JP2002342137A - Device and method for managing document and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow an original document managing device to accurately perform version update of a document even though the document of each update version is returned to the original document managing device after the document registered on the original document managing device is brought forth to another document managing device and updated several times. SOLUTION: A CPU 101 of the document managing device discriminates whether or not a document is an updated version of a registered document according to a version management program in a main memory 102 when the document is inputted, associates the document with version identification information discriminating the version as the first version to register the document in a document management DB in a storage device 103 in the case of not being an update version of the registered document, and associates the document with the version identification information discriminating the version as the first version and with version identification information discriminating an old version of the unupdated document to register the document in the document management DB in the storage device 103 in the case the inputted document is an update version of the registered document.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a document management device, a document management method, and a recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Document management apparatus (electronic document management system)
In a case where a document composed of a set of sections, which is data constituting a page such as image data and text data, is input, a function for registering the document, updating of the document registered by the function, It has functions for searching, storing, and outputting (printing or forwarding). When a document is entered by the document registration function,
When the document is registered as the first version, and the registered document is updated and registered, the document is also registered as a new version (updated version). Here, version control means that when elements that make up a document are changed due to addition, replacement, deletion, etc. of a section, the document before the change becomes the old version, the document after the change becomes the new version, and the document before and after the update Means to manage so that can be reproduced.

[0003]

Conventionally, in such a document management apparatus, the version of a document is updated only in its own database, so that the following problems have been encountered. That is, a document is brought from the document management device (original document management device) to another document management device (copied using a recording medium such as a floppy disk), and the document (offline document not connected to the database) Is updated several times on another document management device, and each updated version of the document is returned to the original document management device, the update status of the original document management device during the period in which the document is taken out is If you do not know, register the document as the first version and do not update the version, or if the document that was taken out is updated several times by another document management device and multiple versions are created, only once Recognizing that there was an update, the document was simply registered as a new version, and the version was updated only once, and an appropriate version update could not be performed.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and takes a document registered on one document management device (original document management device) to another document management device and updates the document several times. Even if the updated document is returned to the original document management apparatus, the original document management apparatus can accurately update the version of the document.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a document management apparatus, a document registration method thereof, and a recording medium. According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a document management apparatus comprising: a document input unit for inputting a document; a document registration unit for registering the document input by the unit; and a document update unit for updating the document registered by the unit. The following is a feature of a document management device having the same.

That is, when a document is input to the document registration means by the document input means, version determination means for determining whether or not the document is an updated version of a registered document; When it is determined that the input document is not an updated version of a registered document, the first version registration means for registering the document as a first version in association with version identification information for identifying the version, and the version determination means When it is determined that the input document is an updated version of a registered document, the document corresponds to version identification information for identifying the version as a new version and version identification information for identifying an old version before the document is updated. And new version registration means for registering the new version.

A document management apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention is the document management apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein version deletion instruction means for selectively instructing deletion of each version of the document registered by the document registration means; When the means instructs to delete any of the versions of the document registered by the document registration means, the version is invalidated in association with the version identification information registered in association with the designated version. And invalid information registering means for registering invalid information indicating that the information is invalid. According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a document management apparatus.
Alternatively, the document management apparatus according to the second aspect is provided with version display means for displaying each version of the document registered by the document registration means based on version identification information registered in association with each version.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the document registration method for registering an input document, when a document is input, it is determined whether or not the document is an updated version of a registered document. If the document is not an updated version of the registered document, the document is registered as the first version in association with the version identification information for identifying the version, and the input document is an updated version of the registered document. In some cases, the document is registered as a new version in association with version identification information for identifying the version and version identification information for identifying the old version before the document is updated.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording medium, wherein when a document is inputted to a computer, a version discriminating function for discriminating whether or not the document is an updated version of a registered document, When it is determined that the input document is not an updated version of a registered document, the first version registration function for registering the document as a first version in association with version identification information for identifying the version, and the version determination function described above. When it is determined that the input document is an updated version of a registered document, the document corresponds to version identification information for identifying the version as a new version and version identification information for identifying an old version before the document is updated. It records a program for realizing a new version registration function of adding and registering.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a document management apparatus embodying the present invention. This document management device includes a CPU 101, a main memory 10
2, a personal computer including a storage device 103, a display device 104, an input device 105, and an output device 106. In addition, you may comprise by computers other than a personal computer.

