GB2239725A

GB2239725A - Document processing

Info

Publication number: GB2239725A
Application number: GB9000329A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Anthony Kilduff
Original assignee: KINDLE SOFTWARE Ltd
Current assignee: KINDLE SOFTWARE Ltd
Priority date: 1989-11-07
Filing date: 1990-01-08
Publication date: 1991-07-10
Anticipated expiration: 2010-01-08
Also published as: BE1001652A6; GB2239725B; GB9000329D0

Abstract

A document processor is used for the generation, storage and printing of reports according to non-operational information received from a user, which information is combined with selected pre-defined general and specific procedures which relate to the generation of reports. According to the specific procedures selected auxiliary reports may also be generated.

Description

A DOCUMENT PROCESSOR AND A METHOD OF OPERATING SAME The present invention relates to a document processor for generating, storage and printing of reports for operations control.

More specifically, the invention relates to the generation, storage and printing of reports for such operations as inventory control, quality control tests, quality control test procedures and monetary reports. At present, it is generally necessary to store information relating to reports and also to procedures which are used for generation of data in a report in memory. This is relatively expensive because a large amount of storage space is required for such reports and further, there is little versatility in generation and printing of reports as it is quite difficult to change the data stored in memory.

The present invention is directed towards providing a method and apparatus for generation, storage and printing of reports using relatively little memory space and allowing a user versatility in amendment of report to be produced.

According to the invention there is provided a method of limiting storage space required of a document processor in generating, storage and printing of reports for operations control, the document processor comprising a plurality of input terminals, a processing circuit, a memory device and a printer, the method comprising the steps of:: storing pre-defined general procedures relating to generation of general portions of reports to be printed by the printer; storing pre-defined specific procedures relating to generation of specific portions of reports and specifying auxiliary documents to be printed according to data contained in the reports; assigning user prompts for reception of an indication of selected general procedures; assigning user prompts for reception of an indication of specific procedures; assigning user prompts for reception of non-operational information; receiving non-operational information and an indication of general and specific procedures and combining said non-operational information and the general and specific procedures to form a customised report format which is stored in the memory device 4; receiving user data relating to the report;; the processing circuit processing the received data according to the selected specific procedures and general procedures; the processing circuit 6 combining the processed data and the selected specific and general procedures and the non operational information to generate a report; the processing circuit generating auxiliary reports to be printed according to the selected specific procedures; and printing the report.

In one embodiment of the invention the specific and general procedures are stored in Read Only Memory circuit and the nonoperational information is stored in random access memory circuits.

The invention will be more clearly understood from the following description of some preferred embodiments thereof, given by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a document processor of the invention; Fig. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating operation of the document processor.

Referring to the drawings and initially to Fig. 1 there is illustrated a document processor according to the invention indicated generally by the reference numeral 1. The document processor 1 includes a plurality of user interfaces, namely, terminals 2 for input and output of data. The terminals 2 are connected for bi-directional communication with a central control and printing unit 3 having a memory device 4 comprising Read Only Memory (ROM) and Random Access Memory (RAM) circuits for storage of information and procedures relating to reports. The memory device 4 is connected to a control circuit 5 which controls the storage of information and procedures as directed by a user via the terminals 2.

Finally, the control and printing unit 3 includes a processing circuit 6 for processing data stored in the memory device 4, and a printer 7.

The memory device 4 includes general procedures and specific procedures stored in ROM for use by the processing circuit 6 in generation of reports. As both the general and specific procedures are stored in read only memory, they may not be amended by a user. Examples of general procedures are general formats for quality control reports, inventory control reports or financial statements. Such general procedures do not relate to specific information and procedures which are contained within a report, they only relate to the general aspects such as overall layouts and the type of information required.

The specific procedures stored by the memory device 4 relate to specific aspects of reports which are to be generated and usually result in the printing of data in a report which data is dynamically varying. Examples of specific procedures are procedures for generating and printing of order forms according to inventory levels at a manufacturing plant, procedures for indicating pass or failure of a quality control test according to specified criteria, or profit and loss calculation methods in reports for monetary authorities. Some specific procedures may be used only with certain general procedures, for example, pass/fail output indicating procedures may only be used with general procedures relating to quality control reports.

Finally, the document processor 1 is arranged to receive and store in RAM of the memory device 4 non-operational information such as quality control test names and descriptions, monetary report names or productive flow descriptive information. The non-operational information is not used for generation of other information in a report and is not amended in any way by the processing circuit 6. The non-operational information is simply stored by the memory device 4 and associated with specific procedures and/or general procedures. In one example, the non-operational information may be the name and general description of a hardness test for materials analysis, in which case the general procedure would relate to the general format for quality control reports including spaces for pass/fail information, for descriptive information and for quantity information. Finally, the specific procedures in this example would relate to the manner of determining whether or not a sample of material will pass a quality control test according to stress and strain limits and details of stress applied.

Finally, for the generation and printing of reports all that is required is input of data such as inventory levels or bank account balances which data is acted on by the procedures, both specific and general and coupled with the non-operational information to help on the generation and printing of a report.

