JP5201952B2 - Portable information terminal - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a portable information terminal, and more particularly, storage of data in a data file when data is read from a removable memory card that holds a data file divided into a plurality of file folders and displayed on a screen. The present invention relates to an improvement of a portable information terminal that refers to a file allocation table that holds a physical address indicating a location in association with identification information of the data file including information of a file folder to which the data file belongs.

  There is known a portable information terminal such as a cellular phone that can store image data captured by a camera or image data acquired from a website on the Internet in a removable memory card. In general, a plurality of file folders are created in a memory card, and data such as image data is stored in the file folder as a data file. When data is read from the memory card, a file allocation table that refers to a physical address indicating the storage location of the data in the data file is stored in association with the identification information of the data file. Such a file allocation table is called a FAT (File Allocation Table) and holds identification information including file name and data file attribute information. A file management system that manages files or lower directories in association with upper directories is described in, for example, Patent Document 1.

In the above-described portable information terminal, in order to select only the data files that can be used by the terminal, the terminal management file is created by extracting the identification information from the file allocation table, and based on the file allocation table and this terminal management file Thus, data reading is performed. Generally, when a data file on a memory card is deleted using an information processing terminal such as a personal computer or a new data file is added, the file allocation table is automatically updated. The file is not updated. For this reason, an inconsistency may occur between the file allocation table and the terminal management file. Therefore, when the data file in the memory card is changed using the information processing terminal, it is necessary to update the terminal management file. However, in the conventional portable information terminal, since the terminal management file is updated by searching the data file in the file folder for a plurality of file folders created by the user, there is a problem that the processing time is long. there were.
JP 2003-140940 A

  As described above, in the conventional portable information terminal, the terminal management file is updated by searching the data file in the file folder for a plurality of file folders created by the user, so the processing time is long. There was a problem.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a portable information terminal that shortens the time required for the update process of the terminal management file. In particular, the present invention provides a portable information terminal capable of shortening the time required for processing when updating a terminal management file created by extracting data file identification information from a file allocation table on a removable memory card. The purpose is that. It is another object of the present invention to provide a portable information terminal with improved operability when updating a terminal management file.

When the portable information terminal according to the first aspect of the present invention reads data from a removable memory card that divides into two or more file folders and holds the data file and displays it on the screen, the data storage position in the data file is stored. Is a portable information terminal that refers to a file allocation table that holds and associates a physical address indicating the data file identification information including the information of the file folder to which the data file belongs, and is selectable by accessing the memory card. Folder list display means for displaying the file folder as a folder list based on the file allocation table, and data files in the file folder selected on the folder list are searched to extract the identification information from the file allocation table. then, data of a predetermined file format file A terminal for management file generating means for storing in the memory card as a terminal for managing files for sorting Le, the data file of the file folder, and displays the identification information included in the terminal for management file And a data file display means.

  In this portable information terminal, when a file folder is selected on the folder list, the data file identification information is extracted from the file allocation table by searching for the data file in the file folder, and this identification information is managed for the terminal. Stored as a file. According to such a configuration, since the terminal management file is updated for the file folder selected on the folder list, the time required for the update process of the terminal management file is reduced as compared with the update for all the file folders. It can be shortened. Further, since the update process of the terminal management file is automatically started by selecting the file folder on the folder list, the operability when updating the terminal management file can be improved.

  In addition to the above configuration, the portable information terminal according to the second aspect of the present invention is configured such that the terminal management file generating means extracts identification information from the file allocation table based on the file format of the data file.

  In addition to the above configuration, a portable information terminal according to a third aspect of the present invention includes an updated flag holding unit that holds an updated flag that is set when the terminal management file is generated for each of the file folders. The file generation means is configured to update the terminal management file based on the updated flag. According to such a configuration, the management file update process is performed based on the updated flag that is set when the terminal management file is generated, so that useless update process can be omitted.

  In addition to the above configuration, the portable information terminal according to the fourth aspect of the present invention is configured such that the updated flag is reset when the power is turned off, when the power is turned on, or when the memory card is attached or detached.

  In addition to the above-described configuration, the portable information terminal according to the fifth aspect of the present invention includes a management file for the terminal, the file folder selected on the folder list being a file folder selected for the first time after the power is turned on or a memory card is inserted. If the file folder is updated in some cases and selected for the second time or later, it is configured not to be updated.

