JP2000035907A - File managing method and record medium with program realizing this method stored - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily save, retrieve, etc., a computerized object by representing so that the computerized objects excluded from normal operations is collectively under the control of another new computerized object. SOLUTION: Computerized objects that are excluded from a normal operation are collectively represented so as to be under the control of another new computerized object (truck room). When an instruction to store a certain computerized object in the trunk room is given (301), an account and the kind of its access right are checked based on an ACL(account control list) of objects to be operated and are notified to each account destination by an electronic means such as e-mail (302). When a reply mail is received, it is considered to be approved (303) and the objects are stored in the trunk room (304). Here, to decide its notification destination, it is effective to have information obtained by associating the account with its e-mail address from the ACL.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a file management method and a recording medium storing a program for implementing the method.

Before giving a detailed description of the present invention,
The terms used in the following description are defined. -Objects (Electrified objects) Documents, folders, files, etc.-Trunk room Electronic objects that store objects that are not needed immediately but cannot be destroyed. Objects under the control of this trunk room exist, but cannot be recognized by normal operation unless special means for accessing the objects under the control of the trunk room are used.
Be hidden from the user.・ Electrified objects are shredded. "When an electronic object is deleted from the system, it is not only marked as deleted, but also the data itself held by the object is cleared so that it cannot be restored. ".

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional file management system, when an object such as a file is deleted, its management data (property) is generally deleted together. As a conventional file management method of this type, for example, a technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-66976 is known. The purpose of this technique is to enable the elimination of the same key and the retrieval of necessary data even after deleting unnecessary records in the master file. To achieve the purpose, this technique uses: The check master mechanism has the master file management data, and when the master file is deleted, the necessary data in the master file and the deletion flag are registered in the above-mentioned check master, thereby eliminating the same key for the subsequent master file.
Retrieval of necessary data is realized by referring to the above-mentioned check master.

[0004]

As described above, in the prior art, when an object (file, record) is generally deleted, its management data (property) is also deleted together with the management data (property). Property) cannot be reused, and therefore, when a similar property value is to be set, the property value must be re-entered, and the operation is troublesome. Further, in the technology disclosed in the above publication, record management data is left in a mechanism as a check master, and the same key can be eliminated and necessary data can be searched even after unnecessary records are deleted from the master file. Reusing the management data as another object is not considered. On the other hand,
As a property of the trash, you could choose whether to "delete without deleting it in the trash when deleting" for all drives or for each drive. In this method, the unit of selection is at least for each drive, and it is not possible to select one for each object to be deleted.

[0005] Normally, in a file system, not all files, folders, etc. are frequently used. For example, a recorded document or the like is referred to only when necessary, but cannot be deleted carelessly because the purpose is to record it. Conventionally, as a means for temporarily or long-term storing an electronic object that is not immediately needed but cannot be destroyed, the electronic object is conventionally copied to various secondary storage devices / mediums. Then, the act of “taking a backup” was common. However, if you want to keep a copy on secondary storage / media,
When the stored digitized object is needed, a person has to search for and specify the medium containing the required digitized object based on a label or the like described on the surface of the medium. Furthermore, after the medium is specified, it is necessary to set the medium in a suitable secondary storage device, search for the target electronic object from the medium, and take it out. If you keep the backup without taking a backup, it will be very difficult to find what you use and what you do not use very much.

[0006] When a trunk room as described above is set, conventionally, the objects under the management of the trunk room are as follows.
Since objects become invisible in normal operation, these objects increase, and even if the capacity increases, the limit is reached, and it is often not noticed until the system notifies the operation failure. In addition, before executing an operation to make an object under the management of the trunk room, the user checks the current free space by some means, and then executes an operation to make the object under the management of the trunk room.
However, after the system is notified of the capacity limit, it is too late for the user to perform the work he / she wants to perform, and it is troublesome to check the capacity one by one and then perform the operation.

[0007] Conventionally, if there is not enough free space at the time of trying to make an object under trunk room management, an object in the trunk room is selected and compressed. However, leaving compressible data uncompressed until there is no more free space is a waste of storage space. Generally, when an object (file, record) is deleted, its management data (property) is also deleted, so that the management data (property) cannot be reused. Therefore, when setting similar property values, the input operation is troublesome.

