Information processing method, information processing device, and program

Abstract

The present invention appropriately manages or references case information pertaining to a legal case. In an information processing method according to an embodiment, at least one or a plurality of pieces of message information each including at least time information and content to be displayed are stored for each legal case, and from among the one or plurality of pieces of message information, message information regarding a first legal case, which is one legal case, is aligned and displayed as information related to the first legal case on the basis of the time indicated in the time information. Additionally, when the input of a message related to the first legal case is received from a user, message information including the message that was inputted is generated and stored in association with the first legal case.

Description

Information processing method, information processing device, and program

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

[0002] In legal work, case information related to a single case may include various types of information, such as messages between legal staff, e-mails, and document files such as contracts. This information is often stored in different locations or applications depending on the type of information. Therefore, when checking case information for a certain case, legal staff may have to go through the trouble of searching for case information stored in different locations and checking the content.

[0003] JP 2019-114264 A

[0004] The problem to be solved by the present disclosure is to provide an information processing method, an information processing device, and a program that allow case information related to legal cases to be appropriately managed or referenced.

[0005] The information processing method of the embodiment stores one or more pieces of message information for each legal case, each of which includes at least the content to be displayed and time information, and displays, as information regarding a first legal case, which is one of the legal cases, the message information regarding the first legal case from among the one or more pieces of message information, in a row based on the time indicated in the time information.

[0006] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an overview of a case management system. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the hardware configuration of an information processing device. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the hardware configuration of a terminal device. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the functional configuration of an information processing device. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a timeline display screen displayed on a terminal device. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a timeline area in which message information and update operation information are displayed. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a send box. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a send box including a file input box. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a timeline area in which message information including a mention is displayed. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a title image. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a timeline area in which email information and message information are displayed. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of an email thread area in which email information is displayed. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a timeline display screen displayed on a terminal device when a user is a legal officer or legal administrator. FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of a timeline area in which message information is displayed when the user is a legal officer or legal administrator. FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of a timeline area in which message information is displayed when the user is a case manager.

[0007] Hereinafter, the embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the following description, components having substantially the same functions and configurations are designated by the same reference numerals and will be described only when necessary. In addition, the embodiments can be combined with other embodiments, modifications, and conventional techniques.

[0008] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram for explaining an overview of a case management system 10 according to this embodiment.

[0009] As used herein, a legal case refers to a unit of work, such as a request for a corporate legal officer to draft or review a contract or legal document. The legal case unit can be defined as appropriate, for example, per request or per contract. It can also be a conversation or a collection of arbitrary data, such as a social networking service (SNS) channel or thread, an email thread, or a case registered in a system. The legal case unit may also be determined by rules, such as regulations and policies, of the company to which the user belongs, the individual user, or the settings of the system vendor. It is preferable that each legal case be identifiable by, for example, a case number, case name, date of acceptance, the counterparty, requester, or client name.

[0010] In this specification, information related to a legal case is referred to as “case information.” The case information includes, for example, emails or messages requesting the case, files such as contracts, document files such as contracts related to related or similar agreements, other related files, messages sent by case managers, legal staff, and legal managers, information sent and received via email or messaging applications to and from external users who do not have user accounts on the case management system 10 or do not have authority over the legal case, and a variety of other information, such as a staff change history for assigning or changing legal staff.

[0011] In this specification, legal documents include contracts, terms and conditions, regulations, and other legal documents in general. Furthermore, the text data contained in messages and files handled by the case management system 10 may be written in any language.

[0012] The project management system 10 of this embodiment includes an information processing device 20 and a plurality of terminal devices 30 (e.g., terminal device 30-1, terminal device 30-2, and terminal device 30-3). For example, the information processing device 20 is provided on a cloud and is connected to each of the plurality of terminal devices 30 via a network 40 and a router 42.

[0013] Each of the plurality of terminal devices 30 of the present embodiment is used by a user. As a result, the information processing device 20 of the present embodiment can provide a case management service for managing case information related to legal cases for each of the users of the plurality of terminal devices 30.

[0014] In this embodiment, the users are case workers, legal affairs personnel, or legal affairs administrators, and each of the multiple terminal devices 30 is used by one of the case workers, legal affairs personnel, or legal affairs administrators.

[0015] In this embodiment, the case manager is a user who enters into a contract or handles a legal case. For example, the case manager may be an employee of a sales department other than the legal department. For example, when a contract or other matter is concluded or when legal action or consideration becomes necessary, the case manager uses the terminal device 30 to register the legal case in the information processing device 20. Note that there may be multiple case managers for one legal case.

[0016] In this embodiment, the legal officer is, for example, a user who handles and reviews legal matters registered by the case manager. A legal officer is assigned to each legal matter, for example. Multiple legal officers may be assigned to one legal matter. The legal officer uses, for example, the terminal device 30 to review document files such as contracts for the assigned legal matter. The legal officer may also send a message to the case manager to provide advice to the case manager.

[0017] The legal affairs manager in this embodiment is a user who is an administrator of the legal affairs department and manages the legal affairs personnel. When a legal case arises, the legal affairs manager in this embodiment can use the terminal device 30 to assign any person in the legal affairs department as the legal affairs personnel for the legal case.

[0018] 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the information processing device 20 according to the embodiment. The information processing device 20 performs various processes in response to requests from each of the multiple terminal devices 30 via the network 40, and can display images on the multiple terminal devices 30 via the network 40.

[0019] The information processing device 20 of this embodiment is a computer, and includes, for example, a processor 21, a main storage device 22 (memory), an auxiliary storage device 23 (storage), a network interface 24, a device interface 25, and a bus 26 that connects the respective components.

[0020] The information processing device 20 shown in the figure includes one of each component, but may include multiple of the same component. Also, while FIG. 2 shows one information processing device 20, the software may be installed on multiple computers, and each of the multiple computers may execute the same or different parts of the software's processing. In this case, a form of distributed computing may be used in which each computer communicates with the other computers via a network interface 24 or the like to execute processing. In other words, the information processing device 20 may be configured as a system in which one or more computers execute instructions stored in one or more storage devices to realize various functions described below.

[0021] Various calculations of the information processing device 20 may be executed in parallel using one or more processors 21, or using multiple computers via the network 40. Furthermore, various calculations may be distributed to multiple arithmetic cores within the processor 21 and executed in parallel. In this way, the processing of the information processing device 20 may take the form of parallel computing using one or multiple computers. Furthermore, some or all of the processes, means, etc. disclosed herein may be executed by at least one of another arithmetic processing device and storage device that can communicate with the information processing device 20 via the network 40.

[0022] The processor 21 may be an electronic circuit (such as a processing circuit, processing circuitry, CPU (Central Processing Unit), GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit)) including a control device and an arithmetic device of the information processing device 20. The processor 21 may also be a semiconductor device or the like including a dedicated processing circuit. The processor 21 is not limited to an electronic circuit using electronic logic elements, and may be realized by an optical circuit using optical logic elements. The processor 21 may also include an arithmetic function based on quantum computing.

