JPH11143866A - Electronic file management device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve parallel edit efficiency of an electronic file. SOLUTION: When a master file stored in a files storage part 3 is edited in parallel by plural clients 5, an offset calculation part 11 converts an edit range specified by the client into an offset from a head of the master file. A management table 4 is registered with a name of an editor, an offset value and increase and decrease of the amount of information after edit for each master file. A management update part 12 updates the management table 4 in accordance-with the increase and decrease of the amount of information by edit and edit condition of other editor upon edit completion. A mergence part 13 takes a difference between a file after edit and the master file and merges this with the master file.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an electronic file management apparatus, and more particularly to a management apparatus suitable for a plurality of editors to efficiently edit an electronic file via a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A system in which a plurality of editors edit one electronic file in parallel via a network is known. In the conventional parallel editing, a file to be edited is divided into pages at the start of editing, and access rights are set for each page, that is, which editors can access which pages. With such an editing method, when one editor is working on a certain page, another editor cannot edit another area of the same page. For this reason, even if a plurality of editors are input and editing is started, the work end time of one page varies depending on the amount of work on each page and the individual work ability of each editor.
Individual editors are not available, or the operating rate of the computer is reduced, so that high working efficiency cannot be obtained.

Therefore, a management method for efficiently editing electronic files in parallel has been proposed (JP-A-6-29).
No. 5299). In this management method, a parallel edit flag indicating whether or not to perform parallel edit, a user management table for managing a plurality of users, and an access area map indicating an area in which each user is working are stored for each page. The user name is registered in the user management table in the order of the parallel work requesting user, and the work area of each user is set as an unworked area of the page with reference to the access area map. According to this management method, a plurality of users, that is, editors can edit in parallel when areas do not overlap in the same page.

[0004]

However, the management method described in the above publication still has a problem. In this management method, a page dividing step is always required even for an electronic file that does not need to have the concept of a page represented by a program source file or a file that does not need to be divided into page units. In order to divide a page into an electronic file having a large amount of information, there is a problem that it takes a long time to divide the page before actually starting editing. Further, since it is necessary to set a table for registering various management information for each page, there is a problem that memory space is squeezed.

The present invention provides an electronic file management apparatus which solves the above problems, shortens the time required for starting an editing operation, and enables efficient editing without occupying a memory space. The purpose is to:

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and to achieve the object, the present invention provides a client machine and a master file so that a plurality of editors can edit a master file in parallel. In the electronic file management device that manages, for each of the master files,
Identification information of an editor who has requested parallel editing of the master file, an offset value indicating the editing range of the editor by a distance from the beginning of the master file, and increase / decrease of the offset value accompanying editing work of another editor Is characterized in that an instruction is output to the editors based on the registered contents of the management table so that the editing ranges of a plurality of editors do not overlap.

[0007] According to this feature, the editing range of the master file to be edited is represented by the offset value registered in the management table. A range is clearly distinguished from an editing range that is not being edited.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a connection diagram showing a configuration of an editing system including an electronic file management device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, an electronic file to be edited in parallel, that is, a master file 100 is stored on a fixed disk device 3 of a server computer (hereinafter, referred to as a “server”) 2. The master file 100 is controlled by an electronic file management device (hereinafter simply referred to as “management device”) 1 including a file control program, and can be edited in parallel. The management device 1 has a management table 4. The management device 1 includes a management table creation module,
It has functions such as a management table update module and a merge module. The client computers (hereinafter, referred to as “client machines”) 5-1, 5-2,..., 5-n for editing the master file 100 are connected to a network (L
AN) 6.

Next, an example of the operation of the management device 1 having the above functions will be described with reference to a flowchart. Here, the program source file (plain text)
Editor A starts editing via the client machine 5-1 with respect to the master file 100 composed of the following. In the parallel editing mode, the editor B starts editing via the client machine 5-2 following the editor A. Assume the case.

In FIG. 3, when there is an editing request, step S00 becomes affirmative, and the process proceeds to step S1. In step S1, an inquiry is made to the client machine 5-1 as to whether or not parallel editing is to be performed. Here, the editor A sets the parallel editing mode when requesting another editor to cooperate in editing, and sets the single editing mode when editing alone. Based on this setting, the process proceeds to step S2 in the case of the single edit mode, and proceeds to step S6 in the case of the parallel edit mode.

First, in the case of the single edit mode, step S
2, the master file 100 is stored in the client machine 5
Copied to -1 memory. In step S3, it is determined based on the notification from the client machine 5-1 whether or not the editing by the editor A has been completed. In step S4, whether or not the master file 100 is rewritten with the edited contents is determined based on the presence or absence of a save request from the client machine 5-1. If there is a save request, the process proceeds to step S5 to rewrite the master file 100 with the edited contents. In this single editing mode, the management device 1 does not create a management table because adjustment with other editors is unnecessary.

