JP2003044585A - Management apparatus for print composition, creation method and system for contents - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a creation system for contents for print and electronic delivery by editing document data materials, allowing a designer and a customer to directly involve in a process of a print composition. SOLUTION: A management apparatus for print composition 10, a client device 30 and a designer device 40 are connected via a network 60. The management apparatus 10 has a means 11 to separate print composition information and text information from document contents created by the designer device 40 and stores the separated information into a print composition data storage part 20. When receiving a request from the client device 30, the management apparatus 10 creates document contents by combining the selected print composition information and the data materials to transmit to the client device 30, and has designer registration information, so that when receiving a request for creation/correction of contents, makes a request for print composition design to the designer device 40 if necessary.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a content production system for producing document content from material data having at least image information or text information.

When producing document contents, layout, color, edge enhancement of characters, editing of images, external characters, fonts, etc. are essential elements. The present invention is intended to construct a system in which these typesettings for highly accurate editing can be used not only on paper but also on various media and network infrastructures.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 28 shows an example of a conventional document content production system. In the conventional method, a publisher, etc., which is a customer 110, requests the printing company 100 to create document contents, and the printing company 100 performs typesetting, design, etc., and performs bookbinding, so that the consumer 120 can book, magazine, It provided document contents created as advertisements. Customer 1
From the viewpoint of 10, the printing company is the Turn-Key Bit.
Therefore, the customer 110 could not participate in the production from the production request to the content production completion.
In addition, the price for the production was paid only when the printing company 100 completed the content. The price on the publishing side was collected by selling the content to the consumer 120.

[0004]

Conventionally, the typesetting process indispensable for producing contents has been made into a black box in the printing company 100. That is, when correcting the typesetting, the customer 110 had to request the printing company 100 to make the correction. In order to use the document contents based on the typesetting more generally on the network, the designer and the customer 110 need to establish a direct business relationship without going through the printing company 100 that handles the paper medium. .

On the other hand, for the printing company 100, in the conventional system, the price is not paid unless the design is approved by the customer 110, and therefore, there is a risk in collecting the price.

[0006] The consumer 120 cannot guarantee that the optimum typesetting for the device will be provided when the document content containing the typesetting information is purchased electronically.

The present invention solves the above problems, and makes the process of typesetting and designing for producing document contents independent of the production process performed by a printing company, and enables early confirmation of document contents, conversion and correction of typesetting information. The purpose is to provide means for enabling effective use of typesetting information.

[0008]

In order to solve the above problem, the present invention separates the typesetting information and the text information from the typesetting data of the distorted document contents, and handles the typesetting information as electronic data. , Make typesetting information available from the outside so that customers can select typesetting candidates.
In addition, enable the customer to directly correct the typesetting. This enables the typesetting designer and the customer to directly participate in the typesetting process, and allows the typesetting content to be created without going through the printing company. In addition, typesetting can be corrected via the network, which shortens the process.
Furthermore, since the document content can be presented as information similar to a paper medium, for example, royalty income based on copyright can be added to electronic data.

Further, it has means for changing the typesetting information according to a plurality of display devices and creating contents suitable for each device. This makes it possible to provide the same quality of display on multiple display devices.

Further, means for charging for each process of typesetting design is provided. As a result, the customer directly pays the designer's consideration, which makes it easier to reflect the customer's intention and also makes it possible to easily establish a business relationship between the designer and the customer.

It is also possible to provide a display simulator for performing a simulation display equivalent to printing. This enables simple and quick calibration.

Further, for example, by providing a means for managing the used typesetting information history, it is possible to easily use the typesetting having a certain quality. Further, the typesetting information extracted from the document contents created in the past is stored in association with the customer ID, so that the typesetting information used by the customer in the past is given priority as a candidate for each customer. This makes it possible to express the uniqueness of the customer. The use frequency of the typesetting information for each customer may be accumulated and managed, and the typesetting information that is frequently used for each customer may be preferentially presented as a candidate.

Further, the data of the formatted information extracted from the document contents is saved in the tag format conforming to the XML standard. As a result, the typesetting information can be used as general-purpose data.

Material data such as text information (or image information) of the document content may be prepared by the customer, or an external material database accessible via a network may be used. This facilitates content creation.

The frequency of use of designers for each customer is accumulated, and when the candidates of the typesetting information are displayed so that the customer can select the typesetting information, the designers are displayed in order from the designer having the highest frequency of use. This makes it possible to provide a system that makes it easy to find high-quality designers that suit customers.

