12, in response to an input signal from the input unit 16 corresponding to a user operation, or a signal received by the communication unit 15 from a user terminal 20 (teacher terminal 20T / student terminal 20S) on the communication network N.

[0014] The server control program 12a may be pre-stored in the storage unit 12, or may be read and stored in the storage unit 12 from an external storage medium 13 such as a CD-ROM via the storage medium reading unit 14, or may be downloaded from a Web server (program server in this case) 30 on the communication network N and read and stored in the storage unit 12. The server control program 12a includes a learning assistance program in addition to a system program that controls the overall control of the learning assistance server 10. The learning assistance program includes at least a program for causing the control unit 11 to execute the above-mentioned learning assistance functions (X) and (A) to (F).

[0015] The storage unit 12 has a storage area for the server control program 12a, as well as a learning support database storage area 12b, a user management data storage area 12c, a notebook management data storage area 12d, a lesson management data storage area 12e, a lesson shared data storage area 12f, and a work data storage area 12g. The learning support database storage area 12b stores learning support data, which serve as teaching materials, such as various dictionaries (e.g., English-Japanese dictionaries, Japanese dictionaries), various mathematical tools (e.g., functions, calculations, equations / inequalities), and various learning contents (e.g., reference books, workbooks, etc.), along with the control program. The user management data storage area 12c stores data, such as a password registered by the user, connection information (e.g., IP address), and user attributes (e.g., school, grade, class, name), associated with a user ID (user identification information: app ID in this case) for each user of the user terminal 20 (teacher terminal 20T / student terminal 20S) that has installed the learning support server utilization app.

[0016] The notebook management data storage area 12d stores, for each user (user ID) stored (registered) in the user management data storage area 12c, data of the notebook NB generated in response to user operations, as data associating the notebook name with the electronic sticky note TG, which is the content of the notebook NB. The data of the electronic sticky note TG includes the content of the electronic sticky note TG and its attributes (data setting information such as creation / editing date and time, data format, sub-attributes, etc.), coordinates indicating the display position (arrangement position) of the electronic sticky note TG on the notebook screen NB, the size of the electronic sticky note TG, etc. The lesson management data storage area 12e stores, for example, the user IDs of the lesson participants (user IDs of the teacher and students) and data of the notebook NB for each user ID (including the notebook name, unread information if the notebook NB is unread, and data of the electronic sticky note TG, which is the content of the notebook NB), associated with the school, grade, class, and lesson name (lesson ID) registered by the teacher terminal 20T.

[0017] The class shared data storage area 12f stores one or more pieces of data (including the notebook name and the data of the electronic sticky notes TG that are the contents of the notebook NB) of the notebook NB that has been instructed (requested) to be distributed from one user terminal 20 (here, the teacher terminal 20T) to another user terminal 20 (here, the student terminal 20S) in association with the class name (class ID) and the user ID of the recipient. The work data storage area 12g temporarily stores various data generated or acquired in response to the control of the operation of each unit by the control unit 11 as needed.

[0018] In the learning support server 10 configured in this manner, the control unit 11 controls the operation of each part of the circuit in accordance with the instructions written in the server control program 12a, and the software and hardware work together to realize various functions as described in the operation explanation below.

[0019] As shown in FIG. 3, the user terminal 20 (teacher terminal 20T / student terminal 20S) includes a control unit (CPU) 21, which is a computer, a storage unit 22, a recording medium reader 24, a communication unit (Wi-Fi® communication / mobile communication) 25, a key input unit 26, a touch-panel display 27, and an imaging unit (camera) 28. The control unit 21 controls the operation of each circuit component in accordance with a user terminal control program (including a web browser) 22a and a learning support server-usage application program (a learning support server-usage app) 22b stored in the storage unit 22. The user terminal control program 22a may be pre-stored in the storage unit 22, read from an external storage medium 23 such as a memory card by the recording medium reader 24 and stored in the storage unit 22, or downloaded from a web server (here, a program server) 30 on the communication network N via the communication unit 25 and stored in the storage unit 22. The learning support server utilization application 22b is downloaded from a web server (here, a program server of an app store) 30 on the communication network N via the communication unit 25 and stored in the storage unit 22.

