JPH0830628A - Method and device for managing data - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To efficiently manage the vehavior or characteristics of data with the lapse of time by managing data to be changed with the lapse of time correspondingly to an event value obtained by numerizing the changed contents of the data based upon a prescribed rule. CONSTITUTION:In order to express the 'importance' of an event as a value, values expressing importance are allocated to all attributes appearing in a data base schema. A value written in parentheses following an attribute name is the importance of the attribute (reference numbers 501 to 508). A group of three values written in each connecting relation expresses 'relational coefficient', 'generation weight' and 'disappearance weight' arranged successively from the left side (reference numbers 509 to 512). The importance of an event is calculated based upon an attribute changed by the generation of the event, importance distributed to connecting relation and various values. The event importance is managed correspondingly to event generation time.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data management method and device for managing data whose contents change over time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for applications such as DTP systems and groupware to process multimedia data. Accordingly, as a mechanism for creating and managing complex and diverse multimedia data, an example of using a database is increasing. Furthermore, it is expected that databases will be used as the basis for various applications,
The demands on the database from the application side are also diverse.

As one of such requests from the application side, a mechanism for managing a history of data changes over time is required. By using this mechanism, it becomes possible to search past data and inquire about the period during which the data satisfied certain conditions. Therefore, it is considered to be very effective for management of data such as statistical data and company organization whose values and structures need to be updated irregularly.

[0004]

In a conventional system that supports such a mechanism, an SQL (structured query l) is provided in order for the user to obtain information regarding the time of a certain data.
Anguage) was used for data manipulation. However, such a user interface has the following problems.

1) Since no definitive method for optimizing a time-related inquiry has been found so far, it is necessary for the user to successfully narrow down the target at the stage of issuing the inquiry.
However, it is impossible to provide a mechanism for supporting the narrowing down in a query language such as SQL. In order to narrow down, users need to repeat trial queries and grasp the overall tendency. 2) The data related to the queries tends to be huge, and therefore data other than the desired results should be carefully examined. I have to remove it. However, there is a problem that the desired result cannot be obtained without repeating the inquiry including a large amount of useless data.

As a solution to these problems, a method of mapping data on a graph having time as one axis is used. By thus allowing the user to take a bird's eye view of the data, it is possible to give the user a hint of efficient processing at the inquiry stage.

However, conventionally, this type of solution can be applied only to data having a simple structure such as a simple numerical value. Therefore, as the application becomes more complex, so does the data structure.
It is difficult to realize a simple bird's eye view of such data.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and manages data that changes with the passage of time in association with event values obtained by digitizing the contents of the change according to a predetermined rule. By doing so, it is an object of the present invention to provide a data management method and device capable of efficiently managing the behavior and characteristics of data over time.

Another object of the present invention is to display an edit history by displaying the event value at each change for data that changes with the passage of time, using a graph having a time axis, for example. An object of the present invention is to provide a data management method and device that can overview the behavior and characteristics of data with the passage of time and can easily grasp this.

Further, another object of the present invention is to make it possible to narrow down the search range by using the event value when searching for data that changes with the passage of time, and to perform efficient search. It is to provide a data management method and device for performing the above.

Further, another object of the present invention is to manage the document data together with the editing history by digitizing and holding the editing contents together with the editing history based on a predetermined rule. It is possible to display
It is an object of the present invention to provide a data management method and device that facilitates grasping an edit history and edit contents.

Further, another object of the present invention is to digitize the editing position by each worker for the editing work performed by a plurality of workers, and simultaneously display the editing history (for example, on the same graph). Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a data management method and apparatus capable of easily detecting a collision of editing work between workers.

[0013]

[Means for Solving the Problems] and

The data management apparatus of the present invention for achieving the above object has the following configuration. That is, a data management device that manages data that changes due to the occurrence of an event, and a first storage unit that stores the event occurrence time that indicates the time when the event occurs and the content of the data change caused by the event in association with each other. , And a second storing means for storing the event occurrence time and the event value in association with each other, the generating means generating the event value by digitizing the change content based on a predetermined rule.

