Remind message management device, method, and program

Abstract

To provide a reminder message management device, method, and program that prevent a reminder message for a recipient from being accumulated and prevent the visibility from being reduced.SOLUTION: A reminder message management device includes a reminder transmission unit 23 that transmits a reminder message to a terminal device 30 for a guardian of a recipient of a received message a plurality of preset times to urge a recipient to process the received message, and a reminder management unit 24 that manages to display only the latest reminder message on the terminal device among the plurality of reminder messages transmitted to the recipient.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a reminder message management device, method, and program for sending a reminder message to a message recipient to prompt the recipient to process the message. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, after a message sender sends a message to a recipient using a terminal device, if the recipient does not open the message or reply to the message within a predetermined period of time, a reminder message is sent to the recipient to prompt them to perform these steps (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

[0003] Furthermore, Patent Document 2 proposes a method for improving the reliability of information transmission by sending a reminder message to the sender of a message if the recipient does not open the message or reply to the message within a specified period of time. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 63-132549 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 7-183912 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] However, in Patent Document 1, if the recipient does not reply for a long period of time, reminder messages are repeatedly sent. However, the reminder messages are simply accumulated, and as the number of reminder messages increases, visibility decreases, making it impossible for the recipient to immediately determine which reminder messages they should respond to.

[0006] In addition, in Patent Document 2, by sending reminder messages to the sender instead of the recipient, it is possible to prevent reminder messages from accumulating at the recipient, but there is a problem in that, because reminder messages are sent to the sender, the sender has to take the additional effort of creating reminder messages for the recipient.

[0007] In view of the above circumstances, the present invention aims to provide a reminder message management device, method, and program that can prevent reminder messages for recipients from accumulating and reducing their visibility. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] The reminder message management device of the present invention comprises a reminder sending unit that sends a reminder message to the terminal device of the recipient of the received message a predetermined number of times to urge the recipient to process the received message, and a reminder management unit that manages the reminder messages sent to the recipient so that only the most recent reminder message is displayed on the terminal device. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] According to the reminder message management device of the present invention, only the most recent reminder message out of multiple reminder messages sent to the recipient is displayed on the terminal device, thereby preventing reminder messages for the recipient from accumulating and reducing visibility. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a message management system using an embodiment of a reminder message management device of the present invention. [Figure 2] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a message management table. [Figure 3] A diagram showing an example of a home student table and a home guardian table. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a reminder setting table and a reminder record table. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a reminder management table. [Figure 6] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a message processing status table. [Figure 7] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a message list screen displayed on a parental terminal device. [Figure 8] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a message display screen displayed on a parental terminal device. [Figure 9] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a reply message creation screen displayed on a parent terminal device. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a reminder message list screen displayed on a parental terminal device. [Figure 11] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a reminder message display screen displayed on a parental terminal device. [Figure 12] Flowchart for explaining the processing of the message management system [Figure 13] Flowchart for explaining the processing of the message management system [Figure 14] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a sent message management screen displayed on a school terminal device. [Figure 15] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a screen for creating a message to be sent that is displayed on a school terminal device. [Figure 16] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a reply message confirmation screen displayed on a school terminal device. [Figure 17] A flowchart for explaining a method for sending an open reminder message and a reply reminder message using the reminder management table shown in FIG. 5. [Figure 18] A flowchart for explaining a method for sending an open reminder message and a reply reminder message using the reminder management table shown in FIG. 5. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0011] A message management system using an embodiment of a reminder message management device of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a message management system 1 of this embodiment.

[0012] As shown in Fig. 1, the message management system 1 of this embodiment includes a school terminal device 10, a message management device 20, and a parent terminal device 30. In this embodiment, the message management device 20 includes an embodiment of the reminder message management device of the present invention, and the parent terminal device 30 corresponds to the recipient terminal device of the present invention.

[0013] The school terminal device 10 and the message management device 20, and the message management device 20 and the parent terminal device 30 are connected via a communication line. The communication line may be an internet line or a telephone line. The communication line may be wired or wireless.

[0014] First, we will explain the general processing flow of the message management system 1 of this embodiment. The message management system 1 of this embodiment is a system used by a school and the parents of students attending that school, and is a system that mainly manages the exchange of messages between the school and the parents.

[0015] First, a teacher or the like at a school sends a message to the parent or guardian of a specific student using the school terminal device 10. The message sent from the school terminal device 10 is accepted by the message management device 20, which then sends the message to the parent or guardian.

[0016] The message sent from the message management device 20 is received by a parent terminal device 30 used by the parent, and the message management device 20 performs opening management to determine whether or not the received message received by the parent terminal device 30 has been opened, and, if the received message requires a reply, performs reply management to determine whether or not the reply message has been sent.

[0017] If the received message is not opened for a preset period of time at the parent / guardian terminal device 30, the message management device 20 transmits an open reminder message to the parent / guardian terminal device 30 to urge the parent / guardian to open the message. If the opening process is not performed continuously for the same received message, the message management device 20 transmits the open reminder message multiple times at preset intervals.

