JPH02276657A - Electronic catalog device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform automatic marking of a selected part and to eliminate marking mistake by providing an image output means for displaying an illustration, a selective part information storing means, a print output means, and a marking output means. CONSTITUTION:A display unit 6, a printer 7, and an image output means 31 for displaying an illustration of many parts onto the screen 45a of the display unit 6 are provided. Furthermore, a selective part information storing means 22 for storing information concerning to parts selected from the illustration, a print output means 33 for printing the illustration through the printer 7, and a marking output means 29 for marking the selected parts are provided. When an objective part is searched and a cursor is brought to a character affixed to the part then the entry key of a mouse 39 is depressed, a part confirmation sheet for confirming the selected part is prepared automatically on the screen 45a of the display 6 and the selected part is underlined accurately.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] Regarding an electronic catalog device using a CD-ROM or the like, an illustration displayed on the screen of a display device is printed, and parts selected in the illustration are automatically marked. The object of the present invention is to provide an electronic catalog device that can perform the following operations: a display device, a printing device, an image output means for displaying an illustration including a large number of parts on the screen of the display device, a selected part information storage means for storing information regarding the selected part in the selected part information storage means; a print output means for printing the illustration by the printing device; The present invention relates to an electronic catalog device using a CD-ROM or the like.

With the development of new media in recent years, it has become possible to easily convert vast amounts of information, including image information, into electronic files.For example, catalogs of products and parts, which used to be made up of booklets and microfilm, are now available on CD-R.
It is about to be replaced by an electronic catalog device using OM or the like.

Since such electronic catalog devices are often used by an unspecified number of people, ease of handling and
Good operability is required, such as ease of viewing or confirmation of catalog contents.

[Conventional technology]

Catalogs of products and parts are not only used for advertising to a wide range of customers, but also to facilitate the distribution of products, such as for retailers to receive orders from customers, or for retailers to order products from manufacturers. It is frequently used to carry out.

Therefore, the catalog contains image information such as photographs, drawings, or illustrations of these products and parts, as well as textual information such as the product name, product name code, product number, standard, or price of the product or parts, organized and organized. The website is designed to make it easy for customers to find products that meet their needs.

For example, automobile parts catalogs are indispensable for ordering and receiving parts at automobile repair shops and automobile parts dealers. For a large number of parts, there is a list of product name codes that spans many pages, mainly consisting of character information such as the product name of each part, the product name code for the product name, and the product number, as well as large classification groups such as car bodies and engines. It includes illustrations showing perspective views of units and exploded views of each part within a group, along with product name codes.

By referring to these product name code lists and illustrations, the person in charge of ordering and receiving parts can find the product name code or product number of the desired part.

However, since the number of parts in a car is too large,
In proportion to this, the number of types of product names is enormous, and there are also many parts with long character lengths and confusing product names (W4). Even if there is, it is not easy for the person in charge to find and select the product name code or product number of the desired part.

Therefore, by storing the contents of such a catalog on one or several CD-ROMs, it is possible to search and display the product name code of the desired part using a computer, and also to make it possible to search and display the product name code of the desired part using a computer. An electronic catalog device has been proposed in which a product number is searched from vehicle information.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In such an electronic catalog device, image information including illustrations and character information mainly consisting of characters are stored in separate CD-ROMs as an image database and a text database, respectively, and a keyboard, mouse, etc. It is conceivable that by specifying a predetermined item from an input device, data from the corresponding portion of each CD-ROM is read out and displayed on the screen of a display device.

Using such an electronic catalog device, for example, when a store representative receives an order for parts from a customer over the phone, he or she may need to collect vehicle information such as vehicle type, vehicle model, and registration date, as well as the part name or shape of the part. We obtain information about the part from the customer over the phone, such as where it is installed and where it is installed.Based on this information, we find the part that corresponds to the target part from the illustrations displayed on the screen. Select or enter the corresponding product name code or product number.

However, such electronic catalog devices check whether the part (product name code) selected on the screen correctly matches the part requested by the customer. cannot be recognized.

Therefore, the ordering error is discovered only when the ordered parts arrive at the customer's hands, resulting in problems such as a significant delay in the delivery of the correct parts and an increase in the inventory of unnecessary parts.