The CPU 101 has a central processing unit, a ROM,
This is a microcomputer including a RAM, and controls the entire document management apparatus according to various programs including a program in the ROM and a version management program in the main memory 102. The main memory 102 is a readable / writable program such as a RAM that forms a program area and a data area for storing a version management program according to the present invention and various programs including an OS (Operating System) which are loaded from the storage device 103 at startup, and a working area. Memory. Here, the CPU 101 and the main memory 102 serve as a version discriminating unit, a first version registering unit,
It can function as new version registration means, invalid information registration means, and version display means.

The storage device 103 is a large-capacity storage device such as a hard disk device or an optical disk device, and includes various programs including the above-described various programs and a document management database (hereinafter, “database” is abbreviated as “DB”).
B is stored. The display device 104 is a display device such as a CRT or an LCD, and can display various information. The input device 105 is an input device such as a keyboard or a mouse, and can input various information. The input device 105 can function as a version deletion instruction unit. The output device 106
An output device such as a printer, which can output various information.

Here, a document management DB in the storage device 103
The document stored in the document consists of multiple sections. The sections correspond one-to-one with image data such as bitmap images and JPEG image files, or application files such as Japanese word processors and plain text.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between documents and sections. What constitutes a section is a file. The file format is not limited to raster image files, various application files (text files, word profiles, spreadsheet files), and graphic format files (graphic files). One document has one version management record. Version control records are collected to form a version control table. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the structure of a version management file including a version management table.

The total number of version management records existing in the version management table is stored in the header of the version management table. The version management record includes a version management record ID (hereinafter simply referred to as “record ID”), an old version ID table pointer (hereinafter also referred to as “old version ID pointer”), a section table pointer, a valid / invalid flag, and a new version ID table pointer ( Hereinafter, also referred to as “new version ID pointer”). The record ID is an ID for identifying the record itself, and is assigned a unique (specific) number in the version management table.

The old-version ID table pointer is data indicating the location where each old-version ID table in the old-version ID block is stored. One or more old version ID tables exist for a certain version of the management record. However, the first version management record does not have the old version ID table. The storage location of each old version ID table in the old version ID block is as follows:
It may be in another file instead of in the version control file. The section table pointer is data indicating a location where each section table in the section information block is stored. Each section table in the section information block includes information on a section constituting the document.

The section information is information for specifying the position and name of a file, such as the path and file name of a local disk and the path and file name of a network drive. Section information exists for the number of sections, and a section end flag indicating the end of section information is stored after the last section information. The section information block may be created as a separate file without being included in the version management file. The valid / invalid flag is
This is data indicating whether or not the version management record (version) storing it is a valid record to be deleted.

The new version ID table pointer is data indicating a storage location of a new version ID table created (added) in a new version ID block when a version is updated. There are zero or more new version ID tables for a certain version of the management record. The storage location of each new version ID table in the new version ID block may be in a separate file instead of in the version management file.

Hereinafter, processing according to the present invention in the document management apparatus will be described. First, the processing according to the first aspect of the present invention will be described. The local (local in the system) in the document management apparatus is as shown in FIG. 4 when updating the version of the document. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a flow of local document version updating in the document management apparatus. FIG.
Then, the relationship between a new version and an old version of a document is one-to-one, and a plurality of new versions does not occur for a version at a certain point in time.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a flow when the document is updated by taking it out to a remote system (an independent personal computer such as a mobile environment different from the above-described document management apparatus). Assuming that the original document management device (document management system) is a primary system, the primary system has been updated once. In this case, version 1 is updated to version 2. When the version 1 document is taken out to the remote system A and the version is updated twice, the version 2a and the version 3a are updated. Remote system B
When the version 1 document is taken out and updated once, the version 2
b is updated.

When a document whose version has been updated by each of the remote systems A and B is returned to the primary system, the version management table becomes as shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the version management table and the ID blocks when the documents whose version has been updated by the remote systems A and B are returned to the document management device as the primary system. FIG. 6 shows, for convenience, each version management record constituting the version management table from the version management file shown in FIG. 3, that is, a record ID (version management record ID) and a new version ID pointer (new version ID) respectively constituting each version management record. Table pointer) and the old version ID pointer (old version ID table pointer) are extracted and described.

