JPH08314954A - Information processing method and device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] It is possible to search for a desired file by the processing that has occurred for the file, without requiring the user to pay special attention. [Structure] When it is detected that a process such as editing or printing has occurred for a file in the document file group 3011, the type and time of the process that has occurred and information for specifying the file are registered in the link information file. Then, when a time zone is specified and searched by the input unit 3001, a file in which processing has occurred in that time zone is searched from the link information file, and the list is displayed on the display unit 3015. When one of the displayed file groups is designated from the input unit 3001, an application program that processes the designated file is started, and the data file designated by the application is opened.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

The present invention relates to an information processing method and apparatus,
More specifically, the present invention relates to an information processing method and apparatus for storing and managing a plurality of types of information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A user can search and display a desired document file from a file storage unit that stores various document data such as text data, draw data, still image data, moving image data, and audio data as files. It is also called an information device and an electronic schedule that enables the user to easily grasp his / her own schedule by displaying the input schedule later on the display device. There is an information device.

As a method of managing files recorded in a storage medium, in a currently popular operating system (OS), a user himself creates a directory group hierarchized in a tree structure, and this directory is used. You can freely store files in any directory in the group. In such a file management method, the user groups files having some same meaning to himself and stores them in one directory, and further groups directories having some same meaning to himself to make one directory. This is a method in which files are organized by storing and hierarchizing directories, and when searching for a file, a target file is found by tracing the hierarchical structure.

Another search method is a search method in a database system. In a database system, a user associates a keyword with a target file and performs a search using the associated keyword. Each file has, along with its file name, one or more keywords for each file, and the user specifies the keywords that the target file will have in the form of one or more keyword logical operations. The search device presents a file intended by the user to the user by displaying a list of files that match the logical operation of this keyword or a plurality of keywords.

[0005]

Although the above two typical search methods are both effective file search methods for searching a file, both of them are arranged in a hierarchical structure or keywords are set in the file. However, there is a problem in that the work such as that is troublesome.

Further, the current mainstream OS stores the last modified date and time of the file managed, and displays the file name of the file in an arbitrary directory in the order of the last modified date and time according to the user's request. By doing so, the user can find the target file based on the date and time, but there is a problem that the search cannot be performed by the date and time across a plurality of directories.

[0007] Further, in the conventional OS, only the time attribute such as the last modified date and time of the file is stored.
For example, even if a user wants to find a file printed yesterday, it is not easy to find it unless the file is updated at the time of printing.

A personal scheduler (diary)
Application software for personal schedule management, which is generally called a schedule (diary), has been commercialized as application software for a personal computer for managing. In the scheduler,
For each event included in your personal schedule,
By associating multimedia data such as image data and text data, the user can refer to the multimedia data related to the event while viewing the content of each event. However, in such application software, the user has to explicitly associate the multimedia data with each event, which imposes a heavy burden on the user.

[0009]

[Means for Solving the Problems] and

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an information processing method and apparatus for making it possible to search for a desired file by the processing that has occurred with respect to the file without the user paying particular attention. Is to provide.

In order to solve this problem, for example, the information processing method of the present invention comprises the following steps. That is, there is provided an information processing method for storing and managing information as a file, which includes a process detecting step of detecting occurrence of a process in a file being stored and managed, and a time detecting step of detecting time. And a step of, when a process is detected, associating the information for identifying the corresponding file, the type of the process, and the time information with each other, and registering them in a predetermined storage medium according to a predetermined format.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention,
Further, a time designating step of designating a time and a searching step of searching for a file corresponding to the designated time based on the information stored in the management storing step based on the designated time, and a search step. It is desirable to provide a display step of displaying the created file list. As a result, even if it is difficult to specify the file itself, the operator can find the file based on the time when the processing is generated.

Further, each file has reduced image information generated based on the file in order to specify the file, and further, a list display of search files by the display step is displayed as a file name. It is desirable to include a display form setting step of designating whether to display the reduced image information. As a result, when the reduced image is displayed, the attributes and types of the file can be easily known, and thus the file can be identified more easily.

It is desirable that the types of processing include file creation, editing, printout, e-mail transmission / reception, and video capture. This makes it possible to search for a file based on an event such as printing.

The storage management has a step of registering a file to be managed, and the registering step is performed through a user interface for registering a file to be managed and an application which processes the file as data in association with each other. It is desirable that it works after it is registered. This makes it possible to ensure that an individual file is associated with the application processing it.

In addition, it is preferable that the full path and file name of the file and the full path and program file name of the application program are registered. As a result, the data file open process can be performed after the application is started by simply focusing on the specified path and file name, and the control process can be simplified.

In addition, a step of designating a desired file in the file list displayed by the search and an application program for processing the file are started,
And opening a file designated for the application program.

As a result, only by designating a desired file in the file list displayed as the search result, the contents can be confirmed and the editing process can be performed.

Further, a schedule registration step of registering an event time zone and a memo of the event, a display step of displaying an event list, a selection step of selecting at least one of the displayed events, and the selected event. It is desirable to provide a step of displaying a list of files for which processing has occurred in the time zone of the event.

As a result, when managing the schedule on an individual basis, it becomes possible to retrieve a file corresponding to the schedule without paying special attention to it.

In the display step, by displaying the calendar format, it becomes possible to more visually manage the schedule.

A concrete example of the above configuration will be as follows.

FIG. 26 shows the basic configuration of this information equipment. In FIG. 26, an input unit 3001 is a time period specifying unit 3 for specifying a time period desired by the user for this information device.
002 and a time designation unit 3003 for designating a desired time for the information device by the user, and a link type selection unit 3007 described later. Further, when inputting a command to the information device or when editing document information. It is also for inputting various information. The primary storage unit 3004 is composed of, for example, a RAM, and temporarily stores information about a processing procedure for realizing each unit of the present information device, document information, and other information generated during the processing progress of each processing procedure. A secondary storage unit 3010 (for example, a large-capacity storage device such as a hard disk device or a magneto-optical disk device) creates a document file group 3011 such as image data and text data by the link creation unit 3018 of the information device. The link information file 3012 for storing the schedule data input by the user, the thumbnail image management file 3013 for storing the thumbnail image data of the document file, and the like. It is composed of a storage medium.

The document editing unit 3005 performs processing for editing various document information such as text data, image data, drawing data, voice data, etc. according to an input from the user via the input unit 3001. The display unit 3015 displays the document information of the information device, and displays the user interface screen when the user inputs a command to the information device. Reference numeral 3016 is a timekeeping unit, which measures the current time. 3017 is a time inquiry unit,
In response to a request from another unit included in the information device, the clock unit 3016 is queried for the current time. 30
Reference numeral 19 denotes a digital camera communication unit, which transmits and receives data to and from a digital camera connected to the information device, receives image data taken by the digital camera,
This image data is stored in the secondary storage unit 3010 as a document file.

An electronic mail receiving unit 3020 receives electronic mail from another information device connected to this information device via a network and stores the electronic mail in the secondary storage unit 3010 as a document file. Reference numeral 3021 denotes an electronic mail transmission unit, which transmits an electronic mail to another information device and stores the transmitted electronic mail in the secondary storage unit 3010 as a document file. A printing unit 3022 prints the content of the designated document file in response to a request from the user. Reference numeral 3008 denotes thumbnail image creation, which creates thumbnail image data of a document file and writes it in the thumbnail image management file 3013. Reference numeral 3018 denotes a link creation unit that generates link information in which information related to processing contents of various processing performed on the document file, file ID information of the document file, and information related to time when the processing is performed are associated with each other. , And writes the link information in the link information file 3012.

In FIG. 26, the link creating section 3018
Is independent of other processing units, but if the link creation unit can detect various processing by other units, other units (document editing unit, digital camera communication unit, e-mail receiving unit) , An electronic mail transmission unit, a printing unit, etc.). Reference numeral 3006 denotes a link information search unit for searching for link information corresponding to a time or a time zone designated by the time zone designation unit 3002 or the time designation unit 3003 by the user in response to a request from the user. Reference numeral 3007 denotes a link type selection unit that allows the user to select a link type to be searched when the link information search unit 3006 searches. 3023 is input section 3 by the user
Manage the schedule data entered by 001,
A schedule management unit for storing the schedule data file 3014 in the secondary storage unit 3010. The schedule management unit displays on the display unit 3015 an event search unit 3024 for searching the event requested by the user from the time information of the event from the schedule data file 3014 and the content of the event searched by the event search unit. The event content display unit 3025 is included.

With the above configuration, in the information device, the user creates a file for a document file, refers to the file, corrects the file, shoots with a digital camera, prints the content of the file, receives an e-mail, receives an e-mail. When a process such as sending a message, intentionally associating with a user's desired time, or the like is performed, the link creating unit 3018 of this information device associates the process content information, the process time information, and the file ID information of the processed file. The link information is stored in the link information file 3012. When the user later designates the time or the time zone by the time zone designation unit 3002 or the time designation unit 3003 and inputs a document file search request command to the information device from the input unit 3001,
The link information search unit 3006 displays the link information file 301.
2 is searched for a file for which the processing content selected by the link type selection unit 3007 has been performed at the specified time or time zone, and the file ID of the searched file or a part of the file ID or a thumbnail image is displayed. Display unit 301
5 is displayed. With this operation, the user can easily retrieve the target file from the memory of the processing content and processing time performed by himself, without the troublesome work of organizing the files.

Further, the time and time zone is designated by the time zone designating section 3002 or the time designating section 3003, and the event content of the event corresponding to the designated time or designated time zone from the schedule data managed by the schedule management section 3023. When a display request command is input, the event content display unit 3025 causes the event search unit 3024 to retrieve from the schedule data included in the schedule data file 3014, together with the event content of the event corresponding to the specified time or time zone, and the link information. The file ID of the file that has been subjected to the processing selected by the link type selection unit 3007 or a part of the file ID or a thumbnail at a specified time or time zone obtained by the search unit 3006 searching the link information file 3012. Since the image is displayed on the display unit 3015 in association with the event contents, the user can easily search for the desired file by browsing the personal schedule, and the user can input the previously input file. It is possible to use the schedule information of the individual who made the search.

[0028]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments will be described in detail below on the basis of the structure or the structure example of the present invention.

<First Embodiment> The first embodiment of the present invention is an example in which the present invention is applied to a general personal computer which is now popular. FIG. 1 shows the basic configuration of the first embodiment, which is a typical configuration of a general personal computer which is now popular. In the first embodiment, each processing unit in the basic configuration of FIG. 26 loads the resources of the personal computer as shown in FIG. 1 as hardware as RAM into the program of the processing contents of each processing unit, and the microprocessor 101 Is realized by executing processing.

The basic configuration of the information equipment in this embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 is a microprocessor, which performs arithmetic operations, logical judgments, and the like.
Reference numeral 102 is an address bus for designating the address of each input / output memory, 103 is a bidirectional data bus used for transferring various data, 104 is read / write of each memory, acceptance of interrupt, timing of data set, etc. Is a control bus used to transmit the. 106
Is an input device such as a keyboard and mouse, and 105 is an input device controller for controlling the input device 106.
The input device controller 105 encodes the data input by the input device 106 such as a keyboard and a mouse, and sends an interrupt signal to the control bus 10.
4 Reference numeral 108 denotes a display device such as a CRT or a liquid crystal display, which displays a graphical user interface of an operating system and application software running on the information device, and schedule data and other multimedia data. A display device controller 107 controls the display device 108. Reference numeral 110 denotes a read-only memory, which is a so-called ROM, in which a re-initialization procedure for starting the information device is stored. 109 is a controller of the ROM 110.

Reference numeral 114 denotes a non-volatile storage medium, and as shown in FIG. 2, a file attribute storage section 130 for storing file attributes and directory information of files stored in the storage medium, and a basic operation of the information device. The described basic system file 131, the link data search display application program file 132 that describes the processing procedure when the information device searches the link information and displays the search result, and the still image, the moving image, the sound, Link information for storing the link information of each file of the document information editing application program file 133 that describes the processing procedure of editing document information such as text and drawing, and the document file group 136 that stores the document information as a file Of the file 134 and the document file group 136, The document file registration management file 135 that describes the file ID of the document file registered in the data retrieval display application and the file ID of the application program file used when opening the document file, which is operating on this information device. Print management program file 137 that describes the processing procedure when the application of FIG. 2 prints the document information, data transmission / reception with the digital camera connected to the parallel port 2, and communication with other devices via the network board 118. Sending and receiving e-mail, etc.
A communication management program file 138 that describes a processing procedure for transmitting and receiving various data, and a document file group 136 in which document information such as still images, moving images, voice texts, and drawings are dolphined and stored. are doing.

Reference numeral 113 is a non-volatile storage medium controller for controlling the non-volatile storage medium 114. 11
Reference numeral 2 denotes a random access memory, that is, a RAM, and as shown in the figure, an operating system storage area 120, a document information editing application program storage area 12
1, a link data search display application program storage area 124, a print management program storage area 123,
A communication management program storage area 124, a work area 125 used by the operating system (OS) and application programs running on the information device as work areas, and other application programs not explicitly described in the present embodiment. The other application program storage area 126 is provided. A RAM controller 111 controls the RAM 112. Reference numeral 115 denotes a clock, which keeps time by supplying power from the battery 116 even when the power of the information device is off. A parallel port 117 is a port for transmitting and receiving data between an external device connected via a cable and this information device, and it is assumed that a printer is connected in this embodiment. 14
The parallel port 0 of 0 is a port for data transmission / reception between the information device and an external device connected via a cable, and it is assumed that a digital camera is connected in the present embodiment. Reference numeral 118 is a network board mounted in the expansion slot of the information device. In this embodiment, the information device operates as a client connected to the server, and the network board enables the information device to send and receive information to and from the server connected to the network line. As shown in FIG. 1, it is provided between the information device and a network line connecting to the server.

In the above configuration, when the user turns on the power of this information device, the initial program included in the ROM of FIG. 1-110 is executed, and after the initialization processing required for the device is completed, the basic system file 131 Is read into the operating system storage area 120, and the operating system is activated.

The operating system of the present information equipment in the first embodiment is multitasking like the operating system of a general personal computer at present, and a plurality of application programs can run simultaneously. Further, it has a general window system at present and displays a window for each running application, and the user can switch the application to input a command by selecting the window. In addition, it supports a communication function between applications, and one application A activates another application B, and requests another activated application B to open a specified file. It is also possible to send a command understood by another application B from the application A. In addition, files are managed with a directory structure, and are stored on the nonvolatile storage medium 114 via the operating system.
A user can create an arbitrary directory structure and store and organize arbitrary files in arbitrary directories.

When the operating system is in operation, next, the communication management program file 137
Also, it is read into the print management program storage area 123 and becomes in the operating state in the background, and thereafter, in the state where the operating system receives the focus of the command, it is in the state of waiting for an event from the user. When the user inputs a command for using the document information editing application to the operating system from the input device 106, the information device reads the document information editing application program file 133 from the non-volatile storage medium 114. After storing in the document information editing application program storage area 121, it waits for an event from the user. At this time, the command input by the user is focused on the document information editing application, and the command input by the user is the document until the user changes the focus of the command to another application or system by the input means. This is what the information editing application receives.

In addition, while the operating system receives the focus of the command, the user inputs the input device 10
When a command desiring to use the link data search / display application is input to the operating system from 6, the information device reads the link data search / display application program file 132 from the nonvolatile storage request 114, and searches for the link data. After being stored in the display application program storage area 122, it is in a state of waiting for an event from the user. At this time,
The command entered by the user is focused on the link data search display application, and the command entered by the user is the link data search until the user changes the focus of the command to another application or system by the input means. It is what the display application receives.

Here, an image called "thumbnail image" which is various in the present invention will be described. In the present invention, a thumbnail image of a file is an image for allowing the user to intuitively recognize the contents of the file, and has a number of vertical and horizontal pixels suitable for displaying a plurality of images on a display device. For the thumbnail image in this embodiment, the following images are used as thumbnail images according to the contents of the file. 1). "When the file content is a still image, the image is enlarged or reduced while maintaining the aspect so that the number of pixels in the longitudinal direction is 60 pixels" 2). "When the file content is a moving image, the image of the first frame of the moving image is enlarged or reduced while maintaining the aspect so that the number of pixels in the longitudinal direction is 60 pixels." 3). "When the file contents are text data and voice data, an image in which the file name character string of the file is expressed in a bitmap of 60 pixels x 60 pixels" 4). “When the file content is the draw data in the metafile format, the painting data expressed in the metafile format is converted into the bitmap format, and 60 pixels × 60
"Enlarged or reduced image to bitmap of pixels" or more.

In the present embodiment, thumbnail images are created as described above for files to be managed. However, this is not the only option, and a plurality of images are displayed on the display device 108 so that the user can obtain the desired images. The size may be any number of pixels as long as it is suitable for finding a file to be read, and the moving image may be a frame other than the first frame. Further, the voice text file may of course be an image that does not use a file name but merely informs the user that it is voice data or text data.

FIG. 6 shows the structure of the registration file management file 135 of this information device. Hereinafter, the structure of the registration file management file 135 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

In the information equipment according to the present embodiment, when some processing is performed, there are a document file which creates a link information record and a document file which does not create a link information record, and the user operates the file registration window of FIG. 4 to be described later. It is assumed that the link information record according to the processing content is created only for the document file registered in the registration file management file 135. The data structure of the registration file management file will be described below with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 6B, the registration file management file 135 is made into a file with a structure in which one registration file management record is created for one registration file and this is listed. As shown in FIG. 6A, one file management record is used when opening the document file indicated by the file ID information fields 601 and 601 of the registered file ID information fields 601 storing the file ID information of the registered document file. Program file ID information field 6 for storing file ID information of the application program file
02 and 601, a thumbnail image data field 603 for storing thumbnail image data of the file indicated by the file ID information field.

FIG. 4 shows a user interface when a document file is newly added to the file management file. The file registration window shown in FIG. 4 will be described below.

The file registration window is for registering a file having a specified file ID among the files managed by the operating system stored in 120 to the link data search display application. The operating system in this embodiment manages the non-volatile storage medium 113 with a directory structure, and its root directory is "C:" (meaning drive C). Therefore, the file ID information is based on the absolute path designation method starting from "C:", and the upper layer and the lower layer are separated by a backslash "\" to uniquely identify them in the nonvolatile storage medium 114. The file ID shall be specified.

