JP2896394B2 - File server device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a file server device connected to a computer network such as a local area network.

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, with the advance of local area network (hereinafter, referred to as LAN) technology, many types of peripheral devices connected thereto have been developed. As a typical example of these peripheral devices, a file server device is known.

The file server device is an electronic file for centrally managing files shared by a plurality of users, and has a file management function and a communication function such as electronic mail. Therefore, it is also possible to take out necessary files from the file server device via the network and transmit / receive these files between the workstation and the host computer.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

By the way, since the file stored in the file server device is shared by a plurality of users as described above, when the content of the file is updated, it is necessary to notify the previous user of the updated content by e-mail or the like. is there. However, for files whose contents are updated frequently, communication between users tends to be loose, and even if the contents of the file are updated, it may be used without knowing it. Often there. Therefore, when the previously used file is used again, it is necessary to check in advance whether the contents have been updated.

As described above, the conventional file server apparatus has the advantage of being able to share files, but is forced to perform extra work other than the original work, such as notification of the update contents and confirmation of the contents, thereby reducing work efficiency. There was a problem of inviting.

An object of the present invention is to provide a file server device that automatically notifies another user of the contents of an updated file.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, in the file server device according to the present invention, for a newly stored file,
Update checking means for determining whether or not the content has been updated; and when the file has been updated, the user name is read from the attribute of the updated file, and the user name is read from the attribute of the previous version of the file. User name checking means for determining whether the users who used the two files are the same, and a message notifying the user of the previous version of the file that the contents have been updated if the user names are different. Message transmitting means for transmitting a message.

[Action]

According to the above configuration, according to the case where the user of the updated file is different, a message notifying that the file has been updated is automatically transmitted to the immediately preceding user. Users can easily know whether or not the file has been updated after their storage, and when using the same file, there is no need to check whether or not the contents of the file have been updated. Further, the user who has updated the file does not need to send a message to the immediately preceding user each time, so that time is not taken for message transmission work.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, an embodiment of a file server device according to the present invention will be described.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a file system provided with a file server device according to the present invention.

The file system is connected to a LAN 1 as a data transmission network, and includes a file server device 2 for storing and managing files, and workstations (WS) W1 to Wn for searching for files, creating documents, and processing data. And the file server device 2 and the workstations W1 to Wn
It is configured to transmit and receive data by e-mail via N1.

The file server device 2 includes a disk device 11 for storing files, a processing device 12 for managing storage and transmission of files stored in the disk device 11 based on an instruction from a workstation, and An update checking device 13 for determining whether the content of the file has been updated, and when the update checking device 13 determines that the content of the file has been updated, the user name is read from the attribute of the file and one Reads the user name from the attributes of the previous version file, 2
In the user name checking device 14 for determining whether the user names of the two files are the same, and when the user name checking device 14 determines that the user names are different, the previous user is notified of the update of the contents. And a message transmitting device 15 for transmitting a message.

The processing device 12, the update checking device 13, the user name checking device 14, and the message transmitting device 15 are a CPU.
(Central processing unit), and peripheral circuits having a main storage device and the like as main components.

The file server device 2 includes an identification device (not shown) capable of knowing a user name through a connection session so that only a specific user can store in the device.
A communication device (not shown) for communicating with a mail server device for managing an e-mail service, and an attribute adding device (not shown) for registering the name of a user who has updated the contents of the file in an attribute storage area of the file to be stored. I have.

Further, when an updated file is stored, the file server device 2 sequentially stores the updated file.
For example, three sets of files are left, and old files are deleted from the storage area of the disk device 11.

As shown in FIG. 2, the file stored in the disk device 11 has an attribute information storage area 22 after the normal file storage area 21. In the attribute information storage area 22, the file type and access Attribute information such as a list, a backup date, and a file creation date is written. These attribute information are transferred to the file server device 2 together with other communication information when the workstation and the file server device 2 exchange data specified by the communication protocol.

Next, a processing procedure for transmitting a message to a previous user in the above-described file server device 2 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, the update check device 13 newly adds the disk device 11
It is determined whether or not the content of the file has been updated with respect to the file stored in the processing device 12 (step 101).
Is notified to the user name checking device 14 via the terminal (step 102). The user name checking device 14 reads the user name from the attribute of the newly stored file,
The user name is read from the attribute of the file of the previous version (step 103), and it is determined whether the user names of the two files are the same (step 104). Here, when the user name is different, this is notified to the message transmitting device 15 via the processing device 12 (step 10).
Five). The message transmitting device 15 transmits a message notifying of the update of the file content by e-mail to the previous user (step 106).

In this way, if the user of the updated file is different from the previous user, a message notifying that the file has been updated is automatically sent to the immediately preceding user. The user who has used the file can easily know whether or not the file after storing is updated. Therefore, even if the content of the file is updated, it is possible to prevent a mistake in using the file without knowing it, and when using the same file, the content of the file is updated. There is no need to check whether they are present.

Further, the user who has updated the file does not need to send a message to the immediately preceding user each time, so that time is not taken for message transmission work.

In the above-described embodiment, a message notifying that the content of the file has been updated is transmitted to the immediately preceding user. However, users who may use the file, The message may be sent to a specific user group that can be used.

Although e-mail is used as a means for transmitting a message, the message may be transmitted by another means as long as the communication means has an equivalent function.

Further, the update checking device 13, the user name checking device 14, and the message transmitting device 15 may be provided in a host computer, and may be operated based on another processing program.

As an application example of the above embodiment, a message can be transmitted to a user who will use the file. That is, in the conventional file server device, when a file desired to be used is being used by another user, writing to the file is restricted (can be read) by the management program, and the user ends use of the file. Have to wait until.
However, since the end of use of the file is not notified, the user has to check at regular time intervals whether the target file can be used. Therefore, the file name and user name to be used are registered in the file server in advance, and when the use of the file is completed, the registered user is notified.
By transmitting a message indicating that the file can be used, it is possible to eliminate unnecessary waiting time for the user.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, in the file server device according to the present invention, the content of the stored file is updated. On the other hand, since a message notifying the update of the content is transmitted, the user who has used the file before can easily know whether or not the file after storing the file has been updated. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the mistake of using the file without knowing that the file contents have been updated, and it is not necessary to check whether the file contents have been updated when using the same file Becomes In addition, since the user who has updated the file does not need to send a message to the previous user each time, the user does not have to spend time on the task of sending a message, thereby improving work efficiency. It becomes possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a file system provided with a file server device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an arrangement of data in a file, and FIG. It is a flowchart figure which shows the procedure of a process. 1 ... LAN, 2 ... file server device, W1 to Wn ... workstation (WS), 11 ... disk device, 12 ...
Processing device, 13: Update checking device, 14: User name checking device, 15: Message transmitting device.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A file server device connected to a data transmission network and storing and managing a file shared by a plurality of users, an update checking means for determining whether or not the content of the stored file has been updated; When the update checking means determines that the content of the file has been updated, the user name is read from the attribute of the file and the user name is read from the attribute of the previous version of the file. User name checking means for judging whether the user names are the same, and message transmitting means for transmitting, to the previous user, a message informing the user of the previous update when the user name checking means determines that the user names are different. And a file server device comprising: