JPH04259030A - Object exclusive controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain a higher function in a cooperative job of plural users carried out to the common resources by identifying the presence or absence of an access given to an object from the user. CONSTITUTION:An object extracting means 102 extracts the object pointed by a user based on the object hierarchy information stored in an object hierarchy information control means 101. An exclusive control means 104 applies the exclusive control to the extracted object based on the object information stored in an object information control means 103 and showing the access right of each object. Therefore the object pointed by the user can be properly extracted based on the hierarchical relation among objects. Then the proper exclusive control is applied to the extracted object.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an exclusive control device for objects when a plurality of users mutually access a common resource consisting of object information such as graphics.

0002

[Background Art] With the recent advances in graphic processing technology and network technology, multiple users are now able to access resources consisting of text (characters, symbols, etc.), graphics, images, etc. stored on a computer. The matching process is
This is becoming more and more common. Such data such as text (characters, symbols, etc.), figures, images, etc. is generally called an object. Specifically, an example can be given in which a common group of objects extracted from a database is displayed on multiple user terminals connected via a network, and each user simultaneously views, edits, or updates the object group. .

[0003] In such a configuration, especially when editing or updating an object, if one user is accessing a certain object, other users may You need to control the object so that it cannot be accessed. Such control is called exclusive control.

Conventionally, on the premise that objects do not overlap each other on a common resource, the storage area of each object on the resource is registered in advance in a predetermined table, and the user Access information for recording and referencing whether or not an object is being accessed is defined in the table, thereby providing exclusive control of the object.

For example, assume that a common work environment (work memory area) is provided on the host side for providing images of a common group of graphical objects to each user terminal and allowing each user to edit them. In this case, it is assumed that the graphical objects do not overlap each other on the screen when they are displayed on the terminal screen. Under this premise, a storage area in which each graphic object is stored in the working memory area is registered in a table as shown in FIG. 13 provided in the host. Once this storage area is determined, the display position of the object on the terminal screen is determined. Note that the display screen is common to each user's terminal. When the first user specifies a certain area with a cursor or the like on the terminal, a graphic object having a storage area equal to the specified area is searched on the table of FIG. 13, and the first user Information indicating that is being accessed is recorded. Then the second
When the first user points to the same area on the terminal, the same part that also has the same storage area as the pointed area is searched on the table of FIG. 13, and from that part the first user accesses the graphic object. By reading the information indicating that it is inside, access by the second user is prohibited.

[0006]

In the conventional example described above, it is assumed that objects such as figures do not overlap each other on a common resource. However, in recent years, as the performance of processors has improved and the functionality of operation systems called window systems has improved, it has become possible to perform sophisticated processing of graphics, etc. It is also becoming possible to display them overlapping each other. Such a user interface function is an excellent function that allows operations on a terminal screen to be similar to operations on documents on a desk.

[0007] Here, even in a state where a plurality of objects overlap as described above, it is necessary to perform exclusive control so that only one user can access one object. However, as in the conventional example described above, it is not possible to perform complete exclusive control of objects that overlap with each other by simply controlling the storage area in which each object is stored on a common resource. That is, in an area where objects overlap, since those objects include the same storage area, when the user specifies the area, it is difficult to determine which object should be subject to exclusive control.

[0008] Therefore, there has been a problem in that it will be difficult in the future to realize a function in which a plurality of users access the same object and jointly edit the object.

[0009] An object of the present invention is to make it possible to identify whether or not a user has accessed an object even when the objects overlap, and to realize higher functionality when multiple users work together on a common resource. shall be.

0010

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the present invention. The present invention is based on an object exclusive control device that identifies users who mutually access a common resource made up of one or more objects, and performs exclusive control of each user's access to each object. Here, the object is graphic data, text data, etc. that are edited by the user. The present invention is applicable, for example, to a case where a plurality of users perform editing processing on an object displayed on the same display screen.

[0011] In FIG. 1, first, there is an object hierarchy information management means 101 that stores object hierarchy information indicating the hierarchy relationship of each object on a resource. For example, when graphical objects are displayed overlapping each other on a display screen, the graphical objects that are displayed overlapping each other are objects of a lower hierarchy, and the object name and storage on the resource are stored. It is a means of storing information along with the area.

Next, the object extracting means 102 extracts an object specified by the user based on the object hierarchy information stored in the object hierarchy information management means 101. For example, the means determines whether or not the storage area of the graphic object stored in the object hierarchy information management means 101, starting from the lowest hierarchy, includes the area specified by the user, and first determines that the area is included. This is a means of extracting objects that have been created.