[0020] The user terminal control program 22a includes a system program for controlling the entire user terminal 20 (teacher terminal 20T / student terminal 20S), as well as a program (such as a web browser) for communicating with various application programs stored in the storage unit 22 and transmitting and receiving various data at any time via communication with external communication devices including the learning assistance server 10 and web server 30 on the communication network N. The learning assistance server usage application 22b includes a program for communicating with the learning assistance server 10 and executing data input / output processing according to at least the above-mentioned learning assistance functions (X) and (A) to (F).

[0021] The storage unit 22 has a program storage area for storing the user terminal control program 22a and the learning assistance server utilization application 22b, as well as a terminal data storage area 22c and a work data storage area 22d. The terminal data storage area 22c stores connection information such as a terminal device number and IP address for connecting to external communication devices including the learning assistance server 10 and the web server 30 on the communication network N via a web browser, as well as data specific to the user terminal 20, such as a user ID (user identification information: in this case, an application ID), user attributes (school, grade, class, name, name of the class to be attended (class ID), etc.). The work data storage area 22d temporarily stores various data generated or acquired as needed in response to control of the operation of each unit by the control unit 21.

[0022] In the user terminal 20 (student terminal 20S / teacher terminal 20T) configured in this manner, the control unit 21 controls the operation of each part of the circuit in accordance with the instructions written in the user terminal control program 22a and the learning support server usage application 22b, and the software and hardware work together to realize various functions as described in the operation explanation below.

[0023] Next, the operation of the learning assistance system 1 of the embodiment will be described. Here, it is assumed that a class is conducted using the learning assistance server 10 by teacher terminal 20T and student terminals 20S (20S1 to 20Sn) that belong to a specific group and are grouped and registered in the user management data storage area 12c and the class management data storage area 12e of the learning assistance server 10, with the same class (for example, a class (subject) at a certain school, grade, or class) as participants. When the learning assistance server 10 receives a connection request (login) from the grouped user terminals 20 (teacher terminal 20T / student terminal 20S), the control unit 11 establishes a communication connection with the teacher terminal 20T and student terminal 20S that have requested the connection (step S1).

[0024] When the teacher terminal 20T has not detected a request to distribute the notebook NB (step S2 (No)), it displays the notebook "October 2nd English Review" NBt1 (which includes an electronic sticky note TG1, which is an assignment for the English class, and an electronic sticky note TG2 linked by a string image) generated by the learning support server 10 on the touch panel display unit 27 of the teacher terminal 20T, as shown in FIG. 5A (step S18).

[0025] When the user (teacher) touches the teacher menu icon MN in the upper right corner of the screen displaying the notebook "English Review on October 2nd" NBt1, the learning assistance server 10 (control unit 11) displays the teacher menu Tm from the right edge of the notebook NBt1 displayed on the teacher terminal 20T, as shown in FIG. 5B. When the teacher touches the selection item [Distribute Notebook] Dd in the teacher menu Tm, the learning assistance server 10 displays a distribution instruction window Wt1 on the screen of the notebook NBt1, as shown in FIG. 5C, to instruct the distribution of the notebook NBt1. Then, when the user (teacher) touches the distribution instruction button [Distribute to everyone] Bdi in the distribution instruction window Wt1 (step S2 (Yes)), the learning assistance server 10 acquires the data of the notebook NBt1 to be distributed and information on the recipients (user IDs of participants associated with the lesson name [English] in the lesson management data (12e)) (step S3). The learning support server 10 associates the data of the acquired notebook to be distributed, "October 2nd English Review" NBt1 (including electronic sticky note TG1 and electronic sticky note TG2 linked by a string image), and the user ID of the recipient with the lesson name [English] of the target school, grade, and class, and stores and memorizes them in the lesson shared data memory area 12f (step S4).

