JP7575536B2 - Information processing device, warning method and warning program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing device, etc.

Employees work overtime if their work cannot be completed within normal working hours. Although there is a limit on the total amount of overtime, employees are generally free to choose when to leave work. Some employees leave work after working a certain amount of overtime, while others leave in time to catch the last train.

Meanwhile, as part of the work style reform, an inter-shift interval system has been introduced, requiring employees to ensure they have enough time for their daily activities and sleep by setting aside a certain amount of rest time (interval) between the end of one day's work and the start of work the next day.

JP 2014-149655 A JP 2000-071988 A JP 2003-316412 A JP 2010-285053 A

For example, even if an important meeting is scheduled for early the next morning, employees may not be aware of the exact schedule for the next day and may end up working overtime until late at night. In such a situation, introducing an inter-shift interval system could result in employees being unable to attend important meetings.

In one aspect, the present invention aims to provide an information processing device, a warning method, and a warning program that can execute a leave warning so that a user can be on time for the start time of an important event even if the user has to secure a rest period of more than a certain amount of time.

In the first proposal, the information processing device has a determination unit. The determination unit determines whether to issue a warning based on the start time of a specific event identified based on schedule information including the start times of multiple events and the time after an interval has elapsed based on the current time.

Even if a user needs to ensure a certain amount of rest time, a warning can be issued to ensure that the user is on time for the start of an important event, preventing the user from missing an important event.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a system according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of the schedule DB. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of schedule information. FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of a terminal device according to the present embodiment. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a warning screen output by the output control unit. FIG. 6 is a flowchart (1) showing a processing procedure of the terminal device according to the present embodiment. FIG. 7 is a flowchart (2) showing the processing procedure of the terminal device according to the present embodiment. FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining another embodiment. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of a computer that realizes the same functions as the terminal device.

Below, examples of the information processing device, warning method, and warning program disclosed in the present application will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to these examples.

Figure 1 is a diagram showing an example of a system according to this embodiment. As shown in Figure 1, this system has a schedule management server 50 and terminal devices 100a to 100c. The schedule management server 50 is connected to the terminal devices 100a to 100c via a network 10. In the following description, the terminal devices 100a to 100c are collectively referred to as terminal devices 100.

The schedule management server 50 is a server that manages the schedules of each user. The schedule management server 50 has a schedule DB (Data Base). Figure 2 shows an example of the data structure of the schedule DB.

As shown in FIG. 2, this schedule DB 55 associates a user ID (Identification), a name, and schedule information. The user ID is information that uniquely identifies a user. For example, the user ID may be any information that can uniquely identify a user, such as an email address, other than an identification number. The name is the name of the user corresponding to the user ID. The schedule information is information about the schedule of the user corresponding to the user ID.

Figure 3 is a diagram showing an example of schedule information. The example shown in Figure 3 shows schedule information for user "Fujitsu Taro" on February 21, 2020, but this schedule information also includes schedule information after February 21, 2020.

In the schedule information, multiple pieces of event information are set. In the event information, the start time of the event, the end time of the event, an importance flag, and attribute information are set. The importance flag indicates whether or not the event is important. If the event is important, the importance flag is "ON", and if the event is not important, the importance flag is "OFF".

The attribute information is set for users who are participants in an event or participants who are essential for an event to be held (mandatory participants). The attribute information may also include other information. For example, the attribute information may include information on whether a participant is a user within a company. Participants and mandatory participants are specified by user IDs.

In the example shown in FIG. 3, event information I1 and I2 are set in the schedule information. In event information I1, the start time of the event "Meeting" is set to "9:30" and the end time to "11:00". The importance flag of event information I1 is set to "ON". The attribute information of event information I1 is set to participants (U201<Yamada Taro>, U202<Yamada Hanako>, U101<Fujitsu Taro>, U103<Fujitsu Jiro>) and required participants (U201<Yamada Taro>). In addition, the organizer (U201<Yamada Taro>) is set in the attribute information of event information I1.

In event information I2, the start time "14:00" and end time "16:00" of the event "Meeting" are set. The importance flag of event information I1 is set to "OFF". The attribute information of event information I2 is set to participants (U101<Fujitsu Taro>, U103<Fujitsu Jiro>) and required participants (U103<Fujitsu Jiro>). In addition, the attribute information of event information I2 is set to organizer (U101<Fujitsu Taro>).

In event information I3, the start time of the event "Move" is set to "13:00" and the end time to "13:30". The importance flag of event information I3 is set to "OFF". The participants (U101 <Fujitsu Taro>, U103 <Fujitsu Jiro>) are set as the attribute information of event information I3.

When the schedule management server 50 receives schedule request information from the terminal device 100, it searches the schedule DB 55 for schedule information corresponding to the user ID set in the schedule request information, and transmits the searched schedule information to the terminal device 100 that is the sender of the schedule request.

Returning to the explanation of FIG. 1, the terminal device 100 is a terminal device used by a user, and corresponds to a PC (Personal Computer), a notebook PC, a tablet terminal, etc. In this embodiment, the terminal device 100 transmits a schedule request to the schedule management server 50 and acquires schedule information. If the time after a rest period (interval) from the current time passes the start time of an important event in which the user is participating, the terminal device 100 outputs a warning urging the user to go home. The terminal device 100 is an example of an "information processing device."

Next, an example of the configuration of the terminal device 100a according to this embodiment will be described. The configurations of the terminal devices 100b and 100c are similar to that of the terminal device 100a, and therefore will not be described. FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of the terminal device according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 4, the terminal device has a communication unit 110, an input unit 120, a display unit 130, a timer 140, a storage unit 150, and a control unit 160.

The communication unit 110 is a processing unit that executes data communication with the schedule management server 50. The communication unit 110 corresponds to a communication device. The control unit 160, which will be described later, exchanges data with the schedule management server 50 via the communication unit 110.

The input unit 120 is an input device for inputting various data to the control unit 160 of the terminal device 100a. The input unit 120 corresponds to a keyboard, a mouse, a touch panel, etc. For example, a user operates the input unit 120 to input his/her user ID, password, etc., and perform various tasks. The authentication process for the user may be performed by the terminal device 100a, or may be performed by an authentication server connected to the terminal device 100a.

The display unit 130 is a display device that displays information output from the control unit 160. The display unit 130 corresponds to an organic EL (Electro Luminescence) display, a liquid crystal display, a touch panel, etc.

The timer 140 outputs information about the current date and time to the control unit 160.

The storage unit 150 has schedule information 151. The storage unit 150 corresponds to a semiconductor memory element such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) or a flash memory, or a storage device such as a HDD (Hard Disk Drive).

Schedule information 151 is the user's schedule information. The data structure of schedule information 151 includes multiple event information, as in the schedule information shown in FIG. 3.

The control unit 160 has an acquisition unit 161, an identification unit 162, a determination unit 163, an output control unit 164, a power supply control unit 165, and an alternative processing unit 166. The control unit 160 can be realized by a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or an MPU (Micro Processing Unit), etc. The control unit 160 can also be realized by hardwired logic such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array).

The acquisition unit 161 is a processing unit that acquires the schedule information 151 from the schedule management server 50. The acquisition unit 161 stores the acquired schedule information 151 in the storage unit 150.

For example, the acquisition unit 161 acquires an authenticated user ID input from the input unit 120, and generates schedule request information in which the user ID is set. The acquisition unit 161 transmits the schedule request information to the schedule management server 50, thereby acquiring the schedule information 151 from the schedule management server 50.

The identification unit 162 is a processing unit that identifies the start time of an important event based on the schedule information 151. For example, the identification unit 162 acquires, from the timer 140, event information set for the next day from among multiple event information set in the schedule information 151 based on information on the current date and time.

The identification unit 162 identifies the start time of the event information for which the importance flag is "ON" as the start time of the important event. For example, the identification unit 162 selects event information for which the importance flag is "ON" from among the event information set for the next day. The identification unit 162 compares the start times set in the event information for which the importance flag is "ON" and identifies the earliest start time. The identification unit 162 outputs information on the identified start time to the determination unit 163.