With the above configuration, the contents of data change due to the occurrence of an event are digitized based on a predetermined rule,
The event value is stored in association with the occurrence time of the event. Therefore, it is possible to efficiently manage the behavior and characteristics of data over time.

Further, preferably, there is further provided display means for displaying the edit history of the data in the form of a graph based on the event occurrence time and the event value. This is because it is possible to easily understand how the data changes over time.

[0016] Preferably, the search range of the search means is specified based on the event value corresponding to the search time, and the search means for searching the event occurrence time by using the information based on the change content of the data as the search condition. And a specifying unit for performing the same. This is because the efficiency of search processing can be achieved by using the event value.

A data management device having another structure of the present invention for achieving the above-mentioned other object has the following structure. That is, the data management device manages the document data changed by the editing work together with the editing history, and edits the editing content by the editing work into a numerical value based on a predetermined rule, thereby editing the editing value corresponding to the editing content. Acquiring means for acquiring the editing time, storing means for storing the editing time when the editing work is performed and the editing value acquired by the acquiring means in association with each other, and the editing time and the editing value stored by the storing means. Display means for displaying the edit history based on the above.

According to the above configuration, the editing contents of the document data are digitized based on a predetermined rule, and the editing values are
It is stored in association with the occurrence time of the editing work (editing time). Then, the edit history of the document data is displayed based on the edit value and the edit time. Therefore, it becomes easy to grasp the edit history and the edit contents of the document data.

Further, preferably, for the editing work performed by a plurality of workers, the storage means associates the editing time at which the editing work is executed with the editing value obtained by the obtaining means for each worker. The display means simultaneously displays the edit history by the plurality of workers based on the edit time and the edit position stored in the storage means. This is because with respect to the editing work performed by a plurality of workers, it is possible to easily detect the collision of the editing work by the respective workers and improve the efficiency of the joint work.

[0020]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<First Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of a database system according to a first embodiment. In the figure, 201 and 202 are general workstations. These are equipped with appropriate input devices, CPU, memory, secondary storage devices, and output devices such as CRT displays, and can exchange data with each other via the Ethernet cable 203.

Further, reference numerals 204 to 209 represent software configurations operating on the workstations 201 and 202. A database management system 204 operates on the workstation 201. The database management system 204 can be roughly divided into a secondary storage management system 205 for recording / holding data and a data processing program 206 for managing / processing data according to a request from a system user. Also,
Reference numeral 207 represents one of the data managed by the database management system 204. Further, the database management system 204 according to the present embodiment is assumed to have a function of storing a change in the value of data over time (such a database system is generally called a temporal database system).

In the system of FIG. 1, the data and the change in the value of the data over time are managed on the same database. However, even in the system in which the change in the value is handled in a format different from that of the data, the present embodiment is used. It can be realized in the same manner as.

Reference numeral 208 is a client program,
It is a program that defines processing on the client side of the database management system 204. The information passed from the database management system 204 is transferred to the workstation 20.
The main processing is performed by the data display program 209 for displaying on the second CRT display or the like.

Next, the data handled by the system shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of data managed by the database management system 204. The data representing such a data structure will be referred to as a database
Let's call it schema.

Reference numerals 301 to 304 in FIG. 2 correspond to "individual", "school", "company", and "department" in the company, respectively, and are "data structures representing entities in the database". . Hereinafter, the "data structure representing an entity in the database" will be referred to as a "class", and the "entity in the database" will be referred to as an "object". The word "entity" is used to mean "a certain existence" in the real world. The data 207 in FIG.
Represents one object. In addition, "attributes" such as names and places are defined in the four classes in FIG.