[0023] The processor 21 performs arithmetic processing based on data and software (programs) input from each device, etc., configured internally of the information processing device 20, and can output arithmetic results and control signals to each device, etc. The processor 21 may control each component constituting the information processing device 20 by executing an OS (Operating System) of the information processing device 20, application programs, etc.

[0024] The information processing device 20 may be realized by one or more processors 21. Here, the processor 21 may refer to one or more electronic circuits arranged on one chip, or may refer to one or more electronic circuits arranged on two or more chips or two or more devices. When multiple electronic circuits are used, the respective electronic circuits may communicate with each other via wire or wirelessly.

[0025] The main memory device 22 is a storage device that stores instructions executed by the processor 21 and various data, and information stored in the main memory device 22 is read by the processor 21. The auxiliary memory device 23 is a storage device other than the main memory device 22 and may be composed of a storage medium such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or flash memory. Note that these storage devices refer to any electronic component capable of storing electronic information and may be semiconductor memory. The semiconductor memory may be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory. The storage device for saving various data used in the information processing device 20 may be realized by the main memory device 22 or the auxiliary memory device 23, or may be realized by an internal memory built into the processor 21. For example, the main memory device 22 and the auxiliary memory device 23 may be collectively referred to as a storage unit or a storage device.

[0026] When the information processing device 20 has functions such as storing and managing message information, storing and managing update operation information, storing and managing files, or storing and managing the sending and receiving of e-mails, the auxiliary storage device 23 stores, for example, message information obtained from each of the multiple terminal devices 30 via the network 40, update operation information regarding update operations performed on the information processing device 20, document files of legal documents sent and received via the network 40, e-mails sent and received via the network 40, etc.

[0027] Multiple processors 21 may be connected (coupled) to one storage device (main storage device 22 and / or auxiliary storage device 23), or a single processor 21 may be connected. Multiple storage devices may be connected (coupled) to one processor 21. When the information processing device 20 is configured with at least one storage device and multiple processors connected (coupled) to this at least one storage device, it may include a configuration in which at least one of the multiple processors is connected (coupled) to at least one storage device. This configuration may also be realized by storage devices and processors 21 included in multiple computers. Furthermore, it may include a configuration in which a storage device is integrated with the processor 21 (for example, a cache memory including an L1 cache and an L2 cache).

[0028] The network interface 24 is an interface for connecting to the network 40 wirelessly or via a wire. The network interface 24 may be an appropriate interface, such as one that conforms to an existing communication standard. The network interface 24 may exchange information with an external device connected via the network 40. The network 40 may be any one of a wide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), a personal area network (PAN), etc., or a combination thereof, as long as information is exchanged between the information processing device 20 and an external device. An example of a WAN is the Internet, an example of a LAN is IEEE 802.11 or Ethernet (registered trademark), and an example of a PAN is Bluetooth (registered trademark) or NFC (Near Field Communication), etc.

[0029] The device interface 25 is an interface such as a USB (Universal Serial Bus) that directly connects to an output device such as a display device, an input device, or an external device. The external device may be a storage device (memory), network storage, or HDD. The external device may also have some of the functions of the components of the information processing device 20. In other words, the information processing device 20 may transmit or receive some or all of the processing results of the external device. The display device connected to the device interface 25 may be, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a cathode ray tube (CRT), a plasma display panel (PDP), or an organic electroluminescence (EL) panel. Various input interfaces, such as a keyboard, mouse, or touchpad, can be used as an input device connected to the device interface 25. Furthermore, the information processing device 20 may be configured to include an output device such as a display device and an input device.

[0030] FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the terminal device 30 according to the embodiment.

[0031] The terminal device 30 of this embodiment is a computer, and includes, as an example, a processor 31, a main storage device 32 (memory), an auxiliary storage device 33 (storage), a network interface 34, a device interface 35, a bus 36 connecting the respective components, a display device 37 connected to the device interface 35, and an input device 38 connected to the device interface 35. Note that the specific hardware configurations of the processor 31, the main storage device 32, the auxiliary storage device 33, the network interface 34, the device interface 35, and the bus 36 are similar to the processor 31, the main storage device 22, the auxiliary storage device 23, the network interface 24, the device interface 25, and the bus 26 of the information processing device 20 described above, respectively, and therefore description thereof will be omitted. Specifically, the terminal device 30 is a PC (Personal Computer), a tablet terminal, or the like, but is not limited thereto.

[0032] The display device 37 is a display device such as an LCD, a CRT, a PDP, an organic EL panel, etc. The display device 37 displays a display image, etc. based on an instruction from the processor 31.

[0033] The input device 38 is a device such as a keyboard, a mouse, a touch panel, etc. A user can input instructions for various operations using the input device 38. The instructions input from the input device 38 are sent to the processor 31.

[0034] The terminal device 30 may also include other external devices (for example, a camera, a microphone, a motion capture device, various sensors, etc.) connected via the device interface 25 in order to manipulate and edit document data.

[0035] 4 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the information processing device 20 according to this embodiment. Note that the processes related to the case management system 10 performed by the information processing device 20 and the terminal device 30 in the following description may be performed by the information processing device 20, the terminal device 30, or two or more of the information processing device, the terminal device, and the information processing device external to the case management system 10 system.

[0036] The information processing device 20 of this embodiment has a storage unit including a management information storage unit 62, a file storage unit 64, a message storage unit 66, an operation storage unit 68, a mail storage unit 70, a deleted data storage unit 72, and an information processing unit 80.

[0037] The management information storage unit 62 of this embodiment stores management information for each legal case, including, for example, case identification information for identifying the corresponding legal case, information for identifying a user authorized to write and read case information related to the corresponding legal case, the title of the corresponding legal case, and a case summary of the corresponding legal case.

[0038] In this specification, a case summary includes two sentences: a "summary" and a "topic." A "summary" is text summarizing the history of a legal case, particularly the past history. A "topic" is a matter related to review, including changes to legal documents related to the legal case. In this specification, a "sentence" may be composed of multiple sentences, or may be very short information such as a single word, a single sentence, or a list of bullet points.

[0039] The file storage unit 64 of this embodiment stores files in association with legal cases. Hereinafter, a document file will be described as an example of a file. A document file is a file containing character data, such as a file containing data on a legal document, such as a contract created for the corresponding legal case. In addition to a contract, the document file may also be a file containing other information related to the legal case, such as a contract term sheet, minutes of negotiations, or business documents related to the legal case.

[0040] After an initial version of a document file such as a contract is created, the version may be updated based on corrections, reviews, and receipt of counterproposals from the other party. In this case, the file storage unit 64 can store one or more versions of a document file for each document file. The file storage unit 64 of this embodiment can read a specified version of a document file by specifying the file name and version. Furthermore, the file storage unit 64 can store document files for each version not only of contracts but also of other legal documents or related documents.