To prevent such problems from occurring, make a hard copy of the illustration displayed on the screen, have a person in charge manually mark the relevant parts in the hard-copied illustration, and send this to the customer. Although confirmation must be made, the marking work will place a heavy burden on the person in charge, and there is a risk that ordering operations may be disrupted due to marking errors.

In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention aims to provide an electronic catalog device that can print an illustration displayed on the screen of a display device and automatically mark selected parts in the illustration. The purpose is

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention has been made as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3.
As shown in the figure, a display device 6, a printing device 7, an image output means 31 for displaying the illustration RT including a large number of parts PT on the screen 45a of the display device 6, and the illustration 1-RT. selected parts information storage means 22 for storing information regarding the selected parts PT, print output means 33 for printing the illustration RT by the printing device 7, and a marking output means 29 for marking LU by the printing device 7 on the parts PT selected according to the information.

[For production]

An illustration RT including a large number of parts PT is displayed on the screen 45a of the display device 6 by the image output means 31,
For example, the product name code of the component PT selected from the screen is stored in the selected component information storage means 22.

The print output means 33 prints the illustration RT using the printing device 7, and the marking output means 29
Accordingly, marking is automatically performed on the selected part PT.

Marking is done, for example, by changing the printing color of the relevant part or product name code, by attaching an identification symbol near the part or product name code, or by surrounding the product name code with a frame or adding an underline LU. .

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic catalog device A according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, electronic catalog device A is a CD-ROM
Image disk 11 or text disk 1 consisting of
A CD reading section 1 reads out predetermined data from each of the CD reading sections 1 and 2.
3, 14, an image data storage section 15 that stores data read out by the CD reading section 13.14, a code data storage section 16, and a text data storage section 17, which decompresses the data stored in the image data storage section 15. Decompression processing section 18, bitmap memory I9, CR7 display section 45, CR7 in which data corresponding to the original image is developed and written based on the output data of the decompression processing section 18.
A VRAM (N image memo i month 41,
Character RAM 43, V into which character data for displaying character information is written by the CR7 display section 45
A display control section 44 that performs reading operations and switching operations from the RAM 41 or character RAM 43, a mouse 39 that selects or inputs data and commands displayed on the screen 45a of the CR7 display section 45, a printer 7, and a V.
It includes a control section 5 that controls the entire electronic catalog device A, such as writing necessary data into the RAM 41 and character RAM 43 or outputting necessary data to the printer. In addition, VRAM41, character RAM4
3, a display control section 44, and a CR7 display section 45 constitute a display device 6.

The image disk 11 includes an overall picture table of contents consisting of a plurality of perspective views of large groups such as car body engines, etc., and a structurally related table of contents that further subdivides the composition of each group appearing in each overall picture table of contents. As shown in Fig. 5, the detailed picture table of contents, which consists of a large number of outline drawings of detailed structural units, and the exploded view of the detailed structural units shown in each detailed picture table of contents, include the image header HD, image data DM, and code data. A large number of records RC configured in a DC order format are stored.

The image header HD consists of the data length of the entire record RC, the data length of each data, the number of vertical and horizontal pixels, etc.

The image data DM is an illustration (
(see FIGS. 2 and 3) is converted into an image and compressed using the MMR method or the like.

The code data DC contains the coordinate position of the illustrated character RM in the image data DM, and as shown in Fig. 6, the upper left of each illustration RT is set as the coordinate (0, O). Start coordinates of illustrated characters RM,
Consists of end coordinates, character string classification, and character code.

The illustrated characters RM include the above-mentioned overall picture table of contents, rl'', r2. , etc., FIG numbers such as rl2-34J added to the detailed table of contents, and product name codes CH such as "12345" added to each part PT in the exploded view. The upper left of the rectangle surrounding each illustration character RM is the start coordinate position, and the lower right is the end coordinate position.

Among these data continuously read out from the image disk 11, the image data DM is stored in the image data storage section 15.
Then, the code data DC is stored in the code data storage section 16, respectively.

Note that the text disk 12 stores a database consisting of files mainly containing character information such as the product name of each part PT, the product name code CH1 for the product name, and the product number for the same object as the image disk 11 described above.

