JP3673540B2 - Information processing method, apparatus and system - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
[Industrial application fields]
The present invention relates to an information processing method, apparatus, and system capable of operating a plurality of applications in cooperation on one or a plurality of computers.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In recent years, GUI (Graphical User Interface) using a window system has been widely spread on personal computers and workstations. As a result, applications provided to users have been required to provide more complex and diverse functions in a more refined form than applications in programming environments before GUI.
[0003]
Instead of responding to such a request by repeating the expansion of a single application, it will be possible to combine multiple relatively simple applications by providing a cooperative operation mechanism between applications, and respond to various situations. An attempt has been made widely. As a basic mechanism for such cooperative operation between applications, a data exchange mechanism by inter-process communication is generally used.
[0004]
As a typical data exchange mechanism, a socket (trademark) provided by a Unix operating system (trademark), a port (trademark) provided by a Mach operating system (trademark), or the like is used as a basic mechanism. In addition, there is a system that provides an interface that can be used more easily by application developers by adding an appropriate program to these basic mechanisms. Typical examples of such a system include Sun RPC (trademark) of Sun Operating System (trademark) and ToolTalk (trademark) of Solaris Operating System (trademark).
[0005]
Groupware systems that support collaborative work support between users in a manner that is parallel to the above-described phenomenon of sophistication of the user environment have attracted attention.
[0006]
This groupware system is computer software for the purpose of supporting collaborative work by a plurality of human beings, and in recent years, in particular, a great weight has been placed on support for collaborative work via a network. A general groupware system provides video conferencing functions using video images and a collaborative writing editor, enabling collaborative work and meetings with remote locations via a network. As an approach for realizing such groupware, it is conceivable to extend the above-described user environment to an environment in which a plurality of computers are used. For this purpose, it is necessary to extend the basic mechanism for cooperative operation between applications so as to be compatible with the cooperative operation required by groupware.
[0007]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In order to extend the inter-application communication mechanism to the collaborative work environment between users, it is necessary to eliminate or relax the following restrictions. That is, the user environment, which is the work environment of each user, is configured and characterized by a group of applications that operate there. Therefore, the realization of the collaborative work environment between users is realized by the cooperation between user environments, and by the cooperation of application groups constituting the user environment. Here, in order for an application to realize a cooperative operation with an application group in another user environment, the application is composed of what application group in the other user environment and what role each plays. You must know the information that you are.
[0008]
For example, assuming a situation in which an application a operating in the user environment A communicates with an application b operating in the user environment B, the application a must know information that the communication partner is the application b. .
[0009]
However, in the groupware environment, the fact that the communication partner is the application b just happened to happen at this point, and at another point in time, the application b may be operating in the user environment B ′. At this point, it may be necessary to communicate with the application c running in the user environment C.
[0010]
As a general method of managing communication partners, a unique name is assigned to a process operating in a user or group environment. However, since the responsibility to avoid duplication of names is the responsibility of the application developer, it is difficult to cope with an environment where the configuration of applications and users frequently changes as described above. There is a problem.
[0011]
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and in a system constituted by one or a plurality of computers, it is possible to cope with a complicated environment in which components can fluctuate dynamically. It is an object of the present invention to provide an information processing method, apparatus, and system that can provide a cooperative system.
[0012]
Another object of the present invention is to make it possible to handle application management in a complex environment in which components can dynamically change at a high level of abstraction in a system composed of one or a plurality of computers. An object is to provide an information processing method, apparatus, and system.
[0013]
Another object of the present invention is to construct an application that operates in a system composed of one or a plurality of computers without being particularly aware of a complex environment in which components can dynamically change. It is an object of the present invention to provide an information processing method, apparatus, and system that can be used.