The remaining 305 to 308 represent "connection relationships" between objects. The connection relation 305 is “learn with”, and the “individual” 301 and “school” 302
"Individual" is "school" and "learn by""
Becomes Similarly, the connection relationship 306 “working with” gives
““ Individual ”is a“ company ”and“ working ”” is indicated, and “belonging to” in the consolidated relationship 307 indicates that “individual” is a “department”.
“Belongs to” is shown. When these relationships are expressed in words as described above, an object corresponding to the subject is called a "main object", and an object corresponding to the complement is called a "subordinate object".

An example of a state in which the data content of the object group corresponding to the database schema defined as described above has changed will be described. FIG.
Change of data content that occurred for each object group,
That is, it is a diagram illustrating an example of an event occurrence state. Here, an event corresponds to an event that has occurred with respect to an entity (in the real world) corresponding to an object, and is a general term for some processing or operation that has occurred in the database. In the first embodiment, an operation related to changing the attributes of objects and the relationship between objects corresponds to an event.

FIG. 3A shows the state of a certain object group in the initial state (time = T0). Here, “Mr.X” is shown as an object of the class “Individual” and “Univ. Of ABC” is shown as an object of the class “School”. Further, as the connection relation 403, the connection relation “learn with” is used.

The following FIGS. 3B, 3C, and 3D show how each object was changed by the events that occurred at times T1, T2, and T3, respectively. Here, (a), (b), (c), and
It is assumed that (d) are arranged side by side with time (that is, when T0 <T1 <T2 <T3). Further, the underlined attributes and the connection relationship shown by the thick line represent the contents changed by the event.

3, in the initial state (a), "individual: Mr. X" (401) is "school: Uni.
v. “ABC” (402), “Learning” (40
3) It means that.

The following (b) shows Mr. It is a state in which X graduated from school, joined "Company: XYZinc." (404), and belonged to "Department: Section xyz" (405). By this event, the "linkage: learn with" (403) disappears, and instead "linkage: work with" (407) and "linkage:"
Belongs to "(408) is generated.

Next, in (c), "Department: Section
Since the location (409) of “n xyz” (405) has moved, its value has been changed (object 41
1).

The last (d) is Mr. X (401) has moved to a new "Department: Section stu" (4
06). Therefore, the connection relationship (408) with the old department disappears, and the connection relationship (410) with the new department is generated instead.

In the present embodiment, a function of creating a graph is provided which gives a bird's eye view of a series of events related to such an object with time as one axis. In the following, such a graph that gives an overview of the behavior of data that changes over time will be referred to as a "navigation graph."

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a general navigation graph. In this figure, the X-axis (101) represents time and the Y-axis (102) represents the color depth of the ellipse (103). A polygonal line (104) is a navigation graph showing how the color of this ellipse (103) changes with time.

On the other hand, in the navigation graph of the first embodiment, "event importance" is used as the value for the time axis. Event importance is an index of how important an event occurred in an object is to the object. FIG. 8 shows a navigation graph corresponding to the series of events shown in FIG. 3 based on event importance. Hereinafter, a method of calculating the event importance degree for generating such a navigation graph will be described.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the degree of importance set for each attribute and connection relation of the database schema of FIG.

In order to express the "importance" or "severity" of an event as a value, first, all the attributes appearing in the database schema are assigned numerical values representing the importance of the attribute. Next, three values of "relation coefficient", "generation weight", and "disappearance weight" are assigned to all the connection relations in the database schema.

The relation coefficient is a value indicating how related the event that occurred in the slave object is to the master object. For example, "Mr.X" and "Univ.of
The relation coefficient in the connection relation (“learn with”) that connects with “ABC” is the sub-object “Univ.of AB”.
The event generated in “C” is the main object “Mr.
It shows how related it is to "X". The "generation weight" and the "disappearance weight" are values that represent the degree of importance when the relationship is generated and disappears.

The importance of each attribute specified here and the generation / disappearance weight of each connection are called the basic importance. These basic importance values are positive integers defined when the database schema was created. Further, the relation coefficient of each connection relation is a real number of 0 or more and 1 or less.