[0008] Some pieces of management data (properties) have low reuse value, such as creation date, and are often not appropriate for each object. Conventionally, objects that are no longer needed can be discarded in a trash can or taken out of a briefcase, but there is no place to store objects that are no longer frequently used. In this connection, the manipulation of information relating to the disposal of objects that are no longer frequently used has been mostly performed manually. In some cases, such as when approval was required, it could take a long time. There is also a problem that it takes time and effort.

A first object of the present invention is to set a trunk room for collectively managing these electronic objects, that is, to set other new electronic objects by collecting electronic objects which are excluded from normal operations, An object of the present invention is to enable easy storage and retrieval of digitized objects.

[0010] In this regard, the present invention provides a user interface for storing property data of an object in a file and retrieving it when, for example, the object is discarded from the trash can. A method is also provided in which a template-specific schema is prepared on a database instead of a file, and property data and the like are stored. A second object of the present invention is to make it possible to reuse a property of a deleted object, thereby improving work efficiency. In this connection, in the present invention, a property with higher versatility can be obtained by automatically updating or invalidating a part of the content of the property.

A third object of the present invention is to make it possible to optimize a value unique to an object when reusing management data (property). A fourth object of the present invention is to provide an object sorting function to efficiently discard and store objects that are no longer needed or used frequently. A fifth object of the present invention is to provide a method for notifying and approving information when discarding an electronic object or storing it in a trunk room, similarly to the electronic approval system at the time of document creation. It is to provide a means.

[0012] A sixth object of the present invention is to discard or transfer to a trunk room when a certain period of time elapses when notification of information on processing of an electronic object lowers the efficiency of work. It is an object of the present invention to allow a user to set a timer that can store the information. Other objects of the present invention will be clarified in the following description.

[0013]

In order to achieve the above object, a file management method according to the present invention saves data of an electronic object and prepares / creates the data.
In a file system that performs change / delete / search, etc.,
Normalized electronic objects are distinguished from those that are excluded from the normal operation and can be recognized by a special operation, and the electronic objects that are removed from the normal operation are collectively collected into another new electronic object. (Trunk room) is characterized by being expressed. Further, in the file management method according to the present invention, the data of the digitized object is stored, and in the file system for creating / changing / deleting / retrieving the data, the object is deleted (to be put in the trash, Or discarding), the property of the object, the form, etc. can be saved as a template.

Further, in the file management method according to the present invention, when the property template is reused, an object-specific value (for example, creation date) is automatically updated or invalidated. Further, in the file management method according to the present invention, objects that are no longer frequently used, unnecessary, or have a reduced degree of need are stored in a recycle bin, a shredder, a trunk room, a briefcase, a template sharing area, and the like. (It is possible to set by a user.) It is characterized by having a classification function of classifying the processing method and discarding or storing it. Also, in the file management method according to the present invention, in the above-described sorting operation, people (accounts) who have access rights to the object.
, And after the approval from the account is obtained, the work is determined.

The file management method according to the present invention is characterized in that after notification of the disposition of the above-mentioned operation target object, after a lapse of a predetermined time (which can be set by the user), it is regarded as approved. The program for realizing the above-described file management method according to the present invention can be distributed as a product in a form in which the program is recorded on a recording medium, and the protection scope of the present invention covers such a product. It goes without saying that it extends.

In the file system to which the file management method according to the present invention is applied, it is preferable to provide a means (shredder function) for discarding unnecessary objects without leaving a trace on the file system. That is, a shredder icon or the like is pasted on the desktop of the file system in advance, and when an object to be discarded occurs, the object is dragged and dropped on the shredder icon. Then, after prompting the user to confirm whether the data should be erased, the shredder object performs a normal deletion operation and also clears the actual data of the delivered object (for example, if the object is (E.g., filling all the used areas with specific character data).

Here, when an unnecessary object is discarded, it is possible to select whether to put it in a normal trash can or to use a shredder for each object. Will be able to If you just put an object in the ordinary trash, it will be on the file system, but if you use a shredder, it will be completely removed from the file system.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system to which a file management method according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 denotes a control unit that receives a command from the outside and controls a storage device management unit 102, 102 operates data in the external storage device 103,
A storage device management unit that returns data acquired from the external storage device 103 to the control unit 101 as necessary. Reference numeral 103 denotes an external storage device that stores digitized objects, their attributes, and the like.

