Multilingual-navigation device, and multilingual-navigation system, and multilingual-navigation program

Abstract

[Problem] To provide a multilingual-navigation device, a multilingual-navigation system, and a multilingual-navigation program, which enable: a navigation operation-explanation to be performed in multiple languages; and a presenter to perform the navigation operation-explanation meaningfully. [Solution] A navigation server 10 includes: a terminal setting means for setting one of a plurality of terminal devices 30 as a host terminal and setting all the others as participant terminals; a screen capturing means for capturing, as a navigation screen, one of divided screens displayed on the host terminal when a navigation operation-explanation is performed by using the one of the divided screens; a duplicating-translation means for duplicating the navigation screen, translating navigation characters into other navigation characters, and generating a translated navigation screen in which display of the navigation characters is replaced with display of the other navigation characters; and a distribution means for distributing the translation navigation screen to each of the terminal devices 30.

Description

Multilingual navigation device, multilingual navigation system, and multilingual navigation program

[0001] The present invention relates to a multilingual navigation device, a multilingual navigation system, and a multilingual navigation program that enable a presenter to provide participants with navigation operation instructions in multiple languages ​​in parallel.

[0002] Conventionally, there are known technologies relating to systems (also called conference systems) that allow multiple users to hold online conferences (meetings), business negotiations, medical treatment, education, training, and the like while simultaneously viewing screen displays on their respective terminal devices. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses an online conference support device that promotes smooth two-way communication and supports efficient and appropriate output of results by eliminating the need for tasks such as setting up and canceling screen sharing when holding a conference while each participant shares their screen. Furthermore, Patent Literature 2 discloses an electronic conference control device that comprehensively manages split-screen images generated from a common screen image shared among multiple locations and screen images generated at each location related to the split-screen image.

[0003] In conventional conference systems, a display screen may be split into multiple areas so that multiple users can simultaneously participate in a conference (meeting), etc. As a conventional technique related to screen splitting, for example, Patent Document 3 discloses a split-screen display device that displays an operation screen in a desired split area on the display screen without the user having to be aware of whether each split area on the display screen is focused or not.

[0004] JP 2022-74159 A JP 2007-226352 A JP 2018-128814 A

[0005] Typically, multiple users participate in a conference system, and some users work in international business environments. In such cases, users of different nationalities often participate in the conference system, and some users lack the necessary technical knowledge. Even if a user has the necessary technical knowledge, they may only understand their native language and not be fluent in the languages ​​necessary to communicate with other users. Users who possess the necessary technical knowledge and are fluent in multiple languages ​​are extremely rare. Therefore, communication using conventional conference systems is becoming increasingly difficult for users working in international business environments.

[0006] In particular, in the field of software technology (including the field of technology using software), new software technologies are released in different languages ​​around the world, and users want to understand such technologies in their preferred language. However, when learning and understanding new software technologies, it is essential for engineers whose native languages ​​are different to communicate with each other, but language barriers sometimes prevent users from realizing their desire to understand new software technologies in their preferred language.

[0007] When a user wants to learn about a new software technology from an engineer in another country or deepen their understanding, the above-mentioned conference system may be used. In this case, the engineer in another country acts as the presenter, and the user acts as a participant, and the explanation is given using a screen on the conference system that has software-based facilities such as icons and operation buttons (also called software facilities).

[0008] In this case, even if the participants' native language is different from that of the presenter, and the participants are unable to follow the presenter's on-screen instructions or explanations using the operation of software equipment (also referred to as operation instructions, and in this invention, this refers to the presenter's navigation of the participants (for example, the act of transmitting information such as guidance, direction, or instruction in a manner that is primarily one-way (although some aspects are bidirectional) from the presenter to the participants, and the operation instructions for navigation are also referred to as "navigation operation instructions") and fully understand the presenter's operation instructions, the presenter prefers to use his or her own native language. In this case, if a conventional conference system were used, there was a risk that the language barrier would prevent the participants from gaining a deeper understanding of the new software.

[0009] As described above, conventional conference systems may prevent online conferences (meetings), business negotiations, classes, and the like from achieving satisfactory results due to language barriers between users. In this regard, the conventional conference support device disclosed in Patent Document 1 translates information, such as speech and input text, from each participant into a language that each user can understand and outputs it to each user in real time. However, when providing navigation operation instructions, information is primarily transmitted one way from the presenter to the participants. To make the navigation operation instructions meaningful, the presenter wishes to provide the instructions while checking how the navigation operation instructions will be displayed on the users' terminal devices. However, conventional conference support devices cannot achieve this. In other words, conventional conference support devices only allow each participant to view the display in their own language while sharing their screen; the presenter cannot view the display in other languages. Furthermore, when the presenter rapidly inputs text, for example, it is extremely difficult to accurately determine which text input corresponds to which display.

[0010] The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a multilingual navigation device, a multilingual navigation system, and a multilingual navigation program that enable navigation operation explanations to be given in multiple languages ​​and that enable presenters to provide meaningful explanations of navigation operation so that online conferences (meetings), business negotiations, guidance, classes, etc. can be fully achieved even when multiple users who speak different languages ​​participate.

[0011] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a multilingual navigation device that is connected to a plurality of terminal devices using a display device via a network and provides multilingual navigation using the display device to each of the plurality of terminal devices, the multilingual navigation device including a terminal setting means that sets one of the plurality of terminal devices as a host terminal where a navigation operation explanation is given using the display device, and sets all of the plurality of terminal devices other than the host terminal as participant terminals where the navigation operation explanation is viewed using the display device; a screen capture means that, when a navigation operation explanation is given using one of the two split screens displayed on the display device of the terminal device set as the host terminal, captures one of the split screens as a navigation screen; and a navigation screen that duplicates the navigation screen captured by the screen capture means, translates navigation characters contained in the navigation screen into different navigation characters in a language different from the navigation language in which the navigation characters are originally displayed, and displays a translated navigation screen on the other split screen. a distribution means for distributing the translated navigation screen to the organizer terminal and all participant terminals and distributing the navigation screen to all participant terminals except the organizer terminal so that multilingual navigation is performed at the organizer terminal and all participant terminals using the navigation screen and the translated navigation screen; and a language selection means for selecting an organizer language used at the organizer terminal and a participant language which is a language used at each participant terminal, wherein the replication translation means uses the organizer language and participant language selected by the language selection means as the navigation language and the other language, respectively, to translate navigation characters into other navigation characters and generate the translated navigation screen for each participant terminal, and the distribution means distributes all of the translated navigation screens generated by the replication translation means to the organizer terminals so that the translated navigation screens generated using the participant language selected at each participant terminal are displayed one by one on the other of the split screens of the organizer terminal.

[0012] Preferably, the multilingual navigation device further comprises a translation pattern setting means for setting a combination of the organizer language selected by the language selection means and the participant language as a translation pattern for each participant terminal, a translation pattern storage means for storing the translation pattern set by the translation pattern setting means, and a translation pattern storage control means for storing the translation pattern set by the translation pattern setting means in the translation pattern storage means, and the replication translation means determines the organizer language and the participant language in accordance with the translation pattern stored in the translation pattern storage means.

[0013] Furthermore, it is preferable that the device further comprises a layout change means for executing a layout change to change the size of the display area for the navigation characters to a size corresponding to the length of the alternative navigation characters when the length of the navigation characters differs from the length of the alternative navigation characters.

