JP7192206B2 - Information processing device and program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and program.

Document management apparatuses and software exist for managing image data read by a scanner and document data created by an application on a personal computer (PC). Examples of such software include document handling software such as DocuWorks (trademark) provided by the applicant and Adobe Acrobat (trademark) of Adobe Systems. This type of document management device can handle image data files (for example, bitmap format, TIFF format, JPEG format) obtained by scanning paper documents, and application files created by various applications such as word processors and spreadsheets. can be captured and managed.

A hierarchical structure of folders can be formed in the document management apparatus using the file system of the OS. organize.

Patent Document 1 describes copying or moving a folder (directory) to another folder (eg, paragraph 0002).

JP 2016-024487 A

The hierarchical structure of folders within folders is useful for classifying and organizing documents, but even if you open the folder and display a list of the documents in that folder, the documents in that folder ( It is not possible to know the whole picture of the folder (some of which are included in a group of folders in the lower hierarchy of the folder). In order to know the entire group of documents in a folder, a complicated operation of sequentially opening folders in lower layers is required. For example, for purposes that do not require hierarchical classification and arrangement, such as storing and viewing a group of documents necessary for the current task, specifications that require such complicated operations are only a disadvantage.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to make it possible to know a group of documents in a specific folder with fewer operations than when a group of folders having a hierarchical structure is used.

The invention according to claim 1 comprises: a specific folder which can store one or more documents and is prohibited from having a folder therein; edit receiving means for receiving edits to the documents in the specific folder; an alternative processing means for executing an alternative process instead of storing the folder when an instruction to store the folder is received , wherein the alternative processing means stores the document in the folder to be stored Inquires of the user whether or not to store the document in the specific folder, and when receiving an instruction from the user to store the document in the folder in the specific folder in response to the inquiry, the document in the folder is stored. It is an information processing device that stores in the specific folder .

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein configuration 1 of the reference example further includes a normal folder that can have a folder therein, and further includes the specific folder in addition to the normal folder.

Configuration 2 of the reference example is the information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the alternative process is a process of displaying a notification screen indicating that storage of a folder in the specific folder is prohibited.

In configuration 3 of the reference example, the alternative processing means inquires of the user whether or not the document in the folder to be stored should be stored in the specific folder in association with the notification screen, and in response to this inquiry, the The information processing apparatus according to the configuration 2 of the reference example , wherein when an instruction to store the document in the specific folder is received from the user, the document in the folder is stored in the specific folder.

The invention according to claim 2 comprises: a specific folder which can store one or more documents and is prohibited from having a folder therein; edit receiving means for receiving edits to the documents in the specific folder; and the specific folder. and an alternative processing means for executing alternative processing instead of storing the folder when receiving an instruction to store the folder in the folder, wherein the alternative processing is to store the document in the folder in the specific folder. It is an information processing device that is a process of storing.

The invention according to claim 3 is a specific folder which can store one or more documents and is prohibited from having a folder therein; As a process to be performed when receiving an instruction to store a folder in a folder, the folder is not stored, and a notification screen is displayed indicating that the folder is prohibited from being stored in the specific folder. and a second process of storing the documents in the folder in the specific folder. means for executing a process selected in the setting when receiving an instruction to store the information.

The invention according to claim 4 is a means for displaying a list of documents stored in the specific folder, wherein the group of documents stored in the specific folder from the same folder is displayed in a list in a manner distinguishable from other documents. 4. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , further comprising means for performing.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a computer comprises a specific folder which can store one or more documents and is prohibited from having a folder therein, an edit reception means for receiving edits to the document in the specific folder, and the specific folder. A program for functioning as alternative processing means for executing alternative processing instead of storing a folder when receiving an instruction to store a folder in the folder , wherein the alternative processing means is a storage target Inquiring of the user whether or not to store the document in the folder in the specific folder, and receiving an instruction from the user to store the document in the folder in the specific folder in response to this inquiry, A program for storing documents in the folder in the specific folder .
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, a computer comprises a specific folder which can store one or more documents and is prohibited from having folders therein, an edit receiving means for receiving edits to the document in the specific folder, and the specific folder. A program for functioning as alternative processing means for executing an alternative process instead of storing a folder when receiving an instruction to store a folder in the folder, wherein the alternative process is executed in the folder document in the specific folder .
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, a computer comprises: a specific folder which can store one or more documents and is prohibited from having folders inside; As a process to be performed when receiving an instruction to store a folder in a folder, the folder is not stored, and a notification screen is displayed indicating that the folder is prohibited from being stored in the specific folder. and a second process of storing the documents in the folder in the specific folder. This is a program for functioning as means for executing the processing selected in the setting when receiving an instruction to do so.

Configuration 4 of the reference example determines whether the object is a file or a folder when an instruction to store the object in a specific folder is received, and if the object is determined to be a file, the object is stored in the specific folder, and when it is determined that the object is a folder, storage processing means executes alternative processing instead of storing the object in the specific folder.

In configuration 5 of the reference example, when the computer receives an instruction to store an object in a specific folder, it determines whether the object is a file or a folder, and when it determines that the object is a file, stores the object in the specified folder, and when the object is determined to be a folder, stores the object in the specified folder instead of executing alternative processing. is.

According to the inventions according to claims 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7, and the configurations 4 and 5 of the reference examples, a group of documents in a specific folder can be retrieved with fewer operations than when a group of folders having a hierarchical structure is used. In addition, the document in the designated folder can be stored in the specified folder without providing subfolders in the specified folder.

According to the configuration 2 of the reference example, it is possible to notify the user that the designated folder is prohibited from being stored in the specific folder.

According to the third aspect of the invention, it is possible to set in advance a process to be performed when an instruction is given to store a folder in a specific folder.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in displaying a list of documents in a specific folder, a group of documents stored in the same folder can be distinguished.

1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a document management system to which character recognition processing control of an embodiment is applied; FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a document management screen provided by the document management system; FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary document management screen displaying a context menu with the menu item “copy to workspace” for a document icon. FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary document management screen showing a workspace after a new document has been copied; FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary document management screen displaying a context menu for a folder icon (does not include menu item “copy to workspace”); FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of an error notification screen displayed when an operation of copying a folder to a work space is performed; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of an inquiry screen displayed when an operation of copying a folder to a work space is performed; FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of an inquiry screen displayed when an operation of copying a folder to a workspace is performed in another example; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a folder setting screen that is opened when the document management system is started; FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a display control procedure when the document management system is started; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a document management screen displayed when the document management system is activated after a document has been registered in the work space while the document management system is terminated; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a document management screen displaying information views about documents; FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a document management screen in which information of a copy source location of each document is reflected in the icon display of each document in the work space opened on the document pane. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a document management screen displaying a URL on the Internet as a copy source location in an information view of a document; FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a document management screen that displays document icons grouped according to copy source locations; FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a document management screen displaying a document context menu including a menu item for opening a copy source location (folder); FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a document management screen displaying a list of documents in a workspace and documents in folders from which the documents are copied; FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary document management screen displaying a workspace context menu including the menu item “tidy up”; FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a procedure of cleaning processing of a work space by a cleaning processing unit; FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a display example of a clearing dialog; FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a document management screen displayed after cleanup processing; FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary document management screen displaying a context menu containing the document "return to workspace" containing menu items for the cleanup folder. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a procedure of a cleanup folder return process by the cleanup processing unit; FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a dialog displayed during the restoration process of the cleanup folder; FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a document management screen including a button for directing synchronization of the workspace with the cloud; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing that a button for synchronizing with the cloud side is not displayed when the tidying up folder is opened on the document management screen; It is a figure which illustrates the inquiry screen which a synchronous processing part displays. FIG. 4 illustrates an example settings screen for a workspace that includes settings for automatic synchronization. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a procedure of synchronization processing; It is a figure which illustrates a batch synchronization screen. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an action determination table for each state of inconsistency; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing another example of the collective synchronization screen;

<Overview of the system>
FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic configuration of a document management system 10 according to the present invention. The document management system 10, such as DocuWorks (trademark) provided by the applicant or Adobe Acrobat (trademark) of Adobe Systems, allows viewing, editing, and annotating (colored markers, sticky notes, stamps, etc.) to registered document files. This is software that provides processing functions such as the addition of This software implements the functions of the document management system 10 by being executed by a computer such as a PC (personal computer) or a server. The document management system 10 may be a personal system installed on a PC, or may be constructed as a server that provides document handling services to remote users.

The document management system 10 includes a document fetching section 12, a document processing section 14, a UI processing section 16, a setting management section 18, a cleanup processing section 20, and a synchronization processing section 22 as functional modules.