Now, the control section 5 selects the coordinate detection section 38 which detects the coordinates based on the input from the mouse 39, and the illustration character RM or product name code CH based on the coordinate data from the coordinate detection section 38.
A detection and verification section 21 that detects the product name code CH detected by the detection and verification section 21, a product name buffer 22 that stores the product name code CH detected by the detection and verification section 21, and a highlighting section that outputs a signal for highlighting the product name code CH output from the detection and verification section 21. An output processing unit 23, an image output unit 31 that performs various data processing such as thinning out or partially cutting out the image data in the bitmap memory 19, and outputting the result to the VRAM 41, characters in the text data storage unit 17 or product name buffer 22; A character output section 32 outputs data in a specified format to the character RAM 43, a print output section 33 adds necessary processing to the data based on the data in the bitmap memory 19 and outputs it to a printer, and a product name buffer 22
marking output unit 2 that outputs a signal for printing the product name code CH stored in the product name code CH with an underline LU;
It consists of 9.

Of these, the image data storage section 15, bitmap memory 19, product name buffer 22, VRAM 41, and character RAM 43 are readable/writable memories (RAM).
), the code data storage section 16 and the text data storage section 17 are processed by the decompression processing section 18 using a magnetic disk device.
is a logic circuit or a dedicated IC circuit, and the control unit 5 and display control unit 44 are implemented by a CPU consisting of a microcomputer or the like.
(central processing unit), programs stored in memory, and their peripheral circuits, etc.
A keyboard (not shown) is also connected as required.

Next, the operation of the electronic catalog device A will be explained.

FIG. 2 shows an example of an exploded view displayed on the screen 45a of the CR7 display unit 45.

The exploded view FAI shown in Fig. 2 can be obtained by selecting product name code search on the menu screen (not shown), selecting FIG number r12-34J on the detailed picture table of contents, and selecting enlargement of that part. is read out from the image disk 11 and displayed.

Note that an exploded view FA is displayed in the upper right corner of the screen 45a shown in FIG.
Along with I, the product name code table GH created by the character output section 32 is displayed in a window. Also,
This exploded view FAI is a partial display of one illustration RT corresponding to FIG number r12-34J,
Using the mouse 39, it is possible to scroll only the exploded view FAI vertically and horizontally while keeping the window display fixed.

In the exploded view FAI, find the target part PT, and write the illustration character RM attached to the part PT, for example r
Move the cursor to position 12352J and use mouse 3
When the entry key 9 is pressed, the coordinates of the position of the illustration character "12352" in the illustration are detected by the coordinate detection section 38, and the coordinate data is input to the detection and verification section 21.

The detection and collation unit 21 successively compares the coordinate data input from the coordinate detection unit 38 with the start coordinates and end coordinates of the code data DC stored in the code data storage unit 16, and determines the characters of the corresponding code data DC. The code, that is, the product name code r12352J in this case, is stored in the product name buffer 22 as shown in FIG. At the same time, the highlighted display output processing section 23 outputs a signal to the image output section 31, and the product name code "12352" is displayed on the screen.
is surrounded by a frame WK colored, for example, red to highlight that it has been selected.

Further, the selected product name code r12352° and the quantity input from the keyboard (not shown) are displayed in the product name code table GH.

The screen in Figure 2 shows the product code r12352J and r12.
354J shows the state after the above selection has been made.

After the product name code CH is selected as described above, by pressing the product number translation key on the keyboard (not shown), the selected product name code CH is automatically translated into a product number by referring to the input vehicle information. Furthermore, by pressing an ordering key (not shown), the part PT of that part number is automatically ordered from the manufacturer via a communication line or the like.

Now, after the product name code CH is selected, by pressing the part 61 recognition key (not shown), the printer prints the part VIi! The certification sheet DCP is printed.

Figure 3 shows the part 6iFB printed by the printer
It is a figure showing sheet DCP.

Parts confirmation sheet) An illustration RT including the exploded view FAI displayed on the screen 45a is printed on the DCP, and the selected part PT has an underline L in its product name code CH.
It is marked by printing a U.

That is, when the above-mentioned parts confirmation key (not shown) is pressed, the marking output section 29 outputs the address of the illustration character RM of the product name code CH stored in the product name buffer 22, that is, the starting coordinate position and the rectangle surrounding the illustration character RM. The end coordinate position is input from the detection and collation unit 21, and data of an underline LU is generated at a position corresponding to the lower side of the rectangle, and outputted to the print output unit 33. The print output section 33 reads the illustration RT data from the bitmap memory 19, combines this with the underline LU data from the marking output section 29, and outputs it to the printer 7. The printer 7 prints the above-mentioned parts confirmation sheet DCP based on these data.

