INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, CONTROL METHOD THEREOF, AND STORAGE MEDIUM

• US 20090259654A1
• Filed: 03/23/2009
• Published: 10/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Yamamoto, Keiichi
• Application Number:
  US12/409,474
• Publication Number:
  US 20090259654A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/20 of structured data, e.g. relational data

Abstract

An information processing apparatus includes: a read unit adapted to read first content information in which a characteristic of first content is written; an extraction unit adapted to extract rule information in which a characteristic that is common among one or more items of second content is written by analyzing second content information in which characteristics of the second content are written; and an update unit adapted to update the first content information based on the first content information and the rule information.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus comprising:

a read unit adapted to read first content information in which a characteristic of first content is written;

an extraction unit adapted to extract rule information in which a characteristic that is common among one or more items of second content is written by analyzing second content information in which characteristics of the second content are written; and

an update unit adapted to update the first content information based on the first content information and the rule information.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising

a determination unit adapted to determine whether or not there is relevance between the first content and the one or more items of second content based on the first content information and the rule information,

wherein the update unit updates the first content information when the determination unit determines that there is relevance.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2,

wherein the determination unit determines that there is relevance when a characteristic that is the same as the first content information is written in the rule information and a characteristic that is contradictory to the first content information is not written in the rule information.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the update unit updates the first content information by adding, to the first content information, a characteristic that is not written in the first content information but is written in the rule information.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

a detection unit adapted to detect content stored in an external apparatus as the second content,

wherein the extraction unit, the determination unit and the update unit operate upon detection of the second content by the detection unit.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising:

a recording unit adapted to record a history of the first content information that has been updated by the update unit; and

a restoring unit adapted to restore details of the first content information that has been updated by the update unit to pre-update details, based on the history recorded in the recording unit.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 6,

wherein the restoring unit restores the details of the first content information when the second content is no longer detected by the detection unit.

8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising

a confirmation unit adapted to display the updated first content information on a display and confirm with a user whether or not to update the first content information.

wherein the update unit updates the first content information when the confirmation unit obtains a confirmation for the update.

9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 8,

wherein the confirmation unit displays a thumbnail image of the first content on the display for the confirmation.

10. The information processing apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising

an overwrite detection unit adapted to detect whether or not a characteristic of the first content information will be overwritten when the update unit updates the first content information,

wherein, when the overwrite detection unit detects that the characteristic of the first content information will be overwritten, the confirmation unit displays a message indicating that the characteristic of the first content information will be overwritten on the display.

11. A method for controlling an information processing apparatus comprising the steps of:

reading first content information in which a characteristic of first content is written;

extracting rule information in which a characteristic that is common among one or more items of second content is written by analyzing second content information in which characteristics of the second content are written; and

updating the first content information based on the first content information and the rule information.

12. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for allowing a computer to execute a method for controlling an information processing apparatus, the method comprising:

reading first content information in which a characteristic of first content is written;

extracting rule information in which a characteristic that is common among one or more items of second content is written by analyzing second content information in which characteristics of the second content are written; and

updating the first content information based on the first content information and the rule information.