[0018] Furthermore, if a reply message is not sent for a preset period of time after the received message is opened in the parent / guardian terminal device 30, the message management device 20 sends a reply reminder message to the parent / guardian terminal device 30 to urge the parent / guardian to send a reply message. Furthermore, if reply processing is not continuously performed for the same received message, the message management device 20 sends multiple reply reminder messages at preset intervals.

[0019] The parent terminal device 30 then displays the opening reminder message and the reply reminder message sent from the message management device 20, and at this time, the message management device 20 manages the opening reminder messages so that only the latest opening reminder message among the multiple opening reminder messages is displayed on the parent terminal device 30. The message management device 20 also manages the reply reminder messages so that only the latest reply reminder message among the multiple reply reminder messages is displayed on the parent terminal device 30.

[0020] This makes it possible to prevent reminder messages for recipients from accumulating and reducing visibility.

[0021] The above is a rough processing flow of the message control system 1 of this embodiment. Although only one school terminal device 10 is shown in Fig. 1, in reality, at least as many as the number of schools are provided. Also, although only one parent terminal device 30 is shown, in reality, at least as many as the number of parents are provided.

[0022] Next, each device constituting the message control system 1 of this embodiment will be described in detail.

[0023] As mentioned above, the school terminal device 10 is used by school staff such as teachers, and may be, for example, a desktop computer or a notebook computer, but is not limited to these and may also be a mobile terminal such as a tablet terminal.

[0024] The school terminal device 10 includes a control unit 11. The control unit 11 controls the entire school terminal device 10. In particular, the control unit 11 displays a transmission message creation screen for creating messages to be sent from the school to the parents of students, and a transmission message management screen for managing transmission messages. The transmission message creation screen and the transmission message management screen will be described in detail later.

[0025] A display device 12 such as a liquid crystal display is connected to the school terminal device 10, and a transmission message creation screen and a transmission message management screen are displayed on this display device 12. When a tablet terminal is used as the school terminal device 10, the transmission message creation screen and the transmission message management screen are displayed on a touch panel of the tablet terminal.

[0026] The school terminal device 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), semiconductor memories such as ROM (Read Only Memory) and RAM (Random Access Memory), storage such as a hard disk, and a communication I / F (Interface).

[0027] A school application is installed in the storage of the school terminal device 10. When this school application is started by the CPU, a transmission message creation screen, a transmission message management screen, and the like are displayed on the school terminal device 10, and various settings can be input. Note that instead of using the school application installed in the storage as in this embodiment, a school application provided via a web browser may also be used.

[0028] In addition, in this embodiment, the display control of the outgoing message creation screen and outgoing message management screen is performed by executing the school application using the CPU, but some or all of the functions executed by the school application may also be configured using hardware such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), or other electrical circuits.

[0029] The message management device 20 is a server device that receives messages sent from the school terminal devices 10 and stores the messages. It then transmits the stored messages to the parents (parent terminal devices 30) of the students to whom the messages are sent. It also receives reply messages sent from the parents and stores the reply messages. It then transmits the stored reply messages to the school terminal devices 10.

[0030] Furthermore, as described above, if the parent terminal device 30 does not perform the opening process for the received message, the message management device 20 sends an opening reminder message to the school terminal device 10, and if the parent terminal device 30 does not perform the reply process for the received message, the message management device 20 sends a reply reminder message and saves and manages the opening reminder message and the reply reminder message.

[0031] Specifically, the message management device 20 includes a message receiving unit 21, a message sending unit 22, a reminder sending unit 23, a reminder management unit 24, a reply message receiving unit 25, a reply message sending unit 26, and a control unit 27.

[0032] The message receiving unit 21 receives and saves messages sent from the school terminal device 10. Specifically, a message sent from the school terminal device 10 contains, in addition to the message body, a message ID for identifying the message, the message title, the message body, the date and time the message was sent, the message sender, the opening deadline, the reply deadline, whether or not an opening request has been made, and whether or not a reply request has been made. The message also contains identification information for the student to whom the message is sent (hereinafter referred to as the student ID). The opening deadline, reply deadline, opening request, and reply request are set on a sending message creation screen displayed on the school terminal device 10, and details of these will be described later.

[0033] The message receiving unit 21 receives messages sent from the school terminal devices 10, and stores the above-mentioned various information in a message management table as shown in FIG.

[0034] The message sending unit 22 identifies the identification information of the parent of the recipient (hereinafter referred to as parent ID) based on the student ID added to the message, and identifies the parent terminal device 30 linked to the parent ID. Then, the message sending unit 22 transmits the message title, message body, and sender information to the identified parent terminal device 30.

[0035] Specifically, the message sending unit 22 stores a family / student table as shown in Fig. 3A and a family / guardian table as shown in Fig. 3B. The family / student table is a table that associates a student ID with the family ID of the family to which the student identified by the student ID belongs. The family / guardian table is a table that associates a family ID with the guardian ID of the guardian who belongs to the family identified by the family ID.

