JP2002244913A - Data management method, device thereof, and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To add pointer information for referring to binary data and metadata to be related to each other to both of the data to keep this pointer information proper at all times. SOLUTION: When relating of a plurality of data is managed, the pointer information for specifying binary data and metadata related to each other is added to both of the data. When an instruction for the operation affecting the pointer information such as moving and name change is given for a file F1 on one side of the binary data and metadata, the pointer information is extracted from the file F1 to generate a list L1 (S701). Next, a file indicated by the pointer information in the list L1 is acquired, and the pointer information indicating the file F1 in the acquired file is updated to adapt to a condition of the file F1 after operation (S702). Then, the operation is executed for the file F1 (S703).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a data management method and apparatus for managing data association.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Meta-data is "data related to data" and is also used as data for explaining binary data such as image data and audio data. By setting this metadata for each binary data, it becomes possible to search for image data, audio data, and the like using keywords. At present, the effectiveness of this metadata has become widely known, and metadata of binary data has been prepared in various forms, and attempts have been made to use it for searching using a database.

When the metadata of binary data is stored in a file different from the binary data, it is necessary to associate the metadata with the binary data. In such a case, it is common to associate the binary data with the metadata by describing the file name of the binary data related to the metadata.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned method, since only reference information from metadata to binary data is set, there is a problem that when the binary data itself is moved, it becomes impossible to cope with each other. Was.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and refers to related data by adding pointer information for referencing each other data to both of the two data to be related to each other. The purpose is to make it easy to always make appropriate associations. Another object of the present invention is to add pointer information for referring to each other to both binary data and metadata to be associated with each other, and to perform an operation that affects the pointer information (for example, moving a file or changing a file name). (Change) is performed, the pointer information is automatically updated, and it is possible to always keep both pointer information appropriately. Another object of the present invention is to deal with internal data flexibly by targeting metadata described in a data description language. That is,
An object of the present invention is to easily understand the contents of data by using metadata using a highly versatile data description language.

[0006]

A data management method according to the present invention for achieving the above object instructs an operation which requires a change in pointer information pointing to the first data. An instruction step, an extraction step of extracting pointer information from the first data according to an operation of the instruction step, an acquisition step of acquiring second data indicated by the pointer information extracted in the extraction step, An updating step of updating pointer information indicating the first data in the second data so as to adapt to a state after the operation in the instruction step.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data management apparatus, comprising:
Instruction means for instructing an operation requiring a change to pointer information pointing to the data of the data, extraction means for extracting pointer information from the first data in response to an operation by the instruction means, and pointer information extracted by the extraction means And an updating unit that updates pointer information indicating the first data in the second data so as to adapt to a state after the operation by the instruction unit.

[0008]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<First Embodiment> In the first embodiment,
An embodiment of a metadata management method will be described.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. In FIG. 1, the reading unit 101
A part that reads data and includes devices such as scanners. The input unit 102 is a device for inputting instructions and data from a user, and includes a pointing device such as a keyboard and a mouse. The storage unit 103 is a device that stores binary data and metadata, and usually uses a hard disk or the like. The display unit 104 is a GU
I and an apparatus for displaying an image, and generally a CRT or a liquid crystal display is used.

Reference numeral 105 denotes a CPU, which is involved in all of the above-described processing of each component. ROM 106 and RAM 107
Provides the CPU 105 with programs, data, work areas, and the like necessary for the processing. It is also assumed that control programs necessary for all processes are stored in the storage unit 103 or in the ROM 106. When the control program is stored in the storage unit 103, the control program is once read into the RAM 107 and then executed by the CPU 105.

There are various other components in the system configuration other than those described above. However, since they are not the main subject of the present invention, description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 2 is an example of binary data with pointer information and metadata of the binary data according to the present embodiment. In the present embodiment, the position where the metadata file is stored and pointer information indicating the file name are attached to the end of the binary data.
The pointer information is, for example, in this embodiment, a path of a file in which metadata is stored, and is described using XML. For example, fi where metadata is stored
The pointer information to le01.mdf file is <ITEM LI
NKDATA_POINTER = "PATH"> c: \ metadata \ file01.mdf </ ITE
M>, which is on the C drive
It points to file01.mdf in a directory called metadata.

In this example, LINKDATA_POINTER = "PATH" indicates that the pointer information is represented by a path, and the path where the metadata actually exists is surrounded by an ITEM tag.
Similarly, the pointer information to the file file01.bmp in which the binary data is stored is, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, <ITEM LINKDATA_POINTER = "PATH"> c: \ image \
file01.bmp </ ITEM>.

A description example of specific metadata is shown. First, FIG. 3 shows an example of metadata. If the binary data associated with the metadata is file01.bmp, the actual description of the metadata can be described as shown in FIG. In this embodiment, the metadata is <P
hoto> and </ Photo>. By setting the bidirectional pointer information in this way, it is possible to easily refer to related data.

