JP2875034B2 - Object exclusive control unit - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an exclusive control apparatus for objects when a plurality of users mutually access a common resource consisting of object information such as graphics.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the recent progress of graphic processing technology and network technology, a plurality of users have access to resources such as texts (characters, symbols, etc.), graphics or images stored in a computer. Matching processing,
Many are being performed. Such data as text (characters, symbols, etc.), graphics, images, and the like are generally called objects. Specifically, a common object group extracted from a database is displayed on a plurality of user terminals connected via a network, and each user can simultaneously refer to, edit, or update the object group. .

In such a form, especially when an object is edited or updated, if one object is accessed by one user, other users are allowed to access the object so that the contents of the object do not become inconsistent. You need to control the object so that it cannot be accessed.
Such control is called exclusive control.

Conventionally, on the assumption that objects do not overlap each other on a common resource, the storage area of each object on the resource is registered in a predetermined table in advance, and a user is assigned to each graphic object. Exclusive control of an object has been performed by defining access information for recording and referring to whether or not an object has been accessed in the table.

[0005] For example, it is assumed that a common work environment (work memory area) for providing images of a group of common graphic objects to each user terminal and allowing each user to edit them is provided on the host side. In this case, it is assumed that the graphic objects do not overlap each other on the screen when they are displayed on the terminal screen. Under this premise, a storage area when each graphic object is stored in the work memory area is registered in a table provided in the host as shown in FIG. When the storage area is determined, the display position of the object on the terminal screen is determined. The display screen is common to each user's terminal. Then, when the first user designates a certain area on the terminal with a cursor or the like, a graphic object having a storage area equal to the designated area is searched on the table of FIG. Is recorded to indicate that is being accessed. Then the second
When the user designates the same area on the terminal, the same part having the same storage area as the designated area is searched on the table of FIG. 13, and from that part, the first user accesses the graphic object. By reading the information indicating that the user is in the middle, access by the second user is prohibited.

[0006]

In the above-mentioned conventional example, it is assumed that objects such as figures do not overlap each other on a common resource. However, in recent years, as the performance of the processor has been improved and the function of an operation system called a window system has been improved, advanced processing of graphics and the like has become possible, and a plurality of objects can be displayed on a display screen of a terminal. It is becoming possible to display them in an overlapping manner. Such a function of the user interface is an excellent function that can bring the operation on the terminal screen closer to the image of the operation on the document on the desk.

Here, even when a plurality of objects are overlapped as described above, it is necessary to perform exclusive control so that one object can be accessed by only one user. However, as in the above-described conventional example, it is not possible to perform exclusive exclusion control of objects overlapping each other simply by controlling the storage area on which area each object is stored on a common resource. That is, in an area where objects overlap, those objects include the same storage area. Therefore, when the user designates the area, it is difficult to determine which object should be subjected to exclusive control.

Therefore, there is a problem that it will be difficult in the future to realize a function in which a plurality of users access the same object and edit the object jointly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to make it possible to identify whether or not a user accesses an object even when each object overlaps, and to realize a higher function in a joint work on a common resource by a plurality of users. And

[0010]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the present invention. The present invention is based on an object exclusion control apparatus that identifies users who access a common resource composed of one or more objects and performs exclusive control of each user's access to each object. Here, the object is graphic data, text data, or the like on which a user performs an editing process or the like. The present invention is directed to, for example, a case where a plurality of users perform an editing process or the like on an object displayed on the same display screen.

In FIG. 1, first, there is provided an object hierarchy information management means 101 for storing object hierarchy information indicating a hierarchy relationship of each object on a resource.
For example, when graphic objects are displayed on the display screen in an overlapping manner, the graphic object displayed on the display screen is regarded as an object of a lower hierarchy, and the object name and the storage on the resource are considered. This is a means for storing together with the area.

Next, there is provided an object extracting means 102 for extracting an object designated by the user based on the object hierarchy information stored in the object hierarchy information managing means 101. The means determines, for example, in order from the graphic object having the lowest hierarchy stored in the object hierarchy information management means 101, whether or not the storage area includes the area designated by the user, and determines that the storage area is included first. This is a means for extracting the selected object.

[0013] Further, there is provided an object information management means 103 for storing object information indicating which user has the access right of each object on the resource. This means is for storing the name of the user who is currently accessing each object.