[0014] The present invention provides a multilingual navigation system having a plurality of terminal devices using a display device, and a multilingual navigation device that provides multilingual navigation using the display device to each of the plurality of terminal devices, wherein the multilingual navigation device comprises a terminal setting means that sets one of the plurality of terminal devices as a host terminal where a navigation operation explanation is given using the display device, and sets all of the plurality of terminal devices other than the host terminal as participant terminals where the navigation operation explanation is viewed using the display device, a screen capture means that, when a navigation operation explanation is given using one of the two split screens displayed on the display device of the terminal device set as the host terminal, captures one of the split screens as a navigation screen, and a navigation screen that duplicates the navigation screen captured by the screen capture means, translates navigation characters contained in the navigation screen into different navigation characters in a language different from the navigation language in which the navigation characters are in the translation, and displays a translated navigation screen on the split screen. a distribution means for distributing the translated navigation screen to the organizer terminal and all participant terminals and distributing the navigation screen to all participant terminals except the organizer terminal so that multilingual navigation is performed at all of the organizer terminal and participant terminals using the navigation screen and the translated navigation screen; and a language selection means for selecting an organizer language used at the organizer terminal and a participant language which is a language used at each participant terminal, wherein the reproduction translation means uses the organizer language and the participant language selected by the language selection means as the navigation language and the other language, respectively, to translate navigation characters into other navigation characters and generate the translated navigation screen according to each participant terminal, and the distribution means distributes all of the translated navigation screens generated by the reproduction translation means to the organizer terminals so that the translated navigation screens generated using the participant language selected at each participant terminal are displayed one by one on the other of the split screen of the organizer terminal.

[0015] In the above-mentioned multilingual navigation system, it is preferable that the plurality of terminal devices have a display control means for controlling display so that one of the split screens displayed on each display device is a host screen on which the navigation operation explanation is given, and the other is a participant screen on which the navigation operation explanation is viewed.

[0016] In addition, it is preferable that a screen selection means is further provided for causing a terminal device set as an organizer terminal among the terminal devices to select one of the translation navigation screens distributed by the distribution means as a selected translation navigation screen to be displayed on the participant screen, and that the display control means performs display switching so that the translation navigation screen selected using the screen selection means is displayed on the participant screen.

[0017] The present invention provides a multilingual navigation program for causing a computer to function as a multilingual navigation device that is connected via a network to a plurality of terminal devices using a display device and provides multilingual navigation using the display device to each of the plurality of terminal devices, the program comprising: a terminal setting means for setting one of the plurality of terminal devices as a host terminal where a navigation operation explanation is given using the display device, and all of the plurality of terminal devices other than the host terminal as participant terminals where the navigation operation explanation is viewed using the display device; a screen capture means for capturing one of the split screens as a navigation screen when a navigation operation explanation is given using one of the two split screens displayed on the display device of the terminal device set as the host terminal; and a translation navigation means for duplicating the navigation screen captured by the screen capture means, translating navigation characters contained in the navigation screen into different navigation characters in a language different from the navigation language in which the navigation characters are written, and replacing the displayed navigation characters with the different navigation characters. a distribution means for distributing the translated navigation screen to the organizer terminal and all the participant terminals and distributing the navigation screen to all the participant terminals except the organizer terminal so that multilingual navigation is performed at the organizer terminal and all the participant terminals using the navigation screen and the translated navigation screen; and a language selection means for selecting a organizer language used at the organizer terminal and a participant language which is a language used at each participant terminal, the reproduction translation means using the organizer language and the participant language selected by the language selection means as the navigation language and the other language, respectively, to translate navigation characters into other navigation characters and generate a translated navigation screen according to each participant terminal, and the distribution means for distributing all the translated navigation screens generated by the reproduction translation means to the organizer terminals so that the translated navigation screens generated using the participant language selected at each participant terminal are displayed one by one on the other of the split screen of the organizer terminal.

[0018] The present invention is a multilingual navigation program for causing a computer to function as a multilingual navigation device that provides multilingual navigation using a display device to two or more terminal devices that are connected via a network and that use a display device, the computer comprising: a terminal setting means that sets one of the two or more terminal devices as a host terminal where a navigation operation explanation is given using the display device, and all of the two or more terminal devices other than the host terminal as participant terminals where the navigation operation explanation is viewed using the display device; a screen capture means that, when a navigation operation explanation is given using one of the split screens that is split into two and displayed on the display device of the terminal device set as the host terminal, captures one of the split screens as a navigation screen; and a screen capture means that copies the navigation screen captured by the screen capture means, translates navigation characters that are characters included in the navigation screen into different navigation characters in a language different from the navigation language in which the navigation characters are written, and displays the navigation screen. a replicating translation means for generating a translated navigation screen in which the display of navigation characters is replaced with the display of alternative navigation characters so as to be displayed on the other side of the split screen; a distributing means for distributing the translated navigation screen to the organiser terminal and all of the participant terminals and distributing the navigation screen to all of the participant terminals excluding the organiser terminal so that multilingual navigation is performed on all of the organiser terminal and participant terminals using the navigation screen and the translated navigation screen; and a language selecting means for selecting a organiser language used on the organiser terminal and a participant language which is a language used on each of the participant terminals, the replicating translation means using the organiser language and the participant language selected by the language selecting means as the navigation language and the alternative language, respectively, to translate the navigation characters into alternative navigation characters and generate a translated navigation screen for each of the participant terminals, and the distributing means for displaying the translated navigation screens generated using the participant language selected on each of the participant terminals one by one on the other side of the split screen on the organiser terminal.A multilingual navigation program is provided that distributes all translated navigation screens generated by the duplication translation means to the organizer terminal.

[0019] Furthermore, in the multilingual navigation program, it is preferable that the computer further functions as a translation pattern setting means for setting a combination of the organizer language selected by the language selection means and the participant language as a translation pattern for each participant terminal, and a translation pattern storage control means for storing the translation pattern set by the translation pattern setting means in the translation pattern storage means, and that the replication translation means determines the organizer language and the participant language in accordance with the translation pattern stored in the translation pattern storage means.

[0020] As described above in detail, the present invention provides a multilingual navigation device, a multilingual navigation system, and a multilingual navigation program that enable navigation operation instructions to be given in multiple languages ​​and enable a presenter to give meaningful navigation operation instructions.

[0021] 1 is a system configuration diagram of a multilingual navigation system including a navigation server according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a block diagram mainly showing the internal configuration of the navigation server. FIG. 2 is a block diagram mainly showing the internal configuration of a member terminal device. FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram of a business management system implemented in the navigation server. FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram showing the main components of a software development management module and member terminal devices that implement the business management system. FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram showing the main components of a multilingual navigation module implemented in a dialog work process of the software development management module. FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram showing the main components of a multilingual navigation module implemented in a background work process of the software development management module. FIG. 7 is a process chart showing, in chronological order, the operation procedures of a duplication translation distribution process included in multilingual navigation processing. FIG. 8A is a diagram showing member terminal devices that implement the multilingual navigation system together with the languages ​​specified for each, and FIG. 8B is a diagram showing a case where two languages ​​are specified for each member terminal device. FIG. 9A is a diagram showing an example of a split screen displayed on a member terminal device that implements the multilingual navigation system, and FIG. 9B is a diagram showing another split screen. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation procedures of a navigation preparation process. FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation procedures of a multilingual navigation process. 1A is a diagram showing a list of languages ​​selected as the host language and participant language, and FIG. 1B is a diagram showing an example of translation patterns stored in a translation pattern storage means. FIG. 1B is a process chart showing, in chronological order, the operation procedure of a duplicate translation distribution process according to a modified example. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a split screen displayed on each terminal device when multilingual navigation is provided. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a case where screen sharing is performed in a conventional conference support system.

[0022] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the same elements are designated by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted.

[0023] (Overall Configuration of Multilingual Navigation System) First, the configuration of a multilingual navigation system 1 including a multilingual navigation server 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

[0024] Figure 1 is a system configuration diagram of a multilingual navigation system 1. As shown in Figure 1, the multilingual navigation system 1 has a multilingual navigation server (hereinafter also referred to as "navigation server") 10 and multiple member terminal devices 30 (mobile member terminal devices 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E in Figure 1) operated by members who use the multilingual navigation described below, and these are connected to each other via the Internet N1.

[0025] The navigation server 10 processes data according to a multilingual navigation program and provides multilingual navigation to each of the member terminal devices 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E. This multilingual navigation is realized by applying the present invention. All participating members can use the multilingual navigation by using their respective member terminal devices 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E. Multilingual navigation refers to navigation in which navigation operation instructions are provided in parallel in two or more languages ​​(also called multiple languages). In multilingual navigation, a presenter provides navigation operation instructions in the presenter's preferred language, and all participating members can view and listen to the navigation operation instructions in their preferred language.

