Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
2002-02-26
2003-10-14
Robinson, Greta (Department: 2177)
Data processing: database and file management or data structures
Database design
Data structure types
C707S793000, C715S252000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06633887
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information management apparatus for managing information files, and information management program recording mediums for storing information management programs to manage information files.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, computer and communication technologies have been advancing and also document description languages such as a HTML have been developing. In the content of these changes, it often happens, that a general user accesses to a large amount of information stored in a server to retrieve information of interest from among the large amount of information. In this way, the information of interest can be obtained via various types of networks such as a telephone line and the LAN. As a recent multimedia technology develops, information as an object of a communication is directed to a so-called hypertext. Such hypertext includes a still picture, a dynamic picture image or an animation, sound and the like, in addition to text information. Thus nowadays there is a tendency that a size of an information file is increasingly large. As a result, a transfer of the information file requires much time. Also, there is a tendency that an occupation ratio of a communication channel per user in a communication network is increased. Thus, there is a fear that a transfer rate is decreased.
In order to solve the foregoing problems, there has been proposed an approach in which the information file is divided into a plurality of small unit information files. Each of the small unit information files includes a hyper link indicating the context of the unit information file, thereby reducing a file transfer unit by one. However, according to this scheme, when a user makes up an information file, the user has to make up the information file taking account of the file division. Also, after making up the information file, there is further a need to perform the file dividing operations and making up operations of index information to connect the divided individual files to one another when they are read out. Thus, this scheme has the drawback that these operations are burden to the person who makes up the information file.
In some cases, while the size of an information file including information to be referred to is large, there is no need to transfer the information file in its entirety. On the contrary, it is sufficient to transmit a part of the information file. However, according to the prior art, even in such a case, there is no way other than to transfer the information file in its entirety.
FIG. 14
is a typical illustration of an information providing system utilizing the conventional WWW (World Wide Web).
As shown in
FIG. 14
, according to the information providing system utilizing the conventional WWW, a WWW server is connected via a network, such as a LAN and a public line of telecommunication, to a client computer. Information files are stored in and managed at the WWW server end. The WWW server transmits an information file desired by a user in accordance with a transmission request issued from the client computer.
FIGS.
15
(
a
) and (
b
) are illustrations of the contents of an information file to be managed by the conventional WWW server and a display example of such an information file, respectively.
FIG.
15
(
a
) shows a part of the contents of an information file “A.HTML” to be managed by the WWW server. The information file “A.HTML” is described in accordance with a format of HTML. The file starts with a tag represented by <HTML> appearing on the first line and terminates with a tag represented by </HTML > appearing on the last line, as shown in FIG.
1
(
a
). On the second line of the file, a first hierarchy of header information “Head
1
-
1
”, which corresponds to a big headline, is described between tags <H
1
and </H
1
. On the third line of the file, a second hierarchy of header information “head
2
-
1
, which corresponds to a middle headline, is described between tags <H
2
> and </H
2
>. On the fourth line and so forth of the file, a paragraph associated with those types of header information, that is, the text of the hypertext, is described between tags <P> and </P>.
Consider the lines subsequent to the line on which the tag </P> indicative of termination of the first paragraph appears. On those lines, the header information “Head
1
-
2
” and the header information “head
2
-
2
”, which are associated with the second paragraph, and the paragraph associated with those types of header information, are sequentially described. In the same way, pieces of the header information associated with the third and fourth paragraphs, and the paragraphs associated with those types of header information, are sequentially described.
In this manner, in the WWW server, an information file is divided and managed. The file has a logical structure in several sorts of hierarchy of pieces of unit information, which are independent of one another on a logical basis, for example, a title, a header and a paragraph. The file is divided and managed by means of appending logical tags according to the sorts of unit information, that is, markup tags based on an HTML grammar such as <TITLE> </TITLE>, <H> </H>, and <P> </P>.
FIG.
15
(
b
) is an illustration of a display example in which the information file “A.HTML” of the WWW server end is transferred to the client computer end in accordance with the request of the user. The file is displayed on a screen through the WWW browser (HTML processing software) of the client computer end. In this manner, the respective tags are deciphered so that the header information and the associated paragraph information are displayed.
The contents displayed on the screen shown in FIG.
15
(
b
) is substantially the same as the contents of the original before an HTML formalization into the information file “A.HTML,” managed by the WWW server and shown in FIG.
15
(
a
). The original is managed by the WWW server in the form of “A.HTML” through the HTML formalization. The original is transferred to the client computer so as to be edited into the state of the original in accordance with the the WWW browser and then displayed.
The file “A.HTML” shown in FIG.
15
(
a
) is managed on the WWW server as follows.
FIG. 16
is an illustration showing an example of descriptions of link information indicating the location of the information file.
<HTML> on the first line denotes that the subsequent document is an HTML document. <TITLE> Home Page </TITLE> on the second line denotes that the title of this document is a “Home Page”.<A HREF=“http://www.1.or.jp/pub/information/a. html”>Home
1
Page</A> denotes an anchor for defining a link destination and a link source of a so-called hyper link. In the anchor, an address of the link source and an address of the link destination are described in the format of a URL (Uniform Resource Locater). That is, according to the example shown in
FIG. 16
, the link source is a file represented by “http://www.1.or.jp/pub/information/a. html”, and the link destination is Home
1
Page.
As described above, describing (i.e., inserting) into an information file an address of an information file to be linked to the former information file makes it possible to implement a hyper link between the information files. Suppose that the user clicks, using a mouse or the like, a portion “Home
1
Page” reflecting the link information shown in FIG.
16
and displayed on a display screen of the client computer. When this action is performed the information file “a. html” is transferred from the server www.1 to the client computer, and the associated information message is displayed on the screen of the client computer.
When the WWW server transfers a file designated by the user to the the client computer, even in a case where the designated file “a. html” is a very large size document, the file transmission is performed as indicated, even wi
Muramoto Takahide
Saito Kazumi
Suzuki Toshimitu
Yashiro Sadao
Fujitsu Limited
Robinson Greta
Staas & Halsey , LLP
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