By having the customer check this parts confirmation sheet (DCP), it is confirmed whether the parts PT requested by the customer have been correctly ordered.

In the above embodiment, the product name code CH of the part PT
In addition to selecting on the screen 45a of the exploded view FAI, you can also select on the product name code list based on the text disk 12, or input from a keyboard (not shown). By selecting the product name code CH again with the mouse 39, the product name code CH is deleted from the product name buffer 22 and its highlighted display disappears from all screens.

According to the above embodiment, the parts confirmation sheet [)CP for confirming the parts PT selected and ordered on the screen 45a is automatically created, and the selected parts PT are underlined L.
Since the U is attached and marked accurately, the person in charge of receiving and placing orders is freed from marking work, and marking mistakes are prevented. Therefore, even if there is a mistake in the selection of parts PT, it will be detected early, and confusion in ordering and placing operations due to marking mistakes will be prevented, resulting in delays in the delivery of ordered parts and an increase in inventory of unnecessary parts. is prevented.

In the above embodiment, the component confirmation sheet (DCP) has 1
Although only a part of one illustration RT is printed, it is also possible to print the entire one illustration RT. By doing so, illustrations RT with the same FIG number can be printed.
The parts PT selected in
It can be confirmed by CP. In addition, marking methods include changing the printing color of the part PT or product name code CH, placing an identification symbol such as an asterisk near the part PT or product name code CH, or surrounding the product name code CH with a frame. Various marking methods can be employed.

In the above embodiment, the selected product name code CH is stored in the product name buffer 22, but the product name or its coordinate position may also be stored together with or in place of the product name code CH. You can also use it as

In the above embodiment, a case was explained in which the representations of the illustration characters RM and product name code CH are the same. It may be characters or a product name code.

Furthermore, the configurations of the image data DM, code data DC, illustration RT, exploded view FAI, parts PT, other illustrations, character displays, etc. are arbitrary.

Furthermore, the entire electronic catalog device A or the configuration of each part thereof can have various configurations other than those described above, and the present invention can also be applied to parts or products other than automobiles.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, marking for confirming selected parts is automatically performed, and marking mistakes are prevented. Therefore, even if there is a mistake in component selection, this can be detected early, and confusion in business operations caused by marking mistakes can be prevented.

Therefore, when the present invention is used, for example, to order parts, it becomes easy to confirm whether the parts requested by the customer have been correctly ordered, and to prevent delays in delivery of ordered parts and inventory of unnecessary parts. Increases will be prevented as much as possible.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic catalog device according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an exploded diagram displayed on the screen of a CRT display section, and Fig. 3 is a diagram showing parts &! printed by a printer. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of the product name buffer, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the format of data stored on the image disk, and FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the format of code data. In the figure, A is an electronic catalog device, RT is an illustration, FAI is an exploded view (illustration), PT is a part, LU is an underline (marking), 6 is a display device, 7 is a printer (printing device), 22 is a product name buffer (selected parts information storage means), 29 is a marking output section (marking output means), 31 is an image output section (image output means), 33 is a print output section (print output means), and 45a is a screen. (No change in content) 1st drawing showing the parts confirmation sheet printed by the LU-underline printer 1st drawing showing the structure of the product name buffer 1st drawing showing the format of the data stored in the image disk Figure 5 shows the format of the code data Figure 6 Procedural amendments (August 27, 1999 l. 1999 Patent Application No. 91060 2゜Name of the invention Electronic catalog device 3゜Amendment) Relationship with cases involving persons who commit

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A display device (6), a printing device (7), and an image output for displaying an illustration (RT) including a large number of parts (PT) on the screen (45a) of the display device (6). means (31); selected part information storage means (22) for storing information regarding a selected part (PT) in the illustration (RT); and printing of the illustration (RT) by the printing device (7). Print output means (33) for
and marking output means (29) for marking (LU) using the printing device (7) on a part (PT) selected according to the information stored in the selected part information storage means (22). An electronic catalog device comprising: