Information management device and file management method

Abstract

To provide a method of performing conditional search for a specified tag name as intended without any omission.SOLUTION: A method includes: specifying keywords on a tag name tree and inputting free keywords; assigning as condition data, a parent tag name to tag name columns formed by specifying, as a set of tag names, the specified keywords and tag names sharing the parent tag name out of tag names arranged at a specified keyword ancestor position and descendant position; making a table on which the tag name columns allocated for every arrangement direction of a headword field are arranged in a headword field in the arrangement direction by a method based on the assigned condition data; assigning a configuration tag name of each combined tag name tree to the information as a storage tag name; and as for each cell of the table, displaying an icon of the information containing the input free keywords in name strings thereof or configuration texts thereof in association with the cell, out of the information to which a set of storage tag names is assigned, the set of storage tag names having a determined relation with the set of tag names arranged in a determined position relation with the cell.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a search method for retrieving desired information from information stored on a folder tree.

Background Art

[0002] Currently, in the classification performed in a folder tree formed by combining folders in a tree structure, for example, in the folder trees shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, there are a classification specific to the upper node name "A" such as the set of child folders of the folder "A", {A1, A2, A3}, and common classifications not restricted by the upper node name such as the sets of child folders of several different folders, {2016, 2017, 2018}, {large, medium}. In information management using a folder tree, since such common classifications are incorporated into one tree structure, the same classification is repeatedly arranged at many locations within the folder tree, and the entire folder tree tends to become exponentially huge each time a common classification is incorporated.

[0003] In a folder tree having a tree structure, exploratory retrieval, which is one of the pillars in information retrieval, is originally a great burden for users, but in a folder tree where the same classification is repeatedly arranged disorderly, the degree becomes even greater.

[0004] In addition, in a huge folder tree, since different notations are often assigned to classifications with the same meaning or classifications with different meanings are assigned to the same notation, retrieval of information by specifying conditions, which is another pillar in information retrieval, cannot be a definite retrieval method, and currently, only retrieval using a single node name as a keyword is used as an auxiliary.

[0005] In view of the situation of information management using such a folder tree, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2013-228964 gives different notations to nodes with the same notation but different meanings in the folder tree, unifies the node names with different notations in the folder tree into one notation, and then divides and displays the tag name list obtained by merging the set of child folder names sharing the constituent name. On the group name display means, an icon of information is arranged on a table in which the constituent name of the tag name list designated by the user as a keyword and the other constituent names of the tag name list implied by the designated constituent name of the tag name list are arranged as headings. For example, the tag name list obtained for the folder tree shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 is displayed as shown in FIG. 9 on the above display means.

[0006] By the above method, a multi-faceted search in which keywords belonging to the same tag name list are ORed and the specifications between different tag name lists are ANDed can be performed without search omission and with less search noise, and secondary selection from the retrieved information can also be easily performed on the table. The multi-faceted search covers the practical range of conditional search. On the other hand, exploratory retrieval of information can also be easily performed on the table obtained by inputting keywords with the search range restricted by this method.

[0007] However, the above method has the following problems because, for the user, an operation of separating the notations of classifications with different meanings and unifying the notations of classifications with the same meaning is required on means provided separately from the folder tree to be searched, and the designation of search keywords is a designation on a display means where the hierarchical relationship between node names in the tree structure is not visible.

[0008] For example, in the folder tree shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 above, when it is desired to extract information including "A1" and "A2" in their full path names, if "A1" and "A2" are specified as input keywords, since the specification of their parent "A" is also implied at the same time, the specification of "A" is unnecessary. However, on the above tag name list display means, "A" cannot be immediately discriminated as the parent node name of the input keywords "A1" and "A2". In a folder tree with a large number of created tag name lists, it becomes more difficult to discriminate the parent-child relationship between each constituent tag name. Summary of the Invention Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0009] In view of such problems, as a method for managing information by a tag name tree in which tag names, which are names characterizing information, are associated in a tree-like manner, the present invention aims to provide a method capable of easily adding a new perspective-based classification to one tag name tree and efficiently managing information in the added overall tag name tree.

[0010] Another object of the present invention is, as a method for managing information by a tag name tree in which tag names, which are names characterizing information, are associated in a tree-like manner, to provide a method capable of performing a conditional search that combines specified tag names as intended by the user without omission by directly and randomly specifying the constituent tag names as keywords on a tag name tree where the mutual relationship between classifications can be immediately visually recognized.

[0011] Another object of the present invention is to provide a method in which tagging of information to be searched can be easily performed in a method that satisfies the above problems. Means for Solving the Problems

[0012] In order to achieve the above object, the method in the information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 1 is Information is managed in a form specified by a full path name obtained by concatenating the path name, which is the name of all folders where the information is stored, and its own name with a specific separator, and a management operation on the information is performed as an operation on the device screen for an icon, which is an image defined for each type of information, created for each piece of information, in an information management device. A cell, which is a rectangle for arranging an icon of information, is arranged in a matrix, and a heading word column in which tag names characterizing the information are arranged as heading words is provided as a vertical heading word column and a horizontal heading word column, respectively, adjacent to the adjacent outside in the horizontal direction and the adjacent outside in the vertical direction, in an information management method using a table. In a combined tag name tree obtained by combining a plurality of tag name trees in which tag names are arranged in a tree shape, from among the constituent tag names excluding the top tag name of each tag name tree, specifying a tag name as a keyword and inputting a keyword other than the constituent tag name as a free keyword; After specifying, as a keyword tag name, the tag name specified as a keyword, and, for the keyword tag name, identifying, from among the tag names arranged at the ancestor position in the tag name tree to which it belongs and not being the top tag name of the tag name tree, a set of tag names sharing a parent tag name, and a tag name having no shared parent tag name, as one tag name list; creating tag name list data registered in a form in which the parent tag name is associated with the identified tag name list as condition data; For each tag name tree, determining a heading word column in which each tag name list belonging to it is arranged on the table, from among the horizontal heading word column and the vertical heading word column; In each of the horizontal heading word column and the vertical heading word column, creating a table in which each tag name list belonging to the assigned tag name tree is arranged in a form in which its constituent tag names are grouped on one row or one column of the table, by referring to the corresponding condition data. For each cell in the table, among the information with a set of related tag names, which are tag names arranged in a defined positional relationship with the corresponding cell, and a set of tag names having a first relationship, being assigned as information attribute tag names, if the input free keyword is the name thereof, or the icon of the information found in the text constituting the information, display it associated with the corresponding cell, It is characterized by comprising.

[0013] In the method in the information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 2, in the method described in claim 1, In a combined tag name tree obtained by combining a plurality of tag name trees by adding one tag name tree as an attached tag name tree to one constituent tag name of another tag name tree, in the conditional data of the tag name list with the top tag name of the attached tree as the parent tag name, the attached destination tag name, which is the tag name of the attachment destination of the attached tree, is set, Each tag name list belonging to the attached tree is arranged with reference to the conditional data in the heading word column where each tag name list belonging to the attached destination tag name tree, which is the tag name tree of the attachment destination, is arranged.

[0014] In the method in the information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 3, in the methods described in claims 1 and 2, Identify, as a tag name list, the set of tag names arranged at the descendant positions of the keyword tag name tree and the set of tag names constituting the tag name tree for which no keyword tag name is specified, which are sets of tag names sharing the parent tag name, and for each cell in the table where the set of tag names obtained by adding the identified tag name list to the already obtained tag name list is arranged in the heading word column, display the icon of the information with the set of tag names having a second relationship with the set of related tag names determined for the corresponding cell being assigned as the information attribute tag name, associated with the corresponding cell.

[0015] In the method in the information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 4, in the methods described in claims 1, 2, and 3, When only one tag name consisting of only one tag name is placed one line above or one column above in the heading word column, the corresponding row or column is removed, and the corresponding tag name is displayed at a position defined outside the table as a common tag name.

[0016] The method in the information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 5 is the method described in claims 1, 2, and 4, Receiving an open instruction for one cell of a table created as a first table, and arranging the tag name column in which the related tag name determined for the cell is registered as condition data, and the tag name column obtained from the tag name tree in which the keyword tag name is not specified, to create a second table as a child table of the first table, For each cell of the created child table, an icon of information in which a set of tag names having a second relationship with respect to a set of related tag names obtained by adding the related tag name determined for the cell in the first table to the related tag name determined for the cell to which the open instruction was given in the first table is assigned as an information attribute tag name is associated with and displayed in the corresponding cell.

[0017] The method in the information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 6 is an information management apparatus in which information is managed in a form specified by a full path name obtained by connecting the name of the folder in which the information is stored and its own name with a specific separator symbol, and the management operation for the information is performed as an operation on the device screen for an icon that is an image defined for each type of information created for each piece of information. An information management method using a table in which cells that are rectangles for arranging information icons are arranged in a matrix, and a heading word column in which tag names characterizing the information are arranged as heading words is provided as a horizontal heading word column and a vertical heading word column, respectively, in the horizontal adjacent outside and the vertical adjacent outside thereof. Receiving a specific instruction for one piece of information associated with one tag name belonging to a combined tag name tree obtained by combining a plurality of tag name trees with tag names arranged in a tree-like manner, and among the tag name trees constituting the corresponding combined tag name tree, specifying, as a tagging supplementary tag name tree, a tag name tree that does not include the information attribute tag name given to the information; Specifying, as a table configuration tag name tree, all of the specified tagging supplementary tag name trees, or, among the specified tagging supplementary tag name trees, the tag name trees excluding the tag name trees for which a tag name selection designation has been received; For each tag name tree belonging to the table configuration tag name tree, determining, by a method determined from among a horizontal heading word column and a vertical heading word column, the heading word column in which each tag name column belonging to the assigned tag name tree is arranged on the table, and then creating a table in which each tag name column belonging to the assigned tag name tree is arranged by the determined method in each of the horizontal heading word column and the vertical heading word column; Receiving a selection instruction for one cell on the created table, and additionally assigning, to the information attribute tag name of the information, the set of all related tag names determined for that cell, or the set of tag names obtained by adding the tag name for which a selection instruction was given in the selection tag name tree to the set of all related tag names; It is characterized by comprising the above.

[0018] The method in the information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 7 is, in the method described in claim 6, After specifying a reattachment tag name tree having, as a reattachment destination tag name, a tag name located upstream in the path of the tag name associated with the indicated information, specifying, as a tagging supplementary tag name tree, a tag name tree that does not include the information attribute tag name given to the information among the specified reattachment tag name tree.

[0019] The method in the information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 8 is, in the methods described in claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, As conditional data, instead of the parent tag name of the corresponding tag name list or the alternative attachment destination tag name of the corresponding tag name list, a path name list representing the path route within the corresponding tree of the corresponding parent tag name or a path name list representing the path route within the corresponding tree of the corresponding alternative attachment destination tag name is set respectively. Instead of the related tag name, a full related path name obtained by adding the related tag name to the end of the upper path name list representing the path route within the corresponding tree of the corresponding parent tag name of the tag name list to which the corresponding related tag name belongs, or It is characterized in that the corresponding related tag name is set.

[0020] The method in the information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 9 is, in the method described in claim 1, In the combined tag name tree, a partial tag name tree consisting of a specifically designated tag name, an ancestor tag name of the designated tag name, and a descendant tag name is created and registered, and then information is retrieved by specifying a keyword in the registered partial tag name tree that is called.

[0021] To achieve the above object, the information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 10 is Information is managed in a form specified by a full path name obtained by concatenating the path name, which is the name of all folders where the information is stored, and its own name with a specific separator, and the management operation for the information is performed as an operation on the device screen for an icon, which is an image defined for each type of information and created for each piece of information. It is an information management apparatus Cells, which are rectangles for arranging information icons, are arranged in a matrix, and a heading word column in which tag names characterizing the information are arranged as heading words is provided as a vertical heading word column and a horizontal heading word column respectively for the adjacent exterior in the horizontal direction and the adjacent exterior in the vertical direction. It is an information management apparatus using a table In a combined tag name tree obtained by combining a plurality of tag name trees in which tag names are arranged in a tree shape, means for designating a tag name as a keyword and inputting a keyword other than the constituent tag name as a free keyword from among the constituent tag names excluding the leading tag name of each tag name tree A keyword tag name, which is a tag name specified as a keyword, and a set of tag names that share a parent tag name among the tag names that are arranged in an ancestor position in the tag name tree to which the keyword tag name belongs and that are not the top tag name of the tag name tree, and a tag name that does not have a shared parent tag name are identified as one tag name list, Means for creating tag name list data in which the parent tag name is associated with the identified tag name list as conditional data, Means for determining, for each tag name tree, a heading word column in which each tag name list belonging to the tag name tree is arranged on the table from among a horizontal heading word column and a vertical heading word column, Means for creating a table in which, in each of the horizontal heading word column and the vertical heading word column, each tag name list belonging to the assigned tag name tree is arranged in a form in which its constituent tag names are grouped on one row or one column above the table, by referring to the corresponding conditional data, For each cell of the table, an icon of information in which a set of related tag names that are tag names arranged in a positional relationship defined with the corresponding cell and a set of tag names in a first relationship are given as information attribute tag names, and in which the input free keyword is found in its name or in the text constituting the information is associated with the corresponding cell and displayed, Means in an information processing apparatus comprising, Characterized by comprising.

[0022] The information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 11, in the method described in claim 10, In a combined tag name tree obtained by combining a plurality of tag name trees by adding one tag name tree as an attached tag name tree to one constituent tag name of another tag name tree, in the conditional data of the tag name list having the top tag name of the attached tree as the parent tag name, the attached destination tag name, which is the tag name of the attachment destination of the attached tree, is set, Each tag name list belonging to the attached tree is arranged by referring to the conditional data in the heading word column in which each tag name list belonging to the attached destination tag name tree, which is the attachment destination tag name tree of the attached tree, is arranged.

[0023] The information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 12, in the apparatus described in claims 10 and 11, A set of tag names that are arranged at the tree descendant positions of keyword tag names and tag names that constitute a tag name tree for which no keyword tag name is specified, and a set of tag names that share a parent tag name is specified as a tag name list. For each cell of the table in which the obtained tag name list is placed in the heading word column, an icon of information to which an information attribute tag name is assigned for a set of tag names that are in a second relationship with the set of related tag names determined for the corresponding cell is associated and displayed for the corresponding cell.

[0024] The information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 13, in the apparatus described in claims 10, 11, and 12, When only one tag name consisting of only one tag name is arranged on one row or one column in the heading word column, the corresponding row or column is removed, and the corresponding tag name is displayed at a position determined outside the table as a common tag name.

[0025] The information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 14, in the apparatus described in claims 10, 11, and 13, Means for creating, as a child table of the first table, a second table arranged by a method that determines a tag name list registered as condition data for the related tag name determined for a cell of the first table in response to an open instruction for the cell, and a tag name list obtained from a tag name tree for which no keyword tag name is specified; For each cell of the created child table, an icon of information to which an information attribute tag name is assigned for a set of tag names that are in a second relationship with a set of related tag names obtained by adding the related tag name determined for the cell that gave the open instruction in the first table to the related tag name determined for the cell is associated and displayed for the corresponding cell.

[0026] The information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 15 is information is managed in a form specified by a full path name obtained by concatenating the path names, which are the names of all folders in which the information is stored, and its own name with a specific separator in between, and the management operation for the information is performed as an operation on the device screen for an icon, which is an image defined for each type of information, for each piece of information. The information management apparatus is a cell, which is a rectangle for arranging an icon of information, is arranged in a matrix, and a heading word column in which a tag name characterizing the information is arranged as a heading word is provided as a horizontal heading word column and a vertical heading word column, respectively, for the adjacent outside in the horizontal direction and the adjacent outside in the vertical direction. The information management apparatus uses a table receives a specific instruction for one piece of information associated with one tag name belonging to a combined tag name tree obtained by combining a plurality of tag name trees in which the tag names are arranged in a tree shape, and among the tag name trees constituting the corresponding combined tag name tree, identifies a tag name tree that does not include the information attribute tag name assigned to the information as a tagging supplementary tag name tree; identifies all of the identified tagging supplementary tag name trees, or a tag name tree obtained by excluding, from the identified tagging supplementary tag name trees, the tag name tree for which a selection designation of the tag name has been received thereon, as a table configuration tag name tree; for each tag name tree belonging to the table configuration tag name tree, determines a heading word column in which each tag name column belonging thereto is arranged on the table by a method determined from among the horizontal heading word column and the vertical heading word column, and then creates a table in which each tag name column belonging to the assigned tag name tree is arranged by the determined method in each of the horizontal heading word column and the vertical heading word column; receives a selection instruction for one cell on the created table, and adds and assigns, to the set of all related tag names determined for that cell, or to the set of all related tag names, a tag name obtained by adding the tag name for which a selection instruction was given in the selection tag name tree, to the information attribute tag name of the information; characterized by comprising

[0027] The information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 16 is the apparatus according to claim 15, wherein After specifying a tagging supplementary tag name tree, which is a tag name tree that does not include an information attribute tag name attached to information, from among the specified tagging destination tag name trees, by using, as the tagging destination tag name, a tag name located above the path of the tag name associated with the indicated information.

[0028] The information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 17 is the apparatus according to claims 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16, wherein As condition data, instead of the parent tag name of the applicable tag name list or the tagging destination tag name of the applicable tag name list, a path name list representing the path in the applicable tree of the applicable parent tag name or a path name list representing the path in the applicable tree of the applicable tagging destination tag name is set respectively, Instead of the related tag name, a full related path name obtained by adding the related tag name to the end of an upper path name list representing the path in the applicable tree of the applicable parent tag name of the tag name list to which the applicable related tag name belongs, or The applicable related tag name is set.

[0029] The information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 18 is the apparatus according to claims 10, 11, and 12, wherein In a combined tag name tree, a partial tag name tree consisting of a particularly specified tag name, an ancestor tag name of the specified tag name, and a descendant tag name is created and registered, and information is retrieved by specifying a keyword in the registered partial tag name tree that is called.