[0014]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, an information processing system of the present invention has the following arrangement. That is,
An information processing system for operating an application in cooperation with one or more computers,
Using the path assigned to the predetermined hierarchical structure of the application owned by each computer of the system as application identification information, From the first application Should work together Second A specification means for specifying an application;
In the path used by the designation means, the elements of the hierarchy are not based on the element names Depending on the relationship between the element and the element of the hierarchy in the first application The specified expression , Based on the element name of the hierarchy in the first application Expansion means to expand to actual element names;
By the path after expansion by the expansion means The second Specifying means for specifying an application.
[0015]
Also preferably, the designation means should cooperate. The second By the path of the predetermined hierarchical structure including the application name of the application The second Specify the application. This is because a hierarchical path is added to the application name, so that an application to be operated in the environment can be easily specified.
[0016]
Preferably, the specifying means uses a representation in which the elements of the hierarchy are specified without depending on element names. The second Specify applications in a batch. This is because it is possible to specify a plurality of applications abstractly.
[0017]
[Action]
According to the above configuration, in an information processing system that operates an application in cooperation with one or a plurality of computers, a path in which an application owned by each computer of the system is assigned to a predetermined hierarchical structure is assigned to the application. Use as identification information, From the first application Should work together Second Specify the application, and in the path used in this specification, the element of the hierarchy is not based on the element name Depending on the relationship between the element and the element of the hierarchy in the first application The specified expression , Based on the element name of the hierarchy in the first application The actual element name is expanded, and the application to be linked is specified by the path after expansion.
[0018]
【Example】
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0019]
<Example 1>
FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the outline of the cooperative groupware system according to the first embodiment. This groupware system provides a group collaborative work environment by allowing multiple users to make full use of multiple applications in each user environment and to exchange various data between these users and applications. Is.
[0020]
In FIG. 1, personal computers 101, 102, and 103 are connected by an Ethernet cable 104 to form one LAN. In practice, several more workstations are combined. The present embodiment can also be applied to a computer network centering on WAN. Furthermore, the present invention can be applied to a LAN configured by FDDI or the like that is faster than an Ethernet cable.
[0021]
In FIG. 1, each personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a PC) is used by one user 105, 106, 107. Which PC each user uses is not fixed, and a case where the user 105 uses the PC 102 is also conceivable. In addition, it can be assumed that the user 105 uses both the PCs 101 and 102 at the same time.
[0022]
On each PC, basic software DesktopMgr 108 and 109 that manages the groupware system and provides services, and a group of applications (hereinafter referred to as tool processes or tools) that use the services are operating. Here, DesktopMgr 108 and 109 are basic software that exists for each user, management of the user environment including support for control of starting, stopping, communication and the like of a group of tools operating in the user environment, Manage information exchange between users or the entire network.
[0023]
DesktopMgr itself is composed of three types of modules: a deployment module 110, a tool management module 111, and a user information management module 112.
[0024]
The expansion module 110 expands the tool designation made by the user into a form that can be interpreted by DesktopMgr. This expansion is realized by replacing a character string representing a special expression with the name of an actual tool or the like, which is conventionally performed by expansion of a regular expression.
[0025]
The tool management module 111 manages information related to a tool group such as whether or not a tool operating in a user environment is operating. Tool information is managed by this module using a hash table with the tool name as a key. Further, the tool management module 111 activates the tool based on the tool information. The activation of the tool itself uses the operating system mechanism on which this system is running.
[0026]
The user information management module 112 manages user information. User information is managed by the user information management module 112 using a hash table with the user name as a key. The communication port of DesktopMgr in each user environment is also included in the user information, and is used for communication with DesktopMgr managing other user environments.
[0027]
A group of tools operating in each user environment can perform a cooperative operation with tools existing in other user environments using the services provided by the above-described DesktopMgr 108 and 109.
[0028]
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a usage pattern of the groupware system configured as described above. Here, two users are collaborating on two PCs, and interfaces of several tools are displayed on the displays 201 and 202.
