 |
Description  |
|
|
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention related to an information processing apparatus for
electronically filing documents in connection with a recording medium of
large memory capacity.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, offices and manufacturing factories have been flooded with a
tremendous number of documents containing literal and graphic information.
This causes a need for effective filing and retrieval apparatus. The
recent documents may come in three varieties: normal literal documents and
drawings that are manually written or that are drawn and printed in a
conventional manner, documents having character code data, as processed by
word processors, and drawings (having vector data) as prepared by personal
computers and CAD (computer aided design) systems. The word processed
data, and the graphic and pictorial data as generated with the aid of
personal computers and CAD systems, are magnetically stored onto floppy
disks. Generally, the hard copy of these types of information, together
with the floppy disks, are filed for preservation and reference. The hard
copy is space consuming.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,604,653 by Shimizu, issued on Aug. 5, 1986 discloses a
document filing apparatus. The filing apparatus optically and
two-dimensionally scans documents by way of a two-dimensional scanner, to
pick up the information on the documents, and stores the data as image
data onto an optical disk or disks. When certain data is needed later, the
intended data is quickly retrieved from the optical disk.
The filing apparatus of Shimizu can handle only the image data as read in
by the scanner. In other words, a document management system employed by
the filing apparatus is unable to handle both the floppy disk (FD) stored
data and the optical disk stored data, because of format difference
thereof. To store the FD data into an optical disk, therefore, a user must
perform two additional bothersome steps: printing out the FD data into a
hard copy, and reading in the hard copied data with the scanner. Such
steps are time consuming, and may irritate users. Such steps may even make
the user avoid operating the filing apparatus.
Another information processing apparatus for document filing apparatus
exists and is capable of reading out the the data from a floppy disk and
storing it into the optical disk. In the processing apparatus, however,
the management system for the image data cannot handle the floppy disk
stored data. Therefore, when the document data and the drawing data being
stored in a floppy disk are read out therefrom and stored into an optical
disk, it is a common practice to drive different systems. In most case,
different apparatuses have been used for the storage of such type of data
into the optical disk. Such storage operations by different systems or
apparatuses are bothersome and intricate particularly for unskilled
operators, and hence hinder a smooth filing operation. Furthermore, the
necessity of using the different systems makes it impossible to both
manage and preserve those documents including drawings.
For the above reasons, an information processing apparatus capable of
handling and managing both types of the data, the floppy disk stored data
and the optical disk stored data is needed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide an information
processing apparatus in which the FD stored data of document and drawing
are handled, e.g., like paper document and drawings, and in which both
types of data are synthetically managed.
According to one aspect of this invention, there is provided an information
processing apparatus for processing both image data and code data, the
apparatus comprising first storing means for storing at least one of the
image data and the code data, and second storing means for storing first
retrieval data for retrieving the image data from the first storing means
and second retrieval data for retrieving the code data from the first
storing means, the first retrieval data having a data structure for
defining the retrieval data and first identifying data representing the
image data, the second retrieval data having the same data structure as
the data structure of the first retrieval data and second identifying data
representing the code data.
According to another aspect of this invention, there is provided an
information processing apparatus comprising first input means for
inputting image data, second input means for inputting code data, means
for storing at least one of the image data input by the first input means
and the code data input by the second input means, means for preparing
flag data indicating the image and code data input by one of the first and
second input means, and control means for making such a control as to
store into the storing means either of the image data and the code data
input by the first input means and the second input means, attendant with
the flag data prepared by the preparing means, the same data structure
being applied to both the image data and the code data.