[0041] The message storage unit 66 of this embodiment stores one or more pieces of message information for each legal case, including a message to be displayed to the user and time information related to the time.

[0042] The time information may be expressed in a data format that represents the date and time, or may be any information or format that can represent time, for example, information that is the same time as other message information.

[0043] The message information is, for example, chat message information including, for each legal case, a chat message generated by a user authorized for the corresponding legal case and generation time information indicating the time of generation as time information. The chat message is an example of a message. The chat message is, for example, text generated on the case management system 10 by a user authorized for the corresponding legal case via a send box or the like (described below). The chat message may also include mention information identifying, as the destination of the message, a user or the like to send a notification that the message has been sent to the user.

[0044] Furthermore, the message information may include file information that identifies a file stored in the file storage unit 64. The file information may include, for example, the file name, the version number, and the storage location of the file.

[0045] The email storage unit 70 of this embodiment stores one or more pieces of email information for each legal case. The email information is an example of message information. Each of the one or more pieces of email information includes, for example, information about emails sent or received and sending / receiving time information indicating the time when the information was sent or received. The email body is an example of a message, and the sending / receiving time information is an example of time information included in the message information.

[0046] The mail information is, for example, an email that complies with the Internet protocol. For example, the information processing device 20 is set with an email address that can send and receive emails. Then, for example, information that identifies the legal case is included in a predetermined character position of a message ID included in the header of the email. This allows the email storage unit 70 to identify and store one or more pieces of email information for each legal case. Note that the information processing device 20 may receive a copy of the contents of an email without sending or receiving emails.

[0047] The information identifying the legal case is not limited to a message ID, but may be, for example, an email address. It may also be located anywhere within the data. The information sent or received is not limited to email, but may be information sent or received by other communication programs, such as SNS or chat programs, as long as it can send information to and receive information from external users. In this specification, messages sent or received without using email are also referred to as mail information.

[0048] In this embodiment, by receiving email, message information sent from or to an external user can be stored in the case management system 10. In this specification, an external user is a user who is not authorized in the system for the legal case. For example, the external user may be a person in charge of a negotiation (e.g., a contract counterparty) who sends and receives email information, or a lawyer who is engaged in a legal case.

[0049] The message information may include display authority information. The display authority information is information that defines a user's display authority for message information. In this embodiment, for each legal case, a first authorized user who is granted a first level of display authority and a second authorized user who is granted a second level of display authority higher than the first level are set as users. In this embodiment, the case manager who is requested to handle the legal case is the first authorized user who is granted the first level of display authority. The legal officer and legal administrator are second authorized users who are granted the second level of display authority, which allows them to display not only first level messages but also second level messages. Therefore, the information processing device 20 of this embodiment can allow the legal officer and legal administrator to display more information than the case manager. By assigning display authority information to messages in this manner, it is possible to select messages to be displayed and messages not to be displayed for users who have been granted display authority. Note that the display authority or display authority information may be of multiple types as long as message information can be displayed appropriately, and the range of message information to be displayed is not limited to the above-mentioned levels. Furthermore, the level of authority is not limited to two levels, the first level and the second level, but may be, for example, N levels (N is an integer of 2 or more).

[0050] In this embodiment, the display authority information is included in message information generated by the legal officer and legal administrator, who are second authorized users. The display authority information, for example, indicates whether the message information is to be shared with the first authorized user, who is a case manager. In this embodiment, if the display authority information included in the message information indicates that the message information is to be shared with the first authorized user, the message information is displayed to the first authorized user. On the other hand, if the display authority information included in the message information indicates that the message information is not to be shared with the first authorized user, the message information is not displayed to the first authorized user and is displayed only to the second authorized user. This makes it relatively easy to associate and record information related to legal cases that does not need to be viewed by users other than case managers or legal officers, such as specialized information related to legal matters such as interpretations of provisions and guidelines, consultations between legal officers, and internal opinions within the legal organization.

[0051] The display authority information may be set for each message information, or may be set on an administration screen or the like based on any conditions such as legal case unit, user unit registering message information, type of message information, etc. Also, it is not limited to being set by a user with a certain authority.

[0052] The operation storage unit 68 of this embodiment stores one or more pieces of update operation information for each legal case. Each of the one or more pieces of update operation information includes, for example, the content or summary of the update operation performed by the user on the case information related to the corresponding legal case, and operation time information indicating the time when the update operation was performed. The content or summary of the update operation is an example of a message, and the operation time information is an example of time information included in the message information. Furthermore, each of the one or more pieces of update operation information includes, for example, user identification information that identifies the user who performed the update operation.

[0053] In this embodiment, update operations for case information related to legal cases include, for example, creating a case, setting or changing a case response deadline, changing the case status, deleting a case summary, deleting a message, changing the content of a message, changing a title, registering a new case summary, changing a case summary, adding a case manager or legal officer, registering, deleting, and changing a file, etc. Update operations for case information related to legal cases are not limited to these operations and may include other operations.

[0054] The deletion data storage unit 72 of this embodiment stores deletion information for message information. The deletion information includes information in case information related to legal cases immediately before it is updated by an update operation by a user. As an example, if message information is deleted, the deletion information is the message information before the deletion, and if message information is updated, the deletion information is the message information before the update. The deletion information may include user identification information that identifies the user who performed the update operation and operation time information that indicates the time when the update operation was performed.

[0055] In this embodiment, the message information may include user identification information that identifies the user who created or updated the message information.

[0056] The message information may include other related information, such as review result information and research information. The review result information is, for example, a result generated or acquired in a review process described below. The review information as message information may include a result text, a summary, a link to a related file, etc. The research information is information on an investigation related to the legal case. For example, the research information may be obtained by querying a large-scale language model (hereinafter sometimes referred to as LLM) or by keyword input searching a database or web search of laws, precedent cases, guidelines, books, etc. The research information as message information may include a result text, a summary, a link to related literature, files, etc. It is preferable that the acquisition of such related information from review processes, research processes, inquiries, etc. be performed in the case management system 10. This allows the relevant information to be appropriately acquired and displayed as message information.

[0057] A single message may be associated with multiple legal cases. In this case, the message may be displayed on each screen of the associated legal cases. Examples of such message include chat messages and actions that affect multiple legal cases. In other words, in this specification, "per legal case" does not necessarily mean that a single message is associated with only one legal case.

[0058] The information processing unit 80 of this embodiment executes processing related to the message information as described above. The information processing unit is realized, for example, as a function implemented by the processor 21. More specifically, the information processing unit 80 is realized by the processor 21 reading and executing a program stored in the main storage device 22, the auxiliary storage device 23, or the like. The program executed by the processor 21 is provided, for example, in a computer-installable or executable format, recorded on a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM, flexible disk, CD-R, or DVD (Digital Versatile Disk). This program may also be configured to be stored on a computer connected to a network such as the Internet and provided by being downloaded via the network. This program may also be configured to be provided or distributed via a network such as the Internet.