[0026] In addition, as a method for instructing (requesting) the learning support server 10 to distribute any notebook NBt to the student terminals 20S (20S1 to 20Sn) from the teacher terminal 20T, as described with reference to Figures 5A to 5C, the notebook to be distributed, "October 2nd English Review" NBt1, is displayed on the teacher terminal 20T, and a distribution instruction window Wt1 is displayed to instruct (request) distribution.In addition, as described with reference to Figures 6A and 6B below, it is also possible to select any notebook NBtn (notebook icon NBtni) from the notebook list LNBt (file list of notebook icons NBt1i, NBt2i, ...) displayed on the teacher terminal 20T and instruct (request) distribution.

[0027] That is, in response to the operation of the teacher terminal 20T, for example, as shown in FIG. 6A, the learning support server 10 displays a notebook list LNBt (a file list of notebook icons NBt1i, NBt2i) of the notebooks "October 2nd English Review" NBt1 and "English Assignment Notes" NBt2 that have been generated in association with "Modern Japanese" for Class 3-2 [English] on the touch panel display unit 27 of the teacher terminal 20T (step S18).

[0028] When a user (teacher) touches and selects a notebook NBtn to be distributed (here, the icon NBt1i of the notebook "October 2nd English Review" NBt1) in the notebook list LNBt (file list), the learning assistance server 10 (control unit 11) displays a teacher's edit menu Em on the notebook list LNBt (file list) screen. When the teacher touches the selection item [Distribute] Dd in the teacher's edit menu Em, the learning assistance server 10 displays a distribution instruction window Wt1 on the notebook list LNBt (file list) screen, as shown in FIG. 6B, to instruct the distribution of the selected notebook NBt1. Then, when the user (teacher) touches the distribution instruction button [Distribute to everyone] Bdi in the distribution instruction window Wt1 (step S2 (Yes)), the learning assistance server 10 acquires the data of the notebook NBt1 to be distributed and information on the distribution destination (the user IDs of the participants associated with the class name [English] in the class management data (12e)) (step S3), as described above. The learning support server 10 associates the data of the acquired notebook to be distributed, "October 2nd English Review" NBt1 (including electronic sticky note TG1 and electronic sticky note TG2 linked by a string image), and the user ID of the recipient with the lesson name [English] of the target school, grade, and class, and stores and memorizes them in the lesson shared data memory area 12f (step S4).

[0029] The learning support server 10 (control unit 11) determines whether the notebook NB to be distributed stored in the class shared data storage area 12f is one or multiple (step S5). If it is determined that the notebook NB to be distributed is one (notebook "October 2nd English Review" NBt1) (step S5 (Yes)), the control unit 11 displays a window Ws1 on the working screen (here, notebook "Class Notes" NBs1) displayed on the touch panel display unit 27 of the student terminal 20S (20S1 to 20Sn) of all the class participants to whom the notebook has been distributed, to notify them that one notebook "October 2nd English Review" NBt1 has been distributed from the teacher terminal 20T (step S6), as shown in FIG. 8A, for example. When the student touches the [Confirm] button Baf in window Ws1 to instruct the student to confirm the contents or the [Cancel] button Bca to instruct the student to continue working (step S7 (Yes)), the learning support server 10 (control unit 11) saves (stores) the data of the notebook to be distributed, "October 2nd English Review" NBt1 (including the electronic sticky note TG1 and the electronic sticky note TG2 linked by a string image), stored in the class shared data memory area 12f, as the notebook "October 2nd English Review" NBs2 associated with the user ID of the recipient of the target class name [English] in the class management data memory area 12e, and adds unread information (step S8).

