JP6439730B2 - Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and information processing program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing device, an information processing method, and an information processing program, and more particularly, to an information processing device, an information processing method, and an information processing program that visually express a relationship between access rights of objects.

Conventionally, there are image forming apparatuses such as multifunction peripherals (MFPs) and printers capable of printing documents and images. There is also a management system (image forming system) for managing these image forming apparatuses on a network.
In the image forming system, in the image forming system, each user is grouped into a group to which an access right is set. For this reason, there has been a technical problem that it is desirable to visually display the relationship of access rights between objects including users and groups.

  With reference to Patent Document 1, when landmark icons are densely displayed in a navigation destination search or the like, the accuracy of the display location can be reduced by reducing the size of the icons or by changing the display mode such as using transparent colors. A navigation device has been disclosed that makes it easy to see icons while maintaining them and improves operability such as scrolling and destination search.

JP 2007-086633 A

Here, the technique of Patent Document 1 is a technique that makes it easy to see by changing the color, transparency, and size of an icon and highlighting it.
For this reason, the technique of Patent Document 1 is not very suitable for an application that visually displays the relationship of access rights between objects including a user and a group, such as an image forming system.
That is, the relationship of access rights between objects in the image forming system is scattered by connecting many objects with lines. In such a display, for example, when an operator wants to know who can access a certain group, it is not possible to easily understand the relationship of access rights of this object only by changing the color of the object. It was.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and an object thereof is to provide an image forming apparatus that solves the above-described problems.

An information processing apparatus according to the present invention is an information processing apparatus that connects objects including a group to which an access right is set and a user belonging to the group with a line, and visually represents the relationship of the access right between the objects. Among the objects, an attention object selection unit that selects an attention object to be visually noticed by an operator's instruction, and the attention object selected by the attention object selection unit and the access right are related to each other. A related object that is an object is searched, a related object rearrangement unit that rearranges the target object in the vicinity of the target object, a non-related object that is not related to the target object is searched, and the related object is rearranged. The related object rearranged by the placement unit And a non-related objects rearrangement unit for rearranging the away from the preparative position, the attention object selection unit, from said non-through related object rearrangement unit relocated the unrelated objects, further the object of interest The related object rearrangement unit and the unrelated object rearrangement unit are selected according to an instruction from the operator, and the related object rearrangement unit and the non-related object rearrangement unit, with respect to the further target object selected by the target object selection unit, except for the already rearranged objects. Further, the related object and the non-related object are searched and rearranged respectively .
The information processing apparatus according to the present invention further includes a selection canceling unit that cancels the selection of the object of interest in accordance with an instruction from the operator, and enables rearrangement by the related object rearrangement unit and the unrelated object rearrangement unit. It is characterized by.
The information processing method according to the present invention includes an information processing apparatus that connects objects including a group for which access rights are set and users belonging to the group with a line, and visually represents the relationship of the access rights between the objects. An information processing method to be executed, wherein the information processing apparatus selects an attention object to be visually noticed from among the objects according to an instruction of an operator, and the relation between the selected attention object and the access right is selected. The related object which is the certain object is searched, aligned and rearranged near the target object, the non-related object which is not related to the target object is searched, and the related object is rearranged. It was rearranged away from rearranged the unrelated object, further The target object is selected according to the operator's instruction, and the related object and the non-related object for the target object selected by the target object selection unit are excluded except for the object that has already been rearranged. It is characterized by searching and rearranging each .
An information processing program according to the present invention is an information processing apparatus that connects objects including a group to which an access right is set and a user belonging to the group with a line, and visually represents the relationship of the access right between the objects. An information processing program to be executed, wherein the information processing apparatus causes an attention object selection unit to select an attention object to be visually noticed from among the objects according to an operator's instruction, and a related object rearrangement unit The related object, which is the object having the access right related to the target object selected by the target object selecting unit, is searched, aligned and rearranged near the target object, and the non-related object rearrangement unit , The object not related to the object of interest Find the unrelated objects are objects, wherein the related object rearrangement unit is relocated to a position away from the relocated the associated object, the relocated the unrelated objects, further the object of interest the The object is selected by an operator's instruction, and the related object and the non-related object with respect to the further object of interest selected by the object of interest selection unit are searched except for the object that has already been rearranged. It is characterized by arranging .