Referring now to Fig. 2 there is illustrated operation of the document processor 1 for generation, storage and printing of a quality control report. In step 10 the processor 1 receives an indication via the terminals 2 of the general procedure to be used, in this case the general procedure relating to quality control reports. The processor 1 then receives at the terminal 2 (in step 11) non-operational information including the name and description of the tests used in quality control monitoring of a sample. The non-operational information also includes information on the sample material tested. An indication is then received at the terminals 2 (in step 12) of the specific procedures to be used and in this case they are stress calculation algorithms for determination of stress limits for indicating whether or not the sample material passes or fails the tests.The processing circuit 6 then combines in step 13 the general and specific procedures and the non-operational information and saves the combined procedures and non-operational information in the memory device 4. In step 14 data relating to the tests carried out on the sample material are input at the terminals 2 and this initiates the generation of a report in the processing circuit 6 which combines the data with the combined procedures and non-operational information to generate a report which is printed on the printer 7.

It will be appreciated that the invention provides for the generation and printing of reports which may be customised for a user without storage of a large number of reports which a user may require. It is quite simple for a user to create the type of report required and nothing more than the required information is stored. It is quite simple for a user to arrange to have a type of report generated by simply selecting procedures which the processing circuit 6 then combines as desired.

Claims

1. A method of limiting storage space required of a document processor in generating, storage and printing of reports for operations control, the document processor comprising a plurality of input terminals, a processing circuit, a memory device and a printer, the method comprising the steps of:: storing pre-defined general procedures relating to generation of general portions of reports to be printed by the printer; storing pre-defined specific procedures relating to generation of specific portions of reports and specifying auxiliary documents to be printed according to data contained in the reports; assigning user prompts for reception of an indication of selected general procedures; assigning user prompts for reception of an indication of specific procedures; assigning user prompts for reception of non operational information; receiving non-operational information and an indication of general and specific procedures and combining said non-operational information and the general and specific procedures to form a customised report format which is stored in the memory device; receiving user data relating to the report;; the processing circuit processing the received data according to the selected specific procedures and general procedures; the processing circuit 6 combining the processed data and the selected specific and general procedures and the non-operational information to generate a report; the processing circuit generating auxiliary reports to be printed according to the selected specific procedures; and printing the report.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 in which the specific and general procedures are stored in read only memory circuit and the non-operational information is stored in random access memory circuits.

3. A document processor which is adapted for reducing the amount of storage space required in generating, storing and printing of reports for operations control, the document processor comprising a plurality of input terminals, a processing circuit, a memory device and a printer, and being operable to perform the steps of: storing pre-defined general procedures relating to generation of general portions of reports to be printed by the printer; storing pre-defined specific procedures relating to generation of specific portions of reports and specifying auxiliary documents to be printed according to data contained in the reports; assigning user prompts for reception of an indication of selected general procedures; assigning user prompts for reception of an indication of specific procedures; assigning user prompts for reception of nonoperational information; receiving non-operational information and an indication of general and specific procedures and combining said non-operational information and the general and specific procedures to form a customised report format which is stored in the memory device; receiving user data relating to the report; the processing circuit processing the received data according to the selected specific procedures and general procedures; the processing circuit combining the processed data and the selected specific and general procedures and the non-operational information to generate a report; the processing circuit generating auxiliary reports to be printed according to the selected specific procedures; and printing the report.

4. A document processor substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

4. A method substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

5. A document processor substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows CLAIMS 1. A method of limiting storage space required of a document processor in generating, storage and printing of reports for operations control, the document processor comprising a plurality of terminals, a processing circuit, a memory device having a read only memory circuit and a random access memory circuit, and a printer, the method comprising the steps of:: storing in the read only memory circuit pre-defined general procedures relating to generation of general portions of reports to be printed by the printer; storing in the read only memory circuit pre-defined specific procedures relating to generation of specific portions of reports and specifying auxiliary documents to be printed according to data contained in the reports; the processing circuit directing display at a terminal of user prompts for reception of an indication of selected general procedures; the processing circuit directing display at a terminal of user prompts for reception of an indication of specific procedures; the processing circuit directing display at a terminal of user prompts for reception of nonoperational information; receiving user input instructions comprising nonoperational information and an indication of general and specific procedures and storing said user instructions in the random access memory circuit; the processing circuit combining said nonoperational information and the indicated general and specific procedures to form a customised report format which is stored in the random access memory circuit; receiving at a terminal user data relating to the report; the processing circuit processing the received data according to the selected specific procedures and general procedures; the processing circuit combining the processed data and the selected specific and general procedures and the non-operational information to generate a report; the processing circuit generating auxiliary reports to be printed according to the selected specific procedures; and printing the report.

A document processor which is adapted for reducing the amount of storage space required in generating, storing and printing of reports for operations control, the document processor comprising a plurality of terminals, a processing circuit, a memory device having a read only memory circuit and a random access memory circuit and a printer, and being operable to perform the steps of:: storing in the read only memory circuit pre-defined general procedures relating to generation of general portions of reports to be printed by the printer; storing in the read only memory circuit pre-defined specific procedures relating to generation of specific portions of reports and specifying auxiliary documents to be printed according to data contained in the reports; the processing circuit directing display at a terminal of user prompts for reception of an indication of selected general procedures; the processing circuit directing display at a terminal of user prompts for reception of an indication of specific procedures; the processing circuit directing display at a terminal of user prompts for reception of nonoperational information; receiving user input instructions comprising nonoperational information and an indication of general and specific procedures and storing said user instructions in the random access memory circuit; the processing circuit combining said nonoperational information and the indicated general and specific procedures to form a customised report format which is stored in the random access memory circuit; receiving at a terminal user data relating to the report; the processing circuit processing the received data according to the selected specific procedures and general procedures; the processing circuit combining the processed data and the selected specific and general procedures and the non-operational information to generate a report; the processing circuit generating auxiliary reports to be printed according to the selected specific procedures; and printing the report.

3. A method substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.