Information processing systems, information processing methods, programs

Abstract

The present invention aims to efficiently generate documents to be posted on a portal site. [Solution] The present invention comprises an acquisition means for acquiring information relating to a document, and an output means for outputting the information relating to the document acquired by the acquisition means and an instruction for generating an image based on the information relating to the document, wherein the acquisition means further acquires an image generated based on the instruction output by the output means.

Description

Technical Field

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

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, images of each word (noun, verb, adjective, etc.) in a natural language (Japanese, English, etc.) sentence have been prepared in advance, a database of the images has been created, and when a word is given, the image corresponding to the word is extracted from the database, each word in the sentence is represented by the corresponding image, and there has been a technique for expressing a language sentence in the order of the images (Patent Document 1).

[0003] In recent years, various generation models for generating images from text are known. For example, the Diffusion Model (Non-Patent Document 1) is disclosed to accurately generate images from text.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Non-Patent Documents

[0005]

Non-Patent Document 1

Disclosure of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0006] On the other hand, in educational settings such as universities, there is an increasing trend to share information about classes, course registration, job hunting, etc., as announcements on specific websites. In such cases, the school creates a document summarizing the information that should be shared with students and posts it on the portal site.

[0007] From the school's perspective, they want to create clear and eye-catching documents to encourage students to use the portal, but the sheer number and variety of documents to create are enormous, and even searching for images is time-consuming.

[0008] Therefore, the present invention aims to efficiently generate documents to be posted on a portal site. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] The present invention comprises an acquisition means for acquiring information relating to a document, and an output means for outputting the information relating to the document acquired by the acquisition means and an instruction for generating an image based on the information relating to the document, wherein the acquisition means further acquires an image generated based on the instruction output by the output means. [Effects of the Invention]

[0010] The present invention aims to efficiently generate documents to be posted on a portal site. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0011] [Figure 1] A diagram showing an example of the system configuration of a portal management device. [Figure 2] A diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of a portal management device and user terminals. [Figure 3] A diagram showing an example of a flowchart illustrating an example of the process for adding a notification. [Figure 4] A diagram showing an example of a flowchart illustrating an example of image generation processing. [Figure 5] A diagram showing an example of an image generation conditions table. [Figure 6]Figure showing an example of a notice addition screen displayed on a user terminal [Figure 7] Figure showing an example of a notice generation image selection screen displayed on a user terminal [Figure 8] Figure showing an example of a notice display screen displayed on a user terminal [Figure 9] Figure showing an example of an overview of an image generation process

Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0012] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the system configuration of a portal management device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0013] As shown in FIG. 1, the portal management device 100, the user terminal 110, and the image generation device 130 are configured to be connected via the network 120.

[0014] The portal management device 100 presents information regarding notices to the user terminal 110 and displays a screen on which notice information can be added.

[0015] The image generation device 130 generates an image according to an instruction from the portal management device 100 and presents the generated image.

[0016] The user terminal 110 sends information regarding notices newly added by the user to the portal management device 100 and displays information regarding notices managed by the portal management device 100. Specifically, the user terminal 110 may be a personal computer (such as a notebook PC or a desktop PC), a tablet terminal, a smartphone, etc., but is not limited thereto.

[0017] In addition, the configuration of various terminals or devices connected to the network 120 in FIG. 1 is an example, and it is needless to say that there are various configuration examples according to the use and purpose. Further, the image generation device 130 is not limited to an external configuration and may be a configuration inside the portal management device 100.

[0018] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the portal management device 100 and the user terminal 110 in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0019] As shown in FIG. 2, an information processing apparatus has a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 201, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 202, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 203, an input controller 205, a video controller 206, a memory controller 207, and a communication I / F controller 208 connected via a system bus 204.

[0020] The CPU 201 comprehensively controls each device and controller connected to the system bus 204.

[0021] The RAM 202 functions as a main memory, a work area, etc. of the CPU 201. When executing a process, the CPU 201 loads a program etc. necessary for the execution of the process from the ROM 203 or an external memory 211 into the RAM 202, and realizes various operations by executing the loaded program.

