JP4151085B2 - Electronic publication distribution system - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an electronic publication distribution system including a server device that stores document information and a terminal device that receives and displays desired document information from the server device. The present invention relates to an electronic publication distribution system that can display a document in an appropriate typeface.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, document information handled by an electronic publication distribution system mainly represents the contents of a document by character string information (hereinafter simply referred to as a character string) that is an array of codes (character codes) representing a character concept. Yes, broadly, there is no decoration information at all, text information that represents only the contents of the document, text information that makes up the character size, modification, and typeface name Qualified text information with qualification information, and additional information that can indicate additional information indicating the role in the document, such as "Heading" and "Annotation", for some text strings in the text information There was attached text information.
[0003]
Note that text information generally refers to information of only a character string, and text information specifying a typeface name and a command such as a heading using a specific character string is also referred to as text information. There is a case. In addition, even if the information represents only the content of the document without any decoration information, some of the information on the character string has been subjected to processing such as compression. Sometimes it is not called text information. However, in the following description, text information is referred to as text information regardless of the data format as long as the text information has no decoration information and represents only the contents of the document. On the other hand, even if only character string information is included, it is not referred to as text information if it includes modification information such as a command or information indicating attached information. Text information with decoration information is called “text information with decoration”, text information with attached information is called “text information with attached information”, and is distinguished from “text information” that does not contain decoration information or attached information. To do.
[0004]
How these pieces of document information are displayed on the terminal device will be described below with particular attention to the typeface used for display. In this case, the typeface is used in a broad sense including shape design and size.
[0005]
A system that employs text information as document information is displayed in a certain fixed typeface provided in the terminal device regardless of the will of the document information provider. This method is suitable for distribution systems such as e-mail and business communication that only need to be able to transmit only the contents because the amount of document information to be exchanged is small.
[0006]
In addition, the system using the text information with decoration can realize a good-looking document display reflecting the will of the document information provider by specifying the typeface name and the like in detail. This method is suitable for documents with high design elements such as advertisements and fashion magazines. However, the typeface name, character size, other decoration information, and the like have many items to be specified, and the more detailed specification is made, the larger the capacity of the document information.
[0007]
Furthermore, when text information with attached information is used, there is not as much freedom as text information with decoration, but if it is a document with a standard design such as a newspaper article or a novel, it can be expressed sufficiently, and the attached information However, the amount of document information is only slightly increased from text information. However, the selection of the font used for display is left to the terminal device.
[0008]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
Publications provided as printed materials use a typeface that is unique to each publisher (publisher), which may lead to readability / readability due to readers' “familiarity”. . In particular, those that are regularly and frequently subscribed, such as newspapers, are prominent, and those of newspaper companies that are unfamiliar with reading are somewhat difficult to read. The same is true for electronic publications distributed as document information and subscribed by terminal devices. However, if you subscribe regularly, the information issued by the same publisher can be printed on the terminal. It is desirable that the same typeface can be viewed on the display of the device and on any terminal device.
[0009]
On the other hand, from the subscriber's standpoint, any document information may be read in one typeface that is usually used, but the design of the typeface is the intention of each publisher, and it is not desirable to ignore it.
[0010]
This problem can be solved by using text information with a modification of a conventional electronic publication distribution system, but the amount of information tends to increase as described above. In a system involving information exchange between devices, the problem of the amount of information to be exchanged greatly affects the communication time and the capacity of the medium through which information is exchanged.
[0011]
The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an electronic publication distribution system capable of displaying a small amount of information and displaying the document in a typeface corresponding to the publisher so that it can be easily read. Is to provide.
[0012]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
To achieve this object, an electronic publication distribution system according to claim 1 of the present invention is a server apparatus of a publication issuer that distributes text information of a publication, which is character string information indicating the contents of a document. And an electronic publication distribution system that receives the text information from the server device and displays a document reader terminal device for displaying the document, wherein the server device is the publisher of the text information and the publication. Information output means for outputting to the terminal device, the terminal device, the information input means for inputting the text information output by the information output means and the issuer information, Font storage means for associating and storing the publisher information and font information defining a character shape; and the font corresponding to the publisher information input by the information input means. And font information read from the preparative storage means, the text information inputted by the information input means, based on, is characterized in that a document display means for displaying the document.
[0013]
[0014]
[0015]
According to this, since it is not necessary to specify specific font information in the information output from the server device that issues the publication to the terminal device of the reader of the publication, the information that is output from the server device to the terminal device can be reduced. Since the capacity can be increased and the font information corresponding to the issuer is displayed on the terminal device side, information on the same issuer can be displayed in the same typeface in printed matter, terminal devices, and other terminal devices, Easy-to-read display can be realized.
[0016]
The electronic publication distribution system according to claim 2 includes text information of a publication, which is character string information indicating the contents of a document, and attribute information for designating an attribute for a part of the character string. Distributing electronic publications comprising: a server device of a publication that distributes text information with attached information; and a reader reader terminal device that receives the text information with attached information from the server device and displays the document. a system, wherein the server device includes information output means for issuing a source information and outputs to the terminal device to identify the publisher of the associated information with the text information and the publication, the terminal device, the information The information input means for inputting the text information with attached information and the publisher information output by the output means, and the shape of the character in association with the combination of the publisher information and the attribute Corresponding to a combination of font storage means for storing defined font information, the publisher information input by the information input means, and the attribute information of the text information with attached information input by the information input means Document display means for displaying the document based on the font information read from the font storage means and the text information of the text information with attached information input by the information input means. It is characterized by.
[0017]
[0018]
According to this, even when text information with attached information is used as information to be output from the server device of the publication issuer to the terminal device of the reader of the publication, in order to obtain the same effect, the server device of the fixed design is used. Information output to the terminal device can be displayed with font information corresponding to the issuer with a small capacity.
[0019]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Embodiments embodying an electronic publication distribution system of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
[0020]
This embodiment shows an example in which the present invention is suitably applied to an electronic newspaper distribution system.
[0021]
As shown in FIG. 1, the electronic newspaper distribution system is a system including a server device 1 and a browser device 2. The server device 1 stores information on newspaper articles from a plurality of publishers, and outputs information on newspaper articles when a request is received. The browser device 2 receives newspaper article information from the server device 1 and displays the article. Below, the structure of the server apparatus 1 and the browser apparatus 2 is demonstrated in detail.
[0022]
In the server apparatus 1, a CPU 10, a program memory 12, a working memory 14, a document information memory 16, a panel 18, a network interface 110, and a floppy disk drive 112 are connected via a bus 114.
[0023]
The CPU 10 governs overall control of the server device 1, and the program memory 12 stores a program that defines the control method of the server device 1. The working memory 14 stores temporary data during execution of control by the CPU 10.
[0024]
The document information memory 16 stores a plurality of pieces of document information for distribution purposes, and each piece of document information is stored in association with information of the issuer.
[0025]
The storage system of the document information memory 16 is conceptually shown in FIG. 2 and will be described below. The document information storage memory 16 stores an index table 200 and a document information group 210.
[0026]
The index table 200 includes information of a document ID 201, a title 202, issuer information 203, and a document information address 204, and has this information for all stored document information. The document ID 201 is used as information for identifying document information in the processing in the server device 1. The title 202 stores the title of the document information as information that can be restored to human identifiable information, and may be image information of a title logo of a newspaper or the like, but this system uses text information. The issuer information 203 is information specifying a newspaper issuer, that is, a newspaper company, and the document information address 204 is information on an address on a memory storing the document information of the newspaper.
[0027]
The document information group 210 stores newspaper document information. The document information format is SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language), HTM.
The document information description language such as L (Hypertext Markup Language), TeX, etc., or any information format depending on the specific system may be used. In this system, the headline Document information is stored as text information with attached information that can specify only character strings.
[0028]
This document information will be described with reference to FIG. The document is represented by an array of character codes, and the heading character string is indicated by being sandwiched between a character string “<T>” 31 that is a start command and a character string “<t>” 32 that is an end command. . FIG. 3B is an explanatory diagram in the case of using the prior art for clarifying the effect, and details will be described later.
[0029]
The document information memory 16 described above can also be constructed on a device having a file system. In that case, each document information of the document information group 210 may be stored as one or a plurality of files, and the document information address information 204 of the index table 200 may be stored as a file name.
