JP2002007138A - Method for installing and starting application, device for executing the same, and medium and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically install an application program whose version is optimal to a data file without making a user to perform any troublesome version judgment, and to automatically start the application. SOLUTION: A document file to be read is analyzed so that a feature point such as the reserved word of a macro-instruction can be extracted, and the version of an application suitable for the document file is identified according to the extracted feature point. Then, whether an application program of the identified version is already installed is judged, and when it is judged that such application program has not been installed, the application program of the pertinent version is newly installed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technology for automatically installing and automatically starting a version of an application required for data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Data format of a document file or spreadsheet file created by a personal computer or a word processor dedicated machine is changed according to a version upgrade of an application program for creating and updating the file. In many cases, the data created in the previous version cannot be used in the old version of the program. Conversely, even if you are using a new version of the application, you may not be able to edit data created with the old version of the application.

In the case of a word processor application, since the data storage format differs depending on the version of the application, the layout of the document may not be reproduced with another version of the application program. Therefore, it was necessary to convert the data format through another application called a document converter.

Further, in the case of a spreadsheet program called a spreadsheet, usable objects differ depending on the version, and an error may occur if an attempt is made to read data created in a different version by a certain program.

Further, a simple program describing a certain procedure called a macro is attached to this type of program. The specifications of this macro, for example, the presence or absence of a reserved word, vary depending on the version of the program. If the data file was opened with a different version of the program, the macro could not be executed and an error might occur.

In a network society represented by the Internet, data files of this type are often exchanged via communication, and received data files are
It was an important issue whether it was a version that could be used with application programs installed on my computer.

[0007] Therefore, if a certain user cannot handle the data file with the version of the installed application, the user determines the version of the available application, investigates the source of the application, and checks after obtaining the application. I needed to install it on my computer.

[0008]

By the way, if a data file is provided with a different extension depending on the version, the version of the usable application program can be known only by referring to the extension.

However, in the case of an application program in which a uniform extension is given even if the versions are different, such as a document format such as doc, it is necessary to determine an appropriate version only by externally observing the data file. Was difficult. Therefore, in the worst case, the user has to trially install various versions of the application program and repeatedly open the data file.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and automatically installs an optimal version of an application program for a data file without causing a user to determine a troublesome version. It is an object of the present invention to make it possible to automatically start a program.

[0011]

According to the present invention, first, a data file to be read is analyzed to extract feature points, and a version of an application suitable for the data file is identified based on the extracted feature points. Then, it is determined whether or not the application program of the version identified above is already installed, and if it is not installed according to the determination result, the application program of the version is newly installed.

The feature point is, for example, a reserved word or a syntax pattern of a macro instruction in a document file. These reserved words and syntax patterns often depend on the version of the application program that created them, and by extracting them, the optimal application program version for opening the document file can be known.

Further, the document file and the corresponding version of the application program are simultaneously displayed on the display device based on the analysis result of the version, and the user is allowed to select which version of the application program should be used to open the document file. You may. In this case, a different icon may be added for each version of the document file based on the information obtained from the analysis result,
When an application program is selected first, only a document file that can be opened by this application program may be displayed.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0015]

Embodiment 1 Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an automatic installation system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 2, a server 31 and a terminal device 21 are connected via a network 30. The terminal device 21 itself constitutes a computer system, and the automatic installation process of this embodiment is performed by the terminal device 2.
It can be implemented with only one.

The terminal device 21 is connected to a central processing unit (CPU) 23, a memory 24, and a display device (CR) via a bus 22.
T) 25, a printing device (PRT) 26, and a hard disk device (HD) 27. Further, a mouse 29 is provided as external auxiliary input means. The bus 2
2 is connected to the network 30 via a communication interface 28.

FIG. 1 shows an automatic installation procedure according to the present embodiment.
D) The program stored in 27 is read into the memory 24, and the program is further loaded into a central processing unit (CPU).
23 are sequentially executed.

The target document 1 is, for example, a document file for a word processor or a data file for a spreadsheet, and is registered in the hard disk (HD) 27. Normally, the target document 1 has a document area and a macro description area. When the target document 1 is read by a predetermined word processor program, a character string specified by a macro instruction accompanying the document is read. Processing and shaping are possible.

Such a target document 1 is stored in the memory 24
, The central processing unit (CPU) 23 performs a parsing process 2 on the target document 1. This syntax analysis processing is, specifically, an operation of extracting a macro instruction reserved word.