[0013] It also includes object information management means 103 that stores object information indicating which user has access rights to each object on the resource. This means is means for storing the name of the user currently accessing each object.

[0014] The system also includes exclusive control means 104 that performs the following exclusive control operations in order from the user who has issued an instruction to the object. That is, the means determines whether or not the user who issued the instruction to the object extracted by the object extraction means 102 has access rights to the object stored in the object information management means 103. Make decisions based on information. For example, if no user name is registered for the specified object in the object information management unit 103, or if the user name of the user is registered, the exclusive control unit 104 performs the above-mentioned operation. It is determined that the access right exists.

[0015] Then, the exclusive control means 104 controls the object extraction means 102 when the above-mentioned access right exists.
The user is permitted to access the object extracted by the user, and information regarding the access right is registered in the object information management means 103. For example, the user name of the user is registered in the column corresponding to the object of the object information management means 103.

On the other hand, if the access right does not exist, the exclusive control means 104 controls the object extraction means 10.
The user is prohibited from accessing the object extracted by step 2.

Here, the exclusive control means 104 performs the above-mentioned exclusive control operation in order from the user who issued the instruction to the object. The order control can be achieved by, for example, providing an event information management unit that stores the user name, time information, and object name extracted by the object extraction means 102 as event information in the order in which instructions from the user occur, and The exclusive control means 104 may perform the exclusive control operation in order from the above.

[0018]

[Operation] In the present invention, the object extraction means 102
The object specified by the user is extracted based on the object hierarchy information stored in the object hierarchy information management means 101. In this case, even if, for example, graphical objects are displayed overlapping each other on the editing screen (corresponding to resources), the object specified by the user can be appropriately extracted based on the hierarchical relationship between the objects.

The exclusive control means 104 performs an exclusive control operation on the objects extracted in this way based on the object information indicating the access rights of each object stored in the object information management means 103. Appropriate exclusive control can be achieved even in a state where objects are accessed in a hierarchical manner.

[0020]

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

[0021] Input devices 2011, 2012,...
(hereinafter referred to as input device 201) is provided corresponding to each of a plurality of users, and each user has a common display section 209.
When editing the object above, an event command corresponding to each editing process is issued. These event commands are, for example, commands for drawing a new graphic object, moving, copying, or deleting a graphic object with respect to a displayed graphic object.

[0022] The event information acquisition unit 202 uses the input device 2
01, extracts the object specified by the event command by referring to the object hierarchy information management unit 203, and extracts the user name (input device name) that issued the event command and the time when the event information occurred. and outputs them to the event control unit 204 as event information. The object hierarchy information management unit 203 stores object hierarchy information indicating how each object is displayed in an overlapping manner on the display unit 209, and based on this information, the event information acquisition unit 202 performs the above-described object extraction. perform an action.

The event control unit 204 stores the user name, object name, and occurrence time of the event command from the event information acquisition unit 202 in the event information management unit 205 for each event command as event information.

[0024] The exclusive control unit 206 controls the event control unit 20
Exclusive control of access to each object on the display section 209 is performed based on the event information read from the event information management section 205 via the event information management section 205 via the event information management section 205. The object information management unit 207 stores object information indicating which user has access rights to each object on the display unit 209, and based on this information, the exclusive control unit 206 performs the above-mentioned exclusive control operation. conduct.

The display control section 208 stores actual objects to be displayed on the display section 209. Then, the display control unit 208 controls the display unit 209 based on the event command that is determined to be accessible by the exclusive control unit 206 and is sent from the event information acquisition unit 202 via the event control unit 204 and the exclusive control unit 206. Controls the display, modification, etc. of objects that should be displayed.

The display unit 209 is a display, and is accessed by a plurality of users who operate the input device 201 as described above. Note that, for example, if a plurality of user terminals are connected via a network, a display section may be provided corresponding to each input device 201. In that case, under the control of a network control device (not particularly shown), each display section has one display control section 2.
The same group of objects controlled by 08 will be displayed.

Regarding the operation of the embodiment with the above configuration, FIG.
The operation flowchart of FIG. 4 and the first operation example of FIG. 7 will be sequentially explained. Now, on the display section 209, a circular graphic object #1 and a triangular graphic object #2 are displayed.
are displayed overlappingly as shown on the right side of FIG.
Consider the case where the user operates the cursor No. 01 to sequentially designate object #2 as shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart of exclusive control according to the embodiment of FIG. First, the user selects the input device 2
When the user operates the cursor 01 to indicate a point on the display section 209, an event command based on this instruction is input to the event information acquisition section 202.

