Patent ID: 8751534

Claim:
A method for managing a file, the method comprising: periodically receiving image data picked-up and input by a camera oriented toward a plurality of users who are to access a file together in a conference system that is accessed simultaneously by the plurality of users; identifying a combination of authenticated personal identifications (IDs) of the plurality of users by recognizing faces of the plurality of users in the received image data by referring to a database to acquire a combination of personal IDs as the combination of authenticated personal IDs; setting an access right to a type of file operation for the file as permitted, in response to the combination of authenticated personal IDs satisfying a predetermined combination of personal IDs for permitting the type of file operation, and cancelling an access right to a type of file operation for the file as not permitted, in response to the authenticated personal IDs not satisfying the predetermined combination of personal IDs for permitting the type of file operation; storing permitted and not permitted access rights to respective files in association with the authenticated personal IDs in an access right database; displaying a list of shared file icons of files and a content of a file selected from the list of file icons, wherein each file icon represents the permitted and not permitted access right set for the type of file operation of the file associated with that file icon; displaying a pop-up window that displays access right information for a file denoted by an icon in response to moving a cursor of a mouse onto the icon; controlling, using a central processing unit, a file operation for the file by the plurality of users based on the access right set for the type of file operation of the file; creating, for each of the plurality of displayed shared files, a file icon that graphically conveys determined permitted and not permitted access rights for a shared file; dynamically changing a displayed file icon in response to change in the permitted and not permitted access right in the access right database for a file associated with that displayed icon; and receiving instructions from an author of a file during file sharing to change a number of files in a shared folder located in a shared file database and, in response to the number of files in the shared folder located in the shared file database being changed, sending out an access right change notification to icon creation unit to acquire a status of the file access right.