JP2006268638A - Document difference detector - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for easily discriminating a changed part of an electronic file. <P>SOLUTION: An electronic file analysis means 102 divides elements constituting inputted electronic files before and after change to predetermined object units. An object attribute data generation means 104 assigns metadata to each object. An object correspondence means 106 associates each object between the electronic files before and after change. A differential data output means 108 performs differential calculation processing based on the correspondence of each object, and outputs the result. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for easily discriminating a change location of an electronic file that has been changed.

  With the development of information technology in recent years, commerce using electronic files has become widespread in society, and business efficiency is improved by data reuse and the like.

  Conventionally, there is known a method for detecting a difference between electronic files by performing matching processing on texts and images included in an electronic document or constantly storing a change history (Patent Documents 1 to 3).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-243132

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 08-190557

JP 2004-516585 A

  However, these conventional document difference detection devices have the following problems.

(I) Difference detection by matching text and images cannot specify detailed change elements such as layout and font, and if the composition of the text has changed (for example, paragraph movement, etc.) The location could not be easily identified.

(Ii) Since the difference detection between electronic files of the same file format was assumed, difference detection could not be performed for electronic files of different file formats.

(Iii) It is troublesome for the user to always store the change history data in order to detect the difference between the documents. In particular, the electronic file is stored between different users (for example, between the contractor and the orderer). In the case of handling, it is troublesome because it is necessary to transfer the change history data in order to detect the difference.

  An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and provide a method for easily discriminating a changed part of an electronic file.

(1, 2) The document difference detection apparatus according to the present invention comprises:
A document difference detection device for detecting a difference between electronic files,
Electronic file input means for inputting the first and second electronic files to be subjected to the difference detection process,
Electronic file analysis means for dividing the elements constituting the input first and second electronic files into predetermined object units;
Object attribute data generation means for generating object attribute data by extracting metadata from the first and second electronic files and assigning them to each object;
Object association means for associating objects between the first and second electronic files based on the object attribute data generated for the first and second electronic files;
Difference data output means for performing difference calculation processing based on the association of the objects and outputting the result as difference data;
It is provided with.

  As a result, even if minor changes (for example, font size change, image position movement) are made to the electronic file, detailed difference data can be easily obtained if there is an electronic file before and after the change. Can get to.

(3) In the document difference detection apparatus of the present invention,
The object association means associates objects by determining whether content, document configuration, and layout data that are object attribute data match,
The difference data output means outputs the result of the difference calculation process for the content, document structure, and layout as difference data,
It is characterized by that.

  As a result, detailed difference data can be obtained by performing a difference calculation process on content, document structure, and layout even when a minor change (eg, font size change, image position movement) is made to the electronic file. Can be obtained.

(4) In the document difference detection apparatus of the present invention,
The object associating means associates the objects having the same content data as the same object when the data of the content, the document configuration, and the layout all match, and the data of the content, the document configuration, or the layout If they are different, associate them as related objects,
The difference data output means performs a difference calculation process on the related object as an update item, and outputs difference data as an addition or deletion item for an object that does not have common content.
It is characterized by that.

  As a result, it is possible to reliably associate the related object with the same object, and it is possible to efficiently obtain detailed difference data.

(5) In the document difference detection apparatus of the present invention,
The object association means calculates the similarity of the object attribute data, and associates the object with the highest similarity as a related object.
It is characterized by that.

  Thereby, even if a partial change is added to the object attribute data, it is possible to appropriately associate the objects.

(6) In the document difference detection apparatus of the present invention,
The difference data output means performs semantic analysis on the text during the difference calculation process.
It is characterized by that.

  As a result, difference data can be output in a case where a semantic change is made but the semantic content is not changed at all when the semantic content is not changed.

(7) In the document difference detection apparatus of the present invention,
The difference data output means performs image matching after converting the image into a raster format in the case of a vector format for the difference calculation process.
It is characterized by that.