[0030]
The panel 18 includes an operation panel that receives a request for newspaper document information from an operator, and inputs that information is requested, together with the type of information requested. The operation panel of the present embodiment is shown in FIG. 4, and the details will be described below. The operation panel includes a title 41 and a button 42 corresponding to each title 41. The title 41 displays the type of newspaper document information stored in the server device 1 based on information registered in the title 202 in the document information memory 16. In addition, when the button 42 is pressed, information for notifying that the document information of the corresponding newspaper is requested is input.
[0031]
The network interface 110 exchanges information with other devices connected to the network. This network has a broad meaning and includes a type in which devices are connected one-on-one. This can be used for inputting newspaper document information from the outside or for information entry / exit for maintenance using an external terminal. In the present embodiment, the browser device 2 is mainly used. Used for the purpose of exchanging information.
[0032]
The floppy disk drive 112 reads and writes information on the floppy disk 3 and can be used for loading programs, inputting newspaper information, backing up information, etc., but in the present embodiment, this is also mainly used. Used for the purpose of exchanging information with the browser device 2.
[0033]
As shown in FIG. 1, the browser device 2 includes a CPU 20, a program memory 22, a working memory 24, a font memory 26, a display unit 28, a network interface 210, and a floppy disk drive 212 connected via a bus 214. Has been.
[0034]
The CPU 20 governs overall control of the browser device 2, and the program memory 22 stores a program that defines the control method of the browser device 2. The working memory 24 stores temporary data during execution of control by the CPU 20.
[0035]
The font memory 26 stores a plurality of pieces of font information defining the character shape, and a plurality of pieces of font information with different designs such as Mincho and Gothic, that is, font information of a plurality of typefaces. It is stored so that it can be identified by the font name. Further, a font table that associates the issuer information of the document information with the body text of the document information of the newspaper of the issuer, the font name for the headline, the modification to be applied, and the size is stored.
[0036]
FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram of the font table, and details thereof will be described below. The font table is table information that associates the issuer information 51 and the attribute 52 with the information of the font name 53, the modification 54, and the size 55, and this information exists for all issuers that can be processed by the browser device 2. To do. The issuer information 51 corresponds to the issuer information 203 stored in the document information memory 16 of the server device 1, and the attribute 52 represents the type of body / headline. A font name 53 indicates a font name indicating font information used for displaying a character corresponding to the attribute 52 of the corresponding issuer information 51, and a modifier 54 indicates a type of modification processing (boldened) applied to the character shape. / Italicization). Furthermore, the size 55 indicates the output size at that time.
[0037]
The font information and the font table in the font memory 26 have an appropriate interface and can be supplied, changed, or deleted from the outside. However, in this embodiment, for convenience of explanation, A method of using what is stored in advance as it is.
[0038]
The display unit 28 displays newspaper document information. The apparatus may be a CRT display, a liquid crystal display, or a printer instead of a display.
[0039]
The network interface 210 exchanges information with other devices connected to the network. This can be used for font information input, font table change information input, and information entry / exit for maintenance using an external terminal as described above. It is mainly used for the purpose of exchanging information with the server device 1.
[0040]
The floppy disk drive 212 reads and writes information on the floppy disk 3 and can also be used to input font information, font table change information, information backup, and the like. This is also used mainly for the purpose of exchanging information with the server device 1.
[0041]
Hereinafter, the operation of the electronic newspaper distribution system will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
[0042]
When the operator inserts the floppy disk 3 (FD) into the floppy disk drive 112 of the server apparatus 1 and presses one of the buttons 42 on the operation panel provided on the panel 18 (S61; S represents a step, and so on). ), The server apparatus 1 receives an input indicating that there is a request together with the document ID representing the document information corresponding to the pressed button (S62). Further, the server device 1 reads out the document information and issuer information corresponding to the requested document ID with reference to the index table 200 of the document information memory 16 and writes them into the floppy disk 3 via the floppy disk drive 112. (S63).
[0043]
Next, the operator pulls out the floppy disk 3 from the floppy disk drive 112 of the server apparatus 1 and inserts it into the floppy disk drive 212 of the browser apparatus 2 (S64).
[0044]
The browser device 2 reads the document information and issuer information of the floppy disk 3 via the floppy disk drive 212 (S65), and displays the document information on the display unit 28 using appropriate font information (S66). Details of this display processing will be described later.
