JPH07225705A - File managing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To collectively manage/operate plural files belonging to a set without generating any contradiction by managing/operating the set as unit in addition to the management/operation for the unit of a file. CONSTITUTION:This file managing device manages/operates a lot of files 12 and 13 stored in a storage part 11 and is provided with a file processing part 16 for filing operation of each file as unit, a set file processing part 17 for setting operation of the plural files included in a lot of files for every set as unit, and instruction means 18 for instructing the file processing part to carry out the filing operation instructing the set file processing part to carry out the setting operation.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a file management device, and in particular, it manages a large number of files stored in a storage device by performing various grouping operations in addition to the usual management and operation in file units. The present invention relates to a file management device capable of collectively managing and operating a plurality of files in a unit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional file management device, the storage areas of a storage device are classified into hierarchical directories, and files are stored and managed in a single directory.
Move or delete by file or directory
Operations such as copying were being performed. However, in practice, with respect to the operation in directory units, the management unit in the directory and the actual operation target unit often do not match. Therefore, in the conventional file management apparatus, most of the operations are performed in file units.

In addition, among a plurality of files stored in a storage device, a group of files have commonality, and it may be better to process these files as one group. In view of this, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-160439 discloses a group of files that can be operated in group units by grouping a plurality of files having a predetermined property and providing a group information storage unit that contains information for grouping. A processing device has been proposed. In this case, 1
When a file has more than one property, the file belongs to more than one group.

[0004]

According to the above-mentioned conventional group processing apparatus, there may be a problem in processing files belonging to a plurality of groups. For example, one
When one file belongs to two groups, if one of the files needs to be deleted just because it needs to be deleted, it is not convenient for the other group including the file.

Generally, in a conventional file management device, a plurality of groups including a plurality of files are created, and the plurality of groups are associated with each other based on the inclusive relation, and the operation of each group is performed. No structured one is proposed. In the group processing device disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-160439, there is no mention of processing for groups including groups.

An object of the present invention is to create a collective file for a file on a storage device to give a structure of the collective, and to perform management / operation in the unit of a group in addition to management / operation in a usual unit of the file. It is to provide a file management device capable of collectively managing and operating a plurality of files belonging to a group without causing a contradiction.

[0007]

A file management device according to the present invention manages a large number of files stored in a storage unit.
A file management device that operates, a file processing unit for performing file operations on a file-by-file basis for each file, and a collective file processing unit for performing collective operations on a plurality of files included in a large number of files in units of sets. And an instruction means for instructing the file processing unit to perform a file operation or for instructing the collective file processing unit to perform a collective operation.

In the above configuration, a set file is created which relates a plurality of files as a set, and a set operation is performed on all of the plurality of files included in the set file without causing a contradiction. It

[0009]

According to the present invention, in a file management device for managing and operating a large number of files stored in a storage device, by providing a collective file processing unit, a group (group) is formed based on the collective processing of the collective file processing unit. Create an aggregate file to form, form an inclusion relation or inclusion relation between this aggregate file and a regular file other than the aggregate file or other aggregate files, and perform various aggregate processing by the aggregate file processing unit. Is configured to do. According to the set operation based on the processing operation of the set file processing unit, it is possible to collectively process a plurality of files without causing a contradiction in various operations of a plurality of files belonging to one or more sets.

[0010]

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

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an embodiment of a file management device according to the present invention. Reference numeral 11 denotes a storage device, and the storage device 11 is generally an external storage device having a large capacity capable of storing a large number of files. The plurality of files stored in the storage device 11 can be divided into two types of files, a normal file 12 and a collective file 13, as shown in the figure. The aggregate file 13 is
The normal file 12 is a file for forming a set (group) of a plurality of files stored in the storage device 11, and is a file other than the set file, and corresponds to a conventional general file. In terms of handling in the file management device, both the normal file 12 and the aggregate file 13 in the storage device 11 are treated as the same file. Normal file 12 and aggregate file 13
Each has a file attribute 14 and a file content 15 as shown in FIG. 2, and the basic structure is the same. The file attribute 14 of each of the normal file 12 and the aggregate file 13 includes identification information for identifying whether the file is a regular file or an aggregate file.