Further, data for making a production request is sent to a pre-registered designer so that a designer who requests production can be selected from a plurality of designers that can be produced. This makes it possible to realize a content production system that is beneficial to both customers and designers.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows an example of the system configuration of the present invention. This system includes a typesetting management device 10 that mediates between a customer, a designer, and a printing company and manages typesetting, a client device 30 owned by a publisher, an advertising agency, and other general customers, and each designer. Designer devices 40a, 40b, ... Which are terminals to be used, and a printing company device 50 for printing the document contents formatted by each printing company
a, 50b, ... And a network 60 that electronically connects these.

The designer device 40 has at least typesetting software for producing document contents based on the typesetting rules. Since this typesetting software may be one that has been generally used in the past, detailed description thereof is omitted here. The formatted document contents are available on the network 6
It is supplied to the typesetting management device 10 via 0.

The typesetting management device 10 extracts at least one typesetting information of layout data, color data, character edge emphasis data, image data, external character data, and font data and text information from the document contents produced by the designer device 40. A typesetting data separation processing unit 11 for separating the
It has a typesetting data conversion processing unit 12 for converting the typesetting data according to the typesetting conversion table 21, and a content creation processing unit 13 for creating a content from the typesetting information and the material data. Further, it has a designer registration processing unit 14 that performs designer registration processing and manages designer information, and a design request processing unit 15 that requests the designer device 40 to perform typesetting and design at the request of the customer. Further, it has an approximate price calculation processing unit 16 which calculates a work price generated in the typesetting process in response to a request from the client device 30 to create or modify the document content and presents it to the client device 30. Further, it has a device simulator 17 which converts the typesetting information created by the designer into the typesetting information suitable for the specifications of the output device designated by the customer and presents it.

The typesetting data storage unit 20 stores the typesetting information data separated by the typesetting data separation processing unit 11.
For example, it is stored in a tag format conforming to the XML standard. The typesetting conversion table 21 includes typesetting information which is created in advance and is suitable for a plurality of output devices, and each designer device 40.
It is a table that describes the correspondence with the typesetting information created in. The client information / history information storage unit 22 stores the history of the designer used for each customer, the typesetting information used, and the frequency of use.

The client device 30 includes a content display processing section 31 for displaying the formatted content on the display device 37, an approximate display processing section 32 for displaying the estimated cost of the content production process, and typesetting information for displaying the typesetting information candidates. Display processing unit 33, data material selection processing unit 3 for selecting material data of content to be produced and typesetting information
4, a content modification processing unit 35 for modifying the content, and a display simulator 36 for displaying the document content with an attribute that matches the attribute of the device desired to be displayed. The material data storage unit 38 holds text information and the like as the material of the content.

Needless to say, each processing unit shown in FIG. 1 is realized by a computer and a software program executed by the computer.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a display screen on the client device 30. The left side of the screen is the part that displays the created document content, and buttons are provided on it for issuing various correction instructions when correction is required. A typesetting information candidate screen is displayed on the right side of the screen. Below that, an approximate display of the work price is displayed. The customer can determine whether or not to proceed with the content production process based on the approximate display.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the outline of processing of this system. The client device 30 is a terminal used by a customer such as a publisher, an advertising agency, or a general customer who requests content production. As the client device 30, a generally used personal computer (PC) that can be connected to a network can be used. The customer issues a content production request from the client device 30 to the typesetting management device 10, which is a server that performs typesetting management. In response to this request, the typesetting management device 10 creates the document content (first draft) using the typesetting information extracted from the content created by the designer in advance and the material data presented by the customer.

When the customer corrects the document content of the first draft, the correction request is sent between the client device 30 and the designer device 40 via the typesetting management device 10 without passing through the printing company. As a result, the formatting information of the document content is corrected and the document content is completed. Finally, as electronic data, a content is created on an electronic medium, or the completed document content is sent to the printing company device 50 of the printing company and printed on paper by the printing company device 50.

FIG. 4 shows the flow of content production. An example of the flow of content production will be described below in the order of the numbers with circles shown in FIG.

(1) First, a designer (including a design office) that deals with typesetting and designing sets a predetermined condition for the typesetting management device 10 from its own designer devices 40a, 40b ,. According to the registration, it will be registered that the design contract is possible. As a result, a plurality of designers are registered in the typesetting management device 10.