[0045]
In the present embodiment, the information exchange between the server device 1 and the browser device 2 is shown as an example via a floppy disk which is a removable storage medium. However, this storage medium is limited to this. Instead, it can be changed to a system using an SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) card, a magneto-optical disk, or the like.
[0046]
Further, the same can be realized by information exchange by communication without using such a storage medium. The operation in this case will be described in detail below based on the flowchart of FIG. As a premise of this operation, it is assumed that the server device 1 and the browser device 2 can communicate with each other via the network interfaces 112 and 212.
[0047]
First, when the operator gives a command for requesting desired document information by operating the browser device 2 (S71), the browser device 2 requests the server device 1 from the network interface 212 using a request command and a document ID. Send information.
[0048]
The server device 1 receives the request information via the network interface 112 (S73), reads the document information and issuer information corresponding to the requested document ID with reference to the index table 200 of the document information memory 16, It transmits to the browser apparatus 2 via the network interface 112 (S74).
[0049]
The browser device 2 receives the document information and issuer information via the network interface 212 (S75), and displays the document information on the display unit 28 using appropriate font information (S76). Details of this display process will be described later.
[0050]
Since this method can operate the server device 1 via communication, it is effective when obtaining information from the server device 1 from a remote location. In addition, since the method using communication does not require a storage medium that mediates information exchange, it is possible to reduce the troublesome operation. Therefore, even if the request information is input by operating the panel 18 of the server device 1 as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 6, the method of transmitting the document information and the issuer information to the browser device 2 is shown in FIG. It is effective and possible to adopt the communication method shown in the flowchart.
[0051]
Next, the document information display process of S66 and S76 described above will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
[0052]
First, one unit of character string is read from the document information document (S81). One unit is from “<” to “>” (in this case, including the characters “<” and “>”), or from “>” to “<” (in this case, “>” and “<"Is not included). That is, the command in the document information is read so that it can be processed separately.
[0053]
Next, if the read character string is a heading start command, that is, if the character string is “<T>” (S82: Yes), the heading mode of a mode flag (not shown) in the working memory 24 is set to “ON” ( S83), the process returns to S81.
[0054]
If the character string is a heading end command, that is, if the character string is “<t>” (S84: Yes), the heading mode of the mode flag in the working memory 24 is set to “OFF” (S85). Return to processing.
[0055]
If the character string is neither a heading start command nor an end command (S82: No, S84: No), it is not a command but a character string to be displayed. Therefore, if the heading mode of the mode flag in the current working memory 24 is ON (S86: Yes), the font table of the font memory 26 is referred to as display font information, and the document information issuer information is displayed. The corresponding headline font name, modification type, and character size information are read out and designated as a display font (S87). On the other hand, if the heading mode of the mode flag is OFF (S86: No), the text font name, the modification type, and the character size information corresponding to the issuer information of the document information are read out for display. Designated as a font (S88). Then, one unit of character string is displayed in the designated font (S89).
[0056]
Finally, if the display processing of all the document information has been completed (S810: Yes), the processing is terminated, and if unprocessed information remains (S810: No), the processing returns to S81 and is repeated.
[0057]
In this electronic newspaper distribution system, text information with attached information such as “heading” and “body” is used as document information. Therefore, the font table in the font memory 26 of the browser device 2 stores font information (font name, font name, (Correspondence, size) and issuer information and heading / body type correspondence table format (corresponding to claim 2), but using simple text information that does not attach such type to document information May be in the form of a correspondence table between font information and issuer information (corresponding to claim 1).
[0058]
The server device 1 of the electronic newspaper distribution system corresponds to the server device of the present invention, and the browser device 2 corresponds to the terminal device of the present invention. And the process of S62 and S73 functions as a request | requirement input means of this invention, and the process of S63 and S74 functions as an information output means of this invention. Further, the processing of S65 and S75 of the browser device 2 functions as information input means of the present invention, the font memory 26 constitutes font storage means of the present invention, and the processing of S66 and S76 functions as document display means of the present invention. To do.