[0030] To achieve the above object, a control program for causing a computer to realize the method in the information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 19 is Information is managed in such a way that it is identified by a full path name formed by concatenating the path name, which is the name of all folders where the information is stored, and its own name with a specific separator, and management operations on the information are performed as operations on the device screen for an icon, which is an image defined for each type of information and created for each piece of information. A method for managing information using a table in which cells, which are rectangles for arranging information icons, are arranged in a matrix, and a heading column in which tag names characterizing the information are arranged as headings is provided as a vertical heading column and a horizontal heading column, respectively, adjacent to the adjacent outside in the horizontal direction and the adjacent outside in the vertical direction. In a combined tag name tree obtained by combining a plurality of tag name trees in which tag names are arranged in a tree structure, from among the constituent tag names excluding the top tag name of each tag name tree, specifying a tag name as a keyword and inputting a keyword other than the constituent tag name as a free keyword; identifying, as one tag name list, the keyword tag name, which is the tag name specified as a keyword, and a set of tag names that share a parent tag name and tag names that do not have a shared parent tag name, from among tag names that are arranged in an ancestor position in the tag name tree to which the keyword tag name belongs and that are not the top tag name of the tag name tree; creating tag name list data in which the identified tag name list is registered in a form in which its parent tag name is associated as condition data; for each tag name tree, determining a heading column in which each tag name list belonging to the tree is arranged on the table, from among the horizontal heading column and the vertical heading column; creating a table in which, in each of the horizontal heading column and the vertical heading column, each tag name list belonging to the assigned tag name tree is arranged in a form in which its constituent tag names are grouped on one row or one column of the table, with reference to the corresponding condition data. For each cell in the table, among the information to which a set of related tag names, which are tag names arranged in a positional relationship defined with the corresponding cell, and a set of tag names having a first relationship are assigned as information attribute tag names, a step of associating and displaying an icon of information whose free keyword entered is its name or information found in the text constituting the information with the corresponding cell; It is characterized by comprising:

[0031] A control program for causing a computer to realize the method in the information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 20, in the method described in claim 19, In a combined tag name tree obtained by combining a plurality of tag name trees by adding one tag name tree as an attached tag name tree to one constituent tag name of another tag name tree, in the conditional data of the tag name list having the head tag name of the attached tree as the parent tag name, the attached destination tag name, which is the tag name of the attachment destination of the attached tree, is set, Each tag name list belonging to the attached tree is arranged with reference to the conditional data in the heading word column where each tag name list belonging to the attached destination tag name tree, which is the tag name tree of the attachment destination, is arranged.

[0032] A control program for causing a computer to realize the method in the information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 21, in the methods described in claims 19 and 20, For each cell in the table where a set of tag names arranged at the tree descendant positions of the keyword tag name and a set of tag names constituting a tag name tree for which no keyword tag name is specified and sharing the parent tag name are specified as a tag name list, and the specified tag name list is arranged in the heading word column as a set of tag name lists obtained by adding to the tag name list already obtained, an icon of information to which a set of tag names having a second relationship with the set of related tag names determined for the corresponding cell are assigned as information attribute tag names is associated and displayed with the corresponding cell.

[0033] A control program for causing a computer to implement the method in the information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 22, in the methods described in claims 19, 20, and 21, When only one tag name consisting of only one tag name is arranged on one line above or one column above in the heading word column, the corresponding row or column is removed, and the corresponding tag name is displayed at a position defined outside the table as a common tag name.

[0034] A control program for causing a computer to implement the method in the information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 23, in the methods described in claims 19, 20, and 22, Receiving an open instruction for one cell of a table created as a first table, and creating a second table obtained by arranging by a method that determines a tag name column in which the related tag name determined for the cell is registered as condition data, and a tag name column obtained from a tag name tree in which no keyword tag name is specified, as a child table of the first table; For each cell of the created child table, an icon of information in which a set of tag names having a second relationship with respect to a set of related tag names obtained by adding the related tag name determined for the cell in the first table to the related tag name determined for the cell to which the open instruction was given in the first table is assigned as an information attribute tag name is associated with and displayed in the corresponding cell.

[0035] A control program for causing a computer to implement the method in the information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 24 is In an information management apparatus in which information is managed in a form specified by a full path name obtained by connecting the name of all folders in which the information is stored and its own name with a specific separator, and the management operation for the information is performed as an operation on the device screen for an icon that is an image defined for each type of information created for each piece of information. A method for information management using a table in which cells, which are rectangles for arranging information icons, are arranged in a matrix, and a header column in which tag names characterizing the information are arranged as header words is provided as a horizontal header column and a vertical header column, respectively, for the adjacent external in the horizontal direction and the adjacent external in the vertical direction, Receiving a specific instruction for one piece of information associated with one tag name belonging to a combined tag name tree obtained by combining a plurality of tag name trees in which tag names are arranged in a tree shape, and among the tag name trees constituting the corresponding combined tag name tree, specifying, as a tagging supplementary tag name tree, a tag name tree that does not include the information attribute tag name assigned to the information; Specifying, as a table construction tag name tree, all of the specified tagging supplementary tag name trees, or the tag name trees excluding the tag name tree for which a selection designation of the tag name has been received among the specified tagging supplementary tag name trees; For each tag name tree belonging to the table construction tag name tree, determining, by a method determined from among the horizontal header column and the vertical header column, the header column in which each tag name column belonging to the tag name tree to be assigned is arranged on the table, and then creating a table in which each tag name column belonging to the assigned tag name tree is arranged by the determined method in each of the horizontal header column and the vertical header column; Receiving a selection instruction for one cell on the created table, and additionally assigning, to the information attribute tag name of the information, the set of all related tag names determined for the cell, or the set of tag names obtained by adding the tag name for which the selection instruction was given in the selection tag name tree to the set of all related tag names; characterized by comprising the above.

[0036] A control program for causing a computer to realize the method in the information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 25 is, in the method described in claim 24, After specifying the tagging supplementary tag name tree by designating, as the tagging destination tag name, the tag name located above the path of the tag name associated with the indicated information, identify, from among the specified tagging destination tag name trees, the tag name tree that does not include the information attribute tag name assigned to the information as the tagging supplementary tag name tree.

[0037] In order to achieve the above object, a control program for causing a computer to realize the method in the information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 26 is, in claims 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, As condition data, instead of the parent tag name of the applicable tag name list or the tagging destination tag name of the applicable tag name list, a path name list representing the path in the applicable tree of the applicable parent tag name or a path name list representing the path in the applicable tree of the applicable tagging destination tag name is set respectively, Instead of the related tag name, an entire related path name obtained by adding the related tag name to the end of the upper path name list representing the path in the applicable tree of the applicable parent tag name of the tag name list to which the applicable related tag name belongs, or It is characterized in that the applicable related tag name is set.

[0038] In order to achieve the above object, a storage medium storing a control program for causing a computer to realize the method in the information processing apparatus according to the inventions described in claims 19, 20, and 21 is In the combined tag name tree, create and register a partial tag name tree consisting of a particularly specified tag name, the ancestor tag name of the specified tag name, and the descendant tag name, and retrieve information by specifying a keyword in the registered partial tag name tree that has been called.

[0039] In order to achieve the above object, a storage medium storing a control program for causing a computer to realize the method in the information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 28 is Information is managed in such a way that it is specified by the full path name obtained by concatenating the path name, which is the name of all folders where the information is stored, and its own name with a specific separator. The management operation for the information is performed as an operation on the device screen for an icon, which is an image defined for each type of information and created for each piece of information. A method for information management using a table in which cells, which are rectangles for arranging information icons, are arranged in a matrix, and a heading word column in which tag names characterizing the information are arranged as heading words is provided as a vertical heading word column and a horizontal heading word column, respectively, in the adjacent outer part in the horizontal direction and the adjacent outer part in the vertical direction. In a combined tag name tree obtained by combining a plurality of tag name trees in which tag names are arranged in a tree shape, from among the constituent tag names excluding the top tag name of each tag name tree, specifying a tag name as a keyword and inputting a keyword other than the constituent tag name as a free keyword; After specifying, as a tag name list, the keyword tag name, which is the tag name specified as a keyword, and, for the keyword tag name, the set of tag names that share a parent tag name from among the tag names arranged in the ancestor position in the tag name tree to which it belongs and that are not the top tag name of the tag name tree, as well as the tag names that do not have a shared parent tag name; Creating tag name list data in which the tag name list specified is registered in a form in which its parent tag name is associated as condition data; For each tag name tree, determining a heading word column in which each tag name list belonging to it is arranged on the table, from among the horizontal heading word column and the vertical heading word column; In each of the horizontal heading word column and the vertical heading word column, creating a table in which each tag name list belonging to the assigned tag name tree is arranged in a form in which its constituent tag names are grouped on one row or one column of the table, by referring to the corresponding condition data. For each cell in the table, among the information to which a set of related tag names, which are tag names arranged in the defined positional relationship with the corresponding cell, and a set of tag names having a first relationship are given as information attribute tag names, the input free keyword is associated with the corresponding cell and displayed by associating the icon of the information found in its name or in the text constituting the information. It is characterized by comprising.

[0040] A storage medium storing a control program for causing a computer to realize the method in the information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 29, in the method described in claim 28, In a combined tag name tree obtained by combining a plurality of tag name trees by adding one tag name tree as an attached tag name tree to one constituent tag name of another tag name tree, in the conditional data of the tag name list having the top tag name of the attached tree as the parent tag name, the attached destination tag name, which is the tag name of the attachment destination of the attached tree, is set, Each tag name list belonging to the attached tree is arranged with reference to the conditional data in the heading word column where each tag name list belonging to the attached destination tag name tree, which is the tag name tree of the attachment destination, is arranged.

[0041] A storage medium storing a control program for causing a computer to realize the method in the information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 30, in the methods described in claims 28 and 29, For each cell of the table in which a set of tag names arranged at the descendant positions of the keyword tag name tree and a set of tag names constituting the tag name tree for which the keyword tag name is not specified, which are sets of tag names sharing the parent tag name, are specified as tag name lists and the specified tag name lists are arranged in the heading word column as a set of tag name lists obtained by adding to the already obtained set of tag name lists, an icon of information to which a set of tag names having a second relationship with the set of related tag names determined for the corresponding cell is given as an information attribute tag name is associated with the corresponding cell and displayed.

[0042] A storage medium storing a control program for causing a computer to realize the method in the information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 31, in the methods described in claims 28, 29, and 30, When only one tag name consisting of only one tag name is arranged one line above or one column to the right in the heading word column, the corresponding row or column is removed, and the corresponding tag name is displayed at a position defined outside the table as a common tag name.

[0043] A storage medium storing a control program for causing a computer to realize the method in the information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 32, in the methods described in claims 28, 29, and 31, Receiving an open instruction for one cell of a table created as a first table, and creating a second table obtained by arranging according to a method that determines a tag name column in which the related tag name determined for the cell is registered as condition data, and a tag name column obtained from a tag name tree in which no keyword tag name is specified, as a child table of the first table; For each cell of the created child table, an icon of information for which a set of tag names having a second relationship with respect to a set of related tag names obtained by adding the related tag name determined for the cell to which the open instruction was given in the first table is assigned as an information attribute tag name is associated with and displayed in the corresponding cell.

[0044] A storage medium storing a control program for causing a computer to realize the method in the information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 33 is In an information management apparatus in which information is managed in a form specified by a full path name obtained by connecting the name of all folders in which the information is stored and its own name with a specific separator, and the management operation for the information is performed as an operation on the device screen for an icon that is an image defined for each type of information. A method for information management using a table in which cells, which are rectangles for arranging information icons, are arranged in a matrix, and a header column in which tag names characterizing the information are arranged as header words is provided as a horizontal header column and a vertical header column, respectively, for the adjacent external in the horizontal direction and the adjacent external in the vertical direction, Receiving a specific instruction for one piece of information associated with one tag name belonging to a combined tag name tree obtained by combining a plurality of tag name trees in which tag names are arranged in a tree shape, and among the tag name trees constituting the corresponding combined tag name tree, specifying, as a tagging supplementary tag name tree, a tag name tree that does not include the information attribute tag name assigned to the information; Specifying, as a table construction tag name tree, all of the specified tagging supplementary tag name trees or the tag name trees excluding the tag name tree for which a selection designation of the tag name has been received among the specified tagging supplementary tag name trees; For each tag name tree belonging to the table construction tag name tree, determining, by a method determined from among the horizontal header column and the vertical header column, the header column in which each tag name column belonging to the tag name tree to be assigned is arranged on the table, and then creating a table in which each tag name column belonging to the assigned tag name tree is arranged by the determined method in each of the horizontal header column and the vertical header column; Receiving a selection instruction for one cell on the created table, and additionally assigning, to the information attribute tag name of the information, the set of all related tag names determined for the cell or the set of tag names obtained by adding the tag name for which the selection instruction was given in the selection tag name tree to the set of all related tag names; characterized by comprising the above.

[0045] A storage medium storing a control program for causing a computer to realize the method in the information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 34, in the method described in claim 33, After specifying a tagging supplementary tag name tree, which is a tag name tree that does not include an information attribute tag name given to information among the specified tagging destination tag name trees, with the tagging destination tag name being a tag name located above the path of the tag name associated with the indicated information.

[0046] A storage medium storing a control program for causing a computer to realize the method in the information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 35, in the methods described in claims 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, and 34, As condition data, instead of the parent tag name of the corresponding tag name list or the tagging destination tag name of the corresponding tag name list, a path name list representing the path in the corresponding tree of the corresponding parent tag name or a path name list representing the path in the corresponding tree of the corresponding tagging destination tag name is set respectively, Instead of the related tag name, a full related path name obtained by adding the related tag name to the end of an upper path name list representing the path in the corresponding tree of the corresponding parent tag name of the tag name list to which the corresponding related tag name belongs, or It is characterized in that the corresponding related tag name is set.

[0047] A storage medium storing a control program for causing a computer to realize the method in the information processing apparatus according to the invention described in claim 36, in the methods described in claims 28, 29, and 30, In a combined tag name tree, a partial tag name tree consisting of a particularly specified tag name, an ancestor tag name of the specified tag name, and a descendant tag name is created and registered, and information is retrieved by specifying a keyword in the registered partial tag name tree that is called.

Advantages of the Invention

[0048] According to this method, information classified by a plurality of classification viewpoints (classification dimensions) and a plurality of hierarchical relationships (inclusion relationships) in classification can be used to perform a conditional search for information that combines input keywords according to the user's search intention, simply by performing an unsorted keyword tag name instruction on a combined tag name tree where there is no duplicate arrangement of the same tag name and the hierarchical relationship between the constituent tag names and the classification viewpoints of the constituent tag names can be visually recognized immediately, without giving a relationship between the keywords.

[0049] Since there is no duplicate arrangement of the same tag name in the combined tag name tree in this method, the size of the entire tree - the number of constituent tag names - becomes exponentially smaller compared to a normal tree that performs equivalent classification, and the specification of keywords on the tree can be performed with better visibility. At the same time, it is possible to avoid the case where tag names with the same meaning are represented in different notations, so it is possible to manage information without search omission caused by different notations of tag names.

[0050] Also, according to this method, since all the hierarchical relationships between all the tag names in the tree represent hierarchical relationships in classification, it is possible to prevent the unnecessary specification of tag names higher up in the tree implied by the specification of one keyword tag name. At the same time, all the tag names lower in the tree of one specified keyword tag name are placed as significant tag names for further discriminating information on a table arranged as headings together with the specified keyword tag name, so that the secondary selection of the retrieved information can also be easily performed.

[0051] According to this method, the addition of classification from a new viewpoint can be performed with less effort by adding only to one place in the tag name tree as an attached tree, the tag name tree responsible for classification from that viewpoint. In particular, when the tag name tree is a folder tree, it can be performed by the user's daily operation of storing the top folder of the added folder tree in the folder where the addition is made.

[0052] Also, according to this method, following the addition of classification from a new perspective, it is possible to easily perform the addition of tagging corresponding to the added classification perspective, which is required for the information stored so far. Also, tagging required for the information stored in the combined tag name tree newly from the outside can be similarly and easily performed.

[0053] According to this method, by calling the partial tag name tree created and registered based on a tag name specifically designated on the tag name tree and specifying keywords thereon, it is possible to perform efficient information retrieval while avoiding keyword specification on a huge tag name tree.

Brief Description of Drawings

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Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0055] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the attached drawings. FIG. 1 shows the system configuration on the hardware of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this system, a keyboard 12 and a mouse 14 are input devices, an internal memory 16 and an external memory 18 are storage devices, and a display device 20 and a printing device 22 are output devices, which are respectively connected to a CPU 24 via appropriate interface circuits (not shown). The CPU 24 is also connected to a telephone line or a communication line 27 via a communication device 26. In the internal memory 16 and the external memory 18, in addition to various programs that define the processing or control operations of the CPU 24, various electronic dictionaries, character fonts, files, etc. are stored. The communication device 26 has a facsimile communication function.

[0056] When the power of this device is turned on, an environment control program that controls the GUI environment in this device is automatically started. For example, after displaying a desktop screen 30 shown in FIG. 2 on the display screen 20a of the display device 20, a GUI environment as described below is provided on the desktop screen 30.

[0057] In this device, information created by the user is managed in units of file information by an environment control program as a known method. Also, in this device, in addition to file information, a folder is prepared as a data object that is a unit for managing information, and the classification management of file information can be performed by storing the file information in a folder. Folders are managed in the form of a folder hierarchy structure in which one folder is repeatedly housed as a sub-folder in the parent folder, which is another folder, starting from the root folder, and a folder tree with one external memory 18 in the system as the root is formed and arranged.

[0058] Data objects consisting of file information and folders are managed in a manner pointed to by data object management data consisting of "type information", "name", "full path name", "attribute information", "icon image data pointer information", "icon placement position", and "main body data pointer" by an environment control program (Figure 3).

[0059] First, the "type information" differentiates between file information and folders, and in the case of file information, it represents the type of application in which it was created. The "name" is the name entered by the user and is uniquely determined for each "type information" within the parent folder that directly stores that information. Here, in this specification, a folder with the name "***" is abbreviated as the folder named "***" or the folder "***". Note that hereinafter in this specification, file information is abbreviated as information.

[0060] The "full path name" is a key for the environment control program to uniquely identify each data object within the system, and the names of all the upper-level folders related to the corresponding data object are taken out in order starting from the root folder. It is a string obtained by connecting the folder names in order with a separator, which is a specific delimiter, and then connecting its own name string with the separator in between. Storing one data object within another folder is realized within the system by connecting the name of the data object to be stored to the full path name of the destination folder.

[0061] Also, for the file information or folders being stored, as a known method, after displaying an icon, which is a specific type of image determined for each of the above-mentioned "type information", on the desktop screen 30, the string representing the "name" information of the corresponding data object management data is added to the displayed icon for display.

[0062] File information or a folder is opened by a specific instruction operation on the corresponding icon by the mouse 14 on the desktop screen 30. The environment control program first identifies the corresponding data object by repeatedly comparing the "icon display position" information of each icon displayed on the desktop screen 30 with the position where the above instruction operation was given.

[0063] If the identified data object is file information, the content of the file information is displayed on a newly provided "file information screen" (not shown) for the corresponding file information by that instruction operation. The environment control program calls the corresponding application program based on the "type information" of the instructed file information, and the called program will display the content of the corresponding file information.

[0064] If the identified data object is a folder, a "folder screen" (not shown) on which icons of the stored information in the folder are arranged is displayed at an appropriate position on the desktop screen 30, and on the displayed folder screen, icons of the data objects directly included in the corresponding folder are arranged and displayed.

[0065] The icon representing file information or a folder can change its arrangement position on the desktop screen 30 by a drag operation, which is a specific operation by the mouse 14 by the user, and the arrangement position on the desktop screen 30 is registered in the "icon display position" of the corresponding data object management data. Also, storing certain information in another folder can be done in the form of an operation of dragging the icon of the information to be stored onto the icon of the destination folder.