  According to the present invention, a target object to be visually noticed is selected according to an operator's instruction, related objects are aligned and rearranged near the target object, and non-related objects are rearranged at a more distant position. Thus, it is possible to provide an information processing apparatus capable of displaying the relationship of access rights between objects in a visually easy-to-understand manner.

1 is a system configuration diagram of an image forming system X according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the whole structure of the management server shown in FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the control structure of the management server shown in FIG. It is a conceptual diagram explaining the access right of the object shown in FIG. It is a flowchart of the access right relation display process which concerns on embodiment of this invention. FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of alignment and rearrangement of objects by the access right relation display process illustrated in FIG. 4. FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram illustrating another example of arrangement and rearrangement of objects by the access right relation display process shown in FIG. 4. FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram illustrating another example of arrangement and rearrangement of objects by the access right relation display process shown in FIG. 4.

<Embodiment>
[System configuration of image forming system X]
First, a system configuration of an image forming system X according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
The image forming system X is configured by connecting a plurality of image forming apparatuses 1 installed in a customer environment to a management server 2 that performs remote management via a network 5.
The image forming apparatus 1 is an MFP, a printer, or the like. Each image forming apparatus 1 is registered in advance in the management server 2. In this image forming apparatus 1, for example, access rights are set for each customer, grouped for each customer, and managed by the management server 2 in units of groups.
The management server 2 is an example of an information processing apparatus according to this embodiment such as a general-purpose machine or a PC (Personal Computer). The management server 2 remotely manages and maintains each image forming apparatus 1. For this reason, the management server 2 is controlled by an operator such as a service person, a sales representative, or a customer manager.
The network 5 is a network such as a LAN (Local Area Network), the Internet (registered trademark), and a WAN (Wide Area Network) such as a mobile phone network.

  In addition to the management server 2, the image forming system X may include a configuration server that manages the configuration of the managed image forming apparatus 1, a maintenance server that maintains the image forming apparatus 1, and the like. Further, the operator may operate the management server 2 with a terminal (not shown) such as a PC via the network 5.

[Overall configuration of management server 2]
Next, the overall configuration of the management server 2 shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG.
In the management server 2, a control unit 10, a network transmission / reception unit 15, an input unit 16, a display unit 17, a storage unit 19, and the like are connected to the control unit 10 through a common bus, various interfaces, and the like. The operation of each unit is controlled by the control unit 10.

The control unit 10 includes a general purpose processor (GPP), a central processing unit (CPU), a micro processing unit (MPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), a graphics processing unit (GPU), an application specific processor (ASIC). Information processing means such as a processor for a specific application).
The control unit 10 reads out a control program stored in the ROM or HDD of the storage unit 19, develops the control program in the RAM, and executes it to operate as each unit of a functional block described later. The control unit 10 controls the entire apparatus according to predetermined instruction information input from an external terminal (not shown) or the input unit 16.

Further, the control unit 10 determines a relationship between objects 300 (FIG. 3) described later, moves the objects 300, aligns the objects 300, and rearranges them. In addition, the control unit 10 can determine whether the object 300 is already selected or arranged, or is not the object 300. Furthermore, the control unit 10 can cancel the selection of the object 300 in accordance with an instruction from the operator.
The detailed configuration of these control units 10 will be described later.

  The network transmission / reception unit 15 is a network connection unit including a LAN board, a wireless transmission / reception device, and the like for connecting to the network 5 such as a LAN, a wireless LAN, a WAN, and a cellular phone network.

  The input unit 16 is a keyboard, a pointing device such as a mouse, a physical button, a touch panel, or the like. The input unit 16 acquires instructions from the operator to the management server 2, settings of the image forming apparatus 1, instructions for various jobs, and the like. The input unit 16 is used by the operator to select the object 300.

  The display unit 17 is an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), an organic EL display panel, or the like. The display unit 17 displays a state in which a plurality of objects 300 (FIG. 3), which will be described later, are arranged, and the objects 300 are connected by a line, and the relationship of access rights between the objects 300 can be visually expressed. It is.