[0029]
In FIG. 2, database access tools 203 and 204, text editor tools 205 and 206, and draw tools 207 and 208 are used in each user environment. The pair of tools formed between users displays the same information to each user. For example, text editor tools 205 and 206 display the same document. However, the text editor tools 205 and 206 are not necessarily the same tool, and even if the same sentence is displayed, the display method may be different. In this groupware system, any tool capable of processing the same information equally can be used according to the user's preference.
[0030]
Next, a user and tool group management method in the group collaborative work environment as shown in FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIG.
[0031]
In FIG. 3, it is assumed that there are three users A, B, and C, and are working on user environments 301, 302, and 303, respectively. Furthermore, it is assumed that there is a work 304 jointly performed by three users A, B, and C, and a joint work 305 of users A and B that is proceeding simultaneously. The collaborative operations 304 and 305 can also be regarded as a group environment across user environments.
[0032]
In this embodiment, this collaborative work (or group environment) is called a session, and the two collaborative works in FIG. 3 are called a session 304 and a session 305, respectively. As is apparent from FIG. 3, one user can participate in a plurality of sessions simultaneously (user A and user B).
[0033]
A tool group specified by the session is used for actual work in each session. 306 and 307 in the figure represent tools used in the user environment 301 in the session 304.
[0034]
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the user environment of one user participating in a session. In FIG. 4, the user environment 401 belongs to one session 402. In this session 401, three tools 403, 404, and 405 are used for collaborative work. However, the tool 403 and the tool 404 are formed of a group of several small tools (called sub tools). The sub tool itself has the ability to function as a stand-alone tool. In FIG. 4, the tool 403 includes two sub tools, a tool 406 and a tool 407. The tool 404 is composed of three sub tools: a tool 408, a tool 409, and a tool 410. Further, the tool 408 itself, which is a sub tool, is also composed of a sub tool 411.
[0035]
In this embodiment, a tool configured as a collection of a plurality of sub tools is called an integrated tool. In addition, tools that cannot be divided into sub tools (other than integrated tools) are called element tools. In the following, the term “tool” refers to when the integrated tool and the element tool are collectively indicated or when it is not necessary to distinguish between them. Actually, the integrated tool is merely a virtual existence in management, and its function is realized by cooperation of the element tools.
[0036]
In FIG. 4, tools 407, 411, 409, 410, and 405 are element tools, and tools 403, 404, 406, and 408 are integrated tools. When the relationship among the session, user, and tool group in the user environment shown in FIG. 4 is summarized, the hierarchical structure shown in FIG. 5 is obtained.
[0037]
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the relationship between a session / user / tool group in the user environment shown in FIG.
[0038]
The session 501 is a root of the hierarchical structure, and there are users 502, 503, and 504 participating in the session 501 below, and tools such as 505, 506, and 507 exist below each user. To do. Among these tools, for integrated tools such as the tool 506, sub tools such as 508 and 509 are added, and the hierarchical structure continues until the final tool is reached. In the present embodiment, the case where sessions are nested is prohibited, but the matters described here can be applied to a system that allows nesting of sessions.
[0039]
Referring to FIG. 5 and FIG. 4, the session 501 corresponds to the session 402 in FIG. User A 502 corresponds to the user environment 401. Tool A505 corresponds to tool A403, tool B506 corresponds to tool B404, and tool C507 corresponds to tool C406.
[0040]
In this embodiment, a name space is formed based on this hierarchical structure, and all tools under the management of the session can be designated. That is, the path of the name obtained by tracing the hierarchical structure of FIG. 5 from the session is called a tool path, and this is used as a means for specifying each tool.
[0041]
The tool path in this embodiment is a character string obtained by connecting the names of the session name, user name, and tool name layers with “&” as shown below. That is,
& Session name & User name & Tool name & Sub tool name ...
It becomes. For example, the tool path representing tool 509 in FIG.
& Session & User A & Tool B & Sub Tool # 2
It becomes. Here, the name of each hierarchy that is a component of the tool path such as the session name, user name, and tool name is called a node name. Node names must be unique in each hierarchy in order to use the tool path as a tool identifier.