Reference numeral 401 is a text field for the user to input the file path and file name of the file to be registered from the input device 106. In this embodiment, when the user specifies a registered file from the link data search display application and inputs an open command for the specified file to the link data search display application, the link data search display application is The command for opening the file is transmitted to the application program specified at the time of registration using inter-application communication, while the application program specified at the time of registration is activated. Reference numeral 402 is a text field for designating the file path and file name of the application program file used when opening the file to be registered. Reference numeral 403 denotes a registration button, which allows the user to
By clicking when the contents are not dependent on the contents of the text fields 402 and 402, the file name is registered in the link data search display application, and the file registration window is closed.

Next, the operation of this information device when the user clicks the registration button 403 in FIG. 4 with the mouse or the like of the input device 106 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

In FIG. 4, the user inputs the file path and file name to be registered in the text field 40.
1 and input the file path and file name of the application program used to open the file in the text field 402, and then click the register button 403, the link data search display application of this information device is displayed in FIG. The process proceeds according to the procedure shown in the flowchart.

First, in step S701, an inquiry is made to the operating system to determine whether the file indicated by the file path and file name in the text field 401 exists in the non-volatile storage medium 114. If it does not exist, the determination is “No” and an error message is displayed in step S702, and then step S7.
The process proceeds to 09. If the file exists, the determination is “Yes”, and the process proceeds to step S703.

In step S703, it is determined whether the file indicated by the file path and file name in the text field 401 is already registered by referring to the registered file management file 135. If it is already registered, the determination is “Yes”, and an error display (for example, display of a message indicating that registration has already been made) is performed in step S704, and then the process proceeds to step S709.

If it is not registered yet, the judgment is "N".
Then, the processing proceeds to step S705. Here, the operating system is queried to determine whether the file indicated by the file path and file name in the text field 402 exists in the non-volatile storage medium 114. If it does not exist, the determination is “No”, an error is displayed in step S706, and then the process proceeds to step S709. If it is present, the determination is “Yes”, and step S707.
Proceed to. In step S707, processing is performed according to the procedure for adding to the registration file management file 135 shown in the flowchart of FIG.

In FIG. 8, in step S801, it is determined whether or not the link data search / display application supports the file format indicated by the extension of the file name indicated in the text field 401. In the first embodiment, the link data search / display application uses TX1 and TX2 as the text data file format, DW1 and DW2 as the draw data file format, SND as the audio data file format, and the moving image data file format. MV1, MV2, M as moving image file format taken by moving image digital camera
IM format V3, still image data file format
1, IM2, still image file IM3 captured by a still image digital camera, and a file format having an extension.

Here, the still image and moving image digital camera assumed in the present embodiment digitally stores the photographed image in a non-volatile storage medium, has a clocking means, and stores the photographing time. By converting a captured image into a file in a file format having a structure having an information area (in this embodiment, a file format having MI3 and MV3 as file extensions), and connecting to the information device via a cable, It shall be possible to exchange data with each other. The extension of the file shown in the text field 401 is these (TX1, TX2,
DW1, DW2, SND, MV1, MV2, MV3, I
If none of M1, MI2, IM3), the determination in step S801 is "No", and step S8
The process proceeds to 02. Also, the text field 401
If the file extension shown in is any of these, the determination in step S801 is "Yes",
The process proceeds to step S803.

In step S802, 60 pixels x 6 from the character string of the file name shown in the text field 401.
By creating 0-pixel bitmap data, a thumbnail that is a representative image of the file is created in the link data search display application (in this embodiment, a thumbnail image of 60 pixels × 60 is created, The number of pixels is not limited to this).

When the process proceeds to step S803, it is determined from the extension of the file name shown in the text field 401 whether the file is text data. When it is text data, the judgment is "
Yes, "and the process proceeds to step S802.
If this is not text data, the determination is "No" and the process proceeds to step S804.

In step S804, it is determined from the extension of the file name shown in the text field 401 whether the file is voice data. If this is voice data, the determination is "Yes", and the process proceeds to step S802. If this is not voice data, the determination is "No", and the process proceeds to step S809.

In step S809, it is determined from the extension of the file name shown in the text field 401 whether the file is draw data. If this is draw data, the determination is “Yes” and the process proceeds to step S810, but if it is not the draw data, the determination is “No” and the process proceeds to step S805. The draw data of the present embodiment is a file in the metafile format. In step S810, the metafile data is converted into a bitmap image, a thumbnail image is created, and the process proceeds to step S808.

When the process proceeds to step S805, it is determined from the extension of the file name shown in the text field 401 whether the file is moving image data. If this is moving image data, the determination is "Yes" and step S
The process proceeds to 806. If this is not moving image data, the determination is "No", and step S807
Proceed to.

In step S806, the first frame of the moving image data is read, and this image is enlarged or reduced to an image of 60 pixels × 60 pixels to create a thumbnail image. The data supported by this information device are text data, voice data, moving image data, draw data,
Since it is either still image data, step S80
Based on the determinations in S3, S804, and S805, step S80
In step 7, it is determined that the current file is still image data, and the still image data is enlarged or reduced to 6
A thumbnail image of 0 pixels x 60 pixels is created.

In step S808, "Registered file ID
Information field 601 = file path and file name of text field 401 "," program file I "
D information field 602 = file path and file name of text field 402 ”,“ thumbnail image data field 603 = S802, S806, S807,
A registration file management record having a field value "thumbnail image data created in any step of S810" is created and added to the record list of the registration file of the registration file management file 135, and then added to the file management file. Finish the procedure.

Upon completion of the above processing, the processing advances to step S708 in FIG. In step S708, the file registration link creation processing as shown in FIG. 9 is executed.

In FIG. 9, in step S901, the operating system is queried for the file creation date and time of the file indicated by the text field 401 (the operating system of this embodiment is the same as a general operating system at present, and is managed by the operating system). The file creation date and time and the file last modification date and time for the file are stored in the file attribute storage unit 130.
The application program is notified of these time data in response to a request from the application program). This time (here, time 1) and the file path and file name shown in the text field 401 (C: Dire in FIG. 4)
ctory1 \\ Directory2 \ File1.IM3) is linked with "link at file creation" which is one of the link types in the link data search display application of this information device. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 10, “processing time information field 1001 = time 1, file ID information field 100” in the link information file 134.
2 = C: Directory1 \ Directory2 \ File1.IM3, link type information field 1003 = file creation link "
Link information record information is created and added to the list of link information records in the link information file 134.

Next, in step S902, the operating system is queried for the file last modification date and time of the file indicated by the text field 401. This time (here, time 2) and the text field 401
The file path and file name shown by (C in FIG.
\ Directory1 \ Directoru2 \ File1.IM3) is linked with "link at file modification" which is one of the link types in the link data search display application of this information device.

Specifically, "processing time information field 1
001 = time 2, file ID information field 1002
= C: \ Directory1 \ Directory2 \ File1.IM3, link type information field 1003 = link when file is modified "
Link information record information is created and added to the list of link information records in the link information file 134.

Next, in step S903, the clock (see FIG.
-115) inquires of the operating system about the current time where the time is measured (the operating system of the present embodiment has an interface with time measuring means (clock) like the current general operating system, and It is possible to know the time, and to notify the application program of the current and current time data in response to a request from the application program). This time (here, time 3) and the file path and file name shown in the text field 401 (C: \ Directory1 \ Directory2 \ File1.IM in FIG. 4)
The link with 3) is linked by "link at file registration" which is one of the link types in the link data search display application of this information device.

Specifically, "processing time information field 10
01 = time 3, file ID information field 1002 =
The link information record information "C: \ Directory1 \ Directory2 \ File1.IM3, link type information field 1003 = link at file registration" is created and added to the list of link information records in the link information file 134.

Next, in step S904, the file extension of the file indicated by the text field 401 (see FIG.
Then, it is determined whether "IM3") is the extension MI3 or MV3 added to the file photographed by the still image or the moving image digital camera in this embodiment. IM3 or M
When it is not V3, the determination is “No”, and the processing shown in FIG. 9 is terminated. If the extension is IM3 or MV3, the determination in step S904 is "Yes", and the process proceeds to step S905.

In step S905, the shooting time data is read from the information area of the file having the extension of IM3 or MV3, and this time (here, time 4) and the link of the file path and the file mate indicated in the text field 401 are linked. Link with "link at the time of shooting" which is one of the link types in the link data search display application of this information device.

Specifically, "processing time information field 1
001 = time 4, file ID information field 1002
= C: \ Directory1 \ Directory2 \ File1.IM3, link type information field 1003 = link at the time of shooting "link information record information is created, and the link information file 13 is created.
Add to list of 4 link information records.

When the step S905 is completed, the processing procedure shown in FIG. 9 is completed.

Returning to FIG. 7, when the file registration link creation processing procedure shown in FIG. 9 is performed in step S708, the processing proceeds to step S709.

In step S709, the file registration window shown in FIG. 4 is closed. Then, step S70
After closing the file registration window at 9, the processing procedure of the link data search display application at the time of clicking the registration button shown in the flowchart of FIG. 7 is ended.

The user interface of the link data search display application of this information device is as shown in FIG. 3, for example. When the link data search display application is started, the screen 301 on the display device 108 is displayed.
A link data search / display application window 302 is displayed at.