[0030] When the learning assistance server 10 (control unit 11) determines that the [Confirm] button Baf of the window Ws1 displayed on the student terminal 20S (20S1 to 20Sn) has been touched (step S9 (Yes)), it opens and displays the notebook "October 2nd English Review" NBs2, which has been saved (stored) as a notebook of the student terminal 20S in the class management data storage area 12e, on the touch panel display unit 27 of the student terminal 20S, the recipient of the touched [Confirm] button Baf, as shown in Fig. 8B (step S10). The control unit 11 then erases the unread information of the notebook "October 2nd English Review" NBs2, which has been saved (stored) in the class management data storage area 12e and opened and displayed (displayed / read) on the recipient student terminal 20S (step S11). In this way, on the student terminal 20S, by touching the [Confirm] button Baf in the window Ws1 displayed on the screen where the student is working (here, the notebook "Class Notes" NBs1), the student can immediately open one of the notebooks distributed by the teacher terminal 20T, "English Review on October 2nd" NBs2, and check its contents.

[0031] On the other hand, if the learning support server 10 (control unit 11) determines in step S9 that the [Cancel] button Bca of the window Ws1 displayed on the student terminal 20S (20S1 to 20Sn) has been touched (step S9 (No)), it closes the window Ws1, restores the display of the notebook "Class Notes" NBs1 that the student is working on, and allows the student to continue working on the student terminal 20S (step S18).

[0032] Furthermore, if the teacher terminal 20T wishes to instruct (request) the learning support server 10 to distribute another additional notebook NB to the student terminal 20S, the teacher terminal 20T can either instruct (request) the distribution of one notebook NB while the notebook NB to be distributed is displayed on the teacher terminal 20T, as described above with reference to Figures 5A to 5C, or instruct (request) the distribution of one notebook NBtn by selecting the notebook NBtn to be distributed from the notebook list LNBt (file list) displayed on the teacher terminal 20T, as described above with reference to Figures 6A and 6B (steps S2 to S4).

[0033] For example, if the teacher terminal 20T is operated to instruct the distribution of the aforementioned one notebook "October 2nd English Review" NBs2 and then to instruct the distribution of another notebook "English Assignment Notes" NBt2 (see FIG. 6A), the learning support server 10 (controller 11) determines that there are multiple (here, two) notebooks NB to be distributed stored in the class shared data storage area 12f (step S5 (No)). As shown in FIG. 9A, for example, the controller 11 displays a window Ws2 on the working screen (here, the notebook "Class Notes" NBs1) displayed on the touch panel display 27 of the student terminals 20S (20S1 to 20Sn) of all the class participants to whom the notebooks are to be distributed, to notify them that multiple (here, two) notebooks have been distributed from the teacher terminal 20T (step S12). When the student touches the [Confirm] button Baf in window Ws2 to instruct the student to confirm the contents or the [Cancel] button Bca to instruct the student to continue working (step S13 (Yes)), the learning support server 10 (control unit 11) saves (stores) the data of the two notebooks to be distributed, "October 2nd English Review" NBt1 and "English Assignment Notes" NBt2, which are stored in the class shared data memory area 12f, as notebooks "October 2nd English Review" NBs2 and "English Assignment Notes" NBs3, which are associated with the user ID of the recipient of the target class name [English] in the class management data memory area 12e, and adds unread information (step S14).

[0034] When the learning support server 10 (control unit 11) determines that the [Confirm] button Baf of the window Ws2 displayed on the student terminal 20S (20S1 to 20Sn) has been touched (step S15 (Yes)), as shown in Figure 9B, it reads out the notebook "Class Notes" NBs1 that has already been saved (stored) and displayed (read) as a notebook of the student terminal 20S in the class management data memory area 12e, and the two notebooks to be distributed that were saved (stored) in step S4, "October 2nd English Review" NBs2 and "English Assignment Notes" NBs3, and displays a notebook list LNBs (file list) containing these as a list of notebook icons NBs1i, NBs2i, and NBs3i on the touch panel display unit 27 of the student terminal 20S to which the [Confirm] button Baf was touched (step S16). In this case, the notebook icons NBs1i, NBs2i, and NBs3i highlight (distinguish) the notebook names of the distributed, unread notebooks NBs2 and NBs3 ("October 2nd English Review" and "English Assignment Notes"), for example, by adding a dot mark at the beginning and displaying them in bold. Note that the highlight (distinguish) HL of the notebook name (title) in the notebook icon NBsni is not limited to adding a dot mark or displaying it in bold, but may be displayed in other ways, such as by adding a color marker or by blinking. This allows the user (student) of the student terminal 20S to easily confirm that multiple (here, two) notebooks, "October 2nd English Review" NBs2 and "English Assignment Notes" NBs3, have been newly distributed from the teacher terminal 20T.