In FIG. 5, the value written in parentheses after the attribute name is the importance of the attribute (reference numbers 501 to 50).
8). Further, three sets of values added to each connection relation represent “relationship coefficient”, “generation weight”, and “disappearance weight” in order from the left (reference numerals 509 to 512). In FIG. 5, default values of these values are designated. Default values are specified for the classes and the connections between the classes. This default value is normally used for each object and the connection relationship between objects, but it is also possible to set a value individually.

Here, the types of events affecting a certain object are enumerated: an event that occurs in the object itself, an event that occurs in a relationship that has that object as a main object, and a slave object in that relationship. There are three types of events that occurred in.
Of course, it is conceivable that an event may affect an object via two or more relationships. However, the effect level of such an event becomes extremely small by applying multiple relationship coefficients. I will ignore it in the example.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the method of calculating the event importance level in the first embodiment. As shown in the figure, the importance of the event in the object A is obtained. Here, the calculation algorithm of the event importance level will be described with reference to FIG. 7 in which the equation of FIG. 6 is expressed as a flowchart. FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of calculating event importance according to the first embodiment.

First, the importance of an event that occurred in a certain object A itself is calculated. The event that occurs in the object A itself is a change in the value of the attribute of the object A. Therefore, in step S701, it is checked whether there is an attribute whose value has been changed in the object A. If the attribute value has been changed in the object A, the process proceeds to step S702. Step S702
In (1), the sum of the basic importance of each changed attribute is calculated, and the value is set as the initial value of the event importance in the object A. If the attribute value of the object A is not changed, the process proceeds to step S703, and the initial value of the event importance level is set to 0.

Next, in step S704, it is checked whether or not there is a relationship in which the object A is the main object among the newly created relationships. If such a relationship exists, the process advances to step S705 to add the "generation weight" of the relationship to the event importance level. On the other hand, if no new connection relationship is generated with the object A as the main object, the process proceeds to step S706.

In step S706, it is checked whether or not there is a disappeared linking relation having the object A as the main object. Then, if they exist, the process proceeds to step S707, and the "disappearance weight" of those connection relations.
Add the sum of to the event importance. The event importance calculated in the above steps (steps S701 to S707) is referred to as "unique importance".

Finally, the influence of the subordinate objects having the object A as the main object is taken into consideration. First, in step S708, it is checked whether or not a subordinate object exists. However, the sub-objects that are connected by the newly created connection relationship or the disappeared connection relationship in this event are excluded from the processing here.

In step S709, the above step S
The "unique importance" of each slave object found in the processing of 708 is obtained. "Inherent importance" of the subordinate object
Can be calculated by applying the processing from step S701 to step S703. However, if the value happens to be already calculated in another processing, the value may be reused.

Then, in step S710, the "unique importance" of each slave object is multiplied by the "relationship coefficient" of the slave object to add to the event importance. In this way, when the processing is completed for all the subordinate objects related to the object A, the event importance degree of the final object A is obtained.

According to the above calculation method, as shown in FIG.
The event importance of each event of (c) and (d) is
It becomes 80, 5, 100 in order. That is, when the event importance level in FIG. 4A is set to 0, the connection relationship (403) disappears in FIG. 3B, and the connection relationships (407) and 840 are deleted.
8) has been generated. Therefore, the event importance in FIG. 3B is: extinction weight of connection relation 403 + generation weight of connection relation 407 + generation weight of connection relation 408 = 10 + 20 + 50 = 80.

Further, in FIG. 3C, since the attribute “location” of the “department” (411) which is the subordinate object of the connection relation 408 is changed, the event importance is “department” (411). Is multiplied by the relation coefficient of the connection relation 408. That is, the event importance in (c) of FIG. 3 is given by: “unique importance of“ department ”(411) ד belongs to ”(408) = 10 × 0.5 = 5.

Finally, in (d) of FIG.
Since 8 disappears and a new connection 410 is created,
The event importance is the extinction weight of the relationship 408 and the relationship 410.
Is the sum of the generation weights of. That is, the event importance of (d) of FIG. 3 is: extinction weight of connection relation 408 + generation weight of connection relation 410 = 50 + 50 = 100.

