JPH08292949A - Document processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To prepare an electronic compound document as if documents of paper media were pasted and electronically handle the prepared compound document like a document of a paper medium. CONSTITUTION: The document processor which prepare the compound document by composing and outputting document data of plural document elements is equipped with an actual data generating means 11 which generates document data of respective document elements and actual data including kind information, a relation data generating means 12 which generates relation data prescribing the relation among the document elements to be put together, and a parameter register 10 which holds composition conditions of the document elements according to the kinds of the document elements, and an editing means 13 relates the actual data of a couple of document elements on the basis of the kind information and composition conditions according to the relation data. This setting of the composition conditions avoids an impracticable composition process such as the pasting of a document on a tag. Further, display conditions are held in the parameter register 10 and the display output forms of document elements are variously set according to the display conditions.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a document processing apparatus for synthesizing a plurality of document elements to create a compound document, and more particularly to a document processing apparatus for controlling the composition relationship and display relationship of document elements.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-63242 discloses a compound document in which a plurality of document elements composed of electronic data are combined.
A document processing device disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 124224 is known. This document processing device uses text, graphs, tables,
This is to create a compound document composed of various types of document data such as figures. By defining rectangular areas of document elements composed of the same kind of document data, and arranging these rectangular areas in one virtual plane I am creating a compound document consisting of the following document elements. In addition to the document data (actual data) of each rectangular area, a header unit including coordinates of the rectangular area on the virtual plane, an address storing the document data of the rectangular area, and a pointer to the next rectangular area is stored in the storage device. It is stored so that the document data can be handled in units of rectangular areas.

Further, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-310176, there is also known a document processing apparatus for pasting a sticky note (document element) on a document. This document processing device pastes a sticky note made of image data onto a document made up of image data, and sticks the sticky note out of the document. In addition, a plurality of documents to which the sticky notes are attached are bundled and displayed on the screen, and the protruding portions of the sticky notes attached to the lower document are also displayed.

[0004]

Here, along with the diversification of information media in recent years, the usage forms of electronic compound documents handled by document processing devices are diversifying, and it is as if the documents were paper media. It is required that an electronic compound document is created as if pasting together and that the created compound document can be handled electronically like a paper medium document. For example, when attempting to realize not only a form in which a plurality of paper documents are pasted together to create one compound document but also a form in which a document element such as a sticky note or a bookmark is attached to a document in a paper medium with an electronic document In addition, it is necessary to create a compound document by superimposing other electronic document elements on an already created electronic document element at any time, just as if the paper document is pasted. is there.

Further, it becomes clear whether or not the document elements may be pasted in the composite document in which the paper medium documents are combined, but in the electronic composite document, the user clarifies such a pastability / non-pasting relationship. Can't figure out. For example, pasting a document element of a tag type to the original document element to be pasted is routinely performed, but pasting is not performed in the opposite relationship. However, when processing a compound document composed of electronic data,
Since the document elements can be freely pasted and displayed as they are, the combined compound document may be in a different form from the paper medium document.

In view of the above-mentioned circumstances, in the above-mentioned conventional document processing apparatus (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-124224), the document elements are arranged in a plane without overlapping the virtual plane. This is to create a compound document, and it has not been possible to realize a usage form like a paper medium in which a document element is later pasted at an arbitrary position as needed. In addition, the compound document synthesized in this way in a plane is
Since another document element is converted into image data or the like which can be displayed and output by the application of the parent document element, there is also an inconvenience that it is not possible to edit these other document elements later.

Further, in this document processing apparatus, a header portion is provided for actual data so that the document data can be handled in document element units. However, this header portion only has position information and a pointer to the next document element. However, as described above, it is not possible for the document processing apparatus to quickly determine and process what role each document element is combined with.