The extraction of the macro-command reserved words is performed by generating a reserved word list 12 from the target document 1. This is, specifically, a hard disk drive (HD) 2
7, a reserved word is extracted from the target document 1 by pattern matching with reference to the all reserved word database (DB) 13 registered in 7 and registered in the reserved word list 12. Then, the reserved word list 12 is compared with the all reservation-version correspondence list 4 registered in the hard disk drive (HD) 27 (comparison reference processing 3).
Valid version list 6 for the target document 1
Is generated.

In parallel with the above-mentioned syntax analysis processing 2,
The central processing unit (CPU) 23 detects a syntax pattern (step 5). In the detection of this syntax pattern, the macro program in the target document 1 is divided into tokens, and the attributes of the tokens are determined. Then, it is determined whether or not the binding state of the tokens having the specific attribute exists. Realize. For example, detecting a combined state such as “a variable that is an instance of Collection-Class” + “(” + “a variable that is an instance of Strings-Class” + “)”. When generating the valid version list 6a, a final valid version list 14 is generated by reflecting the detection result of the syntax pattern. At this time, when generating the version list 6a, any of the macro instruction reserved word extraction result and the syntax pattern detection result may be given priority. For example, when the version based on the macro instruction reserved word extraction result is different from the version based on the syntax pattern detection result, the valid version list 6a is generated by preferentially adopting a larger numerical value (latest version). You may.

Next, the valid version list 6a,
The installed version list 7 is compared (comparison process 8). As a result of the comparison process 8, the corresponding version of the application program is already
When the application program is installed in the hard disk drive (HD) 27 in an executable state, the application program is executed (execution processing 10). When the application program is not installed, the installation processing 9 is performed.

If the version list is empty when the valid version list 6 (6a) is generated, that is, if the valid version cannot be determined, a warning process 1 is executed.
One is made. In the warning process 11, for example, a visual warning display on the display device (CRT) 25 may be performed.

[0025]

Second Embodiment In the first embodiment, the method in which the central processing unit (CPU) 23 executes the comparison process 8 in the comparison process 8 to automatically determine the optimal application program version has been described. Is characterized in that the result of the comparison process 8 is displayed on the display device (CRT) 25 in a format that the user can see at a glance, and there is room for the user to select a plurality of versions of the application program. It is.

In the processing described with reference to FIG. 1, the processing prior to the comparison processing 8 is the same as that of the first embodiment, and therefore the description is omitted. The central processing unit (CPU) 23 outputs the valid version list 6 (6
When comparing a) with the installed version list 7, a comparison screen 41 as shown in FIG. 4 is displayed on the display device (CRT) 25. The comparison screen 41 is divided into an application list display window 42 on the left side of the drawing and a module list display window 43. In the application list display window 42, application programs can be hierarchically displayed for each group. In FIG. It is listed.

Although closed, the database program and the word processor program also have a plurality of application programs in a folder.

On the other hand, in the module list display window 43,
A plurality of target documents 44 (target document 1 in FIG. 1) as a module are displayed. Here, the user can arbitrarily determine which document (module) is to be opened with which version of the application program by referring to the display device (CRT).

In the figure, for example, target document 4
4 (module) to spreadsheet version 2.
If you want to open it with the application program 0, place it on the mouse cursor 46 on the screen with the mouse 23,
Here, a button (not shown) of the mouse 29 is once pressed. By this action (drag), the target document 44 (module) is selected, and only the version of the application program that can open the target document 44 is displayed in the application list display window 42 in a high brightness display. . That is, when there are a plurality of versions of the application program that can open the target document 44, all of the plurality of versions are displayed with high brightness.

Next, the user moves the mouse cursor 46 on an application program of an arbitrary version (here, version 2.0) of the application display window 42 while keeping the button of the mouse 29 pressed (drag state). Then, release (drag) the button to open the spreadsheet version 2.0
Of the target document 44
(Module) is started with the target file. This method is an input method on a screen interface called “drag and drop”.

FIG. 5 shows a functional configuration for realizing the interface described with reference to FIG. In the figure, a document analysis control unit 51 has a function of performing a syntax analysis process 2 and a comparison reference process 3 in FIG. 1 and a function of performing display control on a display device (CRT) 25.
That is, the document analysis control unit 51 sequentially reads the target document 1 located under a predetermined folder or directory, analyzes the version thereof, and displays it in the module list display window 43 in a list format. The module (target document 44) displayed in the module list display window 43 is a valid document file that can be read by an application program installed in the hard disk drive (HD) 27, In this case, the document analysis control unit 51 has already identified which version can be opened.

