JP2002108666A - Method for processing information and device for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To integrally deal with the unspecific large number of formats. SOLUTION: A container structure 51 having a prescribed descriptive format such as an XML is generated, and contents data 'A' and 'B' having a prescription data format are converted so as to conform to the prescribed description format, and inserted into the container structure. In this case, it is clarified that the data are the inserted contents data according to a 'TAG' tag.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing method and apparatus for storing data and a storage medium in which different types of data are collectively stored.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, various data formats have overflowed on electronic computers. These various formats are unique formats defined for each application. Means for realizing data sharing between these various formats is provided by an application between specific software vendors. Alternatively, it is possible to share data between these different formats between applications having a certain rule.

[0003]

However, in general, data can be shared only between applications capable of creating a sharable format. In other words, even if equivalent data is included in a plurality of formats (regardless of the same format or different formats) regardless of the format type, the format that can treat the data collectively as one data is Did not exist. Even when data can be shared, data can be shared only between specific software vendors and software. Further, in a plurality of the same formats or a plurality of different formats, equivalent data cannot be handled as one integrated data. Further, although the data represents related information, the data cannot be handled as the same data due to a different format.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to make it possible to handle a plurality of unspecified formats in a unified manner.

Another object of the present invention is to make it possible to combine equal data shared between formats regardless of application dependency and application independence, and to reduce the size of data. is there.

[0006]

An information processing method according to the present invention for achieving the above object includes, for example, the following steps. That is, a generation step of generating a container structure having a predetermined description format, a conversion step of converting content data having a predetermined data format to conform to the description format, and converting the content data converted in the conversion step to Inserting the content data into the container structure so as to be identifiable.

Preferably, when a plurality of content data inserted in the container structure include an equivalent data portion, the equivalent data portion is extracted from each of the plurality of content data. And a storage step of storing as shared data in the content structure.

Further, an information processing apparatus according to the present invention for achieving the above object has, for example, the following configuration. That is, generating means for generating a container structure having a predetermined description format, conversion means for converting content data having a predetermined data format to conform to the description format, and converting the content data converted by the conversion means into Insertion means for identifiably inserting content data into the container structure.

[0009] Preferably, when a plurality of content data inserted in the container structure include an equivalent data portion, the equivalent data portion is extracted from each of the plurality of content data. And storage means for storing as shared data in the content structure.

Further, according to the present invention, there is provided a storage medium for storing a container structure storing content data generated by the above information processing method or information processing apparatus.

[0011]

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

[First Embodiment] FIG. 1 shows an access form from an application to a container architecture. In FIG. 1, 31 is a container architecture 3
2 is an application for accessing. If the application 31 can directly access the container architecture 32, no special intermediate program is required between the application and the container architecture as shown by an arrow 341.

On the other hand, a case where the application 31 cannot directly access the container architecture 32 will be described. In this case, in the case of data writing, an access request (arrow 342) and data to be written are once received by the data access program 33, and the data is changed to a container architecture and stored in the container architecture 32. In the case of data reading, the data access program 33 reads data from the container architecture 32, converts the data into a format suitable for the application 31 that has accessed, and sends it to the application 31 (arrow 343).

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining a processing procedure for outputting data of a plurality of different formats as data represented by a container architecture in the first embodiment. In the first embodiment, XML used to represent a structured description as a data representation for constructing a container architecture
(EXtensible Markup Language). FIG.
2 shows a part of a data write-out process (arrow 342) in the data access program 33 in FIG.

In step S21, data to be stored in the container architecture is input regardless of whether the format depends on the application.

Next, in step S22, step S
A container for storing the data given in 21 is created. It contains administrative information, such as when this container was created, who created it, and what encoding method it uses, such as the example below. It is possible to add a field for information to existing data.

In step S23, one data is selected from the input data. Here, in this embodiment, the processing is performed after inputting the data collectively, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a method of inputting data for each process may be used.

In step S24, it is checked whether or not there is a character or a character string that is problematic in describing the container architecture in the input data. if,
If there is, characters and character strings are replaced in step S25.

In step S25, characters or character strings (called reserved words) which are problematic in describing the container architecture in the input data are replaced. Hereinafter, this is called encoding, and conversely, from the encoded result,
Reverting to the original format is called decoding.

The encoding method depends on the method of constructing the container. In this embodiment, XML is used. In this case, however, an XML expression format (for example, “<” representing a tag or other symbols or names that must not be used in forming XML) is used. It is necessary to avoid collision with characters or character strings used in the contents of each data. To avoid this, for example,
A method is conceivable in which a backslash is described and escaped before a symbol or the like used as an expression format in XML, and one backslash is represented by superimposing two backslashes on the backslash itself. In addition, general XML
When this format is processed by a processor or the like, it is necessary to completely replace "<" or the like. This encoding method is given when the container is created in step S22. For this reason, once a container has been created, it can be decoded because the encoding method is described.

