Data management apparatus

Claim 2

A data management apparatus having a display (11), comprising: first input means (3) for entering a plurality of image data; first memory means (7) for storing the plurality of image data entered by said first input means; second input means (5) for entering at least one attribute name which indicates a feature of each of said plurality of image data stored in said first memory means and displayed on said display; classification name supplying means (15) for supplying a classification name which has a highest correlation with the attribute name entered by said second input means; and second memory means (9) for storing the attribute name entered by said second input means and the classification name from said classification name supplying means so as to correspond to said each of image data stored in said first memory means.

Claim 3

An apparatus according to claim 1, characterized by further comprising classification system storage means (111) for storing a plurality of sets of attribute names, each set being provided to represent the classification name supplied from said classification name supplying means.

Claim 4

An apparatus according to claim 1, characterized by further comprising selecting means for normalizing frequencies of a plurality of attribute names by a total sum of the frequencies when the plurality of attribute names are entered, and for selecting classification names having higher frequencies of the attribute names, the number of the selected classification names corresponding to the number of the attribute names entered by said second input means.

Claim 5

An apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said classification name supplying means has a threshold level for a frequency of the atrribute name when said classification name supplying means searches for the classification name which has the highest correlation with the entered attribute name, and the classification name is selected when the frequency exceeds the threshold level.

Claim 6

An apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said second storage means comprises a document management data table which is constituted by fields of a document number, a classification number corresponding to the document number, a plurality of attribute numbers corresponding to the classification number, a start address at which document image data coresponding to the document number is stored in said first storage means, and a document image size.

Claim 7

An apparatus according to claim 5, characterized by further comprising: a classification name table having the classification number and the classification name corresponding to the classification number; an attribute name table having the attribute number and the attribute name corresponding to the attribute number; and an attribute frequency table having the classification number and the frequencies of the plurality of attribute names corresponding to the classification number.

Claim 8

An apparatus according to claim 6, characterized in that said classification name supplying means refers to the attribute frequency table, adds the frequencies of the attribute numbers in units of attribute names, and selects at least one classification number corresponding to the highest attribute frequency whose sum is largest.

Claim 9

An apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that when an operator cannot think of the attribute name at the time of entering the attribute name at said second input means, a plurality of attribute name candidates stored in said second storage means are displayed on said display, whereby the operator can select and enter a proper attribute name with reference to display contents.

Claim 10

An apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that said classification name supplying means calculates similarities between the entered attribute names and the attribute names stored in said classification system storage means in units of classification names, and extracts the classification name of the document image in accordance with calculation results.

Claim 11

An apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that the plurality of sets of attribute names stored in said classification system storage means so as to represent the classification name are ordered from a set having the highest correlation with the classification name, a degree of correlation being represented by weighting with weighting coefficients in such a manner that a sum of the weighting coefficients becomes 1.00, and the weighting coefficient of an nth (where n is 0 to (N - 1)) attribute name is given when a given classification name is represented by N attribute names as:

Claim 12

An apparatus according to claim 9, characterized in that the plurality of attribute names which represent the classification name are ordered starting from an attribute name having the highest correlation with the classification name, a degree of correlation being represented by weighting with weighting coef- fecients of the attribute names in such a manner that a sum of the weighting coefficients becomes 1.00, a weighting coefficient xi of an nth (where x is 0 to (N - 1)) attribute name being defined when the classification name is represented by N attribute names as: xi = 2(N - n)/{N(N + 1)} and a similarity between an ith attribute name of an input attribute name pattern and a jth attribute name of the attribute name pattern stored in said classification system storage means is given as a sum of evaluation values between every two adjacent attribute names when weighting coefficients of the ith and jth attribute names are respectively defined as xi and yj given by:

Claim 13

An apparatus according to claim 2, characterized by further comprising updating means for setting weighting coefficients of the respective attribute names stored in said second storage means, calculating a sum of the weighting coefficients, normalizing the sum to obtain a new attribute name pattern which optimally represents the classification name, displaying the new attribute name pattern on said display, and updating a content of said classification system storage means when an updating command is entered.