As described above, the pointer information includes the path to the file storing the data to be associated, the start character string (start tag in the data description language) indicating the start of the description of the pointer, and the pointer information of the pointer. It is represented by a set of end character strings (end tag of data description language) representing the end of the description. In the above example, the path expression is used as the pointer information. However, this may be represented by the URL of the file containing the data to be associated, the recording position on the disc, or the URI. The recording position on the disk indicates a position represented by, for example, a logical sector number or a logical block number.

Further, the pointer information may represent a set of a relative position and a size from the head of a file storing data to be associated. This allows
The pointer information indicates the position of specific data in the file. In this case, for the head of the file, the path, URL, recording position on the disc, URI, and the like of the file can be used. Further, the relative position and the size can be represented by a byte number and a line number (line number), respectively.

In the above example, when pointer information is added to binary data, a description of the pointer information is added to the last part of the binary data. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, for data in the structured storage format, pointer information can be described in an arbitrary property. When the format of the binary data defines a comment part, pointer information may be described in this part.

FIG. 5 shows a case where both binary data and metadata exist as files on a local disk.
It is a flow chart which shows an example of processing which gives pointer information to these files. First, step S501
To add pointer information to the binary data. next,
In step S502, pointer information is added to the metadata. The details of each processing of step S501 and step S502 will be described later.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of a process for adding pointer information to a file. Pointer information is added to the binary data file and the metadata file in exactly the same procedure.

In step S601, the XML is included in the file.
Start tag (in this example, <? Xml version = "1.0" encoding
= "Shift_JIS"?>) Is checked. XML
If no start tag exists, the process proceeds to step S602; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S603. In step S602, an XML start tag is added to the end of the file, and the process proceeds to step S604. Step S603
Then, it is checked whether a <Photo> tag exists after the start tag of XML. If the <Photo> tag exists, the process proceeds to step S605; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S604. In step S604, <Pho
to> tag and </ Photo> tag, and add in step S606
Proceed to.

In step S605, if the pointer information is <Pho
Check if it exists after the to> tag. If it does not exist, the process proceeds to step S606, and if it does exist, the process proceeds to step S607. In step S606, the above-described pointer information is added immediately before the </ Photo> tag, and the process ends. In step S607, it is determined whether or not the content of the reference information for the data to be associated is correct. If the content is correct, the process ends. Specifically, it confirms whether the data to be associated actually exists. If not correct, step S
Proceeding to step 608, the content of the pointer information is corrected, and this processing ends.

In addition, in providing pointer information, a file path indicating each of two files (binary data and metadata) to be associated with each other is input to the input unit 10.
2 and the pointer is used as the pointer information.
May be performed. However, the designation of the pointer information is not limited to this. For example, by giving pointer information to one of binary data and metadata, pointer information may be automatically given to the other. That is, for example, when pointer information input by a key is added to binary data, metadata indicated by the pointer information is automatically read, and pointer information indicating the binary data is added to the read metadata. You may do so. Alternatively, similarly, when pointer information input by a key is added to metadata, binary data indicated by the pointer information is automatically read out, and pointer information indicating the metadata is added to the read binary data. You may.

Next, a description will be given of a process of updating pointer information in a related file when an operation (such as renaming or moving a file) accompanied by a change in pointer information for the file to which the pointer information is attached is performed. I do. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a pointer information update process executed when a file to which pointer information is attached is renamed or moved. First, in step S701, the file F1 to be renamed or moved
From pointer information, obtain a list L ₁ of the files in the cross reference. Next, in step S702, modifies the pointer information file shown in Listing L _1. And
In step S703, rename or move a file F ₁ in accordance with operating instructions. Next, details of the processing in step S701 and step S702 will be described.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing details of the processing in step S701. The pointer information is extracted from the binary data file and the metadata file by the same processing.

In step S801, an XML start tag is searched. If the XML start tag is not found, the process ends, assuming that pointer information has not been added to the file. If an XML start tag is found, the process advances to step S802. In step S802, a <Photo> tag after the start tag of XML is searched. If no <Photo> tag is found, the process ends, assuming that pointer information has not been added to the file. If a <Photo> tag is found, the process advances to step S803. Step S80
In step 3, pointer information is searched for after the <Photo> tag. In the present embodiment, the pointer information is LINKDATA among the ITEM tags.
_POINTER is pointer information. Therefore, step S8
In 04, pointer information is extracted based on this tag,
List all files referenced by pointer information
Register in ₁ and end the process.

Next, the details of the processing in step S702 will be described. FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating the details of the process of step S702. Both the binary data file and the metadata file correct the pointer information in exactly the same processing flow.