In step S26, if necessary, the encoded data is inserted into the container.

In step S27, step S
It is determined in step 21 whether there is another input data, and if there is other data, the process returns to step S23 to continue the processing.

Finally, in step S28, a container architecture in which a plurality of formats are put together at the content level is output by the container architecture.

The above-described processing will be described with reference to a specific example shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, document 11, document 12
Is data in a different format. Specifically 1
1 is an HTML format document, and 12 is a unique format format document dependent on a certain word processor. The schematic diagram of the container architecture finally generated by the processing shown in FIG. 2 is as shown in FIG. 13, and different formats are combined into one data format.

In the flowchart of FIG. 2, first, in step S21, format A (document 11) and format B (document 12) are input, and in step S22, a framework for the container architecture is created. In step S23, first, format A (11) is selected. However, the selection here is A for the sake of explanation only, and does not prescribe a selection method (order).

In step S24, format A (11)
If a reserved word exists, it is encoded in step S25. There is no provision for this encoding method. As an example, since it is an XML document,
There is a method of replacing “<” with “& lt”. The result of the encoding or the data input in step S21 is inserted into the container.

As a method of the insertion, for example, it is conceivable to define a certain tag and insert it in the tag. As an example, a method of identifying a container by a tag having an element name “TAG” as shown in FIG. 4 and the value of its attribute “id” can be considered. According to this method, a plurality of data inside the container can be uniquely handled. At this time, management information such as what kind of application data is and whether the data is created can be embedded in the container regardless of inside or outside the tag storing the data.

Subsequently, steps S27 and S23
Then, the next format data B (12) is taken out,
Similar processing is performed. In the case of B (12), an element name or attribute value that does not overlap with the data (A) created previously in step S26 is selected. In this example, it is assumed that 2 is selected as the value of the attribute “id”. This format is not particularly limited as long as each format can be uniquely distinguished. As another data identification method, in the case of a tagged structured document such as an XML document, a method of uniquely determining data by using a name space (Namespace) in XML can be considered.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing a container architecture finally generated in the first embodiment. As shown in FIG.
When the management information for each data (content) is attached to the container architecture 52, as shown in (b), when it exists independently of the data in the container architecture 52, as shown in the container architecture 53 shown in (c), , In a format having both container architectures 51 and 52.

Although not shown in FIG. 5, there are tags defined for the container itself and tags defined for the management information, and in order to actually represent the container architecture and the management information, In addition, a tag is attached for information designation inside (for example, identification of an application type, a creator, etc.), or XML is used.
Declarations are given. Such tags are XML
If it is described in, it must be determined. In the present embodiment, the format of the container architecture using tags is defined, and the definition of the name of the tag is not performed. The tag names shown in the present embodiment are merely for explanation. .

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a very simple example of data corresponding to the container architecture 51. However, FIG.
Is simplified for explanation. In FIG. 6, the container architecture is represented by a tag “CONTAINER”, and has a format of putting together a format for each application by a tag “DATA”. Note that “DATA” corresponds to the tag “TAG” in FIG.
That is, “DATA” is an individual container. The management information is enclosed by a tag “MANAGEMENT”.

In this example, since the model conforms to the model of the container architecture 51 shown in FIG. 5, management information accompanies each container unit. The contents of the management information include “APP” indicating the type of application and “DATE” indicating the creation date. Although only two pieces of information are shown here for simplification of the example, various pieces of management information and the like can be placed here. And the actual data is “CONTENT
It is appropriately encoded and placed inside the S "tag. In FIG. 6, it is represented by A and B and rectangles described inside.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, in a data storage / exchange format (format) used on a computer, access to each of the different formats is performed by an application corresponding to each format. Since this is a data description method that is collectively stored at the content level, in the case of data sharing, there is no restriction that data can only be shared between specific software vendors and software. Enables data sharing between specific applications.

[Second Embodiment] In the first embodiment,
Data was encoded and stored in the container. In the second embodiment, from a data group in a container, data equivalent to the data to be stored in the container (not the entire data, but a part if it can be extracted) may be extracted and shared. The data is extracted from the data including the data and used as shared data, and the shared data and the data from which the shared data is extracted are encoded and stored in the container architecture.

In order to realize this, in the second embodiment, in step S24 shown in FIG. 2 of the first embodiment, in addition to the search for a reserved word, a search for equivalent data is performed from within the container architecture. . If the search can be performed with the encoded data, the search is performed. If necessary, the search is performed by decoding the data. This is not limited to data between the input data and the container architecture, but is detected as shared data if a plurality of identical data are included in the input data.