[0026] The member terminal device 30 transmits and receives data to and from the navigation server 10 .

[0027] In the multilingual navigation system 1, the navigation server 10 executes the following processes a), b), and c): a) Duplicates the navigation screen displayed on the member terminal device 30 (liquid crystal display unit 35) of the presenter who is providing the navigation operation explanation; b) Generates a translated navigation screen by translating the navigation characters included in the navigation screen from the presenter language (host language) specified by the presenter into separate navigation characters in the participant language; and c) Distributes the translated navigation screen to each member terminal device 30.

[0028] In the multilingual navigation system 1, when a participant using a member terminal device 30A provides a navigation operation explanation as a presenter, the navigation screen displayed on the display device (liquid crystal display unit 35) of the member terminal device 30A is captured in real time and duplicated for the number of member terminal devices 30 (30B, 30C, 30D, 30E) used by the other participants. At this time, the characters (navigation characters) contained in the captured navigation screen are translated from the presenter's language into the language (participant language) specified by the other participant (attendee), generating a translated navigation screen. This translated navigation screen is distributed to the member terminal devices 30 (30B, 30C, 30D, 30E) used by the participants. Each participant can then view the navigation operation explanation while visually recognizing the characters in the participant language specified by the participant. Therefore, the multilingual navigation system 1 eliminates the loss of efficiency due to language differences, enabling online conferences, business negotiations, classes, and the like to be fully utilized. Furthermore, all translation navigation screens generated for each member terminal device 30 (30B, 30C, 30D, 30E) are distributed to the organizer terminal (member terminal device 30A), and a participant at member terminal device 30A selects one of the distributed translation navigation screens to display on the liquid crystal display 35. The participant (presenter) at member terminal device 30A can explain the navigation operation while checking all the translation navigation screens one by one.

[0029] (Configuration of the navigation server 10) Next, the configuration of the navigation server 10 will be described with reference to Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a block diagram mainly showing the internal configuration of the navigation server 10.

[0030] The navigation server 10 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 11, a read-only memory (ROM) 12, and a random access memory (RAM) 13. The CPU 11 operates according to a program stored in the ROM 12, inputting data obtained by operating a keyboard 19 or a mouse 20 via a keyboard controller (KBC) 17 via a main bus 19A, while also exchanging signals with other components to control the overall operation of the navigation server 10. The navigation server 10 is configured with a business management system 99 (described below), which includes a software development management module 101 incorporating multilingual navigation modules 130 and 140. The CPU 11 executes various processes according to the business management system 99. The ROM 12 stores a basic input / output system (BIOS), control programs, and permanent data. The RAM 13 stores data used by the CPU 11 when it operates, as well as programs for the business management system 99 and the like.

[0031] In addition, the navigation server 10 has a hard disk drive (HDD) 14 , a communication control unit 15 , a communication processing unit 16 , and a video controller 18 .

[0032] The hard disk drive 14 stores middleware such as an OS (Operating System), a business management system 99, and a Web server program. The hard disk drive 14 also stores programs such as the business management system 99, a database (DB) shown in Fig. 4 required for executing the programs, and other storage units, DBs, and files.

[0033] The communication control unit 15 operates in accordance with instructions from the CPU 11 to control the connection and disconnection of lines for communication with the member terminal devices 30 and a server (not shown). The communication processing unit 16 operates in accordance with instructions from the communication control unit 15 to send and receive data via the Internet N1.

[0034] The video controller 18 controls image display on a display device (not shown) to display screens used for various settings.

[0035] (Business Management System) A business management system 99 is constructed in the navigation server 10 by installing necessary programs and forming various databases. The business management system 99 is constructed using an integrated information system for enterprise resource planning (ERP) (also called an "ERP system," e.g., a solution system provided by SAP Inc. (SAP is a registered trademark)). FIG. 4 is a system configuration diagram of the business management system 99 constructed in the navigation server 10. The illustrated business management system 99 is a system that manages software development work in a software development company, and includes a software development management module 101 that functions as an application server in the ERP system, and a human resources management module 102.

[0036] 4, in the business management system 99, a software development management module 101 and a personnel management module 102 each access a dictionary DB 105, a translation pattern TBL 106, a development management master 107, and a personnel management master 108 under the control of a database management system, and perform processes such as updating their respective data. The multilingual navigation program according to this embodiment is incorporated into the software management development module 101 as multilingual navigation modules 130 and 140, which will be described later.

[0037] The dictionary DB 105 stores dictionary data used for translating navigation characters, which will be described later. The dictionary data includes dictionary data using languages ​​that can be designated as presenter languages ​​or participant languages ​​(in this embodiment, five languages: English, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and German). The translation pattern table 106 (TBL) is a translation pattern storage means, and stores translation patterns, which will be described later. The development management master 107 and the personnel management master 108 store data used for software development management and in-house personnel management, respectively.

[0038] 5, the software development management module 101 includes a dispatcher 121, a gateway 122, a dialog work process 123, an update work process 124, an enqueue work process 125, a background work process 126, and a spool work process 127. Of these, the dialog work process 123 and the background work process 126 incorporate multilingual navigation modules 130 and 140, which will be described later, respectively.

[0039] The dispatcher 121 accepts GUI (Graphical User Interface) operations (mouse operations, keyboard operations, also called screen operations) from each member terminal device 30 (30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E). While controlling the use of the CPU 11 in a time-sharing manner, the dispatcher 121 calls a work process (relevant work process) corresponding to the accepted processing content from the work processes 123-127 and assigns execution rights to it. If a large number of screen operations are input from each member terminal device 30 (30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E) but all of the work processes 123-127 are in use, the dispatcher 121 puts processing into a standby state until each of the work processes 123-127 becomes available. The gateway 122 performs intercommunication between management modules (in the case of FIG. 4, the software development management module 101 and the personnel management module 102).

[0040] The dialog work process 123 executes front-end processing such as screen display, data input through screen operations, instruction input, and display changes in response to screen operations. As shown in Fig. 6, the dialog work process 123 incorporates a multilingual navigation module 130, which will be described later.

[0041] The update work process 124 executes data updates in response to database update requests. The enqueue work process 125 executes processing to lock the relevant data when the update work process 124 executes database update processing. The background work process 126 executes data processing that does not require screen operations or screen displays. As shown in FIG. 7, the background work process 126 incorporates a multilingual navigation module 140, which will be described later. The spool work process 127 executes printing processing by, for example, passing data stored in the database to a printer (not shown).

[0042] (Multilingual Navigation Module) The multilingual navigation module 130 can be formed, for example, by adding it to the dialog work process 123 through add-on development. As shown in Fig. 6, the multilingual navigation module 130 has a screen display control unit 131, a translation pattern setting unit 132, a navigation screen capture unit 133, a navigation screen delivery unit 134, a translation navigation screen acquisition unit 135, and a translation navigation screen distribution unit 136.

[0043] The screen display control unit 131 is a part that executes the processes required for the screen display of each member terminal device 30 (30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E), and has an initial screen display unit 131a. The initial screen display unit 131a displays an initial input screen required for initial setup of the multilingual navigation on each member terminal device 30 (30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E).

[0044] The translation pattern setting unit 132 sets a translation pattern, which will be described later, and stores the set translation pattern in the translation pattern table 106. The navigation screen capturing unit 133 captures in real time (performs screen capture) the screen (corresponding to the "navigation screen" of the present invention) displayed on the organizer screen 156, which will be described later, of the liquid crystal display unit 35 of the presenter terminal device (member terminal device 30A) when the navigation operation explanation is being given at the presenter terminal device (member terminal device 30A). The navigation screen delivery unit 134 delivers the navigation screen captured by the navigation screen capturing unit 133 to the navigation screen acquisition unit 142 of the multilingual navigation module 140. The translation navigation screen acquisition unit 135 acquires the translation navigation screen, which will be described later, from the translation navigation screen delivery unit 145 of the multilingual navigation module 140. The translation navigation screen distribution unit 136 functions as a distribution unit and distributes the acquired translation navigation screen to the organizer terminal (member terminal device 30A) and the corresponding member terminal devices 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E. At this time, the translated navigation screen distribution unit 136 distributes all of the translated navigation screens generated by the navigation screen translation / replacement unit 144 (described later) and acquired by the translated navigation screen acquisition unit 135 to the member terminal device 30A (host terminal) (for example, online storage is used for this purpose). When distributing the translated navigation screen to the member terminal devices 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E, the translated navigation screen distribution unit 136 also distributes the navigation screen (see FIG. 8). This allows multilingual navigation to be performed in the member terminal devices 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E using the navigation screen and the translated navigation screen.