(2) Further, the registered designer sends the sample contents created by himself to the typesetting management device 10 to register the sample contents. Typesetting management device 10
Then, the typesetting information and the material data are separated from the sample content. For example, the data whose typesetting has been completed is expressed in a format using tags. This may be XML-compliant. In this case, the formatting information can be described as a tag attribute. By doing so, it is possible to separate the text information and the typesetting information by extracting this tag description.

(3) to (5) When the customer requests the content creation from the client device 30, the typesetting management device 10
Present the typesetting candidates extracted from the sample contents.
The client device 30 displays typesetting candidates, and when the customer selects from the displayed candidates, the typesetting management device 10
Creates the content by synthesizing the material data designated by the client device 30 and the selected typesetting information, and sends the content to the client device 30. The client device 30 presents the sent contents to the customer.

(6) to (9) Further, when the customer makes a correction request from the client device 30, the typesetting management device 10 presents the price associated therewith. Based on this, the customer confirms (approves) the implementation. If the implementation is confirmed, the customer pays the fee to the designer. In this example, the fee payment is made before the content production is completed, but the fee payment may be made after the content production is completed.

(10) to (12) The designer accepts the correction request, and uses the typesetting software of the designer device 40 to perform the typesetting correction. The content is completed by repeating the correction request and the typesetting correction. The completed content can be sent as electronic data directly to the consumer device 70 of the user who desires to browse the content, for a fee or free of charge, and the electronic data of the completed content can be sent to the printing company device 50. It is also possible to print on paper by the printing company device 50 in the same manner as a normal publication.

FIG. 5 shows a second example of the flow of content production.

(1) to (8) The flow of processing from the registration of the designer to the request for the content creation by the customer, the selection of the typesetting information, the request for the correction and the confirmation of the execution (approval) has been described with reference to FIG. It is similar to the flow of (1) to (8).

(9) When the customer requests the correction of the contents from the client device 30 and confirms that the correction has been performed, the typesetting management device 10 transmits the settlement request to the settlement agent device 80 of the settlement agent company, and the settlement agent device acts. From the settlement agent device 80 of the company, the fee is paid to the designer by electronic settlement.

(10) to (12) Subsequent processes such as correction of typesetting by the designer and distribution of the completed contents are the same as those in FIG. 4 described above.

FIG. 6 shows a third example of the flow of content production. In the third example, the client device 30 has a means for sending the data requested to be created to one or all of the designer devices 40 pre-registered in the typesetting management device 10 designated by the customer, and each designer device is also provided. In FIG. 40, the designer has means for arbitrarily selecting whether production is possible and, if production is possible, notifying the customer that production is possible. This allows designers to obtain business opportunities at any time.

The designer is the designer device 40 beforehand.
The designer information and sample contents are registered in the typesetting management device 10 in advance.

(1)-(2) When the customer makes a content creation request from the client device 30, the typesetting management device 10
The data requested by the customer to be created is sent to the designer device 40 of each designer registered in advance.

(3)-(4) The designer who receives the creation request judges whether the production is possible, and if the production is possible, returns a production acceptable message from the designer device 40 to the typesetting management device 10, and the typesetting management device 10 Notifies the requesting client device 30 of the information on the designers who can produce and the information on the typesetting candidates.

The flow from (5) to (12) is as shown in FIG.
Alternatively, it is similar to the flow of FIG.

By providing the device simulator 17 in the typesetting management device 10, the typesetting information created by the designer can be automatically converted into the typesetting information that matches the specifications of the output device designated by the customer. 3 is a diagram illustrating an outline of a process performed by a typesetting data separation processing unit 11 of the management device 10. FIG.

Tag (TAG) using conventional typesetting rules
As shown in FIG. 7 (A), since the formatted data in the format is tagged for each character, it is impossible to separate the character (text information) from the layout (formatted information). However, in the typesetting expression using XML (extensible markup language), tagging by the document structure is possible. In addition, since tags can be defined freely, tagging based on various formatting rules is possible, and the tags are recognized and the information in the tags is used as typesetting information, and the others are separated as text information to separate them. can do.
FIG. 7B shows a typesetting expression in XML used in the present embodiment and an example in which it is separated into text information and layout (typesetting information).

The typesetting information separated as shown in FIG. 7E is stored in the typesetting data storage unit 20 as content layout information. For example, when there is a new text material of the new text information as shown in (g), by combining this with the existing typesetting information (tag information), the content creation processing unit 13 causes the content as shown in (h). New content. When this is displayed, the display is as shown in FIG. Further customization processing is performed to complete the content production.