The storage unit 19 is a non-temporary recording medium such as a semiconductor memory such as a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), an SSD (Solid State Drive), or an HDD (Hard Disk Drive).
Even if the RAM of the storage unit 19 is in the power saving state, the stored content may be held by a function such as self-refresh.
The ROM and HDD of the storage unit 19 store a control program for controlling the operation of the management server 2 as will be described later. In addition, the storage unit 19 stores an object 300 (FIG. 3) described later and selection of the object 300. The storage unit 19 can also store the object 300 selected by the operator and the related object 300 in association with each other.

In the management server 2, the control unit 10 may be integrally formed, such as a CPU with a built-in GPU or a chip-on-module package.
The control unit 10 may incorporate a RAM, a ROM, a flash memory, or the like.

[Control Configuration of Management Server 2]
Here, a detailed control configuration of the management server 2 will be described with reference to FIG.
The control unit 10 of the management server 2 includes a target object selection unit 100, a related object rearrangement unit 110, an unrelated object rearrangement unit 120, and a selection release unit 130.
The storage unit 19 stores the DB 200.

The object-of-interest selection unit 100 selects, from the objects 300, the object of interest 310 that is desired to be visually noticed according to the operator's instruction.
The attention object selection unit 100 can also select a further attention object 310 from the unrelated objects 330 rearranged by the unrelated object rearrangement unit 120 according to an instruction from the operator.

The related object rearrangement unit 110 searches for a related object 320 that is an object 300 having an access right relationship with the target object 310 selected by the target object selection unit 100, and rearranges the target object 310 in alignment with the target object 310. .
Further, the related object rearrangement unit 110 searches the objects 300 excluding the objects 300 that have already been rearranged, and searches for the non-related objects 330 for the further target object 310 selected by the target object selection unit 100 and rearranges them. It is also possible.

The non-related object rearrangement unit 120 searches for the non-related object 330 that is the object 300 that is not related to the target object 310, and rearranges it at a position farther from the related object 320 rearranged by the related object rearrangement unit 110. The unrelated object rearrangement unit 120 searches the objects 300 other than the objects 300 that have already been rearranged, and searches for further unrelated objects 330 for the further target object 310 selected by the target object selection unit 100, and rearranges them. It is also possible to do.

  The selection canceling unit 130 cancels the selection of the target object 310 in accordance with an instruction from the operator, and allows the related object rearrangement unit 110 and the unrelated object rearrangement unit 120 to rearrange. The rearrangement at this time is performed, for example, when a further attention object 310 is selected by the attention object selection unit 100.

  The DB 200 stores a plurality of objects 300. The object 300 is set as the attention object 310, the related object 320, and the non-related object 330 by the above-described units. As will be described later, these are connected and displayed by lines, and the relationship of access rights is visually expressed.

Here, the details of these objects 300 will be described with reference to FIG.
The object 300 according to the present embodiment is a group of data (objects) for expressing a group for which access rights are set and users belonging to the group.
In addition, the object 300 has a relationship between a user or group type, a user name and ID, a group hierarchy and folder name (path), icon image data, two-dimensional coordinate data, and access rights (related). May include information such as a linked list (pointer) indicating other objects 300 associated with each other, details of access authority, and the like.
In the following drawings and the like, the fact that there is an access right between users and groups among a plurality of objects 300 is connected visually with a “line”.

  The attention object 310 is the object 300 selected by the operator to pay attention to the access right and know the relationship with other objects 300. In the example of FIG. 4, “Bob” is selected as the attention object 310. It should be noted that a plurality of objects of interest 310 can be selected or deselected.

  The related object 320 is an object 300 having an access right relationship with the object of interest 310. In the example of FIG. 4, the “GroupX” group is the related object 320 of “Bob”, indicating that there is a direct access right.

  The unrelated object 330 is an object 300 that is not related to the target object 310. In the present embodiment, an object 300 that does not have a direct access right relationship with respect to the object of interest 310 is set as an unrelated object 330. In the example of FIG. 4, “Alice” in which a line indicating a direct access right relationship is not drawn from “Bob” is an unrelated object 330.

  Note that the object of interest 310 and the related object 320 may be stored in the DB 200 even if the selected and searched object 300 is copied or moved and stored in the DB 200 or in a format indicating the pointer or address of the object 300. Good.

