JP2006268323A - File management device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a convenient file management system having excellent file management performance by skillfully using advantages of a retrieval folder and a classification folder. <P>SOLUTION: This file management device 1 hierarchizing and screen-displaying a plurality of files changes the retrieval folder 30 and the classification folder 40 to each other according to an instruction from a user. Thereby, the file is retrieved on the basis of a retrieval condition, and the retrieval folder holding path information (a1, a2, a3) of an upper hierarchy of the file that is a retrieval result and the classification folder holding a classification result obtained by rewriting the path information of the upper hierarchy of the file corresponding to a classification condition to path information (a1/b1, a2/b1, a3/b1) are changed as the need arises to achieve renewability of folder contents by the retrieval folder and prevention of unnecessary retrieval by the classification folder. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for managing hierarchized files in a computer, and more particularly, to a technique for managing path information of these files collectively in a search folder having a search function or a classification folder having a classification function.

In a computer, various files such as document data and application programs are used, and many files are managed in a hierarchical manner.
Specifically, by creating folders with upper / lower relationships (or parent-child relationships) and storing files in these folders, a large number of files are managed in a hierarchy and displayed in a tree structure on the screen. By doing so, a large number of files can be presented to the user in a state of being associated as folders.

  In such a hierarchical management of files, a folder having a search function is known as a folder for storing files, and by setting conditions such as file creation date and time in the folder, files matching the conditions are A method of collecting them in a folder is performed.

There is a search folder as one type of such a folder, and this search folder includes a file that matches a search condition set in a file having path information of a higher hierarchy than the self with its path information (higher than self). The function of holding together in the hierarchy of
In addition, there is a classification folder as another type of folder, and this classification folder is a file having path information of a higher hierarchy than the self, and a file matching the classification condition set in the hierarchy is passed to the own hierarchy. It has a function to change and hold together.

According to the search folder as described above, there is an advantage that a file to be displayed on the screen can be dynamically searched and the result can be displayed as a hierarchical structure. However, on the other hand, the search process slows down as the number of files to be searched increases, so that it cannot be displayed quickly, and if the file search conditions such as date and time are changed, the file will be searched differently. There is a drawback that it is possible to lose sight of the storage folder by moving to a folder.
On the other hand, according to the classification folder as described above, there is no drawback of the search folder, but even if some change is made to the attribute of the file held in the folder, the search is not performed again based on this, There is a drawback that there is no guarantee that the classification condition always holds.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional circumstances, and an object thereof is to realize file management utilizing the advantages of a search folder and a classification folder.

  The present invention is a file management technique for managing a plurality of files in a hierarchy, and is realized as a file management apparatus described below, a program for realizing the file management apparatus by a computer, and a file management method implemented by the file management apparatus. The

  The file management apparatus according to the present invention has a search function for searching for a file based on a search condition and holds a path information of a higher hierarchy of the file that is the search result, A classification folder having a classification function for rewriting the path information of the hierarchy to the path information of the own hierarchy and holding the classification result, and the changing unit changes the selected search folder to the classification folder and changes the classification folder The classification function is activated, or the selected classification folder is changed to a search folder and the search function for the search folder is activated.

In addition, the file management apparatus according to the present invention includes a search folder generation unit that sets a search condition and generates a search folder, and a classification folder generation unit that sets a classification condition and generates a classification folder. .
The file management apparatus according to the present invention includes display processing means for displaying files and folders on a screen in a tree structure according to a hierarchy.

Therefore, according to the present invention, a folder selected by a user instruction or a preset condition has been reached (the number of stored files has reached the set number, the time set for the folder has elapsed, etc.) The folder automatically selected based on the search folder is changed from the search folder to the classification folder, or the classification folder is changed to the search folder, the classification function or the search function is started, and the files and folders displayed on the screen are changed. The tree structure according to the hierarchy is changed.
More specifically, for example, a folder that was a search folder can be changed to a classification folder to obtain the following practical advantages, and a folder that was a classification folder can be changed to a search folder. For example, the following practical advantages can be obtained.

Search folders are very effective when there are few target files or when the file management system is not fixed, and you can change the search conditions without worrying about various attributes and access rights added to the files. It is possible to change the display of the tree structure by itself, and it is much faster and safer than the conventional hierarchical structure management that moves the file entity into the folder. Therefore, it is suitable for initial operation of a document management system, operation of a newly launched project, file classification management for a small-scale work, and the like.
However, as such operation is continued for a while, the operational posture is fixed, and the configuration management system is less likely to fluctuate in terms of operation. Therefore, there is no need to dynamically search and change the display. On the other hand, if the operation is continued for a while, the number of documents increases and the number of target files increases, so that the dynamic search is a factor that deteriorates the performance.