[0032] The document analysis control unit 51 sets the target document 1
When the application name is read and analyzed, the application name and the version name, which are the analysis results, are notified to the application path acquisition unit 54. The application path acquisition unit 54 controls the display of the application list display window 42, and displays only the version of the application received from the document analysis control unit 51 on the application list display window 54.

When the target document 44 (module) in the module list display window 43 is selected by the drag operation of the mouse 29 as described above, this selection information is transmitted to the application path acquisition unit 54 through the document analysis control unit 51. Is notified to the application list display window 42
The version of the corresponding application program is displayed in high brightness.

When a predetermined version of the application (here, the application program 45 of the version 2.0 spreadsheet) is selected by the drop operation of the mouse 29, this selection information is passed through the application path acquisition unit 54 as an execution path. OS (Opera
ting System).

Thus, the OS replaces the execution file path from the application path acquisition section 54 with the document analysis control section 5.
1, the document file path is received, and the target document 44 (module) to be executed is executed by the selected version of the application program.

In this embodiment, the OS is Microsoft Windows 3.1, 95 or 98.
Etc. can be used. 6 and 7 show the comparison screen 4.
1 is a modified example of a display contrasting a target document (module) with a version of a corresponding application program in the display of FIG.

FIG. 6 shows a case where different icons are defined for each version of the application program, and the target document 44 (module) is displayed with the corresponding version of the icon.

In this regard, in the existing OS, icons are defined by file name extensions (for example, XLS and DOC). Therefore, if the same extension is given, the same icon is used even if the versions are different. Therefore, it was difficult to grasp the version of the target document by just looking at the icon.

In this regard, in the example shown in FIG. 6, since the corresponding versions of all the target documents 44 are known in the document analysis control unit 51, the target document is not affected by the extension of the file name. The corresponding version can be displayed so that it can be identified at a glance by an icon.

FIG. 7 shows an application list display window 4.
Target document 44 corresponding to the version specified in 2
This is an example in which only the module list display window 43 is displayed. In this case, application list 5
When a specific version is designated in step 3, the application path acquisition unit 54 detects this, and the document analysis control unit 51
Notify that the version is specified. Based on this notification, the document analysis control unit 51 can display only the target document (module 44) corresponding to the version on the module list display window 43.

FIG. 8 shows the concept of selecting the version of the application program 53 according to the target document. When the target documents 84a and 84b are read into the document analysis control unit 51 by the screen interface described with reference to FIGS. 4, 6, and 7, these are analyzed by the analysis detail unit 51a, and the optimal version is selected from the installed application programs. Of the application program 45a is selected (the upper diagram in FIG. 8). Then, the target document 84 is processed by the application program 45a determined by the analysis detail unit 51a.
a is opened.

FIG. 9 shows a functional block configuration in the case where the result of the analysis by the document analysis control unit 51 indicates that there is no corresponding version of the application program in the application list 53. In this figure, most of the configuration is the same as that of FIG. 5, and the description of that part is omitted.

The installation control section 91 is a control section for installing an application program in an executable state in the hard disk drive (HD) 27, and specifically, a CD-ROM (not shown) of the terminal device 21.
And a function for installing an application program from the server 31 into the hard disk device (HD) 27. That is, in FIG. 9, when the application path acquisition unit 54 cannot acquire the path from the application list 53, that is, when there is no version corresponding to the target document 44 (module) selected in the module list 52, the installation control unit 9
1 is activated.

FIG. 10 shows a procedure for installing a new version of an application program by the installation control unit 91. In the figure, the target documents 1001 and 1002 of the version n are sequentially read into the document analysis control unit 51, and the installed application program (1003) has the version even though the analysis detail unit 51a determines the version of the application program. m, which does not correspond to the version n target documents 1001 and 1002 (FIG. 10A).

At this time, in response to the notification from the document analysis control unit 51, the installation control unit 91 is started, and the application program 1004 corresponding to the version n of the target documents 1001 and 1002 is newly installed. (FIG. 10 (b)).