[0027] In step S901, determine whether or not included in the list L ₁ is file. If the list L ₁ is empty and the process ends. If not, the operation proceeds to step S902. In step S902, the taken out one file from the list L ₁ (which is referred to as file F _2), to delete a file F ₂ taken out of the list L _1.
Next, in step S903, extracts the pointer information in the file F ₂ in the same manner as in FIG. 7. Step S904
In, among pointer information retrieved in step S903, it fetches only pointer information I regarding file F _1. In step S905, the pointer information I regarding files F ₁ extracted at step S904, the file F ₁
Is changed to the file name F ₁ ′ after the name change or the file name after the movement, and is written back to the file F ₂ again (overwriting the old pointer information I) to complete the update of the pointer information. Performed for all the pointer information such processing is on the list L ₁ (i.e., file) (step S901). In a similar procedure, if the file F ₁ the pointer information is included is deleted, it deletes the description of the file F ₁ from the pointer information I of the files in the cross reference. That may be deleted pointer information specified in step S904 from the file F _2.

In the present embodiment, when copying a file, the pointer information is not modified by the above-described processing because it is not known whether or not reference information is necessary for the copy destination file. It goes without saying that the file may be copied including the pointer information and the pointer information may be updated. In this case, step S904
In step S905, the pointer information I extracted in step S905 is changed to indicate the copy destination file.
₂ (the original pointer information I is left as it is).

In the present embodiment, the case where the binary data and the metadata exist on the local disk has been described. However, it goes without saying that these files may exist on the network.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, an operation which affects the pointer information of a file, such as moving, renaming, deleting or copying a binary data file or a metadata file, is performed. Also, it is possible to always hold pointer information in an appropriate state.

The correspondence between binary data and metadata is as follows:
It may be one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-one, or many-to-many. This is the file F ₁ that has been renamed or moved.
To obtain a list L ₁ of pointer information (FIG. 8), the file F ₁ file (F ₂₎ indicated by the pointer information
This is apparent from updating the pointer information I for

FIG. 10 shows that the metadata named in FIG.
FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a description example of metadata when referring to le01.bmp and file02.bmp. By listing the link destinations in this way, it is possible to describe a file reference to a plurality of files. In this example, the two files are both described by a path, but a plurality of description methods are mixed (for example, a path and a U
RL, etc.).

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining an example in which a plurality of binary data and a plurality of metadata are associated. In FIG. 11, binary data 1 is associated with metadata A, metadata B, and metadata C, and binary data 2 is associated with metadata B. Describing pointer information using a data description language as described above has the advantage that such a flexible correspondence can be described.

In each of the above embodiments, data description language (XML) is used to describe the pointer information, but it may be described using plain text. Also, HTM
Other data description languages such as L, SVG, SGML, SMIL can be applied. Furthermore, still image data is taken as an example of the binary data, but it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to other binary data such as moving image data and audio data.

An object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium storing a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or an apparatus, and to provide a computer (or CPU) of the system or the apparatus.
And MPU) by reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD
-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS (Operating System) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. ) May perform some or all of the actual processing, and the processing may realize the functions of the above-described embodiments.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instruction of the program code, It goes without saying that the CPU included in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0040]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By adding pointer information for referencing each other's data to both of the two data to be associated with each other, it is possible to easily refer to related data and always perform appropriate association. Further, according to the present invention, pointer information for referring to each other is added to both binary data and metadata to be associated with each other, and operations that affect the pointer information (for example, file movement and file name When the change is performed, the pointer information is automatically updated, so that both pointer information can always be appropriately maintained. Further, according to the present invention, by targeting metadata described in a data description language, it is possible to flexibly correspond to internal data.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an information processing apparatus according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an example of binary data to which pointer information is attached and metadata of the binary data according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of metadata.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a description example of actual metadata corresponding to the metadata of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process of adding pointer information to both binary data and metadata files.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a process of adding pointer information to a file.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a pointer information update process executed when a file to which pointer information is attached is renamed or moved.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating details of a process in step S701.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating details of a process in step S702.

FIG. 10 shows metadata named file01.bmp and fi in FIG.
FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a description example of metadata when referring to le02.bmp.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a case where a plurality of binary data are associated with a plurality of metadata.