  Thus, difference data can be obtained by reliably performing the difference calculation process for the vector format image.

(8) In the document difference detection apparatus of the present invention,
The file format of the first electronic file is different from the file format of the second electronic file.
It is characterized by that.

  Thereby, difference data can be obtained even between electronic files of different file formats, and a general-purpose document difference detection device can be provided.

(9) In the document difference detection apparatus of the present invention,
Difference data display means for displaying each difference data of content, document structure and layout output from the difference data output means;
It is provided with.

  Thereby, the user can easily grasp each difference result of the content, the document configuration, and the layout.

(10) In the document difference detection apparatus of the present invention,
The difference data display means considers each difference data of content, document structure, and layout output from the difference data output means,
Displaying a layer for displaying the first electronic file, a layer for displaying the second electronic file, and a layer for highlighting the difference between the first and second electronic files,
It is characterized by that.

  Thereby, the user can grasp the difference results of the contents, the document structure, and the layout on one display screen.

  In this embodiment, “metadata” refers to data indicating attribute information (content, layout, document structure, etc.) about a divided object.

1. Functional Block Diagram of Document Difference Detection Device 1 FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of the document difference detection device 1 of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the document difference detection apparatus 1 of the present invention includes an electronic file input means 100, an electronic file analysis means 102, an object attribute data generation means 104, an object association means 106, and a difference data output means 108. Yes.

  The electronic file input means 100 of the document difference detection apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 is used for the user to input first (before change) and second (after change) electronic files to be subjected to difference detection processing. Means.

  The electronic file analysis means 102 is means for dividing the elements constituting the inputted electronic file before and after the change into predetermined object units (for example, text, table, image, etc.).

  The object attribute data generation unit 104 extracts attribute data (for example, document structure information, layout information, content information) from the electronic file before and after the change, and generates the object attribute data by assigning it to each object. It is a means to do.

  The object association unit 106 is a unit for associating objects between the pre-change and post-change electronic files based on the object attribute data generated for the pre-change and post-change electronic files.

  The difference data output means 108 is a means for performing difference calculation processing based on object association and presenting the result as difference data in order to present difference data to the user.

2. Hardware Configuration of Document Difference Detection Device 1 FIG. 2 shows a hardware configuration of a document difference detection device (document difference detection computer) 1 according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the document difference detection apparatus 1 includes a CPU 10, a display 12, a hard disk 14, a memory 16, a keyboard / mouse 18, and a CD-ROM drive 20.

  In the hard disk 14 of FIG. 2, a document difference detection apparatus processing program 30 for performing a process of detecting a difference between electronic files is recorded. The document difference detection processing program 30 shown in FIG. 2 includes an object attribute data storage unit 32. The document difference detection processing program 30 is a computer having the CPU 10, the display 12, the hard disk 14, the memory 16, the keyboard / mouse 18, and the CD-ROM drive 20, and the electronic file input means 100, electronic file analysis means 102, This is a program for functioning as the object attribute data generation unit 104, the object association unit 106, the difference data output unit 108, and the like.

  The difference detection processing program 30 is installed on the hard disk 14 by reading data recorded on the CD-ROM 22 via the CD-ROM drive 20. Further, the first and second electronic file data (file 1 and file 2 shown in FIG. 2) to be subjected to the difference detection process are stored in the CD-ROM 22 and input via the CD-ROM drive 20. .

  Specifically, the first and second electronic files to be subjected to the difference detection process are general word processor software (for example, Microsoft Word document, Ichitaro (both are registered trademarks), etc. as shown in FIGS. ). 3 is a diagram showing the electronic file file1 before the change is made, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the electronic file file2 after the change is made to the contents of the electronic file file1 shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the changes from the electronic file file1 are (i) that the font size of “1.1.3 Existing Research” has increased in the α portion, and (ii) the date in the β portion is “2”. "Iii" was corrected to "3", and (iii) in the γ portion, "... by comparing the document before change with the document after change ..." (see Fig. 3) was deleted. The difference detection program 30 detects these changes as differences.

