Information processing systems and programs

Abstract

Refer to the content of the document and the comments on the document, and present related documents that are relevant to the document. [Solution] The information processing device 10 includes: an important word information creation unit 13 that creates important word information including important words extracted from the document 21 displayed on the screen; an important word information update unit 153 that extracts important words from comments attached to the document 21 and includes them in the important word information; a search processing unit 14 that selects related documents of document 21 from a group of documents by searching based on important words extracted from the document and comments; and a recommended document presentation unit 154 that displays documents selected by the user from the selected related documents as recommended documents, with comments attached to them.

Description

Technical Field

[0006] , , ,

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

Background Art

[0002] When creating or viewing a document, there may be a case where you want to refer to a document related to the document or notify other users. For example, when viewing a specification, it is efficient if you can present the documents created in the same project together with the specification to other project members.

[0003] Conventionally, for a document related to a viewed document (hereinafter, "viewed document") (hereinafter, "related document"), for example, characteristic words in the viewed document are extracted, and the document in the document group is searched from the documents in the document group using the word as a keyword to extract the related document of the viewed document. Alternatively, each document included in the document group is converted into a vector representation based on the content and held. The content of the viewed document is also converted into a vector representation, and a document whose vector representation is close to the held document group to be searched is extracted as the related document of the viewed document.

[0004] Also, in Patent Document 1, a technique has been proposed to automatically search for and display a document suitable for the phase based on the phase in which the user is currently in the process (step) of the user's work.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0005]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0006] Incidentally, in document applications that have a function to add comments to documents, users can add comments they have entered to the document. Users may use this function to enter comments on the content of the entire document or a part of it. In other words, comments often contain words related to the content of the document, words that indicate the characteristics of the document, and expressions that indicate points to focus on when checking the content, quality, or errors of the document.

[0007] However, conventionally, while keywords for searching related documents are extracted from the documents that are presented as related documents, they are not extracted from comments on those documents.

[0008] The present invention aims to present related documents that are connected to a document by referring to the content of both the document and the comments on the document. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] The information processing system according to the present invention comprises a processor, the processor receiving comments entered by a user on a document, selecting related documents based on the document and the comments, and presenting the selected related documents.

[0010] Furthermore, the processor, when it selects multiple related documents, displays the identification information of the selected multiple related documents in a related document display area, and controls the related documents corresponding to the identification information selected by the user from the list to be viewable by other users.

[0011] Furthermore, the processor is characterized in that it includes the identification information of the related document that has been controlled to be viewable in the input area of ​​the comment entered by the user.

[0012] Furthermore, the processor is characterized in that it moves the identification information of the related document selected by the user from the identification information of the related documents listed in the related document display area from the related document display area to the selected document display area and displays it, and in response to the user's confirmation operation, includes the identification information of the related document displayed in the selected document display area in the input area of ​​the comment entered by the user.

[0013] Furthermore, the processor is characterized in that it returns the identification information of the related document that was moved to the selected document display area in response to a user's cancel operation back to the related document display area.

[0014] Furthermore, the processor is characterized in that, each time a new comment is entered by the user, it refers to the newly entered portion of the comment and selects the relevant document.

[0015] Furthermore, the processor is characterized by displaying a newly entered comment by the user in association with the identification information of the related document selected by referring to the comment.

[0016] Furthermore, the processor is characterized by displaying the content of the related document corresponding to the identification information in response to a predetermined user operation on the identification information of the related document presented.

[0017] Furthermore, the processor is characterized in that it displays characteristic words contained in at least one of the displayed document or the related document in a manner that distinguishes them from other words.

[0018] Furthermore, the processor is characterized by receiving a word selected by the user from among the documents as a characteristic word of the document, and selecting related documents related to the document by referring to the received characteristic word in addition to the characteristic words of the extracted document and the comment.

[0019] Further, when the user designates a word included in the document and inputs a comment associated with the word, the processor accepts the word designated by the user as a characteristic word of the document, and in addition to the characteristic words of the extracted document and the comment respectively, refers to the accepted characteristic word and selects a related document related to the document.

[0020] Further, when the processor treats the body of the received mail as the document and treats the body of the reply mail or the forward mail for the mail as the comment, the processor presents the selected related document by including it in the body of the reply mail or the forward mail.

[0021] Further, the processor attaches the related document selected by the user from the related documents included in the body of the reply mail or the forward mail to the reply mail or the forward mail.

[0022] The program according to the present invention causes a computer to realize a function of accepting a comment input by a user for a document, a function of selecting a related document based on the document and the comment, and a function of presenting the selected related document.

Effect of the Invention

[0023] According to the invention described in claim 1, it is possible to present a related document related to a document by referring to the contents of the document and the comment on the document respectively.

[0024] According to the invention described in claim 2, it is possible to present, as a related document, a related document that controls the related document selected by the user who input the comment so that it can be viewed by other users.

[0025] According to the invention described in claim 3, it is possible to associate the related document controlled to be viewable with the comment from which the related document was selected.

[0026] According to the invention described in claim 4, it is possible to collectively associate viewable controlled related documents with the comments from which the related documents were selected.

[0027] According to the invention described in claim 5, it is possible to cancel the selection of a related document that has been controlled to be viewable by the user.

[0028] According to the invention described in claim 6, it is possible to increase the related documents each time a comment is additionally input.

[0029] According to the invention described in claim 7, it is possible to discriminatively display which related documents were selected from which input comments.

[0030] According to the invention described in claim 8, it is possible to check the content of the related document.

[0031] According to the invention described in claim 9, it is possible to cause the user to check the extracted characteristic words in at least one of the document or the related document.

[0032] According to the invention described in claim 10, it is possible to newly present related documents in consideration of the characteristic words specified by the user.

[0033] According to the invention described in claim 11, it is possible to newly present related documents after认定 the words selected by the user as the object of comment addition as characteristic words.

[0034] According to the invention described in claim 12, it is possible to present related documents in the text of a reply email when using email.

