JPH0227475A - Data managing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily recognize the relation between respective data by constructing a data base in which the respective data are organically correlated when the data bases mutually having correlations are retrieved. CONSTITUTION:When a user gives a correlating data retrieving request 8, and designates prescribed data 12, first a link traverse means 4 retrieves link information from a link information memory means 2, and extracts identification information 10 of the relating data and link relating information 11. Based on this, a data base access means 5 automatically extracts prescribed data 12 and relating data 13 having relation with them out of data 6 in a data base memory means 1. Further, displaying 15 of the linking relation between the prescribed data 12 and the relating data 13 is applied, and the prescribed data 12 and the relating data 13 are outputted. Thus, the relation between the data can be easily recognized.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] Concerning a search technology for mutually related databases, it is possible to easily understand the relationships between each piece of data by constructing a database in which the data are organically related to each other. The purpose of the invention is to include a database storage means for storing a database, a link information storage means for storing link relationships between data in the database as link information, and a link information storage means for storing link information to the link information storage means in response to an external instruction. Link management means for adding, changing or deleting, and when a search request for data related to predetermined data is input from the outside, detects link information regarding the predetermined data from the link information storage means, follows the link, and searches the link destination. link traversal means for extracting identification information of the related data and link relationship information at that time; searching the database for the related data according to the information, and attaching a link display to a portion where there is a link between the searched predetermined data and the related data according to the link relationship information from the link traversal means; and database access means for outputting both data.

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a search technique for mutually related databases.

[Conventional technology]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In various business fields, many databases have been constructed in which commonly needed data is stored and used in computers for the purpose of jointly using various information.

In particular, recently, there has been an increasing need for such databases to not only organize and store one type of data in an enumerated manner, but also to store multiple types of data in a way that is organically related to each other.

For example, when designing large-scale software, first a requirements specification that describes what kind of functionality is desired, a design document based on that, and then a program that describes the design content in a specific language. Each design information is required. When a large amount of such software is stored and used as a database, it is possible to accurately and quickly grasp the relationship between each piece of design information, such as which design documents and programs correspond to which requirements specifications. Such database management technology is required.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in conventional database management, it is not possible to search and use one piece of data by relating it to other data, and it is not possible to construct a database by relating data organically. The problem was that it could not be done.

An object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily grasp the relationship between each piece of data by constructing a database in which data is organically related to each other.

[Means to solve the problem]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the present invention.

The database storage means 1 stores a database 6 containing, for example, design information.

The link information storage means 2 is the database storage means 1.
The link relationships between the databases 6 stored in the database 6 are stored as link information 7.

The link management means 3 adds, changes, or deletes link information 7 to the link information storage means 2 based on instructions from the outside (not specifically shown).

When a search request 8 for related data to a predetermined database 12 (which is a part of the database 6) is input from the outside, the link traverse means 4 detects link information 7 regarding the predetermined data 12 from the link information storage means 2. The link is followed and the identification information 10 of the related data at the link destination and the link relation information 11 at that time are extracted. At this time, the link information 7 includes identification information 9 of the predetermined data 12, for example, the name of the predetermined data 12, as shown in FIG.
Identification information 10 of related data 13, for example, the name of related data 13, and link relationship information 11 of predetermined data 12 and related data 13, for example, information on a link source position on predetermined data 12 and a link destination position on related data 13 are paired. They are remembered as a set.

Next, when the related data search request 8 is input, the database access means 5 searches the database 6 in the database storage means 1 for predetermined data 12 . Further, according to the identification information 10 of the related data from the link traverse means 4, the related data 13 is searched from the database 6.

Further, according to the link relation information 11 from the link traverse means 4, the predetermined data 12 retrieved by the above operation
As shown in FIG. 1, a link display 15 is attached to the part where there is a link relationship between the data 12 and the related data 13, and the above two data 12 and 13 are outputted as shown in 14 in FIG.

Note that the number of related data 13 for the predetermined data 12 is not limited to one, and may be any number. Therefore, the link information 7 in the link information storage means 2 is not limited to the storage format as shown in FIG.

[For production]

In the above means, the user only needs to issue a related data search request 8 and specify predetermined data 12, and the link traverse means 4 first searches the link information 7 from the link information storage means 2, and identifies the identification information 10 of the related data. Link relationship information 11 is extracted.

Based on this, the database access means 5 selects the predetermined data 12 from the data 6 in the database storage means l.
At the same time, related data 13 related thereto is automatically extracted.

Furthermore, the predetermined data 12 and the related data 13 are outputted with an indication 15 of the link relationship between the predetermined data 12 and the related data 13, such as which position corresponds to which position.

Therefore, the user can easily know about the related data 13 related to the predetermined data 12, and can also easily understand the relationship between the data.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail.

FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

The database memory 16 is a memory device that accumulates and stores data such as design condition documents and programs to be described later as a database, and is, for example, a disk device. Also,
The transparent sheet database memory 17 is a memory device that accumulates and stores transparent sheet data, which will be described later, as a transparent sheet database, and is, for example, a database memory I6.
This is a disk device similar to .

The nonk management device 18 adds, changes, or deletes transparent sheet data, which will be described later, to the transparent sheet database memory 17 in accordance with a user's instruction from one of the terminals 21.

The link traverse device 19 allows a user to trace links between design information (to be described later) from any one of the terminals 21 in the terminal group 21, and obtain each information of the link destination design information name, the link destination coordinate position, the link source coordinate position, and the link salt. (explained in detail later),
The information is sent to the database access device 20.

In addition to the existing functions of storing design information created by a user in the database memory 16 and extracting design information according to a user's request from the database, the database access device 20 has the functions of The database memory 16 is accessed based on each piece of information, and the design information of the link destination is extracted.

In the embodiment with the above configuration, first, the general operation of this embodiment will be explained.

First, as a database stored in the database memory 16, as shown at 21 in FIG.
, "Program B", etc., but different types of design information (data) that are related to each other are mixed and stored. Here, "design document A" describes the contents of a certain software, for example, in the form of a document or a flowchart. On the other hand, "Program B" is a concrete description of the contents of "Design Document A" in a computer-readable language. The data memory 16 contains a large amount of data in the formats described above.
It is piled up.

Next, in the transparent sheet database memory 17 of FIG. 2, for example, a part p on "design document A" and a part q on "program B" are stored as shown in 22 in FIG.
Transparent sheet data represented by a link salt "realization" indicating a link relationship in which the two correspond to each other is stored. A large amount of such transparent sheet data is also accumulated for other design information.

Now, in FIG. 2, it is assumed that the user issues a request to the link traverse device 19 from one of the terminals in the terminal group 21 to search for design information related to "design document A". As a result, the link traverse device 19 extracts the transparent sheet data related to the given design information "Design Document A", that is, the transparent sheet data of the link salt "Realization" as shown in the image at 22 in FIG. The previous design information name, that is, "Program B," the coordinate position on program BJ of the linked part q, the coordinate position of the link source part P on "design document A," and the link salt, that is, "realization." It is extracted and output to the database access device 20 in FIG.

As a result, the database access device 20 accesses the data memory 16 and searches for design information called "design document A" and design information called "program B."
After extraction, based on the coordinate information, extract part p on design document AJ and part q on program B, connect these parts p and part q with, for example, an arrow, and then The name ``realization'' is attached above the ``realization'' and the output is output to the corresponding terminal of the terminal group 21 in FIG.

By the above operation, the user can obtain a screen image as shown in 23 in Figure 3 on the terminal, and the user can confirm that the related design information of "Design Document A" is "Program B" and that "Design Document A" is "Program B". It can be easily understood that part p on program A corresponds to part q on program BJ.

Next, FIG. 4 shows specific descriptions of the transparent sheet database stored in the transparent sheet data header memory 17. In the case of the same figure, as an example, transparent sheet data for design information "design document A" is shown, and "realization"
The link salt describes that it is linked to the design information "Program B", and the coordinate position of the link source ("on the design document Aj") (corresponding to part p in Figure 3) is It is from 10:5 (5th digit of the 10th row on the two-dimensional coordinates) to 10:20, and is also the coordinate position of the link destination (on "Program B") (corresponding to part q in Figure 3). It is stated that the hours are from 80:30 to 80:40.

In addition, the above link source part on "Design Document A" is linked to both "Program B" and the 50:10 to 50:20 part on a different type of design information called "Manual C". It is described that they are linked in a link relationship called "specifications".

Furthermore, it is stated that the link source part on "Design Document A" that is different from the above is linked to the link destination part in "Design Document B" with a link relationship of "reference". .

The specific operation of this embodiment using the transparent sheet database as described above will be explained below.

First, FIG. 5 shows that the user in FIG. 2 creates transparent sheet data on the transparent sheet database memory 17 from one of the terminals 21 in the terminal group 21 via the link management device 18 (hereinafter referred to as linking). This is the operation algorithm of the link management device 18 when the link management device 18 is called.

Prior to FIG. 5, the user accesses the data header memory 16 in advance via the database access device 20, and creates two pieces of design information to be linked on the screen of the terminal, for example, as shown in FIG. 10. Design document A” and “
Display Program B.

The user first selects a link operation from the pop-up menu on the screen using a data input device such as a mouse (see FIG. 5 81 below).

In response to this, the link management device 18 in FIG. 2 displays a menu as shown in FIG. 6 in an overlapping manner on the screen (S2
). The situation is shown in FIG.

The user selects a link from this menu using the mouse (S3).

Next, the link management device 18 displays a message "Please specify the link source and link destination" as shown in FIG. 12, for example (S4).

The user uses the mouse to specify the end points on both sides of part p on "design document A" and the end points on both sides of part q on "program B" (S5).

Subsequently, the link management device 18 displays a message "Please input link salt" as shown in FIG. 13, for example (S6).

As a result, the user inputs the link salt "realization", for example, as shown in FIG. 13 (S7).

Through the above operations, the link management device 18 stores the link source data, that is, the transparent sheet data of "design document A" and the end point of the link source position (portion p) on "design document A" in the transparent sheet data memory 17. coordinates, and link salt i.e.
"Realization" and the link destination data, ie, the link destination design information name "Program B" and the coordinates of the end point of the link source position (part q) on "Program B" are stored (S8).

The situation is shown in FIG.

Next, FIG. 7 shows that the user in FIG. 2 deletes the transparent sheet data on the transparent sheet database memory 17 from one of the terminals 21 in the terminal group 21 via the link management device (hereinafter referred to as link This is an operation algorithm of the link management device 18 when the link management device 18 performs deletion.

The user first selects a link operation from the pop-up menu on the screen using the mouse, as in the case of linking (FIG. 789, see FIG. 7 below).

In response to this, the link management device 18 of FIG. 2 displays the menu of FIG. 6 in an overlapping manner on the screen (S10).

The user selects link deletion from this menu using the mouse (311).

In response to this, the link management device 18 accesses the transparent sheet data memory 17 (not specifically shown) and reverses the black and white portion of the link source (corresponding to portion P in FIG. 12, etc.) on the screen. , ``Please specify one end point of the link.'' is displayed (S12).

The user selects an endpoint of the link (313).

Next, the link management device 18 accesses the transparent sheet data memory 17, displays all links attached to the specified link source, for example, as shown in FIG. 8, and inputs the link salt to be deleted. (314).

As a result, when the user selects a link to be deleted from the displayed menu (S15), the link management device 18 deletes the selected link information from the transparent sheet data memory 17 (S16).

Next, in FIG. 9, the user in FIG. 2 changes the transparent sheet data on the transparent sheet database memory 17 from one of the terminals 21 in the terminal group 21 via the link management device 18 (hereinafter referred to as link change). This is the operation algorithm of the link management device 18 when

First, the user selects a link operation from the pop-up menu on the screen using the mouse (317 in FIG. 8, see FIG. 8 below) in the same way as when creating the link.

In response to this, the link management device 18 of FIG. 2 displays the menu of FIG. 6 in an overlapping manner on the screen (S18).

The user selects link change from this menu with the mouse (519).

In response to this, the link management device 18 accesses the transparent sheet data memory 17 (not specifically shown) and reverses the black and white portion of the link source (corresponding to portion p in FIG. 12, etc.) on the screen. , displays the message "Please specify the end point of the link" (S20).

The user selects the endpoint of the link (321).

Next, the link management device 18 accesses the transparent sheet data memory 17 and displays all the links attached to the specified link source, as shown in FIG. 8, for example, in the same way as when deleting the links. , the user is prompted to input the link salt to be changed and the contents of the change (S22).

As a result, the user selects the link he or she wishes to change from the displayed menu and inputs the details of the change (S23).

If the content of the change is to change the link name, the link management device 18, if the change is to change the link salt, or the end point of the link,
The human power at the end point is encouraged (S24).

The user inputs the link salt or the endpoint of the link (S2
5).

In response to this, the link management device 18 changes the information of the selected link according to the change content, and then rewrites the contents of the transparent sheet data memory 17 (S24).

Next, in FIG. 15, the user in FIG. 2 sends predetermined design information (e.g. "design sA") on the transparent sheet database memory 17 to the link traverse device 19 from one of the terminals 21 in the terminal group 21. When a request is given to search for related design information by following links in transparent sheet data related to (hereinafter referred to as link traverse or simply traverse)
This is an operation algorithm of the link traversal device 19 in FIG.

The user first selects a link operation from the pop-up menu on the screen using the mouse, as in the case of linking (327 in FIG. 15, see FIG. 15 below).

In response to this, the link traverse device 19 in FIG.
The menu shown in FIG. 6 is displayed overlappingly on the screen (S28). The user selects link traverse from this menu using the mouse (S29).

In response to this, the link traversing device 19 accesses the transparent sheet data memory 17, inverts the link source part in black and white on the screen, and then selects the end point of the link, as shown in FIG. 17, for example. Please specify" message is displayed (330).

The user selects the end point of the link (S31).

Next, the link traverse device 19 accesses the transparent sheet data memory 17 and displays all the links attached to the specified link source, as shown in FIG. 8, for example, in the same way as when deleting the links. , prompts the user to select a link salt to be traversed (S32). The situation is shown in FIG.

Thereby, the user selects the link he or she wishes to traverse from the displayed menu (S33).

In the example of FIG. 18, link salt ``realization j'' is selected.

Then, the link traverse device 19 sends information on the link destination design information name, link destination l, link source position, and link salt of the selected link to the database access device 20 in FIG. 2 (S34), FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the name of the link destination design information is "Program B," the link salt is "Realization," and the coordinates of the link destination position are 80:30,80.
:40, link source position coordinates 10:5.10:2
0 is output.

Next, FIG. 16 shows an operation algorithm of the database access device 20 of FIG. 2 based on the operation of the link traverse device 19.

The database access device 20 monitors whether a request is received from the outside (repetition of 335 in FIG. 16, see FIG. 16 below), and when a request is received from the outside, the request is first sent to the link traverse device 19. It is determined whether the request is from (S36).

If the request is not from the link traverse device 19, that is, if it is a normal data access by a user from one of the terminals 21, then the conventional data access is performed, that is, the specified data is retrieved from the database memory 16. and performs an operation to output it (S37),
Return to the original state (S37→535).

Contrary to the above, if the request is from the link traverse device 19, first, the database memory 16 is accessed based on the link destination design information name sent from the device 19, and the design information is extracted from the database. Do (S
36-338).

Next, based on the position information of the link source and link destination, the data of that part is reversed in black and white on the screen (S39), and further,
An arrow is drawn between the link source and the link destination, and the link salt is displayed on the screen, and the original state is returned (S40). The results (link traversal results) are shown in FIG.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the user only needs to specify one design information name, and the related design information related to it can be stored in the transparent sheet data memory 17 and the database memory I.
6 and the link relationships are automatically displayed, making it easy to search for design information related to certain design information and easily grasp the link relationships between those pieces of design information. becomes possible.

In the above embodiment, the target is software design information, but the present invention is not limited to this, and any database may be associated with it, and a transparent sheet database can be created accordingly.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, the user only needs to issue a request for related data search and specify predetermined data, and the necessary link information is searched from the link information storage means 2, thereby identifying the extracted related data. Based on the information and the link relationship information, the data access means can automatically extract from the database storage means the predetermined data together with related data, thereby allowing the user to retrieve the related data related to the predetermined data. Data can be easily searched.

Furthermore, since both data can be output with an indication of the link relationship between the predetermined data and related data, for example, which position corresponds to which position,
The user can easily understand the relationship between both data.

The above effect also produces the effect that the database can be used very efficiently.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a block diagram of the present invention; Figure 2 is a system configuration diagram; Figure 3 is a diagram showing the relationship between screen images, database images, and transparent sheet database images; Figure 4 is the contents of the transparent sheet database. Figure 5 is a diagram showing the operation algorithm (linking) of the link management device, Figure 6 is a diagram showing an example of the link operation menu, and Figure 7 is the operation of the link management device. Figure 8 shows an example of the link deletion menu. Figure 9 shows the operation algorithm (link change) of the link management device. Figure 10 shows the initial state of the screen. Figure 11 is a diagram showing an example of a screen image when selecting a link operation, Figure 12 is a diagram showing an example of a screen image when specifying the end point of a link when creating a link, Figure 13 is a diagram showing an example of the screen image when entering the link salt when linking, Figure 14 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the transparent sheet database created by linking, and Figure 15 is Figure 16 is a diagram showing the operating algorithm of the link traversal device. Figure 16 is a diagram showing the operating algorithm of the database access device. Figure 17 is a diagram showing an example of a screen image when specifying the end point of a link during link traversal. , FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of a screen image when inputting the link salt during link traversal, and FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of the link traversal result. ■... Database storage means, 2... Link information storage means, 3... Link management means, link traversal means, database access means, ・Data storage, link information, ・Related data search request, ・Related data identification Information, ■ Link relationship information.

Claims (1)

[Claims] Database storage means (6) for storing the database (6);
1), link information storage means (2) for storing link relationships between data in the database (6) as link information (7), and link information storage means (2) for storing link relationships between data in the database (6) as link information (7); Link management means (3) for adding, changing or deleting information (7); and when a search request (8) for data related to predetermined data (12) is input from the outside, link information regarding the predetermined data (12) is provided. (7) to the link information storage means (2)
a link traversing means (4) for detecting and following the link and extracting the identification information (10) of the related data (13) at the link destination and the link relation information (11) at that time, and the related data search request ( 8), the predetermined data (12) is searched from the database (6), and the related data (13) is retrieved according to the identification information (10) from the link traversal means (4).
is searched from the database (6), and the link relation information (1) from the link traversing means (4) is searched.
Database access for outputting the searched predetermined data (12) and related data (13) with a link indication (15) attached to the part where there is a link relationship according to 1). A data management device comprising means (5).