JPH1040155A - System for managing data base - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To dynamically create a retrieval condition related with a group to which a user is belonging according to the user by generating the menu of a group from which the user can attain designation, based on user belonging information. SOLUTION: An access authority managing unit 10 manages authorities for allowing a user to perform access to a document stored in a data base, and this unit has a group definder and a group definder for an individual. The user judged to have authorities for registering a document by the access authority managing unit 10 is permitted to operate a registering processing. Then, a registration updating unit 12 is validated by a prescribed document registering operation at a client terminal by the user. The registration updating unit 12 activates a public range designating unit 13. The public range designating unit 13 generates the menu of a group from which the public range of a document to be registered can be selected by the user from a user belonging information 20 of the user. Then, the user can select the public range of the registered document from the menu.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a database management system for storing contents (information resources) expressed in the form of documents or the like. The present invention relates to a database management system that restricts access to contents according to a group to which each user belongs.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this type of database management system defines a group and a list of users who are members of the group in order to limit a set of users who can access contents stored in a database. Use the defined group definition. The content provider restricts access to the content by specifying the group defined by the group definition body (the whole company, department, section, working group, personal acquaintance group, etc.) as the content release scope can do.

Normally, individual users belong to a plurality of groups, but when a user makes a search request with a search condition (search formula) to a database, the content satisfies the user's search condition. Even if the user does not belong to the group specified as the disclosure range of the content, the content cannot be obtained.

[0004]

In the above-mentioned conventional database management system, if one of a plurality of groups to which a user belongs satisfies the disclosure range of the content, the content is obtained as a search result. For example, if a user belongs to the “Accounting Department” and “Fishing Club”, the content published to the “Accounting Department”
The content published for the “fishing club” is obtained as a search result at the same time.

[0005] However, there is a natural difference in the content and the description format between the content published to one department in the corporate organization and the content published to the hobby club. Further, even in the same company organization, there is a difference in the accuracy of the contents, the degree of omission, the expression of emotions, and the like between the contents disclosed to the “department” and the contents disclosed to the “section”.

[0006] As described above, presenting a plurality of contents with different "public ranges" specified by the content creator to the database searcher in the same row requires the searcher to grasp the meaning of each content. It can be a hindrance in doing so. In particular, if there is a mutual relationship between the contents, such as a question-response, an opinion-supplement, etc., this may cause a searcher to misunderstand. For this reason, it is necessary to perform a secondary search for further extracting only contents having a specific group as a public range from search results of a search expression specified by a user.

[0007] Also, in some database management systems, such as LOTUS LOTUS NOTES (trademark),
With the function “view”, it is possible to further specify a specific open range as a search condition from the search results obtained for all open ranges as described above. According to such a function, it is possible to obtain, as a result of the secondary search, only contents disclosed only in a certain group as described above.

However, in a conventional system having such a function (“view”), a search condition relating to a specific disclosure range is selected from a fixed number of conditions irrespective of the user's attribution. Is what you do. Therefore, it is not possible to respond flexibly to many users. For example, if a user joins a new group,
Alternatively, the database designer must change the set of search conditions (set of “views”) to be used for the secondary search each time the group to which the user belongs is changed due to a change in the user or the like. .

An object of the present invention is to provide a database management system in which a set of users who can access each content is determined in advance and access to the content is restricted according to the group to which each user belongs. Another object of the present invention is to provide a database management system capable of dynamically generating search conditions for a group to which a user belongs according to the user.

[0010]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides, as set forth in claim 1, contents and an open range defined as a set of users who can access the contents. In a database management system that manages databases registered together, a group definition body that defines a group and a list of users who are members of the group, and when a user of the system is specified, the user is specified User belonging information creating means for creating user belonging information representing a set of groups to which the user belongs based on the personal identification information to be performed and the group definition body, and a group set of the user belonging information Search means for searching a database for a content set which satisfies a search condition provided by the user within a content release range; Group menu creating means for providing a user with a menu of a group that can be specified by the user based on the user attribution information; and searching by the searching means when the user selects a group from the group menu. And a group-based content extracting unit for extracting, as a content to be provided to the user, content in a disclosure range corresponding to the selected group from the obtained content set.

In the above-described database management system, every time a user of the system is specified, user belonging information indicating a group to which the user belongs is created. Then, a menu of a group that can be specified by the user is created based on the user attribution information, and when a group is specified from the menu, a group corresponding to the group from a content set satisfying the user's search formula is created. The contents in the open range are extracted.

[0012] The extracted content is provided to the user, and the user evaluates the content of the content based on the context of other content groups published in the group designated by the user. Can do it. In addition,
The group definition body may include a public group of users defined hierarchically, a working group that exists alone, or a private group that is grouped by hobby or the like.

From the viewpoint of ensuring that the disclosure range defined as the range of users to whom the content should be disclosed and the group specified by the group menu when the user searches for the content, there is no inconsistency. , Claim 2
As described in the above, in the database management system, when the user registers the content in the database, the disclosure range designating means for determining the disclosure range of the content based on the user attribution information created for the user. To have.

In such a system, the content disclosure range is determined based on the user attribution information indicating the group to which the user belongs. Therefore, the group represented by the user attribution information and the disclosure range can be determined so as to correspond one-to-one. As a result, the group in which the user participates and the disclosure range can be made to correspond without any contradiction.

In view of the fact that rough contents can be obtained for contents other than the extracted contents, according to the present invention, in each of the above systems, in each of the above systems, the contents are extracted by the group-by-group contents extracting means. Content summary providing means for providing a user with a summary of the content determined according to a predetermined rule from the content other than the specified content.

In such a system, a summary of contents other than the extracted contents determined according to a predetermined rule is provided to the user. By looking at the summary, the user can grasp the rough content of the selected content other than the extracted content.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a client-server type system to which a database management system is applied to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, this system includes client terminals 100 (1), 100 (2), 100
(3),. . . , 100 (n) and database server 2
00 and another server 210 are connected by a LAN. For example, a system (database management system) that stores various contents described in a document format and manages the contents is constructed in the database server 200. . Each client terminal 10
0 (1), 100 (2), 100 (3),. . . , 10
At 0 (n), the user can use (refer to, edit, etc.) the content stored and managed in the database server 200.

The other server 210 performs other processing (communication with other systems and networks, print processing, etc.) in the system. As described above, the database management system according to the present invention is constructed in the database server 200 in the system configured in the client-server format. The functional configuration of the system is, for example, as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 2, an access authority management unit 10 manages the authority (reference authority, update authority, registration authority) for a user to access documents (contents) stored in a database. It has a personal group definition. The group definition body defines a group and its members, and is composed of a set of entries consisting of a "group name" and a "member list". The “member list” is a list of personal identification information for uniquely identifying a user or another group name. This group definition body defines, for example, the hierarchy between groups (such as the PC research department being included in the research institute) as shown in “part of group definition” in FIG. Mr. Yamada belongs to the FA Research Department).

The personal group definition is a set of entries consisting of a "group name" and a "member list", similarly to the group definition. This is set for each user, unlike the above group definition body, and is not referred to by other users. This personal group definition body defines, for example, a private group set for an individual user (Mr. Tanaka) as shown in “Personal group definition of Mr. Tanaka of FIG. 11”.

The access right management unit 10 refers to the group definition, the individual group definition, and the personal identification information for specifying the user, and determines whether the user has the access right to the document. Has been determined.
There are three types of access authority: reference authority, which is the authority to refer to documents in the database, update authority, which is the authority to update documents in the database, and registration authority, which is the authority to register documents in the database. included.

The access authority management unit 10 further includes a personal belonging information for specifying the user, a group definition, and a user belonging describing a set of groups to which the user belongs based on the personal group defining body. The information 20 is created. For example, in the case of the example shown in FIG. 11, for the user (Mr. Tanaka), based on the group definition (defining the group in the company), the personal group definition of Ms. Tanaka, and the provided personal identification information, the PC laboratory. ) Group ("Company", "Laboratory", "PC Research Department", "Private Individual", "Patent Working Group", "Information Search Working Group", "Synchronized Joining Member", "Tennis" User attribution information 20 describing "club club", "business card exchanger")
Is created.

The access right management unit 10 permits the user determined to have the document registration authority to perform the registration process. The registration update unit 12 is operated by a predetermined document registration operation at the client terminal by the user.
Becomes effective. Then, the registration update unit 12 activates the disclosure range designation unit 13. The open range specifying unit 13 creates a menu of groups in which the user can select the open range (open group range) of the document to be registered from the user attribution information 20 of the user. Then, the user can select a disclosure range of the registered document from a menu. The registration update unit 12 provides the document database 30 with the selected disclosure range, the document to be registered, and the personal identification information of the registrant (user).

The document provided in the document database 30 is registered in the database 30 together with its disclosure range and information on the creator. Information registered in the database 30 is accumulated, for example, as shown in FIG. In other words, each document (topic, creator, title, etc.) is provided with its disclosure range (user range having reference authority). The disclosure range is a list of group names or personal identification information defined by the group definition body and the personal group definition body.

