JPH0512336A - File control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve file search efficiency and operability and to facilitate control over a multi-media file. CONSTITUTION:A directory name is specified in a directory name specifying process S1 and the tree structure below the specified directory is analyzed in a directory structure analyzing process S2. The analytic result is displayed on a multi-window basis in a directory tree structure display process S3. Further, detailed information is analyzed in a detailed information process S5 when necessary and the analytic result is displayed on the multi-window basis in a detailed information display process S6.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention visibly displays on a display a directory (directory, file directory) containing multimedia files such as still images, moving images, voices, etc., and displays various information relating to the directory. The present invention relates to a file management method for improving a user interface (user operability) by selecting a display form using a tool such as an icon (ICON) or a submenu.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a method of visually displaying a directory, there is one described in the following documents, for example.

"Sun Microsystems, I
nc edition ”(1989) Addison Wesley
(US) “OPEN LOOK Chapter 12 FileMa
neger "P.263-289 The visible directory display described in this document is
It is a diagrammatic representation of files contained in one directory path or directory tree structure (hierarchical structure).

[0004]

However, the conventional file management method has the following problems.

(A) In the conventional method, when displaying the files in the directories, only one directory can be designated, and two directories cannot be designated to compare the files in each directory. Therefore, when searching for a specific file, it is necessary to understand the contents of the directory searched up to now, and the efficiency of file search depends on the degree of understanding of the directory contents. In particular, if the creator of the file and the searcher of the file are different, the efficiency of the file search becomes poor.
Further, even the creator of the file will deteriorate the file search efficiency if both directories and files increase with the passage of time.

(B) Since the history of the directory name that has been specified at the top of the tree structure is not saved, the same procedure is repeated when the tree structure is displayed again, resulting in many useless operations. As a result, the file search efficiency becomes poor.

(C) In the conventional method, the menu consisting of a plurality of directory names is always displayed the same, and whether or not the menu can be selected is displayed by the difference between the solid line and the broken line. It is unclear whether to proceed with the file search in such a procedure, and operability is poor.

(D) The conventional method cannot manage multimedia files including various files such as still images, moving images, and sounds.

The present invention provides a file management method which solves the problems of the above-mentioned prior art such as poor file search efficiency, poor operability, and inability to manage multimedia files. Is.

[0010]

In order to solve the above problems, the first invention specifies a directory name located at the top of the tree structure of a directory in a file management method using a computer system or the like. Directory name specification processing, directory structure analysis processing for analyzing a tree structure under the directory specified by the directory name specification means, and directory tree for displaying the directory tree structure analyzed by the directory structure analysis processing in a multi-window Structure display processing, detailed information processing for analyzing detailed information as needed for the directory tree structure displayed in the directory tree structure display processing, and detailed information processed in the detailed information processing in the multi-window. The detailed information display processing to be displayed is executed.

In the second invention, the directory name designating process of the first invention comprises a menu displaying process for displaying a menu and a menu selecting process for selecting the menu with a pointing device. The directory name is specified by a pointing device.

In the third invention, the directory tree structure display process and the detailed information display process of the first invention are a process of displaying an icon, a process of searching one frame having a moving image,
It has a process of reducing an image, a process of displaying the reduced image in the icon, and a process of clearly displaying a moving image / audio attribute in the icon, so that the multimedia file can be visually identified. .

A fourth invention has a process of holding a history of the directory name designated by the directory name designating process of the second invention and a process of displaying the held history, and the displayed history is displayed. The history is designated by the pointing device, and the directory name at the top of the tree structure is redesignated.

[0014]

According to the first aspect of the invention, since the file management method is configured as described above, when the directory name is designated by the directory name designation processing, the tree structure under the designated directory is analyzed by the directory structure analysis processing. The analysis result is displayed in the multi-window by the directory tree structure display processing. further,
If necessary, detailed information is analyzed by detailed information processing, and the analysis result is displayed in the multi-window by the detailed information display processing. This improves the efficiency of file search.

According to the second invention, the menu is displayed by the menu display processing, and the displayed menu is
Select with the pointing device in the menu selection process. This makes the file search procedure clear and improves operability. Moreover, since the menu is selected by the pointing device, the selection becomes easy.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, each file is displayed as an icon and the type of the file is shown in the icon, so that the multimedia file can be visually identified, and the multimedia file can be managed. Easy to do.