[0045] The multilingual navigation module 140 can be formed, for example, by adding it to the background work process 126 through add-on development. As shown in Fig. 7, the multilingual navigation module 140 has a translation pattern reading unit 141, a navigation screen acquisition unit 142, a navigation screen duplication unit 143, a navigation screen translation / replacement unit 144, and a translated navigation screen delivery unit 145.

[0046] The translation pattern reading unit 141 reads translation patterns stored in the translation pattern TBL 106 from the translation pattern TBL 106. The navigation screen acquisition unit 142 acquires a navigation screen from the navigation screen delivery unit 134. The navigation screen duplication unit 143 duplicates the acquired navigation screen a number of times corresponding to the number of member terminal devices 30 (30B, 30C, 30D, 30E) serving as participant terminals. The navigation screen translation / replacement unit 144, together with the navigation screen duplication unit 143, functions as a duplication translation means according to the present invention and performs the following processes a), b), and c): a) extracts the characters (navigation characters) contained in each of the duplicated navigation screens; and b) translates the characters (navigation characters) into different navigation characters in a language different from the language of the characters (navigation language). In this process, the navigation screen translation / replacement unit 144 uses the organizer language and each participant language as the navigation language and the different language, respectively. c) For each navigation screen, the display of the included characters (navigation characters) is replaced with the display of characters in the translated participant language (alternate navigation characters), thereby generating a translated navigation screen. The translated navigation screen delivery unit 145 delivers the translated navigation screen to the translated navigation screen acquisition unit 135. In the above b) and c), the navigation screen translation / replacement unit 144 determines the organizer language and each participant language according to a translation pattern stored in the translation pattern TBL 106 described below. The above characters (navigation characters) are translated from the determined organizer language into characters in the participant language (alternate navigation characters). Note that the translation of the navigation characters is performed for the purpose of changing the display of characters on the navigation screen from the organizer language to the participant language. Commands used for computer control (e.g., "cd," "dir," "ipconfig," etc.) may be displayed as is without translation, or only the display on the screen may be changed from the organizer language to the participant language (without changing the command itself to eliminate any impact on computer control).

[0047] (Configuration of Member Terminal Device 30) As shown in FIG. 1, the member terminal device 30 is connected to the Internet N1 and can communicate with the navigation server 10. In this embodiment, the member terminal devices 30 (30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E) are assumed to be mobile, portable notebook personal computers having a liquid crystal display unit 35 as a display device. The member terminal devices 30 (30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E) correspond to multiple terminal devices each using the liquid crystal display unit 35. However, the member terminal device 30 may also be a fixed terminal device, such as a desktop personal computer, to which a separate liquid crystal display device (not shown) is connected and uses the liquid crystal display device. Other possible examples of the member terminal device 30 include a high-function mobile phone (also known as a smartphone) and a tablet-type terminal device.

[0048] As shown in FIG. 3 , the member terminal device 30 includes a CPU 31, a ROM 32, a RAM 33, a data storage unit 34, and a liquid crystal display unit 35. The member terminal device 30 also includes a voice conversion processing unit 36, a communication control unit 37, a communication processing unit 38a, a wireless communication unit 38b, a speaker 39, and a microphone 40. A GUI (Graphical User Interface, also called ERP GUI, e.g., SAP GUI for Windows or SAP GUI for Java (Windows and Java are registered trademarks)) used in the ERP system is installed in the member terminal device 30. By using the ERP GUI, each member can use the ERP system by operating the screen displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 35 using a mouse or keyboard (also called screen operation), and can use multilingual navigation.

[0049] The ERP GUI installed in each member terminal device 30 incorporates a split screen generation unit that generates the split screen 155 (or split screen 158), which will be described later, and a display control unit that displays the split screen 155 (or split screen 158). Furthermore, the member terminal device 30 may have a split pattern determination unit that determines the split pattern used to form the split screen based on data specified by the member. The split pattern is a pattern (mode) used to divide the display screen, and can be specified as either the pattern for split screen 155 (top-bottom split pattern) or the pattern for split screen 158 (left-right split pattern). The display control unit can then display the split screen 155 or split screen 158 according to the split pattern determined by the split pattern determination unit.

[0050] The CPU 31 operates in accordance with a program stored in the ROM 32 and controls the overall operation of the member terminal device 30. The ROM 32 stores the control program executed by the CPU 31. The RAM 33 stores a communication control program for performing data communication, data necessary for the CPU 31 to execute the program, and the like.

[0051] The data storage unit 34 stores various data and application programs. The liquid crystal display unit 35 includes an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and its driver, and is an image display unit that displays images such as characters, figures, and symbols. The audio conversion processing unit 36 ​​expands audio data and outputs it to the speaker 39, while converting and compressing analog audio signals input from the microphone 40 into digital audio data and inputting it to the communication processing unit 38a. The communication control unit 37 operates in response to instructions from the CPU 31 and controls the connection and disconnection of lines for data communication. The communication processing unit 38a operates in response to instructions from the communication control unit 37 to transmit and receive data via the Internet N1. The wireless communication unit 38b is a wireless communication unit that transmits and receives data wirelessly under the control of the communication control unit 37. The speaker 39 is an audio output unit that outputs audio, and the microphone 40 receives audio, such as the user's conversation, and converts it into an electrical signal.

[0052] Then, the CPU 31 executes processing in accordance with the screen operations for multilingual navigation in accordance with the ERP GUI.

[0053] In the multilingual navigation system 1, the navigation server 10 executes a multilingual navigation process described below to provide multilingual navigation to the member terminal devices 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E. When the multilingual navigation is provided, in a navigation preparation process described below, one of the member terminal devices 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E (in this embodiment, the member terminal device 30A) is set as a presenter terminal (host terminal in the present invention), and the other terminal devices (in this embodiment, the member terminal devices 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E) except for the member terminal device 30A are set as participant terminals. An explanation of how to operate the navigation is given using the liquid crystal display unit 35 in the member terminal device 30A that has been set as the presenter terminal.

[0054] When the multilingual navigation process is executed in the multilingual navigation system 1, the navigation server 10 executes a navigation preparation process in accordance with the flowchart shown in FIG.

[0055] (Navigation Preparation Processing) In the navigation server 10, all members, including the presenter, can use their name and password to log in to the multilingual navigation system 1. After logging in, when any of the members clicks on the icon of the multilingual navigation system 1, the navigation server 10 starts the navigation preparation processing.

[0056] When the navigation preparation process is started, the CPU 11 advances the process to step 1 and operates as a terminal setting means to set the presenter terminal and participant terminals (terminal devices on which the navigation operation explanation will be viewed). At this time, the initial screen display unit 131a of the screen display control unit 131 is activated to display an initial input screen (not shown) on the liquid crystal display unit 35 of each member terminal device 30 (30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E). In step 1, each team member sets the presenter terminal and participant terminal using the initial input screen.

[0057] Next, when the process proceeds to step 2, the CPU 11 operates as a language selection means and executes a presenter language selection process. The CPU 11 causes the presenter language to be selected using a GUI (Presenter GUI 41A, see FIG. 5 ) in the member terminal device 30A. In the multilingual navigation system 1, one of Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean, and German is selected as the presenter language. When the process proceeds to step 3, it is determined whether or not the attendee language selection process is being executed. If the attendee language selection process is being executed, the process proceeds to step 4, where the process of the member terminal devices 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E of the team members (participants, attendees) executing the attendee language selection process is blocked (by the enqueue work process 125), and then the process returns to step 3. If the participant language selection process has not been executed, the process proceeds to step 5, where the CPU 11 operates as a language selection means, and executes the participant language selection process using GUI 41B, GUI 41C, GUI 41D, and GUI 41E to select the participant language.