[0035] When the user (student) touches and selects one of the notebook icons NBs2i or NBs3i, whose notebook name is identified by an HL, in the notebook list LNBs (step S17 (Yes)), the learning support server 10 (controller 11) opens and displays the notebook "October 2nd English Review" NBs2 or "English Assignment Notes" NBs3 corresponding to the selected notebook icon (here, NBs2i or NBs3i) on the touch panel display 27 of the student terminal 20S (step S10). The controller 11 then erases the unread information of the notebook "October 2nd English Review" NBs2 or "English Assignment Notes" NBs3 that has been opened and displayed (displayed / read) on the student terminal 20S (step S11). In this way, on the student terminal 20S, by touching the [Confirm] button Baf in the window Ws2 displayed on the screen where the student is working (here, the notebook "Class Notes" NBs1), the student can immediately confirm in the notebook list LNBs that there are multiple notebooks distributed by the teacher terminal 20T, such as "October 2nd English Review" NBs2 and "English Assignment Notes" NBs3, and can immediately open any of the notebooks NBsn and check their contents.

[0036] In the case where the teacher terminal 20T instructs (requests) the distribution of an additional notebook (here, "English assignment notebook" NBt2) as described in the above steps S5 (No) → S12 to S17, resulting in multiple notebooks NB to be distributed, this occurs when the teacher terminal 20T instructs (requests) the distribution of the additional notebook NBt2 (step S7 (No) → S2) is issued before the student touches the "Confirm" button Baf or the "Cancel" button Bca of the window Ws1 displayed on the student terminal 20S in response to the instruction to distribute the first notebook, "October 2nd English Review" NBt1 (i.e., before the distributed notebook NBt1 is saved in the class management data storage area 12e as the recipient user's notebook). In this case, the window Ws1 displayed on the student terminal 20S in step S6 is switched to the window Ws2 in step S12. Furthermore, if the teacher terminal 20T instructs the distribution of an additional notebook NBtn (step S13 (No) → S2) before the student touches the [Confirm] button Baf or the [Cancel] button Bca of window Ws2 (i.e., before the two distributed notebooks NBt1 and NBt2 are saved in the class management data memory area 12e as the recipient user's notebooks), a similar process of displaying window Ws2 on the student terminal 20S is repeated (step S5 (No) → S12).

[0037] If the learning support server 10 (control unit 11) determines in step S15 that the [Cancel] button Bca of the window Ws2 displayed on the student terminal 20S has been touched (step S15 (No)), it closes the window Ws2, restores the display of the notebook "Class Notes" NBs1 that the student is working on, and allows the student to continue working on the student terminal 20S (step S18).

[0038] When the data of one or more notebooks NBtn to be distributed that have been stored in the class shared data memory area 12f in accordance with an instruction (request) from the teacher terminal 20T (step S2 (Yes)) (step S8 or S14) has been saved (stored) in the class management data memory area 12e as notebooks NBsn of all recipient users, associated with each user ID (step S21 (Yes) in Figure 7), the learning support server 10 erases the data of the notebooks NBtn to be distributed that have been stored in the class shared data memory area 12f (step S22).

[0039] When the communication connection with all grouped user terminals 20 (teacher terminal 20T / student terminal 20S) is disconnected (logged out) in the learning support server 10 (step S19 (Yes)), the control unit 11 terminates the processing according to the series of learning support functions described above.