The device simulator 17 has formatting information suitable for a plurality of output devices created in advance,
Using the typesetting conversion table 21 that describes the correspondence with the typesetting information created by each designer device 40, the document content created by the designer is converted so as to match the output device requested by the customer. On the client device 30,
The result is displayed by receiving the converted typesetting information. The typesetting conversion table 21 is also used for converting the typesetting data in the typesetting data conversion processing unit 12.

The client device 30 is provided with a display simulator 36 for displaying the same as paper using the formatting information of the document contents. This allows the customer to easily perform the proofreading work when printing on paper.

The typesetting management device 10 extracts the typesetting information from the document contents created in the past by the designer device 40,
It has a typesetting data storage unit 20 for storing it. It also has a client information / history information storage unit 22 that manages the history of each customer.

Further, the typesetting management device 10 stores the typesetting information extracted from the document contents created in the past by the designer device 40 in association with the customer ID, and gives priority to the typesetting information for the same customer as a candidate. The client information / history information storage unit 22 stores client information for managing customer IDs for this purpose.

Normally, the client device 30 is used as material data such as text information constituting document contents.
Although the data stored in the material data storage unit 38 included therein is used, an external material database (not shown) can be accessed through the network 60 and used. After selecting the typesetting information on the client device 30, if there is an empty space in the content, the material data obtained from the external material database is used.

Further, the typesetting management device 10 uses the client information / history information storage unit 2 to determine the frequency of use of typesetting information for each customer.
2, so that the typesetting information display processing unit 33 in the client device 30 can display the typesetting information side by side in descending order of frequency of use. In addition, the typesetting management device 10
In the above, the usage frequency of the designer for each customer may be stored in the client information / history information storage unit 22, and the typesetting information display processing unit 33 in the client device 30 may display the designers in order from the one with the highest usage frequency. .

FIG. 8 shows an example of the client information / history information stored in the client information / history information storage unit 22. The customer ID is an identifier uniquely given to each customer (client), and the client information / history information storage unit 22 includes a designer used in the past for each customer, and typesetting information of an example. Information on the frequency of use of the designer is stored.

The printing company device 50 has a printing device for printing the document contents created using the typesetting rules on a paper medium.

The processes performed by the processing units of the typesetting management device 10 and the client device 30 shown in FIG. 1 will be described in more detail below.

FIG. 9 shows an example of XML data (without typesetting information) as material data for creating document contents. This is an example of book content in XML. The document text data is saved as XML data as shown in FIG. 9, for example. According to this format, it is possible to grasp the document structure by an XML parser (XML analysis engine) conforming to XML. For example, in the XML data shown in FIG. 9, book information is defined within the <bookinfo> tag. The text data of the contents of the book is described in the <body> tag.

FIG. 10 shows an example of tagged formatted data of document contents formatted and designed by the designer. Formatting information (font, font size, position, color, character decoration, paragraph layout, etc.) is defined inside each tag. The RIP (Raster Image Processor) can use the information in this tag to develop text information into image information. Here, the typesetting information is information about the tag portion added by the typesetting design.

FIG. 11 is a processing flowchart of the typesetting data separation processing section 11. Typesetting data separation processing unit 11
Inputs the ID of the document content created by the designer (step S1). The document content ID is an identifier uniquely assigned to each document content.
This may be a file name. When the ID of the document content is input, the document content is read (S2).
Next, the inside of the read document content is analyzed and the tag is extracted (S3). The extracted tag is analyzed and the attribute in the tag is recognized (S4). After that, the tag portion and the portion outside the tag are separated, and the formatted data is extracted (S5). The separated tag information may be stored as content by embedding a blank or a preset character code in the non-tag information. Here, the tagged data including this typesetting information is called typesetting data. This typesetting data is output and stored in the typesetting data storage unit 20 of the external storage device (S6).

By the processing by the typesetting data separation processing section 11 shown in FIG. 11, the typesetting data as shown in FIG. 12 is obtained from the document contents including the typesetting information as shown in FIG. 10, for example.

FIG. 13 is a processing flowchart of the formatted data conversion processing section 12. FIG. 14 shows an example of conversion of formatted data. For example, it is assumed that there is an instruction to convert the formatted data shown in FIG. Formatted data conversion processing unit 12
Reads the typesetting data (S10), and then the typesetting attribute table (typesetting conversion table 2
1) is read (S11). FIG. 14B shows an example of the typesetting conversion table 21. After analyzing the tags of the formatted data (S12), for example, <TITLEPAGE> of the converted content.
If the same attribute as the title-font (FONT) attribute is described in this typesetting conversion table 21, conversion is performed (S
13). In this example, the font has changed. The converted typesetting information is written in the typesetting data (S14). Figure 1
4 (C) shows an example of the converted typesetting data.

FIG. 15 is a processing flowchart of the content creation processing section 13. The process performed by the content creation processing unit 13 is, for example, a process of creating a document content including the typesetting information as shown in FIG. 10 from the typesetting data shown in FIG. 12 and the text (XML) data shown in FIG.

First, the content creation processing unit 13 reads the typesetting data to be used (S20), and then reads the text information (XML data) given as the material data (S21). After that, the tags of the formatted data and the text information are analyzed (S22), and the text information is matched with the formatted information of the formatted data (S23). At this time,
For example, the text conversion table shown in FIG. 16 is used. The text conversion table shows the mutual relationship between the XML tag and the typesetting tag. In the example of FIG. 16, the body of the text information body
The part that represents the "chapter" is
It is indicated that it corresponds to the Main Subject. Using this correspondence, the text information (XML data) is converted into the content with the formatted tag, and the document content created by this is output (S24).

As an example of content creation, FIG.
(A) shows a flow of layout synthesis by adjusting the number of characters. In this example, the typesetting information of FIG.
Content is created by combining the text information of (C). After inputting the typesetting information and the text information (S30, S31), the number of characters in each sentence of the text information is calculated, and the number of layers of the sentence is further calculated (S32). The number of characters is applied to the information on the number of characters in the tag. If the number of layers matches the typesetting information, the text is applied as it is. If not, the text is applied and a warning is displayed (S33).
Finally, customization processing such as font adjustment, edge enhancement, smoothing, tag addition, and tag deletion is performed (S3
4) Output the created document content (S3)
5). If this document content is displayed, FIG. 17 (D)
The display is as shown in.

FIG. 18 is a processing flowchart of the designer registration processing section 14. When receiving a registration request from the designer device 40, the designer registration processing unit 14 of the typesetting management device 10 performs qualification check and the like as necessary and accepts the registration request (S40). Upon receipt of the registration request, the designer registration database (not shown) of the typesetting management device 10
Then, the designer name, unit price, and example sent from the designer device 40 are registered (S41).

FIG. 19 is a processing flowchart of the design request processing section 15. A design request is accepted from the client device 30 (S50), and a designer selection command is accepted from the client device 30. Alternatively, it may be automatically selected by the typesetting management device 10 (S51). The designer device 40 of the selected designer is requested to correct the content (S52).

FIG. 20 is a processing flowchart of the approximate price calculation processing section. When the content modification request command is transmitted from the client device 30 (S60), the designer work process unit price is read from the designer registration database (S61). If the process unit price is not registered in the database, the process unit price is inquired to the designer (S62, S63). A process price is calculated based on the obtained process unit price (S64), and if there are a plurality of corrections for the same work, those process prices are added up (S65).
The finally calculated process price is output as an approximate price (S66).

FIG. 21 shows a processing flow of the device simulator 17 in the typesetting management device 10. here,
An example of simulating and displaying content created for a plasma display (PDP) on a CRT display will be described. After reading the content (S70),
The device you want to display content on (PDP in this example)
Is selected (S71). The font size is adjusted so that the selected device and the device of the client device 30 (CRT in this example) have the same viewing angle (S7).
2). Next, the mask of the CRT is adjusted (S73). A color conversion table capable of expressing colors of the selected device is prepared and color conversion is performed (S74). Further, the sharpness is improved (S75), and the simulation process ends.

The simulation by the device simulator 17 may be realized by providing a conversion table for each device, or may be realized by preparing the device simulator 17 for each device.

FIG. 22 is a processing flowchart of the content display processing section 31 in the client device 30. First, the created content is received from the typesetting management device 10 (S80). After the tag is analyzed (S81), the display attributes described in the analyzed tag are read from the tag database (not shown) (S82). Information on display attributes according to tags is stored in advance in the tag database. The content is displayed using the read display attribute (S83).