An example for realizing this will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

This flowchart replaces the part corresponding to the determination in step S24 in FIG.
Therefore, the flowchart shown in FIG. 7 is started after step S23 in FIG. 2, and after the process is completed, the process proceeds to step S25 or S26 depending on conditions.

In step S91, it is checked whether the input data contains separable data. For example, if an image is included in the input data and that part can be extracted, this determination is “Yes”, and step S92
Move to the subsequent processing. On the other hand, if the separation is not possible, the process proceeds to step S97 and subsequent steps. The method of determining the partial data is not particularly defined. As an example, the processing program knows several types of formats in advance, performs separation processing on data that can be separated in a known format, and performs separation processing on data in an unknown format or data that is known but cannot be separated. A method of not performing this is conceivable.

In step S92, input data is separated. This separation method is not specified. Subsequently, in step S93, a container architecture to be stored is input.

In step S94, decoding is executed using the encoding information in the container architecture.
Perform data restoration. As a result, although the shared data has been removed, the format becomes at least understandable by the data access program 33, and the information contained therein can be viewed.

In step S95, the input data is compared with the data in each container architecture, and if it is possible to extract the shared data from the input data, the shared data is removed from the input data in step S96. . At this time, it is necessary to attach a mark indicating that the shared data exists to the input data. This mark will be described later.

In step S97, it is determined whether shared data exists in the input data and each data in the container architecture. If it exists, it is necessary to encode the input data itself because the shared data is extracted, and the process proceeds to step S25. If there is no shared data between the input data and the data in the container architecture in step S97, step S98
To check whether a reserved word exists in the input data. If there is no shared data in step S98, there is no shared data related to the input data, and there is no change in the data in the container architecture that originally existed, so the process shifts to step S26. If the reserved word exists, the input data must be subjected to the encoding process, so that the process proceeds to step S26.

When shared data is detected, a pointer is required to indicate that the shared data is stored separately in the container architecture. An example of the pointer will be described with reference to FIG. At 71 in FIG. 8A, a pointer for directly pointing to shared data is embedded in the data encoded in the container. 8B, a pointer indicating which part of the data managed by the management information is associated with which shared data is described in each management information. In addition to this, if there is management information of the container architecture itself, a pointer indicating which shared data should be provided from which part of which container is described therein.

An example of a pointer description method is as follows.
A method of specifying and recognizing shared data with a specific attribute value as shown in FIG. 8 can be considered. In FIG. 8, the attribute “i”
In this example, a unique value for d "is given. In addition, XLink and XPointe which are link mechanisms in XML are used.
A method may be used in which a general XML processor can process the data by using what is called r.

The data from which the shared data has been extracted in this way is read when data is read from the application.
In addition to decoding, it is necessary to perform processing such as embedding shared data based on the pointer information, and return the data to data that can be accessed by the application. This is processed by the data access program 33 in FIG.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, equivalent data can be handled as a single data in a plurality of same formats or a plurality of different formats.

[Third Embodiment] In the second embodiment, the search for the shared data is performed by one container. However, the search is not limited thereto, and the shared data may be extracted from a plurality of container architectures. In the third embodiment, as an example, a description will be given with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG. 9, which is an extension of the second embodiment in the flowchart of FIG.

The processes in steps S101 to S108 correspond to the processes in steps S91 to S98 in FIG. 7, respectively. The processing added in the third embodiment is step S109. After this processing is performed on one container, there is a container architecture that can be accessed by another and should be treated as the same format. Find out what. If so, the process is repeated for that container architecture. In this way, shared data is extracted from a plurality of container architectures.

When there is data shared with a plurality of container architectures, the following method can be considered as to which container the input data is inserted into, but the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, all relevant shared data found can be combined into a new container architecture. In addition, the information about the data is described in the management information to be inserted into the container with the smallest data size, and the distance between each container architecture where the shared data is found and the input data is calculated using the information about the data. A method of inserting the container into a container in which the distance is minimized is considered. In the case of using the management information, which is the latter example, for example, if the management information includes creator information and department information, the distance of the same creator is 0 and the creator information and the department information are used by different creators. If they are the same, 1 is determined, and if the creator and department are different, an appropriate distance is determined like 2 and the container to be inserted is determined.

