Patent Publication Number: US-2002008719-A1

Title: Internet database

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001] 1. Field of the Invention  
       [0002] The present invention relates to the technology of inserting into an application by an easy operation of a client connected to the network various CAD parts data, image data, etc. provided by a server connected to a network such as Internet, etc. through a Web browser.  
       [0003] 2. Description of the Related Art  
       [0004] Recently, the technology of improving the utilization of the local disk resources of a client by selecting, downloading, and using in an application, etc. only the data required by a client  102  from among various data provided by a server  101  connected to a network  103  such as Internet, etc. has been widely used (FIG. 1).  
       [0005] For example, when a user is designing a building using a CAD application in the client  102 , it is possible for the user to select only the required data from among various latest CAD parts data, image data, etc. published by a building material manufacturer, etc. on the Web, load the data, and design the building using the downloaded data.  
       [0006] However, it is necessary to perform the designing process after downloading various CAD parts data and image data published on the Web, and the user has to download the data during the designing process, thereby disturbing the efficiency of the process.  
       [0007] On the other hand, there is the technology of generating hyperlinks  205  and  206  on an application  102 ′ only by dragging and dropping a linked image  203  and a link  204  on a Web browser  201  onto an application  202  of the client  102  using a mouse. For example, if a linked image and a link in Internet Explorer (registered trademark of Microsoft Corp. U.S.A.), which is a Web browser, are dragged and dropped onto Word (registered trademark of Microsoft Corp. U.S.A.), which is an editor application, then a hyperlink can be easily generated in Word (FIG. 2).  
       [0008] However, only a piece of information such as a hyperlink, etc. can be applied to the application of the client. It is actually demanded that various types of information, for example, the name, the model number, etc. of CAD parts can be inserted into the application of the client in one dragging-and-dropping operation.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0009] The present invention aims at providing a system capable of inserting all necessary information into the application in a simple operation such as a dragging-and-dropping operation, etc. when various CAD parts data, image data, etc. published on the Web in the application of a client are to be used.  
       [0010] In the conventional system, when various CAD parts data, image data, etc. published on the Web in the application of a client are to be used, target information is downloaded and stored on the local disk of the client, and then the stored data is used. According to the present invention, the utilization of the local disk resources of a client can be further improved by referring to various CAD parts, image data, etc. on the Web without storing target information on the local disk of a client.  
       [0011] To solve the above mentioned problems with the conventional technology, the present invention not only inserts various and image data published on the Web, but also simultaneously inserts the information about the inserted data into the application of the client in a simple operation such as the dragging-and-dropping operation, etc. The inserted CAD parts data and image data are not stored on the local disk of the client, but are referred to on the original Web page.  
       [0012] According to an aspect of the present invention, in a client connected to a network such as Internet, etc., a system includes: a unit for obtaining an operation such as a dragging-and-dropping operation, a copying-and-pasting operation, etc. in the client; and a unit for inserting CAD parts data or the image data into the application of the client by dragging and dropping or copying and pasting each type of CAD parts data and the image data etc. displayed on the Web browser in the client; and a unit for obtaining the CAD parts data and the image data, the URL on which the data are published, and the information about the image data, and managing them as the attribute of the image data; and a unit for referencing the original Web page based on the URL managed as the attribute of the CAD parts data inserted into the CAD application.  