According to the fourth invention, since the history of the directory name which has been designated at the top of the tree structure is held and the held contents can be displayed, the directory structure once displayed can be re-displayed. The display becomes easy, and the efficiency of file search is significantly improved. Therefore, the above problem can be solved.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (I) Configuration of File Management Device FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration block diagram of a file management device used in an embodiment of the present invention.

This file management device has a bus 1.
Connected to the bus 1 are a central processing unit (CPU) 2 that controls the entire device under program control, a memory 3 that temporarily stores programs and working data, and a disk 4 that stores data such as various files. Has been done. Also, bus 1
Includes a display section 5 such as a CRT for displaying data, a keyboard 6 for inputting data, and a pointing device such as a trackball, a mouse, or a light pen, which is excellent in inputting coordinates of information. The device 7 is connected. (II) Overall Description of File Management Method FIG. 1 is a flowchart of processing contents of a file management method showing an embodiment of the present invention using the file management apparatus of FIG.

This file management method comprises a directory name designating process S1, a directory structure analyzing process S2, a directory tree structure displaying process S3, a determining process S4, a detailed information processing S5, a detailed information displaying process S6, and a determining process S7. ing.

First, when the operation of the apparatus of FIG. 2 is started, in the directory name designation process S1, the pointing device 7 or the like designates the directory name located at the top of the directory tree structure. In the directory structure analysis processing S2, the CPU 2 analyzes the tree structure under the designated directory and stores the analysis result in the memory 3. In the directory tree structure display processing S3, the memory 3
The analysis result stored in is graphically displayed on the display unit 5, and the process proceeds to the determination process S4.

In the determination process S4, it is determined whether more detailed information is required for one of the directories graphically displayed on the display unit 5 or for the entire directory. When the operator inputs detailed information using the keyboard 6 or the like, in the detailed information processing S5, necessary detailed information is analyzed according to each information, and the analysis result is stored in the memory. Detailed information display processing S6
Go to.

In the detailed information display process S6, the detailed information of the directory or file stored in the memory 3 is displayed on the display unit 5, and the process proceeds to the determination process S7. In the determination process S7, detailed information is required repeatedly based on the instruction of the operator using the keyboard 6 or the pointing device 7, or the directory name at the top (top) of the tree structure is changed and the detailed information is changed again. It is determined whether the tree structure (directory structure) is to be displayed on the display unit 5 again or these processes are ended. If the determination result of the determination process S4 is NO, the detailed information analysis process is not performed and the determination process S7 is performed.
Go to.

(III) Directory name designation processing S1 in FIG.
Content of FIG. 3 is a flow chart of the directory name designation processing S1 in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example of the processing content of FIG.

S11 to S23 in FIG. 3 represent processing steps. 4A to 4G, (a) is a directory icon, (b) is a directory icon submenu, (c) is a directory selection in the submenu,
(D) is a directory name input window, (e) is a history icon, (f) is a history icon submenu, and (g) is a diagram showing directory selection in the submenu. Hereinafter, the directory name designation process S1 of FIG. 3 will be described with reference to FIG.

When the operation of FIG. 3 is started, the coordinate value is input using the pointing device 7 in S11, and the input coordinate value is the position of the directory icon shown in FIG. 4A in S12. Determine whether or not. In S12, when the input coordinate value is the position of the directory icon, the process proceeds to S13, and when it is not the position of the directory icon, the process proceeds to S20.
It is determined whether or not the position is the position of the history icon shown in FIG.

When it is determined in S12 that it is the position of the directory icon, in S13, the input state when the coordinate value is input is checked. In step S13, when the pointing device 7 is a mouse having two or more buttons, for example, the type of the button is different, and when the pointing device 7 has only one button, the single-clip / double-click is different, or other distinguishable input. Due to the difference in method
The process proceeds to either S14 or S15. S
At 14, the process of setting the preset default directory name at the top of the tree structure is performed.
Now, the process of displaying the directory icon submenu is performed.

In S15, a process of displaying the directory icon submenu shown in FIG. 4B is performed. Figure 4
Of the submenus shown in (b), the home
e), data, bin, and SRC (src) are directory names, which are preset by the directory submenu reference file stored on the disk 4. .

In S16, the cursor 10 using the pointing device 7 determines whether or not to select a directory name from the submenu, and when it does, the process proceeds to S17. Further, "OTHERS" is a menu to be selected when the directory name is input from the keyboard 6 when the desired directory is not displayed in the sub menu, and is selected in S16. When,
Proceed to S18. Quit is a menu to be selected when the directory name designation process is terminated. When this is selected by the cursor 10, the process returns to the coordinate value input waiting state in S11.

S17 is a submenu shown in FIG. 4 (c).
Is a process for selecting a directory name in the cursor 10 with the cursor 10. The selected directory name is passed to the directory structure analysis process S2 in FIG. If NO in S16, the process proceeds to S18. S18 is a process when OTHERS is selected in the submenu of FIG. 4B. In this S18, the directory name input window shown in FIG. 4D is opened on the display unit 5 by the CPU 2, and the directory name input waiting state is set.
Go to. In addition, 11 in FIG. 4 (d) is a title bar, 1
2 is a directory name input position.

In step S19, a directory name is input. When the directory name is input in the directory name input position 12 of FIG. 4D and "show" is selected, the input directory name is 1 is passed to the directory structure analysis processing S2. Quit in the window of FIG. 4D is a menu to be selected when the directory name input process is terminated.

When S12 is NO, the process proceeds to S20. S
If the CPU 2 determines at 20 that the position is the position of the history icon, the process proceeds to S21. In step S21, the history icon submenu shown in FIG. 4F is displayed. Of the submenus shown in FIG. 4 (f), sub
l, data, home, src, and / usr / bin are directory names, and the directory names that have been specified so far are displayed in order from the most recent one. These directory names are managed by the directory history reference file stored on the disk 4. Of the submenus shown in FIG. 4 (f), Qui
t is a menu to be selected when ending the directory name designation processing by history.

When the submenu is selected in S22, S
Proceed to 23. In S23, the cursor 10 is used to perform the process shown in FIG.
A process of selecting a directory name in the submenu shown in (g) is performed, and the selected directory name is delivered to the directory structure analysis process S2 of FIG.

According to the directory name set by the directory name designating process S1 described above, the structure is analyzed by the directory structure analyzing process S2 of FIG. 1, and the result is displayed by the directory tree structure displaying process S3 on the display unit 5 in the tree structure. Done.

(IV) Contents of processing (S4 to S7) in the directory tree structure display window of FIG. 1 FIG. 5 shows processing in the directory tree structure display window showing details of the processing from the determination processing S4 to the determination processing S7 of FIG. The flowchart of FIG. 6A to FIG. 8A shows an example of the display of each processing content.
It is shown in (l).

S31 to S55 in FIG. 5 represent processing steps. The connector proceeds to S21 in FIG. 3 and the connector proceeds to process S2 in FIG. In FIGS. 6 to 8 (a) to (l), (a) is a directory tree structure display window displaying a tree structure with the date directory as the top level,
(B) directory box selection, (c) tree structure top level external menu, (d) tree structure top level directory box selection, (e) tree structure top level menu,
(F) is a file information display window, (g) is an information display icon, (h) is an information display icon submenu,
(I) is the whole information selection in the submenu, (j) is one directory selection in the submenu, (k) is the detailed information display directory selection, and (l) is an example of one directory detailed information display window. FIG.

In the window of FIG. 6A, the portion 13 displayed in a rectangle is a directory, and the directory name is displayed in the rectangle. Hereinafter, this rectangle is referred to as a directory box 13. 14 and 15 are scroll bars. In addition, Quit in FIG.
This is the menu to select when displaying the directory tree structure display.

The processing contents of FIG. 5 will be described below with reference to these drawings. When the operation of FIG. 5 starts, S31
Then, the process of inputting coordinate values is performed by the pointing device 7, and the process proceeds to S32. In S32, it is determined whether the input position is the background in the window, the directory box 13, or the area outside the window.

If the directory box 13 is determined in S32, the process proceeds to S33, where as shown in FIG.
The directory box 13 designated by the cursor 10 is specified. In S36, the CPU 2 determines whether the designated directory box 13 is the highest directory or a directory other than the highest directory.