The information equipment in this embodiment has a mouse as an input equipment of a pointing device. Three
Reference numeral 03 is a cursor that is linked to the mouse, and can specify a two-dimensional position on the screen 301. Three
Reference numeral 04 denotes a Search button. By clicking this button with a mouse, the information device starts a search based on the time information indicated by 307 and 308. 305 is ModeSele
This is a ct button. By clicking this button with the mouse, the mode can be selected by opening the mode select window shown in FIG. 306 is Resi
This is the stFile button. By clicking this button, the file registration window shown in FIG. 4 is opened, and the file on the non-volatile storage medium 114 managed by the operating system is linked by the processing procedure shown in FIG. It can be registered in the data search display application.

Reference numeral 307 denotes a text field 1 for inputting the time, which allows the user to input the date and time using the keyboard input means.
This shows a state in which the time of 19:00 19:00 on the 15th of the month has been input. 308 is also a text field 2 for inputting the time, and the user can input the date and time using the keyboard input means.
This shows a state in which a time of 23:15:00 on September 15, 994 is input. When the user inputs "time of text field 1 <time of text field 2" as shown in FIG. 3, the link data search / display application displays this as the time zone from the time of text field 1 to the time of text field 2. Shall be recognized as. Further, when "time of text field 1> = time of text field 2" or the time of text field 2 is not entered, the link data search / display application specifies this as the time of text field 1. Recognize as.

Reference numeral 309 denotes a search result display area, which is Sear
This is an area for displaying the search result of the document file searched by clicking the ch button. By positioning the mouse cursor 303 on the file name or the thumbnail image of the file displayed in the search result display area and clicking the mouse, the file corresponding to the file name or the thumbnail image of the file is selected. Three
Reference numeral 10 is a user-specified time field for the user to specify the time when the user-specified time link is set to the selected file. Reference numeral 311 denotes a Connect button. By clicking this button with the mouse, a user-specified time link is established with the time of the selected file and the user-specified time field 310. The details will be described later.

Next, the mode selection window shown in FIG. 5 will be described. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 501 is a mode selection window which is a user interface for the user to set the mode. 502-507 and 52
Reference numerals 0 to 522 are check boxes for setting a link type of a file to be searched and displayed when a file search is performed from the information of the link information file 134. The check box is clicked with a mouse and checked in a toggle manner. The state (selected state, state with X mark on GUI) and unchecked state.

The link type whose check box is checked is the link type to be searched when the Search button in FIG. 3-304 is clicked. Reference numeral 502 is a check box for linking when creating a file.
Reference numeral 503 is a check box for linking when referring to a file. Reference numeral 504 is a check box for linking when modifying a file. Reference numeral 505 is a check box for linking at the time of file registration. Reference numeral 506 is a check box for a user-specified time link. Reference numeral 507 is a check box for linking the shooting time. 520
Is a check box for linking when printing file contents. Reference numeral 521 is a check box for a link when receiving an electronic mail. Reference numeral 522 is a check box for a link when sending an electronic mail.

In FIG. 5, the check boxes 502 and 504 are checked, and when the Search button 304 is clicked, the file modification link and the file modification link are the search target link types.

The buttons 512 and 513 are two-choice buttons, and one of them is selected. Depending on which of the buttons 512 and 513 is selected, it is possible to select whether to display the retrieved files in the order of past to future or in the order of future to past. The buttons 514 and 515 are also alternative buttons. Depending on which of the buttons 514 and 515 is selected, when displaying the searched files, it is possible to select either thumbnail display or file name list display.

Reference numerals 508 and 509 are text fields for setting the time zone to be searched when the user specifies the time on the user interface shown in FIG. Reference numeral 508 is a text field for setting how long before the user's designated time the search target is. Reference numeral 510 is a text field for setting up to what time after the user's designated time the search target is. Using the settings of 508 and FIG. 5, if the user sets the time of 10:00 on September 20, 1994 in FIG.
September 20, 1994 8:40 to September 20, 1994 1
The time of 1:30 is the time zone to be searched.

Reference numeral 516 denotes a setting button. When the user does not depend on each setting on the mode select window, the user clicks this button to perform the setting, and the mode select window is hidden from the display device 108. Become. After that, the search is performed according to the window shown in FIG.

Next, the operation of this information device when the user clicks the Search button in FIG. 3 and inputs a search command to this information device will be described using a flowchart.

When the user clicks the Search button 304 in FIG. 3 with the mouse, the link data search display application of the information device performs the search according to the link data search processing procedure shown in FIG.

First, in step S1100, the work area 1 is set as a search result storage area for storing search results.
25, and in step S1101, the link information files 134 as shown in FIG. 10 are sorted in the time order shown in the processing time information field. Next, in step S1102, the text fields 307 and 308.
With reference to the above, it is determined whether the current designation is the time designation format or the time zone designation format based on the above-described determination criteria. If it is the time zone designation format, the determination is “Yes”, and the process proceeds to step S1103. If the format is the time designation format, the determination is "No" and the process proceeds to step S1104.

In step S1103, the work area 12
An area for the variable "time 1" is secured in 5, and the time indicated in the text field 307 is substituted for the variable "time 1".
Next, the area for the variable “time 2” is secured in the work area 125, the time indicated by the text field 308 is substituted for the variable “time 2”, and then the process proceeds to step S1105.

Further, in the case of proceeding to step S1104, the area of the variable "time 1" is secured in the work area 125, and the time indicated by the text field 508 is changed from the time indicated by the text field 307 to the variable "time 1". The time obtained by subtracting is substituted for time 1. Next, the time obtained by subtracting the time shown in the work area 125 is substituted for the time 1. Next, the area for the variable “time 2” is secured in the work area 125, and the text field 30 is set for the variable “time 2”.
The time obtained by adding the time shown in the text field 509 to the time shown by 7 is substituted for the time 2.

The time zone from time 1 to time 2 obtained by the processing in step S1103 or step S1104 described above is the time zone to be searched in the link data search processing.

In step S1105, the area of the variable "Index" is secured in the work area 125, and 1 is assigned to the variable "Index" as an initial value. Next, in step S1106, the area of the variable “time 3” is secured in the work area 125, and the link information file 1 is acquired at time 3
In the list of 34, the time stored in the processing time information field of the Index-th link information record from the beginning is substituted. Next, in step S1107, the inequality true / false determination of time 1 ≦ time 3 ≦ time 2 is performed. If the inequality holds, the decision is "Yes",
The process proceeds to step S1108. If the inequality does not hold, the determination is “No” and step S
The process proceeds to 1110.

At step S1108, whether the link type indicated by the link type information field of the Indexth link information record is selected in the check boxes 502 to 507 and 520 to 522 of the mode select window of FIG. 5 (whether it is checked or not). ) Make a decision. When in the selected state, the determination in step S1108 is "Yes" and the process proceeds to step S1109. If it is not in the selected state, step S110.
The determination in 8 is "No", and the process proceeds to step S1110.

In step S1109, the search result storage area previously secured in the work area 125 is stored in the In
The information (file path and file name) in the dexth link information record file ID information field is copied. Next, in step S1110, it is determined whether the Index + 1th link information record is listed. If the Index + 1th link information record exists, the determination is “Yes” and the process proceeds to step S1111. If the Index + 1th link information record does not exist, the determination is “No” and the process proceeds to step S1112. Proceed with processing.

In step S1111, the variable Index is incremented by 1, and the process returns to step S1106.

Thus, the determination in step S1110 is "
When “No”, all the links stored in the link information file 134 are referred to, the search is completed, and the search result is stored in the search result storage area.

FIG. 27 shows the appearance of the search result storage area. As shown in FIG. 27, the file path and file name obtained as a search result are stored in the search order as shown in list 1.

In step S1112, the search result file is displayed. The search result is displayed on the area 309 of FIG. As a data display method on the mode select window, when the file name radio button 515 in FIG. 5 is selected, the file path and file name obtained as a search result are mode selected by referring to the list 1 above. A list is displayed on the area 309 in the data display order set in the window data display order.

When the thumbnail radio button 514 is selected as the data display method on the mode selection window, the thumbnail image data of the file path and file name obtained from the list 1 is stored in the file management file of FIG. A thumbnail image list is displayed on the area 309 by loading the file path and file name obtained as a search result from the thumbnail image data area in the data display order set in the data display order of the mode selection window.

As described above, in step S1112, after the search results are displayed in a list according to the setting of the mode select window, the search processing procedure of this information device shown in the flowchart of FIG. 11 is ended.

Next, a procedure for the link data search / display application of the information device to establish a file reference link and a file modification link will be described. It should be noted that the phrase "extend A link" used in the text means to create a link information record having the A link as a field value of the link type field and add the record to the link information file.

FIG. 12 shows a state in which the search results are displayed as thumbnail images on the search result display area 309. In this information device, the state in which the search result is displayed as a thumbnail image like the state in FIG. 12 is not treated as the state in which the file is referenced. From this state, when the user moves the mouse cursor over the thumbnail image of a certain file (File8.IM3 in FIG. 12) as shown in FIG. 12 and specifies it (for example, double-clicks), the link data search display application is Start the application program that should be used to open the file by intercommunication, and open the file (generally, when a file is given as an argument when the application is started, the application is given the file specified by that argument). I also used this because I will open it). This time is the time in the processing time information field of the file reference link. In addition, the link data search and display application detects the modification of the file by always monitoring the last modification time of the opened file, and adds a link at the time of file modification to the link information file when the file is modified. Is.