[0059] The information processing unit 80 of this embodiment receives access from the terminal device 30 used by each user via the network 40. For example, the information processing unit 80 receives access via a user interface displayed by a browser program executed by the terminal device 30. In response to access from the terminal device 30 used by each user, the information processing unit 80 updates and reads information stored in the management information storage unit 62, file storage unit 64, message storage unit 66, operation storage unit 68, mail storage unit 70, and deleted data storage unit 72. In response to access from the terminal device 30 used by each user, the information processing unit 80 also generates a display image and displays the generated display image on the terminal device 30 that accessed the terminal device 30. The terminal device 30, for example, executes a browser program and displays the display image generated by the information processing unit 80 via the browser program.

[0060] Furthermore, the information processing unit 80 of this embodiment sends emails and SNS messages to external users in response to access from the terminal device 30 used by the user. The information processing unit 80 also receives emails sent from external users, identifies the legal case corresponding to the received email, and stores the email in the email storage unit 70 in association with the identified legal case.

[0061] The information processing unit 80 includes a processing unit 82 , a display control unit 84 , and a mail sending / receiving unit 86 .

[0062] The processing of the information processing unit 80, which includes the processing unit 82, the display control unit 84, and the mail sending / receiving unit 86, will be described in further detail below with reference to the drawings showing examples of display images.

[0063] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a timeline display screen 100 displayed on the terminal device 30. As shown in FIG.

[0064] In this embodiment, a user uses a terminal device 30 to access case information related to a first legal case, which is one of the legal cases managed by the information processing device 20. For example, the user may access the information processing device 20 from a menu screen, or may access the information processing device 20 from link information for accessing information about the first legal case contained in an email or the like. The processing unit 82 then determines whether the accessing user is authorized for the first legal case based on the management information about the first legal case stored in the management information storage unit 62. If the processing unit 82 determines that the accessing user is authorized for the first legal case, the display control unit 84 displays a timeline display screen 100 such as that shown in FIG. 5 on the terminal device 30 used by the user. This allows the user to refer to case information related to the first legal case.

[0065] A legal case is created based on information about the case, such as the request details, received from a user who will be the case manager via a user interface, such as an email or a reception form displayed on a browser program. Management information or message information may be generated based on the information received when the legal case is created.

[0066] Legal cases can be created in a variety of ways, including by receiving email, for example, by uploading a file containing case information, such as a tabular file (e.g., a spreadsheet file) containing information necessary for legal case creation, management information, message information, etc. This allows legal cases that were managed in a spreadsheet before the system was introduced, or legal case information output from another system, to be easily registered in the system.

[0067] Alternatively, a legal case may be created by uploading an email file, such as an .eml file, to the system. In this case, multiple email files may be uploaded to the system, and each email may be created as a legal case, similar to creating a case by receiving emails. This allows past legal cases, even if no emails are currently being sent or received, to be registered as cases and used as information sources.

[0068] In addition, legal cases may be created in this system by being imported from another system where the legal case is already registered.

[0069] The timeline display screen 100 of this embodiment includes, for example, a title display section 112, a message information display section 114, and a mail thread display section 116. In this embodiment, the display control section 84 displays one of the message information display section 114 and the mail thread display section 116 at the forefront of the timeline display screen 100 in response to a user operation such as clicking a button. In this specification, a button is an example of a user interface that enables a predetermined operation.

[0070] The title display unit 112 may include management information about the first legal case stored in the management information storage unit 62. For example, the display control unit 84 switches between displaying the entire title display unit 112 and displaying a portion of the title display unit 112 in response to an operation by the user.

[0071] The message information display unit 114 of this embodiment includes a send box 122 and a timeline area 124. The send box 122 is an example of a user interface that allows a user who has been authorized for the first legal case to input a chat message, which is message information about the first legal case, to send the message to the information processing device 20 and store it in the message storage unit 66.

[0072] In the present embodiment, the timeline area 124 displays message information for the first legal case from among one or more pieces of message information stored in the message storage unit 66. Furthermore, the timeline area 124 displays update operation information for the first legal case from among one or more pieces of update operation information stored in the operation storage unit 68. Furthermore, the timeline area 124 displays email information for the first legal case from among one or more pieces of email information stored in the email storage unit 70. The display control unit 84 displays the message information, including chat message information, update operation information, and email information, in the timeline area 124 in the order of time information associated with each piece of message information, for example, with the most recent ones at the top of the screen.

[0073] In this embodiment, both the message and the time information are displayed as part of the message information, but the time information does not necessarily have to be displayed.

[0074] The message or time information is not limited to being displayed as is. For example, the message may be processed or edited, such as machine-translated or summarized. Furthermore, the entire message information may not be displayed on the timeline display screen, but may be omitted from the beginning by an appropriate number of lines, or only a portion determined to be important by a machine learning model or the like may be displayed. When a user wants to view all or other portions of the message information, the user may be able to view the entire message information or other portions by pressing a "Show All" button, for example. In particular, email information may become long or contain duplicate information due to quoted replies or forwarding, but displaying it in this manner can improve readability. Note that portions of the message information that are deemed less important, such as those that overlap with already saved message information or are merely greetings and therefore less important, may be deleted or hidden, so as not to be displayed on the timeline.

[0075] The time information may be displayed as a number rounded up to the second or minute from the stored time, or may be displayed as a time such as a number of hours, days, or months ago.

[0076] The email thread display unit 116 of the present embodiment displays one or more pieces of email information associated with the first legal case stored in the email storage unit 70. The display control unit 84 causes the email thread display unit 116 to display the email information in order of time information, similar to the message information.

[0077] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the timeline area 124 in which message information and update operation information are displayed.

[0078] 6 , the display control unit 84 causes a user who has been granted authority over the first legal case to display chat message information about the first legal case and update operation information about the first legal case in the order of the times indicated in the creation time information and the operation time information in the timeline area 124. This allows the user to understand, by checking the timeline area 124, what messages have been posted and what update operations have been performed on the first legal case in chronological order.

[0079] 6 displays, as chat message information, first message information 132, second message information 134, third message information 136, and fourth message information 138. As shown in FIG. 6, the display control unit 84 causes the timeline area 124 to display, for each piece of message information, at least user identification information that identifies the user who generated the message information, generation time information that indicates the time when the message information was generated or registered, which is an example of time-related information, and the message, which is text generated by the user.

[0080] In this embodiment, the first message information 132 includes, as file information, a file name that is information for identifying a document file stored in the file storage unit 64. When the message information includes file information, the display control unit 84 may further display the file name in the timeline area 124. In this way, the chat message information or the email information may include file information.