Claims (38)

[Claims] An instruction step of instructing an operation that requires a change in pointer information pointing to the first data with respect to the first data; and a pointer from the first data in response to the operation in the instruction step. An extracting step of extracting information; an obtaining step of obtaining second data indicated by the pointer information extracted in the extracting step; a pointer information indicating the first data in the second data, An update step of updating to adapt to a state after the operation. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the extracting step generates a list of pointer information included in the first data, and generates a list of pointer information included in the list.
2. The data management method according to claim 1, wherein the acquiring step and the updating step are operated. 3. The data management method according to claim 1, wherein the pointer information includes a description of a pointer indicating a position of a file in which a file including related data is stored. 4. The data management method according to claim 3, wherein the description of the pointer represents the position of the file by using one of a path, a recording position on a disk, a URI, and a URL. . 5. The pointer information includes a position of a file indicated by the description of the pointer as a head of the file, a description of a relative position from the head and a size, and specifies the related data by these descriptions. 5. The data management method according to claim 3, wherein: 6. The data management method according to claim 5, wherein the description of the relative position is a byte number or a line number. 7. The data management method according to claim 5, wherein the description of the size is a number of bytes or a number of lines. 8. The pointer information includes a description of the pointer, a start character string indicating the start of the description of the pointer, and an end character string indicating the end of the pointer. 5. The data management method according to 3 or 4. 9. The data management method according to claim 8, wherein the start character string and the end character string are predetermined start tags and end tags defined by a predetermined data description language. 10. The data management method according to claim 1, wherein one of the first and second data is binary data, and the other is metadata. 11. The data according to claim 1, wherein the binary data is data in a predetermined structured storage format, and the pointer information is described in a predetermined property in the structured storage format. Management method. 12. The data management method according to claim 1, wherein the binary data is data having a predetermined binary data format, and the pointer information is described in a comment portion. 13. The data management method according to claim 1, wherein the description of the pointer information is added to the last part of the binary data. 14. The data management method according to claim 10, wherein the binary data is any one of still image data, moving image data, and audio data. 15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the pointer information is described by plain text.
The data management method according to any of the above. 16. The data management method according to claim 1, wherein said pointer information is described in a data description language. 17. The data description language is XML, HT
17. The data management method according to claim 16, wherein the data management method is one of ML, SVG, SGML, and SMIL. 18. An operation according to the instruction step, wherein the operation in the first step is
18. The data management method according to claim 1, further comprising any one of moving, renaming, duplicating, and deleting a file including the data. 19. An instructing means for instructing an operation which requires a change in pointer information indicating the first data with respect to the first data, and a pointer from the first data in response to an operation by the instructing means. Extracting means for extracting information; obtaining means for obtaining second data indicated by the pointer information extracted by the extracting means; and pointer information indicating the first data in the second data, An updating means for updating the data management apparatus so as to adapt to a state after the operation. 20. The extraction unit generates a list of pointer information included in the first data, and generates a list of pointer information included in the list.
20. The data management device according to claim 19, wherein the acquisition unit and the update unit function. 21. The data management device according to claim 19, wherein the pointer information includes a description of a pointer indicating a position of a file in which a file including related data is stored. 22. The description of the pointer includes a path of the file, a recording position on a disk, a URI, and a URL.
22. The data management device according to claim 21, wherein the data management device is represented by any one of the following. 23. The pointer information includes a position of a file indicated by the description of the pointer as a head of the file, a description of a relative position and a size from the head, and specifies the related data by using these descriptions. 23. The data management device according to claim 21, wherein: 24. The data management apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the description of the relative position is a byte number or a line number. 25. The data management device according to claim 23, wherein the description of the size is a number of bytes or a number of lines. 26. The pointer information, comprising: a description of the pointer, a set of a start character string indicating the start of the description of the pointer, and an end character string indicating the end of the pointer. 23. The data management device according to 21 or 22. 27. The data management device according to claim 26, wherein the start character string and the end character string are predetermined start tags and end tags defined by a predetermined data description language. 28. The data management device according to claim 19, wherein one of the first and second data is binary data, and the other is metadata. 29. The data according to claim 19, wherein the binary data is data in a predetermined structured storage format, and the pointer information is described in a predetermined property in the structured storage format. Management device. 30. The data management apparatus according to claim 19, wherein said binary data is data having a predetermined binary data format, and said pointer information is described in a comment part thereof. 31. The data management apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the description of the pointer information is added to the last part of the binary data. 32. The data management device according to claim 28, wherein the binary data is any one of still image data, moving image data, and audio data. 33. The method according to claim 19, wherein the pointer information is described by plain text.
3. The data management device according to any one of 2. 34. The method according to claim 19, wherein the pointer information is described in a data description language.
A data management device according to any one of the above. 35. The data description language is XML, HT
The data management device according to claim 34, wherein the data management device is any one of ML, SVG, SGML, and SMIL. 36. The method according to claim 36, wherein the operation by the instruction unit is performed by the first operation unit.
36. The method according to claim 19, further comprising moving, renaming, duplicating, or deleting a file including the data.
A data management device according to any one of the above. 37. A storage medium storing a control program for realizing a data management method according to claim 1 by a computer. 38. A control program for realizing a data management method according to claim 1 by a computer.