Therefore, this search folder is changed to a classification folder. When the folder is changed to the classification folder, the classification folder takes in the files of the higher-level folder (parent folder) that can be imported into itself. That is, the search folder is a folder that holds each file with the file path information of the upper hierarchy (the file stored in the search folder exists in the parent folder of the upper hierarchy), but the classification folder is the folder of the upper hierarchy. Since this is a folder in which file path information is rewritten and held in its own hierarchy, there is no change in the file configuration stored in the classification folder, dynamic search cannot be performed, and performance is improved.
Typically, since the classification folder inherits the search condition of the original search folder as the classification condition, the file displayed at the time of the search folder is stored in the classification folder.

And if you want to change the system of this configuration management after changing to the classification folder in this way, change the classification folder to the search folder, and the files that the classification folder had will be moved to the parent folder of the upper hierarchy. (The file path information is changed to higher-level file path information), and then the configuration management system can be dynamically changed on a search folder basis.
Therefore, by changing the search folder and the classification folder, the advantage of the search folder and the classification folder can be appropriately used to realize a convenient file management system that meets the user's needs.

  According to the present invention, since the search folder and the classification folder are changed, the advantage of the search folder and the classification folder is skillfully used to realize a file management system convenient for user file management with excellent file management performance. can do.

The present invention will be specifically described based on an embodiment.
FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a file management apparatus according to an example of the present invention, and FIGS. 6 to 8 show an example of a hierarchical management structure of files and folders.
First, the hierarchical management structure of files and folders according to this example will be described with reference to FIGS.
For example, when there are a plurality of files b1, b2, b3, b21, b22, b23, b31, b40, b41 stored in a certain upper folder (parent folder) A as shown in FIG. Lower folders (child folders) B1, B2, and B3 associated with the lower folder are formed, files b1, b2, and b3 are stored in child folder B1, files b21, b22, and b23 are stored in child folder B2, and child folders are stored. When the file b31 is stored in B3, as shown in FIG. 6, a hierarchical structure in which the child folders B1, B2, B3 and the files b40, b41 are associated under the parent folder A is formed.

Such a hierarchical structure is made, for example, for a user to manage files with a certain purpose, or for a system to collect files of the same type, and by displaying such a hierarchical structure on the screen. A plurality of files can be presented to the user in a manner in which the files are collected according to purpose, type, and the like.
Here, there are two methods for storing the files b1, b2, b3, b21, b22, b23, and b31 in the child folders B1, B2, and B3 as described above, and one is the hierarchy ( A method of associating each file with each folder with file path information in the upper hierarchy), and a method for associating each file with each folder with file path information in the hierarchy (lower hierarchy) of each child folder B1, B2, B3. It is.

  In the case of the former method, the hierarchical structure displayed on the screen as shown in FIG. 6 is the structure associated with the parent file A by the file path information in the upper hierarchy as shown in FIG. On the other hand, in the case of the latter method, as shown in FIG. 6, the hierarchical structure of the screen displayed is a file in the hierarchy (lower hierarchy) of each child folder B1, B2, B3 as shown in FIG. With the path information, the files b1, b2, and b3 are associated with the child folder B1, the files b21, b22, and b23 are associated with the child folder B2, and the file b31 is associated with the child folder B3.

  The folder structure according to the former method is a file storage structure of a search folder, which will be described later, and the entity reference of the file stored in the search folder is path information directly associated with the upper folder. A folder structure by the latter method is a file storage structure of a classification folder, which will be described later, and an entity reference of the file stored in the classification folder is path information directly associated with the classification folder.

As shown in FIG. 1, the file management apparatus 1 according to the present example hierarchically displays the substance of files b1, b2, b3, b21, b22, b23, and b31 stored in the memory 20 on the screen 11 using folder icons and file icons. This is a display device that has the following functions necessary for executing the processing according to the present invention by executing the program according to the present invention on a computer constituting the file management apparatus 1.
Each file b1, b2, b3, b21, b22, b23, b31 stored in the memory 20 includes, for example, the file creator, the file creation date and time, and the last file in addition to the path information for accessing the entity. Attribute information 21 such as update date / time, file name, file content type, file owner, file size, and the like is added. In this example, attribute information is used as a condition item for search and classification.
In the present example, necessary functional means are configured by a computer executing a program. However, in the present invention, each functional means may be configured as a dedicated module.