[0042]
In the tool path, it is also possible to specify a plurality of node names by listing a plurality of node names in [and] separated by “,”. For example, "& Session & User A & Tool B & Sub Tool # 2" and "& Session & User B & Tool B & Sub Tool # 2"
& Session & [User A, User B] & Tool B & Sub Tool # 2
Can be written.
[0043]
Furthermore, several types of special expressions can be used in node name designation. Special expressions allow abstract indication of node names. The special expressions will be described below.
[0044]
First, in the session name hierarchy,
・% Current
・% All
・% None
・% Ignore
Can be specified. Explaining in detail about each special expression,
% current… If “% current” is specified, the specified tool is interpreted as the session name to which the tool belongs.
% all… If "% all" is specified, it will be interpreted as the names of all sessions currently running.
% none… If "% none" is specified, it means that the user does not belong to a specific session. Some processes running in each user environment may be independent of the session.
% ignore… “% ignore” expresses that the existence of a session and its name can be ignored. It is semantically equivalent to specifying [% all,% none].
[0045]
Next, in the username hierarchy,
・% Self
・% All
・% Allbutself
Can be specified. To explain the details of each special expression,
% self… If “% self” is specified, it is interpreted as the name of the user using the user environment to which the specified tool belongs.
% all… If "% all" is specified, it is interpreted as all users belonging to the session specified immediately before.
% allbutself… When “% allbutself” is specified, it is interpreted as all users except% self from the users belonging to the session specified immediately before. Therefore, [% self,% allbutself] has the same meaning as% all.
[0046]
Finally, in the tool name hierarchy,
・% Self
・% Selfonly
・% Super
・% Parent
・% All
Can be specified. To explain the details of each special expression,
% self… If “% self” is specified, the tool name of the specified tool is supplemented. If the tool is actually a sub-tool of a tool, the hierarchical structure after the user name of the tool is added as it is.
% selfonly… If “% selfonly” is specified, the tool name of the specified tool is supplemented. Even if the tool is a sub tool of a tool, the hierarchical relationship of the tool is ignored.
% super… When “% super” is specified, the tool hierarchy up to the hierarchy one level above the specified tool itself is supplemented. For this reason, specifying &% super &% selfonly is the same as specifying &% self.
% parent ... If "% parent" is specified, the tool hierarchy specified in the tool path up to that point will be traced back one level higher. % super ignores any path specified up to the previous one, whereas% parent has a meaning that depends on the path specified up to the last.
% all ... If "% all" is specified, all tools belonging to the tool hierarchy specified in the tool path up to that point will be specified.
[0047]
By combining the special expressions as described above, for example, the following tool path can be expressed.
[0048]
Example 1. &% current &% all &% self
This indicates a copy of the specified tool itself in all user environments of the session to which the tool path has been specified. Here, “copy of tool” means a tool that has the same tool path except for the user name. Because we often use the exact same type of tool, we call it a "copy of tool".
[0049]
Example 2. &% current &% all &% super &% all
The tool for which this tool path has been specified represents all tools in the same hierarchy as the specified tool in all user environments of the session to which the tool path belongs at that time.
[0050]
Example 3 &% none & User C &% super & Tool X
This represents a tool with a tool name of tool X that exists in the same hierarchy as the specified tool in the user C user environment.
[0051]
In this embodiment, the tool path introduced as described above is used for controlling the tool. 6 and 7 are diagrams showing this state.
[0052]
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing how the tool is activated in association with the activation of the session. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the behavior of DesktopMgr at that time.
[0053]
Assume that two users A 601 and B 602 are about to start collaborative work on user environments 603 and 604, respectively. Collaboration is started by starting a session representing it. Here, it is assumed that the user A 601 starts a session.