Incidentally, the identification unit 162 may identify the start time of an important event based on the attribute information set in the event information. If the user ID set as a required participant in the attribute information matches the authenticated user ID input from the input unit 120, the identification unit 162 selects the corresponding event information even if the importance flag is "OFF". The identification unit 162 may compare the event information selected based on the attribute information with the start time set in the event information whose importance flag is "ON", and identify the earliest start time.

The determination unit 163 is a processing unit that determines whether or not to issue a warning to leave work based on the time after the interval based on the current time and the disclosure time identified by the identification unit 162. The determination unit 163 outputs the determination result to the output control unit 164.

For example, the determination unit 163 determines that a warning to leave work should be issued if the "conditions" shown below are not met. The "next day's possible start time" shown in the conditions is the current time plus the interval and grace period. The "current time" is the current time output from the timer 140. The "interval" is a rest period set as part of work style reform, for example 11 hours. The "grace period" is a time period set by the administrator, for example 0.5 hours. The "specific start time" is the start time identified by the identification unit 162.

Possible start time the next day (current time + interval + grace period) < specific start time... (condition)

The determination unit 163 may also repeatedly execute the above process for each predetermined period (e.g., 24 hours) and further execute a process of counting the number of times the above condition is not satisfied. The determination unit 163 outputs information on the counted number of times to the output control unit 164. The determination unit 163 outputs information on the specific start time to the output control unit 164.

The output control unit 164 is a processing unit that outputs a warning screen to the display unit 130 when it acquires a judgment result from the judgment unit 163 that a warning to leave work will be issued. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a warning screen output by the output control unit. In the example shown in FIG. 5, a warning screen 60 displayed on the display unit 130 displays a message encouraging the user to leave work promptly and the start time (specific start time) of an event on the following day. An event indicates an event with a fixed start time, such as a meeting or travel. Although not shown in the figure, the output control unit 164 may further display the number of times counted by the judgment unit 163 on the warning screen 60. In FIG. 5, a warning screen 60 for a meeting is shown as an example of a warning screen, but warning screens for other events, such as travel, are also output in the same way.

Also, the warning screen 60 displays a "Responded" button 60a and a "Close" button 60b. If the user has responded to the event notified by the warning screen 60, the user operates the input unit 120 to press the "Responded" button 60a. Here, "responded" corresponds to having contacted a superior to inform them that they will not be able to make it in time for the notified event, or having requested a substitute user to handle it.

If the user has not yet responded to the event notified by the warning screen 60, or if the user wishes to close the warning screen 60, the user presses the close button 60b.

The power supply control unit 165 is a processing unit that executes shutdown control of the terminal device 100a according to a preset procedure. For example, the power supply control unit 165 shuts down the terminal device 100a when a predetermined time has elapsed since the warning screen 60 was output without the handled button 60a being pressed.

On the other hand, when the handled button 60a shown in FIG. 5 is pressed, the power supply control unit 165 does not execute a shutdown of the terminal device 100a.

The alternative processing unit 166 is a processing unit that executes various processes related to changes to schedule information. For example, when the alternative processing unit 166 receives a request to change schedule information from a user operating the input unit 120, it changes the schedule information 151 and transmits the changed schedule information to the schedule management server 50 to make a change request.

The alternative processing unit 166 may also search for an alternative to participate in an important event in place of the user, and notify the alternative's terminal device of information about the important event.

Next, an example of the processing procedure of the terminal device 100a according to this embodiment will be described. FIGS. 6 and 7 are flowcharts showing the processing procedure of the terminal device according to this embodiment. The processing procedures of the terminal devices 100b and 100c are similar to the processing procedure of the terminal device 100a.

Referring to FIG. 6, the acquisition unit 161 of the terminal device 100a acquires schedule information by transmitting schedule request information to the schedule management server 50 (step S101). If there is no important event (step S102, No), the identification unit 162 of the terminal device 100a ends the process.