Here, the installation source of the application program may be the hard disk device (HD) 27 in the terminal device 21 or a CD-ROM (not shown).
It may be from a ROM drive device, or may be a server 31 via a network 30. When downloading an application program from the server 31 via the network 30, the TCP / I
FTP by File Transfer Protocol (FTP) can be used.

The application program 10 newly installed in the hard disk drive (HD) 27
04 is started, and the target document 1001 or 1002 of the corresponding version is opened (FIG. 10).
(C)).

FIGS. 11 and 12 are a functional block diagram for securing an installation area when a required version of an application program is installed, and a diagram showing a processing procedure thereof.

The configuration of FIG. 11 is characterized in that an uninstall control unit 1101 is added to the configuration shown in FIG. That is, there is a case where the hard disk device (HD) 27 lacks an area for installing a new version of the application program even though the installation control unit 91 is activated in the example described with reference to FIGS. is there.

In this case, the uninstall control unit 1101 shown in FIG. 11 is started. This uninstall control unit 1101 is also realized as a program,
This is embodied by the central processing unit (CPU) 23 executing the program.

FIG. 12 shows the procedure of the above uninstallation and installation. Analysis details section 51a
If the optimum version cannot be detected from the installed application programs by the analysis of (FIG. 12A), the installation control unit 91 starts up, but installs a new application program in the hard disk drive (HD) 27. There is a case where there is no remaining area (FIG. 12B).

In such a case, the installation control unit 9
1 notifies the uninstall control unit 1101 that the area is insufficient. Thereby, the uninstall control unit 9
1 deletes unnecessary files from the hard disk device (HD) 27. At this time, which file is to be deleted or not can be determined based on the following criteria.

For example, an application program that does not satisfy the use conditions may be preferentially uninstalled. For example, an application program to which a condition that can be used for trial only for 30 days after downloading is added.

It is also possible to uninstall the programs in order of their capacity. Generally, when an application having a smaller capacity tends to have a lower importance, an application program having a smaller capacity is deleted first. If the number of programs to be uninstalled is reduced and the area securing efficiency is prioritized, the application program having the larger capacity is deleted.

Also, in order of installation date, importance,
The order of uninstallation may be determined based on the number of created documents, the number of common files, and the like. FIG. 13 and FIG. 14 are sequence diagrams illustrating a procedure in which the terminal device 21 downloads an application program from the server 31 via the network 30.

In the figure, first, the server 31 starts the management program, and the terminal device 21 starts the client program. In the hard disk device (HD) 27 of the terminal device 21, the terminal device 21
Is stored as a file acquisition history file 1301.

When the installation control section 91 of the terminal device 21 starts the installation process, first, the terminal device 2
1 transmits a use start message to the server 31. Thus, when the server 31 recognizes the start of the installation, the server 31 notifies the terminal device 21 that its own automatic management system is valid.

Next, the terminal device 21 notifies the server 31 of the user identification code (ID). The server 31 receiving this requests the terminal device 21 for hardware information. The hardware information includes the type of the central processing unit (CPU) 23 of the terminal device 21, the clock frequency (Cl
ock), OS, memory capacity, hard disk drive (H
D) The capacity of 27 or the like. Upon receiving this information,
Next, a file acquisition history is requested to the terminal device 21. The file acquisition history is a so-called history, and includes a file name, a URL (Uniform Resource Locator),
The information is information such as a compression method and a version, and the terminal device 21 has the hard disk device (HD) 27 as the file acquisition history file 1301 described above.

When the server 31 receives the file acquisition history, the server determines based on the received history whether or not a new version of the file downloaded in the past is already stored in the server in a downloadable state. If the new version does not exist, the process ends because the latest version of the application program has already been installed in the terminal device 21 as viewed from the server 31.

On the other hand, if a newer version than the file acquisition history obtained from the terminal device 21 exists on the server 31 side, a necessary installer (an auxiliary program for performing installation) is selected, and the installer is selected. Transfer to 21.

When the terminal device 21 notifies the server 31 of the end of the transfer of the installer, the server 31 instructs the terminal device 21 to rewrite the file acquisition history. The terminal device 21 requests the server 31 for necessary items such as a version and a file date based on the command, and the server 31 responds to the request by sending information of the item to the terminal device 21.
Notify.

The terminal device 21 rewrites its own file acquisition history file 1301 based on the item information, and disconnects the network with the server 31.
Then, the terminal device 21 starts the downloaded installer to start the installation. If the installation has not been completed normally, the validity check of the archive is started. In this archive validity check, a network connection with the server 31 is made again, and the server 31
By sending a test request to If necessary based on the inspection result, the installer is transferred from the server 31 to the terminal device 21 again.