An exclusive control unit 104 that performs the following exclusive control operation in order from the user who has issued the instruction to the object. That is, the object information is stored in the object information management unit 103 as to whether or not the user extracted the instruction to the object extracted by the object extraction unit 102 has an access right. Judge based on information. For example, the exclusive control unit 104 determines whether or not any user name is registered for the specified object of the object information management unit 103 or when the user name of the user is registered, It is determined that the access right exists.

When the access right exists, the exclusive control unit 104 controls the object extraction unit 102
The user's access to the object extracted by the above is authorized, and information on the access right is registered in the object information management means 103. For example, the user name of the user is registered in a column corresponding to the object in the object information management unit 103.

Conversely, if the access right does not exist, the exclusive control unit 104 sets the object extraction unit 10
2 prohibits the user from accessing the object extracted.

Here, the exclusive control means 104 performs the above-described exclusive control operation in order from the user who has issued the instruction to the object. The order control is performed, for example, by providing an event information management unit that stores, as event information, the user name, time information, and the object name extracted by the object extraction unit 102 in the order in which an instruction from the user occurs, , The exclusive control means 104 may perform the exclusive control operation in order.

[0018]

According to the present invention, the object extracting means 102
The object designated by the user is extracted based on the object hierarchy information stored in the object hierarchy information management means 101. In this case, for example, even when the graphic objects are displayed overlapping on the edit screen (corresponding to the resources), the object designated by the user can be appropriately extracted based on the hierarchical relationship between the objects.

The exclusive control unit 104 performs an exclusive control operation on the extracted objects based on the object information indicating the access right of each object stored in the object information management unit 103, so that a plurality of objects are obtained. Even in a state where objects are accessed in a layered manner, appropriate exclusive control is realized.

[0020]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

Input devices 201 ₁ , 201 ₂ ,... (Hereinafter, referred to as input devices 201) are provided for each of a plurality of users, and each user edits an object on a common display unit 209. In this case, an event instruction corresponding to each editing process is issued. These event commands are, for example, commands for drawing a new graphic object, moving, copying, and deleting a graphic object with respect to a displayed graphic object.

The event information acquisition unit 202 is provided with the input device 2
01, the object instruction designated by the event instruction is extracted by referring to the object hierarchy information management unit 203, and the user name (input device name) that issued the event instruction and the occurrence time of the event information are extracted. Then, they are output to the event control unit 204 as event information. The object hierarchy information management unit 203 stores object hierarchy information indicating how each object is superimposed and displayed on the display unit 209. Based on this information, the event information acquisition unit 202 executes the object extraction Perform the operation.

The event control unit 204 stores the user name, object name, and occurrence time of the event command from the event information acquisition unit 202 as event information in the event information management unit 205 for each event command.

The exclusive control unit 206 is provided with the event control unit 20
Exclusive control of access to each object on the display unit 209 based on the event information read from the event information management unit 205 via the control unit 4 is performed. The object information management unit 207 stores object information indicating which user has an access right to each object on the display unit 209. Based on this information, the exclusive control unit 206 performs the above-described exclusive control operation. Do.

The display control unit 208 stores actual objects to be displayed on the display unit 209. Then, the display control unit 208 is determined to be accessible by the exclusive control unit 206, and based on the event command sent from the event information acquisition unit 202 via the event control unit 204 and the exclusive control unit 206, the display unit 209. , And controls the display and correction of the object to be displayed.

The display unit 209 is a display, and is accessed by a plurality of users who operate the input device 201 as described above. For example, when a plurality of user terminals are connected by a network, a display unit may be provided for each input device 201. In this case, one display control unit 2 is provided on each display unit under the control of a network control device (not shown).
The same group of objects controlled by 08 will be displayed.

The operation of the embodiment having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG.
4 and the first operation example of FIG. 7 will be sequentially described. Now, a circular graphic object # 1 and a triangular graphic object # 2 are displayed on the display unit 209.
Are displayed overlapping each other as shown on the right side of FIG. 7, and the user u1 and subsequently the user u2
It is assumed that the user operates the cursor 01 and sequentially designates the object # 2 as shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart of the exclusive control according to the embodiment of FIG. First, the user operates the input device 2
When the user operates the cursor 01 and designates one point on the display unit 209, an event command based on the designation is input to the event information acquisition unit 202.

The event information obtaining section 202 refers to the object hierarchy information management section 203 and extracts an object to be accessed by the user (S1 in FIG. 3). FIG.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the registered contents of the object hierarchy information management unit 203 corresponding to the operation example of FIG. 7.