Next, in the case of the parallel editing mode, the process proceeds to step S6, and the parallel editing flag is set to "ON". In step S7, the client machine (hereinafter, referred to as “client machine 5”) that has requested the editing is instructed to input the editor name. In step S8, the editor name input in response to the instruction is registered in the management table. In step S9, similarly, the client machine 5 is instructed to input an editing range. In step S10, the positions of the start and end of the edit range input in response to the instruction are converted into distances (offset values) from the start of the master file 100 and registered in the management table. FIG. 5 shows an example of the management table in which the edited file and the management information of the edited file are registered. The input operation of the editor is performed by an input device such as an input key or a mouse.

In FIG. 5, an area 101 of the editing file 110 is an editing range specified by the editor A.
In the management table 102, the editor name, offset, and increase / decrease of the edit range are registered. The editor name registered in the management table 102 only needs to be able to be distinguished from other parallel editors, and is not limited to the editor name, but may be a number assigned in the order of parallel editing request or other identification information. . Area 1
01 is represented by an offset value x1 from the beginning of the file to the beginning of the area 101 and an offset value x2 to the same end. The increase / decrease of the range refers to an increase / decrease of the information amount of the edit range 101 that occurs with the end of editing by another editor. For example, when editing of a region having an offset value smaller than the editing range 101 is completed and information of the region increases, the increase amount is described. The offset value and increase / decrease are represented by the number of bytes.

Returning to FIG. 3, in step S11, it is determined whether or not the specified editing range already overlaps with the editing range specified by another editor. This can be determined by comparing the offset value registered in the management table 102 with the newly input offset value of the work range. The editing range of the editor A that has started the work first does not overlap because there is no area specified by another editor, but the editing range of the editor B that has started editing later overlaps. There are cases.

If the editing ranges overlap, step S
11 is affirmative, and the process returns to step S9 to again designate the editing range. If the editing range is re-designated in response to the instruction again, step S is performed based on the previous designation.
The contents of the management table registered in 10 are rewritten. When the second and subsequent editors, that is, the editor B, input the editing range, the operation screen of the client machine 5-2 of the editor B displays such that the editing range already being edited can be identified, for example, It is desirable to perform black-and-white inverted display of the range.

FIG. 6 shows an example of an edit file and a management table when the editor B starts editing after the editor A. An area 201 of the editing file 110 is an editing range specified by the editor B. The editing range of the editor B is located below the editing range 101 of the editor A. When the editor B specifies his own name and the editing range 201, the management table 102 when only the editor A starts editing is updated in the management table 202.
In the management table 202, the editing range by the editor B and the increase / decrease of the range are newly registered. Editing range 20
1 is represented by an offset value y1 to the beginning of the range 201 and an offset value y2 to the same end.

Referring back to FIG. If the work areas do not overlap with each other, step S11 is negative, and the process proceeds to step S12 to notify the client machine 5 that work is possible. The notification result is output to the display screen of the client machine 5. In step S13, it is determined whether or not the editing by one of the editors A and B has been completed. This determination is made based on a notification from the client machines 5-1 and 5-2.

If the editing is completed, the process proceeds to step S14,
It is determined by referring to the management table whether there is any editor who is still editing. FIG. 7 shows an example of a management table at the end of work when the editor A finishes editing first. In the figure, the offset value of the editor A in the management table 203 has been updated to (x1, x2 ').

If the editor B is editing, step S
14 is affirmative and proceeds to step S15 (FIG. 4). In step S15, it is determined whether or not the editing range being edited is located after the editing range of the editor (editor A) determined to have just finished. Since the editing range by the editor B is lower than the editing range by the editor A, in this case, step S15 becomes affirmative and the process proceeds to step S16.

In step S16, the management table is updated. The management table is updated by first comparing the editing range of the master file 100 with the editing range of the client machine 5 with respect to the editing range of the editor (editor A in this case) that has completed the latest editing. Calculate how many bytes of data have been added or deleted. In the example of FIG. 7, since it is known that (x2′−x2) bytes have been added by editing, the added portion is described as increase / decrease information of the editor B.

In step S17, the difference between the edited file of the editor A and the master file 100 is detected.
The difference is merged (combined) with the master file 100 and saved as a new master file 100. The merging of the files is performed by a process of capturing the difference (variation) between the two. Once the files have been merged, management information (editor name, offset value,
Change information) is deleted.

If there is no other editor's editing range after the completed editing range, for example, if editor B finishes editing first, step S15 is negative, and the effect of the editing end on the other is not made. Since there is no such file, the file is merged and the management information is deleted in step S18, and the management table is updated in step S19. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S00 (FIG. 3) to determine whether there is an editing request from another client machine. If this determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S1. If there is no new editing request, step S20
To determine whether editing is still in progress. If not, the process ends. If it is, the process proceeds to step S13.
It is determined whether the editing has been completed.

If it is determined in step S13 that the editing has been completed and another editor has not edited, the process proceeds to step S21, where the merge with the master file 100 is performed. Delete all tables.