  The difference detection processing program 30 divides these electronic files (file 1 and file 2 shown in FIG. 2) into predetermined object units, and assigns metadata such as document structure, layout, content, and the like to each object. Is stored in the object attribute data storage unit 32 shown in FIG. In this embodiment, an object is generated for each HTML tag (including contents such as text and images).

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of data in the object attribute data storage unit 32. FIG. 5 shows only the object attribute data for the electronic file before the change, but similar object attribute data is stored in the object attribute data storage unit 32 for the electronic file after the change.

  As shown in FIG. 5, each object is assigned an ID, and the type (text, image, etc.) extracted from the document, document structure, layout, and content data (metadata) are stored together. Yes. The document structure data data1 corresponds to data for specifying the position of an object in the entire document, such as a hierarchical level (hierarchy depth), a hierarchical node name, and a parent node of a parent object when the document is structured in a tree structure. . The layout data data2 in FIG. 5 corresponds to data indicating attributes such as margin, font size, and font name. The content data data3 corresponds to data indicating specific contents such as text, table, and image, but may be linked by a file name (for example, “gazou001.img”), a storage location, or the like.

  Based on the document structure, layout, and content data stored in the object attribute data storage unit 32, object association processing and differential data output processing as described below are performed.

3. Flowchart of Document Difference Detection Process First, the process performed by the document difference detection program 30 of the present invention will be described using the flowchart of the document difference detection process shown in FIG.

  First, the document difference detection program 30 determines whether or not the user has input before-change and after-change electronic files (first and second electronic files) as shown in FIGS. Step S10).

  When the pre-change and post-change electronic files are input, the process proceeds to document analysis processing (step S12). FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing details of the document analysis processing.

  As shown in FIG. 7, in the document analysis process (step S12), first, an object division unit is acquired in advance (step S20). In this embodiment, HTML tags are preset as division units.

  Further, the electronic files before and after the change are analyzed, and the html files for each are obtained (step S22). FIG. 8 is a diagram showing data obtained by converting the word processor document before change shown in FIG. 3 into the HTML format. In this example, the document component is converted to HTML format for the sake of convenience in order to divide the document component from the electronic file. However, if the document component can be directly extracted from the electronic file and divided, it is converted to HTML format. You don't have to.

  The document difference detection program 30 divides elements constituting the electronic file into predetermined objects (step S24). In this embodiment, HTML tags are preset as division units. For example, <title> before-change document sample </ title> T0 shown in FIG. 8 is divided as one object.

  As shown in FIG. 6, after the document analysis process (step S12), an object attribute data generation process (step S14) is performed. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing details of the object attribute data generation process (step S14).

  In the object attribute data generation process (step S14 in FIG. 6), as shown in FIG. 9, first, IDs are assigned to the divided objects and stored in the object attribute data storage unit 32 (step S30). Further, the type is determined for each object and stored in the object attribute data storage unit 32 (step S32).

  Thereafter, the document structure is stored in the object attribute data storage unit 32 by analyzing the style sheet (the basic layout affecting the entire document and the detailed layout of the elements constituting the document) extracted from the HTML document or electronic file shown in FIG. Data data1, layout data data2, and content data data3 are stored.

  The document structure data data1 is obtained by analyzing the document structure based on the tag types shown in FIG. For example, in the heading tag <hn> (n is a number), <h1> is the top heading (large heading), and the heading (subheading) of the lower structure is shown as the number decreases below. Further, it is shown that <th> indicating a cell heading and a tag <td> indicating cell data are positioned below a tag <tr> defining one horizontal line of the table.

  The layout data data2 can be obtained by extracting layout information from the style sheet of the electronic file. The content data data3 can be obtained by extracting from the HTML document.