       [0013] With the above mentioned configuration, the work efficiency of the user can be improved much more than the conventional system, and the utilization of the local disk resources of the client can also be improved. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0014]FIG. 1 shows the conventional technology ( 1 );  
     [0015]FIG. 2 shows the conventional technology ( 2 );  
     [0016]FIG. 3 shows the configuration showing the principle of the present invention;  
     [0017]FIG. 4 shows the process of inserting CAD parts data published on a Web page into the CAD application by a dragging-and-dropping operation or a copying-and-pasting operation;  
     [0018]FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the process performed by the system when the CAD parts data dropped or pasted from a Web page is inserted into a CAD application;  
     [0019]FIG. 6 shows an attribute item of the CAD parts data and the explanation of the data;  
     [0020]FIG. 7 shows a window in which the attribute of the inserted CAD parts data is edited;  
     [0021]FIG. 8 shows a process of displaying a Web page from the URL managed as an attribute of inserted CAD parts;  
     [0022]FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the process performed by the system when, for example, a Web page is displayed from the URL managed as an attribute of inserted CAD parts;  
     [0023]FIG. 10 shows the process of obtaining updated information about the Web page corresponding to each URL of the URL list, and notifying the user of the information;  
     [0024]FIG. 11 is a flowchart of the process performed by the system when updated information about the Web page corresponding to each URL of the URL list is obtained, and the user is notified of the information;  
     [0025]FIG. 12 shows the process of obtaining the updated information about the CAD parts inserted into the CAD application from the Web page;  
     [0026]FIG. 13 is a flowchart of the process performed by the system when the updated information about the CAD parts inserted from the Web page is obtained and reflected;  
     [0027]FIG. 14 shows an information processing device according to the present invention; and  
     [0028]FIG. 15 shows the method of distributing a software program, etc. according to the present invention.  
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
     [0029] The embodiments of the present invention are described below by referring to the attached drawings.  
     [0030]FIG. 3 shows the configuration indicating the principle of the present invention comprising a Web display data insertion unit  301 , a URL or relevant data management unit  302 , and a Web page reference unit  303 . The Web display data insertion unit  301  inserts the CAD parts data and the image data into the application by dragging and dropping or copying and pasting various CAD parts data, image data, etc. displayed on the Web browser. The URL or relevant data management unit  302  obtains together with the CAD parts data and the image data the URL and the information about the image data, and manages them as the attributes of the image data. Furthermore, the Web page reference unit  303  refers to the original Web page based on the URL managed as the attribute of the CAD parts data inserted into the CAD application.  
     [0031] Described below furthermore in detail is the embodiment of the present invention.  
     [0032]FIG. 4 shows the process of inserting the CAD parts data published on the Web into the CAD application of the client in the dragging-and-dropping or copying-and-pasting operation. CAD parts  405  can also be inserted into a CAD application  402  by dragging and dropping or copying and pasting CAD parts  403  displayed on a Web browser  401  or a link destination  404  of the data file of the CAD parts using a mouse.  
     [0033]FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the process performed by the system when the CAD parts are inserted into the CAD application by dropping or pasting the CAD parts from the Web as shown in FIG. 4.  
     [0034] First, the URL and the page title displayed on the Web browser are obtained in S 501 . In S 502 , the data file of the CAD parts is stored on the local disk. In S 503 , the type of the format of the stored file is discriminated. If it is a standard file format, control is passed to S 505 . If it is not a standard file format, then control is passed to S 504 , and a module is activated to load another CAD application.  
     [0035] In S 505 , the data file of the CAD parts is loaded. In S 506 , the position information about the mouse cursor is obtained. In S 507 , the display position of the CAD parts is computed according to the position information about the mouse cursor obtained in S 506 . In S 508 , the CAD parts are displayed in a rubber-banding format based on the computation result obtained in S 507 .  
     [0036] In S 509 , it is determined whether or not the mouse cursor has been moved. If yes, then control is returned to S 506 , and the processes in S 506  through S 509  are repeated. If not, control is passed to S 510 , and the system enters an event waiting state.  
     [0037] The previous coordinate data is obtained in S 511  when the mouse is dragged in S 510 . In S 512 , the relative coordinates are computed from the cursor position information and the previous coordinate data. In S 513 , the positioning reference point for rubber banding display is changed, and control is returned to S 507 . Then, the processes in S 507  through S 510  are repeated.  
