JP2001134479A - Method for managing file - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To ensure the privacy of a user while sharing data with a plurality of users in a computer used at home or in a small-scaled office or the like. SOLUTION: In a computer system in which a directory 10 and a file 12 to be used by a user are constituted of a directory structure and a file name which cannot be recognized by any person but the user himself or herself, a directory path name is encoded for the directory 10, and the combination of the directory path name and the file name is encoded for the file 12 so that they can be set and managed as a directory name and a file name.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention aims at identifying each user and protecting privacy in an environment where a plurality of specific users jointly use a computer system including an OS, a Windows system, an Internet browser, and the like. File management method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a plurality of specific users jointly use a computer, in a multi-user environment, an ID is used.
And personal identification by password. These systems are satisfactory in terms of security.

[0003]

However, excessive use of security makes the computer harder to use, especially when it is assumed to be used at home. Furthermore, in a system with strict security even when there is data to be used jointly by users, there is a problem that the data cannot be used jointly, and each user must have the same. Also, if the user
In some systems defined by D and password, only the screen environment to be operated, that is, the so-called desktop is switched for each user, the data itself is shared, and privacy is not considered at all. For example, Microsoft's Windows system is an example.

When a plurality of specific users jointly use a computer based on personal identification based on an ID and a password, the users are almost completely identified and security is maintained. However, at this time, each user cannot share data handled by computer hardware. In order to protect each user's privacy and create an inconsistent environment of sharing data, it is necessary to share a file system of a computer.

An ordinary file system has a hierarchical structure, and files are managed in a hierarchical structure by directory names or folder names and file names. In such a file system, if another person accesses one of the files with the coded name and confirms the contents, the whole image can be grasped by following the hierarchical structure. Further, a file may be stored in a directory structure based on a coded name without managing the file in a hierarchical structure, but the probability of finding the file is increased. Also, from the viewpoint of the user, his or her file must be stored in association with the hierarchical structure, which is extremely inconvenient in use.

[0006] For privacy protection, it is preferable that the location of directories and files is unknown or explicitly unknown to others. However, in the present invention, the knowledge of the OS and various utilities are used to make the best use of others. We do not expect to obtain information or infringe on privacy. An object of the present invention is to protect a privacy, for example, for a system limited to a specific plurality of users in a home.

According to the present invention, a file for protecting a user's privacy with respect to data that needs to be protected by maintaining an environment in which shared data is used by identifying a user with loose constraints without operating the ID and password. It aims to provide a management method. The present invention is not intended to be completely confidential, it does not allow users to operate the privacy protection mechanism without being aware of it, and also prevents others from searching and browsing privacy-sensitive directories and files. While trying
The purpose is to share a file in which the user is not aware of privacy as a publicly known file and to use the file with an easy-to-understand name.

[0008] Another object of the present invention is to realize personal identification by operating a computer system based on a device that specifies a user. That is, an object of the present invention is to identify a user by a fact that only the user himself knows, such as a directory or folder name, a data file name, an address book name, a bookmark name and their mutual relations, and to secure privacy based on loose restrictions.

[0009]

In the present invention, in view of the above problems, the user himself names the directories and files,
Coded names of directory paths of these directories and files are managed by a computer as directory names and file names.

That is, according to the present invention, in a file management method for managing files stored together with a directory in storage means handled by a computer, a file in which a directory path name of a predetermined directory in the directory is code-converted is converted to a file. A predetermined directory name is set, and a name obtained by connecting a directory path name of a directory in which the predetermined file exists in the file and a first file name of the predetermined file is converted into a code, A file management method characterized by setting a second file name is provided.

In view of the above problems, in the present invention, when displaying the existence of a file, the user is required to input a directory path name of a directory to which the file to be displayed belongs, and the input directory path name is coded. Compare the coded directory name and file name held by the computer, and display only the files in the directory. When the directory to which the file to be displayed belongs further includes a directory, only the number of the included directories is displayed.

That is, according to the present invention, in the file management method according to claim 1, a step of inputting a directory path name by a user, a step of converting the input directory path name into a code, Searching for a file having the same character string from the name of the set directory and the second file name of the file; A file management method is provided, comprising: determining a file having a child as a file; and outputting the number of directories and a first file name of the file.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The file management method of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing one embodiment of a directory structure in an environment where a plurality of users share the use. The information of the user named Taro is contained in the directory 10 “Taro”. In the same layer as the directory 10 “Taro”, the directory 10
There are "Hanako" and "bulletin board". The directory 10 “Hanako” contains information of a user named Hanako. On the other hand, the “bulletin board” is shared, and the information contained therein is shared between users. It is assumed that the names of the directory 10 and the file 12 under the directory "Taro" are set by Taro himself.

Under the directory 10 "Taro", the directory 10 "memo", the file 12 "hobby", and the "information"
Exists. Under the directory 10 "memo", a directory 10 "address book", a file 12 "paper", and "pocket money" exist. Under the directory 10 "address book", there are files 12 "relatives", "school" and "juku".
The directory 10 is represented by a parallelogram, and the file 12 is represented by a rectangle.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment in which directories and files have names related to a directory structure according to the file management method of the present invention. FIG.
Is the directory 10 and the file 12 shown in FIG.
Is represented by a name related to the directory structure. As shown in FIG. 1, directories 10 and files 12 are also identifiable to the computer by names associated with the directory structure. For example, if the file 12 named “school” is represented by a directory path, it is “Taro memo address book school” (1).