[0036] Based on the student ID added to the message, the message sending unit 22 refers to the family-student table shown in Fig. 3A to identify the family ID corresponding to the student ID, and refers to the family-guardian table shown in Fig. 3B to identify the guardian ID corresponding to the identified family ID. Then, the message sending unit 22 transmits the message title, message body, and sender information to the guardian terminal device 30 linked to the identified guardian ID.

[0037] The reminder sending unit 23 sends an opening reminder message and a reply reminder message in response to a message sent from the school terminal device 10 to the parent terminal device 30. Specifically, the reminder sending unit 23 stores a reminder setting table as shown in Fig. 4A and a reminder record table as shown in Fig. 4B.

[0038] 4A, the reminder setting table stores the reminder interval, reminder start timing, and maximum number of reminders, linked to the message ID of the message that is the source of the reminder. The reminder interval, reminder start timing, and maximum number of reminders are set on the sending message creation screen displayed on the school terminal device 10.

[0039] The reminder sending unit 23 refers to the reminder setting table shown in FIG. 4A, sends the opening reminder message and the reply reminder message to the parent terminal device 30, and updates the reminder record table shown in FIG. 4B in response to the sending.

[0040] The "number of open reminders" in the reminder record table is counted each time an open reminder message is sent, and the "number of reply reminders" is counted each time a reply reminder message is sent.

[0041] The "remind open flag" in the remind record table is "FALSE" while the open reminder message and reply reminder message are not opened, and is changed from "FALSE" to "TRUE" when they are opened.

[0042] The remind management unit 24 creates remind messages to be sent multiple times, and manages the multiple remind messages so that only the most recent one is displayed on the parent terminal device 30. The remind management unit 24 saves the remind management table shown in Fig. 5. The remind management table shown in Fig. 5 will be described in detail later.

[0043] The reply message receiving unit 25 receives reply messages sent from the parent terminal device 30. The reply message receiving unit 25 stores a message processing status table shown in FIG. 6. The message processing status table stores the recipient student ID, the reply content of the reply message, the date and time the message sent to the parent terminal device 30 was opened, and the date and time of the reply message to the message sent to the parent terminal device 30, all linked to the message ID of the message that is the source of the reminder. The date and time of message opening is stored when the message is opened on the parent terminal device 30. The content and date and time of opening of the reply message are stored when the reply message is sent from the parent terminal device 30.

[0044] When a reply message is accepted by the reply message accepting unit 25, the reply message sending unit 26 refers to the message ID added to the reply message, identifies the sender of the original message, and sends the reply message to the school terminal device 10 used by the sender.

[0045] The control unit 27 controls the entire message management device 20. The message management device 20 includes a CPU, semiconductor memories such as ROM and RAM, storage such as a hard disk, and a communication I / F. A message management program including an embodiment of the remind message management program of the present invention is installed in the storage of the message management device 20. When this message management program is executed by the CPU, the above-mentioned message reception unit 21, message transmission unit 22, remind transmission unit 23, remind management unit 24, reply message reception unit 25, reply message transmission unit 26, and control unit 27 function.

[0046] In this embodiment, the above-mentioned parts of the message management device 20 are made to function by executing a message management program by the CPU, but some or all of the functions executed by the message management program may also be configured using hardware such as ASIC, FPGA, or other electrical circuits.

[0047] As described above, the parent terminal device 30 is used by the parents of the students, and may be a mobile terminal such as a smartphone or tablet terminal, but is not limited to these and may also be a desktop computer or a laptop computer.

[0048] The parent terminal device 30 includes a control unit 31. The control unit 31 controls the entire parent terminal device 30. In particular, the control unit 31 displays on the touch panel a message list screen that displays a list of messages sent from the school terminal device 10 and received via the message management device 20, and a message display screen that displays the contents of each message.

[0049] Fig. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a message list screen. As shown in Fig. 7, a list of the titles of messages stored in the message management device 20 is displayed on the parent / guardian terminal device 30. In the example shown in Fig. 7, two messages, "Regarding promotion to second grade" and "Confirmation of participation in parent / guardian meeting," have been received by the parent / guardian terminal device 30 from Risou Elementary School for student "Taro."

[0050] Furthermore, letter marks m1 and m2 are displayed in the display columns M1 and M2 for the title of each message. A message with a letter mark surrounded by a circle means that it is an unread (unopened) message, and a message with only the letter mark means that it is a read (opened) message. In other words, a message with the letter mark m1 displayed is unread, and a message with the letter mark m2 displayed is read.

[0051] Then, for example, when a message displaying the letter mark m2 is selected by tapping or the like, the control unit 31 displays the message display screen shown in Fig. 8. In the example shown in Fig. 8, the main text of the message "Confirm Parent Meeting Attendance" is displayed, and a "Reply" button R is also displayed.

[0052] Next, when the "Reply" button R is selected by tapping or the like, a reply message creation screen is displayed. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of the reply message creation screen. As shown in FIG. 9, the reply message creation screen displays a reply message body input field Re and a received message body display field Rm. The reply message is entered by the parent or guardian in the reply message body input field Re. The received message body display field Rm displays the received message body in gray.