The navigation graph shown in FIG. 8 can be obtained by mapping the results obtained as described above into a graph with time on the X-axis. That is,
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a navigation graph of data changed as shown in FIG.

Further, FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a typical navigation graph created as described above. According to such a navigation graph, it is possible to read information such as trends (behavior) in time series such as when data is stable and when it is unstable, and relations between events that are close to each other. .

For example, in FIG. 9, times t1, t2, t3,
It can be seen that the events are concentrated around t4 and the data is unstable (1001 to 1004). Especially t2, t4
You can see that the event at was quite important. At other times, it can be read that the data is stable.

Further, by the navigation graph,
It becomes possible to efficiently inquire about the time of a certain data. This point will be described below.

Inquiries regarding time can be classified into those associated with the event that occurred in the data and those not specifically associated. For example, a query that is not associated with an event is "19
Mr. How much does X cost? And the like. In such a query, the query itself already contains the time and it is not necessary to identify the event and therefore to associate it with the event.

On the other hand, an example of the inquiry associated with the event is "What is the starting salary for Mr. X?" The event associated with this inquiry is "employment of Mr. X." The time of the event “Job of Mr. X” is specified and the time of Mr. Letting T be the time when X got a job, this inquiry is processed as an inquiry “What is the salary of Mr. X at time T?” That is not associated with the event.

Here, in order to specify the time of the event "Job hunting for Mr. X", normally, Mr. Life of X (all careers)
You must find the event "Jobs in Mr. X" by scanning. On the other hand, the first embodiment
By introducing the navigation graph of, it becomes possible to efficiently search for events.

That is, the event importance level of the event "Mr. X (graduation and employment)" is 80 according to the above-mentioned calculation of the event importance level, so select an event of importance level 80 from the navigation graph of FIG. You can For example, according to the navigation graph of FIG. 9, the event (1005, 1006, 1007, 1008) is an event with the importance level of 80, and thereafter, “M” is selected from these candidates.
r. You can find out that you can find "X's job".

The narrowing down of the candidates performed here can be performed by the user's explicit operation, but it can also be automated as a system for improving the query efficiency of the system.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, a navigation graph for overlooking the temporal transition of data is provided based on the occurrence of an event for the data managed by the database. For example, the time axis (x
By setting the event importance of each event on the y-axis of the navigation graph, the user can obtain the importance of each event visually, and the behavior and tendency of the data can be displayed. It will be easy to grasp. Further, by using the event importance as a kind of index, it becomes possible to efficiently process the inquiry associated with the event.

<Second Embodiment> In the above first embodiment,
The general method of creating a navigation graph for data whose numerical value corresponding to time is not obvious is described. However, depending on the type of data, it may be possible to create a navigation graph that reflects the meaning of the data. For example, for data that appears as simple numerical values such as air temperature and water temperature, it is more desirable to map the numerical values as they are on the graph with time on the X-axis, rather than converting them to event importance levels as in Example 1. May be obtained.

In a database that handles only data of a specific type, it is possible to create a navigation graph that reflects the meaning of the data. Here, as an example of such a database, a document database that mainly handles documents is taken up, and application of a navigation graph in the document database is described.

The document database taken up here is
It is not a so-called document search system, but a word processor or DTP application used for document creation. Such a document database is usually used as a simple document storage mechanism, but it can provide functions such as document retrieval, access management, and change history management in response to user requests.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the schematic arrangement of a document creation application according to the second embodiment.

In the figure, reference numeral 1101 is a document database, which is used by the document creation program 1106 for the purpose of document management. This document database 1101 is
It is composed of a secondary storage system 1102 for storing documents and a document management program 1103 for managing and processing documents according to a request from the document creation program 1106.
The document data 1104 managed by the document database 1101 has a function of managing, together with the document data, information about what changes have been made to the document in the past. Therefore, it is possible to reproduce the process of creating a document in such a document database.