[0040] According to the learning assistance system 1 of the embodiment, when a teacher terminal 20T issues an instruction (request) to distribute (share) an arbitrary notebook NBtn (file), which is a digital notebook created and managed by the learning assistance server 10, to student terminals 20S (20S1 to 20Sn) participating in a class, the learning assistance server 10 stores the data of the notebook NBtn to be distributed in the class shared data storage area 12f, in association with the class name and the user ID of the recipient. If there is only one notebook NBtn to be distributed stored in the class shared data storage area 12f, the learning assistance server 10 displays a window Ws1 on the recipient student terminal 20S notifying that one notebook NBt1 has been distributed, and if there are multiple notebooks NBtn to be distributed, the learning assistance server 10 displays a window Ws2 on the recipient student terminal 20S notifying that multiple notebooks NBt1, NBt2, ... have been distributed. When the [Confirm] button Baf in window Ws1 displayed on the student terminal 20S is operated, the learning assistance server 10 causes the student terminal 20S to immediately open one of the notebooks NBt1 to be distributed and display its contents. Furthermore, when the [Confirm] button Baf in window Ws2 displayed on the student terminal 20S is operated, the learning assistance server 10 causes the student terminal 20S to display a list (notebook list) LNBs (file list) of notebook icons NBt1i, NBt2i, ..., in which the notebook names (titles) corresponding to the multiple notebooks NBt1, NBt2, ... to be distributed are each highlighted (identified) as unread. When any notebook icon NBtni in the notebook list LNBs is selected (operated), the learning assistance server 10 opens the notebook NBtn corresponding to the selected notebook icon NBtni, displays its contents, and erases the unread information of the displayed notebook NBtn.

[0041] In this way, the learning assistance server 10 stores data for one or more notebooks NBtn requested for distribution by the teacher terminal 20T in the class shared data storage area 12f. Based on the status of the notebooks NBtn stored in the class shared data storage area 12f, the learning assistance server 10 notifies the student terminal 20S of the number of notebooks NBtn to be distributed and displays a corresponding number. This allows the notebook NBtn distribution process to be executed efficiently and without burden. When a single notebook NBtn is distributed, the user (student) of the student terminal 20S can immediately open the notebook NBtn and check its contents. When multiple notebooks NBt1, NBt2, ... are distributed, the user (student) can immediately check the list LNBs of notebook names (titles) indicating whether each notebook is unread or not, and can select any notebook name from the list to open the corresponding notebook NBtn and check its contents. This improves usability when multiple notebooks (files) NBt1, NBt2, ... are shared between two terminals, for example, the teacher terminal 20T and the student terminal 20S. Furthermore, the interaction process between the teacher and the learning support server 10 can reliably assist the teacher in performing technical tasks (shared notebook processing).

[0042] In the above-described embodiment, the teacher terminal 20T designated the student terminals 20S1 to 20Sn of all students participating in the class as recipients of the notebook NBtn, as shown by the distribution instruction button [Distribute to all] Bdi in the distribution instruction window Wt1 in Fig. 5C or 6B. However, without being limited to this, for example, the teacher terminal 20T may designate the student terminals 20Sn of students arbitrarily selected from a list of students participating in the class as recipients.

[0043] In the above-described embodiment, the teacher terminal 20T is configured to distribute multiple notebooks NBt1, NBt2, ... to the student terminals 20S by specifying each notebook NBtn to be distributed and issuing a distribution instruction (request) to the learning assistance server 10. However, without being limited to this, for example, after selecting multiple notebooks NBt1, NBt2 (notebook icons NBt1i, NBt2i) as distribution targets in the notebook list LNBt shown in Figures 6A and 6B, a distribution instruction window Wt1 may be displayed and a distribution instruction (request) may be issued, thereby distributing multiple notebooks NBt1, NBt2, ... to the student terminals 20S simultaneously.

[0044] In the above embodiment, the function of the learning assistance server 10 has been described, which distributes and shares a notebook NB (file), which is a digital notebook, among the student terminals 20S, which are grouped together and are participants in the same class, in response to an instruction (request) from the teacher terminal 20T. Of course, this function of the learning assistance server 10 may be applied as a function in which, in a plurality of user terminals (20T / 20S (20S1 to 20Sn) communicatively connected to the server (10), some file (NB) with a title that is generated and managed by the server (10) is distributed to other user terminals (20S / 20T) (the other terminal) in response to an instruction (request) from one user terminal (20T / 20S) and shared.