[0053] Then, when the "Send" button S displayed on the reply message creation screen is selected by tapping or the like, the reply message is sent to the message management device 20. At this time, the reply message is sent together with the message ID of the original received message.

[0054] As described above, the reply message and message ID sent to the message management device 20 are received by the reply message receiving unit 25. Then, based on the received message ID, the reply message receiving unit 25 stores the student ID who sent the reply message, the reply content of the reply message, the date and time the message was opened, and the date and time of the reply to the reply message in the message processing status table shown in FIG.

[0055] Furthermore, when the control unit 31 of the parent terminal device 30 displays the message list screen shown in Fig. 7, it displays a "Remind" tab for displaying reminder messages. When the "Remind" tab is selected, the control unit 31 switches from the message list screen shown in Fig. 7 to the reminder message list screen shown in Fig. 10.

[0056] 10 displays a list of the titles of reminder messages stored in the message management device 20. In the example shown in Fig. 10, the titles of the reminder message for opening the message "Regarding promotion to second grade" and the reply reminder message for the message "Confirmation of participation in parent-teacher meeting" are displayed.

[0057] Letter marks m3 and m4 are displayed in the display fields M3 and M4 for the title of each reminder message. A reminder message with a letter mark surrounded by a circle means that the reminder message is unread (unopened), and a reminder message with only a letter mark means that the reminder message has been read (opened). In other words, the open reminder message with the letter mark m3 displayed and the reply reminder message with the letter mark m4 displayed as shown in Figure 10 both indicate that the message is unread (unopened).

[0058] Here, the control unit 31 of the parent terminal device 30 refers to the remind management table shown in Fig. 5 stored in the remind management unit 24 and displays the remind message list screen shown in Fig. 10. At this time, if multiple remind messages for the same message have been sent to the parent terminal device 30, only the most recent remind message among the multiple remind messages is displayed on the remind message list screen shown in Fig. 10. A method for displaying only the most recent remind message on the remind message list screen will be described in detail later.

[0059] Then, when a reply reminder message with a letter mark m4 is selected, for example, by tapping on the reminder message list screen shown in Fig. 10, the control unit 31 displays the reminder message display screen shown in Fig. 11. In the example shown in Fig. 11, the main text of the reply reminder message "Confirm Parent Meeting Attendance" is displayed.

[0060] The parent terminal device 30 includes a CPU, semiconductor memories such as ROM and RAM, storage such as a hard disk, and a communication I / F (Interface).

[0061] A parental application is installed in the storage of the parental terminal device 30. When this parental application is started by the CPU, the various screens described above are displayed on the parental terminal device 30, enabling various setting inputs and confirmation operations. Note that instead of using a parental application installed in the storage as in this embodiment, a parental application provided via a web browser may also be used.

[0062] In addition, in this embodiment, the display of various screens is controlled by executing a parental application using a CPU, but some or all of the functions executed by the parental application may be configured using hardware such as an ASIC, FPGA, or other electrical circuits.

[0063] Next, a detailed description will be given of the processing of the message control system 1 of this embodiment. First, the processing from when a school staff member sends a message to a parent using the school terminal device 10 until the parent sends a reply message to that message will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in Figs. 12 and 13.

[0064] First, a school staff member (here, referred to as "ideal teacher") starts up the school application installed in the school terminal device 10 (S10), and displays a sent message management screen as shown in FIG.

[0065] 14 displays a list of messages sent from the school terminal device 10. Specifically, for each message, the title, sender, message content, and message date and time are displayed. A "Details" button is displayed in the message content column, and when the "Details" button is selected, a screen is displayed showing the body of the message, the recipient, and so on.

[0066] Then, the outgoing message management screen displays a "+Create New" button as shown in Fig. 14, and when this "+Create New" button is selected, the outgoing message creation screen shown in Fig. 15 is displayed and the outgoing message is created (S12). On the outgoing message creation screen shown in Fig. 15, the title of the outgoing message, sender, body, recipient, whether or not there is a request for opening, whether or not there is a request for reply, opening deadline, reply deadline, and the start timing, number of times, and interval for opening and reply reminder messages are set and entered.

[0067] The recipient can select the class and attendance number of the student to be sent to. The message will then be sent to students in the grade, class, and attendance number included in the selected list.

[0068] In addition, the opening request is a field where the administrator can set whether or not to manage whether or not a message sent to a parent or guardian has been opened on the parent terminal device 30. If the "Disable" radio button is selected, management of whether or not the message has been opened is not performed, and if the "Enable" radio button is selected, management of whether or not the message has been opened is performed, and an opening reminder message is sent from the message management device 20 to the parent terminal device 30 based on the opening deadline described below.