[0059]
According to the present embodiment, for example, the document information of “?? Times” can be issued only by exchanging information “issuer information = Company D” in addition to the document information text of FIG. The original typeface can be displayed on the browser device 2. In order to obtain the same effect with the conventional technique, document information as shown in FIG. This corresponds to the text information with modification described in the prior art. That is, in order to display the character, in addition to the character string information, the font type, the modification type applied to the current data of the font, and the character size information are required. It is necessary to add a command 34 and a character size designation command 35 to the front of the title and the body, and end commands 36, 37 and 38 to the back of the title and the body. Obviously, according to the system of this embodiment, the amount of information is reduced, and the burden on the storage device is reduced and the communication time is reduced.
[0060]
In addition, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.
[0061]
【The invention's effect】
As is apparent from the above description, according to the electronic publication distribution system described in claim 1 of the present invention, the information output from the server device of the publication issuer to the terminal device of the publication reader is specified. Since it is not necessary to specify specific font information, it is possible to reduce the volume of information to be output from the server device that is the publisher of the publication to the terminal device of the reader of the publication. Since the font information corresponding to is displayed, the information of the same issuer can be displayed in the same typeface in the printed matter, the terminal device, and other terminal devices, so that an easy-to-read display can be realized.
[0062]
According to the invention of claim 2, in order to obtain the same effect even when the text information with attached information is used for the information output from the server device of the publication issuer to the terminal device of the reader of the publication , Information to be output from the server device that is the publisher of the standard design publication to the terminal device of the reader of the publication can be displayed with font information corresponding to the publisher with a small capacity.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic newspaper distribution system according to an embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram of a document information memory according to the present embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of document information.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a panel according to the present embodiment.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a font table in the font memory 26 of the present embodiment.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart of document information transmission / reception display processing according to the present embodiment;
FIG. 7 is a flowchart of document information transmission / reception display processing according to the present embodiment;
FIG. 8 is a flowchart of document information display processing according to the present embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 Server device 2 Browser device 16 Document information memory 26 Font memory

Claims (4)

A server device of a publication that distributes text information of a publication, which is character string information indicating the content of the document, and a terminal device of a reader of the publication that receives the text information from the server device and displays the document In an electronic publication distribution system consisting of
The server device
Comprising information output means for outputting the text information and publisher information identifying the publisher of the publication to the terminal device;
The terminal device
Information input means for inputting the text information and the issuer information output by the information output means;
Font storage means for storing the publisher information and font information defining the character shape in association with each other;
The document is displayed based on the font information read from the font storage unit corresponding to the issuer information input by the information input unit and the text information input by the information input unit. An electronic publication distribution system comprising: a document display means for performing the operation. The publisher of the publication that distributes text information with attached information that includes text information of the publication, which is character string information indicating the contents of the document, and attribute information that specifies attributes for a part of the character string . In an electronic publication distribution system comprising a server device and a terminal device of a reader of a publication that receives the text information with attached information from the server device and displays a document,
The server device
An information output means for outputting to the terminal device the text information with attached information and the publisher information identifying the publisher of the publication;
The terminal device
Information input means for inputting the text information with attached information output by the information output means and the publisher information;
Font storage means for storing font information defining a character shape in association with a combination of the publisher information and the attribute;
Font information read from the font storage unit corresponding to a combination of the issuer information input by the information input unit and the attribute information of the text information with attached information input by the information input unit; An electronic publication distribution system comprising: document display means for displaying the document based on the text information of the text information with attached information input by the information input means. An information input means for inputting and issuing source information identifying the publisher of the text information and the publication of the publication is character string information indicating the contents of the document from the server device,
Font storage means for storing the publisher information and font information defining the character shape in association with each other;
The document is displayed based on the font information read from the font storage unit corresponding to the issuer information input by the information input unit and the text information input by the information input unit. And a document display means. Text information with attached information including text information of a publication, which is character string information indicating the contents of the document, and attribute information indicating an attribute for a part of the character string, and specifying the publisher of the publication Issuer information to be input, information input means for inputting from the server device,
Font storage means for storing font information defining a character shape in association with a combination of the publisher information and the attribute;
Font information read from the font storage unit corresponding to a combination of the issuer information input by the information input unit and the attribute information of the text information with attached information input by the information input unit; A terminal device comprising: document display means for displaying the document based on the text information of the text information with attached information input by the information input means.

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