Further, in the above-mentioned conventional document processing apparatus (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-310176), since the document of the image data and the sticky note are simply pasted together, the document is pasted to the sticky note. There is a case where a pasting process, which is not performed on a daily basis, is performed, and a document that is about different from a paper medium document is created. Further, in this document processing apparatus, when the documents are bundled and displayed in an overlapping manner, the sticky notes attached to the lower layer documents are always displayed, but it is desired to arbitrarily change the display mode from the convenience of using the documents. There was a request.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional circumstances, and an electronic compound document is created as if the documents on paper media are pasted together, and the created compound document is electronically processed like a document on paper media. It is an object of the present invention to provide a document processing device that can be handled as desired. Further, the present invention provides a document processing apparatus that enables the display mode of a compound document to be selected by utilizing the characteristics of electronic data, and allows the electronic compound document to be handled more conveniently than a paper medium document. The purpose is to do.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, a document processing apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention synthesizes document data of a plurality of document elements in a document creation area to output a compound document. In the document processing device to create,
A real data creating means for creating real data including document data and type information of each document element, a relational data creating means for creating relational data defining a relationship between document elements to be composed, and a composition between document elements A combination condition holding unit that holds the condition according to the type of the document element, and an editing unit that associates the actual data of the pair of document elements via the relational data based on the type information and the combination condition are provided. Characterize.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the document processing apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the synthesizing condition holding means can change the synthesizing condition based on an external input. To do.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the document processing apparatus according to the first or second aspect, wherein the editing means has a combination condition in which a pair of document elements to be associated with each other are different in composition condition. One of the combining conditions is selected based on the preset condition, and the associating process is performed.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a document processing apparatus for producing a compound document by synthesizing and outputting document data of a plurality of document elements within a document producing area. Real data creating means for creating real data including document data, relational data creating means for creating relational data defining relationships between document elements to be combined, and real data of a pair of document elements via the relational data. An edit means for associating, an output condition holding means for holding an output condition of the document element, and an output means for outputting a compound document composed of actual data associated by the relational data based on the output condition. To do.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the document processing apparatus according to the fourth aspect, the output condition holding means can change the output condition based on an external input. To do.

[0015]

According to the document processing apparatus of the present invention, the actual data creating means includes the application data depending on the document creating application, the display data not depending on the document creating application, and the actual data including the type information of the document element. Data is created for each document element. Also,
The relational data creating means creates the relational data between the document elements such as the composition position (superimposition position), whether or not the position can be changed, and whether the composed document element is a text or a comment.
The actual data and the relational data are stored in the storage means as independent data units.

Here, in the case of performing document processing for changing the configuration of a compound document by pasting another document element on a certain document element, the editing means converts the actual data of a pair of document elements via the relational data. The associating process is performed. In this process, the possibility of associating is determined based on the type information of the actual data and the synthesizing condition held in the synthesizing condition holding means. Therefore, the process of attaching a document on a sticky note is avoided by setting the composition condition.

In the document processing apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, the composition condition stored in the composition condition storage means can be changed based on an external input, and the user can arbitrarily change the composition condition as needed. I am trying to get it done. Further, in the document processing apparatus according to the third aspect, when the pair of document elements to be associated with each other have different combining conditions, the editing unit selects one of the combining conditions based on a preset condition and performs the associating process. I do. For example, when an original document is to be pasted on a sticky note, a composition condition that allows some document elements to be pasted on the sticky note and a composition condition that prohibits the original document from being pasted on the sticky note When there is, the process of pasting the original document on the sticky note by preferentially applying the prohibition condition is not performed.

Further, in the document processing apparatus according to the fourth aspect, when a document element is pasted with another document element to form a compound document and the compound document is displayed on a display or the like and output, the output means is used. The output processing of the composite document including the actual data associated with is performed. In this processing, the output mode of each document element is determined based on the output condition held in the output condition holding means. Therefore, for example, when a plurality of compound documents are bundled and displayed in an overlapping manner, whether or not to display the sticky note attached to the compound document in the lower layer is selected by setting the output condition.

In the document processing apparatus according to the present invention, the output condition held in the output condition holding means can be changed on the basis of the input from the outside, and the user or the APL program can set the combining condition as necessary. It can be changed arbitrarily.

[0020]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a document processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The document processing apparatus of this embodiment is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, an external storage device 1 that holds data regarding a compound document, an editing unit 2 that performs various document processes regarding the compound document, a display unit 3 that performs a process for outputting the compound document, and a screen A display device 4 for actually displaying and outputting a composite document by display or printing on a paper medium, and an input unit 5 for inputting various requests from a user.