When referring to a document in the document database 30, the document reference unit 15 is activated. The document reference unit 15 transmits the personal identification information of the user, the participation qualification indicating the range of qualifications (a description format corresponding to the disclosure range) that can refer to the document, and the search condition to the document database 30 together with the reference request. The qualification designation unit 16 activated by the document reference unit 15 creates a menu listing the groups that can be selected by the user from the user attribution information 20 and allows the user to specify the qualification from the menu. I have.

The access authority management unit 10 further includes:
It is coupled to a document summarization unit 17. The document summarization unit 17 has a summarization rule base. The summary rule base is a set of entries composed of “group name” and “rule”. Each rule is a rule that describes a method of summarizing and returning a document whose reference authority is limited to the group of the entry when a user who does not satisfy the reference authority receives a reference request. The document summarizing unit 17 refers to the summarization rule base with respect to the document for which the reference request has been rejected by the access right management unit 10, and returns a rule for summarization to the document database 30. The document database 30 creates information that summarizes the corresponding document according to the provided summarization rule,
The information is returned to the document reference unit 15.

Next, the operation of the system will be described in detail, taking as an example a case where a user searches a document for a topic from a database. The process in this case is executed, for example, according to the procedure shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, the reference request unit 15 outputs a reference request to the document database 30 based on the user's reference request operation at the client terminal (S1). At this time, as shown in FIG. 4, the reference request unit 15 sets the search condition (for example, the document of the topic A)
And the personal identification information of the user together with the reference request to the document database 30. This search condition is referred to as a first search formula for convenience of explanation.

The document database 30 that has received the first search formula together with the reference request from the reference request unit 15 executes the first search formula (S2). That is, as shown in FIG. 5, the document database 30 searches for a document set that matches the first search expression from the documents stored in the database, and generates a result set.

Next, in response to the inquiry from the document database 30, the access right management unit 10 checks the access right (S3). In this case, as shown in FIG. 6, the document database 30 extracts the “disclosure range” item (see FIG. 12) for each document in the result set, and sends it to the access authority management unit 10 together with the personal identification information of the user. An inquiry is made as to whether the user has reference authority to the document. Upon receiving this inquiry, the access right management unit 10 refers to the group definition body and the personal group definition body to determine whether or not the user belongs to the list of personal identification information or group name specified in the disclosure range. Judgment. If it is determined that the document belongs, the reference permission for the document is returned to the document database 30.

When the access right check is completed as described above, the access right management unit 10 checks the possibility of summarization (S4). That is, when the user does not have the reference authority to the document, the access authority management unit 10 further determines whether the document can be summarized and displayed by using the summary database of the document summary unit 17 as shown in FIG. Judgment. If summarization is possible, the summarization rules are returned to the document database 30.

As described above, the document database 30 which has received the reference permission or the summarization rule for each document.
Returns the search result to the document reference unit 15 (S
5). That is, as shown in FIG.
Extracts the summary of the document for which the summary rule has been received from the access right management unit 10, and returns the document to which reference has been granted and the summary to the document reference unit 15 as a search result set.

When the retrieval result set is provided to the document reference unit 15 as described above, the document reference unit 15
Is used to generate an eligibility menu to further restrict the documents in the search result set.
Is started (S6). In this case, as shown in FIG. 9, the activated participation qualification designation unit 16 refers to the user belonging information 20 and refers to the group to which the user belongs (for example, company-wide, research institute, PC research department, private individual, As shown in FIG. 13 (a), for example, a participation qualification menu listing patent working groups and information search working groups.
Generate. The generated participation qualification menu is transferred to the user's client terminal, and the participation qualification designation menu shown in FIG. 13A is displayed on the display screen of the client terminal.

The participation qualification menu is different for each user, and does not depend on the contents of the first search formula, the type and structure of the document database 30, and the like. When the user performs an operation to specify a participation qualification (group) from the participation qualification specification menu displayed on the display screen of the client terminal of the user, the specified participation qualification is provided to the system in the database server. In the system, the participation qualification specifying unit 16 requests the document reference unit 15 to perform a search using the participation qualification provided by the user (S7). That is, as shown in FIG. 10, the document reference unit 15 newly generates a second search formula that combines a search condition of “document disclosure range = participation qualification specified by the user” and the search condition of the first search condition. Generate Then, the document reference unit 15 transmits the second search formula to the document database 30 together with the user's personal identification information.

The document database 30 generates a result set by extracting a set of documents matching the provided second search formula from the database. Then, the result set is transferred from the database server 200 on which the system is constructed to the client terminal of the user. Then, the search result is displayed on the display screen of the client terminal.

