JP3005021B2 - Document processing method and apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a document processing method and apparatus, and more particularly, to a document processing method and apparatus for processing document information whose output mode is determined by format information. .

[Conventional technology]

Document data consists of text data, graphics and image data of the document, and format data that specifies how to output the data. When outputting in color, the color is specified in the format data. There was something to do.

In addition, when data having a color mode is output by a single-color output device, there is a type in which a color is simply converted to black and white according to shading and then output.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, the conventional example has the following disadvantages.

In the document data, if a color different from the others is specified for the purpose of emphasizing a certain part, if the color document image is simply converted to black and white according to shading and output, a color image It is impossible to obtain the same effect as the effect obtained by specifying the color in.

For example, in a document data in which the text color of the text is black, if the heading part is to be particularly conspicuous by setting the heading color to red, if this color document image is converted to a black and white image according to the shading, the heading part is black. The color is converted to an intermediate color of white, which is more inconspicuous than the text, so that the effect intended for a color document image cannot be obtained at all.

[Means for Solving the Problems] According to the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the related art, the characteristics of an output device that outputs document information are determined and stored in advance in association with the document information. From the plurality of pieces of format information that have been selected, select format information that is appropriate for the characteristics of the determined output device, and output the document information from the output device in an output mode set by the selected format information. Provided is a method and apparatus for processing a document to control output.

According to the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the related art, preferably, the type of the output device is used instead of the characteristics of the output device.

According to the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the related art, preferably, when there is a format item for which a value is not set in the format information, the format item is replaced with the format in the other format information. Apply the value set for the item. According to the present invention, in order to solve the above-described problems of the related art, it is determined whether or not document information can be output by the output device, preferably in an output mode set by the selected format information. A determination is made, and if the determination is negative, the selected format information is corrected.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[Configuration of Document Processing Apparatus] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a document processing apparatus according to this embodiment.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a CPU for controlling the entire apparatus, and 2 denotes a rewritable ROM (read only memory) which internally stores a printer type table 20 as shown in FIG. Reference numeral 3 denotes a memory, which reads a program related to document processing stored in the magnetic disk 4, for example, a program for executing the processing shown in FIG. 5 described later as necessary, and the CPU 1 executes document processing based on the program. Control and execution. Reference numeral 4 denotes a magnetic disk, which stores a processing program as shown in FIG. 5, document data as shown in FIG. 3 (b), and format data as shown in FIG. 4 (a). Reference numeral 5 denotes a keyboard for inputting various information required for executing the program. A display device 6 displays a document or the like in color. A color printer 8 can print a document in color. Reference numeral 7 denotes a selector, which connects the color printer 8 to the present document processing apparatus and also connects to another workstation 9. If necessary, the color printer 8 and another workstation 9 are connected.
, And sends a signal indicating which one is connected. For example, if another workstation 9 attempts to use the color printer while the color printer 8 is being used in the document processing apparatus, the selector 7 sends a signal to the other workstation 9 and the color printer 8 is already in use. Has the function of returning a signal indicating Also,
If the document processing apparatus attempts to use the color printer while another workstation 9 is using the color printer 8, the selector 7 indicates to the document processing apparatus that the color printer 8 is already in use. Returns a signal. Ten
Is a black-and-white printer that prints a document image in monochrome black and white. In this embodiment, a black-and-white printer will be described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to a black-and-white printer, but may be a single-color printer of another color, or a two-color or three-color printer.

As described above, two printers, a color printer 8 and a single-color printer 10, are connected to the document processing apparatus. These printers are designed so that the characteristics of each printer, such as a device number, can be identified. In this embodiment, the color printer is device number 1 and the monochrome printer is device number 2. In the format data (FIGS. 3 (b) and 4 (a)) described later, the color printer is the first printer, and the monochrome printer is the second printer.

[Printer Type Table] FIG. 2 is a printer type table which is an example of management information for managing the type of the printer connected to the present apparatus. In this embodiment, this table is stored in EEROM2.

In the figure, a printer type table 20 is the printer type table, and stores a device number 21 of the printer and a printer type 22 of the printer in association with each other. In the figure, in the printer type, color indicates a color printer, and black and white indicates a black and white printer.

[Document Data and Output Result] FIG. 3 is a first example illustrating document data and its output result in the present embodiment. The document data includes text data 30 (FIG. 3 (a)) composed of a character string to be output and a character string for controlling their format, and format data 31 (FIG. 3) for setting an output mode for each format item. (B)).

In the text data 30, Is a control symbol indicating that a line feed is to be performed at the point of output. The character string enclosed by <...> is a control character string for controlling the format.
The text surrounded by is the main heading, and
Indicates that the text enclosed by <end subheading> is a subheading. The part of the text that does not belong to any of the headings is the body.

The format data 31 in FIG. 3 (b) describes the format data necessary for outputting the text data 30 to the first printer and the second printer. The format data is displayed on a display device, and the format is set using the keyboard 5 or the like so as to obtain a desired output mode. In the figure, format data for output to the first printer is shown in column 40, and format data for output to the second printer is shown in column 41. As described above, in this embodiment, the first printer is a color printer, and the second printer is a monochrome printer.
In the present embodiment, two types of printers are used.
If the number of items is increased in the printer type table of FIG. 2 and FIG. 3B, it is possible to connect with a plurality of types of printers. The contents of each setting item of the format data are as follows. In the figure, 32 is a method of outputting a headline, 33 is a method of outputting a subheading, 34 is a method of outputting a text, 35 is a character-to-character spacing value, which is a character-to-character spacing, and 36 is a line at the time of text output. A set value between lines, which is an interval between lines, and 37 indicate other format items, for example, the size of the left and right margins on the paper surface and the size of the top and bottom margins. In the column 38, as a format output printer, a set value of "color" indicating a color printer is described in a column of a first printer, and a set value of "black and white" indicating a black and white printer is described in a column of a second printer. In the format setting for the second printer, the values of the first printer are applied to the blank columns as they are. Regarding the alignment in the settings of headings 32 and 33, “center” is centered,
“Left” indicates left alignment and “right” indicates right alignment. In addition, “normal” indicates that there is no particular change in the setting of the headings 32 and 33. Other setting values of “modification” include “underline” (to be described later, FIG. 4A) indicating that a character string is underlined, and “overline” indicating that a line is drawn above a character string. There is.

Reference numeral 42 in FIG. 3C denotes an output example when the text data in FIG. 3A is output to a color printer in accordance with the format setting value 40 of the first printer in FIG. 3B. In the figure, 43
The headline of a is printed in red, the headline of 43b is printed in green, and the other text is printed in black.

Reference numeral 44 in FIG. 3D shows an output example when the text data of FIG. 3A is output to a monochrome printer in accordance with the format setting value of the second printer of FIG. 3B. As shown in the figure, the main heading 45a and the subheading 45b are output in gothic style, and the text is output in Mincho style.

The main heading and subheading are printed in a color different from the main body in color output so as to be conspicuous with the main body (FIG. 3 (c)). , And the heading is output in a font different from the text.

FIG. 4 is a second example for explaining document data and its output result in this embodiment. This example is an example in which a black-and-white printer is used for manuscript output of the text content of a color document.

The document data in this embodiment is a monochrome printer (second
This is the same as the first example (FIGS. 3A and 3B) except for the format setting value for the printer. FIG. 4A shows the format data in this embodiment. As shown in this figure,
The setting values for the first printer are the same as in the first example. For the setting values for the second printer, set “underline” in the column for decoration of the major and minor headings, and leave extra space between lines compared to color output so that it is convenient to write the original data manually. ing. In addition, if it is decided that the part printed in color at the time of color output is printed with an underline at the time of manuscript output with a black and white printer, it will be possible to print the headline and subheading in color It can also be determined on a manuscript.

An example of output to a color printer in the second example is the same as in the first example (FIG. 3C). FIG. 4 (b),
(C) shows an example of the output result to the monochrome printer in the second example. In the figure, 50 and 51 are the output results. As shown in this figure, the heading 52a and the subheading 52b are printed with an underline, and the line spacing of the text is wider than that of the color printer output (FIG. 3 (c)). It is suitable for writing draft data manually when drafting.

[Processing Procedure] FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when printing document data by a printer in the present embodiment.

In this embodiment, before starting the processing shown in FIG. 5, a description will be given of a case in which the operator has previously specified which document data is to be output by the printer of which device number. First, the document data specified in step S10 is read from the magnetic disk 4 to the memory 3. Next, in step S11, based on the device number of the output printer specified from the printer type table 20 in the EEROM 2, the printer type of the printer, that is, the characteristics of the printer is obtained.
In step S12, the output printer type is determined, and if the output is to a color printer ("color"), the next step is
Step S13 is executed, and if the output is to a black and white printer (in the case of "black and white"), then step S14 is executed. In step S13,
The text data is output in color to a color printer according to the format data of the first printer (color printer). In step S14, the CPU 1 checks whether or not a value other than a color that can be output by the printer that outputs to the item that can be designated as a color is set in the format data 31 and 40 in the memory 3 with respect to the format data of the second printer. . In this embodiment, the items that can be designated in the format in the format are the heading, the subheading, and the character color in the text (FIGS. 3 (b) and 4 (a)). If a color specification item is added, a character color can be specified for any format item. In step S15, if it is determined in step S14 that a color that cannot be output by the output printer is set, the format data needs to be corrected.Therefore, step S16 is performed, and only colors that can be output by the output printer are determined. If it has been set, the CPU 1 selects a process to perform step S17 next. In step S16, items related to color designation are corrected using the keyboard 5 or the like while displaying the format data on the display device 6 so that the items can be output to a black and white printer.
In this embodiment, if a color other than black or white is designated, the color is uniformly changed to black. Step S1
In step 7, text data is output according to a format for a black and white printer. If the output device is a printer capable of outputting a plurality of colors, the portion requiring correction in the range of colors that can be output is changed as needed.

The modification of the format data in step S16 may be a modification of the original format data or a temporary modification of the format data. If temporary correction format data is created, the output of step S17 uses this correction format data. The processing in steps S14 to S16 may be performed when the format data is created. If these processes are performed at the time of creating the format data, only black or white can be set for items related to color designation in the format data for the second printer (black and white printer).

In step S17, when there is data other than text with color designation (for example, color image data) in the document data at the time of output, it is converted to black and white display data in accordance with shading and output.

This embodiment has described the method of suitably outputting document data created for color printer output to a monochrome printer. However, the present invention is not limited to the case of outputting to a printer. The two output devices of the first printer and the second printer in the format data 31 may be any output device other than the printer as long as the device can output the text data according to the format. For example, a display is designated in place of the second printer, and the body text size is displayed in a format in which a large value is set so as to be suitable for editing work on the display, and the final printout is sent to the printer (first printer). The present invention can also be applied for the purpose of printing in a format appropriate for the present invention.

In this embodiment, two output devices (the first printer and the second
Printer) can be set with format data suitable for the output device. However, the number of output devices in the present invention is not limited to two. Even when there are three or more types of output devices, if the format data can be set for each of them, it is possible to use the present invention to suitably output to each of the three or more output devices. .

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, for each document, a plurality of format information suitable for each document is stored in advance, so that the output device A simple process of selecting appropriate format information from a plurality of format information stored in association with the document according to the characteristics, for example, an output mode expected for each document such as partially emphasizing a character string Can be realized by any output device having different characteristics by setting an output mode suitable for the content of each document.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a document processing apparatus according to this embodiment, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a printer type table in this embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a first example of document data and output results in this embodiment. FIG. 4 is a view for explaining a second example of document data and output results in this embodiment. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure in this embodiment. In the figure, 1 is a CPU, 2 is an EEROM, 3 is a memory, 4 is a magnetic disk, 5 is a keyboard, 6 is a display device, 7 is a selector,
8 is a color printer, 10 is a black and white printer, 20 is a printer type table, and 31 is format data.

Claims (8)

(57) [Claims] And determining a characteristic of the output device for outputting the document information, and selecting a format suitable for the determined characteristic of the output device from a plurality of format information stored in advance in association with the document information. Selecting information, in an output mode set by the selected format information,
A document processing method comprising controlling the document information to be output from the output device. 2. The document processing method according to claim 1, wherein a type of the output device is used instead of the characteristic of the output device. 3. When there is a format item for which a value is not set in the format information, the value set for the format item in the other format information is applied to the format item. 2. The document processing method according to claim 1, wherein: 4. It is determined whether or not document information can be output by the output device in an output mode set by the selected format information. 2. The document processing method according to claim 1, wherein the selected format information is corrected. 5. A discriminating means for discriminating a characteristic of an output device for outputting document information, and a plurality of format information stored in advance in association with the document information. Format information selecting means for selecting appropriate format information; and output control means for controlling output of the document information from the output device in an output mode set by the format information selected by the format information selecting means. A document processing apparatus comprising: 6. The document processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein a type of the output device is used instead of the characteristic of the output device. 7. When there is a format item for which a value is not set in the format information, the value set for the format item in the other format information is applied to the format item. The document processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein 8. A judging means for judging whether or not it is possible to output document information by the output device in an output mode set by the format information selected by the format information selecting means; 6. The document processing apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a correction unit configured to correct the selected format information when it is determined that the format information is not determined.