Information processing device, work environment reproduction method, and program

Abstract

To reproduce a work environment by taking account of the connection of peripheral devices such as external displays.SOLUTION: An information processing device comprises: a work environment information creation unit 21 for, if prescribed conditions are met, creating work environment information including information on a launched application and information on whether an external display is connected and storing the information into a work environment information database 22; an event detection unit 23 for detecting the occurrence of an event related to input operation of a user; a search condition generation unit 24 for determining whether the external display is connected when the occurrence of the event is detected, and generating search conditions including information on whether the external display is connected and the information on the launched application; a search unit 25 for searching the work environment information database 22 based on the search conditions; and an environment reproduction unit 26 for reproducing a work environment based on the work environment information obtained as search results.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing device, a work environment reproducing method, and a program. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, there are known techniques for automatically saving and restoring a work environment. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a system that, when a temperature abnormality is detected in a CPU or a peripheral device, saves data necessary to restore the work environment and then forcibly turns off the system power. Furthermore, Patent Document 2 discloses a system that associates access information, which is information accessed by a user, with work items for which a work period is set and stores them in a memory unit, monitors user operations, and, when access to information by a user is detected, retrieves the related access information from the memory unit and displays it as a virtual desktop. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 10-240367 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-294946 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In recent years, the spread of remote work and other trends has led to a diversification of environments in which information processing devices are used. For example, in terms of peripheral device environments, it is conceivable that at home, a user may connect an external display to work in a multi-display environment, while when away from home, the user may work using only the information processing device without connecting an external display. Therefore, when recreating a work environment, it is necessary to take into account the connection status of such peripheral devices.

[0005] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and aims to provide an information processing device, a work environment reproduction method, and a program that can reproduce a work environment taking into account the connection of peripheral devices such as an external display. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] One aspect of the present invention is an information processing device comprising: a work environment information creation means that, when predetermined conditions are met, creates work environment information including information on a launching application and information on whether an external display is connected, and stores the information in a storage means; an event detection means that detects the occurrence of an event related to a user's input operation; a search condition generation means that, when the occurrence of the event is detected, determines whether an external display is connected, and generates search conditions including information on whether the external display is connected and information on the launching application; a search means that searches the storage means based on the search conditions; and an environment reproduction means that reproduces a work environment based on the work environment information obtained as a search result.

[0007] One aspect of the present invention is a work environment reproduction method in which a computer executes a work environment information creation step of creating work environment information including information on a running application and information on whether an external display is connected when predetermined conditions are met, and storing the created work environment information in a storage means; an event detection step of detecting the occurrence of an event related to a user's input operation; a search condition generation step of determining whether an external display is connected when the occurrence of the event is detected, and generating search conditions including information on whether the external display is connected and information on the running application; a search step of searching the storage means based on the search conditions; and an environment reproduction step of reproducing a work environment based on the work environment information obtained as a search result.

[0008] One aspect of the present invention is a program for causing a computer to function as the information processing device. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] According to the present invention, it is possible to reproduce a work environment that takes into consideration the connection of an external display. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic external view of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 2] 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of an information processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is a functional configuration diagram showing an example of functions provided in an information processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] 1 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing procedure of a work environment reproduction method according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0011] An information processing device, a work environment reproducing method, and a program according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Examples of the information processing device include a notebook PC, a desktop PC, a tablet terminal, a smartphone, etc. For convenience of explanation, the following description will be given taking a notebook PC as an example of the information processing device 1.

[0012] Fig. 1 is a schematic external view of an information processing device 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Fig. 1, the information processing device 1 includes, for example, a main body housing 2 and a display housing 3. The main body housing 2 and the display housing 3 can be opened and closed by, for example, a plurality of connecting members. The main body housing 2 includes an input unit 4. The input unit 4 is a user interface that allows a user to perform input operations. Examples of the input unit 4 include a keyboard, a touchpad, and a pointing device. Examples of the pointing device include a mouse, a trackpad, and a trackball.

[0013] The display-side housing 3 includes a display unit 5 that displays an image. Examples of the display unit 5 include a touch panel display, such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or an organic EL (Electroluminescence) display.

[0014] Next, the hardware configuration of the information processing device 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the information processing device 1 according to this embodiment. As shown in Fig. 2, the information processing device 1 includes, in addition to the input unit 4 and display unit 5 described above, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit: processor) 11, a main memory 12, a secondary storage (memory) 13, an external interface 14, and a communication interface 15. These units are connected to each other directly or indirectly via a bus 18, and cooperate with each other to execute various processes.

[0015] The CPU 11 controls the entire information processing device 1 using, for example, an OS (Operating System) stored in a secondary storage device 13 connected via a bus 18, and executes various processes by executing various programs stored in the secondary storage device 13. One or more CPUs 11 may be provided, and they may work together to realize processes.

[0016] The main memory device 12 is composed of writable memory such as cache memory and RAM (Random Access Memory), and is used as a working area for reading out programs executed by the CPU 11 and writing data processed by the programs.

[0017] The secondary storage device 13 is a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Examples of the secondary storage device 13 include a magnetic disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, and a semiconductor memory. Examples of the secondary storage device 13 include a read-only memory (ROM), a hard disk drive (HDD), and a solid-state drive (SSD) flash memory. The secondary storage device 13 stores, for example, an operating system (OS) for controlling the entire information processing device, such as Windows (registered trademark), iOS (registered trademark), or Android (registered trademark), a basic input / output system (BIOS), various device drivers for operating peripheral devices, various application software, and various data and files. The secondary storage device 13 also stores programs for implementing various processes and various data required for implementing the various processes. A plurality of secondary storage devices 13 may be provided, and the programs and data described above may be stored separately in each secondary storage device 13.

[0018] The external interface 14 is an interface for connecting to an external device. Examples of external devices include an external display, an external camera, a USB memory, an external HDD, etc. Although only one external interface is shown in the example shown in FIG. 2, multiple external interfaces may be provided.

[0019] The communication interface 15 functions as an interface for connecting to a network to communicate with other devices and transmitting and receiving information. For example, the communication interface 15 communicates with other devices via a wired or wireless connection. Examples of wireless communication include communication via lines such as Bluetooth (registered trademark), Wi-Fi, mobile communication systems (3G, 4G, 5G, 6G, LTE, etc.), and wireless LAN. An example of wired communication is communication via lines such as a wired LAN (Local Area Network).

[0020] 3 is a functional configuration diagram showing an example of functions provided in the information processing device 1. As shown in FIG. The work environment reproduction system 20 includes, for example, a work environment information creation unit 21, a work environment information database (storage unit) 22, an event detection unit 23, a search condition generation unit 24, a search unit 25, and an environment reproduction unit 26.

[0021] A series of processes for realizing the various functions of the work environment reproduction system 20 is stored in the form of a program in the secondary storage device 13, for example, and the CPU (processor) 11 reads this program into the main storage device 12 and executes information processing and arithmetic processing to realize the various functions. The program may be pre-installed in the secondary storage device 13, provided in a state stored in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, or distributed via wired or wireless communication means. Examples of non-transitory computer-readable storage media include magnetic disks, magneto-optical disks, CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, and semiconductor memories.

[0022] When a predetermined condition is satisfied, the work environment information creating unit 21 creates work environment information including information on the activated application and information on whether an external display is connected. For example, when an application is activated by the user, the work environment information creating unit 21 may create work environment information when an event (activation of an application by the user) is detected by the event detecting unit 23 described later. Furthermore, when an application is launched by the user, the work environment information creation unit 21 may create work environment information after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the launch of the application. For example, depending on the content of the work, the work may be performed using multiple applications in parallel. In such a case, when starting the work, the multiple applications are launched sequentially, and then the necessary files are opened and the work is performed. Therefore, by creating work environment information based on the state after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the first launch of the application, it is possible to create work environment information that reflects information on multiple applications, etc., used when the user performs a certain work.

