JPH07175811A - Electronic document control device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an electronic document control device which can produce and display a list of contents information viewed at various angles from a large amount of stored electronic documents and also can edit the displayed list. CONSTITUTION:A list display method setting part 4 sets a method for how to display a group of electronic documents retrieved by a document storing part 3 at a list information display part 12. The part 4 also designates the attribute information and the contens information which are shown in a list and then designates the display or non-display of the contents information for each component element of a structured document when this document is retrieved. A contents information extracting part 6 extracts the corresponding contents information out of the group of electronic documents, i.e., the retrieving result stored in the part 3 according to the designation of the part 4 and produces a list of contents information. An attribute information extracting part 7 extracts the corresponding attribute information according to the designation of the part 4 and produces a list of attribute information. An information connecting part 10 connects together both lists so as to secure the correspondence of information on the same electronic documents. These connected lists are shown at the part 12 and also can be edited by an editing part 122. This editing result is reflected on the electronic documents by a changing part 123.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a management device for a large amount of stored electronic documents, and more particularly, to a process for analyzing and grasping information regarding the general tendency of a desired theme from a group of stored electronic documents. The present invention relates to an electronic document management device capable of displaying a list of content information of electronic documents from various angles to assist.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional filing system can display a list of attribute information such as titles, author names, and keywords that have been added to a plurality of electronic documents in advance, but a list of content information of a plurality of electronic documents. Could not be displayed. Generally, each electronic document expresses some information by itself, but when a large number of such electronic documents are collected, it produces more information than the sum of information held by each electronic document. For example, it might be information about overall trends about a subject. Such information can be understood a little by displaying a list of attribute information that has been added in advance to the electronic document by the above-mentioned conventional filing system. However, since the attribute information is limited and registered in advance, it does not include sufficient information about the content, and has sufficient functions to analyze and grasp the content and tendency of electronic document groups from various angles. I haven't. There is an example in which a function of selecting a specific electronic document and displaying a part of the content information is added to the function of listing the attribute information in the conventional filing system (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-152972). Also in this case, the content information that can be viewed at once is limited to one electronic document. Therefore, even in this case, it cannot be useful for analyzing and grasping the meaning and tendency of the electronic document group from various angles.

[0003]

As described above, according to the conventional technique, the content information for extracting the information more than the sum of the information held by each electronic document is listed from the electronic documents stored in a large amount. It had no function. The present invention aims to solve this problem of the prior art.
That is, it is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic document management device capable of creating and displaying a list of content information from various angles from a large number of stored electronic documents. It is another object of the present invention to allow such electronic document management apparatus to edit the content information of documents in the form of a list display.

[0004]

An electronic document management apparatus according to the present invention (claim 1) is a document storage means (1, 2, 3 in FIG. 1) for storing and managing a plurality of electronic documents, and displaying attribute information. List method setting means for setting a list method including the presence / absence designation and the presence / absence designation of the display of the content information of the electronic document (see FIG. 1).
4) and the specification of display of the content information of the electronic document by the list method setting means, the content information extracting means for extracting the content information from the electronic document stored in the document storing means (FIG. 1).
6) and the designation of displaying the attribute information of the electronic document by the list method setting means, attribute information extracting means for extracting the attribute information from the electronic document stored in the document storing means (FIG. 1).
7), and information connection means (1 in FIG. 1) for connecting the content information extracted by the content information extraction means and the attribute information extracted by the attribute information extraction means related to the same electronic document.
0) and list information display means (121 in FIG. 1) for displaying a list of outputs of the information connection means.

Further, the electronic document management apparatus of the present invention (claim 2) has an editing means (122 in FIG. 1) for editing the content information or the attribute information displayed by the list information display means in the above structure. And a changing unit (123 in FIG. 1) for changing the corresponding electronic document content information in the document storage unit based on the editing result of the editing unit.

In the electronic document management apparatus (Claim 3) of the present invention, in the above configuration (Claim 1 or 2), the electronic document stored in the document storage means is a structured document. The list method setting means has a function of designating whether or not to display the content information of the constituent elements of the structured document, and the content information extracting means displays the content information of the constituent elements of the structured document by the list method setting means. It is characterized by having a function of retrieving corresponding content information from the electronic document stored in the document storage means based on the designation.