The document fetching unit 12 performs processing for fetching (that is, registering) a document (file) generated outside the document management system 10 into the document management system 10 . Documents to be imported include files in a data format unique to the application (called application files) generated by application software such as word processors and spreadsheets, bitmaps generated by scanners and digital cameras, TIFF, JPEG, etc. There are image files in the image data format of . Also, the documents captured by the document management system 10 may include moving image files, multimedia files, and the like. A document file captured by the document capturing unit 12 is stored in one of the folders under the control of the document management system 10 (for example, a folder specified or preset by the user). The document fetching unit 12 fetches the application file as it is as a document file, or converts it into a document file described in a specific data description language used by the document management system 10 . The data description language used for conversion is PDL (page description language) or another type of language that can describe the appearance of a document (image) like a page description language (PDF data format is one example). . Document files described in this data description language include multiple types of text, vector graphics (graphics described in vector representation), continuous tone images (data formats such as bitmap, TIFF, and JPEG). objects can be included.

For example, the user drags and drops an icon of a document in a folder outside the document management system 10 displayed on a GUI (graphical user interface) screen of a file system (for example, Explorer of Microsoft Corporation) to the document management system 10 . 10 (see FIG. 2) or onto the document pane 120, the document capture unit 12 converts the document into a document file such as PDL and stores it in the drop destination folder. Also, the user can call a virtual printer (the document capture unit 12 or another program having the same function) for the document management system 10 from an application and output a document handled by the application to the virtual printer. good. The virtual printer converts the document into a PDL or other document file handled within the document management system 10 and stores it in a designated folder within the document management system 10 .

Folders under the control of the document management system 10 (workspaces, which will be described later) are accessed from the document management system 10, and are not supposed to be accessed from the file system of the OS. Basically, the document management system 10 is activated in order to perform operations such as addition and deletion of documents to and from these folders. However, document storage in a workspace or the like via the "copy to workspace" application 24, which will be described later, is an exception. have.

The document processing unit 14 executes processing instructed by the user on folders and document files in the folders under the control of the document management system 10 . For example, when the user instructs to browse a document file, the document processing unit 14 opens the document file and displays the image of the page of the document file on the screen. In addition, the document processing unit 14 adds and deletes annotations to and from the opened document file according to instructions from the user. In addition, the document processing unit 14 has functions of "separating" and "bundling" documents. The unpacking process divides one document file into a first document file consisting of pages before a specified page and a second document file consisting of pages after the specified page. be. Bundling processing is processing for bundling a plurality of document files specified by the user into one document file. The document file after bundling is a file having both the page group of the first document file before bundling and the page group of the second document file. The document processing unit 14 also receives an instruction from the user to create a descendant folder of the user folder 116 and its descendant folders.

The UI processing unit 16 provides a UI (user interface) screen for manipulating document files, and accepts user operations on the screen. The UI processing unit 16 generates, for example, the document management screen 100 shown in FIG. 2, and displays it on the display device of the computer in which the document management system 10 is installed (the document management screen 100 will be detailed later).

The illustrated document management screen 100 includes a folder pane 110 , a document pane 120 and an operation button area 130 .

A folder pane 110 is an area that displays a tree structure of folders under the management of the document management system 10 . The root of the displayed tree is the document management system 10 itself (shown as icon 112 in FIG. 2). In the illustrated example, there are two folders directly below the root: workspace 114, user folder 116, and link folder. Workspace 114 is a folder that holds documents for a user's current work. Workspace 114 is described in more detail below. The user folder 116 is a folder used for organizing and storing documents used by the user of the document management system 10 . In the user folder 116, subfolders such as child folders and grandchild folders can be hierarchically created. The user creates necessary descendant folders according to the organization system determined by the user, and stores the documents in appropriate folders. A link folder is a link to a folder outside the management of the document management system 10 , and when the link folder is “opened”, descendant folders in the linked folder are displayed in the folder pane 110 .

The document pane 120 lists and displays a group of icons 122 of document files in the folder selected by the user in the folder pane 110 . In this example, each document file icon 122 is a thumbnail image of the first page of the document file. By performing an "open" operation such as a click operation on the icon 122, the document corresponding to the icon 122 is opened, and the contents thereof can be displayed on the screen, or the contents can be edited (for example, added, deleted, or edited). change, etc.). Also, for example, the user can instruct the bundling process of the two document files by overlapping the icon of one document file with the icon of another document file by a drag-and-drop operation. Processing to be performed on the document file can also be selected from a menu (not shown) on the document management screen 100 or from a context menu called by right-clicking an icon with the mouse. Note that the context menu is a screen that lists and displays processing options for an object (document in this case) corresponding to the menu as menu items.

The operation button area 130 is an area for displaying buttons 134 to 138 indicating various operations for the folders displayed in the document pane 120 and the documents (icons 122) in the folders. In the illustrated example, the operation button area 130 includes a print button for printing a document selected in the document pane 120, a button 134 for instructing copying of the document to a work space (described later), and a temporary clearing of the work space ( (to be described later)), and an "original location" button 138 for opening the copy source folder of the document in the work space are displayed.

Returning to the description of FIG. 1, the setting management unit 18 receives input of various setting items of the document management system 10 and holds the values of the input setting items. Examples of setting items managed by the setting management unit 18 include settings for folders to be displayed in the document pane 120 of the document management screen 100 when the document management system 10 is started, synchronization between the workspace and corresponding folders on the cloud system, and the like. be.

The cleanup processing unit 20 temporarily cleans up the document group in the work space. The functions of the tidying-up processing unit 20 will be described later in detail.

The synchronization processing unit 22 executes processing for synchronizing the work space and corresponding folders on the cloud system. This processing will be described later in detail.

The outline of the document management system 10 has been described above. Various features of this system will now be described.

<work space>
As described above, document management system 10 provides workspace 114, which is a folder for documents that the user is currently working on. The work space is a metaphor for the user's workplace (for example, on a desk), and is intended to allow the user to see at a glance the entire work that is currently being worked on, that is, to provide an overview of the work. This is in contrast to the hierarchical structure consisting of the user folder 116 and descendant folders within it, which aims to organize documents.

Only documents (files) are stored in the work space 114 in order to ensure visibility of work. That is, the workspace 114 does not include a hierarchical structure consisting of descendant folders. If the work space 114 had a hierarchical structure of folders inside, all the documents used in the current work could not be arranged in one document pane 120 and provided for a list. In this case, in order to grasp the entirety of the work space 114, an inter-hierarchy movement operation is required. On the other hand, since the workspace 114 has a flat structure consisting only of documents, a group of icons (thumbnails, etc.) of all documents can be viewed on the document pane 120 without the need to navigate between hierarchies.

The work space 114 is used as a temporary work place, and documents are stored in a hierarchical folder group within the user folder 116, which is used separately.

<Registration of documents to workspace>
Registration (saving) of a document in the workspace 114 is realized by performing a "copy to workspace 114" operation on a document in an existing folder.

In the document management screen 100 illustrated in FIG. 3, a list of icons 122 of documents in a folder (folder name “ABC project”) in the user folder 116 of the document management system 10 is displayed on the document pane 120 . A context menu 124 for a certain document (named ".DELTA..DELTA..DELTA.DELTA proposal") is invoked by a specific operation such as right-clicking the mouse. Within this context menu 124 are common operations such as "Open" (to open a document and view its contents), "Cut", "Copy" 128, "Delete", "Rename", "Print", etc. In addition to the items, an operation item "copy to work space" 126 is included. When the user instructs execution of "copy to work space" 126 by a click operation or the like, the document processing unit 14 creates a copy of the document (file) and saves the copy in the work space 114. FIG. After this operation, when the workspace 114 is opened, the icons of the documents in the workspace 114 are listed in the document pane 120 as shown in FIG.

If the conventional general "copy" 128 operation item is selected, the document is only stored in the clipboard (temporary storage area for copied (or cut) data prepared by the OS). is. Therefore, in order to copy the document to the workspace 114, after executing the "copy" 128, an operation of "pasting" the copy of the document on the clipboard to the workspace 114 is performed. is required. As described above, when using the conventional operation item "copy" 128, the user has to perform at least two operations, namely, the copy operation and the paste operation.

On the other hand, in the case of the operation item "copy to work space" 126, the target document can be copied into the work space 114 with a single operation of selecting the operation item.

An operation similar to “copy to workspace” 126 can also be executed by selecting a document in document pane 120 and then pressing “copy to workspace” button 134 in operation button area 130 .

