Information processing apparatus and method

Abstract

To reduce human errors when information is disclosed to other companies.SOLUTION: An information processing device executes steps of: accepting a request of setting of disclosure permission of information regarding a first product of a first company to a second company from an account of the first company; acquiring first information regarding the second company; determining a first output mode of warning about first processing for warning the request on the basis of the first information; and executing the first processing in the first output mode.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 14

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to information sharing among enterprises constituting a supply chain.

Background Art

[0002] A system for information sharing among a plurality of enterprises constituting a supply chain is known. In this regard, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a system for sharing product information among adjacent suppliers.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] An object of this disclosure is to provide an information processing apparatus and method capable of reducing human errors when disclosing information to other enterprises.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0005] One aspect of this disclosure is receiving a request for setting a disclosure permission of information regarding a first product of the first enterprise to a second enterprise from an account of the first enterprise, acquiring first information regarding the second enterprise, determining a first output mode of a warning for a first process of warning against the request based on the first information, executing the first process in the first output mode, and a control unit for executing an information processing apparatus comprising.

[0006] Another aspect of this disclosure is Computers The first company's account will accept requests to grant permission for the second company to disclose information about the first company's first product. To obtain the first information concerning the second company mentioned above, Based on the first information, a first output pattern of the warning is determined for the first process that issues a warning in response to the request, Executing the first process in the first output mode, This is how to do it.

[0007] Other embodiments include a program for causing a computer to execute the above method, or a computer-readable storage medium that non-temporarily stores the program. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] This disclosure can reduce human error when disclosing information to other companies. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0009] [Figure 1] Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating the supply chain according to the first embodiment. [Figure 2] Figure 2 shows an example of a product tree. [Figure 3] Figure 3 shows an example of a product tree based on the settings for publication permissions. [Figure 4] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of a server device. [Figure 5] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of a corporate terminal according to the first embodiment. [Figure 6] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram showing the software configuration of the server device. [Figure 7] Figure 7 shows an example of product information. [Figure 8] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram showing the software configuration of an enterprise terminal. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is an example of a public permission setting screen of an enterprise terminal. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is an example of a public permission setting screen of an enterprise terminal. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the flow of processing related to setting public permission for product information in an information sharing system. [Figure 12] FIG. 12 is an example of an output mode of a warning output to the screen of an enterprise terminal in response to a request for setting public permission. [Figure 13] FIG. 13 is an example of an output mode of a warning output to the screen of an enterprise terminal in response to a request for setting public permission. [Figure 14] FIG. 14 is an example of an output mode of a warning output to the screen of enterprise terminal 2 in response to a request for setting public permission. [Figure 15] FIG. 15 is an example of a flowchart of a request reception process of a server device. [Figure 16] FIG. 16 is an example of a score table defining a score indicating the high credit of a destination enterprise for disclosure. [Figure 17] FIG. 17 is an example of a YES / NO chart for determining the high credit of a destination enterprise for disclosure. [Figure 18] FIG. 18 is an example of a correspondence table between a credit level and an output mode. [Figure 19] FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of input and output of a model for determining an output mode of a warning.

MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0010] In recent years, for example, there has been a desire to track the amount of greenhouse gas emissions when manufacturing products such as automobiles, that is, to track the carbon footprint.

[0011] Now, let's consider a scenario where the product in question is supplied through a supply chain involving multiple companies. Each company (supplier) in the supply chain produces various components that make up the product and delivers them to the next company in the process. Multiple companies repeat this process until the final product is assembled in the final stage.

[0012] The supply chain consists of an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturing) manufacturer and multiple suppliers. The OEM manufacturer is the company that assembles the final product. Suppliers are companies that provide the parts, materials, and assemblies necessary to produce the final product.

[0013] In the following explanation, the parts and components produced by each of the multiple suppliers will be referred to as "products." The final product supplied to the consumer will be referred to as the "final product." Furthermore, the suppliers and OEM manufacturers included in the supply chain will simply be referred to as "companies." In addition, each of the multiple layers within the supply chain will be referred to as a "tier."

[0014] In such a system, for example, in order to calculate the total amount of greenhouse gases emitted in the manufacture of the final product, the supply relationships between products among multiple companies must be clearly defined. If the relationships between the multiple products that make up the final product are not clear, then the relationships between multiple processes will be unclear. This is because it is impossible to accurately calculate the total amount of greenhouse gases emitted. For example, by generating a tree that shows the supply relationships between multiple products that make up the final product, the supply relationships between products among multiple companies can be clarified.

[0015] Information showing the supply relationships between multiple companies can be obtained, for example, by having each supplier provide it. However, information such as a company's business partners, detailed information about its products, and the suppliers of its materials is sensitive information, so it is desirable to limit who can access it. If the information disclosure settings are done manually, human error can occur, for example, by disclosing information to unintended recipients or disclosing information that was not intended to be made public.

[0016] One aspect of this disclosure is an information processing device capable of reducing human error in information disclosure. The information processing device comprises a control unit. The control unit receives a request from the account of a first company to grant permission to a second company to disclose information about a first product of the first company, obtains first information about the second company, determines a first output form of a warning for a first process that issues a warning in response to the request based on the first information, and executes the first process in the first output form.

[0017] An information processing device is, for example, a computer that operates as a server. The control unit is, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Device), a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), and This refers to a processor such as a DSP (Digital Signal Processor). The first and second companies may be, for example, OEM manufacturers or suppliers. The first product may be a final product, a component, a material, or a component. The warning output modes may include, for example, messages, images, sounds, or combinations thereof. The warning output modes may also include not outputting a warning.

[0018] According to one aspect of this disclosure, when a request is received from the first company's account to allow the second company to publish information about the first product, a warning is issued in an output format based on the first information about the second company. Before the publication of information about the first product to the second company is permitted, the first company's account can be alerted to whether it is permissible to publish information about the first product to the second company. This can reduce human error that may occur when the publication of information about the first product to the second company is permitted.

[0019] In one aspect of this disclosure, the control unit may determine a first output mode for a first process from among a plurality of output modes, each with a different level of warning intensity, based on first information relating to a second company. The plurality of output modes for the first process may include at least an output mode that displays a preview of a display screen containing information about the first product, as accessed from the second company's account.

[0020] The strength of a warning is expressed, for example, in the case of a message, by the message content, font size, font color, font type, highlighting, and bolding. A weak warning message may not contain direct warning language, such as "We will now configure the publishing settings." A strong warning message may include language that strongly urges confirmation of publishing settings or directly warns, such as "Are you sure you want to publish this to the second company?" or "CAUTION!!". Furthermore, the stronger the warning, the larger the font size, the color, the more impactful the font, the highlighting, and the bolding. The output format may also be, in order of increasing warning strength: message, message and image, message and audio, and message, audio, and image. Note that the warning output format is not limited to these; for example, a message could be repeated a predetermined number of times. Output modes that include returning a message or changing the position of a message when it is repeated may also be included.

[0021] By including a preview of how the information about the first product would appear when accessed from a second company's account in multiple warning output formats, users of the first company's account can be made aware of how the information about the first product appears from the second company's account. In this case, for example, they may notice that some of the information about the first product is not intended to be made public to the second company, thus reducing the likelihood of unintentionally disclosing such information.

[0022] In one aspect of this disclosure, the control unit may determine the level of trust in the second company based on first information relating to the second company. In this case, the control unit may determine the first output mode such that the lower the level of trust in the second company, the stronger the warning. The level of trust in the second company may be calculated as a score or represented by a level classification, for example, based on first information relating to the second company. Alternatively, the first output mode may be determined using a model constructed such that the lower the level of trust in the company, the stronger the warning output mode.

[0023] If the second company has low credibility, there is a possibility that the disclosure of information about the first product to the second company is not intended. Therefore, by issuing a warning before granting permission to disclose information, with output characteristics corresponding to the level of credibility with the second company, the warning will be stronger the lower the credibility with the second company, thereby encouraging greater attention to the destination and content of the disclosure.

[0024] In one aspect of this disclosure, the first information relating to the second company may include at least one of the following: information relating to the second company's social credit and information relating to the second company's creditworthiness from the perspective of the first company. The information relating to the second company's social credit may include information relating to the second company's attributes. Examples of information relating to the second company's attributes include the country where the second company's headquarters are located, the country where the representative director's address is located, the number of years since establishment, the number of employees, and the number of locations. Examples of information relating to the second company's attributes may include information relating to the second company obtained from a public institution, or information relating to the second company that is publicly available on the web, etc. Examples of information relating to the second company obtained from a public institution may include information contained in the second company's certificate of registered matters. Information relating to the second company obtained from a public institution is more accurate.

[0025] By using information about the social credit of the second company, it is possible to determine the level of the second company's social credit. For example, if the country where the second company's headquarters are located is a country where there are concerns about conducting business due to global circumstances, the second company's credit will be judged as low. This allows the system to more strongly alert users of the first company by outputting a warning based on the level of credit (high or low) of the second company, when a user of the first company's account sets permission to disclose information to the second company.

[0026] Information regarding the creditworthiness of the second company from the perspective of the first company may include at least one of the following: information regarding the business relationship between the first company and the second company, and information regarding the status of the disclosure settings for product information between the first company and the second company. Information regarding the business relationship between the first company and the second company may include at least one of the following: information indicating whether or not there are products that are directly traded between the first company and the second company, and information indicating whether or not the first company and the second company are included in the supply chain for the third product.

[0027] If there are products that are directly traded between the first and second companies, it indicates that the two companies already have a relationship and that a relationship of trust has been established. On the other hand, if the first and second companies are included in the supply chain for a third product, they may, for example, be handling the same type of parts and are expected to be in a competitive relationship. Since competing companies are less likely to disclose product information to each other, if the first and second companies are included in the supply chain for a third product, the creditworthiness of the second company may be judged lower from the perspective of the first company.

[0028] Information regarding the status of the disclosure settings for product information between the first company and the second company may include, for example, whether there is a shared storage area in the storage area managed by the information processing device that the first company and the second company use to exchange product information, whether the other company has write rights to the dedicated storage area of ​​one company that holds product information, or whether there is a history of invitations from one company to the other company to join the system to which the information processing device belongs. This information indicates that the first company and the second company have already interacted on the system to which the information processing device belongs and that they have a trustworthy relationship.

[0029] Therefore, if the first information relating to the second company includes information regarding the creditworthiness of the second company from the perspective of the first company, the control unit may prioritize the information regarding the status of the disclosure settings for product information between the first company and the second company over the information regarding the business relationship between the first company and the second company when determining the level of creditworthiness of the second company. "Prioritizing" means, for example, that the weight given to determining the level of creditworthiness is greater, or that when there are two pieces of information, one piece of information is used first to determine the level of creditworthiness. This is because the information regarding the status of the disclosure settings for product information between the first company and the second company is information that indicates that the first company and the second company have a relationship that is trustworthy of each other on the system to which the information processing device belongs.

[0030] The following describes specific embodiments of this disclosure with reference to the drawings. Unless otherwise specified, the hardware configurations, module configurations, functional configurations, etc., described in each embodiment are not intended to limit the technical scope of the disclosure to those described therein.

[0031] (First Embodiment) The information sharing system 100 according to the first embodiment is a system that provides information about products supplied by a supply chain including multiple companies. Product information is typically traceability information.

[0032] First, let's explain the structure of the supply chain. Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating the supply chain according to the first embodiment. The supply chain according to the first embodiment consists of an OEM company and multiple supplier companies. The OEM company is a company that assembles the final product, and the multiple supplier companies (Companies A to C) are companies that supply parts, materials, or assemblies, etc., for manufacturing the final product. Each of the multiple supplier companies produces multiple products and delivers these products to a company located one level below them in the supply chain. The multiple companies repeat this process, and in the final stage, the final product is assembled.

[0033] In the first embodiment, the side that supplies products at a certain level is referred to as the upstream side, and the side that purchases those products and produces new products is referred to as the downstream side. In this specification, companies located on the upstream side are referred to as upstream companies, and companies located on the downstream side are referred to as downstream companies. Furthermore, products produced by upstream companies are referred to as upstream products, and products produced by downstream companies are referred to as downstream products. Downstream products include upstream products. ru.

[0034] In the first embodiment, the layers included in the supply chain are referred to as Tiers. Tier 0 is the lowest layer, corresponding to the OEM company that assembles the final product, and the layers move upstream as you progress through Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3. Depending on the layer being considered, a downstream company may become an upstream company. For example, company B, located at Tier 2, is a downstream company in relation to Tier 3, but an upstream company in relation to Tier 1. Thus, the definitions of upstream and downstream companies can change depending on the layer.

[0035] The server device 1 according to the first embodiment collects information about the products produced by each company (hereinafter referred to as "product information") and information for linking the product information from terminals (corporate terminals 2) corresponding to each company, and generates a product tree as shown in Figure 2 below based on these. In addition, the product information includes traceability information (for example, information on greenhouse gas emissions; hereinafter referred to as "traceability-related information"), and by following the product tree, it is possible to track carbon footprints and the like.

[0036] The information sharing system 100 according to the first embodiment includes a server device 1 and a plurality of corporate terminals 2, as shown in Figure 1. The corporate terminals 2 are terminals corresponding to each of the multiple companies that constitute the supply chain. There can be multiple corporate terminals 2 included in the information sharing system 100. The server device 1 collects information for generating a product tree from each of the plurality of corporate terminals 2 and generates a product tree based on this information. Furthermore, the server device 1 can perform traceability-related processing (typically, processing to calculate carbon dioxide emissions, etc.) based on the generated product tree. It can also transmit the results of the processing to the corporate terminals 2.

[0037] Figure 2 shows an example of a product tree. A product tree is a tree diagram that shows the relationships between products supplied by a supply chain. In the example shown in Figure 2, the supply relationships of multiple products that make up the final product X are represented by a tree diagram. In the example shown in Figure 2, the final product X is produced by assembling products A1, B1, C1, D1... Product A1 is produced by assembling products A11, A12, A13... In this way, the relationships between multiple products that make up the final product can be represented by a tree diagram in which each product is a node.

[0038] To generate a product tree, each company's corresponding company terminal 2 transmits product information about the products it produces to the server device 1. Each piece of product information is stored in the server device 1.

[0039] The operation to link product information stored in server device 1 is performed by corporate terminal 2. Specifically, a representative from a downstream company logs into server device 1 from corporate terminal 2 using the downstream company's account and selects the upstream product to which the downstream product, which is their own product, will be linked. In this way, the linking of product information is performed from downstream products to upstream products. Server device 1 links the product information based on the selection and stores the linking information. Server device 1 generates a product tree for the final product X by referring to this linking information.

[0040] For example, let's say company A supplies product A1, which is part of the supply chain for final product X. If the entire product tree for final product X, as shown in Figure 2, is made public to company A, then information about other companies in the supply chain, and the products that company produces, will also be made public. Even if company A is part of the supply chain for final product X, information about companies that do not have a direct business relationship with company A, which is just one supplier, will also be made public. It is not appropriate to disclose the product or its contents.

[0041] Therefore, the information sharing system 100 according to the first embodiment allows the publishing company (access-allowing company) to communicate with the publishing company (access-allowed company) about the product information to be published. By granting access rights to the product information to the company to which it will be published, the scope of publication of the product information is restricted. For example, an upstream company may grant access rights to the product information of its upstream products to a downstream company in advance, and the downstream company will be permitted to refer to the product information in the product tree within the scope of the granted access rights. Granting access rights to product information will be referred to below as publication permission or setting publication permission, etc.