The file attributes 14 include "name" 14a, "belonging set" 14b, and "set file flag" 14c as attribute names. An attribute value is given corresponding to each of these attribute names.

Identification of the normal file 12 or the aggregate file 13 is made by the "aggregate file flag" 14
It is performed by the attribute value of b. "Aggregate file flag"
When the attribute value of 14b is TRUE, it is the aggregate file 13, and when it is FALSE, it is the regular file 1.
It is 2. That is, the collective file flag 14b is identification information for identifying whether the file is a normal file or a collective file. The attribute value of the “aggregate file flag” is given by the aggregate file processing unit 17 when each file (that is, aggregate file or normal file) is created.

As the "name" 14a, the normal file 1
In the case of 2, for example, the attribute value "file 1" is written, and in the case of a collective file, the attribute value "group 1" is written. In the "belonging set" 14b, a numerical value indicating the number of groups in which the file is included as an element is written, and a pointer for forming an association with the group is provided. The "belonging set" 14b forms an inclusion relation (that is, a relation indicating which set file a file having the attribute of the "belonging set" 14b is included).

Regarding the file contents 15, the contents of the file itself are described in the normal file 12, and in the aggregate file 13, this aggregate file and the ordinary file included in the aggregate file itself or another aggregate file are related. A pointer is provided for attachment. This pointer forms an inclusion relation (that is, a relation indicating which regular file or aggregate file the aggregate file including the pointer includes).

In the file management apparatus of this embodiment, a file processing unit 16 and a collective file processing unit 17 and various operations (file operation or collective operation) required by the operator are stored in the storage device 11 as a file. Processing unit 16
Alternatively, an input / output device 18 is provided as an interface for instructing the collective file processing unit 17 and performing necessary output. The input / output device 18 includes an instruction means for giving an instruction to the file processing unit 16 or the collective file processing unit 17. The input / output device 18 gives a file operation instruction 18a to the file processing unit 16, and gives a set operation instruction 18b to the aggregate file processing unit 17. The aggregate file processing unit 17
This is a characteristic configuration of the present invention, and has a function of executing a set operation for the set file 13 or the normal file 12 based on the set information included in the set file as necessary. Here, "collection operation" means collectively operating a plurality of files as a set, and specifically,
For example, operations such as creating a set, adding elements to the set, removing elements from the set, deleting the entire set, copying or moving the set, calling the set, and listing the set. A group is created by creating a group file. The specific content of each set operation will be described in detail later.

The file processing unit 16 is
It is a means for independently operating each file (regular file or aggregate file) one by one. That is, the file processing unit 16 includes the normal file 12 and the aggregate file 1
Regarding 3, the creation of files as files,
It has functions to execute operations such as delete, copy, move, write to file, and read from file.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the set operation by the set file processing section 17 is performed through the file processing section 16. This is because, based on the configuration of the file management device up to now, the configuration of the file management device capable of performing various collective operations described later has been realized. The configuration of the file management device according to the present invention is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG.
For example, it is also possible to configure so that the collective file processing unit 17 can directly perform a collective operation on the collective file 13 and the normal file 12 in the storage device 11.

In the storage device 11, the normal file 12
In addition, a set file 13 is created to form a set and various set operations can be performed. By forming a set, the set file 13 and the normal file 12 are
Alternatively, an inclusion relationship (or inclusion relationship) is formed with another collective file 13. FIG. 3 shows an example of a graph showing the inclusion relationship.