On the other hand, if an important event exists (step S102, Yes), the identification unit 162 identifies the start time of the important event (step S103). The determination unit 163 of the terminal device 100a obtains information on the current time (date and time) from the timer 140 (step S104).

The determination unit 163 calculates the available start time for the next day based on the current time (step S105). If the condition "available start time for the next day < specific start time" is met (step S106, Yes), the determination unit 163 acquires information on the current time after a predetermined time (e.g., 5 minutes) (step S107) and proceeds to step S105.

On the other hand, if the condition "next day's available start time < specific start time" is not met (step S106, No), the determination unit 163 proceeds to step S108. The output control unit 164 of the terminal device 100a outputs a warning screen 60 (step S108). If the "Resolved" button 60a on the warning screen 60 is pressed (step S109), the power control unit 165 of the terminal device 100a ends the process.

On the other hand, if the corresponding button 60b is not pressed (step S110), the power supply control unit 165 proceeds to step S110 in FIG. 7.

The explanation of FIG. 7 will now be given. If a shutdown setting has been made (step S110, Yes), the power supply control unit 165 executes a shutdown process (step S111). On the other hand, if a shutdown setting has not been made (step S110, No), the power supply control unit 165 proceeds to step S112.

If the alternative processing unit 166 of the terminal device 100 has received a schedule change request (step S112, Yes), it executes a schedule change process (step S113). On the other hand, if the alternative processing unit 166 has not received a schedule change request (step S112, No), it executes an alternative process (step S114).

Next, the effects of the system according to this embodiment will be described. The terminal device 100 according to this embodiment identifies the start time of an important event, and outputs a warning screen if the time after the rest interval based on the current time has elapsed exceeds the start time of the important event. This allows a clock-out warning to be issued so that the user can make it in time for the start time of the important event, even if the user secures a rest period of a certain length or more.

The terminal device 100 outputs a warning screen when the time after the rest interval based on the current time plus the grace period is later than the start time of an important event. This allows the user to issue a warning to leave work in time for the start time of an important event.

The terminal device 100 repeatedly executes the process of determining whether or not the conditions are met every predetermined period (for example, 24 hours), counts the number of times the conditions are not met, and displays the counted number of times on the warning screen 60. This makes it possible to notify the user of the number of times that overtime has become too long and that they are likely to be late for an event the next day.

The terminal device 100 determines whether an event is important or not based on the attribute information of the event. This makes it possible to identify important events without depending on whether the importance flag is ON or OFF.

The terminal device 100 displays a warning screen and executes a shutdown process if the "done" button is not pressed. This allows the user to make it in time for the start of an important event.

In the above description, the terminal device 100 has a warning function, identifies the start time of an important event, and outputs a warning screen when the time after a rest interval based on the current time has elapsed exceeds the start time of the important event. However, this is not limited to the above.

For example, the external server may have a warning function and monitor the terminal device. That is, the external server may be configured to identify the start time of an important event, and output a warning screen to the terminal device 100 when the time after the rest interval based on the current time has elapsed exceeds the start time of the important event.

Figure 8 is a diagram for explaining another embodiment. As shown in Figure 8, this system has a schedule management server 50, terminal devices 70a to 70c, and an external server 200. The external server 200 monitors the terminal devices 70a to 70c and controls the output of a warning screen. The external server 200 is an example of an "information processing device."

The following describes a case where the external server 200 monitors the terminal device 70a and controls the output of a warning screen. The external server 200 acquires a user ID from the terminal device 70a, and acquires schedule information corresponding to the user ID from the schedule management server 50.

The external server 200 identifies the start time of an important event based on the schedule information, and determines whether the time after the rest interval based on the current time exceeds the start time of the important event. The process by which the external server 200 identifies the start time of an important event is similar to the process by the identification unit 162 in FIG. 4. The process by which the external server 200 determines whether the time after the rest interval based on the current time exceeds the start time of the important event is similar to the process by the determination unit 163 in FIG. 4.

