JPH02148173A - Tree structural drawing generating system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To constitute the above system so that even if a tree structure is complicated, it can be handled by a satisfactory response by setting a partial tree structure and storing its data by separating it from other tree structure part, and storing the data to a memory area by dividing it. CONSTITUTION:The system is provided with a node input means 11, a partial tree structure setting means 12, a tree structure data store means 13, a mark giving means 14, a tree structure generating means 15, and a tree structure display means 16. In this state, when the tree structure is complicated, a partial tree structure in which a prescribed node is the apex is set as one node (slave node), the display is simplified thereby, and also, by storing detailed data related to the partial tree structure in an area being different from data of other structure part than the structure, the data is dispersed. In such a way, even if the tree structure is complicated as a whole, it can be processed by a satisfactory response.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION "Field of Industrial Application" The present invention relates to a tree structure diagram creation system for creating and displaying a tree structure diagram based on hierarchically structured data.

"Prior Art" When planning or designing a system with a hierarchical structure, a tree structure has been commonly used. This is because tree structures are suitable for describing module configurations or data structures, and tree structures are also widely used at the software design stage. Also, in the field of mechanical design, when these have a hierarchical structure, such as total assembly drawings, partial assembly countries, and parts drawings, the use of tree structures is attracting attention in order to more clearly express the composition of drawings and parts. has been done.

By the way, a "tree" in a tree structure is a finite set of one or more nodes. For example, the tree structure has each node ASB shown in FIG.
, . . . G connected by edges, and has a structure suitable for expressing hierarchical relationships. In this example, node A is located at the top layer (level 4), and node G is located at the bottom layer (fourth level).

Conventionally, such tree structures have been created by hand or by tracing using a template. FIG. 16 shows an example of a module configuration using templates. In this example, the main frame M has three subframes 81 to S.
The second frame S2 is further composed of three subframes 321-323.

On the other hand, in recent years, tree structure diagram creation systems or editing systems using combi coaters have been developed.

Figure 17 shows an example of a configuration list of parts output from the attached printer to represent a tree structure created by such a conventional tree structure diagram creation system, and Figure 18 shows this configuration. It shows a tree structure created using a template based on a list. The 17th of these
In the diagram, the hierarchy of each component is “1” as the “LEVEL” number.
to "4" are displayed, and in FIG. 18, hierarchical representation is performed based on this. Some parts, such as "Bolt 1" with part number "IPlooOOI", are commonly connected to different nodes.

``Problems to be Solved by the Invention'' Now, according to the display of the tree structure using templates as shown in Figures 16 and 18, each time a design change is made, the eraser, correction fluid, etc. It was necessary to redraw the diagram using other means, and the work was difficult. Furthermore, if the tree structure is changed once, the previous state will be erased, making it difficult to keep a history of design changes.

On the other hand, a tree structure diagram creation system or editing system using a computer can output a list such as a drawing configuration list.

Therefore, as shown in Figure 17, such a text (
Hierarchical display can also be performed by adding the level number already explained to the image (telegram) or by incrementing the column at the display position. However, these do not clearly display the hierarchical structure, and if such a clear display is desired, it is necessary to rely on templates as shown in FIG. 18.

On the other hand, the use of graphics in computer display devices and output devices is particularly remarkable, and in recent years, tree structure diagram creation systems or editing systems that can display and output graphic images have appeared.

The 19th ffl shows an example of a display by a system having such a graphic function. Further, if each node of another tree structure is abstracted and represented by firing numerals ``■'', ``■'', etc., it will be as shown in FIG. 20. Here, the top level of the hierarchy is called the root.

By the way, in the example shown in FIG. 20, the number of nodes is six. In this way, when the number of 7-cards is relatively small, no special time is required for the processing even when it is expressed graphically as shown in FIG. 19. However, when managing large-scale systems or complex machine parts, a tree structure with 1000 nodes or more is required. When handling a tree structure of such a scale, a relatively large capacity memory is required of the processing side CPU (central processing unit).

Furthermore, the processing time on the CPU side also increases depending on the number of nodes.

FIG. 21 shows an example of how the processing time increases. In the figure, the horizontal axis is the number of nodes forming the tree structure, and the vertical axis is the processing time (seconds). As shown in the figure,
It can be seen that the processing time increases exponentially as the number of nodes increases. As the tree structure becomes more complex, the processing time increases. Therefore, generally the 7th card is 1000
When you reach the above tree structure, the workstation's C
There was a problem with the PU's ability to handle tree structures with a response that did not interfere with the conversation format.

This will be explained more specifically.

FIG. 22 shows an example of internal representation in a tree hierarchical structure. Here, four nodes "01" to "04" are shown as node IDs. The "number of parent nodes" refers to the number of nodes immediately preceding (upper) the own node, and is "0" if it is the highest node. The "number of child nodes" refers to the number of nodes one node after (lower) the own node. If one node has N parent mates, N addresses for the parent node are required, and if there are M child nodes, M addresses for the child node are required. In this example, in order to simplify the explanation, the maximum number of parent nodes and child nodes for one node is set to "3".

However, in reality, it is often not possible to limit the number of parent nodes and child nodes in this way. As a test, 1
Let us calculate the memory size that can process 000 items and the memory size that can process 2000 items. Both the node ID and the number of nodes shown in Figure 22 are 200.
Since the number is up to 0, it can be expressed in 2 bytes, and if the node name is set to 24 bytes and the address is set to 4 bytes, the result will be as shown in Table 1 below.

Here, the number of possible links becomes a problem. Figure 23 shows 10
This shows the most extreme link structure in terms of the number of parent nodes in the case of 00 items.

Thus, in an extreme example, 99
There are eight nodes 2" to "999", and one node 1000" exists below these. Therefore, the maximum number of parent nodes is the number of parent nodes seen from node "1000", which is 998.

On the other hand, FIG. 24 shows the most extreme link structure in terms of the number of child nodes in the case of 1000 items. In this example, under one node 1” there are 999
There are nodes “2” to “1000”. Thus, the maximum number of child nodes is 1000.

Therefore, the memory size that can process 1,000 items is
The record size of one node is as shown in Table 2 below.

(Left below) Table 2: In this case, the total is 8018 bytes,
Since this has to be provided for 1000 nodes, a total of 8.018 megabytes of storage capacity is required overall.

Regarding the memory size that can process 2000 items, the maximum number of parent nodes is "1998" and the maximum number of child nodes is "1999" in the same way, and the memory size is as follows for the record size of one node: It will look like a table.

(Left space below) Table 3: In this case, the total is 16,018 bytes, which must be prepared for 2,000 nodes, so a total of 32.036 megabytes of storage capacity is required. This means the memory size is approximately four times larger than that for processing 1000 items. As the number of items increases in this way, the memory size also increases significantly. Therefore, the more complex the tree structure, the worse the response.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a tree structure diagram creation system that can handle a complicated tree structure with good response.

"Means for Solving the Problem" In the present invention, as shown in principle in FIG. an input means 11; a partial tree structure setting means 12 for setting a partial tree structure in the form of a cut tree structure with predetermined nodes as vertices for a part of the tree structure to be created; and a partial tree structure setting means 12.
tree structure data storage means 13 for storing data related to the subtree structure set by each in an area independent from data of other structure parts, and mark adding means 14 for giving an identification mark representing each subtree structure. Among the nodes inputted from the node input means 11, those that do not belong to a subtree structure are assembled into a tree structure in a node-by-node chain relationship, and for those that belong to a subtree structure, one node is assembled for each subtree structure. A tree structure creation means 15 that allocates and connects to a tree structure, and child nodes representing subtree structures in the tree structure created by this tree structure creation means 15 are marked with marks given by the mark giving means. Tree structure display means 1 for display purposes
6 is provided in the tree structure diagram creation system.

In other words, in the present invention, when the tree structure becomes complicated, the subtree structure with a predetermined node as the vertex is treated as one node (child node), thereby simplifying the display and making the subtree structure more complex. By storing detailed data regarding the structure in a separate area from data for other structural parts, we are able to distribute the data and process it with a good response even if the overall tree structure becomes complex. do.

"Example" The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to Examples.

FIG. 2 shows an overview of the configuration of a tree structure diagram creation/editing system as an embodiment of the present invention. The tree structure diagram creation and editing system includes a CPU (central processing unit) 21. This CPU 21 is connected to the following units by a bus 22 such as a data bus.

(i) RAM 23: Random access memory for storing various programs for operating this system and for temporarily storing data.

(ii) Hard disk device 24: Stores programs to be read into the RAM 23,
This is a storage device for storing data related to the created tree structure. Depending on the device, the program may be stored in a storage medium such as a floppy disk, or data regarding the created tree structure may be stored in these storage media.

(iii) Keyboard 25 is an input device for inputting various data necessary for operating the system.

(iv) Mouse 26: A type of pointing device, which is connected to the bus 22 via the keyboard 25 in this system. Used when inputting the positions of individual items forming a tree structure.

(V) Graphic display 27: This is a display that can display graphic data. Used when creating and editing tree structures.

(vi) Graphic printer: 28 This is a printer that can print the process of creating a tree structure and the editing results.

By the way, this tree structure diagram creation and editing system uses the concept of cards. In this specification, a card refers to an element of each node. There are two types of cards: note cards that contain information about each component, system, etc., and browser cards that display the tree structure itself. Note cards, for example, can be called parts cards if they contain information about parts, drawing cards if they contain drawing information, and idea cards if they contain information about ideas. You can also call them by nicknames such as

FIG. 3 shows an example of one of these component cards. This component card is assigned to a window 31 opened on the graphic display 27, and the name 32 and contents 33 of the card are displayed. At the upper right corner of the window 31, the words "Close" are displayed. When the mouse 26 is operated to point to this area with a cursor (not shown), the window 31 is closed.

At the right end of the window 31, triangular marks 35 and 36 are arranged above and below, and by specifying any of these parts with the mouse 26, the window 31
The contents displayed within will scroll. In this example, data regarding the part name, material, unit price, weight, and vendor are displayed in the window 31.

FIG. 4 shows another example of an idea card window. The idea shown in this example cannot display its contents in window 37 all at once. Therefore, the triangular mark for scrolling 35.3
6 as appropriate with the mouse 26 to read the data at the required location.

FIGS. 5 to 7 show display examples of browser card windows. The browser card is for displaying a tree structure, and if the tree structure is relatively simple, the entire structure can be displayed in a window 38 as shown in FIG.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show browser cards that are used to divide the tree structure shown in FIG. 5 into two parts. Of these, the browser card shown in FIG. 6 will be referred to as the "A browser card" for convenience. The tree structure data of the A browser card is stored in one data file, conveniently referred to as the A data file. In the tree structure shown in FIG. 6, information about the subtree structure with the node of "partial coarse space ■" as the apex is summarized as a "B browser card." In FIG. 6, the contents of nodes other than the B browser card are stored in a card (not shown) called a drawing card.

FIG. 7 shows the tree structure data of the B browser card. The tree structure data (subtree structure data) of the B browser card is stored in one data file, conveniently referred to as a B data file. In other words, in this example, one tree structure is not only divided into two to make it easier to display, but also the data is divided and stored in two data files, so the total amount of data in each file is It is possible to improve the processing speed.

In the example shown in FIG. 7, there is a "C browser card" as another browser card in the B browser card.Another browser card may exist in the browser card divided in this way. , This allows multiple data files themselves to have a tree-structured hierarchy.

The operations for displaying the tree structure described above using this tree structure diagram creation and editing system are as follows.

First, the operator selects the icon corresponding to the A browser card from among the various icons displayed on the graphic display 27 (FIG. 2). Then, as shown in FIG. 6, a window 38A opens and the A browser card is displayed there. When the operator wants to know the contents of the B browser card displayed as one node in this tree structure, use the mouse 26 (second
) to move the cursor (not shown) to the node of the B browser card. When a button (not shown) of the mouse 26 is clicked, a new window 38B opens as shown in FIG. 7, and the contents of the B browser card are displayed here.

In this way, in the system of this embodiment, no matter how large the tree structure is, the number of nodes that the system processes at one time is the number of nodes in the browser card of the part that you want to display or refer to, so a good response can be obtained. be able to. Of course, the subtree structure data of each browser card will be stored in a distributed manner in separate storage areas.

Therefore, the amount of data that the CPU processes at one time is not very large, and the memory capacity required by the CPU is not very large. Furthermore, by using a browser card to display the tree structure, each subtree structure can be
Since each node can be expressed as an individual node, there is no need for a particularly large window, unlike when displaying the entire tree structure on a display. Furthermore, even if the data is related to a huge tree structure diagram, the data files that store it can be distributed and managed on a browser card basis, or distributed on non-resident mounting media such as floppy disks and magnetic tapes. It is possible. For this reason, this system has no physical capacity constraints for storing tree-structured data, and can utilize almost infinite logical space.

"Modification" FIG. 8 shows an example of another browser card.

This browser card 'IM100001' displays the entire tree structure.The right side of Figure 9 and Figure 10 are as follows:
This is an example in which this is divided into two browser cards and displayed using the tree structure diagram creation system of the present invention. In this example, the browser card “IP1” that displays the subtree structure is
00002" is displayed in a double frame in Figure 9. Instead of displaying it like this, for example, as shown in Figure 11, a rightward arrow (→) is displayed after the node name. Good too.

FIG. 12 shows the control for displaying the tree structure in this modification. In this modification, a system equivalent to the tree structure diagram creation system shown in FIG. 2 is used for this display process, but in the following explanation, the numbers used in FIG. 2 will be used for convenience.

Now, in the mode in which this system performs display processing, CP
U21 waits for an instruction for a data file to be processed to be input (step ■). When the operator inputs an instruction for a data file from the keyboard 25 (Y
), the CPU 21 reads out the processing data file in the browser card data file located on the hard disk 24 (step 2). Then, find the top node in the tree structure (step ■) Once the top node is found, set it as the processing node (
Step ■). Then, the step of reading the attribute data file also located on the hard disk 24■
), the processing nodes described above are displayed on the graphic display 2.
7.Display on top (step ■).

Next, the CPU 21 determines whether a child node exists for the processing node (step 2). If there are no child nodes (N), processing ends at this point (end)
. If a child node exists (Y), processing for displaying the child node on the graphic display 27 is performed (step 2). Then, the task of determining whether a child node exists is performed (step ■). The same operations are repeated as long as there are child nodes (steps ■, ■).

FIG. 13 shows the specific contents of the process shown in step (2) in FIG. 12. When displaying a child node, it is first determined whether it is stored in the browser card (Step 1 in Figure 13).
) If it is not stored in the browser card (N), the attribute data file is read (step ■)
. Then, the processing node is displayed on the graphic display 27.
Display on top (step ■). Next, the CPU 21 determines whether a child node exists for the processing node (step 2). If there is a child node (Y), this first
Processing similar to the child node display processing shown in FIG. 3 is performed (step ■). Then, a determination operation is performed as to whether or not 1,000 nodes exist for this processed node (step ■). The same operations are repeated as long as there are child nodes (steps ■,
■).

If there is no child node in step ■ (N), it is determined whether the next node exists (step ■)
. If it exists (Y), the process returns to step (2) and the same operations as described above are repeated. If the next node does not exist, the process returns to the parent node and determines whether another node exists as a child node (Step 2 in FIG. 12).

FIG. 14 shows the state of control when searching a tree structure.

While searching for a predetermined node in the tree structure, the CPU 21
Waiting for input of an instruction for a data file to be processed (step ■). Operator uses keyboard 2
If you input the data file instructions from step 5 (Y), C
The PU 21 reads out the processing data file in the browser card data file located on the node disk 24 (step 2). Then, the top node in the tree structure is found (step ■). Once the top node is found, tree traversal is performed (step ■).

As a result, the tree structure is restored, and based on this, a browser card window as shown in FIG. 9 is displayed (step 2). In this state, the CPU 21 waits for the operator to designate which node to search (step 2). If “IP1000” shown in Figure 9
02” is specified (Y), a child browser card search process is performed as shown in FIG. 10 (step ■). If a node other than the browser card is specified Steps to take if
;N), the attribute data file for that node is read (step ■).