Further, in the electronic document management apparatus (claim 4) of the present invention, in the above configuration (any one of claims 1 to 3), the list method setting means is attribute information or structured document. It is possible to input a condition designation for the constituent elements of the above, and to add means (8, 9 in FIG. 1) for selecting one that meets the condition designation from the information extracted by the attribute information extracting means or the content information extracting means. It is characterized by

[0008]

The list method setting means sets the display method for viewing the desired electronic document group stored in the document storage means on the list information display means. The list method setting means specifies attribute information and content information to be listed. When a structured document is to be searched (claim 3), whether or not to display the content information is specified for each component of the structured document. The content information extraction means extracts corresponding content information from the electronic document group of the search result in the document storage means according to the designation of the list method setting means, and creates the list (list). The attribute information extraction means extracts the corresponding attribute information from the electronic document group of the search result in the document storage means according to the designation of the list method setting means,
Make that list. The information connection unit connects the list of content information and the list of attribute information so that the information of the same electronic document corresponds to each other. The linked information list is displayed by the list information display means. When it is desired to edit the displayed content information (Claim 2), when the user gives an editing start instruction, the editing means deletes or adds to the character string of the content information or the attribute information. It becomes possible to edit. When the editing is performed in response to the editing input by the user and, for example, the editing completion instruction is given, the changing unit searches the document file in the document storage unit and replaces the contents with the edited contents or attributes. According to the present invention, it becomes possible to selectively display a list of content information, which was not possible with the conventional technology, by a simple designation. Therefore, it can be useful for analyzing and grasping the meaning and tendency of the electronic document group from various angles. Further, when the displayed information is edited by the editing means (claim 2), it is possible to edit after grasping the meaning and the overall tendency of the electronic document group by the displayed information. , Its editing will be more appropriate. Especially when the stored electronic document is a structured document (Claim 3).
Since the list method can be set for each component, it is possible to finely extract information from various angles, so it is possible to analyze and grasp the meaning and tendency of electronic document groups from various angles. Extremely useful. Also,
When the condition can be designated for each component (claim 4), only necessary information that meets the condition can be quickly selected and displayed from the electronic document group.

[0009]

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an electronic document management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. This electronic document management device is composed of the following parts. 1) A document operation unit 1 for registering / deleting / retrieving an electronic document. 2) An attribute information adding unit 2 that adds attribute information to the registered electronic document. 3) Document storage unit 3 for storing registered electronic documents. 4) A list method setting unit 4 that specifies the information to be listed and the display order. 5) When the registered electronic document has a structure in its content information, a structure information extraction unit 5 that extracts the structure information. 6) A content information extraction unit 6 that extracts content information from the stored electronic document. 7) An attribute information extraction unit 7 that extracts attribute information from the stored electronic document. 8) A content information determination unit 8 that determines a condition for the retrieved content information. 9) An attribute information determination unit 9 that determines a condition for the extracted attribute information. 10) Information connection unit 1 that connects content information and attribute information
0. 11) An information sorting unit 11 that sorts the content information, the attribute information, or the information extracted using the content information and the attribute information as keys. 12) A display unit 121 that displays a list of the extracted content information or attribute information, or content information and attribute information, an editing unit 122 that edits the displayed content information, and an editing result by the editing unit 122. A list information display / editing unit 12 including a changing unit 123 that changes the content information of documents stored in the document storage unit 3. In addition, in the above-described configuration, the portions surrounded by thick frames in FIG. 1, that is, the structure information extracting unit 5, the content information extracting unit 6, the content information determining unit 8 and the information connecting unit 10 have a new function according to the present invention. The structure of the remaining part is a component usually provided in the conventional electronic document management apparatus.

The operation of the electronic document management apparatus of the embodiment configured as above will be described with reference to the drawings. The electronic document to which the attribute information is added by the attribute information addition unit 2 is registered in the document storage unit 3, and the registered document is retrieved by a search as needed. Electronic documents that are no longer needed are deleted. These operations are performed from the document operation unit 1. Registered electronic documents may or may not be structured documents. A target electronic document group including desired information is specified from the electronic document group registered in the document storage unit 3.
For example, when the electronic document group is organized in several folders or directories in the document storage unit 3, the target is specified by selecting a desired folder or directory. The method for viewing the target electronic document group is specified by the list method setting unit 4.

(Example where Content Information of Electronic Document Does Not Have Structure) FIG. 2 is an example of a setting screen of the list method setting unit 4 when the content information of the electronic document to be listed has no structure. The user specifies the presence / absence of display, the presence / absence of sorting, and the sort type for each of the attribute information such as the title and the author name and the content information, on the screen as shown in FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the title and the contents of the electronic document are displayed, and it is specified that the titles are sorted in ascending order. The content information extraction unit 6 extracts corresponding content information from the target electronic document group in the document storage unit 3 according to the designation of the list method setting unit 4, and creates a list (list). The attribute information extraction unit 7 extracts corresponding attribute information from the electronic document group of the search result in the document storage unit according to the designation of the list method setting unit 4, and creates the list. The information connection unit 10 connects the list of content information and the list of attribute information so that information of the same electronic document corresponds. The linked information list (list information) is stored in a buffer (not shown) and then displayed on the display screen by the display unit 121 of the list information display / editing unit 12. FIG. 3 shows the display unit 121 when the content information of the electronic documents to be listed has no structure.
Is an example of a display screen of. Here, the title, which is one of the attribute information, and the content information are linked and displayed in a list, and sorted by title.