[0066] On the desktop screen 30, when a selection instruction is given to the "Start" button that is always displayed in the lower left corner thereof, a "Main Menu" 31 listing selection buttons such as "Program", "Settings", and "Search" appears on the display screen 20a. On this "Main Menu" 31, when a click instruction is further given to the "Program" button 35, a "Program Menu" 32 showing a list of application programs installed on this device is displayed on the display screen 20a. FIG. 2 shows a state where the above "Program" button 35 is clicked and the "Program Menu" 32 is displayed.

[0067] On the "Program Menu" 32, when a click instruction is given to the corresponding button of the "Table Management Application Program", which is an application program for controlling the functions related to the present invention, the above environmental control program extracts the source program of this table management application program from a predetermined storage location on the external memory 18 of the device, expands it into an executable program on an appropriate area of the internal memory 16, and then starts the program. First, for example, a table management application screen 33 shown in FIG. 4 is displayed on the display screen 20a.

[0068] The table management application aims to manage information using a table on the desktop screen 30, and is provided with functions such as table conversion and partial folder tree extraction. The above functions are realized by a system in which the table management application program operates in cooperation with the above environmental control program and the above hardware constituting this device.

[0069] The table conversion function can perform information management without extraction of unnecessary information and search omission by outputting information onto a table created based on the folder name specified as a keyword on the folder tree created on the device, and its configuration is shown in FIG. 5.

[0070] The attached folder instruction unit 52 instructs the attached specified folder tree from among the specified conversion target folder trees. It is composed of an internal memory 16 that holds the management data of the conversion target folder tree and the instruction data of the attached folder tree, a display 20a that displays the attached specified folder tree above the conversion target folder tree, input devices such as a keyboard 12 and a mouse 14, and a CPU 24 that executes the corresponding process.

[0071] The keyword folder instruction unit 53 designates, as a keyword-specified folder, a folder whose name is used as a keyword from among the folders that make up the conversion target folder tree. It is composed of an internal memory 16 that holds the instruction data of the keyword-specified folder, a display 20a that displays the keyword-specified folder on the conversion target folder tree, input devices such as a keyboard 12 and a mouse 14, and a CPU 24 that executes the corresponding process.

[0072] The table data creation unit 55 creates table data representing a table in which the names of the keyword-specified folders designated by the keyword folder instruction unit 53 and the names of other folders determined by the keyword-specified folders are arranged as headings based on the positional relationship between the folders in the conversion target folder tree and the instruction data of the attached folder tree. Then, based on the tagging data assigned by the per-attachment information tagging unit 63 for each piece of information, the information is stored in a form associated with each cell of the table. It is composed of a CPU 24 that executes the corresponding process and an internal memory 16 or an external memory 18 that arranges a work area for performing the process.

[0073] The table display unit 57 displays a table in which icons of information are arranged and displayed based on the table data created by the table data creation unit 55 and the information associated with each cell of the table. It is composed of a CPU 24 that executes the process, an internal memory 16 or an external memory 18 that temporarily stores the output data converted for display, and a display device 20.

[0074] The table information tagging instruction unit 61 assigns, as a related tag name, the heading word determined for the specified cell in the table displayed by the table display unit 57 to the corresponding information. It is composed of a display 20a for displaying the table, an input device such as a mouse 14, a CPU 24 that executes the corresponding process, and an internal memory 16 or an external memory 18 that arranges a work area for performing the process.

[0075] The per-attachment information tagging unit 63 generates a storage path name list representing a folder in which information is stored as tagging data for identifying the information based on the related tag name assigned to the information or the folder indicated on the folder tree. It is composed of a CPU 24 that executes the process and an internal memory 16 or an external memory 18 that arranges a work area for performing the process.

[0076] The in-folder information display unit 65 displays the stored information in the indicated folder based on the storage path name list assigned to the information. It is composed of a display 20a for displaying the stored information in the corresponding folder, an input device such as a mouse 14, a CPU 24 that executes the corresponding process, and an internal memory 16 or an external memory 18 that arranges a work area for performing the process.

[0077] Hereinafter, the details of the table conversion function will be described by taking as an example the folder tree that classifies as shown in FIG. 6. Among the names of the folders that make up the same folder tree, "Year" is not a tag name for characterizing the information to be managed, but a group name provided for grouping from one perspective with the names of the sub-folders of the corresponding folder, "2016", "2017", and "2018" as tag names. Similarly, "Importance" also groups the names of the sub-folders of the corresponding folder, "High" and "Medium", and "Urgency" is also a group name that groups the names of the sub-folders of the corresponding folder, "Emergency" and "Normal".

[0078] The folder tree shown in Fig. 6 is intended to perform classification equivalent to the folder trees shown separately in Figs. 7 and 8. For each of the classifications {2016, 2017, 2018}, {large, medium}, and {A, B, C} that are repeatedly arranged in the folder trees shown in Figs. 7 and 8, a folder is specifically provided with the name of its constituent elements as the name of the subfolder, and as the group name of that name, the "year", "importance", and "creator", which are the classification perspectives of the corresponding classifications, are attached respectively.

[0079] According to this method, even for a tag name tree consisting of many classifications, by separately arranging the tag names responsible for classification from different perspectives as a separate tree, the overlapping arrangement of the same tag names from different perspectives is eliminated, and the size of the entire tree - the number of constituent tag names - becomes exponentially smaller, so that keyword specification can be performed with good visibility, and since it is possible to avoid different notations for tag names with the same meaning, it is possible to retrieve information without search omissions caused by different notations of tag names.

[0080] The folder tree shown in Fig. 6 is further formed so that the applicable range of the corresponding classification can be understood by the storage destination parent folder of the folder with this group name. For the classifications {2016, 2017, 2018} and {large, medium}, which are classifications related to all the information stored in the conversion target folder tree, the related folders "year" and "importance" are stored in the top folder "P" of the conversion target folder tree, and the folder "creator" related to the classification {A, B, C}, which is the classification related to all the information stored in the folder named "A", is stored in the folder "A".

[0081] In the folder tree shown in FIG. 6, the classifications repeatedly arranged in the folder tree as described above are removed from the main folder tree in accordance with the above rules and arranged in parallel as an attached folder tree, thereby avoiding the repeated arrangement of folders performing the same classification at multiple locations in the folder tree. As a result, the number of constituent folders in the folder tree as a whole decreases exponentially, and the structure of the entire classification becomes easy to understand and visible. In this specification, a folder tree that has been normalized to prevent the overlapping arrangement of folders performing the same classification by following the above rules is called an organized folder tree.

[0082] In this specification, a folder with this group name as its name is called an attached designated folder, and the group name that is the name of the attached designated folder is called an attached name. Also, the folder in which the attached designated folder is stored is called an attachment destination folder, and a partial folder tree with the attached designated folder as its top folder is called an attached folder tree. On the other hand, a partial folder tree obtained by removing the attached folder tree from the entire folder tree is called a main folder tree, and the individual attached folder trees and the main folder tree together are called a unit folder tree.

[0083] After the user opens the table management application screen 33 and instructs the "folder tree registration" button 71 on the function menu 70 on the screen 33, the system displays a folder selection screen (not shown) that arranges and displays in tree form the folders that the user can access among all the folders held in the system as a known method. The user instructs, on the folder selection screen, the top folder of the folder tree targeted by the table conversion function as the conversion target folder. Hereinafter, a folder tree with the conversion target folder as its top folder is called a conversion target folder tree.

[0084] In response to the instruction of this folder to be converted, the system displays the specified folder tree on the form management application screen 33 and also displays the sub-screen 91 (Fig. 10) of the additional specification mode on the device screen. The system also creates conversion target folder management data (Fig. 11) in which the full path name of the specified top folder is registered in its "Full path name of top folder" section, and creates information management data (Fig. 12) for each file information stored in the folder tree. The created conversion target folder management data is linked by a "concatenation pointer" in the order of creation and stored at a specific position in the system.

[0085] The information management data is created for each file information sequentially retrieved from the corresponding folder tree by a known method, and the name and full path name of the corresponding file information are registered in its "Name section" and "Full path name section", respectively.

[0086] The system also sets, as a storage path name list, a path name list string obtained by removing, from the full path name of the corresponding file information, the path name of the "Name section" which is the last path name and the corresponding part of the full path name of the parent folder of the conversion target folder, in the storage path name list data (Fig. 13), and sets the address of the storage path name list data in the "Storage path name list data pointer" of the corresponding information management data. The storage path name list specifies information as an information attribute tag name.

[0087] In this system, since a storage path name list can also be obtained for other unit folder trees for the corresponding information by a tagging supplementary function described later, the storage path name list obtained from the full path name of the above-described information is called a head storage path name list to distinguish it from those other storage path name lists.

[0088] In the description example, for instance, regarding information whose full path name is "···￥P\A￥A1￥Report 1", the name "Report 1" and the full path name "···￥P\A￥A1￥Report 1" of the relevant information are registered in its "name part" and "full path name part", and from its full path name, the path name list string "P\A￥A1" obtained by removing the last path name "Report 1" and the part corresponding to the full path name of the parent folder of the conversion target folder "···￥" is registered as the head storage path name list.

[0089] For each piece of information created for the information stored in the conversion target folder tree, the information management data is sequentially linked as an information management data chain by its "link pointer", and the address of the head data is set in the "information management data pointer part" of the conversion target folder management data.

[0090] The user makes a designation of the attached specified folder on the conversion target folder tree displayed on the table management application screen 33, for example, in the form of repeatedly clicking on the icon of the corresponding folder with the mouse 14 as a known method, and the icon of the designated attached specified folder is displayed with a special display indicating that it has received the attachment (Fig. 14). In the folder tree of the description example, the folders whose names are "Year", "Importance", and "Creator" will be designated.

[0091] The folder clicked on with the mouse 14 can be identified by repeatedly collating the click instruction position on the device screen with the display position on the device screen 20a of each displayed folder as a known method. The display position of each folder on the device screen can be obtained based on the position of the relevant folder on the folder management screen of the table configuration folder instruction screen and the relative position with respect to the device screen 20a of the relevant table configuration folder instruction screen.

[0092] After designating all the attached specified folders and receiving an instruction from the user to click the "Execute" button 93 on the attached specified mode sub-screen 91, the system creates attached specified data in which the full path names are registered for each of the attached specified folders designated upon receiving the above click instruction. The attached specified data is created in the same format as the above storage path name list data, and the address of the leading data of the attached specified data concatenated in order by the "concatenation pointer" is set to the "attached specified data pointer" of the corresponding conversion target folder management data.

[0093] In the conversion target folder tree for which the user has made an attached specification, the user can tag the information stored in one folder within one unit folder tree that constitutes it with another unit folder tree. The user instructs the "Tagging" button 75 on the function menu 70 on the table management application screen 33 where the conversion target folder tree targeted by this function is displayed, and then repeatedly clicks the icon of the corresponding information with the mouse 14 to specify the folder (tagging destination folder) having the name to be tagged in each of the other unit folder trees.

[0094] Upon receiving this designation operation, the system determines that the click specification of the information icon has been performed between different unit folder trees. When this determination is obtained, the system creates storage path name list data in which a storage path name list is set by removing the corresponding part of the full path name of the parent folder of the conversion target folder from the full path name of the tagging destination folder. The storage path name list data created for each unit folder tree is concatenated in order by its "concatenation pointer", and the address of its leading data is set to the "concatenation pointer" of the leading storage path name list data.

[0095] The fact that the above-mentioned designation to the information icon is performed between different unit folder trees can be determined by the fact that the ancestor folder of the storage folder of the designation information and the ancestor folder of the designation folder do not share the same attached designation folder. Here, the ancestor folder for one folder (the first folder) refers to a folder whose entire path name matches the entire path name of the first folder at the front and is located higher in the path in the folder tree with respect to the first folder.

[0096] In the explanatory example, for example, when specifying a tagging destination folder with the entire path name of "···￥P\A￥creator￥B" for information with the entire path name of "···￥P\A￥A1￥report 1", storage path name list data with the storage path name list "P\A￥creator￥B" set is created, and the created storage path name list data will be pointed to from the concatenation pointer of the storage path name list data with the head storage path name list "P\A￥A1" already provided. Similarly, when specifying other tagging destination folders, as the corresponding storage path name list data, "P￥year￥2018", "P￥importance￥high" is added and is sequentially concatenated to the end of the concatenated storage path name list data.

[0097] In this system, when a folder open operation is performed on one folder, information with a storage path name list included at the back in the entire path name of that folder is selected, and the selected information is displayed on the folder screen by a known method.

[0098] Now, when a folder open operation is performed on a folder whose full path name, which is one of the tagged destination folders in the above example, is "···￥P\A￥creator￥B", the information with the corresponding storage path name list "P\A￥creator￥B" is given, and the information of the above example with the full path name "···￥P\A￥A1￥report 1" is specified, and its icon 163 will be displayed on the corresponding folder screen 170 (Fig. 15). Note that on the corresponding folder screen 170, it is assumed that the icon 165 of the second information is also displayed as the information with the same storage path name list "P\A￥creator￥B" given. Also, the icon 164 in the figure is not arranged at this stage.

[0099] Also, after instructing the "Display Inside F" button 77 on the function menu 70, after clicking and specifying a plurality of folders using the mouse 14, when the "Execute Button" 143 on the sub-screen 141 for indicating display inside a plurality of folders (Fig. 54) displayed by the instruction of the "Display Inside F" button 77 is instructed, the path name list obtained by removing the full path name "···￥P" of the folder to be converted from the full path name of the instructed folder is selected as the information given as the storage path name list, and its icon is displayed on the multi-folder display screen 145.

[0100] For example, in the above example, when the folder with the full path name "···￥P\A￥creator￥B" and the folder with the full path name "···￥P\year￥2018" are instructed, the information with the full path name "···￥P\A￥A1￥report 1" described above is specified as the information with the path name list "P\A￥creator￥B" and the path name list "P\year￥2018" given as the storage path name list, and its icon 163 is displayed on the multi-folder display screen 145 (Fig. 55). On the other hand, for the above-mentioned second information, if the path name list "P\year￥2018" obtained from the other instructed folders is not given as its storage path name list, its icon 165 will not be displayed on the multi-folder display screen 145.

[0101] The table conversion function is performed on the folder tree for which the user has completed the attachment specification. If the conversion target folder tree targeted by this function is not displayed on the table management application screen 33, upon receiving an instruction from the user to click the "Folder Tree Call" button 72 on the function menu 70, the system displays the conversion target folder list 101 (Fig. 16) on the device screen based on the conversion target folder management data stored in the system. Upon receiving a user instruction on the displayed conversion target folder list, the corresponding conversion target folder tree is displayed on the table management application screen 33.

[0102] On the conversion target folder list 101, for each conversion target folder, its full path name 103 and attachment name 105 are arranged on one line. For the attachment name with a folder other than the conversion target folder as the attachment destination folder, the name 106 of the corresponding attachment destination folder enclosed in parentheses is prefixed. For the conversion target folder in the explanatory example, on one line, "***￥P Year Importance (A) Creator" will be displayed.

[0103] On the table management application screen 33 where the folder tree targeted by this function is displayed, when the user instructs the "Table Conversion" button 73 on the function menu 70, the keyword specification sub-screen 95 (Fig. 17) is displayed on the device screen by the keyword instruction unit 53. The user designates the folder whose folder name is the keyword for the information to be managed on the target table as the keyword specification folder on the displayed conversion target folder tree. If there are keywords to be input other than the designation by the keyword specification folder, the user inputs those keywords as free keywords into the keyword input field 96. The keyword specification folder is designated by clicking on the icon of the corresponding folder one by one with the mouse 14. When multiple keywords are entered in the keyword input field 96, a search expression combined by the method defined by the AND symbol and the OR symbol for each keyword is entered.

[0104] When specifying a plurality of keyword - specified folders, the order of specification can be arbitrary, and there is no need to specify the association between the keyword - specified folders. A plurality of keywords specified within one unit folder tree are interpreted as taking their "sum", and keywords specified in different unit folder trees are interpreted as taking their "product". Also, it is not necessary to specify other folders that are automatically determined as described below by specifying one keyword - specified folder.

[0105] Also, when there is no keyword specification in one attached - to one unit folder tree, all folders within the attached - to folder tree are regarded as being specified as keyword - specified folders only when the attached - to folder is an ancestor folder of other specified keywords.

[0106] Now, on the folder tree of the explanatory example, among the child folders of folder "A", folder "A1" and folder "A2", among the child folders of folder "B", folder "B1", and among the child folders of folder "Year", folder "2017" and folder "2018" are specified. (Fig. 18). In the above specification, due to the specification of folder "A1" and folder "A2", the specification of their ancestor folder, folder "A", is omitted. Similarly, due to the specification of folder "B1", the specifications of its parent folder "B" and its child folders "B11" and "B12" are omitted.

[0107] In addition, for the sub-folders of the separately attached specified folders "Author" and "Importance", no keyword is specified. First, since the folder "A", which is the attached destination folder of the separately attached specified folder "Author", is the ancestor folder of the keyword-specified folders "A1", "A2", etc., all its sub-folders, namely folder "Jia", folder "Yi", and folder "Bing", are to be specified as keyword-specified folders. Similarly, since the folder "P", which is the attached destination folder of the separately attached specified folder "Importance", is also the ancestor folder of the keyword-specified folders "A1", "A2", etc., all the sub-folders of the separately attached specified folder "Importance", namely folder "Large" and folder "Parallel", are to be specified as keyword-specified folders.

[0108] The condition specification by the above keyword-specified folders means specifying to extract information that satisfies the following conditions (A1 + A2 + B1) × (2017 + 2018) When the input in the keyword input field 96 is "○○○×△△△" at present, the overall specified condition by the keyword-specified sub-screen 95 is the logical product of the specified condition by this keyword-specified folder and the specified condition in the keyword input field 96 ((A1 + A2 + B1) × (2017 + 2018)) × (○○○×△△△) will result. The order of specifying each keyword-specified folder can be arbitrary, and the association by "×" and "+" and the grouping by "()" between each keyword are not necessary, but the entry into the keyword input field 96 shall be made in the specified entry method.

[0109] Here, as a second keyword specification example, when only the folder "B1", which is a sub-folder of the folder "B", is specified on the folder tree of the explanatory example (not shown), for the attached folder trees with attached names "year" and "importance", since the attached destination folder is the folder "P", which is an ancestor folder of the keyword specification folder "B1", all the folders in the attached destination folder tree are specified as keyword specification folders. On the other hand, for the attached folder tree with the attached name "creator", since the attached destination folder "A" is not an ancestor folder of the keyword specification folder "B1", the folders in the attached destination folder tree are not specified as keyword specification folders.

[0110] After specifying all the keyword specification folders, upon receiving an instruction from the user to click the "Execute" button 97 on the keyword specification sub-screen 95, the system starts the table conversion procedure (Fig. 19), creates the table management data (Fig. 20), and first, as a process by the keyword folder instruction unit 53, creates keyword specification data with the full path name set for each folder that has been given an instruction for the keyword specification folder (step L1). The keyword specification data is created in the same format as the above-mentioned stored full path name data.

[0111] The folder that has been given an instruction for the keyword specification folder can be identified by repeatedly comparing the click instruction position on the screen with the display position of each folder, similar to the case of the above-mentioned attached specification folder. The created keyword specification data is sequentially linked by its "link pointer", and the address of the head data is set to the "keyword specification data pointer" of the table management data.

[0112] Note that the table management data created for one conversion target folder tree is linked by its "concatenation pointer" in the creation order, and the address of the head data is set in the "table management data pointer" section of the corresponding conversion target folder management data. When the "table call" button 78 is instructed on the function menu 70 on the table management application 33 that is displaying the corresponding conversion target folder tree, the conversion table list sub-screen 110 (Fig. 21) is displayed on the device screen, and the table represented by the desired table management data can be displayed on the screen according to the instruction on the displayed conversion table list sub-screen 110. The conversion table list sub-screen 110 has a configuration in which the full path name 108 of the conversion target folder related to one table and the specified keyword 109 are arranged on one line. For the conversion table in the explanatory example, " ···￥P A1 A2 B1 2017 2018" will be arranged as such.

[0113] Next, as a process by the table creation unit 55, the table conversion procedure is to create tag name list data in which a set of folder names determined by the following method based on the specified keyword-specified folder is registered as a tag name list (step L2). In step L2, first, the presence or absence of the specified keyword-specified folder is determined. If the specified keyword-specified folder exists, each folder constituting the conversion target folder tree is sequentially taken out by a known method, and the following tag name list generation procedure is performed for the taken-out folder ("current folder") (Fig. 22). The processing when the specified keyword-specified folder does not exist will be described later.

[0114] In the same procedure, first, among the sub-folders that are directly stored in the current folder, the sub-folders for which no separate attachment specification is made, and which are sub-folders specified as the keyword-specified folder or sub-folders that are ancestors of the keyword-specified folder, a set of names is specified as one tag name list (step S1).

[0115] In the description example, when the current folder is folder "P", its subfolder "A" is the ancestor folder of keyword-specified folders "A1" and "A2", and its subfolder "B" is also the ancestor folder of keyword-specified folder "B1". Therefore, the names "A" and "B" become the constituent tag names of the tag name list specified with folder "P" as the parent folder.

[0116] On the other hand, since folders "Year" and "Importance", which are other subfolders of the current folder "P", are group-specified folders, they are excluded from the tag name list with folder "P" as the parent, and for folder "P", the tag name list {A, B} is specified.

[0117] Also, for the current folder "A", since its subfolders "A1" and "A2" are keyword-specified folders, the names "A1" and "A2" become the constituent tag names of the tag name list with folder "A" as the parent. However, on the other hand, since the other subfolder, folder "Author", is a group-specified folder, the folder name "Author" is excluded from the tag name list related to folder "A", and for folder "A", the tag name list {A1, A2} is specified.

[0118] For folder "B", since its subfolder "B1" is a keyword-specified folder, similarly, the tag name list {B1} is specified. Also, for folder "Year", since its subfolders "2017" and "2018" are keyword-specified folders, the tag name list {2017, 2018} is specified.

[0119] Next, the tag name list generation procedure determines whether the current folder is a keyword-specified folder (step S2). If that determination is obtained, for the current folder and all descendant folders of the current folder, the set of names of the set of its subfolders is specified as the tag name list. However, if there is an attached specified folder in the set of its subfolders, its name is removed (step S3).

[0120] In this example, for the current folder "B1", since this folder is a keyword-specified folder, the tag name list {B11, B12} will be specified as the set of the names of all its sub-folders.

[0121] After the tag name list generation procedure is completed for all the folders constituting the folder tree to be converted in step L2, the attached specified folders are sequentially retrieved. If the retrieved attached specified folder does not have a keyword-specified folder among its descendant folders and the destination folder of the attachment is an ancestor folder of the keyword-specified folder, then for the attached specified folder and all its descendant folders, the set of the names of the set of its sub-folders is specified as the tag name list.

[0122] In the case of the explanatory example, the folders "importance" and "creator", which are attached specified folders, do not have a keyword-specified folder among their descendant folders. Also, the folder "P", which is the destination folder of the attachment for the attached specified folder "importance", is an ancestor folder of the keyword-specified folders "A1", "A2", and "B1", and the folder "A", which is the destination folder of the attachment for the attached specified folder "creator", is an ancestor folder of the keyword-specified folders "A1" and "A2". Therefore, the tag name list {big, medium} and the tag name list {A, B, C} are respectively specified as the set of the names of all their sub-folders. On the other hand, in the case of the second keyword specification described above, since the attached specified folder "creator" does not have the keyword-specified folder "B1" among its descendant folders, no tag name list is formed from its descendant folders.

[0123] The system then creates tag name list data (Figure 23) for each specified tag name list, and sets the tag name data (Figure 24) with the tag name, which is the folder name constituting the corresponding tag name list, at the head data address of the tag name data chain concatenated by its "concatenation pointer". The created tag name list data is concatenated by its "concatenation pointer", and its head data address is set at the "tag name data pointer" of the table management data.

[0124] In this specification, a folder that obtains a tag name list from the name of its subfolder is called the parent folder or the mother folder of the corresponding tag name list, and its full path name is set at the "full path name of the parent folder" of the tag name list data. Also, in the "parent folder hierarchy rank section" of the tag name list data, the hierarchy rank in the folder tree to be converted of the corresponding parent folder is set. The hierarchy rank of a folder in a folder tree can be obtained from the full path name of the folder tree and the number of path names constituting the full path name of the corresponding folder.

[0125] Also, for a tag name list with an attached specified folder as the parent folder, the attached name, which is the folder name of the attached specified folder, is set at the "attached name section" of the tag name list data. In the explanatory example, for the tag name lists {2017, 2018}, {large, medium}, {A, B, C}, "year", "importance", and "creator" will be set respectively.

[0126] Next, as a process by the table data creation unit 55, the table conversion procedure sets a conditional path name list as conditional data, which is data to be referred to when placed on the target table, for each obtained tag name list based on the full path name of the corresponding parent folder (step L3).

[0127] Step L3 first identifies an attached specified folder whose full path name is included in the full path name of the corresponding parent folder, and then determines a list of conditional path names by removing from the full path name of the corresponding parent folder the part that matches the folder name of the identified attached specified folder and the full path name of the parent folder of the folder to be converted.

[0128] For example, in the case of the attached specified folder "creator" in the explanatory example, when the list of tag names {A, B, C} is obtained, the folder with the full path name "..." is identified as the attached specified folder whose full path name is included in the full path name of the corresponding parent folder "..." After removing the folder name "creator" from the full path name of the corresponding parent folder, the part that matches the full path name of the parent folder "..." of the folder to be converted "P" is removed from the remaining list of path names "..." The resulting sequential list of path names "P" is determined as the list of conditional path names. The obtained list of conditional path names is given as a character string in which each constituent path name is concatenated by the symbol "", and is set in the "conditional path name list data part" of the corresponding tag name list data.

[0129] In the case of the explanatory example, as other lists of conditional path names, "P" is set for the list of tag names {A, B}, and "P" is also set for the list of tag names {2017, 2018} obtained for the attached specified folder "year" and the list of tag names {large, medium} obtained for the attached specified folder "importance". On the other hand, for the list of tag names {A1, A2} and the list of tag names {B1}, "P" and "P" are set respectively, and for the list of tag names {B11, B12}, "P" is set.

[0130] Note that at the beginning of Step L2, if it is determined that there is no specified keyword specified folder, a list of tag names consisting of the names of the subfolders of all the currently retrieved folders is created. The conditional data added to the list of tag names is created in the same manner as in the case where there is the above-mentioned specified keyword specified folder. Specific examples will be described later.

[0131] Next, as a process by the table creation unit 55, table conversion procedures create table data representing a table in which the tag name columns registered in the tag name list data are arranged as headwords based on the tag name list data created as described above (step L4).

[0132] The tables handled by the table management application are created according to the format shown in FIG. 25. That is, the table consists of an icon arrangement column 41, a horizontal headword arrangement column area 42, and a vertical headword arrangement column area 43. The horizontal headword arrangement column area 42 is arranged outside the upper end of the icon arrangement column 41, and the vertical headword arrangement column area 43 is arranged outside the left end of the icon arrangement column 41. Note that the horizontal headword arrangement column area 42 and the vertical headword arrangement column area 43 are collectively referred to as the headword arrangement column area. In the headword arrangement column area, a headword arrangement column in which one tag name column is arranged is arranged one row above or one column to the right.

[0133] Cells, which are rectangular areas for arranging icons of information to be managed, are arranged in a matrix in the icon arrangement column 41, and the constituent tag names of the tag name columns arranged in the headword arrangement column area are arranged in the same row or the same column as the corresponding cell as headwords characterizing the information in each cell in the icon arrangement column 41.

[0134] The headword arrangement column is also divided into cells, which are rectangular areas in which one tag name is entered. The icon arrangement column 41 is divided by the extension of the grid lines that divide the cells in each headword arrangement column, and thus forms the matrix of the cells described above. As long as the tables handled by the table management application follow this format, they may be created freely.

[0135] Step L4 is performed according to the procedure shown in FIG. 26. First, for each heading word column in the table, heading word column data is created (step A1). The format of the heading word column data is shown in FIG. 27. In the "corresponding tag name list data pointer part" of the heading word column data, the address of the tag name list data which is the tag name list in which the corresponding tag name list arranged in the corresponding heading word column is registered is set. In the "attached name part", the attached name given to the corresponding tag name list is set, and in the "direction part", a direction code representing the direction in which the corresponding heading word column is arranged is set. When the arranged direction is "horizontal direction", "0" is set, and when the arranged direction is "vertical direction", "1" is set.

[0136] Also, in the "row / column position part" within the "overall position part" of the heading word column data, the row position or column position where the corresponding heading word arrangement column is arranged is set. When the corresponding heading word arrangement column is in the horizontal direction, the row position is entered, and when it is in the vertical direction, the column position is entered. Here, the row position referred to is the row position counted from the upper end of the table of the corresponding row, and the column position is the column position counted from the left end of the table of the corresponding column. In the horizontal heading word arrangement column area 42 and the vertical heading word arrangement column area 43, the cells for entering individual heading words may span multiple rows or multiple columns.

[0137] Also, in the "start position part" and "end position part" within the "overall position part", as the matrix positions at both ends of the arrangement direction of the heading word arrangement column determined in subsequent processing, when the heading word arrangement column is in the horizontal direction, the column position is set, and when it is in the vertical direction, the row position is set.

[0138] The creation of the heading word column data (step A1) is performed according to the overall procedure shown in FIG. 28. In this procedure, first, the registered tag name list of the tag name list data in which the name "P" of the top folder of the conversion target folder tree is set in the condition path name list is specified as the top tag name list, and for each specified top tag name list, top tag name list management data (FIG. 29) is created (step B1). The address of the registered data of the corresponding top tag name list is registered in the "tag name list data pointer" part of the top tag name list management data.

[0139] For each created leading tag name list management data, first, among the leading tag name lists, the leading tag name list management data created for the main leading tag name list, which is a leading tag name list that does not include the attached specified folder in its ancestor folder, is taken as the head, and other leading tag name list management data is managed in a form where they are sequentially linked by their "link pointers" in the order in which the corresponding attached specified folder is arranged closer to the main leading tag name list.

[0140] In the explanatory example, as the leading tag name lists, the tag name lists {A, B}, {2017, 2018}, and {large, parallel} are specified as tag name lists whose condition data is the same as the full path name "···￥P" of the conversion target folder, and the corresponding leading tag name list management data will be linked in the above order.

[0141] Next, in step A1, for each leading tag name list, its arrangement direction and arrangement order are determined (step B2). In the conversion target folder tree shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the tag name lists specified as leading tag name lists are tag name lists with the top folder "P" of the main folder tree as the parent folder, or tag name lists with the top folders "year" and "importance" of the attached folder tree with the conversion target folder "P" as its attached destination folder as the parent folder.

[0142] In this conversion target folder tree, corresponding to the fact that the attached folder tree with the conversion target folder as its attached destination folder is grouped and arranged on one side of the main folder tree to obtain visibility, the tag name list with the top folder of the main folder tree as the parent folder is assigned "horizontal direction", and the tag name list with the top folder of the attached folder tree with the conversion target folder as its attached destination folder as the parent folder is assigned "vertical direction". Further, among the leading tag name lists related to the above attached folder tree, the leading tag name lists related to the attached folder tree arranged closer to the main folder tree are arranged in a higher order.

[0143] In response to the determination of the above-mentioned leading tag name column arrangement direction and arrangement order, the leading tag name column management data is re-linked by a linking pointer in the arrangement order determined for each arrangement direction, and the address of the leading data thereof is set in the "horizontal leading tag name column management data pointer" and the "vertical leading tag name column management data pointer" of the corresponding table management data.

[0144] In the explanatory example, first, the leading tag name columns {A, B} are arranged horizontally, the leading tag name columns {2017, 2018} and the tag name column {large, parallel} are arranged vertically, and between the leading tag name columns {2017, 2018} and the leading tag name column {large, parallel} arranged vertically, corresponding to the arrangement order with respect to the main folder tree on the conversion target folder tree, the leading tag name column {large, parallel} is arranged after the leading tag name column {2017, 2018}.

[0145] Next, step A1 performs a procedure for creating heading column data (step B3) for the heading column that stores and arranges the registered tag name column (referred to as the "leading tag name column for each direction") of the leading data of the leading tag name column management data chain and the tag name columns arranged below it for each arrangement direction. The procedure of the heading column data creation procedure is shown in FIG. 30. For each arrangement direction, a heading column that stores and arranges the leading tag name column for each direction and the tag name columns arranged below it is also created in the form of a tree, and in this specification, this tree is referred to as the heading column tree.

[0146] At the start of this procedure, as an input variable that is replaced for each call of the recursive process performed within this procedure, the registered tag name column of the leading data of the leading tag name column management data chain in the corresponding arrangement direction is set in the input variable "current tag name column". Also, "0" is set in the input variables "current heading column start position" and "current row / column position", and "0" is set in the "maximum row / column number" as the final return value of the entire procedure.

[0147] Here, the "current heading word column start position" refers to the column position at the left end of the corresponding heading word column if the "arrangement direction" of the corresponding heading word column is "horizontal", and refers to the row position at the upper end of the corresponding heading word column if the "arrangement direction" of the corresponding heading word column is "vertical".

[0148] Also, the "current row / column position" refers to the row position where the corresponding heading word column is arranged if the "arrangement direction" of the corresponding heading word column is "horizontal", and refers to the column position where the corresponding heading word column is arranged if the "arrangement direction" of the corresponding heading word column is "vertical". Further, the "maximum number of rows / columns" refers to the number of rows or columns occupied by the entire set of heading word columns obtained by the entire heading word column creation procedure in the direction perpendicular to the "arrangement direction".

[0149] In the procedure of FIG. 30, first, heading word column data representing the heading word column in which the "current tag name column" is arranged is created, and the set input arguments are set in the corresponding part of the data (step P1). The address of the "current tag name column" registration data is set in the "corresponding tag name column data address part" of the data, the "current row / column position" parameter is set in the "row / column position part" of the data, and the set value of the "current heading word column start position" parameter is set in the "start position part" of the data.

[0150] Also, in step P1, a comparison is made between the "current row / column position" parameter and the "maximum number of rows / columns" parameter. If the "current row / column position" parameter is larger than the "maximum number of rows / columns" parameter, the "maximum number of rows / columns" parameter is updated by the "current row / column position" parameter.

[0151] The created heading word column data is linked by its "link pointer" in the order of creation for each arrangement direction, and the leading data is set in the "horizontal heading word column data pointer" and the "vertical heading word column data pointer" of the table management data, respectively.

[0152] Subsequently, for each iteration of the process described below, the leading tag name in the current tag name list is set as the "current tag name" parameter, which is a variable to be replaced, and the "start position in the horizontal direction of the cell" parameter is set to the set value of the "start position part" of the "current heading word column data" (step P2).

[0153] Subsequently, cell data (FIG. 31) representing the cell in which the set "current tag name" is to be placed is created, the "start position in the horizontal direction of the cell" parameter is set to the "start position in the horizontal direction of the cell" parameter for the created cell data, and the set values of the "row / column position part" of the "current heading word column data" are set to the "start position in the vertical direction" and the "end position in the vertical direction" of the cell data, respectively (step P3).

[0154] In step P3, also, a specific value indicating that the cell is within the heading word column is set in the "classification part" of the created cell data, and string data (FIG. 32) representing the current tag name is created and pointed to from the string pointer of the corresponding cell data.

[0155] The cell data created in one heading word column forms a cell data chain by being linked by its "concatenation pointer" in the order of creation in the corresponding heading word column, and the address of the leading data is set to the "cell data pointer" of the corresponding heading word column data. Each time cell data is created, the address of its leading data is also set to the "cell data pointer" of the table management data and is linked to the end of the cell data chain linked by the "concatenation pointer 2".

[0156] Next, a tag name list that is different from the current tag name list and whose conditional path name list is included in the "current conditional path name list" obtained by adding the "current tag name" to the end of the conditional path name list of the current tag name list is specified as the child tag name list (step P4).

[0157] Step P4 is performed in a repetitive manner such that, for each arrangement direction, the leading tag name list management data linked to the leading tag name list management data chain is sequentially retrieved. For each retrieved leading tag name list management data, starting from its registered tag name list, tag name lists with the descendant folders of its parent folder as the parent folder are sequentially retrieved in the order of their hierarchical positions, and it is repeatedly determined whether the retrieved tag name list satisfies the above-described conditions. The tag name list for which such determination is first obtained is specified as the child tag name list. Here, the tag name list with the descendant folders of the parent folder of the leading tag name list as the parent folder can be specified as a tag name list having a full parent folder path name including the full parent folder path name of the leading tag name list at the front.

[0158] In creating the horizontal heading word column in the explanatory example, first, when the leading tag name list {A, B} is used as the current tag name list and the current tag name is "A", as tag name lists included in the current condition path name list obtained by adding the current tag name "A" to the condition path name list "P" of the current tag name list, the tag name lists {A1, A2} and the tag name list {A, B, C} with the condition path name list {P￥A} are selected in this order according to their hierarchical order, and the tag name list {A1, A2} is specified as the child tag name list.

[0159] In the explanatory example, further, when the current tag name list is {A1, A2} and the current tag name is "A1", as the child tag name list, the tag name list {A, B, C} with the condition path name list "P￥A" is specified as the tag name list included in the current condition path name list {P￥A￥A1} obtained by adding the current tag name "A1" to the condition path name list "P￥A" of the current tag name list. Similarly, when the current tag name list is {A1, A2} and the current tag name is "A2", the tag name list {A, B, C} is similarly specified as the child tag name list.

[0160] In the explanatory example, when the current tag name list is {A, B} and the current tag name is "B", as the list of its child tag names, the tag name list {B1, B2} whose conditional path name list is "P￥B" is specified as the tag name list that includes the conditional path name list, where the current conditional path name list "P￥B" is obtained by adding the current tag name "B" to the conditional path name list "P" of the current tag name list. Further, as the list of child tag names for the current tag name "B1" in the current tag name list {B1, B2}, the tag name list {B11, B12} that includes the conditional path name list {P￥B￥B1} is specified for the current conditional path name list "P￥B￥B1" obtained by adding the current tag name "B1" to the conditional path name list "P￥B" of the current tag name list.

[0161] In creating the vertical heading word column in the explanatory example, first, when the leading tag name list {2017, 2018} registered in the leading data of the leading tag name list management data is used as the current tag name list and the current tag name is "2018", since there is no tag name list whose parent folder's descendant folder is the parent folder for the leading tag name list, the leading tag name list {big, parallel} registered in the leading data of the next leading tag name list management data is retrieved. Since its conditional path name list {P} is included in the current conditional path name list "P￥2018" obtained by adding the current tag name "2018" to the conditional path name list "P" of the current tag name list, it will be specified as the list of child tag names.

[0162] In the subsequent step P5, it is determined whether the corresponding list of child tag names has been specified in the above determination. If that determination is obtained, then in the subsequent step P6, the procedure for creating the heading word column data is performed recursively (step P6). In step P6, as the argument input to the same procedure, the list of child tag names specified in step P4 is set as the "current tag name list", and the number obtained by adding "1" to the "row / column position" set value of the "current heading word column data" so far is set as the new "current row / column position", and the "horizontal start position" of the corresponding cell is set as the new "current heading word column start position".

[0163] In the subsequent step P7, the "end position" of the child heading word column, which is the return value of the recursive execution of the heading word column data creation procedure in step P6, is set as the "horizontal end position" of the corresponding cell data.

[0164] In step P5, if it is determined that the corresponding child tag name list has not been specified, the set value of the "horizontal start position part" of the same cell data is set in the "horizontal end position part" of the corresponding cell data (step P8).

[0165] In step P7, or in step P9 following step P8, it is determined whether there is a "next position tag name" following the current tag name in the corresponding tag name list. If such a determination is obtained, the number obtained by adding "1" to the "horizontal end position part" of the cell data corresponding to the current tag name is set as the "cell horizontal start position parameter", and after updating the "current tag name" with its next position tag name (step P10), the process returns to step P3.

[0166] If the determination in step P9 is not obtained, in the subsequent step P11, as the "horizontal end position" of the heading word column data, the set value of the "horizontal end position part" of the last created cell data is set, and then the entire procedure ends.

[0167] Finally, step B3 stores the "maximum number of rows / columns" and the "total layout width" obtained for the two heading word column trees synthesized for each layout direction in the specific storage position of the table data creation unit 55. The total layout width represents, for one "layout direction", the length occupied by all the heading word columns constituting the corresponding heading word column tree in that "layout direction", expressed by the number of lower end cells contained therein, and can be obtained as the "horizontal end position" of the last created heading word column data. Here, the lower end cell refers to the cell constituting each heading word column located at the lowermost end in the heading word column tree.

[0168] For each layout direction, the "maximum number of rows / columns" is set to the "number of rows in the horizontal heading word column part" and the "number of columns in the vertical heading word column part" respectively, and the "total layout width number" for each layout direction is set to the "total width of the vertical heading word column part" and the "total width of the horizontal heading word column part" respectively.

[0169] In the subsequent step B4, layout direction information is set for the created heading word column data. First, set "0" in the "direction part" of the heading word column data with the "horizontal direction", set "1" in the heading word column data with the "vertical direction", and then, for each cell data pointed from the "cell data pointer" of the heading word column data with the "layout direction" being the "vertical direction", swap the "horizontal" position information and the "vertical" position information with each other. Just set the previous "vertical start position" and "vertical end position" as the new "horizontal start position" and "horizontal end position" respectively, and reset the previous "horizontal start position" and "horizontal end position" as the new "vertical start position" and "vertical end position" respectively.

[0170] The determination of the layout direction of each leading tag name list in step B2 can be performed, for example, by the following process as a method that does not cause a large difference between the horizontal dimension and the vertical dimension of the target table. In this process, in advance, for each leading tag name list, obtain the total layout width of the heading word column tree in which the tag name list to be arranged below it is arranged as the partial layout total width. The partial layout total width of the heading word column tree created for each leading tag name list can be obtained in step P4. When the tag name list with the descendant folder of the corresponding leading tag name list's parent folder as the parent folder cannot be specified for the corresponding leading tag name list, instead of retrieving the next leading tag name list in the leading tag name list management data chain, immediately, through step P5, perform step P8.

[0171] The same method sets the leading tag name list of the leading data in the leading tag name list management data chain and the registered tag name list of the next-position data as the uppermost horizontal tag name list and the uppermost vertical tag name list on the table respectively. Then, after setting the total width in the horizontal direction and the total width in the vertical direction, which are the parameters in the repetition of the following process, for the total width of the partial arrangement determined for the uppermost horizontal tag name list and the uppermost vertical tag name list respectively, for each leading tag name list management data sequentially retrieved from the third configuration data of the leading tag name list management data chain onwards, a comparison is made between the "total width in the horizontal direction" and the "total width in the vertical direction" at that time, and the corresponding direction on the side with the smaller value is selected as the arrangement direction of the corresponding leading tag name list. Then, the current "total width" is updated by the number obtained by multiplying the total width of the partial arrangement corresponding to the retrieved leading tag name list management data by the "total width" (the "total width in the horizontal direction" or the "total width in the vertical direction") in the selected direction, and this process is repeated.

[0172] In the case of the explanatory example, after the leading tag name list {A, B} and the leading tag name list {2017, 2018} are respectively selected as the uppermost horizontal and vertical tag name lists on the table, when the leading tag name list {big, parallel} is retrieved next, since the "total width in the horizontal direction" and the "total width in the vertical direction" are "6" and "2" respectively, the arrangement direction of the leading tag name list {big, parallel} is determined to be the "vertical direction".

[0173] Also, in the case of the above-mentioned second keyword instruction example, after the leading tag name list {B1} and the leading tag name list {2016, 2017, 2018} are respectively selected as the uppermost horizontal and vertical tag name lists on the table, when the leading tag name list {big, parallel} is retrieved next, since the "total width in the horizontal direction" and the "total width in the vertical direction" are "2" and "3" respectively, the arrangement direction of the next retrieved leading tag name list {big, parallel} is determined to be the "horizontal direction".

[0174] Next, step L2 creates icon arrangement column data (Fig. 33) (step A2). The row position at the upper end and the column position at the left end of the icon arrangement column 41 are respectively determined as positions obtained by adding "1" to the numbers set in the "number of rows in the horizontal heading word column part" and the "number of columns in the vertical heading word column part" provided at the specific storage position of the table data creation unit 55 in step A1, and are respectively set in the "upper end position part" and the "left end position part" in the "overall position part" of the icon arrangement column data.

[0175] Also, the row position at the lower end of the icon arrangement column 41 is obtained as the sum of the set value of the "number of rows in the horizontal heading word column part" and the set value of the "total width of the vertical heading word column part", and is set in the "lower end position part" in the "overall position part". Also, the column position at the right end of the icon arrangement column 41 is obtained as the sum of the set value of the "number of rows in the vertical heading word column part" and the set value of the "total width of the horizontal heading word column part", and is set in the "right end position part" in the "overall position part".

[0176] In the icon arrangement column 41, cells with dimensions of "1" in both the horizontal and vertical directions are arranged as a matrix, and for each cell, cell data with its position information set in the "position information part" is created. In the "classification part" of the created cell data, a specific value indicating that it is a cell in the icon arrangement column is set. The created cell data is linked by its "link pointer", and the address of its first data is set in the "cell data pointer" of the icon arrangement column data. The address of the icon arrangement column data is set in the icon arrangement column data pointer of the table management data. Also, the created cell data is linked to the end of the cell data chain pointed to by the address of its first data from the "cell data pointer" of the table management data and linked by the "link pointer 2".

[0177] All cells that make up the icon arrangement column 41 can be specified, for example, by starting from the leftmost cell in the cells on one row and repeating for all rows starting from the top row in the order of arrangement. The column position and row position of the leftmost cell on the top row of the icon arrangement column 41 are, respectively, the set values of the "upper end position part" and "left end position part" in the "overall position part" of the icon arrangement column data. The column position of the cell located to the right of one cell on one row is the sum of "1" added to the column position of the previous cell, and the row position of the cell located in the next row of one row is the sum of "1" added to the row position of the previous row on the icon arrangement column 41.

[0178] Subsequently, step L2 creates "row delimiter position data" and "column delimiter position data" that associate the icon arrangement column 41, the heading word arrangement column, which constitute the table, and the "row position" and "column position" used to represent the position information of each cell with the logical positions on the display screen (step A3). The logical positions on the display screen are represented by a pair of the rightward position and the downward position, with the upper left corner position of the table management application screen 33 for displaying the management table as the origin.

[0179] The format of the "row delimiter position data" or "column delimiter position data" is shown in FIG. 34. The "row delimiter position data" is the arrangement in order from the left of the positions that horizontally delimit each heading word column in the vertical direction and the positions that horizontally delimit each constituent cell in the icon arrangement column 41. The "column delimiter position data" is the arrangement in order from the top of the positions that vertically delimit each heading word column area 42 in the horizontal direction and the positions that vertically delimit each constituent cell in the icon arrangement column 41.

[0180] The "row delimiter position data" or "column delimiter position data" can be obtained based on the predetermined "left end position" and "upper end position" of the entire table, the "horizontal heading word column width dimension" and "vertical heading word column width dimension", and the predetermined "horizontal width" and "vertical width" for the constituent cells of the icon arrangement column 41. Here, the "horizontal heading word column width dimension" is the vertical dimension of the horizontal heading word column, and the "vertical heading word column width dimension" is the horizontal dimension of the vertical heading word column.

[0181] In the case of column delimiter position data, after setting the leftmost position of the table as the leading configuration data, First, create column delimiter position data by setting the position obtained by adding the "vertical heading word column width dimension" to the set value of the previous configuration data, and repeat this for the number of set values in the "number of rows in the vertical heading word column" part. Then, create column delimiter position data by setting the position obtained by adding the "horizontal width" defined for the icon placement column cell to the set value of the previous configuration data, and repeat this for the number of horizontal cells in the icon placement column. The number of horizontal cells in the icon placement column can be obtained by subtracting the "leftmost position" from the "rightmost position" of the icon placement column data.

[0182] "Row delimiter position data" can be created in the same way. For the created "row delimiter position data" or "column delimiter position data", their addresses are set in the "row delimiter position data pointer" and "column delimiter position data pointer" of the table management data respectively.

[0183] The overall width and height of the table obtained by the above processing are, respectively, based on the "logical position / physical position correspondence ratio" described later and the physical dimensions of the display screen 20a. If they are much larger or smaller than the appropriate values determined for the horizontal and vertical directions respectively, the horizontal and vertical widths of the icon placement column cells may be enlarged according to the ratios of the overall width and height of the table to the appropriate values.

[0184] In step L4, subsequently, set position information for all string data representing the strings on the corresponding table (step A4). Sequentially extract the constituent cell data from the cell data chain pointed to by the cell data pointers of each heading word column data and icon placement column data, extract the string data pointed to by the string data pointer in the extracted cell data, and perform the following processing.

[0185] First, obtain the rectangular boundary position of the cell represented by the corresponding cell data based on the position information within the cell data and the previously created "row delimiter position data" or "column delimiter position data". The left end position of the cell is the value of the configuration data set located at the rank of the "start column position" within the corresponding cell data in the "column delimiter position data", and the right end position of the cell is the value of the configuration data set located at the rank obtained by adding "1" to the number of the "end column position" within the corresponding cell data in the "column delimiter position data".

[0186] The upper end position and the lower end position of the cell can also be obtained in the same way based on the "row delimiter position data" and the "start row position" and "end row position" within the corresponding cell data. The string entry position within the cell is obtained based on the boundary position of the corresponding cell and the previously determined "string entry margin within the cell", and the obtained string entry position within the cell may be set to the string position information of the corresponding string data.

[0187] Finally, in step L4, create grid line data representing the boundary lines that divide the icon placement column 41, the boundary lines that divide the heading word placement column, and the boundary lines that divide each cell provided within the icon placement column 41 and the heading word placement column (step A5). The format of the grid line data is shown in FIG. 35.

[0188] The both end positions of each grid line that divides the icon placement column 41 and the heading word placement column, as well as the boundaries of each cell, can be obtained based on the corresponding icon placement column 41, or the heading word placement column, or the left end position and the right end position of the cell, as well as the upper end position and the lower end position.

[0189] The left end position and the right end position of the icon placement column 41 can be obtained based on the column positions set in the "left end position part" and the "right end position part" within the "overall position part" of the icon placement column definition data and the "column delimiter position data", respectively. The upper end position and the lower end position of the icon placement column 41 can be obtained based on the row positions set in the "upper end position part" and the "lower end position part" within the "overall position part" of the icon placement column definition data and the "row delimiter position data", respectively.

[0190] The left and right end positions of the horizontal heading word arrangement column can be obtained based on the column positions set in the "start position part" and "end position part" within the "overall position part" of the heading word column definition data and the "column delimiter position data", respectively. The upper and lower end positions of the horizontal heading word arrangement column can be obtained based on the column positions set in the "row / column position part" within the "overall position part" of the heading word column definition data and the "row delimiter position data", respectively.

[0191] Similarly, the left and right end positions, as well as the upper and lower end positions, of the vertical heading word arrangement column can also be obtained based on the "row / column position part", "start position part", "end position part" within the "overall position part" of the heading word column definition data, and the "row delimiter position data" and "column delimiter position data", respectively.

[0192] The left and right end positions, as well as the upper and lower end positions, of each cell constituting the heading word arrangement column can be obtained based on the position information of the cell data, the "row delimiter position data", and the "column delimiter position data" as described above.

[0193] The position information of the grid line data of each boundary grid line separating the icon arrangement column 41, each heading word arrangement column, and each cell is set with the grid line both-end positions obtained as described above. Also, as the modification information of the grid line data, specific values predetermined for each of the icon arrangement column 41, the heading word arrangement column, and the cell are set. The created grid line data are sequentially connected to each other by the "connection pointer", and the head data thereof is set in the "grid line data pointer" of the table management data.

[0194] Through the above processing, in the case of the explanatory example, table data representing the table shown in FIG. 36 is created. The created table data is managed in the form that the address of the corresponding table management data is set in the "table management data pointer part" of the conversion target folder tree management data in the table data creation unit 55. Also, in the case of the second keyword instruction example described above, table data representing the table shown in FIG. 37 will be created.

[0195] Next, for each cell in the icon placement column 41 on the conversion table, the system identifies the information in which the icon is placed and displayed therein, and registers the identified information in the corresponding cell data (step L5). In this step, first, for each cell in the icon placement column 41, the heading words arranged on the same row and the same column as the corresponding cell are identified as related tag names for each heading word placement column, and the corresponding tag name column of the heading word placement column in which the identified related tag name is arranged is identified as a tag name column identifier and registered in association with the created related data (Figure 38).

[0196] The heading words arranged on the same row and the same column as the corresponding cell can be found by repeatedly comparing the position information of the corresponding cell with the position information determined for the cell storing each heading word. Each heading word arranged on the table can be retrieved by sequentially tracing the cells constituting each heading word placement column on the table through the cell data attached to the corresponding heading word column data.

[0197] In the "tag name column identifier part" of the related data, as data for identifying the corresponding tag name column, a path name string obtained by removing the full path name of the parent folder of the top folder of the conversion target folder tree from the full path name of the corresponding parent folder is set. In the "tag name part" of the related data, the corresponding related tag name is set. The related data created for the corresponding cell is sequentially linked by a "link pointer" as a related data chain, and the address of the first data is set in the "related data pointer" of the corresponding cell data.

[0198] Step L5 then selects the information to be placed in each cell within the icon placement column 41 on the form, and registers the selected information in the corresponding cell. In this step, first, for each cell, the full related tag name obtained by concatenating the tag name identifier and the related tag name registered in each obtained related data via "￥" is determined. Then, from the set of full related tag names obtained for each cell, an effective set of full related tag names is determined, which is a set excluding the full related tag names included as strings in other full related tag names within the set. The information to be placed in each cell is specified as the information in which the same set of storage path name columns as the corresponding effective set of full related tag names is registered.

[0199] For the cells corresponding to the heading words "A", "A1", "B", "2018", and "Large" on the conversion table (Figure 36) created in the above description example, for the tag name identifier "P", the tag name "A", for the tag name identifier "P￥A", the tag name "A1", for the tag name identifier "P￥A￥Author", the tag name "B", for the tag name identifier "P￥Year", the tag name "2018", for the tag name identifier "P￥Importance", the tag name "Large", associated related data is obtained. From the obtained related data, the following full related tag names are obtained: "P￥A", "P￥A￥A1", "P￥A￥Author￥B" "P￥Year￥2018", "P￥Importance￥Large" From these, an effective set of full related tag names excluding "P￥A" included in "P￥A￥A1" and "P￥A￥Author￥B" is obtained: "P￥A￥A1", "P￥A￥Author￥B" "P￥Year￥2018", "P￥Importance￥Large" is obtained, and the above information is specified as the full path name with the same set of storage path name columns as the obtained set, which is "···￥P￥A￥B￥A1￥Report 1".

[0200] Next, for each cell, from the selected information, select the information whose name or the text part of the information body contains the input keyword in the keyword input field 96 so as to satisfy its search formula. For example, when two keywords are connected by an "×" symbol, the information containing both keywords is selected. The information management data created for the selected information is sequentially connected as an in-cell information management data chain by its "concatenation pointer 2", and the address of the head data is set in the "in-cell information management data pointer part" of the corresponding cell data.

[0201] Finally, as a process by the table display unit 57, the table represented by the table data created as described above is displayed on the table management application screen 33 (step L6). In step L6, the character strings and grid lines that are the components of the table are displayed based on the created table data, and the icons of the information to be arranged on the table are displayed based on the created table data and the specified conversion target folder tree.

[0202] The character strings constituting the table are displayed based on the following character string data. (1) The character string data pointed to by each cell data pointed to from each heading word column data and the cell data pointer of the table management data (2) The character string data pointed to from the attached name character string data pointer of each heading word column data

[0203] In addition, the grid lines that make up the table are displayed based on the grid line data retrieved from the "grid line data pointer" of the table management data. The character string and the grid lines are displayed at the corresponding physical positions on the display screen 20a after their position information is converted into the physical positions on the display screen 20a. The position information that constitutes the character string data and the grid line data is first converted into the physical position with respect to the table management application screen 33 based on the "logical position / physical position correspondence ratio" predetermined in the system, and then the arrangement position of the entire table management application screen 33 stored in the system as the "relative position of the table management application screen" with respect to the display screen 20a is added to be converted into the physical position on the display screen 20a.

[0204] In each cell within the icon arrangement column 41 on the table, the icons of the information registered in the cell information management data chain associated previously are arranged and displayed in the corresponding cell at intervals determined by the connection order in the same chain, and the name of the information is displayed below the displayed icon by a known method. The icon of the information is displayed based on the icon image data registered in the data object management data with the "full path name" registered in the corresponding information management data set. The information that meets the conditions determined by the specified keyword will be output on the displayed table. Also, the exploratory search of the information can be easily performed on the table created by specifying the keyword with the search range restricted.