[0023] Furthermore, the work environment information creating unit 21 may be configured to use the start of an application as a trigger and continuously create work environment information at predetermined time intervals over a predetermined period of time thereafter, and store the information in the work environment information database 22. This makes it possible to obtain more work environment information, such as information on files used in conjunction with the use of a certain application and information on other application information. After creating the work environment information, the work environment information creating unit 21 stores the created work environment information in a work environment information database (storage unit) 22.

[0024] In addition to the above-mentioned information on whether or not an external display is connected, the work environment information may include at least one of the following: the application being launched, location information, network information in use, date and time information, day of the week information, executable file information, and OS setting information. Examples of location information include GPS location information. Examples of network information used include identification information of the network to which the communication interface 15 is connected, such as an SSID (Service Set Identifier). Examples of executable file information include the file path of the executable file. Examples of OS setting information include display settings (multi-display settings, layout, brightness, etc.), sound settings (output device, volume, microphone, etc.), virtual display settings, etc.

[0025] For example, the work environment of the information processing device 1 may change depending on the location, time, day of the week, etc. For example, in the case of a student, the subjects of classes may differ depending on the day of the week, time, and location, and the applications and files used may differ depending on the subject. In addition, in the case of an office worker, the work environment at home is often different from the work environment when away from home (for example, at a visiting place, a cafe, etc.), and the work environment also changes depending on the day of the week and time. In this way, by including information such as the day of the week, time, location, and network information used in the work environment information as accompanying information, it is possible to accumulate information that is useful for learning the trends in the user's work environment.

[0026] The event detection unit 23 detects the occurrence of an event related to an input operation by a user. For example, the event detection unit 23 detects the occurrence of an event when an application is started by a user.

[0027] When an event is detected by the event detection unit 23, the search condition generation unit 24 determines whether an external display is connected and generates search conditions including information on whether an external display is connected and information on the activated application. The search conditions may further include at least one of location information, network information used, date and time information, and day of the week information.

[0028] When an external display is not connected, the search condition generation unit 24 may determine whether another pre-set information processing device exists on the network, and if another information processing device exists, generate search conditions assuming that an external display is connected. For example, there is a case where another information processing device (e.g., a tablet terminal, a smartphone, etc.) is connected via a wireless line such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) and used as an external display. In anticipation of such a case, when a pre-set information processing device (e.g., an information processing device under the management of the user account, an information processing device with a connection history, etc.) exists on the network, it may be deemed to be in a state where it can be connected as an external display, and search conditions may be generated assuming that an external display is connected.

[0029] The search unit 25 searches the work environment information database 22 based on the search conditions generated by the search condition generation unit 24 . For example, the search unit 25 acquires the work environment information that is most similar to the search criteria, in other words, the most likely work environment information, as the search result. Furthermore, the search unit 25 may determine that there are no search results if the similarity is equal to or less than a predetermined value. Here, the search method is not particularly limited. For example, machine learning, such as a classifier, may be used, or other known methods may be used.

[0030] The environment reproducing unit 26 reproduces the work environment based on the work environment information acquired as the search result. For example, the environment reproducing unit 26 includes an operation information database 26a and an automatic operation unit 26b that creates a processing procedure (program) for reproducing the work environment based on the information stored in the operation information database 26a and reproduces the work environment by sequentially executing the created processing procedure.

[0031] The operation information database 26a stores information required to generate a procedure for reproducing a work environment. For example, the operation information database 26a stores algorithms, rules, and various data (parameters, tasks, etc.) of command scripts for reproducing a work environment corresponding to setting items. For example, setting items are broadly categorized into OS settings, application startup, and operation-related settings. For example, command scripts used for OS settings include WinAPI, batch scripts, and shell scripts. Command scripts used for application startup include commands and shell scripts. For operation-related settings, commands differ depending on the application, so UI operation commands for various applications are stored.