In the second embodiment, it is assumed that the document data 1104 is a simple character string. In such simple document data, the process of creating a document is expressed as a sequence of character string replacement operations of "replacing a partial character string of length L starting from the Xth from the beginning of document A with a character string S". be able to.

Therefore, by taking the character position from the beginning of the document as the Y-axis, and writing the point representing the position of the beginning character and the ending character of the replaced partial character string and the straight line connecting the points, the navigation Create a graph.
Then, a navigation graph (FIG. 12) corresponding to the document creation process as shown in FIG. 11 is obtained.

In the navigation graph of FIG. 12, a bias such as a correction in the process of creating a document can be overlooked. In this example, the changes are concentrated at times t1, t2, and t3. Furthermore, it can be seen that the changed positions at each time are also concentrated at each time (1301 to 130).
3). These pieces of information provide the user with a hint to know the tendency to be noted in the document creation and the whole tendency, and are particularly effective information in the collaborative document creation environment.

The navigation graph in the collaborative document creation environment will be described below. The navigation graph in the collaborative document creation by a plurality of authors is a plurality of FIG. 12 superimposed. FIG. 13 is an example of a navigation graph showing the process of joint writing by three authors. In this figure, changes made in a certain period are grouped (1401 to 1409). Here, for simplicity, only the first character position of the changed portion is represented by a dot. ●, ○, and ◎ represent document changes made by each author. Documents are versioned for each author and merged accordingly. Therefore, in FIG. 13, a situation occurs in which the same portion is changed at the same time, such as a group 1404 and a group 1405.

In joint writing, the problem is how to avoid / eliminate the conflict of changed parts. In particular, when documents are versioned for each author and merged as appropriate, conflict changes must be resolved during the merge. Also, even in the case of making a change by sharing one document and partially occupying one document without using versioning, it is possible to avoid the collision of occupied areas by shifting the time. , Change conflicts will occur.

To solve this problem, the navigation graph shown in FIG. 13 can be used to detect change collisions. If there is another author's change on the same change position in the navigation graph, it means that there is a conflict. In FIG. 13, it can be easily determined that a collision has occurred between the groups 1408 and 1409 or between the groups 1404 and 1405.

As described above, according to the second embodiment,
Collaborative work between multiple authors makes it possible to detect conflicting changes, making it easier for each author to make appropriate adjustments and merge versions.

In the second embodiment, the editing contents of the document data are represented by their editing positions (starting character position to ending character position of editing), but the method of expressing the editing contents is not limited to this. is not. For example, insert character /
It is also possible to assign importance to each editing operation such as deletion and image insertion / deletion as in the first embodiment, and use this to calculate the event importance of each editing operation. More specifically, the document is a "character string", "image",
The document is regarded as composed of elements such as "table" (such a document is referred to as a compound document), and the relationship as shown in FIG. 2 is defined. Next, consider the change in each element as an event,
For example, the event importance level is calculated by the method as in the first embodiment with the basic importance level being "the number of character string insertions and deletions", the "image size difference", the "number of changed items in the table" and the like. be able to. Further, the application of the compound document to the acquisition of the information regarding the changed position as shown in the second embodiment can be handled by treating the image and the table as one character, for example.

As described above, according to the above-described embodiment, the content of data change is converted into a simple value that can be displayed on a graph with time as one axis, and the behavior of the data is converted into a simple graph ( It can be represented on the navigation graph). Therefore, (1) it is possible to easily understand the behavior of the data over time. (2) It becomes possible to provide the user and the database system with efficient inquiry hints when manipulating the data in the database, thus improving the data processing efficiency of the entire system. There is an effect.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single device. Further, it goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to a case where it is achieved by supplying a program that causes a system or an apparatus to execute the processing defined by the present invention.

[0080]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to manage the data that changes with the passage of time in correspondence with the event value obtained by digitizing the contents of the change according to a predetermined rule, and efficiently manage the behavior and characteristics of the data with the passage of time. It becomes possible to do.