  According to the portable information terminal of the present invention, since the terminal management file is updated for the file folder selected on the folder list, the terminal management file is required to be updated compared to updating all the file folders. Time can be shortened. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the time required for processing when updating the terminal management file created by extracting the identification information of the data file from the file allocation table on the removable memory card. Further, since the update process of the terminal management file is automatically started by selecting the file folder on the folder list, the operability when updating the terminal management file can be improved.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a portable information terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which a camera-equipped cellular phone 1 is shown as an example of the portable information terminal. The mobile phone 1 is a small portable information terminal that can store image data captured by the camera 12 or image data acquired from a website on the Internet in a removable memory card 31.

  The cellular phone 1 includes an operation key 11, a camera 12, an antenna 13, a cellular communication unit 14, an LCD 15, a card slot 16, and an input / output processing unit 17. The operation key 11 is an input device for performing a predetermined input to the input / output processing unit 17, and an on-hook key, an off-hook key, a numeric keypad, a direction key, and the like are provided as the operation key 11.

  The camera 12 is an imaging unit that captures a subject and generates image data including a large number of pixel data. An LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) 15 is a display device that displays image data and electronic mail on a screen.

  The cellular communication unit 14 is a mobile communication unit that transmits and receives radio waves to and from the base station via the antenna 13. In a state in which communication is established with another communication terminal, the cellular communication unit 14 transmits an audio signal input from a microphone for transmission (not shown), and the received audio signal is received by a receiver for reception ( (Not shown). The cellular communication unit 14 transmits and receives communication data such as e-mail.

  The card slot 16 is an external interface that detachably accommodates the memory card 31. Data is transmitted and received between the memory card 31 and the input / output processing unit 17 via the card slot 16. The memory card 31 includes a rewritable nonvolatile semiconductor memory element such as a flash memory. As such a memory card 31, for example, an SD (Secure Digital: registered trademark) card is used.

  The input / output processing unit 17 performs an operation of writing data such as image data and e-mail to the memory card 31 or displaying data read from the memory card 31 on the LCD 15. The input / output processing unit 17 includes a folder creation unit 21, a FAT creation unit 22, a folder list display unit 23, a terminal management file generation unit 24, an updated flag holding unit 25, and a data file display unit 26.

  The folder creation unit 21 performs an operation of creating a plurality of file folders for accommodating data files in the memory card 31. That is, the memory card 31 holds the data file by dividing it into a plurality of file folders. The file folder created by the folder creation unit 21 is provided with a system folder created as unique to the system and a user folder created arbitrarily by the user. The data file accommodated in such a file folder consists of data such as image data and electronic mail.

  The FAT creation unit 22 performs an operation of creating a data file including a FAT (File Allocation Table) on the memory card 31. The FAT is a file allocation table that holds a physical address indicating a data storage position in a data file in association with identification information of the data file.

  The data file identification information includes, for example, a file name and attribute information, that is, information on a file folder to which the data file belongs. More specifically, in addition to the file name and attribute information, the file format, file size, and update date / time are held as data file identification information. The file name is information consisting of a character string that can be arbitrarily designated by the user. The attribute information includes, for example, information indicating a path from the highest-level file folder (referred to as a root folder). The file format consists of information indicating the data structure in the data file. The file size consists of information indicating the amount of data in the data file. The update date / time includes information indicating the date / time when the data file was written into the memory card 31 or updated.

  The FAT creating unit 22 performs such an operation of updating the FAT every time the data file is changed.

  The folder list display unit 23 performs an operation of accessing the memory card 31 to read the FAT and displaying selectable file folders based on the FAT. This selectable file folder is displayed on the LCD 15 as a folder list.

  When a file folder is selected on the folder list, the terminal management file generation unit 24 searches for a data file in the file folder, extracts data file identification information from the FAT, and stores it in the memory card 31. The operation to be performed. The identification information is extracted based on, for example, the file format of the data file, that is, the data structure in the data file, and the extracted identification information of the data file is stored in the memory card 31 as a terminal management file. The This terminal management file is stored in a system folder on the memory card 31, for example.