[0045] The various processing methods by the learning support system 1 described in the above embodiments, i.e., the various processing methods of the learning support server 10, mainly the notebook distribution processing shown in the flowcharts of Figures 4 and 7, can all be stored and distributed as programs that can be executed by a computer on a medium of an external storage device such as a memory card (e.g., a ROM card, a RAM card), a magnetic disk (e.g., a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a hard disk), an optical disk (e.g., a CD-ROM, a DVD), or a semiconductor memory. Then, the control unit (CPU) of the information processing device (electronic device) loads the program stored on the medium of this external storage device into the storage device, and the operation is controlled by the loaded program, thereby realizing the various functions described in the embodiments and executing similar processing by the above-mentioned methods.

[0046] In addition, the program data for realizing each method can be transmitted over a communication network (N) in the form of program code, and the program data can be imported from a computer device (program server) connected to this communication network (N) into an information processing device (electronic device) and stored in a storage device, thereby realizing the various functions described above.

[0047] The present invention is not limited to the embodiments, and various modifications can be made in the implementation stage without departing from the spirit of the invention. Furthermore, the embodiments may be implemented in appropriate combinations, in which case the combined effects can be obtained. Furthermore, the embodiments include various inventions, and various inventions can be extracted by combining selected elements from the disclosed elements. For example, if the problem can be solved and the desired effect can be obtained even if some elements are deleted from all elements shown in the embodiments, the configuration from which these elements are deleted can be extracted as an invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0048] 1...learning support system, 10...learning support server, 11...control unit (CPU), 12a...server control program (including learning support program), 20T...teacher terminal (one terminal), 20Sn...student terminal (other terminal), Wt1...distribution instruction window, Ws1...window, Ws2...window, LNBs...display of notebook list on student terminal, HL...identification display of unread notebooks.

Claims

1. When a file sharing operation is detected on one of the devices connected via a network, When the number of files to be shared is one, the display unit of the other terminal connected via the network displays the one file in an open state, and when the number of files to be shared is multiple, the display unit of the other terminal displays a file list consisting of the multiple files. A server having a control unit that executes processing.

2. The control unit When the file list is displayed on the display unit of the other terminal, a process is executed to identifiably display files that have not been displayed on the other terminal among the plurality of files included in the file list. The server of claim 1 .

3. The control unit If there is one file, notify the other terminal of the sharing of the one file; displaying the one file in an open state on a display unit of the other terminal in response to an operation of the other terminal based on the notification of sharing of the one file; If there are multiple files, notify the other terminal of the sharing of the multiple files; and executing a process of displaying the file list on a display unit of the other terminal in response to an operation of the other terminal based on the notification of the sharing of the plurality of files. The server of claim 2.

4. The control unit In response to an operation of the other terminal to select any one of the files included in the file list, a process is executed to display the selected file in an open state on a display unit of the other terminal. The server of claim 3.

5. The control unit When displaying the file list on the display unit of the other terminal, a process is executed in which, among the plurality of files included in the file list, titles of files that have been opened on the display unit of the other terminal and whose contents have already been displayed are displayed without being identified. The server of claim 4.

6. the file is a digital note that can be edited in response to an operation of the other terminal; The server of claim 1 .

7. In the control section, When a file sharing operation is detected on one of the devices connected via a network, When the number of files to be shared is one, the display unit of the other terminal connected via the network displays the one file in an open state, and when the number of files to be shared is multiple, the display unit of the other terminal displays a file list consisting of the multiple files. A file sharing method that causes processing to occur.

8. In the control section, When a file sharing operation is detected in a terminal connected via a network, if the file to be shared is one, the display unit displays the one file in an open state, and if the file to be shared is multiple, the display unit displays a file list consisting of the multiple files. A program for executing a process.

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