[0042] Figure 3 shows an example of a product tree based on disclosure permission settings. In the example shown in Figure 3, products for which the company's account viewing the product tree does not have access rights (i.e., is not permitted to be disclosed) are displayed as "Non-Disclosed" in the product tree. For products that are not disclosed, detailed information, or even their very existence, is kept secret from the company's account viewing the product tree.

[0043] Furthermore, the setting of disclosure permission is not limited to the product itself, but can also be set for individual items included in the product information. In Figure 3, items for which disclosure permission has not been set are indicated by dotted lines. In Figure 3, it is shown that the carbon dioxide emissions during the production of product A121 are not disclosed and are therefore kept secret. Even if there are products or items in the product tree for which access rights are not granted, the integration of traceability-related information, as described above, will be carried out without being affected. For example, in the illustrated example, the carbon dioxide emissions for product A121 are not disclosed, but this does not affect the process of calculating the total carbon dioxide emissions for product A12.

[0044] In the first embodiment, when the server device 1 receives a request from the corporate terminal 2 to set permission to publish product information to a specific company, it issues a warning to confirm that the product information should be published to the specified company. The server device 1 determines the manner in which the warning is output based on information regarding the credibility of the company to which the information should be published. This reduces human errors such as publishing information to an unintended recipient, or publishing unintended information to an unintended recipient.

[0045] [Hardware configuration] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of server device 1. Server device 1 is configured as a computer having a control unit 11, a storage unit 12, a communication module 13, and an input / output device 14.

[0046] Server device 1 can be configured as a computer having a processor such as a CPU or GPU, main memory such as RAM or ROM, and auxiliary storage such as EPROM, hard disk drive, or removable media. The auxiliary storage contains an operating system (OS), various programs, various tables, etc., and by executing the programs stored therein, various functions that match a predetermined purpose, as described later, can be realized. However, some or all of the functions may be realized by hardware circuits such as ASICs or FPGAs (Field-Programmable Gate Arrays).

[0047] The control unit 11 is a computing unit that realizes various functions of the server device 1 by executing a predetermined program. The control unit 11 can be realized by a hardware processor such as a CPU. The control unit 11 may also be configured to include RAM, ROM (Read Only Memory), cache memory, etc.

[0048] The memory unit 12 is a means of storing information and is composed of storage media such as RAM, magnetic disks, and flash memory. The memory unit 102 stores programs executed by the control unit 11, data used by those programs, etc. A database is also built into the memory unit 12. This database stores product information collected from multiple corporate terminals 2, corporate account information, corporate information, and memory area setting information. Further details will be described later.

[0049] The communication module 13 is a communication interface for connecting the server device 1 to a network. The communication module 13 consists of, for example, a network interface board and a wireless communication interface for wireless communication. The server device 1 can communicate data with other computers (for example, each corporate terminal 2) via the communication module 13.

[0050] The input / output device 14 is a means of receiving input operations performed by the operator and presenting information to the operator. Specifically, the input / output device 14 includes devices for input such as a mouse and keyboard, and devices for output such as a display and speakers. The input / output device may be integrated with, for example, a touch panel display.

[0051] The specific hardware configuration of server device 1 can be appropriately omitted, replaced, and added depending on the embodiment. For example, the control unit 11 may include multiple hardware processors. The hardware processors may consist of microprocessors, FPGAs, GPUs, etc. The input / output device 14 may be omitted, or input / output devices other than those exemplified (e.g., optical drives) may be added. Also, server device 1 may consist of multiple computers. In this case, the hardware configurations of each computer may or may not be the same.

[0052] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the enterprise terminal 2 according to the first embodiment. The enterprise terminal 2 is configured as a computer having a control unit 21, a storage unit 22, a communication module 23, and an input / output device 24.

[0053] Enterprise terminal 2 can be configured as a computer having a processor such as a CPU or GPU, main memory such as RAM or ROM, and auxiliary storage such as EPROM, hard disk drive, and removable media, similar to server device 1. However, some or all of the functions may be implemented by hardware circuits such as ASICs or FPGAs.

[0054] The control unit 21 is a computing unit that realizes various functions of the enterprise terminal 2 by executing a predetermined program. The control unit 11 can be realized by a hardware processor such as a CPU. The control unit 21 may also be configured to include RAM, ROM (Read Only Memory), cache memory, etc.

[0055] The memory unit 22 is a means for storing information and is composed of storage media such as RAM, magnetic disks, and flash memory. The memory unit 22 stores programs executed by the control unit 21, data used by those programs, and so on.

[0056] The communication module 23 is a communication interface for connecting the enterprise terminal 2 to a network. The communication module 23 consists of, for example, a network interface board and a wireless communication interface for wireless communication. The enterprise terminal 2 can communicate data with other computers (for example, server device 1) via the communication module 23.

[0057] The input / output device 24 is a means of receiving input operations performed by the operator and presenting information to the operator. Specifically, the input / output device 24 includes devices for input such as a mouse and keyboard, and devices for output such as a display and speakers. The input / output device may be integrated with, for example, a touch panel display.

[0058] Furthermore, the specific hardware configuration of the enterprise terminal 2 can be modified as appropriate, depending on the embodiment, by omitting, substituting, or adding components, similar to the server device 1.

[0059] [Software Configuration] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram showing the software configuration of server device 1. The control unit 11 is configured to have functional modules for authorization setting unit 112 and information provision unit 114. Each functional module may be implemented by the control unit 11 (CPU) executing a program stored in the storage unit 12.

[0060] The authorization setting unit 112 receives a request from the corporate terminal 2 to set permission for the publication of product information. Along with the request to set permission for publication, the corporate terminal 2 also receives the identification information of the publishing company, the identification information of the receiving company, the identification information of the product information to be published, and the identification information of the items to be published.

[0061] In the first embodiment, when the authorization setting unit 112 receives a request from the corporate terminal 2 to set permission to publish product information, it performs a warning process for the request. This warning process outputs a warning for confirmation regarding the publication of the relevant product information to the recipient company. The authorization setting unit 112 determines the manner in which the warning is output based on information regarding the recipient company's social credibility and information regarding the recipient company's credibility from the perspective of the publishing company. Information regarding social credibility is obtained, for example, from corporate information stored in the storage unit 12. Information regarding the recipient company's credibility from the perspective of the publishing company is obtained, for example, from product information and product tree information about the products of the publishing company and the recipient company.

[0062] The authorization setting unit 112 instructs the corporate terminal 2 to output a warning in the determined output format. Subsequently, when the corporate terminal 2 requests permission to publish again, the authorization setting unit 112 executes the process of setting access permissions for the corresponding product information stored in the storage unit 12. Details of the process of the authorization setting unit 112 will be described later.

[0063] The information provision unit 114 performs the process of generating a product tree based on the linking of each product's information, and the process of providing information about the generated product tree to the corporate terminal 2 based on a request from the corporate terminal 2.

[0064] In the first embodiment, the storage unit 12 is configured to include a plurality of logical storage areas. Each of the plurality of storage areas has different access permissions set, for example, an area where access permissions are granted to company A, an area where access permissions are granted to company B, and an area where access permissions are granted to both company A and company B. In the first embodiment, the permission setting unit 112 sets the permission to publish the product information to the specified company by copying the relevant product information to the appropriate storage area based on the request for setting publication permission received from the company terminal 2. The specific processing method will be described later.