The event information acquisition unit 202 refers to the object hierarchy information management unit 203 and extracts the object that the user should access (S1 in FIG. 3). Figure 4 shows
This is an operation flowchart of this object extraction process, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing registered contents of the object hierarchy information management unit 203 corresponding to the operation example of FIG. 7.

[0030] When displaying objects on the display unit 209, the display control unit 208 stores object hierarchy information indicating how each object is displayed in an overlapping manner, such as "hierarchy", "object name", and "object hierarchy". Object hierarchy information management unit 20
Register for 3. Note that on the display screen, the object that is displayed at the top is the lowest layer, and the object that is hidden and displayed at the bottom is the top layer (
It is defined as layer 1). For example, in the case of the first operation example in FIG. 7, as shown in FIG.
The hierarchical relationship is from layer 1 to #2→#1, where object #2 and its storage area are registered in layer 1, and object #1 and its storage area are registered in layer 2. Note that when the overlapping relationship of objects is changed according to a user's instruction, the display control unit 208
The registration order of the object hierarchy information management unit 203 is changed accordingly.

Object extraction processing in FIG. 4 (S1 in FIG. 3)
), first, the object hierarchy information management unit 203
The layer number referenced in is set to the number of the lowest layer (the layer with the highest number) (S8 in FIG. 4).

Next, the object hierarchy information management section 203
From there, the object name and its storage area corresponding to the set layer number are read out (S9 in FIG. 4). Subsequently, it is determined whether the point accessed by the user is included in the read storage area (S10 in FIG. 4).

If the access point is not included, the layer number is decremented by 1 (S11), and unless it becomes 0 (unless it exceeds the top layer) (S12 in FIG. 4), the layer number is Operation in which the object name corresponding to the number and its storage area are read (S9 in FIG. 4)
is repeated.

[0034] Then, in step S10 of FIG.
If it is determined that the access point is included in the storage area of the read object, the object name is determined to correspond to the object accessed by the user (S13 in FIG. 4). Note that if the determination in step S12 in FIG. 4 is NO, the access point does not indicate any object, so processing is performed to the effect that the object has not been extracted (S14), and in response to the user's instruction, has no display control.

The operation of the above object extraction process is shown in FIG.
The following is an example of how it works. First, the object name #1 of layer 2 and its storage area are read from the object layer information management unit 203 having the registered contents shown in FIG. In the example of FIG. 7, when user u1 specifies area B, the access point is not included in the storage area of circular graphic object #1, so the determination in S10 of FIG. 4 is NO.
Then, object name #2 of layer 1 and its storage area are read out. Since area B is included in the storage area of triangular graphic object #2, the determination in S10 is Y.
ES, and object name #2 is determined. Thereafter, even when user u2 specifies area C, the access point is included in the storage area of object #2, so object name #2 is determined.

Although not related to the examples shown in FIGS. 7 and 5, for example, when graphical objects A to D are displayed overlapping each other as shown in FIG. 6, and object C is designated by the user, The hierarchical relationship is (A, B)→C→D from the top layer. On the other hand, the event information acquisition unit 202 refers to the object hierarchy information management unit 203 in the reverse order of the above hierarchy relationship according to the operation flowchart of FIG. 4, and thereby extracts the designated object C.

After the event information acquisition unit 202 executes the object extraction process in step S1 of FIG. The identification name of the input device 201) and the time at which the event command was issued are passed to the event control unit 204 as event information (S2 in FIG. 3). In the example of FIG. 7, if user u1 indicates area B of object #2, object name #2
Then, the user name u1 and time t1 are passed. After that, when user u2 indicates area C, object name #2
Then, the user name u2 and time t2 are passed.

The event control unit 204 registers the above-mentioned event information in the event information management unit 205 in the order of occurrence time of the event command (S3 in FIG. 3). FIG. 8 shows the registered contents of the event information management section 205. As in the example of FIG. 7, user u1, then user u2, uses object #2.
If areas B and C are sequentially designated, the registration contents as shown in FIG. 8 will be registered in the event information management unit 205.

Next, the exclusive control unit 206 sequentially reads each piece of event information in the order in which the event information was registered in the event information management unit 205, refers to the registered contents of the object information management unit 207 at the current time, and performs the above-mentioned process. It is determined whether the object specified by the object name of the event information has already been granted access rights to a user other than the user specified by the user name of the event information (S4 in FIG. 3). .