[0054]
The session start request 605 of the user A 601 is notified to the DesktopMgr 606 that manages the user environment on the PC 603. The DesktopMgr 606 that has received the session activation request 605 (Step S801) checks whether the request is requested by the user or transferred from another DesktopMgr (Step S802). In this case, since it is requested by the user, the session activation request 605 is transferred to another DesktopMgr (step S803). Information necessary for communicating with DesktopMgr in another user environment is managed by a user information management module 612 in DesktopMgr 606.
[0055]
After that, the DesktopMgr 606 checks whether the tool A 609 used in the session has already been activated from the tool information managed by the tool management module 613 (step S804). If it has not been activated yet, the tool A 609 is activated (step S805).
[0056]
On the other hand, when the DesktopManager 607 managing the user environment of the user B 602 receives the session activation request 608 transferred from the DesktopMgr 606, the activation request is not issued directly from the user B 602, so the process proceeds from step S802 to step S804. Proceeding immediately starts the tool A 610 used in the session (steps S804 and S805).
[0057]
Here, the tool A 609 is activated by the following command. That is,
launchTool "Tool A""& Session & User A & Tool A"
It becomes. This is a command to start tool A and name the started process as & session & user A & tool A. The process of the tool A 609 activated in this way can be designated by a tool path “& session & user A & tool A”.
[0058]
When DesktopManager 607 also receives a session activation request 608,
launchTool "Tool A""& Session & User B & Tool A"
To start tool A610. The process of the activated tool A 610 can be specified by a tool path “& session & user B & tool A” thereafter.
[0059]
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a message delivery mechanism using a tool path in the present embodiment. This figure shows a state in the middle of joint work in the session activated in FIG. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the behavior of DesktopMgr in this situation. In FIG. 7, it is assumed that the user A 601 has issued the following message transfer command 705 to the DesktopMgr 606.
[0060]
The message transfer command is
forwardMessage "& Session &% all & Tool A""do-something"
It is represented by This command means “forward the message“ do-something ”to tool A for all users in the session”.
[0061]
When the DesktopMgr 606 receives this message transfer command 705 (step S901), the tool path that is the first argument, the special expression “% all” in “& session &% all & toolA” is concretely displayed in the expansion module 613. The user name is expanded (step S902). The expansion result in this example is
"& Session & User A & Tool A"
"& Session & User B & Tool A"
It becomes.
[0062]
When DesktopMgr 606 performs the above expansion, it reconfigures a message transfer command based on the result (step S903). The command reconstructed here is
forwardMessage "& Session & User A & Tool A""do-something"
forwardMessage "& Session & User B & Tool A""do-something"
These are two.
[0063]
In this way, one command can be converted into a plurality of commands by expanding the tool path. In DesktopMgr in this embodiment, these commands are processed in order, but can also be processed simultaneously.
[0064]
DesktopMgr 606 extracts one reconfigured command (step S904), extracts the session name and user name of the tool path specified by the command, and the combination of the session and user is under the management of DesktopMgr 606 itself. It is confirmed whether there is any (step S905).
[0065]
If the combination of session and user is not under the control of DesktopMgr 606 itself, the communication port with DesktopMgr that manages the environment of the user specified by the tool path from the user information managed by the user information management module 612 Is extracted (step S906), and the command is transferred to the DesktopMgr (step S907).
[0066]
On the other hand, if the designated tool exists under the management of DesktopMgr 606 itself, the designated tool process is identified from the tool path (step S908), and the message is delivered (step S909).
[0067]
The above processing is repeated until there are no more commands (step S910). Note that the same processing as that of the transfer source is performed in the DesktopMgr (DesktopMgr 607 in this example) to which the command is transferred by the processing in Steps S906 and S907.
[0068]
In the algorithm shown in FIG. 9, DesktopMgr that receives the request first expands all the special expressions in the tool path. However, as another expansion procedure, the expansion in step S902 is limited only to the session name and the user name. The present embodiment can also be realized by an algorithm that causes DesktopMgr that manages each user environment to execute the expansion of the remaining tool names.