[0058] Next, the process proceeds to step 6, where it is determined whether the participant language selection process for all participants has been completed. If the selection process has been completed, the process proceeds to step 7. If not, the process returns to step 3. In step 7, a translation pattern setting process is executed, and then in step 8, a translation pattern acquisition process is executed. Then, the process proceeds to step 9, where the process waits until the display of the split screen is completed in each of the member terminal devices 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E. Although not shown, if the participant language selection process for all participants has not been completed within a predetermined time (e.g., one minute) in step 6, the language of the participant for whom the selection process was not performed may be set as the host language.

[0059] In the translation pattern setting process, the CPU 11 operates as a translation pattern setting means and a translation pattern storage control means. In this case, the combination of the host language and participant language selected by the CPU 11 executing steps 2 to 5 is set as a translation pattern for each participant terminal (member terminal devices 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E), and the set translation pattern is stored in the translation pattern TBL 106 under the control of the CPU 11.

[0060] As described above, the multilingual navigation system 1 allows members to select Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean, and German as languages. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 13A, 20 language patterns are prepared for any two of these languages. For example, as shown in FIG. 9A, if English is selected as the organizer language in the member terminal device 30A (organizer terminal) and Japanese is selected in the member terminal device 30B (participant terminal), the translation pattern for the member terminal device 30B is set to "EJ," as shown in FIG. 13B. Furthermore, in this case, the translation pattern "EJ" is the translation pattern for the member terminal device 30B and must be distinguished from the translation patterns for the other member terminal devices 30C, 30D, and 30E. Therefore, the "B" for member terminal device 30B is added, resulting in "BEJ," which is stored in the translation pattern TBL 106 (the same applies to the other member terminal devices 30C, 30D, and 30E).

[0061] On the other hand, after the navigation preparation process is started, in the member terminal devices 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E, the split screen 155 or the split screen 158 described below is displayed on each display device (liquid crystal display unit 35) by the split screen display control process.

[0062] When the display of the split screen 155 or the split screen 158 is completed in the member terminal devices 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E, the process proceeds to step 10 in Fig. 11, where the multilingual navigation process described later is executed. Thereafter, the navigation preparation process ends.

[0063] Once the presenter terminal and participant terminal are set and the organizer language and participant language are selected for each, the languages ​​used in each member terminal device 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E can be, for example, English (organizer language), Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and German (participant language), as shown in Figure 9 (A).

[0064] As shown in FIG. 10A , the split screen 155 is a screen that is split into two and displayed on each LCD display unit 35, and includes a host screen 156 and a participant screen 157. The host screen 156 is a screen on which the presenter provides a navigation operation explanation. The host screen 156 is captured as the navigation screen while the navigation operation explanation is being provided. The participant screen 157 is a screen on which the navigation operation explanation is primarily viewed by each participant (member), and displays a translated navigation screen in each participant's language. The split screen 155 allows the presenter to view and compare the navigation screen and the translated navigation screen side by side. In FIG. 10A , the display area of ​​the host screen 156 is the same size as the display area of ​​the participant screen 157. The host screen 156 and the participant screen 157 each include a combo box 155 a, a toolbar 155 b, and a language display section 155 c.

[0065] The split screen 155 in Fig. 10(A) is split into two, top and bottom, but as shown in Fig. 10(B), it can also be split into two, left and right, into a split screen 158. The split screen 158 has a host screen 159 and a participant screen 160. The host screen 159 and the participant screen 160 each have a combo box 155a, a toolbar 155b, and a language display section 155c. The host screen 159 displays a navigation screen, similar to the host screen 156. The participant screen 160 displays a translation navigation screen, similar to the participant screen 157. Both Figs. 10(A) and 10(B) show, as an example, the host screens 157 and 160 displayed on the member terminal device 30B.

[0066] In the illustrated split screen 155, the display area of ​​the organizer screen 156 and the display area of ​​the participant screen 157 are the same size, but the display area of ​​the organizer screen 156 and the display area of ​​the participant screen 157 may be different in size (for example, the display area of ​​the organizer screen 156 is larger than the display area of ​​the participant screen 157).

[0067] (Multilingual Navigation Processing) In the navigation server 10, the CPU 11 executes the multilingual navigation processing according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 12. When the CPU 11 starts the multilingual navigation processing, the processing proceeds to step 11 and waits for an operation input using the presenter screen (Presenter screen). When an operation input using the presenter screen (Presenter screen) is received, the processing proceeds to step 12, where the duplicated translation distribution processing described below is executed. Thereafter, the processing proceeds to step 13, where it is determined based on the operation input on the presenter screen (based on data entered by the operation input using the presenter screen) whether an instruction to end navigation has been given. If an instruction to end navigation has been given, the multilingual navigation processing ends; if an instruction to end navigation has not been given, the processing returns to step 11.

[0068] (Duplication Translation Distribution Processing) The multilingual navigation modules 130 and 140 operate in accordance with the procedure shown in the process chart of FIG. 8, thereby executing duplication translation distribution processing.

[0069] The multilingual navigation modules 130 and 140 execute a duplicate translation distribution process when an operation input (such as a mouse operation on the presenter screen or an input process using a keyboard) is received using the presenter screen. FIG. 8 schematically illustrates the processing procedure when duplicate translation distribution processes Nt1 and Nt2 are executed in sequence. The duplicate translation distribution process Nt1 is a process executed when text is input using a combo box together with a mouse operation while a navigation operation explanation is being given using the presenter screen. The duplicate translation distribution process N2 is a process executed when text is input using a keyboard together with a mouse operation while a navigation operation explanation is being given using the presenter screen. In the duplicate translation distribution process Nt1, a navigation screen B1 is captured, and in the duplicate translation distribution process Nt2, a navigation screen T1 is captured. However, since both processes are common processes, the duplicate translation distribution process will be described mainly using the duplicate translation distribution process Nt1 as an example.

[0070] When the presenter is using the host screen to explain navigation operations and inputs text into the combo box along with mouse operations, the navigation screen capture unit 133 of the multilingual navigation module 130 captures in real time the screen, including the movement of the mouse pointer in response to the presenter's mouse operations, as navigation screen B1. The navigation screen delivery unit 134 then delivers the navigation screen B1 to the navigation screen acquisition unit 142 of the multilingual navigation module 140 via the dispatcher 121 (delivery i0 in FIG. 8 ).

[0071] Then, when the navigation screen acquisition unit 142 acquires the navigation screen B1, the navigation screen duplication unit 143 duplicates the navigation screen B1 a number of times (four times in this embodiment) corresponding to the number of participant terminals (member terminal devices 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E).

[0072] Next, the navigation screen translation / replacement unit 144 performs the following processes a), b), and c) on the navigation screen B1: a) For each duplicated navigation screen B1, extract the characters contained therein (for example, using an optical character reader); b) Determine the organizer language and each participant language according to the translation pattern stored in the translation pattern TBL 106, and translate the characters (in this case, the characters entered in the combo box, which correspond to the navigation characters) into characters in each participant language (separate navigation characters); c) For each navigation screen B1, replace the display of the included characters with the display of characters in the translated participant language, generating translated navigation screens RB1 to RB4 corresponding to each member terminal device 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E. In the duplicate translation distribution process Nt2, translated navigation screens RT1 to RT4 are generated.

[0073] Then, the translated navigation screen delivery unit 145 delivers the generated translated navigation screens RB1 to RB4 together with the navigation screens B1 to B4 to the translated navigation screen acquisition unit 135 (delivery R0 in FIG. 8). In the duplicate translation distribution process Nt2, the translated navigation screens RT1 to RT4 are delivered together with the navigation screens T1 to T4 to the translated navigation screen acquisition unit 135 (delivery R0 in FIG. 8).

[0074] When the translated navigation screen acquisition unit 135 acquires the four types of translated navigation screens RB1 to RB4, the translated navigation screen distribution unit 136 distributes the acquired translated navigation screens RB1 to RB4, along with the navigation screen B1, to the corresponding member terminal devices 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E (distribution i1 in FIG. 8). In this manner, the translated navigation screens RB1 to RB4 are displayed on the participant screen (e.g., participant screen 157 in FIG. 10A) of the display device (liquid crystal display unit 35) of each member terminal device 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E, including text displayed in the selected language. In the duplicate translation distribution process Nt2, the translated navigation screens RT1 to RT4 are distributed to the member terminal devices 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E, along with the navigation screens T1 to T4.

[0075] In this case, as shown in FIG. 10A, a split screen 155 is displayed on the member terminal devices 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E used by the participants. The upper organizer screen 156 is a display area for a GUI in the organizer's language and screen operations by the presenter (e.g., character input into the aforementioned combo box). The lower participant screen 157 is a display area for a GUI in the participant's language and translation navigation screens RB1 to RB4 (RT1 to RT4) in the participant's language. The translation navigation screens RB1 to RB4 displayed on the participant screen 157 are different in the displayed text language from the navigation screens B1 to B4 displayed on the organizer screen 156, but the displayed content is the same. However, each member can only visually view the translation navigation screens RB1 to RB4 and cannot operate the screens using a mouse or keyboard.

[0076] A split screen 155 is also displayed on the member terminal device 30A used by the presenter. The navigation screen B1 created by the presenter himself is displayed on the upper organizer screen 156. At this time, all of the translation navigation screens RB1 to RB4 generated by the navigation screen translation / replacement unit 144 are distributed to the member terminal device 30A so that the translation navigation screens RB1 to RB4 are displayed one by one on the participant screen 157 of the member terminal device 30A (i2 in FIG. 8). Accordingly, it is preferable to provide a screen selection button (not shown) as a screen selection means on the split screen 155 of the member terminal device 30A. It is then preferable to enable one of the distributed translation navigation screens RB1 to RB4 to be selected as the selected translation navigation screen using the screen selection button, and to execute display switching so that the selected translation navigation screen (one of the translation navigation screens RB1 to RB4) selected using the screen selection button is displayed on the participant screen 157. This allows the presenter to check on the participant screen 157 how the characters he / she inputted in the navigation operation explanation using the host screen 156 will be displayed in other languages.

[0077] For example, suppose that, following a mouse operation by the presenter on the split screen 155 shown in FIG. 10A, the English characters "tool" are entered into the combo box 155a of the organizer screen 156. At this time, as shown in FIG. 15, the organizer screen 156 displays the characters e1 for "tool" and a graphic e2 corresponding to the "tool," and the navigation screen B1 includes a screen including the character input into the combo box 155a, as well as a screen including the movement of a mouse pointer (not shown). The translation navigation screens RB1 to RB4 also include a screen including the movement of a mouse pointer common to the navigation screen B1 and a graphic e12 common to the graphic e2 (through screen capture and duplication). However, the navigation screen B1 includes the English characters e1 for "tool," and therefore, the navigation screen translation / replacement unit 144 extracts the characters e1. Furthermore, since the participant language of the member terminal device 30B is Japanese, the characters e1 are translated into "tool." Furthermore, a navigation screen including a combo box in which the character e1 for "tool" is replaced with the character e11 for "tool" is generated as translation navigation screen RB1 (translation navigation screens RB2 to RB4 are generated in the same way in the respective participant languages), and this translation navigation screen RB1 is displayed on the participant screen 157 in the split screen 155. FIG. 15 shows a case in which translation navigation screen RB1 is selected as the selected translation navigation screen in member terminal device 30A. Furthermore, because all translation navigation screens RB1 to RB4 have been distributed to member terminal device 30A, by switching the display using the screen selection button, translation navigation screen RB2, RB3, and RB4 can be displayed one by one in addition to translation navigation screen RB1.

[0078] On the participant screen 157 of each member terminal device 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E, participants can view the navigation screen provided by the organizer translated into their designated language. This eliminates difficulties in understanding due to language differences. Furthermore, on the member terminal device 30A, the translated navigation screens RB1 to RB4 are displayed one by one on the participant screen 157, and the presenter can view all of them. This allows the presenter to provide an explanation of the navigation operation while checking how it will be displayed on the member terminal devices 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E, thereby making the explanation more meaningful. In particular, on the split screen 155, the organizer screen 156 and the participant screen 157 are arranged vertically, and the navigation screen B1 and the translated navigation screen RB1 (RB2, RB3, RB4) are displayed simultaneously and in parallel in real time on each screen. Therefore, even if text is input in rapid succession, the correspondence between each input text and its translation is clearly displayed, so that both the presenter and each member can easily check the translation.

[0079] In this respect, the multilingual navigation system 1 of the present application differs from a conventional conference system in which screen sharing is performed among terminal devices 630, 631, and 632 by the processing of a conference server 700, as shown in FIG. 16 . Terminal device 630 has a character display unit 556 and a graphic display unit 557, which display character display screen f1 and graphic display screen f2, respectively. Since screen sharing is performed among terminal devices 630, 631, and 632 for character display screen f1 and graphic display screen f2, character display screen f1 and graphic display screen f2 are also displayed on terminal devices 631 and 632, respectively. However, since character translation (from English to Japanese and Chinese, respectively) has been performed on terminal devices 631 and 632, "tool" has been translated to "tool" and "tool" respectively. However, because character display screen f1 is displayed only in the selected language on each of terminal devices 630, 631, and 632, it is not possible to confirm how it will be displayed on other terminal devices.

[0080] (Effects of the navigation server, multilingual navigation system, and multilingual navigation program) The multilingual navigation system 1 according to this embodiment is used in a multilingual (or multinational) environment for business communication between team members within a company, between employees, and between personnel from different companies, as well as online conferences (meetings), business negotiations, medical treatment, education, training, various support services, knowledge transfer, and the like.

[0081] The multilingual navigation system 1 allows, for example, engineers to directly communicate with users whose native language is different from theirs, or engineers to directly communicate with users whose native language is different from theirs without the assistance of an interpreter or translator. Participants can also directly communicate with engineers whose native language is different from theirs without the assistance of an interpreter or translator. The multilingual navigation system 1 allows participants to learn about software and other technologies directly from engineers in their preferred language.

[0082] In the multilingual navigation system 1, an ERP GUI (e.g., SAP GUI) is installed in each member terminal device 30. For example, when giving a technical explanation of software, the presenter can use their preferred language (the host language in the above case) to explain navigation operations and give the technical explanation. Meanwhile, participants can select their preferred language (the participant language in the above case) different from the presenter's and listen to the detailed technical explanation while viewing the participant screen displayed in that language.

[0083] In this case, when the presenter performs operations such as commands, text input, and mouse operations on the navigation screen, these operations are replicated in real time and displayed on the participant screen in the participant's language.

[0084] By using the multilingual navigation system 1, language barriers are eliminated when acquiring, following, learning, implementing, or collaborating with other members on not only new and advanced technologies but also existing technologies.

[0085] This makes communication between and within companies smoother and easier, thereby increasing the productivity of employees and within the company.

[0086] This will allow software professionals and technical experts to be trained domestically, thereby reducing and reducing dependency on other countries for technical expertise in various software fields.

[0087] Meanwhile, companies struggle to find or train professionals who are fluent in two or more languages, spending a huge amount of time and money on them. As a result, many projects are transferred overseas where there are no language barriers. However, by using the multilingual navigation system 1, such problems can be solved efficiently.

[0088] In the multilingual navigation system 1, after the presenter has finished his / her explanation, one of the participants may become the presenter and provide a separate explanation of navigation operation. One of the participants may start sharing his / her own screen and give a separate presentation in his / her own participating language, and the other participants may view the operation explanation while referring to the translated navigation screen in their preferred language.

[0089] In a multilingual navigation system, each participant may be able to select two or more languages ​​based on their preference so that they can follow the presenter's input commands, instructions, and operating instructions on the display devices in parallel on their respective screens.

