JP3794148B2 - Document creation support device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a document creation support apparatus that creates a document by inputting and editing the document. In particular, the present invention relates to a document including not only a character portion but also a material including a material for appealing a certain impression to a reader such as a photograph or an illustration. The present invention relates to a document creation support apparatus that supports creation using design knowledge.
[0002]
[Prior art]
With the improvement of computer performance and price reduction, document creation by computers with a document creation application installed has become widespread.
Even general amateur users want to create as high-quality documents as possible, but it is very difficult to create high-quality documents that designers create.
[0003]
As a method for realizing the desires of general users, there are methods of reusing existing documents with high design quality and referencing them as design examples.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-304575 discloses an apparatus in which documents are classified and accumulated according to usage, and a document having properties similar to a document to be created can be selected and reused. Has been.
Another technique is to apply a document format. In this method, one of a plurality of prepared document formats is selected, and a document is created by applying parameters of the document format. This is a method for obtaining an output.
[0004]
However, in the method of reusing past documents, the more document examples to be selected, the more difficult the creator is to determine which document example should be selected, and the usability becomes extremely poor. In addition, when there are few document examples to be selected, the possibility of finding a document that suits the creator's intention and application becomes low, so that it becomes necessary to change or rework after selecting the document example. Furthermore, it is impossible to determine which part of the document example should be reused unless there is knowledge to understand which part of the selected document example reflects the intention and purpose of the creator. For ordinary authors, it was not a very useful method other than creating regular documents such as business letters.
[0005]
Further, in the method using the document format, the format is applied to the end, and information unique to the document being created is not used. Also, with this method, a format suitable for the intention and use of the creator is not always prepared, so that it may be necessary to change or rework the document once it has been created. Furthermore, as with the method of reusing past documents, if there is no knowledge to understand which part of the finished document is a part that reflects the intention and use of the creator, depending on the conditions specific to the created document Since it is impossible to correct problems that occur or problems that occur due to incorrect format selection, the desired document cannot always be obtained.
[0006]
Even if the creator does not have the knowledge to make a good-looking document, and the creator has no knowledge of how to reflect his intention and purpose, the intention and purpose of the creator Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 5-108641 proposes a document style design support apparatus that can easily obtain a design related to a good-looking document style. This apparatus performs an inference process using document style design knowledge information from document evaluation terms, document style design elements, etc., and determines an optimal document style design.
In addition, for the same purpose, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-101052 proposes a document creation support apparatus that can finish a document suitable for the purpose and use of the document being created. This device performs inference processing using document design knowledge information that defines document evaluation terms, document design elements, document attributes, and their interrelationships based on document information such as the content and attributes of creation support target documents. This is to determine the optimal document design.
[0007]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The method described in the above Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 5-108641 and 5-101052 is certainly more than the method of reusing past documents and the method of using document formats. Can easily create a good-looking document that suits its purpose and purpose.
However, the target documents are documents that consist of text and tables that do not have colors or shapes that have a psychological meaning or have a psychological impact on the reader. Yes, the design knowledge to be used was editorial design knowledge for such documents. In other words, for materials having specific meanings, colors, and shapes, such as photographs and illustrations, that greatly affect the intent and purpose of the entire document and the design, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-108641 In the method described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H10-1052 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-101052, there is a problem that the creator cannot easily create a good-looking document that suits his intention and application.
[0008]
The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and creates a document containing materials for appealing a certain impression to readers such as photographs, illustrations, and even acoustic information. Even in such a case, an object of the present invention is to provide a document creation support apparatus that can easily create a good-looking document that suits the creator's intention and purpose.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
A document creation support apparatus according to the present invention includes a document information storage unit that stores document information including contents and attributes of a creation support target document, and material information that stores material information including contents and attributes of materials used in the document. A storage unit, a knowledge database that stores material design knowledge information that defines a relationship between a material evaluation term and a material design element, document information stored in the document information storage unit, and the material information storage unit Based on the stored material information, there is provided material design determination means for performing inference processing using the material design knowledge information stored in the knowledge database and determining whether the material is accepted or not and the design processing of the material. .