[0069]
In the example of FIG. 7, since the tool path of the first command is related to the user environment of user A, the first command is processed by DesktopMgr 606 itself. In the second command, since the tool path is related to the user environment of the user B, the command is transferred to the DesktopMgr 607 and processed by the DesktopMgr 607.
[0070]
When the DesktopMgr 606 sends the message transfer command 608, the message “do-something” is transferred to the process 609 specified by “& session & user A & tool A” (ie, tool A 609). In addition, when the message transfer command 708 is received in the DesktopMgr 607, the message “do-something” is transferred to the process 610 specified by “& session & user B & tool A” (that is, tool A 610).
[0071]
In FIG. 7, another tool A happens to be activated (tool A711), but a tool path different from the tool A610 is specified for the tool A711 by the launch command launchTool described in FIG. The message is not transferred to the tool A 711.
[0072]
In summary, this embodiment shows an example in which the present invention is applied to an inter-application communication mechanism in a groupware system. In this embodiment, a tool path using a hierarchical structure of sessions, user environments, tools, and sub tools, and special expressions on the tool path are introduced. In addition, DesktopMgr that controls the tool using the tool path was introduced.
[0073]
In this embodiment, the uniqueness of the tool instruction can be easily managed by using a hierarchical structure in accordance with the session structure in the groupware system. In addition, by introducing special expressions, it is possible to specify more abstractly when each tool specifies a communication partner. For this reason, it becomes possible to cope with a dynamic change in the work environment due to frequent participation and leaving of the user in the groupware system.
In the first embodiment, a data structure for managing the hierarchical structure is not particularly provided, and the hierarchical structure as shown in FIG. 5 is substantially managed with a character string representing a tool path. However, it is needless to say that the hierarchical structure as shown in FIG. 5 can be internally expressed and managed in another data structure.
[0074]
<Example 2>
Although the application example of the present invention in the groupware system has been described in the first embodiment, the present invention can also be applied to an asynchronous data sharing system centered on a database. Here, an embodiment for a multimedia data search system using a database will be described.
[0075]
FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an overview of the multimedia data search system according to the second embodiment. According to the figure, a database 1001 exists, in which multimedia data 1002 to 1006 such as images and sounds are managed. The database 1001 is connected with a PC 1007 as a client and is used by a user 1008. In this figure, only one PC is a client of the database 1001, but in practice, a plurality of PCs and workstations can be clients. Further, the database 1001 itself may be distributed on the network 1009.
[0076]
On the PC 1007, three types of data viewers are activated, and are used for referring to the corresponding multimedia data. The image viewer 1010 is used to reference image data 1002 and 1005 in the database 1001, the moving image viewer 1011 is used to reference moving image data 1004 and 1006, and the document viewer 1012 is used to reference document data 1003. These correspondence relationships are shown in FIG. 10 as the correspondence relationship between the viewer and the background pattern (shaded) attached to the data.
[0077]
FIG. 11 shows what this embodiment looks like from the user's point of view. In FIG. 11, the user 1101 is working on the display 1102. The display 1102 is a display device of the PC 1007 that is a client of the database shown in FIG.
[0078]
Four windows 1103, 1104, 1105, and 1106 are displayed on the display 1102, and corresponding multimedia data are displayed. The window 1103 provides a user interface of an application (database search application) for searching the database. In addition, windows 1104, 1105, and 1106 provide viewer user interfaces such as still images, moving images, and documents, respectively.
[0079]
The database search application displays a catalog 1107 of multimedia data managed in the database on the window 1103. This catalog is composed of icons representing data that can be referenced from the database search application and a list of names of the data. Information such as data size and created date is also added to the catalog as some additional information. When the user selects an appropriate data icon from the catalog, the data is displayed in a viewer suitable for the data (1108, 1109, 1110).
[0080]
In implementing such a multimedia data retrieval system as a distributed system accessible from various clients, it cannot be assumed that each client has the exact same environment (ie, a data viewer).