[0090] Participants can then increase or decrease their screen size to suit their selection, and the presenter and other participants can minimize or maximize their screen size according to their selection.

[0091] Furthermore, in a multilingual navigation system, navigation operation instructions for the split screen 155 (both the organizer screen 156 and the participant screen 157) may be recorded so that even if a participant misses the meeting, they can view the navigation operation instructions later.

[0092] The multilingual navigation program executed by the CPU 11 can be recorded on various recording media such as magnetic recording media, CD-ROMs, and DVDs, or can be downloaded from a server (not shown) via a network. The navigation server 10 can be configured not only as a server device, but also as a virtual server built on a cloud computing service. AWS (Amazon Web Service) can be used as a cloud computing service (AWS, Amazon, and Amazon Web Service are registered trademarks).

[0093] (Variation 1) In the above embodiment, the navigation system 1 is configured by the navigation server 10 and the member terminal devices 30 (30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E). Alternatively, a navigation system (not shown) may be configured by a plurality of member terminal devices 30 (30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E) without the navigation server 10.

[0094] For example, one of the member terminal devices 30 (member terminal device 30A) may have the functionality of the navigation server 10, and the other member terminal devices 30 (30B, 30C, 30D, 30E) may operate as the same member terminal devices 30 (30B, 30C, 30D, 30E) as described above. The member terminal devices 30 (30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E) are connected via the Internet N1 and can communicate with each other. In this case, by installing a multilingual navigation program in member terminal device 30A, member terminal device 30A operates as the multilingual navigation device of the present invention, and the other member terminal devices 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E operate as multiple terminal devices of the present invention. Then, multilingual navigation is provided to the member terminal devices 30 (30B, 30C, 30D, 30E), so that one of the member terminal devices 30 (30B, 30C, 30D, 30E) (for example, member terminal device 30B) can be set as the organizer terminal, and the other member terminal devices 30C, 30D, 30E can be set as participant terminals.

[0095] Furthermore, the member terminal device 30A may operate as a multilingual navigation device according to the present invention and may be set as the organizer terminal. The other member terminal devices 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E may be set as participant terminals.

[0096] A multilingual navigation program may be installed in all of the member terminal devices 30 (30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E), and multilingual navigation may be provided to those member terminal devices 30 (30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E). In this case, one of the member terminal devices 30 (30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E) (e.g., member terminal device 30A) may operate as the navigation server 10 and be set as the organizer terminal, while the other member terminal devices 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E may be set as participant terminals. Instead of member terminal device 30A, one of member terminal devices 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E may operate as the navigation server 10 and be set as the organizer terminal.

[0097] (Variation 2) In the above embodiment, the navigation screen of the member terminal device 30A is duplicated by the navigation screen duplication unit 143 to generate a translation navigation screen. In this case, when the navigation characters are translated into different navigation characters, the lengths of the navigation characters and the different navigation characters may differ. For example, if "Language" is translated as "Language," the length of "Language" differs from the length of "Language," which may result in an inappropriate display of the translation navigation screen. Therefore, it is preferable to newly provide a layout modification unit 146 in the multilingual navigation module 140, and to execute a layout modification by the layout modification unit 146 when the difference between the length of the navigation characters and the length of the different navigation characters exceeds a certain level. When the layout modification unit 146 executes the layout modification, the layout of the navigation screen is changed, and then the navigation screen translation / replacement unit 144 generates translation navigation screens (modified translation navigation screens tRB1 to tRB4 and tRT1 to tRT4, which will be described later). By changing the layout, the size of the display area for the navigation characters is changed to a size corresponding to the length of the separate navigation characters, so that on the translation navigation screen, the size of the display area for the separate navigation characters is displayed with the length after the layout change.

[0098] In this case, in the aforementioned duplicate translation distribution process, after the navigation screen translation / replacement unit 144 executes process b), when the difference between the length of the navigation characters and the length of the alternative navigation characters exceeds a certain level, the layout modification unit 146 executes layout modification, and then the navigation screen translation / replacement unit 144 executes process c). As a result, as shown in FIG. 14 , modified translation navigation screens tRB1 to tRB4 and tRT1 to tRT4 are generated from each navigation screen B1. By executing layout modification by the layout modification unit 146, even if the length of the navigation characters differs from the length of the alternative navigation characters, the translation navigation screen is displayed appropriately. At this time, the ERP system includes multiple layouts as input and output screens. Therefore, a screen with a layout corresponding to the presenter's operation is captured each time, and after the captured screen is captured, it is matched with a screen layout corresponding to the user's language (participant language), and the layout modification is executed. At this time, the operations on the upper organizer screen 156 are mirrored and displayed on the changed translation navigation screens tRB1 to tRB4 and tRT1 to tRT4, but members cannot perform screen operations such as mouse operations or command input on the lower participant screen 157.

[0099] In the above explanation, one language is selected as the organizer language and one as the participant language, but as an optional function, two or more languages ​​(second languages) may be selected (designated). In that case, for example, as shown in Figure 9 (B), the languages ​​used in each of the member terminal devices 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, and 30E can be Japanese and Korean, Chinese and Japanese, Korean and Chinese, and German and Japanese, respectively.

[0100] In the above description, the navigation server 10 has the navigation screen capture unit 133, which captures the navigation screen. Each member terminal device 30 may also have a screen capture unit with the function of capturing the navigation screen using the navigation screen capture unit 133. In this case, the screen capture unit of each member terminal device 30 captures the navigation screen and transmits it to the navigation server 10, thereby achieving the same multilingual navigation as described above. The above description also uses an example of a business management system 99 built using an ERP system. An example of an ERP system is the Solution System provided by SAP. However, the business management system 99 and multilingual navigation program may also be generated using other ERP systems (such as ERP NetSuite (a system provided by Oracle Corporation; NetSuite and Oracle are registered trademarks)). Alternatively, the multilingual navigation program may also be generated using a program to which the multilingual navigation program can be applied, such as CAD software (3D or 2D) or an integrated CRM platform.

[0101] In addition, the multilingual navigation program according to the present invention preferably has a navigation self-check mode, as described below. For example, by installing the multilingual navigation program in the member terminal device 30A, a member at each member terminal device 30 can act as a presenter and provide navigation operation instructions using the organizer screen 156, while checking in advance the translated navigation screen displayed on the participant screen 157. This allows the member to check for himself or herself how the navigation operation instructions will be displayed on another member terminal device 30 (e.g., member terminal device 30B).

[0102] The above description is of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and does not limit the scope of the present invention, and various modifications can be easily implemented. Furthermore, the present invention also includes devices or methods configured by appropriately combining the components, functions, features, or method steps of each embodiment.

[0103] The above description gives examples of cases where Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean, or German is specified as the presenter language or participant language, but other languages ​​(e.g., Spanish, French, Arabic, etc.) may also be specified.

[0104] By applying the present invention, navigation operation instructions can be provided in multiple languages, allowing presenters to provide meaningful navigation operation instructions. The present invention can be used in the fields of multilingual navigation devices, multilingual navigation systems, and multilingual navigation programs.