Here, the child browser card search process (step ■) is
The flow is exactly the same as that shown in FIG. That is, in the child browser card search process, the data file of the browser card corresponding to the child is first read out, its top node is found, tree scanning is performed, and the result is displayed on the graphic display 27 (Figure 2). displayed above. In this state, the operator monitors which node is selected, and if the browser card is selected, the same process as shown in step (3) will be performed. If a node other than this is selected, its attribute data will be read.

The tree structure search is performed as described above.

"Effects of the Invention" As described above, according to the present invention, a subtree structure is set and its data is stored separately from other tree structure parts, so that data storage in a memory area is essentially divided. The data processing speed can be improved. Furthermore, since the tree structure display means can reduce the number of data displayed at one time, a desired node can be quickly found, and in this sense, the speed of the search is also improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a principle diagram showing the principle of the present invention, Figures 2 to 7 are for explaining an embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 2 shows the structure of the tree structure diagram creation and editing system. Figure 3 is a block diagram showing an overview of the parts card shown on the graphic display;
FIG. 4 is a plan view showing an example of an idea card displayed on a graphic display, FIGS. 5 to 7 are plan views showing examples of a browser card window display, and FIG.
Figures to Figure 14 are for detailed explanation of the present invention.
Of these, Figure 8 is a plan view showing an example of a browser card.
Figure 9 is a plan view of a browser card showing the tree structure shown in Figure 8 using part of the child tree structure, Figure 10 is a plan view of a browser card with a child tree structure, and Figure 11 is A plan view showing another display example of nodes indicating a subtree structure, FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the state of control for displaying a tree structure in this modified example, and FIG. 13 shows step 1 of FIG. Flowchart showing the specific contents of the process shown in 1st
Figure 4 is a flowchart showing control when searching a tree structure, Figure 15 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a tree structure, Figure 16 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a tree structure expressed using a template, FIG. 17 is a plan view showing an example of a component list;
Fig. 18 is a plan view of a tree structure created using a template based on this configuration list, Fig. 19 is a plan view showing a display example of a tree structure created using a conventional system with a graphic function, and Fig. 20 The figure is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a tree structure when the number of nodes is six, and Figure 21 shows the number of nodes and CP.
FIG. 22 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of internal representation in a tree hierarchical structure; FIG. 23 is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship between U and processing time.
The figure is a link structure diagram showing the state where the parent node is the maximum in a memory size that can process 1000 items.
The figure is a link structure diagram showing a state in which the number of child nodes becomes maximum in a similar memory size. 11...Node input means, 12...Subtree structure setting means, 13...
・Tree structure data storage means, 14...Marking means, 15...Tree structure creation means, 16...Tree structure display means, 21...C
PU, 23...RAM, 24...Hard disk device, 25...Keyboard, 26.
... Mouse, 27 ... Graphic display, 28 ... Graphic printer, 3
1-38... Window. Applicant Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. Agent Patent Attorney Umeo Yamauchi Figure 1 / Figure 3 Figure 2 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 8 / 38 38A Figure 7 Figure 1 1 Figure 9 Figure 10 Figure 3 1 2 Figure 1 4 Figure 1 3 Figure 1 5 Figure 1 6 Figure 17 Figure 18 Figure 21 Figure 22 ■ Figure 1 9 Figure 2 0 Figure qsu ■ Figure 2 3 Figure 2 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] Node input means for inputting each node as a node for creating a tree structure while indicating a chain relationship between the nodes; A subtree structure setting means that sets a subtree structure cut into a tree structure shape as a vertex, and data regarding the subtree structure set by the subtree structure setting means, respectively, in an area independent from data of other structure parts. a tree structure data storage means for storing tree structure data in the subtree structure; a marking means for assigning an identification mark representing each subtree structure; and nodes input from the node input means that do not belong to the subtree structure. a tree structure creation means for assembling a tree structure in a chain relationship of units, and for those belonging to the subtree structure, allocating one node to each subtree structure and connecting it to the tree structure; A tree structure diagram creation system comprising a tree structure display means for displaying a mark given by a mark giving means for a child node as a node representing a subtree structure in a tree structure. .