FIG. 23 is a processing flowchart of the approximate display processing unit 32. The approximate display processing unit 32 receives the approximate price calculated by the typesetting management device 10 (S90) and displays it on the display device 37 of the client device 30 (S91).

FIG. 24 is a processing flowchart of the typesetting information display processing section 33. The typesetting information display processing unit 33 requests the typesetting management device 10 for a plurality of design and typesetting candidates such as layouts that need to be displayed (S100). The typesetting management device 10 matches the typesetting information with appropriate text information, and then sends the created content to the client device 30. The client device 30 receives the content including the typesetting information (S101), and displays the received content together with the ID information of the typesetting data in order to let the customer select the typesetting information (S102).

FIG. 25 is a processing flowchart of the data material selection processing unit 34. The client device 30 displays the ID information of the typesetting data that can be used by the typesetting management device 10 (S110), and causes the input device to select the necessary data. Further, the material data for creating the content is selected from the material data storage unit 38 (S11).
1).

FIG. 26 is a processing flowchart of the content modification processing section 35. Content modification processing unit 35
Displays the content on the screen and inputs a correction instruction (S120). The customer writes a data correction instruction in the overlapping data correction area, for example. Other various correction methods can be used. This corrected content is transmitted to the typesetting management device 10 (S121).

FIG. 27 is a processing flowchart of the display simulator 36. First, the content is acquired from the typesetting management device 10 (S130). Displayable devices are displayed on the client device 30 side, and a required device is selected (S131). The device attributes (color characteristics, resolution, etc.) of the selected device are acquired in advance from the database provided in the typesetting management device 10 or the client device 30 (S132), and display is performed according to the acquired device attributes (S133). .

The features of the embodiment of the present invention described above are listed below.

(Supplementary Note 1) A typesetting management device that edits document material data according to a customer's request and creates document content, wherein the typesetting management device is one or more designer devices that design the document content. And a client device requesting the production or modification of the document content,
At least one typesetting information of layout data, color data, character edge enhancement data, image data, external character data, and font data and text information are separated from the document contents produced by the designer device, which are respectively connected by a network. Means, means for storing typesetting data including at least one typesetting information of layout data, color data, character edge emphasis data, image data, external character data, font data related to the document content, and a request from the client device In accordance with the above, the typesetting management device further comprises means for issuing a request for typesetting design to the designer device, and means for creating document content from material data based on the typesetting information and transmitting the document content to the client device. . (Supplementary Note 2) The typesetting management apparatus according to Supplementary Note 1, further comprising conversion means for converting the typesetting information separated from the document content produced by the designer apparatus into a reusable format. (Supplementary note 3) In the typesetting management apparatus according to supplementary note 1 or 2, in response to a request from the client device to create or modify document content, a work price generated in the typesetting process is calculated and presented to the client device. A typesetting management device having means. (Supplementary Note 4) In the typesetting management apparatus according to any one of Supplementary Notes 1 to 3, a device simulator that creates a content display image that meets the specifications of the display device instructed by the client device and sends the content display image to the client device. , Formatting information suitable for multiple display devices,
A typesetting management device, which is a table in which correspondences of typesetting information of each of the designer devices are described, and a typesetting conversion table selected according to a display device created by the device simulator.

(Supplementary Note 5) In the typesetting management device according to any one of Supplementary Notes 1 to 4, a settlement agent device is provided, and the client device displays a payment confirmation by the settlement agent device and issues a confirmation instruction. When is pressed,
A typesetting management device, wherein the typesetting management device performs a step instructed.

(Supplementary Note 6) In the typesetting management apparatus according to any one of Supplementary Notes 1 to 5, there is a database for extracting the typesetting information from the document contents created in the past by the designer apparatus and storing it. A typesetting management device characterized by managing the history.

(Supplementary Note 7) In the typesetting management apparatus according to any one of Supplementary Notes 1 to 6, the typesetting information extracted from the document contents created in the past by the designer is stored in association with the customer ID, and the same. A typesetting management device characterized by giving priority to typesetting information for customers.

(Additional remark 8) In the typesetting management device according to any one of the additional remarks 1 to 7, the data of the typesetting information separated from the document contents produced by the designer is a tag format in conformity with the XML standard. A typesetting device characterized by being stored in.