[0105] 1...multilingual navigation system, 10...navigation server, 11, 31...CPU, 30, 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E...member terminal device, 35...liquid crystal display unit, 106...translation pattern table, 101...software development management module, 123...dialog work process, 126...background work process, 130, 140...multilingual navigation module, 132...translation pattern setting unit, 133...navigation screen capture unit, 136...translated navigation screen distribution unit, 143...navigation screen duplication unit, 144...navigation screen translation / replacement unit, 155, 158...split screen, 156, 159...organizer screen, 157, 160...participant screen

Claims

1. A multilingual navigation device connected to a plurality of terminal devices using a display device via a network, and providing multilingual navigation using the display device to each of the plurality of terminal devices, comprising: a terminal setting means for setting one of the plurality of terminal devices as an organizer terminal where a navigation operation explanation is given using the display device, and all of the plurality of terminal devices except the organizer terminal as participant terminals where the navigation operation explanation is viewed using the display device; a screen capture means for capturing one of the split screens as a navigation screen when the navigation operation explanation is given using one of the split screens displayed in two on the display device of the terminal device set to the organizer terminal; a copy translation means for duplicating the navigation screen captured by the screen capture means, translating navigation characters contained in the navigation screen into different navigation characters in a language different from the navigation language in which the navigation characters are in, and generating a translated navigation screen in which the display of the navigation characters is replaced with the display of the different navigation characters, to be displayed on the other split screen; a distribution means for distributing the translated navigation screen to the host terminal and all of the participant terminals and distributing the navigation screen to all of the participant terminals except the host terminal so that the multilingual navigation is executed at the host terminal and all of the participant terminals using the navigation screen and the translated navigation screen; a language selection means for selecting a host language used at the host terminal and a participant language which is a language used at each of the participant terminals; the duplication translation means uses the host language and the participant language selected by the language selection means as the navigation language and the other language, respectively, to translate the navigation characters into the other navigation characters and generate the translation navigation screen according to each of the participant terminals;The distribution means distributes all of the translated navigation screens generated by the reproduction translation means to the organizer terminal so that the translated navigation screens generated using the participant language selected at each of the participant terminals are displayed one by one on the other of the split screens at the organizer terminal.

2. A multilingual navigation device as described in claim 1, further comprising a translation pattern setting means for setting a combination of the organizer language selected by the language selection means and the participant language as a translation pattern for each of the participant terminals, a translation pattern storage means for storing the translation pattern set by the translation pattern setting means, and a translation pattern storage control means for storing the translation pattern set by the translation pattern setting means in the translation pattern storage means, wherein the replication translation means determines the organizer language and the participant language in accordance with the translation pattern stored in the translation pattern storage means.

3. A multilingual navigation device as claimed in claim 1 or 2, further comprising a layout change means for executing a layout change to change the size of the display area of ​​the navigation characters to a size corresponding to the length of the alternative navigation characters when the length of the navigation characters differs from the length of the alternative navigation characters.

4. A multilingual navigation system having a plurality of terminal devices using a display device and a multilingual navigation device providing multilingual navigation using said display device to each of said plurality of terminal devices, said multilingual navigation device comprising: a terminal setting means for setting one of the plurality of terminal devices as an organizer terminal where a navigation operation explanation is given using said display device, and all of said plurality of terminal devices except said organizer terminal as participant terminals where said navigation operation explanation is viewed using said display device; a screen capture means for capturing one of the split screens displayed in two on the display device of said terminal device set to said organizer terminal as a navigation screen when said navigation operation explanation is given using one of the split screens; and a copy translation means for duplicating the navigation screen captured by the screen capture means, translating navigation characters contained in said navigation screen into different navigation characters in a language different from the navigation language in which the navigation characters are in, and generating a translated navigation screen in which the display of the navigation characters is replaced with the display of the different navigation characters to be displayed on the other split screen. a distribution means for distributing the translated navigation screen to the host terminal and all of the participant terminals and distributing the navigation screen to all of the participant terminals except the host terminal so that the multilingual navigation is executed at the host terminal and all of the participant terminals using the navigation screen and the translated navigation screen; a language selection means for selecting a host language used at the host terminal and a participant language which is a language used at each of the participant terminals; the duplication translation means uses the host language and the participant language selected by the language selection means as the navigation language and the other language, respectively, to translate the navigation characters into the other navigation characters and generate the translated navigation screen according to each of the participant terminals;A multilingual navigation system in which the distribution means distributes all of the translated navigation screens generated by the reproduction translation means to the organizer terminal so that the translated navigation screens generated using the participant language selected at each of the participant terminals are displayed one by one on the other of the split screens at the organizer terminal.

5. A multilingual navigation system as described in claim 4, wherein the plurality of terminal devices have a display control means that executes display control such that one of the split screens displayed on each of the display devices is an organizer screen on which the navigation operation explanation is given, and the other is a participant screen on which the navigation operation explanation is viewed.

6. A multilingual navigation system as described in claim 5, further comprising a screen selection means for causing a terminal device set as the organizer terminal among the terminal devices to select one of the translation navigation screens distributed by the distribution means as a selected translation navigation screen to be displayed on the participant screen, and the display control means performs display switching so that the translation navigation screen selected using the screen selection means is displayed on the participant screen.

7. A multilingual navigation program for causing a computer to function as a multilingual navigation device that is connected to a plurality of terminal devices using a display device via a network and provides multilingual navigation using the display device to each of the plurality of terminal devices, comprising: a terminal setting means for setting one of the plurality of terminal devices as an organizer terminal where a navigation operation explanation is given using the display device, and all of the plurality of terminal devices other than the organizer terminal as participant terminals where the navigation operation explanation is viewed using the display device; a screen capture means for capturing one of the split screens as a navigation screen when the navigation operation explanation is being given using one of the split screens displayed in two on the display device of the terminal device set to the organizer terminal; a copy translation means for copying the navigation screen captured by the screen capture means, translating navigation characters contained in the navigation screen into different navigation characters in a language different from the navigation language in which the navigation characters are in, and generating a translated navigation screen in which the display of the navigation characters is replaced with the display of the different navigation characters to be displayed on the other split screen; a distribution means for distributing the translated navigation screen to the host terminal and all of the participant terminals and distributing the navigation screen to all of the participant terminals except the host terminal so that the multilingual navigation is executed at the host terminal and all of the participant terminals using the navigation screen and the translated navigation screen; a language selection means for selecting a host language used at the host terminal and a participant language which is a language used at each of the participant terminals; and a duplication translation means for translating the navigation characters into the other navigation characters by using the host language and the participant language selected by the language selection means as the navigation language and the other language, respectively, to generate the translation navigation screen according to each of the participant terminals.The distribution means is a multilingual navigation program that distributes all of the translated navigation screens generated by the replica translation means to the organizer terminal so that the translated navigation screens generated using the participant language selected at each of the participant terminals are displayed one by one on the other of the split screens at the organizer terminal.

8. A multilingual navigation program for causing a computer to function as a multilingual navigation device that provides multilingual navigation using a display device to two or more terminal devices connected via a network using a display device, comprising: a terminal setting means for setting one of the two or more terminal devices as an organizer terminal where a navigation operation explanation is given using the display device, and all of the two or more terminal devices excluding the organizer terminal as participant terminals where the navigation operation explanation is viewed using the display device; a screen capture means for capturing one of the split screens as a navigation screen when the navigation operation explanation is given using one of the split screens displayed in two on the display device of the terminal device set to the organizer terminal; a copy translation means for copying the navigation screen captured by the screen capture means, translating navigation characters contained in the navigation screen into different navigation characters in a language different from the navigation language in which the navigation characters are in, and generating a translated navigation screen in which the display of the navigation characters is replaced with the display of the different navigation characters to be displayed on the other split screen; a distribution means for distributing the translated navigation screen to the host terminal and all of the participant terminals and distributing the navigation screen to all of the participant terminals except the host terminal so that the multilingual navigation is executed at the host terminal and all of the participant terminals using the navigation screen and the translated navigation screen; a language selection means for selecting a host language used at the host terminal and a participant language which is a language used at each of the participant terminals; and a duplication translation means for translating the navigation characters into the other navigation characters by using the host language and the participant language selected by the language selection means as the navigation language and the other language, respectively, to generate the translation navigation screen according to each of the participant terminals.The distribution means is a multilingual navigation program that distributes all of the translated navigation screens generated by the replica translation means to the organizer terminal so that the translated navigation screens generated using the participant language selected at each of the participant terminals are displayed one by one on the other of the split screens at the organizer terminal.

9. A multilingual navigation program as described in claim 7, further causing the computer to function as: a translation pattern setting means for setting a combination of the host language selected by the language selection means and the participant language as a translation pattern for each of the participant terminals; and a translation pattern storage control means for storing the translation pattern set by the translation pattern setting means in a translation pattern storage means, wherein the replication translation means determines the host language and the participant language in accordance with the translation pattern stored in the translation pattern storage means.

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