JPH11154162A - Effective use of data base - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten transmission time on NW and to construct a shared data base(DB) between remote places by transmitting/receiving a data file via an electronic mail. SOLUTION: The automatic take-out/take-in functions of transmission/ reception data are provided by constituting/adding data transmission/reception conversion functions 2 and 3 to an objective system 1 constituted by commercial relational data base(RDB) software by software. Since a transmission data file 4 which is generated is text data obtained by simply arranging data, it becomes small in the size being 1/10-1/100 of system data. The transmission data file 4 is added by the addition function 7 of the electronic mail and it is transmitted to a site by an electronic mail line 6. Data transmitted to the site is stored in the directory of the system designated by the storage function 8 of the electronic mail as received data 5 of the site. The received data 5 is automatically taken into a slave DB by the reception/conversion function 3 to the system of the site. Data similar to the master DB in a master office is copied and it is shared.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of operating a shared database between remote locations such as offices and sites, and by using a commercially available e-mail system and providing a function of automatically extracting and importing data from a database. And a database utilization method characterized in that the database management method is simple and economical.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There are a number of patents for an electronic transmission / reception system using electronic mail (E-mail). However, as in the present invention, the database information itself is attached to the electronic mail, and the attached file is transmitted to a remote place. There is no way to automatically import data into a local database and share the database.

[0003]

As shown in FIG. 1, the current technology is to construct a target system with commercially available relational database (hereinafter abbreviated as RDB) software, and to use a plurality of sites to share data with a plurality of remote locations. N considering the number
Introduced W software, NTT network 5A which is a public network
The data in the DB is transmitted between the parent database (hereinafter abbreviated as DB) 2A of the parent office and the network DB 3A, which is the NWDB, and the child DB of the remote site A via the NW line at a fixed time or upon request. Must be identical.

However, since this method depends on the current NW communication speed and the size of a file to be transmitted / received, transmission time is required in a current system in which the size of a communication file is changed from several hundred Kbytes to several Mbytes. In addition, when there are a plurality of remote sites, the cost of the system including the shared DB is high, and the economy is a problem. 1A is a personal computer (personal computer) and 4A is network software.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to construct a shared DB between remote locations by solving the above-mentioned transmission time on the NW and simplifying the operation of the system.

[0006]

An object of the present invention is to use a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as P) instead of using NW software.
C), using a commercially available e-mail function,
This is achieved by automatically rearranging and automatically retrieving the parent DB data on the system into a character string format (for example, a text format), extracting a data file, and transmitting / receiving the data file via electronic mail.

[0007] That is, the shared DB system between remote locations is not a transmission / reception method between the shared DBs using the current NW software, but by transmitting and receiving data in an e-mail in the form of an attached file, the shared DB of the parent office. Becomes unnecessary,
The size of the DB for operation management can be reduced.

Further, since the size of the transmission / reception data attached to the e-mail is about 1/10 to 1/100 of the size of the shared DB, the transmission / reception time is greatly reduced, and the communication cost is reduced accordingly. Economics are also improved.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below.

[0010] With the development of multimedia, the business mode using PCs is rapidly changing not only in offices but also between remote locations with sites and affiliated companies by using NW lines and sharing a DB with both. doing.

FIG. 2 shows a method of utilizing a shared DB between remote locations.

In FIG. 2, data necessary for transmission / reception of the parent DB is transmitted to a plurality of remote locations A to N by employing a commercially available electronic mail system. At each remote location, the data attached to the e-mail software 1B is stored in a directory designated by a normal storage operation. By activating the system and performing a data file reception operation, the same contents as the parent DB are automatically transferred to the child DB of the PC, and a shared DB is constructed. 2B is an electronic mail line (E
Mail network).

FIG. 3 shows the detailed functions. Commercial RDB
By automatically adding data transmission and reception conversion functions 2 and 3 to the system 1 to be configured by software, automatic transmission and reception data extraction and capture functions are provided. Since the transmission data file 4 thus created is text data in which data is simply arranged, 1/10 to 1/10 of the system data is used.
The size is reduced to 1/100. Further, according to the present invention, if a function for selecting only the data of the item number to be transmitted is provided, the size of the data file attached to the e-mail can be small.

Next, the transmission data file 4 is attached by the e-mail attachment function 7 and transmitted to a remote site (site) by the e-mail line 6. The data transmitted to the site is stored as received data 5 of the site in a directory of the system designated by the e-mail storage function 8. The received data 5 is automatically taken into the child DB by the reception conversion function 3 (same as the parent office) into the site system, and the same data as the parent DB of the parent office is transcribed and shared.

Conversely, the data of the added / corrected portion from the site is transmitted to the parent office by the data transmission operation from the site, and is transcribed to the parent DB by the reception conversion function 3 of the parent DB.

Other DB transmissions to a plurality of sites, including additions / modifications from the parent office and additions / modifications from other sites, are transmitted at regular or necessary times by a similar operation. The responsibility / management source of the DB is assigned to the parent DB.

With such a method, the creation of a data sharing DB between a plurality of remote locations including the parent office does not require NW software as compared with the current system, the size of the data to be transmitted can be reduced, and the transmission time is reduced. And work efficiently.

The present invention applies to all DBs that can be constructed by RDB. We believe that it is also effective in creating a shared DB between remote locations in the fields of electronics such as thermal, hydro, and nuclear power, as well as in the fields of public and electrical equipment and information, such as steel, public, industrial, and transportation.

4 and 5 show a case of a larger-scale embodiment. FIG. 4 shows a case where a plurality of PCs are used in the parent office. Even in this case, data transmission and reception between remote locations uses e-mail in the same way. Common D in parent office
B uses NW software. FIG. 5 shows a case where a plurality of PCs share a site. Also in this case, it is assumed that data transmission and reception by e-mail between remote locations is the same. The common child DB in the site is similarly constructed by NW software.

In the embodiment, the description has been given of the case where the parent office and the site are independently multiplexed.
Even in the case of a configuration including a plurality, NW software for a small number of people, which is relatively inexpensive, can be applied by introducing the number of applications. Naturally, data transmission and reception between remote locations uses electronic mail.

[0021]

According to the present invention, a shared DB can be constructed effectively and at low cost between a parent office and a plurality of remote locations. Therefore, NW transmission / reception time can be saved. In addition, since it can be operated and managed with commercially available software irrespective of remote locations, it is economically effective.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a current shared DB between remote locations.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a shared DB using electronic mail according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an embodiment to which a data transmission / reception function of the present invention is added.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a case where a parent office is composed of a plurality of PCs in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a case where a site is composed of a plurality of PCs in one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: Target system (commercially available RDB software), 2: Transmission / reception conversion function (take-out), 3: Reception conversion function (take-in), 4:
Transmission data file, 5 ... Reception data file, 6 ... E-mail line, 7 ... Attachment function (E-mail function), 8 ...
Storage function (e-mail function).

Claims (2)

[Claims] When a database for sharing the same information is constructed in a joint operation between an office and a plurality of remote places such as a local place, the use of electronic mail makes network software unnecessary and reduces communication time. A database utilization system characterized by greatly shortening. 2. A database utilization system characterized in that it can be easily and economically operated and managed by providing a function for automatically taking out and taking in between a database system and an electronic mail system.