  The object attribute data generation process (step S14) is performed for the electronic files file1 and file2 (see FIGS. 3 and 4) before and after the change, respectively.

  After the object attribute data generation process (step S14 shown in FIG. 6), an object association process (step S16) is performed. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing details of the object association processing (step S16).

  As shown in FIG. 10, first, the first object in the object list (FIG. 5) for the electronic file before the change is set as a correspondence target (step S40).

  Further, it is determined whether or not there is a common content data in the object list of the electronic file after the change (step S42). Note that the content data is common because, for example, for an object in which a part of the text is corrected, it is necessary to perform the difference data output process between the objects by making the following associations: is there. For example, when the matching rate with respect to the total number of characters is within a predetermined threshold for text, and when the matching rate with respect to the total number of pixels is within a predetermined threshold with respect to the total number of pixels. Judged to be common.

  If there is data with common contents (Yes in step S42), it is further determined with reference to the object attribute data storage unit 32 whether or not the data of the document structure, layout, and content all match ( Step S44).

  When the document structure, layout, and content data, which are object attribute data, all match, they are associated as the same object and stored in the memory 16 (step S46).

  If any of the document structure, layout, and content data is different, it is associated as a related object and stored in the memory 16 (step S48). If there are a plurality of candidates, the similarity is calculated based on the matching rate and the like, and the objects having the highest similarity are associated with each other. The following difference calculation process (step S18 in FIG. 6) is performed for the related objects associated here.

  The above process is repeated up to the last object in the object list of the second electronic file (step S50, step S52).

  Finally, difference data output processing (step S18 in FIG. 6) is performed. FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing details of the difference data output process.

  As shown in FIG. 11, first, by referring to the memory 16 (FIG. 2), the object list corresponding to the electronic files before and after the change (FIG. 5) is handled as the same object in step S46 of FIG. The attached object is deleted (step S60).

  Further, it is determined whether or not the remaining objects are related objects (step S62), and a difference calculation process corresponding to the content type is performed on the objects associated as related objects in step S48 of FIG. 10 (step S64). ).

  In the case of a text difference calculation process, a text matching process is performed to detect a change location. For example, the text difference between the text “September 2, 1994” in the D1 portion shown in FIG. 3 and the text “September 3, 1994” in the D2 portion shown in FIG. And the part of “3” after the change is obtained as a difference (update item) (in this way, the difference calculation process is performed on the text included in the table as a normal text).

  Here, a semantic analysis may be further performed on the changed portion to determine whether the text has the same semantic content. As a result, it is possible to present to the user in another color or the like whether the mere change in expression has been made or the change in semantic content has been made.

  In the case of an image difference calculation process, for example, an image difference is performed as it is for a raster format image, but an image difference may be performed after a vector format image is once converted to a raster format.

  On the other hand, objects that are not related objects are output as added or deleted items (step S66). For example, an object that exists only in the object list before the change is determined as a deleted item, and an object that exists only in the object list after the change is determined as an added item.

  FIG. 12 shows an example of data obtained as a result of the differential data output process (step S18 shown in FIG. 6). As shown in the T1 portion of FIG. 12, the same object is associated with each ID in the <sameObjectList> tag.

  Also, the difference data of the associated object is represented in the <differnceObjectList> tag sandwiching the T1 to T3 portions in FIG. Specifically, the data of the object corresponding to the deleted γ portion in FIG. 4 is represented in the T2 portion in FIG. The updated table object corresponding to the β portion of FIG. 4 is shown in the T3 portion. The data of the object corresponding to the α portion of FIG. 4 in which the font size has been changed is represented in the T4 portion.

4). Example of Screen Display of Difference Data Hereinafter, examples of display in which the difference data obtained by the above-described processes are displayed on the display 12 (FIG. 2) which is a difference data display unit are shown in FIGS. Note that the display examples shown in FIGS. 13 to 15 do not correspond to the analysis results shown in FIG.