When the time after the rest interval based on the current time passes the start time of an important event, the external server 200 causes the terminal device 70a to output a warning screen. For example, the external server 200 generates information for the warning screen 60 shown in FIG. 5 and transmits the generated information for the warning screen 60 to the terminal device 70a for display.

The external server 200 also receives the user's input on the warning screen 60 from the terminal device 70a, and executes a shutdown process or an alternative process. When the external server 200 executes a shutdown process, the external server 200 transmits a shutdown request to the terminal device 70a, and causes the terminal device 70a to shut down.

Next, an example of the hardware configuration of a computer that realizes the same functions as the terminal device 100 (external server 200) shown in the above embodiment will be described. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of a computer that realizes the same functions as the terminal device.

As shown in FIG. 9, computer 300 has a CPU 301 that executes various arithmetic processes, an input device 302 that accepts data input from the user, and a display 303. Computer 300 also has a communication device 304 that executes data communication with schedule management server 50 and the like, and an interface device 305 that connects to various devices. Computer 300 has a RAM 306 that temporarily stores various information, and a hard disk device 307. Each of devices 301 to 307 is connected to a bus 308.

The hard disk device 307 has an acquisition program 307a, a specific program 307b, a judgment program 307c, an output control program 307d, a power control program 307e, and an alternative processing program 307f. The CPU 201 reads out the acquisition program 307a, the specific program 307b, the judgment program 307c, the output control program 307d, the power control program 307e, and the alternative processing program 307f and loads them in the RAM 306.

The acquisition program 307a functions as an acquisition process 306a. The identification program 307b functions as an identification process 306b. The judgment program 307c functions as a judgment process 306c. The output control program 307d functions as an output control process 306d. The power supply control program 307e functions as a power supply control process 306e. The alternative processing program 307f functions as an alternative processing process 306f.

The processing of the acquisition process 306a corresponds to the processing of the acquisition unit 161. The processing of the identification process 306b corresponds to the processing of the identification unit 162. The processing of the determination process corresponds to the processing of the determination unit 163. The processing of the output control process 306a corresponds to the processing of the output control unit 164. The processing of the power supply control process 306e corresponds to the processing of the power supply control unit 165. The processing of the substitution processing process 306f corresponds to the processing of the substitution processing unit 166.

Note that each of the programs 307a to 307f does not necessarily have to be stored in the hard disk device 307 from the beginning. For example, each program may be stored in a "portable physical medium" such as a flexible disk (FD), CD-ROM, DVD disk, magneto-optical disk, or IC card that is inserted into the computer 300. Then, the computer 300 may read and execute each of the programs 307a to 307f.

10 Network 50 Schedule management server 55 Schedule DB
70a, 70b, 70c, 100a, 100b, 100c Terminal device 110 Communication unit 120 Input unit 130 Display unit 140 Timer 150 Storage unit 151 Schedule information 160 Control unit 161 Acquisition unit 162 Identification unit 163 Determination unit 164 Output control unit 165 Power control unit 166 Alternate processing unit 200 External server

Claims (3)

A storage unit that stores schedule information including a start time;
an identification unit that identifies a start time of an important schedule based on the schedule information, and identifies a specific start time based on the identified start time and a current time ;
a determination unit that calculates a possible start time by adding a current time and an interval, and determines whether to issue a warning to leave work based on the possible start time and the specific start time;
and an output control unit that outputs a clock-out warning when the determination unit determines to implement the clock-out warning. 1. A computer implemented alert method comprising:
Identifying a start time of an important schedule based on the stored schedule information, and identifying a specific start time based on the identified start time and a current time ;
Calculate a possible start time by adding the current time and the interval, and determine whether to issue a warning to leave work based on the possible start time and the specific start time;
When it is determined to implement the clock-out warning, a process of outputting the clock-out warning is executed. On the computer,
Identifying a start time of an important schedule based on the stored schedule information, and identifying a specific start time based on the identified start time and a current time ;
Calculate a possible start time by adding the current time and the interval, and determine whether to issue a warning to leave work based on the possible start time and the specific start time;
A warning program that executes a process of outputting a clock-out warning when it is determined to implement the clock-out warning.

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