A number of document creation applications 7 are stored in the storage device 1, and various types of document elements such as texts, graphs, tables and figures are created by these applications 7. Further, the storage device 1 stores the document data (application data) 8 of the document element created by the application 7, and further stores the data 9 regarding the compound document. The application data 8 is document data that depends on the application used to create the document element, and the editing process can be performed later by using the application. Further, the compound document data 9 is data of a compound document formed by superposing each document element, and includes actual data of each document element and relational data defining mutual relation between the document elements as described later. .

Further, the storage device 1 has a parameter ledger 10
Is stored, and as shown in FIG. 6, the composition condition and the display condition corresponding to the type of the document element are stored. In the example shown in FIG. 6A, the composition conditions of the pasting target, the document element, and the pasting target document element are defined in association with each other, and the type of the original document “MP” is defined. A composition condition that allows a document element of the type “sticky note” to be pasted out and pasted to the document element is defined, and conversely, a type of “MP” is added to the document element of the type “sticky note”. The composition condition that prohibits pasting the document element is specified.

Further, as a display condition, the document element of the type "sticky note" which is pasted and pasted to the document element of the type "MP" is stipulated to be always displayed. It is stipulated that, when a plurality of compound documents are bundled and displayed in an overlapping manner, the sticky note attached to the compound document in the lower layer is also displayed and output on the display device 4.
When the display condition is “surface display”, when a plurality of compound documents are bundled and displayed in an overlapping manner, only the sticky notes attached to the compound document of the uppermost layer (cover) are displayed on the display device 4. It is specified to be displayed and output.

Further, in the example shown in FIG. 6B, the composition conditions for the attachment target and the attachment target are defined for each type. For example, the original document "M" is specified.
When the document element of the type “P” is a pasting target, it is specified that some document element is allowed to stick out and be pasted, and that the document element itself is prohibited to be pasted. As a condition, the document element pasted and pasted to the document element of the type "MP" is "
Always displayed ”.

The parameter ledger 10 in which such composition conditions and display conditions are stored can be rewritten by an operation from the input unit 5, and the user operates the input unit 5 to perform the composition condition held in the parameter ledger 10. The display conditions can be changed arbitrarily.

The editing unit 2 performs an actual data creation unit 11 that creates actual data of each document element, a relational data creation unit 12 that creates relational data between document elements, and document processing such as configuration change for a compound document. Editing unit 1 using relational data
3, a data processing unit 14 for inputting / outputting data to / from the storage device 1, the display unit 3, and the input unit 5, and whether or not to perform a compositing process between document elements based on a compositing condition stored in the parameter ledger 10. And a determination unit 15 for performing the determination.

The display unit 3 performs a process of superposing actual data of a plurality of document elements in the document creation area based on the relational data, and the display device 4 displays and outputs the compound document according to the result of this process. Further, the display unit 3 is provided with a determination unit 16 that determines whether or not the document element display output processing is possible based on the display conditions stored in the parameter ledger 10.
The display output process by the display unit 3 is controlled by this determination result.

In this embodiment, the compound document 2 as shown in FIG.
1 is created and further processed such as editing. In this compound document 21, document elements A, B, C, D and E are superimposed and combined. The document element A is a text document created by a text creating application that constitutes a word processor, and is a document element of type “MP” that is the source of a compound document, that is, a so-called parent document. Further, the document elements B, C, and D are so-called child documents that are superimposed on the document element A, the document element B is a graph document created by an application that creates a chart, and the document elements C and D are graphic creation. It is a graphic document created by an application.
Also, the document element E is a so-called grandchild document that is superimposed on the document element B, and is a text document created by a text creating application. These document elements B,
C, D, and E are document elements whose types are "image", "sticky note", "recognition mark", and "overwrite", respectively.

As shown in FIG. 3, the actual data of each document element A to E is created as an actual data frame,
The relationship data between the document element A and the document elements B to D and between the document element B and the document element E are created as a relationship data frame. The actual data frame has a data string that contains the actual data and a retained data string that contains a pointer to the related data frame. In the data string, the creation environment such as the creator of the document element, the creation date and time, the name of the creation application used to create the document element, the display data converted into the format that does not depend on the creation application, and the creation application Application data, document element type information, and the like. Further, the held data sequence can include a plurality of pointers, and are associated with the relational data frames of other document elements that are superimposed via the respective pointers.