(Supplementary Note 9) A content production method in a system that has a designer device, a client device, and a typesetting management device that can be respectively connected by a network, and edits material data of a document according to a customer's request to produce a document content. The client device provides material data, and the client device selects desired typesetting information with reference to a content example presented by a designer device registered in the typesetting management device in advance,
Content characterized in that the typesetting management device creates document content by combining material data and typesetting information, and, if requested by the client device, corrects the typesetting information one or more times to complete the document content. Production method. (Supplementary note 10) A content production method in a system which has a designer device, a client device, and a typesetting management device, each of which is connectable via a network, and which edits material data of a document in accordance with a customer's request to produce document content , A process of registering the sample contents with the design management device from the designer device and the layout of the sample contents or other document contents created by the designer device in the composition management device. A step of separating at least one typesetting information of data, color data, character edge enhancement data, image data, external character data, font data and text information, and storing the typesetting information;
A process in which the client apparatus requests the typesetting management apparatus to create document content, and in response to the document content creation request, the typesetting management apparatus transmits the typesetting information candidate to the client apparatus, and the client The step of displaying the typesetting information candidates in the apparatus, the step of selecting the typesetting information to be used from the typesetting information candidates in the client apparatus, the typesetting information and the material data selected by the client apparatus in the typesetting management apparatus, Creating document content from the client device, sending the document content to the client device, displaying the document content sent from the typesetting device on the client device, and modifying the document content from the client device if necessary. Requesting the typesetting management device to Content production method characterized by having the steps of requesting a modification to the designer device from the forme management device to the correction request book content.

(Supplementary Note 11) A system for editing document material data according to a customer's request and producing document contents has at least a designer device, a client device, and a typesetting management device which can be connected via a network, The designer device has typesetting software for creating document contents using a typesetting rule, and communication means for communicating with the typesetting management device, and the client device displays the document contents created by the typesetting management device. Means, means for displaying the document content or typesetting information that is one or more design information candidates transmitted from the typesetting management device, means for selecting material data, and means for correcting the displayed document content. The typesetting management device has a document content created by the designer device. From the layout data, color data, character edge enhancement data, image data, external character data, font data, and a means for separating the text information from the typesetting information, and the layout data, color data, and characters relating to the document content. Means for storing the typesetting data including at least one typesetting information of the edge emphasis data, the image data, the external character data, and the font data, the converting means for converting the typesetting information into a reusable format, and the material based on the typesetting information It is characterized by comprising means for creating document contents from data, means for issuing a request for typesetting design to the designer device in response to a request from the client device, and means for registering and managing a plurality of designer devices. Content production system. (Supplementary note 12) The content production system according to supplementary note 11, wherein the client device includes a display simulator that performs a display similar to that when the document content is printed on paper.

(Supplementary note 13) In the content production system according to supplementary note 11 or supplementary note 12, there is a connection function between the content production system and an external material database, and there is an empty space in the content after selecting the typesetting information on the client device. A content production system characterized by using materials from an external database.

(Supplementary note 14) In the content production system according to any one of supplementary notes 11 to 13,
A content production system, wherein the typesetting management device accumulates the frequency of use of typesetting information for each customer, and arranges the typesetting information in descending order of frequency of use in displaying typesetting information on the client device.

(Additional remark 15) In the content production system according to any one of additional remarks 11 to 14,
A content production system characterized in that the typesetting management device accumulates the frequency of use of designers for each customer and arranges the designers in descending order of frequency of use in displaying typesetting information on the client device.

(Supplementary note 16) In the content production system according to any one of supplementary notes 11 to 15,
The typesetting management device is connected to a printing company device having a printing device via a network, and the printing company device is
A content production system characterized by printing a document content created using at least a typesetting rule on a paper medium.

(Supplementary note 17) In the content production system according to any one of supplementary notes 11 to 16,
The data requested by the client device to be produced is sent to one or all of the designer devices registered in advance in the typesetting management device, and the sent designer arbitrarily selects whether or not to produce, and if the production is possible. , A content production system having means for notifying a customer that production is possible.

[0085]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In a system that edits document data material and creates content for printing and electronic distribution, by separating the typesetting information of the content, the typesetting designer and customer can directly participate in the typesetting process, and printing It is possible to create formatted content without going through the company. In addition, customers will be able to pay the designer directly for content creation and modification.