  FIG. 13 is a display example of text difference data. As shown in FIG. 13, on the left side of the window, information such as basic data items (total number of objects, same number, difference number, difference breakdown) to be displayed as a text difference is shown. The list display is performed. It should be noted that a comparison display of the entire document in which differences due to color coding or the like are highlighted on the right side of the window may be performed.

  FIG. 14 is a display example of document configuration difference data. As shown in FIG. 14, on the left side of the window, information such as basic data items (number of layers, number of nodes, same number, difference number, difference breakdown) to be displayed as document configuration differences is shown. The list of changes is displayed. Note that the configuration of the entire document displayed in a tree format may be displayed on the right side of the window, and the document configuration difference may be highlighted by color coding or the like.

  FIG. 15 is a display example of layout difference data. As shown in FIG. 15, on the left side of the window, a basic layout (the number of the same elements and difference elements analyzed from the layout information of the entire document) and a detailed layout (analysis of the layout information of each object to analyze the same elements and difference elements). The difference in layout is displayed on the right side of the window, and a list of changes is displayed on the right side of the window.

  FIG. 16 is a display example of image difference data. As shown in FIG. 16, the left side of the window shows basic information such as the total number of images, the same number, the number of differences, and the breakdown (addition, deletion, update, movement) of the images. A list of changes is displayed. As shown in FIG. 17, the image difference data may be displayed on the right side of the window.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case difference data of content, document structure, and layout is displayed by switching tabs. However, these may be displayed on one screen. For example, if you display a layer that displays the electronic file before the change, a layer that displays the electronic file after the change, and a layer that represents attributes such as highlighting the differences between the electronic files, Good.

5. Other Embodiments Although the difference between the first and second electronic files having the same format is detected in the above embodiment, the difference between the electronic files having different formats may be detected. For example, if a difference between a PDF file and an HTML file is detected, a more general document difference device can be provided.

  In the above-described embodiment, the association of objects is performed on a one-to-one basis, but a one-to-multiple association may be performed.

  In the above-described embodiment, processing by the document difference detection program 30 is executed on a stand-alone computer, but processing by the document difference detection program 30 may be executed on a system via a network. For example, as shown in FIG. 18, the server device 50 storing the document difference detection program 30 receives an electronic file input from a client terminal 54 connected via a network 52, performs document difference detection processing, and the result ( Difference data) may be output to the client terminal 54.

  In the above embodiment, the content, document configuration, and layout are used as object attribute data. However, at least the content may be included, and the content and document configuration (or layout) may be used as object attribute data.

  In the above embodiment, the unit for dividing an object is an HTML tag unit, but it is also possible to set details such as a sentence unit, a phrase unit, a list unit, etc. for a text, and a cell unit, a row unit, etc. for a table. It is.

It is a functional block diagram of the document difference detection apparatus 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions of the document difference detection apparatus 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows electronic file file1 before a change. It is a figure which shows electronic file file2 after adding a change to the content of electronic file file1. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of data in an object attribute data storage unit 32. FIG. It is a flowchart of the whole document difference detection process. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of a document analysis process. It is a figure which shows the data which converted the word processor document before a change shown in FIG. 3 into the HTML format. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of an object attribute data generation process (step S14). It is a flowchart which shows the detail of an object matching process (step S16). It is a flowchart which shows the detail of a difference data output process (step S18). It is a figure which shows the example of the data output as a result of difference data processing. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of data in a connection state display definition table stored in a hard disk 14. FIG. It is an example of a display of document structure difference data. It is a display example of layout difference data. It is an example of a display of image difference data. It is another example of a display of image difference data. It is a figure which shows the system configuration | structure in other embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Document difference detection apparatus 100 ... Electronic file input means 102 ... Electronic file analysis means 104 ... Object attribute data generation means 106 ... Object association means 108 ...・ Difference data output means

Claims (12)