When displaying the objects on the display unit 209, the display control unit 208 outputs the object hierarchy information indicating how the objects are displayed in an overlapping manner, such as "hierarchy", "object name", and "object In the order of “storage area”, the object hierarchy information management unit 20
Register to 3. Note that, on the display screen, the layer of the object displayed on the uppermost layer is defined as the lowermost layer, and the layer of the object hidden and displayed on the lowermost layer is defined as the uppermost layer (layer 1). For example, in the case of the first operation example in FIG. 7, as shown in FIG.
The hierarchical relationship of No. 2 is # 2 → # 1 in order from Hierarchy 1,
Object # 2 and its storage area are stored in layer 1
The object # 1 and its storage area are respectively registered in. When the overlapping relationship of the objects is changed by the user's instruction, the display control unit 208 changes the registration order of the object hierarchy information management unit 203 accordingly.

The object extraction processing of FIG. 4 (S in FIG. 3)
In 1), first, the object hierarchy information management unit 20
The layer number referred to by No. 3 is set to the number of the lowest layer (the layer having the highest number) (S8 in FIG. 4).

Next, the object hierarchy information management unit 203
Then, the object name corresponding to the set hierarchical number and its storage area are read (S9 in FIG. 4). Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the point accessed by the user is included in the read storage area (S10 in FIG. 4).

When the access point is not included, the layer number is decremented by 1 (S11). Unless the number becomes 0 (as long as the number does not exceed the uppermost layer) (S12 in FIG. 4), the object layer information management unit 203 transmits the layer number. Operation for reading out the object name corresponding to the number and its storage area (S9 in FIG. 4)
Is repeated.

Then, in step S10 of FIG.
When it is determined that the access point is included in the storage area of the read object, it is determined that the object name corresponds to the object accessed by the user (S13 in FIG. 4). If the determination in step S12 of FIG. 4 is NO, the access point does not point to any object, so processing is performed to the effect that the object has not been extracted (S14). Has no display control.

The operation of the above-described object extraction processing is shown in FIG.
The operation example will be described as follows. First, the object name # 1 of layer 2 and its storage area are read from the object layer information management unit 203 having the registered contents of FIG. When the user u1 points to the area B in the example of FIG. 7, the access point is not included in the storage area of the circular graphic object # 1, so the determination in S10 of FIG. 4 is NO.
Then, the object name # 2 of the hierarchy 1 and its storage area are read. Since the area B is included in the storage area of the triangular graphic object # 2, the determination in S10 is Y
ES, and the object name # 2 is determined. Thereafter, even when the user u2 designates the area C, the access point is included in the storage area of the object # 2, so that the object name # 2 is determined.

Although not related to the examples of FIGS. 7 and 5, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, when the graphic objects A to D are displayed overlapping and the object C is designated by the user, the Is (A, B) → C → D in order from the top layer. On the other hand, the event information acquisition unit 202 refers to the object hierarchy information management unit 203 in the reverse order of the hierarchy relationship according to the operation flowchart of FIG. 4, and extracts the designated object C.

When the event information acquisition unit 202 executes the object extraction process of step S1 in FIG. 3 by the above processing, the event information acquisition unit 202 then transmits the object name and the user name ( The time when the event command was issued and the time when the event command was issued are passed to the event control unit 204 as event information (S2 in FIG. 3). In the example of FIG. 7, when the user u1 indicates the area B of the object # 2, the object name # 2
, The user name u1 and the time t1 are passed. Thereafter, when the user u2 designates the area C, the object name # 2
, The user name u2 and the time t2 are passed.

The event control unit 204 registers the above-mentioned event information in the event information management unit 205 in the order of the occurrence time of the event command (S3 in FIG. 3). FIG. 8 shows the registered contents of the event information management unit 205. As in the example of FIG. 7, the user u1 and subsequently the user u2
When the areas B and C of the second area are sequentially instructed, registration is performed in the event information management unit 205 with the registration contents as shown in FIG.

Subsequently, the exclusive control unit 206 sequentially reads out each event information in the order in which the event information is registered in the event information management unit 205, refers to the registered contents of the object information management unit 207 at the current time, and It is determined whether an access right to another user other than the user specified by the user name of the event information has already been passed to the object specified by the object name of the event information (S4 in FIG. 3). .

If the access right has not been passed to another user, the exclusive control unit 206 stores the user information of the event information in the object field designated by the object name of the event information in the object information management unit 207. The access right to the user specified by the name is registered, and the event command input from the event information acquisition unit 202 via the event control unit 204 is passed to the display control unit 208 (S6 in FIG. 3).