[0065] Furthermore, the memory unit 12 stores account information, company information, and memory area setting information. The account information is information about accounts corresponding to each company participating in the information sharing system 100. Specifically, the account information includes, for example, company identification information, This includes the company name, company account, and password. In the first embodiment, interaction between the server device 1 and the company terminal 2 occurs when an operator from each company logs in to the server device 1 via the company terminal 2 using the corresponding company account. Note that each employee of each company may be assigned an account. In this case, the account information includes, for example, company identification information, company name, company account, and employee account and password. Another way to participate in the information sharing system 100 is by invitation from another company. The account information may also include the identification information of the company that invited the target company to the information sharing system 100, and the identification information of the company that invited the target company to the information sharing system 100.

[0066] Corporate information refers to information about companies participating in the information sharing system 100. Corporate information includes, for example, the company name, company identification information, and information stated in the certificate of registered matters. Information stated in the certificate of registered matters includes, for example, the address of the head office, the name and address of the representative director, etc. The information included in the corporate information described above is just an example, and the information included in the corporate information can be appropriately changed depending on the embodiment. For example, information such as the address of the head office may be obtained from information that is publicly available on the internet.

[0067] The memory area configuration information includes, for each memory area, for example, the identification information of the company that has access rights, the address in the memory unit 12, the size, and a list of the product information stored therein.

[0068] Figure 7 shows an example of product information. Product information may be received from the company terminal 2 or entered via the operator of the server device 1. In the example shown in Figure 7, the product information consists of the following fields: Company ID, Company Name, Product ID, and Product Name. The Company ID field stores the identifier of the company that produces the target product. The Company Name field stores the name of the company that produces the target product. The Product ID field stores the identifier of the target product. The Product Name field stores the name of the target product.

[0069] Furthermore, the product information is comprised of linking-related information. Linking-related information is information for identifying the upstream product associated with the target product. In the first embodiment, the linking-related information includes the fields "upstream product information" and "termination flag".

[0070] The upstream product information field is a field that stores information to identify product information corresponding to upstream products associated with the target product (i.e., products necessary for producing the target product and included in the target product). In other words, the upstream product information field functions as a pointer to the upstream product associated with the target product.

[0071] The Termination Flag field stores a flag indicating whether the target product is a leaf node, i.e., the node located at the very top of the product tree. For example, if the value of the Termination Flag field is "1", it indicates that the target product is the node located at the end of the product tree. For example, if the value of the Termination Flag field is "0", it indicates that the target product is the node located at the end of the product tree.

[0072] If a value is stored in the upstream product information field, the termination flag field will be "0". On the other hand, if the termination flag field is "1", the upstream product information field will be empty. The values ​​in the upstream product information and termination flag fields are received, for example, from enterprise terminal 2 or entered by the operator of server device 1. If the target product is manufactured using multiple upstream products, the product information for the target product will include linking information for each upstream product.

[0073] The information provision unit 114 identifies upstream products from the linking information contained in the product information of the final product, then identifies the next upstream product by referring to the linking information contained in the product information of that upstream product, and so on, traversing the linking information to generate a product tree for the final product. At this time, the information provision unit 114 determines that the product tree ends with that product when the termination flag becomes "1".

[0074] Furthermore, product information is comprised of traceability-related information. Traceability-related information includes, for example, the amount of a specific material used, the amount of that material recycled, the recycling rate of that material, the amount of greenhouse gases emitted during the production of the product, or due diligence (DD)-related information. These values ​​correspond to the processes involved in producing the product in question. For example, the traceability-related information included in the product information for product A1 in the example shown in Figure 2 includes the amount of greenhouse gases emitted during the production activities of product A1. The traceability-related information included in product information A1 does not include information about the processes leading up to the production of the upstream product (for example, the amount of greenhouse gases emitted before the upstream product A11 is produced).

[0075] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram showing the software configuration of the enterprise terminal 2. The control unit 21 is composed of functional modules including an authorization setting unit 212 and an information acquisition unit 214. Each functional module may be implemented by the control unit 21 (CPU) executing a program stored in the storage unit 22.

[0076] The information generation unit 211 generates information (product information) about the company's products corresponding to the corporate terminal 2 and transmits it to the server device 1. The authorization setting unit 212 accepts user input for disclosure permission settings, for example, through the disclosure permission setting screen described later. Along with the user input for disclosure permission settings, the unit also accepts the identification information of the company to which the information will be published, the identification information of the product to be published, and information indicating the items to be published.

[0077] When the authorization setting unit 212 receives a user operation for setting disclosure permissions, it generates permission information. The permission information includes the identification information of the company corresponding to the corporate terminal 2, the identification information of the recipient company, the identification information of the product to be disclosed, and information indicating the items to be disclosed, all of which were received along with the user operation for setting disclosure permissions. The identification information of the company included in the permission information may be the company name or the company identifier. The identification information of the product to be disclosed may be, for example, the product number. The information indicating the items to be disclosed may be, for example, the item name or the item identifier. The authorization setting unit 212 sends the request for setting disclosure permissions and the permission information to the server device 1.

[0078] The information acquisition unit 214 requests the server device 1 to provide a product tree and outputs the information transmitted from the server device 1.

[0079] Figures 9 and 10 are examples of the disclosure permission settings screen for enterprise terminal 2, respectively. The disclosure permission settings screen is displayed on enterprise terminal 2 by the authorization setting unit 212 when, for example, the operator of enterprise terminal 2 selects the disclosure permission settings menu from the menu screen for enterprise terminal 2 of the information sharing system 100. The disclosure permission settings screen shown in Figure 9 is an example where, first, the product to be disclosed is selected from a list of products of the company corresponding to enterprise terminal 2, and then the destination company is selected from a list of candidate destination companies. The disclosure permission settings screen shown in Figure 10 is an example where, first, the destination company is selected from a list of candidate destination companies, and then the product to be disclosed is selected from a list of products of the company corresponding to enterprise terminal 2.

[0080] In the examples shown in Figures 9 and 10, the list of companies and the list of products displayed are received from server device 1 in response to the interaction between server device 1 and company terminal 2. For example, in the publication permission setting screen shown in Figure 9, the list of products for selecting the products to be published is a list of products from the company corresponding to company terminal 2. For example, in the publication permission setting screen shown in Figure 9, the list of companies displayed after the product to be published has been selected can be a list of companies that have previously had a transaction history with the company corresponding to company terminal 2 regarding the product to be published.

[0081] For example, in the publication permission settings screen shown in Figure 10, the list of companies for selecting the recipient company can be a list of companies that have previously had a transaction history with the company corresponding to enterprise terminal 2 regarding any of its products. In the publication permission settings screen shown in Figure 10, the list of products from the company corresponding to enterprise terminal 2 that is displayed after the recipient company has been selected can be a list of products that have previously had a transaction history with the company selected as the recipient company and the company corresponding to enterprise terminal 2.

[0082] Therefore, the server device 1 may store data on past transactions (transaction data) for each company and generate a list of companies and a list of products based on said transaction data. The transaction data may include, for example, an identifier for the target product, an identifier for the company that produced the product, and the date of the transaction.

[0083] In the publication permission settings screen shown in Figures 9 and 10, once the product to be published and the target company are selected, a field appears where the user can select which items of the product information for the product to be published are permitted to be published. In this field, items with a checkbox checked are selected as items permitted to be published. The items permitted to be published also include an "All Items" option, which allows the user to select all items at once.

[0084] The access permission settings screen shown in Figures 9 and 10 includes an "Access Settings" button. When the operator of the corporate terminal 2 selects the "Access Settings" button, user input for access permission settings is entered, the authorization setting unit 212 generates permission information, and sends the access permission setting request and permission information to the server device 1. Note that the access permission settings screen shown in Figures 9 and 10 is just an example, and the configuration of the access permission settings screen can be arbitrarily set according to the implementation method.