Record ID in first version management record =
1 means that there is no old version because it is the first edition. Therefore, the old version ID pointer becomes 0. The new version ID pointer, that is, the new version ID in the new version ID table
The new version ID table located at the location pointed to by the pointer contains the version ID 2 of the document updated by the primary system.
(Version identification information) and the version IDs 4 and 6 (version identification information) of the documents updated by the remote systems A and B, and EOR data indicating the end of the record is placed after these version IDs. The same applies to the version management record including the record ID 2 and thereafter. As for the version management record including the record ID 3, the new version ID pointer becomes 0 because no new version exists. With such a data structure, updating of separate versions of a document in a plurality of systems is realized.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of the version update process in the document management apparatus of this embodiment. The document management device operates the input device 105 to
When a document is entered, it is determined whether or not the document is an updated version of a registered document. If the document is not a registered document, the document is identified as the first version and the version identification information is used to identify the version. The corresponding information is registered in the document management DB in the storage device 103. At this time, a new version management record (new version management record) is newly created, and a new version ID table (new version I which is version identification information for identifying the first version) corresponding to the version management record is created.
D) is added to the new edition ID block, and then the new edition I pointer is used as the new edition ID pointer in the newly created new edition management record.
Data indicating the storage location of the new version ID table added to the D block is set.

On the other hand, the input document is an updated version of a registered document (a new version of a document updated in the document management apparatus as a primary system or a new version of a document updated and returned by a remote system). in case of,
The document is registered as a new version in the document management DB in the storage device 103 in association with version identification information for identifying the version and version identification information for identifying the old version before updating the document. At this time, the process of FIG. 7 is started, and first, the record I
D is acquired, and a new version management record (new version management record) is created in step S2. At this time, a new version ID table (new version ID that is version identification information for identifying a new version) corresponding to the newly created version management record is added to the new version ID block.

Next, in step S3, an old version ID table corresponding to the old version of the document (before updating the document) input this time is added to the old version ID block. In step S4, the record ID (old version) in the added old version ID table is added. Is set to the record ID acquired from the version management record corresponding to the version of the document input this time, and in the old version ID table previously added to the old version ID block in step S5. After the old version ID, EOR data indicating the end of the table is set. Then, in step S6, data indicating the storage location of the old version ID table added to the old version ID block is set as the old version ID pointer in the new version management record newly created earlier, and in step S7, the newly created new version management record is set. After setting data indicating the storage location of the new version ID table previously added to the new version ID block as a new version ID pointer in the record, step S
In step 8, if the version update due to the registration of the document entered this time is an update by the remote system, a remote update flag is set in the newly created new version management record (data indicating that the update is performed by the remote system is set). Do).

As described above, according to the document management apparatus (original document management apparatus) of this embodiment, when a document is input, it is determined whether or not the document is an updated version of a registered document. And if it is not an updated version of the registered document,
Register the document as the first version in association with the version identification information that identifies the version. If the input document is an updated version of a registered document, identify the version as a new version of the document. By registering the information and the version identification information for identifying the old version before the document is updated, the document registered on the original document management apparatus can be stored in an independent personal computer such as a mobile environment (another document management apparatus). Even if the updated document is returned to the original document management device after being taken out and updated several times, the original document management device can correctly update the version of the document. it can.

Next, the processing according to the second aspect of the present invention in the document management apparatus of this embodiment will be described. FIG.
9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a version invalidation setting process in the document management apparatus according to the embodiment. In the document management apparatus of this embodiment, when a version of a certain document is specified by an input operation of the input device 105 and deletion of the version is instructed, the document is registered in association with the version instructed to be deleted. The invalid information indicating that the version is invalid is registered in association with the version identification information. That is, the processing of FIG. 8 is started,
After acquiring the record ID of the version instructed to be deleted, the valid / invalid flag in the version management record storing the record ID that matches the record ID is set to 0 (invalid).

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of garbage processing (garbage collection) in the document management apparatus of this embodiment. The document management apparatus according to the present embodiment effectively uses the storage device 103. For example, when the storage capacity of the storage device 103 is reduced to a predetermined amount or less,
The process shown in FIG. 9 is started. First, in step S11, a new version management file is created on the document management DB of the storage device 103, and in step S12, the address in the version management table of the existing version management file (the first address is initially ) To determine whether the version management record located at the specified destination is an invalid record (deleted record) to be deleted by referring to the valid / invalid flag in the version management record.