[0022] The ROM 203 or the external memory 211 holds a BIOS (Basic Input / Output System), an OS (Operating System), which are control programs executed by the CPU 201, a computer-readable executable program for realizing the present information processing method, and various necessary data (including data tables).

[0023] The input controller 205 controls inputs from input devices such as a keyboard 209 and a pointing device such as a mouse (not shown). When the input device is a touch panel, it is assumed that various instructions can be given by the user pressing (touching with a finger etc.) in accordance with icons, cursors, buttons displayed on the touch panel.

[0024] Furthermore, the touch panel may be a multi-touch screen or other touch panel capable of detecting the positions of multiple fingers touching it.

[0025] The video controller 206 controls the display to an external output device such as the display 210. The display may include the display of a notebook computer integrated with the main unit. The external output device is not limited to a display; for example, it may be a projector. Furthermore, for the aforementioned touch-enabled device, an input device is also provided.

[0026] The video controller 206 can control the video memory (VRAM) used for display control. It can use a portion of RAM 202 as the video memory area, or it can provide a separate, dedicated video memory.

[0027] The memory controller 207 controls access to the external memory 211. The external memory can include an external storage device (hard disk), a flexible disk (FD), or a CompactFlash® memory connected to a PCMCIA card slot via an adapter, which stores boot programs, various applications, font data, user files, editing files, and other data.

[0028] The communication interface controller 208 connects to and communicates with external devices via a network and performs communication control processing over the network. For example, it can communicate using TCP / IP, telephone lines such as ISDN, and 3G mobile phone lines.

[0029] Furthermore, the CPU 201 enables display on the display 210 by, for example, performing the process of expanding (rasterizing) outline fonts into the display information area in RAM 202. The CPU 201 also enables user input via a mouse cursor (not shown) on the display 210.

[0030] Figure 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the process for adding a notification. The process performed by the portal device in the embodiment of the present invention will be explained using the flowchart in Figure 3.

[0031] The flowchart in Figure 3 shows the process by which the CPU 201 of the portal management device 100 reads and executes a predetermined control program, and the process by which the portal management device 100 adds notification information in response to a request from the user terminal 110.

[0032] In step S301, the portal management device 100 determines whether or not it has received a new registration request to add a new announcement. If a new announcement is to be added, the process proceeds to step S302; otherwise, the process ends.

[0033] In step S302, the portal management device 100 obtains information about the announcement to be added. This information includes, for example, user-defined information such as the announcement category (classification), announcement title, announcement importance level, and announcement calendar registration period.

[0034] The categories for announcements include, for example, class cancellations, make-up class information, timetable changes, student announcements, and announcements from faculty members, allowing viewers to quickly understand the gist of the announcement. If an announcement does not fall into one of the designated categories, it can be categorized as "Other Announcements."

[0035] The title of an announcement is the item that is displayed as a heading when an announcement is shown. Users can enter their own title, or the system can automatically generate a title appropriate to the content using AI or similar technology.

[0036] The importance level of an announcement is a field used to inform viewers of the importance of an announcement shared by a user. For example, it can be set to "Important," "Normal," etc., depending on the level of importance.

[0037] The calendar registration period for announcements specifies the period during which the announcement will be shared with viewers. Viewers can then register the posted announcement as a personal event in their own calendar app, etc. The posting period is the period during which the announcement will be posted, and the calendar registration period is entered as the default value. By allowing the calendar registration period and posting period to be set individually, it becomes possible to use the calendar registration period to register event registrations and the period during which the event takes place.

[0038] Furthermore, while the above distinction is made between users who have the authority to add and edit announcements and viewers who do not have the authority to add or edit and can only view the announcement information, this is not limited to this, and it is also acceptable to have a specification that does not distinguish between users and viewers.

[0039] In step S303, the portal management device 100 obtains the content of the notification information entered by the user. The content of the notification information is, for example, a sentence that specifically describes the content of the notification, and the user may directly enter any information or upload a text file.

[0040] In step S304, the portal management device 100 determines whether the category of the announcement obtained in step S302 is included in "Other Announcements". If the category of the announcement obtained in step S302 is included in "Other Announcements", the device proceeds to step S305; otherwise, it proceeds to step S306. In this embodiment, the system is configured to automatically generate announcement images only for the "Other Announcements" category, but it may also be configured to automatically generate images for all announcements without limiting the category.

[0041] In step S305, the portal management device 100 performs an automatic generation process for announcements whose category is "Other Announcements". The automatic generation process for announcement images will be described later in Figure 4.

[0042] In step S306, the portal management device 100 displays the default image set for each category as a candidate thumbnail image for the announcement. The explanation of how to register images for each category is omitted. In addition to images registered for each category, it may also be possible to specify that users can register images they have uploaded.

[0043] In step S307, the portal management device 100 determines whether the "Proceed to destination registration" button has been pressed. If the "Proceed to destination registration" button has been pressed, the process proceeds to step S308; otherwise, the process ends.

[0044] In step S308, the portal management device 100 accepts registration of recipient information for announcements. Recipient information refers to the people to whom the announcements should be made, and can specify students, departments, faculty members, etc.

[0045] In step S309, the portal management device 100 accepts the registration of the added notice, saves it to the portal management device 100, and terminates this process.

[0046] Figure 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the image generation process. The process performed by the portal device in the embodiment of the present invention will be explained using the flowchart in Figure 4.

[0047] The flowchart in Figure 4 shows the process by which the CPU 201 of the portal management device 100 reads and executes a predetermined control program, and the process by which the portal management device 100 automatically generates an image in response to a request from the user terminal 110.

[0048] In step S401, the portal management device 100 determines whether the image generation button has been pressed. If the image generation button has been pressed, the process proceeds to step S402; otherwise, the process ends.

[0049] In step S402, the portal management device 100 obtains the user's request text regarding image generation. If the user has specific conditions for image generation (for example, generating an image without text, generating an image without people, etc.), they can enter these conditions into the image generation request input form, enabling image generation that reflects the user's intentions.

[0050] Furthermore, it is possible to save the user's image generation conditions in advance. Figure 5 shows an example of an image generation conditions table, where it is possible to manage the expected "location," "target," and "requests" for the image to be generated as image generation conditions 501. This allows users to retrieve conditions from the image generation conditions table and set them without having to enter them into the image generation request input form each time an image is generated.

[0051] In step S403, the portal management device 100 generates a prompt to instruct the image generation device 130 to generate an image. It provides the title of the announcement obtained in step S302, the content of the announcement information obtained in step S303, and the additional user requests obtained in step S302 as information, and generates the prompt including an instruction to the effect of "Create a thumbnail image of the announcement under the following conditions." Details of the prompt will be described later in Figure 9. The information and instructions to be included in the prompt are not limited to those above; for example, information such as the category, recipient, and period of the announcement may also be included.

[0052] In this embodiment, a generation AI is used to generate images suitable for announcements. For example, DALL-E3, Midjourney, or Stable Diffusion can be used as the generation AI. However, it does not have to be a generation AI; other image generation devices may be used, such as other image generation devices equipped with models such as GAN or CNN.

[0053] In step S404, the portal management device 100 repeats the candidate image generation process of step S404 a predetermined number of times.

[0054] In step S405, the portal management device 100 instructs the image generation device 130 to generate an image using the prompt generated in step S403.

[0055] In step S406, if the portal management device 100 has not finished generating the specified number of images, it repeats the process from step S404. If the specified number of images has been generated, it terminates the process.

[0056] In step S407, the portal management device 100 displays the images obtained from the image generation device 130 as candidate images. There can be any number of candidate images; for example, the number of images to be generated as candidate images can be entered into the image generation request input form.

[0057] In step S408, the portal management device 100 determines whether or not it has accepted the selection of a candidate image from the user. If it has accepted the selection of a candidate image, it proceeds to step S409; otherwise, it proceeds to step S410.

[0058] In step S409, the portal management device 100 registers the selected image as a thumbnail image for the notification of a new registration.

[0059] In step S410, the portal management device 100 determines whether to "terminate without registering" or not. If it chooses to terminate, it ends this process; otherwise, it returns to step S401. The user can review the candidate images generated in step S407, and if they wish to change the conditions and regenerate, they can re-enter the image generation request text in step S402 and regenerate with the changed conditions. This allows the user to experiment until an image suitable for the content of the notification information is generated.

[0060] Figure 6 shows an example of the notification addition screen displayed on the user's terminal. The category setting dropdown 601 allows the user to set the category for the notification to be registered, which is obtained in step S302. The title input form 602 allows the user to enter the title of the newly registered notification, which is obtained in step S302. The importance setting dropdown 603 allows the user to set the importance level of the newly registered notification, which is obtained in step S302. The calendar registration period setting form 604 allows the user to set the period for which the notification will be shared with viewers, which is obtained in step S302.

[0061] In the notification content input form 605, you can enter the content of the notification information obtained in step S303. The content of the notification information can be entered by the user directly, or it can be uploaded as a text file.

[0062] The image generation button 606, when pressed, generates an image to be displayed in the notification information. The image generation request input form 607 allows the user, obtained in step S402, to input requests for automatic image generation.

[0063] The attachment form 608 allows users to select files to attach to a new notification they are registering.

[0064] The posting period setting form 609 allows you to set the period during which the notice will be posted.

[0065] The back button 610, when pressed, exits without saving the new notification registration. The "Proceed to Recipient Registration" button 611, when pressed, moves to the recipient registration screen for the next notification information.

[0066] Figure 7 shows an example of the notification image selection screen displayed on the user terminal. When the image generation button 606 is pressed in step S401, the notification image generation process begins. Specifically, the image generation process begins when the prompt generated in step S403 is given to the generation AI. Screen 701 is the screen displayed after pressing the image generation button 606 and while the image is being generated.

[0067] Screen 702 is an example of the image candidate selection screen displayed in step S405. An automatically generated image is displayed as a candidate image 703. After the user confirms the image they want to add to the notification using the image selection button 704, they can select the image in S408.

[0068] Figure 8 shows an example of a notification display screen shown on a user's terminal. The notification list screen 801 displays the notification title along with a thumbnail image 802. If the notification image is automatically generated, it will be displayed as a thumbnail image as shown in Figure 8.

[0069] The notification details confirmation screen 803 is displayed when you click on the area or title of the notification you want to check the details of on the notification list screen 801. Along with the information of the notification obtained in step S303, a thumbnail image 804 is displayed.

[0070] Figure 9 shows an example of an overview of the image generation process. Prompt 901 includes the title of the announcement obtained in step S302, the content of the announcement information obtained in step S303, and additional user requests obtained in step S402. In addition, conditions for image generation can be pre-set as "location" and "requests," so that users can generate images under certain conditions without having to input requests each time an image is generated.

[0071] Furthermore, when including the content of the notification information obtained in step S303 in the prompt, it is possible to limit the input to a certain number of characters, taking into consideration the number of tokens, etc. For example, the prompt may be made using the beginning of the notification information up to a specified number of characters, or the information of the notification may be summarized using a generation AI or the like before being entered into the prompt. In addition, keywords may be extracted from the content of the notification information using existing technologies such as morphological analysis and included in the prompt. It is also possible to include content that specifies the number of candidate images to output in prompt 901.

[0072] By inputting prompt 901 into the generation AI, candidate image 902 is obtained. Candidate image 902 is displayed to the user as candidate image 703, allowing them to select an image suitable for the notification.

[0073] Figures 6 through 8 illustrate an example of a screen display; however, the screen configuration and functions may differ from these examples, and other functions may be included.

[0074] As mentioned above, enabling the generation of images based on announcement information makes it possible to efficiently generate documents to be posted on the portal site.