If the determination result of S36 is other than the highest, S36
Proceeding to step 37, the uppermost external menu shown in FIG. The watch (wa of FIG. 6C)
tch) is a menu selected when it is desired to display the information of the files contained in the directory designated in S33. The top is a menu selected when the specified directory is located at the top of the tree structure and the tree structure is to be displayed again. Quit is a menu to be selected when ending the directory box menu.

As shown in FIG. 6D, when the directory designated by the cursor 10 is at the highest level, the process proceeds to S38, and the menu for the highest level shown in FIG. 6E is displayed.
The watch in FIG. 6E is a menu to be selected when the information of the file included in the directory designated in S33 is desired to be displayed. Up is a menu that is selected when it is desired to display the tree structure again with the uppermost directory including the currently highest directory as the uppermost directory. Quit is a menu to be selected when ending the directory box menu.

When it is determined that the selected menu is watch in S39 and S43, the process proceeds to S41, and the file information analysis process corresponding to the detailed information processing S5 of FIG. 1 is performed. That is, in S41, it is recognized that each file in the designated directory is in the format of moving picture, still picture, voice, execution, shell command, etc., and the recognition result is written in the memory 3 of FIG. The analysis result written in the memory 3 is S42 corresponding to the detailed information display processing S6 of FIG.
File information is displayed on the display unit 5.

An example of the file information display window opened by the file information display processing of S42 is shown in FIG. 7 (f). In FIG. 7F, each file fil
e1 to 5 are displayed with a file icon 20 having a fixed shape and a file name. In this example, files 1, 2,
Reference numeral 4 is a moving image file, and its file 2 is accompanied by sound. file3 is a still image file, file5
Is an executable file, and file6 is a voice (music) file. The reduced image 21 is displayed in the icon 20 in the case of a still image, the reduced image 21 of the image of the first frame is displayed in the case of a moving image, and a display 22 indicating that it is a moving image is added. When the voice is attached, a display 23 indicating that the voice is present is added. In the case of a voice (music) file6, a display 24 is displayed so that the user can easily recognize it as a music file. Execution / execution format such as text file5 displays the format in characters.

In S40 of FIG. 5, when top is specified in S39, the specified directory is set to the top of the tree structure as shown in the example of FIG. 6B, and the directory structure analysis process of FIG. 1 is performed. The process of delivering to S2 is performed. On the other hand, S
If up is specified in 43, in S44, as shown in FIG. 6 (d), the cursor 10 is searched for an upper directory including the uppermost directory in the tree structure, and the searched directory name is set. Once again set to the top of the tree structure,
Processing for delivering to the directory structure analysis processing S2 in FIG. 1 is performed.

When it is determined in S32 that it is the background, the process proceeds to S45 via S35. In S45, it is determined whether the input coordinate value is the position of the history icon shown in FIG. 4 (e). When it is determined that the position is the position of the history icon, the process proceeds to S21 of FIG. 3 through the connector, and the processes of S21 and thereafter are performed. When it is not the position of the history icon, the process proceeds to S46, and FIG.
As shown in (g), the CPU 2 determines whether it is the position of the information display icon. When it is determined that it is the position of the information display icon, the process proceeds to S47. In S47,
A menu as shown in FIG. 7 (h) is displayed. Hereinafter, the description will proceed assuming that the directory is a file in the form of a directory.

When the menu display in S47 is performed, S
At 48, a menu selection is made. In S48, FIG. 7 (i)
When all the files (all files) are selected as shown in, the information such as the update date and time, the owner, and the attribute of all the directories displayed in the tree structure display window is checked in S50, and the directory is searched in S54. Opens the detailed information display window and displays the results of the examination in a tabular form in this window.

When one file (one file) is selected in S48 as shown in FIG. 8 (j), the process branches to S49 and proceeds to S51. In S51, as shown in FIG. 8 (k), the shape of the cursor 10a is changed, and when the file designation in S52 is made for this cursor shape, S5 is set.
Detailed information display processing for one file of No. 3 is performed. In this process, a directory detailed information display window is opened, and detailed information regarding one directory is displayed in this window, an example of which is shown in FIG. In FIG. 8 (l), Quit is a menu to be selected when the detailed information display processing is terminated.

If the outside of the directory display window is selected in S32 of FIG. 5, the process branches to S34, and further S31.
Go to and wait for input of coordinate values. In S55, it is determined whether or not the process in the directory tree structure display window in FIG. 5 is completed. If not completed, the process returns to S31, and if completed, the processes from S4 to S7 in FIG. 1 are completed.