If the valid / invalid flag in the version management record located at the designated destination is set to 0 (invalid), it is determined that the version management record is an invalid record to be deleted, The processing of steps S13 to S15 is skipped, and the process proceeds to step S16. The valid / invalid flag in the version control record located at the specified destination is 1 (valid)
If the version management record is set to, it is determined that the version management record is not an invalid record to be deleted but a valid record. In step S13,
The valid version control record is copied to the version control table of the newly created version control file.

In step S14, the old version ID table located at the location in the old version ID block indicated by the old version ID table pointer in the valid version management record is added to the old version ID block of the newly created version management file. The new version ID table located at the location in the new version ID block indicated by the new version ID table pointer in the version management record is copied to the new version ID block of the newly created version management file. In step S15, the old-version ID table pointer and the new-version ID table pointer in the version management record copied earlier in the version management table of the newly created version management file are respectively stored in the old-version ID table and the new-version ID table. Is set to data indicating

In step S16, it is checked whether or not there is another version management record in the version management table of the existing version management file.
Returning to step S12, the next address in the version control table of the existing version control file is specified, and it is determined whether the version control record located at the specified destination is an invalid record to be deleted. The determination is made by referring to the valid / invalid flag, and thereafter, the same processing and determination as described above are repeated. Then, when there is no other version management record in the version management table of the existing version management file (when processing for all version management records in the version management table of the existing version management file is completed), step S17 is performed.
Overwrites the newly created version control file with the existing version control file.

As described above, according to the document management apparatus of this embodiment, when deletion of each version of a registered document is selectively instructed, the document is registered in association with the specified version. By registering invalid information indicating that the version is invalid in association with the version identification information (setting the valid / invalid flag to 0), the new version ID in the version management record in which the invalid information is registered Since the garbage processing for deleting the pointer and the old version ID pointer and the corresponding new version ID table and old version ID table can be performed, the storage device 103 can be effectively used.

Next, the processing of the document management apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described. When a document version is specified to be displayed, the document management apparatus of this embodiment performs display processing sequentially from the top record of the version management table (each version of a registered document is registered in association with each version. Display based on the version identification information)
However, this display processing will be described by taking the case of FIG. 6 as an example.
That is, first, the first version corresponding to the version management record 1 is displayed on the display device 104. At this time, ID = 1 of the version management record of the displayed version is stored. The table that stores the displayed ID of the first version management record 1 is referred to as a display check table.

Next, the new version ID = from the end of the new version ID pointer of the version management record 1 (the new version ID table located at the location pointed to by the new version ID pointer in the new version ID table).
2, 4, 6 are acquired, and the acquired new version ID = 2, 4,
6 is added to the display check table, and each version of the acquired new version ID = 2, 4, 6 is also displayed on the display device 104.
To be displayed. At this time, the version (old version) with version ID = 1 and the version I
Each version is connected by a specific line such as a solid line with an arrow or a broken line so that the relationship between the old and new versions (new versions) of D = 2, 4, and 6 can be understood. That is, only a specific line indicating that the version with the version ID = 1 and each version with the version ID = 2, 4, and 6 has a new / old relationship is displayed.

Next, the point of the new version ID pointer in the version management record indicated by each new version ID = 2, 4, 6 is further searched for a new version ID. Then, the new version ID pointed to by the new version ID pointer in the version management record including the new version ID = 2
Since the new version ID = 3 is stored in the new version ID table located at a location in the table, it is checked whether or not ID = 3 exists in the display check table. If the version ID = 3 does not exist in the display check table, it is added to the display check table, and the version ID = 3.
Is also displayed on the display device 104. At this time, version I
Only a specific line indicating that the version of D = 2 (old version) and the version of version ID = 3 (new version) have a new / old relationship is displayed.

Version ID = 3 has already been included in the display check table.
Exists, the version with the version ID = 3 is already displayed on the display device 104, so the display processing of the version with the version ID = 3 is not performed, and the version with the version ID = 3 (new version) already displayed Edition I
Only a specific line indicating that the version with D = 2 (old version) is new and old is displayed. Thereafter, by repeating the above-described processing, each version corresponding to each version management record is displayed on the display device 1 together with a specific line indicating the new / old relationship.
04 is displayed. This display example is shown in FIG.