[0085] [Process flow] Figure 11 is a diagram illustrating the processing flow related to setting permission for the disclosure of product information in the information sharing system 100. In the example shown in Figure 11, Company A is a downstream company. Company B is an upstream company. The product produced by Company A is called Product A. The product produced by Company B is called Product B. The product information corresponding to Product A is called Product Information A. The product information corresponding to Product B is called Product Information B. In the example shown in Figure 11, it is assumed that Company A sets permission for Company B to disclose Product Information A.

[0086] Product information A is stored in a storage area (hereinafter referred to as "storage area A") to which access rights are granted only to company A. A storage area to which access rights are granted only to a specific company will be referred to below as a "dedicated storage area." The configuration information for a specific company's dedicated storage area includes the identification information of the one company to which the storage area is allocated, as the identification information of the company that has access rights. Server device 1 has access rights to the dedicated storage areas of any company. At this point, company B's account does not have access rights to company A's dedicated storage area A, so product information A is not made public to company B.

[0087] Next, the authorization setting unit 112 of the server device 1 receives a request from company terminal 2 of company A to grant permission to publish product information A to company B. Along with this request to grant permission to publish, permission information is also received, which includes the identification information of company A as the publishing company, the identification information of company B as the publishing destination company, product A as the product to be published, and information indicating which items of product information A are permitted to be published.

[0088] In the first embodiment, to confirm that the request for permission to publish from company A is correct, the authorization setting unit 112 sends a warning to company A's company terminal 2 in an output format appropriate to the credibility of company B. The output format of the warning is determined based on information about company B. Upon receiving an acknowledgment from company A's company terminal 2 in response to the warning, the authorization setting unit 112 performs the process of setting permission for the publication of product information A to company B.

[0089] In the first embodiment, the authorization setting unit 112 copies product information A stored in storage area A to a storage area to which both company A and company B are granted access rights. As a result, product information A becomes accessible to both company A and company B and is made public to company B. The storage area to which both company A and company B are granted access rights will hereinafter be referred to as the shared storage area AB of company A and company B. The server device 1 has access rights to the shared storage area AB of company A and company B. The configuration information for the shared storage area of ​​the two companies includes the identification information of the two companies to which the storage area is allocated, as identification information of the company that has access rights.

[0090] In other words, in the first embodiment, permission from company A to disclose product information A to company B is established by storing a copy of product information A in a shared storage area AB between company A and company B. Items of product information A other than those for which disclosure is permitted are excluded from being copied from company A's dedicated storage area A to the shared storage area AB between company A and company B.

[0091] The information provision unit 114 of the server device 1 generates information about the product tree based on the stored product information and outputs the information about the product tree. The information provision unit 114 can generate an image representing a tree diagram based on the product information. Furthermore, when generating information about the product tree, the information provision unit 114 can integrate the traceability-related information defined for each product and output the result.

[0092] The information provision unit 114 may generate a product tree in response to a request from a corporate terminal 2 and provide it to the corporate terminal 2. However, it is not appropriate to disclose the entire product tree to a specific company. Therefore, as shown in Figure 3, when the information provision unit 114 provides a product tree to a corporate terminal 2 corresponding to a certain company, it may perform a process to keep the portion that has not been granted permission for disclosure to that company confidential. Whether or not permission for disclosure has been granted is determined by whether or not product information about the product is stored in a shared storage area between the company that manufactures the product in question and the company corresponding to the corporate terminal 2 requesting the product tree.

[0093] [Examples of warning output formats] Figures 12, 13, and 14 show examples of how warnings are displayed on the screen of enterprise terminal 2 in response to a request to set permission for publication. In Figures 12 to 14, the warning for the request to set permission for publication is displayed, for example, in a pop-up window.

[0094] In Figure 12, the message "Product P00001 will be made available to Company C" is displayed as a warning. In Figure 13, the message "Do you want to proceed with the publication settings?" is displayed. Along with the message, a preview image of the product information screen for the product being made public is displayed at the receiving company. In Figure 14, an image containing the message "CAUTION!!!" and the message "Is it alright to make product P00001 public to Company C?" are displayed in bold.

[0095] The examples of warning output modes shown in Figures 12, 13, and 14 show the warning level increasing in this order. The message in the example shown in Figure 12 simply notifies that the information disclosure has been set and does not include any direct warning language. In the example shown in Figure 13, the message is in the form of a question and also displays a preview of the display screen of the target product information at the disclosing company, making it more likely to attract the attention of the operator of enterprise terminal 2 than the example shown in Figure 12. In the example shown in Figure 14, the message containing direct warning language is displayed within an explosion graphic, making it more likely to attract the attention of the operator of enterprise terminal 2 than the examples shown in Figures 12 and 13.

[0096] The authorization setting unit 112 of the server device 1 determines, based on information about the recipient company, the output mode of the warning to be output to the corporate terminal 2 of the publishing company from among the different output modes shown in Figures 12 to 14. More specifically, the authorization setting unit 112 determines the output mode of the warning based on information about the recipient company, such that the stronger the reputation of the recipient company, the weaker the warning, and the weaker the warning, the lower the reputation of the recipient company.

[0097] The output methods for warnings in response to requests for permission to publish are not limited to the examples shown in Figures 12 to 14. For example, a warning message may be output as audio instead of text. For example, a warning message may be output as both text and audio. For example, a warning image may be output instead of a text message. For example, a warning message may be output as text, audio, and an image. For example, instead of a pop-up window, the user may be redirected to a screen displaying the warning. Also, for example, a pop-up window containing a warning message may be displayed repeatedly a predetermined number of times. The output methods for warnings in response to requests for permission to publish are not limited to these and can be arbitrarily set by the administrator of the information sharing system 100. One of the output methods for warnings may be to not output a warning.

[0098] As shown in Figures 12 to 14, a warning is displayed along with a "Cancel" button and a "Confirm" button. If the operator of the corporate terminal 2 selects the "Confirm" button, a confirmation response is sent from the authorization setting unit 212 of the corporate terminal 2 to the server device 1, and permission is granted to publish the target product information to the target company. If the operator of the corporate terminal 2 selects the "Cancel" button, a cancellation response is sent from the authorization setting unit 212 of the corporate terminal 2 to the server device 1, and the setting of permission to publish the target product information to the target company is interrupted.

[0099] [Processing flow] Figure 15 is an example of a flowchart for the request reception process of server device 1. The request reception process is performed when a request for permission to publish is received from corporate terminal 2. The process shown in Figure 15 is executed repeatedly at predetermined intervals. Although the control unit 11 is the main execution unit for the process shown in Figure 15, for convenience, the authorization setting unit 112, which is a functional component, will be used as the main unit for explanation.

[0100] In OP101, the authorization setting unit 112 determines whether or not it has received a request for permission to publish from the corporate terminal 2. If a request for permission to publish is received from the corporate terminal 2 (OP101: YES), the process proceeds to OP102. If no configuration request is received (OP101:NO), the process shown in Figure 15 terminates. Along with the request for permission to publish, permission information is also received. The permission information includes, for example, the identification information of the publishing company, the identification information of the receiving company, the identification information of the product for which the product information will be published, and information indicating which items of the product information are subject to publication permission.

[0101] In OP102, the authorization setting unit 112 collects information about the target company. For example, the authorization setting unit 112 obtains information about the target company from the company information stored in the storage unit 12. From the company information stored in the storage unit 12, information such as the address of the target company's headquarters can be obtained. For example, the authorization setting unit 112 obtains information about the target company from the account information stored in the storage unit 12. From the account information about the target company, for example, it is possible to identify the company that invited the target company to the information sharing system 100, and the company that the target company invited to the information sharing system 100. However, since participation in the information sharing system 100 is not limited to invitations from other companies, information about the inviting or invited company may not be included in the account information about the target company. For example, the authorization setting unit 112 obtains setting information about the storage area to which the target company is granted access rights from the setting information of the storage area stored in the storage unit 12. The configuration information regarding the storage area to which access rights are granted to the recipient company allows us to determine whether or not there is a shared storage area between the publishing company and the recipient company.