[0040] Then, if the access right has not been passed to another user, the exclusive control unit 206 adds the user of the event information to the column of the object specified by the object name of the event information in the object information management unit 207. The access right for the user specified by the name is registered, and the event command input from the event information acquisition unit 202 via the event control unit 204 is passed to the display control unit 208 (S6 in FIG. 3).

On the other hand, if the access right has been passed to another user, the exclusive control unit 206 prohibits access by the user without passing the event command to the display control unit 208 (S8 in FIG. 3). ).

The operation of the exclusive control section 206 described above will be explained as follows using the example of operation shown in FIG. Exclusive control unit 20
6 first reads the event information at time t1 from the event information management section 205 of the registered contents shown in FIG. 8, and refers to the registered contents of the object information management section 207 using that information. FIG. 9(a) shows the registered contents of the object information management unit 207 at the time when the event information at time t1 is read. In this example, objects #1 and #
In both cases, access rights are not passed to any user. In this case, the exclusive control unit 206 performs step S in FIG.
6, the access right to the user name u1 is registered in the object name #2 field of the object information management unit 207, and the event command from the user u1 is sent to the display control unit 208.
give it to This allows the user u1 to access object #2 displayed on the display unit 209. At this time, the registered contents of the object information management section 207 are changed as shown in FIG. 9(b).

After that, the exclusive control section 206 reads out the event information at time t2 from the event information management section 205 of the registered contents shown in FIG. 8, and refers to the registered contents of the object information management section 207 using that information. The registered contents of the object information management unit 207 have been changed as shown in FIG. identify things. Therefore, the exclusive control unit 206 does not pass the event command from the user u2 to the display control unit 208, and
Prohibit access to 2.

By the above exclusive control operation, the first
Even in the case where graphic objects #1 and #2 overlap as in the operation example shown in FIG. 2, exclusive control of access by each user can be appropriately performed.

FIGS. 10 to 12 show a second operation example of the exclusive control operation of the embodiment of FIG. 2 based on the operation flowcharts of FIGS. 3 and 4. As can be seen from FIG. 10, this operation example shows two text objects # on the display section 209.
This is an example in which the user u1 and then the user u2 sequentially designate object #1 by operating the cursor on the input device 201.

In this case as well, the exclusive control operation is performed in exactly the same way as in the first operation example shown in FIG. The registered contents change as shown in FIG. 12(a) and then as shown in FIG. 12(b), and the access right to object #1 is given to user u1, and user u2 is prohibited from accessing object #1.

[0047]

According to the present invention, objects specified by the user are extracted based on the hierarchical relationship between the objects, so that even when, for example, graphical objects are displayed overlapping each other on the editing screen, It becomes possible to appropriately extract objects including fragment parts designated by the user. Then, exclusive control is performed on each object extracted in this way based on object information indicating the access rights of each object, thereby preventing multiple objects from being accessed hierarchically and overlappingly. Appropriate exclusive control can be performed even in this state.

[0048] As a result, it becomes possible to realize sophisticated functions such as multiple users accessing the same object and jointly editing the object on the computer.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

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

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

FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart of exclusive control.

FIG. 4 is an operation flowchart of object extraction processing.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing registered contents of an object hierarchy information management section.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of object extraction processing.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a first operation example of exclusive control.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing registered contents of the event information management unit in the first operation example.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing registered contents of the object information management unit in the first operation example.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a second operation example of exclusive control.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing registered contents of an event information management unit in a second operation example.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing registered contents of an object information management unit in a second operation example.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 Object hierarchy information management means 10
2 Object extraction means 103
Object information management means 104 Exclusive control means

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An object exclusive control device that identifies users mutually accessing a common resource consisting of one or more objects, and performs exclusive control of each user's access to each of the objects, wherein: Object hierarchy information management means (101) that stores object hierarchy information indicating the hierarchical relationship of each object; object extracting means (102) for extracting objects using the resource; and object information management means (102) for storing object information indicating which users have access rights to each object on the resource.
03), and the object information management means (103) stores whether or not the user who issued the instruction to the object has an access right to the object extracted by the object extraction means (102). If the access right exists, the object extracting means (1)
02), the user who issued the instruction to the object is permitted to access the object, and information regarding the access right is registered in the object information management means (103), and if the access right does not exist, the object is exclusive control means (104) that performs an exclusive control operation of prohibiting users who have issued instructions to the object from accessing the object extracted by the extraction means (102), starting from the user who issued the instruction to the object; An object exclusive control device comprising: 2. The object exclusive control device according to claim 1, wherein the object is graphic data. 3. The object exclusive control device according to claim 1, wherein the object is text data.