  The file management apparatus 1 includes an input unit 2 that receives input of a search condition, a classification condition, and the like from a user, a search folder generation unit 3 that sets a search condition and generates a search folder, and sets a classification condition and generates a classification folder Classification folder generation means 4, folder holding means 5 for holding the generated search folder and classification folder, folders held in the folder holding means 5 and files b1, b2, b3, b21, b22, b23 held in the memory 20 , B31 is displayed on the screen 11 in a tree structure according to the hierarchy of folder icons 50 and file icons 60 as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, for example, and the selected search folder is changed to a classification folder. Activate the classification function of the classification folder or change the selected classification folder to the search folder And a changing means 7 for activating the search function of the search folder Te.

Here, in this example, the search condition for the search folder is initially set by the user inputting the desired condition contents from the input means 2, and the classification condition for the classification folder is the search condition for the search folder before the change. In the present invention, the user is input and set each time, or the once set condition is automatically inherited as the changed folder condition. It can be.
In this example, the folder to be changed from the search folder to the classification folder or the folder to be changed from the classification folder to the search folder is selected by the user inputting the folder icon 50 displayed on the screen 11 from the input means 2. However, a selection condition such as the elapsed time of the folder may be set in the changing unit 7 in advance, and the folder that reaches the selection condition may be automatically changed.

The search folder 30 is a functional module as shown in FIG. 2, and includes a search function 31 in which search conditions are set, and a search result list holding function 32 that holds a path information list of files that are search results by the search function 31. have.
As shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, the search function 31 searches the search folder for files stored in the parent folder in the upper hierarchy based on the search condition, and the search result list holding function 32 lists the search results. As a folder that holds the path information of the file as path information (a1, a2, a3) of the hierarchy of the parent folder. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the path information (a1, a2, a3) of the hierarchy of the parent folder A is used for the path information of the files that match the search conditions in the files stored in the parent folder A. It is a folder to keep.

The classification folder 40 is a functional module as shown in FIG. 3, and includes a classification function 41 in which classification conditions are set, a classification result list holding function 42 that holds a path information list of files that are classification results by the classification function 41, and have.
The classification folder is the path information (a1 / b1, a2 / b1, a3 / b1) of the folder hierarchy that the classification function 41 uses for the path information of the file that matches the classification condition in the files stored in the parent folder of the upper hierarchy. And the classification result list holding function 32 holds the rewritten path information list as a classification result list. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, the path information (a1, a2, a3) in the parent folder hierarchy of the files that match the classification conditions in the files stored in the parent folder A is stored in the own hierarchy. This folder is rewritten to path information (a1 / b1, a2 / b1, a3 / b1) and retained.

Therefore, the search folder 30 is a folder that holds a set of path information in the parent hierarchy for files that match the search conditions, and the classification folder 40 is a folder that holds a set of path information in its own folder hierarchy for files that match the classification conditions. . That is, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the search folder 30 is a folder in which a set of parent hierarchy path information (a1, a2, a3) is visually summarized, and the classification folder 40 is path information of the parent hierarchy. The set (a1, a2, a3) is rewritten into self-hierarchical path information (a1 / b1, a2 / b1, a3 / b1), and the path information entity is visually grouped as the self-hierarchy.
The file path information can access the corresponding file entity stored in the memory 20 based on the path information in any hierarchy description, but the classification folder 40 has its own path information (a1 / b1, a2). / B1, a3 / b1) holds the file, and the influence of the search process in the parent folder hierarchy (upper hierarchy) does not affect the file held in the classification folder 40, and the performance of the unnecessary search process is improved. A decrease can be prevented.

In this example, in response to a user instruction input from the input unit 2, the search folder creation unit 3 creates a search folder, the category folder creation unit 4 creates a category folder, and the display processing unit 6 creates a folder. A hierarchical tree structure of the file by the icon 50 and the file icon 60 is displayed on the screen 11.
Then, the changing unit 7 performs a process of changing the search folder to the classification folder or a process of changing the classification folder to the search folder in accordance with a user instruction input from the input unit 2. Because the search condition is inherited as a classification condition and the classification condition is inherited as a search condition, even if these search functions and classification functions are activated, the file type that the search holder and the classification folder are collected by the change process There is no change, only the description hierarchy of the path information of those files is changed. If the search conditions and classification conditions are changed, the search folder and classification folder can be used to change the file type to which the search holder and classification folder are grouped by the search function and classification function that are activated by the change processing of the search folder and classification folder. Can be added.