[0102] For example, the authorization setting unit 112 obtains product information from the publishing company, the receiving company, and other companies from the dedicated storage areas of each company. From the product information of each company, a product tree for multiple end products is obtained. The product tree indicates that if one of the receiving company and the publishing company is connected as an upstream company and the other as a downstream company, then there is a transaction between the receiving company and the publishing company for one of the products. Also, if the product tree for a particular end product includes products from both the receiving company and the publishing company, it indicates that the receiving company and the publishing company may be competitors manufacturing the same type of component. Note that the information collected about the receiving company is not limited to the information described above.

[0103] In OP103, the authorization setting unit 112 determines the type of warning output for requests to set publication permissions. In OP103, the type of warning output is determined based on the information about the publication destination company collected in OP102. Details of the processing in OP103 will be described later.

[0104] In OP104, the authorization setting unit 112 sends a warning to the corporate terminal 2 with the output type determined in OP103. In OP105, the authorization setting unit 112 determines whether or not an acknowledgment has been received from the corporate terminal 2. If an acknowledgment is received from the corporate terminal 2 (OP105: YES), the process proceeds to OP106. If an acknowledgment is not received from the corporate terminal 2 (OP105: NO), i.e., if a cancellation response is received, the process shown in Figure 15 ends.

[0105] In OP106, the authorization setting unit 112 performs the process of setting permission for the target product information to be published to the publishing company. In the first embodiment, as described above, in OP106, the authorization setting unit 112 sets permission for the target product information to be published to the publishing company by copying the target product information from the publishing company's dedicated storage area to a shared storage area between the publishing company and the publishing company. If there is no shared storage area between the publishing company and the publishing company, the authorization setting unit 112 creates a shared storage area between the publishing company and the publishing company, and then stores the copy of the target product information in the shared storage area between the publishing company and the publishing company. After that, the process shown in Figure 15 is completed.

[0106] [Process for determining the warning output format] The authorization setting unit 112 determines the warning output method based on information about the recipient company. There are, for example, three methods for determining the warning output method. The administrator of the information sharing system 100 may arbitrarily choose which method to adopt. (1) A method that uses a score that indicates the creditworthiness of the company to which the listing is made. (2) A method that uses a level that indicates the level of creditworthiness of the company to which the listing is made. (3) A method using a model.

[0107] In any of the methods described in (1) through (3) above, the information used to determine the type of warning issued is the same. The information used to determine the type of warning issued can be broadly divided into two categories: information regarding the social credibility of the company being publicly traded, and information regarding the credibility of the company being publicly traded from the perspective of the company issuing the public offer.

[0108] Information regarding the social credit of the listed company includes, for example, attribute information of the listed company. This attribute information includes, for example, the country where the listed company's headquarters are located, the country where the representative director resides, the number of employees, the capital, and the number of years since the company was established. However, the attribute information of the listed company is not limited to these. In the first embodiment, the attribute information of the listed company is held as company information in the storage unit 12 of the server device 1 and is used.

[0109] Information regarding the creditworthiness of the publicly traded company from the perspective of the publicly traded company includes, for example, information showing the relationship between the publicly traded company and the publicly traded company in the information sharing system 100, and information showing the business relationship between the publicly traded company and the publicly traded company.

[0110] The information indicating the relationship between the publishing company and the receiving company in the information sharing system 100 is information indicating the history of data exchange between the publishing company and the receiving company in the information sharing system 100. More specifically, the information indicating the relationship between the publishing company and the receiving company in the information sharing system 100 includes, for example, information indicating whether or not there is a shared storage area between the publishing company and the receiving company, and information indicating whether or not one of the publishing company or the receiving company has invited the other to the information sharing system 100. The information indicating whether or not there is a shared storage area between the publishing company and the receiving company is obtained, for example, from the storage area setting information held in the storage unit 12. The information indicating whether or not one of the publishing company or the receiving company has invited the other to the information sharing system 100 is obtained from the account information held in the storage unit 12. Note that the information indicating the relationship between the publishing company and the receiving company in the information sharing system 100 is not limited to the above information.

[0111] Information indicating the business relationship between the publishing company and the publishing company includes, for example, information indicating whether there is a history of direct transactions between the publishing company and the publishing company regarding any of the products, and information indicating whether the publishing company and the publishing company are competitors of the same type of product. This information is obtained from the product tree of each final product, which is created based on the product information of the publishing company and the product information of each company.

[0112] Whether or not there is a history of direct transactions of any product between the publishing company and the publishing company can be determined, for example, by checking whether the products of the publishing company and the publishing company are linked in either the product information of the publishing company or the product information of the publishing company. Alternatively, whether or not there is a history of direct transactions of any product between the publishing company and the publishing company can be determined by checking whether the publishing company and the publishing company are connected as upstream and downstream companies in adjacent tiers in any of the product trees.

[0113] Whether the publishing company and the publishing company are competitors of the same type of product depends on whether the publishing company and the publishing company are at the same tier level in the product tree of the same final product. Furthermore, the determination can be made based on whether or not the suppliers are for the same type of component in the product tree of the same final product. Note that the information indicating the business relationship between the publishing company and the publishing company is not limited to the information described above.

[0114] The weighting of the information used to determine the warning output method differs depending on the type of information. The weighting order is as follows: (A) Information on the social credit of the company to which the information is being published > (B) Information showing the relationship between the publishing company and the company to which the information is being published in the information sharing system 100 > (C) Information showing the business relationship between the publishing company and the company to which the information is being published.

[0115] The following describes how to determine the output modes of the warnings described in (1)-(3) above, assuming that the following information is used to determine the output mode of the warnings: (A1) the country to which the headquarters of the company to which the information is distributed belongs, (B1) whether or not there is a shared storage area between the publishing company and the company to which the information is distributed, (B2) whether or not there is an invitation to the information sharing system 100 between the publishing company and the company to which the information is distributed, (C1) whether or not there are products that the publishing company and the company to which the information is distributed directly trades, (C2) whether or not they are suppliers of the same type of part for the same final product, and (C3) whether or not they are at the same tier level in the product tree for the same final product. The weighting order is (A1)>(B1)>(B2)>(C1)>(C2)>(C3).

[0116] Furthermore, in the explanation of the method for determining the warning output modes in (1)-(3) below, it is assumed that the warning output mode is selected from five output modes, output modes #1-#5. The warning strength is in the order of output mode #1 < output mode #2 < output mode #3 < output mode #4 < output mode #5. Output modes #1-#5 are assumed to be, for example, as follows.

[0117] In output mode #1, a text message is displayed that does not include any warning wording, as shown in the example of the warning output mode in Figure 12. In output mode #2, in addition to displaying the text message as in output mode #1, the audio of the message is output. In output mode #3, a question prompting confirmation of the publishing company and the product information to be published, as shown in the example of the warning output mode in Figure 13, and a preview of the product information display screen shown on the publishing company's corporate terminal 2 are displayed. In output mode #4, an image with highlighted warning wording and a question prompting confirmation of the publishing company and the product information to be published are displayed, as shown in the example of the warning output mode in Figure 14. In output mode #5, the image and message from output mode #4 are displayed, and a warning sound is also output, and this is repeated a predetermined number of times. Note that output modes #1 to #5 are examples of warning output modes, and the warning output modes are not limited to these.

[0118] (1) A method using a score that indicates the creditworthiness of the listed company. Figure 16 shows an example of a score table that defines a score indicating the creditworthiness of a publicly listed company. Hereafter, the score indicating the creditworthiness of a publicly listed company will be referred to as the credit score. The score table includes conditions and the scores obtained when those conditions are met. The sum of the scores obtained for each condition becomes the credit score of the publicly listed company. In the example shown in Figure 16, a higher credit score indicates higher creditworthiness. However, this is not the only way; the credit score may also be set so that a lower value indicates higher creditworthiness.