[0081] The display control unit 84 of the present embodiment may also display a prompt to perform operations related to the file along with the file information. For example, in the example of Fig. 6, a preview button 142, a compare button 144, and a review button 146 are displayed.

[0082] In this embodiment, when the user presses the preview button 142 (an example of an operation), the processing unit 82 reads out the document file specified by the file name from the file storage unit 64, and then calls up an application program capable of reading out the document file, or displays the file on the terminal device 30 in the same application (a browser in this embodiment) that is displaying the timeline display screen 100, preferably in a file viewing area set in a position different from the timeline display screen 100. This allows the user to easily check the document file with the file name included in the message information.

[0083] Furthermore, if the document file is a specific type of document, for example, the display control unit 84 may display, along with the file name, a display corresponding to an operation performed on the specific type of document. In this embodiment, a compare button 144 and a review button 146 are displayed. The buttons corresponding to these operations may also be displayed in accordance with, for example, display authority. For example, the review button 146 is displayed for the second-authorized user described above, but not for the first-authorized user. In other words, the display authority may determine whether or not functions of the case management system 10 can be used, in addition to display authority.

[0084] In this embodiment, when the user presses the compare button 144, the processing unit 82 reads from the file storage unit 64 the previous version of the document file, a document file created in a legal case related to or similar to the first legal case, such as a document file such as a contract related to a related or similar contract, and then invokes an application program capable of reading the document file, or displays a screen on the terminal device 30 in a file viewing area set on the browser, highlighting the contents of the two document files and the differences between them. This allows the user to check the document files related to the document file with the file name included in the message information and easily understand the necessary differences.

[0085] In this embodiment, when the user presses the review button 146, the processing unit 82 reads a specific type of document file specified by the file name, such as a contract, from the file storage unit 64 and invokes a dedicated application program for reviewing the specific type of document file, as described below, or displays the file on the terminal device 30 in a review display area set up on the browser. For example, the dedicated application program is a program that allows a user in the legal department to refer to, confirm, and modify specific type document files, such as contracts. This allows the user to review the specific type of document file with the file name included in the message information. The case management system 10 may also perform processing to determine whether the received document file is a specific type of document file, for example, whether it is a contract or not.

[0086] In addition to the above, other such operations include downloading a file and editing a document file.

[0087] 6 displays first update operation information 152, second update operation information 154, and third update operation information 156 as update operation information. As shown in these pieces of update operation information, the display control unit 84 of this embodiment displays, in the timeline area 124, at least user identification information that identifies the user who performed the update operation, operation time information indicating the time when the update operation was performed, and operation information including the content of the update operation. This allows the user to check the update history of the case information related to the first legal case in chronological order.

[0088] FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the transmission box 122. As shown in FIG.

[0089] The user can input chat message information by using the terminal device 30 to input a text message into a send box 122 displayed on the browser as shown in Figure 7, and then pressing the send button 162 after inputting the text. When the processing unit 82 receives a message input from a user who has been granted authority for the first legal case, it generates message information including the input message and time information, and writes it to the message storage unit 66 in association with the first legal case.

[0090] The send box 122 of this embodiment includes an attachment input button 164 and a mention button 166 .

[0091] In this embodiment, when the user presses the attachment input button 164, the display control unit 84 displays a user interface for inputting information for identifying a file to be included in the message information, thereby enabling the user to upload the file to the case management system 10 and generate file information.

[0092] Furthermore, when the user presses the mention button 166, the display control unit 84 can display a user interface for selecting a user authorized for the first legal case. For example, after pressing the mention button 166, if a user is selected on the selection screen, the display control unit 84 includes a mention specifying the selected user in the message. This allows the user to easily enter a mention in the message. The mention can be entered by selecting a user on the selection screen or by directly entering an account name, etc. Furthermore, the mention can be selected from searched or recommended candidates by entering information that can identify the user, such as the user's name or department.

[0093] FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a send box 122 that includes a file input box 172 .

[0094] 8 as a user interface for inputting information for identifying a file in the transmission box 122. The user operates the terminal device 30 to upload a document file (an example of a file) using the file input box 172. Then, when information for identifying a file is received for the first legal case, the processing unit 82 generates message information including file information for identifying the file and writes the message information to the message storage unit 66 in association with the first legal case.

[0095] The display control unit 84 may display two or more file input boxes 172 in the send box 122. This allows the processing unit 82 to generate message information including information that identifies two or more files.

[0096] The file input box 172 may also include an Merge button 174 and an Edit button 176 .

[0097] The integrate button 174 in this embodiment is a button for registering the document file as the latest version in a document data group that is managed as different versions by the file storage unit 64. When the integrate button 174 is pressed to specify a document file, the processing unit 82 generates message information including information indicating that the document file is the latest version of the document files registered in association with the legal case. This allows the processing unit 82 to identify the latest version of the document file without the user having to be aware of the version of the document file.

[0098] The edit button 176 in this embodiment is a button that allows the user to edit a file. When the edit button 176 is pressed, the processing unit 82 reads the file specified by the file name from the file storage unit 64 and displays the file on the terminal device 30. This allows the user to edit the file with the file name included in the message information.

[0099] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of the timeline area 124 in which message information including a mention is displayed.

[0100] A mention is represented by, for example, a combination of a specific symbol such as an @ symbol and user identification information of the destination. When a message includes a mention, the display control unit 84 may highlight the mention included in the message of the message information by displaying it differently from the rest of the message, for example by using a different character color, background color, or font from the rest of the message.

[0101] Furthermore, when message information including a mention is input within a message, the processing unit 82 may notify the user specified by the mention that the message has been sent. For example, the processing unit 82 may notify the user specified by the mention that the message has been sent by displaying a message sent in a notification tool of the case management system 10, by sending an email, or by using a communication program such as a chat. Furthermore, message information in which a user is mentioned may be displayed differently from other message information. For example, the message information may be highlighted by using a different color for the text, background color, or font for the message information from other message information.

[0102] In this embodiment, the message sent from the Outbox may be chat message information or email information. For example, the message may be sent as an email from the case management system 10 to a specific destination (e.g., a destination included in the email information to which the user wishes to reply), or may be sent as a message in a communication program such as a chat program in conjunction with the program. This allows users to easily associate the message with a legal case and communicate using the tools of the case management system 10.

[0103] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the title display section 112. As shown in FIG.

[0104] The display control unit 84 of this embodiment includes the management information for the first legal case stored in the management information storage unit 62 in the title display unit 112. The title display unit 112 displays, for example, the title of the case, a summary of the request, etc. For example, the display control unit 84 includes the title of the first legal case in the title display unit 112. Furthermore, if a case summary has been created, the display control unit 84 may include the case summary in the title display unit 112.

[0105] The title display section 112 may also include an edit button 182. The edit button 182 is a button that allows the user to edit the information displayed in the title display section 112. In this embodiment, when the edit button 182 is pressed, the processing section 82 displays a user interface for editing and accepts editing of the title and case summary.