[0035] According to the invention described in claim 13, it is possible to present related documents as attached documents to the sender of the email

[0036] According to the invention described in claim 14, it is possible to present related documents related to the document by referring to the content of each of the document and the comment on the document. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0037] [Figure 1] This is a block diagram showing the information processing device in Embodiment 1. [Figure 2] This figure shows an example of the data structure of important word information in Embodiment 1. [Figure 3] This is a flowchart showing the document processing in Embodiment 1. [Figure 4] This figure shows an example of the screen display of the document processing window in Embodiment 1. [Figure 5] This figure shows an example of data setting for important word information when creating a new entry in Embodiment 1. [Figure 6] This is a flowchart showing the important word information update process in Embodiment 1. [Figure 7] This figure shows an example of the screen display of the document processing window when the related document list is added and displayed in Embodiment 1. [Figure 8] Figure 7 illustrates the user operation of selecting a related document from the related document list displayed in the document processing window shown in Figure 7. [Figure 9] Figure 7 shows an example of the screen display after a user has selected a related document from the related document list shown in the document processing window. [Figure 10] This figure shows an example of the initial display of the recommended document selection window in Embodiment 2. [Figure 11] Figure 10 shows an example of the screen display of the recommended document selection window when a recommended document is selected. [Figure 12] (a) is a diagram showing a comment entered in the comment input field in Embodiment 3, and (b) is a diagram showing the relationship with the list of related documents displayed in the recommended document selection window based on that comment. [Figure 13]This figure follows Figure 12, where (a) shows a comment entered in the comment input field, and (b) shows the relationship with the list of related documents displayed in the recommended document selection window based on that comment. [Figure 14] This figure follows Figure 13, where (a) shows a comment entered in the comment input field, and (b) shows the relationship with the list of related documents displayed in the recommended document selection window based on that comment. [Figure 15] This figure shows an example of the screen display of the document processing window and the recommended document selection window in Embodiment 4. [Figure 16] This figure shows an example of the screen display of the document processing window and the recommended document selection window in Embodiment 5. [Figure 17] This figure shows an example of the screen display of the document processing window in Embodiment 6. [Figure 18] This figure shows an example of a reply email screen displayed in the window of the mailer in Embodiment 7. [Figure 19] This figure shows an example of a reply email screen after the user has selected a relevant document in Embodiment 7. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0038] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

[0039] Embodiment 1. Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the information processing device 10 in this embodiment. The information processing device 10 is one embodiment of the information processing system according to the present invention.

[0040] The information processing device 10 in this embodiment can be implemented using a conventional, general-purpose hardware configuration such as a personal computer (PC). Specifically, the information processing device 10 has a user interface that includes a processor, ROM, RAM, a hard disk drive (HDD) as a storage means, a network interface (IF) provided as a communication means, input means such as a mouse and keyboard, and display means such as a display.

[0041] As shown in Figure 1, the information processing device 10 in this embodiment includes a user interface unit 11, a document processing unit 12, a key word information creation unit 13, a search processing unit 14, a comment input / output control unit 15, a document information storage unit 16, a key word information storage unit 17, and a comment information storage unit 18. Components not used in the description of this embodiment are omitted from Figure 1.

[0042] The user interface unit 11 accepts user input and displays information. The document processing unit 12 is implemented by executing a document application and performs document processing such as document creation, display, modification, and deletion. In particular, the documents handled in this embodiment are targets for commenting and serve as the source for extracting important words. The important word information creation unit 13 creates important word information for documents selected by the user as viewing targets. Important word information is created for each document. Details of the important word information will be explained later. The search processing unit 14 searches for documents using important words included in the important word information as keywords. The comment input / output control unit 15 controls the input and output of comments entered by the user for the document being viewed.

[0043] The comment input / output control unit 15 includes a comment receiving unit 151, a temporary storage unit 152, a key word information update unit 153, a recommended document presentation unit 154, and a comment management unit 155. The comment receiving unit 151 receives comments entered by the user. The temporary storage unit 152 temporarily stores the received comments. The key word information update unit 153 updates the key word information corresponding to the document being viewed in accordance with the comments entered for that document. The recommended document presentation unit 154 presents recommended documents to the user based on the documents searched by the search processing unit 14. The comment management unit 155 manages comments entered by the user, such as by registering them in the comment information storage unit 18.

[0044] Furthermore, since the comment input / output control unit 15, as well as the important word information creation unit 13 and the search processing unit 14, also perform processing on the document, these components 13 to 15 could potentially be included in the document processing unit 12. However, as will become clear from the explanation below, the comment input / output control unit 15 and the important word information creation unit 13 are provided as separate components from the document processing unit 12 in order to realize the characteristic additional functions in this embodiment.

[0045] The document information storage unit 16 stores information about the documents handled in this embodiment (hereinafter also referred to as "document information"). In this embodiment, the documents handled are the document to be viewed and related documents presented to the user as related documents, and the document information storage unit 16 stores information about both types of documents. The document information includes a document ID as information to identify the document, the document name, the type of document and the date of creation, and the storage location information of the document. In addition, the document itself stored by the information processing device 10 may be stored if necessary.

[0046] The important word information storage unit 17 stores important word information. Figure 2 shows an example of the data structure of important word information in this embodiment.

[0047] Key word information is created for each document and includes one or more key words extracted from the document and comments entered by the user for that document. Key words are words that are recognized as characteristic words (so-called "characteristic words") in the text that makes up the document and the comment. Therefore, in this embodiment, the words designated as key words and the words extracted as characteristic words are the same words. In other words, key words and characteristic words are synonymous. Key words are associated with an importance level that indicates the level of importance of the key word. In this embodiment, the higher the importance value, the more important the word is considered to be. The importance level is maintained in a way that distinguishes whether the key word was extracted from the source, i.e., from the document or the comment. The importance level of a key word is shown as the sum of the importance level in the document and the importance level in the comment. The importance level is referenced when extracting related documents from the group of documents managed using the document information storage unit 16, and when determining the display order of the extracted related documents.

[0048] In this embodiment, feature words extracted using feature word extraction methods such as TF-IDF (Term Frequency - Inverse Document Frequency), SVM (Support-Vector Machine), and KeyGraph are treated as important words. In this embodiment, importance is set to "words," meaning individual words, but it may also be set to strings including phrases, so-called "phrases."

[0049] The comment information storage unit 18 stores information about comments entered by the user (hereinafter also referred to as "comment information"). The comment information is created by associating a comment ID that identifies the comment, the document ID of the document to which the comment is attached, time information that specifies the date and time the comment was entered, related documents that have been searched and selected by the search processing unit 14 from the comment, and information that determines whether or not the related documents have been selected as recommended documents by the user.

[0050] Each component 11-15 of the information processing device 10 is realized through the coordinated operation of the computer forming the information processing device 10 and the program running on the processor installed in the computer. Furthermore, each storage unit 16-18 is realized by an HDD installed in the information processing device 10. Alternatively, RAM or external storage means may be used via a network.

[0051] Next, the operation in this embodiment will be described.

[0052] In this embodiment, when a comment is added to a document being viewed, related documents (hereinafter also referred to as "related documents") are selected based on the document and the comment, and the related documents are presented to the user by linking the selected related documents to the comment. The document processing in this embodiment will be explained using the flowchart shown in Figure 3.