[0069] Next, the reply request field is a field for inputting whether or not a reply to the message sent to the parent / guardian is requested. If the "Disable" radio button is selected, the parent / guardian is not requested to send a reply message, and when the message is opened on the parent / guardian terminal device 30, a message such as "You cannot reply to this message" is displayed. On the other hand, if the "Enable" radio button is selected, a reply message is requested from the parent / guardian. In addition, a reply reminder message is sent from the message management device 20 to the parent / guardian terminal device 30 based on the reply deadline described below.

[0070] Next, the reminder start timing field specifies the timing at which the message management device 20 will first send an open reminder message or a reply reminder message to the parent terminal device 30. Specifically, if the start timing is set to "24," the first open reminder message or reply reminder message will be sent 24 hours after the open deadline or reply deadline. If the start timing is set to "-24," the first open reminder message or reply reminder message will be sent 24 hours before the open deadline or reply deadline.

[0071] The maximum number of times the open reminder message and reply reminder message are sent is set in the "Number of Reminds" field, and the interval at which the open reminder message and reply reminder message are sent is set in the "Remind Interval" field.

[0072] The message management device 20 starts sending the opening reminder message and the reply reminder message based on the time set in the start timing, and sends the opening reminder message and the reply reminder message at the interval set in the reminder interval field up to the number of times set in the reminder count field.

[0073] When the "Register to send" button on the sending message creation screen is selected, the message created on the sending message creation screen and various setting contents are sent to the message management device 20 (S14). At this time, the school terminal device 10 adds a message ID to the sending message before sending it.

[0074] The message sent from the school terminal device 10 is accepted by the message management device 20 (S16). When the message management device 20 accepts the message sent from the school terminal device 10, it stores the message ID, the message body, and information related to the message in the message management table shown in Fig. 2 and the reminder setting table shown in Fig. 4A (S18).

[0075] Then, the message management device 20 transmits the message to the parent terminal device 30 based on the destination of the message transmitted together with the message from the school terminal device 10 (S20).

[0076] The message sent from the message manager 20 is received by the parent terminal device 30 .

[0077] Then, the parent application is started in the parent terminal device 30 (S22), and the message is accepted and opened (S24). When the message has been opened, a signal indicating this is sent from the parent terminal device 30 to the message management device 20, and the date and time of opening is stored in the message processing status table shown in Fig. 6 (S26).

[0078] Next, if the reply request is a "valid" message, a reply message is created in the parent terminal device 30 (S28) and sent (S30).

[0079] When a reply message is sent from the parent terminal device 30, it is accepted by the message management device 20 (S32). When the message management device 20 accepts the reply message sent from the parent terminal device 30, it stores the reply date and time and the reply content in the message processing status table shown in Fig. 6 (S34).

[0080] The message management device 20 then transmits the received reply message to the school terminal device 10 (S36). The reply message transmitted from the message management device 20 is received by the school terminal device 10 (S38). The contents of the reply message are then displayed on a reply message confirmation screen displayed on the school terminal device 10, and are checked by a school staff member (S40).

[0081] FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of a reply message confirmation screen. As shown in FIG. 16, the reply message confirmation screen displays a sent message display field Sm, a reminder setting field Rset, and a reply message list field RL. The sent message display field Sm displays the body of the sent message. The reminder setting field Rset displays the opening deadline, reply deadline, reminder start timing, reminder count, and reminder interval set for the sent message. The reply message list field RL displays a list of reply messages. The reply message list field RL displays the grade, class, and attendance number of the student corresponding to each reply message, as well as the read status, reply message content, and reminder message content.

[0082] If a reply message has not been received and a reminder message has not been sent, the message "The recipient has not replied to the message" will be displayed in the reminder message column of the reply message list column RL. If a reminder message has been sent, the contents of the reminder message will be displayed in the reminder message column.

[0083] Next, in this embodiment, the reminder management table shown in Figure 5 is referenced to display only the latest reminder message on the reminder message list screen shown in Figure 10, but first, we will explain how to create the reminder management table shown in Figure 5.

[0084] The reminder management unit 24 of the message manager 20 creates a reminder management table shown in FIG. 5 based on the reminder information set for the message accepted by the message accepting unit 21.

[0085] Specifically, the reminder management unit 24 calculates the scheduled reminder date and time for the opening reminder message based on the opening deadline set in the message and the start timing of the reminder, creates the opening reminder message, and stores these in the reminder management table.

[0086] The first row of the reminder management table shown in Figure 5 (hereinafter, when indicating the number of rows in the reminder management table, the title column of the top row is excluded) stores information about the open reminder message for the message with message ID "MESID1." Here, we show an example where the opening deadline is set to "December 25, 2021, 0:00" and the reminder start timing is set to "-24" hours.

[0087] For example, if the maximum number of reminders is set to "2" for a message with message ID "MESID1" and the reminder interval is set to "24 hours," the content of the second open reminder message and the scheduled date and time of the reminder will be saved in the second row of the reminder management table shown in Figure 5. As shown in Figure 5, the first open reminder message states "24 hours before the opening deadline," but the second open reminder message states "0 hours before the opening deadline," and the content has been updated.

[0088] By updating the reminder message in this way, you can be aware of the current situation simply by checking the latest reminder message.