[0106] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of the timeline area 124 in which mail information and message information are displayed.

[0107] When email information about the first legal case is stored in the email storage unit 70, the display control unit 84 displays the email information about the first legal case in the timeline area 124 for users authorized to access the first legal case. In this case, the display control unit 84 displays chat message information, update operation information, and email information in order of a predetermined time included in the information (e.g., the time indicated in the creation time information, the time indicated in the operation time information, and the time indicated in the sending / receiving time information). In this embodiment, older message information is displayed at the top of the screen. This allows the user to chronologically understand what messages have been written, what update operations have been performed, and what email information has been sent and received for the first legal case by checking the timeline area 124. Note that newer message information may also be displayed at the top of the screen. This allows the user to easily understand the outcome of the legal case and information about legal cases under review, which often involve additional message information and have not yet been decided.

[0108] In the timeline area 124 of FIG. 11, fifth message information 192, sixth message information 196, and seventh message information 198 as chat message information, and first mail information 194 as mail information are displayed in chronological order.

[0109] As shown in the first email information 194, the display control unit 84 displays email information in the timeline area 124, including information such as the name of the external user who is the sender or receiver, the sending time or receiving time, and the text and image data contained therein.

[0110] Furthermore, if the email information is received from an external user, the display control unit 84 may display a reply button 202 corresponding to the email information. When the reply button 202 is pressed, the email sending / receiving unit 86 may, for example, display an email editing screen for creating an email and prompt the user to create the email. In this case, the email sending / receiving unit 86 preferably automatically enters the address of the external user included in the email information associated with the reply button 202 pressed by the user as the email destination email address of the email, and includes a message ID identifying the first legal case in the header. This allows the email sending / receiving unit 86 to store the sent email in the email storage unit 70 as email information about the first legal case. The email sending / receiving unit 86 may also store emails replied to by external users who received the email in the email storage unit 70 as email information about the first legal case.

[0111] FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of the mail thread area 210 in which mail information is displayed.

[0112] The email thread display unit 116 includes an email thread area 210. The email thread area 210 displays email information about the first legal case from among one or more pieces of email information stored in the email storage unit 70.

[0113] In this embodiment, the display control unit 84 displays email information about the first legal case in the order of the times indicated by the sending and receiving time information for a user who has been granted authority over the first legal case in the email thread area 210. This allows the user to check the email thread area 210 and understand what email information has been sent and received about the first legal case in chronological order.

[0114] In this embodiment, the email thread area 210 is a separate area from the timeline area 124, and is displayed by switching between the timeline area 124 and the timeline area 124 in response to a user operation. This allows the display control unit 84 to allow the user to view only the email information separately, distinguishing it from message information and update operation information regarding the first legal case. Email information often includes formal information about the counterparty in communications with external users, particularly negotiations regarding decision-making, and may also include important information related to the legal case. Therefore, the display control unit 84 allows the user to view the often-important email information separately from other information.

[0115] 12, the first email information 194 and the second email information 204 are displayed in order of reception or transmission time, which is an example of time information associated with the email information, at the top of the screen. In this way, the display control unit 84 can display email information in the email thread area 210 that includes the same information as in the timeline area 124.

[0116] Furthermore, the display control unit 84 may further display a reply button 202 in association with the email information, similar to the timeline area 124 .

[0117] The display control unit 84 may also display a new email creation button 206 in the email thread area 210. When the new email creation button 206 is pressed, the email sending and receiving unit 86 may, for example, launch an editing screen for creating a new email and prompt the user to create the email. In this case, for example, the email sending and receiving unit 86 may include, in the header of the email, identification information that can associate the email thread with the first legal case, such as a case-specific message ID or a message ID that uniquely identifies the email. This allows the email sending and receiving unit 86 to store the sent email in the email storage unit 70 as email information about the first legal case. The email sending and receiving unit 86 may also store emails replied to by external users who received the email in the email storage unit 70 as email information about the first legal case. The reply button 202 or the new email creation button 206 may be displayed or hidden depending on the display authority information.

[0118] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a timeline display screen 100 displayed on the terminal device 30 when the user is a second authorized user.

[0119] In the case management system 10 of this embodiment, different authorities may be set for multiple users. For example, the information processing device 20 restricts the display content and operation content for a user to whom low authority has been set, more than for a user to whom high authority has been set. The level of authority to be set is, for example, N levels (N is an integer of 2 or more). In this case, the information processing device 20 restricts the display content and operation content for a user to whom authority at the nth level (n is an integer of 1 or more and (N-1) or less) is set, more than for a user to whom authority at the (n+1)th level is set. Furthermore, the content that can be displayed or operated may be specified instead of the level or the level.

[0120] In this embodiment, the information processing device 20 sets, for each legal case, a first authorized user who is granted a first level of display authority and a second authorized user who is granted a second level of display authority that is higher than the first level. For example, a case manager is a first authorized user who is granted the first level of display authority. A legal officer and a legal manager are second authorized users who are granted the second level of display authority.

[0121] In this embodiment, if the user is a second-authorized user (legal affairs officer or legal affairs manager), the display control unit 84 displays a check box 212 in the send box 122, as shown in Fig. 13. The check box 212 is a box that allows the first-authorized user (case officer) to select whether or not to display the message information.

[0122] In this embodiment, when a second authorized user who has been granted authority for the first legal case generates message information, the processing unit 82 further receives display restriction information indicating whether the message information is to be shared with the first authorized user. For example, if the second authorized user wants to share the message information with the first authorized user, the second authorized user selects the check box 212, and if the second authorized user (legal officer or legal administrator) does not want to share the message information with the first authorized user, the second authorized user does not select the check box 212. In other words, the check box 212 in this embodiment is an example of a user interface for inputting display restriction information that sets whether or not the message information is to be displayed depending on the display authority.

[0123] In this embodiment, when the processing unit 82 receives input of a message from the second authorized user indicating that the message information will not be shared with the first authorized user, it generates message information that further includes display restriction information indicating that the message information will not be shared with the first authorized user, and writes the message information to the message storage unit 66 in association with the first legal case.

[0124] In this embodiment, when the processing unit 82 receives input of a message from the second authorized user indicating that the message information is to be shared with the first authorized user, it generates message information that further includes display restriction information indicating that the message information is to be shared with the first authorized user, and writes the message information to the message storage unit 66 in association with the first legal case.

[0125] The display control unit 84 of this embodiment then displays message information about the first legal case to a first authorized user who has been granted authority over the first legal case, excluding message information that has not been shared with the first authorized user. On the other hand, the display control unit 84 displays all message information about the first legal case to a second authorized user who has been granted authority over the first legal case.

[0126] Furthermore, if the user is a second authorized user, the display control unit 84 may display a first display switching button 214, a second display switching button 216, and a third display switching button 218, as shown in Fig. 13. The first display switching button 214, the second display switching button 216, and the third display switching button 218 are examples of display message switching buttons.

[0127] In this embodiment, when the second authorized user selects the first display switching button 214, the display control unit 84 displays all message information about the first legal case in the timeline area 124. When the second authorized user selects the second display switching button 216, the display control unit 84 displays, in the timeline area 124, message information generated by the first authorized user and message information shared by the first authorized user, out of all message information about the first legal case.

[0128] Furthermore, when the second authorized user selects the third display switching button 218, the display control unit 84 displays, in the timeline area 124, message information that has not been shared with the first authorized user, among all message information regarding the first legal case. In this manner, the display control unit 84 of the present embodiment may display message information according to display authorization information.

[0129] FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of the timeline area 124 in which message information is displayed when the user is a second-authority user.

[0130] In the example of Figure 14, when the user is a second authorized user, the display control unit 84 displays the eighth message information 222, the ninth message information 224, the tenth message information 226, the eleventh message information 228, and the twelfth message information 230.

[0131] In this embodiment, the eighth message information 222 is generated by the first authorized user (case manager). The ninth message information 224, the tenth message information 226, and the eleventh message information 228 are generated by the second authorized user (legal officer or legal manager) and are not shared with the first authorized user. The twelfth message information 230 is generated by the second authorized user and shared with the first authorized user.

[0132] By displaying in this manner, the display control unit 84 can cause the second authorized user (legal affairs officer or legal affairs manager) to see all message information regarding the first legal case.

[0133] If the user is a second authorized user, the display control unit 84 can add sharing notification information 232 notifying the first authorized user that the message information has been shared with the first authorized user to message information generated by the second authorized user and shared with the first authorized user, such as the twelfth message information 230. This allows the second authorized user to distinguish between message information shared with the first authorized user and message information not shared with the second authorized user.

[0134] FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of the timeline area 124 in which message information is displayed when the user is a first-authority user and a case manager.

[0135] When the user is a first authorized user who is a case manager, the display control unit 84 displays only the eighth message information 222 sent by the first authorized user and the twelfth message information 230 sent by the second authorized user and available for viewing, as shown in Fig. 15. In other words, when the user is a first authorized user (case manager), the display control unit 84 does not display the ninth message information 224, tenth message information 226, and eleventh message information 228 shown in Fig. 14.

[0136] This allows the display control unit 84 to restrict the first authorized user from displaying message information that has not been shared with the second authorized user. Note that, when the user is a first authorized user, the display control unit 84 does not need to include the sharing notification information 232 shown in FIG. 14 in the message information shared with the first authorized user.

[0137] For example, when a legal officer is in charge of a contract or the like in an unfamiliar field, he or she may ask for cooperation from a superior or colleague, or may request a document review from another legal officer within the legal department. Such exchanges do not need to be made public to case personnel outside the legal department. The display control unit 84 can thus distinguish between messages within the legal department and messages that should be made public to case personnel outside the legal department, thereby improving work efficiency.

[0138] The legal document-related case management system 10 according to this embodiment can perform, for example, the following processes related to the document review support function: (1) Executing a first analysis process on the target document and acquiring related information about the target document based on the results of the first analysis process; and (2) Generating review information about document information based on a second analysis process (e.g., a document review process) executed on the target document.

[0139] Furthermore, the legal document case management system 10 according to this embodiment can be equipped with a document creation support function in addition to the document review support function described above. Here, the document creation support function includes, for example, a function for editing (correcting, adding, deleting, etc.) the content of the document to be supported, and a function for providing information to support editing. For example, the following processes can be included: (3) Viewing or editing a document; (4) Saving the edited document or providing it to the user; (5) Editing additional information of the document to be supported (for example, meta information, comment information, chat information, format information, etc.); (6) Creating a new document (including, for example, a copy); (7) Proofreading the document to be supported; and (8) Executing various processes using the translation display function.

[0140] The editing function (3) above includes editing the main text of the document, for example, including a user editing the document by referring to at least one of the displayed review information and related information. The editing function (3) above includes, for example, editing using a draft sentence for a revision suggestion included in the review information. The editing function (3) above includes, for example, at least one of creating, proposing, correcting, and inserting a draft sentence for a revision suggestion using a trained model such as a large-scale language model (hereinafter sometimes referred to as LLM (Large Language Models)) based on or not based on the review information. Large-scale language models include, for example, Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT), Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT), and the like, and in particular ChatGPT or GPT-4. This trained model may be customized or fine-tuned, for example, by additional learning depending on the field of documents handled (mainly contracts and legal fields in this embodiment) or the user, or by combining it with another trained model that processes input or output.

[0141] The function of editing additional information of the target document (5) above may use, for example, an LLM provided in the information processing device 20 (server) shown in Figure 1, to generate and edit draft statements (e.g., draft statements of comments or chat information) regarding the reasons for editing or the reasons why risks exist, based on at least one of related information regarding the target document and the results of a document review process regarding the document information.

[0142] Specifically, for example, comments can be generated by inputting a portion of the text of a document for which an automated review has output a problem, the text of the automated review results, and a prompt containing an instruction to generate appropriate comments using these into the LLM. Such drafts can have different content depending on the purpose. They may include a function for creating drafts such as "client comments" for internal clients or "negotiation comments" for external negotiating partners. These drafts can be changed, for example, by adjusting the prompts used when inputting the text into the LLM.

[0143] The translation function of (8) above includes, for example, displaying document information of a document and a translation of the document in a bilingual format, and displaying translations of review information and / or additional information in a bilingual format. In the translation function of (8) above, for example, translation of at least one of the document information, review information, related information, and additional information may be performed using an external system.

[0144] For example, Japanese information to be translated can be sent to an external information processing device of an external translation system, and the translated information can be received from the translation system's server and displayed to the user. It is preferable that the bilingual text is displayed side-by-side with the corresponding original text and translation for each specific unit, such as a clause or paragraph of a contract. This allows the user to easily review the document. The system may also have a function to output the translation or bilingual text in a specified file format and allow the user to download it.

[0145] The target document acquisition unit of this embodiment acquires a document to be reviewed. The target document acquisition unit may, for example, receive and acquire document data stored in a storage unit of another device (e.g., the terminal device 30 shown in FIG. 1 or an online storage service) via the network 40. Alternatively, the target document acquisition unit may receive and acquire a document file attached to an email, or a document file sent from a chat system or SNS outside the system. Alternatively, the target document acquisition unit may acquire a document (e.g., document information) newly created in the information processing device 20 or a service and stored in a storage unit.