In FIG. 3, three aggregate files 13a, 13
b, 13c and four regular files 12a, 12b, 12
c, 12d are shown. The aggregate file 13a includes two normal files 12a and 12b and one aggregate file 13
It contains b as an element and is not included in any aggregate file. The aggregate file 13b includes one normal file 12c as an element, and the aggregate file 13b itself is the aggregate file 13a.
include. The aggregate file 13c includes two normal files 12c and 12d, and itself is not included in any aggregate file. Therefore, the normal file 12c is included in the two collective files 13b and 13c.
The reference number written in the block of each file indicates the number of sets including the file itself. For example, the normal file 12c has a reference number of 2, which means that it is included in the two aggregate files 13b and 13c. As is clear from FIG. 3, by defining an inclusion relation or an inclusion relation between a plurality of files, a structure of an aggregate is formed between these files (between the aggregate file and the regular file).

The above-mentioned set operation is performed for each of the plurality of files included in the set so that no contradiction occurs in the inclusion relationship graph shown in FIG. 3, for example. Further, the above reference number is held in each file as information indicating the number of sets to which the set file or the regular file directly belongs (is included). Even when a certain file (aggregate file or normal file) belongs to a plurality of aggregates, aggregation is managed so that no contradiction occurs. Formed 1
One set can be regarded as one group.
By the above-mentioned set operation, the efficiency of file management / operation can be improved. In addition, since the set operation can be performed without causing a contradiction, for example, when one unnecessary set is deleted, a file that is included in the set and also included in another set may be deleted. There is no.

Next, referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, as an example, the relationship between one normal file and two aggregate files each forming one aggregate will be conceptually described.
FIG. 4 is created by using a part of the inclusion relationship of FIG. 3, and one normal file is a normal file 12a,
The two set files are set files 13a and 1 respectively.
3b. For the sake of explanation, only the collective files 13a and 13b and the normal file 12a are focused on, and the relationships with other files are ignored.

In the file attribute 14 of the aggregate file 13a, "name" is group 1, "belonging aggregate" is 0 (in the sense that it does not exist, it corresponds to the above-mentioned reference number), and "aggregate file flag". Is TRUE (indicating that it is a collective file). The pointer in the “belonging set” is nil (meaning that it does not point to anything). Further, in the file content 15 of the aggregate file 13a, a pointer 21 forming a relation (inclusion relation) to the group 2 and a pointer 22 forming a relation (inclusion relation) to the file 1 are written.
It is clear from the inclusion relation of FIG. 3 that the file contents 15 include the pointers 21 and 22.

Regarding the aggregate file 13b included in the aggregate file 13a (group 1), the file attribute 14 indicates that "name" is group 2 and "belonging aggregate".
Is 1 (meaning that it belongs to one set), and the "set file flag" is TRUE. The pointer 23 written in “belonging set” forms a relationship (inclusion relationship) with the group 1.

The normal file 12a included in the collective file 13a (group 1) has its file attribute 1
4, the “name” is file 1, the “belonging set” is 1 (meaning that it belongs to one set), and the “set file flag” is FALSE. The pointer 24 written in the "belonging set" of the file attribute forms a relation (inclusion relation) to the group 1. The file content 15 holds the content itself of the file 1.

The above-mentioned four pointers 21, 22, 23,
24, the aggregate file 13a (group 1), the aggregate file 13b (group 2), and the normal file 12a
An inclusive relationship (aggregate structure) is formed between (File 1). If the Venn diagram shows the inclusion relationship shown in FIG.
It becomes FIG. As is clear from FIG. 5, group 2 and file 1 are included in group 1 as elements. The set file 13a creates a group 1 as one set, and includes a file 1 and a group 2 as elements. As shown in FIG. 5, a set structure is formed between the set file and a regular file or a set file. In the inclusion relation based on such a set, various set operations are performed so that no contradiction occurs. 6A and 6B are shown as another example of the aggregate structure. In the state of A of FIG. 6, the file 1 exists inside and outside the group 2 and a contradiction occurs. Further, FIG. 6B shows an example of a set in which no contradiction occurs. In the structure of this set, the file 1 is included in all the groups 1 to 3.

As is apparent from the above description, the collective file and the normal files other than the collective file respectively include identification information for identifying whether they are normal files or collective files, and the file It has relationship information for forming an inclusive relationship or an inclusive relationship. The identification information is included in the file attribute as "aggregate file flag", the relational information "inclusion relation" is written in the file content of the aggregate file, and the "inclusion relation" is the file attribute "regular file" and the file attribute "aggregate file". It belongs to the set that it belongs to. These relational information are given by pointers. The aggregate file can include at least one other aggregate file as an element. This makes it possible to improve the management ability regarding file management.