Further, the typesetting can be corrected through the network, and the process can be shortened. Formatting information can be used as general-purpose data, making it easy to create content. As a result, it becomes possible for customers to easily issue electronic media and publications, and the activation of the design industry is realized, which is also a great merit for designers.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration example of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen on a client device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an outline of processing of a content production system.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a flow of content production.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a second example of the flow of content production.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a third example of the flow of content production.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a process performed by a typesetting data separation processing unit.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of client information / history information stored in a client information / history information storage unit.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of XML data (without typesetting information) as material data.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of tagged formatted data of document content including formatted information.

FIG. 11 is a processing flowchart of a typesetting data separation processing unit.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of formatted data.

FIG. 13 is a processing flowchart of a typesetting data conversion processing unit.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of conversion of formatted data.

FIG. 15 is a processing flowchart of a content creation processing unit.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of a text conversion table.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a flow of layout synthesis by adjusting the number of characters.

FIG. 18 is a processing flowchart of a designer registration processing unit.

FIG. 19 is a processing flowchart of a design request processing unit.

FIG. 20 is a processing flowchart of an approximate price calculation processing unit.

FIG. 21 is a processing flowchart of the device simulator.

FIG. 22 is a processing flowchart of a content display processing unit.

FIG. 23 is a processing flowchart of an approximate display processing unit.

FIG. 24 is a processing flowchart of a typesetting information display processing unit.

FIG. 25 is a processing flowchart of a data material selection processing unit.

FIG. 26 is a processing flowchart of a content correction processing unit.

FIG. 27 is a processing flowchart of the display simulator.

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional document content production system.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Typesetting management device 11 Formatted data separation processing unit 12 Formatted data conversion processing unit 13 Content creation processing unit 14 Designer Registration Processing Department 15 Design Request Processing Department 16 Approximate price calculation processor 17 Device Simulator 20 Formatted data storage 21 Format conversion table 22 Client information / history information storage section 30 client devices 31 Content Display Processing Unit 32 Approximate display processing unit 33 Typesetting information display processing unit 34 Data Material Selection Processing Section 35 Content Modification Processing Section 36 Display Simulator 37 display device 38 Material data storage 40 Designer Device 50 Printing company equipment 60 network

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Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A typesetting management apparatus for editing document material data according to a customer's request to produce a document content, the typesetting management apparatus including one or a plurality of designer apparatuses for designing the document content, Layout data, color data, character edge emphasis data, image data, external character data, font data are connected from a client device that requests creation or modification of document content to each other through a network and is created by the designer device. Means for separating at least one typesetting information from text information, and typesetting including at least one typesetting information of layout data, color data, edge enhancement data of characters, image data, external character data, and font data related to the document content. Means for storing data and from said client device In response to the request from the designer device, means for issuing a request for a typesetting design to the designer device, and means for creating document contents from material data based on the typesetting information and transmitting the document content to the client device. Management device. 2. The typesetting management device according to claim 1,
A typesetting management device having a conversion means for converting the typesetting information separated from the document content produced by the designer device into a reusable format. 3. The typesetting management device according to claim 1, wherein a work price generated in a typesetting process is calculated in response to a request from the client device to create or modify document content, and the client device is then processed. A typesetting management device having means for presenting to a. 4. A content production method in a system, which has a designer device, a client device, and a typesetting management device, each of which is connectable via a network, and edits material data of a document according to a customer's request to produce a document content. Then, the client device selects the desired typesetting information with reference to the content example presented by the designer device registered in advance in the typesetting management device by the client device, and the typesetting management device Document content is created by combining material data and typesetting information, and if requested by the client device,
A content production method characterized in that the document content is completed by correcting the typesetting information one or more times. 5. A system for producing document contents by editing document material data according to a customer request,
At least, each has a designer device, client device and typesetting device that can be connected via a network,
The designer device has typesetting software for creating document contents using a typesetting rule, and communication means for communicating with the typesetting management device, and the client device displays the document contents created by the typesetting management device. Means, means for displaying the document content or typesetting information that is one or more design information candidates transmitted from the typesetting management device, means for selecting material data, and means for correcting the displayed document content. The typesetting management device includes at least one typesetting information and text information of layout data, color data, character edge emphasis data, image data, external character data, and font data from the document content created by the designer device. And a layout data, color data, and sentence related to the document content. Of edge enhancement data, image data,
A means for saving the typesetting data including at least one typesetting information of the external character data and the font data, a converting means for converting the typesetting information into a reusable format, and a means for creating the document content from the material data based on the typesetting information. And a means for issuing a typesetting design request to the designer device in response to a request from the client device, and a device for registering and managing a plurality of designer devices.