The procedure for the information device to establish a file reference link and a file modification link will be described in detail below with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

Using the input means, the user specifies an arbitrary file from the files registered in the registration file management file 135 for this information device, and the specified file is specified for this information device. When the open command is input, the information device starts the process from step S1301. In the present embodiment, for simplicity of explanation, the file path and file name of the file designated by the user will be referred to as "file 1".

First, in step S1301, by referring to the registered file management file 135, the file path and file name of the application program file for opening the file 1 are obtained. Here, for simplicity, the file path and file name of the application will be referred to as application 1.

Next, in step S1302, the application program 1 is activated and the file 1 is opened on the application 1 by using the inter-application communication means, which is the function of the operating system in this information equipment.

In step S1303, it is determined whether the application 1 has started normally and the file 1 has been opened. When the file 1 is normally opened on the application 1, the determination in step S1303 is “Y”.
es ”, and the process proceeds to step S1304.
When the file 1 is not normally opened on the application 1, the determination in step S1303 is "No".
Then, after the error display is displayed on the display device 108 in step S1306, the process ends.

In step S1304, the operating system of this information device is inquired about the current time. For the sake of simplicity, the time obtained here will be called time 1.

Next, in step S1305, a file reference link is established. Specifically, “processing time information field 1101 = time 1, file ID information field 11
02 = file 1, link type information field 1103
A link information record "= link when referring to file" is added to the link information file 134. Step S130
After establishing a link at file reference in step 5, step S1
At 306, the operating system is queried to obtain the final date and time of the file 1, and this time is set as time 2 and time 3.

After step S1307, a file correction monitoring loop is entered.

First, in step S1307, time 2 is set.
And time 3 are the same time. In the case of time 2 = time 3, it means that the file 1 has not been modified.
The determination is “Yes”, and the process proceeds to step S1310. When time 2 = time 3 is not true, the judgment is “N”.
Then, the processing advances to step S1308.

In step S1308, since the file has been modified, a link is established when the file is modified. Specifically, the “processing time information field 1101
= Time 3, file ID information field 1102 = file 1, link type information field 1103 = link at file modification ”, is added to the link information file 134.

In step S1309, time 3 is substituted for time 2 to update time 2 with a new final modification date and time.

Then, in step S1310,
By performing inter-application communication, it is determined whether the file 1 is opened on the application 1. If application 1 is closed or file 1 is closed on application 1, file 1 is not open, so the judgment is "
No ”is reached, and the processing for establishing the file reference link and the file correction link shown in the flowchart of FIG. 13 is terminated.

When the file 1 is open, the determination in step S1310 is "Yes", and the process proceeds to step S1311. In step S1311, the operating system is inquired about the last modification date and time of the file 1, and this time is newly added by 3 times, and then the process returns to step S1307.

According to the processing procedure shown in the flowchart of FIG. 13 as described above, when the document file is opened from the link data search / display application, the information device establishes a link at the time of file reference and opens the document file. Whenever a file is modified, a link can be created when modifying the file.

Next, the procedure for the information device to establish a link at the time of printing file contents will be described. When a print command is input by the user, the application program running on this information device print storage program storage area 12
Data to be printed is designated and a print request is made to the print management program stored in 3. Upon receiving the print request, the print management program executes a task for outputting the designated data from the printer and establishes a link when printing the file contents. For the sake of simplicity, assume that file 1 is currently open in the application, and the user inputs a command requesting printing of file 1 to the document editing application (referred to as “Apl” here). The operation of the information device in such a case will be described in detail below with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Although printing from the multimedia data editing application is assumed in the present embodiment, it has a print command and sends a print request to the print management program based on the contract with the print management program at the time of printing. Any application may be used as long as it can be used.

When the user has opened file 1 on Appl, the print request command for file 1
When input from the pl user interface, the information processing apparatus starts the process from step S1401 in FIG.

First, in step S1401, Ap
1 sends a file content print request for a file whose file path and file name is file 1 to the print management program. In step S1402, the print management program that receives the instruction checks the printer status (power is on, paper is present, etc.), and then the process proceeds to step S1403. If the printer is ready to print, the determination in step S1403 is "
If “Yes”, the process proceeds to step S1404. On the other hand, if the printer is not in the printable state, the determination in step S1403 is “No”, and step S1404 is performed.
After displaying an error message in 1409, the process ends.

When the process proceeds to step S1404, the print management program acquires the data of file 1 described in the print data description language format (hereinafter referred to as data 1) from Ap1. Next, step S1
In 405, the print management program queries the operating system for the current time and stores it in the work area 125 as time 1. Next in step S140
In step 6, a request command for printing the contents of data 1 is sent to the printer, and data 1 is sent.

In step S1407, it is determined whether the printer has transmitted a print completion message. While the printer does not send the print completion message, the determination in step S1407 is “No”, and the determination in step S1407 is repeated.

When the printer finishes printing and a print completion message is sent to the print management program, the determination in step S1407 becomes "Yes", and the process proceeds to step S1408.

In step S1408, the print management program establishes a link when printing the file contents. In particular,
“Processing time information field 1101 = time 1, file ID information field 1102 = file 1, link type information field 1103 = file content print link”
The following link information record is added to the link information file 134. Then, in step S1408, after the file content printing link addition processing is performed, the series of processing for establishing the file content printing link shown in the flowchart of FIG. 14 is terminated.

In the above example, the print completion notification is waited for from the printer, but it may be the time when all the print data is sent. In this case, the time at which the print result is sent out and the time at which the print result is actually output from the printer take several seconds, and at most several tens of seconds, but there is no problem.

Next, a procedure for the information device to establish a link when receiving an electronic mail will be described. The communication management program stored in the communication management program storage area 124 is
As soon as the power of this information device is turned on, the information device is started up.
The e-mail information is updated by executing the e-mail information update process shown in the flowchart of FIG. In addition, the electronic mail information update process is executed at predetermined intervals during the operation of the information device to update the electronic mail information.

As shown in FIG. 15, when the e-mail information updating process is executed and a new e-mail has arrived, the communication management program establishes a link at the time of receiving the e-mail.

When the power of the information equipment is turned on, the communication management program is automatically started. When the communication management program is started and at a predetermined fixed time, the communication management program shown in FIG.
The electronic mail information update process indicated by is executed. Less than,
The processing procedure of the electronic mail information update processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 15 will be described in detail.

In the electronic mail information updating process, first, in step S1501, the mailbox of the server connected via the network is referred to. Here, in the embodiment, in addition to this information device, a plurality of information devices on the premises and outside the premises are also connected to the server connected to this information device via the network, and The electronic mail addressed to the user who is using this information device is sent to the directory called a mailbox on the non-volatile storage medium of the server connected via the network. When this information device refers to this mailbox and is stored as a file, and there is new e-mail that this information device has not referred to before, this e-mail is sent from the server to this information device through the network. By transmitting the information via the network, the user of the information device can obtain the information via the network.

If it is determined that new electronic mail has arrived in the mailbox of the server, the determination in step S1501 is "Yes", and step S15
The process proceeds to 02. If no new e-mail has arrived in the mailbox of the server in step S1501, the determination in step S1501 is "
No ”, and the e-mail information update process ends.

In step S1502, the newly arrived e-mail is received as data via the network, and a predetermined e-mail is copied to the directory in which the predetermined e-mail should be stored on the non-volatile storage medium of this information device. Assign file name to mail. Next, in step S1503, when there are K emails copied in step S1502, a table in which numbers 1 to K are assigned to the file path and file name of each email (referred to as table 1 here). Create). In addition,
For simplicity, the file path and file name of the n-th file in Table 1 will be expressed as fil (n) below.

Next, in step S1504, a region of the variable "Index" is provided on the work area 125, and 1 is assigned to Index as an initial value. Continuing step S1
In 509, the Indexth file in Table 1 is registered in the registration file management file.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, "registration file ID information field 601 = file (Ind
ex), program file ID information field = file path and file name of communication management program file 138, thumbnail image data field = mail subject (Subjec) obtained from information area of email
t) A registered file management record "thumbnail image data created by converting character string into bitmap" is created and added to the record list of the registered file management file 135.

Next, in step S1505, file is set.
By referring to the transmission time information area of the file indicated by (Index), the time when the electronic mail is transmitted from the transmission source is obtained, and this time is set as time 1. The actual condition of the electronic mail in this embodiment is one file, and the file has an information area, and the time when the electronic mail sender transmitted the electronic mail is stored in the information area as "transmission time". It is a thing. Although this time is the time when the sender sent the email, it is not the time when the server connected to this information device received the email,
In the present embodiment, this time lag is ignored and the electronic mail transmission time = the electronic mail reception time.

Next, in step S1506, the communication management program establishes a link when receiving an electronic mail. Specifically, “processing time information field 1101 = time 1, file ID information field 1102 = File (Ind
ex), link type information field 1103 = link when receiving email ”, is added to the link information file 134. In step S1506,
After linking when receiving email, step S150
In step 7, it is determined whether all emails (files) registered in the index table created in step S1503 are linked at the time of email reception.