According to still another aspect of this invention, there is provided an
information processing apparatus for processing both image data and code
data, the apparatus comprising first storing means for storing at least
one of the image data and the code data, second storing means for storing
first retrieval data for retrieving the image data from the first storing
means and second retrieval data for retrieving the code data from the
first storing means, the first retrieval data having data structure for
defining the retrieval data and the second retrieval data having the same
data structure as the data structure of the first retrieval data, means
for inputting at least one of the first retrieval data and the second
retrieval data, and means for retrieving at least one of the image data
and the code data from the first storing means, the retrieving means
having first means for retrieving the retrieval data input by the
inputting means from the second storing means and second means for
retrieving at least one of the image data and the code data corresponding
to the retrieval data retrieved by the first means from the first storing
means.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an information processing apparatus
according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of a document management system employed in
the above embodiment;
FIG. 3 shows a functional block diagram for explaining the structure of a
control program or software used in the above embodiment;
FIG. 4 shows a functional block diagram showing a configuration of a FDR/W
processing module of FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 shows a format of the data employed by the above software;
FIG. 6 shows a format of a main header;
FIG. 7 shows a format of an image header;
FIG. 8 shows a format of a volume data header;
FIG. 9 shows a format of a file data header;
FIG. 10 shows a memory map of a main memory including module management
data area, header management data area, and data header part area;
FIG. 11 shows a flow chart explaining an overall flow in the data
registration processing;
FIG. 12 shows a flow chart explaining an overall flow in the data retrieval
processing;
FIGS. 13 to 15 show displays used for FD read-in processing;
FIGS. 16 to 20 show flow charts explaining a flow in FD read-in processing;
FIGS. 21 to 24 show flow charts explaining a flow in FD write-in
processing;
FIG. 25 and 26 show displays used for FD write-in processing;
FIG. 27 shows a flow chart for explaining a flow in the registration of
specific application files;
FIGS. 28 to 30 show property sheets used in the specific file select
processing;
FIGS. 31 to 33 show schematic diagrams for explaining comparative
verification functions for code data check;
FIG. 34 shows a flow chart for explaining a control flow in the retrieval
processing for the specific application files;.
FIG. 35 shows a display containing error message;
FIG. 36 shows a display used for the specific application file output
processing;
FIG. 37 shows a display for foreign characters registration;
FIG. 38 shows a flow chart explaining the page change processing; and
FIG. 39 shows a flow chart explaining test page change.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
A hardware configuration of an information processing apparatus according
to an embodiment of this invention will be described with reference to
FIG. 1. As is shown, the processing apparatus is comprised of control
module 11, memory module 10, image processing module 30, communication
control module 31, scanner 20, optical disk 22, keyboard 23, CRT display
device 24, printer 25, magnetic disk device 27, another magnetic disk
device 28, mouse 29, system bus 41, and image bus 42.
The control module 11 is made up of CPU (central processing unit) 12 for
controlling the filing apparatus, and interface circuit 17 allowing
bidirectional communication between this CPU 12 and external devices, such
as optical disk device 22, and magnetic disk devices 27 and 28. CPU 12 is
coupled with keyboard 23 and mouse 29.
The memory module 10 is made up of main memory 13, page memory 14, display
memory 15, and display controller 16. The display memory 15 and display
controller 16 serve as a display interface. The page memory 14 has a
memory capacity capable of storing image data amounting to several pages
of A4-size documents. Page memory 14 is partially occupied by buffer
memory area 14a. Data read/write for buffer memory area 14a is controlled
by a counter (not shown).
The image processing module 30 is made up of magnification/reduction
circuit 34, vertical/horizontal converter 35, compressor/expander (CODEC)
36, scanner interface 37 for scanner 20, printer interface 38 for printer
25, and internal bus 39. Magnification/reduction circuit 34, magnifies and
reduces the size of a picture based on image data. Vertical/horizontal
converter 35 rotates the picture by image data through the coordinate
transformation. CODEC 36 compresses image data for redundancy reduction,
and expands the compressed data to restore the compressed signal to the
original signal. Internal bus 39 interconnects a group of
magnification/reduction circuit 34 and vertical/horizontal converter 35
with another group of CODEC 36, scanner interface 37, and printer
interface 38.
Communication control module 31 is made up of UCP (universal communication
processor) 43 and BCP (bus communication processor) 44. UCP 43 is
connected to external devices such as an FCP (facsimile communication
processor) and personal computers, by way of an interface means such as
RS-232C, GPIB and SCSI. BCP 44 is coupled with a LAN (local area network).
CPU 12 is provided with vector/raster converter 12a and code/image
converter 12b. Vector/raster converter 12a converts vector data as drawing
data as derived from floppy disk 28a into raster data as image data.
Code/image converter 12b converts code data as document data as read out
of floppy disk 28a into image data. The vector-to-raster and code-to-image
data conversions may be executed by software, if necessary.
System bus 41 is a path for control signals and interconnects control
module 11, memory module 10, image processing module 30, and communication
control module 31. Image bus 42 is a path for image data and interconnects
memory module 10 and image processing module 30.
Display memory 15 stores the image data as actually displayed in the
windows of CRT display 24, e.g., the image data as obtained after the
image data of page memory 14 is subjected to various types of processings
such as magnification, reduction, rotation, insertion, and inversion.
Scanner 20, which is for example, a two-dimensional scanner, two
dimensionally scans a document by a laser beam, collects the image data on
the document, and outputs them in terms of electrical signal.
Magnetic disk device 28 is a floppy disk device using a 5.25 floppy disk
28a . The disk device reads the text files (document data) prepared by
word processors. (not shown) from floppy disk 28a, and the code data files
such as CAD drawing files and work sheet files (drawing data) as prepared
by personal computers. Floppy disk 28a may use one of the many available
OSs (operating systems) formats.
Optical disk device 22 sequentially stores onto optical disk 19 the image
data as read out by scanner 20 and the code data as read out by magnetic
disk device 28.
Keyboard 23 enters the retrieval codes respectively assigned to the code
data and the image data to be stored into optical disk 19, and various
commands for operations.
CRT display 24 is one of the output devices and uses a cathode ray tube as
a visual presenting means. The CRT display 24 displays the image data from
scanner 20, the code data read out by magnetic disk device 28, and the
code data and image data as read out by optical disk device 22.
Furthermore, the display device is capable of displaying more than one
document by means of a maximum of four display windows. For example, four
documents can concurrently be displayed, while being arrayed vertically.
Various editing operations, such as magnification, reduction, rotation,
and scroll, may be conducted in each window independently of other
windows.
Printer 25 prints out data in hard copy form, such the image data from
scanner 20, the code data read out by magnetic disk device 28, and the
code data and image data as read out by optical disk device 22, and the
image data being displayed by display device 24.
Magnetic disk device 27 is a hard disk device with magnetic disk 27a.
Magnetic disk 27a stores various types of control programs, retrieval
codes entered from keyboard 23, and retrieval data (management data)
corresponding to each retrieval code. The retrieval data includes memory
addresses and data size of the code data and/or the image data
representing one document, which are stored in optical disk 19 with the
retrieval codes assigned, and a flag to indicate the type of data, code
data and image data. The one document code data and/or image data are
stored into a retrieval data area of optical disk 19. Logical addresses
are used. Therefore, when accessed, the physical track address and
physical sector address in the optical disk is calculated for each
address.
Mouse 29 is a pointing device. The device is used to selectively point to a
desired item on the screen by moving a cursor vertically and/or
horizontally on the screen. The items are displayed in a fixed location on
the display screen, and include various modes, edited image, range of
cutting and merging of images, icons, and the like.
How the image data and the code data are synthetically managed will be
described with reference to FIG. 2, from viewpoint of the document
management.
A document management system, as illustrated in FIG. 2, includes data
hierarchy having four strata: cabinet, binder, document, and page. A
cabinet corresponds to one side of optical disk 19. The cabinet may be
defined by a maximum of eight binders. Each binder may contain a maximum
of 30,000 documents. A title is assigned to each document. The structure
of the titles is defined for each binder. One document is treated as a
fundamental unit of a file. A .cent.note", i.e., an explanation for
document, may be added to the document, in addition to the title. Each
document includes a maximum of 4095 pages.
The above document management system is structured correspond to a paper
filing system. The page corresponds to the paper file. The document
management system is designed to manage the code data, at the level of the
page. Specifically, the page corresponds to the image data of one sheet of
paper, the data of one sheet of floppy disk (volume data), the data of one
file, or the data by merging the above three types of data. The document
management system can manage code data and image data, which must be
separately managed by the conventional filing apparatus. For example,
within one document, a source file group (code data) of a given program is
assigned to a first page, a program specification (code data) prepared by
a word processor, to a second page, the results of processing (image data)
to a third page.
A control program stored in main memory 13, i.e., the structure of software
used in the filing apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. 3.
The software is made up of six modules, image input/output processing
module 13b, floppy disk read/write (FDR/W) processing module 13c, optical
disk read/write (ODR/W) processing module 13d, display control module 13e,
magnetic disk (MD) processing module 13f, and filing processing module
13a, which controls all the above modules 13b-13e.
A control flow of filing processing module 13a in a registration mode will
next be described.
First, an operator determines whether the data to be registered is image
data or data from a floppy disk, and enters the determination result to
filing processing module 13a. After entering the title, when the data to
be registered is image data, image input/output processing module 13b is
called, so that the image data is transferred from scanner 20 to the
module 13b. Then, display control module 13e is called, and checks the
image data on CRT display 24. Following this, ODR/W processing module 13d
is called, and the input image data is compressed, and recorded into
optical disk 19. After calling MD processing module 13f, the address in
optical disk 19, together with the input title data, is registered onto
magnetic disk 27a.
To register the data onto a floppy disk, FDR/W processing module 13c is
called. The designation and processing of the registered data, i.e.,
volume data, general files, or specific application files, are executed
within FDR/W processing module 13c. Therefore, filing processing module
13a may be indifferent to these operations.
Within FDR/W processing module 13c, necessary data is read out from floppy
disk 28a in response to a command entered by an operator, and is set up in
a predetermined format in page memory 14. Filing processing module 13a
calls the top address of the data and data length, and ODR/W processing
module 13d, and records the data set up in page memory 14, into optical
disk 19. When the data read out from floppy disk 28a cannot be stored at
one time into page memory 14, filing processing module 13a repeats to call
FDR/W processing module 13c and ODR/W processing module 13d. Upon
completion of the registration, filing processing module 13a calls MD
processing module 13f, and records the address in optical disk 19,
together with the input title data, into magnetic disk 28a, as in the mode
of registering the image data.
A control flow of filing processing module 13a in a retrieval mode will
next be described.
An operator enters a retrieval formula containing a retrieval key and a key
word for retrieval. The retrieval processing is executed by MD processing
module 13f. The result of the retrieval is displayed by CRT display 24.
Upon designation of a document to be retrieval by the operator, filing
processing module 13a outputs a retrieval request command to ODR/W
processing module 13d. ODR/W processing module 13d determines the type of
flag referring to a data header part (to be described later). When the
flag indicates image data, the module 13a applies the compressing
processing to the data, and loads it into page memory 14. When the
retrieved data is code data, the data is loaded intact into page memory
14.
When the operator requests the display of the retrieved result, the module
13a determines whether display of the retrieved data is possible or not,
referring to the flag. If display is possible, the filing processing
module 13a calls display control module 13e. Under control of the called
display control module 13e, CRT display 24 displays the data. If display
is impossible, an error message is output.
The called display control module 13e executes the processing for the
retrieved data, image data, or the code data, and causes CRT display 24 to
display the data on the display screen. When an operator requests the
storage of the retrieved data into floppy disk 28a, FDR/W processing
module 13c is called, and writes the retrieved data into the floppy disk.
In this case, the entry of the file name in connection with the data
writing is executed by FDR/W processing module 13c. Therefore, filing
processing module 13a may be indifferent to the file name entry.
FDR/W processing module 13c is configured as is shown in FIG. 4. This
module 13c is made up of interface 50 for interface with other modules,
mode selector 51 for selecting either of the general file or the specific
application file, general file processor 52, specific application file
processor 53, and FDR/W executing unit 54.
FDR/W processing module 13c is called from filing processing module 13a.
FDR/W processing module 13c reads out the code data from floppy disk 28a
and writes it into page memory 14, and reads out the code data from paper
memory 14, and writes it into floppy disk 28a. For the former operation,
FDR/W processing module 13c is called by filing processing module 13a in a
registration mode. For the later operation, it is called by the same in a
retrieval mode. The above processings include the operations to attach the
data header part to the data, and to interpret the same.
The formats of the code data and image data to be stored in optical disk 19
will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 through 9.
In this instance, the format of optical disk 19 will be described in
connection with 5.25 inch floppy disk 28a and a specific OS file. If
necessary, however, it is adaptable for other types of floppy disks of 8
inches and 3.5 inches, a magnetic disk or a magnetic tape, and other OS
files.
As is shown in FIG. 5, the data of one page for optical disk 19 includes a
data header part and a data part. The data part stores the data of modules
1 to n. If the data of one page contains a work sheet data file, a drawing
data file (net file), and an image expanded picture (plotter file), the
number of modules of data is "3". The data header part is made up of a
main header portion and a sub-header part representing a format of data.
The main header portion, as is shown in FIG. 6, further includes total
data length (4 bytes), total header length (2 bytes), registration date (4
bytes), number of constituent modules (2 bytes), specific application flag
(2 bytes), and preparatory area (2 bytes), and has a total length of 16
bytes. The specific application has one of two varieties: a document
management application and a drawing data management application. The
document management application is for filing document data prepared by a
word processor. The drawing data management application is for filing
drawing data (CAD) prepared a personal computer. The application flag
(management data) of the main header portion is used for indicating either
the document management application or the drawing data management
application.
Both drawing data and document data are code data. As for drawing data, a
plurality of files are generated for each drawing. In this instance, these
files are a work sheet file, a net file, and a plotter file. The work
sheet file is generated by an operator when he prepares the CAD. The net
file describes relative positions and connections of parts in the drawing.
The plotter file (vector file) describes the above matters of parts in a
format used to operate printers and plotters. Under the drawing management
application, these related files are systematically combined into one
page, and are stored onto the optical disk for their management. The
drawing data thus managed may provide effective and smooth filing and
retrieval operations. Thus, the design drawings, together with the
information of the used parts, are filed and managed. In later use, users
may retrieve the drawings and their related information of parts
simultaneously.
As for the document data, a plurality of files, such as a document file and
a foreign character file in which foreign characters are registered, exist
for each document. Under the document management application, these
related files are systematically combined into one page, and are stored
onto the optical disk for their management. The document data thus managed
may provide effective and smooth filing and retrieval operations.
The sub-header part, as is shown in FIG. 5, is made up of several
sub-headers whose number is determined by the number of constituent
modules in the main header portion. The sub-header has one of three
varieties: image data header, volume data header, and file data header.
The image data header, as is shown in FIG. 7, includes sub-header length
(2 bytes), kind flag (2 bytes), data address (4 bytes), data size (4
bytes), compression form (2 bytes: MH; MR; etc.), scanning density (2
bytes: 200 dpi; 300 dpi; etc.), image size (4 bytes: A4; B4; A3; etc.),
and option area (0 to n bytes). The volume data header, as is shown in
FIG. 8, includes sub-header length (2 bytes), kind flag (2 bytes), data
address (4 bytes), data size (4 bytes), device flag (2 bytes), density
flag (2 bytes), OS flag (2 bytes), volume name (12 bytes), and option area
(0 to n bytes). The file data header, as is shown in FIG. 9, includes
sub-header length (2 bytes), kind flag (2 bytes), data address (4 bytes),
data size (4 bytes), device flag (2 bytes), density flag (2 bytes), OS
flag (2 bytes), volume name (12 bytes), directory entry data (32 bytes),
and option area (0 to n bytes).
The kind flag is used for indicating image data or code data. Code data
includes volume data (data stored on the whole FD), or OS file data. The
kind flag of FIG. 7 is a first identifying data identifying the image
data. The kind flags of FIGS. 8 and 9 are second identifying data
identifying the code data. The most significant bit of the kind flag
indicates whether the data can be expanded into image data, that is, an
image expandable flag. More specifically, this flag is set for image ,data
and document data. The flag is not set the object code data such as an
execution file of a software program. The data address indicates the
address of the data in the optical disk. The data size indicates the size
of the stored data.
The device flag indicates the type of floppy disk 28a from which the
current data is derived. In this instance, three types of floppy disks of
5.25, 3.5, and 8 inches are available. The density flag indicates a
recording density of the used floppy disk, 2DD or 2HD. When a magnetic
tapeis used, this flag indicates a recording density of 1600 bpi or 6250
bpi. The OS flag indicates the type of OS used.
The option area of the volume data header may be used to record, for
example, the directory table data in the volume data, i.e., all the data
stored in a sheet of FD. The directly entry data area of the file data
header stores, for example, a copy of the 32-byte data as stored in the
current floppy disk 28a according to the OS used. The 32-byte includes
file name, file size, date, etc. The format of the data differs depending
on the OS used.
Main memory 13, as is shown in FIG. 10, generally includes three memory
areas: module management data area 13.sub.1, header management data area
13.sub.2, and data header part area 13.sub.3. Module management data area
13.sub.1 stores module numbers, the classifications of files, file names,
the addresses and sizes of the data stored in page memory 14, which are
tabulated with those items correspondingly arranged for each module, as is
shown in FIG. 10. Header management data area 13.sub.2 stores the number
of modules currently selected, and the address and size of the data of the
header part as stored in main memory 13 (exactly stored in data header
part area 13.sub.3). Those items are arranged in a table, as is shown.
A registration processing of the information processing apparatus according
to this invention will be described with reference to FIG. 11. In the
document management system referred to in connection with FIG. 2, a
plurality of pages are combined into a document. A title, or retrieval
code, is attached to each document. According to the document management
system, a title is first entered (step S1. An operator enters, by a
related key, a command indicating the type of the data to be registered,
code data from floppy disk 28a or image data as read in by scanner 20. If
the entered command is for image data (step S2), a document is set on
scanner 20 (step S3), and is scanned by scanner 20 (step S4). In step S4,
the image information on the document is optically collected and the
collected data is properly compressed, and finally stored into the optical
disk.
If the entered command is for code data (step S2), floppy disk 28a is set
in floppy disk device (FDD) 28. The operator then enters a command
indicating the type of the data, i.e., volume registration, normal OS file
registration, or specific application file registration, i.e., work sheet
registration or CAD or drawing data registration. If the entered command
represents the volume registration (step S5), it is determined if the
directory list data is attached to the data header part (step S6). If the
answer is YES, the directory list data is set in the option area in the
sub-header (step S7). Then, the volume data is stored into optical disk 19
(step S8).
In the case of the normal OS file registration (step S9), a directory list
in floppy disk 28a is displayed and a file to be registered is designated
or selected (step S10). In this case, a plurality of files may be selected
simultaneously. After the data header part is prepared, the designated
files are sequentially stored into optical disk 19 (step S11).
To register the specific application file (step S9), the module name is
designated (step S12), so that a set of files having a file name formed
under a given rule is automatically searched. After the data header part
is prepared, the file set is stored into optical disk 19 (step S13). When
it is retrieved later, one may desire to display the retrieved data at a
high speed. To meet the requirement, step S14 is provided to designate
high speed display of the retrieved data. If high speed display is
designated (step S14), the data is formatted into a data format for the
high speed display (step S15). The formatted data is attached to the data
to be registered. This process will be described later.
If it is necessary to check the recorded data in optical disk 19, an
indication is entered to the filing apparatus. After the data recording to
optical disk 19 is completed, the information processing apparatus
automatically checks the recorded data, and if an error is found, records
the correct data again.
When the next page must be recorded (step S16), the above sequence of steps
is repeated, starting with step S2. To record the next document (step
S17), the repeated sequence starts with step S1.
A retrieval processing will be described with reference to a flowchart
shown in FIG. 12.
A retrieval formula is entered (step S21). A retrieval processing is
performed by using the retrieval data stored in magnetic disk 27a (step
S22). A list of the related documents is displayed (step S23). If a
desired document is not found (step S24), the retrieval formula is entered
again (step S21). If the desired document is found (step S24), the
operator selects it from the document list and directs the filing
apparatus to execute the retrieval.
Then, the information processing apparatus reads out the first page data of
the selected document from optical disk 19 (step S25). In step S26, a
determination is made whether the read out data is the image data or not,
referring to the kind flag in the data header part (step S26). If the
answer is YES, the data is expanded and then displayed by CRT display 24
(step S27). If the next page retrieval is needed (step S28), the sequence
of the above steps is repeated from step S25.
If the decision result in step S26 is NO, control passes to step S29 to
check the kind flag of the data header part. If the flag represents image
expandable code data, the code/image converter 12b converts the code data
into image data. CRT display 24 displays the image data (step S30). If the
code data is not image expandable, a message to that effect is displayed
by CRT display 24 (step S31).
Then, the data is output to floppy disk 28a. Before this outputting, a
determination is made whether the code data is of the OS type (step S32).
If the answer is NO, the data is output to the whole of the floppy disk
(step S33). If YES, the file name is designated (step S34), and the data
output is applied to that file in the floppy disk 28a (step S33).
An FD read-in processing in the above registration mode will next be
described with reference to FIG. 13.
When a FD read-in processing is called from the registration processing,
the information processing apparatus requests an operator to select one of
a general file and a specific application file, while presenting a display
for mode selection on the screen of display 24 as is shown in FIG. 13. The
operator selects a desired mode from those displayed items by mouse 29 or
keyboard 23 (FIG. 1). If the operator selects the general file, the
display is changed to a display for a general file, as is shown in FIG.
14. The selected specific application file will be described later.
The FD read-in processing when the general file is selected, will be
described with reference to flow charts of FIGS. 14 and 15, and displays
of FIGS. 16 through 20.
In FIG. 15, an operator sets floppy disk 28a loaded with data, in floppy
disk device 28 (step S41). Then, the operator selects the type of a floppy
disk to be used. To this end, either of FD5.25 and FD3.5 in item [Device]
on the display screen of FIG. 14 is selected by means of keyboard 23 or
mouse 29. Furthermore, the type of the OS used when the data was stored
into the floppy disk is selected (step S42). Control accesses the floppy
disk 28a, and reads out the volume name and the directory list data from
the floppy disk (step S43), and stores them into main memory 13 while
displaying them on CRT display 24 (step S44).
The operator selectively points out a series of directive items while
seeing the display, by keyboard 23 or mouse 29 (step S45). Icon [Module
Type] including "General file" and "Volume" is first pointed out. Either
"General file" or "Volume" is selected. Following this, icons [Check
Display], [Module Select], and [Module Delete], or [End] are selected in
this order.
When icon [Check Display] is pointed out (step S46), a check display
processing is executed (step S47). As the result of this processing, the
dump data is converted into image data by code/image converter 12b, of
FIG. 1 and is displayed. As is shown in a check display processing flow
chart of FIG. 17, when the "General file" is selected as the type of
module (step S61), an operator selects a file to be checked from the
directory list (step S62). The entire data of the selected file are read
out from floppy disk 28a (step S63), and are displayed by display device
24 (step S64). When "Volume" is selected (step S61), no check display
processing is performed.
When icon [Module Select] is pointed out (step S48 of FIG. 16), the module
select processing is executed (step S49). As is shown in a module select
processing flow chart of FIG. 18, an operator selects one file from the
displayed directory list (step S71). When the selected module type is the
general file (step S72), the contents of the file bearing the file name
selected are loaded into page memory 14 (step S73). The management data of
that file is additionally stored into module management data area 13.sub.1
of FIG. 10 (step S74), and the data header is additionally stored into
data header part area 13.sub.3 of main memory 13 (step S75). The file name
is added to the module list on the display screen of display 24, so that
the number of modules is increased by one (step S76).
In the display shown in FIG. 14, two modules are selected. Internally, the
loaded file is managed by the module management data and header management
data in main memory 13 (see FIG. 10). In this case, the kind flag of the
sub-header in data header area 13.sub.3 of FIG. 10 is set to indicate the
general file. The data size, OS flag, device flag, and directory entry and
the like are set.
When icon [Module Delete] is pointed out (step S50 of FIG. 16), a module
delete processing is performed (step S51). As a result, the module already
selected is deleted. As is seen from FIG. 19 showing a module delete
processing flow chart, an operator selects a file to be deleted from the
directory list (step S91). The number of modules is decreased by one and
the corresponding header is deleted (step S92). Furthermore, the
corresponding module management data is deleted (step S93). Finally, the
module name is removed from the module list being displayed on the screen
(step S94).
When the operator points out icon [End] (step S52 of FIG. 16), an end
processing is performed (step S53). As seen from FIG. 20 showing an end
processing flow chart, the data address and size, and the number of
modules in header management data area 13.sub.2 of FIG. 10, the address
and size of the data for page memory 14 as stored in module management
data area 13.sub.1, and additionally a key word to be stored in magnetic
disk 27a, for example, file name, are transferred to filing processing
module 13a (step S101). All the module management data in main memory 13
are erased (step S102), and the end processing is completed.
In the display of FIG. 15, "Volume" is selected for the "Module Type". The
operation of this mode is similar to that when the general file is
selected. The difference between the modes resides in a sequence of
operation steps, which results from selection of "YES" for "Directory
list" in step S81 of FIG. 18. The selection of "YES" sets the directory
list data in the option area of the sub-header. The directory list data
will be used in a retrieval mode.
In the module select processing flow chart shown in FIG. 18, if "Volume" is
selected (step S72), the data of all the tracks of the designated device
(floppy disk 28a) are loaded as module data into page memory 14 (step
S78). The management data for that data is additionally stored into module
management data area 13.sub.1 in main memory 13. The data header is
additionally stored into data header area 13.sub.3 of main memory 13 (step
S80). At this time, if the directory list flag is "YES" (step S81), the
directory list data is set in the option area in the sub-header part as
stored in main memory 13 (step S82). Furthermore, the selected module is
additionally listed in the module list on the display (step S76).
As a matter of course, the general file and the volume module may coexist.
| | |