[0081]
In FIG. 12, two users 1201 and 1202 access a database 1205 using PCs 1203 and 1204, respectively. Both use database search applications 1206 and 1207 and refer to the catalog of the same data, but use different data viewers for referring to each data. In FIG. 12, the data on the catalog is referred to by the three data viewers 1208, 1209, and 1210 in the environment of the user 1201, but the data can be referred to by the two data viewers 1211 and 1212 in the environment of the user 1202. It is.
[0082]
Next, an application example of the present invention for dealing with the situation as shown in FIG. 12 will be described below.
[0083]
First, the data viewer in each user environment is named based on the hierarchical structure of catalog name, user name, and viewer name as in the first embodiment. The path expression derived as a result is called a viewer path and expressed as follows. That is,
& Catalog Name & User Name & Data Viewer Name & Sub Data Viewer Name ...
It becomes. Thus, also in the second embodiment, the data viewer names are hierarchized in order to cope with the integration of the data viewer as described in the first embodiment.
[0084]
Next, we introduce special expressions in path notation. In the second embodiment, special expressions of a catalog name and a user name are introduced. Hereinafter, the special expression for each layer will be described in detail.
[0085]
First, in the catalog name hierarchy:
・% All
Can be specified. If "% all" is specified, it is interpreted as the names of all catalogs existing in the database.
[0086]
Also, the user name hierarchy that can be specified is:
・% Ignore
・% Group
It is. Each special expression is explained below.
% ignore… If “% ignore” is specified, the user name is ignored.
% group… “% group” is used as% group (group name). In this case, the name in parentheses is interpreted as the name of the group. Here, a group is defined as a list of user names.
[0087]
In this embodiment, this viewer path is used as data viewer designation information for each data in the database 1205. The viewer path is added to each data in the database 1205 and managed by the database 1205. Common data viewers
&% all &% ignore & data viewer name
Is specified.
[0088]
Here, DesktopMgr is introduced as a server for managing the correspondence between the viewer path and the actual viewer. There is one DesktopMgr for each user environment. This is the same name as DesktopMgr in the first embodiment, and the roles are very similar, so it is possible to integrate these two types of DesktopMgr.
[0089]
FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a state of data reference processing in the second embodiment using the viewer path and DesktopMgr. FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing the operation of DesktopMgr which is the center of this processing.
[0090]
FIG. 13 shows processing in a situation where the user 1301 requests data reference by designating the icon 1303 in the database search application 1302. An operation on the display by the user 1301 is notified to the main body 1305 of the database search application as an event 1304. When the database search application 1305 interprets the event 1304 and detects that the icon 1303 has been designated, the database search application 1305 issues a request to the DesktopMgr 1308 to deliver a display request for the data 1307 that is the main body of the icon 1303 to an appropriate viewer.
[0091]
Upon receiving this request (step S1401), the DesktopMgr 1308 takes out the viewer path added to the data 1307 from the database 1306 (step S1402). Next, the DesktopMgr 1308 checks whether the data viewer corresponding to the viewer path has already been activated (step S1403), and activates the data viewer if it has not been activated or cannot be used (step S1404). In FIG. 13, the data viewer 1309 is activated. On the other hand, if the data viewer 1309 has already been activated and the data can be displayed, the display request 1310 for the data 1307 is delivered to the data viewer 1309 (step S1405). When the data viewer 1309 executes the requested display request, the data can be referred to as requested by the user.
[0092]
As described above, the second embodiment is an embodiment of the present invention in a multimedia data search system that allows customization for each client. In this embodiment, a viewer path using a hierarchical structure of a catalog, a user environment, a viewer, and a sub-viewer and a special expression on the viewer path are introduced. In addition, DesktopMgr that controls the viewer using the viewer path was introduced.
[0093]
As described above, according to the second embodiment, it is possible to specify a data viewer suitable for each user environment at various levels in the hierarchy on the viewer path. For example, by restricting the user name of the viewer path, it is possible to perform control such that only a specific user can be referred to, or partial referencing can be performed. In addition, since DesktopMgr takes over the management of viewers in the user environment, it is possible to reduce the cost of developing and deploying database search applications and various data viewers.