The display data is obtained by converting the document data into display data of a uniform format such as PostScript language (PostScript: registered trademark) using the print function of the creation application, and does not use the creation application. Both can be displayed and printed with the display data. In this embodiment, the display data is bitmap data, and the output of the document element can be realized but the editing of the document element cannot be realized. On the other hand, the application data is document data that depends on the creating application, and by starting the creating application, editing of the document element can be realized using the application data.

The relational data frame also has a data string containing substantial data and a retained data string containing pointers to document elements. The data string includes the pasting position of the document element, the pasting size, the pasting role of what the document element has in the compound document, the overlapping order when the document elements are superposed, and the like. Further, the held data string includes a single pointer, and is associated with the actual data frame of the corresponding document element via this pointer.

FIG. 4 shows the structure of the compound document 21 of this embodiment and the relationship between the actual data frame and the relational data frame. Conceptually, the document elements A to E are respectively formed on the virtual document creation area 22, and the document elements A to E are formed by overlapping these document creation areas 22.
A composite document 21 is created by superimposing the above. The actual data frame 23 of the parent document element A is the child document element B
To D actual data frames 24 to 26 are associated with each other via relational data frames 27 to 29, and the actual data frame 30 of the document element E superimposed on the document element B is a document via the relational data frame 31. It is associated with the actual data frame 24 of element B.

The above-mentioned actual data frame and the related data frame are associated with each other by a pointer, and the pointer is traced from a certain actual data frame to access another actual data frame which is superimposed via the related data frame. can do. The actual data frame and the relational data frame that are associated with each other constitute the compound document data 9 as a whole, and each of the actual data frame and the relational data frame is stored in the storage device 1 as an independent data unit associated with the pointer. It is stored and can be read and written for each data unit.

As shown in FIG. 5, in the actual data frames 23 to 26 and 30 of the document elements A to E, the creation environment,
Along with the display data and application data, the created application name used to create the document element is included as “text”, “figure”, “figure”, “figure”, and “text”. Furthermore, the actual data frames 23 to 2
6 and 30, the type information of each document element A to E is "M
P "," image "," sticky note "," recognition mark "," overwrite "
Included as. Further, in the relational data frames 27 to 29 between the actual data frame 23 and the actual data frames 24 to 26, and in the relational data frame 31 between the actual data frame 24 and the actual data frame 30, the pasting position and the pasting size are set. , The sticking role is included with the stacking order.

That is, in the relational data frame 27, the document element B is pasted on the document element A in the second overlapping order, and it is prohibited to move the pasting position of the document element B later. It includes data indicating that the text of the document 21 is formed. Also, the relational data frame 28
The document element C is pasted on the document element A in the overlapping order, and the document element C includes data indicating that the comment of the compound document 21 is made. Further, in the relational data frame 29, the document element D is pasted on the document element A in the overlapping order of 0, and it is prohibited to change the content of the document element D later. It contains data indicating that it forms 21 texts. Further, the document element E is pasted on the document element B in the relational data frame 31 in the overlapping order of 0, the moving of the pasting position of the document element E is prohibited, and the document element E is combined. It includes data indicating that the text of the document 21 is formed.

The text in the above-mentioned pasting role is a document element which is essential for the structure and constitutes the text of the compound document 21.
This means that the document element is always displayed in the compound document 21. Further, the comment is not an essential document element in the compound document 21 itself, such as a sticky note attached to the compound document, but the compound document 2 is instructed by the user or the like.
1 means that the document element is selectively displayed.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 1 and 5, the process of creating the compound document data 9 by the document processing apparatus having the above-described configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. First,
The actual data creation unit 11 reads the application data 8 of the document element A, activates the document creation application 7 that created the document element A, and creates display data from the application data 8 using the printing function of the application 7. . Then, the actual data creation unit 1
1 prepares an actual data frame, and adds the application data 8 and the display data to the actual data frame together with the creation environment and the created application name “text”, and the type information “MP” of the document element A, and the document element The actual data frame 23 of A is created.