[0010]
In addition to the above, the document creation support apparatus according to the present invention stores document design knowledge information that defines document evaluation terms, document design elements, document attributes, and their mutual relationships. Using the document design knowledge information stored in the second knowledge database, based on the knowledge database of the document information, the document information stored in the document information storage means, and the material information stored in the material information storage means Document design determining means for performing processing to determine an optimal document design of the creation support target document.
[0011]
The document creation support apparatus according to the present invention may be provided with display means for displaying a message and the like, and the contents determined by the material design determination means and the document design determination means may be displayed.
Further, the document creation support device may be provided with material search means for receiving conditions that can be adopted and presenting the corresponding material when the material design determination means denies adoption of the material.
[0012]
Further, in this document creation support apparatus, instead of the display means, material information storage means for holding material information and document information being created and material editing for editing material information and document information stored in the document information storage means Means and document editing means, and material design execution means and document design execution for applying the design processing determined by the material design determining means and document design determining means to the document being created using the material editing means and document editing means And means.
[0013]
Further, in the document creation support apparatus, the display means for displaying a message, the input means for inputting a command, etc., and the information that the material design decision means and the document design decision means are insufficient in the form of a question sentence etc. Inquiry means for displaying on the means and receiving the answer from the input means and adding it to the material information storage means and document information storage means may be provided.
[0014]
Further, in the document creation support apparatus provided with the material editing means and the document editing means, the material design execution means and the document design execution means, a display means for displaying a message and the like, an input means for inputting a command and the like, Information lacking in the material design determining means and the document design determining means is displayed on the display means in the form of a question sentence or the like, and the answer is received from the input means and added to the material information storage means and document information storage means. It is good also as a structure provided with the inquiry means.
[0015]
According to the document creation support device having the above-described configuration, for example, when the material design determination unit is activated by an instruction from the document creator or a signal from another device, the material design determination unit displays the attributes and contents of the document being created. While referencing, the material design knowledge information stored in the material knowledge database is used to decide whether or not to adopt the material to be used and its design process, and display the result on the display means. In addition, when the adoption of the material to be used by the material design determining means is denied, the conditions that can be adopted are passed to the material searching means.
[0016]
Then, when the material and design processing determined to be adopted by the material design determining means are transferred to the material design executing means, the material design executing means issues an editing instruction to the material editing means based on the received information. The material editing means edits the material information held in the material information storage means according to the instruction.
Further, if there is insufficient data when determining the design processing, the material design determining means informs the inquiry means of the information. The inquiry means displays an inquiry about the deficient data based on the information from the material design determining means as a question sentence on the display means, receives an answer from the document creator from the input means, and receives the response from the input means. To add as data.
[0017]
After this, the document design determining means is activated, and the attributes and contents of the document being created, and the attributes and contents of the material that are decided to be adopted by the material design determining means and further designed and used. The document design is determined using the document design knowledge information stored in the second knowledge database, and the result is displayed on the display means.
Then, when the document design determined by the document design determining unit is transferred to the document design executing unit, the document design executing unit issues an editing instruction to the document editing unit based on the received information. The document editing means edits the document information held in the document information storage means according to the instruction.
[0018]
The document design determining means informs the inquiry means if there is a lack of data when determining the design. The inquiry means displays an inquiry about the deficient data based on the information from the document design determination means as a question sentence on the display means, receives an answer from the document creator from the input means, and receives this from the document information storage means To add as data.
[0019]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
A document creation support apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to an embodiment.
FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a document creation support apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
This document creation support apparatus includes a display unit 1, a document information storage unit 2, a material information storage unit 3, a material knowledge database 4, a material design determination unit 5, a document knowledge database 6, and a document design determination unit 7. Yes.
Each of these functional units is configured by computer hardware and a predetermined program.
[0020]
The display unit 1 includes, for example, a display and a printer, and presents various information to the document creator.
The document information storage unit 2 includes code data and graphic data created by a word processor or the like, and generally digitized documents such as attributes such as document type, creation date and use, and data representing the accompanying information. The document information is stored in a readable and writable manner, and is composed of, for example, a magnetic disk device or a main storage device.
[0021]
The material information storage unit 3 includes image data input by a scanner or digital camera, illustration data created by illustration drawing software, the size, color, and shape of the material, and the type of object, color, Data that represents generally electronic material such as shape, angle, and the direction of gaze for living things and its accompanying information is stored as material information in a readable and writable manner. For example, it consists of a magnetic disk device and main storage device. Has been.