[0063]

According to the present invention, it is possible to determine an optimal version of an application program for a data file that cannot be specified from the appearance of the file, to automatically install the application program, and to automatically execute the application program. Can be started.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an automatic installation system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a system configuration according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a relationship between respective lists according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an example of a screen display on the display device according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram for realizing the screen configuration of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a screen display example (2) of the display device according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a screen display example (3) of the display device according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram showing a relation between a document file and an application program according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram in a case where a result of analysis by the document analysis control unit according to the second embodiment does not include a corresponding version of the application program in the application list.

FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram when an application program is installed based on a document analysis result in the second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a functional block diagram in the case of performing uninstallation when the installation area is insufficient in the second embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a functional block diagram illustrating a procedure of executing uninstallation to secure an area in the second embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a sequence diagram (1) in the case of downloading an application program via a network in the second embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a sequence diagram (2) for downloading an application program via a network in the second embodiment.

[Description of Signs] 1 Target document 4 All reserved words-version correspondence list 6 Target document valid version list 7 Installed version list 21 Terminal device 22 Bus 23 Central processing unit (CPU) 24 Memory 25 Display device (CRT) 26 Printing device (PRT) 27 Hard disk drive (HD) 28 Communication interface 29 Mouse 30 Network 31 Server 41 Comparison screen 42 Application list display window 43 Module list display window 46 Mouse cursor

Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5B076 AC03 BB06 BB17 5E501 AA13 AC24 AC25 BA05 CB09 DA02 EA08 EA11 EB05 FA04 FA13 FA14 FA23 FB43

Claims (14)

[Claims] A step of analyzing a data file to extract a feature point; a step of determining a version of an application suitable for the data file based on the extracted feature point; A method for installing an application, comprising: a step of determining whether or not the application program has already been installed; and a step of newly installing the version of the application program when the application program has not been installed. 2. The application installation method according to claim 1, wherein the feature point is a reserved word of a macro instruction included in a data file, and the version is determined by detecting a reserved word unique to each version. 3. The application installation method according to claim 1, wherein the feature point is a syntax pattern of a macro instruction included in a data file, and the version is determined by detecting a syntax pattern unique to each version. 4. A step of analyzing two or more data files to extract respective feature points; a step of determining a version of an application program capable of reading the data files based on the feature points; And displaying the application program of the determined version at the same time; and launching the displayed application program in association with one of the data files. 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the data file is displayed in a different symbol figure for each corresponding version of the application program. 6. The method according to claim 4, wherein when the application program is selected, only a data file corresponding to a version of the application program is displayed. 7. The method according to claim 4, wherein when there is no corresponding application program for the data file, installation of the corresponding application program is executed. 8. The method according to claim 4, further comprising the step of deleting an existing file when there is not enough free space when installing the application program. 9. A step of analyzing two or more data files to extract respective feature points; a step of determining a version of an application program capable of reading the data files based on the feature points; And a step of simultaneously displaying the application program of the version determined above, and a step of starting the displayed application program in association with any one of the data files. 10. A means for analyzing two or more data files to extract respective feature points; a means for determining a version of an application program capable of reading the data files based on the feature points; And a means for simultaneously displaying the version of the application program determined as described above, and means for activating the displayed application program in association with one of the data files. 11. A means for analyzing a data file to extract a feature point; a means for determining a version of an application suitable for the data file based on the extracted feature point; An application installation device comprising: means for determining whether or not the application program has already been installed; and means for newly installing the application program of the version when the application program has not been installed. 12. A step of analyzing a data file to extract a feature point; a step of determining a version of an application suitable for the data file based on the extracted feature point; A storage medium storing a program for sequentially executing a step of determining whether or not the application program has already been installed and a step of newly installing the application program of the version when the application program has not been installed. 13. Analyzing two or more data files to extract respective feature points; determining a version of an application program capable of reading the data files based on the feature points; And displaying the determined version of the application program simultaneously; and activating the displayed application program in association with any of the data files. 14. A step of analyzing a data file to extract a feature point; a step of determining a version of an application suitable for the data file based on the extracted feature point; A program for sequentially executing a step of determining whether or not the application program is already installed, and a step of newly installing the application program of the version when the application program is not installed.