  In the terminal management file generation unit 24, information in which the title information is added to the identification information of the data file, that is, the file name, the attribute information, the file format, the file size, and the update date and time (here, referred to as header information). ) Is generated as a terminal management file. Such a terminal management file is managed by the FAT. The file format is identified by, for example, an extension added to the file name. The title information is information including a character string arbitrarily designated by the user.

  As a method for creating the terminal management file, specifically, the data file in the file folder selected on the folder list is read from the memory card 31 based on the FAT. Then, by looking at the extension included in the identification information of the read data file, it is determined whether or not the data file has a file format permitted in advance to be accommodated in the file folder. The terminal management file is generated by extracting only data files in a file format permitted to be accommodated in the file folder.

  The updated flag holding unit 25 is a storage unit that is set when the terminal management file is generated and holds an updated flag 25a indicating that the terminal management file has been updated for each file folder. . The updated flag 25a is reset when the power is turned off, when the power is turned on, when the memory card 31 is inserted, or when the memory card 31 is detached.

  The terminal management file generation unit 24 performs an operation of updating the terminal management file based on such an updated flag 25a. That is, for the file folder selected on the folder list, when the updated flag 25a is not on, processing for updating the terminal management file on the memory card 31 is performed. On the other hand, when the updated flag 25a is set and turned on, the process of updating the management file is not performed.

  Therefore, the terminal management file is updated when the file folder selected on the folder list is a file folder selected for the first time after the power is turned on or the memory card 31 is inserted, and is selected after the second time. If the file folder has been changed, it is not updated.

  By holding the updated flag 25a in the terminal, it is possible to shorten the time required for access compared to holding it in the memory card 31.

  The data file display unit 26 performs an operation of displaying the data read from the memory card 31 on the screen based on the FAT. Specifically, for the file folder selected on the folder list, an operation of displaying the data file in the file folder based on the terminal management file is performed. For example, among the data files in the file folder, file names of data files whose identification information is included in the terminal management file are displayed in a list.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the operation of the mobile phone 1 of FIG. 1, showing an example of a hierarchical structure of file folders managed by the FAT. In this FAT system, the root folder 41 is a top-level file folder, and the DCIM folder 42 and the PRIVATE folder 43 are provided as system folders in the root folder 41.

  The DCIM folder 42 is a file folder for accommodating image data taken by the camera 12, and a plurality of user created folders 44 are created as lower file folders.

  In this example, “user created folder 100” to “user created folder 102” are created as the three user created folders 44, and “xxx0001.jpg”, “ "xxx0002.jpg" and "xxx0003.jpg" are accommodated.

  The file format of these data files 45 is a JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) format, and can be determined by the extension “jpg” added to the file name.

  The PRIVATE folder 43 is a file folder for accommodating terminal management files and PDF data, and a TABLE folder 46 and a PDF folder 47 are created as lower file folders.

  The PDF folder 47 is a file folder for storing PDF data files, and a plurality of PVD folders 51 are created as lower file folders.

  In this example, “PVD110” and “PVD120” are created as two PVD folders 51, and “xxx0011.pdf” and “xxx0012.pdf” are stored in “PVD110”. The file format of these data files is a PDF (Portable Document Format) format, and can be determined by the extension “pdf” added to the file name.

  The TABLE folder 46 is a file folder for accommodating terminal management files, and a file folder 48 corresponding to the DCIM folder 42 and the PDF folder 47 is created as a lower file folder.

  In this example, “user created 100.tbl” to “user created 102.tbl” are created as terminal management files 49 in the file folder 48 corresponding to the DCIM folder 42. Also, “PVD110.tbl” and “PVD120.tbl” are created as the terminal management file 50 in the file folder 48 corresponding to the PDF folder 47.

  When a data file in the file folder represented by such a hierarchical structure is read from the memory card 31 by an information processing terminal such as a personal computer, the FAT is referred to and the data file is read based on the FAT. When the data file is changed, the FAT on the memory card 31 is updated by the information processing terminal.

  On the other hand, in the cellular phone, when data files in the file folder are read from the memory card 31, the FAT and terminal management files 49 and 50 are referred to, and the data files are read based on these data files.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the operation of the mobile phone 1 of FIG. 1, and shows an example of the FAT 60 and the terminal management file 62 created in the memory card 31 by the input / output processing unit 17. In the memory card 31, a FAT 60 and a data file 61 and a management file 62 managed by the FAT 60 are held.