Similarly, for the document element D, the actual data creating section 11 creates the display data of the document element D, and creates the application data 8 and the display data of the document element D in the creation environment or created application name "graphics". ",
Further, the real data frame 26 of the document element D is created by adding it to the real data frame prepared together with the type information “identification mark” of the document element D. Next, the relational data creation unit 1
2 prepares a relational data frame, and adds a superimposition relation (pasting position, pasting size, pasting role, etc.) based on a user instruction from the input unit 5 to this relational data frame. Further, the editing unit 12 connects this relational data frame to the actual data frames 23 and 26 with a pointer, and the document element A
A relational data frame 29 between the document element D and the document element D is created. As a result, the document element D is superimposed and combined on the document element A as a document having a position and size defined by the relational data frame 29 and forming a text whose content is prohibited to be changed.

Next, a process of displaying and outputting the compound document 21 by the document processing apparatus having the above-mentioned configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 4 and 7. First, when a display instruction is input from the input unit 5, the data processing unit 14 reads the compound document data 9 from the storage device 1 and transfers it to the display unit 3. The display unit 3 extracts the actual data frame 23 in the lowest layer in the related system of the data frame from the composite document data 9, extracts the display data from the actual data frame 23, and displays the document element A on the display device 4. (Step S1).

Next, the display unit 3 sets the variable K representing the number of relational data frames to the initial value "1" (step S
2) The pointer is traced from the actual data frame 23 and the number of relational data frames included in the received compound document data 9 is compared with the variable K (step S3). As a result, if the variable K exceeds the number of received related data frames, the processing ends because there is no data frame to be processed, while if the variable K is less than or equal to the number of related data frames, the display is Part 3 extracts the relation information from the Kth relation data frame (step S
4) It is determined whether or not the role of being a comment is described in this related information, and whether or not there is a designation from the input unit 5 that the comment document is not displayed (step S5).

As a result, if there is a comment role or there is a designation of non-display, the variable K is incremented by 1 and the processing from step S3 onward is repeated (step S6), while there is no comment role. If there is no designation of non-display, the display unit 3 creates an area for displaying the document element in the document creation area 22 based on the relationship information, such as the position, size, and transparent state of drawing (step S7). Next, the display unit 3 traces the pointer from the relational data frame to extract the corresponding actual data frame (step S8), extracts the display data from this actual data frame, and causes the display device 4 to display the document element (step S9). .

That is, by the above processing, the document element A is first displayed, and subsequently, the document elements B to E are sequentially displayed based on the respective relation information. Then, in this display, when the role as a comment is described in the relational data frame, it is determined whether or not the corresponding document element is displayed according to the user instruction from the input unit 5.

Next, the processing for changing the contents of the respective document elements A to E in the document processing apparatus having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS.
Will be described with reference to. First, when an instruction for designating a document element and changing the content is input from the input unit 5, the editing unit 13 checks the related data frame of the designated document element from the compound document data 9 to determine the content. It is determined whether change prohibition is set (step S10).
As a result, if the change is prohibited, the process is terminated as it is, while if the change is not prohibited, the editing unit 13 traces the pointer to extract the actual data frame corresponding to the relational data frame from the compound document data 9 and execute the actual data frame. The data is delivered to the data creation unit 11 (step S11).

The actual data creation unit 11 extracts the application name that created the corresponding document element from the actual data frame (step S12), and uses this application name to extract the corresponding document creation application 7 from the storage device 1 (step S13). ). In this case, if the corresponding document creation application cannot be found from the application name, the process is terminated (step S14). Next, the actual data creation unit 1
1 retrieves application data from the actual data frame (step S15) and supplies this application data to the document creation application 7
Is started (step S16), and the application data is changed by rewriting or editing based on the user input from the input unit 5.

When the document creation application is terminated and the application data is changed (step S1)
7) The actual data creation unit 11 creates display data from the application data using the print function of the document creation application (step S18), and updates the actual data frame with these application data and display data (step S19). ), And stores this actual data frame in the storage device 1 with the original association by the pointer. That is, the document elements A, B, and
The contents of C and E can be changed arbitrarily. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5, for the document element D, the content change prohibition is set in the relational data frame 29.
The contents are not changed in the above processing.

Therefore, by setting the content change prohibition in the relational data frame, it can be specified that the corresponding document element has a role that cannot be arbitrarily changed in the compound document, and this setting exists. Depending on whether or not the writing is performed by a writing instrument (for example, a pencil) that can be rewritten with a paper medium document or a writing portion that is not rewritable (for example, a fountain pen), it can be electronically handled.