As described above, when the user wants to edit the displayed content information, when the user gives an instruction to start editing by using a button (not shown) on the display screen, the editing unit 122 When activated, the editing unit 122
In the example of FIG. 3, a caret (cursor) is displayed in the “Document content” column, and it is possible to edit, such as delete or add, the character string or the like of the content information in the list information stored in the buffer. . When the editing is performed according to the editing input by the user and the editing completion instruction is issued in the same manner, the editing unit 1
22 sets the edit flag to “1” for the corresponding file name in the list information. Figure 4 Example of edit management of list information
It shows in (a). As shown in FIG. 10A, an edit flag (column) is provided for a list in which attribute information (column) and content information (column) are linked for each file name (column). In the same figure, (a) shows a state in which the content of the file with the file name (File name) C is edited and "1" is set in the corresponding edit flag column.

On the other hand, the changing unit 123, for example, scans the edit flag column after the edit end instruction or at a predetermined time, and when the flag "1" is set, the file name corresponding to the flag "1" is set. , The document file in the document storage unit 3 is searched, and the content is replaced with the edited content. When the replacement is completed, the changing unit 123 performs a process of returning the corresponding edit flag to “0”. It should be noted that in the above description of editing, the editing of the content information has been described, but it is clear that the attribute information can be edited in the same manner as the above description when the attribute information needs to be edited. is there.

(Example of Content Information of Electronic Document Having Structure)
FIG. 5 is an example of a setting screen of the list method setting unit 4 when the content information of the electronic document to be listed has a structure. The user specifies the presence / absence of display and the presence / absence of sorting for each part of the attribute information such as the title and the author name, and each part of the content information obtained from the structure information extraction unit 5. here,
As the stored electronic document, an electronic published patent publication is assumed. In the example of FIG. 4, the title, author name,
The date of creation, the application number, and the detailed description of the invention are not displayed, but the application date, the title of the invention, and the claims are instructed to be displayed, and the sorting is in ascending order by the application date. The content information extraction unit 6 extracts corresponding content information from the target electronic document group in the document storage unit 3 according to the designation of the list method setting unit 4, and creates the list. The attribute information extraction unit 7 extracts corresponding attribute information from the electronic document group of the search result in the document storage unit according to the designation of the list method setting unit 4, and creates the list. The information connection unit 10 connects the list of content information and the list of attribute information so that information of the same electronic document corresponds. The linked information list is displayed on the display unit 121 of the list information display / editing unit 12. FIG. 6 is an example of a display screen of the display unit 121 when the content information of the electronic documents to be listed has a structure.
Here, the application date, the title of the invention, and each of the claims are listed in the content information and sorted by the application date.

As described above, when the user wants to edit the displayed content information, when the user gives an editing start instruction using a button (not shown) on the display screen, the editing unit 122 causes When activated, the editing unit 122
In the example of FIG. 6, a caret (cursor) is displayed in the first column of the content information display columns such as “application date”, “invention name”, and “claim”, and stored in the buffer. Of the list information, it is possible to edit, such as delete or add to the character string of the content information. When the editing is performed according to the editing input by the user and the editing completion instruction is issued in the same manner, the editing unit 122 sets the edit flag to “1” for the corresponding file name and structure ID of the list information. An example of edit management of list information is shown in FIG. File name and structure ID as shown in FIG.
An edit flag (column) is provided for the list in which the attribute information (column) and the content information (column) are linked for each (column). In the same figure, (b) shows a state in which the content of the structural element having the structural ID 002 of the file name (File name) C is edited and "1" is set in the corresponding edit flag column.

On the other hand, the changing unit 123, for example, scans the edit flag column after the editing end instruction or at a predetermined time, and when the flag "1" is set, the file name corresponding to the flag "1" is set. From the structural element ID of, the structural element of the document file of the document storage unit 3 is searched, and the content is replaced with the content of the edited structural element. When the replacement is complete,
The changing unit 123 performs a process of returning the corresponding edit flag to "0". It should be noted that in the above description of editing, the editing of the content information has been described, but it is clear that the attribute information can be edited in the same manner as the above description when the attribute information needs to be edited. is there.