[0119] The score table shown in Figure 16 includes the conditions and scores for when the information (A1) to (C3) above is expected to be used. The condition corresponding to the information (A1) is set as "The head office address is in an NG country," and if the information (A1) meets this condition, -10 points will be awarded. The condition corresponding to the information (B1) is set as "There is a shared memory area," and if the information (B1) meets this condition, +5 points will be awarded. The condition corresponding to the information (B2) is set as "There is an invitation to the system," and if the information (B2) meets this condition, + 3 points will be awarded. The condition for the information in (C1) is set as "There are products with which we have direct transactions," and if the information in (C1) meets this condition, +2 points will be awarded. The condition for the information in (C2) is set as "We are suppliers of the same type of parts for the same final product," and if the information in (C2) meets this condition, -3 points will be awarded. The condition for the information in (C3) is set as "We are at the same Tier level for the same final product," and if the information in (C3) meets this condition, -2 points will be awarded. Note that the scoring table is not limited to the example shown in Figure 16.

[0120] In the example shown in Figure 16, the conditions corresponding to (A1), (C2), and (C3) are conditions that determine whether creditworthiness is reduced, and the score obtained when these conditions are met is a negative value. On the other hand, the conditions corresponding to (B1), (B2), and (C1) are conditions that determine whether creditworthiness is improved, and the score obtained when these conditions are met is a positive value. The information from (A1) to (C3) is weighted in the order of (A1)>(B1)>(B2)>(C1)>(C2)>(C3). Therefore, in the example shown in Figure 16, the order of the magnitude of the absolute values ​​of the scores obtained when the conditions corresponding to the information from (A1) to (C3) are met corresponds to the order of the weights.

[0121] The authorization setting unit 112 collects the information from (A1) to (C3) above as information about the company to which the information is to be published, and obtains the credit score of the company to which the information is to be published by referring to the score table shown in Figure 16. The authorization setting unit 112 determines the type of warning output from output type #1 to output type #5 according to the credit score of the company to which the information is to be published. For example, the credit score and output type #1 to output type #5 are pre-associated such that the higher the credit score, the weaker the warning, and the output type corresponding to the credit score of the company to which the information is to be published may be selected based on this association. Note that the range of credit score values ​​that can be associated with each output type do not have to be the same. For example, output type #1 may be associated with a credit score in the range of +5 points to +10 points, while output type #5 may be associated with a credit score of -10 points.

[0122] Furthermore, scores of multiple types may be acquired. In this case, the warning output mode may be determined based on the relationship between these multiple scores. For example, a social credit score and a credit score from the perspective of the publishing company may be acquired separately, and the warning output mode may be determined from output mode #1 to output mode #5 based on the relationship between these two scores. For example, if the social credit score > the credit score from the perspective of the publishing company, the warning output mode may be determined as output mode #5; if the social credit score = the credit score from the perspective of the publishing company, it may be determined as output mode #3; and if the social credit score < the credit score from the perspective of the publishing company, it may be determined as output mode #2, and so on. However, the correspondence between the relationship between the two credit scores and the output mode is just an example and is not limited to those described above. For example, not only the magnitude of the social credit score and the credit score from the perspective of the publishing company, but also the difference between the two scores may be considered when determining the warning output mode.

[0123] (2) A method using a level that indicates the level of creditworthiness of the listed company. Figure 17 is an example of a YES / NO chart used to determine the creditworthiness of a company to which an information is being offered. For example, the authorization setting unit 112 uses a chart like the one shown in Figure 17 to determine the creditworthiness level of a company to which an information is being offered, based on the information (A1) to (C3) above about the company to which an information is being offered.

[0124] In the example shown in Figure 17, if the information in (A1) indicates that "the head office address is in a country that is not allowed," the credit level is determined to be 1. If the information in (B1) indicates that "there is a shared memory area," and if the information in (B2) indicates that "there is an invitation to the system," If the information in (C1) indicates that there are direct transactions for the same products, the credit level will be determined to be 4. If the information in (C2) indicates that the suppliers are for the same type of parts in the same final product, the credit level will be determined to be 2. If the information in (C3) indicates that the suppliers are at the same tier level for the same final product, the credit level will be determined to be 3. If the information in (A1) through (C3) regarding the listed company results in a negative judgment in any of the above judgments, the credit level will be determined to be 4.

[0125] The information from (A1) to (C3) is weighted in the order of (A1)>(B1)>(B2)>(C1)>(C2)>(C3). Therefore, in the example shown in Figure 17, the order of judgment for the information from (A1) to (C3) corresponds to the order of weights. Note that the determination of the credit level is not limited to the chart shown in Figure 17.

[0126] Figure 18 is an example of a correspondence table between credit level and output type. This correspondence table is stored, for example, in the storage unit 12. In the example shown in Figure 18, the credit level and output type are associated such that the stronger the credit level, the weaker the warning. The authorization setting unit 112 selects an output type for the warning, for example, by referring to the correspondence table shown in Figure 18, according to the credit level of the publicly listed company obtained by the chart shown in Figure 17.

[0127] <(3) Method using a model> Figure 19 shows an example of the input and output of a model that determines the type of warning output. The models used to determine the type of warning output include, for example, regression models generated by statistical methods such as regression analysis, and machine learning models. Machine learning models include, for example, models generated according to algorithms such as random forests, support vector regression, boosting regression, neural networks, and deep learning.

[0128] Figure 19 shows an example where a machine learning model is used to determine the type of warning output. This machine learning model takes information (A1) through (C3) about a company as input and outputs a warning output type from output type #1 to output type #5 as training data, and has already learned the relationship between the information (A1) through (C3) and the type of warning output. More specifically, this machine learning model is trained so that the lower the company's creditworthiness, as indicated by the information (A1) through (C3) about the company, the stronger the warning will be.

[0129] When the machine learning model is input with information (A1) through (C3) about the company to which the information is being published, it outputs the probability that each of output modes #1 through #5 will result in a warning. The authorization setting unit 112 then determines, for example, the output mode with the highest probability as the warning output mode.

[0130] When a regression model is used to determine the type of warning output, the information (A1) to (C3) about the company is used as the explanatory variable, and the type of warning output is used as the dependent variable. The coefficients of each term in the regression model equation are adjusted (fitted) using sets of information (A1) to (C3) and the type of warning output for multiple companies, such that the lower the company's credibility, the stronger the warning level of the type of warning output. When the information (A1) to (C3) about the company to which the information is published is input as the explanatory variable in the regression model equation, an objective function is obtained that shows one of the types of warning output from output type #1 to output type #5. Note that the method for determining the type of warning output is not limited to the methods (1)-(3) above.

[0131] Furthermore, the methods (1) to (3) above may be combined. For example, (1) a method using a score that indicates the creditworthiness of the listed company and (2) a level that indicates the creditworthiness of the listed company. This method may be combined with the method using the "L" symbol. In this case, the credit level is defined by a credit score, the credit score of the company to be listed is obtained using method (1), the credit level of the company to be listed is determined based on the credit score, and the warning output method is determined according to the credit level.

[0132] For example, a combination of (1) a method using a score indicating the level of creditworthiness of the company to which the company is publicly listed and (3) a method using a model may be used. In this case, using method (1), for example, a social credit score and a credit score from the perspective of the company that is publicly listed are obtained, and these two scores are input into the model (3), and the type of warning output is determined based on the output of the model. In this case, the model (3) has already learned the relationship between the social credit score, the credit score from the perspective of the company that is publicly listed, and the type of warning output. Note that the input to the model is not limited to just the social credit score and the credit score from the perspective of the company that is publicly listed, but may include three or more.