Here, the control unit 10 of the management server 2 includes an OS (Operating System) stored in the storage unit 19, a program main body that realizes a management function, an SQL server, a WWW (World Wide Web) web server, and an ASP for the server. (Active Server Page), PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor), Servlet (Servlet), CGI (Common Gateway Interface), etc., by executing a control program, the object of interest selection unit 100, the related object relocation unit 110, unrelated objects It is made to function as the rearrangement unit 120 and the selection cancellation unit 130.
The management server 2 may be composed of a plurality of servers (clusters), routers, switches, and the like. In this case, the configuration of each unit may be associated with one of a plurality of servers. Further, a configuration in which a plurality of servers are used corresponding to the types of customers and groups may be used. The plurality of servers may be installed at different locations and connected via the network 5, or may be executed in one physical device by virtualization or the like.
Each unit of the image forming apparatus 1 and the management server 2 described above is a hardware resource that realizes the image forming method of the present invention.

[Access right relation display processing by the management server 2]
Next, with reference to FIG. 5 to FIG. 8, the access right relation display processing by the management server 2 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described.
In the access right relationship display process of this embodiment, the groups and users to be accessed are connected with lines to visually express the relationship of access rights. For this reason, the operator is caused to select the object 300 to be focused as the focused object 310. Then, the related object 320 having an access right relationship with the selected object of interest 310 is aligned and rearranged nearby. Next, the unrelated non-related object 330 is rearranged at a further distant position. At this time, the process may be repeated by selecting a further attention object 310. It is also possible to cancel the selected state of the object 300 to be noticed.
In the access right relation display processing of the present embodiment, the control unit 10 of the management server 2 mainly executes a program stored in the storage unit 19 using hardware resources in cooperation with each unit.
Hereinafter, details of the access right relation display processing will be described step by step with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

(Step S101)
First, the target object selection unit 100 performs target object selection processing.
The object-of-interest selection unit 100 acquires an instruction from the operator and selects the object of attention 310.
First, when the management server 2 is a PC, the operator pays attention by pointing and clicking or touching the user or group icon displayed on the display unit 17 with the mouse or touch panel of the input unit 16. Instruct.
The object-of-interest selection unit 100 acquires this user instruction, and stores the selected object 300 as the object of attention 310 in the storage unit 19.

(Step S102)
Next, the related object rearrangement unit 110 performs related object rearrangement processing.
The related object rearrangement unit 110 searches for a related object 320 that has a direct access right relationship with the selected object of interest 310. As shown in FIG. 4, the objects 300 related to the direct access right are the two end objects 300 connected from the object 300 by a single line. The related object rearrangement unit 110 stores the searched related object 320 in the storage unit 19.
Further, the related object rearrangement unit 110 rearranges the searched related objects 320 in alignment with the object of interest 310.
For example, the related object rearrangement unit 110 adjusts the interval between the objects 300 by moving all the related objects 320 directly related to the object of interest 310 to the left horizontally to align the vertical direction and then moving the objects vertically. To align. Then, the related object rearrangement unit 110 rearranges these related objects 320 in alignment with the left side of the target object 310.

(Step S103)
Next, the unrelated object rearrangement unit 120 performs an unrelated object rearrangement process.
The non-related object rearrangement unit 120 searches for a non-related object 330 that has no direct access right relationship with the object of interest 310. At this time, the unrelated object rearrangement unit 120 can search all the objects 300 other than the object of interest 310 and the object 300 that is aligned and rearranged as the related object 320 in the above-described processing as the unrelated objects 330. It is. Then, the non-related object rearrangement unit 120 rearranges the searched non-related object 330 at a position farther from the target object 310 than the related object 320. For example, the unrelated object rearrangement unit 120 can rearrange all the unrelated objects 330 on the left side of the related object 320. At this time, the non-related object rearrangement unit 120 moves to the position where the object 300 located at the rightmost position among these non-related objects 330 does not overlap with the related object 320.
Note that the non-related objects 330 searched in this process include the attention object 310 and the related objects 320 that have been deselected, as will be described later.

(Step S104)
Next, the object-of-interest selection unit 100 determines whether or not the operator has instructed to reselect the object of attention 310. The object-of-interest selection unit 100 determines that the object 300 rearranged as the unrelated object 330 or the related object 320 in the above-described processing is clicked or touched by the input unit 16 by the operator. Is determined. In other cases, that is, when the object-of-interest selection unit 100 is not instructed to reselect the object of interest 310, it is determined as No.
In the case of Yes, the object-of-interest selection unit 100 returns the process to step S101 to select a further object of interest 310.
In No, the attention object selection part 100 advances a process to step S105.