[0089] The reminder management table stores the contents of the open reminder message and the scheduled reminder date and time, as well as the reminder ID assigned to each reminder message, the recipient of the reminder message, the reminder type, and a reminder implementation flag. When the reminder management table is created, all reminder implementation flags are set to "FALSE."

[0090] 5 stores information about a sender open reminder message for a message with a message ID of "MESID1." As described above, the sender open reminder message is a reminder message that is sent from the message management device 20 to the school terminal device 10, which is the sender of the message, when the message has not been opened even after sending the open reminder message to the parent terminal device 30 the maximum number of reminders that has been set. In this way, by sending the sender open reminder message to the sender, it is possible to urge the sender to contact the parent by another means.

[0091] The information for the sender open reminder message will be saved as "The recipient has not opened the message," and the scheduled reminder date and time will be saved as the scheduled reminder date and time of the last (second in the above example) open reminder message plus the reminder interval time.

[0092] The reminder management unit 24 also calculates the scheduled reminder date and time for the reply reminder message based on the reply deadline and the start timing of the reminder set in the message, creates a reply reminder message, and saves these in the reminder management table. The fourth row of the reminder management table shown in Figure 5 stores information about the reply reminder message for the message with the message ID "MESID1". Here, an example is shown in which the reply deadline is set to "January 5, 2022, 0:00" and the start timing of the reminder is set to "-24".

[0093] For example, if the number of reminders is set to "2" and the reminder interval is set to "24" hours for a message with the message ID "MESID1," the content of the second reply reminder message and the scheduled reminder date and time are saved in the fifth row of the reminder management table shown in Figure 5. As shown in Figure 5, the first reply reminder message states "24 hours before the opening deadline," but the second reply reminder message states "0 hours before the opening deadline," and the content has been updated (changed).

[0094] 5 stores information about a sender reply remind message for a message with a message ID of "MESID1." As described above, the sender reply remind message is a reminder message that is sent from the message management device 20 to the school terminal device 10 that is the sender of the message when a reply reminder message has been sent to the parent terminal device 30 the maximum number of reminders that has been set, but no reply message has been sent.

[0095] The sender reply reminder message information will be saved as "The recipient has not replied to the message" and the scheduled reminder date and time will be saved as the scheduled reminder date and time of the last (second in the above example) reply reminder message plus the reminder interval time.

[0096] The seventh and eighth rows of the reminder management table shown in Figure 5 store information about the open reminder message for the message with the message ID "MESID2". The method for creating the information about the open reminder message is the same as the method for creating the information about the open reminder message for the message with the message ID "MESID1". Note that for the message with the message ID "MESID2", the reply request is set to "invalid", and only the information about the open reminder message is stored.

[0097] The sender open reminder message in the ninth row of the remind management table shown in FIG. 5 is the same as the sender open reminder message for the message with the message ID "MESID1" described above.

[0098] Next, a method for sending an open reminder message and a reply reminder message using the reminder management table shown in FIG. 5 will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS.

[0099] First, the reminder sending unit 23 refers to the reminder management table shown in Fig. 5 and checks whether there is a scheduled reminder date and time that matches the current date and time (S50). If there is a scheduled reminder date and time that matches the current date and time (S50, YES), the reminder sending unit 23 refers to the reminder record table shown in Fig. 4B and checks whether the reminder opening flag is FALSE (S52).

[0100] If the reminder open flag is FALSE (S52, YES), it is checked whether the opening request for the message to be reminded is "valid" and whether there is a record of the date and time the message was opened (S54).Whether there is a record of the date and time the message was opened is checked by referring to the message processing status table shown in Figure 6.

[0101] Then, if the request to open the message to be reminded is "valid" and there is no record of the date and time the message was opened (S54, YES), the reminder sending unit 23 refers to the reminder record table shown in Figure 4B and checks whether the number of reminders for opening the message is smaller than the maximum number of reminders in the reminder setting table shown in Figure 4A (S56).

[0102] If the number of opening reminders for the message is smaller than the maximum number of reminders (S56, YES), the remind sending unit 23 sends an opening reminder message based on the destination in the reminder management table (S58).If an opening reminder message has been sent, the remind management unit 24 changes the remind implementation flag corresponding to the opening reminder message from FALSE to TRUE (S60).

[0103] The reminder sending unit 23 then increments the number of opening reminders in the reminder record table shown in Fig. 4B by 1, and thereafter repeats the processes of S50 to S62. If the reminder sending unit 23 determines in S56 that the number of opening reminders is not smaller than the maximum number of reminders (NO in S56), the process proceeds to S64, where it determines whether the number of opening reminders matches the maximum number of reminders (S64). If the number of opening reminders matches the maximum number of reminders (YES in S64), the reminder sending unit 23 sends the sender opening reminder message described above to the school terminal device 10 (S66). If the sender opening reminder message has been sent, the reminder management unit 24 changes the remind implementation flag corresponding to the sender opening reminder message from FALSE to TRUE (S68). Then, the reminder sending unit 23 increments the number of opening reminders by 1, returns to S54, and compares the number of opening reminders with the maximum number of reminders (S24). At this time, the number of opening reminders is 1 more than the maximum number of reminders, so proceeds to NO in S64.

[0104] This concludes the explanation of the sending process of the open reminder message and the sender open reminder message.

[0105] Next, the process proceeds to S72, where a process for sending a reply remind message and a sender reply remind message is carried out.

[0106] Specifically, the reminder sending unit 23 checks whether the reply request for the message to be reminded is "valid" and whether there is no record of the reply date and time of the message (S72). Whether there is no record of the reply date and time of the message is checked by referring to the message processing status table shown in FIG.

[0107] Then, if the reply request for the message to be reminded is "valid" and there is no record of the reply date and time of the message (S72, YES), the reminder sending unit 23 refers to the reminder record table shown in Figure 4B and checks whether the number of reply reminders for the message is less than the maximum number of reminders in the reminder setting table shown in Figure 4A (S74).

[0108] If the number of reply reminders for the message is smaller than the maximum number of reminders (S74, YES), the remind sending unit 23 sends a reply remind message based on the destination in the remind management table (S76).If a reply remind message has been sent, the remind management unit 24 changes the remind implementation flag corresponding to the reply remind message from FALSE to TRUE (S78).

[0109] Then, the reminder sending unit 23 increments the number of opening reminders in the reminder record table shown in Figure 4B by 1 (S80) and returns to S50, but since the sending process of the opening reminder message and the sender opening reminder message has been completed, it proceeds to S72 and repeats the processes from S72 to S80.

[0110] If the reminder sending unit 23 determines in S74 that the number of opening reminders is not smaller than the maximum number of reminders (NO in S74), the process proceeds to S82, where it checks whether the number of opening reminders matches the maximum number of reminders (S82). If the number of opening reminders matches the maximum number of reminders (YES in S82), the reminder sending unit 23 sends the sender reply reminder message described above to the school terminal device 10 (S84). If the sender reply reminder message has been sent, the reminder management unit 24 changes the remind implementation flag corresponding to the sender reply reminder message from FALSE to TRUE (S86). The reminder sending unit 23 then increments the number of reply reminders by 1, returns to S82, and compares the number of opening reminders with the maximum number of reminders (S82). At this time, the number of reply reminders is 1 more than the maximum number of reminders, so the process proceeds to NO in S82, where the process ends.

[0111] In S50, if the current date and time do not match the scheduled reminder date and time (S50, NO), the reminder sending unit 23 continues to compare the current date and time with the scheduled reminder date and time without sending a reminder message.

[0112] Furthermore, if it is confirmed in S52 that the reminder open flag is "TRUE" (S52, NO), the reminder sending unit 23 stops sending reminder messages (S90) and terminates the process. That is, if the latest open reminder message or reply reminder message displayed on the reminder message list screen shown in FIG. 10 is opened and the reminder open flag becomes "TRUE," the reminder sending unit 23 stops sending the open reminder message, reply reminder message, sender open reminder message, and sender reply reminder message related to that reminder message. In this way, if a reminder message is opened in the parent terminal device 30, by stopping the sending of reminder messages to the sender, the parent is aware of the content of the reminder for the time being, and therefore it is possible to prevent unnecessary reminder messages from being sent to the sender.

[0113] Also, in S54, if the request to open the message to be reminded is "invalid" or the opening date and time has already been recorded in the message processing status table shown in Figure 6 (S54), the process of sending the open reminder message is terminated, and the process proceeds to S72, where it transitions to the reply reminder sending process.

[0114] Also, in S72, if the reply request for the message to be reminded is "invalid" or the reply date and time has already been recorded in the message processing status table shown in Figure 6 (S72, NO), the process of sending the reply reminder message is terminated.

[0115] Next, a method for displaying only the latest remind message on the remind message list screen shown in FIG. 10 will be described with reference to the remind management table shown in FIG.

[0116] When the "Remind" tab displayed on the message list screen shown in Figure 7 is selected, the control unit 31 of the parent terminal device 30 switches to the remind message list screen shown in Figure 10, and at this time communicates with the message management device 20 and refers to the remind management table shown in Figure 5.

[0117] Then, the control unit 31 identifies the remind ID for which the remind execution flag is "TRUE" and the scheduled remind execution date is the latest, and acquires the message ID corresponding to that remind ID.

[0118] Then, based on the acquired message ID, the control unit 31 refers to the message management table shown in Figure 2 to acquire the title of the message, and displays it on the reminder message list screen shown in Figure 10 together with the reminder type and scheduled reminder date and time.

[0119] When a specific reminder message is selected on the reminder message list screen and the reminder message is opened, the reminder opened flag in the reminder record table shown in FIG. 4B is changed from "FALSE" to "TRUE." This stops the sending of the reminder message as described above. By stopping the sending of reminder messages in this way, it is possible to prevent excessive reminder messages from being sent to the recipient.