[0133] [Effects of the First Embodiment] In the first embodiment, when the publishing company's account sets permission to publish the target product information to a target company, a warning is output to the publishing company's corporate terminal 2 in an output manner determined based on information about the target company. This provides an opportunity for the publishing company's operator to confirm whether it is really okay to publish the target product information to the target company. For example, it can reduce human errors such as publishing the target product information to an unintended target company or publishing unintended information to a target company.

[0134] Furthermore, in the first embodiment, the manner in which the warning is output is determined according to the level of credibility of the company to which the information is published. This allows the level of credibility of the company to which the information is published to be reflected in the strength of the warning. For example, if the company to which the information is published has low credibility, a strong warning will be issued, which will prompt the operator of the company that is issuing the information to carefully check the settings for permission to publish product information.

[0135] (Modified version of the first embodiment) In the first embodiment, when permission is granted to publish product information to a recipient company, a shared storage area with access rights granted to both the publishing company and the recipient company is set as the method for transferring the product information. Alternatively, for example, the method for transferring product information when permission is granted to publish product information to a recipient company may be to grant access rights to the storage area allocated to the publishing company to the recipient company. In this case, instead of (B1) whether or not there is a shared storage area between the publishing company and the recipient company, (B1-1) whether or not access rights have been granted to the recipient company to the storage area allocated to the publishing company may be used as the information indicating the relationship between the publishing company and the recipient company in the information sharing system 100 used to determine the warning output manner. Furthermore, the access rights granted to the recipient company to the storage area allocated to the publishing company may be write rights.

[0136] (Other variations) The embodiments described above are merely examples, and this disclosure may be modified as appropriate without departing from its essence. For example, the processes and means described in this disclosure can be freely combined and implemented as long as no technical inconsistencies arise.

[0137] In the description of the embodiment, the server device 1 stores product information in a database, but product information may be stored by means other than a database.

[0138] Furthermore, in the description of the embodiment, an example was given in which the server device 1 completes the product tree. The role of server device 1 may be distributed among multiple corporate terminals 2. For example, product information may be stored in a distributed database using a blockchain platform. In this case, the product information database may be composed of multiple corporate terminals 2. In this case, the processing described in the first embodiment may be executed using a smart contract. For example, the process of setting disclosure permissions may be executed as a trigger when an account of a certain company writes permission information to the database.

[0139] Furthermore, while the description of the embodiment assumed that the multiple companies included in the supply chain were companies that produce products, the multiple companies included in the supply chain do not necessarily have to be companies that produce products. For example, companies that handle the transportation, import, storage, and wholesale of products can also be included as companies that constitute the supply chain.

[0140] Furthermore, a process described as being performed by a single device may be divided and executed by multiple devices. Conversely, a process described as being performed by different devices may be executed by a single device. In a computer system, the hardware configuration (server configuration) by which each function is implemented can be flexibly changed.

[0141] The present disclosure can also be realized by supplying a computer program implementing the functions described in the embodiments above to a computer, and having one or more processors in the computer read and execute the program. Such a computer program may be provided to the computer by a non-temporary computer-readable storage medium that can be connected to the computer's system bus, or it may be provided to the computer via a network. Non-temporary computer-readable storage mediums include, for example, any type of disk such as magnetic disks (floppy disks, hard disk drives (HDDs), etc.), optical disks (CD-ROMs, DVDs, Blu-ray discs, etc.), read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), EPROM, EEPROM, magnetic cards, flash memory, optical cards, and any type of medium suitable for storing electronic instructions. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0142] 1. Server device 2. Enterprise terminals 11, 21... Control Unit 12, 22...Storage section 13, 23... Communication Module 14, 24... Input / Output Devices 100. Information Sharing System

Claims

1. The first company's account will accept requests to grant permission to the second company to disclose information about the first company's first product, To obtain the first information relating to the second company mentioned above, Based on the first information, a first output pattern of the warning is determined for the first process that issues a warning in response to the request, Executing the first process in the first output mode, A control unit that executes Equipped with, An information processing device wherein the first information includes at least one of the following: information relating to the social credit of the second company, and information relating to the credit of the second company from the perspective of the first company.

2. The control unit determines the first output mode from among a plurality of output modes, each with a different warning intensity, for the first process. The plurality of output modes for the first processing include, at a minimum, an output mode that displays a preview of a display screen containing information about the first product when accessed from the account of the second company. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1.

3. The control unit, Based on the first information relating to the second company, the level of creditworthiness of the second company is determined. The first output mode is determined such that the lower the level of trust in the second company, the stronger the warning. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1.

4. The control unit, Based on the first information relating to the second company, a score indicating the level of creditworthiness of the second company is obtained. The first output mode is determined according to the acquired score. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3.

5. The control unit, Based on the first information relating to the second company, multiple scores indicating the level of creditworthiness of the second company are obtained. Based on the aforementioned multiple scores, the first output mode is determined. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4.

6. The control unit, For multiple companies, the first output mode is determined based on the output when first information about a second company is input into a model constructed such that the relationship between company information and the output mode for the first processing is such that the lower the company's credibility, the stronger the warning output mode. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1.

7. The information relating to the social credit of the second company includes information relating to the attributes of the second company. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1.

8. The information relating to the attributes of the second company is information relating to the second company obtained from a public institution. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7.

9. The credit information of the second company as seen by the first company includes at least one of the following: information regarding the business relationship between the first company and the second company, and information regarding the status of the disclosure settings for product information between the first company and the second company. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1.

10. The information relating to the business relationship between the first company and the second company includes at least one of the following: information indicating whether or not there are products that are directly traded between the first company and the second company, and information indicating whether or not the first company and the second company are included in the supply chain for the third product. The information processing apparatus according to claim 9.

11. The control unit, when the first information includes information regarding the creditworthiness of the second company from the perspective of the first company, The level of creditworthiness of the second company is determined by prioritizing information regarding the status of the disclosure settings for product information between the first company and the second company over information regarding the business relationship between the first company and the second company. The information processing apparatus according to claim 9.

12. Computers The first company's account will accept requests to grant permission to the second company to disclose information about the first company's first product, To obtain the first information relating to the second company mentioned above, Based on the first information, a first output pattern of the warning is determined for the first process that issues a warning in response to the request, Executing the first process in the first output mode, Execute, The first information is information relating to the social credit of the second company, and the first company A method comprising at least one of the information relating to the creditworthiness of the second company as viewed from the perspective of the second company.

13. The computer determines a first output mode from among a plurality of output modes, each with a different warning intensity, for the first process. The plurality of output modes for the first processing include, at a minimum, an output mode that displays a preview of a display screen containing information about the first product when accessed from the account of the second company. The method according to claim 12.

14. The aforementioned computer, Based on the first information relating to the second company, the level of creditworthiness of the second company is determined. The first output mode is determined such that the lower the level of trust in the second company, the stronger the warning. The method according to claim 12.

15. The information relating to the social credit of the second company includes information relating to the attributes of the second company. The method according to claim 12.

16. The credit information of the second company as seen by the first company includes at least one of the following: information regarding the business relationship between the first company and the second company, and information regarding the status of the disclosure settings for product information between the first company and the second company. The method according to claim 15.

17. The information relating to the business relationship between the first company and the second company includes at least one of the following: information indicating whether or not there are products that are directly traded between the first company and the second company, and information indicating whether or not the first company and the second company are included in the supply chain for the third product. The method according to claim 16.

18. The computer, when the first information includes information about the creditworthiness of the second company from the perspective of the first company, The level of creditworthiness of the second company is determined by prioritizing information regarding the status of the disclosure settings for product information between the first company and the second company over information regarding the business relationship between the first company and the second company. The method according to claim 16.

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