[0146] The first analysis processing unit of this embodiment acquires related information related to the target document. For example, the first analysis processing unit executes a first analysis process and acquires related information based on the results of the acquired information. The first analysis processing unit extracts information contained in the target document and necessary for analysis. Various techniques can be used to extract information from the target document. For example, this includes performing a keyword search of the document and extracting alphanumeric characters, etc., contained near the keyword, or extracting information through at least one of morphological analysis, syntactic analysis, semantic analysis, and contextual analysis. Other examples include natural language processing using machine learning, particularly inputting data related to the review target document and commands (prompts) capable of extracting information from the review target document into a large-scale language model and obtaining the required output.

[0147] The first analysis processing unit may also process document data before the above processing. For example, information necessary for analyzing text data related to the body of the received document may be extracted from the received document. A process such as OCR may be performed to extract text data related to the body of the document from image data such as PDF or TIFF. The target document may also be divided into appropriate units, such as articles, paragraphs, and subdivisions of legal documents. These processes may be performed by the first analysis processing unit. Alternatively, they may be performed by another processing unit of the service or an information processing device outside the system. The processing may be performed during the first analysis processing. Alternatively, the processing may be performed after the file is saved in the storage unit and before the first analysis processing begins.

[0148] The first analysis processing unit of this embodiment, for example, uses the information extracted by the above-mentioned method to obtain the determination result of the contract type, which is an example of related information, from the text of the target contract, which is the target document.The first analysis processing unit then obtains, for example, information on other contracts of the same or similar type as the target contract from the related information stored in the storage unit.

[0149] Furthermore, for example, when a contract is divided into clauses, the first analysis processing unit may assign to each divided clause, in addition to related information, result information analyzed in the first analysis process (for example, a clause ID indicating the content of the clause or the type of clause) as attribute information. According to this configuration, when a user selects a clause of a contract to be reviewed, the first analysis processing unit can refer to the attribute information assigned to the selected clause, search the storage unit for clauses that are highly related, specifically clauses with matching clause IDs, and present them to the user.

[0150] The second analysis processing unit of this embodiment generates review information related to the document information. For example, the second analysis processing unit performs a second analysis process related to the risks associated with the document information using the document information of the target document acquired by the target document acquisition unit, thereby acquiring the review information.

[0151] The second analysis process (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the document review process) can employ various techniques. For example, the document review process can use extracted information to generate review information based on a rule base. Alternatively, the document review process can use a trained model, such as a large-scale language model (LLM), which receives extracted information as input and outputs corresponding document review information. Alternatively, a combination of a rule-based approach and a trained model can be employed.

[0152] The review information generated by the document review process performed by the second analysis processing unit of this embodiment is generated based on information obtained by analyzing the target document based on, for example, standards applied to the document (for example, standard information stored in the memory unit, including rules, laws, customs, etc.).

[0153] For example, contract review information includes: (1) an indication of whether the clauses included in the document (in this embodiment, the contract) are advantageous or disadvantageous to the user or the organization (party) to which the user belongs; (2) reference information such as guidelines for amending or deleting clauses included in the contract and draft wording in the event of amendment; (3) an indication that items that should normally be included in the contract are missing, and suggestions for items and draft wording to be added; and (4) information such as the importance and degree of recommendation of the items in each review result.

[0154] The review information exemplified in (1) to (4) above may be referred to as contract review information when the target document is a contract. By using the above information, users can easily review the contract, including identifying legal risks contained in the contract and proposing amendments. The review information may also include formatting information, such as whether the text in the target document conforms to standards, and information on whether specified terminology is used.

[0155] The criteria information applied to these documents may be set by the service vendor, or may be set by the user or the organization the user belongs to. For example, a user can register criteria that indicate the review criteria for their company's contracts, as well as drafts or comments related to the criteria, in the service and use them in the document review process.

[0156] Although the embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail above, these embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to be limiting. Each embodiment can be modified by various additions, changes, substitutions, partial deletions, combinations, etc., without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention. These embodiments and their modifications are included within the scope of the invention described in the claims and their equivalents.

[0157] REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 Case management system 20 Information processing device 30 Terminal device 62 Management information storage unit 64 File storage unit 66 Message storage unit 68 Operation storage unit 70 Mail storage unit 72 Deleted data storage unit 80 Information processing unit 82 Processing unit 84 Display control unit 86 Mail sending / receiving unit 100 Timeline display screen 112 Title display unit 114 Message information display unit 116 Mail thread display unit 122 Outbox 124 Timeline area 210 Mail thread area

Claims

1. An information processing method comprising: storing one or more pieces of message information for each legal case, each piece of message information including at least the content to be displayed and time information; and displaying, as information relating to a first legal case, which is one of the legal cases, message information regarding the first legal case among the one or more pieces of message information, in a row based on the time indicated in the time information.

2. The information processing method of claim 1, further comprising: accepting input of a chat message from a user related to the first legal case as the message information; generating chat message information including the input chat message; and storing the chat message information in association with the first legal case.

3. The information processing method according to claim 2, further comprising: storing a document file for each of the legal cases; and generating the message information including information identifying the document file corresponding to the first legal case.

4. The information processing method according to claim 2, further comprising generating the message information including a mention specifying a user.

5. The information processing method according to claim 1, further comprising: storing, as the message information for each legal case, one or more pieces of update operation information including the content of an update operation on case information relating to the corresponding legal case and operation time information indicating the time when the update operation was performed; and displaying the update operation information for the first legal case as the message information.

6. The information processing method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of: storing one or more pieces of e-mail information as the message information for each of the legal cases; and displaying the e-mail information regarding the first legal case as the message information.

7. The information processing method according to claim 2, further comprising displaying the message information including at least two of the chat message information, the file information, and the mail information.

8. The information processing method according to claim 7, further comprising displaying, for the user who has been given authority for the first legal case, only the mail information regarding the first legal case in an area different from a display area for the message information.

9. The information processing method of claim 2, wherein for each legal case, a first authorized user who is given a first level of display authority and a second authorized user who is given a second level of display authority higher than the first level are set as the users, and when the second authorized user who is given authority for the first legal case generates the message information, an input of display restriction information indicating whether or not the message information is to be shared with the first authorized user is further accepted, and the message information for the first legal case is displayed to the first authorized user who is given authority for the first legal case, excluding the message information that is not shared with the first authorized user.

10. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the legal case is created based on email information, and a plurality of the legal cases are created at once based on a plurality of the uploaded emails.

11. An information processing device comprising: a memory unit that stores one or more pieces of message information for each legal case, each piece of message information including at least the content to be displayed and time information; and a display control unit that displays, as information regarding a first legal case, which is one of the legal cases, message information regarding the first legal case among the one or more pieces of message information, in a line based on the time indicated in the time information.

12. A program that causes a computer to function as: a memory unit that stores one or more pieces of message information for each legal case, each of which includes at least the content to be displayed and time information; and a display control unit that displays, as information regarding a first legal case, which is one of the legal cases, the message information regarding the first legal case among the one or more pieces of message information, in a line based on the time indicated in the time information.

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