Further, according to another configuration of the present invention, the edit history is displayed by displaying the event value at each change for the data that changes with the passage of time, for example, using a graph having a time axis. As a result, it is possible to get an overview of the behavior and characteristics of data over time, and it is possible to easily grasp this.

Further, according to another configuration of the present invention, when searching for data that changes with the passage of time, it becomes possible to narrow down the search range using the event value, and efficient search can be performed. it can.

Further, according to another configuration of the present invention, when managing the document data together with the editing history, the editing content is digitized and held based on a predetermined rule together with the editing history, and this is used. It becomes possible to display the edit history, and it becomes easy to grasp the edit history and the edit contents.

Further, according to another configuration of the present invention, regarding the editing work performed by a plurality of workers, the editing positions by the respective workers are digitized, and the editing history thereof is simultaneously (for example, on the same graph). Can be displayed,
It becomes possible to easily detect a collision of editing work between workers.

[0085]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of a database system according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a structure of data managed by a database management system 204.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a change in data content generated for each object group, that is, an event generation state.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a general navigation graph.

5 is a diagram showing an example of the degree of importance set for each attribute and connection relationship of the database schema of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a method of calculating an event importance level according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of calculating event importance according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a navigation graph of data changed as shown in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a typical navigation graph.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a document creation application according to a second exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a document that is data in the document creating system.

[Fig. 12] Navigation in the document creation system
It is a figure showing an example of a graph.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a navigation graph when the document creation system is used as a co-writing support environment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 201, 202 workstation 203 network cable 204 database system 205 secondary storage management system 206 data processing program 207 data 208 client program 209 data display program

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A data management device for managing data that changes according to the occurrence of an event, the event occurrence time indicating when the event occurred,
First storage means for storing the change content of data by the event in association with each other, generating means for generating an event value by digitizing the change content based on a predetermined rule, the event occurrence time and the event A data management device comprising: a second storage unit that stores a value and a value in association with each other. 2. The data management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising display means for displaying the edit history of the data in the form of a graph based on the event occurrence time and the event value. 3. A search means for searching the event occurrence time, using information based on the content of change of data as a search condition, and a specifying means for specifying a search range of the search means based on an event value corresponding to the search condition. The data management device according to claim 1, further comprising: 4. The generation unit holds a change value in advance for each change unit of the change content by the event, and digitizes the change content based on the change value of each change unit changed by the change content. The data management device according to claim 1, wherein the data management device uses the event value. 5. A data management device for managing document data changed by an editing work together with a history of the editing, which corresponds to the editing contents by digitizing the editing contents by the editing work based on a predetermined rule. Acquiring means for acquiring an edit value, storage means for storing the edit time when the editing work is performed and the edit value acquired by the acquisition means in association with each other, and an edit time stored by the storage means. A data management device comprising: a display unit that displays an edit history based on an edit value. 6. The data management apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the edit value is a position in the document data where the edit work is performed. 7. The storage means stores, for an edit work performed by a plurality of workers, the edit time at which the edit work was executed and the edit value obtained by the obtaining means in association with each other. However, the display means displays the editing history by the plurality of workers,
The data management apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the data is displayed simultaneously based on the editing time and the editing position stored in the storage unit. 8. A data management method for managing data that changes according to the occurrence of an event, the event occurrence time indicating a time when the event occurs,
A first storing step of storing the change content of the data in association with the event, a generating step of generating an event value by digitizing the change content based on a predetermined rule, the event occurrence time and the event And a second storing step of storing the values in association with each other. 9. A data management method for managing document data changed by an editing work together with a history of the editing, wherein the editing contents by the editing work are digitized based on a predetermined rule to correspond to the editing contents. An acquisition step of acquiring an edit value; a storage step of storing the edit time at which the editing operation is performed and the edit value acquired by the acquisition step in association with each other; and an edit time and an edit stored by the storage step. And a display step of displaying an edit history based on the value and the data management method.