As described above, this embodiment has the following advantages.

(I) Directory tree structure display processing S3,
By the detailed information display processing S6, the tree structure that hierarchically spreads downward in the directory is visually displayed, and the number of directories in which the file information can be displayed is set to multiple by the multi-window. , Effective file search becomes possible. (Ii) Since the history function of retaining the history of the directory name designated by the directory name designation process S1 in the memory 3 is provided, the directory name at the top of the tree structure once designated can be retained and redisplayed. It will be easier. (iii) By the directory tree structure display processing S3 and the detailed information display processing S6, a menu according to the progress of the operation is displayed, so that it becomes clear what is to be done next. (Iv) By the detailed information display processing S6, the file is displayed by the icon and the file name, and the type of the file is displayed in the icon, so that the type such as the moving image / still image / sound / execution format can be understood at a glance, Easier management of media files. The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made.

For example, the directory name designation process S1 in FIG. 1 can be changed to a process other than the process in FIG. In addition, the determination process S4 to the determination process S7 in FIG.
It is also possible to change the processes up to the process other than the process shown in FIG. Further, the file management device of FIG. 2 can be added with other functional blocks in order to improve the accuracy and function of the device.

[0052]

As described in detail above, according to the first aspect of the invention, the directory tree structure is displayed by the directory tree structure display processing, and further detailed information is displayed by the detailed information display processing. The tree structure that expands hierarchically downward in the directory can be visually displayed, and the number of directories that can display file information is increased by the multi-window, improving the efficiency of file search regardless of the degree of understanding of the directory contents. .

According to the second aspect of the invention, the menu is displayed and the menu is selected in the directory name designation process. Therefore, for a certain operation, only the operation that can be selected next can be displayed in the menu. By doing so, the file search procedure becomes clear and the operability of the operator is improved.

According to the third invention, each file is displayed as an icon and the type of file is shown in the icon. For example, in the case of a moving image / still image, a reduced image is displayed in the icon, and In the case of a movie, it can be distinguished by adding a marker indicating that it is a movie, and when a voice (music) is attached, a marker indicating that there is voice (music) can be added. You can easily manage multimedia files.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the history function for managing the history of the directory name that has been designated at the top of the tree structure is provided, it becomes easy to redisplay the directory structure once displayed. , The efficiency of file search is significantly improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of processing contents of a file management method showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration block diagram of a file management device showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a directory name designation process S1 in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example of the processing contents of FIG.

5 is a flowchart of processing in a directory tree structure display window in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of processing content display of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of processing content display of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of processing content display of FIG. 5;

[Explanation of symbols]

2 CPU 3 memory 4 discs 5 Display 6 keyboard 7 pointing device S1 directory name designation processing S2 directory structure analysis processing S3 directory tree structure display processing S4, S7 judgment processing S5 Detailed information processing S6 Detailed information display processing

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification number Reference number within the agency FI Technical indication location G06F 15/62 P 8125-5L (72) Inventor Shio Kure 1-7-12 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo No. Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A directory name designating process for designating a directory name located at the top of a directory tree structure; a directory structure analyzing process for analyzing a tree structure under the directory designated by the directory name designating means; A directory tree structure display process for displaying the directory tree structure analyzed by the directory structure analysis process in a multi-window, and a detailed information analysis for the directory tree structure displayed by the directory tree structure display process as necessary. A file management method comprising: performing information processing and detailed information display processing for displaying detailed information processed in the detailed information processing in the multi-window. 2. The file management method according to claim 1, wherein the directory name designation process includes a menu display process for displaying a menu and a menu selection process for selecting the menu with a pointing device. A file management method, wherein the directory name is designated by the pointing device. 3. The file management method according to claim 1, wherein the directory tree structure display process and the detailed information display process are a process of displaying an icon, a process of searching for one frame having a moving image, and a size reduction of an image. A file management method, which comprises a process, a process of displaying the reduced image in the icon, and a process of clearly displaying a moving image / audio attribute in the icon, and visually identifying a multimedia file. . 4. A process of holding a history of a directory name designated by the directory name designation process according to claim 2, and a process of displaying the held history, wherein the displayed history is pointed to by the pointing device. A file management method characterized in that the directory name at the top of the tree structure is designated again by a device.