FIG. 7 is an example of a setting screen of the list method setting unit 4 when a condition designation is added to information. In the setting screen example of FIG. 5, a condition designating section is provided for each attribute and each constituent element of the structured document, and FIG. 7 shows an example of designating a condition of filing date of May 1990. Has been done. FIG. 8 is an example of a display screen of the list information display unit 12 when the range is specified for the application date. Corresponding to the designation in FIG. 7, the filing date of the patent application filed in May 1990, the title of the invention, and the contents of the claims are displayed.

Next, taking the case where the content information of the electronic document has a structure as an example, the operation after setting the list method by specifying the conditions and taking out the necessary information and displaying the list will be described. FIG. 9 is an example of an algorithm of processing of the structure information extraction unit 5. Since electronic documents having different structures may be stored in the same directory hierarchy, a list of electronic document titles is displayed first (step S
91), the user selects a specific electronic document (step S
92), inquires about the structure information of the selected electronic document (step S93), and obtains the structure information (step S9).
4). For example, when the user selects an electronic document whose title is a patent publication from the title list, the structure information extraction unit 5
Extracts the application number, filing date, invention title, claims and detailed description of the invention from the electronic document as document structure information, and passes it to the list method setting unit 1, and the list method setting unit 1 in FIG. It is displayed on the list method setting screen like this. Then, the instruction set on the setting screen is passed to the content information extraction unit 6. The document storage unit 3 takes out an electronic document having the same structure as the set structure information in order to list it.

The content information extraction unit 6 has the same structure as the electronic document selected by the user in the structure information extraction unit 5 among the electronic documents obtained as a result of searching the document storage unit 3 by the operation from the document operation unit 1. Select electronic documents, inquire about the content information, and create a list of content information. FIG. 10 shows an example of the algorithm of the process of the content information extracting unit 6. The structure information (a) of the electronic documents to be listed is input from the listing method setting unit 4 (step S101). The index to the electronic document to be searched is initialized (step S102), and the electronic document pointed to by the index is queried for structure information (structure information (b)) (step S10).
3). The input structural information (a) is compared with the structural information (b) obtained by the inquiry (step S10).
4) If they are different, it does not correspond to the one set by the list method setting unit 4, so the content of the index is incremented to check the next electronic document (step S107), and the process proceeds to step 93. As a result of the comparison, when the structure information (a) and (b) match, the electronic document indicated by the index is inquired about the content information. That is, the content information of the electronic document indicated by the index is taken out from the document storage unit 3 together with information (for example, a number uniquely assigned when the document is stored) that can uniquely identify the electronic document in the document storage unit (step S105). Then, it is determined whether or not it is the last electronic document (step S10).
6) If not, the content of the index is incremented to check the next electronic document (step S107). When the processing is completed up to the last electronic document, the list of content information obtained in step 95 is output to the content information determination unit 8.

In the list method setting section 4, conditions may be specified as shown in FIG. There is a content information determination unit 8 for selecting those that match the condition designation. The content information determination unit 8 determines whether or not each element of the list of content information created by the content information extraction unit 6 matches the condition designation, and creates a list of matching content information. FIG. 11 is an algorithm example of the content information determination unit 8. The list of content information created by the content information extraction unit 6 is input together with the condition designation information designated by the list method setting unit 4 (step S111). The index to the content information in the content information list created by the content information extraction unit 6 is initialized (step S112). It is determined whether the content information indicated by the index satisfies the specified condition (step S113). When the condition is not satisfied as a result of the determination, the content of the index is incremented (step S115) and the process proceeds to the next determination. When the result of the determination is that the condition is satisfied, it is determined whether or not the content information is the last one in the list (step S114), and if it is not the last, the content of the index is incremented (step S115), and the next content is determined. Similar processing continues for the information. When the processing for the last content information in the list is completed, the list of content information that matches the condition is output to the information linking unit 10.

The attribute information extraction unit 4 is designated to display the electronic document set by the list method setting unit 4 from each electronic document obtained as a result of the search of the document storage unit 3 by the operation from the document operation unit 1. The attribute information is taken out, information to uniquely identify this electronic document in the document storage unit 3 is added, and it is output to the attribute information determination unit 9. The attribute information determination unit 9 selects only those that meet the condition based on the condition specification set by the list method setting unit 4, and creates the attribute information list.