When all the e-mails are not linked at the time of receiving the e-mails, the determination in step S1507 is "No", the variable Index is incremented by one in step S1508, and the process proceeds to step S1509 again. Also, when all the e-mails (files) are linked at the time of e-mail reception, the determination in step S1507 is “Yes”.
s ″, and the e-mail information updating process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 15 ends.

Next, a procedure for the information device to establish a link when sending an electronic mail will be described. In this embodiment,
A user who uses this information device can create an e-mail from the user interface of the communication management program. When the user sends the created email,
By clicking the send button on the user interface with the mouse, the send command of the created e-mail can be input to the information device. When the transmission command of the created e-mail is input, the information device sends the e-mail to the nonvolatile storage request 114.
A file having a unique file path and file name is stored in the nonvolatile storage medium 114. For example, in this embodiment, SendMail is under the root directory.
It is assumed that the following directory is prepared, and the e-mail is stored as a file with a file name uniquely derived from the destination of the e-mail, the transmission time, etc. in this directory. The communication management program sends an electronic mail, converts the electronic mail into a file, stores the electronic mail in the non-volatile storage medium 114, and then establishes an electronic mail transmission link by the file path and file name and the transmission time.

The processing procedure performed by the communication management program when the user creates an electronic mail on this information device and inputs a send command to this information device will be described in detail below with reference to the flowchart of FIG. .

The user creates an e-mail on the user interface of the communication management program (hereinafter referred to as e-mail 1 for simplicity), and the e-mail 1
When a transmission command is input, the communication management program starts processing from step S1601.

First, in step S1601, the operating system is inquired about the current time, and this time is set to time 1. Next, in step S1602, the electronic mail 1 is transmitted to the server connected via the network together with the destination information and the time 1 (corresponding to the transmission time). The server that receives this performs the e-mail transmission process, but this processing procedure may be the processing procedure of the currently general e-mail transmission processing. Next, in step S1603, the communication management program of the present information device converts the document information of the electronic mail 1 created by the user, the destination information, and the information including the time 1 into a file, and the destination information and the time are stored in the file. A file name uniquely derived from 1 (here, for simplicity, a file name of file 1 is given) is given and stored in the SendMail directory.

Next, in step S1604, a link is established for sending an electronic mail. Specifically, “processing time information field 1101 = time 1, file ID information field 1102 = C: \ SendMail \ file 1, link type information field 1103 = link when sending email”
The link information record becomes the link information file 134
Add to.

In step S1604, after establishing the e-mail transmission link, the communication management program ends the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG.

Next, a processing procedure when the link data search display application of the information device establishes a user specified time link will be described. The user specified time link is a link characterized by linking an arbitrary time desired by the user to a target file, and it is actually processed to a document file like other links. Is not linked to the time when was done. For example, if the file contents were a file that should be used for some event in the future, you might want to link the file with the time that the event took place. In such a case, the user can associate the file and the time when the event is taken with the information device from the user interface of the information device (establish a user-specified time link). In the present invention, the type of link established at this time is called a "user specified time link".

In this embodiment, the user inputs a desired time in the text field 310 on the link data search marking application user interface shown in FIG. 3, selects the file in the search result marking area 309, and the Connect button 311. By clicking, a user-specified time link of a desired time can be set to the selected file. The processing procedure when the link data search marking application establishes the user-specified time link will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In step S1701, the user inputs a desired time (desired time) to the information device. In this embodiment, the user can input the desired time by inputting the desired time in the text field 310 on the link data search display application interface of FIG.

In step S1702, the user selects a desired file. In the present embodiment, the file name of the desired file is displayed on the search result display area 309 of FIG. 3 or the object. The user can select the target file by clicking the area in which the thumbnail image of the file is displayed with the mouse. Since the file displayed in the search result display area 309 is linked, it is naturally necessary to perform the search before this.

Step S1703 is a step of inputting a command (link request command) requesting the file to be associated with the desired time when the user does not depend on the desired time and the selected file. In this embodiment, Can input the request command by clicking the Connect button 311 in FIG. 3 with a mouse.

When a link request command is input from the user in step S1703, the link data search / display application of this information device determines in step S1704.
Proceed to and determine whether the user's desired time is an appropriate value. For example, in the present embodiment, the designation of time is "AD /
Since it has to be entered in the format of "month / day / hour / minute / second", it is determined whether the time entered in the text field 310 is entered in this format.
In addition, the judgment at this time is determined not only in terms of format but also whether it is appropriate as a numerical value. For example, since "35th day" of a certain month does not exist, such a check is also performed.

When the input is appropriate, the judgment is "Ye.
s ", and the process proceeds to step S1705. On the contrary, if improper input is made," No "is displayed and an error message is displayed in step S1708.
The process shown in the flowchart of FIG.

When the processing advances to step S1705, the desired time input by the user is substituted for the variable "time 1" in which the area is secured in the work area 125 in advance. In step S1706, the file path and file name of the selected file are assigned to the variable "file 1" whose area is reserved in the work area 125 in advance. Then step S
In 1707, the link data search / display application establishes a user-specified time link between file 1 and time 1. Specifically, “processing time information field 1101 =
A link information record of “time 1, file ID information field 1102 = file 1, link type information field 1103 = user specified time link” is added to the link information file 134. After establishing the user specified time link in step S1707, the series of processes for establishing the user specified time link shown in the flowchart of FIG. 17 is terminated.

Although the present embodiment has been described by using the user interface as shown in FIG. 3, it is required that the desired time input means, the file selection means, the time, and the file form a user-specified time link. It is clear that any user interface having a command input means can be implemented.

Further, in the present embodiment, one file is selected and a link is established. However, a plurality of files are selected at once and the desired time is associated with the plurality of files at one time ( A user specified time link can be put up). As another preferred embodiment of the present invention, a thumbnail image of a file is dragged with a mouse and dropped onto a user interface in which an area and a time are associated with each other so that the desired time can be designated and the file can be selected once. It is also possible to associate the file with the time (create a user-specified time link) by performing the drag and drop operation of.

As described above, in the information device according to the present embodiment, the document file reference process, the document file correction process, the document file creation process, the document file content printing process, the electronic mail transmission process, the photographing process by the digital camera, the electronic mail reception process. , File registration process to application,
The processing content and processing time of the processing performed on the document file are stored in association with the file, and the user later decides from the processing time (approximately processing time) stored by the user You can search for files. Also, if a file has some relation to the user at a certain time, the user can associate the file with the time desired by the user, and later use this related information to perform a file search. This allows the user to search for files on the time axis.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the event that occurred is file editing, printing, e-mail, and image capturing, but it is not limited to this. For example, when a created or edited document (including an image or the like) is transmitted by facsimile or received by facsimile via a modem (not shown), it is possible to manage the same.

<Explanation of Second Embodiment> As shown in FIG. 18, the information equipment in the second embodiment has a schedule management program storage area 126, a schedule data file 139, and a schedule management application program file 140 (all of which are shown in FIG. 18). Nonvolatile storage medium 114
Stored in, and read and processed as needed), and other configurations are similar to those of the first embodiment.

In the second embodiment, the schedule management application program file 140 is stored in the schedule management application program storage area 126.
The schedule management application, which is an application for managing the personal schedule, is activated on the information device by loading the schedule management application on the information device. The schedule management application has a means for the user to input the personal schedule, and displays the input schedule on the display device 108 later. Since the entered schedule can be tried even after the time when the schedule is held, it can be used as a diary (or diary).

In this embodiment, the schedule data is
It shall be handled as a collection of event records, which is the minimum unit of schedule. FIG. 24 shows the data structure of the schedule data file 139 in this embodiment.
FIG. 24A shows the structure of an event record, which is the minimum unit of the schedule, and 2801 is an event name field in the form of a character string having information of a name representative of an event that will be (or has been) held. (Hereafter, the character string will be called the event name for simplicity)
Is. 2802 is a content field having a character string format in which a detailed description of the event indicated by the event name 2801 is described (hereinafter, the character string will be referred to as event content for simplicity). Reference numeral 2803 is a time 1 field (hereinafter, the time pointed to by this field is referred to as a start time for simplicity) having time information indicating the time when the event indicated by the event name starts.
2804 is a time 2 field (hereinafter, the time pointed to by this field is referred to as an end time for simplicity) having time information indicating the time when the event indicated by the event name ends. For the sake of simplicity, the unit of the schedule indicated by the event record having the structure shown in FIG. 24A will be simply referred to as an event record.

FIG. 24 (b) shows the structure of the schedule data file 139 in this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 24B, the schedule data file 139 has a structure in which event records are listed. In FIG. 24B, it is assumed that the user has input n event records, and a list of n event records is filed to create a schedule data file 139.
Shows the state stored in the non-volatile storage medium 114. The second embodiment is configured as described above, and the thumbnail image or file name of the document file searched by the link data search method similar to that of the first embodiment is displayed together with the schedule data, so that the user can set his / her schedule contents. The desired document file can be searched from.

In the configuration of FIG. 18, when the user turns on the power of this device, the ROM of FIG. 1 is used as in the first embodiment.
After the initialization program included in 110 is executed and the initialization processing necessary for the device is completed, the basic system file 13
1 is read into the operating system storage area 120, and the operating system is activated.

When the operating system is in the operating state, the operating system is in the state of waiting for an event from the user while receiving the focus of the command. Here, when the user inputs a command for using the schedule management application to the operating system from the input device 106, the information device reads the schedule management application program file 140 from the non-volatile storage medium 114, It is stored in the schedule management application program storage area 127, and is put into operation on the information device as a schedule management application.

When the schedule management application is activated, first, the current date and time is inquired to the operating system, and the schedule data file 139 in which the schedule data input by the user is described is written from the nonvolatile storage medium 114. After loading into the area 125 and displaying the graphical user interface (GUI1) of the schedule management application as shown in FIG. 19 on the display device 108, it waits for an event from the user. At this time, the command entered by the user is focused on the schedule management application, and the command entered by the user is scheduled until the user changes the focus of the command to another application or system by the input means. It is what the application receives.

The GUI1 will be described below with reference to FIG. The GUI 1 is in the form of a calendar as shown in the figure. When the schedule management application program is started, a calendar including the current date is displayed, and today's date is surrounded by a thick frame. In this example, today is 1
It is assumed that it is March 24, 994, and in FIG.
The calendar for March 4 is displayed. In FIG. 19, 2201 shows the outer frame of the calendar. Frame 22
02 indicates a unit of a day, and if an event exists on the date and the date, the event name is displayed as long as it fits within the frame. The information device in this embodiment is provided with a keyboard and a mouse input device (mouse) as the input device 106, and a mouse wheel is displayed on the display device 108. The keyboard input device (keyboard) and the mouse input device provided can be used in the same manner.

A frame 2208 indicates that today is March 29, 1994. If the button indicated by reference numeral 2203 is clicked, GUI1 is changed to the calendar of the previous month. Further, when the button indicated by reference numeral 2204 is clicked, GUI1 is changed to the calendar of the next month of the year and the month displayed at that time. When the button 2205 is clicked, the calendar of the same month of the previous year is displayed for the displayed year and month, and the calendar of the same month of the next year is displayed for the year and the month displayed when button 2206 is clicked. indicate.

The user can double-click in the frame 2202 of the desired date and time on the GUI1 with the mouse to see the event name list of the desired date and time on the graphical user interface GUI2 of the schedule management application as shown in FIG. it can.

The GUI 2 will be described below with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 22, the schedule management application according to the present exemplary embodiment displays the event start time, the event end time, and the event name of the event having the event start time included in the date specified by the user on the GUI 2 as the event start time. The list is displayed in order of fast events.

In FIG. 22, reference numeral 2601 denotes an area for displaying the date, which is an area for displaying the date (designated date) designated by the user by double-clicking on the calendar of GUI1. In this embodiment, the user has opened the calendar for March 1994 by GUI1, and shows the case where 29th is designated on this calendar. 2602 is the schedule data file 13
An event list display area for displaying a list of event start times, event end times, and event names of events whose start time is included in the time zone of March 29, 1994, in order of event start time Is. An event selection frame 2603 indicates that a specific event is selected from the event list. 26
Reference numeral 04 is a button for returning to the calendar. By clicking this button, the GUI 1 is displayed on the display device 10.
8 is not displayed, and the calendar by GUI1 is displayed instead. 2605 is an “open button”, and when this button is clicked, the GUI 2 displays the display device 108.
It is hidden above and GUI3 is displayed instead. At this time, the event selected in the event selection frame 2603 becomes the selected event, and as will be described later, as shown in FIG.
The event name of the selected event and other information are displayed on the UI3.

The following is a description of FIG. 21. FIG. 21 shows GUI3 which is a graphical user interface of the schedule management application of the present embodiment. When the user selects an event on the GUI 2 and clicks the open button 2605, the GUI 3 displaying each field value of the selected event in each information area is displayed on the display device 108. The schedule management application further refers to the link information file 134, searches for the document file linked to the time included in the time zone from the event start time to the event end time of the selected event, and the thumbnail of the searched document file. An image is loaded from the registration file management file 135, and its thumbnail image is displayed on the GUI 3. In FIG. 21, the event name display area 2500 is an area for displaying the event name of the selected event. The event content display area 2501 is an area for displaying the event content of the selected event. An event start time display area 2502 is an area for displaying the event start time of the selected event. An event end time display area 2503 is an area for displaying the event end time of the selected event. 2516 is a thumbnail image display area. Reference numerals 2504 to 2513 are thumbnail image display areas 1 to 10, respectively, and are areas for displaying thumbnail images of TA document files searched by referring to the link information file 134. 251
Reference numeral 4 is a page up button. Link information file 1
34, if there are 11 or more searched files, the thumbnail image list is displayed over a plurality of pages. At this time, when returning to the previous page, the user clicks the page up button of 2514 with the mouse,
You can see the thumbnail image list display on the previous page. Reference numeral 2515 denotes a page down button. When the next page of thumbnail image list display is present, clicking this button allows the thumbnail image list display of the next page to be viewed.

In the following, the schedule management application according to the present embodiment associates the event content of the event designated by the user with the thumbnail image of the document file linked at the time included in the event time zone of the event with the event. A process procedure for displaying a list on the display device 108 in a different form will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When the user selects an event on the GUI 2 shown in FIG. 26 and clicks the open button 2605 to specify the event and inputs a command requesting the display of the content of the event, the schedule of this information device is displayed. The management application starts the process from step S2400 in FIG.

First, in step S2400, the event name of the event specified by the user is displayed in the event name display area 2
Display at 500. Next, in step S2401, the event specified by the user is stored in the schedule data file 1
39, the value of the time 1 field (start time), the value of the time 2 field (end time), and the character string data (content) of the content field of the event are read, and each is read in the start time display area 2502, It is displayed in the end time display area 2503 and the content display area 2501.

Next, in step S2402, the link information file 134 is referred to and included in the time zone from the start time to the end time of the event specified by the user from the link records listed in the link information file. 27 is a list of the full path and file name of the file searched by searching the linked file at the time shown in FIG.
The list 1 as described above is created in the work area 125, and the number of files searched here is substituted for the variable “M” that secures the area in the work area 125. Here, it is assumed that the link information records listed in the link information file 134 are sorted in advance in the order of the time indicated by the processing time information field 1101, and the schedule management application refers to the link information file 134 from the top of the file. Therefore, it is assumed that the list 1 is also listed in the order of the time in the processing time field.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 21, an event having the event name "show tour" is designated, and the start time of this event is February 29, 1994 15
Ending time from 00:00 19:00 on February 29, 1994
It is assumed that when a link included in the time zone up to the minute is searched from the link information file 134, the file is searched as shown in list 1 of FIG.

Next, in step S2403, 1 is assigned to each of the variables N and P as initial values. Here, the variable P is a variable for managing how many pages are in displaying the thumbnail image list, and the GUI 3
When displaying, the first page is displayed first so P is 1
Is to substitute.

In step S2404, the list 1 is referred to and the Nth file path and file name from the top of the list are obtained. Then, the registered file management record having the file path and file name as the registered file ID information field 601 is searched from the registered file management file 135, the thumbnail image data is loaded from the thumbnail image data field 603 of the record, and the thumbnail image data is loaded. Is displayed in the thumbnail image display area N.

Next, in step S2405, the current variable N
It is determined whether the value of is less than 10 and less than M. When the conditional expression of step S2405 is satisfied,
Since there are still thumbnails to be displayed in the thumbnail image display area, the judgment result of the process is “Y”.
es ”, and increments N by 1 in step S2406, and then performs the process of step S2404 again. When the conditional expression of step S2405 is not satisfied, all thumbnail images to be displayed are displayed in the thumbnail image display area. Therefore, the determination is “No”, and the processing procedure shown in FIG. 20 is ended.

As described above, according to the processing procedure shown in the flowchart of FIG. 20, the schedule management application of this embodiment uses the event name, event content, event start time, and event end time of the event designated by the user. The link information file 134 is searched for a document file having a link at a time included in the time zone from the start time to the end time of the event designated by the user, and up to 10 thumbnail images thereof are displayed. GUI when there are 10 or more files in list 1
The thumbnail image display area 2516 of No. 3 has a plurality of pages. In such a case, the user can refer to all page thumbnail images by inputting a page up command and a page down command. You can

In addition, in the second embodiment, as shown in FIG.
By clicking the page up button 2515 with a mouse input device in GUI 3 of 1., the user can input a page up command to this information device.

Below, the user selects the page up button 251.
The processing procedure of this information device when a page-up command is input by clicking 5 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When the user clicks the page up button 2515, this information equipment starts the process from step S2901.

First, in step S2901, the variables N, P and M used in the processing shown in FIG.
It is determined whether or not × P + N is less than M. 10 x P + N
Is more than M, the thumbnail image of the last file in the list 1 is displayed on the currently displayed page, that is, the currently displayed thumbnail image is the last page, so step S2901. Is “No”, and the page-up process is terminated.