Hereinafter, the characteristic operation of this embodiment will be described. First, an example in which a flag is provided for the attribute of the digitized object will be described. A flag is newly provided in the area for storing the attribute of each digitized object to indicate whether the object is under the management of the trunk room or not. For example, in the case of an object name list acquisition command, the control unit 101 determines the content of the command and requests the storage device management unit 102 for an object name list. Storage device management unit 102
Operates the external storage device 103 and
In the attributes of the data of the digitized objects stored in the, create a name list of only those that indicate that the flag indicating whether or not the object is under trunk room management is not under trunk room management, Control unit 10
Return to 1. The control unit 101 returns this list to the request source.

In the case of a command to acquire a list of object names under trunk room management, the control unit 101 determines the content of the command and requests the storage device management unit 102 for a list of object names under trunk room management. The storage device management unit 102 operates the external storage device 103 and indicates whether or not the attribute of the data of the digitized object stored in the external storage device 103 is an object under the trunk room management. A name list of objects having an attribute indicating that the flag is under the control of the trunk room is created and returned to the control unit 101. Control unit 101
Returns this list to the requestor.

Next, an example of moving object data to a trunk room management area (moving an object under a trunk room folder object) will be described. A trunk room object is realized as a kind of folder object. By adding an attribute indicating whether the object is a trunk room object to the attribute of the folder object, or by setting a folder having a predetermined name as a trunk room object, the storage device management unit 102 stores the trunk room object and a normal folder Objects can be identified.

For example, in the case of an object name list acquisition command, the control unit 101 determines the content of the command and requests the storage device management unit 102 for an object name list. The storage device management unit 102 operates the external storage device 103 to create a name list of objects stored in the external storage device 103 other than the trunk room management area, and returns the list to the control unit 101. The control unit 101 returns this list to the request source. In the case of a command to acquire a list of object names under trunk room management, the control unit 101 determines the content of the command and requests the storage device management unit 102 for a list of object names under trunk room management. The storage device management unit 102 operates the external storage device 103 to create a list of names of objects stored in the external storage device 103 and under the control of the trunk room.
To return. The control unit 101 returns this list to the request source.

According to the above embodiment, the user removes the digitized objects that are not needed immediately from the target of the normal operation without preparing the secondary storage device / medium, and deletes the objects that are needed now. It will be easier to find. Also,
Eliminates the need to look at and locate media labels to retrieve stored objects.

Next, another embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The present embodiment relates to a file system including a unit for acquiring the free space of an external storage device, a unit for compressing data or expanding compressed data, and a unit for determining whether compressed data is not compressed data. It is. In FIG. 2, a control unit 202 receives an external command and controls the storage device management unit 202.
Operates the data in the external storage device 203, sends the data to the data compression / decompression unit 204 as necessary, compresses or decompresses the data, and transmits the acquired data to the control unit 201.
A storage device management unit 203 for storing electronic objects and their attributes, etc., and 204 a data compression unit for compressing or decompressing data received from the storage device management unit 202 and returning the data to the storage device management unit 202. / Deployment unit.

In the case of a command to place a certain digitized object under trunk room management, the control unit 201 determines the content of the command and requests the storage device management unit 202 to perform an operation. The storage device management unit 202 operates the external storage device 203 to check the current free space, and compares it with the capacity of the object to be placed under the management of the trunk room to determine whether there is sufficient free space. If there is sufficient free space, an operation is performed as usual to make the object under the trunk room management. If there is not enough free space, the data in the external storage device 203 is searched and rules determined in advance (for example, the one with the oldest last reference date, the one with the largest data size, the type of object, etc.) , The candidate of the object to be compressed is selected.

If there is a candidate, the data compression / decompression unit 204
Sends the data of the compression candidate object to the server and requests compression. The data compression / decompression unit 204 compresses the received data, and stores the compressed data in the storage device management unit 202.
To return. The storage device management unit 202 writes the received compressed data in the external storage device 203, and marks the attribute of this object as “compressed”. At this point, the free space should have increased, so check again whether the free space is sufficient. This operation is repeated, and when a sufficient free space is secured, the operation of setting the object under the management of the trunk room as usual is executed.

In the above embodiment, if the management area of the trunk room is limited, the external storage device 2
It is assumed that the above operation is performed by regarding the difference between the limit value of the trunk room management area and the total capacity of the objects under the current trunk room management as the free space instead of the free space of 03. In the case of a command to read the data of the digitized object under the management of the trunk room, the control unit 201 determines the content of the command, and the storage device management unit 202
Request data from The storage device management unit 202 reads the data of the digitized object in the designated trunk room in the external storage device 203, and if the attribute of the digitized object is marked as compressed, the data compression / decompression unit 204 Send the data to and request expansion.