  Therefore, when the user selects a search folder and changes it to a classification folder, the file held in the search holder is confirmed in the hierarchy (lower hierarchy) of the folder and searched in the upper hierarchy (parent folder hierarchy). It can be excluded from the processing target, and thereby the operation performance of the file management apparatus 1 can be improved. In addition, when a user selects a classification folder and changes it to a search folder, the file held in the classification holder can be released to a higher hierarchy to be a new search processing target. The structure can be updated according to the conditions.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the file management apparatus which concerns on one Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the search folder which concerns on one Example of this invention. It is a figure explaining the structure of the classification folder based on one Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the function of the search folder which concerns on one Example of this invention. It is a figure explaining the function of the classification folder based on one Example of this invention. It is a figure explaining the hierarchical structure of a file. It is a figure explaining the hierarchical structure of a file. It is a figure explaining the hierarchical structure of a file.

Explanation of symbols

1: file management device, 2: input means,
3: Search folder generation means, 4: Classification folder generation means,
5: Folder holding means, 6: Display processing means,
7: Change means, 11: Screen,
30: Search folder, 31: Search function,
32: Search result list, 40: Classification folder,
41: Classification function, 42: Classification result list,
50: Folder icon, 60: File icon,

Claims (10)

In a file management device that manages multiple files in a hierarchy,
A search folder that has a search function for searching for a file based on a search condition and holds path information of a higher hierarchy of the file that is the search result;
A classification folder that has a classification function for rewriting the path information of the upper hierarchy of the file corresponding to the classification condition to the path information of the own hierarchy, and holds the classification result;
Change means for changing the selected search folder to a classification folder and starting the classification function of the classification folder;
A file management apparatus comprising: In a file management device that manages multiple files in a hierarchy,
A search folder that has a search function for searching for a file based on a search condition and holds path information of a higher hierarchy of the file that is the search result;
A classification folder that has a classification function for rewriting the path information of the upper hierarchy of the file corresponding to the classification condition to the path information of the own hierarchy, and holds the classification result;
Change means for changing the selected classification folder to a search folder and activating the search function of the search folder,
A file management apparatus comprising: In the file management device according to claim 1 or 2,
A search folder generating means for generating search folders by setting search conditions;
Classification folder generation means for setting classification conditions and generating a classification folder;
A file management apparatus comprising: The file management apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
A file management apparatus comprising input means for receiving a search condition or a classification condition from a user. The file management apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A file management apparatus comprising display processing means for displaying files and folders on a screen in a tree structure according to a hierarchy. In a program comprising a computer as a file management device that manages a plurality of files in a hierarchy,
Search folder generation means for generating a search folder having a search function for searching for a file based on a search condition and holding path information of a higher hierarchy of the file as the search result;
A classification folder generating means for generating a classification folder having a classification function for rewriting the path information of the upper hierarchy of the file corresponding to the classification condition to the path information of the own hierarchy and holding the classification result;
Change means for changing the selected search folder to a classification folder and starting the classification function of the classification folder;
A file management program comprising: In a program comprising a computer as a file management device that manages a plurality of files in a hierarchy,
Search folder generation means for generating a search folder having a search function for searching for a file based on a search condition and holding path information of a higher hierarchy of the file as the search result;
A classification folder generating means for generating a classification folder having a classification function for rewriting the path information of the upper hierarchy of the file corresponding to the classification condition to the path information of the own hierarchy and holding the classification result;
Change means for changing the selected classification folder to a search folder and activating the search function of the search folder,
A file management program comprising: In the file management program according to claim 6 or 7,
A file management program comprising: a display processing unit configured to display a file and a folder on a screen in a tree structure according to a hierarchy. In a file management method executed by a file management apparatus that manages a plurality of files in a hierarchy,
A search folder having a search function for searching for a file based on a search condition in accordance with an instruction from a user and holding path information of the upper hierarchy of the file as the search result is designated as an upper hierarchy of the file corresponding to the classification condition. It has a classification function that rewrites the path information to the path information of its own hierarchy and changes the classification folder to hold the classification result to start the classification function of the classification folder, or changes the classification folder to a search folder A file management method, wherein a search function of the search folder is activated. The file management method according to claim 9, wherein
A file management method in which a file management apparatus displays files and folders on a screen in a tree structure according to a hierarchy.

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