Next, each of the above-mentioned various set operations will be described. These set operations are executed by the set file processing unit 17.

The collective file processing unit 17 operates various kinds of collective operations described below based on the operation of relation information for forming an inclusion relation or an inclusion relation between files (aggregate file and ordinary file). I do. The operation of the relation information is, for example, forming a connection relation with a pointer or cutting a connection relation with a pointer.

Set file processing unit 17 for performing a set operation
As shown in FIG. 7, when the instruction 18b for the set operation is given, the determining means 17a determines the processing content of the instructed set operation. Based on the content of the determination by the determination means 17a, various set operations such as a set creating process 17b, an element adding process 17c to the set, and an element removing process 17d from the set are executed. In FIG. 7, only three processings 17b to 17d are shown as an example, but they are omitted for convenience of illustration, and actually include other processing execution units. In FIG. 7, blocks 17b to 17
The processing content of each set operation shown by d etc. is demonstrated below based on a flowchart.

Creation of a set will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. FIG. 8 shows a flowchart relating to the operation of creating a set, and FIG. 9 shows an example of the created set file. According to this flowchart, first, the file processing unit 16
One file is created by the file operation performed via the (step S11), and then the aggregate file processing unit 1
7, the number of “belonging set” in the file attribute 14 is 0, and the pointer to the belonging set is ni
l and the aggregate file flag are set to TRUE (step S12). When there are a plurality of "belonging sets", it becomes a pointer to a list. By the above operation, one aggregate file 13 is created as shown in FIG. One set (group) is formed by creating the set file 13. In the file attribute 14 of this aggregate file, "name" is appropriately given (for example, group X). This collective file is a collective file that does not belong to anything and contains nothing.
Therefore, with no file contents 15, the set created by this set file is an empty set.

The addition of elements to the set will be described with reference to FIGS. 10, 11 and 12. 10 shows a flowchart relating to an operation of adding an element to a set, FIG. 11 shows respective states of an additional file (normal file) 31 before addition and an addition destination aggregate file 32, and FIG. 12 shows related states after addition. In this embodiment, the name of the additional file 31 is file 1 and the name of the addition destination aggregate file 32 is group 1.

In the adding operation, it is determined whether or not the file to be added first (additional file 31) is a higher-level aggregate file of the addition destination aggregate file (addition destination aggregate file 32) (step S21). . If it is a higher-level aggregate file, it cannot be included as an element, so it is processed as an error. If it is not a higher-level aggregate file, the additional file 31 is set as the addition destination aggregate file 3
It is determined whether or not a contradiction occurs when the element 2 is added as an element (step S22). The content of "contradiction" is
It is whether or not the state shown in A of FIG. 6 occurs when the additional file 31 is added as an element to the addition destination set file 32. When there is a contradiction, the additional file 31 is removed from the overlapping upper group file (step S23). When it is determined in the determination step S22 that no contradiction occurs, or after step S23 is executed,
In the file contents table of the addition destination set file 32,
Write a pointer to the additional file 31 (step S2
4). After that, a pointer to the addition destination set file 32 is written in the "belonging set" of the file attribute of the addition file 31 (step S25). As described above, when the same file is duplicated and belongs to the same set as a result of the addition operation, the correction is performed so that the same file belongs to a lower set file.

By performing the adding operation as described above, the inclusion relation shown in FIG. 12 is formed. The additional file 31 (file 1) and the addition destination set file 32 (group 1) are related by the pointer 33 to the file 1 and the pointer 34 to the group 1, and the normal file 3
1 is included as an element of the set formed by the set file 32.