[0094]
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 the present invention is achieved by supplying a program that causes a system or apparatus to execute processing defined by the present invention.
[0095]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a flexible inter-application cooperation system that can cope with a complicated environment in which components can dynamically change in a system constituted by a plurality of computers.
[0096]
Further, according to the present invention, it becomes possible to handle application management in a complex environment in which components can dynamically change with a high level of abstraction.
Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to construct an application that operates in an environment without being particularly aware of a complicated environment in which components can dynamically change.
[0097]
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an outline of a cooperative groupware system according to a first embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a usage pattern of a groupware system.
FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining an example of a user and tool group management method in the group collaborative work environment as shown in FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a user environment of one user participating in a session.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a relationship between a session / user / tool group in the user environment shown in FIG. 4;
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state of starting a tool accompanying the start of a session.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a message delivery mechanism using a tool path in the present embodiment.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation of DesktopMgr at the time of starting a session.
FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of DesktopMgr at the time of message delivery.
FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an overview of a multimedia data search system according to a second embodiment.
FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a display example in the second embodiment.
FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an access state to a database by two users.
FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining the state of data reference processing in the second embodiment.
FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of DesktopMgr in the second embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
101, 102, 103 Personal computer
104 network cable
105, 106, 107 users
108,109 DesktopMgr
110 Deployment module
111 Tool management module
112 User information management module

Claims (9)

An information processing system for operating an application in cooperation with one or more computers,
Designating means for designating a second application to be linked from the first application by using, as application identification information, a path in which an application owned by each computer of the system is assigned to a predetermined hierarchical structure;
In the path used by the designating means, the expression specified by the relationship between the element of the hierarchy and the element of the hierarchy in the first application , regardless of the element name, is the hierarchy in the first application. Expansion means that expands to the actual element name based on the element name of
An information processing system comprising: specifying means for specifying the second application based on a path after expansion by the expansion means. Said specifying means, information processing system according to claim 1, characterized in that the path of the predetermined hierarchical structure including the application name of the second application should cooperate to designate of the second application . 2. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the designating unit collectively designates the plurality of second applications using an expression in which elements of the hierarchy are designated without depending on element names. . Said designating means, the path to the hierarchy, by combining the application name of a plurality of applications positioned in the hierarchy, the information processing according to claim 1, characterized in that designating a plurality of the second application system.   The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined hierarchical structure is rooted in a joint work by a plurality of users in the information processing system. The information processing system according to claim 1, further comprising a delivery unit that delivers a command to the second application specified by the specifying unit. The information processing system according to claim 6, further comprising an activation unit that activates the application when the second application that is a command delivery destination of the delivery unit is not operating. An information processing apparatus capable of operating in cooperation with an application in a system configured in cooperation with another computer or a system configured in its own apparatus,
Designating means for designating a second application to be linked from the first application using a path in which an application owned by the information processing apparatus is assigned to a predetermined hierarchical structure as application identification information;
In the path used by the designating means, the expression specified by the relationship between the element of the hierarchy and the element of the hierarchy in the first application , regardless of the element name, is the hierarchy in the first application. Expansion means that expands to the actual element name based on the element name of
An information processing apparatus comprising: specifying means for specifying the second application based on a path after expansion by the expansion means. An information processing method for operating applications in cooperation with each other in a system including one or a plurality of information processing apparatuses,
A designation step of designating a second application to be linked from the first application using a path in which an application owned by each information processing apparatus is assigned to a predetermined hierarchical structure as application identification information;
In the path used by the designating means, the expression specified by the relationship between the element of the hierarchy and the element of the hierarchy in the first application , regardless of the element name, is the hierarchy in the first application. An expansion process that expands to the actual element name based on the element name of
An information processing method comprising: a specifying step of specifying an application by a path after expansion in the expansion step .

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