[0120] By performing the above-described processing, the control unit 31 of the parent terminal device 30 can display only the latest remind message on the remind message list screen shown in FIG.

[0121] In addition, after an opening reminder message is sent from the message management device 20 to the parent terminal device 30, if the message to be reminded is opened at the parent terminal device 30, a signal indicating that the message has been opened is sent from the parent terminal device 30 to the message management device 20 together with the message ID.

[0122] 5 based on the message ID sent from the parent terminal device 30, the reminder management unit 24 of the message management device 20 changes the reminder implementation flags of all opening reminders corresponding to the message ID from "TRUE" to "FALSE." In response to this change in the reminder implementation flag, the opening reminder message is deleted from the reminder message list screen displayed on the parent terminal device 30.

[0123] Furthermore, after a reply reminder message is sent from the message management device 20 to the parent terminal device 30, if a reply message to the message to be reminded is sent from the parent terminal device 30 to the message management device 20, the message ID of the message to be replied to is sent from the parent terminal device 30 to the message management device 20 along with the reply message, as described above.

[0124] 5 based on the message ID sent from the parent / guardian terminal device 30, the reminder management unit 24 of the message management device 20 changes the reminder implementation flags of all reply reminders corresponding to the message ID from "TRUE" to "FALSE." In response to this change in the reminder implementation flag, the reply reminder message is deleted from the reminder message list screen displayed on the parent / guardian terminal device 30.

[0125] As described above, by deleting reminder messages related to messages that have been opened or replied to, it is possible to prevent reminder messages from accumulating on the reminder list screen shown in FIG.

[0126] Furthermore, in the message management system 1 of the above embodiment, the message management device 20 manages the exchange of messages between the school and parents, but the sender and receiver of messages in the present invention are not particularly limited.

[0127] The present invention further discloses the following supplementary notes. (Addendum)

[0128] In the remind message management device of the present invention, the remind management unit can update the latest remind message from the previous remind message when displaying the latest remind message.

[0129] Furthermore, in the remind message management device of the present invention, when a received message is processed in accordance with the latest remind message, the remind management unit can delete the remind message related to the received message.

[0130] Furthermore, in the remind message management device of the present invention, if the latest remind message has been opened, the remind management unit can stop sending remind messages before the preset number of times has been reached.

[0131] Furthermore, in the remind message management device of the present invention, the remind management unit can send a remind message to the sender of the received message when the remind message has been sent a preset number of times.

[0132] Furthermore, in the remind message management device of the present invention, the remind management section can prevent the sending of a remind message to the sender if the latest remind message has been opened by the recipient.

[0133] The reminder message management method of the present invention sends a reminder message to the terminal device of the recipient of the received message a predetermined number of times to urge the recipient to process the received message, and manages the reminder messages so that only the most recent reminder message of the multiple reminder messages sent to the recipient is displayed on the terminal device.

[0134] The reminder message management program of the present invention causes a computer to execute the steps of sending a reminder message to a terminal device of a recipient of an incoming message a predetermined number of times to urge the recipient to process the incoming message, and managing the reminder messages so that only the most recent one of the multiple reminder messages sent to the recipient is displayed on the terminal device. [Explanation of symbols]

[0135] 1. Message Management System 10 School terminal equipment 11 Control section 12 Display device 20 Message Management Device 21 Message Reception Section 22 Message sending section 23 Reminder sending section 24 Remind Management Department 25 Reply Message Reception Department 26 Reply message sending section 27 Control Unit 30 Parental terminal device 31 Control Unit

Claims

1. a reminder sending unit that sends a reminder message to a terminal device of a recipient of the received message a predetermined number of times to urge the recipient to process the received message; A reminder message management device comprising a reminder management unit that manages the plurality of reminder messages sent to the recipient so that only the latest reminder message is displayed on the terminal device.

2. 2. The remind message management device according to claim 1, wherein the remind management unit updates the latest remind message from the previous remind message when displaying the latest remind message.

3. 3. The remind message management device according to claim 1, wherein the remind management unit deletes the remind message related to the received message when the received message is processed in accordance with the latest remind message.

4. 4. The reminder message management device according to claim 1, wherein the reminder management unit stops sending reminder messages before the preset number of times is reached if the latest reminder message has been opened.

5. 5. The remind message management device according to claim 1, wherein the remind management unit sends a remind message to the sender of the received message when the remind message has been sent a preset number of times.

6. 6. The remind message management device according to claim 5, wherein the remind management unit does not send a remind message to the sender if the latest remind message has been opened by the recipient.

7. Sending a reminder message to a terminal device of a recipient of the received message a predetermined number of times to urge the recipient to process the received message; A reminder message management method for managing reminder messages so that only the latest reminder message among a plurality of reminder messages sent to the recipient is displayed on the terminal device.

8. sending a reminder message to a terminal device of a recipient of the received message a predetermined number of times to urge the recipient to process the received message; and a step of managing the plurality of remind messages sent to the recipient so that only the most recent remind message is displayed on the terminal device.

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