On the other hand, the determination in step S2901 is "Yes".
In the case of s ″, the process proceeds to step S2902. In step S2902, all thumbnail images currently displayed in thumbnail image display areas 1 to 10 (FIGS. 25-2504 to 2513) are hidden.
In step S2903, 1 is assigned to the variable N (to display from the thumbnail image display area 1), and the variable P is incremented by 1 (the thumbnail image display area 251).
6 to be the next page). Then step S290
In step 4, the list 1 is referenced to obtain the 10 × P + Nth file path and file name from the beginning in the list 1. Then, the registered file management record having the file path and file name in the registered file ID information field 601 is searched from the registered file management file 135, and the thumbnail image data field 60 of the record is searched.
3, thumbnail image data is loaded and displayed in the thumbnail image display area N.

Next, in step S2905, the variable N is 10
It is determined whether or not less than 10 × P + N is less than M.
If the determination in step S2905 is "No", it means that the display of the last file in list 1 has been completed, or that 10 thumbnail images have been displayed in the thumbnail image display area, and no more files will be displayed on the current page. Since there is no thumbnail image to be displayed, the process ends. If the determination in step S2905 is "Yes", the variable N is incremented by 1 in step S2906 to display the thumbnail image of the next file in list 1,
The processing of step S2904 is performed again.

As described above, when the user inputs the page-up command, the information device displays the current thumbnail image display area 10 (25 in FIG. 25) in the list 1.
When one or more files are listed under the file displayed in (13 area), the thumbnail image display area 2516 is paged up to display the remaining 10 thumbnails. is there.

Also, this information equipment performs the page down processing of the thumbnail image display area by clicking the page down button 2514, but the detailed processing procedure of this processing will be omitted.

As described above, the information equipment in the second embodiment has the schedule management means (schedule management application), and the schedule management means is
When the user selects a specific event from the schedule and inputs the content display request command that requests the display of the content, the event name, start time, end time, content, etc. of the selected event are displayed. In addition to displaying, a document file linked with the time included in the time zone from the start time to the end time of the selected event is searched from the link information file 134, and the thumbnail image thereof is displayed.

Therefore, for example, as shown in FIG. 21, a "show tour" is added to the schedule as 1994/2/2.
It is assumed that it has been registered as 9/15: 00: 00 to 1994/2/29/18: 00. If you actually take a tour on this day and import the captured images into this device, each image will be registered in association with the captured time. At this time, as an application to see the image,
Applications for displaying and editing bitmap image data are automatically associated.

Therefore, when this schedule is selected and its contents are displayed, the image included in the time is displayed as shown in the figure. In other words, it is possible to include a file list of events (shooting time in this case) that occurred at least during that time period, although it is not directly related to the event “show tour”.

As a result, for example, it becomes possible to immediately meet the demand for seeing the image photographed in the "tour of the show".

When a desired file in the file list (here, thumbnail images) displayed in the area 2516 in FIG. 21 is selected, the corresponding application is activated and the specified file is opened by the activated application. This is the same as in the first embodiment described above. Further, as described above, the file list displayed in the window of FIG.
Since the file is an event that occurred in the specified time zone, it may include files that are not directly related to the show tour. However, in fact, as long as the electronic device is used on an individual basis, it is not possible that an unrelated file is created unless the time is specified in advance. Further, in particular, if a thumbnail image is displayed, since the difference from other files is obvious, it is possible to display the captured image without making a mistake.

Although the thumbnail image is displayed in the present embodiment, the file path and file name of the document file (link file) retrieved from the link information file 134 is displayed instead of the thumbnail image, or the file is displayed. You may display only the first name. In addition, the schedule management application of this embodiment is
The user selects one event, and for each selected event, the field name, event start time, event end time, event contents, and other field values,
Although the thumbnail image of the link file is displayed, the present invention is not limited to this. It is also possible to simultaneously select a plurality of events and display their respective field values and the link file at the same time. When all the field values and the link file cannot be displayed on the display device 108, scrolling may be performed using a scroll bar or the like. In this way, you can select multiple events at the same time by selecting one day on the graphical user interface that has the appearance of a calendar, and selecting all the events that have the start time included in that day. It is also possible to use a selection method such as simultaneous selection.

As described above, according to the information device of the present embodiment, for various processes performed on a document file every day, the process content, the process time, and the ID of the document file on which the process is performed. By storing related information related to information in a non-volatile storage medium and performing a file search later using this information as a user, the user can find the target file from the memory of the processing content and processing time performed by the user. If possible to search. In addition, it has a schedule management means, and when displaying the schedule data that the user inputs on a daily basis, the document file processed in the time zone matching the displayed schedule data is associated with the schedule data. By displaying it, the user can easily search for the target document file by browsing his / her schedule data, and use the personal schedule information previously input by the user when searching. You can

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 be applied to the case where it is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to search for a desired file by an event that has occurred with respect to the file, without the user paying particular attention.

[0187]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a basic configuration of the present information device in an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a file list in a nonvolatile storage medium in an example.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a basic user interface of a link data search display application.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a user interface of a file registration window.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a user interface of a mode selection window.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a data structure of a registration file management file.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when a file registration command is input.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a procedure for processing of adding to a registered file management file.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a link creation processing procedure at the time of file registration.

FIG. 10 is a data structure of a file of link information.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a link data search processing procedure.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a file list displayed in a search result display area.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for establishing a file reference link and a file modification link.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when linking at file printing.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing an electronic mail information update processing procedure.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when sending an electronic mail by a communication management program.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when establishing a user-specified time link.

FIG. 18 is an internal configuration of a RAM and a nonvolatile storage medium of the information device in the second embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a user interface of a schedule management application.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when a content display command is input.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a user interface of a schedule management application.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing a user interface of a schedule management application.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing a list of lists.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing a data structure of a schedule data file.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart showing a page-up processing procedure.

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing a basic configuration of an information device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3001 input unit 3002 time zone designation unit 3002 3003 time designation unit 3003 3004 primary storage unit 3005 document editing unit 3006 link information search unit 3007 link type selection unit 3008 thumbnail image creation unit 3010 secondary storage unit 3011 document file group 3012 link information file 3013 thumbnail image file 3014 schedule data file 3015 display unit 3016 timekeeping unit 3017 time inquiry unit 3018 link creation unit 3019 digital camera communication unit 3020 email reception unit 3021 email transmission unit 3022 printing unit 3023 schedule management unit 3024 event search unit 3025 event Content display section

Claims (18)

[Claims] 1. An information processing method for storing and managing information as a file, comprising a process detecting step of detecting that a process has occurred in a file being stored or managed, and detecting a time. And a step of, when detecting a process, associating the information for identifying the corresponding file, the type of the process, and the time information with each other, and registering them in a predetermined storage medium according to a predetermined format. An information processing method characterized by: 2. A time specifying step of specifying a time, and a searching step of searching for a file corresponding to the specified time based on the information stored in the management storing step based on the specified time. The information processing method according to claim 1, further comprising: a display step of displaying a file list obtained by searching. 3. Each file has reduced image information generated based on the file in order to specify the file, and further, a list of search files displayed by the displaying step is displayed as a file name. The information processing method according to claim 2, further comprising: a display form setting step of designating whether to display the reduced image information. 4. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the types of processing include file creation, editing, print output, electronic mail transmission / reception, and video capture. 5. The storage management has a step of registering a file to be managed, and the registering step registers the file to be managed and an application that processes the file as data in association with each other. The information processing method according to claim 1. 6. The information processing method according to claim 5, wherein the registration is performed by registering a full path and file name of a file and a full path and program file name of an application program. 7. A step of designating a desired file in the file list displayed by the search and a step of activating an application program for processing the file and opening the designated file to the application program. The information processing method according to claim 1, further comprising: 8. A schedule registration step of registering an event time zone and a memo of the event, a display step of displaying an event list, and a selection step of selecting at least one of the displayed events. The information processing method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of displaying a list of files for which processing has occurred in a time zone of the event. 9. The information processing method according to claim 8, wherein the displaying step displays in a calendar format. 10. An information processing device for storing and managing information as a file, wherein a process detecting means for detecting occurrence of a process for a stored or managed file is detected, and a time is detected. And a means for registering in a predetermined storage medium in accordance with a predetermined format by associating the information for identifying the corresponding file with the type of the processing and the time information when the processing is detected. An information processing device characterized by: 11. A time specifying means for specifying a time, and a searching means for searching a file corresponding to the specified time based on the information stored in the management storage step based on the specified time. The information processing apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising: a display unit that displays a file list obtained by searching. 12. Each file has reduced image information generated on the basis of the file in order to identify the file, and further, a list of search files displayed by the display means is displayed as a file name. 12. The information processing apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising a display form setting unit that specifies whether to display the reduced image information. 13. The type of processing includes file creation,
11. The information processing apparatus according to claim 10, which includes editing, printout, email transmission / reception, and image capturing. 14. The storage management includes registration means for a file to be managed, and the registration means registers the file to be managed and an application that processes the file as data in association with each other. Claim 1
The information processing method according to item 0. 15. The information processing apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the registration is performed by registering a full path and a file name of a file and a full path and a program file name of an application program. 16. A file designating unit for designating a desired file in the file list displayed by the search, and an application program for processing the file are activated to open the file designated for the application program. The information processing apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising: 17. A schedule registration means for registering a time zone of an event and a memo of the event, a display means for displaying an event list, and a selection means for selecting at least one of the displayed events. The information processing apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising: a unit that displays a list of files for which processing has occurred in the event time zone of the event. 18. The information processing apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the display unit displays in a calendar format.