The operation of removing an element from a set will be described with reference to FIGS. 13, 14 and 15. 13 is a flowchart showing the removing operation, FIG. 14 is a related state before the removing, and FIG. 15 is a state of each file after the removing. 14
In the related state before removal, the normal file 41 (file 1) is included in the set of the collective file 42 (group 1). The normal file 41 is removed from the group 1 of the collective file 42 by the removing operation. In the set file 42, the pointer 43 to the file 1 is written in the file content, and the pointer 44 to the group 1 is written in the file attribute “belonging set” of the normal file 41. . The aggregate file 42 includes another file X as an element, and the normal file 41 is also included in another aggregate file (group Y).

In FIG. 13, first, the pointer 43 pointing to the normal file 41 to be removed is removed from the file contents table of the removal source aggregate file 42 (step S31). After that, the pointer 44 to the set file 42 of the removal source is erased from the file attribute “belonging set” of the normal file 41 to be removed,
Decrement the count number in the "belonging set" by 1. When the above removing operation is performed, as shown in A and B of FIG. 15, the inclusion relationship between the aggregate file 42 (removal source aggregate file) and the normal file 41 (removal file) is broken, and the ordinary file 41 becomes the aggregate file. 42 deleted from group 1. Other inclusion relationships regarding the aggregate file 42 and other inclusion relationships regarding the normal file 41 are retained as they are.

Deletion of a set will be described with reference to FIGS. 16, 17, and 18. 16 shows a flowchart relating to a set deletion operation, FIG. 17 shows the structure of a set before deletion, and FIG. 18 shows the structure of a set after deletion. As shown in FIG. 17, in the state before the removal, the aggregate file A includes the aggregate file B and the normal file D, and the aggregate file B includes the ordinary files E and F. Further, the collective file C includes normal files F and G. In the state of FIG. 17,
As an example, the operation of deleting the aggregate file B is performed.

In the deleting operation, the aggregate file (aggregate file B in this embodiment) which is desired to be deleted first is Target.
(Step S41). Next Target
It is determined which of the set files belongs to (step S42). Target (aggregate file B)
If does not belong to any aggregate file, the process proceeds to step SS44. Also Target (aggregate file B)
When the set file to which the file belongs is found, the set file B is deleted from all the sets to which the file belongs (step S4).
3) After that, it moves to step S44.

In the next step S44, it is determined whether or not there is a file (regular file or aggregate file) belonging to Target. If there is a file to which the file belongs, one file is taken out from the Target pointer table, and this is set as Child, and the file is deleted from the pointer table (step S45). Then, in the next processing step S46, Chi
From the file attribute "belonging set" of ld, Target
Erase the pointer to t. Next, it is determined whether or not the child file attribute "belonging set" is nil (step S47). If it is not nil, the process returns to step S44 and steps S44 to S47 are repeated. If it becomes nil, C at the next step S48.
It is determined whether the child is a collective file. If it is not a collective file, use File operation to Child
Is deleted (step S49). If the file is a collective file, put the contents of the Child in Arg and
The recursive call of ry is performed (step S50). Re
When the Entry recursive call process is executed, the content of Arg is set to another Target in step S51 while the Target of the previous process is held as it is. Then, steps S44 to S50 are repeated.

By performing the above set deletion operation,
As shown in FIG. 18, the aggregate file B is deleted, the normal file E included only in the aggregate file B is deleted, and the inclusion relationship from the aggregate file A to the aggregate file B (51 in FIG. 17), aggregate file B To the normal file F (52 in FIG. 17) is also deleted. As a result, the aggregate file A includes only the ordinary file D, and the ordinary file F is included only in the aggregate file C.

The copying operation of the set will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, a new aggregate file to be a copy destination is created, and this is referred to as NewSet (step S61). In the next determination step S62, it is first determined whether or not there is a file that has not been copied and belongs to the copy source. When there is a file, one uncopied file is taken out from the copy source pointer table and set as a child (step S63). And Chi
It is determined whether or not ld is a collective file (step S64). If Child is not a collective file, create a normal file and set it as NewChild to Ch.
Copy the contents of ild (step S65), then step S
At 67, NewChild is added to NewSet. If the file is a collective file, a copy of the collective is recursively called and the resulting file is NewChi.
Id (step S66). And NewChi
ld is added as NewSet (step S6)
7). Then, the process returns to step S62, and step S62
~ S67 is repeated. If it is determined in step S62 that there is no file that has not been copied, the copy operation ends.