Further, for each data format that can be imported into the document management system 10, a menu item "copy to work space" may be added to the context menu corresponding to the data format managed by the OS. This menu item is associated with the “copy to work space” application 24 installed on the same computer as the document management system 10 . This application 24 can be read even when the document management system 10 is not activated. When the user invokes the context menu from the document icon displayed on the GUI screen of the file system of the OS, selects the item "copy to work space" in the menu, and executes it, the OS launches the "copy to work space" application. 24 and pass the pathname of the document. The activated "copy to workspace" application 24 creates a copy of the document indicated by the path name and saves it in the workspace. If the data format of the document differs from the internal data format (PDL format, etc.) of the document management system 10, the data format of the copy may be changed to the internal data format and then saved in the work space. . By doing so, even documents not under the control of the document management system 10 (that is, documents in folders that do not belong to the folder tree with the document management system 10 as the root) can be processed by one operation in the same manner as described above. can be copied into the workspace.

Also, a document displayed by an application such as a word processor that generates or edits a document may be registered in the work space from the UI of the application. For this, for example, "work space of document management system" is registered as a print destination option for the print instruction UI of the application, and "copy to work space" for that option is performed in the same way as application 24. It is sufficient to associate a virtual printer that performs the processing of . When a user wants to register a document displayed in an application such as a word processor in a work space, the user calls up the print instruction screen of this application, selects the "work space of the document management system" as the print destination, and instructs the execution of printing. do it.

In the above example, the UI such as the context menu and the copy button used when registering a document in the work space was illustrated. may be registered. In this case, for the setting management unit 18, the copy destination folder associated with the operation item "copy to work space" 126 of the context menu and the "copy to work space" button 134 in the operation button area 130 is set or changed. You may enable it. In this case, the character string "workspace" in the context menu operation item "copy to workspace" 126 may be changed to the name of the set copy destination folder.

In the above example, a document in a folder outside the workspace is copied into the workspace. , the document may be registered in the workspace.

<Mechanism for not having a hierarchical folder structure in the workspace>
As mentioned above, workspaces do not have a hierarchical structure. A mechanism for maintaining a work space without a hierarchical structure is described below.

For example, when a folder created in a file system used by an operating system (OS) is used as the workspace 114, the document processing unit 14 creates the workspace 114 so that the workspace 114 does not have a hierarchical structure. On the other hand, it does not accept an instruction to create descendant folders from the user. For example, the menu item for instructing creation of a new folder is not displayed on the context menu invoked by a specific operation (for example, right-clicking the mouse) on the icon of workspace 114 in folder pane 110 . Also, when a workspace is opened in the document pane 120, the item for creating a new folder is not displayed in the context menu called on the workspace (part other than the document icon).

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the context menu 140 that is invoked from a folder in the folder pane 110 by an operation such as right-clicking the mouse does not include the item "copy to workspace". This prevents folders from being one-touch copied to your workspace. This context menu 140 includes an item "Copy" 142, which when selected by the user copies the folder (which may contain documents and descendant folders) to the clipboard. It is a process to Even if the folder copied to the clipboard is pasted into the work space, the document processing unit 14 detects that the object to be pasted into the work space is a folder. Now, prohibit that paste. At this time, the document processing unit 14 displays an error notification screen 200 illustrated in FIG. 6 via the UI processing unit 16 . This error notification screen 200 displays an error message 202 indicating that the folder cannot be copied to the work space.

Similarly, for folders not under the control of the document management system 10, the context menu will not include a menu item that invokes the "copy to workspace" application 24. FIG. Also, even if such a folder is to be copied to the work space via the clipboard, the document processing unit 14 detects that the folder is being copied and prohibits the copying.

Also, even if an attempt is made to copy or move a folder outside the work space into the work space opened in the document pane 120 by a drag-and-drop operation, the document processing unit 14 that manages the work space does not copy or move the folder. restrict. That is, when the document processing unit 14 detects that the object to be saved in the work space by the operation is a folder, the document processing unit 14 prohibits the saving, and displays the error notification screen 200 (FIG. 6), for example. .

In the above, by prohibiting the copying of folders to the work space, the hierarchical structure is prevented from being brought into the work space. As another example, when the user performs an operation to copy a folder to the work space, the document processing unit 14 may retrieve the document inside the folder and copy it to the work space. Here, the documents to be copied to the work space may be limited to those directly contained in the folder, or may be all the documents contained in that folder and its descendant folders. In either case, the folder itself selected for copying and its descendant folders are not copied to the workspace, and only the documents remain in the workspace.

When the document processing unit 14 receives an operation to copy the folder to the work space from the user, as illustrated in FIG. 210 may be displayed via the UI processing unit 16 . When the user presses the OK button on the inquiry screen 210, the document processing unit 14 creates copies of each document in the folder, converts the copies to the data format of the document management system 10, and saves them in the work space. (paste). When the user presses the cancel button, the document processing unit 14 cancels the process of copying the folder to the work space.

Also, when the user performs an operation to copy a folder to the work space, whether to display the error notification screen 200 without executing the copy ("folder copy prohibited") or to copy only the documents in the folder. (“copy document in folder”) may be set in the setting management unit 18 by the user. In the case of copying only the documents in the folder, the setting management unit 18 determines whether to copy only the documents directly contained in the folder or to copy all the documents contained in the folder and its descendant folders. may be set to In addition, when the above-mentioned "copy document in folder" is set in the setting management section 18, the item "copy to workspace" is displayed in the context menu opened for the folder, and the above-mentioned "folder copy" is displayed. The display of the context menu may be controlled so that the item "copy to workspace" is not displayed in the context menu when "prohibit" is set.

In addition, when the document processing unit 14 retrieves a group of documents in the folder and copies them to the workspace in response to an instruction from the user to copy the folder to the workspace, the document processing unit 14 displays the documents in the document pane 120 of the document management screen 100 . In the space, an indication may be made that these copied documents originate from the same folder. An example of this display is shown in FIG. The example of FIG. 8 is an example in which the order form folder 118 is copied to the work space in which the document A was originally saved. In the document pane 120, the icons of documents B, C, and D newly added to the work space are emphasized (that is, in a more conspicuous display manner than the icon of document A that originally existed. In the illustrated example, the icons are outlined). ) are displayed. The icons of the documents B, C, and D have a common display mode (for example, outlines of the same color), which expresses that the three documents are copied from the same folder. there is Also, the icons of these three documents are accompanied by file names representing the path names of the documents from the order form folder. In the illustrated example, for example, document B is a file directly contained in the order form folder, whereas document D is a file contained in a folder named "201710" directly under the order form folder. In addition, in the display of FIG. 8, the icon of document D is displayed below the icons of documents B and C, thereby expressing that document D belongs to a lower folder than documents B and C. .

<Display at startup>
Next, display of the document management screen 100 displayed when the document management system 10 is activated will be described.

The setting management section 18 can set a folder to be opened in the document pane 120 of the document management screen 100 immediately after startup. FIG. 9 exemplifies a setting screen 300 for receiving settings of the folder to be opened at startup. In this example, in the option column 302, the folder to be opened at startup can be selected from three option columns 302: user folder, folder opened when the document management system 10 was last terminated, and workspace. The document management system 10 normally determines the folder to be opened in the document pane 120 at startup according to its settings, except for the exception cases described below.

On the other hand, the exception case mentioned above is a case where a document is registered in the work space while the document management system 10 is shutting down (that is, while the document management system 10 is in a non-operating state). As described above, in this embodiment, even when the document management system 10 is terminated, the "copy to work space" application 24 can be called from the context menu of the document on the UI of the file system, or a document such as a word processor can be opened. A document can be registered in a workspace by issuing a print instruction from an application that creates and edits to a virtual printer whose print destination is the workspace. Thus, if a document is registered in the workspace while the document management system 10 is closed, it is highly likely that the user intends to work with the document in the workspace. However, if the setting of the folder to be opened at startup is a folder other than the work space, the folder that is opened immediately after the document management system 10 is started is not the work space. Therefore, in order to check the newly registered document in that workspace, it is necessary to perform an operation to open the workspace.

Therefore, in this embodiment, if a document is registered in the work space while the document management system 10 is shutting down (that is, while the document management system 10 is not running, that is, it is not operating), the The workspace is opened in the document pane 120 when the document management system 10 is started regardless of the folder settings. FIG. 10 shows an example of the display control procedure at the time of activation.

In the procedure of FIG. 10, when the document management system 10 is activated, first, the UI processing unit 16 checks whether there is a document registered in the work space after the previous termination of the document management system 10 (S10). For example, the investigation in S10 is performed by the UI processing unit 16 for a program having a function of registering a document in the work space while the document management system 10 is terminated (for example, the "copy to work space" application 24 and the virtual printer). , by inquiring whether the document was registered during the expiring period. The program (that is, a virtual processing device realized by causing a computer to execute the program) records a log including information on the time when the document was registered in the work space, and the UI processing unit 16 Returns the time the document was last registered in the workspace in response to a query from . If the time received from the program is between the previous end time of the document management system 10 (recorded by the document management system 10) and the current time, the UI processing unit 16 10 is determined to have been registered in the work space. Alternatively, conversely, the UI processing unit 16 may send an inquiry including the previous end time of the document management system 10 to the program, and respond whether or not the program registered the document after the end time. Alternatively, the UI processing unit 16 may make the determination by referring to the log recorded by the program instead of querying the application. Alternatively, when the program stores (copy, etc.) a document in the work space, the flag is set to a value indicating "stored", and the UI processing unit 16 refers to the flag when the document management system 10 is started. , the document management system 10 may determine whether or not a document is stored in a non-operating work space, and reset the flag. As yet another example, the document management system 10 stores a list of documents in the workspace at the time of the previous termination, and compares this list with the documents in the workspace at the time of the current startup. , it may be determined whether or not there is a document newly added to the workspace during the termination.

When it is determined in the investigation in S10 that there is a document added to the work space while the document management system 10 is terminated (S12), the UI processing unit 16 displays the documents in the work space in the document pane 120. The management screen 100 is displayed (S14). On the other hand, if it is determined in S12 that there is no document added to the work space while the document management system 10 is terminated, the UI processing unit 16 creates a folder corresponding to the setting of "folder to open at startup" in the setting management unit 18. is displayed in the document pane 120 (S16).

FIG. 11 illustrates a document management screen 100 displaying a group of documents in the work space in the document pane 120 displayed by the process of S14 when the document management system 10 is activated. In this example, when the document management system 10 was terminated last time, only a document with the name of "△△ proposal" existed in the work space, and during the termination period, a new document called "△△ additional material" was created. This is the document management screen 100 displayed when the document management system 10 is activated after the name document is registered. In this example, the icon of the newly registered document “ΔΔ additional material” in the document pane 120 is displayed in a different display manner from the icon of the existing document “ΔΔ proposal”. In particular, newly registered document icons are displayed in a more conspicuous manner than existing document icons.

Also, like the document management screen 100 shown in FIG. 8, the information of the copy source folder of each document registered in the work space while the document management system 10 is terminated is reflected in the document management screen 100 that opens when the document management system 10 is started. may That is, in the example of FIG. 8, the icon of each document newly registered in the work space is accompanied by the file name including the information of the path of the document from which the document is copied. In addition, the hierarchy of the folder to which the newly registered document belongs is represented by the order of arrangement from the top of the icon of each document.

In the procedure of FIG. 10, when a document is registered in the work space while the document management system 10 is terminated, the work space is always opened on the document management screen 100 when the document management system 10 is subsequently started. But this is just one example. Instead, the user can select whether the folder to be opened on the document management screen 100 when the document management system 10 is started after registering a document in the work space during termination is to be used as the work space, or whether to follow the setting of the folder to be opened when the document management system 10 is started. It may be set in the setting management unit 18 .

In the above example, the operation at startup of the document management system 10 when there is a document registered in the work space while the document management system 10 is closed has been described. may be performed. In this case, the user sets the folder targeted for this operation in the setting management section 18 . When the document management system 10 finds that a document has been added to the folder during its own termination at startup, the document management system 10 opens the folder in the document pane 120 of the document management screen 100 to be displayed.

<Show Original Location of Document in Workspace>
A work space is a virtual workplace where, for example, a document stored in a group of folders with a hierarchical structure for tidying up is copied, and the copied document is used for work. For this work, the user may need information on the location (folder) of the copy source of the document in the work space. For example, in the work of correcting a document to be corrected while comparing it with a model document, the current model document is selected from the folder containing the group of model documents, and the current target document is selected from the folder containing the documents to be corrected. Consider the case where it is copied to the workspace. In this case, when the user determines whether each document on the workspace is a model document or a document to be corrected, it is useful to know the information of the copy source location of each document. It may also be necessary to refer to other documents in the folder from which the document in the workspace was copied.

Therefore, the document management system 10 adds information on the storage location of the copy source document as an attribute to the document copied to the work space. That is, a processing unit having a function of copying a document to a work space (for example, a document processing unit 14 that registers a document in the work space while the document management system 10 is in operation, or a document processing unit 14 that registers the document in the work space while the document management system 10 is terminated). A "copy to workspace" application 24) that can be registered in a workspace, when copying a document in a certain folder to the workspace, adds a name such as "original location" to the attribute information of the document. Add the path name of the copy source document as an attribute item of the . This allows documents on the workspace to be processed with the "from" attribute.

For example, as illustrated in FIG. 12, the UI processing unit 16 displays the attribute information when receiving an instruction to display the attribute information of the document selected by the user in the work space opened on the document pane 120. display the information view 150. Within this information view 150, the value of the "from" 154 of the document is displayed, as well as the "location" 152 where the document is stored (eg, the document's pathname).

Further, the UI processing unit 16 may display each document in the work space opened on the document pane 120 so as to reflect the "original location". FIG. 13 shows an example of such a display. In this example, the display modes of the icons 162A to 162F of each document in the work space opened on the document pane 120 are differentiated for each "original location." For example, since documents B, C, and D have the same "original location" folder, the display mode of the icons 162B, 162C, and 162D of these three documents (for example, the icon and its outline color, line thickness, brightness, etc.) etc.) are the same, and the display mode is different from the display mode of the icon 162A of the document A and the icons 162E and 162F of the documents E and F, which have different "original location" folders.

In the example of FIG. 13, the icon of each document is accompanied by a file name reflecting the "original location" of the document. For example, document A was copied from one of the monthly subfolders of the order form folder in the user folder under the control of the document management system 10. ("document management") to the document A (copy source) in the monthly subfolder. Although not shown, for a document that is not under the control of the document management system 10 and that has been copied from another local folder to the work space, the file name display includes a character string representing the full path of the copy source of the document. Is displayed.

Also, files on a remote server outside the computer on which the document management system 10 is installed can be copied to the workspace. A document management screen 100 illustrated in FIG. 13 shows a state in which a cloud service 119 having a document storage function on the Internet is mounted on the document management system 10 and used. Icons 162 E and 162 F represent copies of documents E and F in folders within that cloud service 119 . Here, the documents E and F exist as temporary files in the computer, but the icons 162E and 162F include the URL (Uniform Resource) of the copy source of the documents E and F so as not to make the user aware of this. Locator) is attached. When displaying the same information view 150 as in FIG. 12 for the documents E and F, their URLs are displayed in the column of original location 154a as shown in FIG.

Further, as shown in FIG. 15, the UI processing unit 16 may display the icons of the documents in the work space expanded on the document pane 120 by grouping the icons for each document whose copy source folder is the same. In the illustrated example, icons 162 of documents in the same copy source folder are arranged in an area surrounded by a frame 164 for grouping. In the illustrated example, the nested structure of frames 164 expresses the hierarchy of folders to which each document belongs. For example, the display of FIG. 15 shows that document B is stored in a folder a represented by box 164a, and documents C and D are stored in another folder b (represented by box 164b) under folder a. It means that it is saved.

The UI processing unit 16 also has a function of opening the "original location" folder of the document in the work space and displaying a group of documents in that folder. For example, in FIG. 16, in the work space developed on the document pane 120, the user places the cursor on the icon 162 of a certain document (that is, selects the document) and right-clicks the mouse to display the context menu 170. is displayed. This context menu 170 includes a menu item 172 "Open Original Location". When the user selects this menu item, the UI processing unit 16, as shown in FIG. is displayed. In the example of FIG. 17, the document pane 120 is divided vertically into two, with the lower pane 120b displaying the work space and the upper pane 120a displaying "original location". In the illustrated example, the pane 120a displays icons of three documents saved in the "original location". The user can open and browse the document in the pane 120a, or copy the document in the pane 120a to the lower pane 120b (work space) by drag-and-drop operation. Also, while the "original location" is open, among the documents in the workspace of the lower pane 120b, the icon of the document corresponding to the "original location" (that is, the The selected document) may be displayed in a display manner (for example, highlighted display by changing color, brightness, etc.) distinguishable from icons of other documents in the work space. This tells the user which document in the workspace the "from" that was opened corresponds to.

Among the documents in the "original location" in the pane 120a, the icon of the document having the same name as the document in the lower pane 120b corresponding to the "original location" (that is, the document to be copied) is displayed as the "original location". It may be displayed in a display mode distinguishable from icons of other documents in "place of".

In addition, when "original location" is opened in the upper pane 120a from the context menu 170 or the like for a certain document in the work space, the folder of "original location" currently opened in that pane 120a is changed to "original location". The icon of the document in the work space (lower pane 120b) having the attribute may be displayed in a display form distinguishable from the group of icons having other values for the "original location" attribute. As a result, the user can grasp documents in the work space (lower pane 120b) that have the same "original location" as the document selected as the focus in the work space. Knowing which documents in the workspace came from the same "source" as the document the user is looking at can help guide the user's work.

Also, when displaying the icon of a document that has the same "original location" attribute as the document selected by the user in this way so that it can be distinguished from other documents in the workspace, first open the "original location" The icon of the document in the operated workspace and the icon of the group of documents in other workspaces having "original location" as an attribute are displayed in a display form in which they can be distinguished from each other in the lower pane 120b. may That is, in this example, the icon of the document in the work space for which the "original location" was first opened is displayed so as to be distinguishable from the icons of other documents having the same "original location." As a result, the user can distinguish the original document of interest (target of the operation to open the "original location") from other documents (in particular, other documents sharing the same "original location"). It is thought that a series of work performed by opening the "original place" is often positioned as a sub-work to be performed by interrupting the main work. As in this example, by marking the document that was opened (first) so that it can be distinguished from other documents, it is possible to provide guidance for the user to smoothly return to the original main task.

For example, while performing work with a document in the workspace, the user may need to refer to other documents in the document's "in situ" or use other documents for work purposes. If it occurs, use this function of opening "original place". Further, by performing an "open" operation such as clicking the icon of the document displayed in the upper pane 120a, the document in the "original location" can be opened and its contents can be displayed.

Also, if the "original location" is a folder not under the control of the document management system 10, the document management system 10 calls the OS file system UI (for example, Windows (registered trademark) Explorer (trademark)), You may open the folder of the "original place" on the screen of the UI. Of course, in this case as well, as in the example of FIG.

Similarly, when the "original location" is in a remote computer connected to the document management system 10 via a network, the document management system 10 similarly acquires the folder information of the "original location". , displayed on the screen.

A button 138 in the operation button area 130 is a button for calling an operation to open the "original location". By pressing this button 138 and selecting a target document from within the workspace, the user can open the "original location" folder of the document on the screen in the same manner as described above.

The UI processing unit 16 also receives an instruction to write back the document in the work space to the "original location". The write-back may be overwriting of a document with the same name in the "original location", or writing to the "original location" folder with a new name. The UI processing unit 16 adds, for example, "overwrite to original location" and "name" to the context menu displayed in the document pane 120 or the folder pane 110 of the document management screen 100, which is called from the icon of the document in the work space. If the former is selected, the document will overwrite the document with the same name in the "original location". If the latter is selected, the input of the document name will be accepted and to the "original location" with that name.

In the above example, the path name of the document from which the document was copied was recorded as the "from" attribute of the document in the workspace. The "original location" attribute may be the path of the folder to which the copy source document belongs. Even in this case, it is possible to provide a service that does not require specification of the copy source document.

In the above example, information on the original location of documents registered in the work space from other folders is recorded, and various services are provided according to the information. However, folders other than the work space may be handled in the same way. In this case, the user sets in the setting management section 18 the folders to be targeted by the "original location" service. When a document is registered in the folder indicated by this setting from another folder, the document management system 10 records "original location" information as the attribute of the document.

<Temporary cleaning of work space>
Assume that while the user is working in the work space, it becomes necessary to execute other work with higher priority on the document management system 10 . In this case, the documents for the current work in the work space can be put away (evacuated) to make the work space available, and the documents for the new work can be placed in the vacant work space. and work efficiently. Also, it would be convenient if, after the interrupted work was completed, the previously put away document group could be redeveloped in the work space and the interrupted work could be resumed. In the following, the function of temporarily putting away such work that the document management system 10 has will be described.

As shown in FIG. 18, the UI processing unit 16 moves the right mouse button to the base of the document pane 120 (area without the document icon 122) with the workspace 114 opened on the document pane 120. A context menu 180 for the workspace is displayed when a specific operation, such as a click, is performed. The context menu 180 includes a menu item “tidy up” 182 . The user selects this menu item "clean up" to instruct temporary cleaning up of documents in the current work space. The user can also instruct temporary disposal of the document group currently held in the work space 114 by pressing the button 136 in the operation button area 130 .

When there is an instruction to clean up, the cleanup processing unit 20 (see FIG. 1) is activated. The cleanup processing unit 20 executes the procedure shown in FIG. 19, for example. In this procedure, the cleanup processing unit 20 first displays a cleanup dialog 400 (see FIG. 20) on the screen via the UI processing unit 16 (S20). The cleanup dialog 400 displays a message 402 requesting input of the name of a folder to be newly created as a cleanup destination for documents in the work space, and an input field 404 for the name. When first displayed, the input field 404 displays a default name (for example, a character string indicating the current date and time) generated according to a preset naming rule. The user changes the name in the input field 404 to his or her desired one, if necessary. If it is determined that a cleanup folder with the name displayed in the input field 404 is to be created and the document group is to be cleaned up in that folder, the user presses the OK button. On the other hand, when canceling the cleanup, the cancel button is pressed. Note that if a cleanup folder with the same name as the name entered in the input field 404 of the cleanup dialog 400 already exists, the cleanup processing unit 20 does not immediately create a cleanup folder with that name. Prompt the user to change the name entered in the . If a name different from an existing cleanup folder is entered, a new cleanup folder is generated with that name.

The cleanup processing unit 20 determines whether the user has pressed the OK button or the cancel button (S22), and ends the process if the cancel button has been pressed.

When the OK button is pressed, the cleanup processing unit 20 creates a new folder ( cleanup folder) is created (S24). Then, the cleanup processing unit 20 moves all the documents in the work space to the cleanup folder created in S24 (S26). That is, save the documents in the cleanup folder and delete the documents from the workspace.

In this example, the Tidy Up folder is a subfolder (child folder) of the workspace, which is an exception to the principle that workspaces do not have child folders within them. Unlike folders that form a hierarchical structure for tidying up documents, the tidy-up folder has a limited role as a temporary save destination for the work space. , allows it to be placed at the bottom of the work space. It should be noted that, unlike folders having a hierarchical structure for tidying up documents, there is no particular meaning in the fact that the tidying up folder is "lower" than the work space. If the attribute information of the clean-up folder or the like indicates that the clean-up folder is the clean-up destination of the document group in the work space, the clean-up folder does not have to be placed below the work space.

As a result of this cleanup processing, the displayed document management screen 100 is as shown in FIG. 21, for example. In the document management screen 100 of FIG. 21, the icon of the cleanup folder 115 is displayed in the hierarchy immediately below the icon of the work space 114 in the folder pane 110 . Also, the workspace displayed in the document pane 120 does not have a document icon.

It should be noted that after the document group of the first task is put away in the first clean-up folder, the second task is started using the work space, and another task needs to be performed while the second task is being performed. If so, it will clear up more documents for the second task in the workspace. In this case, the cleanup processing unit 20 creates a second cleanup folder different from the first cleanup folder immediately below the workspace, and moves (evacuates) the document group in the current workspace to this folder. do. In this way, multiple cleanup folders can be created.

The tidying up folder 115 is only a temporary save destination for a group of documents for work that has been performed using the work space, and working using the tidying up folder 115 is prohibited. This is to clarify the principle that work using documents should be done in the workspace.

If the tidy-up folder is opened in the document pane 120 and operations such as editing, addition of documents, deletion, etc. are accepted, the distinction between the workspace and the tidy-up folder becomes ambiguous, and there are actually multiple workspaces. . If this is allowed, the user will always have to be aware of whether the work they are currently working on is in the workspace or in which cleanup folder. For example, when a user opens a cleanup folder and is performing work using documents in it, the work is temporarily interrupted, and after exiting the document management system 10, a new document to be used for the work is created. Suppose you find When using the new document for work, the user must, for example, start the document management system 10, identify and open the cleanup folder that was open before the interruption, and save the document in the cleanup folder. To identify the cleanup folder that was open before the interruption, the user must remember that the cleanup folder was the one they were working on most recently. It is also conceivable to copy a new document to be used for the interrupted work to the work space using, for example, the "copy to work space" application 24 without opening the document management system 10. If it was in the Tidy Up folder, it would be an error to copy the document to a workspace (which is for work separate from the Tidy Up folder). On the other hand, if the user is required to specify the copy destination workspace or cleanup folder, the user's memory will be tested in the same way as when the document management system 10 is opened and the document is copied to the cleanup folder before the interruption. becomes.

On the other hand, if work is performed in the work space and control is performed so that the cleanup folder cannot be used as a work space (that is, editing, etc. is not permitted), such problems can be solved or alleviated.

The document processing unit 14 may accept an operation to open the cleanup folder 115 on the document pane 120 or an operation to open a document in the cleanup folder 115 . This can be used, for example, for the user to check the contents of the cleanup folder. However, in order to make the cleanup folder unusable for work, operations to change the contents of documents in the cleanup folder 115 (editing, deletion, etc.), addition of new documents to the cleanup folder 115, Operations such as deleting documents from 115 are not permitted. For example, when the user drops a document into the cleanup folder 115 by a drag-and-drop operation, the document processing unit 14 does not accept the drop operation, and instead transfers the document to the cleanup folder via the UI processing unit 16. An error screen (not shown) indicating that addition is prohibited is displayed. When the user performs an operation to open a document in the cleanup folder opened on the document pane 120, the document processing unit 14 opens the document on the screen in a read-only (non-editable) state.

A workspace is "active" in the sense that it accepts operations to change its contents, whereas a cleanup folder, which does not allow operations to change its contents, can be regarded as an "inactive" workspace.

Next, resumption of work that has been temporarily put away will be described. That is, hereinafter, a case will be described in which, after the interrupting second work is completed, the document group of the first work that has been cleared up before is laid out again in the work space, and the first work is restarted. In this case, as shown in FIG. 22, the user opens the context menu 190 of the tidying up folder 115 in which the work is to be resumed from the folder pane 110 of the document management screen 100 . This context menu 190 includes a menu item 192 "Return to Workspace". When the user selects the menu item "restore to work space" by a click operation or the like, the cleanup processing unit 20 executes processing for returning the documents in the cleanup folder to the work space. FIG. 23 illustrates the procedure of this processing.

In the process procedure of FIG. 23, when receiving an instruction to return the cleanup folder to the work space, the cleanup processing unit 20 first determines whether or not there is a current document in the work space (S30). If there is no current document in the work space, the clean-up processing unit 20 moves all the documents in the clean-up folder to the work space (S40), and deletes the clean-up folder after the move is completed (S42).

If it is determined at S30 that there are documents currently in the workspace, the documents in the workspace need to be preserved. In this case, the cleanup processing unit 20 creates a cleanup folder for saving the documents in the current work space, and moves these documents to that folder. That is, the tidying up processing unit 20 displays a tidying back dialog 410 illustrated in FIG. 24 on the screen (S32). This dialog 410 contains a message indicating that the documents in the current workspace need to be cleaned up in order to return the documents in the cleanup folder to the workspace, and a message prompting the user to enter the name of the new cleanup folder for that purpose. 412 and an entry field 414 for its name. A default name is displayed in this input field 414, similarly to the input field 404 of the cleanup dialog 400 in FIG. 20, and the user can change this to a desired name. If it is determined that a cleanup folder with the name displayed in the input field 414 is to be created and the document group in the work space is to be cleaned up in that folder, the user presses the OK button. On the other hand, when canceling this cleanup, the cancel button is pressed.

The cleanup processing unit 20 determines whether the user has pressed the OK button or the cancel button (S34), and ends the process if the cancel button has been pressed. In this case, the clean-up folder selected by the user to be returned and the work space are maintained as they are.

When the OK button is pressed, the cleanup processing unit 20 creates a new cleanup folder having the name in the input field 414 at the level immediately below the workspace 114 (S36), and deletes all the folders currently in the workspace. The document is moved to the cleanup folder (S38). This empties the workspace. Thereafter, the cleanup processing unit 20 moves all the documents in the cleanup folder selected to be returned to the work space (S40). As a result, the document group that was in the cleanup folder until then is held in the work space, and the cleanup folder becomes empty. The cleanup processing unit 20 deletes the empty cleanup folder (S42).

A document in the workspace has, as an attribute, information about the position of the icon of the document on the workspace (that is, the coordinates at which the icon of the document is arranged in the coordinate system of the document pane 120). Documents that are put away from the workspace to the put away folder retain their attributes. When the Tidy Up folder is returned to the workspace, each document's icon is placed on the document pane 120 at the position indicated by its attribute.

In the above example, a constraint is imposed on the cleanup folder to prohibit operations that change the contents of the cleanup folder, that is, addition or deletion of documents to the cleanup folder, editing of documents in the cleanup folder, etc. You may enable it to cancel some or all of the restrictions according to. For example, the setting management unit 18 is provided with setting information for operations on the tidying up folder, and the user can perform each operation (for example, adding or deleting a document to the tidying up folder, editing a document in the tidying up folder) in the setting information. You may enable it to select propriety.

In the above example, when interrupting the current work and starting a new work, the work space was cleared by moving the document group in the work space to the newly generated clean-up folder according to the clean-up instruction. The workspace may be changed to an inactive state, a new workspace may be created for new work, and the new workspace may be made active. In this case, the document management system 10 makes one selected from among the plurality of retained workspaces active, and manages the other workspaces as inactive. The document management system 10 permits operations for changing the contents of workspaces, such as addition, deletion, and editing of documents, for workspaces in an active state. Do not allow modifying operations. The UI processing unit 16 treats an active workspace among a plurality of workspaces as a workspace 114 in the folder pane 110 of the document management screen 100 , and treats an inactive workspace as a cleanup folder 115 in the folder pane 110 . treated as

Also, the same temporary cleaning process as described above may be applied to folders other than the workspace.

<Work Space Synchronization>
A process of synchronizing a workspace in the document management system 10 with folders corresponding to workspaces in other computers will be described. Here, synchronizing two folders (a workspace is also a kind of folder) is a process of matching the sets of documents held by the two folders. That is, in two synchronized folders, a document held in one folder is also held in the other folder, and there is no document held in one folder but not held in the other folder. Also, the same document held in these two folders has the same file name, content, and last update date and time.

Synchronization of such workspaces is used, for example, in the following cases. For example, a plurality of users may put the same document in the work space of each computer, and each user may proceed with work using the document in the work space of his/her own computer, thereby realizing pseudo-collaborative work. This is one example. Also, if the same user works on a computer at a first location one time and does the same work on a computer at a second location another time, the workspaces in the two computers can be synchronized. necessary. Also, in the case of joint work and in the case where the same user performs the same work on different computers at different times, the work space in the first computer can be used as a work space in a server such as a cloud service on the Internet. After once synchronizing to a folder, there may be an operation of synchronizing from the folder on the server to the workspace of the second computer. An example of synchronizing the workspace of the document management system 10 in a computer with a corresponding folder on the cloud service will be described below.

In this example, as illustrated in FIG. 25, the folder structure of the cloud service 119 used by the user is mounted on the folder structure of the document management system 10 . In the cloud service 119, a folder 119a is provided for a user (temporarily named "User A") who uses the document management system 10, and a work space 119b is provided in this folder 119a. there is The work space 119b (actually, it exists in the cloud service on the Internet) is a folder corresponding to the work space of the user A in the document management system 10, and is provided for synchronizing with this work space. In the illustrated example, a cleanup folder 115 exists below the work space 114 in the hierarchical structure of folders.

A synchronization button 139 is provided in the operation button area 130 . A synchronization button 139 is a button for instructing execution of synchronization between the workspace in the document management system 10 and the workspace folder in the cloud service 119 .

In the example of FIG. 25, a work space is opened in the document pane 120 of the document management screen 100 . In this state, the clean up button 136, the "original location" button 138, and the sync button 139 in the operation button area 130 are in an active state (that is, a state in which the user can select), and the "copy to workspace" button 134 cannot be selected. state (low contrast display, user cannot select this operation). Also displayed within the document pane 120 is a toolbox 500 for the workspace, which includes a clean up button 502 , an “original place” button 504 and a sync button 506 . These buttons 502 to 506 have the same roles as the buttons with the same names in the operation button area 130 . (In the example described using FIG. 4 and the like, a similar toolbox 500 for the workspace may be displayed within the document pane 120 displaying the workspace.)

In this example, with the workspace 114 open on the document pane 120, the user presses the synchronization button 139 or 506 (for example, selects it by clicking a mouse) to synchronize the workspace 114 and the cloud service 119. can be synchronized with workspace 119b within. That is, the synchronization processing unit 22 (see FIG. 1) is activated in response to pressing of the synchronization button 139 or the like, and the synchronization processing unit 22 operates on the workspace 114 in the document management system 10 and the workspace 119b in the cloud service 119. and copy documents between them, delete documents, etc., so that the set of documents held by and match. ).

Also, although illustration is omitted, a menu item for synchronizing with the cloud may be displayed on the context menu called for the icon of the workspace 114 in the folder pane 110, and synchronization may be executed by selecting this menu item. good.

When the synchronization processing unit 22 synchronizes the workspaces 114 and 119b, only the documents in the workspaces 114 and 119b are synchronized. Even if there are subfolders (that is, tidying up folders) in the workspaces 114 and 119b, the synchronization processing unit 22 does not automatically synchronize the subfolders when synchronizing the workspaces. This reduces the amount of communication between the document management system 10 and the cloud service when synchronizing workspaces.

FIG. 26 illustrates the document management screen 100 with the cleanup folder 115 opened on the document pane 120 . When the cleanup folder 115 is open, the "copy to workspace" button 134, the cleanup button 136, the "original location" button 138, and the sync button 139 in the operation button area 130 are not selectable. Toolboxes corresponding to the toolbox 500 are also not displayed. Therefore, the cleanup folder 115 cannot be synchronized with the cloud service by at least one-touch button operation. A menu item for synchronizing with the cloud is displayed on the icon of the tidying up folder 115 or on the context menu called from the document pane 120, and the tidying up folder 115 can be synchronized with the cloud service side by selecting this menu item. good too.

As described above, in principle, the cleanup folder 115 is not synchronized with the cloud service side when the workspace is synchronized with the cloud service side. However, when the user instructs to synchronize the workspace, the synchronization processing unit 22 may ask the user whether to synchronize the tidying up folder at the same time. FIG. 27 shows an example of an inquiry screen 600 displayed by the synchronization processing unit 22 for this inquiry. This inquiry screen 600 includes a message 602 prompting the user to select a work space to be synchronized with the cloud side and a clean-up folder to be synchronized simultaneously with the clean-up folder, and a display field 604 for a list of clean-up folders to be selected. A display field 604 lists the names of the cleanup folders included in the workspace. A check box is displayed to the left of the name of the clean-up folder in the list, and the user selects the clean-up folder to be synchronized by checking the check box. If the number of clearing folders is too large to display all of them in the display field 604, the scroll bar 606 at the end of the display field 604 is used to scroll the display range. Here, the tidying up folders in the list displayed in the display field 604 may be arranged in the order of generation date and time of the tidying up folders, for example. In this way, when the inquiry screen 600 is opened, the clean-up folder with the latest generation date and time is displayed at the top of the display column 604, and other clean-up folders are arranged below in order of new creation date and time.

If there is a clean-up folder that the user wants to synchronize with the work space, the user puts a check mark in the check box to indicate the intention of selection, and then presses the OK button. Thereby, the synchronization processing unit 22 synchronizes the work space and the selected clean-up folder with corresponding folders on the cloud service side.

In the above example, synchronization of workspaces is performed according to user's instructions, but instead of this, synchronization may be automatically performed at regular timings, for example. For example, synchronization may be performed automatically when the document management system 10 is activated.

In addition, user settings may be accepted for this automatic synchronization. FIG. 28 illustrates a settings screen 700 for a workspace that includes settings for automatic synchronization. The setting screen 700 includes a setting field 702 for automatic synchronization of workspaces and a setting field 704 for automatic synchronization of tidying up folders. In a setting field 702 for automatic synchronization of workspaces, an option of not performing automatic synchronization and an option of performing automatic synchronization can be selected with radio buttons. One or more of these timings can be selected. Options for the timing of automatic synchronization of the workspace include timing when changes occur in the workspace, such as adding or deleting documents, and periodic timing. It is configurable. In addition, in a setting field 704 for automatic synchronization of the tidying up folder, it is possible to select two radio buttons: an option of not performing automatic synchronization and an option of performing automatic synchronization when the tidying up folder is generated. It should be noted that the options illustrated in FIG. 28 are only examples, and there may be other options, for example.

As explained above, in this example, the workspace can be synchronized with the cloud service side with a one-touch operation, but synchronization of the cleanup folder with the cloud service side is not permitted, or even if it is permitted, the workspace require a more complex operation (e.g. calling a context menu and making a selection). Also, the timing of automatic synchronization is more limited in the cleanup folder than in the workspace.

It should be noted that the same synchronous control can be applied to the method using the above-described active workspace and inactive workspace instead of using the workspace and the tidying-up folder. In this case, the active workspace can be treated as the workspace in the above synchronization process, and the inactive workspace can be treated as the cleanup folder in the above synchronization process.

<Resolving inconsistencies during synchronization>
Next, the synchronization processing between the workspace 114 in the document management system 10 and the corresponding folder (workspace 119b) on the cloud service side will be described in more detail.

For this synchronization processing, the synchronization processing section 22 manages a synchronization management file. The synchronization management file records the update date and time of each document in the workspace 114 and corresponding folders on the cloud service side at the time of the previous synchronization. Each time synchronization is executed, the synchronization processing unit 22 checks the update date and time of each document in the corresponding folder on the workspace and cloud service side after the completion of synchronization, and updates the synchronization management file accordingly.

When executing synchronization processing, the synchronization processing unit 22 detects addition, deletion, and update of documents in the workspace of the document management system 10 and the corresponding folders of the cloud service by referring to this synchronization management file.

FIG. 29 illustrates a procedure of synchronization processing executed by the synchronization processing unit 22. As shown in FIG. In this procedure, the synchronization processing unit 22 first acquires a list of documents that exist in the workspace of the document management system 10 and a list of documents that exist in corresponding folders of the cloud service that is the synchronization partner (S50).

Next, the synchronization processing unit 22 compares the document list of the work space and the document list of the corresponding folder acquired in S50 with the synchronization management file (S52). In this collation, for example, if a document in the document list of the workspace is not recorded in the synchronization management file, it can be determined that the document was added to the workspace after the previous synchronization. Also, for example, if the document recorded in the synchronization management file is not in the document list of the work space, it can be determined that the document has been deleted from the work space. Also, if the update date and time of the document in the document list of the workspace is later than the update date and time of the same document recorded in the synchronization management file, it can be determined that the document in the workspace has been updated. The same determination is made for documents in corresponding folders on the cloud service side.

Next, the synchronization processing unit 22 uploads the document added to the work space found in S52 to the corresponding folder on the cloud service side, and likewise downloads the document found to have been added to the corresponding folder on the cloud service side to the work space. (S54). Also, if it is found that the document recorded in the synchronization management file has been updated in one of the workspace or the cloud service but has not been updated in the other, the synchronization processing unit 22 reflects the update in the other. good too. For example, if a document in the workspace is updated and the same document on the cloud service side is not updated, the same document in the corresponding folder on the cloud service side is overwritten with the document in the workspace.

Next, based on the information obtained in S52, the synchronization processing unit 22 lists document inconsistencies between the work space and corresponding folders on the cloud side due to deletion or updating of documents, and lists each inconsistency. A collective synchronization screen is generated for receiving a specification of a solution from the user (S56).

The inconsistencies extracted here are limited to those requiring the user's judgment. For example, a document added to one of the corresponding folders on the workspace and the cloud side processed in S54, and a document updated on one side but not updated on the other side are inconsistent in a broad sense, but these It is clear that modified or updated documents should take precedence, and there is no need to ask for user judgment. Also, if the document recorded in the synchronization management file is deleted from both the workspace and the corresponding folder on the cloud side, it is clear that the document is unnecessary for the user, and at the time of synchronization You don't have to ask the user to make a decision.

The inconsistencies extracted in S56 include the following cases. One is a case where a document is deleted from one of the workspace and the corresponding folder on the cloud service side, but the document remains in the other. In this case, since the user may want to use the remaining documents, the user is asked how to resolve the inconsistency (delete only one document). A second case is a case where the same document is updated in both the workspace and the corresponding folder on the cloud side. This case is called a race condition. In case of a race condition, ask the user which update is valid (ie which one to take in this sync). The Bulk Synchronization screen is configured to accept a resolution selection from the user for each of the inconsistencies that fall under these cases. The collective synchronization screen will be explained later.

Next, the synchronization processing unit 22 displays the batch synchronization screen and receives from the user a selection of a solution (action) for each inconsistency (S58). Then, these inconsistencies are resolved by the solution selected by the user (S59). By resolving this inconsistency (and processing in S54), synchronization between the workspace and the corresponding folder on the cloud service side is achieved.

An example of the synchronization processing procedure has been described above. Next, an example of the collective synchronization screen 800 displayed in S58 will be described with reference to FIG. This batch sync screen 800 includes a message asking the user to take action, a workspace preferred button 802 , a cloud preferred button 804 , and an inconsistency list 810 .

The inconsistency list 810 lists inconsistencies extracted in S56. This inconsistency list 810 contains, for each individual inconsistency, the document name (file name) of the document in which the inconsistency is detected, a description of the "status" of the inconsistency, and a document to resolve the inconsistency. contains an action (solution) item. The Actions item is organized as a pull-down menu that lists action options for resolving the inconsistent "condition". A user can select an action to resolve the inconsistency from the pull-down menu.

A workspace priority button 802 is a button for selecting an action that prioritizes documents on the workspace side for all inconsistencies in the inconsistency list 810 . A cloud priority button 804 is a button for selecting an action that prioritizes documents in corresponding folders on the cloud service side for all inconsistencies in the inconsistency list 810 .

FIG. 31 illustrates a determination table for each "state" of inconsistency. This table shows action options that can be selected from the pull-down menu and which of these options is selected when the workspace priority button 802 or the cloud priority button 804 is pressed for each “state”. It is For example, for an inconsistent state in which a document has been deleted from the workspace (the same document remains on the cloud side), the action options that can be selected include an action to delete the document on the cloud as well, and an action to delete the document from the cloud. There is an action to return the document to the workspace (ie download the document in the cloud to the workspace). Among these action options, a circle is shown for the action that is selected when the workspace priority button 802 or the cloud priority button 804 is pressed. For example, when the workspace priority button 802 is pressed, the action of deleting the document on the cloud is selected, and when the cloud priority button 804 is pressed, the document is restored from the cloud to the workspace. The action to do is selected.

When the workspace priority button 802 on the collective synchronization screen 800 is pressed, the synchronization processing unit 22 displays the action pull-down menu corresponding to each document in the inconsistency list 810 by pressing the workspace priority button in the judgment table of FIG. 802 is pressed, the option is changed to the selected state. Further, when the cloud priority button 804 is pressed, the synchronization processing unit 22 displays a pull-down menu of actions corresponding to each document in the inconsistency list 810 according to the determination table in FIG. Change the current option to the selected state. After collectively selecting action options for each inconsistent document using the workspace priority button 802 and the cloud priority button 804, it is also possible to reselect the action for each individual document from the pull-down menu. In addition, it is possible to reselect collectively by using the work space priority button 802 and the cloud priority button 804 again.

When the user presses the OK button on the batch synchronization screen 800, the action selected at that time for each document in the inconsistency list 810 becomes the action of synchronization processing (inconsistency resolution) applied to that document. . The synchronization processor 22 executes the action for each of those documents.

Also, in the collective synchronization screen 800 illustrated in FIG. 30, a selection fixing means (for example, a GUI button) for accepting selection fixation may be provided in association with the action pull-down menu of each inconsistent document. The selection state of the inconsistent document pull-down menu whose options are fixed by this selection fixing means according to the user's instruction does not change even when the workspace priority button 802 or the cloud priority button 804 is pressed (i.e., fixed selected option is retained).

Further, as shown in FIG. 32, among the types of inconsistencies shown on the batch synchronization screen 800, conflicts between updates on the local (document management system 10) side and on the cloud service side are shown in the respective updates on the local and cloud sides. You can also display the time. Such display of the update time serves as reference information for the user to decide which of the local and cloud side updates to adopt. It is also conceivable that the synchronization processing unit 22 automatically selects the one with the newest update time, but there are cases where the user dares to select the one with the older update time, so in this example the user is asked to make a decision. .

Also, in the examples of FIGS. 30 and 31, there are two options of overwriting the document in either the workspace or the corresponding folder on the cloud side with the other as action options for the document in which update conflict occurs. rice field. In addition to this, an option to "rename and keep both" may be added to the conflict options. This option renames the conflicting document in the workspace, uploads the renamed document to the cloud side, and uploads the conflicting document (not renamed) on the cloud side to your side. It is a process of downloading to . This is only an example, but as a method of renaming, for example, a method of adding a specific delimiter (such as a hyphen) and a serial number (a number that does not overlap with the numbers added to the same document name so far) after the original document name. may be used. Also, instead of renaming the document on the workspace side, the document on the cloud side may be renamed. In addition, it is also possible to rename the document selected according to a specific criterion (for example, the document with the older update date and time) from the workspace and the cloud side. According to the synchronization process of this option, both the workspace and cloud side versions of the conflicting document will be saved in both the workspace and the cloud side by renaming one.

The document management system 10 and the "copy to work space" application 24 illustrated above are realized, for example, by causing a computer to execute a program representing the functions of each device. Here, the computer includes, for example, hardware such as a microprocessor such as a CPU, memory (primary storage) such as random access memory (RAM) and read only memory (ROM), HDD controller for controlling HDD (hard disk drive), It has a circuit configuration in which various I/O (input/output) interfaces, a network interface for controlling connection with a network such as a local area network, and the like are connected via a bus, for example. Also, for the bus, for example, via an I/O interface, a disk drive for reading from and/or writing to a portable disk recording medium such as a CD or a DVD, a portable nonvolatile recording medium of various standards such as a flash memory, etc. A memory reader/writer for reading from and/or writing to the medium, etc., may also be connected. A program in which the processing contents of each functional module exemplified above is described is stored in a fixed storage device such as a hard disk drive via a recording medium such as a CD or DVD or via a communication means such as a network. Installed. A program stored in a fixed storage device is read out to a RAM and executed by a microprocessor such as a CPU to implement the functional module group illustrated above.

10 document management system, 12 document importing unit, 14 document processing unit, 16 UI processing unit, 18 setting management unit, 20 cleanup processing unit, 22 synchronization processing unit, 24 "copy to workspace" application, 100 document management screen, 110 Folder Pane, 112 Icons, 114 Workspace, 116 User Folders, 119 Cloud Services, 120 Documents Pane.

Claims (7)

a specific folder that can store one or more documents and is prohibited from having folders inside;
an edit receiving means for receiving edits to the document in the specific folder;
alternative processing means for executing alternative processing instead of storing the folder when receiving an instruction to store the folder in the specific folder;
including
The alternative processing means inquires of the user whether or not the document in the folder to be stored should be stored in the specific folder, and in response to the inquiry, instructs the user to store the document in the folder in the specific folder. An information processing apparatus that, when received from a user, stores a document in the folder in the specific folder. a specific folder that can store one or more documents and is prohibited from having folders inside;
an edit receiving means for receiving edits to the document in the specific folder;
alternative processing means for executing alternative processing instead of storing the folder when receiving an instruction to store the folder in the specific folder;
including
The information processing apparatus, wherein the substitution process is a process of storing a document in the folder in the specific folder. a specific folder that can store one or more documents and is prohibited from having folders inside;
an edit receiving means for receiving edits to the document in the specific folder;
As a process to be performed when an instruction to store a folder in the specific folder is received, the folder is not stored, and a notification screen is displayed indicating that the folder is prohibited from being stored in the specific folder. means for receiving a setting for selecting any one of options including a first process and a second process of storing documents in the folder in the specific folder;
means for executing a process selected in the setting when receiving an instruction to store a folder in the specific folder;
Information processing equipment including. 3. A means for displaying a list of documents stored in said specific folder, further comprising: means for displaying a list of documents stored in said specific folder from the same folder in a display manner distinguishable from other documents. 4. The information processing device according to any one of 1 to 3. the computer,
a specific folder that can store one or more documents and is prohibited from having folders inside;
editing acceptance means for accepting edits to the document in the specific folder;
alternative processing means for executing alternative processing instead of storing the folder when receiving an instruction to store the folder in the specific folder;
A program for functioning as
The alternative processing means inquires of the user whether or not the document in the folder to be stored should be stored in the specific folder, and in response to the inquiry, instructs the user to store the document in the folder in the specific folder. A program that, when received from a user, stores documents in the folder in the specified folder. the computer,
a specific folder that can store one or more documents and is prohibited from having folders inside;
editing acceptance means for accepting edits to the document in the specific folder;
alternative processing means for executing alternative processing instead of storing the folder when receiving an instruction to store the folder in the specific folder;
A program for functioning as
A program according to claim 1, wherein said alternative process is a process of storing a document in said folder in said specific folder. the computer,
a specific folder that can store one or more documents and is prohibited from having folders inside;
editing acceptance means for accepting edits to the document in the specific folder;
As a process to be performed when an instruction to store a folder in the specific folder is received, the folder is not stored, and a notification screen is displayed indicating that the folder is prohibited from being stored in the specific folder. means for receiving a setting for selecting any one of options including a first process and a second process of storing documents in the folder in the specific folder;
means for executing a process selected in the setting when receiving an instruction to store a folder in the specific folder;
A program to function as

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