     [0038] When the left mouse button is released in S 510 , control is passed to S 514 , and the CAD application generates a CAD parts object. In S 515 , the attribute value of the generated CAD parts, the URL of the Web page, the page title, etc. are set. In S 516 , the lines, etc. of the CAD parts are drawn in detail (generation of primitive), and the parts are applied onto the CAD application. Then, control is returned to S 506 , and the processes in S 506  through S 510  are repeated. Various attribute items such as the object name, the URL, the URL title (Web page title), etc. are set in S 515 .  
     [0039] When the ESC key is pressed or another command is executed in S 510 , the parts data obtained from the web page is discarded in S 517 , and the parts file data stored on the local disk is deleted in S 518 . Since the parts file data is deleted, the data obtained from the Web page is not left on the local disk.  
     [0040] The process shown in FIG. 5 relates to the process performed by the Web display data insertion unit  301  or the URL or relevant data management unit  302  shown in FIG. 3.  
     [0041] Described above is the flow of the process performed by the system as shown in FIG. 4. In the above mentioned process, after the parts have been inserted into the CAD application, the attribute of the target parts can be edited. When the right button is clicked on the CAD parts object to be processed in the CAD application, then a pop-up menu is displayed. If an attribute edition menu is selected from the displayed pop-up menu, then an attribute edition window  701  is activated. In this attribute edition window  701 , an attribute corresponding to each attribute item shown in FIG. 6 is described ( 702 ) Attributes to be edited are selected from among the attribute group, and a corresponding editing button  703  is clicked, thus performing an editing process.  
     [0042] Described next are the processes of displaying a Web page from the URL managed as an attribute of the CAD parts inserted into the application, generating a URL list from the URL corresponding to the plural inserted CAD parts in the CAD application, etc. FIG. 8 shows the processes.  
     [0043] In the process ( 1 ) shown in FIG. 8, the pop-up menu is opened by clicking the right button of the mouse on the CAD parts  405  in the CAD application  402 . When the ‘open the URL list’ menu is selected from the pop-up menu, the URL managed as an attribute of the CAD parts is pasted on a URL display unit  801  of the Web browser  401 , and the corresponding Web page is displayed.  
     [0044] In the process ( 2 ) shown in FIG. 8, the pop-up menu is opened by clicking the right button of the mouse on the CAD parts  405  in the CAD application  402 . When the ‘add to the URL list’ menu is selected from the pop-up menu, the URL stored as an attribute of the CAD parts  405  is added to a URL list  802 . The URL added to the URL list  802  is not deleted although the CAD parts  405  corresponding to the URL have been deleted from the CAD application  402 . That is, the URL is constantly stored in the URL list  802  after the CAD application  402  is activated.  
     [0045] In the process ( 3 ) shown in FIG. 8, a corresponding Web page is displayed when the user selects a desired URL from the URL list  802  of the CAD application  402 .  
     [0046]FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the process performed by the system when a Web page is displayed according to the URL managed as an attribute of the CAD parts inserted as shown in FIG. 8.  
     [0047] First, an event is awaited in S 901 . When an event of selecting a page title of the URL list occurs, control is passed to S 904 . When an event of pressing the right button of the mouse occurs in the parts selection state in S 901 , the pop-up menu is displayed in S 902 . In S 903 , it is determined which menu has been selected from the pop-up menu. If the ‘open the URL’ menu is selected, then control is passed to S 904 . If the ‘add to the URL list’ menu is selected, then control is passed to S 908 .  
     [0048] In S 904 , the corresponding URL information is obtained, and the Web browser is activated in S 905 . Then, the URL obtained in S 904  is set in the Web browser, and the corresponding Web page is displayed in S 907 , thereby terminating a series of processes.  
     [0049] In S 908 , the URL and the page title managed as attributes of the CAD parts are obtained, and the obtained URL is entered in the URL list in S 909 . In S 910 , the page title is added to the URL list, thereby terminating a series of processed.  