Computer
Electronic file input means for inputting the first and second electronic files to be subjected to the difference detection process,
Electronic file analysis means for dividing the elements constituting the input first and second electronic files into predetermined object units;
Object attribute data generation means for generating object attribute data by extracting metadata from the first and second electronic files and assigning them to each object;
Object association means for associating objects between the first and second electronic files based on the object attribute data generated for the first and second electronic files;
Difference data output means for performing difference calculation processing based on the association of the objects and outputting the result as difference data;
A document difference detection program that functions as a computer program. A document difference detection device for detecting a difference between electronic files,
Electronic file input means for inputting the first and second electronic files to be subjected to the difference detection process,
Electronic file analysis means for dividing the elements constituting the input first and second electronic files into predetermined object units;
Object attribute data generation means for generating object attribute data by extracting metadata from the first and second electronic files and assigning them to each object;
Object association means for associating objects between the first and second electronic files based on the object attribute data generated for the first and second electronic files;
Difference data output means for performing difference calculation processing based on the association of the objects and outputting the result as difference data;
A document difference detection apparatus comprising: In the document difference detection program or the document difference detection apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The object association means associates objects by determining whether content, document configuration, and layout data that are object attribute data match,
The difference data output means outputs the result of the difference calculation process for the content, document structure, and layout as difference data,
It is characterized by that. In the document difference detection program or the document difference detection apparatus according to claim 3,
The object associating means associates the objects having the same content data as the same object when the data of the content, the document configuration, and the layout all match, and the data of the content, the document configuration, or the layout If they are different, associate them as related objects,
The difference data output means performs a difference calculation process on the related object as an update item, and outputs difference data as an addition or deletion item for an object that does not have common content.
It is characterized by that. In the document difference detection program or the document difference detection device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The object association means calculates the similarity of the object attribute data and associates the object with the highest similarity as the related object;
It is characterized by that. In the document difference detection program or the document difference detection device according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The difference data output means performs semantic analysis on the text during the difference calculation process.
It is characterized by that. In the document difference detection program or the document difference detection device according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
The difference data output means performs image matching after converting the image into a raster format in the case of a vector format for the difference calculation process.
It is characterized by that. In the document difference detection program or document difference detection apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
The file format of the first electronic file is different from the file format of the second electronic file.
It is characterized by that. In the document difference detection program or the document difference detection apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8,
Difference data display means for displaying each difference data of content, document structure and layout output from the difference data output means;
Characterized by comprising. In the document difference detection program or the document difference detection apparatus according to claim 9,
The difference data display means considers each difference data of content, document structure, and layout output from the difference data output means,
Displaying a layer for displaying the first electronic file, a layer for displaying the second electronic file, and a layer for highlighting the difference between the first and second electronic files,
It is characterized by that. A document difference detection system for detecting a difference between electronic files, comprising a client terminal and a server device connected via a network,
A client terminal having electronic file input means for inputting the first and second electronic files to be subjected to the difference detection process in the server device;
Electronic file analysis means for dividing the elements constituting the input first and second electronic files into predetermined object units;
Object attribute data generation means for generating object attribute data by extracting metadata from the first and second electronic files and assigning them to each object;
Object association means for associating objects between the first and second electronic files based on the object attribute data generated for the first and second electronic files;
Difference data output means for performing difference calculation processing based on the association of the objects and outputting the result to the client terminal as difference data;
A server device having
A document difference detection system comprising: A document difference detection method for detecting a difference between electronic files,
Input the first and second electronic files to be subjected to the difference detection process,
The elements constituting the input first and second electronic files are each divided into predetermined object units,
Object attribute data is generated by extracting metadata from the first and second electronic files and assigning them to each object,
Based on the object attribute data generated for the first and second electronic files, the objects are associated between the first and second electronic files,
A difference calculation process is performed based on the association of the objects, and the result is output as difference data.
A document difference detection method characterized by the above.

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