[0032] Furthermore, when reproducing a work environment, processes may need to be executed in a predetermined order. For example, if an external display is not connected and another pre-defined information processing device is present on the network, and work environment information indicating an external display is connected is acquired as a search result, a process for connecting to the other information processing device via the communication network must first be executed, and then a process for setting the information processing device as an external display must be executed. For example, when launching and displaying an application on an external display that is a second display, OS settings for setting the external display as a second display must be executed before launching the application. Furthermore, when configuring the UI of an application, the application must be launched before the UI settings. As such, for processes with a predetermined execution order, information regarding the processing procedures is stored as processing procedure rules in the operation information database 26a.

[0033] The automatic operation unit 26b uses the information stored in the operation information database 26a to create a processing procedure for reproducing the work environment acquired as a search result, and reproduces the work environment by executing the created processing procedure in order. Regarding the processing procedures, if processes can be executed in parallel, the time required to reproduce the work environment can be shortened by executing them in parallel. The method for reproducing the work environment is not limited to the above-described method, and any known technique can be appropriately adopted.

[0034] Next, the work environment reproduction process (work environment reproduction method) executed by the information processing device 1 will be described with reference to Fig. 4. Fig. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the processing procedure of the work environment reproduction process according to one embodiment of the present invention. This process is started, for example, when the information processing device 1 is started up, and ends when the information processing device 1 is shut down.

[0035] The work environment reproducing system 20 first determines whether an event has occurred (SA1). Specifically, it determines whether any application has been launched by the user. As a result, if no event has occurred (SA1: NO), it enters a standby state. If an event has occurred (SA1: YES), it generates search conditions based on the current work situation (SA2). Specifically, it determines whether an external display is connected, and acquires the launched application, location information, network information used, date and time information, and day of the week information, and generates search conditions that include this information. At this time, if it is determined that an external display is not connected, it further determines whether other pre-set information processing devices exist on the network, and if other information processing devices exist, it generates search conditions assuming that an external display is connected.

[0036] Next, the work environment information database 22 is searched based on the generated search conditions (SA3). Next, it is determined whether or not a search result has been obtained (SA4). If no search result has been obtained (SA4: NO), for example, if no work environment information with a similarity to the search conditions equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold is stored in the work environment information database 22, work environment information is created based on the current work situation (SA5), and stored in the work environment information database 22 (SA6), and the process returns to step SA1.

[0037] On the other hand, if a search result is obtained in step SA4 (SA4: YES), the work environment is reproduced based on the work environment information obtained as the search result (SA7). As a result, processing procedures for realizing the work environment obtained as the search result are generated, and the work environment is reproduced by sequentially executing the generated processing procedures. Once the reproduction of the work environment is complete, the process returns to step SA1 and the above-mentioned processing is repeated.

[0038] As explained above, the information processing device 1, work environment reproduction method, and program according to this embodiment include a work environment information creation unit 21 that, when predetermined conditions are met, creates work environment information including information on the application being started and whether or not an external display is connected, and stores the information in the work environment information database 22; an event detection unit 23 that detects the occurrence of an event related to a user's input operation; a search condition creation unit 24 that, when the occurrence of an event is detected, determines whether or not an external display is connected, and generates search conditions including whether or not the external display is connected and information on the application being started; a search unit 25 that searches the work environment information database 22 based on the search conditions; and an environment reproduction unit 26 that recreates the work environment based on the work environment information obtained as the search result.

[0039] In this way, when a predetermined condition is met, work environment information including information on the activated application and whether or not an external display is connected is created and stored in the work environment information database 22. This makes it possible to accumulate information on the user's work environment. Furthermore, when an event occurs, search conditions are generated that include the current work environment, i.e., information about currently running applications and information about whether an external display is connected, and the work environment information database 22 is searched based on the generated search conditions. If work environment information is obtained as a search result, the work environment is reproduced based on the work environment information. As a result, when a user performs an input operation such as launching an application, work environment information based on a similar input operation in the past is acquired and reproduced, thereby improving the user's work efficiency. Furthermore, since the work environment information and search conditions include information about whether an external display is connected, it is possible to reproduce a work environment that takes into account the connection of peripheral devices such as an external display.