[0022]
The material knowledge database 4 uses evaluation terms representing the impression of material that gives the reader some kind of impression, such as image data and illustrations, using known knowledge expression methods such as IF-THEN rule format and frame format, Knowledge that defines the relationship between material design elements, which are constituent parameters of the material such as the size and type of the central object in it, is stored as material design knowledge in a readable and writable manner, for example, a magnetic disk It is composed of a device and an optical disk device.
[0023]
The knowledge expression method in the material knowledge database 4 and the configuration of the inference engine are described in detail in, for example, “F. Hayrose et al., Expert System, Industrial Books, 1985”.
Here, the material design knowledge is, for example, evaluation / selection of materials, such as qualitative / quantitative data as described in “Yuki Uchida, layout encyclopedia part1 / part2, visual design laboratory” , Various knowledge necessary for processing. Specifically, knowledge such as “blue sky represents gentleness”, “viewing angle looking down from above represents gentleness”, “the bleed-off version gives a gentle feeling” has the form shown in FIG. It is expressed by.
[0024]
The material design determination unit 5 performs the inference using the material design knowledge information in the material knowledge database 4 based on the document information in the document information storage unit 2 and the material information in the material information storage unit 3, and makes the target material Is a means of evaluating whether the document is suitable for the type and purpose / impression of the document, and if it does match, decides to adopt the material, and if it does not match, presents the conditions for the material, such as forward reasoning or backward reasoning. It is constituted by an inference engine that performs known inference.
[0025]
The operation procedure of the inference mechanism in the material design determination unit 5 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
Upon receiving an inference start instruction, the material design determination unit 5 first extracts all rules written in the IF-THEN rule format from the material knowledge database 4 by the movement of the inference engine, and sets them as Rules 1 (step 1). S1). Next, based on the data in the document information storage unit 2 and the material information storage unit 3, all rules in the rules 1 in which all the conditions written in the IF condition unit are true are found, and these are set as rules 1 (step 1). S3). Next, one rule is selected from Rules 1, and the contents written in the THEN execution part of this rule are verified (step S5). Such rule selection verification is repeated until it is an inference stop command by the THEN execution unit (step S2) or until Rules1 becomes empty (step S4).
Thereby, the material design determination unit 5 determines whether or not the material is in line with the intention and use of the creator, and presents a condition that meets the condition when it does not match.
[0026]
The document knowledge database 6 is a document design that is an evaluation term indicating the purpose / impression of a document and a document configuration parameter such as a paper size or a character size by a known knowledge expression method such as an IF-THEN rule format or a frame format. Documents such as elements, document type, purpose, finishing impression, etc., evaluation terms, and knowledge that defines the relationship between document design elements and document attributes are stored as readable document design knowledge. For example, it is composed of a magnetic disk device or an optical disk device.
[0027]
The knowledge representation method and the configuration of the inference engine in the document knowledge database 6 are the same as those in the material knowledge database 4. The same.
Here, the document design knowledge is necessary to determine the design such as qualitative / quantitative data as described in “Yuki Uchida, layout encyclopedia part1 / part2, visual design research institute”. Various kinds of knowledge. Specifically, for example, knowledge such as “the title of a magazine article is 16-25 mm and the text is 2.6-3.5 mm” is expressed in the form shown in FIG. Knowledge that expresses the relationship between materials such as “the title text color is the color used for the material that is the main motif.” Is expressed in the format shown in FIG. It is.
[0028]
Based on the document information in the document information storage unit 2 and the material information in the material information storage unit 3, the document design determination unit 7 performs the inference using the document design knowledge information in the document knowledge database 6 to determine the target document. It is a means for determining an optimal document design, and is composed of an inference engine that performs well-known reasoning such as forward reasoning and backward reasoning.
[0029]
The operation procedure of the inference mechanism in the document design determination unit 7 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
Upon receiving an inference start instruction, the document design determination unit 7 first extracts all the rules written in the IF-THEN rule format from the document knowledge database 6 by the movement of the inference engine, and sets them as Rules 2 (step S11). ). Next, based on the data in the document information storage unit 2, all rules in the rules 2 that are true in the conditions written in the IF condition unit are found, and are set as rules 2 (step S 13). Next, one rule is selected from Rules 2, and the contents written in the THEN execution part of this rule are executed (step S15). Such rule selection and execution are repeated until an inference stop command is issued by the THEN execution unit (step S1) or until Trules2 becomes empty (step S14). Thereby, the document design determination part 7 determines the document design according to a creator's intention and use.
[0030]
Next, a specific example in the case where document creation support is actually supported by the above-described document creation support apparatus will be described.
First, in the document information storage unit 2, as the creation support target original document and its accompanying information as shown in FIG. 7, “type: magazine article”, “purpose / impression: gentleness (5), gist clarity (4 ) ... "is stored.
Here, the document type represents a type corresponding to the content and use of a document such as a magazine article, an advertisement, or a catalog, and the purpose / impression represents the purpose or impression to be added to the document. In addition, the numerical value of each evaluation term (extendedness, etc.) that expresses the purpose / impression indicates a score of 5 out of 5 points, and the image (finished impression) you want to give to the result document designed as the purpose / impression ).
In the material information storage unit 3, a picture as a main motif to be added to a document as shown in FIG. 8 and accompanying information “object type: sky”, “object color: blue”, etc. Such material information is stored.
[0031]
Now, the material design determination unit 5 selects and executes the rule as shown in FIG. 2 according to the operation procedure shown in FIG. 3, and determines that this photo can be used and is used as a bleed version. This means that this photo gives a feeling of spaciousness, and that it matches the intended purpose / impression, and if adopted, it would be desirable to create a trimmed version of the photo to give it a relaxed feeling. .
[0032]
Next, the document design determination unit 7 selects and executes the rules shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 according to the operation procedure shown in FIG. 6. First, the title character color is, for example, blue, and the size is, for example, The center value of 16-25 mm is determined to be 20 mm, and the text is determined to have a center value of 3 mm of 2.6-3.5 mm. This means that the color of the material object is used for the title character of the magazine, and the standard size is 16-25 mm and the text character is 2.6-3.5 mm.
Then, a rule is selected by the document design determination unit 7 including information that the title character is determined to be 20 mm. Similarly, since the subheadings are desired to have a high degree of clarity in the main points, The inference is finished when the document design is determined such that the document design is doubled and the Gothic type is used to express the smoothness, and the necessary parameters are determined.
[0033]
The document design parameter values obtained in this way are displayed on the display unit 1, and the creator can edit the document accordingly.
An example of a document obtained as a result of such processing / editing is shown in FIG. In this document, the photo shown in FIG. 8 is added to the original document shown in FIG. 7 in a trimmed version so as to conform to the description content of the original document, and the title and subheadings in the document are added to the photo. It has been edited to fit the image.
[0034]
Next, a document creation support apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 10 shows the configuration of the document creation support apparatus of this embodiment, and the same reference numerals are given to the same parts as those of the first embodiment.
In this document creation support apparatus, instead of the display unit 1 in the first embodiment, the material editing unit 8 that edits material information stored in the material information storage unit 3 and the design determined by the material design determination unit 5 are used. The material design execution unit 9 applied to the material information using the material editing unit 8, the document editing unit 10 for editing the document information stored in the document information storage unit 2, and the design determined by the document design determination unit 7 are documented. And a document design execution unit 11 applied to the document information using the editing unit 10.
[0035]
In the present embodiment, in the first embodiment, the content of the optimum design processing of the material information displayed on the display unit 1 is sent from the material design determination unit 5 to the material design execution unit 9 and also displayed on the display unit 1. The document design parameter determined by the document design determination unit 7 is sent to the document design execution unit 11.
The material editing unit 8 is an image editing processing function or a graphic editing processing function in general DTP, and the material design execution unit 9 executes the image editing processing function or the graphic editing processing function of the material editing unit 8 to obtain material information. Optimal processing according to the determination is performed on the material information stored in the storage unit 3. The document editing unit 10 is a document creation / editing function in general DTP, and the document design execution unit 11 executes the document creation / editing function of the document editing unit 10 to store document information stored in the document information storage unit 2. Is edited to have each determined document design parameter.
As a result, also in the present embodiment, the material and document are edited in the design according to the decision, and the document of the design according to the creator's intention and application is created.
[0036]
Next, a document creation support apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 11 shows the configuration of the document creation support apparatus of the present embodiment, and the same reference numerals are given to the same parts as those of the first embodiment.
In addition to the configuration of the first embodiment, this document creation support apparatus is provided with an input unit 12 through which a document creator inputs a command and an inquiry unit 13. The inquiry unit 13 receives the information from the input unit 12 and the material information when the material design determining unit 5 and the document design determining unit 7 display information that the information is insufficient on the display unit 1 in the form of a question sentence or the like. And a function to be added to the storage unit 3 and the document information storage unit 2.
[0037]
In this embodiment, when the material design determination unit 5 makes an inquiry such as ““ object, color ”” to the material information storage unit 3, if this data is not in the material information storage unit 3, the material information storage unit 3 to return a special value such as ““ nil ”” to the material design determination unit 5. When ““ nil ”” is returned from the material information storage unit 3, the material design determination unit 5 suspends the processing and transfers control to the inquiry unit 13, asks the document creator for the value, and inputs it. The value is input from the unit 12 to be additionally stored in the material information storage unit 3, and the control is again transferred to the material design determination unit 5 to execute the continuation. Since the same operation process is performed for the document design, the description is omitted.
With such an inquiry function, the document creator can create a document more suited to his / her intention by inputting insufficient information.
[0038]
Next, a document creation support apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 11 shows the configuration of the document creation support apparatus of this embodiment, and the same reference numerals are given to the same parts as those of the above-described embodiments.
This document creation support apparatus further includes the configurations of the second and third embodiments in addition to the configuration of the first embodiment.
For this reason, in addition to the editing function of the second embodiment, this document creation support apparatus also has a query function for information lacking in the third embodiment, and has both advantages.
[0039]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, document information such as document contents and attributes, and material information such as contents and attributes of materials used in the document, and material design knowledge information and document design knowledge information are used. Inferior processing is performed to determine the optimal document design, so that the document creator does not have the knowledge of designing documents that include materials such as photographs and illustrations, but looks good according to the creator's intention and purpose. Good documents can be created easily.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a document creation support apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of knowledge representation in a material knowledge database.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of an inference mechanism in a material design determination unit.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of knowledge representation in a document knowledge database.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of knowledge representation in a document knowledge database.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of an inference mechanism in a document design determination unit.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of an original document to be created.
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a material that is a creation support target;
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a material is added to an original document.
FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a document creation support apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a document creation support apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 12 is a block diagram of a document creation support apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Display part, 2 ... Document information storage part, 3 ... Material information storage part,
4 ... Material knowledge database, 5 ... Material design decision part,
6 ... Document knowledge database, 7 ... Document design decision part,
8 ... Material editing department, 9 ... Material design execution department,
10 ... Document editing unit, 11 ... Document design execution unit,
12 ... input part, 13 ... inquiry part,

Claims (2)

A document creation support device for supporting a task of creating a document by adding a material for appealing a certain impression to a reader,
Document information storage means for storing document information including contents of the creation support target document, attributes, and evaluation terms expressing an impression intended for the document;
Material information storage means for storing material information including content, attributes of the material to be added to the document, and evaluation terms expressing an impression given by the material;
A knowledge database that stores material design knowledge information, which is a rule that defines the relationship between material evaluation terms and material design;
Based on the material design knowledge information, the relevant material material contents and attributes that are implicated in the evaluation terms of the evaluation terms of the creation support target document is determined as a design of the material used to create of the document Material design decision means,
A second knowledge database storing document design knowledge information, which is a rule defining the relationship between document evaluation terms and document attributes;
Based on the document design knowledge information, the attributes of the document that has been implicated in the evaluation terms of relevant documents to the evaluation term of the creation support target document, document design determined as design documents used to create the document A determination means;
A document creation support apparatus characterized by comprising: The document creation support apparatus according to claim 1,
The material is at least one of a photograph, an illustration, and acoustic information,
The document creation support device, wherein the material design determination means determines a plate format of a photograph.

Images