[0053] The information processing device 10 starts the operation of the document processing unit 12 by launching a document application in response to user operation. Once the document processing unit 12 is launched and a document is selected by the user, it displays the document selected by the user in a window on the display (step S110). The user then views the displayed document and enters desired comments for it.

[0054] The document processing unit 12 displays the document on the user interface unit 11, and the comment input / output control unit 15 receives comments received by the user interface unit 11. However, the operation of the user interface unit 11 will be omitted in the following explanation.

[0055] Figure 4 shows an example of the screen display of the document processing window 20 in this embodiment, which displays documents and allows users to enter comments. The document processing window 20 includes a document display area 22 that displays the contents of a document 21 selected by the user as a document to be viewed (hereinafter also referred to as the "viewed document"), and a comment display area 24 that includes a comment input field 23, which corresponds to a comment input area where the user enters comments.

[0056] Note that the layout of the document processing window 20 shown in Figure 4 is just an example and is not limited to this. For example, in Figure 4, a comment display area 24 is provided to the right of the document display area 22, but the relative positions of the display areas 22 and 24 are not limited to this. Also, the size of each area 22 and 24 is arbitrary and may be changed.

[0057] When a document 21 is selected by the user and displayed on the screen, the important word information creation unit 13 creates important word information corresponding to the document 21 (step S120). That is, the important word information creation unit 13 extracts characteristic words by analyzing the document 21 and sets these extracted characteristic words as important words in the "important words" field of the important word information exemplified in Figure 2. Then, for each registered important word, the initial value of the important word in the document (for example, 3) is set in the "document" field from which it was extracted. The "importance level" is calculated and set to the sum of the importance levels of the document and comments. An example of the data structure of the important word information at the time of new creation is shown in Figure 5.

[0058] The important word information creation unit 13 registers the important word information created in the manner described above in the important word information storage unit 17, linking it to the document ID of the document in question.

[0059] In Figures 2 and 5, blank spaces indicate that the relevant important word was not extracted from the document or comment. Numerically, this is equivalent to 0 when calculating the total importance score. Furthermore, the "important words" listed in the important word information are merely examples of words.

[0060] Subsequently, the information processing device 10 terminates document processing in response to a termination instruction from the user (Y in step S130), but until that termination instruction is given (N in step S130), it performs the processing described later.

[0061] The user views the document 21 displayed in the document display area 22 and enters comments on the document 21 in the comment input field 23 as needed. The comment receiving unit 151 receives the comments entered by the user (step S140). The information processing device 10 then continues to process comments until a predetermined trigger is input (N in step S150).

[0062] Incidentally, the comment input / output control unit 15 stores the comments received by the comment reception unit 151 in the temporary storage unit 152. In this embodiment, the temporary storage unit 152 is located inside the comment input / output control unit 15. In other words, since the application that implements the comment input / output control unit 15 is loaded into RAM, the temporary storage unit 152 is also formed in RAM. However, the temporary storage unit 152 may be located outside the comment input / output control unit 15, such as on an HDD.

[0063] The comment management unit 155 creates comment information about the comments held in the temporary storage unit 152 in response to a predetermined trigger being input, and registers and manages it in the comment information storage unit 18. Here, the "predetermined trigger" is a trigger for processing the presentation of related documents to the user. For example, the trigger may be when a predetermined symbol such as " / " or a specific word or phrase such as punctuation is entered in the comment. Alternatively, even if no symbols or punctuation are entered, the trigger may be when the number of characters entered consecutively as a comment exceeds N (where N is a natural number), or when the state of no input during comment input exceeds T (where T is a natural number).

[0064] When the above trigger is input (Y in step S150), the important word information update unit 153 will: The important vocabulary information created in response to document 21 is updated (step S160). This process of updating important vocabulary information will be explained using the flowchart shown in Figure 6.

[0065] The important word information update unit 153 first reads and obtains important word information corresponding to document 21 from the important word information storage unit 17 (step S210). The important word information includes important words extracted from the document and important words extracted from comments, as illustrated in Figure 2. The important word information update unit 153 extracts the important words extracted from comments from the important word information (step S220). In the following explanation, important words extracted from comments will be specifically referred to as "comment important words".

[0066] Incidentally, in Figure 2, the important term "quote" has importance levels assigned to both documents and comments. This means that "quote" was extracted from both documents and comments. Therefore, "quote" is a comment important term. Furthermore, to account for cases like "quote" which are extracted from both documents and comments, it may be possible to add flag information to the important term information table to distinguish whether the important term was newly registered in a document or a comment.

[0067] The important word information update unit 153 then performs the following processing on each of the extracted comment important words. Specifically, the important word information update unit 153 subtracts from the importance level of the comment important word. Here, for example, we will subtract 1. Subtracting may result in the importance level of the comment important word becoming 0, in which case the comment important word with an importance level of 0 is deleted from the important word information (step S240). Note that only comment important words whose source is a comment are subject to deletion. In other words, comment important words whose source is a document are not deleted even if their importance level becomes 0.

[0068] Once the processing of comment keywords already included in the keyword information is complete, the keyword information update unit 153 extracts characteristic words from the comments as keyword keywords in the same manner as the processing in the keyword information creation unit 13 described above (step S250). The keyword information update unit 153 then performs the following processing on each keyword keyword extracted from the comments. Specifically, if the extracted keyword keyword does not exist in the keyword information (N in step S260), the keyword information update unit 153 newly sets the keyword keyword in the keyword information and sets the initial value of importance in the comment (for example, 5) for that keyword keyword in the field of the comment from which it was extracted in the keyword information.

[0069] In Figure 2, "Work Request Form" and "Description" have a blank (i.e., 0) importance level when the source is a document, so they can be identified as important words extracted from comments. However, their importance level is 5, indicating that they are important words that were newly set at this point. "Deliverables," "Amount," and "Details" are also important words extracted from comments, but their importance level is less than 5, indicating that they are important words that were set in the past.

[0070] On the other hand, if the extracted important word already exists in the important word information (Y in step S260), the important word information update unit 153 sets the importance level of that important word to the initial value of importance in the comment (step S270). In other words, regardless of the current importance value, it is updated to the initial value. In the settings shown in Figure 2, it can be seen that "quotation" falls into this category.

[0071] As mentioned above, in this embodiment, initial values ​​for important words are set for both documents and comments. Specifically, 3 is set as the initial value for important words in documents, and 5 is set as the initial value for important words in comments. These initial values ​​may be the same. However, in this embodiment, since users refer to the content of the document and consider the words to use when entering comments, it can be assumed that they will use words closely related to the content of the document, or expressions that indicate points of focus when checking the content, quality, or errors of the document. Therefore, in this embodiment, the initial values ​​for comments are set higher than those for documents. Furthermore, since it can be assumed that newer comments contain more important content, the importance level of important words in comments is reduced. Words whose comment importance level becomes 0 after reduction are not entered repeatedly, and are therefore determined not to be important words and are temporarily removed from the important word information. Note that the initial values ​​(3, 5) for importance set for documents and comments, and the value (1) used to reduce the importance level of important words in comments, are examples, and appropriate values ​​should be set according to the type of document, etc.

[0072] In this embodiment, important word information is created each time the document 21 to be viewed is displayed on the screen as described above, and the important word information of the document 21 is updated each time a comment is entered or a trigger is activated.

[0073] In this embodiment, important word information is created in step S120 as shown in Figure 3. However, as long as the content of document 21 is not changed, or as long as the feature word extraction method is not changed, the same feature words will be extracted as important words. Therefore, as long as no such changes are confirmed, instead of creating important word information each time document 21 is selected, the previously created important word information can be read from the important word information storage unit 17 and used. This way, the updates to the important word information performed in step S160 as shown in Figure 3 can also be used. In addition, since the input comments are stored in the comment information storage unit 18 along with the comment information, even if important word information is created each time document 21 is selected, it is possible to reproduce the important word information exemplified in Figure 5.

[0074] Returning to Figure 3, once the user has entered a comment and the update of the important word information, which is performed in response to the input of a trigger, is complete, the search processing unit 14 then performs a search for related documents using the important words in the important word information as keywords (step S170). In other words, the search processing unit 14 selects related documents for the document in question from the group of documents managed by the document information storage unit 16, based on the important words extracted from the document and comments. Figure 7 shows an example of the screen display of the document processing window 20 that displays the results of this search.

[0075] In the example screen display shown in Figure 7, the comments entered in the comment input field 23 and the related document list 26 showing the search results are added to the example screen display shown in Figure 4. The related document list 26 corresponds to the related document display area which displays a list of documents selected as related documents by the search processing unit 14. In short, the search results from the search processing unit 14 are displayed in the related document list 26.

[0076] As illustrated in Figure 7, the information processing device 10 updates the important word information when a period "." is included in a comment entered by the user, and then performs a search based on the important words set in the updated important word information. The related document list 26 contains one or more related documents obtained as a result of this search. Of course, it is also possible to obtain a search result in which no documents matching the related documents are found.

[0077] The recommended document presentation unit 154 displays the information about the related documents selected by the search processing unit 14 in the related document list 26. The information about the related documents includes at least the document name, which is the identification information of the related document. Figure 7 shows an example in which the author and creation date are associated with the document name.

[0078] The related documents included in the related document list 26 are selected from among multiple documents (hereinafter also referred to as the "document group") whose information is managed by the document information storage unit 16. For example, the sum of the number of words that match the important words included in the important word information and the importance level of those important words is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold. Furthermore, the related documents in the related document list 26 are sorted in descending order of the sum of the sum of the number of words and the importance level of those important words, as described above.

[0079] Incidentally, the related documents included in the related document list 26 are positioned as related documents that the information processing device 10 presents to the user, more specifically to the comment inputter, based on the document and the comments on that document. It can also be said that these are documents that the information processing device 10 recommends to the comment inputter as related documents.

[0080] Figure 8 shows the same screen display example as Figure 7, but Figure 8 shows an example where the user selects related documents using mouse operations. The user can confirm the selected related document by the position of the mouse cursor 28.

[0081] The user positions the mouse cursor 28 to the line corresponding to the related document they wish to select. As illustrated in Figure 8, when the user selects “Work Request Form A.pdf”, the recommended document presentation unit 154 displays information identifying the selected related document in the comment input field 23, as shown in Figure 9. In this embodiment, the related document selected based on the comment is appended to the entered comment.

[0082] In this embodiment, the document name 30 of the related document is displayed as information to identify the related document. The recommended document display unit 154 also sets link information to the storage location for the document name 30. As a result, the user can display the content of the document by clicking on the document name 30. The user may also select multiple related documents from the related document list 26.

[0083] Incidentally, the related documents included in the related document list 26 are, as mentioned above, related documents that the information processing device 10 presents to the user (comment inputter), and are positioned as documents recommended to the comment inputter. This eliminates the need for the user to search for related documents for the document 21 they are currently viewing.

[0084] In contrast, the related documents selected by the user, i.e., the commenter, from the related document list 26 can be said to be, for example, documents that the commenter recommends to other users who will view the document 21 they are currently viewing in a later stage of processing. The documents extracted by the search processing unit 14 through a search based on important keywords are related documents to document 21 as described above, but in this embodiment, the related documents selected by the user for presentation to other users will be specifically referred to as "recommended documents." The information processing device 10 controls the related documents selected by the user (i.e., recommended documents) so that other users can view them.

[0085] By the way, in Figure 9, the related document list 26 disappears when the user selects a recommended document. However, it is not necessary to remove the related document list 26 from the screen. Alternatively, if the display state of the related document list 26 is to be maintained, the related document selected as a recommended document may be removed from the related document list 26. In other words, after the user selects a recommended document, the related document list 26 shown in Figure 8 will remain displayed with "Work Request Form B.pdf" and "Quotation Form V1.pdf".

[0086] As explained above, the relevant documents, including the recommendation document, are selected from the document group based on the key words contained in Document 21 and the comments.

[0087] Embodiment 2. The configuration of the information processing device 10 (Figure 1) and the document processing (Figure 3) in this embodiment may be the same as in Embodiment 1. In this embodiment, the user interface for selecting recommended documents from related documents differs from that of Embodiment 1, so the detailed processing content of the recommended document presentation process (step S180) shown in Figure 3 will differ from that of Embodiment 1.

[0088] Figure 10 shows an example of a screen display when the recommended document selection window 40 for selecting recommended documents is superimposed on the document processing window 20 shown in Figure 4.

[0089] The recommended document selection window 40 has a related document list display area 42 located at the bottom of the window and a recommended document display area 44 located at the top of the window. The related document list display area 42 displays the related document list 46. The related document list 46 in this embodiment differs from the related document list 26 shown in Figure 7 in that each related document is associated with a checkbox 48. An additional add button 50 is also displayed in the related document list display area 42. In the initial state of the recommended document selection window 40, no recommended documents are displayed in the recommended document display area 44.

[0090] Next, the operation in this embodiment will be described.

[0091] In this embodiment, the process up to selecting related documents (steps S110 to S170) is the same as in Embodiment 1. After that, the recommended document presentation unit 154 performs the process of presenting recommended documents (step S180). In this embodiment, the recommended document presentation unit 154 displays a recommended document selection window 40 as shown in Figure 10 and displays the related document list 46 in the related document list display area 42. The user checks the checkbox 48 corresponding to the related document to be selected as a recommended document from the related documents, and then selects the add button 50. Figure 11 shows an example of the screen display of the recommended document selection window 40 after the user has selected the add button 50. Note that the display content in the document processing window 20 is the same as in Figure 10, so it is omitted from the illustration.

[0092] Figure 11 shows an example of the display screen after "Work Request Form A.pdf" has been selected and the Add button 50 has been selected. As shown in Figure 11, the recommended document display area 44 displays a recommended document list 52, which includes the recommended document selected by the user.

[0093] The Recommended Documents List 52 is a selected documents display area where information about related documents selected by the user from the related documents listed in the Related Documents List 46 is moved and displayed. Related documents moved from the Related Documents List 46 to the Recommended Documents List 52 are removed from the Related Documents List 46. The user can move multiple related documents to the Recommended Documents List 52 simultaneously by checking multiple checkboxes 48 in the Related Documents List 46 and then selecting the Add button 50.

[0094] In this embodiment, the recommended documents displayed in the recommended document list 52 are actually positioned as candidates for recommended documents. Therefore, the user checks the checkboxes 54 corresponding to one or more recommended documents that they want to present to other users from among the candidate recommended documents displayed in the recommended document list 52, and then selects the "Add to Comment" button 56. Selecting the "Add to Comment" button 56 is equivalent to confirming the candidate recommended documents that have been checked in the checkboxes 54 as recommended documents.

[0095] Here, if the user selects "Work Request Form A.pdf", the recommended document display unit 154, in response to the selection of the "Add to Comment" button 56, displays information identifying the recommended document in the comment input field 23, as shown in Figure 9. In this way, recommended documents can be added to the comment. After that, the recommended document display unit 154 removes "Work Request Form A.pdf" from the recommended document list 52. If the recommended document list 52 no longer contains any recommended documents, the recommended document list 52 table itself may be hidden.

[0096] Furthermore, a delete button 58 is displayed in the recommended document display area 44. The user checks the checkbox 54 corresponding to one or more recommended documents they wish to remove from the list of recommended documents displayed in the recommended document list 52, and then selects the delete button 58. In response to this selection of the delete button 58, the recommended document display unit 154 moves the recommended document from the recommended document list 52 to the related document list 46. In other words, selecting the delete button 58 is equivalent to canceling the recommended document with the checkbox 54 checked, removing it from its position as a recommended document candidate, and returning it to the related document list 46 as a related document.

[0097] According to this embodiment, it is possible to easily select a recommended document from among related documents, or to perform operations to remove a related document from its position as a candidate for a recommended document.

[0098] Incidentally, when a related document is selected in response to a trigger input, the comment management unit 155 creates comment information by associating the related document with the comment held in the temporary storage unit 152 and registers it in the comment information storage unit 18. Recommended documents selected from the related documents and attached to the comment are managed separately from related documents that are not selected (i.e., related documents that do not qualify as recommended documents).

[0099] In Embodiment 1, as shown in Figure 9, once the recommended document is finalized, it is not assumed that information about related documents that were not selected as recommended documents is retained. In other words, when a related document is selected in response to a trigger input, the comment management unit 155 simply associates the recommended document with the comment held in the temporary storage unit 152 to create comment information and registers it in the comment information storage unit 18. Of course, in Embodiment 1 as well, information about related documents that have been selected may be included in the comment information and retained, similar to this embodiment.

[0100] Embodiment 3. The configuration of the information processing device 10 (Figure 1) and the document processing (Figure 3) in this embodiment may be the same as in Embodiment 1. In this embodiment, the detailed processing content of the recommended document presentation process (step S180) shown in Figure 3 differs from that of Embodiment 1.

[0101] Figure 12(a) shows a comment 231 entered in the comment input field 23. Figure 12(b) shows a recommended document selection window 40 that displays a related document list 461, including related documents 461 selected based on the comment 231. Figure 12 shows the relationship between the comment 231 entered in the comment input field 23 and the multiple related documents (hereinafter also referred to as the "related document group") 461 displayed in the related document list 46 based on the comment 231. Note that, except for the content displayed in the comment input field 23, the document processing window 20 can be the same as the document processing window 20 shown in Figure 4, so it is omitted from the illustration.

[0102] As previously mentioned, when comment 231 is entered in comment input field 23 and a predetermined trigger is activated, related documents are displayed in related document list 46, as shown above and in Figure 12. In Figure 12(b), the order of the related document group 461 displayed in related document list 46 is determined by referring to importance, as explained in Embodiment 1.

[0103] Figure 13 shows the state after comment 232 and triggers have been added to the display state shown in Figure 12. Figure 13(a) shows that comment 232 has been added to the comment input field 23 following comment 231. Figure 13(b) shows the recommended document selection window 40 which displays the related document list 46, which includes related documents selected based on comments 231 and 232.

[0104] As explained using Figure 12, when comment 231 is entered in comment input field 23 and a predetermined trigger is activated, the related documents selected based on comment 231 are displayed in the related document list 46.

[0105] Furthermore, as shown in Figure 13(a), when comment 232 is newly entered following comment 231, and a predetermined trigger is entered, the related document group 462 selected based on comment 232 is displayed in the related document list 46. Related document group 462 is displayed immediately after related document group 461.

[0106] In this embodiment, each time a new comment is entered by the user (more precisely, each time a comment and a trigger are entered), the system refers to the newly entered portion of the comment to select related documents, and then displays the selected related documents in the related document list 46. Since the comment information created for each comment includes time information that identifies the date and time the comment was entered, the recommended document presentation unit 154 refers to this time information and displays the related document groups 461 and 462 in the related document list 46 according to the order in which comments 231 and 232 were entered.

[0107] Furthermore, in this embodiment, a comment newly entered by the user is displayed in association with the identification information (in this embodiment, the document name) of a related document selected by referring to that comment. As illustrated in Figure 13, in this embodiment, the correspondence between comment 231 and related document group 461, and between comment 232 and related document group 462 are displayed in a visually apparent format. In the display example shown in Figure 13, the same background color is added to comment 231 and related document group 461. Also, the same pattern is added to comment 232 and related document group 462. Note that the display format shown in Figure 13 used for associating comments with related document groups is just one example, and other display formats may be used to indicate the association between comments and related document groups.

[0108] The order of the related documents in the related document list 462, which is newly displayed, is determined by referring to their importance, as explained in Embodiment 1.

[0109] Figure 14 shows the state after comments 233 and triggers have been added to the display state shown in Figure 13. Figure 14(a) shows that comment 233 has been added to the comment input field 23, following comments 231 and 232. Figure 14(b) shows the recommended document selection window 40 which displays the related document list 46, which includes related documents selected based on comments 231, 232, and 233.

[0110] The process executed when comment 233 is newly entered is the same as when comment 232 is entered, so the redundant explanation is omitted. As is clear from Figure 14, comments 231, 232, 234 and related document groups 461, 462, 463 are displayed in a format that shows their respective relationships.

[0111] Embodiment 4. As described in Embodiment 1 above, related documents are selected as a result of a search process performed using important words extracted from the document and comments as keywords. However, it is conceivable that no related documents may be selected, or even if related documents are selected, they may not be the related documents the user expects. One possible reason for this is that appropriate important words could not be extracted from the viewed document.

[0112] Therefore, in this embodiment, a function is provided that allows the user to specify important words to be extracted from the document being viewed.

[0113] The configuration of the information processing device 10 (Figure 1) and the basic processing flow of document processing (Figure 3) in this embodiment may be the same as in Embodiment 1. In this embodiment, the detailed processing content of the search process (step S170) and the recommended document presentation process (step S180) shown in Figure 3 will differ from that of Embodiment 1.

[0114] Figure 15 shows an example of the screen display of the recommended document selection window 40 in this embodiment. In Figure 15, similar to Figure 10 in Embodiment 2, the recommended document selection window 40 is superimposed on the document processing window 20.

[0115] For example, suppose the information processing device 10 performs a search process (step S170) to select related documents in the same manner as in Embodiment 1 above, but no related documents are selected. In this case, the related document list 46 is not displayed in the related document list display area 42 on the initial screen of the recommended document selection window 40.

[0116] Therefore, in this embodiment, the user can specify words they want to be important from the viewing document 21 displayed in the document display area 22. Figure 15 shows an example where the word "Aiu Accounting Office" 32 is selected by the user as an important word.

[0117] When a user selects a word they want to designate as an important word from the document 21 they are viewing, the important word information creation unit 13 adds the word selected by the user to the important word information in response to the user's selection operation. The comment input / output control unit 15 updates the important word information based on the comments that have already been entered. Then, the search processing unit 14 selects related documents by performing a search based on the important words contained in the important word information. The search results obtained in this way, i.e., the related document list 46 including the related documents shown in Figure 15, are displayed. Referring to the related document list 46 shown in Figure 15, it can be seen that two new related documents have been selected as a result of the user selecting the word "aiu Accounting Office" 32.

[0118] As in this example, in this embodiment, the word "Aiu Accounting Office" 32, selected by the user from the document 21 being viewed, is accepted as a characteristic word (i.e., an "important word") of the document 21 being viewed. Then, the important words automatically extracted from the document 21 by the important word information creation unit 13, the important words extracted from comments on the document 21 by the important word information update unit 153, and the important words selected by the user from the document 21 are referenced to select related documents associated with the document 21.

[0119] According to this embodiment, relevant documents can be presented to the user after taking into account important keywords specified by the user.

[0120] The above explanation assumes that the word selected by the user from document 21 is an important word that is not included in the important word information. However, it is also possible that the word selected by the user is already included in the important word information. In this case, the importance level of that important word in the existing information will increase, which may lead to the selection of different related documents or new related documents than initially selected.

[0121] Embodiment 5. In each of the embodiments described above, a comment input field 23 was provided in the comment display area 24, and the user was instructed to input a comment into the comment input field 23 to add a comment to the viewed document 21. However, there have been document applications that allow users to add comments not to the viewed document 21 itself, but by specifying a string of characters contained within the viewed document 21. This embodiment addresses the case where the user adds a comment by specifying a string of characters within the viewed document 21.

[0122] The configuration of the information processing device 10 (Figure 1) and the document processing (Figure 3) in this embodiment may be the same as in Embodiment 1. In this embodiment, the difference from Embodiment 1 is that when receiving comments entered by the user (step S140), words specified by the user are also acquired.

[0123] Figure 16 shows an example of the screen display of the document processing window 20 and the recommended document selection window 40 in this embodiment. Before entering a comment, the user is asked to specify a word to be commented on from the document 21 being viewed. Figure 16 shows an example where the word "aiu Accounting Office" 34 is specified by the user to be commented on. When the user specifies the word "aiu Accounting Office" 34, the comment input / output control unit 15 displays a comment input field 25 in the comment display area 24 corresponding to the word 34. The user then enters a comment in the comment input field 25.

[0124] In this embodiment, when a user specifies any word 34 contained in the document 21 being viewed, as described above, and enters a comment associated with that word 34, the word specified by the user is recognized as an important word in the document 21 and registered in the important word information. In the above embodiment 4, the user explicitly identifies the word as important, whereas in this embodiment, the word to which a comment is added is recognized as an important word.

[0125] According to this embodiment, in addition to the important words automatically extracted from the viewed document 21 and the comments, the words 34 specified by the user as targets for commenting can also be referenced as important words to select related documents associated with the viewed document 21.

[0126] Embodiment 6. In the embodiments described above, related documents selected based on key word information are displayed in related document lists 26 and 46. As shown in Figures 7 and 10, related document lists 26 and 46 only display information about the related documents, such as the document name. In other words, the user must decide whether or not to recommend a related document to another user without referring to the content of the document itself. Therefore, in this embodiment, the content of the related document is made available. Incidentally, the functions provided in this embodiment are positioned as additional functions to the above embodiments.

[0127] Figure 17 shows an example of the screen display of the document processing window 20 in this embodiment. The display content itself is the same as in Figure 7 in Embodiment 1.

[0128] The user performs a predetermined operation on the document name of the related document they wish to view and check the contents of, from among the related documents displayed in the related document list 26. In this embodiment, the predetermined operation is assumed to be a mouseover, but other operations may also be used.

[0129] As can be seen from the mouse cursor 28 in Figure 17, when the user hovers the mouse over "Work Request Form A.pdf", the comment input / output control unit 15 detects that the user has selected the related document "Work Request Form A.pdf". Note that the mouse hover does not need to be limited to the document name; it can be anywhere on the entire line displaying information about the related document.