If the second or subsequent editing range is after the editing range where another editor has finished editing, the increase / decrease information of the management information has been updated. At this time, correspondence with the master file 100 can be taken based on this management information. For example, in FIG. 7, (y1 + (x2 ′) of the master file 100
−x2)) and the edit file (y
1) and the difference in the master file 10
Capture to 0.

Next, a second embodiment will be described. In the first embodiment, an example has been described in which the master file 100 is a plain text file. In the second embodiment, the master file 100 to be edited is an object file including a figure.

Since the editing of the object file is performed in the same manner as the editing of the plain text, the description with reference to the flowchart will be omitted, and the operation will be described with reference to the specific file contents and the management table only. . The editor a starts editing the editing range 301 of the editing file 120, and the management table 302 is created (FIG. 8). Next, the editor b starts editing the editing range 401 higher than the editing range 301 (the offset value is small), and the management table is updated with 402 (FIG. 9).

After that, the editor a finishes the editing, merges the difference between the changed editing range 501 and the master file 100, and updates the master file 100. At this point, we want to determine if another editor is editing.
Even if another editor b is editing, the editing range is higher than the changed editing range 501.
The change from the edit range 301 to the edit range 501 does not affect other editors b. Therefore, the management table is simply replaced with the one 502 from which the management information on the editor a has been deleted (FIG. 10).

Further, when the editor b finishes the editing, the editing range of the editor b is higher than the editing range of the editor a which has ended earlier, so that the editing result of the editor a is affected. Instead, with reference to the management table, the difference between the master file 100 that has already been updated by the editing result of the editor a and the editing file of the editor b is merged.

Next, the management device 1 for performing the above operation
Of the main part will be described. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the main functions of the management device 1. In the figure, the file storage unit, that is, the file 100 on the fixed disk device 3 is supplied to the client machine 5 in response to a request from the client machine 5. The receiving unit 10 instructs the client machine 5 to input an editor name, an editing range, and the like and to re-input the editing range, and receives the editor information input in response to these instructions. The offset calculator 11 performs a calculation for converting the edit range data in the editor information into an offset value. The management table 4 receives the editor name from the reception unit 10 and receives the offset value from the offset calculation unit 11 and registers it.

The management table updating unit 12 receives an editing end notification from the client machine 5 and the information amount of the edited file after editing, and detects an increase / decrease amount of the information amount by comparing with the information amount of the master file 100. Then, the management table 4 is updated based on the detection result. Merging unit 13
Receives the edited file from the client machine 5, and merges the difference with the master file 100 into the master file 100. Management table 4 for merging
Is referred to.

[0031]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, even if there is no concept of a page or a file that does not require such a concept, other files based on the offset value in the management table are used. The editing range that the editor is editing is clearly distinguished from the editing range that is not being edited, so parallel editing can be efficiently performed by multiple editors regardless of the difference in the work abilities and editing contents of each editor In addition, since there is no need to divide the file into pages at the start of the parallel editing work, the work can be started immediately. Further, since the management table only needs to provide a registration column corresponding to the number of parallel editors, the pressure on the memory space for registering the management information for each page, which has been a problem in the related art, can be solved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating main functions of a management device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an editing system including a management device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart (part 1) illustrating an operation of the management device.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart (2) showing the operation of the management device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a specific example (part 1) of a plain text file and a management table.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a specific example (part 2) of a plain text file and its management table.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a specific example (part 3) of a plain text file and its management table.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a specific example (part 1) of an object file and its management table.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a specific example (part 2) of an object file and its management table.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a specific example (part 3) of an object file and its management table.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Management device, 2 ... Server, 3 ... File storage part,
4 management table, 5 client machine, 11
... Offset calculation unit, 13 ... Merge unit

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An electronic file management apparatus for managing said client machine and said master file so that a plurality of editors can edit the master file in parallel. Identification information of the editor who requested, an editing value of the editing range by a distance from the beginning of the master file, and a management table in which the increase or decrease of the offset value accompanying the editing work of another editor is registered. An electronic file management apparatus, comprising: outputting instructions to editors based on the registered contents of the management table so that the editing ranges of a plurality of editors do not overlap. 2. Receiving input of identification information and an identification range of an editor, and when the newly specified editing range overlaps based on the offset value on the management table, re-input of the editing range to the editor. Editing accepting means for instructing, responding to the editing end notification from the editor, merging means for combining the difference between the edited file and the master file into the master file, and responding to the editing end notice, 2. A management table updating means for updating an offset value in a management table relating to an editor being edited based on a difference between an edited file and a master file when editing is being performed. Electronic file management device as described. 3. The management table updating means deletes information on a management table relating to an editor who has notified an editing end, and edits another editor editing lower than the editor having notified the editing end. If there is a range, delete the information on the management table about the editor who notified the editing end,
3. The electronic file management device according to claim 2, wherein an offset value on a management table relating to an editor who is editing the lower editing range is updated. 4. The merging means combines a difference between a master file and a file edited by the editor into a master file based on an increase / decrease of the offset value on a management table relating to the editor who has notified the editing end. 3. The electronic file management device according to claim 2, wherein the electronic file management device is configured as described above.