  The FAT 60 stores data file identification information 63, in this example, a physical address 64 indicating the storage location of data in the data file in association with the file name and extension for each data file. When accessing the memory card 31, data in the data file 61 and the management file 62 is read with reference to the FAT 60 as described above.

  The management file 62 holds, for each data file, header information 65 that includes identification information extracted from the FAT 60, that is, the file name, file format, file size, update date, and title information added by the input / output processing unit 17. ing. When a list of file names of data files in the file folder is displayed for the file folder selected on the folder list, the display operation is performed with reference to such a management file 62.

  Steps S101 to S108 in FIG. 4 are flowcharts showing an example of the operation when displaying the data file in the mobile phone 1 in FIG. First, when a file folder is selected on the folder list, the terminal management file generation unit 24 refers to the updated flag 25a corresponding to the file folder (steps S101 and S102).

  At this time, if the updated flag 25a is not on, the data file in the file folder is searched, and identification information corresponding to the data file in a predetermined file format associated with the file folder is extracted from the FAT. Then, the terminal management file on the memory card 31 is updated (steps S103 to S106).

  Next, the updated flag 25a is set to be turned on (step S107), and the identification information included in the updated terminal management file is displayed as a list for the data file in the file folder (step S108). .

  On the other hand, if the updated flag 25a is in the ON state, the terminal management file is not updated, and the identification information of the data file is displayed in a list by referring to the terminal management file held on the memory card 31 ( Steps S103 and S108).

  According to the present embodiment, since the terminal management file is updated for the file folder selected on the folder list, the time required for the update process of the terminal management file is reduced compared to updating all the file folders. It can be shortened. Further, since the update process of the terminal management file is automatically started by selecting the file folder on the folder list, the operability when updating the terminal management file can be improved.

  In addition, since the management file update process is performed based on the updated flag 25a that is set when the terminal management file is generated, useless update processes can be omitted.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a portable information terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which a camera-equipped cellular phone 1 is shown as an example of a portable information terminal. It is the figure which showed an example of operation | movement of the mobile telephone 1 of FIG. 1, and shows an example of the hierarchical structure of the file folder managed by FAT. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the operation of the mobile phone 1 in FIG. 1, in which an example of the FAT 60 and the terminal management file 62 in the memory card 31 is illustrated. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation when displaying a data file in the mobile phone 1 of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1 Mobile phone 11 Operation key 12 Camera 13 Antenna 14 Cellular communication unit 15 LCD
16 card slot 17 input / output processing unit 21 folder creation unit 22 FAT creation unit 23 folder list display unit 24 terminal management file generation unit 25 updated flag holding unit 25a updated flag 26 data file display unit 31 memory card

Claims (5)

When data is read from a removable memory card that holds data files divided into two or more file folders and displayed on the screen, the file to which the data file belongs is assigned a physical address indicating the data storage location in the data file. In a portable information terminal that refers to a file allocation table held in association with identification information of the data file including folder information,
Folder list display means for accessing the memory card and displaying the selectable file folders as a folder list based on the file allocation table;
The memory card as a terminal management file for searching for a data file in a file folder selected on the folder list, extracting the identification information from the file allocation table, and selecting a data file of a predetermined file format A management file generation means for terminal to be stored in,
A portable information terminal comprising data file display means for displaying the identification information included in the terminal management file for the data file in the file folder.   2. The portable information terminal according to claim 1, wherein the terminal management file generation means extracts identification information from a file allocation table based on a file format of the data file. An updated flag holding means for holding an updated flag set at the time of generating the terminal management file for each file folder;
2. The portable information terminal according to claim 1, wherein the terminal management file generating unit updates the terminal management file based on the updated flag.   4. The portable information terminal according to claim 3, wherein the updated flag is reset when power is turned off, when power is turned on, or when a memory card is attached or detached.   The terminal management file is updated when the file folder selected on the folder list is a file folder selected for the first time after the power is turned on or a memory card is inserted, and the file folder selected for the second time or later is updated. If not, the portable information terminal is not updated.

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