Next, the process of changing the position and size of each document element A to E in the document processing apparatus having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS.
And FIG. 9 will be described. First, when an instruction to specify a document element and to change the document element is input from the input unit 5, whether the instruction input by the editing unit 13 is to change the position of the document element (step S20) or the document element Is it related to the size change (step S
21) is judged. Next, the editing unit 13 checks the relational data frame of the specified document element from the compound document data 9, and if the instruction is to change the position, determines whether movement prohibition is set (step S22), If it is a size change instruction, it is determined whether the size change prohibition is set (step S23).

As a result, even if there is a request instruction from the user, if the prohibition is set in the related data frame, the processing is ended as it is. On the other hand, when the setting for prohibiting the position change instruction is not made, the relational data creation unit 12 changes the pasting position information of the relational data frame based on the user input from the input unit 5 (step S24). If the setting for prohibiting the size change instruction is not made, the relational data creation unit 12 changes the pasting size information of the relational data frame based on the user input from the input unit 5 (step S
24).

That is, the size of the document elements B to E in the compound document 21 can be arbitrarily changed by the user by the above processing. Further, the positions of the document elements C and D in the compound document 21 can be arbitrarily changed by the user, but for the document elements B and E, the movement prohibition is set in the related data frames 27 and 31. It cannot be repositioned. Since these changing processes can be performed by changing only the related data frame without analyzing the actual data frame, they can be performed easily and quickly.

By setting the position and size of the relational data frame to be prohibited as described above, the corresponding document element has a role that cannot be arbitrarily changed in the compound document. If this setting does not exist, it is possible to handle electronically as if it is a document part that is glued with a paper medium and cannot be peeled off, or a document part that can be easily peeled off such as sticky notes. Will be realized.

Next, the process of changing the configuration of the compound document including the document elements A to E in the document processing apparatus having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 5 and 10. An example is described in which the actual data frame 27 of the document element B is separated from the actual data frame 23 of the document element A and is replaced with the actual data frame 25 of the document element C that maintains the relationship with the document elements A and E. To do. First, when an instruction to replace the document element B to be changed with the document element C is input from the input unit 5, the editing unit 13 checks the relational data frame 27 of the document element B in the compound document data 9 ( In step S30), it is determined whether the prohibition of the relationship change is set (step S31).

As a result, the document element B becomes the current document element A.
If it is prohibited to change the superimposition relationship with the, the process is terminated. On the other hand, when the change is not prohibited, the editing unit 13 determines that the actual data frame 2 of the document element A
The pointer from 3 to the relational data frame 27 is removed (step S32), and a pointer area is provided in the holding frame sequence of the actual data frame 25 of the document element C which is a new superimposition partner (step S33). Next, the editing unit 13 sets a pointer from the actual data frame 25 to the relational data frame 27 of the document element B (step S34), updates this superimposition relation to the composite document data 9, and ends the processing.

That is, the document elements B and E, which have been pasted on the document element A, are pasted on the document element C by the above processing, and the structure of the compound document 21 is changed. Since this changing process can be performed by changing only the related data frame without analyzing the actual data frame, it is performed easily and quickly. Further, by the configuration change as described above, it is possible to electronically realize arbitrary attachment of document portions as if they were paper documents.

Next, FIG. 1 and FIG. 11 to FIG. 16 show a case where the document element A which is the source of the compound document of the type "MP" is pasted (combined) with the document element C having the type as a sticky note.
Will be described with reference to. When the pasting process is started based on the instruction from the input unit 5, the actual data frame process on the pasting side (document element C) (step S41) and the actual data frame process on the pasting side (document element A) (step S42). ), A process of synthesizing these paired document elements A and C (step S
43) is sequentially performed.

Actual data frame processing on the pasting side (step S
41), as shown in FIG. 12, the determination unit 15 determines whether the input unit 5 has instructed to select the document element (C) on the pasting side (step S51), and the editing unit 13 has instructed to select the document. The actual data frame of the element is specified from within the compound document data 9 (step S52), and a reference symbol (F1) is attached to this actual data frame (step S53). That is, regarding the actual data frame in the compound document data 9,
The actual data frame of the document element C selected and designated as the pasting side is specified.