[0205] In the above example, in the cells corresponding to the heading words "A1", "B", "2018", and "Large" on the table, the icon 163 of the information named "Report 1" with the additional tag names "B", "2018", and "Large" and the full path name of "***￥***￥P￥A￥A1" stored in the folder will be displayed in the corresponding cell along with the information name "Report 1" (Figure 39).

[0206] Now, when an open operation is performed on the icon of the information displayed in the same cell, first, the cell containing the information on which the open operation is performed is specified based on the open instruction position. The cell containing the information given the open operation can be specified by repeatedly collating the position information of each cell data constituting the cell data chain created for the corresponding table with the open instruction position.

[0207] Next, the information management data registered in the cell information management data chain of the specified cell is sequentially retrieved, the arrangement position of the corresponding information is obtained, and in the same manner as in the case of specifying the above cell, by repeatedly collating the arrangement position with the open instruction position, the information management data given the open operation is specified. Subsequently, the file information screen of the corresponding information is opened on the device screen by the data object management data in which all the path names set in the specified information management data are set.

[0208] In the above process, the open instruction position on the display screen 20a is first converted into the physical position on the table management application screen 33 based on the relative arrangement position on the entire display screen 20a of the table management application screen 33, then converted into the logical position on the table management application screen 33 based on the predetermined "logical position / physical position correspondence ratio", and then collated with the position information of each cell or each piece of information.

[0209] When the information associated with a cell cannot be completely placed within the cell, for example, as a known method, after placing the information in the order of registration in the in-cell information management data chain, an icon of a predetermined image indicating that "there is information associated other than the placed information" is displayed at the end of the placed information (not shown in the figure). Then, in response to a specific instruction such as a double click by the user on the icon, an in-cell information display screen 160 (Fig. 40) on which icons of all the information associated with the corresponding cell are placed and displayed is shown. On the in-cell information display screen 160, the icons 155 of the information registered in each information management data linked to the in-cell information management data chain of the corresponding cell data are arranged and displayed in the order of linkage in the in-cell information management data chain.

[0210] When the user performs an open instruction operation on the icon of the information displayed on the in-cell information display screen 160, in the same manner as in the case of the information placed in the cell described above, first, based on the open instruction position on the in-cell information display screen, the system identifies the corresponding information on which the open operation is performed from the in-cell information management data chain of the corresponding cell, and then opens the corresponding file information screen on the device screen by the full path name of the identified information.

[0211] For the user, within the conversion target folder tree, by imposing a restriction not to set folder names with the same notation but different meanings, the processing by the system can be simplified as follows. First, as the condition data for each tag name list, instead of the above-described condition path name list, the parent folder name located at its end is set as the condition name, and then the procedure for creating the heading word column data is performed as follows.

[0212] This procedure starts by setting the folder name of the conversion target folder as the condition name. In step P4 of selecting the child tag name list for the current tag name in the current tag name list, the tag name list in which the condition name is included is selected as the child tag name list for the path name list obtained by adding the current tag name to the condition name of the current tag name list.

[0213] In the case of the explanatory example, for example, b, first, regarding the current tag name "A" that constitutes the current tag name list {A, B}, for the path name list {P, A} obtained by adding the current tag name "A" to the condition name "P" of the current tag name list {A, B}, {A1, A2} and {A, B} are selected as child tag name lists as the tag name lists that include the condition name.

[0214] Next, among the selected tag name lists {A1, A2} and {A, B}, regarding the current tag name "A1" that constitutes the tag name list {A1, A2} preferentially selected according to the above criteria, for the path name list {A, A1} obtained by adding the current tag name "A1" to the condition name "A" of the tag name list {A1, A2}, {A, B} is selected as the child tag name list as the tag name list that includes the condition data.

[0215] Also, among the sets of related tag names obtained for each cell, an effective related tag name set is obtained, which is a set excluding the related tag names that are the names of the parent folders of the tag name lists to which the other related tag names in the set belong. The storage path name list assigned to the information management data is replaced with the storage folder name, which is the last path name, and the information arranged in the cell is selected as the information assigned the same set of storage folder names as the effective related tag name set obtained for that cell.

[0216] In the cells corresponding to the heading words "A1", "B", "2018", and "Large" in the above example, among the obtained set of related tag names {A, A1, B, 2018, Large}, the effective related tag name set {A1, B, 2018, Large} excluding the related tag name "A" that is the name of the parent folder of the tag name list {A1, A2} to which the related tag name "A1" belongs is set. Stored in the folder where all the above path names are "***￥***￥P￥A￥A1", and by adding the attached tag names "B", "2018", and "Large", the information with the name "Report 1" having the set of storage folder names {A1, B, 2018, Large} will be arranged in the corresponding cell.

[0217] If the created table is too large compared to the display screen 20a and inconvenient to refer to, a tag name placed at the tree descendant position of the keyword tag name, as well as a set of tag names that constitute a tag name tree without a specified keyword tag name, and a set of tag names sharing a parent tag name are identified as a tag name list. A table may be created by placing only the tag name list excluding the already obtained tag name list in the heading column. In each cell of the table, an icon of information with a set of information attribute data (storage path name) including a set of related tag names determined for that cell is displayed. For example, in the folder tree shown in FIG. 6 above, when "A", "B", "2017", and "2018" are specified as keywords, the table shown in FIG. 57(a) is created and displayed.

[0218] Also, when the number of information placed in one cell on the table created as above is large, as a child table display instruction, for example, by giving a double-click operation with the mouse 14 to the blank part other than the icon display part of the corresponding cell on the screen, a table with a tag name list using the related tag names determined for that cell as condition data and a tag name list where the condition data is the top tag name of the tag name tree is created as a child table, and an icon of the corresponding information is placed on each cell thereof. The related tag name determined for the corresponding cell is displayed in the common tag name display part outside the child table.

[0219] In the table shown in FIG. 57(a) above, when an open instruction is given to the cell where "A" and "2017" are specified as related tag names, after "A" and "2017" are displayed as the related tag names determined for the corresponding cell in the common tag name display part, as a tag name list using the related tag name "A" of the corresponding cell as condition data, tag name lists {A1, A2} and {Jia, Yi, Bing} are identified, while as a tag name list where the condition data is the top tag name of the tag name tree, tag name lists {Da}, {Bing} are identified, and the child table shown in FIG. 57(b) is created. In the cells corresponding to the related tag names "A1", "Yi", and "Bing" of the created child table, an information field icon 155 with an information attribute tag name combining the common tag names "A" and "2017" for that related tag name is displayed.

[0220] For each cell in the child table, an icon of information with a set of tag names that have a second relationship with the set of related tag names obtained by adding a common tag name to the related tag name determined for that cell is associated and displayed with the corresponding cell.

[0221] Saving information onto the conversion target folder tree can also be done on the table management application screen 33 by dragging the icon of the information to the corresponding cell within the icon placement column 41 on the conversion table. Now, if the icon of information that is provided outside the conversion target folder tree, saved in a folder with the full path name of "***￥***￥Report Folder", and has a name of "Report 2" is dragged to the cells corresponding to the heading words "A", "A1", "Jia", "2018", and "Da" on the conversion table (Figure 36) created in the above explanatory example, the system will perform the information saving procedure shown in Figure 41.

[0222] This procedure first creates information management data with the full path name of the information to be saved, "***￥***￥Report Folder￥Report 2", and the name "Report 2" set in its "full path name" and "name part" respectively. Then, the created information management data is concatenated to the end of the information management data chain pointed to by the corresponding conversion target folder management data, as well as to the end of the in-cell information management data chain of the drop target cell (step Z1).

[0223] This procedure then creates related data based on the heading words arranged on the same row and same column as the drop target cell on the table (step Z2). The created related data is sequentially concatenated by its "concatenation pointer", and its starting address is set in the "related data pointer part" of the corresponding information management data.

[0224] Next, for each of the obtained related data, after obtaining the full related tag name by concatenating the corresponding tag list identifier name and the tag name, from the set of the obtained full related tag names, the remaining full related tag names excluding the full related tag names included as a string in other full related tag names are registered as the storage path name list in the storage path name list data (Figure 13) (Step Z3).

[0225] In the case of the explanatory example, for the above-mentioned dragged destination cell, for the tag list identifier name "P", the tag name "A", for the tag list identifier name "P￥A", the tag name "A1", for the tag list identifier name "P￥A￥creator", the tag name "A", for the tag list identifier name "P￥year", the tag name "2018", for the tag list identifier name "P￥importance", the tag name "high", the related data is obtained by association. Among the obtained full related tag names, since the full related tag name "P￥A" is included as a string in the full related tag names "P￥A￥A1" and "P￥A￥creator￥A", the remaining full related tag names "P￥A￥A1", "P￥A￥creator￥A", "P￥year￥2018", "P￥importance￥high" will be registered as the storage path name list respectively.

[0226] Subsequently, in this procedure, from the obtained storage path name list, a storage path name list that does not include the path name with the attached designation in its constituent path name is selected as the main body storage path name list. Then, the storage path name list data in which the main body storage path name list is registered is used as the head storage path name list data, and the storage path name list data in which each obtained storage path name list is registered is registered in the corresponding information management data (Step Z4). In the case of the explanatory example, with the storage path name list "P￥A￥A1" as the main body storage path name list, the above-mentioned each storage path name list will be registered.

[0227] Subsequently, the same procedure identifies the corresponding data object management data using all the path names registered in the corresponding information management data. Then, an ontology storage path name list is appended to the end of the full path name of the parent folder of the folder to be converted, separated by the symbol "￥". Further, the information name is appended to the appended name list, separated by the symbol "￥". The resulting new full path name is set to the "full path name part" of the corresponding information management data and the "full path name part" of the identified data object management data. (Step Z5).

[0228] In the case of the explanatory example, the new full path name "***￥***￥P￥A￥A1￥Report 2" obtained by appending the information name "Report 2" to the name list "***￥***￥P￥A￥A1" obtained by appending the ontology storage path name list "P￥A￥A1" to the full path name "***￥***" of the parent folder of the folder to be converted will be set to the "full path name part" of the information management data and the "full path name part" of the corresponding object data.

[0229] Subsequently, the procedure redisplay the table in a form that includes the information in each cell ((Step Z6). In the case of the explanatory example, the icon 164 of the corresponding information "Report 2" will be arranged and displayed in the cells corresponding to the headings "A", "A1", "Jia", "2018", and "Large" (Figure 39).

[0230] On the other hand, on the folder tree of the folder to be converted in the explanatory example, when an open instruction is performed on a folder 172 whose full path name is "···￥P￥Year￥2018", in addition to the icon 163 of the information whose full path name is already saved as "···￥P￥A￥A1￥Report 1" and other information with the assigned storage path name list "P\Year￥2018", the icon 164 of the information whose full path name is "···￥P￥A￥A1￥Report 2" after performing the save operation on the conversion table will be displayed on the corresponding folder screen 172 (Figure 42).

[0231] In this system, the above-described tagging supplementation function can be efficiently performed by the method described below. When the user instructs the "Overall T-tagging Button" 76 on the function menu 70, the system displays the tagging supplementation sub-screen 131 (Fig. 43), and then displays the conversion target folder tree on the form management application screen 33 in a special display form of the folder that stores the information that needs to be supplemented with tags (hereinafter referred to as the information that needs to be supplemented with tags) among the constituent folders (Fig. 44).

[0232] When the user opens the specially displayed folder, only the icons of the information that needs to be supplemented with tags are selected and displayed on the displayed folder screen. It can be determined that the information is the information that needs to be supplemented with tags if there is at least one storage path name list that should be created for the folder tree related to all the additional destination folders located above the folder tree path of the information.

[0233] For one folder, the additional folder tree with its ancestor folders as additional destination folders can be identified by repeatedly comparing the full path names of all the additional specified folders registered in the additional specification data with the full path names of each ancestor folder of the corresponding display target folder.

[0234] In the above description example, for example, the information with the above full path name of "···￥P\A￥A1￥Report 1" has previously created storage path name list data with the storage path name list "P\A￥Creator￥B" set by specifying the additional destination folder with the full path name of "···￥P\A￥Creator￥B". However, since no storage path name list data has been created and registered for the additional folder tree added to the folder "P", which is another additional destination folder, it is determined as the information that needs to be supplemented with tags, and its storage folder "A1" is specially displayed (Fig. 44), and the icon 163 will be displayed on the folder screen 171 obtained by opening the storage folder "A1" (Fig. 56).

[0235] On the conversion target folder tree, the user opens the specially marked folders one by one by clicking with the mouse 14, then clicks on each piece of information arranged on the displayed folder screen one by one, and repeats the operation of instructing the "Execute Button" 133 on the tagging supplementary sub-screen 131.

[0236] Upon receiving the instruction of the "Execute Button" 133, the system identifies the attached destination folder located above the path of the instructed folder, then identifies, from the identified attached destination folders, the attached destination folder whose storage path name list obtained from the attached folder tree is not registered in the information management data of the corresponding information, creates a table in which the tag name list obtained from the identified attached folder tree is arranged by the overall procedure for creating the heading word column data as a tagging supplementary table, and displays it on the device screen.

[0237] Regarding the information "Report 1" stored in the folder whose full path name in the description example is "···￥P￥A￥A1", assuming that tagging has not been performed by instructing the above-mentioned "T-tagging" button 75, taking the ancestor folder "···￥P" of the storage folder as the attached destination folder, the folders "···￥P￥Year" and "···￥P￥Importance" are identified. Further, taking another ancestor folder "···￥P￥A" of the corresponding folder as the attached destination folder, the folder "···￥A￥Creator" is identified, and a tagging supplementary table shown in Figure 45 in which the tag name lists {A, B, C}, {2016, 2017, 2018}, and {Large, Medium} obtained from the identified attached folder tree are arranged is obtained.

[0238] When the user instructs, with the mouse 14, the cell whose target tag name is the related tag name on the displayed tagging supplementary table, the necessary storage path name list is created based on the related data determined for that cell by the method according to steps Z2 and Z3 of the above-mentioned information storage procedure and is given to the corresponding information management data. In the above example, for instance, when the cells corresponding to the heading words "B", "2018", and "Large" in the table of the same figure are instructed, as the effective related full tag names of the instructed cells, 「···￥P￥Author￥B」 「···￥P￥Year￥2018」, 「···￥P￥Importance￥High」, are obtained, and all the effective related tag names will be added and assigned to the corresponding information as the storage path name list.

[0239] Now, on the conversion target folder tree, if a folder open operation is performed on folder 172 whose full path name is "···￥P￥Year￥2018", as the information with the corresponding storage path name list "P\Year￥2018" assigned, the above information whose full path name is "···￥P￥A￥A1￥Report 1" will be identified, and its icon 163 will be displayed on the corresponding folder screen (Figure 42).

[0240] When the above tagging supplement table becomes large and it is rather difficult to select cells for the target tagging, the corresponding additional folder tree can be collectively displayed in a form distinguishable from other folder trees, and then the user may be allowed to perform an operation of selecting tag names in some of the additional folder trees in the separately displayed additional folder tree. The system will add and append the selected tag names to the information, while creating a tagging supplement table based on the additional folder tree where the selection was not made, and further add and append the related tag names determined by the cells specified by the user to the information on that table.

[0241] By using the tagging supplement table, the above F-internal display function can also be performed with good visibility. First, the system performs the distinguishable display of the additional folder tree with the folder located at the upper level of the path for the specified folder as its additional destination folder. If there is no specification of tag names by the user, a table is created based on all the displayed additional folder trees, and for each cell on the table, information is displayed where a set of tag names with the name of the specified folder added to the determined related tag names is associated.

[0242] On the other hand, when the user designates a tag name on a separately provided folder tree represented separately, a table is created using the separately provided tree for which the designation was not made. For each cell on the table, information is displayed in which the name of the designated folder, and a set of tag names obtained by adding the tag name designated by the user on the separately provided folder tree, are associated with the determined related tag name.

[0243] When one row or one column on the table occupies one heading word column and there is one heading word placed therein, the heading word column may be removed from the table, and instead, the heading word may be placed at an appropriate position outside the table as a common tag name characterizing all the information on the table.

[0244] For example, when performing a table conversion function with "B1" as the designated keyword as the second keyword instruction example, instead of the table created as described above (in the case of the second keyword instruction example, the table shown in FIG. 37), a table in which the heading words "B" 201 and "B1" 202 in the first row of the horizontal heading word column are placed outside the table (FIG. 46 will be created).

[0245] The row or column to be deleted, which is the row or column where the common tag name is placed, is identified as follows. Starting from the top row or the leftmost column, the placement row or placement column of the heading word column of the table created by the table creation procedure is sequentially retrieved from above or from the left. The number of heading word columns located in the retrieved row or column is specified by referring to the "row / column position part" of each heading word column data. When the specified number of heading word columns is 1, the number of tag names placed therein is specified by referring to the tag name column registered in each heading word column data. When that number is 1, it is set as the row or column to be deleted.

[0246] Next, create common tag name data that associates the identified rows to be deleted, or the heading words placed above the columns to be deleted, with the tag name aliases of the corresponding tag name columns in the form of related data. Concatenate the created common tag name data in the order of creation using its "concatenation pointer", and set the address of the head data to the "common condition data pointer" of the corresponding table management data.

[0247] The pairs of tag name aliases and common tag names registered in the head common tag name data are arranged on one line at an appropriate position outside the table. The pairs of tag name aliases and common tag names registered in the subsequent common tag name data are arranged in order on subsequent lines at the same horizontal position as the pairs of tag name aliases and common tag names registered in the head common tag name data. In the case of the explanatory example, in FIG. 46, the pair 201 of the tag name alias "P" and the common tag name "B" and the pair 202 of the tag name alias "P￥B" and the common tag name "B1" will be arranged on one line at an appropriate position outside the table.

[0248] For the tag name aliases and common tag names registered in the common tag name data, string data with a determined position outside the table is created, and the address of the created string data is set to "other string data". On the other hand, the heading word column data, cell data, and string data pointed to from the cell data related to the common tag name are deleted.

[0249] Also, the set values of the "upper end position part" and "left end position part" of the icon arrangement column data, the position information of the cell data of the cells provided inside the icon arrangement column 41, and the position information of the heading word column data other than the heading word column related to the common tag name data and the position information of the cell data of the cells provided inside it are reduced by the number of rows or columns to be deleted.

[0250] Furthermore, the line break position data corresponding to the rows to be deleted and the column break position data corresponding to the columns to be deleted are deleted, and then the set values of all the remaining line break position data and column break position data are updated by subtracting the difference between the leading data set value before deletion and the leading data set value after deletion. Subsequently, all the string data and grid line data are recreated based on the updated line break position data and column break position data.

[0251] In addition, the related data related to each cell in the icon arrangement column 41 of the table with the common tag name arranged as described above is obtained by adding the common tag name data to the related data created for that cell in the table.

[0252] In this device, as a partial folder tree extraction function, on the folder tree specified as the extraction source folder tree, by designating the constituent folder as the selected folder, a partial folder tree consisting of the designated selected folder and the folders related to the designated selected folder described later is extracted as the extracted partial folder tree, and then information can be extracted by designating a keyword on the extracted partial folder tree.

[0253] When the user instructs the "Partial Registration" button 85 on the function menu 70 on the table management application screen 33, the system receives the instruction and displays the above-described conversion target folder list screen on the device screen based on the conversion target folder management data stored in the system. When the user instructs the folder tree to be used as the extraction source folder tree on the conversion target folder list screen, the system creates partial folder tree management data (Figure 47) and then displays the selection name input screen 121 (Figure 48).

[0254] The address of the conversion target folder management data that manages the designated extraction source folder tree is registered in the "Extraction Source Management Data Address" of the partial folder tree management data, and the created partial folder tree management data is stored in a predetermined area within the system.

[0255] The user inputs the name of the selected folder in the selected name input field 123 on the displayed selected name input screen 121, and also enters the full path name of the destination folder for storing the retrieved partial folder tree in the destination folder full path name input field 125. The input of the selected folder name in the selected name input field 123 may be in any order.

[0256] After the input of the selected folder name, upon receiving the instruction of the "Execute" button 127 on the selected name input screen 121 by the user, the system identifies, in the specified source folder tree, the folder having the name entered in the selected name input field 123 as the selected folder. When there are multiple folders having the input name as their folder name, a selection screen (not shown) corresponding the full path names of the multiple corresponding folders for each input name is displayed, and the user is made to select the corresponding folder for each input name on the displayed screen.

[0257] For the identified selected folder, selection name specified data (Figure 49) is created, in which the full path name of the identified selected folder is registered in its "Full Path Name", and "1" is set in its "Classification Part". When there are multiple pieces of created selection name specified data, each piece of selection name specified data is concatenated as a selection name specified data chain by a concatenation pointer, and the address of its leading data is set in the "Selection Name Specified Data Pointer Part" of the partial folder tree management data.

[0258] Subsequently, the system additionally creates selection name specified data for the ancestor folders and descendant folders of the selected folder, as well as for the attached destination folder that is an ancestor folder of the selected folder and for all the folders included in that attached destination folder. The additionally created selection name specified data has "0" set in its classification part and is added to the selection name specified data chain. In creating the above selection name specified data, it is determined whether selection name specified data has already been created for the same folder, and duplicate creation for the same folder is avoided.

[0259] Next, from the created selection name specification data, for the selection name specification data created for the folder specified as the attachment destination folder, after identifying it by referring to the attachment management data registered in the conversion target folder management data related to the corresponding partial folder tree management data, create new attachment specification data for the registered folder of the identified selection name specification data, and set the address of the head data of the attachment specification data chain obtained by concatenating the created attachment specification data to the "attachment specification data pointer section" of the partial folder tree management data.

[0260] Next, the system updates the created selection name specification data and the full registered path name of the attachment specification data by replacing the part corresponding to the full path name of the parent folder of the head folder of the source folder tree therein with the full path name of the specified destination folder, creates data object management data by copying the corresponding data object management data, and registers the updated full registered path name in the "full path name section" of the copied data object management data. Subsequently, based on the created data object management data, a partial extraction folder tree composed of the registered folders of each selection name specification data and stored in the destination folder is displayed on the table management application screen 33.

[0261] For example, if "A1", "A2", "B1", "2017", and "2018" are specified as selection names on the table, the partial folder tree shown in FIG. 50 is created and displayed on the table management application screen 33. In the displayed partial folder tree, the name "importance" of the attachment folder related to the selected folders "A1", "A2", and "B1", the name "year" of the attachment folder related to the selected folders "2017" and "2018", and the name "creator" of the folder related to the selected folders "A1" and "A2" in the above relationship are displayed in a form with a special display determined.

[0262] Now, when the user instructs "partial call" 86 on the function menu 70 on the table management application screen 33, a list of folders to be converted 101 representing the folder tree management data created in the system is displayed. Then, when the user instructs one folder to be converted, the system displays a partial folder tree list 311 showing the partial folder tree created from the folder to be converted (Fig. 51). On the partial folder tree list 311, a partial folder tree in which the specified folder to be converted is registered in its "source management data address" is selected and displayed from the partial folder tree management data created in the system.

[0263] On the partial folder tree list 311, for each partial folder tree, its full path name 111 and selected name 113 are arranged on one line of the table. For the selected name in the attached folder tree, the name 115 of the corresponding attached destination folder is prefixed. One line exemplified in Fig. 51 "A1, A2, B1, B2, (year) 2017, 2018" shows a partial folder tree with the folders "A", "A1", "A2", "B1", "B2" and the folders "2017", "2018" arranged in the attached destination folder "year" specified as the selected folders.

[0264] On the displayed partial folder tree list, when the user selects and instructs one partial folder tree, the corresponding partial folder tree is displayed on the table management application screen 33. Then, when the user instructs the "table conversion" button 73, a keyword selection sub-screen 95 is displayed in the same way as in the case of the folder tree to be converted. After the user specifies a keyword on the displayed folder tree and then instructs the execute button 97, the table conversion function is executed and the created conversion table is displayed on the table management application screen 33.

[0265] On the partial folder tree shown in the displayed Figure 50, when folders "A", "B", and "C" are specified as keyword-specified folders (Figure 52), tag name lists {A}, {A1, A2}, {B}, {2016, 2017, 2018}, {C} are created, and Condition data "P" determined for the tag name list {A} Condition data "P&A" determined for the tag name list {A1, A2} Condition data "P&A" determined for the tag name list {B} Condition data "P" determined for the tag name list {2016, 2017, 2018} Condition data "P" determined for the tag name list {C} Based on this, the table shown in Figure 53 will be obtained.

[0266] In this device, after instructing the "Table Conversion" button 72, if the execution button 97 on the keyword specification sub-screen 95 is instructed without specifying a keyword, the table conversion function is performed assuming that all the constituent folders of the target folder tree have been instructed.

[0267] Note that the specification of the selection folder for extracting the partial folder tree shown in Figure 50 is the same as the selection of the keyword-specified folder performed on the folder tree shown in Figure 6 as an explanatory example above. Therefore, if the "Table Conversion" button 73 is instructed for the partial folder tree shown in Figure 50 without a keyword instruction, the same table as the table shown in Figure 36 above will be created.

[0268] Next, the system determines whether the folder tree displayed on the table management application screen 33 is the folder tree to be converted or a partial folder tree. If the determination is that it is a partial folder tree, from the information management data registered in the conversion target folder management data that manages the source folder tree, for each cell on the table, information management data with the same associated data as the determined associated data is selected. Then, the selected information management data is sequentially concatenated by its concatenation pointer 3, and the address of the head data is set to the information management data pointer of the corresponding cell data. Subsequently, for the created table, an icon of the corresponding information is associated and displayed for each cell.

[0269] On the table shown in FIG. 36 created for the source folder tree, the above information with the name "Report 1" is arranged in the cells corresponding to the headwords "A", "A1", "B", "2018", and "Large", and the above set of storage path name lists is assigned. On the other hand, on the table shown in FIG. 53 created based on the extracted partial folder tree, for the cells corresponding to the headwords "A1", "B", and "2018", including the associated tag names arranged as common conditions, the same effective associated all tag name set as the above set of storage path name lists "P￥A￥A1", "P￥A￥Author￥B" "P￥Year￥2018", "P￥Importance￥Large"" Since it is determined, the icon 163 of the above information will be arranged in the same cell (FIG. 53).

[0270] The partial folder tree extraction function can also be performed by the functional division between the server side that manages the source folder tree and the terminal side that manages the extracted folder tree. On the terminal-side device, in the activated table management application screen 33, in the selection name input screen 121 displayed by the instruction of the "Partial Registration" button 85, when the user inputs a selected folder name, it is transmitted to the server side as a selection name data chain to which the input selected name is concatenated.

[0271] Upon receiving this transmission, the server creates a partial folder tree consisting of the folders selected from the source folder tree based on the received selection name data chain, and returns the created partial folder tree to the terminal side.

[0272] The terminal side displays the received partial folder tree on the screen, creates the corresponding table based on the instruction of the keyword-specified folder following the instruction of the "table conversion" button 72 by the user, and transmits the related data obtained for each cell of the created table to the server side as a concatenated related data chain.

[0273] Upon receiving the related data chain, the server side selects the information management data that matches the received related data chain from the information stored in association with the source folder tree, and returns the selected information management data to the terminal side as a concatenated information management data chain. The terminal side arranges the returned information on the corresponding cells based on the comparison between the returned information management data and the related data obtained for each cell on the table.

[0274] Note that the present invention uses a program or software for realizing the functions of the present invention described above. Such software can be installed in the system of the present invention via any medium, for example, a storage medium or online. Therefore, an act of transferring as a business a storage medium storing software for implementing the present invention, an act of installing the software online in the system, etc. are embodiments of implementing the present invention.

Explanation of Signs

[0275] 12 Keyboard 14 Mouse 16 Internal Memory 18 External Memory 20 Display Device 20a Display Screen 24 CPU 26 Communication Device 27 Communication line 30 Desktop screen 31 Main menu 32 Program menu 33 Table management application screen 35 Program button 36 Icon of data object 41 Icon placement column 42 Horizontal heading word placement column area 43 Vertical heading word placement column area 52 Attached folder specification section 53 Keyword specification section 55 Table data creation section 57 Table display section 61 Table information tagging instruction section 63 Information tagging section for each attachment 65 Information display section within folder 70 Function menu 71 FT registration button 72 FT call button 73 Table conversion button 75 T-tagging button 76 Overall T-tagging button 78 Table call button 81 Setting button 85 Partial registration button 86 Partial call button 90 Name column 91 Attached specification sub-screen 93 "Execute" button 95 Keyword specification sub-screen 96 Keyword input column 97 Execute button 101 List of folders to be converted 103 Full path name of the folder to be converted 105 Attached name 106 Destination folder name for attachment 110 Conversion table list sub-screen 108 Full path name of the folder to be converted 109 Specified keyword 111 Full path name of the partial folder tree 113 Selection Name 115 Attached Destination Folder Name 121 Selection Name Input Screen 123 Selection Name Input Field 123 125 Extraction Destination Folder Full Path Name Input Field 127 "Execute" Button 131 Tagging Supplementary Subscreen 133 "Execute" Button 141 Multiple Folder Display Instruction Subscreen 143 "Execute" Button 145 Multiple Folder Display Screen 155 Information Icon 160 Information Display Screen within Cell 163 Icon for Information "Report 1" 164 Icon for Information "Report 2" 165 Icon for Second Information 170 Folder Screen of Folder with Full Path Name "···￥P\A￥Creator￥B" 171 Folder Screen of Folder with Full Path Name "···￥P\A￥A1" 172 Folder Screen of Folder with Full Path Name "···￥P￥Year￥2018" 201 Pair of Tag List Identification Name "P" and Common Tag Name "B" 202 Pair of Tag List Identification Name "P￥B" and Common Tag Name "B1" 301 First Partial Folder Tree of Conversion Target Folder Tree 302 Partial Folder Tree Contained in First Partial Folder Tree of Conversion Target Folder Tree 305 Second Partial Folder Tree of Conversion Target Folder Tree 306 Third Partial Folder Tree of Conversion Target Folder Tree 311 List of Partial Folder Trees

Claims

1. Information is managed in such a way that it is specified by the full path name obtained by concatenating the path name, which is the name of all folders in which the information is stored, and its own name with a specific separator in between. The management operations on the information are performed as operations on the device screen for an icon, which is an image defined for each type of information, created for each piece of information. A method of information management using a table in which cells, which are rectangles for arranging icons of information, are arranged in a matrix, and a heading word column in which tag names characterizing the information are arranged as heading words is provided as a vertical heading word column and a horizontal heading word column, respectively, adjacent to the horizontal and vertical outer sides. In a combined tag name tree obtained by combining a plurality of tag name trees in which tag names are arranged in a tree shape, from among the constituent tag names excluding the top tag name of each tag name tree, specifying a tag name as a keyword and inputting keywords other than the constituent tag names as free keywords; After identifying, as one tag name list, the keyword tag name, which is the tag name specified as a keyword, and the set of tag names that share a parent tag name and tag names that do not have a shared parent tag name, from among the tag names arranged at the ancestor position in the tag name tree to which the keyword tag name belongs and that are not the top tag name of the tag name tree; creating tag name list data registered in such a way that the parent tag name is associated with the identified tag name list as condition data; for each tag name tree, determining a heading word column in which each tag name list belonging to the tag name tree is arranged on the table, from among the horizontal and vertical heading word columns; for each of the horizontal and vertical heading word columns, creating a table in which each tag name list belonging to the assigned tag name tree is arranged in a form where its constituent tag names are grouped on one row or one column of the table, with reference to the corresponding condition data; for each cell of the table, associating and displaying, in the corresponding cell, an icon of information in which a set of tag names related to the relevant tag name arranged in a defined positional relationship with the relevant cell and a set of tag names in a first relationship are given as information attribute tag names, and in which the input free keyword is found in its name or in the text constituting the information; A method in an information processing apparatus comprising the above steps.

2. In a combined tag name tree obtained by combining a plurality of tag name trees by attaching one tag name tree as an attached tag name tree to one constituent tag name of another tag name tree, in the conditional data of a tag name list having the top tag name of the attached tree as the parent tag name, the attached destination tag name which is the tag name to which the attached tree is attached is set, The method according to claim 1, wherein each tag name list belonging to the attached tree is arranged with reference to the conditional data in a heading word column in which each tag name list belonging to the attached destination tag name tree which is the tag name tree of the attachment destination is arranged.

3. A set of tag names arranged at the tree descendant positions of keyword tag names and tag names constituting a tag name tree for which no keyword tag name is specified, and a set of tag names sharing a parent tag name are specified as a tag name list, and for each cell of a table in which a set of tag name lists obtained by adding the specified tag name list to an already obtained tag name list is arranged in a heading word column, an icon of information to which an information attribute tag name is assigned for a set of tag names having a second relationship with a set of related tag names determined for the corresponding cell is associated and displayed in the corresponding cell. The method according to claim 1 and claim 2.

4. The method according to claim 1, claim 2, and claim 3, wherein when only one tag name consisting of only one tag name is arranged on one row or one column in the heading word column, the corresponding row or column is removed, and the corresponding tag name is displayed at a position determined outside the table as a common tag name.

5. Receiving an open instruction for one cell of a table created as a first table, and creating a second table obtained by arranging by a method of determining a tag name list in which the related tag name determined for the cell is registered as conditional data, and a tag name list obtained from a tag name tree for which no keyword tag name is specified, as a child table of the first table; The method according to claim 1, claim 2, and claim 4, wherein for each cell of the created child table, an icon of information to which an information attribute tag name is assigned for a set of tag names having a second relationship with a set of related tag names obtained by adding the related tag name determined for the cell in the first table to the related tag name determined for the cell in the first table is associated and displayed in the corresponding cell.

6. Information is managed in such a way that it is identified by a full path name obtained by concatenating the path name, which is the name of all folders where the information is stored, and its own name with a specific separator. The management operation for the information is performed as an operation on the device screen for an icon, which is an image defined for each type of information and created for each piece of information, in an information management device. An information management method using a table in which cells, which are rectangles for arranging information icons, are arranged in a matrix, and a heading word column in which tag names characterizing the information are arranged as heading words is provided as a horizontal heading word column and a vertical heading word column, respectively, for the adjacent external in the horizontal direction and the adjacent external in the vertical direction. Receiving a specific instruction for one piece of information associated with one tag name belonging to a combined tag name tree obtained by combining a plurality of tag name trees in which tag names are arranged in a tree shape, and in the tag name trees constituting the corresponding combined tag name tree, specifying, as a tagging supplementary tag name tree, a tag name tree that does not include the information attribute tag name assigned to the information. Specifying, as a table configuration tag name tree, all of the specified tagging supplementary tag name trees, or the tag name trees excluding the tag name tree for which a tag name selection specification has been received among the specified tagging supplementary tag name trees. For each tag name tree belonging to the table configuration tag name tree, determining the heading word column in which each tag name column belonging to the tag name tree is arranged on the table by a method determined from among the horizontal heading word column and the vertical heading word column, and then creating a table in which each tag name column belonging to the assigned tag name tree is arranged in each of the horizontal heading word column and the vertical heading word column by the determined method. Receiving a selection instruction for one cell on the created table, and additionally assigning, to the information attribute tag name of the information, a set of all related tag names determined for the cell, or a set of tag names obtained by adding the tag name for which a selection instruction was given in the selection tag name tree to the set of all related tag names. A method in an information processing apparatus comprising the above steps.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein a tagging supplementary tag name tree is specified by specifying a tagging tag name tree having, as a tagging destination tag name, a tag name located above the path of the tag name associated with the instructed information, and among the specified tagging tag name trees, specifying, as a tagging supplementary tag name tree, a tag name tree that does not include the information attribute tag name assigned to the information.

8. As conditional data, instead of the parent tag name of the corresponding tag name list or the alternative attachment destination tag name of the corresponding tag name list, a path name list representing the path route within the corresponding tree of the corresponding parent tag name or a path name list representing the path route within the corresponding tree of the corresponding alternative attachment destination tag name is set respectively. Instead of the related tag name, a full related path name obtained by adding the related tag name to the end of the upper path name list representing the path route within the corresponding tree of the corresponding parent tag name of the tag name list to which the corresponding related tag name belongs, or The method according to claim 1, claim 2, claim 3, claim 4, claim 5, claim 6, claim 7, in which the corresponding related tag name is set.

9. In the combined tag name tree, create and register a partial tag name tree consisting of a specifically designated tag name, and the ancestor tag names and descendant tag names of the designated tag name, and perform information retrieval by specifying keywords in the called registered partial tag name tree, according to the method described in claim 1, claim 2, claim 3.

10. An information management device in which information is managed in a form specified by a full path name obtained by concatenating the path name, which is the name of all folders where the information is stored, and its own name with a specific separator, and the management operation for the information is performed as an operation on the device screen for an icon, which is an image defined for each type of information and created for each piece of information. An information management device using a table in which cells, which are rectangles for arranging icons of information, are arranged in a matrix, and a heading word column in which tag names characterizing the information are arranged as heading words is provided as a vertical heading word column and a horizontal heading word column respectively for the adjacent external parts in the horizontal direction and the adjacent external parts in the vertical direction. In a combined tag name tree obtained by combining a plurality of tag name trees in which tag names are arranged in a tree shape, means for designating a tag name as a keyword from among the constituent tag names excluding the top tag name of each tag name tree, and inputting keywords other than the constituent tag names as free keywords. A keyword tag name which is the tag name designated as a keyword, and for the keyword tag name, a set of tag names sharing a parent tag name and tag names having no shared parent tag name are specified as one tag name list from among the tag names arranged in the ancestor position in the tag name tree to which it belongs and not being the top tag name of the tag name tree. Means for creating tag name list data registered in a form in which the parent tag name is associated as conditional data with respect to the specified tag name list. Means for determining, for each tag name tree, a heading word column in which each tag name column belonging thereto is arranged in the table, from among a horizontal heading word column and a vertical heading word column, Means for creating a table in each of the horizontal heading word column and the vertical heading word column, by referring to the corresponding conditional data, arranging each tag name column belonging to the assigned tag name tree in a form in which its constituent tag names are grouped on one row above or one column to the left of the table, Means for, for each cell of the table, associating and displaying, in the information in which a set of related tag names that are tag names arranged in a positional relationship determined for the corresponding cell and a set of tag names having a first relationship are assigned as information attribute tag names, an icon of information in which the input free keyword is found in its name or in the text constituting the information, in the corresponding cell, An information processing apparatus comprising the above.

11. In a combined tag name tree obtained by combining a plurality of tag name trees by adding one tag name tree as an attached tag name tree to one constituent tag name of another tag name tree, in the conditional data of the tag name column having the top tag name of the attached tree as the parent tag name, the attached destination tag name which is the tag name of the attachment destination of the attached tree is set, The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein each tag name column belonging to the attached tree is arranged with reference to the conditional data in the heading word column in which each tag name column belonging to the attached destination tag name tree which is the tag name tree of the attachment destination is arranged.

12. For each cell of the table in which a set of tag names arranged at the tree descendant position of the keyword tag name and a set of tag names constituting the tag name tree for which no keyword tag name is specified and sharing the parent tag name are specified as a tag name column and the specified tag name column is arranged in the heading word column in addition to the tag name columns already obtained, the apparatus according to claim 10 and claim 11, wherein an icon of information in which a set of tag names having a second relationship with the set of related tag names determined for the corresponding cell are assigned as information attribute tag names is associated and displayed in the corresponding cell.

13. The apparatus according to claim 10, claim 11, and claim 12, wherein when only one tag name consisting of only one tag name is arranged on one row or one column in the heading word column, the corresponding row or column is removed and the corresponding tag name is displayed at a position determined outside the table as a common tag name.

14. Means for creating, as a child table of the first table, a second table obtained by arranging according to a method that determines a tag name list registered as condition data with a related tag name determined for one cell of a table created as the first table, and a tag name list obtained from a tag name tree in which a keyword tag name is not specified. The apparatus according to claim 10, claim 11, or claim 13, wherein for each cell of the created child table, an icon of information having a set of tag names in a second relationship with respect to a set of related tag names obtained by adding the related tag name determined for the cell that gave the open instruction in the first table to the related tag name determined for that cell is associated with and displayed in the corresponding cell.

15. An information management apparatus in which information is managed in a form specified by a full path name obtained by concatenating a path name, which is the name of all folders in which the information is stored, and its own name with a specific separator, and a management operation on the information is performed as an operation on the apparatus screen for an icon that is an image defined for each type of information. An information management apparatus using a table in which cells, which are rectangles for arranging information icons, are arranged in a matrix, and a heading word column in which tag names characterizing the information are arranged as heading words is provided as a horizontal heading word column and a vertical heading word column, respectively, for the adjacent outside in the horizontal direction and the adjacent outside in the vertical direction. Means for receiving a specific instruction for one piece of information associated with one tag name belonging to a combined tag name tree obtained by combining a plurality of tag name trees in which tag names are arranged in a tree shape, and specifying, among the tag name trees constituting the corresponding combined tag name tree, a tag name tree that does not include the information attribute tag name assigned to the information as a tagging supplementary tag name tree. Means for specifying, as a table construction tag name tree, all of the specified tagging supplementary tag name trees, or a tag name tree obtained by excluding, from among the specified tagging supplementary tag name trees, a tag name tree for which a tag name selection specification has been received. For each tag name tree belonging to the table configuration tag name tree, a heading word column in which each tag name column belonging to it is arranged on the table is determined by a method determined from the horizontal heading word column and the vertical heading word column. Then, in each of the horizontal heading word column and the vertical heading word column, a table is created by arranging each tag name column belonging to the assigned tag name tree by the determined method. And Upon receiving a selection instruction for one cell on the created table, means for additionally assigning to the information attribute tag name of the information the set of all related tag names determined for that cell, or the set of tag names obtained by adding the tag name given the selection instruction in the selection tag name tree to the set of all related tag names. And An information processing apparatus comprising the above.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein after specifying a tagging destination tag name tree with a tagging destination tag name being a tag name located above the path of the tag name associated with the indicated information, among the specified tagging destination tag name trees, a tag name tree not including the information attribute tag name assigned to the information is specified as a tagging supplementary tag name tree.

17. As condition data, instead of the parent tag name of the corresponding tag name column or the tagging destination tag name of the corresponding tag name column, a path name column representing the path in the corresponding tree of the corresponding parent tag name or a path name column representing the path in the corresponding tree of the corresponding tagging destination tag name is set respectively. Instead of the related tag name, a related full path name obtained by adding the related tag name to the end of the upper path name column representing the path in the corresponding tree of the corresponding parent tag name of the tag name column to which the related tag name belongs, or The apparatus according to claim 10, claim 11, claim 12, claim 13, claim 14, claim 15, claim 16, where the corresponding related tag name is set.

18. In the combined tag name tree, a partial tag name tree consisting of a specifically designated tag name, the ancestor tag name of the designated tag name, and the descendant tag name is created and registered. Then, information retrieval is performed by specifying a keyword in the registered partial tag name tree that is called. The apparatus according to claim 10, claim 11, claim 12.

19. In an information management apparatus where information is managed in a form specified by a full path name obtained by connecting the path name, which is the name of all folders in which the information is stored, and its own name with a specific separator, and the management operation for the information is performed as an operation on the apparatus screen for an icon, which is an image defined for each type of information and created for each piece of information. A method for information management using a table in which cells, which are rectangles for arranging information icons, are arranged in a matrix, and a heading word column in which tag names characterizing the information are arranged as heading words is provided as a vertical heading word column and a horizontal heading word column, respectively, on the adjacent outside in the horizontal direction and the adjacent outside in the vertical direction. A management method In a combined tag name tree obtained by combining a plurality of tag name trees in which tag names are arranged in a tree shape, from among the constituent tag names excluding the top tag name of each tag name tree, specifying the tag name as a keyword and inputting keywords other than the constituent tag names as free keywords; After specifying, as a keyword tag name, the tag name specified as a keyword, and, for the keyword tag name, identifying, as a single tag name list, a set of tag names sharing a parent tag name and tag names having no shared parent tag name, from among the tag names arranged in an ancestor position in the tag name tree to which the keyword tag name belongs and not being the top tag name of the tag name tree; Creating tag name list data in which the tag name list thus identified is registered in a form associated with its parent tag name as condition data; For each tag name tree, determining a heading word column in which each tag name list belonging thereto is arranged on the table, from among the horizontal heading word column and the vertical heading word column; In each of the horizontal heading word column and the vertical heading word column, creating a table in which each tag name list belonging to the assigned tag name tree is arranged in a form in which its constituent tag names are grouped on one row or one column of the table, by a method referring to the corresponding condition data; For each cell of the table, associating and displaying, in the cell, an information icon in which a free keyword input in information having a set of tag names in a first relationship with a set of related tag names, which are tag names arranged in a defined positional relationship with the corresponding cell, as information attribute tag names, is found in its name or in the text constituting the information; A control program for causing a computer to realize the method in an information processing apparatus comprising the above.

20. In a combined tag name tree obtained by combining a plurality of tag name trees by attaching one tag name tree as an attached tag name tree to one constituent tag name of another tag name tree, in the conditional data of the tag name list having the top tag name of the attached tree as the parent tag name, the attached destination tag name which is the tag name to which the attached tree is added is set. A control program for causing a computer to implement the method according to claim 19, wherein each tag name list belonging to the attached tree is arranged with reference to the conditional data in the heading word column in which each tag name list belonging to the attached destination tag name tree which is the tag name tree of the attachment destination is arranged.

21. A set of tag names arranged at the tree descendant positions of keyword tag names and tag names constituting a tag name tree for which no keyword tag name is specified, the set of tag names sharing a parent tag name is specified as a tag name list, and for each cell of the table in which the obtained set of tag name lists is arranged in the heading word column, an icon of information to which an information attribute tag name is assigned for the set of tag names having a second relationship with the set of related tag names determined for the corresponding cell is displayed in association with the corresponding cell. A control program for causing a computer to implement the method according to claim 19 and claim 20.

22. A control program for causing a computer to implement the method according to claim 19, claim 20, and claim 21, wherein when only one tag name consisting of only one tag name is arranged on one row or one column in the heading word column, the corresponding row or column is removed and the corresponding tag name is displayed at a position determined outside the table as a common tag name.

23. Receiving an open instruction for one cell of a table created as a first table, and creating a second table obtained by arranging by a method of determining a tag name list in which the related tag name determined for the cell is registered as conditional data and a tag name list obtained from a tag name tree for which no keyword tag name is specified as a child table of the first table. For each cell of the created children's table, for the set of related tag names obtained by adding the related tag name determined for the cell that gives the open instruction in the first table to the related tag name determined for that cell, an icon of information to which a set of tag names in a second relationship is assigned as an information attribute tag name is associated with and displayed for the corresponding cell. A control program for causing a computer to implement the method according to claim 19, claim 20, or claim 22.

24. An information management apparatus in which information is managed in a form specified by a full path name obtained by concatenating the path name, which is the name of all folders in which the information is stored, and its own name with a specific separator, and a management operation on the information is performed as an operation on the apparatus screen for an icon that is an image defined for each type of information. An information management method using a table in which cells that are rectangles for arranging information icons are arranged in a matrix, and a heading word column in which tag names characterizing the information are arranged as heading words is provided as a horizontal heading word column and a vertical heading word column for the adjacent exterior in the horizontal direction and the adjacent exterior in the vertical direction, respectively. Receiving a specific instruction for one piece of information associated with one tag name belonging to a combined tag name tree obtained by combining a plurality of tag name trees in which tag names are arranged in a tree shape, and in the tag name trees constituting the corresponding combined tag name tree, specifying a tag name tree that does not include the information attribute tag name assigned to the information as a tagging supplementary tag name tree. Specifying, as a table construction tag name tree, all of the specified tagging supplementary tag name trees, or a tag name tree obtained by excluding, from the specified tagging supplementary tag name trees, the tag name tree for which a tag name selection designation has been received. For each tag name tree belonging to the table construction tag name tree, determining, by a method determined from among the horizontal heading word column and the vertical heading word column, the heading word column in which each tag name column belonging to the tag name tree to be assigned is arranged on the table, and then creating a table in which each tag name column belonging to the assigned tag name tree is arranged by the determined method in each of the horizontal heading word column and the vertical heading word column. Receiving a selection instruction for one cell on the created table, and adding the tag name that gave the selection instruction in the selection tag name tree to the set of all related tag names determined for that cell, or to the set of all its related tag names, and additionally assigning the resulting set of tag names to the information attribute tag name of the information; A control program for causing a computer to implement a method in an information processing apparatus comprising the above.

25. After specifying a tagging destination tag name tree with a tag name located upstream on the path of the tag names associated with the indicated information as the tagging destination tag name, among the specified tagging destination tag name trees, specifying a tag name tree that does not include the information attribute tag name assigned to the information as the tagging supplementary tag name tree, and a control program for causing a computer to implement the method according to claim 24.

26. As condition data, instead of the parent tag name of the corresponding tag name list or the tagging destination tag name of the corresponding tag name list, respectively, a path name list representing the path in the corresponding tree of the corresponding parent tag name or a path name list representing the path in the corresponding tree of the corresponding tagging destination tag name is set, Instead of the related tag name, the full related path name obtained by adding the related tag name to the end of the upper path name list representing the path in the corresponding tree of the corresponding parent tag name of the tag name list to which the corresponding related tag name belongs, or A control program for causing a computer to implement the methods according to claims 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25, in which the corresponding related tag name is set.

27. In the combined tag name tree, creating and registering a partial tag name tree consisting of a specifically designated tag name, as well as the ancestor tag name and descendant tag names of the designated tag name, and retrieving information by specifying a keyword in the called and registered partial tag name tree, and a control program for causing a computer to implement the methods according to claims 19, 20, and 21.

28. In an information management apparatus where information is managed in a form specified by a full path name obtained by concatenating the path name, which is the name of all folders in which the information is stored, and its own name with a specific separator, and management operations on the information are performed as operations on the device screen for an icon, which is an image defined for each type of information, for each piece of information; A method for information management using a table in which cells, which are rectangles for arranging information icons, are arranged in a matrix, and a heading word column in which tag names characterizing the information are arranged as heading words is provided as a vertical heading word column and a horizontal heading word column, respectively, for the adjacent external in the horizontal direction and the adjacent external in the vertical direction. In a combined tag name tree obtained by combining a plurality of tag name trees in which tag names are arranged in a tree shape, from among the constituent tag names excluding the top tag name of each tag name tree, specifying the tag name as a keyword and inputting a keyword other than the constituent tag name as a free keyword. After specifying, as a keyword tag name, the tag name specified as a keyword, and, for the keyword tag name, identifying, as a single tag name list, a set of tag names sharing a parent tag name and a tag name having no shared parent tag name from among tag names arranged at an ancestor position in the tag name tree to which the keyword tag name belongs and not being the top tag name of the tag name tree. Creating tag name list data in which the tag name list thus identified is registered in a form in which its parent tag name is associated as condition data. For each tag name tree, determining a heading word column in which each tag name list belonging thereto is arranged on the table from among the horizontal heading word column and the vertical heading word column. In each of the horizontal heading word column and the vertical heading word column, creating a table in which each tag name list belonging to the assigned tag name tree is arranged in a form in which its constituent tag names are grouped on one row or one column of the table by referring to the corresponding condition data. For each cell of the table, associating and displaying, in the cell, an information icon in which a free keyword input in information having a set of tag names in a first relationship with a set of related tag names, which are tag names arranged in a defined positional relationship with the cell, as an information attribute tag name, is found in its name or in the text constituting the information. A storage medium storing a control program for causing a computer to realize the method in an information processing apparatus comprising the above steps.

29. In a combined tag name tree obtained by combining a plurality of tag name trees by attaching one tag name tree as an attached tag name tree to one constituent tag name of another tag name tree, in the conditional data of the tag name list having the top tag name of the attached tree as the parent tag name, the attached destination tag name which is the tag name of the attachment destination of the attached tree is set. A storage medium storing a control program for causing a computer to realize the method according to claim 28, wherein each tag name list belonging to the attached tree is arranged with reference to the conditional data in the heading word column in which each tag name list belonging to the attached destination tag name tree which is the tag name tree of the attachment destination is arranged.

30. A set of tag names arranged at the tree descendant positions of keyword tag names and tag names constituting a tag name tree for which no keyword tag name is specified, the set of tag names sharing a parent tag name being specified as a tag name list, and for each cell of a table in which the obtained set of tag name lists is arranged in a heading word column by adding the specified tag name list to an already obtained tag name list, an icon of information to which an information attribute tag name is assigned for a set of tag names having a second relationship with the set of related tag names determined for the corresponding cell is displayed in association with the corresponding cell. A storage medium storing a control program for causing a computer to realize the method according to claim 28 and claim 29.

31. A storage medium storing a control program for causing a computer to realize the method according to claim 28, claim 29, and claim 30, wherein when only one tag name consisting of only one tag name is arranged on one row or one column in the heading word column, the corresponding row or column is removed and the corresponding tag name is displayed at a position defined outside the table as a common tag name.

32. Receiving an open instruction for one cell of a table created as a first table, and creating a second table obtained by arranging according to a method of determining a tag name list determined as conditional data for the related tag name determined for the cell and a tag name list obtained from a tag name tree for which no keyword tag name is specified as a child table of the first table. A storage medium storing a control program for causing a computer to implement the method according to claim 28, claim 29, or claim 31, wherein for each cell of the created child table, an icon of information with a set of tag names in a second relationship with respect to a set of tag names obtained by adding the tag name determined for the cell that gives an open instruction in the first table to the relevant tag name determined for the cell is associated with and displayed for the corresponding cell.

33. An information management apparatus in which information is managed in a form specified by a full path name obtained by concatenating the path name, which is the name of all folders to be stored, and its own name with a specific separator in between, and a management operation on the information is performed as an operation on the device screen for an icon, which is an image defined for each type of information, created for each piece of information. An information management method using a table in which cells, which are rectangles for arranging icons of information, are arranged in a matrix, and a heading word column in which tag names characterizing the information are arranged as heading words is provided as a horizontal heading word column and a vertical heading word column, respectively, in the adjacent outer part in the horizontal direction and the adjacent outer part in the vertical direction. Receiving a specific instruction for one piece of information associated with one tag name belonging to a combined tag name tree obtained by combining a plurality of tag name trees in which tag names are arranged in a tree form, and specifying, as a tagging supplementary tag name tree, a tag name tree that does not include the information attribute tag name given to the information among the tag name trees constituting the corresponding combined tag name tree. Specifying, as a table configuration tag name tree, all of the specified tagging supplementary tag name trees, or the tag name trees obtained by excluding, from the specified tagging supplementary tag name trees, the tag name tree for which a tag name selection specification has been received. For each tag name tree belonging to the table configuration tag name tree, determining, by a method determined from among the horizontal heading word column and the vertical heading word column, the heading word column in which each tag name column belonging to the tag name tree to be assigned is arranged on the table, and then creating a table in which each tag name column belonging to the assigned tag name tree is arranged by the determined method in each of the horizontal heading word column and the vertical heading word column. Receiving a selection instruction for one cell on the created table, and adding to the set of all related tag names determined for that cell, or to the set of all its related tag names, the tag name that gave the selection instruction in the selection tag name tree, and adding the obtained set of tag names as information attribute tag names to the information; A storage medium storing a control program for causing a computer to implement a method in an information processing apparatus comprising the above.

34. After specifying a tagging destination tag name tree with a tag name located upstream on the path of the tag names associated with the indicated information as the tagging destination tag name, among the specified tagging destination tag name trees, specifying a tag name tree that does not include the information attribute tag names assigned to the information as the tagging supplementary tag name tree, and a storage medium storing a control program for causing a computer to implement the method according to claim 33.

35. As condition data, instead of the parent tag name of the corresponding tag name list or the tagging destination tag name of the corresponding tag name list, respectively, a path name list representing the path in the corresponding tree of the corresponding parent tag name or a path name list representing the path in the corresponding tree of the corresponding tagging destination tag name is set, Instead of the related tag name, a full related path name obtained by adding the related tag name to the end of the upper path name list representing the path in the corresponding tree of the corresponding parent tag name of the tag name list to which the corresponding related tag name belongs, or A storage medium storing a control program for causing a computer to implement the method according to claim 28, claim 29, claim 30, claim 31, claim 32, claim 33, claim 34, where the corresponding related tag name is set.

36. In the combined tag name tree, creating and registering a partial tag name tree consisting of the specifically designated tag name, the ancestor tag names of the designated tag name, and the descendant tag names, and retrieving information by specifying a keyword in the called registered partial tag name tree, and a storage medium storing a control program for causing a computer to implement the method according to claim 28, claim 29, claim 30.

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