At the time of the display, the valid / invalid flags in all the version management records are checked. If the valid / invalid flag in one of the version management records is set to 0 (invalid), the new version I of the invalid record from which the new version ID pointer in the version management record is to be deleted is set.
Treat as a D pointer. Since the version management record for which the valid / invalid flag is set to 0 is an invalid record to be deleted, the corresponding version is not displayed. New version ID in version control record which is invalid record
The pointer becomes a new version ID pointer in the version management record indicated by the old version ID in the old version ID table indicated by the old version ID pointer.

As described above, according to the document management apparatus (original document management apparatus) of this embodiment, each version of a registered document is associated with each version based on the registered version identification information. By displaying, each version of the updated document can be visually displayed on an independent personal computer such as the original document management device and mobile environment.

Although the embodiment in which the present invention is applied to the personal computer constituting the document management apparatus has been described above, the present invention is not limited to this, and can update text data and image data such as text editing and image editing. The present invention can be applied to various image processing apparatuses including image editing software as well as editors and word processors having functions.

Also, a computer-readable floppy disk, optical disk, or the like that records a program for causing a computer to execute the functions (including the version discriminating function, the first version registering function, and the new version registering function) of the document management apparatus described above. Can be created. By inserting the recording medium into a floppy disk device such as a general-purpose personal computer, a CD-ROM reader, or the like, reading a program recorded there, and installing the program in a storage device such as an internal hard disk,
A function can be provided as a document management device according to the present invention.

[0041]

As described above, according to the present invention, after a document registered on the original document management apparatus is taken out to another document management apparatus and updated several times, each updated version of the document is updated. Is returned to the original document management apparatus, the original document management apparatus can accurately update the version of the document.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a document management apparatus embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a relation between a document and a section.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a structure of a version management file including a version management table.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a flow of version update of a local document in the document management apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a flow in the case where a document is updated by taking it out to a remote system (an independent personal computer such as a different mobile environment).

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between a version management table and ID blocks when a document whose version has been updated by each of the remote systems A and B is returned to the document management apparatus as the primary system.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a version update process in the document management device illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a version invalidation setting process in the document management device illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of a garbage process.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a version display in the document management device shown in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 101: CPU 102: Main memory 103: Storage device 104: Display device 105: Input device 106: Output device

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A document management apparatus comprising: a document input unit for inputting a document; a document registration unit for registering the document input by the unit; and a document update unit for updating the document registered by the unit. When a document is input to the document registration unit by the document input unit, a version determination unit that determines whether the document is an updated version of a registered document, and the document input by the unit. If it is determined that the document is not an updated version of the registered document, an initial version registration means for registering the document as an initial version in association with version identification information for identifying the version,
When the input document is determined to be an updated version of a registered document by the version determination unit, the version identification information for identifying the version as a new version of the document and an old version before updating the document are identified. A document management apparatus, comprising: a new version registration unit for registering in association with version identification information. 2. A document management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said document registration means selectively deletes each version of the document registered by said document registration means, and said means registers said document by said document registration means. When the deletion of any one of the versions of the specified document is instructed, invalid information indicating that the version is invalid is associated with the version identification information registered in association with the specified version. A document management device, comprising: invalid information registration means for registering. 3. The document management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each version of the document registered by said document registration means is displayed based on version identification information registered in association with each version. A document management device comprising a display means. 4. In a document registration method for registering an input document, when a document is input, it is determined whether or not the document is an updated version of a registered document. If the document is not the updated version, the document is registered as the first version in association with the version identification information for identifying the version. If the input document is an updated version of the registered document, the document is updated to the new version. A document registration method characterized by registering in association with version identification information for identifying the version and version identification information for identifying an old version before updating the document. 5. A version discriminating function for discriminating whether or not a document is an updated version of a registered document when a document is inputted to the computer, and a function of registering the inputted document by the function. If it is determined that the document is not an updated version of the document, an initial version registration function for registering the document as an initial version in association with version identification information for identifying the version, and the input document has been registered by the version determination function If it is determined that the document is an updated version of the document, a new version registration function for registering the document as a new version in association with version identification information for identifying the version and version identification information for identifying the old version before updating the document. A computer-readable recording medium on which a program for realizing the above is recorded.