The read operation of the entire set will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. This operation reads the contents of all normal files pointed to by the aggregate file and reads the entire set for all aggregate files pointed to by the aggregate file. First, step S7
At 1, it is determined whether or not there is a file that has not been read yet and that belongs to the read source. When there is a file,
One file that has not been read from the pointer table of the reading source is extracted and set as a child (step S7).
2). Then, it is determined whether or not the Child is a collective file (step S73). If Child is a normal file, the contents of the normal file are read and set as Result (step S74). When Child is a set file, the read of the set is recursively called, and the obtained result is set as Result (step S75). The Result obtained in step S74 or step S75 is added to the read result (step S76). After that, the process returns to step S71 again,
Repeat the above steps. In determination step S71,
When it is determined that the file does not exist, the read operation of the entire set ends.

The list operation of the set will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The list operation is an operation for listing the aggregate file and the ordinary file pointed to by the aggregate file. First, in a judgment step S81, it is judged whether or not there is a file which has not been read yet and belongs to the list source. When there is a file, one unread file is taken out from the pointer table of the list source and the file name is added to the result (step S82).
If it is determined in the determination step S81 that there is no file, the list operation ends. The input / output device 18 outputs the list.

In the list operation, the depth of the list can be designated. If the depth of the list is not 1,
Perform a list operation for all set files to be listed by reducing the list depth specification by one.

[0045]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, when managing / manipulating a large number of files on a storage device, a collective operation for collectively managing / manipulating a plurality of files as a set without any contradiction. Since the collective file processing unit for enabling the above is provided, the efficiency of file management / operation can be improved. Moreover, since the set operation can be performed without causing a contradiction, for example, when one unnecessary set is deleted, there is no problem that the files included in the set and other sets are deleted. ,convenient.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a typical configuration of a file management device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a structural diagram showing the inside of each file.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of an inclusion relation of a set.

FIG. 4 is a relationship diagram showing a specific example of an inclusion relationship.

FIG. 5 is a Venn diagram showing an inclusion relationship.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing inconsistent inclusion relations and non-contradiction inclusion relations.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram showing an internal configuration of a collective file processing unit.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation of creating a set.

FIG. 9 is a structural diagram showing the inside of a created aggregate file.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an operation of adding an element to a set.

FIG. 11 is a structural diagram showing an internal structure of each of an additional file and an addition destination aggregate file before the addition.

FIG. 12 is a structural diagram showing a relationship between an additional file and an addition destination aggregate file in a state after the addition.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of an operation for removing elements from a set.

FIG. 14 is a structural diagram showing a relationship between a removal source set file and a removal file in a state before removal.

FIG. 15 is a structural diagram showing respective structures of a removal source set file and a removal file after removal.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a delete operation of a set.

FIG. 17 is a relationship diagram showing the structure of a set before deletion.

FIG. 18 is a relationship diagram showing the structure of a set after deletion.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing a copy operation of a set.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing a read operation of a set.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing a list list operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Storage Device 12 Normal File 13 Aggregate File 14 File Attribute 15 File Content 16 File Processing Unit 17 Aggregate File Processing Unit 18 Input / Output Device

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A file management device for managing and operating files stored in a storage unit, comprising: a file processing unit for performing file operations on a file-by-file basis for each file of the files; and a set of a plurality of files included in the file. A file management unit that performs a grouping operation in units of 1 and a unit for instructing the file processing unit to perform the file operation or instructing the group file processing unit to perform the grouping operation. apparatus. 2. The file management device according to claim 1, wherein the aggregate file processing unit creates an aggregate file relating a plurality of files as an aggregate, and all of the plurality of files included in the aggregate file. The file management apparatus is characterized in that the set operation is performed without causing a contradiction.