File Management System Duplicate Folder Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
As personal computers are used over time, the number of folders increases, leading to difficulties in managing files due to forgotten conventional and search folders, resulting in a wasteful expansion of folder structures and complexity, making it hard to retrieve target files or folders.
Innovation Solution
A data management device that includes a search condition information storage portion, a data retrieval portion, and a folder deletion portion, which detects and deletes duplicate or similar folders, preventing unnecessary folder growth by organizing and combining identical or similar folders.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If users continuously create new folders for file organization, then file management capability is improved, but the number of folders increases wastefully and the hierarchical structure becomes more complicated
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary detection of duplicate or similar folders before allowing new folder creation. When a user attempts to create a new folder, the system proactively checks whether folders with the same name or similar contents already exist, and presents options to reuse existing folders or modify the new folder name, thereby preventing unnecessary folder proliferation before it occurs.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms that notify users when they attempt to create folders that already exist or are similar to existing folders. This feedback loop provides users with information about duplicate folders and guides them to make informed decisions about folder creation, preventing wasteful increases in folder numbers while maintaining ease of file management.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the number of folders increases over time, then more files can be organized, but it becomes difficult to retrieve target files or folders
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges folders that have the same name or highly similar contents by automatically detecting duplicates and providing options to combine them. This merging process reduces the total number of folders while preserving all files, thereby maintaining file organization capacity while improving retrieval efficiency by eliminating redundant navigation paths.
Solution Approach 2:
The system extracts and identifies duplicate or similar folders from the folder hierarchy, separating them for user review and potential consolidation. By extracting these redundant elements, the system enables targeted reduction of folder numbers without affecting the organization of unique folders, thus maintaining adaptability while reducing retrieval time.
3Productivity
If users create search folders to save search conditions, then search efficiency is improved, but the number of search folders increases and may be forgotten
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary detection of duplicate or similar search folders before allowing new search folder creation. When a user attempts to create a new search folder with existing search conditions, the system proactively identifies the duplicate and presents options to reuse the existing search folder, thereby preventing unnecessary proliferation of search folders while maintaining search efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms that notify users when they attempt to create search folders with duplicate or similar search conditions. This feedback provides users with information about existing search folders that match their criteria, guiding them to reuse existing folders rather than creating duplicates, thus maintaining productivity while reducing the quantity of search folders.
4Ease of operation
If the hierarchical structure of folders becomes more complicated, then more detailed organization is achieved, but it becomes more difficult to retrieve target files or folders
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges folders that are duplicates or have high similarity in name and contents, consolidating them into single folders while preserving all files. This merging process simplifies the hierarchical structure by removing redundant levels and paths, thereby reducing retrieval difficulty while maintaining detailed organization capabilities through the preserved file contents.
Data Source
AI summary
An organization process execution portion 64 is provided in a file management system 1 that has a function to manage files and search folders and a function to search files. When a search condition has been newly designated by a user, if the designated search condition does not match the search condition of any existing search folder, the organization process execution portion 64 generates a new search folder in which the designated search condition is indicated. If the designated search condition matches the search condition of an existing search folder, a new search folder is not generated.