     [0050] The process shown in FIG. 9 relates to the process performed by the URL or relevant data management unit  302  shown in FIG. 3, The URL or relevant data management unit  302  has the function of managing the URL, the relevant data, etc. FIG. 9 actually shows how the information managed by the URL or relevant data management unit  302  is used.  
     [0051] Described below is the process of obtaining updated information about the Web page corresponding to each URL in the CAD application, and notifying the user of the information.  
     [0052] In FIG. 10, if a menu  1001  ‘URL list updated information’ is selected from the menu of the CAD application, the updated information about the Web page corresponding to each URL stored in the URL list is obtained, and a window  1002  displaying the updated information is activated. A Web page title  1003 , a URL  1004 , and a date of update  1005  are displayed in the window  1002 .  
     [0053]FIG. 11 is a flowchart of the process performed by the system when the updated information about the Web page corresponding to each URL in the URL list shown in FIG. 10 is obtained, and the user is notified of the information.  
     [0054] First, in S 1101 , the ‘URL list updated information’ menu is selected from the CAD application, and the updated information obtain command is executed. In S 1102 , the process of retrieving the URL in the URL list is started. In S 1103 , the URL is obtained. In S 1104 , the Web page corresponding to the obtained URL is connected. In S 1105 , the updated information about the Web page is obtained. In S 1106 , it is determined whether or not there is an unconnected Web page remaining in the URL list. If yes, control is returned to S 1103 , and the processes in S 1103  through S 1106  are repeated. If not, then control is passed to S 1107 , and the window  1002  which is a list of updated information is displayed, thereby terminating the process.  
     [0055] The process in FIG. 11 corresponds to the process relating to the information managed by the URL or relevant data management unit  302  shown in FIG. 3.  
     [0056] Described below is the process of obtaining the latest information about the parts arranged in the CAD application, and notifying the user of the information as the updated information. FIG. 12 shows the process.  
     [0057] In FIG. 12, a pop-up menu  1201  is displayed by clicking the right button of the mouse on CAD parts  1202  inserted from the Web page in the CAD application  402 . If the ‘updated information’ menu is selected from the displayed pop-up menu  1201 , then the Web page is referred to based on the URL managed as an attribute of the CAD parts  1202 . If the CAD parts  1202  have been updated, then the latest data file of the CAD parts is loaded from the Web page, and a rubber band  1203  is displayed on the CAD parts  1202 . Then, a message window  1204  is displayed, and the user is inquired whether or not the CAD parts are to be updated.  
     [0058]FIG. 13 is a flowchart of the process performed by the system when the updated information about the CAD parts inserted from the Web page as shown in FIG. 12 is obtained and reflected.  
     [0059] First, in S 1301 , the right button of the mouse is clicked on the CAD parts, the ‘updated information’ menu is selected from the displayed pop-up menu, and a request to obtain the updated information about the target CAD parts is issued. Then, a corresponding URL is obtained in S 1302 , and a Web page is connected based on the obtained URL in S 1303 .  
     [0060] In S 1304 , it is determined whether or not there is an updated data file of the target CAD parts. If not, the process terminates. If yes, control is passed to S 1305 , and the data file is stored on the disk. In S 1306 , the parts data is loaded from the stored data file. In S 1307 , the position information for display of the loaded parts data is obtained. In S 1308 , the positioning coordinates are computed from the obtained position information, and the rubber band of the new CAD parts is displayed in S 1309 , In S 1310 , an update message window for inquiry as to whether or not the user requests to update the target CAD parts is displayed. If the user selects the update, then control is passed to S 1312 . If the user issues an instruction to cancel the update, then control is passed to S 1316 .  
     [0061] In S 1312 , a CAD parts object is generated in the CAD application. In S 1313 , the attribute value of the generated CAD parts, the URL of the Web page, the page title, etc. are set. In S 1314 , the lines, etc. of the CAD parts are drawn in detail (generation of primitive), and are pasted onto the CAD application. In S 1315 , the parts object before the update is deleted, and control is passed to S 1316 .  