Conversely, if the access right has been passed to another user, the exclusive control unit 206 does not pass the event command to the display control unit 208 and prohibits the user from accessing (S8 in FIG. 3). ).

The operation of the exclusive control unit 206 described above will be described below with reference to the operation example of FIG. Exclusive control unit 20
6 reads out event information at time t1 from the registered event information management unit 205 in FIG. 8 and refers to the registered content in the object information management unit 207 based on the information. FIG. 9A shows the registered contents of the object information management unit 207 when the event information at the time t1 is read. In this example, objects # 1 and # 2
Neither is the access right passed to any user. In this case, the exclusive control unit 206 determines in step S6 in FIG.
, The access right to the user name u1 is registered in the object name # 2 column of the object information management unit 207, and an event command from the user u1 is displayed on the display control unit 208.
Pass to. As a result, the user u1 can access the object # 2 displayed on the display unit 209.
At this time, the registered contents of the object information management unit 207 are changed as shown in FIG.

Thereafter, the exclusive control unit 206 reads the event information at time t2 from the registered event information management unit 205 in FIG. 8, and refers to the registered content of the object information management unit 207 based on the information. The registration content of the object information management unit 207 has been changed as shown in FIG. 9B, so that the exclusion control unit 206 determines that the access right of the object # 2 is not set to the user u1 other than the user u2.
To be passed to Therefore, the exclusive control unit 2
06 is an event command from the user u2 to the display control unit 2
08, the access by the user u2 to the object # 2 is prohibited.

By the above exclusive control operation, the first control shown in FIG.
In the case where the graphic objects # 1 and # 2 overlap each other as in the operation example described above, exclusive control of access by each user can be appropriately performed.

FIGS. 10 to 12 show a second example of the exclusive control operation of the embodiment of FIG. 2 based on the operation flowcharts of FIGS. 3 and 4. In this operation example, as can be seen from FIG. 10, the display unit 209 displays two text objects #
In this example, the user u1 and subsequently the user u2 operate the cursor of the input device 201 to sequentially designate the object # 1.

Also in this case, the exclusive control operation is performed in exactly the same manner as in the first operation example of FIG. 7, the registered contents of the event information management unit 205 are set as shown in FIG. Fig. 12 (a)
The state changes as shown in FIG.
Is passed, and the object # 1 of the user u2 is
Access to is forbidden.

[0047]

According to the present invention, an object designated by a user is extracted based on a hierarchical relationship between objects, so that, for example, even when graphic objects are displayed overlapping on an edit screen. It is possible to appropriately extract the object including the fragment portion specified by the user. Then, an exclusive control operation is performed on each of the objects extracted in this way based on the object information indicating the access right of each object, so that a plurality of objects are accessed in a hierarchically overlapping manner. Even in the state, it is possible to perform appropriate exclusive control.

As a result, it is possible to realize a high function such that a plurality of users can access the same object and edit the object jointly on the computer.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart of exclusive control.

FIG. 4 is an operation flowchart of an object extraction process.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing registered contents of an object hierarchy information management unit.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the operation of an object extraction process.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a first operation example of exclusive control.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing registered contents of an event information management unit in the first operation example.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing registered contents of an object information management unit in the first operation example.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a second operation example of the exclusive control.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing registered contents of an event information management unit in a second operation example.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing registered contents of an object information management unit in a second operation example.

FIG. 13 is an operation explanatory diagram of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 object hierarchy information management means 102 object extraction means 103 object information management means 104 exclusive control means

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. An object exclusive control apparatus for identifying a user who accesses a common resource composed of one or more objects and exclusively controlling access of each user to each of the objects. Object hierarchy information management means (101) for storing object hierarchy information indicating a hierarchical relationship between the objects;
An object extracting means (102) for extracting an object designated by a user based on object hierarchy information stored in the object hierarchy information managing means (101); and an access right of each object on the resource. Object information management means (103) for storing object information indicating which user has the object, and the access right of the user who has issued an instruction to the object extracted by the object extraction means (102) is A determination is made as to whether or not the object exists based on the object information stored in the object information management means (103). Finger to object Registers information about the access rights with grant access user to the object information managing means (103) subjected to the object extraction unit when the access right is absent (10
Exclusive control means (104) for performing, in order from the user who has issued the instruction to the object, an exclusive control operation for prohibiting the user who issued the instruction to the object with respect to the object extracted in 2) from being accessed. An object exclusion controller characterized by the following. 2. The object exclusive control device according to claim 1, wherein said object is graphic data. 3. The object exclusive control device according to claim 1, wherein said object is text data.