[0130] When the mouse hovers over an element, the comment input / output control unit 15 retrieves the storage location information of the associated document from the document information storage unit 16, retrieves the document data from the storage location identified by that information, and displays it on the screen. In Figure 17, the document content is shown to be displayed in the comment display area 24, but this is not the only option. A separate window containing a display area for displaying the document content may be created and displayed at any location on the screen.

[0131] Embodiment 7. In each of the above embodiments, a function is provided to present the user with related documents to the document displayed on the screen when the document application is executed. In this embodiment, related documents can also be presented when using an email client. More specifically, a function is provided to attach related documents to a reply email to an received email.

[0132] The configuration of the information processing device 10 (Figure 1) and the document processing (Figure 3) in this embodiment can be basically the same as in Embodiment 1. However, while the document processing unit 12 in Embodiment 1 performs functions provided by a document application, in this embodiment, it performs functions provided by an application that processes emails as documents, i.e., a mailer.

[0133] Figure 18 shows an example of a reply email screen 60 displayed in the window of the mailer in this embodiment. The reply email screen 60 can be divided into a display area 62 for the header portion and a display area 64 for displaying content other than the header portion, such as the body of the email. The display area 64 other than the header portion includes a display area 66 for displaying the body of the email that was written in the received email, an input area 68 where the reply message is entered by the user, and a display area 72 for presenting a related document list 70 to the user.

[0134] In this embodiment, the body of the received email included in the display area 66 of the reply email screen 60 corresponds to the document in each of the above embodiments. The input area 68 corresponds to the comment input field 23 in each of the above embodiments. The reply message included in the input area 68 corresponds to the body of the reply email and corresponds to the comment in each of the above embodiments. The related document list 70 is the same as the related document list 46 shown in Figure 12(b), for example.

[0135] In this embodiment, the information processing device 10 displays the reply email screen 60 shown in Figure 18 when creating a reply email to a received email. At this time, the important word information creation unit 13 creates important word information from the body of the received email. The important word information update unit 153 updates the important word information by referring to the reply message. The search processing unit 14 then performs a search for related documents using the important words in the important word information as keywords and selects related documents as search results. The recommended document presentation unit 154 then creates a related document list 70 as illustrated in Figure 18 and displays it in the display area 72.

[0136] Although a mail client operates instead of a document application, and the screen layout for displaying documents and related document lists differs, this embodiment can also perform the same processing as described in the embodiments above to present related documents for the received email body to the user who sent the email.

[0137] Here, when the user checks the checkbox 74 corresponding to the related document they want to attach to the reply email and selects the attach button 76, the comment input / output control unit 15 attaches the related documents selected by the user, in the example shown in Figure 18, "Work Request Form A.pdf" and "Work Request Form B.pdf", to the reply email as attachments. The selection of related documents to be attached here corresponds to selecting a recommended document from the related documents in the embodiment described above. Figure 19 shows an example of the display of the reply email screen 60 with these attachments attached.

[0138] As shown in Figure 19, the attached document display area 78 included in the display area 64 contains the relevant document selected by the user. This is equivalent to attaching the relevant document (i.e., the recommended document) to the comment (the reply message in this embodiment) in the above embodiment.

[0139] In Figure 19, the display area 72 that presents the related document list 70 shown in Figure 18 to the user has been removed due to the attachment of related documents. This corresponds to the process of deleting the related document list 26 as illustrated in Figure 9 in Embodiment 1.

[0140] In this embodiment, a reply email is used as an example, so the relevant document will be presented to the sender of the received email, i.e., the email creator. However, by setting the recipient to someone other than the email sender and creating a forwarded email, it becomes possible to present it to other users in each of the above embodiments.

[0141] Each of the embodiments described above may be implemented in appropriate combination with other embodiments as needed.

[0142] In this embodiment, each process is executed on any computer. Furthermore, any computer may execute these processes using a processor as hardware, a program as software, or a combination thereof. In that case, the processor is configured to work in cooperation with the program to execute the various processes in this embodiment, and can function as a unit or means in this embodiment. Also, the execution order of the processes by the processor is not limited to the order described and may be changed as appropriate. Any computer may be a general-purpose computer, a computer designed for a specific purpose, a workstation, or any other system capable of executing each process.

[0143] A processor may consist of one or more hardware components, and the type of hardware is not limited. For example, a processor may consist of a CPU (Central Processing Unit), an MPU (Micro Processing Unit), a programmable logic device such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), a dedicated circuit for executing a specific process such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), a GPU (Graphic Processing Unit), or an NPU (Neural Processing Unit). Furthermore, the type of hardware may be a combination of different types of hardware. When multiple hardware components are configured to execute one or more processes of a processor, these components may reside in physically separate devices or in the same device. Also, in any embodiment, the order of each process performed by the processor is not limited to the order described above and may be changed as appropriate. Hardware is composed of electrical circuits (circuitry) that combine circuit elements such as semiconductor elements.

[0144] Furthermore, the program may be firmware or software such as microcode. Alternatively, the program may be, for example, a set of program modules, each function of which may be implemented by a processor configured to perform its respective function. The program may be program code or multiple code segments stored on one or more non-temporary computer-readable media (e.g., storage media or other storage). The program may be divided and stored on multiple non-temporary computer-readable media located on physically separate devices. Program code or code segments may represent any combination of procedures, functions, subprograms, routines, subroutines, modules, software packages, classes, or instructions, data structures, or program statements. Program code or code segments may be connected to other code segments or hardware circuits by sending and receiving information, data, arguments, parameters, or memory contents. This invention can also be applied to programs and program products.

[0145] (Note) (((1))) Equipped with a processor, The aforementioned processor, The document accepts comments entered by users. Select relevant documents based on the above document and the above comments, Present the selected relevant documents. An information processing system characterized by the following: (((2))) The aforementioned processor, If multiple related documents are selected, the identification information of the selected multiple related documents is displayed in a list in the related document display area. This system controls which related documents corresponding to the user's selected identification information from the list can be viewed by other users. The information processing system described in (((1))) characterized by the above. (((3))) The information processing system according to (((2))), characterized in that the processor includes identification information of the related document that has been controlled to be viewable in the input area of ​​the comment entered by the user. (((4))) The aforementioned processor, The identification information of the related document selected by the user from the list of related document identification information displayed in the related document display area is moved from the related document display area to the selected document display area and displayed there. In response to a user's confirmation operation, the identification information of the related document displayed in the selected document display area is included in the comment input area entered by the user. The information processing system according to (((2))), characterized in that (((5))) The information processing system according to (((4))), characterized in that the processor returns the identification information of the related document that has been moved to the selected document display area in response to a user's cancel operation to the related document display area. (((6))) The information processing system according to any one of (((1))) to (((5))), characterized in that the processor selects the relevant document by referring to the newly entered portion of the comment each time a new comment is entered by the user. (((7))) The information processing system according to (((6))), characterized in that the processor displays a newly entered comment by the user in association with the identification information of the related document selected by referring to the comment. (((8))) The information processing system according to any one of (((1))) to (((7))), characterized in that the processor displays the content of the related document corresponding to the identification information in response to a predetermined user operation on the identification information of the related document presented. (((9))) The information processing system according to ((8)), characterized in that the processor displays characteristic words contained in at least one of the displayed document or the related document in a manner that distinguishes them from other words. (((10))) The aforementioned processor, The user selects a word from the aforementioned document and accepts it as a characteristic word of the document. In addition to the characteristic words of the extracted document and the comment, related documents associated with the document are selected by referring to the received characteristic words. An information processing system according to any one of (((1))) to (((9))) characterized by the above. (((11))) The aforementioned processor, When a user specifies a word contained in the document and enters a comment associated with that word, the word specified by the user is accepted as a characteristic word of the document. In addition to the characteristic words of the extracted document and the comment, related documents associated with the document are selected by referring to the received characteristic words. An information processing system according to any one of (((1))) to (((10))) characterized by the above. (((12))) The information processing system according to any one of (((1))) to (((11))), characterized in that the processor treats the body of a received email as the document, and when it treats the body of a reply email or forwarded email to the said email as the comment, it presents the selected related document by including it in the body of the reply email or forwarded email. (((13))) The information processing system according to (((12))), characterized in that the processor attaches the relevant document selected by the user from among the relevant documents contained in the body of the reply email or the forwarded email to the reply email or the forwarded email. (((14))) On the computer, A feature that accepts user-submitted comments on a document. A function to select related documents based on the aforementioned document and the aforementioned comments, A function to present selected related documents. A program to achieve this.

[0146] According to the invention described in (((1))), it is possible to present related documents related to the document by referring to the contents of the document and the comments on the document. According to the invention described in (((2))), related documents selected by the user who entered the comment can be presented as related documents that can be controlled to be viewable by other users. According to the invention described in (((3))), it is possible to link a related document that has been controlled to be viewable with the comment from which the related document was selected. According to the invention described in (((4))), it is possible to link together the relevant documents that have been controlled to be viewable with the comments from which those relevant documents were selected. According to the invention described in (((5))), the selection of a related document that has been controlled to be viewable by the user can be revoked. According to the invention described in (((6))), the number of related documents can be increased each time a comment is added. According to the invention described in (((7))), it is possible to display in a discernible manner which related document was selected from which input comment. According to the invention described in ((8)), the contents of the related documents can be confirmed. According to the invention described in (((9))), the extracted characteristic words can be made to be confirmed by the user in at least one of the document or related document. According to the invention described in (((10))), new related documents can be presented after taking into account the characteristic words specified by the user. According to the invention described in (((11))), the words selected by the user as the target for comment assignment can be recognized as characteristic words, and then related documents can be newly presented. According to the invention described in (((12))), when using email, relevant documents can be presented in the body of the reply email. According to the invention described in (((13))), the relevant documents can be presented to the sender of the email as attachments. According to the invention described in (((14))), it is possible to present related documents related to the document by referring to the contents of the document and the comments on the document. [Explanation of symbols]

[0147] 10 Information processing unit, 11 User interface unit, 12 Document processing unit, 13 Important word information creation unit, 14 Search processing unit, 15 Comment input / output control unit, 16 Document information storage unit, 17 Important word information storage unit, 18 Comment information storage unit, 151 Comment reception unit, 152 Temporary storage unit, 153 Important word information update unit, 154 Recommended document presentation unit, 155 Comment management unit.

Claims

1. Equipped with a processor, The aforementioned processor, The document accepts comments entered by users. Select relevant documents based on the above document and the above comments, Present the selected relevant documents. An information processing system characterized by the following:

2. The aforementioned processor, If multiple related documents are selected, the identification information of the selected multiple related documents is displayed in a list in the related document display area. This system controls which related documents corresponding to the user's selected identification information from the list can be viewed by other users. The information processing system according to feature 1.

3. The information processing system according to claim 2, characterized in that the processor includes identification information of the related document that has been controlled to be viewable in the input area of ​​the comment entered by the user.

4. The aforementioned processor, The identification information of the related document selected by the user from the list of related document identification information displayed in the related document display area is moved from the related document display area to the selected document display area and displayed there. In response to a user's confirmation operation, the identification information of the related document displayed in the selected document display area is included in the comment input area entered by the user. The information processing system according to feature 2.

5. The information processing system according to claim 4, characterized in that the processor returns the identification information of the related document that has been moved to the selected document display area in response to a user's cancel operation back to the related document display area.

6. The information processing system according to claim 1, characterized in that the processor selects the relevant document by referring to the newly entered portion of the comment each time a new comment is entered by the user.

7. The information processing system according to claim 6, characterized in that the processor displays a newly entered comment by the user in association with the identification information of the related document selected by referring to the comment.

8. The information processing system according to claim 1, characterized in that the processor displays the content of the related document corresponding to the identification information in response to a predetermined user operation on the identification information of the related document presented.

9. The information processing system according to claim 8, characterized in that the processor displays characteristic words contained in at least one of the displayed document or the related document in a manner that distinguishes them from other words.

10. The aforementioned processor, The user selects a word from the aforementioned document and accepts it as a characteristic word of the document. In addition to the characteristic words of the extracted document and the comment, related documents associated with the document are selected by referring to the received characteristic words. The information processing system according to feature 1.

11. The aforementioned processor, When a user specifies a word contained in the document and enters a comment associated with that word, the word specified by the user is accepted as a characteristic word of the document. In addition to the characteristic words of the extracted document and the comment, related documents associated with the document are selected by referring to the received characteristic words. The information processing system according to feature 1.

12. The information processing system according to claim 1, characterized in that when the processor treats the body of a received email as the document and the body of a reply email or forwarded email to the said email as the comment, it presents the selected related document by including it in the body of the reply email or forwarded email.

13. The information processing system according to claim 12, characterized in that the processor attaches the relevant document selected by the user from among the relevant documents contained in the body of the reply email or the forwarded email to the reply email or the forwarded email.

14. On the computer, A feature that accepts user-submitted comments on a document. A function to select related documents based on the aforementioned document and the aforementioned comments, A function to present selected related documents. A program to achieve this.

Images