The data compression / decompression unit 204 decompresses the received data and stores the decompressed data in the storage device management unit 20.
Send to 2. The storage device management unit 202 returns the received expanded data to the control unit 201. The control unit 201 returns this data to the request source. According to the present embodiment, it is less likely that the operation fails due to lack of free space in the external storage device,
Eliminates the need to search for free space. The capacity of the external storage device can also be used effectively.

Next, still another embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. This embodiment is an example provided with means for compressing data, storing the data in a trunk room, and expanding and reading out the compressed data. In the present embodiment, this can be realized by giving a unique attribute (an item not to be reused) to the template object in advance, or automatically judging a property item whose type is a date item. By erasing non-generic data when reusing objects used as templates,
Work efficiency can be improved.

In the case of a command to place a certain digitized object under trunk room management, the control unit 201 determines the content of the command and requests the storage device management unit 202 to perform an operation. The storage device management unit 202 stores data of an object to be placed under trunk room management in the data compression / decompression unit 2.
04 and request compression. Data compression / decompression unit 20
No. 4 compresses the received data and returns the compressed data to the storage device management unit 202. The storage device management unit 202
The received compressed data is written to the external storage device 203, and an operation is performed to make this object an object under trunk room management.

In the case of a command to read data of an electronic object under the control of the trunk room, the control unit 201 determines the content of the command and requests the storage device management unit 202 for the data. The storage device management unit 202 reads the data of the digitized object in the designated trunk room in the external storage device 203, sends the read data to the data compression / decompression unit 204, and requests decompression. The data compression / decompression unit 204 decompresses the received data and sends the decompressed data to the storage device management unit 202. The storage device management unit 202 transmits the received expanded data to the control unit 20.
Return to 1. The control unit 201 returns this data to the request source. According to the above embodiment, it is possible to efficiently use the storage area of the external storage device.

For example, when an object is discarded from a trash can, there is a method of storing a property data of the object in a file and providing a user interface capable of taking out the property data. Where, instead of a file,
This can also be realized by preparing a template-specific schema on a database and storing property data and the like. The latter can expect higher performance at the time of retrieval. According to the present embodiment, the work time and labor can be reduced by reusing the past and other resources as a template, and the management data and classification system can be unified by sharing, and the search efficiency can be improved. Is improved. A destruction history, a list of objects managed by the trunk room, and the like are also obtained.

It is preferable that the above-mentioned form form or the like is made into a template by using an application having a skeleton creation function, stored in a dedicated schema, and taken out. That is, the publicity can be enhanced by relaxing the access right target for the template object generated by the above-described operation (the access right target is set to everyone, full control). In addition, by setting the access right target to the template object to be readable by everyone and by giving update authority only to a specific account (for example, a system administrator), the publicity is improved and the security of original data protection is improved. And it becomes a higher value-added object. When the above-mentioned property template is reused, the unique value (for example, creation date) of the object is automatically updated or invalidated, so that the property has a unique attribute (item not to be reused) in advance. Alternatively, it is possible to automatically determine whether the property item type is a date item, and it is possible to save the trouble of operation.

Next, when using the sorting function, when the user executes the “dispose” command as an action,
The disposal method can be selected. As a classification method,
There are a trash box, a shredder, a trunk room, a briefcase, a template common area, and the like, and the user selects one of them to specify a sorting destination. For example, a sorting trash icon or the like is pasted on the desktop, and when the icon is double-clicked, a dialog asking for a disposal method is displayed. The user selects a disposal method from the list. Or, separate sorting icons on the desktop etc. (Trash, shredder, trunk room, briefcase, template common area, etc.)
May be provided, and sorting is performed by dragging and dropping an object onto the icon.

According to the present embodiment, objects that are no longer needed or are no longer frequently used are separated into trash cans, shredders, trunk rooms, etc., so as to be separated from the objects currently being used. Search efficiency can be improved. Also, by pasting the processing target icon on the desktop or the like, the operation can be easily performed. By assigning properties such as a process operation executor and time to an object, workability such as confirmation and notification at a later process is improved.

At the time of the sorting operation described above, a notice may be given to the people (accounts) having the access right to the object, and after the approval of the operation is obtained from the account, the work may be fixed. Referring to FIG. 3, a method for performing an operation after obtaining approval of an account having an access right when sorting or discarding objects to be destroyed or stored will be described. When an instruction to store an electronic object in the trunk room is received (step 301), an account and its access right type are checked from an ACL (account control list) of the operation target object.
For example, notification is made to each account by electronic means such as electronic mail (step 302). When the reply mail is received, it is regarded as approval (step 303), and the target object is stored in the trunk room (step 303). Here, in order to determine the notification destination, it is effective to have information (table) in which the account is associated with the electronic mail address from the ACL.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the above-mentioned ACL (account control list). Such accounts-
By providing an address correspondence table, for example, when an approval notification is issued only to an account having object owner authority, (1) the ACL of the operation target object is inquired about the OS account (user name) and its access right. (2) Investigate the account and access right obtained in (1) and obtain an account with owner authority. (3) The account obtained in (2) is searched in the table of FIG. 4 to obtain a mail address of the matching account. (4) Send an approval request notification to the e-mail address obtained in (3). The present embodiment can be realized by the following sequence. According to this embodiment, when an important document is discarded or stored,
It can be processed without the discretion of a specific person. Further, the state of the shared resource can be made known.

Next, with reference to FIG. 5, a method of starting the operation in the case where the objects to be discarded or stored are sorted out is regarded as the approval of the process after a certain period of time has elapsed. I do. Upon receiving an instruction to store a certain digitized object in the trunk room, the user checks the type of the account and its access right from the ACL (account control list) of the operation target object, and designates a certain period of time for each account (step 501). Use interface means. Therefore, the set time is monitored, and when the fixed time has elapsed (steps 502 and 503), processing for storing the target object in the trunk room is started (step 50).
4).

FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of the user interface. In the example shown in FIG. 6, the user can input a desired value into the numerical value input unit 601. When the user selects the execution button, the input value is held as the approval time, and whether the number of days has elapsed is monitored. That is. According to the above embodiment, the approval required for the discarding or storing process can be confirmed with minimum effort. In connection with this, a property indicating the time or person who performed the sorting operation on the object may be provided. Target location after separation (trash, shredder, trunk room, briefcase,
When any processing is performed in the template common area or the like, security of object processing can be secured by referring to the property.

The above embodiments are merely examples of the present invention, and it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. Further, a program for realizing the file management method according to the present invention can be distributed as a product in a form recorded on a recording medium, and the protection scope of the present invention extends to such a product. Needless to say.

[0041]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, when deleting an unnecessary object in units of objects, it is possible to select whether to put it in the trash can or to discard it without putting it in the trash can. This makes it possible to set a trunk room for collectively managing these objects, thereby facilitating storage and retrieval of digitized objects.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[FIG. 3] Notification of storing an electronic object in a trunk room → flow of approval (waiting for user reply)
It is a flowchart which shows.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of an account-address correspondence table.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of notification → approval (waiting for a predetermined time) when a certain digitized object is stored in a trunk room.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user interface for notifying of waiting for a predetermined time.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101, 201 control unit 102, 202 storage device management unit 103, 203 external storage device 204 data compression / decompression unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Yuki Kitamura 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo F-term in Ricoh Co., Ltd. 5B075 NR03 NR06 NR16 5B082 CA05 EA07 GA15 GA18 GC05

Claims (7)

[Claims] In a file system for storing data of an electronic object and creating / changing / deleting / retrieving the data, a normal electronic object and a special object which is excluded from a target of a normal operation. File management characterized by distinguishing from digitized objects that can be recognized by a simple operation, and expressing collectively the digitized objects excluded from the normal operation as under the management of another new digitized object. Method. 2. In a file system for storing data of an electronic object and creating / changing / deleting / retrieving the data, when deleting the object, the properties of the object, the form form, etc. are deleted. A file management method characterized in that it can be saved as a template. 3. The file management method according to claim 2, wherein, when the property template is reused, an object-specific value is automatically updated or invalidated. 4. In a file system for storing data of an electronic object and creating / changing / deleting / retrieving the data, an object which is no longer frequently used or becomes unnecessary is stored in a file system. A file management method characterized by separating and discarding or storing based on a processing method designated by a user. 5. When performing the sorting operation, a person (account) having an access right to a target object is notified that the object is to be destroyed or stored, and the operation approval is obtained from the account. 5. The file management method according to claim 4, wherein the work is determined later. 6. The file management method according to claim 5, wherein, after the disposition notification of the operation target object, approval from the account is obtained after a lapse of a predetermined time. 7. A recording medium on which a program for realizing the file management method according to claim 1 is recorded.