[Fourth Embodiment] In the fourth embodiment,
A case where the data access program 33 in FIG. 1 is applied to a data storage device such as a database will be described.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing an example of a data storage device according to the fourth embodiment. It is assumed that a data access request has been issued to the data storage device 84 as shown in FIG. However, the type of the data access request 81 is not limited to the application, and may be any type as long as it requests data access. The data access program 83 monitors the input / output of a data storage device 84 such as a database, and in the case of data storage, converts the data 82 to be stored into a container architecture of data stored in the data storage device 84. Third
As in the first embodiment, shared data is collected, management information is added, and related data is collected.

In the case of data reading, the designated data is obtained from the data storage device 84, the obtained data is decoded using management information such as encoding information from the container architecture, and the access request 8 is read.
1 is restored so as to be compatible with the application that issued 1, and the data 82 converted into an appropriate format is passed to the application. Further, even if the data format is such that the original data cannot be stored in the data storage device, the data access program 8
3 performs encoding, so that data can be stored.

Even if the present invention is applied to a system including a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.), an apparatus including one device (for example, a copying machine, a facsimile, etc.) Device).

Another object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium (or a recording medium) in which a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is recorded to a system or an apparatus, and a computer (a computer) of the system or the apparatus. It is needless to say that the present invention can also be achieved by a CPU or an MPU) reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium. In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium implements the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention. Also,
When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also the operating system (OS) running on the computer based on the instructions of the program code.
It goes without saying that a case where the functions of the above-described embodiments are implemented by performing some or all of the actual processing, and the processing performs the functions of the above-described embodiments.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into the memory provided in the function expansion card inserted into the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, the program code is read based on the instruction of the program code. Needless to say, the CPU included in the function expansion card or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0056]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to handle unspecified multiple formats in a unified manner. In addition, it is possible to reduce the size of a format by grouping equal data that is shared between formats regardless of application dependence and non-dependency.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a form of access from an application to a container architecture.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure for outputting data in a plurality of different formats as data represented by a container architecture according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating storage of a plurality of data in a container architecture.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state where data is inserted into a container.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing a finally generated container architecture in the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a very simple data example corresponding to the container architecture 51.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure for outputting data in a plurality of different formats as data represented by a container architecture according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a state in which shared data is stored.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for processing shared data according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a data storage device according to a fourth embodiment.

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A generating step of generating a container structure having a predetermined description format, a conversion step of converting content data having a predetermined data format to conform to the description format, and a content converted in the conversion step Inserting a data into the container structure so as to be identifiable as content data. 2. When a plurality of content data inserted in the container structure include data portions equivalent to each other, the equivalent data portion is extracted from each of the plurality of content data, and 2. The information processing method according to claim 1, further comprising a storage step of storing as shared data in the structure. 3. The information processing method according to claim 2, wherein the storing step stores the shared data in a predetermined format. 4. The storing step includes detecting an equivalent data portion over a plurality of container structures, storing the detected equivalent data portion as shared data in one container structure, and removing the shared data portion. 3. The information processing method according to claim 2, wherein information indicating a storage location is stored in the obtained content data. 5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising a designation step of designating an equivalent data portion over a plurality of container structures, wherein the storage step uses the equivalent data portion designated in the designation process as shared data to form one container structure. 3. The information processing method according to claim 2, wherein information indicating the storage location is stored in the content data from which the shared data portion has been removed. 6. A generating means for generating a container structure having a predetermined description format, a converting means for converting content data having a predetermined data format to conform to the description format, and a content converted by the converting means. An information processing apparatus comprising: an insertion unit that inserts data into the container structure so as to be identifiable as content data. 7. When a plurality of content data inserted in the container structure include mutually equivalent data portions, the equivalent data portion is extracted from each of the plurality of content data, and The information processing apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising a storage unit that stores the shared data in the structure. 8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the storage unit stores the shared data in a predetermined format. 9. The storage means detects an equivalent data portion over a plurality of container structures, saves the detected equivalent data portion as shared data in one container structure, and removes the shared data portion. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein information indicating a storage location is stored in the obtained content data. 10. A container structure, further comprising: a designation unit for designating an equivalent data portion over a plurality of container structures, wherein the storage unit uses the equivalent data portion designated by the designation unit as shared data in one container structure. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein information indicating a storage location is stored in the content data from which the shared data portion has been removed. 11. A storage medium for storing a control program for implementing the information processing method according to claim 1 by a computer. 12. A description of a container structure in a predetermined data description format, an arrangement description for arranging content data in the description of the container structure, and content data having a predetermined data format, wherein the content data has a predetermined data format. A storage medium storing content data converted to conform to a data description format and arranged in the container structure according to the arrangement description. 13. The content structure according to claim 12, wherein an equivalent data portion extracted from the plurality of content data inserted in the container structure is stored as shared data in the content structure. Storage medium.