[0075] Although embodiments have been described above, the present invention can take the form of, for example, a system, apparatus, method, program, or recording medium. Specifically, it may be applied to a system consisting of multiple devices, or to an apparatus consisting of a single device.

[0076] Furthermore, the program in this invention is a program that a computer can execute using the processing methods shown in the flowcharts in Figures 3 and 4, and the storage medium of this invention stores a program that a computer can execute using the processing methods in Figures 3 and 4. Note that the program in this invention may also be a separate program for each processing method of the devices shown in Figures 3 and 4.

[0077] As described above, it goes without saying that the object of the present invention can also be achieved by supplying a recording medium containing a program that realizes the functions of the embodiments described above to a system or device, and by having the computer (or CPU or MPU) of that system or device read and execute the program stored on the recording medium.

[0078] In this case, the program read from the recording medium itself realizes the novel function of the present invention, and the recording medium on which that program is recorded constitutes the present invention.

[0079] For recording media used to supply programs, examples include flexible disks, hard disks, optical disks, magneto-optical disks, CD-ROMs, CD-Rs, DVD-ROMs, magnetic tapes, non-volatile memory cards, ROMs, EEPROMs, silicon disks, and the like.

[0080] Furthermore, it goes without saying that the functions of the aforementioned embodiments are realized not only by the computer executing the program it has read, but also by the operating system (OS) running on the computer performing some or all of the actual processing based on the instructions of that program, thereby realizing the functions of the aforementioned embodiments.

[0081] Furthermore, it goes without saying that this also includes cases where, after a program read from a recording medium is written to the memory of a function expansion board inserted into a computer or a function expansion unit connected to a computer, the CPU or other components of the function expansion board or function expansion unit perform some or all of the actual processing based on the instructions of the program code, and the functions of the aforementioned embodiments are realized through that processing.

[0082] Furthermore, the present invention may be applied to a system consisting of multiple devices or to a device consisting of a single device. It goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied when the results are achieved by supplying a program to a system or device. In this case, by reading a recording medium containing a program for achieving the present invention into the system or device, the system or device can enjoy the effects of the present invention.

[0083] Furthermore, by downloading and reading the program for achieving the present invention from a server, database, etc. on a network using a communication program, the system or device can enjoy the effects of the present invention. It should be noted that configurations combining the above-described embodiments and their variations are all included in the present invention. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0084] 100 Portal Management Devices 110 User terminals 120 Networks 130 Image generation device

Claims

1. means of acquiring information related to a document, The system includes an output means that outputs information relating to a document acquired by the acquisition means and an instruction to generate an image based on the information relating to the document, The information processing apparatus is characterized in that the acquisition means further acquires an image generated based on an instruction output by the output means.

2. Furthermore, the information processing apparatus according to claim 1 is characterized in that it displays, in a selectable manner, an image generated based on an instruction output by the output means.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that the selection receiving means displays a plurality of images acquired by the acquisition means based on a plurality of instructions output by the output means, and accepts a selection from among the plurality of images.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the information relating to the document includes at least one of the document's title and the document's content.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the instructions output by the output means are output to the generating AI.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that the instructions include conditions for the image to be generated.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 6, characterized in that the instruction is set by obtaining pre-prepared conditions for the image to be generated.

8. The information processing device according to claim 1, characterized in that the document provides information about school announcements to the person viewing the document.

9. The information processing device according to claim 1, characterized in that the acquisition means acquires at least one piece of information: the classification of a document, the importance of a document, and the posting period of a document.

10. The acquisition means of the information processing device includes an acquisition step of acquiring information related to a document, The output means of the information processing device includes an output step that outputs information relating to the document acquired in the acquisition step and an instruction to generate an image based on the information relating to the document, The control method for an information processing apparatus is characterized in that the acquisition step further acquires an image generated based on the instruction output by the output step.

11. A program for causing at least one computer to function as one of the means of an information processing device described in any one of claims 1 to 9.

Images