In the pasting-side actual data frame processing (step S42), the judging unit 15 judges whether the input side 5 has instructed to select the pasting-side document element (A) as shown in FIG. Then, the editing unit 13 specifies the actual data frame of the document element selected and instructed from the composite document data 9 (step S62), and attaches a reference symbol (F2) to this actual data frame (step S6).
3). That is, for the actual data frame in the composite document data 9, the document element A selected and designated as the pasted side
Specify the actual data frame of.

The synthesizing process (step S43) is performed as shown in FIG. 14, and it is determined whether the input unit 5 gives an instruction to synthesize the pasting-side document element C with the pasting-side document element A. 15 makes a decision (step S71), and if the synthesis instruction is given, the editing unit 13 makes the reference symbol F
The actual data frames indicated by 1 and F2 are read from the compound document data 9 and acquired (step S7).
2, S73). Then, the determination unit 15 determines, based on the type information stored in each of the actual data frames and the combination condition stored in the parameter ledger 10,
A process of determining whether or not it is permitted to paste the document element C into the document element A by associating these actual data frames with each other (step S74).

As a result of this composition judgment processing, when it is permitted to paste the document element C to the document element A in the manner designated by the user (step S75), the relational data is created according to the position designated by the user. The unit 12 creates a relational data frame (step S76), and the editing unit 13 connects the respective actual data frames indicated by reference symbols F1 and F2 via the relational data frame in association with each other (step S77). Then, the display processing described with reference to FIG. 7 is performed on the basis of the data thus associated, and the composite document in which the sticky note document element C is sticked out from the display device 4 to the document element A and displayed is output. (Step S78).

Here, when sticking out the sticky note document element C onto the document element A as described above and pasting it, the judgment unit 15 judges whether or not the combination is possible based on the type information and the combination condition (step S74). , In the display process (step S78), the determination unit 16 determines, based on the display condition, how the sticky note document element C sticking out and pasted is displayed and output.

The synthesizing determination process (step S74) is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the composition condition stored in the parameter ledger 10 may be searched by the type information of the actual data frames of the reference symbols F1 and F2, and the sticky note document element C may be protruded and pasted to the document element A. Is it allowed or even
Determine in what manner the permission is granted (step S
81, S82).

That is, for the sticky note document element C, for example, the sticky note document element C cannot be pasted on the document element A according to the set combining condition, and the sticky note document element C can be pasted on the document element A. The sticky note document element C can be attached but cannot be pasted outside the frame of the document element A.
It is judged that the frame can be pasted even if it sticks out of the frame. Regarding the document element A, for example, the sticky note document element C cannot be pasted on the document element A, and the sticky note document element C can be pasted on the document element A according to the set synthesis condition. Sticky document element C is placed on top of document element A, which does not allow the frame A to be projected.
Is judged to be attached even if it extends out of the frame.

Then, according to the above judgment result, the above-mentioned synthesizing process (steps S76 and S77) is performed.
If the determination results for each document element are in conflict, the editing unit 13 arbitrates these determination results (step S83),
The combining process is executed according to one of the combining conditions. For example, the determination result for the sticky note document element C is "it can be pasted even if the frame extends over the document element A", and the determination result for the document element A is "the sticky note document element C is on the document element A. If it cannot be pasted ", the editing unit 13 selects the prohibition condition side and prohibits the process of pasting the sticky note document element C on the document element A in the combining process. It should be noted that the standard for this arbitration is preset in the editing unit 13, but various standards may be set as necessary such as not only giving priority to the prohibition condition but also giving priority to the permission condition.

The determination process in the display process (step S78) is performed when a plurality of compound documents P1 to P3 are bundled and displayed in an overlapping manner as shown in (a) of FIG. When the compound document P1 pasted out and pasted is turned over to form a lower layer, (b) in FIG.
The determination unit 16 determines whether to display the sticky note F as shown in FIG. 4 or not to display the sticky note F as shown in FIG.

That is, in this determination process, as shown in FIG. 16, it is determined whether or not an instruction to bundle and display a plurality of compound documents is issued from the input unit 5 (step S9).
1) In the case where a thickness display instruction for bundling and displaying a plurality of composite documents is specified, the display unit 3 draws the composite document by shifting the frame, and the content is displayed in the top document frame. Is also drawn and displayed and output on the display device 4 as if a plurality of documents were overlaid (step S92).