For example, as shown in FIG. 13 (a), when the participation qualification "PC research department" is selected from the participation qualification designation menu, the PC research department is included in the disclosure range as shown in FIG. 13 (b). Scope (Not only when the scope of disclosure is the PC Research Department, and when the scope of disclosure is the PC Research Department, but also when the scope of disclosure is the “Laboratory” where “Mr. Sato” of the PC Research Department is a superior organization. ), A document on topic A is retrieved. Then, the search result is displayed on the display screen of the client terminal. Also, for example, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 14 (a), when the participation qualification “Laboratory” is selected from the participation qualification designation menu, as shown in FIG. The document about the topic A is searched, and the search result is displayed on the display screen of the client terminal. Then, according to the summarization rule, a summary (indicated by a broken line in the drawing) of the document of the participation qualification “PC research department” that is not included in the designated reference authority (“institute”) is, as shown in FIG. Is displayed.

In the above example, a document of a predetermined topic (keyword) is searched from all the documents for which the user has the reference authority, and further, based on the user attribution information created independently for each user. The documents corresponding to the designated participation qualification (disclosure range) are extracted. Therefore, it becomes possible to dynamically generate search conditions for a group to which a user belongs according to the user. Further, for example, when the user joins a new group, or when the group is changed due to a change of the user or the like, only changing the user attribution information 20 is performed. The system works as it is without changing.

As shown in FIG. 14B, when the user (Mr. Tanaka) refers to the document of the topic A, the registration update unit 12 can be activated to create a new comment. . When publishing this comment document, the publishing range designation unit 13 is activated and a publishing range menu as shown in FIG. 15A is presented to the user. Since the participation qualification was started at the time of “laboratory” (see FIG. 14B), the default open range is “lab”.

In the disclosure range menu shown in FIG. 15A, the "direct personal name designation" at the bottom is used when designating an individual name, not a group name, as a disclosure range to restrict access. As described above, the user (Mr. Tanaka) creates documents on topics A, B, and C,
It is assumed that a laboratory is designated as the open range by the open range menu and is opened. As a result, the document is added to the document database 30. For example, as shown in FIG. 15B, documents of topics A, B, and C published by Tanaka are added to the search results on topics B and C of Mr. Yamada at the FA Research Institute.

[0040]

As described above, according to the invention described in each claim, user belonging information indicating a group to which the user belongs is created. Then, a menu of a group that can be designated by the user is created based on the user belonging information, and when a group is designated from the menu, a public range corresponding to the temporarily searched user belonging information is displayed. Then, the contents in the disclosure range corresponding to the specified group are extracted from the contents in. Therefore, it is possible to provide a database management system capable of dynamically generating a search condition for a group to which a user belongs according to the user.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a client / server system to which a database management system according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the database management system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a search process in the database management system.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a flow of processing in step S1 in the procedure shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a flow of processing in step S2 in the procedure shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the flow of processing in step S3 in the procedure shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a flow of processing in step S4 in the procedure shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a flow of processing in step S5 in the procedure shown in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a flow of processing in step S6 in the procedure shown in FIG.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a flow of processing in step S7 in the procedure shown in FIG.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a situation of creation of user attribution information.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a list of documents stored in a database.

FIG. 13 is a diagram (part 1) illustrating an example of a participation qualification designation menu and a search result corresponding to the participation qualification selected from the menu.

FIG. 14 is a diagram (part 2) illustrating an example of a participation qualification designation menu and a search result corresponding to the participation qualification selected from the menu.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of a disclosure range menu at the time of document registration and a search result when a document selected from the menu is registered.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Access authority management unit 12 Registration / update unit 13 Publication range designation unit 15 Document reference unit 16 Participation qualification designation unit 17 Document summary unit 20 User attribution information 30 Document database 100 (1). . . 100 (n) Client terminal 200 Database server 210 Other server

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A database management system for managing a database in which a content and a disclosure range defined as a set of users who can access the content are registered. In a database management system, a group and a list of users who are members of the database are managed. When a user of the system is specified, based on the personal identification information specifying the user and the group definition,
A user attribution information creating means for creating user attribution information indicating a set of groups to which the user belongs, and any one of the group collections of the user attribution information is transmitted from the user within a content disclosure range. Search means for searching a database for a content set satisfying the provided search condition; group menu creation means for providing a user with a menu of a group that can be specified by the user based on the user attribution information; When the user selects a group from the group menu, the content in the public range corresponding to the selected group is extracted as the content to be provided to the user from the content set obtained as a search result by the search means. A database management system comprising: 2. In the database management system according to claim 1, when a user registers content in a database, a disclosure range designation that defines a disclosure range of the content based on user attribution information created for the user. A database management system having means. 3. The database management system according to claim 1, wherein a content summary determined in accordance with a predetermined rule from a content other than the content extracted by said group-specific content extraction means is provided to a user. Database management system with provision means.