[0040] Although the present invention has been described above using the above-mentioned embodiments, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the scope described in the above-mentioned embodiments. Various modifications or improvements can be made to the above-mentioned embodiments without departing from the gist of the invention, and such modifications or improvements are also included in the technical scope of the present invention. Furthermore, the above-mentioned embodiments may be combined as appropriate. Furthermore, the processing procedures according to the above embodiments are also examples, and unnecessary processing steps may be deleted, new processing steps may be added, or processing steps may be rearranged within the scope of the present invention.

[0041] For example, in the above-described embodiment, when work environment information is obtained as a search result, the user may be notified of the work environment and asked whether reproduction is necessary (inquiry means). Specific methods of inquiry include displaying a message in a dialog box or notifying by voice.

[0042] Furthermore, before work environment information can be obtained as a search result, a sufficient amount of work environment information must be stored in the work environment information database 22. For this reason, until the amount of work environment information stored in the work environment information database 22 reaches a predetermined value, searches based on search conditions may be omitted and only the creation and accumulation of work environment information may be performed. In this case, for example, a step of determining whether the number of work environment information pieces is equal to or greater than a predetermined value may be added as the next step after the event occurrence (SA1) shown in Figure 4, and if the number of work environment information pieces is equal to or greater than the predetermined value, the process may proceed directly to step SA2, and if the number of work environment information pieces is less than the predetermined value, the process may proceed to step SA5. [Explanation of symbols]

[0043] 1: Information processing equipment 2: Main unit housing 3: Display side housing 4: Input section 5:Display section 11: CPU 12: Main memory 13:Secondary storage device 14: External interface 15: Communication interface 18: Bus 20: Work environment reproduction system 21: Work environment information creation department 22: Work environment information database 23: Event detection unit 24: Search condition generation section 25: Search section 26:Environmental reproduction department 26a: Operation information database 26b: Automatic operation section

Claims

1. a work environment information creating means for creating work environment information including information on the application to be started and information on whether an external display is connected, when a predetermined condition is satisfied, and storing the information in a storage means; an event detection means for detecting the occurrence of an event related to a user's input operation; a search condition generating means for determining whether an external display is connected when the occurrence of the event is detected, and generating search conditions including information on whether the external display is connected and information on the activated application; a search means for searching the storage means based on the search conditions; an environment reproduction means for reproducing a work environment based on the work environment information acquired as a search result; An information processing device comprising:

2. 2. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the search condition generation means determines whether or not another pre-set information processing device exists on the network when the external display is not connected, and if the other information processing device exists, generates the search condition assuming that the external display is connected.

3. 3. The information processing device according to claim 2, wherein when the external display is not connected and another pre-set information processing device is present on the network, and the work environment information with an external display connected is obtained as a search result, the environment reproduction means executes processing to connect to the other information processing device.

4. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the work environment information creating means creates the work environment information when a user starts an application and a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the start of the application, and stores the work environment information in the storage means.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the work environment information further includes at least one of location information, network information used, date and time information, day of the week information, executable file information, and operating system setting information.

6. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an inquiry unit that notifies the user of the work environment information acquired as the search result and inquires whether reproduction is required.

7. a work environment information creating step of creating work environment information including information on the application to be started and information on whether an external display is connected, when a predetermined condition is satisfied, and storing the work environment information in a storage means; an event detection step of detecting an occurrence of an event related to a user's input operation; a search condition generating step of determining whether an external display is connected when the occurrence of the event is detected, and generating search conditions including information on whether the external display is connected and information on the activated application; a search step of searching the storage means based on the search conditions; an environment reproduction step of reproducing a work environment based on the work environment information acquired as a search result; The computer performs the work environment reproduction method.

8. A program for causing a computer to function as the information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

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