     [0062] In S 1316 , the parts data obtained from the Web page are discarded. In S 1317 , the data file of the parts stored on the disk is deleted, thereby terminating the process.  
     [0063] The process shown in FIG. 13 relates to the process performed by the Web page reference unit  303  shown in FIG. 3.  
     [0064] Described above in detail are the embodiments of the present invention. However, the present invention is not limited to the above mentioned embodiments. For example, in the above mentioned embodiments, the CAD parts are inserted from the Web page into the CAD application, but the data published on the Web page can be any type of data file such as images, animation, voice, set files, etc. Furthermore, an application for inserting the data from the Web page can be any type of application such as an editor, a drawing tool, etc. The feature of the present invention resides in that data displayed on a Web page can be inserted into a target application in a simple operation such as a dragging-and-dropping operation, and that the URL, the page title of a Web page, and information relating to the data displayed on the Web page as well as the data displayed on the Web page can be inserted into a target application in one operation.  
     [0065] The present invention is realized by the information processing device (computer) as shown in FIG. 14. The information processing device shown in FIG. 14 comprises a CPU (central processing unit)  1401 , memory  1402 , an input device  1403 , an output device  1404 , an external storage device  1405 , a medium drive device  1406 , and a network connection device  1407 . These units are interconnected through a bus  1408 .  
     [0066] The memory  1402  includes, for example, ROM (Read Only Memory), RAM (Random Access Memory), etc., and stores a program and data used in a process. The CPU  1401  performs a necessary process by executing the program using the memory  1402 . That is, the Web display data insertion unit  301 , the URL or relevant data management unit  302 , and the Web page reference unit  303  according to the present invention are operated by the program stored in the memory  1402 .  
     [0067] The user performs an editing operation, etc. using the input device  1403  such as a mouse, a keyboard, etc. of the information processing device while watching the application displayed on the output device  1404  such as the display, etc. of the information processing device.  
     [0068] The external storage device  1405  can be, for example, a magnetic disk device, an optical disk device, a magneto-optical disk device, etc. The information processing device stores the above mentioned program, data, etc. in the external storage device  1405  for use later as necessary by loading them into the memory  1402 .  
     [0069] The medium drive device  1406  drives a portable storage medium  1409  to access the stored contents. The portable storage medium  1409  can be any computer-readable storage medium such as a memory card, a floppy disk, CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory), an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, etc. The portable storage medium  1409  stores the above mentioned program and data for use later as necessary by loading them into the memory  1402 .  
     [0070] The network connection device  1407  communicates with an external device through an arbitrary network (line) such as a LAN (Local Area Network), etc., and exchange data for communications. The information processing device receives the above mentioned data from an external device through the network connection device  1407  as necessary, and load the data into the memory  1402  for use.  
     [0071]FIG. 15 shows the method of providing a software program, etc. executed by the information processing device according to the present invention. The program, etc. can be provided in any of the three methods (a) through (c) described below.  
     [0072] (a) Provided after being installed in an information processing device  1501  such as a program, etc. In this case, the program, etc. is installed in advance before delivery.  
     [0073] (b) Provided after being stored in the portable storage medium  1409 . In this case, a program, etc. stored in the portable storage medium  1409  is installed in the external storage device  1405  of the information processing device  1501  such as a computer, etc.  
     [0074] (c) Provided by a server  1503  of a network  1502 . Basically, in this case, the information processing device  1501  such as a computer, etc. obtains a program, etc. by downloading the program, etc. stored in the server  1503 .  
     [0075] As described above in detail, according to the present invention, various CAD parts and image data published on a Web, and the information relating to the data published on the Web can be simultaneously inserted into the application of the client in a simple operation such as a dragging-and-dropping operation, etc. Furthermore, the inserted CAD parts data and image data are not stored on the local disk of the client, but can be obtained by referring to the original Web page. Thus, the present invention can realize a higher work efficiency than the conventional technology, and further improves the utilization of the local disk resources of the client.