When the name of the file (1) is converted into a JIS code having two bytes per character, the name becomes "42404F3A256125623D3B3D6A4F3F3358393B" (2). The name of this file (1) is not clear just by looking at the character string of (2), and the contents of this file cannot be estimated. This prevents others from easily determining the contents of their own directory 10 and file 12. This coded character string is newly set as a directory name and a file name. In particular, in the case of a file name, an extension is added to the code-converted character string as shown in (2) and a new file name is obtained. Is set. In this specification, a name before code conversion such as (1) is referred to as a first file name, and a name after code conversion such as (2) is referred to as a second file name. Although the second file name indicates the directory path as it is, it tends to be long, but such a file name can be used as a long file name in the Microsoft Windows system. Note that any code table may be used as long as the contents are not clearly understood by others when the code is converted.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the processing of the computer when the user displays a directory or a file in the file management method according to the present invention.
For example, a user named Taro is in directory 10 "memo".
A case will be described in which a file existing immediately below is displayed. It is assumed that the directory name and the file name are already represented by the directory path as shown in FIG. 1, and the directory name and the file name have been converted into coded names.

In step S101, the user inputs the name of a directory path to be displayed. For example, the directory 10 under the directory 10 "memo" under the directory 10 "taro"
When the file 12 is displayed, the character "Taro memo" is input by the user using a user interface such as a keyboard. In step S103, the character input in step S101 is converted into a code. Specifically, the character "Taro memo" input by the user is converted into a code. (3) is "Taro memo" 1
This is converted into a JIS code having two bytes per character. “42404F3A25612562”… (3)

In step S105, step S1
A search is made for a directory 10 and a file 12 that include the code obtained in 03 at the beginning of the directory name and the file name. That is, the directory 10 and the file 12 starting with the code (3) are searched. The code of (3) is the head of the code of (2). As shown in (3), one having a coded character string following a code is a directory 10 or a file 12 belonging to (3).
It has become. Therefore, the directory 10 and the file 12 having the code of (3) at the beginning of the file name are information existing further below the directory 10 “memo” under the directory 10 “taro”.

In step S107, step S1
Of the directories 10 and files 12 selected in 05, those having no extension are determined to be directories 10 and those having an extension are determined to be files 12. As a result, one directory 10 “address book” and two files 12
"Thesis" and "pocket money" are obtained. At this time, the file 12 under the directory 10 “address book” is also (3)
As a file name. However, the file 12 in the directory 10 "address book", that is, the file 12 having the code of "42404F3A256125623D3B3D6A4F3F" is excluded from the display result.

In step S109, the number of directory 10 and the file name are output. In this case, one directory 10 is stored under the directory 10 “memo”.
An “address book” exists, and the number 1 of the directory 10 is output. When outputting the file name, there are two files 12 “paper” and “pocket money”, and “paper”,
The code-converted second file name of "pocket money" is decoded, and the original first file name is output. Note that if the first file name can be derived from the second file name, it is not necessary to decode the second file name. The number of directories 10 and the file names output in step S109 are displayed on a display or the like and displayed to the user. According to the above flow, the number 1 of the directory 10 immediately below the directory 10 “memo” and the names of the files 12 “paper” and “pocket money” are displayed.

As described above, when a user wants to display a file 12 existing under a certain directory 10, first the code of the directory path name input by the user is converted, and the converted code and the computer The code name of the stored file 12 is compared. Since the file 12 does not have a hierarchical structure, the computer performs a brute force search. If the directory path name matches, the code immediately below that directory path is detected. If the detected directory is the directory 10, it is counted, and finally, the total number of directories 10 immediately below the directory 10 input by the user is output. The detected file is file 1.
In the case of 2, the file name is output.

The file management method of the present invention is based on the premise that the user has stored his / her own directory structure and directory name. In the case of displaying a file, the user has to input a directory path name such as “Taro memo address book”. Further, the display result indicates only the number of directories 10 and does not indicate the directory names, assuming that the user remembers the directory structure and directory names. The display of the number of directories 10 also serves as an aid for the user to remember the directory structure.

On the other hand, in the normal case, the number of files is much larger than the number of directories, and it is difficult to store them.
Therefore, the file management method of the present invention
Is displayed, and the file name immediately below the directory 10 whose name is known is clarified. Therefore,
As for the file 12 including the information to be kept confidential, it is safe if the user places the file 12 in a deep directory hierarchy. This makes it possible to prevent others from entering from the root directory.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, it is preferable to set one directory 10 for one user in the file management, as the directory 10 "Taro" is set for the user Taro in the embodiment shown in FIG. In this mode, the configuration of the directory 10 and the storage position of information are arbitrary.

The file management method of the present invention is preferably incorporated in a computer as middleware software of an application or an OS. In particular, it is preferably introduced into an environment in which computers are shared by specific persons, such as an environment where computers are used at home.

[0027]

Since the directories and files used by the user have a directory structure and file names that can be understood only by the user himself / herself, others cannot determine the contents and locations of these directories and files, and privacy infringement is not caused. It is a great restriction for those who try.
Further, since the names of directories and files are coded, it is not possible to immediately know the contents and characteristics of the data and the owner of the data from the names. As described above, in a computer used in a home or a small office, privacy of a user can be secured while sharing data with a plurality of users.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment in which directories and files have names related to a directory structure according to the file management method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a process of a computer when displaying a file or a directory in the file management method according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of a directory structure in an environment where a plurality of users share the use;

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 directories 12 files

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A file management method for managing files stored together with a directory in storage means handled by a computer, wherein a code obtained by converting a directory path name of a predetermined directory in the directory is converted to a name of the predetermined directory. And a code obtained by converting a name obtained by connecting a directory path name of a directory where a predetermined file exists in the file and a first file name of the predetermined file to a second file name of the file File management method characterized by setting: 2. The file management method according to claim 1, wherein a directory path name is input by a user, the input directory path name is converted into a code, and a character string identical to the code is converted into a code. Searching for a file having an extension from the set directory name and the second file name of the file. A file management method, comprising: determining a file; and outputting the number of directories and a first file name of the file.