Next, the information linking unit 10 compares the respective elements of the content information list and the attribute information list and creates a pair list of the same electronic document. FIG. 12 shows the information connection unit 1.
It is an example of an algorithm of 0. First, the list of content information created by the content information determination unit 8 and the attribute information list created by the attribute information determination unit 9 are input to the information connection unit 10 (step S121). The index to the content information and the index to the attribute information are initialized (steps S122 and 123). It is determined whether or not the electronic document of the content information indicated by the content index and the electronic document corresponding to the attribute indicated by the attribute index are the same by comparing the information uniquely identifying the document added to the respective information (step S124). ). If they are not the same, the attribute index is incremented, and the determination of step S124 is similarly performed for the next attribute (step S12).
5, 126). When it is determined that they are the same in step S124, the content information and the attribute information are linked (step S127) and added to the linked list (step S128). Such processing is repeated until the connection of the total content information and the attribute information is completed (step S129,
Step S130). The linked list of the content information and the attribute information obtained in this way is output to the information sorting unit 11 (step S131).

The information sorting section 11 sorts according to the items to be sorted set by the list method setting section 4 and the ascending order or descending order designation condition. The sorted information is displayed by the list information display unit 12. When the electronic document does not have a structure, the list method is basically specified except for the attribute information, and the structure information extraction unit 5 is not provided, and the extraction of the content information is simplified. Specifically, the operation is the same as that described in detail above.

[0024]

According to the present invention, it becomes possible to selectively display a list of content information, which was not possible with the prior art, by a simple designation. Therefore, it can be useful for analyzing and grasping the meaning and tendency of the electronic document group from various angles. Further, when the displayed information is used for editing by the editing means (claim 2), it is possible to carry out the editing after grasping the meaning and the overall tendency of the electronic document group by the displayed information. , Its editing will be more appropriate. When the stored electronic document is a structured document (Claim 3), the list method can be set for each constituent element, so that information can be finely extracted from various angles. It is extremely useful for analyzing and grasping the meanings and tendencies of document groups from various angles. Further, when the condition is specified for each attribute information or each constituent element (claim 4), only the necessary information meeting the condition can be quickly selected and displayed from the electronic document group.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an electronic document management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a setting screen of a list method setting unit when content information has no structure.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of a list information display unit when content information has no structure.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of editing management of list information, in which (a) is a general document and (b) is a structured document.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a setting screen of a list method setting unit when the content information has a structure.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of a list information display unit when the content information has a structure.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a setting screen of a list method setting unit when specifying conditions for information.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of a list information display unit when conditions are specified for information.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a processing flow of a structure information extraction unit.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a flow of processing of a content information extraction unit.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a flow of processing of a content information determination unit.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a flow of processing of an information connecting unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Document operation unit, 2 ... Attribute information addition unit, 3 ... Document storage unit, 4 ... List method setting unit, 5 ... Structure information extraction unit, 6 ... Content information extraction unit, 7 ... Attribute information extraction unit, 8 ... Contents Information determination unit, 9 ... Attribute information determination unit, 10 ... Information connection unit, 11 ... Information sorting unit, 12 ... List information display / editing unit, 121 ... Display unit, 122 ... Editing unit, 123 Change unit.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Office reference number FI technical display location 9194-5L G06F 15/403 380 D

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A document storage means for storing and managing a plurality of electronic documents, a list method for setting a list method including specification of presence / absence of display of attribute information, and specification of presence / absence of display of content information of an electronic document. A setting means, a content information extraction means for extracting content information from the electronic document stored in the document storage means based on the designation of the display of the content information of the electronic document by the list method setting means, and an electronic document of the electronic document by the list method setting means. Attribute information extraction means for extracting attribute information from the electronic document stored in the document storage means based on designation of display of attribute information, content information extracted by the content information extraction means and attributes extracted by the attribute information extraction means An electronic document management device comprising: an information linking unit for linking information related to electronic documents having the same information; and a list information display unit for displaying a list of outputs of the information linking unit. 2. The editing means for editing the content information or the attribute information displayed by the list information display means, and the corresponding electronic document content information in the document storage means is changed based on the editing result of the editing means. The electronic document management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a changing unit. 3. The electronic document stored in the document storage means is a structured document, the list method setting means has a function of designating whether or not to display the content information of the constituent elements of the structured document, and the content information extraction The means has a function of extracting corresponding content information from the electronic document stored in the document storage means based on the designation of the content information display of the constituent elements of the structured document by the list method setting means. Alternatively, the electronic document management device according to any one of 2). 4. The list method setting means is capable of inputting attribute information or a condition designation for a constituent element of a structured document, and is provided with a means for selecting one that conforms to the condition designation. The electronic document management device according to claim 1.