Then, whether or not to display the sticky note document element F is determined for the bundle of compound documents displayed in an overlapping manner based on the display condition of the parameter ledger 10 (step S).
93), in the case of "always displayed", the sticky note F attached to the compound document in the lower layer is also displayed and output on the display device 4 as shown in (b) of FIG. 17 (step S94).
17C, the sticky note F attached to the compound document in the lower layer is not displayed and output on the display device 4 (step S95). The display conditions are as described above. In addition, various conditions can be set as necessary, such that the sticky note F is not displayed and only the protruding portion of the sticky note F is not displayed.

[0066]

As described in detail above, according to the document processing apparatus of the present invention, an electronic compound document is created as if the documents of the paper medium are pasted together, and the created compound document is stored in the paper medium. It can be handled electronically like a document, and further,
The display mode of the compound document can be selected by utilizing the characteristic of the electronic data, and the electronic compound document can be handled more conveniently than the paper medium document.

That is, according to the document processing apparatus of the first aspect, the actual data of the pair of document elements are associated with each other based on the type information and the composition condition via the relational data. It is possible to realize the compound document processing in the form of a paper medium document by avoiding the unrealistic processing in which the document is decided and the document is pasted on the sticky note.

According to the document processing apparatus of claim 2,
Since the user can change the composition conditions arbitrarily,
It is possible to compose a compound document having an aspect according to need.
Further, according to the document processing apparatus of claim 3, when the composition conditions between the document elements are different in the association processing,
Since these are arbitrated and one of the combining conditions is selected to perform the associating process, the associating process is performed under the optimal combining condition even if the individual combining conditions are set independently. The setting work of can be done freely.

According to the document processing apparatus of claim 4,
Since a compound document consisting of actual data related by relational data is output based on the output condition,
Various display modes of the compound document can be set by utilizing the characteristics of electronic data. Further, according to the document processing apparatus of the fifth aspect, the output condition can be arbitrarily changed by the user, so that the compound document can be displayed and output in a mode as necessary.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a document processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the structure of a compound document.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing configurations of an actual data frame and a relational data frame.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing a relationship between a document element and a data frame.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing a structure of a compound document in a data frame.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of stored contents of a parameter ledger.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a display output process of a compound document.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart related to a document element content change process.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart relating to processing for changing the position and size of a document element.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart relating to a configuration change process of a compound document.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a document element pasting process.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart relating to paste-side actual data frame processing.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart relating to the paste-side actual data frame process.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart relating to a combining process.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of a combination determination process.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of display determination processing.

FIG. 17 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a display mode of a sticky note attached.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 ... Compound document editing unit, 3 ... Display unit, 5 ...
Input unit, 10 ... Parameter ledger, 11 ... Actual data creation unit, 12 ... Relational data creation unit, 13.
..Editing unit, 15 ... Composition condition judging unit, 16 ...
Display condition judgment unit,

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. In a document processing apparatus for creating a compound document by synthesizing and outputting document data of a plurality of document elements in a document creation area, actual data including document data of each document element and type information is generated. A real data creating means to create, a relational data creating means to create relational data defining a relationship between the document elements to be composed, and a composition condition holding means to hold a composition condition between the document elements according to the type of the document element. A document processing apparatus, comprising: and an editing unit that associates actual data of a pair of document elements based on the type information and the composition condition via the relational data. 2. The document processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the composition condition holding unit can change the composition condition based on an input from the outside. 3. The document processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein, when the composition conditions of a pair of document elements to be associated with each other are different from each other, the editing means selects one of them based on a preset condition. A document processing apparatus characterized by selecting a synthesizing condition and performing an associating process. 4. In a document processing apparatus for creating a compound document by synthesizing and outputting document data of a plurality of document elements in a document creation area, actual data for creating actual data including document data of each document element. The creation means, the relational data creation means that creates the relational data that defines the relationship between the combined document elements, the editing means that associates the actual data of a pair of document elements via the relational data, and the output conditions of the document elements A document processing apparatus, comprising: an output condition holding unit that holds the output condition; and an output unit that outputs a compound document composed of actual data associated by the relational data based on the output condition. 5. The document processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the output condition holding unit can change the output condition based on an input from the outside.