(Step S105)
When the instruction to reselect the target object 310 is not given, the selection canceling unit 130 determines whether or not the target object 310 is deselected by the operator. The selection canceling unit 130 determines Yes when the operator detects that the object 300 selected as the object of interest 310 in the above-described processing is clicked or touched by the operator. In other cases, the selection canceling unit 130 determines No.
In the case of Yes, the selection cancellation part 130 advances a process to step S106.
In No, the selection cancellation | release part 130 complete | finishes an access right relation display process.

(Step S106)
When the selection of the attention object 310 is canceled, the selection cancellation unit 130 performs a selection cancellation process.
The selection canceling unit 130 cancels the selection of the target object 310 in accordance with an instruction from the operator, and allows the related object rearrangement unit 110 and the unrelated object rearrangement unit 120 to rearrange. Specifically, the selection canceling unit 130 deletes the selection of the attention object 310 that has been clicked or touched from the storage unit 19 and returns it to the normal object 300. In addition, the selection canceling unit 130 also deletes the association from the storage unit 19 for the related object 320 of the target object 310 whose selection has been deleted, and returns the related object 320 to the normal object 300.
Thus, the access right relation display processing according to the embodiment of the present invention is completed.

[Specific example of display of access rights]
Here, a specific example of rearrangement of the object 300 by the above-described access right relation display processing will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 6A is an example showing a state in which the objects 300 are arranged and connected with lines, and the relationship of access rights is visually displayed on the display unit 17. Here, the operator instructs to select a group accessible by the user “Charlie” so that the group can be easily viewed. In addition, this instruction becomes a trigger for starting the above-described processing of the present embodiment.

In FIG. 6B, the above-described user “Charlie” is selected as the attention object 310a, and all groups to which the attention object 310a has access rights are re-aligned as related objects 320a on the left side of the user “Charlie”. An example of arrangement is shown.
In this example, the related object rearrangement unit 110 recursively moves the icons (graphics) of the groups in the “parent-child relationship” expressed in the nested manner to the group at the top of the hierarchy.

In FIG. 6C, all the objects 300 including the group and the user who have not moved in FIGS. 6A and 6B described above are searched as unrelated objects 330a and aligned to the left side of the related objects 320a. An example of rearrangement is shown. In this example, the unrelated object rearrangement unit 120 moves all the non-related objects 330a to be moved to the left as they are and rearranges them. Further, as in this example, the unrelated object rearrangement unit 120 may not arrange the unrelated objects 330a at equal intervals. This is because the unrelated object 330a is not related to the group to which the user “Charlie” who the operator wants to know has access rights. This also allows the operator to easily grasp the positional relationship between the unrelated objects 330a from the original arrangement of the object 300.
Note that the rearrangement of the non-related objects 330a may be rearranged by repeating the same arrangement as the related objects 320 described above.

FIG. 7 shows an example in which the group “G04” is selected as the attention object 310b, rearranged in the same procedure, and accessible users are displayed in an easy-to-view manner.
In the example of FIG. 7, the group “G04” is arranged in a state where the upper-level groups “G01”, “G02”, and “G03” are included, and the user “Bob” “Alice” that is the related object 320b on the left side. Are aligned and rearranged. In addition, another unrelated object 330b is rearranged on the left side.

  In FIG. 8A, the operator selects the user “Charlie” as the attention object 310a, and related objects 320a related thereto are rearranged in alignment. 8A, the operator selects the user “Bob” as a further object of interest 310c in order to display the group accessible by the user “Bob” in an easy-to-see manner. Among the groups having access rights with the target object 310c, the target object 310a and the group that is not the related object 320a are aligned and rearranged as a further related object 320c on the left side of the user “Bob”. In this rearrangement, the related objects 320c to be moved are aligned and rearranged on the left side, as in the above-mentioned “Charlie” example (FIG. 6). In this alignment, the related object rearrangement unit 110 can move horizontally to the left, align the vertical direction, and then move up and down to adjust the interval between the objects 300c, as in the above example. . In this example, the related object rearrangement unit 110 stores the related object 320c corresponding to the target object 310c in the storage unit 19.

  In the example of FIG. 8B, the object 300 selected as the attention object 310a, the attention object 310c, the related object 320a, and the related object 320c in the above-described procedure and not searched is searched as the non-related object 330c. Then, the unrelated object 330c is moved to the left side of the related object 320c horizontally and rearranged as it is. At this time, the object 300 located at the rightmost position among the non-related objects 330c is moved to a position that does not overlap the leftmost object among the related objects 320c.

  Note that if the operator further selects the object of interest 310, the above-described processing is repeated. At this time, as shown in the above-described example, when the selection of the object of interest 310 and the rearrangement of the object 300 on the left side in particular are repeated, the range necessary for display extends in the horizontal direction. For this reason, the interval between the objects 300 may be adjusted by adjusting the interval in the horizontal direction and by equalizing the objects by aligning them on the right side so as not to overlap the horizontal direction.

FIG. 8C shows an example when the operator cancels the selection of the attention object 310a shown in FIGS.
As in this example, when the operator cancels the selection of the attention object 310 a, the related object 320 a of the attention object 310 a is also deleted from the storage unit 19 and returns to the normal object 300. For this reason, when these objects 300 are selected and searched as any one of the attention object 310 and the related object 320, they are not excluded from the targets of alignment and rearrangement.

With the configuration described above, the following effects can be obtained.
Conventionally, in the technique of Patent Document 1, the color, transparency, and size have been changed relative to other icons in order to reduce the difficulty of viewing due to overlapping icons. In Patent Document 1, a landmark displayed on a car navigation is assumed as an example.
On the other hand, the management server 2 of the image forming system X according to the embodiment of the present invention connects the objects 300 including the group to which the access right is set and the users belonging to the group with a line. An information processing apparatus that visually represents a relationship of access rights between objects, an attention object selection unit 100 that selects an attention object 310 to be visually noticed among objects 300 according to an operator's instruction, and attention object selection The related object rearrangement unit 110 that searches for the related object 320 that is an object 300 having an access right relationship with the target object 310 selected by the unit 100 and rearranges the target object 310 in the vicinity of the target object 310. With an object 300 unrelated to That searches unrelated objects 330, characterized in that it comprises a non-related objects rearrangement unit 120 for rearranging the position away from the related objects 320 rearranged by related object rearrangement unit 110.
In other words, the management server 2 of the present embodiment visually connects the objects 300 including the access target group and the user with a line, and visually represents the relationship of the access rights. At this time, the management server 2 selects the object 300 that the operator wants to pay attention to, and rearranges the selected object 300 and the object 300 related to the access right so that they are close to each other. Relocate to a distant location.
With this configuration, the management server 2 according to the present embodiment can present the access right between the attention object 310 to be noticed and the related object 320 in an easy-to-understand manner even when there are many objects 300. It becomes possible. That is, the management server 2 of the present embodiment gathers the related objects 320 closer to each other and makes it easier to understand than the method of highlighting by changing the color, transparency, and size as in Patent Document 1. In particular, the attention object 310 initially aligned and rearranged is easy to understand because all the elements can be collected and displayed in one place. Thereby, in the management server 2 of this embodiment, even when there are a large number of objects 300, it is possible to make it easy to visually understand the relationship of access rights focused on the specific object 300.

In addition, as a method for making it easy to see when a large number of objects 300 are displayed, the objects 300 positioned within a certain range are not overlapped or partially overlap each other within a wider range for rearrangement. A method of rearranging each object 300 by rearranging by movement, rotation, reduction, etc. is also conceivable. At this time, it is possible to emphasize the selected object 300 by changing the color of the unselected object 300.
However, in such a system, as in the image forming system X, when the access right is visually expressed, in a state where a large number of objects 300 are connected and scattered, for example, “access group” For operators who have the purpose of "Who wants to know who can do it", it was difficult to understand.
On the other hand, the management server 2 according to the embodiment of the present invention makes it easy to visually understand the relationship between the access rights focused on the specific object 300 even when there are many groups, users, and lines. Can do. That is, the management server 2 of this embodiment performs rearrangement for the purpose of organizing the relationships between the objects 300. Thereby, for example, it becomes possible to make it easy to see a group accessible to a certain user.
In addition, the management server 2 according to the embodiment of the present invention differs from the method of hiding some of the objects 300 by filtering, for example, while the access rights of all the objects 300 are displayed and the appearance is complicated. Can be reduced. As a result, it is possible to have an overview of the relationship between the plurality of access rights at the same time.

In addition, in the management server 2 according to the embodiment of the present invention, the attention object selection unit 100 instructs the operator to specify a further attention object 310 from the unrelated objects 330 rearranged by the unrelated object rearrangement unit 120. The related object rearrangement unit 110 and the unrelated object rearrangement unit 120 further select the target object 310 selected by the target object selection unit 100 from the objects 300 excluding the objects 300 that have already been rearranged. The related object 320 and the non-related object 330 are searched and rearranged respectively.
That is, the management server 2 of the present embodiment can select a plurality of attention objects 310 that have been noticed by the operator. In addition, the management server 2 stores the object of interest 310 and the related object 320 in the DB 200 of the storage unit 19. Therefore, each time the attention object 310 is selected, the already aligned and rearranged object 300 can be removed from the processing target, and a new related object 320 and unrelated object 330 can be searched.
With this configuration, it is possible to present the relationship between a plurality of attention objects 310 to be noticed and their access rights in an easy-to-understand manner.

Further, the management server 2 according to the embodiment of the present invention cancels the selection of the attention object 310 according to the operator's instruction, and allows the related object rearrangement unit 110 and the unrelated object rearrangement unit 120 to perform rearrangement. A release unit 130 is further provided.
That is, the management server 2 of the present embodiment cancels the selected state of the attention object 310 that the operator wants to pay attention to, the released attention object 310, and the related object 320 that has been rearranged in relation to the attention object 310. Are the targets of alignment and rearrangement of the object of interest 310 and the related object 320 again.
With this configuration, the operator can browse while changing the target of the target object 310 of interest, and the relationship between the access rights of the objects 300 can be easily understood.

[Other Embodiments]
In the above-described embodiment, the example in which the relationship between the access rights of the user and the group is easily displayed by arranging and rearranging the objects 300 has been described.
In addition to this, the color, shape, size, etc. of the icon may be changed and blinked for the selected object of interest 310. The same applies to the line connecting the related object 320 and the object of interest 310.
With this configuration, the relationship of access rights between the objects 300 can be presented more easily.

In the above-described embodiment, the example in which the related object 320 and the non-related object 330 are rearranged on the left side of the target object 310 has been described.
However, the related object 320 and the non-related object 330 may be rearranged in the right side, the upper side, the lower side, or each diagonal direction. In addition, these directions may be changed for each selection depending on the relationship between the object of interest 310 and many other objects 300, the distance from the center, and the like. Further, each object 300 may be rearranged in a three-dimensional space.
By configuring in this way, it is possible to flexibly express the relationship of access rights between objects 300 and display according to the properties of the device.

In the above-described embodiment, the example in which the related objects 320 are simply moved when the related objects 320 are arranged has been described. However, at the time of alignment, it may be sorted based on a name or the like.
With this configuration, the operator can easily determine the individual related objects 320.
It should be noted that when sorting, the positional relationship between the related objects 320 can be easily understood by the operator by not changing the ordinate or the like so much from the arranged position.

In addition, the connection place of the lines may be adjusted as to where and where the objects 300 are connected by lines. In this case, for example, the objects 300 may be connected to each other at the shortest position.
With this configuration, the arrangement of the object 300 can be clearly displayed and presented more easily.

In the example of the above-described embodiment, the attention object 310 and the related object 320 are described so as to be temporarily stored in the storage unit 19. However, after the alignment and rearrangement is completed, the target object 310 and the related object 320 may be deleted from the DB 200 of the storage unit 19 and returned to the normal object 300. In this case, the selection canceling unit 130 may move the object 300 from the attention object 310 and the related object 320 in the storage unit 19 or delete the pointer.
With this configuration, it is possible to grasp the relationship between the target object 310 and the related object 320 while always changing the selection of the single target object 310 to align and rearrange the related objects 320. .

In the above-described embodiment, the object 300 is described as including a link list indicating the relationship of access rights with other objects 300. However, in addition to the object 300, graph data indicating the relationship of access rights between the objects 300 may be stored separately.
By configuring in this way, it becomes possible to improve the efficiency and speed of the search for the relationship of the access rights of the object 300.

  The present invention can also be applied to a management system for apparatuses other than the image forming apparatus. For example, a configuration using a network scanner, a server in which the scanner is separately connected by a USB, or the like may be used. In addition, the present invention can be applied to all information processing apparatuses that connect the objects 300 with a line and visually express the relationship of access rights between the objects 300. At this time, the relationship between the group for which the access right is set and the object 300 other than the user can be displayed. The present invention can also be applied when displaying the relationship between links between files and folders, the relationship between hyperlinks in websites and documents, and other relationship diagrams in the information processing apparatus. Further, the relationship of access rights between objects of the present invention is not only displayed on the display unit 17, but also converted into a file or the like and stored in the storage unit 19, transmitted to a terminal (not shown), or an image forming apparatus It is also possible to print with 1.

  Further, the configuration and operation of the above-described embodiment are examples, and it goes without saying that they can be appropriately modified and executed without departing from the gist of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 2 Management server 5 Network 10 Control part 15 Network transmission / reception part 16 Input part 17 Display part 19 Storage part 100 Attention object selection part 110 Related object rearrangement part 120 Unrelated object rearrangement part 130 Deselection part 200 DB
300 Object 310, 310a, 310b, 310c Object of interest 320, 320a, 320b, 320c Related object 330, 330a, 330b, 330c Unrelated object X Image forming system

Claims (4)

An information processing apparatus that connects objects including a group in which access rights are set and users belonging to the group with a line, and visually represents a relationship of access rights between the objects,
Of the objects, an object of interest selection unit that selects an object of interest to be visually noticed according to an operator's instruction;
A related object rearrangement unit that searches for a related object that is the object related to the access right and the target object selected by the target object selection unit, and rearranges the target object in alignment with the target object;
An unrelated object rearrangement unit that searches for an unrelated object that is the object that is not related to the target object, and rearranges the unrelated object at a position away from the related object rearranged by the related object rearrangement unit ;
The object of interest selection unit
From the non-related objects rearranged by the non-related object rearrangement unit, the further object of interest is selected by an instruction from the operator,
The related object rearrangement unit and the non-related object rearrangement unit, except for the object that has already been rearranged, further the related object and the non-relationship for the target object selected by the target object selection unit. An information processing apparatus that searches for an object and rearranges the objects . 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a selection canceling unit that cancels the selection of the object of interest in accordance with an instruction from the operator and enables rearrangement by the related object rearrangement unit and the non-related object rearrangement unit. The information processing apparatus described. This is an information processing method executed by an information processing apparatus that connects objects including a group for which access rights are set and users belonging to the group with a line, and visually represents the relationship of access rights between the objects. The information processing apparatus
Among the objects, select an attention object to be visually noticed according to an operator's instruction,
Search for related objects that are related to the selected access object and the access right, align and relocate near the target object,
Search for a non-related object that is the object that is not related to the object of interest, and rearrange it at a position away from the rearranged related object ,
From the rearranged non-related objects, select the further target object according to the operator's instruction,
The information is characterized by searching for the further related object and the non-related object with respect to the further object of interest selected by the object of interest selection unit, excluding the object that has already been rearranged, and rearranging each of them. Processing method. An information processing program executed by an information processing apparatus that connects objects including a group for which access rights are set and users belonging to the group with a line, and visually represents the relationship of access rights between the objects. The information processing apparatus
The attention object selection unit selects an attention object to be visually noticed from among the objects according to an instruction from the operator.
The related object rearrangement unit searches for the related object which is the object having the relation of the access right with the target object selected by the target object selection unit, and arranges the target object in the vicinity of the target object and rearranges the target object.
The non-related object rearrangement unit searches for the non-related object that is the object that is not related to the object of interest, and rearranges it at a position away from the related object rearranged by the related object rearrangement unit ,
From the rearranged non-related objects, the further object of interest is selected by the operator's instruction,
The information is characterized by searching for the further related object and the non-related object with respect to the further target object selected by the target object selection unit, except for the object that has already been rearranged, and rearranging each of them. Processing program.

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